Just Another Book Crush (#13): Plus One by Elizabeth Fama (Blog Tour, Guest Post, and Giveaway!)

I am so excited to be part of Elizabeth's Plus One Blog Tour! If you haven't already read my review of Fama's sophomore novel, you should definitely check it out HERE - Elizabeth references it in today's post. Without further ado, let's invite Elizabeth over to the blog already, shall we? ;)

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

Title: Plus One 

Author: Elizabeth Fama

Find It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

Divided by day and night and on the run from authorities, star-crossed young lovers unearth a sinister conspiracy in this compelling romantic thriller. Seventeen-year-old Soleil Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller prohibited by law from going out during the day. When she fakes an injury in order to get access to and kidnap her newborn niece—a day dweller, or Ray—she sets in motion a fast-paced adventure that will bring her into conflict with the powerful lawmakers who order her world, and draw her together with the boy she was destined to fall in love with, but who is also a Ray. Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

I try not to obsessively read early Goodreads reviews when my advance reader copies are released. I try hard, but I often fail. It was particularly difficult this time around, because so few people seemed to be reading their ARCs of Plus One. (I blame the "Southwest Airlines safety pamphlet" ARC cover.)

That's when I saw Keertana's review. Poor Keertana! I craved opinions about this book so much that I threw Internet etiquette out the window and contacted her for a literary conversation. Thank goodness she didn't slap a restraining order on me.

I learn so much from readers' reviews. Often when a reader stumbles it means I didn't do my job. In this case, Keertana had problems with the romance, love, and sex, and I wanted to understand why. In short, she found 1. the main characters' relationship jumps too quickly from like to love after a particular revelation, 2. the two characters are rushed into protestations of love because their time together is limited, and 3. the sex feels rushed and less meaningful than it should, for the same reason ("bucket-list sex").

If Keertana didn't sense the characters' affection growing over the course of their adventure (problem #1), then I definitely needed to pause and study what I had done. Yes, there's the particular plot point that grounds some of their feelings, but she's right that by itself it's not enough, and there are at least supposed to be hints at burgeoning respect and compatibility before that point is revealed to them. Sol and D'Arcy start out as opposites, and at odds, but their characters are meant to be fundamentally similar where it counts: they're fiercely loyal and family-oriented, strong, smart, and decent. I wanted to show that slowly, privately, they begin to admire particular qualities in the other person. Keertana's struggle here made me realize that the tiny meaningful moments I thought I had embedded in the narrative along the way may have been too tiny. [See footnote 1 at the end of the post for examples--but they're spoilery.]  Each moment is small enough that perhaps even taken together they're "not enough." It gives me so much to think about, as a writer.

As for Keertana's problems #2 and #3, I was actually happy to see that she experienced discomfort with the pace of their relationship. Their relationship is rushed, and she's right: it's precisely because of the predicament they find themselves in, and it was not only deliberate on my part, but crucial to the theme of lost freedom that I was exploring. Because of an arbitrary, unjust government policy, their time together is precarious. Sol distinctly feels that it's running out, and she's taking the one and only opportunity she has to be with this person she cares so deeply about. There is a blend of healthy agency (she wants him, she initiates sex) and forced urgency (it must happen now). How might their relationship have progressed if they the politics of their world had been different? [See footnote 2 for spoilery speculation.] 

But why include the love and sex at all, if Plus One is about personal freedom? Or as Keertana said, "I am all for sex in YA but the short sex scene in Plus One didn't serve a purpose." I wanted readers to become invested in the romance so that they would internalize the political and social issues that made that love impossible. I wanted the reader to think about was how unfair that was--how the Day/Night divide has this ripple effect that takes away even the smallest rights from a person: the right to choose to be with the person you love, and at what pace to take your first sexual relationship, which I think are issues teens are highly attuned to (more than, say, which career paths are open to you, which is also an issue in the book).

Just Another...Book Crush! 

Here are three books that have filled my head recently:

1. Cress by Marissa Meyer. The Lunar Chronicles is joyful storytelling at its best. Marissa Meyer wants to take you on a delightful, sweeping ride and you should let her. I've been so impressed by how each book tells its own story, introduces new characters, but builds on the foundations of the previous books. Soon, we'll have four dynamic couples battling one evil Lunar queen, and I can't wait. In this third book, I adore the way Captain Thorne is metaphorically blind to Cress's simple goodness and love at first, and also literally blind.

