“Mia had everything: a loving family, a gorgeous, adoring boyfriend, and a bright future full of music and full of choices. Then, in an instant, almost all of that is taken from her. Caught between life and death, between a happy past and an unknowable future, Mia spends one critical day contemplating the only decision she has left – the most important decision she’ll ever make.”

If I Stay is without a doubt one of the most powerful books you’ll ever read. At just 17 years old, Mia’s life is only just beginning. She has a beautiful and loving family, a great boyfriend, a caring best friend, as well as being a talented cellist who is on the verge of being accepted into the prestigious Julliard. On a day that started out as an innocent family outing, a car accident brings her life to a grinding halt as just about everything she cares about is taken away from her.

Stuck in a limbo state, her spirit looks on as doctors struggle to put the pieces of her battered body together. With only the ability to helplessly look on as the news of the accident gets around, Mia is left with one choice: should she live or die?

To say this book is a page turner or unputdownable is not really enough. This book is both heartbreaking and moving, but above all, beautiful. It’s one of those stories that has the unique ability to transcend above the YA category to speak to readers of all ages.

If I Stay reveals human nature when it’s struck by one of the most crippling emotions: grief. It shows how grief affects people differently and can bring people together when your world has been taken apart. This grief is demonstrated by two sides – by Mia as she comes to terms what has happened to her family, as well as when she contemplates death, she grieves for her own life and the possibilities that seem lost to her now. Grief and worry is also shown by Mia’s relatives, some are reduced to tears, others stay strong while some opt for distraction and denial.

The story is skillfully written, really gripping you with Mia’s progress while also taking you back to Mia’s memories and we slowly get to know more about her and how much she’d be leaving behind if she decides to go.

All the themes and issues in If I Stay all come back to one main point – love, in its many forms. The love between family, the love Mia has for her boyfriend, best friend and the love she has for music. This love is what makes the difference when deciding on choosing life – can you still love after you’ve lost? Is it enough and is there love in places and in people right there where you never thought to look? On top of all this, not once do you feel the story is getting melodramatic or sappy.

The characters are incredible in If I Stay and what makes some of them so powerful is their subtleties in the way they convey their thoughts and emotions. One of the stand out was Mia’s Grandpa, he was a strong silent man but in a few lines and simple gestures he could melt your heart. Mia’s brother Teddy had a sweetness that only comes with being so young while her parents and boyfriend, Adam showed depth not only in their love for Mia but also in their way of thinking. Her best friend Kim had such great wit and humor that helped to lighten the story.

Can I say anything bad about this book? Not really, other than it’ll make you cry, no, ball your eyes out, so I’d suggest arming yourself with a box of tissues.

If I Stay is the type of book that will linger in your heart and long after you turn the last page it will make you ask, if you had the choice, would you stay?

Pages: 259
Publication Date: April 2009
Rating: :

Teaser quote: “Stay.” With that one word, Adam’s voice catches, but he swallows the emotion and pushes forward. “There’s no word for what happened to you. There’s no good side of it. But there is something to live for. And I’m not just talking about me.”

As previously announced, the team here at yaReads is happy to welcome Morgan Baden to our family. She’ll be posting reviews in no time, so we thought it might be nice for you to learn a little about your new critic beforehand.

Tell us a little about yourself

I rediscovered YA about 4 years ago and have been immersed ever since. I’m 31, work in publishing, and am always in the middle of at least 3 books. Apart from work and reading, I volunteer with the nonprofit Girls Write Now (girlswritenow.org).

Fave YA book?

An impossible question! The Hunger Games trilogy, Harry Potter, The Spell Book of Listen Taylor, and Cracked Up to Be definitely top my list.

Fave movie?

Reality Bites! I have pretty low-brow taste in movies.

Chocolate or peanut butter?

Peanut butter all the way.

Ice cream or cookie dough?

Cookie dough ice cream!

Finish this sentence: “On a Saturday night, you’ll find me…” Catching up on my DVR, reading, and writing…usually all at the same time.

Welcome to the family, Morgan!

