So do Laaaaaaaaaaaa

I saw this on Lisa Yee's blog. Doesn't it make you want to go to the closest train station and dance? (Maybe that's just me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

It also reminds me of Extreme Kissing, where Carlotta and Bets get all the tourists at the London Eye dancing. Look at the crowd joining in!

I Splash You!

I've been nominated for the Splash award by Jo. Thanks!

The Rules:

1) Put the logo on your blog/post.

2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you.

3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post

4) Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.

5) Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award.

6) Have F~U~N

I'm splashing:

Cecilia (for awesome giveaways. And giveaway rules. And general commenting awesomeness!)

Laina (for her two amazing blogs)

Yan (did you not see the April Fools contests she co-hosted with Carol?!)

Steph Su (posts WAY more than me. Enough said)

Chicklish (a great mixture of reviews on her blog)

Adele (again, puts me to shame with all the posting. Most of these people do actually. Also super-nice and has an interesting blog)

Lenore (as Aerin said, when I grow up I want to be Lenore!)

Amy (great blog)

Jenny (for interesting posts and great comments)

All of these bloggers impress me in one way or another, so consider yourselves soaked! (Jo, I'd splash you too if you hadn't got there first. Maybe we can have a waterfight)

Book review - Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

The day Audrey broke up with her boyfriend, he wrote The Song. A song about their breakup. The song is a huge success, suddenly his band the Do-Gooders are famous and everyone wants to know more about the mysterious Audrey. She’s thrust into the spotlight, even at school people are acting differently towards her, as though she’s an actual celebrity. But the thing is, Audrey doesn’t want to be famous. All she did was break up with her boyfriend and now it seems as if half the world hates her for it. What people forget is that they don’t know anything about her. Only her name.

Wow. This is one of those books that makes you happy. In fact, I think it could be the ultimate comfort read. It’s witty, fast-paced, has an interesting plot, and had me laughing out loud a lot. The star of Audrey, Wait is definitely Audrey herself. I don’t think I’ve ever read a more lively, funny, confident main character. (For liveliness equivalent, think Em in Finding Cassie Crazy) Audrey and her best friend Victoria have some great dialogue that makes me remember how great being sixteen was. It also makes me want to be friends with them. A lot.

Yes ok, the plot is a little far-fetched – I don’t think you’d get nearly as famous as Audrey does if someone wrote a song about you, but then again she avoids the press and that would make them far more interested in her. It’s also handled very cleverly. The plot and characters are a bit larger than life, but at the same time, the writing somehow makes it all seem realistic. Audrey handles her breakup and rise to fame surprisingly maturely. Her relationships, especially with ex-boyfriend Evan, are far more layered than I expected.

The biggest problem I had with the book though is the editing. I don’t know, maybe it’s because punctuation rules are different in the US and it got a little scrambled in the translation, but it seemed little someone let a little kid loose with the punctuation marks. Example:

‘totally humiliate the rest of us, who just want, to say how much we love, the music and how much it means, to us.’

Does that look right to anyone? Because it kept distracting me trying to work out if I was reading it wrong, but to me I don’t think that quote needs more than one comma.

Apart from the confusing punctuation thing though, I loved this book so much. I can’t really explain how good this book is, or find a quote because every time I look for one I want to copy a whole page. And then I keep on reading and forget I’m meant to be writing a review. Go and get yourself a copy right now!

More contests!!

I know I haven't been around much lately, but I've been busy visiting family and reading City of Glass! Anyway, it seems that recently the amount of contests on the YA blogosphere has got way bigger. So because I haven't posted enough reviews lately, I've collected all of these contests for you instead. I'm sorry if I've missed yours out - it's non-intentional, but I'm mostly doing this by memory. If I have missed any out, please tell me in the comments and I'll update the post.

Yan and Carol are having daily giveaways for April Fools - ends 25th April

Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag has organised a huge giveaway for the release of Willow. You just have to buy the book to be in with the chance to win a ton! - ends 30th April

Elizabeth Scott is having an out-of-this-world contest for anyone who's bought Something, Maybe. Just send in proof and you could win a star! - ends 26th April

Lauren also has a copy of Shrinking Violet to give away - ends 30th April

Chelsea is giving away a signed copy of Wake - ends 15th April

Jenny at Books of Wonder is offering a copy of Looking for Alaska to one commenter - ends 13th April

The Epic Rat is going giveaway crazy with The Agency - ends 13th April - a choice of Wicked goodies - ends 17th April - and Girls in Trucks - ends 28th April. And on top of that, she's having a monthly contest to win a book of your choice!

Stella has a copy of Undone - ends 17th April

The Story Siren has ten copies of Sophomore Switch (US only) - ends 9th April -Something, Maybe (US only) - ends 10th April - and a signed copy of Fade - ends 5th May

Sharon (who loves books and cats) has a copy of me, my elf, and i - ends 21st April

Steph Su has Swim the Fly to give away (US and Canada only again) - ends 17th April

Luisa over at Chicklish is giving away a signed copy of Extreme Kissing every week - ends 24th April

And that's it my lovelies, but let me also tell you that Steph Su does a great weekly roundup of giveaways you might want to check out, and Laina has a blog devoted to gathering contest links at Book Contest Links which I highly recommend.


