So I've been thinking I should give Sarah Dessen another try for awhile now. It seems every other day people are extolling her virtues and it's not uncommon to hear Dessen referred to as the Queen of the contemporary YA. Quite the crown of laurels, really. Several years ago I picked up two Dessen books in a row--This Lullaby and Someone Like You--I believe it was. I was unenthused. I read both through to the finish but remained distinctly underwhelmed and promptly forgot them. But it's hard to avoid Dessen's work over a long period of reading young adult novels and they always seemed like books I would really like. So after hearing a multitude of people hail The Truth About Forever as their very favorite of her works, I decided it was high time to give her another shot.

Macy strives for perfection. Or at the very least she strives to facilitate it in others. Namely her brainiac boyfriend (and I use the term loosely) Jason. Having lost her father a year or so ago, she and her mother live alone in their huge house making time by ignoring their grief and focusing on making every aspect of their individual lives "perfect." Of course, everything is anything but. And when perfectly milquetoast Jason goes away for the summer, Macy promises to faithfully uphold his job at the local library as well as all their other clubs, cliques, and causes. But then the Wish Catering company invades Macy's home one night when her mother is entertaining prospective real estate clients. Led by extremely pregnant, extremely absentminded Delia, this motley crew soon worm their way into Macy's heart and she finds herself moonlighting as a caterer and, in the process, finds Wes. Who helps her realize there's more to life than frozen grief and insipid perfection.

The Truth About Forever started out well enough. I felt bad for Macy and the incredibly sad circumstances under which she lost her dad. I loved the idea of the crazy band of caterers operating in a chronic state of panic. I was definitely ready to find myself enamored of the kind and handsome Wes. But things just never went anywhere from there. I felt ready to feel those things the entire time without ever actually feeling them. Macy never morphed into a fully-fledged character for me. All of her emotions felt muted and mine followed suit. Though she was described as being torn between her relationship with Jason and her budding romance with Wes, she never really seemed to be. She and Wes spend hours and hours playing the truth game and divulging their innermost secrets to one another. And yet they didn't seem to forge a real, tangible connection. The kind of feelings that we're told were simmering on the surface never bubbled up. And the initially charming and quirky cast of characters slowly fade away into the lackluster background as the story goes on. What can I say? I didn't dislike the book. I just finished it feeling indifferent. Which I know is not the desired response. I feel like I've read books similar to this one done better, more dynamically--the writing, the characterization, the emotions, the whole thing. Jennifer Echols, Lisa Ann Sandell, Julia Hoban, and E. Lockhart come immediately to mind. And so I must conclude that I just don't possess the Sarah Dessen gene and leave it at that. It's a shame, but my reaction is definitely in the minority and thus the multitude of other reviews below.


Linkage
Avid Book Reader Review
Book Addiction Review
Dear Author Review
GalleySmith Review
Harmony Book Review
Just Listen Book Review
My Life in Books Review
Wondrous Reads Review

Hey there! Today I'm guest blogging over at See Michelle Read. As part of her extremely fun Literary Love event, I'm spotlighting one of my very favorite couples from contemporary fiction. Can you guess which couple I chose? Stop by and tell us if you're a fan of the slow burn, too.

Retro Friday is a weekly meme hosted here at Angieville and focuses on reviewing books from the past. This can be an old favorite, an under-the-radar book you think deserves more attention, something woefully out of print, etc.

