Another big contest over @ Princess Bookie

Cindy over at Princess Bookie is holding another of her huge contests. There will be 4 winners this time, so head over for a chance to win some great books. Here is a handy link! There is no specified end date, so head over now or you might miss out!

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic

Pub. Date: 2009

Genre: YA

Main Themes: Love, Friendship, Shapeshifting

Pages: 390

Plot (from book jacket):

"the cold.

Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why.

the heat.

Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of a girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace... until now.

the shiver.

For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future."

Shiver is an absolutely gorgeous novel. I could go on and on about how wonderful it is, but I think it is better to keep it simple. I really enjoyed Stiefvater's first novel, Lament. I seriously didn't really think I would like Shiver better, but I have a whole different kind of respect for Stiefvater after reading this novel.  I fell in love with this book.

I generally don't reread books, but Shiver is a book that I will definitely read again. The story is so beautifully told that I don't think I'll ever get tired of reading it.

I suppose this is a human/werewolf love story, but it is so much more. I don't really feel comfortable classifying it this way because Shiver is so far from the stereotypical werewolf stories.

Grace and Sam are an amazing leading duo. They complement each other perfectly; the reader can see why they fall in love with one another. I feel like it is hard to find that in character couples lately. I also love the fact that Sam is sensitive and not a bad boy. I generally am a sucker for the dark, brooding characters with hidden marshmallow centers, but Sam is such an obvious marshmallow and he's proud of it. I love that fact that he has a dark past, but he isn't dark... that is so rare to see!

And the ending... loved it.

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

If you haven't read Shiver yet, don't wait any longer! It is an amazing story, plus, you need to be caught up for when the next book, Linger, comes out in 2010!

Waiting on Wednesday (14)

WoW is hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine!

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (HarperTeen,  Sept. 2010)
*no cover image yet
Sixteen-year-old Evie's job is bagging and tagging paranormals. Possessing the strange ability to see through their glamours, she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But when someone--or something--starts taking out the vamps, werewolves, and other odd beasties she's worked hard to help become productive members of society, she's got to figure it out before they all disappear and the world becomes utterly normal.

Since there isn't a cover image yet, I present:
A preview of Paranormalcy from Kiersten's website!

My name's Evie. I work for the IPCA. Yeah, the International Paranormal Containment Agency. But don't freak, I'm not a vamp or werewolf or faerie or anything. And I don't kill them, either. Just bag and tag. After all, we're not out to eliminate them--just to neuter them. Sorry, IPCA joke. We don't *actually* neuter them, because, well, yuck. We just help them live harmlessly among humans. Sometimes they don't want the help, but we give it to them anyway. Think of us as the UN, if the UN carried tasers and silver knives.

So you're probably wondering why a sixteen-year-old girl is the prize possession of the IPCA. I'm sure you know all about glamours--most paranormals have them, meaning normal people (okay, everyone else in the world except me) can't see what they really are. But there's no fooling me; I can see through to what they are underneath. Trust me: all of this nonsense about vampires being sexy?

NOT. TRUE.

So that's my life. Or, it was, until paranormals started dying and something unlike anything we'd seen before broke into the Center and changed everything...

Normal is so overrated.

Cannot wait for this book... and September is so terribly far away!

Ally Carter Book Tour: Bring Ally to Michigan!

Some of you may know that I love Ally Carter's books. Some of you may also know that she has a new book coming out next year, which will be the first in a new series, called Heist Society.

Need proof? Check out the links to my reviews of her books and my WoW post about Heist Society!
I'd Tell You I Love You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
WoW post

Those first two reviews were done in my early days of blogging - so yes, they are horribly written. But still, proves my love for Ally's books right? :)

So, I implore you, all of you in Michigan and other Lake States, bring Ally to Kalamazoo, MI as a stop on her tour! Just click the handy button below!

View all Kalamazoo events on Eventful

Trailer Tuesday (7): Fire by Kristin Cashore

Fire by Kristin Cashore is now available...YAY! If you weren't excited enough, here is a trailer to make you want the book even more! (Sorry if the end of the video box is cut off!)


Here is my review of the book! It is every bit as good as Graceling, some might even argue better!

Interview: Danielle Joseph (Author of Shrinking Violet!) AND Contest Info

Please welcome, Danielle Joseph, author of Shrinking Violet! Danielle let me ask her a few questions about her first YA novel, her writing, and books!

First off, tell us a little bit about your novel, Shrinking Violet.

Shrinking Violet is about an extremely shy teen that is trying to reach her dreams. She aspires to be a DJ and will not let any obstacles stand in her way. It is a book about being yourself, sprinkled with humor and romance.

What inspired you to write Shrinking Violet?
I was inspired to write the story because I wanted to write about something I love—music. The idea of having a character that wants to be a DJ is pulled from my experience working at a radio station. From there Tere was born.

Are you anything like your main character, Tere?
I was shy growing up but not nearly as shy as Tere. We both share a love of music and a desire to be ourselves.

Did you do any research while writing Shrinking Violet? If yes, please explain.
I met with the owner of a local radio station to make sure I was up to date on all the technology and equipment that they are using at the station, Slam, in the book. I also read Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life, since she’s a huge inspiration to Tere.

