Crushing on Jaclyn Moriarty Give-away

Thinking over how much I love the creative genius that is Jaclyn Moriarty and how many other people heart her to the death and then there's some people who haven't even read her (!) has prompted me to share some Moriarty love :)

Here's an International Give-Away.

There's four books in the Ashbury/Brookfield High series. And, just to confuse everyone, they are released with not only different covers, but different titles too.

#1. Feeling Sorry For Celia

#2 Finding Cassie Crazy, The Year of Secret Assignments

#3. The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie, Becoming Bindy Mackenzie

#4. Dreaming of Amelia, The Ghosts of Ashbury High

For this give-away: the winners get their choice of one of the Ashbury/Brookfield books. 

You don't have to read them in order :) 

If you have never had The Jaclyn Moriarty Experience (!) I really recommend #2 (I read this one first) it is one of my favourite books ever. It really is a YA must-read.

#1 is a personal fave of a few friends of mine, and just as lovely. And, Elizabeth and Saxon go to Coffs Harbour (where I live!) and say how beautiful and simply awesome it is. <3

#4 I loved oh-so-much. My review here. It's a stand-alone, but I already loved the characters from #2, so I instantly connected, there is a lot of characters, so not sure if it's confusing without having read #2 first?

#3 is truly hilarious, but pretty quirky :)

Here's the form, yo

You can have a bonus entry for sharing the love anywhere :)

There will be two winners :)

comp closes on Tues July 20
winners chosen using random.org


I cannot guarantee that the cover/edition you get will be the one that matches your country :) Not all these versions are currently in stock @ The Book Depository (which allows me to do free international delivery). But all of them are pretty cute, hey. 

Stephen King on Adverbs and Jaclyn Moriarty Goes Gothic

Recently read the infamous Stephen King's On Writing - which was an easy but informative read. He manages to make writing look so easy! Here's some quotes in a section on adverbs: 


The adverb is not your friend. p117 (haha)

I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception [use] only in the rarest and most special of circumstances.p119.

Some writers try to evade the no adverb rule by shooting the attribution word full of steroids. p120.

Haha. This cracked me up :) So true. Here's some examples Stephen included:

"Put the gun down" Jekyll grated.

"Never stop kissing me!" Shayna gasped.
Shayna, you go girl!

Don't do these things. Please oh please. p120.

...while to write adverbs is human, to write he said or she said is divine. p122.

Love this book :)

Sometimes, though, I love adverbs.

They really can make a sentence that much more funny, or add foreshadowing or just give a sentence a unique rhythm and flavour. In my own work, I weigh up every adverb I use and see if it is really adding to the sentence/atmosphere or if it's amateur and cluttering the writing.

Shiny new UK cover :)
also known as
The Year of Secret Assignments

Jaclyn Moriarty uses adverbs in most awesomest of ways. I love her adverbs, which are sometimes my favourite part of the sentence/scene.

Here' a scene from Finding Cassie Crazy (The Year of Secret Assignments). Lydia is documenting a convo between her parents at the breakfast table in a letter to Seb (I love Seb, too).

Mum: (sweetly) Take it easy on the butter there, honey. You've already forgotten the results of your latest cholesterol test, haven't you?

Dad: This is low-fat margarine, as a matter of a fact.

Mum: (surprisingly) Up yours, as a matter of a fact.

I love the sweetly. I adore the surprisingly. I love how that one adverb can set the tone of the entire scene. I love how the surprisingly is in Lydia's narration (her response to what her mum said), and we are left to imagine the exact tone her mother uses. And I'm totally hearing the tone :)

US hardcover of
Dreaming of Amelia
Oooh! Gothic!

Here's a statement from Emily, from Dreaming of Amelia (The Ghosts of Ashbury High) she's writing in an exam paper.

'I began to hyperventilate, quietly.'

Haha. I love Emily. She narrates with exclamation marks! Sometimes even in multiples!!! And adverbs! And drama! Adverbs totally work for Emily b/c she's an adverb kinda girl, and Jaclyn uses this to add humour and authenticity to the character. I love how the quietly is tacked on at the end, as if to somehow dignify the statement. I can't imagine Emily would do anything quietly, lol, but I admire her for being an unreliable narrator that way.

And, because I can, another snippet from Emily - she is writing an HSC exam paper: a personal memoir with Gothic undertones (!)

'There is a deep foreboding within me,' I said, (or words like that, not exactly that), 'that my new shampoo doesn't actually bring out the honey highlights in my hair like it says it does!'
Lydia shook her head at me slowly, cryptically.
It could be that she meant: 'No, Em, don't worry. I see plenty of honey highlights.'
But I doubt it.
(pg 6)


Back to back adverbs! And I love it. Love Em and Lyd :)

What about you? Are you an adverb user? Do you secretly love adverbs? Do you kill them off? Do you notice them when you read? Do you love all things Jaclyn Moriarty?

