Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first.
To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city--despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights--thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read.
Share two 'teaser' sentences from somewhere on that page.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teaser!
My teaser:
Maybe on some level Dana sensed how I felt, because she muttered, "I always hate this part." As I climbed into the shotgun seat of the van - old, cracked vinyl mended with duct tape - I'd never felt so dirty.
Debbie from the fabulously fun Cranberry Fries blog recently tagged me with the Beautiful Blogger Award.
The rules of the award are:
1. List seven things about yourself.
2. Link back to the person who gave you the award.
3. Pass the award on to seven bloggers.
Seven things about myself:
1. I quote Disney movies and The Princess Bride at least once or twice a day.
2. I am not a fan of condiments. No ketchup, mustard, or salad dressing for me.
3. "I'll take Geektastic for $1000, please Alex." One of my favorite childhood vacations involved being a part of the studio audience at a Jeopardy taping. Woot! #nerdfun
4. I have never broken a bone.
5. I was once in a scary car accident in which our car rolled over twice. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured. But the song Michael Finnegan, which I was singing when we hit the black ice, still makes me feel panicky.
7. I adore book playlists. If I am on the fence about whether to buy a book or put it on hold at the library, a great playlist can occasionally be the deciding factor.
Seven bloggers I would like to pass this award along to:
Today's featured flower: Ranunculus! These bright, profusely-petaled flowers bloom in a huge variety of vibrant colors. Ranuculus are related to buttercups, and they are very easy to plant and maintain. They bloom in cool weather but the tubers don't always survive harsh frosts or very damp soil, so if you live in a particularly wet region (like we do) you may want to plant them in early spring rather than in the autumn. They have fern-like, lacy foliage, and make wonderful cut flowers. I recently read that a bouquet of ranunculus was thought to mean "I am dazzled by your charms" in the Victorian language of flowers, so consider giving a bouquet of these pretty flowers to someone you find irresistibly charming. You can learn more about ranunculus on the National Gardening Association's ranunculus page, Wayne Schmidt's ranunculus page, or Garden Post's ranunculus page.
Blog note: It is spring break here and my best friend (who recently moved to the opposite side of the country) flew out to stay with us this week. Visiting with her and hanging out at the beach have taken priority over computer time this week, but reading, reviewing, and blogging should be back on track by Monday. In the meantime, here is a little slideshow of some photos we took at the tide pools this week:
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My teaser:
"Doesn't see I'm not the same person she left three days ago. Doesn't smell the new scents his cloak left in my hair, or feel the warmth rising from my skin, or hear the difference in my heartbeat."
I recently read (and thoroughly enjoyed) Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I, and I cannot wait to read the upcoming second book, Perchance To Dream (which is due to arrive in stores May 25th). How gorgeous are these Jason Chan covers? I love them! To learn more about this series please check out the Theatre Illuminata website. To learn more about this ARC contest, please visit Lisa Mantchev's livejournal.
The four mischievous Midsummer Night's Dream fairies from the Theatre Illuminata series are hosting a Fairy Dessert Contest to give away two ARCs of Perchance to Dream, and the entry involves sharing a fabulous dessert recipe. I adore fun books and delicious desserts, so I've decided to share a last minute entry here.
This is a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-FreeRecipes for Cupcakes That Rule by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners.
2. Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan (very low heat). Once melted, turn the heat off but leave it in the pan on the stove so that it stays warm and does not solidify.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil and sugar. Add the coconut milk, soy milk, vanilla, coconut extract, and lime zest. Mix to combine.
4. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Add the coconut and mix to incorporate.
5. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until the cupcake top springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.
6. Cool completely before icing.
Lime Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup vegan margarine (such as Earth Balance)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp finely grated lime zest
1. Beat the shortening and margarine together until combined well and fluffy.
2. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and lime juice, beat for another 5 to 7 minutes or so until fluffy.