What was the most difficult aspect of writing Shrinking Violet?
The most difficult thing was writing the character of Tere’s mom, Delilah. There are a few scenes where she is really mean to Tere and I actually felt bad for Tere when I was writing them.

Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes! I wrote my first book in first grade, a class assignment. I thought it was so cool that I could write whatever I wanted. I still have that book today. From there I was hooked and knew that writing would always be a part of my life.

What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer?
I’ve held a wide array of jobs since I started babysitting at twelve. I worked at a video store when I was fourteen and a movie theater when I was eighteen, with plenty of jobs in between. In my adult life I’ve worked in advertising and taught creative writing and language arts to middle school students. I consider every job that I’ve had as potential life research for my books.

When and where do you usually write?
I either write in my home office or my out of home office (Starbucks). I write whenever I get a moment since I have three young kids. I am a night person by nature but have had to get used to writing more in the morning.

Is there something that is a must have for you to be able to write?
I like a clean work area if possible, coffee and sometimes chocolate! I like working at Starbucks because there are no dirty dishes or piles of laundry calling my name.

What author or book most influenced you as a writer or in general?
I can’t pick one or even two because I have been touched by some many books throughout my life. A book that I devoured as an older teen was The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I’m also a big Judy Blume fan and before I wrote Shrinking Violet I was really inspired by White Oleander by Janet Fitch, just because it’s such a great read.

What are currently reading?
I’m reading a couple books at once, Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert and My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman. Both are fabulous reads so far!

What book are you anxiously awaiting?
I have been following the Tenners and there are so many awesome debut books coming out next year that I’m dying to get my hand on!

Can you tell us anything about your next YA novel?
Indigo Blues is a novel told in two points of view—Indigo and Adam. It’s the story of what happens when someone writes a hit song about your bitter break up and dealing with being thrust into the limelight. It is scheduled to be released July 1, 2010 from Flux Books.

The Hiding Spot is dedicated to my personal hiding spot, books. Is there a place, activity, or person that is your hiding spot?
Music is my hiding spot. No matter how I feel I can find a song to fit my mood. I would say that Bob Marley is a staple for me because whether I’m having a good or bad day, he fits the bill.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I like brussel sprouts!
I just wanted to thank you for having me here on the Hiding Spot and for supporting Shrinking Violet!

HELP SAVE SHRINKING VIOLET!
Find out more information here!
If you are participating in some type of Shrinking Violet Campaign, whether it be through Danielle's LiveJounal, Stephanie Kuehnert's blog, The Book Butterfly's blog, etc,  or by reviewing promoting the book on your own blog, and provide a link or prove to me that you are, you will get +5 extra entries to a contest of your choice at The Hiding Spot!

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!

EMERGENCY Cover Alert: Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead!!

LOVE IT!

I'm not sure there is anything else to say!

Cover Alert: Changeless and The Clearing

Today I've got two AMAZING covers to share!

Changeless by Gail Carriger (Orbit, 4/1/10)

"Alexia Maccon, now known as the Lady Maccon, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her into the backwater of ugly waistcoats and Scotland, she is prepared: resurrecting ghosts, exposing a French spy, and unearthing the mysteries of a stolen Egyptian mummy. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it."
When I saw the cover for Gail Carriger's second book in The Parasol Protectorate series, I had a mild heart attack! I loved the cover for SOULLESS, but CHANGELESS totally blows it out of the water! I want it so badly right now - it would looks so pretty next to SOULLESS on my bookshelf!

The Clearing by Heather Davis (4/12/10)

Amy, a sixteen-year-old recovering from an abusive relationship, moves to the country to start a new life with her aunt–all she wants is for everything to be different. In the clearing at the back of Aunt Mae’s property, she makes an amazing discovery—Henry, a boy stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Henry and his world become Amy’s refuge and she begins to learn that some moments are worth savoring. But when the past and present come crashing together, both of them must find the courage to face what is meant to be, even if it means losing each other forever.

This cover is gorgeous! I've been waiting for a cover for this one for quite some time and am definitely impressed with the end result!

T2T Blog Tour: Interview: Patrick Jones (Author of The Tear Collector!)

Today I'm hosting Patrick Jones, author of the recently released YA supernatural read: The Tear Collector!


Brief Biography (from Patrick Jones' website):
A former librarian for teenagers, Patrick now concentrates on writing fiction for teens. His third novel -- Chasing Taillights was published in summer 2007, while his 4th novel Cheated is due out in spring 2008. His second novel Nailed was published by Walker / Bloomsbury in spring 2006 and was a runner-up in the Great Lakes Book Award. His first young adult novel Things Change (Walker & Company, 2004) was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a best book for reluctant readers. His most recent (and last) professional publication is Connecting with Reluctant Readers (Neal-Schuman, 2006). In 2006, he won lifetime achievement awards from both the Catholic Library Association, and the American Library Association. In March of 2006, he won the Scholastic Library Publishing Award. Jones is a frequent speaker at library conferences, having visited all fifty states, as well as in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Jones grew up in Flint, Michigan, but now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Interview:

First off, tell us a little bit about your new novel, The Tear Collector.
The Tear Collector is about a vampire-like creature Cassandra who lives not off human blood, but human tears. She’s in high school, so it is the perfect setting for a book about crying. There’s a line in the book about how drama turns to trauma turns to tears in her school. So it has a supernatural element, but there’s also a romance between her and a human male. There are some bigger themes about science vs. religion / facts vs. faith, but mostly it a supernatural romance ala Twilight with everything twisted. I’d wanted to write a book for years about rumors / gossip in high school, and that theme fit nicely into this book.

