Yes, I'm doing a Road Trip Wednesday*. Why? Because the question is so gosh darn easy to answer (I usually skip them because I hate coming up with entertaining quips and all). Hehe.. Anway today's question:

What is the best book  you've read in August?

Answer: The Chosen One by Carol Williams. It's about a girl who lives in a polygamist community and how she reacts to her arranged marriage. This book was unbelievable. It curled my stomach and made me ache inside. I read it in one sitting, and quite literally couldn't stop for a breath. Truly tension-filled. There are number of other books that I really loved this month, including Split by Swati Avasthi and Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley. I'll be talking more about my books of August tomorrow - provided I can make myself do another post tonight. :)

So what about you? What's the best book you've read this month?

*Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

Kirsty Eager Week - win free books!

Kirsty Eager is the very talented Australian author of Raw Blue and Saltwater Vampires. I have to tell you, Raw Blue is one of my very favorite books this year. I love it so much that I've been sending it around the US to other (unfortunate) Americans. I've been telling myself that I should do a review of it, but I keep get frozen feet, knowing that I could never do it justice. If you'd like to read some awesome reviews though, here are two that I thought were outstanding. Nome's review at InkCrush. Dana's review at and we're blogging. Ms. Eager has a new book coming out called Night Beach that I am dying to read. Yes, I probably will shell out the bucks to have it shipped all the way from Australia! And yes, I am entering this AWESOME contest to win a signed copy of Raw Blue even though I already have one (though I believe its somewhere in the midwest by now). You can enter the contest too! Go visit Nik at Irresistible Reads or Bibliophile Brouhaha for more info (actually there are two contests - double the chance to win!). If you don't win, then come back here and I can get you on my list for the book tour I've been doing. Yes, you should. No, I won't hold it against you if you don't, though I will start to wonder...

Review: Fury by Elizabeth Miles

Title:Fury
Author: Elizabeth Miles
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: August 30, 2011


Goodreads summary (edited):
Sometimes sorry isn't enough....
It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And Em and Chase have been chosen to pay.



Why I wanted to read this book:
1. The cover.
2. Characters with flaws.
3. The cover.
4. Mythological creatures from Greek Mythology
5. The cover.

*sigh* Yeah, it was the cover. I am getting a little tired of seeing covers with girls in fancy dresses, but this one just spoke to me. That fiery red hair all over the place. I know that I, personally, would not do well with hair like that, but it speaks to my youth. Yes, there was a time when all I wanted in the world was a Barbie Doll with hair that came down to her ankles. Maybe that's what all these "girls in dresses" covers are about - speaking to our inner Barbie. They need to realize, it's not just the dress - it's the HAIR!!! :)

But back to the review:

I would have to say that Fury is probably not a book for everyone. First of all, the characters are rather unlikeable, and for some, that may be hard to get past. We learn in the second chapter that Em is in love with her best friend's boyfriend and despite her insistence that she loves Gabby, she plows forward with those feelings regardless of how wrong it is. Then there's Chase, who when we meet him seems intent on nothing but securing the hottest date for his very important sporting event/dinner. He's ashamed of his mother and his trailer park digs. He's shallow and conceited and every time his perfectly preppy attire was mentioned I felt like strangling him with a shoelace. The only "nice" character in the whole book was JD, and he was so classically cliche that I had a hard time getting interested in him.

Yet, it was because I had heard these characters were flawed that I wanted to give the book a chance. I do love flawed characters when they are presented in just the right way, with voice and maybe some justification as to why they are that way. When they feel like "real" people with faults. But, the characters in Fury just seemed dim to me. Even so, while I was reading Fury, I was asking myself, why is it that I've come to expect YA characters to be either incredibly likeable or to have "understandable" unlikeability? I found myself comparing these characters to those of Stephen King. Back when I used to read King religiously, I never thought about whether I should put a book down because the characters were unsavory. I LIKED their darkness. I LIKED their rawness. I LIKED it that I was only see surface features, dimness (maybe because that made it more fun when the monsters got them?). I'm not sure when that changed or if it even did, but while reading Fury, I decided that for once, I wasn't going to care that the characters were infuriating (no pun intended). I was just going to keep reading because of the mystery.

And Fury did have some mystery to it. When I downloaded the book several weeks ago, I had forgotten what the story was supposed to be about. This was good, for me. When the mysterious girls showed up, I was anxious to figure out who they were, and since it's not spelled out right away, I was left guessing through most of the book. It kept me going when the characters were making me feel like I wanted to tie them down and stomp all over them. Thankfully, by the time I did figure it out, the characters had changed somewhat, and I wasn't quite so anxious to see them as roadkill. I've purposely eliminated any spoilers here so that you can have the same reaction if you decide to read - provided of course that you haven't read any other reviews.

