Anna and The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

My blog is about crushing on the inky goodness in the world - and if there's one book you can crush on - Anna and the French Kiss would be it.

Anna and the French Kiss easily leaps straight onto my sacred top Young Adult books of all time list. It pretty much is my perfect reading experience and everything I hope for in book:

• It's completely charming and utterly fun.
• It's hilarious, smashingly brilliant dialogue, grin worthy moments and laugh-out loud goodness.
• Characters that are flawed, 3 dimensional, that you want to hang out with. A rich cast surrounds the main characters, all uniquely drawn and portrayed. I love these guys.
• A setting that you feel immersed in. Scenes that you want to be in.
• Alongside the fun and the charm and the swoon-worthy goodness, there's depth and sorrow and a richness that makes your heart swell and ache and hope for the characters. There's some tear jerking moments in there.
• There's moments where you hold your breath and hope hope hope the story is going where you want it to. 
• The plot feels organic and true.
• The romance will have you swooning and crushing hard without cringing :)
• It's ridiculously unputdownable and crazily good in general

A closer look at two main characters who I absolutely LOVE:

Anna Oliphant: She's whimsical and slightly OCD. She's dynamic and confident but also unsure. She's fun to hang out with, brave yet scared. She sometimes makes a mess of things despite her best intentions. I ADORED her from the first chapter. No doubt she will soar to the top of 'favourite female characters' lists :)

Etienne St Clair: What a guy, hey. SWOON. He's beautiful and not at all perfect. Charming and sometimes elusive. He's funny and clever and stuffs things up. A lot. He's genuine and dynamic and lights up the pages of any scene he's in. He is a literary crush that will knock all your other crushes off the top of your list.

Fans of contemporary YA should be queuing up to read this book. Those who don't normally read contemporary - this is the perfect introduction.  I am already dying for the next two books Stephanie Perkins has coming out.

It's not out in Australia until January 4 - so save your Christmas money for this one. It's one you will want to have sitting on your bookshelf. It makes me feel good just looking at it. I'm already aching for a re-read.

I abandoned everything once I started reading this book and I did not want it to end.

If I was to compare this book to another, I can't think of what to pair it with. It's a unique blend: not quite as literary as Melina Marchetta (though just as funny and real and ache-y), it's more dynamically paced than Sarah Dessen (and just as lingering and true) and it's not as quirky as  Jaclyn Moriarty (but is whimsical and has that friends you want to hang out with thing down-pat). It's pretty much the perfect blend of YA goodness.

It's an absolute favourite of mine - lovelovelove.


Anna and the French Kiss @ goodreads (check out more reviews - it's not just me who has fallen in love with this book)
Stephanie Perkins really really funky site

Thanks to the lovely people at Penguin Australia for this review copy

I absolutely recommend...

I don't have time to give these books the justice they deserve with full blown rave reviews so here I am shouting out about them in a mini-review post. 


I think I may make this a regular feature...


Links go to goodreads.

One Lonely Degree by C K Kelly Martin


Finn has always felt out of place, but suddenly her world is unraveling. It started with The Party. And Adam Porter. And the night in September that changed everything. The only person who knows about that night is Audrey—Finn’s best friend, her witness to everything, and the one person Finn trusts implicitly. So when Finn’s childhood friend Jersy moves back to town—reckless, beautiful Jersy, all lips and eyes and hair so soft you’d want to dip your fingers into it if you weren’t careful—Finn gives her blessing for Audrey to date him. How could she possibly say no to Audrey? With Audrey gone for the summer, though, Finn finds herself spending more and more time with Jersy, and for the first time in her life, something feels right. But Finn can’t be the girl who does this to her best friend...can she? 


I absolutely loved this. Beautiful and seamlessly written. It made me ache. C K Kelly Martin just has this way with pulling me in and making me care. 


I loved Finn - I so related to her - quietly, beautifully angsty and unassuming and genuine -  a stunning portrait of a teen muddling through life.


