Tag Archive | communication

What Happens Next, by Colleen Clayton (fiction) – getting past rape, finding redemption

Jan10
book cover of What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton published by Poppy Books

Ski trip!
Fresh snow, new guys, curfew broken.
Now Sid is broken, too.

But she won’t let anyone help her past the attack, won’t even tell anyone what happened. The coping mechanisms that she’s chosen aren’t helping her cope too well either.

What can a slacker like Corey teach this former honor student about trust or friendship or caring what happens…

Post this info where people can find it: National Sexual Assault Hotline | 1.800.656.HOPE | Free. Confidential. 24/7. or search for a local crisis center at http://centers.rainn.org/

Grab this debut novel today at your local library or independent bookstore and cheer for Sid as she works past her outrage to a better future. The author gives us Sid’s playlist, too – you can tell a lot about someone by the music they choose.
**kmm

Book info: What Happens Next / Colleen Clayton. Poppy/Little Brown, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Meeting cool college guy Dax was the best thing about the high school ski trip for Cassidy, until he convinced her to sneak out after curfew to a night she cannot remember.

Back home, Sid’s grades slide, her single-parent mom can’t figure out what’s wrong, her friends eventually give up trying to jolly her back to normal. Sid drops her advanced classes and drifts into “A/V Club” instead. Everyone knows that A/V Club is just Corey-the-Stoner hanging out in the DVD storage room until someone needs a video, so he won’t try to break through Sid’s new protective shell to help her get over things.
Except that he manages to say things that make her think, nudge her to try feeling good about herself again by exercising, make her wonder why she can’t remember anything about being with Dax – and he has no clue that he’s doing it. Nice that he always smells like the bakery where he works before school, that he brings new pastries for her to taste-test, that he’ll just listen if she ever wants to talk.
Why do they call him Stoner when she’s never seen him act druggie?
Could Sid ever be more than friends with Corey?
Will she ever find the key to the locked door of that blank ski trip night?
The author’s time spent working with teens in bad situations really shines through in this debut novel, as readers root for Sid to break through the barricades that her mind put up and uncover what happened with Dax so she can heal herself.

 (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Year Zero, by Rob Reid (book review) – music downloads, alien invasion, legal loopholes?

Jan9
book cover of Year Zero by Rob Reid published by Del Rey Books

Sharing music is an age-old tradition.
Downloading music is more recent.
But global annihilation to avoid copyright fees?

That’s what Earth faces when the rest of the universe realizes that their music downloads since the 1970s have run up a copyright bill bigger than…than…than the universe.

Author Rob Reid knows quite a lot about music licensing and copyright, since he founded the Rhapsody music service before he wrote this first novel. About those lawsuit-happy aliens… he’s not telling us his sources.

Grab this funny-alien-legal-music-thriller in hardcover, eBook, or audiobook now at your local library or independent bookstore; available in paperback April 30, 2013.

Wonder if aliens really prefer disco to 80s hair metal?
**kmm

Book info: Year Zero / Rob Reid. Del Rey Books, 2012.  [author’s website] [author’s Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Radio waves going from station to listener bounce out into space, too, and the aliens agree that Earth’s music is better than any other in the universe.
But once they realize how much money the entire Refined League owes in royalty and copyright fees to human musicians, some alien bad guys decide that wiping out Earth to erase the debt is the only way to go!
However, most aliens would rather find a more-peaceful solution, so a few drop in on New York attorney Nick Carter to have him fix it all. Alas, Nick is not the Backstreet Boys singer Nick (as the aliens had hoped) nor is he the world’s best music copyrights attorney who could possibly find a way to reverse-license a few decades of slightly-to-completely illegal music downloads many light years from Earth.
But he’s going to have to try, since the bad-aliens will blow up Earth in a few days’ time if he can’t find a way around or through this problem. Of course, his law firm will decide this week on whether he’ll finally be named a junior partner or get axed, his cute neighbor also acquires a stray pet who’s an alien spy, and the wrinkles of universe-travels get a little sweaty.
Did the aliens of the Refined League honestly decide that Earth’s musical domination of the universe ended with rap?
Are there truly jokes coded into human (or Perfuffinite) DNA, since our bodies only use 2% of the genome?
Is there really a loophole in US music copyright law that Nick can find in time?
This debut novel by the founder of Rhapsody online music service brings music-crazed aliens to Earth, whisks earnest-but-only-human humans into outer space battles, and sharply skewers the most restrictive music copyright system in the universe between all the laughs.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

