Okay.
So I haven't posted in a while, but I have been doing a lot lately. I've read tons of awesome books this year, including Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which I wrote and then rewrote and then rewrote and then rewrote and then posted and then rewrote and then rewrote and then commented on and then rewrote and then rewrote and then rewrote a review of until finally I just had to delete it (lesson learned: FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE SO NOT EVERYTHING!), so I definitely recommend it, one of the best books I've read all year, AMAZING!
Additionally, this (look to your left) has to be the best debut novel this year. Hands down. Even more so than Before I Fall, which I admittedly loved tons and TONS and you should definitely read it. But I swear, this one is VERY epic.
The Sky Is Everywhere is about a girl named Lennie whose sister dies of an arrhythmia and how she copes with that, romantic struggles, and just figuring out who she and everyone around her is. IT'S AMAZING. The writing is clear, beautiful, earth-shaking, and intensely quotable. BEST DEBUT THIS YEAR. Notably, Lennie plays clarinet, which makes her even more awesome.
Other reviews...
As longtime readers know, I am a huge Deb Caletti fan and was very excited for her new novel, The Six Rules of Maybe. It didn't disappoint--takes a well-deserved spot as my fourth favorite Caletti novel (after Indigo Skye, Secret Life and Wild Roses, commonly known by me only as The Untouchable Three). For all you other Caletti fans reading this, she has a new book coming probably 2011 called Stay:
Also, the Readers Choice contest kind of fizzled out due to my epically failing and losing interest...sorry...
Well!
In other news, there are TONS of epic new books coming May and June. Rounding out May 1 is Matthew Quick's Sorta Like a Rock Star, which, aside from being the only YA contemporary from Little, Brown for the first six months of the year, is hilarious, sad, funny, and hopeful, or so I am told. Susane Colasanti released a new book this week, Something Like Fate, which is about the same thing as The Unwritten Rule. I look forward to comparing the two. :) From DIAL, the epic people who brought you The Sky is Everywhere, The Vast Fields of Ordinary, My Most Excellent Year, Willow, and Impossible, come two more epic books: God is in the Pancakes by Robin Epstein and A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner. One's May and the other's June, I believe. There's this one I just found out about called The Half-Life of Planets by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin that sounds really interesting (pubs June 15 from Hyperion); a verse book called After the Kiss from Pure author Terra Elan McVoy (two words: SECOND PERSON!!! And it doesn't seem cheesy!!!) that I read six pages of on Amazon and was hooked on; The View from the Top by Hilary Frank, who is one of those authors I Always Meant To Read But Never Had The Time To (now's my chance, I guess)...anyways, it sounds positively delicious, for lack of a better phrase; and finally, THE TENSION OF OPPOSITES! by Kristina McBride, which I have been waiting for FOR FOREVER. It sounds awesome!
Of course there are still books from Jan and Feb I still haven't gotten my hands on, but come on. DIAL! SUSANE COLASANTI! OPPOSITES! Who can resist the allure?