One other word -  or warning - about Fury. It's sloooow. And loooooong. At 340-some pages, it could have easily been cut down a bit without losing anything. Nothing interesting happens until page 60, and even after the interesting things start,the sequence of events just crawls at a snail's pace. The big reveal doesn't happen until the last 50 pages or so, and by then I was getting frustrated that I wasn't being given any clues as to what was really going on. The pacing just felt...off. If it weren't for my insistence to finish what I've started, I probably would have stopped reading it.

My final reaction: it was different than most paranormals I've read. A lot of cliches and common plot devices used in other paranormals were lacking, and that was refreshing. But there were plenty of other things, the characters and the pacing, that make me hesitant to recommend it without some caution. Some may like it, some may not. There's a sequel in the works, but I probably won't be picking it up.

Thanks to Simon Pulse for providing this e-galley.

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Title: Graffiti Moon
Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Random House Children's Books


"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers."

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

My review: When I saw this book on Netgally, I did a little snoopy dance in my seat. I've been waiting forever to read this. It's been out in Australia for awhile (and been very well recieved), but it's scheduled for release in the US in February. But I didn't have to wait! I was so excited. Then I read the first page, and I did another Snoopy dance. First page = AMAZING. Indulge me for a minute.

I pedal fast. Down Rose Drive, where houses swim in pools of orange streetlight. Where people sit on verandas, hoping to catch a breeze. Let me make it in time. Please let me make it in time.  


Just arrived at the studio. Your graffiti guys Shadow and Poet are here, Al texted, and I took off across the night. Took off under a sky bleeding out and turning black. Left Dad sitting outside his shed yelling, "I thought you weren't meeting Jazz till later. Where's the fire, Lucy Dervish?"


In me. Under my skin. 

In me. Under my skin. At those words, I was hooked. And of course it just gets better from there. Lucy is the kind of character who's a little naive, a little of a romantic, and a little neurotic. I can relate. Ed is the kind of guy your heart aches for - brilliantly talented, misunderstood, and in desperate need of someone who will believe in him. I cheered for them both from the first page. I wanted them to get together in the worst way, and I can honestly say that I didn't know if that was going to happen or not. AND of coure, I won't tell you if it does. That would break all the suspense, and Crowley does create a lot of suspense with her simple premise.  It just goes to show that you don't need car chases (although there is a bike chase in the book) and complex plots to make a good story.

There was more to this book than romance though. The story is told in alternating POV, and while I was sometimes thinking that Crowley spent too much time rehashing what had just happened, I thought it was generally well done. I did enjoy Ed's POV just a touch more. He's more angsty than Lucy, more at odds with the world, and I kind of felt like it was his story rather than theirs. I appreciated the somewhat darker themes that the book addresses, about kids who are sitting on the sidelines waiting for their lives to happen while others around them seem to have the world at their feet. Crowley reminds us that everyone has something to offer. The message isn't a hit you over the head type of thing - it just is what it is. I love books that can set you down in the real world while offering up a fun quirky story. Hats off to Crowley for accomplishing this with elegant, effortless prose.

One final observation. I'm usually not big on books that include snippets of poetry. Aside from the occasional poem by Maya Angelou, I'm just not that into verse. But I did like the way Crowley uses Poet's poems in this book to let us see into his character. I thought the use of poetry  was a creative way to introduce his side plot without spending a lot of time on it or letting it get in the way of Ed and Lucy's story.


Thanks to Random House Children's Books for providing me with this ARC.
You can read the first pages here.
 I will be buying my own copy when it comes out in February. There's just too much good writing here to walk away with a single reading. :)

TGIF

Woot Woot!! I start vacation after work today. I can't wait. I have so much to do. Let's see there's:

• Pulling the weeds in the garden
• Cleaning the house
• Putting together the new bunk bed that will come on Monday
• Buy the kids school supplies
• Dentist appointment
• Hang out with my sis
• Review with the kids before they start school again.
• Clean out the storage room in the basement

What? Doesn't sound like a vacation? Oh blasted. I knew something was wrong. Okay how about:

• Read  4 books
• Write 20,000 words in the new WIP
• Finish revisions in the old WIP
• Send out 20 query letters

Still not good enough? Okay how about this?

Yep, that's what I'll be doing tomorrow. Well, not me, but the kids. Have a good weekend, my friends. :)