Tuesday, November 20, 2012
#1 the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. TolkienWhy? This is my ALL-TIME favorite book and I owe it to my dad for passing on the love. I wouldn't be the same person if he hadn't bribed me to read it when I was ten. Middle-Earth, after Sauron, is my dream vacation resort.
#2 Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenWhy? I loved the movie before I read the book, but as soon as I did read the book it got so much better. It's one of the best love stories and it just plain fun.
#3 Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand Why? This book is one of my FAVORITE classics in the Whole. Wide. World. It was a comedic play and I just obsessed over it. It got me into writing comedy, even though this was of a different sort then one I wrote a book on. (find like on my About Me page)
#4 The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness OrczyWhy? Yay! Another classic that I love and never ever want to forget. As with P&P I saw the movie long before I read the book. Reading the book for a book club though, I got better depth and the meanings behind the Pimpernel and had way too much fun reading it.
#5 The Secret Journal of Brett Colton by Kay Lynn MangumWhy? This book is always going to have a VERY special place in my heart. It was one of the first books to make me cry (very few can) and it took me an emotional journey that I could connect with so well and fall in love with. It's also one of the only books I reread.
#6 Mistborn by Brandon SandersonWhy? Holy. Crap. These books took me one of the BEST rides I have ever ridden. They surprised, shocked, delighted me and made want to never stop reading. It got me into High-Fantasy reads and I probably learned to many writing tools that I don't even notice.
#7 The Goose Girl by Shannon HaleWhy? I'd have to say this is one of the earliest books I read when I was first getting into the YA genre as a pre-teen. It's magic and beauty just enthralled me, and to this day it is one of my Top 5 favorite books of all times. It's genius.
#8 So Not Happening by Jenny B. Jones
Why? It's a book like this that encouraged me to keep writing my own comedy. Honestly, this book was just UBER cute and fun to read! I laughed so much. It was one of those comfort reads.
#9 Defiance by C. J. RedwineWhy? Okay. This book doesn't have any sentimental value for me. It was a blast of a read that was nearly perfect in my mind and I suppose it's books like this, the ones that rock your world, that boost me and get me excited for keeping up my own writing so I can -hopefully- be published some day.
#10 Blood Red Road by Moira YoungWhy? I totally have to say that this book rocked my world. It gave a fresh look at telling stories different ways, and let me notice that there is no right way to tell a stories! I could tell my stories with a cockney accent for all I care. But besides that, I LOVED IT. It gave me a ride of my life and I love it for that.
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SO! Those are some of my all-time favorite reads. They all changed me, because obviously if I hadn't read them I'd be a deprived person, but as you saw, some of them helped me get eager about writing. Anyway, I'm done talking. I want to see what YOU think? What are some of the books you are thankful for? Link me to your Top Ten? Are you ready for TURKEY DAY? XOXO,
Labels:Meme,Top Ten Tuesday | 1 comments
Monday, November 19, 2012
Origin by Jessica Khoury
Published: 9.4.12 by Razorbill
Pages: 394
GOODREADS / PURCHASE
Inky's Blurbings:
This book left me breathless. Literally. The first thing I start of when I opened this began this book was, "OH! It's like a modern-day sci-fi Rapunzel story!" I mean seriously, She stuck in this compound, has never been outside, knows like NOTHING about the outside world and when she meets a boy it all changes. Doesn't that scream Rapunzel to you? I totally don't know if that was intentional or just a coinky-dink, but I love it!
Pia was a very interesting charrie. She's in theis interesting predicament and she deals with it incredibly well. Oh and by the way her name sounds like PIE-UH. No it's not PEE-UH. That's just awkward. CONFESSION: It took me a while to figure it out. :P Moving on, Pia had a lovely narrative voice. It was pretty, easy to follow the story through her eyes and get all the feelings and struggles she went through. Now she's not one of those kick-butt characters you never forget but she's got her own charm and she will always have a small place in my heart.