Where did the inspiration for the supernatural aspect of The Tear Collector originate?
I knew I wanted to write a vampire novel, but thought the charismatic male vampire meets plain Jane girl searching for answers had already been done. To death. So, I needed a new gimmick. Tears made sense as all my other teen novels certainly contained their share of crying characters. Johanna in Things Change who is in violent dating relationship, Christy in Chasing Tail Lights who is growing up in poverty, and most recently Danielle in Stolen Car who hates her life, wants to make a change, and wants to know if love is real. So, tears and high school go well together.

Did you do any research while writing The Tear Collector? If yes, please explain.
Only a little, mainly about the specifics of some biology concepts, like adaptation, and trying to remember my Catholic School years for information on the Stations of the Cross. My main research is always visiting high schools, and then communicating with students after via facebook or myspace. The Samantha character is pulled from a couple of girls I met doing visits, and I don’t think I’ve ever been to a school and not met Cody or Brittney types. Lots of small details – from how Samantha wears mismatching Chuck Taylors to how Brittney uses her IPod as a mirror – are things I noticed the road. My research is also after the fact, in that after I have a good solid first draft done, I find teens that read it and comment / correct mistakes.

Why did you cast your lead character as female rather than male?
Most of my books are told first person point of view from a teenage girl. I find that easy to do since when I’m writing I have these high heels I wear. Wait. That’s a lie. They’re pumps. I write from the female POV for three reasons. The first is practical: more teen girls buy YA novels than guys. The second is Cassandra, like my other teen girl characters, is struggling with identity. Not that teen guys don’t, but I think it is different. I think all teen girls are two people: the person the parents think they are and then the person they really are. Sometimes those two sides are close, but often they are far apart. That’s been true from Johanna in Things Change to Cassandra in Tear Collector. These are young women in conflict between their heads and their hearts; between what they want and what they need, but mostly who they are and who they want to be. Finally, most of the vampire books may have teen girl telling the story, but often she’s not the most interesting person in the book. Like everything else, I wanted to twist that convention.

What was the most difficult aspect of writing The Tear Collector?
The hardest thing was the mythology: how Cassandra’s world works. Not just figuring it out, but then how much to reveal, and how to reveal it Since she’s telling the story, there’s no good way for her to get that information out since she can’t tell Samantha (until near the end) and anyone else who is a tear collector already knows how the world works. I also wanted to keep some stuff vague, both to set-up a sequel, but also in that X-Files / Carnivale way of letting the viewer piece together the clues. The other hard thing for me is that my previous teen novels deal head-on with sexuality, and I knew for lots of reasons I wanted to limit that here. It’s still not a middle school book, but it is tame compared to my other books. There’s also much less cursing. Damn.

Did you always want to be a writer?
When I was eight, my Dad took met to a professional wrestling match. I was a huge fan of grown men in their underwear pretending to hurt each other. The next day, however, there was no story in the Flint Journal (my hometown paper) about the match. So, I mentioned it to my mom and she said I should write an article. She had an old manual typewriter and taught me how to type. Somehow, I found a wrestling newsletter in NYC that accepted my article; I’m sure they don’t realize I was only eight. So, in elementary school, I had a byline. That’s addictive. While I wasn’t a big reader in school, I did enjoy writing including plays, songs, and poems, but I also was growing up in Flint, Michigan so being a writer was not a realistic dream. Although I guess a few of us have proved that a wrong assumption. I think I’d still rather be a pro wrestler though.

What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer?
I still have one. Because I write for older teens, because I write honestly about sexuality, and because my teens don’t use words like “shoot” and “freakin’”, I don’t sell many books in schools, which is still a lot of book sales. I’m also with a smaller publisher, so they don’t have the same UMPH to push my books, and I maybe because write about working class kids, I’m not selling tons of books in suburban malls. I still have a day job, which did lead directly to my getting published. I started working in libraries in 1979 (yes, almost 30 years ago) and got a a Masters in Library Science from the University of Michigan. I’ve worked a librarian since then, focusing on youth services, including winning a couple of national lifetime achievement awards for that work. As part of this, in the early 1990s, I served on a national committee to select books for reluctant readers, which is where I first met Emily Easton, who is now my editor. There’s more about this, and other librarians turned authors (including Annette Curtis Klause who wrote THE teen vampire romance The Silver Kiss) in an article in VOYA magazine.

When and where do you usually write?
I write at home in Minneapolis normally in HUGE jags on the weekends for like seven or eight hours at a time. A book I just completed poured out of me: from 0 to 55,000 words in ten days to complete a good solid first draft. But I also write in short bursts on airplanes, in hotels, and in Northwest World Clubs since I travel a great deal doing speaking engagements and school visits. When I’m at home, which is where I do most of my writing, I write sitting in bed on a Dell laptop (which is missing the “d” key). But before I sit down at the computer, it seems – at least for the last four books – that I’ve got the book pretty outlined and imagined in my head. It’s just a matter of unrolling the “movie” from my mind and getting in on paper / on the computer.