2. The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski. I read this and wanted more so I listened to it on audio. And then I listened to my favorite parts again. This book reminded me of Megan Whalen Turner's work, not just because of the geo-politics in a slightly ancient mediterranean-ish setting, but also in the way Marie Rutkoski shows subtle interactions between characters and trusts that we'll understand them without her own intrusion into the narrative. 

3. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. This is the most difficult book I've read in years--or perhaps ever. It was pure torture, like running a marathon--I read every sentence five times before I understood it. But at the finish line, sweating (and angry at what happened on the last page), I found I was enriched by the experience. It even inspired the language of my short story "Noma Girl," for Tor.com. (Which is to say: if my short story is incomprehensible because of lack of punctuation and stream of consciousness, you can blame it on Faulkner.)

-------

(Keertana: feel free to put these footnotes after the Book Crush segment...it's your call. What kind of author puts footnotes in a blog post anyway? A nerdy one, I guess.)

Footnote 1: For example, the way they instinctively, simultaneously step back behind the privacy line in the emergency room to give a very sick patient and his wife space shows a similar kind of consideration; the way Sol makes D'Arcy laugh when she says that she'll go to college at Dwight Correctional University (this joke is too regional, perhaps: Dwight is the women's prison in Illinois), and Sol notices the similarity of his belly laugh to her brother's; the way D'Arcy pauses, taken aback for just a second when Sol reveals why she kidnapped the baby (her reason is insane, but it's intensely loving); the way Sol observes without judgment D'arcy's concentration while wiping up the condensation ring, whereas before she thought it was machine-like; the way she admires the way he scrabbles his hair when he's thinking; the way Sol finishes D'Arcy's sentence for the first time under Wacker Drive; the way she wants to spare him when he drops her off at the yacht from being dragged down by her... I could go on and on, but listing them is showing me how very small they each are! 

Footnote 2: We already know, for instance, that Sol has never had a boyfriend, and D'Arcy has taken dating very slowly in high school, and has been thoughtful about what he is and is not ready for with other girls. For me, this is evidence that these are two people who, with the luxury of time, would probably have taken things much more slowly. In addition, D'Arcy's concern about hurting Sol during sex is strong enough that I believe it may have led them to delay intercourse, and to approach it with smaller steps. 

Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Keertana, and for embarking on the discussion of romance, love, and sex with me!

ELIZABETH FAMA is the YA author most recently of Plus One, an alternate-history thriller set in contemporary Chicago. Her other books include Monstrous Beauty, a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection and an Odyssey honor winner, and Overboard, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a society of Midland Authors honor book, and a nominee for five state awards. A graduate of the University of Chicago, where she earned a B.A. in biology and an M.B.A. and a Ph.D. in economics, she lives with (and cannot live without) her boisterous, creative family in Chicago.
Website / Twitter / Tumblr

Thanks for stopping by, Elizabeth! I adored the footnotes and I have a feeling readers are going to love your recommendations - I know I do! :)

Giveaway!
One Hardcover of Plus One - US/CAN Only
(Ends 4/9/14)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget to check out the other tour stops as well!

March 31st  -  Fiction Fare

April 1st       - The Starry Eyed Revue

April 2nd      - Ivy Book Bindings

April 3rd       - Carina's Books

April 4th       - Presenting Lenore

April 5th       - Shae Has Left the Room

April 6th       - The Best Books Ever

April 7th       - Teen Librarian Toolbox

April 8th       - Love is Not a Triangle  (Release Day)

April 9th      -  The Bevy Bibliotheque

Just Another Book Crush (#12): Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

I'm so excited to have Courtney Stevens, the debut author of Faking Normal, joining us today! I unexpectedly received an ARC of Faking Normal and despite knowing next-to-nothing about the novel, the author, or the subject matter, I decided to give it a shot. As readers know, Contemporary YA is not always my genre of choice. Yet, this novel completely surpassed my expectations and I fell head-over-heels in love with its story, its message, and most of all, its strides within its genre. I only hope other readers will too. 

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does. When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

The Questions People Ask!

Over the last six months, people have contacted me through twitter, email and Facebook and asked a variety of questions. I thought I might cull the most popular ones for this post.

1.      Is Faking Normal true?

It’s an interesting question to be asked. I don’t blame people for asking, but it feels like the question under the question is a serious one. Have you been raped? That’s not only serious; it’s personal. Deeply personal. It was a question my friends prepared me for, and you would think the very nature and topic of my book would prepare me for. But honestly, I wrote, got an agent, and sold a book about rape before I ever realized I WROTE A BOOK ABOUT RAPE. What?!?! I didn’t exactly mean to do that. So the question still feels as if I’m standing naked in front of the world.

