Breathtaking Book Cover: Breaking Beautiful

Today's Breathtaking Book Cover is...

Breaking Beautiful 

by

Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Click on the cover to go to the books Goodreads page.

Interview: Gabrielle Prendergast

This months author interview is with up and coming novel-in-verse author Gabrielle Prendergast, who's first YA novel, Audacious, comes out in the Fall  of 2013. 

Welcome to the blog Gabrielle!!

Born Bookish: If your life had a theme song, what song would it be?

I think it would vary from day to day but Creep by Radiohead is how I feel most of the time. But maybe the Pretenders cover of it since I’m a girl. 

Born Bookish: You have two young adult novels in verse coming out in the next couple of years; Audacious in 2013, and its sequel Capricious in 2014. Can you tell us a little bit about each one?

Audacious is about 16-year-old Ella, who moves with her family to a new town and blows her plans of fitting in by falling for a Muslim guy, creating controversial artwork, and getting expelled from school. Ella makes a pretty radical decision at the end of Audacious and Capricious concerns the repercussions of that decision, amongst other things.

Born Bookish: What made you want to tell these stories in verse, opposed to traditionally?

I wanted to try telling a story in verse and this is the story that came out. Initially I was going to write something autobiographical but the story took on a mind of its own, partly because of the verse format. Sometimes a rhyme or a figure of speech that felt right for a poem would take the story into an unforeseen direction and I would just follow it. I worked with a kind of outline but I ended up not following it much. 

Born Bookish: Did you read many books in verse to prepare yourself to write one of your own?

Yes! I try to read pretty much every YA verse novel I come across, and lots of MG ones too. I read up to twenty or more books a month and usually at least a couple are in verse. I also try to read traditional poetry but I don’t enjoy that as much.

Born Bookish: A lot of people are hesitant to try reading this format, why do you think that is?

Lots of people are afraid of poetry. Poetry is ruined for people in high school I think. They have to study really obscure and inscrutable poems or poems that have no relevance to the life of an average 21st century high schooler (about mending a stone wall for example) so that turns them off. And a lot of contemporary poetry is intentionally incomprehensible and dense, because that is the challenge of “poetry.” But verse novels, especially those written for young readers are not like that because they are much more direct. It’s really not quite poetry and not quite prose. It’s something new.

Born Bookish: What is your favorite novel in verse?

I really loved Karma by Cathy Ostlere, which I read recently. I also thought May B by Caroline Starr Rose was fabulous.

Born Bookish: If you could take any classic novel and re-write it in verse, which would you choose?

Gosh, what a great question. Maybe Frankenstein by Mary Shelley? I’d like to see some gothic verse novels so this would be a great place to start.  

Born Bookish: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process?

Mostly I’m a “pantser.” I pretend I have a plan but I never follow it and sometimes I don’t even bother pretending. Often a story will really start to occupy my mind completely so I spend most of my day kind of living in scenes even when I’m driving or making dinner. That can get a little tiring but that’s the way it goes I guess. I have written things that were more carefully outlined. WICKET SEASON, which was published in March 2012, had a very detailed outline because I wrote it under contract with my publisher (Lorimer). And I used to write screenplays that way. I sometimes do a lot of preliminary research by reading about the subject matter and writing all kinds of rambling notes. But at some point I get “the urge to push” (to coin a childbirth phrase) and then I just start on page one and go. I write in Word for Windows. I don’t use any fancy outlining tools and I have no system of keeping chapters and scenes in order. I just start at the beginning and go to the end. Crazy and messy and often ineffective but that’s what I do. Basically my first draft is my outline. 

Born Bookish: I saw on your website that in addition to writing books, you’ve also written a children’s movie. How does writing a movie differ from writing a book? Do you go through the same process?

Actually Hildegarde was the one screenplay I “pantsed.” I had a half a page of notes then I wrote it in about four weeks. But of course it changed a lot through later drafts that I did with the producer and director and there was LOTS of outlining at that stage. 

Born Bookish: What is your favorite book-to-movie adaptation?