Is there something that is a must have for you to be able to write?
Something to say, something I want to learn about myself/teens, and a soundtrack. Every book I write, I’ve developed a soundtrack / play-list that really helps. It is not a play-list that people would listen to reading the book since most teens wouldn’t listen to / like the artists I enjoy (for Tear Collector it was the Celtic soul of Van Morrison), but it gets me in the right mood.

What author or book most influenced you as a writer or in general?
My favorite YA books of all time are Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, not Matchbox 20), and Vision Quest by Terry Davis. These books are epitomes of YA novel voice, attitude, and honesty. I’m also, as mentioned, influenced by music.

What are currently reading?
I mainly read adult non-fiction, so my most recent book was Columbine by Dave Cullen. I was so blown away by this book that I wrote a review and interviewed the author for a magazine. In my novel Nailed, the main character Bret is a misfit teen bullied by jocks. One of his responses is writing an essay called “Dylan and Eric Were Victims, too.” Except I got it wrong; most of the media got it wrong. Dave Cullen – who followed the story since 1999 – sets the record straight in this book that Columbine wasn’t what most of us thought it was.

What book are you anxiously awaiting?
Nothing most of your blog readers are looking for I would guess. While I wrote a supernatural teen romance, I’m not reading them, nor do I read much speculative fiction. One book I’m waiting for is Hulk Hogan’s new book, which I can only hope will be as hilariously inaccurate as his first one. In teen stuff, I’m waiting for new books by Coe Booth, Jeannine Garsee, Annette Curtis Klause, and the sequel to Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles.

Can you tell us anything about your next YA novel?
I just (and I mean like yesterday) finished a 55,000 word first draft of a sequel to Tear Collector with the working title of Cassandra's Turn or maybe Cassandra Turns. The sequel explores what happens with Brittney, follows Cass's desire to become human to be with Scott, develops the friendship with Samantha, as well as finding her cousin Alexei returning. There will also be a competing love interest. But they’ll only be a sequel if Tear Collector sells. I also have another book (Clicked) done that is in my editor’s hands which is a realistic novel. The story starts with the main character Carson returning from his school's homecoming football game. He goes up to his room to write an article about the game for his school newspaper, but he's distracted by the word "homecoming." Three years ago, Carson's older sister Carrie ran away from home and hasn't been heard from since. He finishes writing the story, and then he's alone on the computer. He's a teen boy, so soon he's looking at porn. Click. Click. Click. And he comes across an image of his sister on a porn site. Well, the plot kind of takes off from there.

The Hiding Spot is dedicated to my personal hiding spot, books. Is there a place, activity, or person that is your hiding spot?
Listening to music in my car, or a rented car. I put in a Springsteen CD – or sometimes in a rental car, I’ll get the EStreet station on satellite radio – and everything wrong in the world washes away. Nothing matters except the cars in front me, and Bruce’s Badlands, Jungleland, and the Darkness on the Edge on the Town. For me, Thunder Road is one hell of a hiding place. While it probably isn’t Bruce, I think this is a hiding place many teens can understand.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
I think part of this work isn’t just writing books for teens, but being accessible, which is much easier to do in the Internet age. I’m on facebook and myspace, and even set up a myspace just for The Tear Collector, with links to songs, books, and movies that will make you cry. Writing is about communicating ideas, but I hope that the communication between my readers and me doesn’t have to end on the last page of my last book.

Thank you, Patrick, for taking the time to chat with The Hiding Spot!

T2T Blog Tour: Review: The Tear Collector by Patrick Jones

Title: The Tear Collector
Author: Patrick Jones
Publisher: Walker
Pub. Date: Sept. 2009
Genre: YA
Main Themes: Supernatural, Love, Family, Emotion
Pages: 263
Plot (from book jacket):
"Between hookups, makeups, and breakups, there isn't a day at Lapeer High School without drama turning to trauma turning to tears.
And tears are just as essential as air for Cassandra Gray. She and her family are vampires who thirst for human sorrow, and the energy that they soak in from a good crying jag can keep them fueled up for days.
Anytime a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, Cass is there. Anytime a boyfriend gets too secure, she breaks his heart.
Cass's work as a school peer counselor and hospital volunteer also provides the perfect cover and access o her family's energy source. But she is getting tired of all the lies and manipulation - especially now that she's actually fallen in love with a human. Can she bear to betray her family for a chance at happiness and a life lived with joy?"

I really liked the idea of The Tear Collector. When I read that the main character was a girl who basically lived off human tears, I was intrigued. While I felt that the idea of the book was well conceived, I didn't think the novel was very well executed.

One aspect that I felt was a major negative of The Tear Collector was the characters. I think this is the aspect that caused the most distraction for me. I didn't feel like the dialogue between characters was well written and I didn't feel like the characters were fully developed or believable.