Saltwater Vampires - Pumped For This

Here is a book with Vampire in the title that is calling out to me! And, I don't really do vampires.

Watch the trailer! You will be into it :)
[1:17]

From the astonishingly good Aussie author of Raw Blue (which is rave- blurbed by YA royalty Melina Marchetta) comes...

..." A distinctly Australian vampire thriller..page-turning and suspenseful"

For Jamie Mackie, summer holidays in the coastal town of Rocky Head mean surfing, making money, and good times at the local music festival. But this year, vampires are on the festival’s line-up … fulfilling a pact made on the wreck of the Batavia, four hundred years ago. If their plans succeed, nobody in Rocky Head will survive to see out the new year. 


Taken from Kirsty's website. Check it out!


Officially pumped for this. I don't see many suspense-thrillers in YA. Plus surfing, a beach setting and a music festival all from a male POV. And... a 400 year old legend. Ooooooh! 


Plus, it's Australian! You know you want to read this :)

My Year So Far in YA - Epic Book Survey

Half-way through the year (!) so here's some reading stats for me. So far this year, I've read 100 books exactly. Whoah, it sounds like a lot...Since working on my own YA MS, I've been reading a lot more YA titles (which are generally quicker to read than Adult Fiction).


My reading breakdown: 76 YA, 18 Adult Fiction and 6 Non-Fiction.


Sometimes, I feel sheepish about how much I read, I've always been a bookaholic and also an insomniac, which happen to work well together :)


I took this Epic Book Survey created by author Kirsten Hubbard and originally posted on the Absolute Write boards and YA Highway. Because my blog is all about YA - I've only used my YA books for the answers.

BOOKS 

• Most imaginative: Dreaming of Amelia (The Ghosts of Ashbury High), Dreamrider (Barry Jonsberg), Elsewhere (Gabrielle Zevin)
• Funniest: Dreaming of Amelia, My Big Birkett, The Sky Always Hears Me and The Hills Don't Mind, 
• Scariest: none really, The Devils' Staircase was serial killer fiction, Dead Tossed Waves has some freaky parts.
• Edgiest contemporary: Fade? Living dead Girl
• Creepiest SF/dystopia: The Dead Tossed Waves
• Most evocative historical: The Raging Quiet
• Best love story: The Sky is Everywhere, One Night (Margaret Wild), 

SCENES

• Most hilarious: I loved Chapter One of I Am the Messenger. Loved it :)
• Most disturbing: Dead Tossed Waves - eeew - a really creepy scene involving a religious sect and zombies... 
• Steamiest: the Johnafter finally getting it on with Meg...whoah :)
• Most exciting: Everything Beautiful was pretty wild @ parts, and Audrey, Wait! had lots of fun and excitement.
• Biggest tear-jerker: [only cried in two] Stealing Heaven (I think it was just the mood I was in when I read it) and If I Stay.Didn't cry in these, but felt very moved:  The Only Alien on the Planet, Story of A Girl, Thirteen Reasons Why.
• Best plot twist/revelation (no spoilers!!) : Liar, for sure! Also some cool stuff goes down in the climax of Dreaming of Amelia.

CHARACTERS

• Best couple: Lennie and Joe (The Sky is everywhere), Tom and Tara (The Piper's Son), Seb and Lyd (Jaclyn Moriarty), Adam and Mia (If I Stay), Johnafter and Meg (Going Too far), 
• Who you'd want as your best friend: Lyd, Cass and Em! Hands down! from Dreaming of Amelia.
• Who you fell in love with: Tom Mackee (Piper's son), Raven (Big Birkett), Will (Perfect You), hmm, I have lots of literary crushes - I really don't want to get started :)
• Worst (best?) villain: Living Dead Girl - ooh, creepy. Also, Anna from Some Girls Are (a worthy antagonist)
• Best character twist (who you loved, then hated, or vice versa): Regina (Some Girls Are), Micah (Liar)
• Best character names: I don't really think about character names like that... hmm...
• Worst character names: Po (!), Willow (kept thinking Wallow - which she did a lot. sorry all you fans), Regina (kept thinking of Regina from Mean girls! LOL - was distracting.)
• Favorite all-around kickass female: Riley!!! (Everything Beautiful), Katsa (Graceling), 
• Favorite all-around kickass male: Pete (devil's Staircase), Johnafter (Going Too far), Caleb (Leaving Paradise) and Po <3

MISCELLANEOUS 

• Best book cover: Argh! I really cant choose!
• Best title: The Sky Always hears Me and The Hills Don't MInd, Love You Hate You Miss You, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Living Dead Girl, The Dead Tossed Waves, 
• Most memorable voice: Morgan (The sky always hears), Lia (Wintergirls), Emily and Lydia from Moriarty's books <3, Riley (Everything Beautiful)
• Most memorable first line: Liar! "I was born with a light covering of fur." Everything Beautiful "I am the maniac behind the wheel of a stolen dune buggy."
• Best setting: Life As We Knew It, Dead Tossed Waves, Devil's Staircase (hello? squatting in London!)
• Most beautiful writing: The Sky is Everywhere, Wintergirls, Shiver, Guitar Highway Rose, The Piper's Son, Dreaming of Amelia..

