Ecstasy. I’d always thought I might try it one day. I’d heard kids at school talking about getting wasted on the weekends. They made it sound awesome. I pictured the roughly made tablets with their tiny butterflies. An amazing experience inside a tiny pill.

My body ached and my face was sore – I guess from smiling so much. I don’t remember ever laughing more. A new world had opened up for me, a place where I was confident and beautiful and a hot guy like Lewis wanted to be with me. That morning I figured life couldn’t get any better. How could something that made you feel like that be bad for you?

Meet Mia. She’s only just turned fifteen and she’s always been in Sophie’s shadow. Not that she minded, not really. Without Sophie, Mia wouldn’t have a social life. Without Sophie, Mia would probably be a nobody. So when Sophie takes Mia to a party one night and offers her an ecstasy tablet, Mia doesn’t even think about saying no. Before she even realises what is happening to her, Mia is flying high – and loving every minute of it. Armed with the artificial confidence the drug provides, Mia is invincible, and her newfound radiance does not go unnoticed.

Enter Lewis. Very hot. Sweet and charming as hell. Suddenly very interested in Mia. Lewis is no stranger to ecstasy. His parents are away a lot and Lewis is often left to fend for himself. It’s not hard to turn into a party animal when you’ve got no parental units to keep you in your cage. The more Mia hangs out with Lewis, the more ecstasy she takes. Before she even knows what is happening, Mia can’t socialize without it.

Slot in Sophie here. Sophie is supposed to be Mia’s best friend, but since she’s been hanging out with Lewis and his crew, she’s changed. Sophie can see what is happening to Mia, but when she tries to talk to her about it, Mia reckons that she’s just jealous and blows her off. Sophie has a whole lot of other stuff going on in her life and she really needs her best friend right now … but is that even Mia anymore?

In Ecstasy is all about the downward spiral. For Mia, its one that is fueled by drugs and an overarching need to fit in, feel popular and be loved. For Sophie, while it may have started like that for her, her painful journey takes a bit of a different turn. With both girls so disconnected, who is going to save them? Who is going to snap them back to their reality?

Kate McCaffrey’s portrayal of the drug scene is terrifyingly accurate.  If you’re thinking about taking drugs, or you know someone who may be thinking about it, reading something like In Ecstasy first might be a smart move. While Mia’s story isn’t applicable to everyone, and not everyone who takes drugs gets addicted, In Ecstasy is an excellent representation of what can happen if you do.

I can’t say that I enjoyed reading this, but I’m certainly glad that I did.

Rating::

Maggie Stiefvater is one of our fave authors here at yaReads. So when we were presented with the opportunity to run with her as our feature author for the month of September, we jumped on it. Although we realize we’re now in the very last days of September, we reckon her interview is better late than never. As always, she’s got some pretty interesting things to say. Be warned, this one contains spoilers!

Why did you choose Minnesota as your setting?

I was looking for someplace that already had a resident wolf population in the United States. Someplace cold. Cold and suburban. I could’ve done Wyoming, but I lived in Wisconsin, right next door to Minnesota, for a few years as a kid, so I had some experience of the landscape.

Grace thinks the reason she never turned into a wolf when she was bitten was because of the fever she got straight afterwards … are you going to elaborate on this in future books?

Oh am I ever.

When was the exact moment that Sam realised he was in love with Grace?

That is up to reader interpretation. I’m inclined to think it was probably while he watched her read on the tire swing. Readers love other readers.

Some of us here at yaReads are also wondering what exactly happened to Jack’s body. Can you tell us?

At which point? You mean, after he met his untimely end? I’m assuming he’s buried out in the back forty. The FBI could probably have a field day with Beck’s backyard.

Can you dish any goss about the next novel?

No, I can only be enigmatic and say that there is a lot more Isabel, and Grace, and it will be fun.

In an age where more and more books are being adapted for screen, we love to try and ‘cast’ the characters in our fave novels. Who can you envisage playing Sam and Grace?

I actually did a long blog post about this (http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/123623.html) but the short version is that I see Alex Turner (the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys) as Sam and Eliza Bennett (from Inkheart) for Grace.

In the event that someone wanted to buy it, would you sell Shiver to a film company?

In a New York minute. There is considerable interest but that’s all I can say at the moment.

Since Lament came out, you’ve been super busy. How long did Shiver take you to write?

Four months.

For you, what has been the best thing about your ride to literary success so far?

Whew. Um. It was pretty wonderful seeing the cover for Shiver for the first time. Also, hitting the bestseller list was pretty amazing and woozy-making.

Any downsides?

