Review: Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Don't Even Think About It
by Sarah Mlynowski
Random House
Pub Date: March 11, 2014

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What it's about: This is the story of what happens when almost an entire homeroom gets a flu shot and ends up with the side effect of telepathy. Suddenly the group of students realize that they can't keep secrets from each other, and they also hear things they may not necessarily want to hear from crushes, friends, and family.

Okay, I've been waiting for a new Sarah Mlynowski book since I read 10 Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have). And this new novel didn't disappoint.

First of all, the super unique things about this story is the point of view. I want to label it collective first person, but my English degree might really be failing me here because I'm not sure if that's right. Anyway, the whole thing is narrated by a "we." Not only is this something I've never seen done before, but it makes total sense for the story! It is explained in the beginning that this large group of students considers themselves a "we" now that they have this telepathy. And since they can all hear each other's thoughts, they can narrate the story together in one voice. So cool!

Another cool thing about the story is the large ensemble cast. I have to admit that I cared about some characters less than others, and couldn't remember every character's individual story. But the author did give more focus to a smaller group and I liked all of these "main" characters. But I especially liked the changing dynamic between the members of the group. Because they didn't all start off as friends, but gaining this power bonded them. Bonus: there was one totally unexpected romance that bloomed by the end of the story and I really enjoyed that!

Finally, I loved all of the discomfort the situation caused for the characters. (Errr, maybe that sounds sadistic.) There were fights between friends and couples because they could suddenly hear what each other is thinking at every moment. And I think this is a really interesting thing to explore. Because, let's face it, we don't always have sickenly sweet thoughts about even our bestest friends 100% of the time. Imagine how hard it would be if you're friend heard your passing thought about how an outfit didn't look good on her. This isn't something you would actually say to her, so if she heard it you'd feel awful.

And then the author also explored more interesting dynamics between family members. It's interesting to think about all of the thoughts parents might keep hidden from their children because they just want their children to be happy and not have to share the parents' worries.

Overall, this was a really quick read. But definitely entertaining! And it just came out this week, so you can already check it out.

Review: Donna of the Dead by Alison Kemper

Donna of the Dead
by Alison Kemper
Entangled Publishing
Pub Date: March 4, 2014

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

People. I loved this book. I read it all in one sitting, and it's not a short book! When I first came across it on Goodreads it didn't have a cover (still doesn't), and the blurb was pretty much one sentence. But it compared the book to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so that put it on my auto-read list. I was so excited to get this ARC! I try to read the ARCs in the order in which the books will be released. But I had to read this right away. And then I had to keep reading until I was finished.

So I should probably say what it's about. It's a zombie novel. I know everyone talks about supernatural trends in books, and I've never been into any of them before... but give me more zombie novels! Please!   This one reminded me of This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers just because of the setup, but it was still different.

Babbling. Ok.

This book is about a girl named Donna who can hear voices in her head that warn her when she's in danger. This special ability (which she keeps secret from everyone) comes in handy when a zombie outbreak occurs. Her and her best friend Deke end up hiding out in their high school with a group of their classmates. Some of these people Donna can't stand, but her long-time crush Liam is there as well.  And that's basically it. Let the zombie slaying begin!

First thing I liked about this book was that it had a really interesting opening. Donna and Deke are with their families on a cruise ship when suddenly everyone else on the ship gets zombi-fied. And their parents get the ship to land and the kids escape. I've just never seen any scene from a zombie story take place in the middle of the ocean. It definitely raised the tension, having the characters confined to this zombie infested ship.

Next I liked the ensemble cast of characters. I feel like trapping kids in their high school with no adults is a common thing in YA now, but I'm a sucker for it. There's just so much room for different personalities to interact and different relationships to emerge.

The action was great. It was interesting to see how Donna's voices helped her. Because they didn't tell her directly what to do. They just gave warnings and she had to figure it out. I also really appreciated how the voices weren't this random supernatural element. By the end, we find out that there's a reason Donna can hear them.

So like I already said, I really really enjoyed this book. Definitely check it out if you like zombie novels, action, survival stories, or just a nice dose of teen drama.

Big, Exciting, Lots of Changes!

So I know the title of this post is ungrammatical. Oh well. That's just how my brain is working this week. Lots of things to report.

I decided on Monday that I was quitting my job at the diner. For many reasons that I don't need to get into. But basically, I knew I had to get out. Immediately. It was more than my general feeling of "I can't be a server anymore. This is killing me." It was this place specifically that I needed to get away from.

Lately I've been trying to get myself started as a freelance editor. I have a couple clients already. I created my own website, and I've been thinking about printing business cards. It's something that I know takes a lot of time to establish yourself. But I was enjoying going to my serving job in the morning and then having my evenings free to edit or work on my own writing. And a little extra money is always good.

So when I decided to leave my job, I briefly thought that I could try to really spread the word and support myself on freelancing. Plus I was looking into submitting articles to paying magazines and also maybe self-publishing some short stories on Amazon. But the reality is, I have way too many bills. At the moment, I just can't afford not to have a steady income.

So on Tuesday I applied at another restaurant that's opening up in a few weeks. On Wednesday I went back and got hired. It's not ideal--just going from one serving job to the next. It's not what I want to do with my life. But for now, it seems like my only option.

But then also on Wednesday, I got a completely out of the blue e-mail from a woman who saw a resume I posted online months ago on one of those job hunt sites. She wanted to interview me for an assistant manager position at Panera Bread. This is also not my ideal job. BUT unlike serving, this would give me way more money, plus benefits and insurance. And I'm just not in the position to turn that down. So I'm interviewing next week and I guess we'll see what happens. The only thing that worries me is that I'd be working WAY more hours than I am now. Which leaves much less time for my own writing and for freelancing. Of course, even though I love editing for people, the reason I started it was to make more money. And if I had this management position, I wouldn't need the extra money anymore. So I'd probably stop looking for new clients and just finish the projects I'm doing now.

The bottom line, though, is that whichever job I end up doing, at least it will be a change. My job has been making me miserable for a while now. And I can't keep living like that. Change will be good.

And and and AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS. On Thursday I sent out five new query letters to agents for my novel. And about an hour later I got a response from one agent asking to read the full manuscript. !!!!!***!@!@!!!!!! I probably don't need to say, but I was FREAKING OUT. For a good ten minutes. And then I went back to my computer. And I had ANOTHER e-mail from another agent wanting to read it too!

I'm not getting my hopes up. I swear I'm not. I know that the chance of them loving the novel enough to offer me representation is very very very slim. But so was the chance of them even wanting to read it in the first place. This is the farthest I've gotten in the agent search process so far. It's a huge step. And it feels AMAZING.

So now I'm waiting to hear back. I don't know how I'm going to focus on the rest of my life until I get their responses. I just don't.

But I'm really, really excited about my life right now.

:)

Review: The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry

The Summer I Found You
by Jolene Perry
Albert Whitman Teen
Pub Date: March 1, 2014

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Summer I Found You is told in alternating points of view between Kate, a girl who's dealing with her recent diagnosis of diabetes, and Aidan, a boy who is home from the army after losing an arm. The two are thrown together on a whim by Kate's best friend who is also Aidan's cousin. Romance ensues.

I'll start by saying that I absolutely adored this book. I wasn't sure how I felt about Kate at first, because at the beginning of the story she gets dumped, and then she spends a lot of time whining about it and thinking she can get the guy back. I didn't want to read about that, but I can admit that it did feel like a realistic reaction from a teenage girl. And Aidan starts off a bit whiney too, but understandably so, since he just lost his arm. Once the two meet, though, I was totally sucked into the story.

Kate is drawn to spending time with Aidan because he is the one person who doesn't know about her diabetes, and therefore isn't monitoring what she eats and worrying about her all the time. And Aidan likes being around Kate because she doesn't act weird about his arm. She just blurts out whatever she's thinking, even if other people would find it inappropriate. I really liked how, with the multiple POV's, we got to understand each person's motivation for wanting to be with the other. These two characters didn't fall into the trap of insta-love. They had very believable reasons for wanting to continue seeing each other. Eventually, of course, their feelings developed until they really cared about each other.

Of course, what drew them to each other also becomes the sources of their problems. They're both, in a way, hiding things from each other and aren't able to be completely open. Then things seem to fall apart in the climactic seen (which I could see coming from page one), but the pair finds a way to work things out. What I really love about their relationship is how they each help the other overcome their problems.

Overall, I thought both the story and the writing were great. I'd definitely be interested in checking out Jolene Perry's next book.