The romantic aspect of the novel was very disappointing to me. I thought the love story would be greater, more epic, than it was. I felt like Cassandra didn't really do much to deserve any of the devotion that she received - her character was too flat for me to feel any attachment to her and I didn't see how any guy would be attached to her either. Her only quality that I could imagine her using to attract a guy would be her tendency to have sex with guys. I liked the idea of a guy finally seeing more to her than just what she could do for him physically, but I don't think that she ever really showed that other side.

I did think that the premise for The Tear Collector was a really unique and original idea. That was the one redeeming quality, it is unfortunate that I didn't enjoy the other main part of this book: the romance.

Ratings (Out of 10):
Plot: 8
Characters: 4
Writing style: 4
Romance: 4
Originality: 10
Total: 30/50 (D-)

The Tear Collector wasn't a book that I particularly enjoyed, but my sister read it as well and liked it. I recommend reading some other reviews before deciding whether to pick it up youself. More reviews will be circulating as the Traveling to Teens blog tour for The Tear Collector continues!

In My Mailbox (10)

IMM is hosted by Kristi, aka The Story Siren!
Lots of good books this week! :) All of them were library finds, except for Dreaming Anastasia, which I won in a giveaway.

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (HarperTeen, out now)
Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns...

The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.
Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.
Or not.
Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods — thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom — Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.
However, at the cloisters, all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to — perhaps most dangerously of all — her growing attraction to a handsome art student... and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble (Sourcebooks, out now)
Sixteen year old Anne thinks her life is pretty ordinary – until she smacks into handsome, mysterious, and okay, annoying Ethan on her way to chemistry class. Now Anne has powers she doesn’t understand, a history altering mission she may not want, and a growing attraction to this blue-eyed stranger. And Ethan- who at eighteen made some choices he’s starting to regret – realizes that Anne is the girl for whom he’s been searching – for a very, very long time. Stir in doomed Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia – who is definitely not quite as dead as the history books say – and Baba Yaga, the legendary witch from Russian folklore, and you’ve got DREAMING ANASTASIA, a contemporary YA fantasy that alternates between the voices of Anne, Ethan, and Anastasia as Anne and Ethan join forces to battle the bad guys and save Anastasia. Only problem is – no one’s quite sure who’s really bad and who’s good. And everyone has some secrets.

Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison (Razorbill, out now)
Leesie Hunt has many rules: No kissing. No sex. No dating outside the Mormon faith.

When Michael Walden—a deep-sea diver who lost his parents in a violent hurricane—arrives in town, Leesie sees someone who needs her. They fall for one another, even though his dreams are tied to the depths of the ocean and hers to salvation above.
Will their intense chemistry be too strong to resist?
Leesie and Michael must make the hardest choice of their lives: whether to follow their beliefs or their hearts.
Readers will be swept away by this tale of forbidden romance told in online chats, Leesie’s chapbook poems, and Michael’s dive log.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown (Little, Brown, out now)
Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda (Disney Hyperion, out now)
As the youngest and only female member of the Knights Templar, Bilquis SanGreal grew up knowing she wasn't normal. Instead of hanging out at the mall or going on dates, she spends her time training as a soldier in her order's ancient battle against the Unholy.

Billi's cloistered life is blasted apart when her childhood friend, Kay, returns from Jerusalem, gorgeous and with a dangerous chip on his shoulder. He's ready to reclaim his place in Billi's life, but she's met someone new: amber-eyed Michael, who seems to understand her like no one else, effortlessly claiming a stake in her heart.
But the Templars are called to duty before Billi can enjoy the pleasant new twist to her life. One of the order's ancient enemies has resurfaced, searching for a treasure that the Templars have protected for hundreds of years -- a cursed mirror powerful enough to kill all of London's firstborn. To save her city from catastrophe, Billi will have to put her heart aside and make sacrifices greater than any of the Templars could have imagined.

Intertwined by Gena Showalter (Harlequin Teen, out now)
There’s something about the new guy at Crossroads High . . .

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:
One can time-travel.
One can raise the dead.
One can tell the future.
And one can possess another human.
With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now, they’re causing him all kinds of trouble.
Like, he’ll blink and suddenly he’s a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he’ll change the future. Or, he’ll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she’s going to die.
He’s so over it. All he wants is peace.
And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, for as long as he’s with her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He’s a loner; she has friends. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it’s too late. . .
Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own and a vampire princess Aden can’t resist. Two romances, both forbidden. . . doomed. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger. . . but not everyone will come out alive. . .

Blood Promise by Richelle Mead (Razorbill, out now)
DIMITRI'S HEART HAS GONE DARK

Now Rose must journey to the ends of the earth to find--and kill--her one true love...
Or has the time come to join him?
BOUND BY LOVE, BUT SWORN TO KILL...
The rest of the world had considered Dimitri dead. And to a certain extent, he was. But I hadn't been able to forget a conversation he and I had once had. We'd both agreed that we'd rather be dead—truly dead—than walk the world as Strigoi. It was time to honor our words.
Guardian Rose Hathaway's life will never be the same.
The recent attack on St. Vladimir's Academy devastated the entire Moroi world. Many are dead. And, for the few victims carried off by Strigoi, their fates are even worse. A rare tattoo now adorns Rose's neck, a mark that says she's killed far too many Strigoi to count. But only one victim matters . . . Dimitri Belikov. Rose must now choose one of two very different paths: honoring her life's vow to protect Lissa—her best friend and the last surviving Dragomir princess—or, dropping out of the Academy to strike out on her own and hunt down the man she loves. She'll have to go to the ends of the earth to find Dimitri and keep the promise he begged her to make. But the question is, when the time comes, will he want to be saved?
Now, with everything at stake—and worlds away from St. Vladimir's and her unguarded, vulnerable, and newly rebellious best friend—can Rose find the strength to destroy Dimitri? Or, will she sacrifice herself for a chance at eternal love?

