Title:Shade

Author: Jeri Smith-Ready

Genre: YA/ Fantasy

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: May 4th 2010
Hardcover: 320 pages

Stand alone or series: First in a planned series

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan’s band playing a critical gig and Aura’s plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend’s life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan’s sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He’s gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding–and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura’s relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.

Why did I read the book: The combination of the beautiful (and after reading the book, I can say, accurate) cover and the blurb made me want to read this as soon as I first heard about it.

How did I get the book: We received an ARC from the publisher

Review:

16 years ago, at 08:540 of the Winter’s Solstice (December 21st) , The Shift occurred and everyone born after that date can see and talk to ghosts. No one knows why or how the Shift happened but attempts are being made to discover this mystery as agencies such as U.S. Department of Metaphysical Purity are created. What people do know is that there are huge differences between pre and post-Shift. The few people who were able to see Ghosts pre-Shift (people who have lost their ability after the event) say that the Ghosts used to be hazy, transparent, white-ish whereas post-Shift they are purple-ish and prone to become Shades – shapeless, angry – when overcome with bitterness and unhappiness. Ghosts are those who for some reason, don’t move on immediately and the longer they stay in contact with loved ones, the more likely they are to become Shades.

Our protagonist Aura, born on that same date, at exactly the time of the Shift, is one of the people who can see the Ghosts. She works with her aunt (who used to be able to see ghosts pre-Shift) on wrongful death litigation where Ghosts seek peace through justice to be able move on. She is a little bitter about her job, about being unable to block the Ghosts away and her utmost wish is to find out why the Shift happened so that she can make it stop. Thus, this is why at school, Aura is working on a project investigating the connection between old structures such as England’s Stonehenge and Ireland’s Newgrange – where the Solstice is an important event – and their possible connection with not only the Shift but also to her own family and her missing father. Aura’s mother died when she was three but an old diary places her exactly one year before her birth on Newgrange. What does that mean?

And this is only the world-building, the background against which Jeri Smith-Ready sets Aura’s story, a story that becomes less about finding out about the Shift and more about the character herself when her boyfriend and best friend Logan, dies and becomes a Ghost. Aura has to deal with his loss, with the grief she feels, with being with him as an untouchable yet very present Ghost as well as –over time (the book spans a period of a few months) developing feelings for another guy, Zachary, her project partner.

Shade is an incredible book not only in terms of world building but also characterisation. With regards to the former, even though ghosts are not exactly new, the Shift and its repercussions are completely novel and refreshing. For example, in this new order, only people who are younger than 16 can see the Ghosts. Consider what this means for all involved. For the first wave of children born post-Shift who had to convince their Ghost-blind parents of what they were seeing; to the adults who can’t see them and yet know that there are Ghosts around; to the Ghosts themselves who can only communicate with children and teenagers.

There is a plethora of ways of blocking Ghosts, all developed post-Shift. For some reason, the colour red repels them as do Obsidian objects. Then, there is the BlackBox, a technology which many households and public spaces have installed to keep the Ghosts away. What does that mean though, when Ghosts stay around to connect with their loved ones and are repelled? Becoming Shades seems to be inevitable in many cases.

I seem to be concentrating on the world-building because it is so fascinating and well-thought out but the story is much more emotional than this. Aura and her grief is central to the story , a grief which is shared with Logan’s family and friends. But also the reader, because the author doesn’t kill Logan until way into the book and we see his interactions with brothers, sisters; his dream of becoming a famous musician and his love for Aura. One of the best sequences in the book, is when it becomes clear that Logan becomes a Ghost. Some of the characters are overcome with happiness: Aura and his brother Dylan who are both able to see him. But nothing is more devastating than reading how his mother lets out a wail of despair when she hears he is there: not only because she can’t see him but because she knows he hasn’t moved on.