TBR – books To Be Read AND books To Be Reviewed! (reflective)

Jan1

cartoon of cat wearing party hat with champagne glassWell, the holiday season is almost complete, the old year nearly done, the new year peeking around the clocktower… and soon I’ll be back in the saddle, writing BooksYALove blog posts, recommending YA books that you might miss if you rely on the big-box stores’ displays and promotions.

So it’s a great time to make resolutions – especially ones that you can successfully keep! I’m taking my cue from Evie over at her Bookish blog and concentrating on my overflowing TBR piles and shelves.

For me, that’s the To Be Read shelves, whose covers I haven’t even opened yet, as well as the other TBR shelves, my To Be Reviewed/Recommended books, the ones that I’ve read and enjoyed, but haven’t quite gotten around to crafting my recommendations for… yet.

And they’re really good books! Otherwise, I just chuck them into the giveaway box. Y’all don’t have time to read ho-hum, formulaic books, do you? So I have stacks of 2012 copyright books that I haven’t told you about…yet.

So that’s my priority for BooksYALove in 2013: to efficiently tackle my 2012 awesome books while bringing you the best debut titles and books from smaller publishers as they arrive, hot off the presses throughout the year. TBR Challenge, here I come!

To keep me honest, I’m registering my intent over on Evie’s blog: http://www.evie-bookish.blogspot.com/p/welcome-to-2012-tbr-pile-reading.html and will be checking in with a linked post monthly, highlighting my 2012 must-reads, as shared with y’all through BooksYALove (and usually on Barb Langridge’s abookandahug site, too: www.abookandahug.com).

Promising an exact number of posts each week seems unrealistic, but I’ll do my best to make you hungry to read these wonderful books at your local library or purchased from your favorite indie bookstore (keep your money in town, okay?) – and please, let me know if I’m bringing you titles that sound intriguing, unmissable, or out-of-the-ordinary.

Indeed, 2012 was a great year for Young Adult books, so let’s hope that 2013 is equally stellar.
Which genre is your can’t-wait-to-read favorite? Happy New Year, and happy reading!

*kmm
(celebratory cat cartoon courtesy of DesignedToaT: http://www.designedtoat.com/newyears.shtml)

12.21, by Dustin Thomason (fiction) – Mayan codex, deadly epidemic, end of the world?

Oct31
book cover of 12 21 by Dustin Thomason published by Dial

Disease and rioting…
Airplane crashes…
Attacks on immigrants…
Just another day in L.A. or is it the end of the world?

The mysterious codex smuggled to Chel from rural Guatemala might verify the doomsday interpretations of the Mayan “Long Calendar” or just the last days of a single Mayan town… but how to be sure?

As December 21st approaches, look into the great museum exhibits clarifying Mayan timekeeping and the Long Calendar; are researchers even using the correct conversion factor to match Mayan and modern dates?  Be sure to check out the excellent interactive tutorial on reading Mayan glyphs on the book’s website, too.