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic, out now)
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Breathless by Jessica Warman (Walker, out now)
When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school by her distant father and overbearing mother, it doesn’t take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She’s smart, she’s cute, and she’s an Olympic-bound swimmer who has a first class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don’t know is that Katie is swimming away from her past, and from her schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won’t let her go. And when he does the unthinkable, it’s all Katie can do to keep her head above water.

YA Dystopian Reading Challenge!

For all you fans of YA Dystopian novels, Bart of Bart's Bookshelf is hosting a reading challenge. The challenge starts October 15th and ends at the start of 2010. The goal is to read 1 to 4 YA Dystopian novels in that time span.

Not sure what Dystopia is?

Dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia, cackotopia, or anti-utopia) is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence, disease, pollution, nuclear fallout and/or the abridgement of human rights, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering, and other kinds of pain. (Source: Wikipedia)

Examples of YA Dystopia:

The Atherton Series by Patrick Carman

The Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness

Exodus and Zenith by Julie Bertanga

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick

Genesis by Bernard Beckett

The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger by Lois Lowry

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

The Moon Crash Trilogy by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Resurrection of Magic Series by Kathleen Duey

The Uglies Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld

The Shadow Children Sequence by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Shade's Children by Garth Nix

Feed by M.T. Anderson

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Carrie Ryan

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

More here!

Want to participate? Go here!

Winners!

I've got two winners to announce!

The winner of SOULLESS is:
Ash Nazgs

The winner of SNAP is:
                                    Alexa

Both have already been contacted!

I'd like to mention that both winners won with their extra entries, so extra entries do count for something!! :)

Friday Finds (5)

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading, a weekly meme in which you share great books found throughout the week!

I found some titles that I'm really excited about this week! A couple of them have already been released, but some I'll have a long wait for unfortunately!

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
(Egmont, 2010)
Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.

After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.
But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.

 
 

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (Tor, out now)
In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.
Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.
His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

Ordinary Ghosts by Eireann Corrigan
(PUSH, out now)
Sometimes when life haunts you, you're better off becoming the ghost. Emil Simon feels invisible enough. He counts as a nonentity at his elite preparatory school and makes barely a dent in his father's thoughts. When his older brother runs away, he entrusts Emil with a master key to Caramoor Academy. Soon Emil is sneaking into the school at night to explore ... and falling for a faculty daughter who sneaks in for reasons of her own. This is a novel about living with disappearances... and willing yourself to appear.

Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson (Simon Pulse, May 18, 2010)   A teenager learns that she is a werewolf, descended from a long line of female werewolves, and must balance her human and werewolf lives, while tracking down the rogue werewolf preying upon the people of her town. 

no cover image yet

The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride

(Egmont, May 25, 2010)

Two years ago, when Tessa’s best friend, Noelle, was kidnapped, survivor’s guilt kept her from living her life. But that all changes the day she learns Noelle has been found . . . Alive. Tessa becomes determined to help her friend acclimate to the life she should have been living all along. But Max, the new kid in Tessa’s photography class, pulls her attention in a different direction. And Noelle, who insists on being called Elle, returns as a distant and self-destructive girl who Tessa has trouble connecting with. Will Tessa regain the friend she thought she’d lost forever? Or will Elle slip away and leave Tessa feeling more lost and confused than ever?

October Releases (AKA Books I Can't Wait to Get My Hands On!!)

October is finally here! For me it is a great time of year of two reasons:
1. I love autumn weather!
2. October happens to be a great month for YA releases!

Here is a list of a few that I'm excited about! Feel free to add any you're excited about or that I missed in the comments... :)


1st
Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater (Flux)
How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford (Scholastic)
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown)

6th
Fire (Grace novel) by Kristin Cashore (Dial)
Friday Night Bites (Chicagoland Vampires 2) by Chloe Neill (NAL Trade)
Quatrain by Sharon Shinn (ACE)
Beautiful by Amy Reed (Simon Pulse)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Delacorte)

13th
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon and Schuster)
Little Black Lies by Tish Cohen (Egmont)
Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines (Bloomsbury)
Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein (Bloomsbury)

15th
Gateway by Sharon Shinn (Viking Juvenile)

19th
Front and Center by Catherine Murdock (Houghton Mifflin Books)

27th
The Espressologist by Kristina Springer (Farrar Straus Giroux)

Contest:Win a copy of How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford! CLOSED

Natalie, with the help of her super-publicist, Becky, are giving away a final bound copy of HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT to one lucky winner at The Hiding Spot!

Entering for a chance to win is easy:
Simply leave your email address in a comment below!
You must leave an email address or you will be disqualified!

As always, I'm offering ways to gain extra entries!

