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

We are having a party today!

Soul Screamers is a series that follows Banshee Kaylee Cavanaugh as she finds out the extent of her powers and why she screams when someone is about to die.

Something is wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh. She doesn’t see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to be a normal girl, basking in the joy of having caught the attention of Nash, the hottest guy in school. But getting through a first date isn’t easy when he seems to know more about Kaylee’s need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only she knows who’ll be next…

Ana reviewed (and loved) the first book, My Soul to Take last year and you can read her review here as well as read a guest post by the author on her inspirations for writing the book.

And book 2, My Soul To Save has been released in early January:

When teen pop star Eden croaks on stage and Kaylee doesn’t wail, she knows something is dead wrong. She can’t cry for someone who has no soul.

The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her too-hot-to-be-real boyfriend’s loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls for a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can’t possibly understand.

Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

To one lucky winner: One copy of both books in the Soul Screamers series: My Soul To Take and My Soul To Save

Plus two additional winners can win one copy of book 2 in the series, My Soul to Save!

In order to enter all you have to do is to leave a comment on this post telling us what is your favorite YA series at the moment and why. The contest is open to everybody and will run till February 15th 11:59pm (Pacific). GOOD LUCK!

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: Doug Knipe, aka the SciFiGuy. Doug runs the Speculative Fiction/Urban Fantasy/Paranormal blog SciFiGuy, and it’s a fantastic resource for upcoming books, giveaways and author interviews and news. Doug covers so much on his site, we’re in awe of all that he’s accomplished!

Please give it up for Doug!

I was thrilled when Ana and Thea asked me to participate in the amazing Smugglivus Event and share with you some of my favourite reads in 2009 and what I am anticipating in 2010. In 2009 I think I reviewed a little over 100 books and read perhaps half that again. Here are some of the books I enjoyed the most.

My favourite debut of the year was Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland. This fast-paced, urban fantasy police procedural knocked my socks off. Tightly plotted and full of surprises, this none kept me engrossed to the last word. The follow-up Blood of the Demon is on my watch list for 2010.

There were a great number of debut novels in the exploding urban fantasy marketplace in 2009. Annette McCleave’s Drawn Into Darkness impressed me with it’s creepy villain and the grounded Rachel, an ordinary character thrown into extraordinary circumstances.

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs by Molly Harper was a fresh, laugh out loud, light-hearted foray into urban fantasy that promises to deliver more enjoyable hijinks from the librarian turned vampire as the series develops.

Seanan McGuire impressed me with Rosemary and Rue, an urban fantasy where the hidden fae world intersects with ours in modern day California. McGuire’s October Daye is a dark, fascinating protagonist not quite fitting in either world.

Young adult novels had a breakout year. I was enthralled by Skinned and Crashed by Robin Wasserman, books that explored the theme of what it means to be human in a world where consciousness can be transferred into cybernetic body replacements.

Rachel Vincent’s My Soul To Take introduced us to Kaylee, a banshee that foresees impending deaths. I like dark and dangerous and applauded the atmospheric YA debut of Lilith Saintcrow writing as Lili St. Crow with Strange Angels.

There were numerous standout books in ongoing series over the past year. My favourites included Bound to Shadows by Keri Arthur in the Riley Jensen Guardian series, perhaps its’ best book to date. Rachel Vincent also had a banner year because in addition to her YA debut, Prey in her Shifters series was a thrilling read. I discovered UK author Mike Carey this past year and the nourish urban fantasy series featuring exorcist Felix Castor presented a droll and engaging voice, particularly in Dead Men’s Boots.

Veteran’s Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris continued to delight with White Witch, Black Curse and Dead and Gone in the Hollows and Sookie Stackhouse series respectively.

Standalone novels that make my best of 2009 list include Charles de Lint’s haunting and beautiful ghost story The Mystery of Grace, The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff, an inventive, funny and charming novel about an unusual family of witches and Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey an urban fantasy which was a total departure from her Kushiel fantasy series.

My most anticipated urban fantasy read for 2010 is Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison, closely followed by Changes by Jim Butcher and Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris.