There’s an incredible amount of busywork that is associated with it — a ton of emails and edits and non-writing things. Also, there’s some pressure to make the next book at least as good as the last one.

In books about paranormal teen relationships, why do you think the boy is most often the one with the supernatural abilities?

I think because it’s more interesting to look at the supernatural from the outside, and the protagonists are often girls because that’s the intended audience for a lot of YA. So we get these girls looking at these supernatural guys from the outside. Thought in Lament, Deirdre also has her supernatural bits, and it’s not at all the dynamic in Ballad. Also, you’ll see a complete shift in Linger.

The YA paranormal romance genre is huge right now. What is it specifically about werewolves, vampires and the dark side that you think is so appealing?

For me, it’s because I believe in that . . . *something more*. Something outside of ordinary. It’s not that I believe in werewolves or faeries per se, but I do believe in . . . something more. And writing about them lets me write about that feeling of wonder and curiosity. I also love to play with metaphor, and werewolves are great metaphors for all sort of different things.

Can you imagine yourself ever writing in a different genre?

I could possibly shift from urban fantasy to dystopia. I have a lot of ideas in that department. But I think I will always write something that can be classified speculative fiction.

What are you working on at the moment?

The third book in the Shiver series, Forever.

For the last few months, we’ve had a position for an Australian based reviewer advertised here on the main page. After searching high and low, the yaReads team is happy to announce that we’ve found our special someone. We’d like to extend a very warm welcome to Katie McDonald to our reviewing team. She’s from sunny Queensland and has been an essential part of our community on the forum right from the beginning. So congratulations Katie and we’re all very excited to be working with you.

Stay tuned for more information about Katie coming your way soon.

On that note, the yaReads team would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that applied. Choosing the right applicant wasn’t easy and we hope that you all keep writing!

Thanks to the fabulous people at the Penguin Group, we’ve got two copies of John Green’s award winning novel, Paper Towns, to give away. All you have to do is leave your name at the bottom of this post in the comment field.

This one is open to US residents only.

Never heard of Paper Towns? Then check out the synopsis here:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge— he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues — and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

Contest closes on October 10, 2009.

This is a shout out to all our American readers. We’ve got an awesome competition coming your way. We’re offering three copies of Cayla Kluver’s new novel, Legacy, to our American readers only.

Never heard of Legacy before? Then here’s a quick synopsis for your reading pleasure:

An an award-winning YA fantasy debut, 16-year-old novelist Cayla Kluver brings a magical touch to an unrelentingly suspenseful coming-of-age tale. Duty-bound to wed her father’s choice in successor to the  throne, Princess Alera of Hytanica believes that she is being forced into the worst of all possible fates—a marriage to the arrogant and hot-tempered suitor, Steldor. When a mysterious boy from enemy Cokyri appears bearing secrets and an entirely different view of what’s appropriate behavior for a young lady, Alera learns that her private desires threaten to destroy the kingdom. When Narian’s shocking past comes to light, Alera finds herself in a shadowy world of palace intrigue and ancient blood feuds, facing an uncertain future with dwindling options—and must learn to decide between right and wrong all alone. Marked by witty, rapid-fire dialogue and dramatic complexity that belie the writer’s age, Legacy brings a fresh, new sensibility to age-old questions of duty and inheritance and to a young heroine’s quest to find her true voice. Legacy was Bronze Medalist in Young Adult Fiction in the 2008 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards; Finalist in Young Adult Fiction in the National Best Books Awards 2008, sponsored by USA Book News.

To enter, simply leave your name in the comment box below. Competition closes on October 10, 2009. Please do not enter unless you live in the United States of America.

Pyromania: A mental derangement, excitement or excessive enthusiasm for fire.
Having celebrity parents isn’t as hot as it sounds. Yes, there’s money to burn, fame and some totally smoking guys…But when your dad’s more interested in blazing a trail to the top of the charts than why you got kicked out of school, again, it can make you seriously angry. And if there’s one thing Ember knows, it’s that the smallest spark of anger can ignite a whole heap of trouble…

Ember has the whole teen angst thing going for her. You see, her mother died a little while ago and her father … well, he’s never around much. He’s famous and so is his new wife – Ember’s step mother – and they both live in L.A. Ember doesn’t. Ember lives in London. At a boarding school. Until she gets kicked out. Why did she get kicked out? Well, they don’t call her Ember for no reason…

So she’s shipped to the US for the summer and embarks on a unintentional journey of self discovery. And what better way to help you learn more about yourself than a summer fling. This is a summer fling with a twist, though, and readers should prepare themselves for a nasty twist. Nothing is as it seems and Ember is about to learn the biggest lesson so far. Is a loved-up resolution imminent? Maybe, maybe not. That’s something you’ll need to read and figure out for yourself.