“Ruby has always been an outcast. The least loved daughter and the school freak, Ruby’s future is a bleak one. Until one day the strange but endearing Finn Gallagher tell her that she was selected for a special program. A program that would have changed her life and made her dreams come true.
Except that it got cancelled. Because Finn accidentally ruined it. Consumed with guilt, Finn tell her his biggest secret: he’s from another world. Determined to give Ruby and adventure, Finn takes her into Rhodon, a world that exists parallel to her own. Rhodon is an extraordinary place where no one is a freak, where the sky is pink and the people are special.
Inexplicably, Ruby discovers that she has abilities just like the people in this new world, and for the first time in her life she belongs. She makes friends and Finn’s family treats her as one of their own.
But there is a cost: if she stays she risks the lives of the people that have come to care for her, because Ruby’s unique powers have attracted the interest of people that would stop at nothing to control her.”

Rhodon is the first book in the The Rhodon Saga and the debut novel from Australian author Elise K. Ackers. The story follows fifteen year old Ruby Masters as she struggles through her day to day life. Not only is she a social outcast, her own adoptive family barely tolerate her. On the last day of school before summer break she meets Finn Gallagher, a strange but kind boy who seems intent on following her around.

But Finn was sent by the Dream Weavers, an organization that, backed by sponsors, creates life changing opportunities for selected people of Kyanos (or our world as we know it). He’s been sent to retrieve Ruby to start her on a program that will make all her dreams come true, however, things become complicated when Finn messes up the plan and Ruby’s program becomes scrapped. Wracked with guilt at leaving Ruby to return to her sad life Finn shares his secret, he’s from a parallel world called Rhodon and to make up for ruining her world, he’s going to smuggle her into his.

Once they make it through to the other side Ruby changes from the square peg trying to fit into the circle that she was in her world to someone that might actually belong. It soon appears that not only does she fit in but Ruby has extraordinary powers – ones that could get her and her surrogate family into a lot of trouble.

Rhodon was a big surprise to me, since the cover and summary don’t do the story justice. It was an engaging and captivating read that’s like a sci-fi version of Harry Potter. It’s a story about love, identity and belonging on many levels and really shows the importance of human connection – both emotionally and physically, where even holding hands is deep and powerful. As well as this, Rhodon definitely has plenty of adventure, especially when Ruby starts to embrace her powers, and fights back against people who’ll want to use them against her will.

Emotions were shown in a unique way – not just expressed by the characters but in Rhodon emotions were visible through color, which lay all your emotions on the table and in some ways, can be used against you. How can you be deceptive when your thoughts are shown on the ink you write with?

The Gallagher family were really beautiful characters, displaying the depth of love, family and togetherness in the best way possible. Finn’s family and Ruby’s family are in harsh contrast to each other and further emphasize just how incompatible she was with her world. Ruby was a great character, and praise goes to Ackers for giving the main character such a natural and believable train of thought, where not only was it realistic but the reader was coming to the same conclusions at the same time as Ruby.  A special mention has to go to Olive though – for a bunny, she’s got a lot of guts.

I’m eagerly anticipating the next installment of this series.

Pages: 306
Publication Date:  Late 2010
Rating::

Teaser quote: Ruby bit her lip. Her insides felt cold and her stomach heavy. “This is big, isn’t it?”
Finn nodded. “This is bigger than all of us.”

Hi yaReaders,

After pouring over dozens of applications, Ivy and myself have finally decided upon an American Reviewer. We’d like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome Morgan Baden to the team. Stay tuned for an official introduction to your new reviewer.

Christina, Morgan and myself can’t wait to start bringing you more reviews, information, and blog posts to quench your YA thirst.

Hi yaReaders,

A couple of weeks ago we asked you guys if you would be interested in participating in another yaRead-a-Thon. The overwhelming response from our loyal followers, was a big emphatic yes. So we’re dusting off our party shoes and we’ve set a date.

The yaRead-a-Thon is scheduled to take place on the weekend of July 16, 17 & 18. In our usual party fashion, we’ll be hosting games, trivia, contests, and yes, we want you to read as much as you can all weekend.

We’ll be changing the game a little though, and incorporating social media technologies like facebook and twitter into the fun to make it even more interactive.

So clear your calendar, choose your books, and get your friends together.

More information about scheduling coming soon.

“Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood … life before she became a vampire.

All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don’t draw attention to yourself and, above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn’t know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.”

When this release was announced at the end of March this year, two questions were commonly asked – “Wha?? Which one was Bree?” and “Uh….what about Midnight Sun?” Originally written as a quick back story during the editing process of Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer got the urge to continue Bree’s story which developed into the 178 page novella we have today.