Next year also has some auspicious fantasy titles I am anxious to read. The long-awaited Dances with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, the fifth book in the Ice and Fire cycle should finally hit shelves as well as the delayed sequel to Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind – Wise Man’s Fear. I routinely give Name of the Wind as a gift to anyone I know that reads and the response is unanimously positive. Under Heaven, a new novel by fantasist Guy Gavriel Kaye is coming next year and promises to be extraordinary.

2009 was a banner year for urban fantasy and paranormal romance and 2010 is already lining up as another year of fantastic reads. The best of the holidays to everyone and remember to give the gift of books.

Thank you Doug!

Next on Smugglivus: KatieBabs of Babbling About Books, And More!

For the past few months, we have been including an “On our Radar” section in our weekly stash for books that have caught our eye; books we heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. This is how the Smugglers’ Radar was born, and because there are far too many books that we want than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?) we thought we could make it into a weekly feature on its own – this way YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar:

Ah, Kresley Cole’s IAD series is my Cheetos Reading: guilty pleasure at its best and there are two new stories to look forward to:

The first is a story in Deep Kiss of Winter (out now)

Under the cover of wintry dark shadows, passion’s magic ignites a fire too hot to touch — and too wicked to die….

KRESLEY COLE delivers a breathtaking tale of a brutal vampire soldier about to know love for the first time…and a Valkyrie aching to be touched.

Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela the Ice Maiden — the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can’t be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Soon desperate for closeness, in an agony of frustration, Murdoch and Danii will do anything to have each other. Together, can they find the key that will finally allow them to slake the overwhelming desire burning between them?

GENA SHOWALTER puts a daring spin on a tale of huntress and hunted…and concocts a sensual chemistry that is positively explosive.

Aleaha Love can be anyone — literally. With only skin-to-skin contact, she can change her appearance, assume any identity. Her newest identity switch has made her an AIR (alien investigation and removal) agent and sends her on a mission to capture a group of otherworldly warriors. Only she becomes the captured. Breean, a golden-skinned commander known for his iron will who is at once dangerous and soul-shatteringly seductive, threatens her new life. Because for the first time, Aleaha only wants to be herself….

Watch the Deep Kiss of Winter Trailer!!

Click on the link HERE to read an Excerpt and to download an exclusive FREE Immortals After Dark novella, The Warlord Wants Forever or visit simonandschuster.com

And….Pleasure of a Dark Prince, the book I have been waiting for since book 1 in the series. (out February 16)

Lucia the Huntress: as mysterious as she is exquisite, she harbors secrets that threaten to destroy her—and those she loves.

Garreth MacRieve, Prince of the Lykae: the brutal Highland warrior who burns to finally claim this maddeningly sensual creature as his own.

From the shadows, Garreth has long watched over Lucia. Now, the only way to keep the proud huntress safe from harm is to convince her to accept him as her guardian. To do this, Garreth will ruthlessly exploit Lucia’s greatest weakness—her wanton desire for him. . . .

A Vampire and a Lykae story: NOM NOM NOM (Vampire trumps demons anytime. And Lykaes trump everything)

I love the cover for Shades of Gray, the next in the Black and White series by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge (about two superheroines!). This cover is SO much better than the one for the first book. Can’t wait (the book is not out until June though, BOO)

I also can’t wait for the second book in the YA series Soul Screamers, by Rachel Vincent (out in January)

The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her boyfriend’s loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls for a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for
eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can’t possibly understand. Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk….

And lookie! The Brazilian cover of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: I will sure be picking it up when I go home for Christmas!

On Thea’s Radar:

This book came out in July, but I have just seen the eye-catching cover recently…and I wants it.

First in a brand new series from the author of the rogue mage novels

Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she’s been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie’s Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who’s killing other vamps…

Love this title, this gorgeous cover, and the dystopian premise:

What Happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when said bio-terrorism forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of “The Calorie Man”( Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and “Yellow Card Man” (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these questions.

