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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Just Sing and Never Stop


Manic Monday Post!

Just Sing by Rene Gilley

Release Date: June 5 2014 (in eBook and Paperback)

Summary from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Lily has always dreamt of singing professionally and being the first person in her family to attend college. Two years into her four-year plan, she’s on track for acceptance into her dream prestigious music program at Berkeley.

 

That is until the school board holds an emergency budget meeting and cuts her high school’s award-winning vocal program. So, Lily now has the summer before her junior year to formulate a new strategy, or she can kiss her hopes of getting into Berkeley goodbye.

 

Then there is Aiden--he’s broken and beautiful, and they become reluctant friends in the summer  when her family is on the verge of losing a generations-old family estate and ranch.

 

Suddenly her plan of attending Berkeley and her dream of being a star singer all seem irrelevant and selfish. All that matters is saving her family’s home. Lily must now realize that stepping out of her comfort zone and taking a risk may just be the key to save the home she loves. 

 

About the Author:

A true California girl, René Gilley is a young adult and new adult author whose home state is often the backdrop for her books.  A mom, a wife, and a breast cancer survivor--these three roles shape her writing identity and reveal what is most important in her life.   René always uses a portion of her book profits to support breast cancer awareness, research, and patient care. 

 

Her visual inspiration for Just Sing can be found on Pinterest.

Website: Listen to Your Gut. Trust Your Heart.

Twitter: @ReneGilley

Facebook: Rene Gilley

Goodreads: Author Page

The Writer's Coffee Shop

 

 

Dear Readers,

 

With the popularity of shows like American Idol and The Voice, Gilley's Just Sing promises to bring high engagement to any YA reader who dreams of the stage, lives the stage, or enjoys the stage as a spectator. 

 

But really, Just Sing will engage any reader who has high aspirations and goals set for after high school graduation.  Lily, it seems, is ahead of the game, having fulfilled two years of her four year plan. She is doing everything she needs to do in school and in her academic life to get what she wants--enrollment at one of the most prestigious music programs in the nation, Berkeley.

 

As life would have it, though, unforeseen circumstances come to interrupt.  From the loss of the vocal music program at her high school to the impending loss of a family estate, it seems to Lily that all may not turn out as she dreams. 

 

And with her world seemingly turned upside down, there is no more room for any other mishap, much less a boy who at times gives mixed signals. 

 

By the end, Lily and readers will understand that the best life is often the unexpected life.  A life wherein you still meet your dreams but in a way you had not expected.  The passion for singing, for writing, for dancing, for studying organic compounds, for whatever, never really leaves.  The dream may change, the dream may have more than one avenue, the dream may seem to leave for a season, but in the end, whatever real dream is achieved may be better than the initial dream.  For Lily, this means Just Sing.

 

P.S. This one is for my daughter!  And her love of music and singing.  I still remember her first talent show at F.D. Roosevelt when she begged to audition and was determined to prove to the world that a pint-sized kinder girl could memorize and sing a lengthy instrumental track for a favorite Christian song.  Now 14, she is still singing the heck out of songs and waiting for that day when she too will Just Sing to thousands on the stage.  She has done it here in our hometown and all over Youtube, but one day...

 

 

Fictionally Yours Siempre,

 

 

Minerva

 

Heir to the Lamp Creates Magic

 

Manic Monday Post!

 

By Michelle Lowery Combs, Author of Heir to the Lamp

Dear Readers,

It’s a potent fantasy, one that captures the minds of many young readers and sticks with them forever. As an adult, I’m always on the lookout for everyday magic around me: a perfect sunset, the smiles of a sleeping baby, the flow of a perfect piece of prose; but I also enjoy, thanks to some favorite fairytale and fantasy stories of my youth, contemplating the possibilities of cloaks of invisibility, talking animals, and parallel universes that can open themselves up to someone simply waiting at a train station.

When I began planning Heir to the Lamp, my first young adult fantasy novel about a teenage genie, I knew that the story would include more than a little magic. I set out to research genie folklore, which would set me on new paths of discovery that paralleled, crisscrossed, and intersected one another until they would have looked like a road map if plotted out in black and white. There was so much to explore. I’d never imagined the roots of so many mythical and fairytale creatures could be traced back to the genie, or djinni as it’s called in one of the oldest traditions. Angels, demons, ghouls, sprites, faeries and leprechauns—all thought by some to be genies by another name. And then there were the magical objects associated with the versatile djinn—everything from the Arabian Nights style brass lamp to mirrors and polished scrying glasses used to imprison genies at the will of their masters.

The possibilities for Heir to the Lamp seemed endless, and I had a great deal of fun turning the idea of the genie’s lamp, a traditionally unbearably cramped prison for unfortunate djinn, on its head. In my favorite fantasies from childhood, it was most often a character’s experience with an enchanted object that lay at the heart of his or her story: The Hobbit and his ring tricked from a golem, Snow White and her stepmother’s sinister talking mirror.

In Heir to the Lamp readers will discover how a seemingly ordinary oil lamp turns out to be anything but and connects a teenage girl to a 3,000 year-old genie. I have never ceased to wonder at the countless examples of real and ordinary magic all around us as we go about our day to day lives, nor will I ever grow too old to imagine the possibilities of mermaid combs, seven league boots, or a brass oil lamp that contains an entire ocean and private island waiting to be explored. I hope you enjoy Heir to the Lamp!

Fictionally Yours Siempre,

Michelle Lowery Combs

(As posted by a guest author for Fictionally Yours Siempre)