As for Jersey - what a dynamic relationship - so much to read in between the lines. I am crushing on him hard. HARD. 


This is contemporary relationships crafted at it's best. Friendship and family and love.

The ending - just so well done. This book has lingered and I keep feeling the urge to go back and flip through it's pages. 


The premise may sound ordinary, but the book definitely is not. If you are a fan of Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott or contemp YA in general - this should be screaming out at you from a must-read list.

Hold Still by Nina Lacour


In the wake of her best friend Ingrid's suicide, Caitlin is left alone, struggling to find hope and answers. When she finds the journal Ingrid left behind for her, she begins a journey of understanding and broadening her horizons that leads her to new friendships and first love. Nina LaCour brings the changing seasons of Caitlin's first year without Ingrid to life with emotion, honesty, and captivating writing.


I got this after reading oh-so-many stunning reviews. And it's one of my fave reads this year.


I am most astounded with just how deeply I sunk into these pages. Nina LaCour knows teens and she's pitch prefect at capturing them.


I personally not only related to Caitlin, but also to Ingrid (who, wow, she's dead from the outset, but her presence is so keenly felt throughout the pages). 


It's beautiful and hopeful and brave and captivating and I wish I could go back to my teen self and give her this book. This is another one where the magic lingers in my mind. Stunning.

Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly

Sixteen-year-old, music- and sound design-obsessed Drea doesn’t have friends. She has, as she’s often reminded, issues. Drea’s mom and a rotating band of psychiatrists have settled on "a touch of Asperger’s.”

Having just moved to the latest in a string of new towns, Drea meets two other outsiders. And Naomi and Justin seem to actually like Drea. The three of them form a band after an impromptu, Portishead-comparison-worthy jam after school. Justin swiftly challenges not only Drea’s preference for Poe over Black Lab but also her perceived inability to connect with another person. Justin, against all odds, may even like like Drea.

It’s obvious that Drea can’t hide behind her sound equipment anymore. But just when she’s found not one but two true friends, can she stand to lose one of them?

What an amazing book.


 It's refreshing and honest and not at all awkward (which I was initially apprehensive about). 


At its heart, it's a love story, and a story of friendship and mothers and daughters. 


Despite Drea's Aspergers, she's incredibly easy to relate to, to love and to cheer on. It's funny and precious and inspiring. 


It's a little heartbreaking, a whole lot eye-opening and completely captivating. Also, Justin, swoon :)

(and a shout out to Angie who gave it to me! You're the best!)

All three of these books are ones I will re-read. 

Ones I'll be passing on to friends. 

All have crush-worthy guys (just saying). 

They're stand out reads for me. 

And contenders for my top fave reads this year.

Have you read any of these?

What contemp YA have you recently read that you fell in love with?

Five Parts Dead by Tim Pegler

Dan has dodged the Reaper again. If he were a cat, five of his nine lives would be gone—when his mates didn’t even get second chances. He’s still grieving their deaths when he’s dragged on a family holiday at a remote island lighthouse.

Left alone, at what feels like the end of the earth, Dan starts sensing a mysterious girl. Is she a dream? Or has he somehow hooked into the spirit world?

The lighthouse logbook helps illuminate some of the girl’s tragic story but Dan will have to dig deeper to find answers and the inspiration to embrace life again.

Tim Pegler gets inside the minds and hearts of teenagers and captures their voices—spot on.

Five Parts Dead would have to be among one of the best books for teens I have read. 

Tim Pegler is some sort of plotting genius. He has two timelines, Dan's present day holiday at the island (which also includes flashbacks to his life before the accident) and the second story of the people who lived at the light house which is unveiled through the light house log and some research at a local museum. 