Logan and Aura continue their relationship but all of the involved know that this is an impossible situation. Logan has got to move on lest he becomes a Shade; having a relationship with a dead guy is obviously not healthy and the more the time pass the more it becomes a thing of sadness rather than of happiness. One thing that I really appreciated is how Logan is never sanctified after his death and he remains a believable, teenage guy with all the shortcomings he had in life, remaining in death.

Speaking of believable, all characters, especially the teenagers came across as real to me. In the particular group that Aura navigates, music is the glue that binds them together and I loved how they listened to new, modern stuff. More than that, these kids like to party, have fake IDs, they drink, have sex with their boyfriends and girlfriends and are still generally portrayed as good kids without being judged (and convicted) by their behaviour.

So many times, I read what feels like sanitised, PG versions of teenagers – the ones that don’t swear, don’t have sex, don’t drink, nor do they even think about these things. Of course there are teenagers that are exactly like that, but there are those that aren’t and they are not “evil”, or “bad” either, they are just real people too. I loved all the kids in the book: Aura; Logan and his brothers and sister; Aura’s best friend Megan. And then there is Zachary. The only character who might come across as too good to be true but I am sure I am not going to be the only to say: Team Zach for the win. It is completely understandable that Aura would fall for him, developing feelings whilst still loving Logan, moving on and choosing life over death. It is not easy though, and some very emotional scenes ensue.

I do have a few points to nitpick: many, many questions are left unanswered and unsolved, in fact, far too many. I understand the choice of the author in focusing on Aura and the characters but the result is that this book reads very much like a “first” in a series and with a horrible (as in: OMG I want to know more!) cliff-hanger to boot. Although I can’t go into detail that very same cliff-hanger came too easily – what exactly happens there seem to have been achieved without too much trouble which to me came across as unbelievable. But to be fair, part of it may be explained by Aura’s own identity but as I said, we have no final answers to sustain my suspicions.

All things considered, this is definitely one of the best, most refreshingly original YA debuts I ever read. I can’t believe I will have to wait a whole freaking year for the sequel, Shift.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the first chapter:

“You can hear me, can’t you?”

I punched the green print button on the copier to drown out the disembodied voice. Sometimes if I ignored them long enough, they went away—confused, discouraged, and lonelier than ever. Sometimes.

Okay, almost never. Usually they got louder.

No time to deal with it that day. Only one more set of legal briefs to unstaple, copy, and restaple, then I could go home, trade this straitjacket and stockings for a T-shirt and jeans, and make it to Logan’s before practice. To tell him I’m sorry, that I’ve changed my mind, and this time I mean it. Really.

“I know you can hear me.” The old woman’s voice strengthened as it came closer. “You’re one of them.”

I didn’t flinch as I grabbed the top brief from the stack on the conference room table. I couldn’t see her under the office’s bright fluorescent lights, which made it about one percent easier to pretend she wasn’t there. Someday, if I had my way, none of them would be there.

“What an intolerably rude child,” she said.

I yanked the staple out of the last brief and let it zing off in an unknown direction, trying to hurry without looking like I was hurrying. If the ghost knew I was getting ready to leave, she’d spit out her story, no invitation. I carefully laid the pages in the sheet feeder and hit print again.

“You can’t be more than sixteen.” The lady’s voice was close, almost at my elbow. “So you were born hearing us.”

I didn’t need her to remind me how ghosts’ ramblings had drowned out my mother’s New Agey lullabies. (According to Aunt Gina, Mom thought the old-fashioned ones were too disturbing—“down will come baby, cradle and all.” But when dead people are bitching and moaning around your crib at all hours, the thought of falling out of a tree is so not a source of angst.)

Worst part was, those lullabies were all I remembered of her.

“Come on,” I nagged the copier under my breath, resisting the urge to kick it.

The piece of crap picked that moment to jam.

“Shit.” I clenched my fist, driving the staple remover tooth into the pad of my thumb. “Ow! Damn it.” I sucked the pinpoint of blood.