While it’s always great to read new Twilight content this book was a bit…meh. Though we’re meant to see the Twilight world through the eyes of a more savage newborn vampire, Bree’s character is still quite “tame”. The first half of the book seems to drag till you get closer to the end, where the purpose of the newborns starts to unfold and we meet up with the Cullens which is where the book really shines and adds a lot more depth to precursor, Eclipse.

The book focuses on three month old newborn vampire Bree, who is both coming to terms with her new life as well as trying to stay “alive” as part of Riley’s volatile coven.

The journey each newborn took before their change was filled with sadness with each being on the edge and out of options before Riley hands them a golden yet unknowingly, terrifying opportunity. Riley was an interesting character to hear more from and ideally more of his back story would’ve been great to read. He was the newborn leader, feeding lies and dolling out harsh punishment, all the while being used by Victoria.

The relationship formed between Bree and Diego seems very ‘too much too soon’, just a bit unrealistic (yeah yeah I know, it’s a book about sparkly vampires, that’s not realistic either) which isn’t helped by the fact that Bree’s voice/persona is similar to Bella’s, making the characters indistinguishable, especially in their style of falling in love.

So, all in all, we are still Midnight Sun-less, but we do have a great back story in the lead up to the Eclipse movie release on June 30 (July 1st for Australia). If you’re a fan of the series you’ll enjoy the book but I’d recommend reading it for free on www.breetanner.com while you still can (ends 5^th of July).

Pages: 178
Year of Publication: 2010

Teaser Quote: Raoul snorted. “Does that ever work? I means besides in the movies. Why should I take you on alone? I don’t care about beating you. I just want to end you.”
I rolled into a crouch, tensed to spring.

Rating::

July Edition

What’s Smokin’ Bacon is our new feature – meme – whatchamacallit, where every first day of the month we give you a heads up on what to expect that month.

Our Book of the Month for July is Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.

In Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very

dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past…and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf

named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves…and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns

harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love–the light and the dark, the warm and the cold–in a way you will never forget.   Synopsis from Amazon.com

Release Date: July 20, 2010

There will be a review of Linger, an interview with Maggie, and we will also be hosting a Linger giveaway.   Unfortunately, with Maggie’s busy schedule she won’t be able to do a Guest review.

Book of the Month June Giveaway. The winner of the Map by Audrey Beth Stein giveaway is:

Debbie D. from Texas

You will receive an email from me soon.  Congratulations!

The Bookclub pick this month is Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder.  It is the first book of the Study series.

Choose: A quick death and hell or slow poison and hell.
About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.
And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.
As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.

Join the discussion here.  You don’t have to be a member of the forum.  You can post as a guest.

Reading Party will be either on the 2nd or 3rd week of July.  Watch out for the official post.  If you’re scratching your head and wondering what-the-bacon is a Reading Party?  Then let me enlighten you, it’s a 3-day event (usually on a weekend) where there will be prizes, trivia, games, read-a-thons, and much more.  I swear, it’s an awesome event!  Register here to join.

July Book Releases

These are just some of the books released this month.  If you want to see the full list, go here.

July 1st – Other (An Other Novel) by Karen Kincy

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat

for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time

boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate-into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial

killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others

living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own

conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and-most importantly-stay alive.

July 1st – Life, After by Sarah Littman

Everything changes for Dani and her family when a truck loaded with explosives detonates outside the AMIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing her beloved aunt and unborn

cousin. Because of the ensuing political upheaval, economic hardship, and emotional toll, Dani’s family moves to the U.S. It is a terrifying place–new school, new language, new

hardships–and Dani’s angry father is turning into a stranger, more so everyday. Just when Dani thinks she is about to lose it, she befriends Jessica, one of the girls who has

been cruelly teasing her since she arrived.

It is the most unlikely of friendships. Jessica is wealthy, groomed, spoiled. But Jessica has a past that only Dani can understand. She lost her father in 9/11. It is a friendship

that allows them both to heal in unexpected and surprising ways, and changes them and their families forever.

July 8th – Blindsided  by Priscilla Cummings

In many ways, Natalie O’Reilly is a typical fourteenyear- old girl. But a routine visit to the eye doctor produces devastating news: Natalie will lose her sight within a few short

months.

Suddenly her world is turned upside down. Natalie is sent to a school for the blind to learn skills such as Braille and how to use a cane. Outwardly, she does as she’s told;

inwardly, she hopes for a miracle that will free her from a dreaded life of blindness. But the miracle does not come, and Natalie ultimately must confront every blind person’s

dilemma. Will she go home to live scared? Or will she embrace the skills she needs to make it in a world without sight?

July 12th – The Education of Bet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Bet is sixteen, very intelligent, but only knows as much as her limited education will allow. In Victorian England, girls aren’t allowed to go to school.
Will is also 16, and though not related by blood, he and Bet act like brother and sister. In fact, they even look like brother and sister. And though they’re both raised under the

same roof, by the same kind uncle, Will has one big advantage over Bet: He’s a boy, and being a boy means he isn’t stuck in the grand house they call home. He gets to go out into

the world–to school.
But that’s not what Will wishes. He wants to join the military and learn about real life, not what’s written in books.
So one night, Bet comes up with a plan. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can join the military. And though it seems impossible, they actually manage to pull it off.
But once Bet gets to the school, she begins to realize the education she’s going to get isn’t exactly the one she was expecting.

July 13th – Sleepless  by Cyn Balog

Eron De Marchelle isn’t supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his

charges in their dreams, he isn’t encouraged to–after all, getting too involved in one human’s life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.

But he can’t deny that he feels something for Julia. Julia, with her fiery red hair and her sad dreams. Just weeks ago, her boyfriend died in a car accident, and Eron can tell

that she feels more alone than ever. Eron was human once too, many years ago, and he remembers how it felt to lose the one he loved. Eron has always felt protective of Julia . . .

but now, when she seems to need him more than ever, he can’t seem to reach her . . .

Sandmen are forbidden from communicating with humans outside their dreams. But will Eron be willing to risk everything for a chance to be with the person he loves?

July 13th – Siren by Tricia Rayburn

Seventeen-year-old Vanessa Sands is afraid of everything—the dark, heights, the ocean—but her fearless older sister, Justine, has always been there to coach her through every

challenge. That is, until Justine goes cliff-diving one night near the family’s vacation house in Maine, and her lifeless body washes up on shore the next day.

Though her parents hope that they’ll be able to find closure back in Boston, Vanessa can’t help feeling that her sister’s death wasn’t an accident. After discovering that Justine

was keeping a lot of secrets, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor, hoping that Justine’s boyfriend might know more. But Caleb has been missing since Justine’s death.

Soon, it’s not just Vanessa who’s afraid. All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes host to a

string of fatal, water-related accidents in which all the victims are found, horrifically, grinning from ear to ear.

Vanessa turns to Caleb’s brother, Simon, for help, and begins to find herself drawn to him. As the pair try to understand the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a

secret that threatens her new romance—and will change her life forever.

A seductive paranormal romance full of unexpected twists, Siren is certain to make a big summer splash.

July 29th – Jealousy (Strange Angels, Book 3) by Lili St. Crow

Dru Anderson might finally be safe. She’s at the largest Schola on the continent, and beginning to learn what it means to be svetocha–half vampire, half human, and all deadly. If

she survives her training, she will be able to take her place in the Order, holding back the vampires and protecting the oblivious normal people.

But a web of lies and betrayals is still closing around her, just when she thinks she can relax a little. Her mentor Christophe is missing, her almost-boyfriend is acting weird,

and the bodyguards she’s been assigned seem to know much more than they should. And then there’s the vampire attacks, the strange nightly visits, and the looks everyone keeps

giving her. As if she should know something.

Or as if she’s in danger.

Someone high up in the Order is a traitor. They want Dru dead–but first, they want to know what she remembers of the night her mother died. Dru doesn’t want to remember, but it

looks like she might have to–especially since once Christophe returns, he’ll be on trial for his life. The only person who can save him is Dru.

The problem is, once she remembers everything, she may not want to…

See more July releases here.

Side note: If you’re wondering about the title of this post, then that makes the two of us!  It just sounded funny to me.  I was tossing between that title and “What’s Up, Chicken Butt?” .   Personally I like the chicken butt one, it makes me giggle.   Some people might be offended reading the word ‘butt’ once a month, though.  Whatcha think? Which one do you prefer?