Here is my answer. The statistics say 1 in every 3 women has experienced sexual abuse by the age of 18. That statistic is staggering to me; staggering to me as survivor. I am not Alexi. Faking Normal isn’t “true,” but I am well-acquainted with Alexi’s pain. And my story, this is it in a nutshell: I believe there is hope on the other side of pain.

2.      Where did Bodee come from?

Following a difficult season in my life, an old friend came back into my life as a new friend. He was safe, and kind, and loved me in a powerful way.

While the character of Bodee is fictional in his circumstances, I tried to give all the safety my friend offered me to Bodee.

3.      What gave you the idea for the conversations on the desk?

I am not in favor of defacing school property, but I was at 16. (In pencil.) This is a true little snippet from life. I didn’t have a romance with the guy. He was just a friend who sat at my desk in the period after mine and we were in love with Hotel California. (So many lyrics.) On a dark deserted highway, cool wind in my hair … That’s how it started. If you have something that rich in your life, you have to work it into a novel.

4.      Will Bodee and Alexi’s story continue?

Never say never, but no. Although there is a world of story for them to live, I’d like to leave them on the page where they are and let the reader take if from here. There are many hard, hard things left for Alexi to face. I’d rather not put her through that in front of the world.

I can promise you that Bodee isn’t going anywhere. I don’t know that these two will “grow up and get married,” but they will always, always, always love and protect each other.

5.      Why did you choose to write about such sensitive topics?

I didn’t mean to.

I had an image of teenage-me crying in her closet, and I wanted to write a book for her. In developing that story, in trying to whisper, “Things will get better,” to her, the rest of the story emerged. These characters came walking into my life with weights on their shoulders, and I tried between page one and the page last, to say, “Hey, let me help you with that.”

You can read my thoughts on Faking Normal HERE. Seriously, if you haven't already added this one to your TBRs then get on it ASAP. It's worth the read, many times over.

Just Another...Book Crush (#11): Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

I've made no secret of my love for Rosamund Hodge's debut novel, Cruel Beauty. From the its ground-breaking heroine to its vivid re-imagination of the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast," I simply adored this book. And yet, one of my favorite aspects was, of course, the romance. Any "Beauty and the Beast" love story is one I watch out for but the blooming relationship between Ignifex and Nyx is of a dark nature merely because their personalities are both so unforgiving. Rosamund Hodge had quite a bit to say about how she went about crafting the enigmatic personality of Ignifex and, trust me, it's quite the post to kick off the year with.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny. Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him. With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people. But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Sometimes I wonder why I wrote CRUEL BEAUTY. 

I mean, I know why I wrote it: because the idea crashed into my head and it was so much fun, I couldn’t resist, even though I was still recovering from a ten-year period of trying to squash all my melodramatic storytelling tendencies. (It turns out, if a story isn’t melodrama, I can’t write it.)

But the thing that baffles and amuses me about CRUEL BEAUTY is that it’s a bad boy romance. A really bad boy romance. My heroine falls in love with Public Enemy Number One: the demon prince who rules her country and holds it captive.

And I’ve always hated bad boys. 

What’s attractive about somebody who’s arrogant, or manipulative, or cruel? Sure, he might be a good kisser, but why would you want to be around him? Or even if you enjoyed being around him, how could you ever respect him?

When I was a teenager, my hatred was absolute. Bad boys were bad, wicked, evil people, and it made me furious when they were rewarded with dating the heroine when they ought to be punished until they were SORRY.

(I was a little judgmental as a teenager.)

But time went on and I read more stories and I became aware that I actually kind of liked a few bad boy characters. And yet some infuriated me as much as ever. I didn’t think I was simply losing my principles--though I was learning to be a little less judgmental--so I started trying to figure out why some of them worked and some of them made me long for murder.

Finally I realized that what it came down to was this: is the bad boy treated as a person or not?

People make choices. Those choices, and their consequences, always matter. But too often, choices don’t matter for bad boys.

I once read a novel where the male love interest—in addition to being creepily pushy with the heroine—had slept with a million girls, and respected none of them, and treated some of them really horribly. But it was all okay, because he was just so incredibly hot and he really,really loved the heroine! Like, for real this time! If he said so, it must be true!

There are a million feminist critiques you could have made of this hero and the heroine’s spineless acceptance of him. But you could have also made this critique: he wasn’t a person. He was a sex god floating on the astral plane, and nothing he did had any consequences, so none of it mattered.

That’s not just morally problematic, it’s boring. Where is the drama in someone whose choices don’t mean anything?