“Language.” The ghost sniffed. “When I was your age, young ladies wouldn’t have heard such words, much less murdered the mother tongue with…” Blah blah…kids these days…blah blah…parents’ fault…blah.

I jerked open the front of the copier and searched for the stuck paper, humming a Keeley Brothers’ song to cover the ghost’s yakking.

“They cut me,” she said quietly.

I stopped humming, then blew out a sigh that fluttered my dark bangs. Sometimes there’s no ignoring these people.

More from the excerpt here.

Additional Thoughts: The author wrote a fascinating guest-post for John Scalzi’s “The Big Idea” feature talking about the process of writing Shade and the ideas behind it. You can read it here.

Verdict: I love Jeri Smith-Ready’s writing, this innovative world-building and her life-like teenage characters. Shade stands out in a crowded genre and I highly recommend it.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Paper Towns by John Green

Happy Sunday, one and all!

We hope you’ve had a good weekend. Before we delve into yet another week of book mayhem, we’ve got some assorted tidbits to share… (I apologize in advance, as this post is kind of long)

Arthur C. Clarke Award:

Last week, the Arthur C. Clarke Award – the most prestigious SF award in the United Kingdom – was bestowed on China Miéville (again), for his novel The City and the City. (He had previously won the award for Perdido Street Station in 2001, and Iron Council in 2005. This win is the kick in the pants we’ve needed to read The City and the City – we’re planning a Miéville Day in June (Thea is dying to read Kraken). We’ll keep you posted.

Hark! Is That A Flying Pig?

A release date – a final, carved in stone release date – has been set for the long awaited second novel in the Kingkiller Chronicles. That’s right folks. Patrick Rothfuss has announced that The Wise Man’s Fear will be completed by the end of the year, with a release date of March 1, 2011. Time to start marking those calendars…

Trailers All Over The Place:

Have you seen these bad boys? I really like the new “Birth of a Spartan” Halo trailer (here’s the extended cut):

There’s this new SF/horror film called Splice coming out soon too, and it looks awesome (I adore Sarah Polly & Adrian Brody):

Speaking of horror, there’s also the second trailer for the new George A. Romero film (to be released Video On Demand) that looks like awesome fun too:

And finally, if you missed it on PBS this Wednesday, you can still watch it online for free – David Tennant (aka the 10th Doctor Who) and Patrick Stewart (aka…well, Patrick Stewart needs no introduction) starred in a new rendition of Hamlet. And it is awesome. Just check out Tennant’s delivery of Hamlet’s famous soliloquy.

To Me, Gunslingers!

After sitting on the adaptation rights to Stephen King’s magnum opus, his Dark Tower series, the LOST team of JJ Abrams, Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse apparently have returned those rights to Stephen King….

And now Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman are looking to pick up them up. As much as I love LOST (and believe me, I love LOST a lot in spite of its many missteps and ridiculously cliched dialogue), I was nervous about the Darlton/Abrams take on my favorite series of all time. Ron Howard has an awesome track record with book to film adaptations, so I’m stoked on that front, at least. Akiva Goldsman has won an Oscar for his adaptation of A Beautiful Mind…but he’s also written some pretty bad films. See Batman and Robin. I’m scared. But I really hope this works out.

A Suckfest on Elm Street:

This weekend, I saw the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street – generally, I try to stay away from Michael Bay’s shameless, soulless remakes of horror films, but because of the stroke of brilliance casting of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, I was guardedly optimistic about this movie. Holy piles of steaming dog poop, Batman, but this was TERRIBLE. I’m talking, gouge-my-eyeballs out with splintered chopsticks bad. It was poorly acted, retardedly directed (apparently Mr. Bayer ONLY knows how to shoot extreme closeups and nothing else), and utterly NON-scary. I mean, they couldn’t even get a single “BOOM!” scare. Now how exactly does one screw that up?.

