Teaser Tuesday (November 30)

What is Teaser Tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules:
Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"Fairy's side note: Mortal girls will overlook a pinata full of faults if a guy is considerate enough to be handsome."

-My Unfair Godmother, page 8, by Janette Rallison

(This is an ARC edition, quotes/page numbers are subject to change)

I'm only a few pages into this one and I've already had a few laughing fits.

Book Review: Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe

This review contains clearly marked spoilers

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over "breathers". Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody... and Cass loves dirt. She's on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.
But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass's whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.
As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim's life, she's surprised to realize he's not so bad — and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance... (From Goodreads)

This book has been on my to-read list for quite a long time, so I was ecstatic when I won a copy from Kristen of Bookworming in the 21st century!

Cass is an outcast, and has been since middle school. Of course, it's hard to fit in when you can talk to ghosts, and get the dirt on all of your classmates. I suppose people might be nicer if she didn't use that dirt against said classmates, but where would the fun be in that. When the student council VP, Tim, starts paying attention to Cass, she's justified in her suspicions. Really, he just hopes that Cass can help him connect with his deceased mother, even though it may not help him move on emotionally.

Crewe did a great job with the ghost aspect of this book. Once it became clear that ghosts remain until they can accomplish some sort of unfinished business, I started to wonder why Cass's sister had returned as a ghost. I have my theories, but this issue isn't really resolved in the book.

This paragraph contains spoilers, so if you haven't read the book skip this paragraph!

As the book drew to a close I was really worried that Crewe was going to fall into the YA cliche of making the two main characters end up together, despite neither of them being in the right place emotionally for one. So, I was relieved when that didn't happen! It's obvious that the two care for each other, but Tim really needs to focus on some counseling to help him deal with the grief of losing his mother.

(end of spoilers)

Overall, I thought that this was a good paranormal, and a quick read. I haven't heard anything about a sequel, but I still have my fingers crossed. While this book wrapped up nicely, there's still more I'd like to read about.

Give Up the Ghost
By Megan Crewe
Published by Henry Holt and Co.
256 Pages
Rating: B

Waiting On Wednesday (November 24)

Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. This weekly meme shares the upcoming books that I'm most excited about.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Published by Razorbill
Release Date: January 11, 2011

I'm pretty sure that everyone is excited about this one! I also just noticed the release date is 1/11/11 :)

Teaser Tuesday (November 23)

What is Teaser Tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules:
Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"Fourteen of us won't be flying to Tonks's parents'. There will be seven Harry Potters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."

-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, pg 48, by J.K. Rowling

2011 Debut Author Challenge

It's time again to sign up for The Debut Author Challenge, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren! I participated in the 2010 challenge, and as a result I read a bunch of great books by new authors.

The Rules: To participate you are required to read a minimum of 12 books by debut authors in the YA/MG genres. You don't have to be a blogger to participate, nor do you need to have a blog written in English. If you want more information, click here.

Titles in blue link to their reviews here when clicked

My Picks:

January:
The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal
Across the Universe by Beth Revis

February:

Will Work for Prom Dress by Aimee Ferris
Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

March
Human .4 by Mike Lancaster
The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

May
Flawless by Lara Chapman
Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

June
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt, and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell by Cricket Rumley

July
Bad Taste in Boys Carrie Harris

August
The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab