Manic Monday: The Beauty Of Metal and Wishes

Manic Monday

Title:  Of Metal and Wishes

Author: Sarah Fine

Genre:  YA

Release Date: August 5, 2014 

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

 

Swoon-Worthy Cover and Writing!

 

Dear Readers,

 

I hope all of you are having a wonderfully, bookish day!  For me, life could not be any better.  I actually ready 4 different YA excerpts and I loved them all.  Not joking! Spectacular writing! And, to make things even better, tomorrow my husband and I are celebrating 19 years of marriage bliss--August 5, 1995.  Yes, back in the Hootie and the Blowfish Days.  So, it is quite fitting for me to choose a YA romance for a mini Manic Monday review.

 

I do not even have to finish reading Of Metal and Wishes to know this is a stellar YA (but I am going to read it ASAP).  I am not ashamed that I measure a book's greatness by the cover and the level of the writing.  This technique has never failed me.  Really.  So, just look at this gorgeous cover!  White and dreamy and gothic and ghost-like.  And a main character who is not white and blonde (because we need a lot more diversity in YA).

 

Summary from Pulseit:

 

 

This love story for the ages, set in a reimagined industrial Asia, is a little dark, a bit breathless, and completely compelling.

Sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic, housed in a slaughterhouse staffed by the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor. Wen often hears the whisper of a ghost in the slaughterhouse, a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. And after one of the Noor humiliates Wen, the ghost grants an impulsive wish of hers--brutally.

Guilt-ridden, Wen befriends the Noor, including the outspoken leader, a young man named Melik. At the same time, she is lured by the mystery of the ghost. As deadly accidents fuel tensions within the factory, Wen is torn between her growing feelings for Melik, who is enraged at the sadistic factory bosses and the prejudice faced by his people at the hand of Wen's, and her need to appease the ghost, who is determined to protect her against any threat -real or imagined. Will she determine whom to trust before the factory explodes, taking her down with it?

 

 

Chapter 1 Excerpt:

 

 

I fold my pillow over my ears, crush it down, and think of my mother singing me to sleep. She always used to, until her voice faded to a raspy croak and it hurt her to speak.  Now there's no music in my life except in my memories, but that’s okay, because I live there as much as I can.…

A month ago my life changed forever.  Now, instead of living in a warm cottage with a lovely garden, I live on the factory compound.  Instead of sitting in a kitchen and inhaling the earthy scent of stewing vegetables, I sit in a cafeteria and pick at starchy rice or thin soup shoveled from enormous vats.  Instead of reading the classics, I read medical text.  Instead of the feather lightness of my mother’s touch, I feel the dry, antiseptic rasp of my father’s.

Instead of embroidering silk, I embroider skin.

I actually don’t mind that part.

 

 Chapter 2 Excerpt:

 

 

 

      I enter the front section of the factory and pass the entrance to the killing floor.   On the other   

      side of the all are hundreds of men, armed with their long knives, hacking away with merciless

      precision.  The noise is deafening: the zing of the hooks, the wet slap and slash of blade against

      bone and muscles, the crash of metal on metal as the belts churn in their forcer circles.

 

 

 

See what I mean about the greatness of this YA?  I absolutely love the line "Instead of embroidering silk, I embroider skin."  And then there is the whole idea about "the killing floor."  That, in itself, could be a title for a book I 'd want to read!  I also adore the "wet slap and slash of blade against bone and muscles..."  Absolutely gorgeous writing to go along with the gorgeous cover.

 

 

Fictionally Yours Siempre,

 

Minerva Vasquez

 

 

 

 

 

What's Up Wednesday: Cliché vs. The Band Perry

Dear Readers,

I am back to the Meme-ing thing.  You would think it'd be easy to remember that every Wednesday is What's Up Wednesday by the lovely Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Well, it is easy to remember, but seriously, my weeks have been so crazy.  Can you believe the end of summer vacay is right around the corner? 



What I'm Reading:  Country lyrics.  That's right.   Country Lyrics.   So, this is what I am basing my whole post around for this week's edition of What's Up Wednesday. 

Every morning I drive about 25 minutes to teach some of the greatest high school students in the world.  Yes, the regular school year ended, but I moved on to teach college courses for soon-to-be seniors who have elected not to take a summer break.  Anyways, every morning I "turn up" to The Highway on XM/Sirius radio, and of course, there will always be some tune about a pickup truck liftgate, a Friday night, and a dirt road under the moon with girl.  Oh, and the kiss that tastes like moonshine. 

How much more cliché can it get?

But, then there is The Band Perry (and many other great country artists!) and song lyrics like "Who would have thought forever could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life."  Guys, I could base a whole English lesson around this--around the slant rhyme, the alliteration, the assonance, the whatever that makes this line lyrical and not unlike a poem.  That lyric is from "If I Die Young," by the way.
Or, what about one of their newer songs? "When you're young you can fly. But we trip on clouds 'cause we get too high."  I know the idea of flying through clouds is nothing new, but the whole idea of "trip on clouds"--well, there is a whole poem waiting to be written there. 


What I'm Writing:  Nothing except this blog post.  Seriously.  Here is excuse number 223--I was unexpectedly recruited to teach the second summer session of the college course.  I found out on the day before it was to begin.  Here is excuse number 365--I got a new job teaching Theatre Arts next year!  I am so excited, so all my thoughts are on course planning, field trip brainstorming, and pinning theatre stuff on Pinterest.  Of course, there is still all the working, the mothering, the wife-ing, and the unfinished writing.  I am in the middle of my life.

What inspires me now: 
 

 

This should actually be the true inspiration of all writers!

What Else I've Been Up To:  Here is the rundown.  I already told you about my new job.  I will be leaving the best high school/college students in the world, but I will be working 10 minutes away from home now in my hometown, and I will be teaching crazy drama type, middle school theatre arts kids.  This means no standardized testing.  This means no core-subject.  This means no more un-graded pile of 6 page papers with documentation. 

Besides this, we took our older children to visit UT-Austin and Texas State University, followed by Sea World.  Our roof is being completely redone and being paid for by our insurance.  Our oldest pet, Skippy, pretended she was pregnant and in full labor.  She is back to normal now, but no puppy was born.  2 days ago I realized the last time I had a baby was 12 years ago.  Today, my two oldest are at band camp and the youngest is at football camp.  Folks, the summer is over.  Which only means my life will continue to be crazy, but it also means the return of "The Walking Dead."  So, yay for that.


Here is the song "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" by The Band Perry. Enjoy!

#TBT Review: Cleopatra's Daughter is No Princess

 

#TBT and Thursday Trailer

Title:  Cleopatra's Daughter

Author: Michelle Moran 

Genre:  YA

Release Year:   2009  #TBT Review

Publisher: Random House

 

Swoon Worth Historical Details!

 

Of course, I had a TFIOS related post planned for today, and of course, my day job got in the way as did my general life job with those I love and the house I can't keep clean.  But, I do have my day planned around TFIOS tomorrow! 

Not here on my blog, but out there at the movie theater with my 14 year old daughter.  How cool that we now enjoy the same books and can bond over a John Green cry-fest.  I reserved her for this since Divergent when she went to the premier with her friends instead of with me.  And before Divergent, it was something else.  So, this time, I was like no way.  I am seeing TFIOS on the first day and she is going with me and she is going to wear the Okay, Okay shirt I ordered online.

So, today it is #TBT Review of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran--currently at the awesomely amazing price of 1.99 on Kindle and Nook! 

If you have not read much historical fiction or none at all, this is the perfect book to get you started--who has not heard of the clandestine affair of Cleopatra and Marc Antony?  Who has not been awed by the Roman Empire when watching the movie "Gladiator"? 

Summary from Publisher:

The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s revengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome; only two– the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander–survive the journey.

In Which I Attempt to Not Get All Wrapped Up in the History of Rome

Set against the demise of Egypt in 30 BC, the children of Queen Kleopatra VII and Mark Antony fear a sure death and are taken as orphans to the heart of the Roman Empire. Although forced to participate in a Roman parade bound by gold chains as prisoners, the twins, Alexander Helios and Kleopatra Selene, are treated as royalty while living with Octavia (sister to Caesar). 

In reading Cleopatra's Daughter, you will be swept into the Roman Empire. No one can deny the size and power of the empire at its height. But there is another side to Rome. The side of narrow streets, smoke, mud, pungent smells, and riots. People die, slaves are guilty, girls marry old men, women belong to men, and anything said may be misconstrued as traitorous--all of these issues are relevant to the plot of Cleopatra's Daughter.

To Selene, Rome is nothing like Alexandria, her home in Egypt--a home of beauty, marble, exquisite design, and a great love affair. A home Selene hopes to return to, but whether she ever will depends on Augustus Caesar.

She can only hope to be seen as useful through her artistic and architectural skills and enter a love match with someone who is not older than her father at his own death.

I wouldn't call it a historical romance, although it does have that element making it all the better for a person like myself who thinks anything with even the slightest hint of romance is pretty great:

   "Well?" Juba stood over me when we were finished.
   "They're fine, " I said shortly, dusting my hands on my tunic and rising.
   "A perfect job," Vitruvius complemented. "And very handsome sculptures, Juba. Are they all Roman?"
   "Only the Venus is Greek. For some reason, I was drawn to her face."
   I looked across the Pantheon to the statue of Venus. Perhaps it was my own vanity that made me think I reconginized her. But the nose and possibly the light, painted eyes were similar to mine. I caught Jubal looking at me.

I'm rooting for Juba. A broad-shouldered 20 something year old prince with the form of a Greek god from Numidia and who is one of Caesar's right hand men. The one who is always looking out for Selene and the one who may have a genuine interest in all the issues Selene is drawn to.

But Selene has fallen for a Roman, a young Apollo.

Will she marry either one? Will she be allowed to return to Egypt? Will she be accepted as an architect? Will she be able to help all other slaves and freedmen? Her fate, as well as the fate of an entire empire...well, it's in Caesar's hands.

Minerva

What's Up Wednesday? Green and Bieber

Dear Readers,

I am back to the Meme-ing thing.  You would think it'd be easy to remember that every Wednesday is What's Up Wednesday by the lovely Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Well, it is easy to remember, but seriously, my weeks have been so crazy.



What I'm Reading:  With the end of the school year coming and our school being transformed into a literal prison of 100+ restrictions, there is no time to read.  But, I am working on a blog post (hopefully ready for tomorrow) that incorporates some TFIOS quotes. I read this novel about a year ago, so technically, I have been re-reading portions of The Fault in Our Stars to find the right quotes.  If I have to choose one quote that I deem to be one of the best pieces of YA writing, I would definitely have choose "You die in the middle of your life, in the middle of a sentence."  Here I am 40 years old, and guess what folks?  Most of us will not even make it to 100 years of age. So how true is it that life literally ends while we are still living in it?

What I'm Writing:  As I said already, I am working on a blog post for Thursday Trailer tomorrow. And, I never finished my post about plotters and pantsers because I wrote other posts instead.  Here is a brief preview of my opening: 

If The Fault in Our Stars had been out in 1988, it would have been a hit...like totally (typical 80's/90's lingo).   All I remember reading back then was twisted V.C. Andrews and the stuff--the classics--I was forced to read for high school English. Brave New World, anybody?

As for my country star novel, well, I have thought about it a lot.  Yes, I know the number one thing that keeps me from being a published author is not writing continuously.  One day, I will get it together--the working, the mothering, the wife-ing, and the writing.  I am in the middle of my life.

What inspires me "write" now: Teaching high school can be pretty amazing when you have the "write" mix of students.  I have the best high school/ college students in the world.  They have finished all college coursework, they have taken the darn AP exam, and they have done an o.k. job with their Gatsby skits.  So, what is left? 

Well, let's just say we have been listening to a lot of I Heart Radio while they studying or pretending to study for other classes.  So, here is the latest song that I've had on my mind--don't laugh!

Beauty and a Beat

We gonna party like it's 3012 tonight

I wanna show you all the finer things in life

So just forget about the world, we're young tonight

I'm coming for ya, I'm coming for ya

Cause all I need

Is a beauty and a beat

Who can make my life complete

It's all about you,

When the music makes you move

Baby, do it like you do

Not the best lyrics in the world, but they work well in this song that is meant to get you ready for #turnup (to use modern teen lingo.) 

But what I love is just that phrase of "a beauty and a beat." How amazingly creative and fresh!  I think of my MFA poetry workshops, I think of how easy it is not to be cliché, I think about slant rhyme.  I think I feel inspired to write right now!

Here is my 10 minutes of writing work today:

In a beauty and a beat

the world comes to an end.

That swell beyond the sand

that Atlantian explosion

all at once like a beast.  Then the beauty,

then the beat. 

I have to say Wow to myself.  Just so Wow!

What Else I've Been Up To:  Here is the rundown.  Little League Games for Son #2, Son #1 Honor Banquet, Son #1 Two Day Trip for Texas State Solo and Ensembles, Waking Up at 4AM to Retrieve the Son, Grocery Shopping, Dropping Daughter Off at Church Youth Group, Eating Pizza and Choco-Flan (delicious cake with a decadent, rich layer of sweetness) During Forbidden Classroom Parties, Grading Reflective Personal Essays, and Enjoying the Mexican Cartel Version of The Great Gatsby in Class.  All this is like half of everything!

And of course, a lot of country music on my 20 minute ride to work and my 20 minute trip back home.  Beauty and the Beat in between, wishing I could be Beast writer like John Green.

And for your musical enjoyment!  This is so cool!  Like Totally!






Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Minerva

Manic Monday: Anyone But You, Never

Title: Anyone But You
Authors: Kim Askew and Amy Helmes
Genre: YA
Release Date: January 2014
Publisher: Merit Press (Twisted Lit Series)

Original Take on a Classic!

 

Dear Readers, 

(As posted by Guest Authors, Kim Askew and Amy Helmes, for Fictionally Yours Siempre.)

 

One of the best things about writing our Twisted Lit series of Shakespeare-inspired YA novels is that we're constantly learning new things about the Bard.  We've read and seen productions of Romeo and Juliet countless times, but one aspect of the play always left us baffled: Why did the young lovers' families, the Montagues and Capulets, hate each other so much in the first place?

 

This simple question is one Shakespeare left unanswered, and its the inspiration behind our latest novel, Anyone But You, a modern spin on this bittersweet saga told from the perspective of two different generations. Only by resolving the mystery behind their ancestors’ falling-out can Gigi and Roman hope to avert their own tragic ending.

 

Though we’ll never truly know why Romeo and Juliet’s families were sworn enemies, it’s possible to conjecture about what prompted Shakespeare to write about them. Around the time the Bard penned the play, his wealthy patron (The Earl of Southampton) was tied to a real-life family feud involving the Danvers and the Longs, who were his friends and neighbors. The families had been at odds for years, but things reached a tipping point after several court battles ended in a public brawl during which two sons of the Danvers family killed their enemies’ son, Henry Long. Despite issues for their arrest, the Earl of Southampton helped the brothers escape to France.

Shakespeare undoubtedly knew of these events when he wrote Romeo and Juliet shortly thereafter. Although his plot is based on other writers’ prior works, including English poet Arthur Brooke (see — even Shakespeare was a fan of retellings!) — many critics suspect that it was the Danvers/Long controversy that first gave him the idea to write about two families with an “ancient grudge.”
 

We hope you’ll check out Anyone But You to discover our own interpretation of this timeless tale.

P.S. This past April marked the 450th birthday of William Shakespeare!  Just simply amazing how his works have remained relevant to each new generation that discovers them!

Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Kim & Amy

(Guest Authors)

 

Synopsis from Merit Press:

After her family’s struggling Italian eatery (Cap's ) falls prey to another of the Monte clan’s vicious and destructive pranks, sixteen-year-old Gigi Caputo finds herself courting danger during a clandestine encounter with Roman Monte, the very boy whose relatives have brought her family such grief. When the daughter and son of these two warring factions fall for each other, their quest to mend this bitter family feud turns out to be a recipe for disaster.

Their story is irrevocably linked to the summer of 1933, when two twelve-year-olds, Benny and Nick, hop the turnstile at the Chicago World’s Fair. While enjoying some of the fair’s legendary amusements, Nick has a “love at first sight” encounter with Stella, a young girl who unintentionally causes a lasting rift between the two boyhood pals.

Deftly winding its way through past and present day, this modern take on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet has much to do with hate — but more with love.
 

Another Twisted Lit Book You Must Check Out! 

 

Webpage: http://twistedlitbooks.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwistedLitNovels
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/series/88972-twisted-lit
Tumblr: twistedlit.tumblr.com

 

Thursday Trailer: Every Day is YA Splendor

#TBT and Thursday Trailer

Title: Every Day

Author: David Levithan

Genre:  YA

Release Year:  2012  #TBT Review

Publisher: Ember (Randomhouse)

Swoon Worthy Language

One of my biggest pet peeves is YA that is not original. Even worse is YA with a clunky feel to it--as in unrealistic dialogue, a lack of transition, generic writing schemes.

Every Day is none of the above. Every Day is beautiful prose. Every Day is David Levithan. Every Day is falling in love with language. Every Day is YA splendor.

By the way, "Swoon Worthy Language" means that the words themselves, the writing, is something I have fallen for in this book.  Not that the novel is straight up romance.

Even though I do not enjoy every aspect of the novel (in regards to how it seems that the author is inserting his personal views of the world--viewpoints that are basically humanistic in nature and that I do not agree with at all), I can not help but to love how Levithan writes. I aspire to write like this.   For this I give the book 4 hearts. 

And because of this, I have also been inspired to create a book trailer--my first attempt. Really. I hope you enjoy it! I tried to capture the essence of eternity, of falling in love.

50 Second Synopsis



"A" is continually reborn--every day.  " Every day a different body.  Every day a different life.  Every day in love with the same girl."  For as long as he has existed, the only truth "A" has known is he is himself, but yet he is someone else.  He has no long-term connection to humanity.  Only momentary habitation.  For eternity.

every day

 

A Review in Quotes

 

“This is what love does: It makes you want to rewrite the world. It makes you want to choose the characters, build the scenery, guide the plot. The person you love sits across from you, and you want to do everything in your power to make it possible, endlessly possible. And when it’s just the two of you, alone in a room, you can pretend that this is how it is, this is how it will be.”  

 

“It would be too easy to say that I feel invisible. Instead, I feel painfully visible, and entirely ignored.”  

 

“A sound waiting to be a word.”  

 

“The ocean makes its music; the wind does its dance. We hold on. At first we hold on to one another, but then it starts to feel like we are holding on to something even bigger than that. Greater.”  

 

“But there’s something about her—the cities on her shoes, the flash of bravery, the unnecessary sadness—that makes me want to know what the word will be when it stops being a sound. I have spent years meeting people without ever knowing them, and on this morning, in this place, with this girl, I feel the faintest pull of wanting to know. And in a moment of either weakness or bravery on my own part, I decide to follow it. I decide to find out more.”   

 

“We have defied the day as it was set out for us.”

 

 

Minerva

A Reason to Write

Found this and thought it was hilariously sort of true. It makes me think about how the best part of writing is the day-dreaming, or rather the structured day-dreaming as I've heard before from someone somewhere. Also reminds me of a favorite t-shirt that says "Be careful or you might end up in my novel." Love that shirt--always a great conversation starter. I think this pic needs to become a t-shirt too!



Minerva

posted from Bloggeroid

What's Up Wednesday

Dear Readers,

I have joined a Wednesday Meme!  What's up Wednesday!
 



http://www.jaime-morrow.com/
 

WHAT I'M READING:  I am not reading anything of my own personal choice this week, but I can tell you what my students are reading--The Great Gatsby.  Hmmm... If I just turn to a random page this is what I find:

There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams - not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion.

Chapter 5, Nick speaking about Gatsby.

By the way, I am excited about starting my "Gatsby Twitter" project with my class! Details Soon!

WHAT I'M WRITING:  Well, I have been trying to finalize a blog post regarding the structuring of fiction--a basic "Pantsers" verses "Plotters" entry with examples of the "In-Betweens."  It is taking longer than I thought it would, and I will not have it ready until Friday. I suppose I am more of "Pantser." 

 

Now on to What I Am Trying To Write When I Have Real Time--A YA focused around a rising country singer name Carolina Rose Reyes.  I have chapter one complete!  As for chapter two, I need to get things going and continue on with the running theme of "good girls pick good politics"--since love interest number one is country music royalty and known by many as the "Son of Nashville," and love interest number two is truly involved in political politics.  Hopefully I can share some real progress next week.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW:  Obviously, country music.  Especially Miranda Lambert's "Automatic" since at the core of my YA is the idea that music is not about politics, but rather about home.  Here are Miranda's lyrics from the final bridge section and stanza:

Let's put the windows down

Windows with the crank

Come on let's take a picture

The kind you gotta shake

Hey what ever happened to waiting your turn

Doing it all by hand, cause when everything is handed to you

It's only worth as much as the time put in

It all just seems so good the way we had it

Back before everything became automatic

Absolutely lovely writing.  :)

 WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO:  Craziness!  Reasearch Paper Madness!  I teach 6 sections of college writing to high school students, and the semester is rolling fast to a frantic ending.  Kids are freaking out by having to write and submit a 6 to 8 page paper, and they have no concept that one day (when they really leave high school) that 6 pages is peanuts compared to the potential 20 page research paper they may one day write for some professor who expects nothing less than perfection. 


We are talking thesis, claims, warrants, refutaion, body sections, rhetorical strategies, and the dreaded MLA documentation.  Ugh.  Plus, this Saterday I am offering the final Advanced Placement review for the significantly difficult English Language AP exam on Friday, May 9th.  Thank God I simply have to teach and not actually test.  My testing days have been long over.  Yes, my students love me.  I hope.


Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Minerva

The Tearings Will Tear Your World Apart

Today's Thursday Trailer!

The Tearings by VC Repetto

Released by Evernight Teen, November 2013

 

 

The guy sitting at the next table coughed. It was an ugly, wet sound that made me look up from the exam sheet in front of me.

 

Fabulous. The last thing I needed was to get sick before the swim match.

 

He sniffed and wiped his nose with his stiff, already less-than-fresh sleeve, then lowered his hand back to his pencil and paper. Too bad for the person who'd have to pick that particular sheet up.

With this, Dear Readers, The Tearings begin.

Filled with 1950's black and white imagery that bring to mind the slightly creepy fascination of medical and scientific experimentation of a bygone era, the trailer will keep you bizarrely intrigued right up to that final moment--with a final seizing of  your own fascination. 

A human arm, sinewy with veins of virus poison jutting out and the entire almost monster-like arm turning red with infection--with plague.

I Am Legend, anybody?  The Walking Dead?  A new story of a new virus for all you world-going-down-plague-style loving readers and screen enthusiasts. 

 

P.S. Of interest to many of you may be the fact that VC Repetto enjoys submerging her brain in Victorian Gothic novels.  The Tearings is only her debut novel, and if she reads dark, Gothic-y material, then you can almost be certain she will emerge with her own work of "moldy lace and gas masks," two things she enjoys in Victorian Gothics.

 

Summary from Evernight Teen:

From the moment the black vans appear to take the sick away, Maya knows there is something wrong. She seems to be the only one to question the sudden disappearances at school and the masks everyone is forced to wear to keep from catching the new disease spreading through the entire United States.

Even when word of the new “healing centers” reaches the public, no one dares to ask what is happening. But when Maya catches the disease, the one they call The Tearings, and is taken to one of these centers along with her mother, the truth becomes all too clear. She is separated from her family and forced to work, becoming one of the more fortunate ones who is not sent to the testing wings.

Bullied by the guards to the point of death, she meets David Summers, the enigmatic young Captain who appears to loathe his position of power in the camp and who seems as drawn to Maya as she is to him.

When Maya suddenly becomes the disease’s only survivor, she must put her trust on David to find a way to escape the camp and get the truth, and the cure coursing through her veins, out to the world.

14+ for Violence and Adult Situations


Novel Excerpt from Evernight Teen:

 

My throat was raw, throbbing, and dry.

 

Panic rose immediately.

 

I was sick. I’d caught it.

 

I dug my nails into my hands and tried to get a hold of my galloping fear. Maybe I’d just slept with my mouth open during the night. That could be it, right? It didn’t need to be the worst thing imaginable. Except, I knew it was.

 

In seconds I was bolting up out of bed and running to the mirror hanging from my closet door. It hurt to open my mouth. Patches of red and fuzzy white had spread across my tongue and palates, making me wince when I touched them.

 

Sudden tears made my vision waver. Whatever this super-flu was, I had it.

 

I brushed my tears away with violence. There was no time for that right now. I had to think. My first instinct was to run into Mom’s room and tell her, but I made myself stand still for a few seconds more. Once she knew, she’d call the ambulances; there’d be no stopping her. They’d take us away to the health centers, so this might be the last few minutes I had to face this without needles poking at me.

 

As much as I tried to convince myself that allowing the ambulances to take me to the centers was a good thing, I couldn’t stop my stomach from clenching at the thought of riding in those black monsters that patrolled the streets. I wanted to stay home.

 

On impulse, I grabbed my cell off my night table and pressed one of the speed dial buttons.

Derek picked up on the fourth ring. “Maya?”

 

“Hi.”

 

“Is everything okay?”

 

I hesitated. This was it. Once I told someone, there’d be no stopping this. “I woke up with a sore throat.”

Author Website and Blog 

Book Page-Evernight Teen

VC Repetto on Twitter

VC Repetto on Goodreads

VC Repetto on Facebook

Caught in the Act of Obsession

 

 

#TBT:  The Original Post (keep reading after for my new 2014 thoughts!)

Caught in the Act by Peter Moore

 

 

YA Fiction Meets the PG-13 Version of Fatal Attraction.

That is basically what you see in Peter Moore's novel, Caught in the Act, when Ethan Lederer, a good kid with a good reputation, falls for the new girl dressed in black.

As Ethan puts it, he was doomed from the minute he first laid eyes on Lydia Krane, and it doesn’t take long for him to be captivated by her Carebears t-shirts, Goth clothing, and black dyed hair.

But more than that, Lydia understands him in a way no one else does, or so he thinks. She is also the only person who knows his whole smart guy status is a façade built on parental expectations, late night cramming, and cheating when necessary.

And then things start getting weird.

I don’t want to spoil all the bizarre, psychotic complications in the plot, but let’s just say the whole tattoo thing in the story ranks pretty high on the crazy scale.

 

You know, the story really grabs you from the start, and you find yourself rooting for Ethan and Lydia as they have all these meaningful encounters in the early chapters.

Then, the author hits you with all this drama, and I don’t just mean figuratively, as both Lydia and Ethan take the lead roles in a modern day interpretation of Macbeth in the annual school play.

By the end everything unravels for Ethan as he finally faces up to some of his choices and decisions, but not without a heavy cost.

Caught in the Act is not a psychological thriller, but it has enough twists and beyond nutty behavior to keep you turning the pages. Lydia leaves her imprint on Ethan and makes you think twice about breaking up with your current gal or guy just for somebody you think you really know. Enjoy the new YA Macbeth!

Looking Back and Forward, 2014

Dear Readers,

Published about a decade ago in 2005, Caught in the Act is a well-written YA with a load of intensity and an extremely intriguing storyline.  Probably a YA you missed. 

Peter Moore has served as a high school counselor, so you know he might have seen some crazy stuff.   You all have probably seen crazy stuff or done some crazy stuff yourself, like passing by a boy's house about 25 times in one week.  Well, that was back in the 1990s.  Do "stalkish" girls still do this?  Or do they just hound the guy on Twitter?

If you never read this YA, the purchase price is just a little over $4.00 on Amazon.  Seriously, how can you go wrong especially when the book features the first person narration of a teenage boy with a crazy girlfriend?  Also, I know I have ready plenty of YA where the guy is obsessed with the girl and not the other way around such as with Stay by Deb Caletti or Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

Then there is the whole Macbeth thing--the dark obsession of Macbeth mirroring the dark obsession in the relationship between Ethan and Lydia.

Just read these two gorgeous lines at the start of chapter 1:

"It was a cool day in October when Lydia Krane walked into our sophomore honors chem class. I was doomed from the minute I set eyes on her."

A writer who can write these first two lines is a writer I want to read anytime.  And, Peter Moore--don't forget this name--will soon have his most recent novel released this coming May, V is for Villian.

Summary from Amazon:  V is for Villian

Brad Baron is used to looking lame compared to his older brother, Blake. Though Brad's basically a genius, Blake is a superhero in the elite Justice Force. And Brad doesn't measure up at his high school, either, where powers like super-strength and flying are the norm. So when Brad makes friends who are more into political action than weight lifting, he's happy to join a new crew-especially since it means spending more time with Layla, a girl who may or may not have a totally illegal, totally secret super-power. And with her help, Brad begins to hone a dangerous new power of his own.

But when they're pulled into a web of nefarious criminals, high-stakes battles, and startling family secrets, Brad must choose which side he's on. And once he does, there's no turning back.



P.S. And now an obsessive love song from the fantastic Miranda Lambert... This is basically Lydia's theme song for the rest of her life.

"I cut my bangs with some rusty kitchen scissors
I screamed his name ‘til the neighbors called the cops."

Talk about obsession!  Please watch this video--it is a seriously fantastic creation!






Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Minerva