Review: Me Since You by Laura Weiss

Me Since You

by Laura Weiss

MTV Books

Pub Date: Feb 18, 2014

Me Since You is about a girl named Rowan whose father is a police officer. When her father is called to the scene of a tragic crime, this sets in motion a chain of events that change Rowan’s life. While Rowan’s family is dealing with the consequences of that day, Rowan begins a romance with Ely, a boy who also happened to be at the scene of the crime. But then another tragic event occurs which separates Rowan’s life into BEFORE and AFTER.

Let me start off by saying that I found the premise of this novel fascinating. It’s hard to give a review for this one without giving any spoilers, so I apologize in advance for the vagueness. But I’ve never considered what it might be like for a police officer in a situation like this where he is called to stop a crime. Because of this situation, I really enjoyed the first part of the novel where Rowan’s family is dealing with the aftermath of this crime.

Ely. I absolutely adored Ely. He and Rowan’s budding relationship felt very authentic to me. And I really appreciated how Ely had an interesting (but sad) backstory that also directly related to the present story. If that makes any sense. Again, I’m going to be vague here.

Now here’s where I’m not so sure how I feel about the novel. The second tragic event (the one that the book’s blurb says separates Rowan’s life) occurs way later in the novel than I expected. I could see the event coming, but then it took so long to actually happen that I began to get confused as to what the story was even supposed to be about.

Aside from the timing/pacing issue, I personally didn’t enjoy the book as much after the event. I felt like the rest of the novel became a big pile of grief. Now, I think the author did a good job of realistically portraying Rowan’s grief. But for me, it was just too much of a downer. I guess because it seemed like the entire plot of the story just stopped. And Rowan grieved. And that was it. And then the plot just barely picked back up again at the end (thanks to Ely). So while I really enjoyed reading at least the first half of the book, the rest of it disappointed me.

I also feel like I didn’t quite know what I was getting into when I began reading this book. Even the publisher’s summary is sort of vague to avoid spoilers. But I think if I had realized how this book was going to be ahead of time, I would have been prepared for a really sad read, and may not have had the same reaction to the sudden grief spiral.

So that’s all I have for you. Great setup, really strong writing, and then (at least for me) kind of a let down. Give it a try, though. Just be prepared for sadness.

In Which I Do ALL THE THINGS!

So for the last few weeks, I've felt like I've had a lot going on. Because I have. And what's really exciting is that all of these things are writing related.

I'm a waitress. That's how I'm currently paying my bills. But that's not a career, and I have my shiny new Master's degree (not to mention student loans) telling me that I should be doing more. And it's really frustrating sometimes. I've looked for full time jobs, but the thing is, I'm picky. I don't want to be sitting behind a desk working 9-5 bored out of my mind.

Obviously the dream is to become a full time writer. But the reality is much trickier. I kept telling myself that I'd be sending my novel out to agents soon, and that I'd just wait and see. I know that even if I did get a publishing contract, that would certainly not mean I could quit my job. But it would mean something. It would mean that I'm on the right track.

In the meantime, though, I'm going a bit crazy. I have a lot of friends at work, and I love them. And they're wonderful enough to listen to me babble endlessly about writing stuff and pretend that they care.  But I want to be doing more with my time than waiting tables and coming home to watch TV now that my novel is done. I want to engage more with other writers and book lovers. I do that with my VCFA friends, of course. But I want to do it more!

I didn't consciously make a choice to change things. But suddenly, it feels like all sorts of things are falling into place for me. So here's an update on what I've got going on now:

1. I did finish my novel AND wrote my query letter AND sent it out to five agents. That's a small batch for now, because I think the query letter needs to be revised some more. Once I start hearing back from these agents, I'll do some more work on the letter and send out another batch.

2. I went back to talking about books and writing on my YouTube channel: Read First, Write Second. This is important, not only because it's fun, but because making contacts with other readers and writers could potentially be beneficial down the road if my novel gets published.

3. I'm back to writing in this blog. (Obviously.)

4. I joined NetGalley, a site where publishers provide ARCs to reviewers in order to get publicity for their books. And I've already received 7 books. So that means more reviews on this blog and my YouTube.