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

• Will any of the books you've read make your life list of Favorite Books? YES!!!! See below.

I find it really hard to rate books - it's all so objective:

• What mood I'm in when I read it
• How I feel when I read it
• How I feel a month after I've read it
• What book I read before and what book I read after
• Books I've read that are similar
• How much hype the book has had before I pick it up (hype is not always a good thing)
• Author crushes I already have
• Etc, etc, etc...

Anyway, on Goodreads, here's the YA books read this year that I gave 5 stars to (I'm pretty stingy with 5 stars) I guess these are my top six YA reads so far this year:

• The Piper's Son - Melina Marchetta
• The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
• The Only Alien on the Planet - Kristen Randle
• Going Too Far - Jennifer Echols (okay, admitting it, guilty pleasure)
• Dreaming of Amelia - Jaclyn Moriarty
• Stealing Heaven - Elizabeth Scott

Here's my very very close 4 and a half stars (my next ten - in no particular order):

• The Summer I turned Pretty - Jenny Han
• The Sky Always hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind - Kristin Cronn-Mills
• The Dead Tossed Waves - Carrie Ryan
• If I Stay - Gayle Forman
• Leaving Paradise - Simone Elkeles
• My Big Birkett (The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It) - Lisa Shanahan
• Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
• I Am the Messenger - Marcus Zusac
• What My Girlfriend doesn't know - Sonya Sones
• The Devil's Staircase - Helen Fitgerald

Here's my 4 stars

...joking, joking...

.I would be here all day... as you can maybe tell, I am very bad at choosing favourites. But, even my four star picks are ones that I love and will be re-reads, for sure (like Courtney Summers and Kristin Cashore)

Authors I've first read this year and am now a major fan of:

Courtney Summers, Jennifer Echols, Helen Fitzgerald, Sonya Sones, C K Kelly Martin, Lauren Oliver, Sarah Ockler, Jenny Han, Simmone Howell, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Kristin Cashore, Gayle Forman,

Books I didn't think I'd like as much as I did: 

• Graceling - initially a bit bored, then got so into it in the end. Po also helped ;)
• Going Too far - thought it would be fluff but it was sexy, fun, <3 the dialogue, <3 Johnafter. Was definitely surprised that this kind of book would become a favourite :)
• The Only Alien on The Planet - looked okay-ish but whoah, just whoah. 
• How I Live Now - I was truly surprised how much I fell in love with this book. (mainly as I was bored in another book of hers)

Premises that I loved (wish I'd thought of them first):

• Inside the mind of Gideon Rayburn
• Thirteen Reasons Why
• Jekel Loves Hyde
• Leaving Paradise
• If I Stay
• Stealing Heaven
• The Devil's Staircase

Sigh...

This post has been epic. I was going to add what books I'm looking forward to for the rest of the year...maybe later :)

xx Nomes

EDIT: Sam @ Read, Sam, Read is giving a way a copy of Elizabeth Scott's Stealing Heaven -it's a super cute new blog. Comp open to US only and closes on July 4. 

As you can tell, I <3 this book. Why? I don't know... there's better books on my list but this one is just a personal fave b/c how I felt when I read it and *shrugs* who knows why I happen to love some books?  

The Covers of Before I Die - Jenny Downham

Cover Comparison Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Bailey @ Abyss. Head over there and link to your blog to join in.

I found a huge eighteen different editions (plus more that were slight variations on the one's below)! And, I really like most of them. Why are there so many? 

Obviously this book is a global phenomenon ;) 

UK

(Australian one very similar, different font)

I do like this. I like the model and her expression and I think the black and white is a little bit haunting...I like the atmosphere.

US

I like this too. It has depth in it and I love the scrawled writing in the bottom half. I like the gradient of colour in the background. It has a light, nearly whimsical feel to it. Love the blues.

New Zealand

This one's cool too. It looks like happiness and life. Love the colours, again. The scarf in her hair looks really nice against the grass and the light.

Polish

Same model as the UK. I cant decide whether I prefer her cropped or full? Both work, I think, but to me the UK one is slightly more eerie, this one slightly more luminous.