I really think both The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies are incredible accomplishments. LOTR in particular I think is very close to being as good as the books. There’s really only one movie that I think is better than the book and that’s Blade Runner, which is based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Phillip K Dick. Blade Runner is a phenomenally good movie and the book is just so so. 

Born Bookish: Do you have any other books in the works that you can tell us a little bit about?

 I have a lower middle grade book called Pandas on the Eastside, which is out on sub now. Hopefully I’ll hear news about it soon. My current WIP is a kind of sci-fi romance thing, a bit of a beauty and the beast riff, but its proving to be more beast than beauty so I’m not sure when that will ever be finished. And there’s another completed middle grade, which is “problematic,” but I hope to find a home for it someday.

Born Bookish: Here at Born Bookish, I have a segment called Breathtaking Book Covers where I post the cover image of a book that I think is stunning. Is there a book cover that has ever taken your breath away? If so, what book?

I actually just wrote a blog post about this tonight (it goes up on June 23). I’m really into what I call graphic/iconic covers. 

Hannah Moskowitz has a book coming out next year called Teeth, which has this kind of simple evocative cover. 

I’m really over the wispy girls in passive poses covers that are so ubiquitous now, and the “dead girls” make me crazy. Make it stop. I’ve blogged about that too. 

Apart from that I actually really love the cover of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick but I wasn’t crazy about the actual book. 

Thanks for the interview Gabrielle! =) 






Note: Don't forget to check out my cover of the day post on Cover to Cover, where I talk about Mind Games by Kiersten White. Happy Friday =)

Book Review: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Title: Cryer’s Cross

Author: Lisa McMann

# Of Pages: 256

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: December 6, 2011

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Kendall loves her life in small town Cryer's Cross, Montana, but she also longs for something more. She knows the chances of going to school in New York are small, but she's not the type to give up easily. Even though it will mean leaving Nico, the world's sweetest boyfriend, behind.

But when Cryer's Cross is rocked by unspeakable tragedy, Kendall shoves her dreams aside and focuses on just one goal: help find her missing friends. Even if it means spending time with the one boy she shouldn't get close to... the one boy who makes her question everything she feels for Nico.

Determined to help and to stay true to the boy she's always loved, Kendall keeps up the search--and stumbles upon some frightening local history. She knows she can't stop digging, but Kendall is about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried....

My Verdict

This book was the perfect mix of suspense, mystery, and romance!

I’ve always been interested in the idea of living in a small, one traffic light town, where everybody knows everybody. I think that’s why I enjoyed the setting of Cryer’s Cross Montana so much! Population 212. The tight-knit community that banded together during a crisis and generally cared for one another was refreshing to read about.

I absolutely loved being in the mind of the main character, Kendall. Kendall has OCD, I’ve never read about a character with OCD and found it very interesting to see how her mind worked. How she had to count a certain amount of raindrops before she let herself stop, or how she checked the locks a certain number of times every night before bed.

It wasn’t just  Kendall I liked, the author focused on a small group of main characters, concentrating on their development and allowing us get to know them all really well.

• Nico, he was so sweet! Him and Kendall were best friends since they were tots, he is the only one who understands her, and the only one besides her parents that knows about her OCD. 
• Marlena, her and her brother Jacian are the new kids in town. Marlena is talkative, outgoing, and friendly, which helps her and Kendall to become friends pretty quick. 
• Jacian, has a major attitude problem as well as anger management issues. He was forced to move to Cryer's Cross  by his parents when his grandfather needed help taking care of his ranch. I disliked him right from the start and even though he changes near the end I never did like him.

The one downfall of this book was that the ending leaves a little to be desired. While you find out the answers to the main mystery it's not explained very well and still leaves you a little confused and wishing it had been discussed in a little more depth. 

After reading this, I quickly ran to the library to grab Lisa’s other “suspense” novel, Dead To You. I’m so glad this was the first of Lisa’s books that I read because her other one didn’t live up at all. If I had read Dead to You first, I don’t think I would have picked this one up.

(SPOILER WARNING!! STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK)

Can’t say I was too happy with the romantic aspect of the story though. My vote was for Nico all the way (I’m a sucker for the best-friends forever turned boyfriend, girlfriend kind of romances). For this reason, I never really gave Jacian a chance. I didn’t like him from the start and I didn’t want him with Kendall.