5. I recently finished The F-It List by Julie Halpern and was really impressed with the way she handled the sexual content. So I e-mailed her asking for an interview, and she agreed! Look for that coming soon. But it's majorly exciting, because I realized I could ask other authors for interviews. It doesn't hurt to ask. And hopefully stuff like this, and the ARC reviews, will bring more readers to this blog.

6. I started freelance editing! Right now I'm working on one client's book, and I'm doing a 20 page sample for another. This is exciting for lots of reasons. First, I genuinely enjoy editing. And second, it's a way to actually make some money using my degree.

7. I plan to make business cards eventually to advertise my editing services.

8. I want to buy my own domain name and build my personal website. This is going to take some time, because I need to research things, and I'll need to hire someone to build the site for me. Because I am beyond tech-challenged. But I want to be able to promote myself, and all of the various things I do, in one place.

9. And finally, this is an idea that was only introduced to me yesterday so I'm still mulling it over, but I'm considering self-publishing some short stories on Amazon. I'm going to look into this. If I do it, I'll use a pseudonym to keep this separate from anything I eventually publish traditionally. I don't expect to make much money off of it, but you never know. I have stories written anyway, and it's very hard to find journals and lit mags that are looking for YA short stories.

I feel like I should have a tenth one just for the sake of tidy list-making. But I think that's all. So I thought I'd share, if anyone cares. I'm really excited. (In case I haven't mentioned that.) I feel like I'm working towards things now. And it's a good feeling. It's something I can remind myself of when I'm at the diner and am struck with the overwhelming urge to punch a customer in the face.

Cheers!

Review: And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

And We Stay
by Jenny Hubbard
Random House Children's
Pub Date: Jan 28, 2014

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

And We Stay is about a girl named Emily who is sent away to a boarding school in Amherst, MA after her boyfriend kills himself right in front of her. Over the course of the story, through Emily's poetry and flashbacks, we learn her secret and the details of why this boy did what he did. At school, Emily makes two friends and also starts to feel a connection to the late poet Emily Dickinson, and we get to see how both of these things help her to heal.

So first, let me say that I love the premise of this novel. Even though I prefer realistic novels, I love how Emily starts to sense the presence of Emily Dickinson. Just this tiny element of the supernatural makes the story interesting. Second, I love the boarding school setting. I'm always drawn to stories that take place at a boarding school. (Looking for Alaska and Winger are a couple great ones.) Also, I've been to Amherst many times and it's a really cute town. I actually would have liked to see more scenes take place off campus.

All right, let's talk about the characters. I really liked a secondary character, K.T., who is Emily's roommate. I think she was memorable because she surprised me. When Emily first meets K.T., I expected her to be annoying, superficial, and maybe even mean. Basically, an over-used side character in YA. I see this so many times where the protagonist is forced to deal with a character like this, not necessarily the antagonist, who seems to be there only to make the protagonist look cooler. But anyway, my first impression of K.T. was wrong, and she develops into, not only an interesting character, but a real friend to Emily.

I was also really drawn to Emily. She was dealing with a whole lot when she arrived at this school, and I appreciated the way she handled herself. I found myself rooting for her.

One other thing that I really, really appreciated about this story was the handling of certain difficult subject matter. I'm not going to discuss it here, because I want to keep this review spoiler free, but I do go into more detail in my review over on my YouTube channel. So I'll put the link to that video down below if you'd like to check it out.

Now here's where I felt a little disappointed with the book.

Like I said, I really liked the premise of the story, especially the connection with Emily Dickinson. But I actually would have liked to see that connection and maybe even the supernatural elements taken a bit further.

My biggest question about this novel, though, has to do with the plot as a whole. First, I want to say that I enjoyed reading this book the entire way through. I really did. BUT once I got a little more than halfway through, I started to feel like the book was either moving too fast, or there wasn't enough book left to finish the story. If that makes any sense at all. By the time I finished, I felt like I had only read the first 50 pages of a novel, rather than the entire thing. Everything that happened in the story only felt like a first act. I guess because I liked the book, I wanted more of it. At the end of the story, we see that Emily is well on her way to healing, but I felt like not enough happened to provoke that character development. Even the climatic scene seemed like it could have occurred in the novel's first 20 pages, and then the story could have continued from there. This is hard to explain, because I've never experienced this feeling after reading a novel before.

Bottom line, though, I really did enjoy reading this novel.

If you'd like to hear me talk more about this book, you can check out my video here: Read First, Write Second