4. Add the zest and mix to distribute.
5. Chill until ready to use.
To assemble:
Heap the frosting onto the cupcakes. Place the flaked coconut on a pie plate. Gently roll the cupcakes, sides first, in the coconut. Place decorative lime slices on top. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Today's featured flowers: Forget-Me-Nots! These pretty little ground cover flowers bloom in abundance each May and June. This type (which I believe is a 'wood' variety) has bright blue & purplish petals with yellow & white centers. We've also grown pink forget-me-nots, which look almost identical in shape and form, but have warm pink petals. Forget-me-nots prefer partial shade and re-seed themselves freely. You can read more about these sweet little flowers on wikipedia's forget-me-not page, Garden Guide's forget-me-not page, or Old Fashioned Living's forget-me-not page.
Book note: I finished Catherine Fisher's Incarceron, Lisa Schroeder's It's Raining Cupcakes, and Lisa Mantchev's Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act I this week, so those reviews should be posted soon.
In other book news, the much-anticipated cover of Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel was revealed yesterday & I absolutely LOVE it! EW's Shelf Life released the full cover image as well as a short interview with Cassandra's editor.
You can check out Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices website for more information about this exciting new trilogy, which is a Victorian-era prequel to her Mortal Instruments series. Shadowhunters + steampunkish Victorian London = Awesomesauce! If you are as excited as I am about this series & the newly-revealed cover image, you may also want to check out this closeup of Will Herondale (Jace's ancestor) which Cassandra shared on her LJ yesterday, and you might also enjoy looking through Val Freire's Infernal Devices artwork.
Clockwork Angel summary (from Goodreads.com):
Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.
Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.
Title: Forget-Her-Nots Author:Amy Brecount White Publisher:Greenwillow Books Genre:MG/YA Hardcover:384 pages
ISBN: 006167298X
Summary: When someone leaves three mystery flowers outside her dorm door, Laurel thinks that maybe the Avondale School isn't so awful after all — until her own body starts to freak out. In the middle of her English presentation on the Victorian Language of Flowers, strange words pop into her head, and her body seems to tingle and hum. Impulsively, Laurel gives the love bouquet she made to demonstrate the language to her spinster English teacher. When that teacher unexpectedly and immediately finds romance, Laurel suspects that something — something magical — is up. With her new friend, Kate, she sets out to discover the origins and breadth of her powers by experimenting on herself and others. But she can’t seem to find any living experts in the field of flower powers to guide her. And her bouquets don't always do her bidding, especially when it comes to her own crush, Justin. Rumors about Laurel and her flowers fly across campus, and she's soon besieged by requests from girls — both friends and enemies — who want their lives magically transformed — just in time for prom.(cover image from IndieBound.com & summary from Goodreads.com)
Amy Brecount White's debut novel, Forget-Her-Nots, is a sweet contemporary fantasy that will make you want to step outside to smell the flowers and feel their intoxicating power yourself. This coming-of-age story follows 14-year-old Laurel to an all-girls boarding school where she discovers she has a special talent related to the secret language of flowers. It is a light and hopeful novel with a unique magical premise.
What I Liked:
- The flowers! Laurel's exploration of the language of flowers made me long to take my daughters outside to drink in the lovely colors and fragrances & prepare some tussie-mussies (bouquets) together.
- I enjoyed the simplicity of the magic in this book. The magical language of flowers is an ancient, quiet kind of alchemy. It does not require wands or pixie dust, but its components are found all around us - in the trees, in our cooking herbs, in our yards and our parks, and in each bouquet of wildflowers picked along a sidewalk. I liked the straightforward and believable nature of the book's magical elements, and I think readers will find it easy to relate to and accept.
- I also enjoyed the historical references the characters uncover to support their growing belief in the magical properties of plants. In any novel with fantasy elements, the ways in which supporting characters react to newly-discovered supernatural elements can be just as critical to the plot's success as the protagonist's initial reaction. I think that aspect of Forget-Her-Nots was handled very nicely. Characters you would expect to be skeptical were skeptical, and characters who were only interested in the magic as it could be used to their own personal advantage also behaved precisely as you might expect.
- Laurel is charmingly normal. She faces several difficult challenges - dealing with the loss of her mother, adjusting to a new school, and learning a lot about the power of flowers. But through it all she comes across as a fairly average daughter, friend, and student, which makes her very easy to relate to and like. Despite her unusual talents and floral experiments, her daily life still revolves around keeping up with very typical responsibilities like schoolwork and soccer practice.