But if the bad boy is treated as a person, if what he has done and what he might do matters, then there are a lot of interesting stories you can tell.

I still like sweet, kind, honest boys the best. But here’s what I’ve realized that I like about bad boys:  

(1) Every love story involves the heroine trying to figure out, “Who is this person and can I trust him?” If the love interest has been awful in the past, and might be awful still, that question is a lot more dramatic.

(2) If the bad boy is to be remotely plausible as a love interest, he has to have a redemption arc. And redemption arcs are always deeply interesting to me. How can you change yourself, and how much? How do you deal with the fallout from the person you used to be?

(3) So you’re in love. That’s wonderful. It doesn’t change the consequences of what your wicked-hot boyfriend once did. How do you deal with the things that love doesn’t fix?

(4) How does this forgiveness thing work, anyway?

I love good boys more than bad boys. But I love writing challenges even more. Once I started thinking about how to write bad boys, I couldn’t resist trying.

So that was (partly) how I came to write CRUEL BEAUTY: I was trying to write a bad boy romance that might work for girls who don’t like bad boys. A story with a bad boy who never got excuses and a (somewhat) good girl who never forgot what he’d done, set in a world where every choice they made had serious consequences. A story about learning to love and be loved when neither one of you was entirely lovable.

And also, a story with really hot kisses. (I am not made of stone, okay.)

Just Another...Book Crush (#10): Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

Sorrow's Knot left me speechless when I read an ARC of it early last month (REVIEW) and, unsurprisingly, has remained in my thoughts - constantly. It's such a thought-provoking novel, one which extends beyond the barriers of both the Young Adult genre and Fantasy label. Needless to say, I just had to get Erin Bow to stop by the blog to discuss her latest and, I have to admit, this is one of my favorite posts all year. It's just that good.

In the world of SORROW'S KNOT, the dead do not rest easy. Every patch of shadow might be home to something hungry, something deadly. Most of the people of this world live on the sunlit, treeless prairies. But a few carve out an uneasy living in the forest towns, keeping the dead at bay with wards made from magically knotted cords. The women who tie these knots are called binders. And Otter's mother, Willow, is one of the greatest binders her people have ever known.
But Willow does not wish for her daughter to lead the lonely, heavy life of a binder, so she chooses another as her apprentice. Otter is devastated by this choice, and what's more, it leaves her untrained when the village falls under attack. In a moment of desperation, Otter casts her first ward, and the results are disastrous. But now Otter may be her people's only hope against the shadows that threaten them. Will the challenge be too great for her? Or will she find a way to put the dead to rest once and for all?

Finding Sorrow’s Knot

I know all writers are supposed to be happy in public all the time, but I have a confession: I had a hard time writing Sorrow’s Knot.

To start with, the story wandered around for quite awhile before acquiring its setting, which turned out to make a huge difference to it. (I wrote about that here.) I had to throw out everything I’d done up to then, but still, finding the setting made it possible for me to write a solid draft of the book. I made that draft as good as I could make it — worked on it with my writer’s group, sat with it, edited it — and then sent it to my editor.

He sat with that draft for quite a while. I imagine he was trying to work up the courage to write to me, or perhaps merely trying to find something useful to say. He said many wise and useful things, but his insight boiled down to: “Oh, honey. You need to try again.”

Gulp.

So, the first step in that was to spend a long painful stuck spell where I had no idea how to fix my apparently broken book.

In the end I “fixed it” by throwing out that earlier draft entirely. I kept six characters, and about three beats of plot. There’s one chapter in the middle, where two characters are climbing a mountain, which I was able to reuse. They’re climbing the mountain for different reasons in the final version, but they still climb the mountain, so quite a bit of that prose carried over. And that’s it.

In all, between the wandering draft and the draft I initially submitted and then threw out, there are some 150,000 words that I wrote but that didn’t tell the story I wanted to tell.

There’s editing, and then there’s EDITING. I didn’t know it was possible to throw out the story to save the story, but it is. I record it here because it’s something I wish I’d known.

Anyway, I sent the new version of the book to my editor in August of 2012, and in early November of 2012 — somewhat delayed by Hurricane Sandy and the need to flee the darkened island of Manhattan to find a mailbox — he sent it back. The notes were much more manageable, which was good, because the publishing house now needed the book by December 1.

So I went off to a (literal) cabin in the woods to finish it. No family, no day job, no wi-fi. It took ten days of intensive effort.

I worked on the pacing — cutting 4,000 words from the first part, for instance.