French

Haha. Trust the French to go for a cover like this (and I mean that in the absolute coolest of ways :). I really actually like it. It feels like being a teenager. It's a little bit sexy, and I love the statement in the purple tights and pink laces.

Swedish

This one feels a little random. it's certainly striking, but not as emotionally evocative as some of the others. What do you think the purple splatters are? I'm wondering if they're like little blood samples - they kinda remind me of the ones Dexter collects from his victims, LOL :)

Swedish #2

Colours in this work well - the outfits and the background. As do the lines on the stairs against the lines in the rails and the dress. Despite the kiss, I think the French one does a better job of capturing that teen-y flirty sexy feel. Still, quite nice :)

German

I find this one to be a little ordinary. I don't think it has much to do with the essence of the book...?

Hungarian

This is simple, but still evocative. I'm looking at this and thinking: hope, wishes, youth. It has that same lightness that some of the others have had.

Italian

This is boring to me. High school mass produced text looking cover. Sorry :)

Spanish

Ahh, love this picture. The girls are so cute! it's fun and I think this would appeal to teens. Oh, yeah, I like this one.

Japanese

Another one going for lightness and life. It works, but doesn't exactly speak to me personally.

Turkish

I don't get this one. I don't even really like the dress... I'm not sure what message this cover is sending to potential buyers. Probably trying to capture those moments where you lie on the grass and ponder life and soak up all the goodness of just being? Hmm...

Finnish

I love this! Love the blues and brown and the touches of red set the whole thing off. plus, she climbs a tree in the book - and I love that scene so much. This one is fun and a little quirky and it's calling out to me.

Icelandic

Love love this one. It's all lightness and energy and good times and it captures all that living in the moment and being young and invincible feeling. This one makes me feel good - and despite the title, makes you feel like you're not in for a depressing read. Love the colours and the contrast of the white curtains against the white bedspread (you know what I mean).

Chinese

At first glance I like the balloons, it gets my attention, but when I look at it for a while, it feels kind of static for some reason. Plus, I get the calendar on the bottom (in relation to the story), but not sure I like the layout of it on the front cover?

Dutch

I don't know. I think the model looks a little old. Plus, it makes me think of a sci-fi - maybe that slightly neutral expression on her face gets me thinking... android! LOL. Actually, it is a nice cover, I'm just getting distracted and overwhelmed from look at so many.

Spanish

I prefer the picture in full on the other Spanish one.

My favourites:

• Icelandic - the bed jumping (I think this one may also be a paperback one in English... somewhere in the world :)
• Finnish - the blue tree, red shoe

Not sure why I started choosing favourites (!). I can see myself sitting here agonising for a while and changing my mind and changing it back again...

• weirdly, I do like the French one, although it doesnt resonate the same way as some others, I like the teen feel about it.
• Spanish is cute...
• Also, argh, I like so many...the US, I just like it and the NZ one too :) And, I do like the one I own - which also features a lovely spine with blue metallic writing.

Which one do you like best?

Australian Book Industry Awards 2010

Last night was the big night for the Australian Book Industry.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey took out Australian Book of the Year ( whoah! impressive) after just missing out on the Miles Franklin. Also mentioned this YA in my post here. Kinda ironically, the winner of the Miles Franklin, lost out on Best Book of the Year to jasper Jones :)

Readings (independent book seller of the year) have rather conveniently listed all the short-listed books and winners with links on their site. Lots of outstanding books to add to my reading list - I haven't read any of the Literary Fiction short-list of the Debut author list.



For Older Readers: both Justine Larbalestier's Liar and Sonya Hartnett's the Ghost Child (one of Hartnett's other books, Butterfly just missed out on the Miles Franklin) were in running. I've read and am in awe of both :)

And, in childrens' books, how cute to see Grug! As well as Jackie French (love love) and Brace Whatleys latest book in The Diary of a Wombat series. Love the author and Bruce Whatley is one of my favourite illustrators!

My husband has read The Life You can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty by Peter Singer and recommends it (it's sitting right there on his bookshelf...) He has a few shelves full of poverty/social justice reads (and has been in Uganda now for three weeks, my husband, not the book) - nice to see it short-list for best Non-Fiction Book Of The year.

And, below, a few pics from my husbands trip (sorry, not really book related! Except to the Peter Singer book :) Only another week and a bit until he gets home...

kids @ the orphanage he stayed at - so cute x
although, the food doesn't look all that appetising (!), Pete said it wasn't too bad.

The car crash he was in (!) 

One of the places he stayed @ with orphans from the LRA (child-soldier army)
I know! A Tardis shirt :) Dr Who FTW.

Murchison Falls. STUNNING!

one of the schools he visited

xx Nomes