- Laurel's grief is moving and realistic, but she doesn't spend the majority of the book moping around and crumbling under the weight of her loss. It colors her actions and influences her choices, but her personality gravitates toward hopefulness, and so does the overall tone of the book.
What I Wished:
- A couple of the supporting characters seemed under-developed to me, and I wanted them to have more depth and play larger roles in the story.
- I wanted a bit more suspense. I don't mean to imply that Laurel doesn't have mysteries to solve or difficulties to overcome. She is grieving over the loss of her mother, experimenting with newly discovered abilities, trying to build and maintain friendships at her new school, feeling abandoned by her grandmother, making an attempt to deal with her distant dad, and hoping to capture the attention of her crush. But no one conflict or challenge feels like it is pulling the plot toward a particularly climactic moment.In some ways, I liked that there was no 'big bad' (villain) because the challenges Laurel faces are more internal & realistic. They require her to summon strength of character & heart rather than physical strength or might. But occasionally, I found myself craving a bit more tension or suspense.
Forget-Her-Nots is a unique contemporary fantasy with a likable heroine. The lovely floral magic will encourage readers to see flowers in a whole new way and may leave them longing for the old-fashioned charm of using flowers to express themselves. This book will appeal to some middle grade readers as well as to its target YA audience. The sweet story and multi-generational nature of Laurel's flowerspeaking talent would make this book a wonderful choice for mother-daughter book clubs. Fans of relatively innocent YA fantasies, like Aprilynne Pike's Wings or Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass, should definitely check out Forget-Her-Nots. I look forward to reading more from debut author Amy Brecount White.
You can read the first five chapters Forget-Her-Nots online HERE. To learn more about Forget-Her-Nots, please visit Amy Brecount White's website, facebook, and twitter.
Do you always remove the dust jacket before reading a hardcover book? As I sit here with three jacket-less hardcover novels by my side and a lopsided pile of dust jackets sitting atop a bookshelf across the room, I am realizing that this is a very common sight around our household. On any given day, there are loose dust jackets stacked atop a bookshelf or two (or three), and I can tell which books are currently being devoured by the members of our household by glancing through those piles.
If you are a dust jacket remover too, what do you do with your dust covers while you read? Have you ever misplaced a dust jacket or inadvertently destroyed it while it was off the book? I've done both, which is extra silly when you realize that I'm also the crazy lady you see looking through all ten copies of a book on the bookstore shelf, searching for the one with the least-scuffed & least-crinkled cover. I try to find the mint-condition cover because I know that once we purchase the book it will inevitably be passed from person to person, dragged along on walks to the park, shoved in a purse, loaned out to friends, shuffled around near watercolor paints and crayons, carried along on car drives, and picked up by children with peanut butter and jelly on their fingers. The dust jacket is basically the only part of the book that has any potential to remain relatively pristine over the years, so I search for the perfect cover then promptly set it aside before reading.
Because I tend to read hardcovers with their jackets off, I am always thrilled by any little unique touches underneath the dust jackets (embossed covers, shiny lettering, textured covers, lovely colors, etc.) Those types of cosmetic features certainly aren't necessary for my enjoyment of a book, but they are kind of like finding a special bonus prize in your cereal box. So, do you keep the jackets on while reading a hardcover book, or do you take them off? If you take them off, are you interested in what is underneath? Are there any books you particularly like without their jackets?
A few random examples of happy surprises underneath the dust jackets: Colorfuland fun!