This cover FLOORS me. And the premise ain’t too shabby either…

926. New York. The Roaring Twenties. Jazz. Flappers. Prohibition. Coal-powered cars. A cold war with a British Empire that still covers half of the globe. Yet things have developed differently to established history. America is in the midst of a cold war with a British Empire that has only just buried Queen Victoria, her life artificially preserved to the age of 107. Coal-powered cars roar along roads thick with pedestrians, biplanes take off from standing with primitive rocket boosters and monsters lurk behind closed doors and around every corner. This is a time in need of heroes. It is a time for The Ghost. A series of targeted murders are occurring all over the city, the victims found with ancient Roman coins placed on their eyelids after death. The trail appears to lead to a group of Italian-American gangsters and their boss, who the mobsters have dubbed ‘The Roman’. However, as The Ghost soon discovers, there is more to The Roman than at first appears, and more bizarre happenings that he soon links to the man, including moss-golems posing as mobsters and a plot to bring an ancient pagan god into the physical world in a cavern beneath the city. As The Ghost draws nearer to The Roman and the center of his dangerous web, he must battle with foes both physical and supernatural and call on help from the most unexpected of quarters if he is to stop The Roman and halt the imminent destruction of the city.

AND, finally, just got this in the mail, and I cannot WAIT to read it:

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can’t sell. For as long as Han can remember, he’s worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They’re clearly magicked-as he grows, they grow, and he’s never been able to get them off.

While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won’t use it against them. Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history-it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana’Helena, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She’s just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father’s family at Demonai camp – riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn’t looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea-the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has otherplans for her—plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

The Seven Realms will tremble when the lives of Han and Raisa collide in this stunning new page-turner from bestselling author Cinda Williams Chima.

What about you? Any books you are really looking forward to reading? Do share!

Rachel Vincent is a popular UF novelist, author of the Shifter series. Her first book in her new Young Adult Soul Screamer series has just hit the shelves and Ana reviewed it here. We invited the author to be part of our YA Appreciation Month by writing a piece on her Inspiration to write the series.

Please say hello to Rachel Vincent:

__________

Hey Book Smugglers! Thanks for having me!

You want to know what inspired my YA debut, My Soul to Take? That’s easy enough. The main character, Kaylee Cavanaugh. Who Kaylee is and what she can do—those are the things that inspired and shaped her story. So what was my inspiration for creating Kaylee herself? That one’s not such a simple answer.

Kaylee was inspired by the girl I was in high school, and by the girl I could never have been, even if I’d had her abilities.

Kaylee is a bit of a dichotomy. On one hand, she’s a normal high school junior. She’s neither beautiful nor ugly. She isn’t popular, but she neither is she a pariah. She’s bright, but not at the top of her class. In short, she doesn’t stand out in the crowd, and that’s fine with her because Kaylee has a very serious problem. She gets panic attacks that make her scream at the top of her lungs, filled with the grim certainty that someone near her is going to die. Very soon. And if she had to choose between standing out as a total freak or blending in with the background, Kaylee would gladly fade into the wallpaper anytime.

But in spite of her perceived normalness, though she doesn’t know it yet at the beginning of the book, Kaylee is a bean sidhe (the proper spelling for banshee). Her panic attacks are really premonitions of death. And that’s only half the story.

What does this mean for Kaylee? That she doesn’t fit in anywhere. She’s more human (thus more defenseless) than most of the other non-human species she’s about to discover, but not quite human enough to truly fit in at school. Especially once classmates start dropping dead and Kaylee is compelled to wail for them.
Obviously, the human half of Kaylee is the bit that was inspired in part by my own experiences blending into the walls of my high school. But the part of herself Kaylee discovers in this first book—aside from the whole being-a-bean-sidhe-thing—that’s the girl I never could have been. Kaylee is determined and compassionate, even on behalf of classmates she truly doesn’t like. She is courageous in the face of true danger. She faces down death repeatedly—and literally. She has guts, and brains, and a mind of her own.

And with any luck, that and a few good friends will be enough to get her through those last two years of high school, no matter what this brave new Netherworld throws at her.

_____

Rachel Vincent is the author of the Shifters series, about a werecat named Faythe Sanders, who is learning to define her own role in her family and fighting to claim a place in her Pride.

