Day 1 - Canadian YA Lit Event

Day 1. It begins. Again. :)

I'm so excited to be holding this event for a second year. The feedback I received from last year's event was amazing, thanks to all the people who dropped by during those two weeks and to all the authors who took part.

This year will, hopefully, be just as amazing. :)

Over the next two weeks you'll be seeing posts featuring different Canadian authors, those born here or moved here or moved away or lived here for a time, and their books. There should be a variety of posts, although this year seems to be Q&A-heavy. It's like you guys were forcing me to think up intelligent questions. Besides the Q&As, there will be some guest author posts and some reviews.

I like the group of authors taking part this year. Some are with big publishers, some are with smaller Canadian publishers. Some have multiple books out, some have just one out right now, and some have their first book coming out this year. Which is awesome. :)

I was debating on whether or not to spoil it and list who you'll be seeing over the next two weeks, but I'm all about surprises so you guys will have to wait. Unless you're on Twitter and you know who I've been talking to over the past few months.

Now, to the giveaway portion that I'm holding. It's pretty much the same as last year. If you win, you'll get your choice of a YA book written by a Canadian. This post is interspersed with possibilities. And like last year, the book has to be out by at least the end of June so you're not waiting months for it.

So, just fill out the Rafflecopter thing, and perhaps the mystical being inside it will pick you as the winner. :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Me on Waiting on Wednesday (126)

Waiting on Wednesday is a bunch of weekly fun hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. :)

Title: Descendant
Author: Lesley Livingston
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

From Goodreads:

The last thing Mason Starling remembers is the train crossing a bridge. An explosion . . . a blinding light . . . then darkness. Now she is alone, stranded in Asgard—the realm of Norse legend—and the only way for her to get home is to find the Spear of Odin, a powerful relic left behind by vanished gods.

The Fennrys Wolf knows all about Asgard. He was once trapped there. And he’ll do whatever it takes to find the girl who’s stolen his heart and bring her back—even if it means a treacherous descent into the Underworld. But time is running out, and Fenn knows something Mason doesn’t: If she takes up the Spear, she’ll set in motion a terrible prophecy. And she won’t just return to her world . . . she’ll destroy it.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Starling, Lesley Livingston delivers another electrifying blend of nonstop action and undeniable romance that will leave readers breathless.

There's some kind of awesome Canadian storytelling magic that Lesley works into every one of her books that makes me want to read them all as quickly as I can. As much as her other series pleases the British history and science fiction nerd in me, this series pleases the dark magic and suspense and mythology nerd in me. :)

Me on Reboot

Title: Reboot
Author: Amy Tintera
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins imprint)

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation). Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line, or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

Reboot is dark, dangerous, and deadly. It's an intriguing look at humanity, what sets apart those with emotion and those without, and how both sides react in life-threatening situations. It's also a look at how far some will go, how far they will follow orders before they decide that the better option, the right option, is to keep those they are connected to safe. To follow or to fight back, that is the choice Wren is forced to make.

Wren's humanity was sucked away during those 178 minutes when she was dead. What was left behind was a fighting machine with no emotions, no desire to laugh or cry. She's practical, straight-forward, stoic, and doesn't take crap from others. Callum is a weakness in her eyes, dead only for a measly 22 minutes. He's nowhere near as strong or as fast as her, he'll never heal as fast as her, and the odds of him surviving long are stacked against him. But she doesn't necessarily want to see him fail. She doesn't want to see anyone fail. Wren might not be as emotional, or as human, as Callum or as some of the other Reboots, but she doesn't want to see anyone die.

When all the emotion and humanity inside someone is gone, what's left? Are they still human? Is that what makes us human, emotion and affection and laughter? If that's true, then what is Wren? No tears fall from her eyes, laughter doesn't escape from her lips, but she's still a seventeen-year-old girl struggling to live, fighting every day to keep living, fighting to keep the world safe.

To become a Reboot, you need to die and come back to life. But what are they? Are they zombies, the dead risen again? Or are they the next stage in evolution?

Action-packed, fast-paced, heart-pounding, this book was oh so thrilling. Besides Wren's normal Reboot life, besides the odd connection with Callum, something is going on under Wren's nose. Something is happening to the other Reboots, and Wren won't dare stop until she stops it first.