So. Naive, innocent Pia istrapped living in a Science Base called Little Cam. She doesn't know anything about the outside world and doesn't care too until.....there is a security flaw. And because of that darned, but awesome flaw she meets a boy. I. Heart. EIO. I mean I know people think there is instalove, and I will talk about that in a sec, but seriously. He's a tan Amazon, who runs around shirtless killing Anacondas.....*fans herself* Yes, Eio is pretty legit. He had a great history and he's perfect for Pia. There names are so cute together!
Okay so yes. Insta-love. I think this is the biggest complaint I've seen about this book. Sure, I can totally see where those complaints are coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree. Which is weird since I'm normally very annoyed at insta-love. But remember my analogy to Rapunzel? She has NEVER seen a teenage guy before, let along one hot boy like EIO. So. This is where I justify her attraction. Now I do think that by the end of the book some of the development was missing so I wasn't sure I was cool with them being all. "I love you." But I do love their romance.
EXCEPT, for oneMAJOR tiny thing: They. Do. Not. Kiss. Sure, he kisses her cheek and her hand. That is not a romantic kiss. WHY WHY WHY? Please Please Please tell me this is a series. I will die if I found out there is no more. But I'm really scared because I haven't seen any news that it is. This book has so much potential for a sequel that I desperately hope more will come. For Pia and discovering herself and the romance and those bad guys- we hear about but never see. Let there be another book.
The plot was awesome as well. There were plenty of secrets and revelations to push the story along and combined with that romance it seemed like it was just fantastic! Honestly I have no complaints in this era. Applause to Jessica for a wonderful story. But before I end this, stare at the cover for a sec. Isn't that GORGEOUS?! It's shiny and smooth in RL, but it's still pretty on the computer. I LOVE the forest and how it surrounds the stunningly white figure in the middle. Oooh, do you think it could Pia? And maybe just maybe, those leaves and trees represent the forest in the book and/or the scary dangerous world outside Little Cam? OHMIGOSH you guys! We just figured out the hidden meaning behind the cover. Peace. Out.
So yes. This book was a delight to read! It left me breathless. Gorgeous writing, and romance with a lovely story, it had everything I love about YA. *Applause, applause, ONCORE!*
Content: Very Mild
(A few instances of mildlanguage - Deity-Da**-He**)
Thoughts? Have you read this? Did you like it? Were you less impressed? Do you want to read this? Are you in love with all the Breathless Reads so far?
Published: 9.4.12 by Razorbill
Pages: 394
GOODREADS / PURCHASE
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.
Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.
Inky's Blurbings:
This book left me breathless. Literally. The first thing I start of when I opened this began this book was, "OH! It's like a modern-day sci-fi Rapunzel story!" I mean seriously, She stuck in this compound, has never been outside, knows like NOTHING about the outside world and when she meets a boy it all changes. Doesn't that scream Rapunzel to you? I totally don't know if that was intentional or just a coinky-dink, but I love it!
Pia was a very interesting charrie. She's in theis interesting predicament and she deals with it incredibly well. Oh and by the way her name sounds like PIE-UH. No it's not PEE-UH. That's just awkward. CONFESSION: It took me a while to figure it out. :P Moving on, Pia had a lovely narrative voice. It was pretty, easy to follow the story through her eyes and get all the feelings and struggles she went through. Now she's not one of those kick-butt characters you never forget but she's got her own charm and she will always have a small place in my heart.
So. Naive, innocent Pia is
Okay so yes. Insta-love. I think this is the biggest complaint I've seen about this book. Sure, I can totally see where those complaints are coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree. Which is weird since I'm normally very annoyed at insta-love. But remember my analogy to Rapunzel? She has NEVER seen a teenage guy before, let along one hot boy like EIO. So. This is where I justify her attraction. Now I do think that by the end of the book some of the development was missing so I wasn't sure I was cool with them being all. "I love you." But I do love their romance.
