Audrey Beth Stein is the author of the memoir Map, a 2010 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Bisexual Nonfiction. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and is a two-time national prizewinner in the David Dornstein Memorial Short Story Contest. She teaches memoir and novel development at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.  Direct links to order Map can be found at http://map.audreybethstein.com.

Audrey chose to review one of  her favorite novels The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd, also a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.  Enjoy!

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

Dade Hamilton has no problem telling his ceiling fan or his soap dish that he’s gay.  He fools around secretly with Pablo, the “Sexican” jock, wishing Pablo’s girlfriend Judy was out of the picture, until the day Dade blurts out “I love you” and Pablo smacks him in the face.  Senior year is ending, Dade’s dad has just confessed to an affair (but not ended it), Dade’s mom is popping pills to pretend everything’s okay, and an autistic nine-year-old’s disappearance dominates the local news.  In three months Dade will be off to college, but that’s a whole summer away, and Pablo Pablo Pablo isn’t just fading into the night.

Enter Alex Kincaid.  Alex isn’t exactly Mr. Wholesome American Boy–at age twenty, he’s got a job at Taco Taco and moonlights as the drug connection for Dade’s classmates–but he’s hot and intriguing and compared to Pablo he’s a breath of fresh air.  Dade doesn’t know if Alex is gay, but a short exchange at a party prompts Dade to ask a classmate who this guy is and how to find him again: “I was acting on some instinct that I didn’t know I had.  I’d never gone out of my way for a guy before.  Even my and Pablo’s first encounters were totally initiated by him.  I never went out of my way to follow crushes around high school.  I never approached anyone with the hopes of getting a phone number or even a name.  I was afraid of giving myself away.  I didn’t want anyone to know.  Sometimes even I didn’t want to know.”

Alex is gay, and he’s also sincere, kind, and not afraid to show up with a bouquet of carnations for dinner with Dade’s parents after Dade comes out to them.  The burgeoning relationship between Dade and Alex is one of the sweetest parts of the book, all the more so for its realness.  In a world where so many adolescents fumbling through their own emerging sexuality (straight and queer) learn through unhealthy relationships and encounters, like the ones portrayed aptly and painfully between Dade and Pablo, it is wonderful and refreshing to read realistic portrayals of people treating each other with vulnerable kindness.

Of course the story doesn’t end this simply, not with an ex-not-boyfriend around or parents leaving Dade alone for two whole weeks, but I won’t give away the twists and turns, or why I found myself crying at the last chapter.  Nick Burd has an easy and perceptive style that makes for an enjoyable reading experience.  His three main characters feel like they must exist and make the choices that they do.  Dade’s empathy for Pablo’s confusion–which doesn’t erase his anger or hurt at Pablo’s actions–is a nice touch, and occasional reported sightings of the autistic girl underline the theme of disappearance and reappearance that threads throughout the book.  The Vast Fields of Ordinary well-deservedly won a Stonewall Book Award and was named a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and I highly recommend it for both young adult readers and adults who enjoy YA literature.

Maria V. Snyder is the author of the popular novels, The Study series, The Glass series, and most recently Inside Out, which also happens to be our Book of the Month right now.  We recently asked Maria to review one of her favorite YA novels.  She chose Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready.   Enjoy!

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Award winning fantasy author, Jeri Smith-Ready has dipped her toe into the young adult market with her recently released fantasy book, Shade.

The premise of the book is quite intriguing – On the day of Aura’s birth a Shift happened and all children, including Aura born after this Shift can see and hear ghosts. It’s sixteen years later and the world has adjusted to life with ghosts that only kids can see. Aura would like nothing better to ignore them and hang out with her rocker boyfriend, Logan Keeley. In fact, Aura would like to find out why the Shift happened and how she could undo it.

Jeri has created an unique world with Shade. And she answered all the logical questions a reader would ask about what’s it like to live with ghosts (thank you Jeri!). For privacy, she invented black boxes that keep ghosts from entering certain rooms like the bathroom and schools. People wear red to repel them, and there’s a shady government agency (of course) dedicated to studying and policing them.