The pacing is so well done that everything unfolds brilliantly, always leaving more mystery and secrets for the reader - the whole mass of story and emotions and mystery is all explored in just under 200 pages and it's incredible how much power and emotion is packed into such a short space. One of the dangers of weaving different time lines and characters together is that I often end up being more invested in one of the stories than the other. Not so here - in fact, I felt deeply immersed in all the characters and their journeys.

It's eerie. Okay, so I was reading it home alone in the middle of the night during a coastal storm. And, initially,  I felt freaked out in a goosebumpy delicious way which then changed to a complete wide-eyed horror as the story progressed. There's some gore and creepy stuff going down.

It has a very sexy, very teen love story in there.

Not only is the story stunning - both timelines, but the characters, make this book far more than just a captivating story. They're the kind of characters that feel real, that are captured in smart, succinct dialogue and individual nuances. They're characters that make you ache and laugh and it was so easy for me to visualise them and find myself caring for them immensely. 

Me and Five Parts Dead

I don't cry in books. Sometimes I call books tear jerkers because they really tug at my emotions. I was happily grinning away one page and completely invested in the story, madly flipping through pages, and then - BAM - the next minute my eyes have welled up and tears are spilling over and I felt like I had been ripped open. It's been a long time since I've bawled in a book.

Other cool cool stuff:

• Pip (funky 17 year old girl)- reads Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, out in the sun on the island. Loved that :)
• Dan's a twin. I love twin stuff in books. And this is cool as his twin is a sister.
• the car crash scene is the best I have ever read, anywhere. Talk about graphic - I was wide-eyed and hit hard. Mesmerising prose. I don't think the images created in my mind will ever leave me.
• there's some freaky haunting stuff in here. Including an exorcism scene - which is creepier as it's notated factually in the light house log book. 
• there's some cannibalistic stuff going down. Everyone loves a bit of cannibalism, yeah :)
• I got right inside Dan's head space - such an honest and funny and heart-felt male POV. I really love the guy. And he's having such a rough time...

Recommended: Five Parts Dead is on my favourites shelf (obviously) and I can't wait until my boys (and my girl) are old enough to read it. It's a perfect novel for all ages, that will capture the imagination of all readers - but it's especially brilliant for boys and reluctant readers. This is a book that will not only mesmerise readers, but one that will linger. And did I mention it's funny? I so love books that make me grin :)

I personally can't wait to read it again.

Five Parts Dead is available in Australia now

Five Parts Dead @ goodreads

Five Parts Dead @ The Book Gryffin "I have oft praised Melina Marchetta for her beautifully developed characters and till I read Tim Pegler, I had thought she was alone in her ability to make me long to meet her protagonists in real life. Not only did I spend a great deal of time yearning for Tim’s characters to be real, I have spent a significant amount of time thinking about them since I closed the cover on Five Parts Dead."


Snapshot of a novel Tim Pegler's written notes - his first ideas/inspiration for the novel. This is completely awesome!


Reviews of Five Parts Dead Professionals who are so more eloquent and succinct than I and who love this book as much as I do.

This is Shyness by Leanne Hall

Before I begin my review: here's the stunning trailer for Leanne Hall's debut This Is Shyness, which hit Australian shelves in August.

This trailer is my favourite book trailer ever. 

This Is Shyness from All Things Considered on Vimeo.
About the Book:

A guy who howls. A girl on a mission to forget. 

In the suburb of Shyness, where the sun doesn’t rise and the border crackles with a strange energy, Wolfboy meets a stranger at the Diabetic Hotel. She tells him her name is Wildgirl, and she dares him to be her guide through the endless night. 

But then they are mugged by the sugar-crazed Kidds. And what plays out is moving, reckless...dangerous. There are things that can only be said in the dark. And one long night is time enough to change your life.


Check out the reviews @ goodreads 

My Review:

(Did you watch that trailer? ;) It's completely awesome.)


I had no idea what to expect from this book and now it's hard to tell you all what to expect. In some ways, it's perfect going into it with no idea, but here's a small taste...