It has not escaped my attention that I seem to focus on a high proportion of mysteries for these Retro Friday posts. Interesting. I guess mysteries have always been a part of my life. Ever since my mom handed me that first Nancy Drew--The Hidden Staircase--that thirst for the clues, the search, the not knowing has stuck with me. That, combined with the fact that they are very nostalgic for me, and you get to read about a lot of them. I've also mentioned the author Mary Stewart on here quite a bit, but never actually reviewed on of her novels. She is my very favorite when it comes to romantic suspense and her many mysteries are serial re-reads for me. In the best of times and the worst of times, she comes through with an unrivaled spirit of adventure, panache, and wanderlust. I will forever have my mom to thank for finding her first Mary Stewart in a small town library when she was in high school, painstakingly collecting lovely used copies over the years, and reading them over and over again so that one day I would grow up and want to do the same. If you ask my mom which one is her favorite she'll probably tell you Airs Above the Ground. It takes place in her beloved Austrian Alps and features a dangerous fire, a missing husband, and a legendary horse. It's definitely the one I saw her re-reading most often. If you ask me, I get "that look" on my face and dither around about the virtues of this one and that one. Which is exactly what I did trying to decide which one to post on today. I ended up with Nine Coaches Waiting because it may be the most potent combination of every element I love about Ms. Stewart's novels. It's certainly one of the ones I re-read most often.


Belinda Martin (Linda for short--or for pretty, as her mother used to say) lands in Paris on a cold, gray, and rainy day. She is on her way to her brand new post as a governess to the young Count Philippe de Valmy. Having lost both his parents in a tragic accident, the nine-year-old little boy lives with his aunt and uncle in the vast and ornate Château Valmy in the French countryside. Léon de Valmy, Philippe's uncle, runs the estate on behalf of his underage nephew until he comes of age and arranged for a proper English governess for his charge. When Linda arrives at the imposing manor, she is at once enchanted by its beauty and history, but is also immediately struck by the sense of menace and doom surrounding the land and its inhabitants. Léon is a charismatic force of nature and quite charming with it, and when Linda meets his reckless and rakishly handsome son Raoul, she understands a bit more about the Valmy heritage and what makes this family tick. As she becomes closer to Philippe and Raoul, Linda draws ever nearer to putting her finger on the source of the threat. But the layers of danger and darkness run deeper than any of them guessed and she may not be able to trust those she wants to, no matter how innocent or attractive they may seem. Soon it is up to the shy young governess to beat the clock in order to save Philippe's life as well as her own.


This is the kind of heady, romantic, foreboding tale that wraps you up in its elegant wings and carries you off for parts unknown. Linda is immediately sympathetic, with her loneliness wrapped around her like a threadbare cloak, her fierce protectiveness of Philippe, and the way she verbally spars with Léon de Valmy and manages to emerge unscathed. She is what this darkly glorious place needs and there are wonderful little touches here and there of the Jane Eyre and Rebecca about this novel. A favorite passage early on: 

I heard nothing. I turned quickly. Even then it was a second or so before I saw the shadow detach itself from the other shadows and slide forward.
Though I had known what to expect, instinctively my eye went too high, and then fell--again by instinct, shrinkingly--to the squat shape that shot forward, uncannily without sound, to a smooth halt six feet away.
Pity, repulsion, curiosity, the determination to show none of these . . . whatever feelings struggled in me as I turned were swept aside like leaves before a blast of wind. The slightly dramatic quality of his entrance may have contributed to the effect; one moment a shadow, and the next moment silently there . . . But, once there, Léon de Valmy was an object for no one's pity; one saw simply a big, handsome, powerful man who from his wheel chair managed without speaking a word to obliterate everyone else in the hall--this literally, for almost before the wheel chair stopped, the servants had melted unobtrusively away. Only Mrs. Seddon was still audible, steaming steadily up the right-hand branch of the staircase toward the gallery.
It was a tribute to Léon de Valmy's rather overwhelming personality that my own first impression had nothing to do with his crippled state; it was merely that this was the handsomest man I had ever seen. My experience, admittedly, had not been large, but in any company he would have been conspicuous. The years had only added to his extraordinary good looks, giving him the slightly haggard distinction of lined cheeks and white hair that contrasted strikingly with dark eyes and black, strongly-marked brows. The beautifully shaped mouth had that thin, almost cruel set to it that is sometimes placed there by pain. His hands looked soft, as if they were not used enough, and he was too pale. But for all that, this was no invalid; this was the master of the house, and the half of his body that was still alive was just twice as much so as anybody else's . . . .
He was smiling now as he greeted his wife and turned to me and the smile lit his face attractively. There was no earthly reason why I should feel suddenly nervous, or why I should imagine that Héloise de Valmy's voice as she introduced us was too taut and high, like an overtight string.
I thought, watching her, she's afraid of him. . . . Then I told myself sharply not to be a fool. This was the result of Daddy's intriguing build-up and my own damned romantic imagination. Just because the man looked like Milton's ruined archangel and chose to appear in the hall like the Demon King through a trap door, it didn't necessarily mean that I had to smell sulphur.