Just like in her urban vampire books, Wicket Game and Bad to the Bone, Jeri’s love of music is once again a main theme throughout this book. Aura’s hot boyfriend is the singer in an Irish-flavored rock band in Baltimore named the Keeley Brothers. In the beginning chapters of the book, we learn it’s the night of Logan’s 17th birthday and record company reps are listening to their gig. After the gig, he’s offered a recording contract. Basically, it’s the best night of his life, but unfortunately it’s his last.

Now don’t yell at me for spoiling this little surprise. Just read the back cover blurb or the write up on Amazon.com and you’ll know all about it, too. And the kicker about those back cover blurbs is – the author doesn’t write them. It’s usually the editor or marketing, hoping to hook a reader’s interest. After I read the blurb, I assumed that Logan’s death happened before the start of the story (don’t know why – I just did). That when I opened to chapter one, it would be a few months later or even a day later, but no, there’s Logan happy and full of life. He’s a great character and so are Aura and the band members (Jeri excelled with creating very likable characters).

Unfortunately for me, knowing he’s going to die makes it really hard for me to read the first three chapters (the reason – I’m a mother of a 15 year old boy so I don’t think this would bother the target audience as much). I kept putting the book down, but I wanted to review the book and I loved Jeri’s other books, so I kept with it. But as soon as I made it past the tragedy, I flew through the rest of the book in a day.

This is a great book you need to read. Logan returns as a ghost (so he’s not gone gone) and another potential and very much alive suitor, Zachary Moore arrives with his secrets and sexy Scottish brogue. The characters and world are rich and well developed and the ending hinted at more books to come. Which I just found out, the second book, Shift is due out on May 2011.

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Read also Maria’s review of Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer here.

Visit Maria’s website for more info about her and her books.

In keeping with our Book of the Month promotion here for January, featured authors of the new supernatural hit, Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, chose a Young Adult book and penned a joint guest review for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Description from Goodreads:

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . .

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they’ve been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed 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 the 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 . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.

From Margie:

There is a special shelf in our office – and by that I mean our hearts – for books that Kami and I feel the same way about. We don’t always agree. I tilt towards high fantasy and Kami to the urban supernatural. Because I read as fast as I drink Diet Cokes, I approach bookstores as an all you can eat buffet. Because Kami not only writes books but raises two small children and teaches reading, she’s pickier, more of an a la carte reader.

But, when the stars align, we’ll agree on a book that we trade back and forth, recommend and fight over, and alternately claim to have discovered for ourselves. This year, we felt that way about Rampant, so when YA Reads asked us to do a joint review, it leapt off our Special Collections shelf.

There will be the reader, like myself, who hears the words “Killer Unicorns” and says, “I’m in.” It sounds like a parody, but Peterfreund’s take on the mythical beast is straight and deadly serious. The result is an entirely girl-powered mythology of her own, that builds more into what I would consider an Epic than a Series.

Peterfreund’s Astrid, the virginal killer unicorn slayer, is heir to the empty throne in her unicorn-slaying convent qua dorm – with the most kickass bloodline and the most powerful warrior-jitzu that Rome has seen in years. But she’s heir to more than that. On the YA supernatural shelf, Astrid is the heir to the empty throne that Buffy Summers has left waiting after seven long seasons of absolute dominion. Though many will claim the crown, there is only one Slayer in any generation (If you don’t count The Dushku, because really, who does?) and I’m not sure if it’s Astrid or Diana, but between them, the throne is empty no longer.

I recommend this book (as I do) for every teen – or grown-up teen – girl you know, because as it turns out, we’re all a little Slayer on the inside.