This is Shyness reads like a contemporary novel but there are fantastical elements.

• Such as: the suburb of Shyness itself. It is a place where one day, the sun went down, and it hasn't ever risen again. It's in permanent night-time, but right next door (over the border) - the sun's still doing it's usual thing.
• It's still set in our world, with mobile phones and school and India and everywhere else. But it feels different.
• The novel takes place over one night. 
• There's are sugar-crazed kidds and tarsier's (wild monkey-type creatures)
• It alternates between the POV of wolfboy (enigmatic, charming in an off-beat way, and hot ) and Wildgirl (fiesty, whimsical, a Girl You Will Absolutely Love) . Wolfboy and Wildgirl meet in a bar at night and end up wandering through the streets of Shyness and you never quite know just who they are going to bump into next.

Really these points still don't give any indication what to expect - but you should expect that you have never read anything like this book before.

It felt like a dream, reading this

One of those gorgeous dreams where everything is slightly different but you believe your dream world to be the truth. 

One of those dreams that when you wake up you hold onto it hard, not wanting to leave the magical dream behind, wanting to savour the taste and sound and feel and essence of it.

Like some dreams, it's occasionally a little bit dark and creepy and some parts don't make absolute sense as it's all unfolding.

This is a dream you want to be a part of. And it's the kind of dream you won't ever forget.

I couldn't put this book down - it's a classic example of a book transporting you to another place and time. 


It's also a writer's dream: prose that slips and slides over you in the most evocative of ways.
Descriptions and feelings nailed in a few well-chosen words.
Even the nondescript characters and locations are given their own distinct vibe.


Recommended: This is Shyness is a brilliant novel unlike any I have ever read before. Charming and fantastical, in some places, even cute - yet also gritty and scarily-feral in parts. It's a book for dreamers: imaginative and haunting and completely unexpected. Yay for novels that blow my mind while still making me grin. 4.5 stars.

BONUS! Yay!

Some of my favourite quotes below for those who are interested & to give you a taste of the gorgeous and funny prose:

I love Wildgirl

‘We’re going bowling?’ I can’t keep the disappointment of of my voice. Bowling is not badass.  

I watch Wolfboy look at the guitar, his yearning painted all over his face. It’s pretty adorable, even though I’d prefer he look at me like that instead. 

I smile to myself. 

He’s so hot. 

If the girls at school could see me in this fancy bar with this hot guy they’d throw up with jealousy. 

 Wolfboy is completely cool too - despite his gruff-tough persona 

My falling shadow looks ominous, even to me.   

There’s a pause so yawning I can’t help but think about what it would be like to lean in and kiss her, but if I’m getting the signals wrong then I’m about to destroy the best run we’ve had all evening. It’s been at least ten minutes since I’ve done or said anything stupid.  

Stunning descriptions that evoke great imagery in the simplest of lines:

The trees outside scrape their twiggy fingers on the glass as if they want to be let in. 

People grow couches and bikes and concrete in their front gardens instead of roses.  

Wolfboy whispers the password to the door, practically kissing the peeling paint. 

Random people descriptions:

The Elf is weedy, with lank blond hair and skin the colour of uncooked dough. 


Sebastein's bodiless voice is as dry and papery as his skin. 

The girl with the curly hair is a porcelain doll in army pants. Goatee guy looks half drowned in on oversized black jumper. 

Her daughter poses with a cardboard sword in one hand and a torch in the other. She wears a too-big tunic and a lumpy foil helmet. Her expression is halfway between goofy grin and ferocious battle-face.

RTW - Best book of the month

Road Trip Wednesday is a blog carnival courtesy of YA Highway who post a writing- or reading-related prompt for all the YA bloggers to participate in.

The topic this week is:

What’s the best book you read in July?

Easily one of the best books I've read this year: Stolen by Lucy Christopher. Stunning and scary and beautiful with the most crush-worthy of writing it messed with my head and completely spun me out.