I worked on the puzzle pieces. This is a story in which characters have to figure something out, and as always, the solution was far more obvious to me, as the writer, than it was to anyone else. I tried to put the right pieces in the right places, for the characters to work out at the right times. I wasn’t as concerned that the reader might get there ahead of the characters — it is a fairy tale, in a way, and we often know what’s going to happen in those before the characters do. Still, this was a tricky part, and perhaps it shows — some reviewers complain that it’s way too obvious, and others that it’s not clear enough.

Perhaps most importantly, I worked on the tone. This is a book about death that has “Sorrow” in the title, and it was never going to be a laugh a minute. But the three central characters have had a good life, and they are good friends. I wanted them to have some good times. So I added, at my editor’s suggestion, scenes where they are having fun. (“Avoid the urge to mention doom,” he wrote — he knows me.) So I added the opening scene where they’re all throwing mud at each other. The bit where Kestrel and Cricket pledge okishae. The bit where Otter and Kestrel catch a rock-stupid goose. A half-dozen more. People cook more in the final draft. They fuss over each other’s bedding. They are warmer, snugger, funnier. I like it.

This cabin-in-the-woods edit was fairly minor, as edits go. But the process of doing this edit felt different for another reason, too — through all this work on pacing and plot mechanics and tone, I didn’t touch the story. I COULDN’T touch the story.

And this is really what I want to say, the reason for all this rambling. I want to give you some idea of how different and surprising and miraculous it felt to find that somewhere in there, the story I’d written became the story, the only possible story.

I know better than anyone else that Sorrow’s Knot was once a very different tale. But still, I find it unimaginable. To me, the way the story settled into the “right” shape as if that shape had been waiting for it all along, confirmed something I have long believed: A story is not created, but found. 

Just Another...Book Crush (#9): Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

For those of you who don't know, Where the Stars Still Shine is one of my favorite novels of the year. It managed to cover everything I've ever wanted from a contemporary read and Trish Doller, though impressing me with her debut last year, has shot up to my list of auto-buy authors. I am so excited to have her on the blog today to discuss one of my favorite aspects of this phenomenal sophomore novel: the romance! After all, who doesn't love a good love story? ;) 

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.

Callie and Alex go into their relationship in an almost backward direction...which was a deliberate decision. Callie has been damaged by someone she should have been able to trust, so it isn't likely that she would enter into a relationship in a typical way. I did a lot of reading on sexual abuse and while it might seem more natural that a victim would close in on herself and be afraid of sex, there are victims who use sex as a way to feel in control after having their control taken away by their abusers. Callie has been seeking out partners who wouldn't leave her feeling shamed and used afterward, but--mostly due to her living situations--has chosen poorly.

When she arrives in Tarpon Springs, I wanted her to find someone who seemed like another bad choice. All the early signs suggest Alex might be like the rest, but he's not. With him, I wanted Callie to learn what a healthy relationship feels like. Alex respects her boundaries, practices safe sex, and not only can she trust him not to hurt her body, but we also find out that she can trust him with her heaviest secrets. If you're paying attention, you can see their relationship go from purely physical to almost exclusively emotional as that trust unfolds.

Just Another...Book Crush! 

3. Jamie/Poe from the Secret Society Girl series by Diana Peterfreund 

He starts the series as kind of a jerk. An abrasive know-it-all whose motives are suspect all the time. But he's one of those dark horse book boys you don't see coming and when his real personality finally arrives? SWOON.

2. Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta 

This quote right here kind of sums it up nicely: "He stops and looks at me. 'I'm here because of you. You're my priority. Your happiness, in some fucked way, is tuned in to mine. Get that through your thick skull. Would I like it any other way? Hell, yes, but I don't think that will be happening in my lifetime." Rough and tender, strong and sweet, I just love everything about him!

1. Ryan from Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

Ryan was, in some ways, the model for Alex in Where the Stars Still Shine. What I love about Ryan is that he's quiet and steady and even when Carly is blowing like a gale, he's a rock she can bash against until she's calm. Ryan is the man she needs to help her learn how to trust again and when she finally lets go, it gets me every time. 

I could wax poetry about this post: that's how perfect it is. I love the way Doller describes the incredible love story within the pages of her story and both Jonah and Ryan are two of my all-time favorite crushes too. And, now that Doller has mentioned it, I totally see the similarities - and differences - between Alex and Ryan and I absolutely LOVE that. If you haven't already read Doller's sophomore novel - which released just a few weeks ago - don't hesitate to buy it at once! It's worth every penny. :)

Just Another...Book Crush (#8): This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

Today I am welcoming Leila Sales, the author of This Song Will Save Your Life. I fell head-over-heels for this story back in July when I read an ARC of it and pre-ordered a finished copy for myself the moment I finished it. It simply spoke to me on a much deeper level and was written so poignantly. Although Leila wasn't able to write a guest post for today's feature, she is sharing her Top Three Book Crushes, so we're still in for a treat! :)

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Just Another...Book Crush!

The sorts of books that I love most are the ones where I have no idea how the author did what he or she did. When I come to plot reveals and am totally shocked, when I meet characters and can’t imagine what it would be like to view the world as they do—that’s what makes me fall for a novel. Here are three books I’ve read recently that I have made me feel that way:

The Edge of Falling, by Rebecca Serle. One of the things I love most about Rebecca’s novels is how detailed they are. People sometimes talk about “world-building” as though it’s only pertinent to fantasy or sci-fi novels. Not so. It’s those details that the author puts in—about inside jokes the protagonist and her friend have had since childhood, about what her mother’s shoes always sound like on carpeting, about Thanksgiving traditions—that make it seem like this world is real, and has always existed, and will continue to exist long after we, the readers, have turned the last page. There are few authors who manage to convince me of their worlds’ real existence as well as Rebecca Serle does.

Blackout and All Clear, by Connie Willis. Is it cheating to choose two books? They are really two halves of a whole, so I think it’s fair game to count them as one—right? Anyway, I love Connie Willis. She is my favorite living novelist. I never know where she is going with her plotlines. I read her books and sort of understand what is going on, have no idea what anything signifies, and am completely hooked the whole time. Some authors are very talented and dedicated, but Connie Willis is a genius. She seemed to disappear for close to a decade after publishing Passage, and I kept being like, “What on earth is Connie Willis up to these days? Why doesn’t she just write another book, huh?” Then I read Blackout, and I was like, “Oh.” It is the sort of novel you could spend a decade of your life writing and that would be one hundred percent justified.

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. This is another one where I had no clue how the author did what she was doing, and I loved every minute of it. Like Blackout and All Clear, Code Name Verity is set in England during World War II, so maybe there’s something about that setting that I particularly like? I don’t know, mostly what I loved about this novel was not its history, but the complexity of its plot, the way it all fit together, the way it bucked so many assumptions and tropes of the YA world—and the friendship between the two main characters, of course. One thing that comes across in all of the stories I write is how much I value female friendships. They have been some of the most defining relationships of my life, as I think they are for many, many women, so I love seeing them explored in literature. I cried at the girls’ friendship in Code Name Verity. I won’t tell you at what point in the book because I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you’ve read it, you’ll know.

--Leila Sales is the author of MOSTLY GOOD GIRLS, PAST PERFECT, and the forthcoming THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE (September 17, 2013). For more information visit her at leilasales.com or follow her on Twitter @LeilaSalesBooks.

I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVED Code Name Verity, so I am definitely out to check out the other books Leila has recommended. Plus, if they're anything like her own novels in terms of character depth, I can't wait! Thank you so much for stopping by, Leila!

Just Another...Book Crush (#7): The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson (Blog Tour, Guest Post, and Giveaway)

 

We are switching up this month's "Just Another...Book Crush!" post a little. I contacted Rae Carson last month, requesting her to be part of this feature, and she graciously accepting...only, could I be part of the blog tour for her book too? And, of course, I couldn't resist. The Bitter Kingdom has been one of my favorite books of the year (you can read my review HERE), so I am all for promoting this one! Without further ado, I welcome...*drum roll*...Rae Carson!

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

Title: The Bitter Kingdom (Girl of Fire and Thorns #)

Author: Rae Carson

Pub. Date: August 27, 2013

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Pages: 448

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads

The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny. Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.

Just Another...Book Crush! 

I admit it: I don't often crush on book boys. I’m a middle-aged woman after all, and crushing on boys who are the same age as my stepsons would be CREEPY AS HECK. I do, however, occasionally fall for a book MAN. And here are a few who have recently won my heart. Well, sort-of.

Sturmhond from Leigh Bardugo's Siege and Storm. I have a weakness for witty banter. And there's something inherently sexy about pirates. (The Hollywood version, I mean. You know, the hot ones in possession of all their teeth and good personal hygiene.) Sturmhond is almost a bad boy—mysterious, ruthless, manipulative. I usually have no patience for such douchenozzles, but my man Sturm (can I call you Sturm, darling?) is a man with a cause, and looking back at his actions, you see that he's not a privateer so much as a man at war. War is not sexy. But the men who are willing to fight for a cause greater than themselves definitely are.