From Kami:

When Margie handed me Rampant and said, “You HAVE to read this book,” I started that night. I can’t speed read like M, but I finished it fast because I literally couldn’t put it down. Rampant was the perfect storm for me – urban fantasy with a totally original premise, a completely developed universe, and, most importantly, a strong female protagonist that embraces her power. The fact is, I’m a writer, but I’m also a teacher, and I believe the books children and teens read shape their identities and influence them profoundly.  I won’t hand one of my teen students a book in which a girl defines herself in terms of a boy. Or worse, is willing to give up who she is for a boy.

I’m tired of reading about girls spending all their time pining for a boy. I want to see her face unicorns the size of elephants and slay them. I want to see her walk away from a guy who hasn’t earned the right to be with her. I want to read about a girl with supernatural powers, who isn’t afraid to use them. Because as a teacher, I watch girls hide their intelligence and skill, their capabilities and talents, all the time. Just so they can be more appealing to a boy.

How do we change this? If you’re Diana Peterfreund, you write a book with a strong female heroine, and you let her slay some pretty badass unicorns. Will this solve the problem, and make every girl feel empowered to be herself and slay her own beasts? No. But it will make SOME girls brave enough to try.

And if a book can do that, it should have a place on every girl’s Special Collections self. Or in her purse, with her wooden stake.

You can keep up with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl at www.BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com.

Join the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES US fansite at www.CasterGirls.com.

In case you’ve forgotten, we’ve been featuring Lili St Crow’s Betrayals as our Book of the Month in December. To close off the promo, Lili sat down and penned a review of Sarah Dessen’s Dreamland for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

The first Sarah Dessen book I ever read was Dreamland, and it is to Dessen I owe my reintroduction to the young adult genre. When I was of the age to be marketed to as a “young adult”, I found most of the offerings insipid to say the least, and downright patronizing at worst. I’m glad to say that the genre seems to have undergone something of a revolution in the last five to seven years, and Dessen holds a special place in my heart as the person who introduced me to a new breed of YA books.

Dreamland is about Caitlin O’Koren, a younger sister whose older sister Cass leaves home without a word on Caitlin’s birthday. The reason for her sister’s flight is beautifully shown but never spelled out: their mother’s almost frantic insistence on living her life through one of her children. Both O’Koren parents are flawed but not overly so, doing the best they can.

Caitlin, after living her entire life in Cass’s shadow, suddenly finds herself the focus of her mother’s ambitions. She’s now a stand-in instead of a postscript, and when she meets the appropriately dangerous-seeming Rogerson Briscoe, she makes the first of many abortive attempts at freedom. Unfortunately, Rogerson is a problem in and of himself. He has serious anger-management issues, a bad home life, and is exactly the wrong boyfriend for a vulnerable, uncertain girl.

Unfortunately, many real-life stories start out this way and end tragically.

When I was young enough to be a target audience for YA, the subject of teen dating violence—like so many other subjects—was taboo. I think what grabbed my attention most in Dreamland was Dessen’s unflinching but gentle look at the realities of such a situation. Rogerson is not a villain, he’s a messed-up kid. Caitlin is spoiled, yes, but she’s also loyal to her friends and trying to shoulder her family’s burden as well as she can. Caitlin’s mother is so devastated by her older daughter’s disappearance that her younger daughter becomes a figurehead to her, and Mr. O’Koren is uncomfortable with anything even relating to “girl talk” and prefers concrete action over emotional messes. All these things conspire to make an abyss Caitlin falls into, one she can’t extract herself from without help. She’s not completely a victim, and Rogerson is not completely evil.

I remember finishing Dreamland for the first time and feeling as if Dessen had reached into some of my most secret memories. The shame Caitlin feels, her need to “protect” Rogerson and cover things up, the pressure of her family’s loss, all these things felt familiar. It felt like someone was speaking the truth, and I do not remember the young adult books of my young adulthood ever giving me that frisson. Instead, I graduated early to the “adult” section of the library and didn’t look back—until Dessen.
Dreamland is not perfect. For one thing, the pacing is uneven and Caitlin’s therapy is not given nearly enough room. For another, all Dessen’s heroines start out (even if they haven’t always been) as upper-middle-class. Money is rarely an issue for the kids in her books, and it seems a shame that a writer of Dessen’s talents hasn’t explored that angle. Rogerson Biscoe screams “trouble” so loud, and Caitlin is such a sleepwalker, that occasionally the adult me wanted to shake both of them—as well as Caitlin’s mother. Still, the very strength of my emotional response tells me that these are well-crafted characters. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have fallen so hard into the world of the book, nor would I reread it with my heart in my mouth each time.