EXCEPT, for one
The plot was awesome as well. There were plenty of secrets and revelations to push the story along and combined with that romance it seemed like it was just fantastic! Honestly I have no complaints in this era. Applause to Jessica for a wonderful story. But before I end this, stare at the cover for a sec. Isn't that GORGEOUS?! It's shiny and smooth in RL, but it's still pretty on the computer. I LOVE the forest and how it surrounds the stunningly white figure in the middle. Oooh, do you think it could Pia? And maybe just maybe, those leaves and trees represent the forest in the book and/or the scary dangerous world outside Little Cam? OHMIGOSH you guys! We just figured out the hidden meaning behind the cover. Peace. Out.
So yes. This book was a delight to read! It left me breathless. Gorgeous writing, and romance with a lovely story, it had everything I love about YA. *Applause, applause, ONCORE!*
Content: Very Mild
(A few instances of mildlanguage - Deity-Da**-He**)
4.5 Stars
Thoughts? Have you read this? Did you like it? Were you less impressed? Do you want to read this? Are you in love with all the Breathless Reads so far?
Labels:4.5 Stars,Review,Romance,YA | 3
comments
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Books, Publishers and AWESOME People Mentioned:
FOR REVIEW:
Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black (from Bloomsbury via NetGalley)
Hysteria by Megan Miranda (from Bloomsbury via NetGalley)
What We Saw At Night by Jaquelyn Mitchard (from Soho Teen via NetGalley)
Elemental: The First by Alexandra May (from Pauma Publishing via NetGalley)
A Shimmer of Angels by Lisa. M. Basso (from Month9 Books via NetGalley)
Defy the Stars by Stephanie Parent (from author)
North Pole High by Candance Jane Kringle (from author)
Renegade by J. A. Souders (from Tor Teen)
BORROWED FROM LIBRARY:
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Rapture by Lauren Kate
Destined by Aprilynne Pike
Survive by Alex Morrel
Starters by Lissa Price
The Sweetest Spell by Suzanne Selfors
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
WON:
Grace Doll by Jennifer Laurens (from Kelly @ Radiant Shadows)
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (from Krys @ Bibliopunkk)
Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton (from Krys @ Bibliopunkk)
Shadows In the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton (from Krys @ Bibliopunkk)
EVERBOUND! by Brodi Ashton (from Author.THANK YOU!!!!)
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard (from Kathy@ Ms. Martin Teaches MEDIA (error in video! Sorry!)
Venom by Fiona Paul (from Rachel @ Fiktshun)
BOUGHT:
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid (from Kindle store for $2.99)
Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer (from Kindle Sore for $2.99)
SO, That is my haul this week and for the past two weeks. I'm really proud that in the past almost-month I only bought two books. For six bucks. It was hard but I will have a CHRISTMAS SPREE. Wonder of wonders! A HUGE thanks go out to Krys, Kelly, Candance, Stephanie, Kathy, Rachel, Bloomsbury, Soho Teen, Pauma, & Month9 Books. for the FABULOUS haul! *hugs and kisses*
That's it for me! What did you all get in the mail this week? Leave me links to your posts or tell me in the comments!! LOTS OF LOVE, with apologies for delay! XOXO,
Labels:Book Haul,Meme,Vlog | 9
comments
Welcome to my stop on the fantastical tour for Undeadly! This book sounds amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Read on! Woot!
Undeadly by Michele Vail
Published: 11.20.12 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 272
GOODREADS / PURCHASE
Super-Awesome Tour Giveaway!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week! And make sure you keep an eye out for Zombies. XOXO,

Undeadly by Michele Vail
Published: 11.20.12 by Harlequin Teen
Pages: 272
GOODREADS / PURCHASE
The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.
About Michele Vail
Michele Vail writes young adult paranormal fiction about zombies and reapers.
She likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate.
Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking and their family.
She likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate.
Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking and their family.
Super-Awesome Tour Giveaway!
As part of this awesome tour you could be one of 5 lucky winners to get a SIGNED copy of this sweet book! Want in? Of course you do! Enter away!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week! And make sure you keep an eye out for Zombies. XOXO,
Labels:Blog Tour,giveaway | 2
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Friday, November 16, 2012
Welcome to the BOOK BLITZ, hosted by Bookish Brunette, for the awesome book "Miss Fortune Cookie." Look adorable? Read on to find out about it, add it to your shelves and read a special sneak peek!!
Miss Fortune Cookie
by Lauren Bjorkman
Published: 11.13.12 by Henry Holt
Pages: 288
Meet Erin. Smart student, great daughter, better friend. Secretly the mastermind behind the popular advice blog Miss Fortune Cookie. Totally unaware that her carefully constructed life is about to get crazy. It all begins when her ex-best friend sends a letter to her blog—and then acts on her advice. Erin’s efforts to undo the mess will plunge her into adventure, minor felonies, and possibly her very first romance. What’s a likely fortune for someone no longer completely in control of her fate? Hopefully nothing like: You will become a crispy noodle in the salad of life.
Want to get a look into this adorable little book? Read on!
Little Miss Chapter One
You will have much luck and little hardship.
Or the other way around.
CHAPTER 1
My friends and I were riding home from school on Muni, clinging to an assortment of slippery handholds, when Linny almost blew my secret identity. Intentionally.
“Listen to this one,” she said, reading off her iPhone, a faint but smirky glint in her eyes. “‘Dear Miss Fortune Cookie. My cousin thinks I’m chasing her boyfriend. Her boyfriend and I never flirt, but sometimes we text. What can I do to make her believe me? Just Friends.’”
In fact, I—Erin Kavanagh, alias Miss Fortune Cookie—had posted this very letter on my anonymous advice blog, and Linny happened to be the only person in San Francisco to know that, the only person in the whole world, except for some random administrator at WordPress. She takes every opportunity to harass me about keeping my blog a secret. “What advice would you give, Erin?” she asked, winking this time.
I kept my face as neutral as possible. Luckily Darren and Mei were only paying attention each other. As usual.
Personally speaking, I think nano-deceptions are a good thing. I regularly use them to protect my friends from unpleasant truths. Should I tell Linny that her favorite knit hat makes her head look like a furry meatball? Or nudge Mei whenever Darren winces at her hyena laugh? Should I have cautioned Darren that taking AP physics would wreck his grade-point average? Absolutely not. Sincere lies keep everyone happy.
I blew the hair out of my eyes. “The cousin will never stop suspecting the two of them,” I said to Linny, “so Just Friends has to stop the texting. She could get her own boyfriend. Or move to somewhere far away like Moldavia.”
Muni, a sort of bus powered by electric wires overhead, jerked to a halt. A seat opened up, and Linny took it. “Exactly!” She had the happiest smile ever, so big it barely fit on her face. Metaphorically speaking. “Mei, don’t you think Erin is a natural at giving advice?”
“Hmm?” Mei said. She was somewhat entwined with Darren and therefore distracted.
“Nothing.” I jabbed Linny in the ribs to get her to stop talking. Gently of course. The three of us—Mei, Linny, and me—made an enviable friendship trio. I was the lesser third, maybe because Mei and Linny were gorgeously Chinese-American, while I was just Boring-American. A Person of Irish.
Mei knew nothing about my connection to Miss Fortune Cookie. We used to be best friends, and by best friends I mean we spent every afternoon and weekend together until eighth grade, when things fell apart between us. The truth is, Mei dumped me. Then Linny brought us together again during freshman year, inviting us both to eat lunch with her, forming a little group. A few months later, I mustered the courage to bring up the dumping incident with Mei, except she didn’t want to talk about it. So we became friends again without dealing with the past. Pretty much.
Except I didn’t trust her like I used to.