Told in a moving letter to her captor, sixteen-year-old Gemma relives her kidnapping from Bangkok airport. In a story of survival, passion and darkness, Gemma reveals how she had to deal with the nightmare or die trying to fight it. Sensitive, powerful and beautifully written. (from Coffs Harbour Library catalogue)

The synopsis? Basically, Ty kidnaps 16 year old UK girl Gemma from Thailand and takes her to his remote place in the Australian outback.

Goodreads blurb quote: Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous.


Um, agree :)


This book messed with my mind and made me question right and wrong and all the shades in between.


 The writing, holy guacamole, is so evocative that it seeps into you. So so much goodness to crush on. The setting was so rich: I felt the stifling heat and slipped right into the red earth with Gemma and Ty. 


The plot? It's psycholgical and twisty and I just had no idea what the ending would be or could be or even how I wanted it to end. I was so driven to see what would happen and it's been a long time since I've been so caught up in a story like that. 


The characters. Okay, hands down, Ty is a new fave literary guy for me. I cant even describe all the emotions he made me feel. Love , intrigue, pain, terror, sorrow, beauty and gratitude - he seriously is in a new dimension of his own reserved for the elitist of haunting and unique characters that make me ache in the most hard-core of ways.


The ending. Ooooh, the ending. It killed me and gripped me and lingered with me for days.


This book, is why I read.


And, it just intimidated me as a writer on a whole new level of whoah. 


Okay, so I feel like this response is a bit incoherent. Here's how John Marsden (legendary author of the Tomorrow series) figured out how to express all that I feel about Stolen:

"Stolen is a brilliant novel, which will pick up your world and shake it so hard that you can never be sure of anything again. Set in a landscape so exotic and powerful that it becomes one of the main characters in the book, this story of a boy and a girl delivers one compelling scene after another. Ty and Gem will be in your head a long time. If you were getting tired of reading, Stolen will turn you back into an addict."… John Marsden

Link to read the first chapter.


Obviously, 5 stars.  Couldn't put it down and can't get it out of my head.

And, totally rooting for it to win CBCA best book of the year. Winner announced in a few weeks :) Plus, it's nom'd for the Prime Minters Award (a prize including $100 000 cash). 

Handcuffs - Bethany Griffin

Coming down from the most sexually charged moment of your life to face humiliation, unfulfilled lust, and the boredom of indefinite grounding is tough. Sixteen year old Parker Prescott alternates her punishment time between sneaking out to see her would-be lover and playing internet pranks. One of these activities will lead to an unflattering mug shot, but both will land her in handcuffs. (from authors site)


Oooh - how good is that hook?


Here's the back blurb: 

Parker Prescott is an Ice Princess. Cold, aloof, a snob. At least, that's what everyone says on Marion Hennessey's blog. And everyone reads Marion Hennessey's blog.

Parker Prescott is a middle child. She's the good one, the dependable one, the one her parents trust. Well . . . she used to be.

Parker Prescott's parents want her to break up with her boyfriend. But she already did, two weeks ago.

And then she realized it was a mistake. He came over. He had the handcuffs in his pocket. Everything went downhill from there. Sort of.

Parker Prescott's world is changing and she no longer knows who she is. Does anyone?

Parker has such a perfect teenage voice that I felt like I was visiting my own past teen self. 


The tension in this book! I was completely sucked in - especially with the escalating high school warfare and Parker and her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend (supreme hotness) who's relationship is complicated and sexy in the best of ways.


Griffin writes with a subtlety that captures those teen feelings of identity and belonging and high school hardships and... lust :) 


I especially loved the intricate ways Parker related to her mum and her older sister (I also adored her little brother. ADHD little bro's FTW!) And, confession, I am a middle child. So, Parker and I are likethis.