I’ve read most, if not all, of Dessen’s other young adult books, and been entertained each time. Dreamland, however, remains something special. Every time I read it, it’s like the author—and Caitlin herself—are speaking directly to me. Which is a feeling to treasure, whether one is seventeen or seventy. Dessen opened up the new world of the young adult genre for me, and I’m glad to note that books for younger readers are not the clichéd swill that was the only thing on offer when I was significantly younger than I am now. Each time I see a new Dessen book, I feel a thrill and reach for my bank card.

And that, as a reader, is the highest compliment I can give.

Stephanie Kuehnert’s book, Ballads of Suburbia is our Book of the Month for November here at yaReads. As part of the promotion, Stephanie agreed to review a book that she read – and loved – recently. Enjoy!

Harmonic Feedback – Tara Kelly

When I was a teenager I looked desperately for books that reflected me in someway—not necessarily an exact mirror of my life and experiences, but I wanted to find characters that were having similar emotional experiences, that were feeling as confused by life as I was. There was just something about watching a character work through their life that helped me to work through my own problems. And it was a relief to see that I wasn’t alone in feeling the way I did. Unfortunately when I was in high school, it felt like those kinds of books were few and far between.

I wish I could go back in time and give my teenage self Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly.

The main character, Drea, in Harmonic Feedback has a hard time making friends for two reasons. One, her mom moves her around all the time. And two, according to her mom and the various shrinks she’s seen through the years, she’s not “normal.” She’s been labeled many things, the term “social awareness” is thrown around a lot, and ultimately she is diagnosed with Asperger’s, an autism spectrum disorder. As Drea puts it, “All I know is I make sense to me—it’s other people who seem complicated.” When I read that line, I thought that’s how I felt!  And I found that thought reoccurring throughout my reading of the book. I don’t have Asperger’s, but when Drea points out certain things about human behavior—especially how people say one thing but mean another or say one thing and do another—I remembered so many occasions when I felt just as mystified as she does by the way we communicate. This book sums up so well why it’s so hard to fit in and be happy at high school.

I haven’t really seen any YA books that deal with Asperger’s so I imagine those readers who share Drea’s diagnosis will be thrilled to find someone with a similar experience in fiction, but I think everyone who reads this book will actually relate to Drea and find themselves realizing as I did that the way we think and behave especially in high school is so *not normal*!

The book begins when Drea moves to Bellingham, Washington. She meets Naomi, a girl from across the street who Drea’s grandmother warns her against because she’s trouble. Naomi has her fair share of issues with people at school, too, but she is an incredible singer and Drea, a musician and sound engineer likes making music with her—though Drea is a little bit uncertain about the other social experiences she has with Naomi, especially those centering around boys. However, there is a boy named Justin, who Naomi grows to like. A lot. In ways that she hasn’t experienced before and is struggling to understand. He’s a music fiend like Drea and has a past that he wants to keep secret the same way Drea is attempting to keep her psychological diagnosis and history a secret from her new friends.

I got an advanced copy of Harmonic Feedback and was excited to read it because I knew it was about music, a passion of mine. But I quickly realized how it was about so much more than music. I was so sucked into Drea’s story that I read the whole book in one night, something I am not often able to do, but with this book, I just dropped everything and read. I had to. If I put it down, I’d immediately find myself picking it up again, needing to know what happens next.

I was in tears at the end—again something that doesn’t happen often for me. And this is not to say the book was totally tragic. There was definitely tragedy, but so much learned by the characters that it left me feeling hopeful. And honestly I wasn’t just hopeful for Drea, I was hopeful for everyone who reads this book when it comes out in June 2010 because it will make you think about how you communicate. It will make you think before you keep a secret and hopefully it will encourage you to open up. And it will make you really reconsider what “normal” is or whether “normal” even exists at all.

I love books with well-drawn characters, people you can grow to understand whether you relate to their experience or not and Harmonic Feedback is filled with these. I adored Drea, Naomi, and Justin, but the side characters were so rich as well, especially Drea’s grandmother, who truly gives you a lot of insight into Drea in her own way.

I love books that make you think about the way you act and treat others, that open you to new perspectives and Harmonic Feedback is definitely that kind of book.

I’m not a reviewer and I never write book reviews because I don’t really know how to convey my joy when I read a book I really love, but this is one of those books. It’s going on the all-time favorite list and I recommend that everyone get their hands on it when it comes out.

Probably the official blurb I wrote for the book sums it up best:

“Harmonic Feedback is an impossible to put down, must-read book. Brilliantly written and filled with music, but even more so with emotional truth. Anyone who felt like an outsider will relate to Drea’s story, which is not just about Asperger’s, but finding love and true friendship and trying to hold on to it. We’ve all been there, but you get a fresh and honest take on teenage life through Drea’s eyes.”

Really, I can’t do it justice, so just do yourself a favor and pre-order it now!

Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver is our Book of the Month here at yaReads. When Maggie took time our from her ridiculously busy schedule to write us a guest review, she confirmed our suspicions that she’s a real life Wonder Woman. She chose a book called Magic Under Glass by debut author Jaclyn Dolamore. Enjoy!

The audience didn’t understand a word we sang. They came to see our legs. As the posters said TROUSER GIRLS FROM THE LAND OF TASSIM! We were billed just underneath the acrobats and the trained dogs.

So begins Magic Under Glass, a debut novel by Jaclyn Dolamore (Bloomsbury, Dec ‘09). It follows Nimira, a music hall girl, a dark-skinned oddity in light-skinned Lorinar, as she leaves the security of the music hall for employment with the mysterious and dashing Hollins Parry. Mr. Parry wishes to retain her services to sing with a handsome automaton — a man-shaped clockwork machine that plays the piano when wound (sexy, right?). Apparently Mr. Parry has had some problems with retaining girls in the past as they insist the automaton is haunted. They claim it mumbles to them, which is admittedly terrifying, and then they run away.

Nimira, however, is no wimp. So when the clockwork man does his mumbling thing for her, she doesn’t go running to Mr. Parry. Instead, in a completely refreshing sequence where she doesn’t spend pages agonizing over what she really saw (a pet peeve of mine in fantasy), she gets over her shock and disbelief and settles down to business: finding out what . . . or who . . . the automaton is. And what he is a angst-puppy trapped in cogs and springs. In other words, my brand of fun.

The result is a whimsical, smart novel that is sort of like a cross between Howl’s Moving Castle and Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell. The details are lovely, the voice consistent, the characters complex. And Nimira is refreshingly clever throughout. The ending is a bit muddled and weirdly paced, but it wasn’t enough to put me off my game. My biggest complaint was how short the book was — I could’ve been happily entertained for twice as long.

My verdict? I really enjoyed this novel now, but I have to tell you that, as a teen, I would’ve married this thing and had little clockwork babies. Highly recommended.

Sarah Rees Brennan is the author of the popular novel, The Demon’s Lexicon, which also happens to be our Book of the Month right now. Sarah kindly agreed to review one of her fave YA books for your reading please. She chose The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong…

One of my Favourite Teen Books, and Thoughts About Sequels

So, I really loved The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong, (http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/136884.html a tale of Chloe, a girl who immediately assumes that she has mental problems and not super powers, and the people she meets at the institution: fire starters, telekinetics and one incredibly sullen werewolf.

Reading the second book in a series you love is always a little scary. You really don’t want it to let you down, and the second book in a trilogy is even scarier: you always have a sneaking suspicion that the writer might be saving the best stuff up for book three.