You’ll find this medical thriller/apocalyptic tale at your local library or independent bookstore now. Probably better to read it sooner than later, right?
**kmm

Book info: 12.21 / Dustin Thomason. Dial Books, 2012.  [book website]   [author’s Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher. 
My Recommendation: Gabe Stanton leaves his disease research lab to check on a mystery patient at a Los Angeles hospital. Chel Manu wonders if the astounding Mayan codex brought to her by a smuggler might not be a forgery. And an airplane falls from the sky, as a rampaging epidemic begins sweeping through L.A. 
This cluster of symptoms described by the hospital matches an extremely rare incurable prion disease, one so infectious that hazmat suits are required just to enter the patient’s room. Perhaps with the help of the right translator they can get some information from the young man to track down the disease’s origin…before he dies of acute insomnia and panic. 
So Chel is asked to translate, pulled away from her volunteer time with Guatemalan refugees, away from her research on ancient Mayan writings, away from the black market antiquities dealer who brought her a never-seen codex from a forgotten city, away from those who think that the 12.21.12 end of the Mayan ‘Long Calendar’ marks the end of the world. 
With few clues and the disease spreading rapidly, Stanton tries to pinpoint how the infection is spread, as Chel surreptitiously translates the new-found codex. Both sets of information point back to a hidden ancient city in the homeland of Chel’s mother, thousands of miles away. 

As the government quarantines LA to stop the epidemic, Stanton and Chel must find a way to get to Guatemala before it’s too late. Is there any possible cure for this disease? How much of the codex’s unusual tale is true? Will the countdown to the end of the Long Calendar become the countdown to the end of civilization? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Deadly Pink, by Vivian Van Velde (fiction) – escape into virtual reality game, forever?

Oct29
book cover of Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde published by Harcourt

Sights, sounds, smells…
How close to your video game action do you want to be?
What if the game can plug directly into your brain?

The Rasmussem Corporation wants players to be totally immersed in their role-playing games for hours at a time – for the proper fee.

But there is a time limit for staying in a virtual reality world, so unbreakable fail-safes pull players out of game before their brains get too detached from physical reality.

Unless a computer whiz like Emily entirely disables the fail-safes on purpose to trap herself in the pink and sparkly pre-teen gameworld she was helping design… and younger sister Grace must battle through to rescue her, before it’s too late.

You’ll find Deadly Pink in hardback now at your local library or independent bookstore, with author Vivian Vande Velde’s earlier books featuring Rasmussem games (User Unfriendly  and Heir Apparent) available in paperback.
So, how long would you want to stay in a virtual world? (dragons optional)
**kmm

Book info: Deadly Pink (Rasmussem, book 3) / Vivian Van Velde. Harcourt, 2012 [author’s website]   [Deadly Pink Facebook page]   [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation: Grace is just slogging through high school, while her brilliant older sister Emily is at college with full scholarships for computer science. So why does Rasmussem Corporation need Grace’s help to get Emily out of a virtual reality game?

Their mother is frantic with worry, Dad is away on business, and the note Emily left behind sounds very, very final. Her body is there, hooked up to the virtual reality game panel, but she’s disabled every fail-safe that would allow the company to bring her back to the real world.
So away Grace goes, into the cotton-candy and unicorns world that Emily’s team was developing for preteen girls. Butterflies that give gold coins, quests to collect flower bouquets and tiaras, tea parties and fancy dress balls – Emily wants to stay in little-princess land forever?
When Em ignores Grace during her first venture into the game, it might be a fluke. But when big sister has her thrown out of the manor house, Grace knows something is truly wrong. Wish-granting sprites with a grudge, close calls with disaster – every time Grace reboots and re-enters the game, something else goes haywire (and this is a game for kids?).
And the clock keeps ticking down, edging ever-closer to the known-safe time limits for Emily’s brain to stay in virtual reality without a break.
What’s so wrong in the real world that Em has to escape to the virtual world that she helped create? What will happen to Emily’s brain if they can’t get her out of the game in time? Can Grace convince her to come home?  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Being Friends With Boys, by Terra Elan McVoy (book review) – “one of the guys” in the band or more?

Oct26

book cover of Being Friends With Boys by Terra Elan McVoy published by Simon PulseBeing “one of the guys” is better than being ignored by former-best-friends…
Being unadorned is better than her stepsisters‘ cloud of perfume and makeup…
Being shut out by her best friend of all time is pain unbearable…

Charlotte has long been content to be the behind-the-scenes arranger-of-everything for the band, but when lead singer Oliver takes credit for all her lyrics, she starts to question the status quo.