Jackie Earle Haley’s performance as Fred Krueger is the only high point of the film – he’s ridiculously creepy, and his Rorschach-voce totally works. I also liked the new backstory they gave Freddy, which makes the town’s coverup (and children’s lost memories) much more plausible.

Bottom line: I actually FELL ASLEEP in the theater during the movie’s climactic scene. In a movie about a man that kills you in your dreams, how’s that for ironic?

Free Comic Book Day & Thor:

This Saturday was international Free Comic Book Day (the first Saturday in May, each year), and my shop was having an awesome gathering. Folks dressed as assorted superheroes stood soliciting customers from the street (Gambit, Rogue, and Green Lantern (John Stewart, represent!) were my favorites), there was a Superman bounce house, a DJ, and hotdogs grilling outside the store. Inside it was a madhouse too, but in a good way. Along with my bag of free comics, I also got a couple of SWEET posters. Case in point:

And on the comic book (and oddly, Star Trek) note, the first image of Thor has been revealed (via io9 and Yahoo Movies). Ohoho! We likey.

(If you’re wondering who the actor is playing Dr. Blake/Thor, it’s Chris Hemsworth, you might remember him from Star Trek last year – George Kirk, who met his ill, heroic fate in the movie’s opening scene.)

(Does anyone else get teary just thinking about that scene? It gets me every time. That and the opening of Up.)

This Week On The Book Smugglers:

It’s another busy one here (lolz, like, when is it not?)! On Monday, Ana reviews The Prince of Mist by one of her most beloved authors, Carlos Ruiz Zafon – a young adult novel that has just been translated to English.

On Tuesday, Ana reviews Shade, Jeri Smith-Ready’s newest novel and the first book in her young adult UF series. Later in the day, Thea reviews one of her most highly anticipated books of the year – Lies by the ever-so-talented (and seriously twisted) Michael Grant.

Wednesday, Devon Monk is our guest author of the day! To celebrate the release of Magic on the Storm, the fourth novel in the Allie Beckstrom series, Devon will be talking Inspirations & Influences. AND you’ll have a chance to win a copy of her latest release.

On Thursday, Thea reviews Feed, author Mira Grant’s take on the zombie apocalypse, presidential elections, and the new media (seriously!). And, later in the day we’ll have Mira Grant (a pseudonym for UF author Seanan McGuire) over with an Inspirations & Influences post of her own.

We close out the week with a joint review of military science fiction novel In Her Name: First Contact by the awesome Michael Hicks.

And…that’s about it from us today! As always, we remain…

Howdy folks, and Happy Monday! Today we bring you a very special author spotlight on The Book Smugglers – none other than the uber-talented Jeri Smith-Ready.

Jeri is the author of traditional fantasy (the Aspect of the Crow trilogy), young adult (upcoming title Shade), and urban fantasy – and her WVMP Radio series, Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone, are some of the most awesome, memorable vampire Urban Fantasy books out there. Check them out:

Late-night radio you can sink your teeth into

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara’s first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station—and the link it provides to their original Life Times—the vampires would “fade,” becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around—next to Ciara’s complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher—and the perils graver—than any con game Ciara’s ever played…

Excerpt online HERE.

TURN ON. TUNE IN. DROP DEAD.

Welcome to WVMP, “The Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll,” where conartist-turned-station-owner Ciara Griffin manages an on-air staffof off-the-wall DJs—including new boyfriend Shane McAllister—who really sink their teeth into the music of their “Life Time” (theera in which they became vampires). Ciara keeps the undeadrocking, the ratings rolling, and the fan base alive—withoutmissing a beat.