+2 Comment on my review, here.

+2 Comment on my interview with Natalie, here.

+2 Link this contest (Sidebar, Post, Twitter, etc)
You only credit for tweeting once, but otherwise +2 for every link
Please leave a link so I can verify.

+2 In the book, Bea and Jonah each have a radio alias (Robot Girl and Ghost Boy), tell me: What would your alias be? Explain.

This contest is open to those with US mailing addresses only. Sorry!

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED!

Good luck and have fun!

Interview: Natalie Standiford (Author of How to Say Goodbye in Robot!)

Today, I'm happy to share an interview with Natalie Standiford, author of HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT, which hits shelves today!

First, a brief biography:
Natalie started off in publishing, working in the Children's Book Department at Random House. However, she wanted to be a writer, not an editor, so she left Random House to be a full-time free-lancer. Today, Natalie has had books published for various reading levels and ages. She is in a rock band called Ruffian, which is all female except for the drummer. Natalie also plays in a YA-Author-Band, Tiger Beat, with Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, and Barnabas Miller. I've linked a video of Tiger Beat from Books of Wonder, but Natalie is behind a pole... the entire time!

The Interview:
First off, tell us a little bit about your new novel, How to Say Goodbye in Robot.

HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT is the story of two misfits, Bea and Jonah, who become intensely close friends and find a kind of surrogate family in a late-night radio call-in show. Bea moves to Baltimore in her senior year of high school and goes to a small school where everyone has known each other since they were three, so the person she feels most drawn to is the only outcast, Jonah. Bea's mother is acting crazy, Jonah's father is hiding a terrible secret, and their friendship takes off and deepens from there.

Where did the idea to incorporate an “old-timer radio show” into the novel originate?
I've listened to late-night radio since I was in high school--there used to be a national show called the Nightcaps, where lonely old people called up. The Nightcaps had three rules: no politics, no religion, and I forget the third. The point was not to discuss anything upsetting, which was very helpful for falling asleep. Later in Baltimore there was a great local show called Legends Radio/Over Fifty Overnight that really captured a certain lonely, insomniac feeling in the city. The callers were nutty but so Baltimore. And now I love to listen to Coast to Coast AM, which mostly focuses on UFOs, time travel, ghosts, etc.
I've always wanted to find a way to use those radio callers--and the way the night brings out the strangeness in people--in a book. So when I first started thinking about Bea and Jonah and realized their story was missing something, I decided to add the Night Lights as a kind of Greek chorus to their friendship.

In the novel, Bea mentions that she once heard that Icelandic hairdressers are the happiest people in the world: Where did this random bit of information come from? And more importantly, is it true? :)
I heard that on the BBC a few years ago (I also listen to the BBC at night). They said that some organization had done a study of various professions all over the world in search of the happiest people, and hairdressers in Iceland came out on top. While I was writing the book I went online to try to confirm this and found that the BBC had in fact reported it. But other studies had come up with different results. Still, I loved the idea--and the image--of the happy Icelandic hairdressers.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot could have easily been a YA romance, why did you decide against taking the novel that direction?
I actually didn't think about this very much. Somehow it seemed natural to me that Bea and Jonah would be friends, and that's all. I wanted their relationship to have a kind of purity that wasn't tainted by romance. And, to be honest, I think of Jonah as being kind of damaged beyond romance.

Did you do any research while writing How to Say Goodbye in Robot? If yes, please explain.
I did do a little research. I don't want to give away too much, but my father is a pediatrician so I asked him and one of his partners about certain medical situations involving disabled children. And I listened to the radio a lot (though I would have done that anyway).

What was the most difficult aspect of writing How to Say Goodbye in Robot?
A lot of it was difficult, although I enjoyed it. The book went through so many drafts and stages. I think the most difficult part came at the beginning: I knew how I wanted the book to end but I had no idea how to get there. It was hard to figure out why someone would do what Jonah does at the end (forgive me for being cryptic), so I made up my own reasons, but they had to be good to justify his decision. Also, I must have rewritten the first chapter a hundred different ways. It was very hard to figure out how to start.

Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes, I always loved books and I wrote my first "novel" in the third grade. It was called "The Hither-Heather Hiding Place" (reminds me of the name of your blog!) and it was about 7 children who build a fort to hide from their mother. I later destroyed it in a fit of embarrassment (and rightly so).
I also considered being a lawyer, a diplomat, a perpetual grad student or an interpreter at the U.N., but writer was always my first choice.

What jobs did you have on your way to being a writer? Did they help you in any way as a writer?
I think everything you do helps you as a writer. As a teenager I interned at the Baltimore Sun--I got to tag along after a Features reporter who interviewed visiting celebrities when they came to town. I didn't get to meet anyone that spectacular but it was a lot of fun. The next summer I worked at a day camp, which wasn't as exciting. In college I waitressed and worked in a museum. After I graduated I moved to New York and got a job in a bookstore. A few months later I became an editorial assistant in the children's book department at Random House, which obviously had a huge effect on me. I worked for Jane O'Connor, who writes the Fancy Nancy books and is also a brilliant editor. I learned so much there. But all experiences are useful to a writer--that's one of the great things about being one.