And she didn’t share as many intimate details about herself with me.
Linny beckoned me closer to whisper in my ear. “I have a question for Miss Fortune Cookie. A very personal one. But you can’t tell Mei.”
“Why not?”
She lowered her voice more. “You just can’t, ’kay?”
I nodded. Linny usually let both of us in on every detail about her life, although lately she’d been secretive about her new boyfriend. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be boring. I turned my back toward Mei and said in my quietest voice, “Go ahead. I’m listening. What is it?”
Linny shook her head. “Not now.”
Just then, the Muni driver made the sharp turn into Chinatown, and three things happened almost simultaneously: a bicyclist veered into the road, the driver slammed on the brakes, and I fell into another passenger. We came to a halt fifty feet from the stop, and the bicyclist escaped unscathed. I could tell by the vigorous way he flipped off the driver. Then I caught sight of Mrs. Liu, bundled against the fog, among the passengers waiting to board.
“Your mom!” I whispered to Mei. “She’s getting on!”
Mei’s eyes widened. “What the what?”
Which demonstrates a problem with sincere lies—in this case, Mei’s lie to her mom about not having a boyfriend. They can be found out. Darren dropped his arm from around Mei’s waist and grabbed his backpack. “Bye,” he mouthed before zipping to the back and catapulting out the rear door. He’s considerate like that.
Mrs. Liu’s grocery bags thumped against the handrail as she marched up the steps. She has sharp, high cheekbones and is tall like her daughter. She and Mei both have blunt-cut hair that reaches their shoulders. Our favorite salon in Chinatown sometimes offers two-for-one specials.
Mei hurried to the front to take the two largest bags. “Ma, let me.”
Mrs. Liu stretched her swan neck toward the window. “Who is that with you?”
Mei shook her head nervously. “No one. Just Erin and Linny. I invited them to help with the turnip cakes.”
“No. I see boy before.” Mrs. Liu believed with every sinew in her heart that a boyfriend would distract Mei from her schoolwork, ruining her chances of getting into the number one university in the country, Harvard. So when Mei fell in love with Darren last spring, she kept it a secret from her mom. For thirteen whole months. Which showed amazing ingenuity and skill on her part, but once you start a lie, it’s hard to escape it.
“Who is boy?”
“Oh, him,” Mei said. “Someone from AP chem. We were discussing the homework. Chemical reactions.” She blinked fast. “And stuff like that.”
To be fair, most people have trouble lying to Mrs. Liu. Her eyes bore right through your skull and read your thoughts as if you accidentally uploaded them onto Facebook. It’s her superpower.
Linny stood up to offer her seat to Mrs. Liu. “Mr. F assigned loads of homework over the weekend. He wants us in top shape for the AP test.”
Mrs. Liu ignored the seat. She had just turned forty and didn’t appreciate the senior-citizen treatment. “Very good. Homework make you smart.”
“Ma, please sit down. Ni shi lao.” That means you are the elder, a show of respect. It also means you are old.
“I am comfortable,” Mrs. Liu said.
Mei continued arguing politely. Though most Chinese immigrants to San Francisco speak Cantonese, a dialect common in the south of China, Mrs. Liu emigrated from the north, where they speak Mandarin. I was fluent enough to follow their conversation.
“Ma, ni zuo.” Ma, just sit.
“Gaosu wo ta de mingzi.” Tell me his name.
Before they resolved anything, the driver pulled into the stop by Mrs. Liu’s restaurant, and we all got off. Hay Fat occupies a prominent street corner in Chinatown. Mrs. Liu’s heightened culinary sensibility has turned it into a legend, luring in the more adventurous tourists and fussy locals. She serves authentic dishes with ingredients such as fermented bean paste, whole fish with eyeballs intact, and lotus. Her menu also includes beef broccoli in case people with less sophisticated palates wander in by mistake.