Tune in Tuesday: My Teen Years Edition

Tune in Tuesday is a weekly segment hosted by Ginger from greads that showcases music. 

Each week you post a new or old song in hopes to gain it more interest.

For the whole month of July, Tune in Tuesday is going old school. Instead of sharing any song we will be sharing the songs from when we were teens. 

So to kick off Tune in Tuesday My Teen Years edition I'm going to take you all back to the year 2002, when I was 12 (which I guess is technically a tween not a teen but whatever). This is the year that my dad took me and my sister to our first concert. 

Here is who we saw:

Aaron Carter- The Main Act
Sigh.... my entire room used to be plastered with  posters of this guy. No lie, when the walls were full, I started hanging posters on my ceiling =/

Jump 5- Opening Act
To this day, I still own every single one of their CDs. Their music was wholesome, uplifting, and fun. I wish music like this was still popular.

No Secrets- Opening Act
Fun story about this one. So, we were in line at this fishmarket place to grab lunch before the concert started and the girl in the pink top was standing in line in-front of us. My sister didn't believe me when I told her so we called out her name to see if she turned around (lame I know). Anyways, it was her (I was right) and she ended up signing a bunch of stuff for us!




Triple Image- Opening Act
I couldn't even find any music videos of them on Youtube. I think they only ever had one CD.
Looking back, I can't believe I ever even listened to this.



Well, that was my first concert in a nutshell. 
Did anyone else listen to any of these groups growing up? 
If not, who were YOU listening to in the year 2002??

Breathtaking Book Cover: The Springsweet

Todays Breathtaking Book Cover is...

The Springsweet

by

Saundra Mitchell

Click on the cover to go to the books Goodreads page.

Book News: July Releases

July Releases!

Coming July 3rd . . .

Tiger Lily

by 

Jodi Lynn Anderson

Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

Once (Eve #2)

by 

Anna Carey

When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

Coming July 5th . . . 

Amelia Dead and Gone

by

Kat Rosenfield

Becca has always longed to break free from her small, backwater hometown. But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town--and Becca--into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life.

Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson's life are intercut with Becca's own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia's death.

The Best Night of Your (Pathetic) Life

by 

Tara Altebrando

An all-day scavenger hunt in the name of eternal small-town glory

With only a week until graduation, there's one last thing Mary and her friends must do together: participate in the Oyster Point High Official Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt. And Mary is determined to win.

Mary lost her spot at Georgetown to self-professed "it" bully Jake Barbone, and she's not about to lose again. But everyone is racing for the finish line with complicated motives, and the team's all-night adventure becomes all-night drama as shifting alliances, flared tempers, and crushing crushes take over. As the items and points pile up, Mary and her team must reinvent their strategy--and themselves--in order to win.

Coming July 10th . . .

So Close To You

by

Rachel Carter

Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the strange things that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who've disappeared over the years. Stories about people like her own great-grandfather.

When Lydia stumbles into a portal that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, she discovers that all the stories she's ever heard about the Montauk Project are true, and that she's in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.

Alongside a darkly mysterious boy she is wary to trust, Lydia begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the Project. But the truths behind these secrets force her to question all her choices--and if Lydia chooses wrong, she might not save her family but destroy them . . . and herself.

Coming July 17th . . .

Before You Go

by 

James Preller

The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark, and no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool seven years ago when Jude was supposed to be watching her.

Now, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then, life spins out of control. Again.

Acclaimed author James Preller explores life, death, love, faith, and resilience in his first young adult novel that will grip readers from the book’s dramatic first few pages to its emotional end.

Coming July 24th . . .

Cold Fury

by 

T.M. Goeglein

Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance--until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It's a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies--a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense--hidden in its pages the secret to "ultimate power." It's why she's being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

What books are you waiting for this month??

Reading Challenge: July Linky List

We're more than halfway through the year. Can you believe it?!? I can't!
How's everyone doing with the challenge? Link up your July reviews here =)