Audiobook of the week

The Boyfriend List and The Treasure Map of Boys –E. Lockhart


Ruby lost her boyfriend, became a leper at school, started having panic attacks, and now she sees a shrink. A shrink who had her make a boyfriend list. Now she needs to see if sorting out her past can help her deal with the present and figure out the future.

As a Reader:

I thoroughly enjoyed these books and wish my library had the middle one, The Boy Book, on audio too. There’s no perfect guy to fall for or male best friend with a heart of gold for Ruby to end up with. Ruby is flawed and so are her friends, ex-friends and the guys in her life. Flawed in perfectly likable ways. Yay! What a realistic breath of fresh air!

As a Writer:

I have to admit I’m jealous of the author’s clever premise, which allowed her to explore the complex minefield called dating in more than a “get the perfect guy” kind of way. I’m also jealous that Ruby doesn’t always make necessarily likable choices, but she’s still a character you root for and care about. Writing likable protags in genre fiction, especially YA female protags, can feel limiting at times. Although the author does keep the protag’s sexual experiences on the fairly innocent side of things, it’s still refreshing to see flawed done well.

If you like these, you might also like:

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks- E. Lockhart
The Earth, My Butt and Other Round Things and Vegan Virgin Valentine- Carolyn Mackler
Viola in Reel Life- Adriana Trigiani
Peace, Love and Baby Ducks- Lauren Myracle
Secret Life of Prince Charming- Deb Caletti
Keeping the Moon- Sara Desson

Coming soon: Incarceron, along with a contest to win an ARC of its sequel, Sapphique.

Audiobook of the week

The Silver Kiss- Annette Curtis Klause


For those of you still thirsting for vampire/teen love, you can check out this story. It was written in 1990, a year before Vampire Diaries even, so it might stand as the original high schooler/vampire romance (Feel free to inform me if I'm wrong!). No sparkles, but the author does blend her bloodthirsty romance with the complimentary theme of death and dying.

As a Reader:

I felt the author nailed the helplessness, anger and confusion of a teen facing her mother’s illness. I also liked the vulnerability of the vampire hero.

As a Writer:

Without giving anything away (or trying not to, at least), I appreciated the unexpected ending but wished she’d made it more expected at the same time. The aim (as a writer) is to surprise the reader but have them think back and see how the plot twist makes total sense. I didn’t have that happen here.

If you like this, you might also like:

Bluebloods series- Melissa de la Cruz
Twilight series- Stephanie Meyer
Eternal and Tantalize- Cynthia Leitich Smith
Evermore- Alyson Noël

Okay, I technically got in two posts in this week. Look for two next week. And more free books on the way!!!

Audiobook of the week

The Luxe-Anna Godbersen

Gossip Girl set in 1899. Yep. That pretty much covers it.

As a Reader:

My first love as a pleasure reader was (and still is) Historical Romances. You don’t see many of those in YA, so I’ve been looking forward to this book for a long while, and my library finally got it. They got whole series, in fact, and I can’t wait to hear more. The author used a prologue that I felt (at first) gave away too much, but the ending made me glad she’d included it.

As a Writer:

The author also used a somewhat distant third person with multiple POVs, but the style fit the time period, so it worked fine for me. And back to the prologue issue…this is one of my writer hot buttons. Prologues can add to a story and can be done well, but I would still advise would-be writers to avoid them. They are rarely as needed or done as well as the author might think they are. Getting an agent is a numbers game, and the last thing you want to do is turn one off by having your first word be, Prologue.

If you like this, you might also like:
 
Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle series)- Libba Bray
Uprising, Just Ella, and Palace of Mirrors- Margaret Peterson Haddix
Book of a Thousand Days and The Princess Academy- Shannon Hale
How to be Popular- Meg Cabot

Sorry, this is more like audiobook of the month. I'll post two this week and next to catch up:)

Contest Winners

I guess the only hard part about this contest was finding out about it.

Thanks for entering Carolyn and Marjorie, and congratulations, I plan to send both of you a MONSTER HIGH book and t-shirt.