I'd also like to thank The Epic Rat for giving me the Sisterhood Award - or is it the FAMILYhood award now? When I started blogging I had no idea of how many good friends I'd make and I'm really grateful to each and every one of you lovely readers, commenters, and bloggers. I know, cheesy, but so true. I didn't think people would actually ever read what I was writing!

Book review - Flightsend by Linda Newbery

Charlie and her mum move out to the country to an old house, Flightsend. Her mum sees it as an exciting new start, Charlie sees it as a long bus ride from her friends. But her mother has made up her mind to enjoy this new life and Charlie hasn’t seen her so happy for a long time. She makes the best of it, but thinks her mum’s making a mistake. Instead, the house seems to be just what they need, and it is a summer of growth for both of them.

I’m sure critics all over the country will class Flightsend as ‘bittersweet.’ It’s a story of self-discovery and growth. It’s also about making sacrifices for the people you love. Admittedly there is not too much of a plot, but the characters are interesting and believable, relationships between them are complex. There is also rather a lot of unrequited love, although the book is more about moving on and coming to terms with this than it is about angst.

Despite the emotional complexity of the story, whenever I think about it I don’t have much to say. I read this a week ago and I’m still not entirely sure what I think. The cover is absolutely perfect. That’s exactly what I feel about the book, it’s like lazily lying in the grass in summertime. Flightsend wasn’t outstanding, but it was pleasant, contenting and comfortable, like lying in the sun.

Happy Release day!

For some reason, today is the official release day for a lot of great books:

Lock & Key (by Sarah Dessen) UK release

Seven Sorcerers (by Caro King) release

Willow (by Julia Hoban) US release

Extreme Kissing (by the amazing Luisa Plaja) release

So Happy Release Day ladies! Here is a virtual cake for you all.

Series spotlight - Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld

There are so many good books that have been out in the market for ages. Series Spotlight is to introduce readers to series they may not have heard of before and will be featured every Thursday. Today’s spotlight is the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld.

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Today I’m stealing synopsises (which looks like it shouldn’t be a word but my spellchecker tells me is right) from Amazon because I don’t have time to write them myself.
I love the idea for this series – every day at midnight there’s an hour which most people don’t get, but five teenagers do. They’re not alone in this secret hour though, they share it with monsters. The series are well plotted and full of action. Half of the characters are well developed and half seem a bit spare-party. Westerfeld makes good use of maths and physics in this series – the teenagers have special talents that help them understand such things, and use it to explain a lot. This makes it more believable but at times a bit too technical. Although they’re not the best written books I’ve read, the series is fast-paced and full of adventure.

The Secret Hour
Strange things happen at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma. Time freezes. Nobody moves. For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt the shadows. Only a small group of people know about the secret hour - only they are free to move about the midnight time. These people call themselves Midnighters. Each one has a different power that is strongest at midnight: Seer, Mindcaster, Acrobat, Polymath. For years the Midnighters and the dark creatures have shared the secret hour, uneasily avoiding one another. All that changes when the new girl with an unmistakable midnight aura appears at Bixby High School. Jessica Day is not an outsider like the other Midnighters. She acts perfectly normal in every way. But it soon becomes clear that the dark creatures sense a hidden power in Jessica ...and they're determined to stop her before she can use it.
I haven’t actually read this yet. I know, these series spotlights are showing me just how bad I am at reading series in the right order! But it looks good and I will read it. Honest. I'm really interested to see Jessica meeting the other Midnighters, so I'll pick it up soon.

Touching Darkness
The Midnighters of Bixby, Oklahoma, know that their town is full of secrets - especially since they keep the biggest secret of all: knowledge of the secret hour. What they don't know is why earlier generations of Midnighters all disappeared, or why they are now the only Midnighters in town. As they learn more about the secret hour's twists and turns, they uncover terrifying mysteries woven into the very fabric of Bixby's history, and a conspiracy that touches both the midnight hour and the world of daylight. At the same time, the Midnighters' own secrets start to emerge, including some that were never meant to come to light, changing the fragile dynamics among the five. This time Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in mortal danger. If the group can't find a way to overcome their differences, they could lose one of their own - forever.
This series is very clever, fast paced, and has an interesting plot. There is lots of tension between the Midnighters, too much some might say. The idea that people who have to put their lives in each other’s hands wouldn’t choose one another for friends and have very little in common is really interesting.

Blue Noon
The Midnighters now know much more about the secret history of Bixby and, with the halfling dead, the Grayfoots' link to the darklings has been severed. But the cost is high. Rex's horrific experience in the desert has left him damaged, painfully suspended between light and dark. Melissa's violation of Dess's mind and the shameful revelations of her past deeds have shattered the uneasy bond among the five teenagers. What they need now is some time to heal, but what they get is the surprise of their lives when the blue time arrives in the middle of the day. It seems the walls between the secret hour and real time are crumbling, and soon the dark creatures will break through to hunt after centuries of waiting. And as if that wasn't enough for Jessica to deal with, her little sister, Beth, is becoming more and more determined to crack the secret of midnight - a goal that could have consequences more dire than she can ever have imagined.
There is so much plot packed into this book! It’s a clever, interesting end to the series. The ‘eclipses’ of the blue hour in normal time make their lives even more dangerous and unpredictable. While the ending was interesting, I wasn’t completely happy with it – let’s just say that the life of one of the Midnighters is altered drastically.