We entered the kitchen through the alley. The dinner rush had yet to begin, which meant we had the place to ourselves. After setting me up with the grater and Mei with the bacon to steam, Mrs. Liu tossed a handful of sesame seeds into sizzling oil at the bottom of the wok. I closed my eyes to better appreciate the scrumptious smell.
“What should I do?” Linny asked. I looked at her appraisingly, wondering about her secret. Not that we could talk here in the kitchen.
Mrs. Liu handed her a bowl. “Cut mushrooms. Very small pieces.”
I consider Hay Fat my second home. Mom and Mrs. Liu met when Mei and I were in preschool and have been good friends ever since. We live one floor below them in an apartment a few blocks from here in a quieter part of Chinatown. Mrs. Liu has always welcomed me into her kitchen, even during that black year when Mei and I barely spoke.
What I know of her life before America comes through Mom. Twenty-three years ago, Mrs. Liu studied cooking at a special school in China that trains workers for American restaurants. After finishing the program, she immigrated to San Francisco, where she met Mei’s dad. He soon left her, and she has remained single ever since. Which could explain some of her gruffness.
“No lollygagging,” Mrs. Liu said. The cloth she wore over her hair fell askew, and my fingers itched to straighten it. I didn’t stop grating for a second, though, because sometimes when I slack off from a job she’s given me, she’ll pinch my arm. Not hard, but still.
Linny held out her cutting board for inspection. “Are these pieces small enough?”
Mrs. Liu took the board and tossed the mushrooms into the wok. “Almost. Watch. This is secret part. Very important. Not in recipe.”
Smoke rose from the hot metal. While Mrs. Liu stirred up a storm, I took the chance to rest my aching muscles. As I was standing there, I noticed that the photographs hanging over the sink had been dusted recently. One showed four-year-old Mei holding a pen and scroll, a minischolar. Next to it hung a picture of me dressed as a sunflower for our preschool play.
The turnip cakes were for a party next week, an event to celebrate Mei’s acceptance into Harvard. Mrs. Liu had planned it out a long time ago. I think she decided on which dishes to serve before Mei started high school. Last July, she bought boxes of scarlet and black decorations. She mailed the invitations a month ago. Harvard’s acceptance emails, though, wouldn’t go out until tomorrow, April 1, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Now Mei just had to get in.
The three of us attend Lowell, a high school for academic types—nerds in the best sense—a rare public school that students compete to get into. At Lowell, we have a popular crowd, hipsters, and partiers like everywhere else, but we worry more about SAT percentiles and college choices than our counterparts. For us, the first of April is bigger than the Academy Awards. Tomorrow, hopes would be mangled and dreams decapitated.
Mrs. Liu spun around to face Mei. “Meihua! That boy on bus. Shi bu shi boyfriend?”
Meihua blinked. “He’s not, Ma.”
Linny and I exchanged glances.
full denial = a lie of omission × 10 3
Mei’s sincere lie had gone bad, turned slimy and evil smelling like leftovers jammed to the back of the fridge behind the sauce jars.
“The stove!” Linny yelled.
Flames shot upward. Mrs. Liu calmly fetched a small broom and beat out the fire in three precise strokes. She’s efficient like that. “You are young. You cannot know love.”
Except Romeo and Juliet were young, and though Darren had not declared his devotion publicly from the alley or climbed a trellis to the window leading to Mei’s bedchamber, Romeo had nothing on him when it came to passion. I’d seen more of that than I cared to, in fact.
Mei laid the steamed bacon on a clean bamboo chopping block and commenced mincing it into molecule-sized bits. Mrs. Liu waved her spatula. “Harvard most important thing. Future more valuable than useless boy. You tell me, Erin. Who is boy?”
My hand flew across the grater, and the mound of turnips grew. “The boy on Muni?”
Mrs. Liu growled with exasperation. “The Master say give elder no reason for anxiety.”
Mei ducked her head. “You’re right, Ma.”