Ember Fury has something going for it that not a lot of other young adult releases do: it’s a mash of prose and pictures, coupled together to tell the story. Like comics or graphic novels? Then I reckon you’re going to love this book. While not strictly a graphic novel, Ember Fury is what I like to call an illustrated novel. The pictures don’t tell the story, but they certainly add a new dimension to the way the characters are perceived, while adding humor and a light-heartedness to all the drama. The illustrations are outstanding, and without them, this novel wouldn’t stand as tall as it does.

Will Ember’s journey take her to a place of good, or will it push her back into a deeper pit of darkness? Get ready for a roller-coaster ride of troubled teen angst at its best.

While the story is a little on the predictable side, the whole concept of the novel isn’t. I reckon that this one is going to be interesting enough that readers will want to check it out – and you should. It’s definitely worth a look in.

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This time, we’ve got one for the Aussies. Courtesy of Scribe, we’re giving away four competition packs for Australian readers only. Each pack will contain one copy of Peter Cameron’s Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You and one copy of Allegra Goodman’s The Other Side of the Island.

From New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman comes a post apocalyptic novel about love, loss, and the power of human choice.

Honor and her parents have been reassigned to live on Island 365 in the Tranquil Sea. Life is peaceful there—the color of the sky is regulated by Earth Mother, a corporation that controls New Weather, and it almost never rains. Everyone fits into their rightful and predictable place. . . .

Except Honor. She doesn’t fit in, but then she meets Helix, a boy with a big heart and a keen sense for the world around them. Slowly, Honor and Helix begin to uncover a terrible truth about life on the Island: Sooner or later, those who are unpredictable disappear . . . and they don’t ever come back.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You is the story of James Sveck, a sophisticated, vulnerable young man with a deep appreciation for the world and no idea how to live in it. James is eighteen, the child of divorced parents living in Manhattan. Articulate, sensitive, and cynical, he rejects all of the assumptions that govern the adult world around him–including the expectation that he will go to college in the fall. he would prefer to move to an old house in a small town somewhere in the Midwest. Someday This Pain Will BE Useful to You takes place over a few broiling days in the summer of 2003 as James confides in his sympathetic grandmother, stymies his canny therapist, deplores his pretentious sister, and devises a fake online identity in order to pursue his crush on a much older coworker. Nothing turns out how he’d expected.

To enter, all you need to do is leave you name at the bottom of this post in the comments box. Competition is open until September 30. Just a reminder, this is open to Australian residents only.

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.

It’s the first day of Term One, and Luke and Anna are on opposite sides of the student-teacher divide. School is the last thing Luke feels like – how can he feel halfway to good when his father is sick, his mother is sad and his older brother is painfully present?

Anna’s life still revolves around love, friendship and homework, but she’s a graduate teacher now. Can she cope with a bullying co-worker, a persistent ex-boyfriend and a class of unforgiving Year Elevens, and still find time to help Luke?

Luke is one depressed teenager, but if you ask me, he’s got pretty good reasons to be so down. His dad is sick – really sick – and life at their place just isn’t as peachy as it used to be. But that’s not where it stops. Luke has other problems, too, he just can’t figure out what they are. He’s got this awesome girlfriend, but he doesn’t want to be with her anymore. Why? No one knows – not even Luke. He’s got these awesome friends, but he keeps shutting them out. Why? No one knows – not even Luke.

Anna is graduate teacher, fresh out of university. Of course she’s worried about her first full time teaching position, but she never anticipated as many stumbling blocks as she encounters. For absolutely no reason at all, one of Anna’s superiors takes an instant disliking to her and does everything she can to ensure Anna’s first year on the job is anything but easy. Luckily for Anna, she’s got a wicked mentor assigned to her, who becomes more like a best friend than a colleague.

Then there’s the whole thing with Anna’s ex-boyfriend. He left town – and her – a while ago, but now he’s back. He’s back, and he wants Anna back too. Anna’s head screams run but he heart… well her heart tells her to stay. What does one do, when presented with such a scenario, especially when he hurt her so badly before?

Luke and Anna’s worlds collide when Luke walks into English at the beginning of the year. She’s his teacher, but by the end of the novel, they’ll mean more to each other than simply student and teacher. In a bizarre twist of fate, Anna’s sister is marrying Luke’s brother. Being intimately linked like that is weird for them at first, especially Luke, but as he gets to know Anna more, he stops thinking of her as his teacher and starts thinking of her as someone he could grow to trust, someone he could grow to care about.