When and where do you usually write?
I have a small office in my apartment where I write. Sometimes I take my laptop and work in bed, but that's dangerous because I'll often fall asleep. I usually write in the daytime from about 10 to 6, but I'm a nightowl and sometimes I'll get an irresistible inspiration and write at night. Weekends are meaningless to me; I often work 7 days a week. If I'm racing to meet a deadline I'll work constantly, day and night, get no exercise, and eat junk. Very bad.

Is there something that is a must have for you to be able to write?
Quiet. My apartment is pretty noisy--traffic, car alarms, street noises--and I can tune that out, but I can't write to music with lyrics or if someone is talking, because I need to hear the voices in my head (and obey their every command . . . ).

What author or book most influenced you as a writer or in general?
One of my favorite books as a child was STUART LITTLE by E.B. White, and I still love his clean, intelligent, evocative style. As a teenager I loved Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Truman Capote. When I was writing ROBOT I reread THE GREAT GATSBY and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S for their structures; both books are narrated by a relatively "normal" character who tells the story of another, more fascinating and mysterious (and damaged) character. In the same way the relatively sane Bea tells the story of the intriguingly (I hope) weird Jonah.

What are currently reading?
I just started LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW by David Levithan (who also happens to be my brilliant editor). It's wonderful; his characters have such rich emotional lives. Next up is Libba Bray's new book GOING BOVINE--I can't wait! She's so funny.

What book are you anxiously awaiting?
I'm looking forward to reading LIAR by Justine Larbalestier (it's out now and I have to get it), and I am eagerly awaiting Rachel Cohn's next book, VERY LEFREAK, which comes out in January. I love that title.

Can you tell us anything about your next YA novel?
It's called CONFESSIONS OF THE SULLIVAN SISTERS and it's about three teenage sisters in a large, rich Catholic family in Baltimore. I'm still working on it, so that's all I'll say for now. It will be published by Scholastic, probably next fall.

The Hiding Spot is dedicated to my personal hiding spot, books. Is there a place, activity, or person that is your hiding spot?
Books are my hiding spot too. When I was a child I used to hide behind the couch and read. I was the oldest of four kids and our house was crowded. Music is also a good hiding spot--listening to it or playing it. Practicing a musical instrument is a good anxiety-reliever. That's my Mental Health Tip of the Day.

Anything else you would like to share with us?
Readers can find out more about me and my books at my web site, http://www.nataliestandiford.com/ . Thanks for the interview, Sara! It was fun.

Go here, for a chance to win your very own hardcover copy of ROBOT!

Review: How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Title: How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Author: Natalie Standiford

Publisher: Scholastic

Pub. Date: Today (10/1/09)

Genre: YA

Main Themes: Friendship, Love, Family, Social Situations

Pages: 288

Plot (from ARC):

"Icelandic hairdressers are the happiest people in the world.

Bea is not an icelandic hairdresser.

Neither is Jonah.

But together, they might find something approaching happiness.

New to town, Bea is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. You know the type: very cheery, very friendly, very average. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet observer who hasn't made a new friend since third grade. He's not a big gan of people in general.. but he's willing to make an exception for her. Maybe.

Bea and Jonah are not going to have friendship like other people have a friendship, where it's all based on gossip and parties and what everyone else thinks. Instead, their friendship comes from truth-bound conversations, shared secrets, daring stunts, and late-night phone calls to the same old-timer radio show. They help each other and hurt each other, push away and hold close. It's not romance, exactly - but it's definitely love. And it means more to them than either one can ever really know..."

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is definitely on my list of favorites for 2009... if fact, it makes my favorite books ever list! With the amount of books I read, that isn't an easy feat!

The story How to Say Goodbye in Robot is painfully realistic at some points, but that just makes it hauntingly beautiful. I loved the old-timer radio show that Bea and Jonah listen to - it made me want to turn on the AM radio and find my own quirky insomniacs to help guide me through tough times.

There was something about Bea that I found easy to relate to. Before she found that late night radio show, Bea fantasized about death  - not suicide - just the comfort and relaxation of being separate from life. I may not have been quite as instense as Bea, but I've often wondered about death as I lay awake an night too. Bea struggles with showing her emotions; she is afraid to grow attached to people and places because she often has to pack up and move as soon as she makes connections. I undestood Bea's confusion and her ability to accept the fact that, maybe, she is a robot: cold, unfeeling, and hard.

I loved Jonah. He was one of those characters that will draw a reader in like a moth to flame. He is so perfectly broken - I can see why Bea would be drawn to him in her own broken state.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is not a love story, but it is terribly romantic. Jonah and Bea have so much chemistry and truly love one another, flaws and all. I found the sappy teenager in me yearning for them to be together as a couple. But Jonah and Bea are never a couple - they are so much more. To me, this novel emphasizes how important connections other than the physical are - and how those ties can run so much deeper.

Ratings (Out of 10):
Plot: 10
Characters: 10
Writing: 10
Romance: 10
Originality: 10

Total: 50/50 (A!!)

I simply cannot write a review that will do this novel justice! It is one of my absolute favorites that I'll have on my go-to list for recommendations. How to Say Goodbye in Robot is a must read for 2009!

Want to read this book too? Go here to win a copy!