1. It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder (cheerful pink)
2. Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland (gorgeous purple)
3. Forget-Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White (lovely coral with an embossed willow tree)
4. Heck by Dale Bayse (bright red with an embossed devil wielding a spork)
5. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (blue with holographic lettering & an embossed key)
6. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan (secret sword cover underneath the dust jacket)
7. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (a false obituary on the back & my very favorite reversible dust jacket, which is designed to disguise this Series of Unfortunate Events book as "The Luckiest Kids in the World: The Pony Party")
On Saturday I had the opportunity to meet several fabulous YA authors at a fun Book Fair event featuring the Oregon chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). There were seventeen local authors and illustrators in attendance, including Lisa Schroeder, L.K. Madigan, Suzanne Young, Emily Whitman, and Anne Osterlund. It was a wonderful event hosted by Barnes & Noble, and they will be giving a portion of the Book Fair proceeds to the SCBWI Oregon (who will be donating those proceeds to a charitable cause).*
Great books + supporting local authors + benefiting a charitable cause = a perfect event! :)
I bought so many awesome books, and I seriously can't wait to read & review them all! I will also be giving away two signed books and a couple of signed bookmarks and postcards in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for more information about those fun contests soon! In the meantime, here is a quick summary of five YA authors' Book Fair presentations - Lisa Schroeder, L.K. Madigan, Suzanne Young, Emily Whitman, and Anne Osterlund:
Lisa Schroeder spoke briefly about her three YA novels (I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Far From You, & Chasing Brooklyn), and she read an excerpt from It's Raining Cupcakes, her lovely new middle-grade novel. It's Raining Cupcakes is about twelve year old Isabel, who feels trapped in her small town life, assisting her family with the opening of their own little cupcake shop. A baking contest which will earn the winner an exciting trip to New York City seems like it could provide the perfect adventure for Isabel, but winning the contest while competing against her best friend and helping her family stay in business when a big corporate bakery moves to town could prove to be extremely challenging. To learn more about Lisa Schroeder's books, please check out her website and blog.
L.K. Madigan read an excerpt from her debut novel, Flash Burnout, which recently won the prestigious 2010 William C. Morris Award. Flash Burnout's protagonist is a fifteen-year-old boy who finds himself challenged by juggling a close friendship with one girl and his first serious romantic relationship with another. To learn more about Flash Burnout & L.K. Madigan's upcoming YA novel, The Mermaid's Mirror, please check out her website and blog.
The Mermaid's Mirror (which will be released on October 4th) is available to pre-order here.
Suzanne Young read a very funny excerpt from her debut novel, The Naughty List, which is the first in a trilogy of books about a group of high school cheerleaders who secretly run a well-organized investigative surveillance team to help their classmates catch cheating boyfriends red-handed. Suzanne also mentioned the two upcoming books in that series, So Many Boys (due in June) and A Good Boy is Hard to Find (due in November), as well as her stand-alone novel, A Need So Beautiful, which is due out next summer. For more information about The Naughty List and Suzanne Young's upcoming novels, please check out her blog.
You can pre-orderSo Many Boys (6/10/10) here and A Good Boy is Hard to Find (11/25/10)here.
Emily Whitman discussed the Greek myth of Persephone & Hades that inspired her debut novel, Radiant Darkness. Unlike in the traditional tale, Emily's version of Persephone is not a helpless victim but a sheltered young woman who falls in love with Hades and willingly chooses to accompany him to the Underworld. But Persephone's over-protective mother, the Earth Goddess Demeter, still wants her to return home and is willing to cause drought and famine until she gets her way. Will Persephone stay in the Underworld with the ultimate bad boy or will she return home to placate her over-bearing mother and revitalize the earth? To learn more about Radiant Darkness, please visit Emily Whitman's website and facebook page.
Anne Osterlund discussed Aurelia and Academy 7 and briefly mentioned Exile, her upcoming sequel to Aurelia. She also read the prologue of Academy 7, which is a romantic science-fiction/fantasy novel set at a prestigious school where an intelligent, young fugitive finds herself competing against a clever, rebellious boy who turns out to be the youngest son of the Alliance's most powerful leader. Their academic competitiveness gradually leads to friendship and eventually to romance, but they are each keeping secrets that could have serious political ramifications and together they will uncover a secret even bigger than either of them could have predicted. To learn more about Academy 7 or Anne Osterlund's Aurelia series, please visit her website.
* If you are interested in purchasing these books (or any other books Barnes & Noble sells) anytime between now and Thursday (3/18/10), you can enter "Bookfair ID 10136901" during checkout and Barnes & Noble will pass along a portion of the proceeds to the Oregon chapter of the SCBWI (who will be donating the Book Fair proceeds to charity).
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