Halfway to Good is narrated through both character’s perspectives. The advantage that this novel has over singularly narrated novels is that the dual narration concept leaves nothing to the imagination. Readers don’t need to assume anything because both stories are sprawled on the pages for all to see. It’s fantastic to see how Luke and Anna impact on each other’s lives, and I loved not having to draw my own conclusions for once. Interestingly, because Anna is older than Luke, her perspective provides a different kind of slant to the story, adds a certain depth that is sometimes lacking in regular YA fiction. I still think that teenage readers will be able to relate to Anna, though. She’s only a first year teacher and her thinking patterns aren’t too ancient that the kids wont get where she’s coming from.

Halfway too Good is a solid read, and one that enthusiasts of general, contemporary young adult fiction will love. I fell in love with both Luke and Anna, and I wanted so badly to help heal their aching souls. Narrated through both a male and a female perspective, this is one of those universal novels that I reckon both boys and gals will get into. Can’t get much better than that.

Rating: :

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

After Katniss and Peeta won the Hunger Games, their lives changed forever. They’re now totally loaded, for one, and Katniss and her mother and sister moved out of their old shack into newer, more desirable living quarters in District 12. That means no more scavenging just to make ends meet; no more hunting for food; no more cold showers. They’ve got everything they could possibly need in the district. Everything except freedom, that is.

Even though they’re home, the Capitol still controls their every move. It’s less obvious at first, and life assumes some kind of normality for Katniss and Peeta for a little while. But then the Quarter Quell is announced – another version of the Hunger Games – and Katniss, Peeta and Hamish find themselves in the middle of another Capitol scheme to ensure complete and utter control over all citizens everywhere.

But the people aren’t having it, and those with enough guts and manpower are revolting against the Capitol’s regime – and they’re using Katniss as their inspiration. If Katniss can defy the capitol in the arena, like she did with the berries, then they can too. If Katniss can manipulate the Capitol through her ‘relationship’ with Peeta, then surely they could find a way to do the same. Their freedom, their quality of life depends on it. Katniss hopes like hell they do, because in the meantime, her and Peeta are the Capitol’s pawns. They have to do what the Capitol wants, or they risk the lives of the people they love.

Love.

It’s certainly an issue that is dealt with in Catching Fire. Although he seems to have accepted that Katniss’s affections for him in the arena were fabricated, Peeta still loves Katniss. And it’s not that Katniss doesn’t feel for Peeta, it’s just that she feels for another, too. Does she love Gale? It’s clear that Gale loves her. It seems no matter whom she chooses, someone she cares about is going to suffer. Then the Capitol picks up on to Katniss’s little dilemma and interfere in a way that makes life almost impossible for her. Can’t choose? No problem. Katniss’s choice is made for her…

After the hugely popular The Hunger Games, I bet a whole stack of you have the Mount Everest of expectations for Catching Fire. No problem. Suzanne Collins takes those expectations, stamps all over them, and proves that she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Her prose is effortless and her characters shine brightly in a world of chaos. Katniss is brave, logical, and she certainly has her priorities in order. When the going gets tough, she doesn’t forget what the important things in life are. She’s an outstanding role model for teenagers everywhere.

You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll gasp, and your heart will break. I can’t wait for the third book. Pity the release date is so far away!

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As part of our Book of the Month promotion for September, we’re giving away one hardcover copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and one audiobook of the same title.

Just to clarify that we’re all on the same page here, there will be two winners for this competition – one will receive the book and the other will receive the audiobook. Please don’t ask for one or the other as we’ll be drawing this one via an online randomiser. We believe that this is the fairest method in circumstances like these.

Competition is open until Wednesday September 30, and is – unfortunately – open to US residents only.

Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility.

Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that she’s a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunt’s house in Revelation, Colorado. It’s there that she learns that she is a Fenestra—the half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

On Meridian’s sixteenth birthday, life takes an unexpected change. Imagine waking up only to be told that you’re not normal – not even human, in fact. Fenestra is not a word that she’s familiar with, but when she learns what they are, things suddenly start making a whole lot of sense. She’s like the window to the other world, people (and things) need the Fenestra in order to pass from this life into the next.

So that’s why things have always died around her… she’d always thought that there was something cosmically wrong with her, that they were dying because of her. It is comforting for Meridian (in a creepy kind of way) to learn that they don’t die because of her, but because they need her. Helping people cross to the other side is dangerous stuff, though, and Meridian must learn how to harness and control her powers. Nothing would suck more than getting dragged into the other world by a soul who doesn’t know how to let go…

And now, more than ever, Meridian has reasons to stay in this world.