“I am not right,” Mrs. Liu barked. “The Master is right.” By the Master, she meant Confucius, the spiritual grandfather of China, born more than five hundred years before Jesus. Arguing against the Master would be futile. The main dinner chef arrived, and Mrs. Liu dismissed us. “Skedaddle. Do homework. Good-bye.”
Grateful for the reprieve, I slipped out of my apron. Mei planted her feet by the stove and lifted her chin. She looked exactly like she used to long ago when we shoved cooked rice and fruit under the stove to feed the hungry ghost that lived there: scared but determined. She turned to Linny and me. “I’m staying to help Ma. Wait for me.”
Which meant Linny and I would get a little time alone and she could finally tell me what she started to say on Muni.
About Lauren Bjorkman
I am the author of two YA novels, MY INVENTED LIFE and MISS FORTUNE COOKIE. I also contributed a short story to the anthology THE FIRST TIME. Though I grew up on a sail boat and loved traveling the world as a kid, I'm still afraid of the ocean. I much prefer other modes of transportation these days--plane, train, or car. Walking is best.
I love books with multi-faceted, intriguing characters. The best one make me laugh, cry, and turn the pages long past my bed time. When I'm not reading or writing, I spend time with family and friends, talking about everything under the sun. Add in some good food to the mix, top it off with chocolate, and I'm truly happy.
I love books with multi-faceted, intriguing characters. The best one make me laugh, cry, and turn the pages long past my bed time. When I'm not reading or writing, I spend time with family and friends, talking about everything under the sun. Add in some good food to the mix, top it off with chocolate, and I'm truly happy.
So! What do you think? Sound adorable right? Does this make you eager to get your hands on a copy? Have you read this already? What did you think! Splurge your thoughts darlings! What's your fortune? Happy Saturday! XOXO,
Labels:book blitz,excerpt,Promo | 0
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
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| cute gif from google. |
If it looks weird with different patterns and colors not matching, NEVER fear. It's not your computer, it's mine. Er, well really it's Lisseths. Why? The FANTASTICAL babe over at Read-A-Holicz, one of my fav blogger buddies, Lisseth is messing around with my blog to give me a gorgeous new look! I've decided change is in the air. It will be lovely you guys. Just wait and see. Posts will continue, but for now please grin and bear as it's constructed. Should be normal soon! LOVE YOU LISSETH!
GUYS, Lisseth does FREE cute designs for bloggers! For more info go HERE.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Transparent by Natalie Whipple
TBP: 5.21.13 by HarperTeen
ADD ON GOODREADS
X-Men meets The Godfather; in which an invisible girl has to stop her dad—an infamous crime lord—from ruining her life. On the run from her mind-controlling father, the infamously invisible Fiona McClean hides in a small town, hoping to finally rid herself of the crime world she has always known. But playing at “normal life” with a mother she hates, a brother she can’t trust, and a boy she can’t stand proves more difficult than she ever imagined. Soon her father is hot on her heels, and it’s up to Fiona to protect not only her family, but the friends who’ve taught her that life doesn’t have to be as lonely and cruel as she thought.
Why I'm Hyperventilating:
Do you see that gorgeous and vibrant cover? Did you read the blurb? X-Men meets The Godfather? INVISIBLE GIRL?! That alone has hooked me to the core! I seriously can not wait to read this book! I looks gorgeous, has a totally unique and interesting premise and the MC's name is FIONA. I approve. My Nanowrimo character's name is Fiona. Fiona's rock. I'm totally intrigued with the invisible aspect of this book? If she's invisible how does she really live a life? Oh and did you see that her dad is a crime lord? This book gets better every second. I know there is already some SMASH-TASTIC blurb out there and I hope too add mine to it later. But all in all, to sum it up.....
I. NEED. THIS. BOOK. NOW!!
What are you hyperventilating/waiting on this wednesday? Link me Up!
Labels:Meme,Waiting-On-Wednesday | 38
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