Christian Grey from E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey. Okay, I'm cheating here, because Christian is actually my anti-crush. I'll explain.

Once upon a time, I met a guy. This guy was hot. He was also successful and had lots of money. Our first conversation was interesting, but also awkward, because this guy was a little too intense. Maybe a little too interested. Yeah, I was intrigued, but my stalker-sense was pinging like whoa. When we parted, I was relieved to get away. You can imagine my shock when, a few weeks later, the hot guy tracked me down and showed up at my work. I gave him the finger and told him to f*%#! off.

Years later, I tried to embrace the worldwide Fifty Shades phenomenon. And in the very first pages, rich, hot guy Christian shows up unannounced to Anastasia's place of employment to begin pursuing her. Since that actually happened to me, I can tell you straight up it was the OPPOSITE OF SEXY. And Christian got worse from there. If a guy ever tried to do to me some of the things Christian does to Anastasia, he would lose a testicle. So yeah, Christian Grey has won the coveted spot in my heart for #1 Jerkwad.

Jon Snow from George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Ah, Jon, my love, why haven't you texted me? Jon is smart, loyal, and earnest. He is proof that you can have a mysterious past, an epic destiny, and a soulful gaze and still be…that's right, GOOD. I love good boys even more than I love the bad ones. Sturmhond is the kind of guy you want to have a non-committal makeout with. But Jon? Everything about him says "relationship."

What about you? Any book boys/men you are crushing or anti-crushing on? Tell me in the comments!    

Rae Carson is the award-winning author of The Girl of Fire and Thorns Trilogy. She was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start author for Fall 2011 and was a finalist for the Morris, Cybils, and Andre Norton Awards. Her first novel was named to ALA's Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults list.

Rae lives in Ohio with her husband, novelist C.C. Finlay, two stepsons, and two very naughty kitties. She is hard at work on her next trilogy.

Website /Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads

Thanks for stopping by, Rae! Gosh, this is such a fun post and I love the idea of an anti-crush! Also, just to make things clear, you can have Sturmhond - just give me Mal and we're even!(; 

Giveaway!

A signed set of the complete trilogy. US Only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you're a fan of this trilogy, be sure to check out the other tour stops as well!

Tour Schedule:

8/19/2013- Ivy Book Bindings- Guest Post

8/20/2013- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Interview

8/21/2013- Refracted Light Reviews- Review

8/22/2013- A Backwards Story- Review

8/23/2013- The Starry-Eyed Revue- Interview

8/26/2013- Candace's Book Blog- Review

8/27/2013- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

8/28/2013- Citrus Reads- Review

8/29/2013- Hobbitsies- Interview

8/30/2013- Fiktshun- Guest Post

Just Another...Book Crush (#6): The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand

Just Another...Book Crush! is a monthly feature where I invite an author whose book I've recently reviewed and loved to write a guest post and share their three latest book crushes. It's a feature I'm starting mostly because I'm often very shy to approach authors, especially ones I admire, and also because I love reading guest posts since, more often than not, they convince me to pick up a book even when the reviewer cannot. 

I started reading Laura Florand's Amour et Chocolat Series awhile back, but I keep coming back for more, unable to get enough of Florand's writing or characters. (And, if we're being honest, the dream of going to Paris and meeting one of these tasty hunks is the only reason I still sit through my dreary French classes!) Quite simply put, they are far more than their chick-lit covers suggest they are and if you're a fan of strong characterization with smoldering romance, Florand never disappoints. I'm thrilled to have her on the blog today to talk about her latest book in the series - and possibly the best one yet.

Dominique Richard's reputation says it all--wild past, wilder flavors, black leather and smoldering heat. Jaime Corey is hardly the first woman to be drawn to all that dark, delicious danger. Sitting in Dom's opulent chocolaterie in Paris day after day, she lets his decadent creations restore her weary body and spirit, understanding that the man himself is entirely beyond her grasp.
Until he touches her. . .
Chocolate, Dominique understands--from the biting tang of lime-caramel to the most complex infusions of jasmine, lemon-thyme, and cayenne. But this shy, freckled American who sits alone in his salon, quietly sampling his exquisite confections as if she can't get enough of them--enough of him--is something else. She has secrets too, he can tell. Of course if she really knew him, she would run.
Yet once you have spotted your heart's true craving, simply looking is no longer enough. .. 