Meet Tens. He’s Meridian’s assigned protector. It’s his destiny, his purpose in life, but what he doesn’t tell Meridian is that if he dies trying to protect her, she dies too. This is a relationship of an entirely different calibre. They’re going to be spending their entire lives together, trying to keep each other alive, so it’s a good thing they seem to be falling deeply in love with each other, too. I can’t imagine having to spend my whole life with someone that I didn’t love… can you? It’s not all roses and candy, though, and learning to trust someone with your life doesn’t come so easily.

How will Meridian cope with her new responsibilities as a Fenestra, and will she be able to carry the torch after her mentor is dead and gone?

Upon arriving at her Aunts house, considering her circumstances, I thought she learned to trust her new friends all too quickly. While I understand that Auntie is the kind of character that makes people feel comfortable immediately, I thought Meridian could have spent a little more time questioning her motives. She was, after all, ripped from her family and told she may never see them again. Her relationship with Tens develops at a nice pace, though. Readers are kept waiting just long enough to incite a bit of a frenzy within.

Meridian has all the elements of a good supernatural story. Readers both young and old will love this one! I’m interested to hear what you guys think about this one!

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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.

When Grace’s community decides that they need to do something about the ‘wolf problem’ in the woods, Grace flips. Her wolf is in those woods. She has to stop them before its too late. Thankfully, it doesn’t take much of a commotion to get the hunters to pull back. A little screaming about her friends being in the woods here, a little pleading helplessly there, and its done. But when Grace goes home, she almost can’t believe what she’s seeing. There’s a boy on her door stoop, bleeding half to death, and instantly she knows instantly who it is. She’d know those eyes anywhere. She’s been looking into them for the last six years, wistfully hoping – wishing – that things were different. Well, it seems that life is about to give her what she wants for a change, even if it is for a short time only.

Sam can’t believe it’s her. He can’t believe she’s here, seeing him, looking at him like that. He can’t believe that he was shot and it brought on a change. A few minutes ago he was a wolf, and now … well, now he was human, but unless he did something about the bleeding he wasn’t going to be anything soon.

And so starts the snapshot in time that is Grace and Sam. It seems that there isn’t even a question of whether they’re together or not. Sam and Grace, although hesitant to assume the other’s intention initially, are instantly an item. They’ve been watching each other – falling in love with each other – from a distance for six years now. The time for formalities has long passed, especially considering they have so little time together in the first place. Sam knows it in himself, he can feel the end coming – this is the last year that he’ll change back to a human. Ever. The problem is, it’s the middle of winter. The cold is what makes him change in the first place. In order to keep Sam in his human form for a long as they can, Sam and Grace do everything they can to keep Sam warm. But Minnesota winters are tough, and sometimes, nature is unbelievably unpredictable. Will their race against the weather be all in vain, or will they get their happily ever after?

As far as paranormal romances go, this is, hands down, the best one I’ve read in a long while. Grace is a formidably strong character that will go to great lengths to protect her own. When it comes to her heart, there’s no messing around. I reckon girls everywhere are going love Grace; they’ll love who she is and what she has.

Sam is more than just the lust-worthy teenage heartthrob that we see in YA fiction so often these days. He’s got the emotional maturity of someone who far surpasses his years and seems to understand the ins and outs of love entirely. He loves Grace – completely and absolutely – and he knows exactly how to treat a girl. It doesn’t get better than this, girls. Sam is, without a doubt, the Edward Cullen of 2009.

Maggie Stiefvater totally steps up to the plate with Shiver. I’ve been a fan of hers right from the beginning, but I have to say, Shiver completely blew my mind. Once I started reading, there was positively no stopping. I felt drunk – love drunk! Too much Sam and Grace will do that to you.

Watch out for the ending, though. As I’m sure it will leave some ambling around despairingly. I know I was! As angsty as it was, the ending was totally appropriate and totally necessary. I commend Maggie for taking the path she did – this one is definitely an example of the road less travelled in YA lit, and is a breath of fresh air! I am totally in love with Shiver, and I plan on telling absolutely everyone I meet about this one.

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Hi yaReaders,

I just wanted to let you know that our chosen Book of the Month here at yaReads in September is Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.

For those that haven’t heard of this one yet, here’s a synopsis:

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.

Stay tuned for a review, guest review and an interview with the lovely Maggie. All coming your way this month!

Hi yaReaders,

I just wanted to take this moment to let you know that the position for our newly opened position of Australian Reviewer is still open. We’ve had some queries and applications but we’re leaving the position open for a few more weeks yet. If you’re interested in joining the reviewing team AND you live in Australia, then shoot us an email at yareaders(at)gmail(dot)com asking for a position description.

I’ll post all updates here.