I expected to like this book - I didn't quite expect it to have as much depth as it did. Especially in various charcters sub-plots, like her sister and her neighbours. Whoah - impressed me :)


Basically - I really really liked this book.


I recommend this to: people who love contemporary YA with well-drawn characters, hot steamy moments and page-flipping high school tension.


Random stuff: 

• You never find out the name of Parker's boyfriend/ex-boyfriend. OooOooh - I liked that...
• The ending! Argh! I don't know what to say, but it kinda broke my heart but also felt good. Cryptic, I know. 
• Get comfy before you read this. Because you won't want to put it down. 
• I kept imagining if my parents walked in on me and my boyfriend while we were... and I was in handcuffs. My poor lovely dad would die... My mum? I would be sooo dead. Me? Thank God I only had to live through it vicariously :)
• And, yay! I won this book from Bethany Griffin, who has a fab blog and she signed it (to me!). My 13 year old niece says Bethany has the best writing. "Oooh - I wish I had that writing," she was gushing :) 

The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson (best book of the month)

RTW (Road Trip Wednesday): Best Book of the Month - hosted by YA Highway. (go there to check out other YA-er's fave reads this month and participate by writing your own post and linking in.)

How cute is this trailer!!! Love love love :)



I just loved this book so much I don't even know where to begin...

Maybe with the back blurb?:

What's wrong with me? 
What kind of girl wants to kiss every boy at a funeral, wants to maul a guy in a tree after making out with her (dead) sister's boyfriend the previous night? 
Speaking of which, what kind of girl makes out with her sister's boyfriend at all?
Lennie Walker - sisterless, lasagne maker, Heathcliff-obssessed and hopelessly in love...




So I saw a fair few raves about this and, had just come out of a bit of a binge read of grief-type books, so I thought I wasn't in the mood for another one... somehow, (I think partly the cute trailer), I caved.

But this book, IMO, is in a whole league of it's own.

The writing is intensely beautiful. Oh - I did some serious sentence-crushing. Reading this was like being submerged in emotion and love and all things wild and mad and crazy and the grief was just so poignant and the feelings so real that I became completely absorbed.

The love story.

Whoah.

So, there's this kinda love triangle. By that I mean, two guys, both getting some action from Lennie. But it's not an ordinary love triangle or cliché - to the point that even saying triangle somehow feels wrong.... it's like the characters are so fused with emotion that it bubbles over and explodes in love and moments of passion. The complications in this didn't feel like a contrived plot point, but like a real character driven mess of pain and desire and world-crushing love. I also didn't think it was a manipulative device to tear up readers, and there's no choosing of teams, just an ache for Lennie and Joe and Toby.

And the love between Lennie and one of her men. It's intense, and an all the way full-blown connection, more so than most YA I read. However, due to the stunning writing, I was into it the whole way. I believed in it, for sure :) Sigh...

I was so into the love scenes but in the midst of it, a little knot of tension was gnawing away in the pit of my stomach the whole time. Takes a talented author to get to me like that.

Basically, this book hit me hard emotionally.

The book itself? It. Is. Stunning.

The paperback isn't really a paperback, it's like the material on those funky little Bibles - if you know what I mean :) - and the pages are bound, and inter-spliced throughout are little hand-written poems on full colour pages (some carved into tree bark, on music scores, on a takeaway cup). You see some of these pages when you watch the trailer above - all photos from the actual book. Tell me you watched the trailer, yeah?

I haven't said much about the actual plot - it's best if you just get in and read it. I don't know if my review has really done this book justice..?

I was so inspired/wowed/stunned/in love after reading this that I ordered three more copies and sent them out to three of my Aussie buddies - couldn't help but share the love. I haven't told them yet... (unless it's you and you're reading this post...fingers crossed, hey?) And they better love it as much as I do! ;)

What's the best book you read this month?

Loving Author Kaitlin Ward's Aussie YA Pick for this month :)

Oh - and watch the trailer. Seriously.