For Halloween, WVMP is throwing a bash. With cool tunes, hotcostumes, killer cocktails—what could go wrong? To start, areligious firebrand ranting against the evils of the occultpreempts the station’s midnight broadcast. Then, when Ciaratracks down the transmission, the broadcast tower is guarded bywhat appears to be . . . a canine vampire? Behind it all is a groupof self-righteous radicals who think vampires suck (and arewilling to stake their lives on it). Ciara must protect the stationwhile struggling with her own complicated relationship, her bestfriend’s romance with a fledgling vampire, and the nature of hermysterious anti-holy powers. To make it to New Year’s in one piece,she’ll need to learn a few new tricks. . . .

Excerpt online HERE.

Totally awesome music of WVMP Radio online HERE.

In celebration of the mass market paperback release of Bad to the Bone, we’re having an awesome interactive Q&A opportunity with the esteemed Jeri Smith-Ready! Here’s how it works: Jeri will be popping in all day long to answer YOUR burning questions about her WVMP Radio books. But wait, it gets even cooler – courtesy of publisher Simon & Schuster, we’ve got TWO sets of WVMP Radio books up for grabs (Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone). Entry is easy and simple – just leave a comment here asking Jeri a question (about her UF series, her writing process, her favorite authors, music, tv shows, etc). The contest is open to all, and will run until Saturday, February 27th at 11:59PM (PST). Good luck, and let the questions begin.

We give the floor up to Jeri Smith-Ready!

Hey, thanks so much for having me as a guest on The Book Smugglers! I write the WVMP RADIO vampire series and the upcoming SHADE ghost series for teens. I love answering readers’ questions, so ask me anything. (Yes, anything. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll make something up–it’s what I do. For example, where I got the idea for vampire DJs, what it’s like to write for both adults and teens, and what I do in my nearly nonexistent spare time (right now I’m mesmerized by Olympic curling). You can even ask my characters questions, though Shane and Regina tend to keep nighttime hours. As Pat Benatar once said, hit me with your best shot!

Award-winning author Jeri Smith-Ready lives in Maryland with her husband, two cats, and the world’s goofiest greyhound.

You can read more about Jeri online at her website, and at her blog.

Well, hello there! We hope everybody is having a great Sunday! At our end, we are still trying to understand the latest episode of Lost (theories abound, none of them seem to make much sense) but alas, there is nothing new about it.

Before we bore you to death, let’s do what we came here to do.

Soul Screamers Giveaway Winners

Winner #1 – one copy of My Soul to Take and one copy of My Soul to Save

wildchild (comment #6)

Winners #2 and #3 – a copy of My Soul to Save each:

Lori (comment #75)

Natasha A(comment #34)

In For a Penny Giveaway Winner

The winner of a signed copy is:

Lustyreader(comment #5)

Congratulations to the winners! You know the drill. Send an email to contact AT the book smugglers DOT com with your snail mail address, and we will get your winnings out to you as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone that participated!

Around the Interwebs and Other News:

The 2009 Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literacy Awards) Winners have been announced last week. Amongst the winners, a favorite like Fire by Kristin Cashore who won best Fantasy and Science Fiction (YA) and one that has been on our radar for a long time: Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers (winner of best YA Fiction).

The 2009 Nebula Awards Final Ballot has been announced!

Loads of cool nominees for best novel including The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi, The City & The City by China Miéville and Finch by Jeff VanderMeer which are books we both are dying to read. We are also stocked to see Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, Ash by Malinda Lo and Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld nominated Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. We loved those books!

Have you registered for the Book Blogger Convention yet? No? Need more incentive?

Well, look no further: the organisers have announced this week that the keynote speaker shall be no other than Maureen Johnson the fabulous writer behind books like Suite Scarlett and 13 Little Blue Envelopes .

Needless to say, Ana nearly collapsed when she heard the news. You can also check the list of attendees here – a pretty cool line up of bloggers and industry professionals!

Meanwhile over at A Dribble of Ink, Aidan interviewed NK Jemisin the writer of the AWESOME The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms .

He was king enough to invite us to contribute with a couple of questions and the result, a great interview (if we may say so ourselves) followed by interesting comments can be found here.