Rachel’s young adult debut, My Soul to Take, will hit the shelves on August 1, 2009. My Soul to Take is the first in the Soul Screamers series, about a teenage bean sidhe (banshee) trying to balance a normal high school experience with the terrifying, hidden world she’s just discovered.

A recent transplant into the deep south, Rachel Vincent has a BA in English and an overactive imagination, and consistently finds the latter to be more practical. She shares her workspace with two black cats (Kaci and Nyx) and her # 1 fan. Rachel is older than she looks-seriously-and younger than she feels, but remains convinced that for every day she spends writing, one more day will be added to her lifespan.

Thanks to Rachel for her post and now, for the giveaway! We are giving away ONE copy of My Soul to Take to a lucky reader!

The contest is open to EVERYONE, and will run until Saturday August 15th at 11:59 PM. We’ll announce the winner on Sunday during our weekly stash. In order to enter, simply leave a comment here.

Title: My Soul to Take

Author: Rachel Vincent

Genre: YA – Fantasy/Romance

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing date: August 1, 2009
Paperback: 384 pages

Stand Alone or series: It is the first full length novel in the Soul Screamers series. The author also released a novella called My Soul to Lose, which is a prequel to the series and you can download for FREE here

Summary: Something is wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh. She doesn’t see dead people, but…

Kaylee just wants to be a normal girl, basking in the joy of having caught the attention of Nash, the hottest guy in school. But getting through a first date isn’t easy when he seems to know more about Kaylee’s need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only she knows who’ll be next…

Why did I read the book: I heart Banshees! Plus, the cover is totally lush – although, the girl should be, could be, you know, screaming!

Review:

Kaylee Cavanaugh is, on the surface, just you regular teenage girl: the kind that sneaks out of the house to go clubbing with her best friend Emma, for example. And who gets really excited when popular boy-athlete Nash asks her to dance. Unfortunately for Kaylee, this is when her deeply-buried secret decides to show its ugly face. They dance away, and then Kaylee starts to experience what she has been led to believe are panic attacks, which begin with overwhelming feelings of grief and melancholy followed by an urge to scream and scream and scream. This has happened before and the last time, the attack caused damage to glass and to the people around her and lasted for such a long time that her family saw fit to send her to a mental institution. Her brief institutionalizing had left its marks and Kaylee will do anything to avoid being sent there again – even if she has to contain a scream that wants out, at her own expense.

This time, the attack is triggered as she gets a glimpse of a girl who seems immersed in shadows but just when she is about to let go of the building scream, Nash takes her outside and manages to soothe her. The panic passes and she goes home. The next morning, she finds out that the girl has collapsed and died on the dance floor. Just like that – and now Kaylee thinks that she somehow predicted that death, a belief that becomes stronger when another teenage girl collapses and die at school, following a similar pattern: Kalyee feels the grief, the melancholy, the need to scream and then sees the shadow-engulfed girl. And again, Nash is around to calm her whilst at the same time being inexplicably at ease with the circumstances.

That raises questions: why is he being so nice to her? He is a popular jock ,a non-player that seems to go out with a lot of girls. Why the sudden interest? Does he have an agenda?

What Nash really is, is the most straight-forward person in her life. When everybody else – her uncle and aunt who have raised her; her father, who lives away and rarely visits – seems to be keeping secrets, Nash is the one person who will not lie to her. And the truth is that Kaylee is not human: she is a Bean Sidhe (or as it sounds, Banshee) – and so is he.

Traditionally speaking, Banshees are Irish female fairies who can predict death – and their scream is their mourning call. In My Soul To Take, Rachel Vincent takes the legend and makes it her own, departing from tradition and expanding the myth by not only creating a male counterpart, with different and less public powers hence their complete absence from the stories (wink, wink, Ms Vincent, well done) and by giving a larger purpose to her banshees: as Nash explains to Kaylee, her scream is a soul song that can keep the souls around, enough for them to say goodbye. His complementing power is to be able to direct the souls. A male and a female Banshee together, could potentially be really powerful if it wasn’t for their enemies, the Rippers and the Natural Order of Things – when it’s time for a person to go, nothing should stop it unless you are prepared to deal with the harsh consequences.