And the entire story winds on in that delicious vein. The exquisite suspense lingers to the very last and the relationships between the characters are real, romantic, and wholly delightful. Every time I read it I fall in love all over again with lovely Linda, dangerous Raoul, adorable Philippe, and beautiful, haunting Valmy. And I get chills at the same parts every time single time. Nine Coaches Waiting showcases a master storyteller at her very best. Highly recommended.

It's like some kind of cover craze around here lately. But there's just so many to talk about and spotlight! Yesterday Robin McKinley unveiled the cover for her upcoming novel Pegasus. 

Do the words "some authors have all the luck" come to mind? Lol. Just kidding. I know they all go through serious highs and lows cover-wise throughout their careers. But holy crap! This one is gorgeous. While I gaze at it some more, you can read the first three snippets here, here, and here. 
Pegasus is due out November 2nd. 

Sarah Rees Brennan has released the cover for the U.S. hardback release of The Demon's Covenant--sequel to the fabulous The Demon's Lexicon. Sweet, eh? I love it. Love the blue fire and the fact that Sin scored the coveted cover spot. How awesome is that? I also like how it will complement the U.S. paperback version of The Demon's Lexicon as well as the UK version of itself, as seen below:

I will no doubt pine away until I own copies of both because I have that kind of sickness. But I gotta have the one with Mae on the cover and that matches my UK copy of TDL. What do you guys think?

So about a week ago Moira J. Moore announced that she'd received the cover art for Heroes Return--the upcoming fifth novel in her wonderful Heroes series featuring Source & Shield duo Lee and Taro. Naturally all of us regular readers begged to see it and she kindly obliged. Here it is:

Now. Blue lightning jazz hands aside, there are a number of levels on which this cover does not work. I would imagine that those of you who've read the series would agree that the first and foremost problem would be Taro. One of the dear boy's defining traits his his drop dead gorgeousness. Taro would not be who he is without his pretty exterior. And this guy...well, he looks rather alarmingly like Tarzan's slightly less evolved brother. He is also carrying a sword, despite the fact that he wouldn't have the first clue what to do with one. As for Lee. This girl has fringe on her boots and looks pretty...dapper...for pragmatic, doesn't care about her clothes Lee.

This series has seen two, possibly three shifts in cover art and concept and none of them, in my humble opinion, accurately reflect the awesome inside. The covers make them look hokey. And they are anything but. This is frustrating to me, as a reader, because I believe these books deserve so much more and these covers make it hard for me to recommend them and get them into the hands of other readers who will fall in love with Ms. Moore's wonderful characters and unique world. Despite the categorical unfairness of it, we all judge books by their covers to a certain degree and the truth is, if I'd seen this cover with no knowledge of the book or series, I would have run scream-laughing the other way. Sad, but true. Part of that is my fault with the cover snobbery and whatnot. But part of it's not.

My question for Ace Books is how hard is it to craft a decent cover that stands a chance of appealing to the average fantasy reader and, at the very least, does not do the author and book a grand disservice by portraying the characters and/or story as ridiculous or cliché? How hard is it to have the artist depict Taro as actually handsome and not possessed of a face like unto a foot? Before you say it, I know there are covers out there that misrepresent the characters or tone of their books, sometimes massively, yet still work and sell books like hot cakes. The Mercy Thompson series comes to mind. Mercy would never dress as scantily as she does on those covers. And yet there's no denying they are attractive and they unquestionably connect, on a visceral level, with Patricia Briggs' audience. These, however, do not. 