I love my literary allusions. The Chocolate Kiss is rife with fairy-tale motifs. The Chocolate Rose uses the Beauty and the Beast theme, one I love. All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate (the novella in Kiss the Bride) is full of little Superman jokes, although no one ever catches them, alas. Turning Up the Heat is infused with O. Henry’s “Gift of the Magi”. Coming up this fall, I have a novella Snow-Kissed that works with the Snow-Queen story and the novel The Chocolate Heart, which plays with the Persephone myth, and A Rose in Winter (in the collection No Place Like Home) that plays with Little Red Riding-hood.

But The Chocolate Touch has none of those. I almost feel that these two characters and their setting are, by themselves, their own magic. It is, in its way, a very straightforward story. I was doing research in a real chocolaterie in Paris (Jacques Genin’s place off République), when I began to have this increasingly powerful vision of a woman sitting in a salon very like Monsieur Genin’s real one, and of a chocolatier hero who was growing increasingly fascinated by her. And this became Dom and Jaime’s story. Dominique Richard is the top rival of Sylvain Marquis in The Chocolate Thief and Jaime Corey is Chocolate Thief heroine Cade’s rebel younger sister. So you see that Dom and Jaime have some interesting relations with whom they have to deal—Sylvain is not at all happy about having his fiancée’s sister get involved with Dom, for example. Nor is anyone else in Jaime’s family.

These secondary characters and their very strong opinions are part of the baggage that Jaime and Dom carry, and yet the story is not really about these secondary characters. It is all about them. They were just so powerful and I loved them so much that the story almost wrote itself. I couldn’t wait to write the next scene, to see what these two would say and do with each other next, as they grew into each other and in doing so grew into themselves.

I think of my stories often afterward in tones. From my point of view, The Chocolate Kiss, for example, is zinging with energy, often conflictual, in a fairy-tale setting. The Chocolate Rose has this bright, expansive, sun-filled joyousness to it, like its hero and its Provençal setting. The upcoming Chocolate Heart is dark and angsty. But this story, The Chocolate Touch, is the one I think of as the sweet one, the tender, emotional one.

And that may be why I love this couple so much. They make me feel tender toward them. I love their courage and gentleness with each other. And I feel a little protective of them as I offer them to you, because I do hope you love them, too.

I’ll leave you with a little glimpse of Jacques Genin’s salon, that helped inspire the setting for this particular story. 

Have you been to Paris? Are there any little spots there that you particularly remember as magical or that have inspired you? Or are there any places you dream of visiting? 

Just Another...Book Crush!

Coming up with my most recent 3 Book Crushes was very hard, because I have been on quite the lucky reading spree the past few weeks and have been discovering so many great books and great authors. I finally decided that I would quite literally have to make it the “most recent”, and so, in reverse order, I name below the three most recent books I have read that made me say, “Wow!” Two of them are only 0.99 right now so—go grab them!

Making It Last, by Ruthie Knox. This is a very similar concept to my own novella Turning Up the Heat (a married couple that needs to reaffirm and renegotiate their commitment to each other and who they are in their marriage). So when I heard Ruthie was doing a story along these lines, I was dying to see what an author with such a different, strong voice would do with the idea. And it is such a sweet, vivid, sad, optimistic, powerful story! Real but romantic and full of heart. I loved it and highly recommend it.

Confidence Tricks, by Tamara Morgan. Author Elyssa Patrick had invited me to participate in an anthology that included her and Tamara, which of course got me curious about this author. And when I saw “playboy thief” and “expert con woman who can beat him up”, well, it was all over for me. I love a good thief caper! And this one was hilarious. I dare anyone to read the first chapter, with our hero Asprey on the ground with the heroine’s stiletto at his throat, and not fall in love with him. And her! I could not stop laughing throughout this book, and yet at the same time, it’s a very intelligent story with a lot of heart. The hero and heroine are both priceless.

The Story Guy, by Mary Ann Rivers. This was just an amazing story. What a wonderful debut. Exquisite, erotic, heartwarming, with just a beautiful way of capturing emotions. I wrote a line in one of my recent books about how love sometimes is just holding hands tightly as we face the avalanche, and I think this story captures that so well.

It’s been a summer of great reads, so I could keep going (Virginia Kantra’s Carolina Girl, Theresa Romain’s Season for Scandal, Jeannie Lin’s Sword Dancer, Donna Kauffman’s Honey Pie, Eloisa James’s Once Upon a Tower...), but you told me to pick the most recent three! 

Admit it: you really, really want to go to that salon and eat some of that chocolate right now. I certainly want to! I absolutely love this series and cannot recommend it enough. I love how Laura describes this book - it really is spot-on - and I'm looking forward to trying the books she recommended. I haven't heard of any of them, which is both strange and exciting! Thank you so much for stopping by, Laura! :)