This Week On The Book Smugglers:

Ok. So. DON’T PANIC. But we are taking a bit of a break from reviewing this week. But WAIT. DON’T do something drastic. We have organised a cool week full of guest authors and giveaways and our very first Cover Matters post to keep you busy. The reason for a break? We are charging our batteries in preparation for March (or March Madness, how we are fondly referring to it) .

On Monday, we are pleased to have Jeri Smith-Ready guest blogging with us. She will be here the whole day answering your questions and you will have a chance to win a copy of her books!

On Tuesday, we will have a special giveaway in celebration of the paperback release of Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

On Wednesday, we open the floor to guest author Sean Cummings who will be talking about his Inspirations and Influences for writing Shade Fright , a UF which debuts next month. You will also have a chance to win a copy of his book. His post will be followed by our guest dare of the month: Jeff from Alert Nerd reads the Historical Romance The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran.

On Thursday, Harry, the mind behind Temple Library Reviews and our honorary third Smuggler, does his “A Dude Reads PNR” column, with his review of The Battle Sylph by L. J. McDonald.

On Friday, it is time for the first issue of our Cover Matters feature. (The poster by the way, is another creation of the ever fabulous Kenda from Lurv a La Mode. Boy, can that woman do beautiful stuff. We are forever in awe. Thank you dude!)

and then finally, on Saturday another super cool giveaway: we have three ARCs of the highly anticipated YA novel Dark Life by Kat Falls to giveaway.

And that’s a wrap! We hope you enjoy the week – we will be around!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Welcome to Smugglivus – Day 24!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guest: The lovely Sarah Kuhn, one of the good, hardworking folks behind the geektastic blog Alert Nerd. Sarah also happens to be an author – her debut novel One Con Glory was released this year (and both of us Smugglers LOVED it).

Please give a warm welcome to Sarah!

So I’m looking back on my year of reading (reflecting, if you will – just imagine me gazing pensively out the window at some generic body of water while CW-approved power ballads tinkle away in the background). It’s been a pretty fantastic twelve months: I’ve greeted many newly-published works with open arms, but I’ve also discovered a lot of swoon-worthy stuff from previous years.

In other words…I have tons of unhealthy new obsessions to take me into 2010! Yay! Ring the gong and prepare the fannish-bordering-on-inappropriate message board postings!

I’ve decided that the only proper way to really look back on this year is to give out awards. Or maybe I should say “awards” since the recipients don’t actually get anything except a mention here and my undying devotion.

Ready?

Best New-to-Me Book: Wicked Lovely, Melissa Marr

I devoured Melissa Marr’s first tome of urban fairy courts on a road trip – reclined back in the passenger seat, fingertips gripping the book so hard, I thought I was going to bend it in half. My addiction was instant and undeniable; as soon as we docked at our first destination, I tore out of the car and to the nearest book store so I could buy the next one. I love that this series is so lushly, unabashedly romantic, but also gives us teen girl characters who demonstrate their considerable strength in complex, perfectly believable ways. No idealized damsels here, folks.

Best Actually New Book: Going Bovine, Libba Bray

Look, I basically love everything Libba Bray does, whether she’s penning her kick-ass Gemma Doyle trilogy or donning a cow suit for promotional purposes. So it was kind of a given that I’d love this, but goddamn…“love” might not be strong enough a word? Bray’s heady mix of mad cow-afflicted teen, sugar-addict angel, and hypochondriac dwarf is hilarious and acerbic and deeply, deeply witty…but it will also totally break your heart. Like, it will sneak up on you in the middle of the page and rip your poor heart out of your chest and stomp all over it until you’re bawling your head off. I mean all this as the highest of compliments

Best New-to-Me Heroine: Mercedes “Mercy” Thompson from Moon Called, Patricia Briggs

I have Thea to thank for this one. When you read as much urban fantasy/paranormal romance as I do, the heroines occasionally start to blend together. Like, “Oh, this chick, she’s really strong or whatever and she can do some way frakkin’ cool supernatural thing and she rocks a leather jacket and every guy she meets is totally into her, but…hey, she’s just a regular girl. You know.” Mercy – mechanic, shapechanger, actual regular girl – is a thoroughly distinctive breath of fresh air. She’s believably flawed, but she knows who she is and doesn’t angst all over the place about her supernatural lot in life. From page one, her voice is fully-realized and totally easy to relate to.

