Cover Alert: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Forget You by Jennifer Echols
Publisher: MTV Books
Pub. Date: July 20, 2010
Summary:
Zoey’s life in her Florida beach resort town is happy and organized. She’s the captain of her high school swim team, and she works for her dad at his popular water park. Then her dad has an affair with one of his employees, and her mother has a breakdown. But Zoey begins a committed relationship with a hot lifeguard, which makes her feel stable, even if things aren’t perfect at home. Everything is still under control.

Until she has a car accident that she can’t remember. She should have been with her boyfriend that night, but he doesn’t seem to know anything about the accident—and he doesn’t seem to care. The person who does care, and knows more than he’s telling, is Doug, Zoey’s darkly handsome arch-enemy who saved her from the wreckage. As Zoey begins to piece together what happened that night, she finds her sense of control over her life was only an illusion. And she inches closer to discovering the darkest secret of all: why Doug has fallen in love with her.

GOING TOO FAR is one of my all-time favorite books, so I've been looking forward to Echols' next MTVBooks novel pretty much since I finished the last line in GTF. The cover art for FORGET YOU is just as compelling as Echols' last novel... and the plot summary sounds amazing as well. This book is definitely one that I will be rushing to the bookstore for. And devouring. Immediately.

Review: Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph

Title: Shrinking Violet
Author: Danielle Joseph
Publisher: MTVBooks
Pub. Date: 2009
Genre: YA
Main themes: Family, Music, Extreme Shyness, Love, Mother/Daughter Relationships
Pages: 292
Plot (from back cover):
"High school senior Teresa Adams is so painfully shy that she dreads speaking to anyone in the hallways or getting called on in class. But in the privacy of her bedroom with her iPod in hand, she rocks out -- doing mock broadcasts for Miami's hottest FM radio station, which happens to be owned by her stepfather. When a slot opens up at The SLAM, Tere surprises herself by blossoming behind the mike into confident, sexy Sweet T -- and to everyone's shock, she's a hit! Even Gavin, the only guy in school who she dares to talk to, raves about the mysterious DJ's awesome taste in music. But when The SLAM announces a songwriting contest -- and a prom date with Sweet T is the grand prize -- Sweet T's dream could turn into Tere's worst nightmare.... "

Shrinking Violet was a fun and quick read that confronted some more serious issues.

I was impressed by Danielle Joseph's ability to mix a fun, romantic plot line with the more serious plot lines of Shrinking Violet. Terre's extreme shyness is not the normal type of shy, it almost seems to be a social phobia. Terre's mom is also no picnic, her behavior is horrible and abusive. Despite both of these aspects of the novel, Shrinking Violet was still a "fun" read - Joseph found a way to intertwine these aspects without weighting the novel down!

I loved the romantic aspects of Shrinking Violet. Terre and Gavin's relationship was so tenderly written. I felt that their story was predictable, but it didn't matter because the emotions and interactions were so well written. One of my favorite parts of the novel was the contest to win Terre as a date to prom - it was comedic and something that was fun to imagine. It definitely helped balance the darker aspects of the novel.

Terre was a well written protagonist who overcomes her obstacles to achieve her own happy ending. Shrinking Violet may be one of those books were you know what is going to happen in the end, but you read it anyway because it is a great story.

Ratings (Out of 10):
Plot: 9
Characters: 9
Writing: 9
Romance: 10
Originality: 10
Total: 47/50 (A)

HELP SAVE SHRINKING VIOLET! Shrinking Violet, though it has only been on the shelf since May, is being backordered. I'm sure that many of you have heard about the ongoing contests to help save the book from this fate... Danielle Joseph is hosting a campaign on her LiveJournal to save her book, with the help of many bloggers and authors! If you are a fan of Shrinking Violet or a potential reader, do your part to help save the book (and possibly win some prizes)! Go here for more information!