Is it time for Char to break away from Sad Jackal like her best pal Trip did or should she stay and grab the spotlight for her own talents?

Dealing with insiders and outsiders,with people who’ve moved away and those who refuse to move on, with seeing past the surface to discover the truth, Charlotte’s golden summer moves into cooler weather and changes in the band, its members, and her outlook.

While not a novel in verse as her earlier After the Kiss  (my no-spoiler review here), McVoy’s newest book features true, realistic spoken and unsaid dialogue along with Charlotte’s soul-baring lyrics. Find  both books at your local library or independent bookstore.
**kmm

Book info: Being Friends With Boys / Terra Elan McVoy. Simon Pulse, 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: Being considered “one of the guys” by Oliver, Trip, and Abe is fine with Charlotte, as she gives them the girl-perspective on life and keeping their band together behind the scenes. When a new guy joins the band and encourages her to grab the mike, their whole dynamic changes and Char isn’t sure if the guys can handle it.

She and Trip have been friends forever, but after he and lead singer Oliver have “creative differences” Trip leaves the band, and Sad Jackal must audition a new lead guitar player. Now who’s going to create all the melodies for Char’s lyrics?

Char has to deal with Trip’s sudden distance at school, her stepsisters’ giggle-pop taste in music at home, and weird vibrations at band practice, as new guitarist Fabian starts treating her like a girl. New lyrics just stream from her pen as her stepsister has a messy break-up, as other friendships ebb and flow… and Sad Jackal is hired to play at the school’s Halloween dance.

Trying to balance her commitment to the band with tough school classes, she agrees to be brilliant slacker Benji’s study buddy despite Trip’s dire warnings. As Halloween nears, Charlotte allows her stepsisters to give her beauty treatments and lets Fabian coax her into singing harmonies that turn into full-blown solos.

Does Fabian really see her as a girl instead of just another member of the band?
Can Oliver deal with Charlotte taking the microphone or does he want her to stay out of his spotlight?
What if her need to sing the stories she writes as lyrics is stronger than the band’s need for her to smooth out all the details for them?
And why is Trip avoiding all her calls now, when she needs his viewpoints most of all?

Rooted in Atlanta’s alternative music scene, Charlotte struggles to decide if it’s time to stop just Being Friends With Boys and get going with her life in music and beyond. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Laugh With the Moon, by Shana Burg – grief and laughter, new friends in Africa (book review)

Oct24
book cover of Laugh With the Moon by Shana Burg published by Delacorte

Roosters wandering through the school.
Sharing one pencil between ten students.
Daily anti-malaria pills too pricy for most families

On this World Wednesday, United Nations Day, travel us to Malawi, as a grieving American teen and her dad try to help others, despite their own pain.

Clare does indeed  feel like “a marshmallow that fell into a bag of dark chocolate” (p. 5) as she arrives with her doctor-dad in the “warm heart of Africa” which has the fewest doctors per capita of any country in the world.

Missing her late mother, her friends, the conveniences of modern life, Clare learns to ignore enormous centipedes, to find alternative ways to get around shortages, and to appreciate her newfound friends, especially Memory, who has lost both her mother and her father.

This summer 2012 new book takes you to a far-off land with just a short trip to your local library or independent bookstore. Could you Laugh With the Moon,  instead of crying alone, if you were in Clare’s place?
**kmm

Book info: Laugh With the Moon / Shana Burg. Delacorte Press, 2012, paperback 2013.  [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

My Book Talk:  Malawi is not Massachusetts – Clare can’t believe that her father has uprooted her from junior high school to come to Africa for a season. After her mother died, they were both so sad for so long… he thinks the change of scenery will do them good, but Clare isn’t sure she can adjust to any more changes!

Mosquito netting around her narrow bed, no cellphone service out here in the bush, riding a borrowed bicycle down a bumpy dirt road to Mzanga Full Primary School where she’s the only white student, wearing a hand-me-down school uniform, but is fully welcomed with smiles…

Soon Clare becomes accustomed to helping pack up her classroom’s books to take to the school’s only lockable room, to placing cans beneath its worst leaks during the rains, to understanding almost enough about her classmates to keep from embarrassing herself too much.