Best Actually New Heroine: Calliope Reaper-Jones from Death’s Daughter, Amber Benson

Here’s another voice that grabbed me from the very first paragraph. Cally – who actually is Death’s Daughter, thank you very much – instantly engages you with her motormouthed inner monologue. It’s kind of like getting on a speeding train – a hilarious, quippy, delightfully boy-crazy speeding train – without knowing exactly where you’re going. And yet, to misquote Liz Lemon, you really want to go to there. Or I sure did, anyway.

Returning Series That Continues to Kick My Ass: WVMP Radio, Jeri Smith-Ready

The first WVMP Radio book, Wicked Game, was probably my favorite read of 2008: undead DJs, awesome ex-con-artist protagonist, startlingly unique take on the vamp mythos (no voluminous black leather dusters involved!). Also, sex that’s actually…um, sexy. I was a little worried that Smith-Ready’s follow-up, Bad to the Bone, couldn’t possibly get under my skin in the same way. Foolish worries! Bad to the Bone is stuffed with twisty underworld intrigue, amazingly realistic relationship issues, and perfectly-placed touches of humor. Oh, and more sexy sex. Third book cannot get here quickly enough.

Coupling I Would Most Like To Write Fanfic About (If I Actually Wrote Fanfic): Mercy Smith/Riley Kincaid, Branded by Fire, Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series is another Awesome Thing I found out about thanks to Thea and Ana. And while I enjoy that each book focuses on a new pairing (and we get little updates on previous pairings, since it’s all set in the same world)…I really would not object at all if every book from now on was about Mercy and Riley. Over the course of Branded by Fire, these two strong, excessively stubborn personalities are pushed together, hate each other, have great sex, and eventually fall in love. The sex happens first, but the way Singh develops their relationship from a deeply emotional standpoint is what really got me.

Love Interest I Most Want To [REDACTED]: David the Djinn, Weather Warden series, Rachel Caine

Ah, David. What can you say about David, really? My brain transforms itself into a mush-like substance just thinking about it…him. Whatever. Daaaaaaviiiiiiiid.

Most Heart-Attack-Inducing Cliffhanger: Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

OH MY GOD. SERIOUSLY.

Most Anticipated Reads:

(2009) Beautiful Creatures, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

This gorgeously-designed doorstopper of a book is tempting me so hard from its perch on my overloaded bookshelf. The only reason I haven’t cracked it yet is I’m in the middle of like five other books I should finish first. Right? Right?! Anyway, this Southern Gothic tale of magic sounds beautiful and atmospheric and supernaturally romantic and lots of people I respect have said it’s the best thing ever. In other words: crack for Sarah.

(2010) Guardian of the Dead, Karen Healey

I have long admired Karen Healey’s writing – she’s one of the smartest, funniest, most insightful (I almost typed “insightfulest,” which shows you why, perhaps, I am always blown away by people with such obviously big brains) comic book bloggers around. She often makes me think of elements within four-color fandom that never would’ve occurred to me, or looks at said elements in a way that has me shrieking “right onnnnnnnnnnnnn” at my computer screen. Healey’s debut novel is full of (to quote her website) “M?ori mythology, magic, theatre, earthquakes, monsters, boarding school, tae kwon do, and the other horrors of a Christchurch winter.” Don’t you wish you could read this right now? Where is my freakin’ time machine?

Thanks Sarah!

Next on Smugglivus: Jeff of Alert Nerd