Interestingly, in the midst of all the responses to the description of this new cover, an anonymous poster linked to a picture by Chris McGrath, which she said reminded her of Lee & Taro. Several of us, including Moira, popped on over and were stunned at how exactly the image matched our impression of them. 

(image courtesy of Chris McGrath's awesome website)

Is it not perfect? Not even a hint of the goofy, the deranged, or the simply inaccurate. It's just Taro & Lee. I adore it. Now, I've admired Mr. McGrath's work for some time now. And I happen to know he's done the covers for several new as well as established fantasy and urban fantasy authors and titles, including Seanan McGuire's October Daye series, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden files, Kat Richardson's Greywalker novels, and Kelly Gay's Charlie Madigan series. Three of the four of those examples are published by divisions of the Penguin Group, to which Ace also belongs. Come on, Ace. No more cheap cartoon art. You're five books in now. It's time to give these books the covers (and larger audience) they deserve. 

I have a booktwin. Her name is Martha. She can usually be found here, here, and sometimes over here. She's the one with remarkably cute shoes and her nose in a book.

Martha and I have known each other for close to nine years now. My word, can that be right? Amazingly, it is. We "met" in the Young Adult Reading Group (YARG) at the now defunct Readerville, may it rest in peace. We bonded first and foremost over our love for Tamora Pierce's Alanna quartet. Specifically a mutual adoration of a certain King of Thieves from that series. (We ♥ you, George!) A friendship was born as we quickly began noticing how often our bookish tastes dovetailed and how closely our reading history matched. I still find it uncanny how we discovered the same series at the same age, how we owned the same beat-up editions of beloved books, how we crushed on the same literary characters without even the faintest hint of embarrassment. And how we continue to carry those torches, years later.

Back then, whenever you posted on the 'Ville, a tagline of your choice would show up under your username. The entire time I was a member (more than six years total), mine was set to a couple of lines from one of my favorite poems by W.B. Yeats--"A Poet to His Beloved:"

I bring you with reverent hands/ the books of my numberless dreams

When I first read that poem, I burst into tears on the spot. There is nothing like that moment, that epiphany, when you realize someone else, who lived ages before you, felt exactly the same way. Was able to put those fragile, precious emotions you feel into words in such a way that they would touch you across time and pages and oceans. As most of you know, there is also nothing like that moment when you actually meet someone else, be it in person or virtually, who gets it the way you get it. It's devastating in the most joyful sense of the word. And it is binding. Martha got that quote. Got the privacy and hope and vastness and risk packed into those two deceptively simple lines. And we have been friends (and booktwins) ever since.

Whenever we come across something marvelous the other has not clued in on, we beg, we cajole, we wheedle, we shout until the other picks it up and devours it. So that then we can experience all over again that moment of connection, that absorption in something larger than ourselves. It took Martha years to get me to read Megan Whalen Turner's Thief books and I will, of course, never stop flogging myself for not listening to her sooner because the books in that series instantly became some of the books of my life. I got her to read (and love) Ellen Emerson White (!) awhile back and have been trying for something like eight years to get her to read Daughter of the Forest. She swears to me that this is the year. And, true to form, I'm on pins and needles awaiting her reaction. We've had the good luck to meet three times in real life and I'm amazed how quickly we fall into the patterns of two people who've been a part of each other's lives for years. Which I guess we have. And for that I am grateful. Because life would be so much lesser without her.

So I'm curious. Is there a booktwin in your life? What books did you bond over?