Her sketchbook fills with drawings of her friends who have chosen English names like Innocent and Memory, of jungle animals, and of Fred the hen who arrived as a mystery gift on their doorstep. She finally can see her mother’s face and hear her voice in her dreams. And her father the doctor tries to help all the children who flood into the free hospital, day and night.

An emergency during an outing to Lake Malombe leaves the school friends stranded, with time running out. How can they get everyone to safety? Why can’t an ambulance get there? Why is everything so difficult in Malawi? How will Clare ever feel whole in her heart without her mother’s gentle love?

From teaching tools made from termite-mound mud to the charming style of English spoken in Mkumba, readers will be delighted to explore Clare’s new world as she learns to Laugh With the Moon and embrace life after loss. 

Ivey and the Airship, by Cheryl Ammeter (fiction) – dark shadows, steampunk quest

Oct8
Ivey and the Airship by Cheryl Ammeter published by Wisdom House Books

A luxury dirigible high above the clouds,
Fine dinners and stealthy footsteps,
Sudden visions through others’ eyes,
Rumors of vicious war.

Welcome to the steampunk world of Aether, where a young lady’s social skills are far more valued than her intelligence, where a good marriage is a barometer of success, and where Ivey Thornton is determined to do things differently.

Favorite of her father’s five botanically-named daughters, she wants to follow in his scientific footsteps, investigating the new otheophainers that allow flight without use of a balloon. But first, she must discover why otheocoils affect her so strangely – and break off her arranged engagement to Miles (and his mother).

Ask for the first book in The Aether’s Edge series at your local library or independent bookstore. The author is busily at work on book 2 right now; let’s hope that the life-sucking leeches don’t make an encore in Master of the Manor!
**kmm

Book info: Ivey and the Airship (The Aether’s Edge, Book 1) / Cheryl Ammeter. Wisdom House Books, 2012.  [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Ivey just wants to research the unknown with her father. But Aether’s society frowns upon girls as scientists, so Ivey’s family arranges her betrothal to the son of her father’s best friend. Perhaps she can make Miles so angry during their airship voyage that he’ll break off the engagement – if the murderer on board doesn’t get them first!

Wrestling underwater with her secret pet waterdog and experimenting with explosives aren’t the ladylike arts that her sisters learned; it’s doubtful that Mrs. Fenchurche will appreciate Ivey’s ideas about the essential skills of life. However, the young man’s mother must admit that his late father would have delighted in this union between their innovative families. If Miles would only cease his world travels and settle down to provide heirs to the transportation industry fortune…
The luxuries and gadgetry of the airship Monarch take Ivey by surprise, as does Miles’ appreciation of her curiosity about his inventions. Neither is happy about the idea of marriage, but their scientific discussions are quite interesting. Someone else is paying extremely close attention to the awkward young couple, as strange ‘accidents’ begin to occur around them once the airship is far from port.
Sabotage, murder, killer bubble baths? Who wants to bury the Monarch and her passengers deep into the mountains? What is drawing Ivey into a sinister dreamworld that threatens Aether? Who is trying to unearth a secret that will shatter the world? Does the Institute of Sciences hold the key to these mysteries?
Steampunk meets dark and mystical forces in this action-packed first book of the Aether’s Edge series, where Ivey and Miles use quick thinking and their own kind of courage to meet dangers head-on. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the author.

Wentworth Hall, by Abby Grahame (fiction) – country estate, family secrets uncovered

Sep26
book cover of Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame published by Simon Schuster

An upper-crust British country estate,
filled with portraits, servants, and secrets…
welcome to Wentworth Hall.

In the peaceful golden years before WWI,  new arrivals coincide with public whispers of old concerns that the Darlingtons would much rather keep silent.

