News

07
Jun

I ♥ Monday

I know it’s Tuesday but let’s be honest, I did not ♥ anything yesterday. I spent the day in my Revision Cave, freaking out. But today is better!

LEGEND by Marie Lu. The story: June is the Republic’s top prodigy. Day is the Republic’s nemesis–a trouble-making street kid they can’t catch. When June’s brother is killed, the Republic says Day is to blame, and she’s determined to do whatever she has to in order to bring him to justice. But is she avenging her brother’s murder or unwittingly covering up an even bigger crime? This debut, first in a trilogy, is told from stunningly compelling dual points of view. (I really admire writers who can do that.) Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. The world–a futuristic LA–is believably gritty without being hopeless. Imo, it’s the first dystopian since HUNGER GAMES to live up to the hype.

BETWEEN THE SEA & SKY by my fab critique partner, Jaclyn Dolamore. The story: Esmerine is a siren, but since her winged childhood friend Alan first introduced her to books, she’s yearned for adventures in the world above the sea. When her sister goes missing, she puts on legs and enlists Alan’s help to find Dosia. Which world does Esmerine belong in? I wrote on Twitter that this book reminds me of a fantasy L.M. Montgomery. The world-building is rich, full of delicious little details about what everyone’s wearing and eating, and Esmerine is a feisty, likable protagonist. This is exactly the sort of lovely little book I would have adored in middle school. Also: how pretty is that cover?

LOLA & THE BOY NEXT DOOR by Stephanie Perkins. ANNA & THE FRENCH KISS was one of my favorite books last year, and I begged my editor to snag me this companion novel at BEA. I was going to wait until I finished edits to read it, but I couldn’t. Then I flailed around in a fit of writerly envy. It’s so swoony and charming, full of longing so tangible my heart was in my throat half the book, just waiting for the timing to be right for them to finally kiss. The relationships are note-perfect. I loved Lola’s family: caring and wonderful, if not always easy; I loved her San Francisco neighborhood; I loved the cameos from Anna and St. Clair. Honestly, I might love LOLA even better than ANNA, because I feel like I can relate more to mixed-up, yearning costume designer Lola, who talks to the moon when she’s confused. And awkward, quirky Cricket–the boy next door–is more my type than glam, uber-charming St. Clair. But it’s like comparing brownies and sugar cookies, really. I LOVE BOTH SO MUCH.

Would you like to pause and pre-order any of these books? You know you want to. Go ahead, just follow those helpful links. I’ll wait.

♥ Ice pops! A fun reminder of band camp and hot August afternoons. Also, only a couple calories. Note: grape flavor excepted. Grape-flavored anything, aside from wine and actual grapes, is a foul perversion of nature. *shudders* I like strawberry best. And then blue, which I can’t in good conscience call blueberry, but adore nonetheless.

♥ The kind soul who found my wallet, which has apparently been missing since Friday (totally unbeknownst to me), and turned it in to our local coffee shop. Complete with $50 Panera gift card and my three credit/debit cards, no suspicious charges pending. Hurray!

♥ I only have ten days left at the day job.

♥ The two new scenes I wrote yesterday. For some reason, this round of edits is really kicking my ass. I have been pummeled with doubt monsters. There have been tears and lots of whining about how much I suck. But I think they might fit now. I hope Amazing Editor will agree and we can move on to line edits!

What do you ♥ today?

13 Responses

  1. WHAT?! You are not allowed to have the Doubt Monsters! As someone who was lucky enough to have read BORN WICKED, I can only say that your novel is kick-ass awesome! Seriously, seriously, seriously. Your book blew me away and, sometimes, I even re-read it to give me inspiration when I work on Revolutionary! 🙂

  2. YOU READ LOLA ALREADY?! And you only have 10 days left on the day job? I'm finding it hard to control my envy. 😀

    Loved Anna & the French Kiss, so I'm def. looking forward to Lola. So glad to hear it was just as good.

  3. Tez Miller

    You wrote this on Monday, and here I am commenting on Wednesday 😉

    I love getting stuff in the mail 🙂 Admittedly, today I received stuff that I paid for myself, but still… 😉

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