However, I have a rule for all good trilogies. Book 1: set up. Book 2: make out. Book 3: defeat evil!

Obviously this is not all that goes on in trilogies, but I really mean it. Book one introduces you to the world, and the characters, to the way the writer’s going to be handling the story and the way s/he runs with and wraps up a book. And then book two takes you further into the world, and since the overarching plot can’t be resolved, it gives you time to show us more of the characters, and how the storyline is developing and affecting them: how the characters change and grow, and how their relationships become more intense and complicated. (Which often leads to making out…)

The Awakening delivers exactly what I want in a second book, and did a lot of things I would find cool in any book.

Something I really love is the deconstruction of tropes: when the things we think we know will happen don’t happen, when it all goes differently. My favourite movie this summer was (unexpectedly, as I’ve never seen the TV show) Star Trek, and one of my very favourite things about it was how they handled the romance. You know how it goes. Arrogant Good-Looking Guy meets and tries to woo Discerning Lady. She turns him down, and then he proves to her that she can take him seriously, and she learns to respect his mad skillz, and after that… she gets with someone else, because she really meant it when she said he wasn’t her type.

You see what they did there.

In The Awakening, there’s a small blond girl who’s easily scared, and a big rough tough dark guy who’s easily angered, and occasionally the guy yells and the girl shrinks back, and… it’s not at all good times. Chloe thinks to herself that she has to stop succumbing to damselitis and takes action, and Derek realises what he’s doing and tries to take a step back and be more reasonable. And instead of being romantic traits about them, these things are seen as stuff they have to work on, and evidence that they’re both young and finding out who they really are.

CHLOE: Omigod now it’s in the paper that I was being INTIMIDATED by a HUGE DUDE yelling at me.
DEREK: OMIGOD WHO DID THAT TO YOU.
CHLOE: … Um.
DEREK: OMIGOD I WAS NOT INTIMIDATING YOU.
CHLOE: But kind of, you were. Because you are a HUGE DUDE. And you were YELLING.
DEREK: OMIGOD BUT I WOULD NEVER HUR… meeple meeble… DON’T YOU KNOW I WOULD NEV… sorry Chloe.
CHLOE: That’s okay.

‘But Sarah’ you might say at this juncture. ‘I believe you were talking about making out?’

Now, The Awakening has a love triangle in it. Love triangles can be tricky, as you can end up going ‘Lady, make up your mind, nobody’s getting any younger and this is not fair to these poor boys.’ The Awakening deals with it in a way I really enjoy – by having Chloe, Derek and Simon – Derek’s adopted brother, who is gorgeous and biracial (nice to see! Plus look, families, yay!) all just be young, and fairly unaware of what’s going on, especially considering the terrifying stuff happening around them. Derek is kind of hideous, which is a refreshing change for a sulky young hero, and thus has never had any luck with the ladies. Chloe is a late bloomer and not used to picking up any cues.

CHLOE: Simon’s so awesome. Any girl would be lucky to go out with him.
SIMON: *holds Chloe’s hand*
CHLOE: Shame he thinks of me as a sister, but there you go.
SIMON: As a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD DUDE, I would just like to say I would never dream of holding hands with MY SISTER.

CHLOE: Oh Derek, here we are hiding in the bathroom after facing down crazy werewolves! We are wet and distraught and clingy and you have no shirt on! I have this funny feeling…
DEREK: … Um…. me too maybe… um…
CHLOE: Probably indigestion.

It is pretty clear that I want Derek and Chloe to end up together. And evil to be defeated, naturally. I like the characters and the world a lot: I’m looking forward to the third book not only so I can find out what happens next, but just because I really enjoy being with these fictional people and seeing how things play out for them. I recommend both books a LOT.

I’ll also take this time to thank my pal Aprilynne Pike (Wings) who sent me a copy of The Awakening signed by Kelley for me… in tribute to Derek’s rockin’ bod…

Thanks to Sarah for taking the time to write this!