Who’s blabbing to the newspaper about the county’s most-influential family – the new French nanny?
The teen cousins about to inherit a diamond mine fortune?
The stablemaster fearing Lord Darlington’s cost-cutting plans?

A nice bit of mystery combined with historical fiction, Wentworth Hall  will please readers who enjoy stories about families and relationships, as well as those who adore the Downton Abbey television series. 

Did the butler do it? Where has Maggie’s crazy independent streak gone? What’s her little sister Lila up to?  Find out in hardback or eBook at your local library or independent bookstore.
**kmm

Book info: Wentworth Hall / Abby Grahame. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2012.  [publisher site] 

My Recommendation:

Maggie’s sojourn in France has calmed the impetuous teen, but her return to Wentworth Hall in 1912 is rattled by the arrival of Teddy and Jessica. The recently orphaned twins need to stay at the family estate for a few months, just until they turn 18, but their time in the English countryside promises to be anything but quiet.
Perhaps some of the vast fortune they’ll inherit soon will stay there, hopes Lord Darlington. Maintaining Wentworth Hall and its large staff is quite costly, and his investments haven’t done well at all. And now Lady Darlington’s new baby boy, the expensive nanny from France, a stable full of horses – where do the expenses end? Marrying his elder son to Jessica Fitzhugh, or Maggie to dashing Teddy, or both…hmm.
Keeping up appearances in British society is priceless, so when the local paper prints scandalous articles which can only refer to the Darlingtons, everyone at Wentworth Hall begins to look over their shoulders – someone inside the estate is writing the articles, hinting at secrets that have long been hidden.
What does the writer want from the family? How far will they go to stop the newspaper stories? Can any shared secret truly stay hidden?  How can Maggie repair the friendships that she broke off when she went abroad?
A treat for fans of genteel British nobility, family histories, and mystery, Wentworth Hallholds more than its share of secrets.(One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

In Honor, by Jessi Kirby (fiction) – a last wish, a road trip, a journey of healing

Jul4
Book cover of In Honor by Jessi Kirby published by Simon Schuster

Happy Fourth of July!

Remembering the freedoms that we cherish in the USA, the courage of the men and women who defend them, and the sacrifices made by their families while they’re away from home.

Honor lost her parents while a toddler and now her only brother is coming home to Texas in a casket. Full military honors at a funeral can’t ever replace his smile or his teasing or his plans for their futures.

Of course she must take the road trip to fulfill his last wish for her, even though she should be heading for the University of Texas (that’s UT, Jessi) at that very moment.

Find Jessi’s second novel at your local library or independent bookstore today and travel new highways with Honor as she and Rusty try to figure out a future that doesn’t have Finn in it.
**kmm

Book info: In Honor / Jessi Kirby. Simon & Schuster, 2012. [author’s website]    [publisher site]

My Recommendation:  Honor still can’t believe that her big brother Finn has been killed in Iraq. When his last letter arrives afterwards with special concert tickets, she heads off in his vintage Impala on a cross-country adventure with a few more twists than either could have planned.
Orphaned as young children, Finn and Honor were raised by Aunt Gina to do the right thing, so his enlistment as a Marine rather than taking a football scholarship wasn’t that surprising. Somehow, he and best buddy got crosswise during their senior year, and Rusty stopped coming over to help rebuild the ‘Pala.
Surprising when Rusty shows up for the funeral and won’t let Honor drive alone from Texas to California, along for the journey while she misses university orientation to carry out her brother’s last wish – to tell their favorite singer about him at her final concert.
Off across the dry flats of West Texas, into New Mexico and an improbable scuba dive to look at the stars, trying to get cool as they drive the unairconditioned Impala across the Arizona desert, car troubles cause an unscheduled stop in Sedona to get parts. As they drive and as they wait, there’s more than enough time for Rusty to tell Honor about his argument with Finn, but he seems determined not to talk about it.
Are they going to get to California in time for the concert? Can Honor get to the university before classes start? Can they start to imagine a world without her smiling big brother in it?

This journey In Honor  of the plans that Finn made for their future will linger in memory long after the final page is turned. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.