(I acquired an advance copy of this book at ALA Midwinter.)

Me on This Week's Book(less) Week (49)

This Week's Book(less) Week is like Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews only with more babble and less books. ;)

No new books this week. Well, it's been a while since there was a bookless week, I imagine I was due. :)

The Canadian YA Lit Event starts on Wednesday CUE THE FREAKING OUT. Well, I guess I could freak out because not all the posts are scheduled yet (meaning I'm waiting on a couple of authors and their parts), but I'm sure everything will work out. :)

I hope you'll all come by during the event, read about some Canadian authors and their books and discovering something new to read. :)

A quick update on my health situation. I'm about 2 and a half weeks into 6 weeks worth of antibiotics. Everything's still the same, same weird finger that's kind of getting better I guess (the nail is getting less gross) and same tube in my arm. I told a couple friends I've had since high school about it this week, they were surprised and a bit concerned but I told them I'd be fine. :) I'm going to have dinner with them soon. It'll be fun. :)

There's only one review going up this week, Reboot by Amy Tintera. Then comes the daily posts for the Can YA Lit Event, which will be a mix of Q&A's, guest posts, and reviews. :)

What I read this past week:
What Really Happened in Peru by Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan (certainly a must-read for fans of Cassie's Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices series)
The Originals by Cat Patrick (My review was posted yesterday. Cat's books are often this awesome blend of straight-up contemporary with a single sci-fi or fantasy twist that makes it interesting.)
Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels by Hélène Boudreau (I love this series. 14-year-old and plus-sized Jade is dealing with friendship, cute boys, and the fact that she's a mermaid. It's a fun and witty series with moments of action and suspense and teen girl body issues.)
Reboot by Amy Tintera (A re-read because my review goes up on Monday and when I read it back in January at ALA Midwinter I didn't take any notes. I also met Amy there and got her to sign it. :))

Me on The Originals

Title: The Originals
Author: Cat Patrick
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Book Group imprint)

17-year-olds Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey grew up as identical triplets... until they discovered a shocking family secret. They're actually closer than sisters, they're clones. Hiding from a government agency that would expose them, the Best family appears to consist of a single mother with one daughter named Elizabeth. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey take turns going to school, attending social engagements, and a group mindset has always been a part of life. Then Lizzie meets Sean Kelly, a guy who seems to see into her very soul. As their relationship develops, Lizzie realizes that she's not a carbon copy of her sisters; she's an individual with unique dreams and desires, and digging deeper into her background, Lizzie begins to dismantle the delicate balance of an unusual family that only science could have created.

The Originals is a curious and secretive story of identity, a look at taking a chance and deciding to be your own person instead of the one someone wants you to be. A contemporary setting with the barest hint of science, this is reminiscent of the author's previous novels, stories about teens looking for a normal life, hoping for one, but something secretive and suspicious in their past is holding them captive.

Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey. Three girls. Three girls made to live one life, forced to live the same life outside the walls of their home. They look the same, they sound the same. They are clones. But they are not the same. They have different personalities. In the ways the girls feel it matters, they are different people, and that complicates the life their mother has planned for them.

It's not the science behind human cloning that is the focus here, it's more of a sociological and psychological experiment. How much of what we are is determined by our genetic code? Is every single piece of our personality, how we see ourselves, in our genes? That doesn't seem to be the case for the girls. Clones they may be, but not wholly. What forms personality and identity? Can it be copied?

What does identity mean when you're forced to be someone else? What does identity mean when you're restricted on how to act, what to look like? When are you free to be honest, to live and look the way you want to? What if you want to share that real you with someone so they see beyond the mask you're forced to wear? But what if the truth that will come out is too big to share?

Cat Patrick's books are unique in a way that I find compelling. She takes a realistic contemporary setting and with one tweak or twist, one point, sends it into the realm of the impossible. Lizzie, Ella, and Betsey are clones, yes, but everything else could be pulled from real life. They have trouble with high school (especially Lizzie and triangles), they have crushes on boys and wish they could date, they butt heads with their mother on rules and curfews. They are very much like normal teenage girls, like normal triplets, only they could be considered by some to be far from normal.


(I received an advance copy of this book to review from Hachette Book Group Canada.)