The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind - Kirstin Cronn-Mills

I borrow the car again from Grandma and drive out to my hill. I scream I AM A BIG FAT ZERO, plus I AM SWEARING OFF KISSING FOREVER, and I HATE BEING A SECRET SEX FIEND, about sixteen times each. Then I sit very still and watch a hawk swirl over the fields. I have to get a new life before I go crazy. (back cover)

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was two, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and she can't stop staring at her coworker Rob's cute butt. Then there's the kiss she shared with her neighbor Tessa . . . But when Morgan discovers a devastating secret about the one person she completely trusted, her entire world crashes and she must redefine her life and herself.

Compelling and complex, The Sky Always Hears Me is a fast-paced narrative with raw humor and a heart-wrenching twist. (goodreads synopsis)

Début Author: 2009

Me: First of all, how awesome is the title! <3 it, plus, love the cover too - the colours in the sky and the text look striking against the girls head. It's calling out to you, isn't it?

I really liked this book. 


It's definitely the kind of book I would have loved as a teenager.  The main thing I loved, was Morgan. She's the coolest of narrators. I connected with her voice on the very first page. I love that feeling of only having read a page and realising, 'I am going to love this book.'

I keep using the word love :)

It's about Morgan and her life in a small town where she works at a grocery store (and perves on 19 year old Rob), is the girlfriend of popular jock-hottie Derek and next door-neighbour to Tessa who kisses her outside in the middle of the night. These three friends complicate all her teen-ish-hormonal feelings and general angst. She also has an alcoholic father and an enviously awesome Grandma, two little brothers who I personally feel proud of and a love of all things literary.

There's no huge inciting incident and, despite the blurb, no majorly huge event occurs (I kept guessing what was going to happen - little weird twists and scenarios that...never happened) although the secret she uncovers would really shatter your world. It's more of a read about Morgan and the cool crazy mad mess that is her life.


I think you just have to settle into a groove and go with the flow. I don't think everyone will be into this book - it's kind of quirky (in the coolest of ways. definitely not dorky) and it definitely has it's moments of tension and conflict - but what mostly kept me turning the pages was the voice and the fact that I have a little bit of a crush on Morgan. She's snarky and fun and ironic and oh-so-confused but just lovely lovely lovely. The humour in this book is definitely my style. I was smiling a lot of the time while reading it :)

Oh, and Morgan? She thinks about sex. A fair bit. Just, you know, a heads up there :) There's also a bit of language and some themes that make it an upper YA kinda read. 

Stuff to Love:

1. Morgan is really into words and writing and she's always writing/thinking up little fortune cookie snippets that are a cute commentary of her life (here's the first few ones I flipped too):

• Be careful of hotties searching for toothpicks. 
• Never hitch your star to someone who will live in a small town for the rest of his life. 
• When in doubt, go to sleep.
• Do not enjoy uninvited kisses.
• For value, buy the creamed corn.

2. I loved the ending - although I'm sure it will annoy some people :)


3. Morgan drives out to the hills and yells random things out (see blurb up the top) - and, I think, that's what being a teen is all about - feeling everything so intensely that you just have to get out in the open and scream your lungs out about it.


4. There's a lot of options in Morgan's life and the path isn't clear cut and the read isn't at all predictable. 


5. I didn't find one character to be cliché - but all beautifully and compellingly flawed. Along the way, most characters surprised me - with sides of their personality. Definitely richly drawn characters - impressive to find that in some of the more minor characters.

If it sounds like your kinda book - go here to look inside and read the first chapter  


I hope I managed to convey somewhere in here just how much this book rocks! 

Here's two very similar YA covers. One a debut that's not released yet (Mermaid's) the other a UK edition of Jaclyn Moriarty's latest. They are a different model, but I like them both :) All three covers have a distinct atmosphere and feel - I think they're all successful. Or maybe I'm just into looking at the backs of peoples heads?