You've got to hand it to Rachel Vincent. She can churn out a page-turner like nobody's business. And, really, with the way she tends to end each novel on a spectacular cliffhanger, I appreciate how close together Mira has released the last two. Installment number five, Shift, is due out in just one month and so I'm particularly glad I waited awhile to read Prey as the end of this one left me even more bereft than the last. A feat I didn't think was actually possible considering the consequences surrounding that ending. I had heard rumors of darkness swirling their way through the internets in regards to this volume and that probably contributed a little bit to my rather unusual willingness to wait as I was afraid of who would be hurt this time and by whom.

Faythe is counting down the hours. Since one of the conditions of her acquittal was Marc's banishment to the neutral territory, she's been on pins and needles worrying about his safety, relying on infrequent telephone calls to reassure her of his continued wellbeing. And when she's not fretting over Marc, she's busy playing nursemaid to the Sanders' newest refugee. Kaci refuses to shift and allow her body to heal and become one with its werecat self. But she worships Faythe and so it's our girl's job to convince the young girl that all won't go to hell in a hand basket if she lets her guard down long enough to shift. There is also the matter of Manx's trial and the political machinations to do with the sudden presence of another rogue female and the role of female werecats in general within the strictly patriarchal werecat community. So when Marc goes missing and packs of strays are seen prowling the neutral territory, Faythe, her brothers, and all her father's enforcers are on a mission to get to the root of these mysteriously linked events.

I'm happy to confirm that the hints of maturation and resolve we saw in Faythe throughout Pride are all present and accounted for in Prey. She's very intent on the important things in this book. She hasn't lost sight of them and she is aware, in a way I don't think she ever has been in the past, of how her actions and her past affect her present and, more importantly, her future. I have always liked Faythe. But I liked her most of all this time around. Better than any of the other characters, in fact, which is saying something as I am kind of a fan of Marc. And Jace, too. But I loved how dogged she was about finding Marc and fulfilling her obligations to her father and Kaci, even to Manx's little son. That said, I would be remiss if I did not note the elephant in the room in Prey. A sense of inescapable doom hangs over this story and I had the distinct feeling that that horrible thing you're afraid will happen the entire time would not actually take place, and then, just when you think it's safe to let out that breath you've been holding, the equally but different horrible thing you're not thinking of would bash you over the head. And I was spot on. When it comes it deals a direct blow and from that moment on things are messy and painful and very, very conflicting. I finished  completely unsure of how I felt, torn over what went down in the end. And nothing is going to help me figure it out but reading Shift and seeing how Ms. Vincent chooses to let the chips fall. I'll just be over here crossing my fingers they don't fall the way I'm afraid they will. 

Linkage

Avid Book Reader Review

Good Karma Review

Literary Escapism Review

obsessive-compulsively ruining my nail polish review

SciFiGuy Review

Because I'm still re-reading it and grinning, I figured I might as well link to the latest snippet Ilona and Gordon Andrews have released on their site in case you haven't seen it yet. This one's from Magic Bleeds (only 113 days and counting til release day *sob*) and you're gonna looooove it. Only problem is, they sneakily removed the names of the characters involved in this scene. I think we all know who they are, though, and this wait is killing me! I may have to just go re-read Magic Strikes to tide me over. Again.

I'm excited to report that today kicks off Harper Teen's 28 Days of Winter Escapes book-a-day giveaway event!

28 Fabulous Books. 28 Fabulous Authors. 28 Fabulous Blogs.

Each day a new book will be featured and up for giveaway on the official site along with a corresponding poll. Answer the poll and be entered to win an autographed copy of the book! Once a week a larger prize will be up for grabs as well, including an iPod Touch. Each day the author of that book will also be found on one of the participating blogs talking about their book. I'm stoked to be taking part in this super fun event. On February 20th, I'll be hosting author Rachel Hawthorne here on the blog as she talks about her upcoming book Shadow of the Moon--the fourth in the Dark Guardian series, which is due out March 23rd. In the meantime, be sure to check out each of the giveaways starting today!