But Nash and Kaylee suspect that these kids who are dying and not supposed to, and they start to investigate and this path leads them to danger and to the powerful climax.

The story flows rather nicely from the Kaylee’s first suspicions about her powers to hers and Nash process of finding out what the heck is going on. The plot involving the Reapers, the Banshees and the dying girls was really interesting but to me, what makes this book is Kaylee’s journey of self –discovery. It is impossible not to sympathise with the girl, from her extreme fear of being really crazy to her relief at finding out that she isn’t, even if that means that she is not human; and then having to come to grips with powers that are both horrible and beautiful and with the truth about her family. Coming of age stories are at their best when the protagonists have to make hard choices and Kaylee has a few to deal with, dire consequences and all.

Plus, I really liked Nash and Kaylee. They are a good couple and they simply fit and work well together. I did think the transition from not-couple to couple was a bit abrupt though, especially taking into consideration Kaylee’s suspicions of his intentions to begin with. But by the end of the book, it was really nice and easy to see them as a girlfriend and boyfriend without any major angst.

The Bottom line is this: My Soul to Take is very, very good with a protagonist with unique powers and I am looking forward to following Kaylee in her journey of self-discovery.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Every time that Kaylee was close to someone about to die and her Banshee powers came to the forefront. The description of the horrible feelings of grief and melancholy and then the scream she would let lose made for very powerful reading.

Additional Thoughts: make sure to pop back later when Rachel Vincent will be blogging with us about her inspiration for writing Kaylee and for a chance to win a copy of My Soul to Take!

Verdict:A sympathetic protagonist with unique powers in a genre awash with witches, werewolves and vampires and a nice romance storyline to boot.

Rating: 7 – very good

Reading Next: Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Hello, welcome and good Sunday to all!

Week 3 of our Young Adult Appreciation Month is down – 2 more to go!

This week on The Book Smugglers

Monday – Kristi, the Story Siren, is interviewed by us on reading and blogging about YA novels…

….followed by Thea’s review of Dull Boy by Sarah Cross;

Tuesday - Thea reviews the controversial and much raved about novel Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan…

… followed by Ana’s review of Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Wednesday – Thea reviews two books: The Devouring and Soulstice by Simon Holt, and we’ll also have a giveaway of The Devouring…

…while Ana reviews The Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton

Thursday – Souls Screamers Special: Ana reviews My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent followed by a guest post by the author.

Friday – Killer Unicorns attaaaaaack!! We review Diana Peterfreund’s highly anticipated debut Young Adult novel, Rampant and later in the day she talks about her Inspiration and Influences for this new series.

Saturday – Party Day! This is the date of our collaborative Young Adult Celebration!

We invite YOU to read or write a post about anything Young Adult. Anything counts: a review of a favorite oldie, a review of a new (or new to you) YA novel, a post reflecting on the genre, or even a piece on why you DON’T read YA – write a post, come back here on the 15th and we will link to it. So far, more than 35 bloggers have signed up. Go here to learn more on how to be a part of the party!

New Cover of Liar

If you have been around the Internets for any amount the time in the past few weeks, chances are you have heard about the controversy surrounding the cover of Liar, by Justine Larbalestier. Basically, the book is about a black girl and the original cover was this one:

Following the understandable outcry, the US publisher decided to manup and change the cover to this one:

Much better right? And equally beautiful and intriguing. You can read more about at the author’s website.

On our YA radar:

Seventeen-Year-Old Luce is a new student at Sword & Cross, an unwelcoming boarding/reform school in Savannah, Georgia. Luce’s boyfriend died under suspicious circumstances, and now she carries the guilt over his death with her as she navigates the unfriendly halls at Sword & Cross, where every student seems to have an unpleasant—even evil—history.

It’s only when she sees Daniel, a gorgeous fellow student, that Luce feels there’s a reason to be here—though she doesn’t know what it is. And Daniel’s frosty cold demeanor toward her? It’s really a protective device that he’s used again . . . and again. For Daniel is a fallen angel, doomed to fall in love with the same girl every 17 years . . . and watch her die. And Luce is a fellow immortal, cursed to be reincarnated again and again as a mortal girl who has no idea of who she really is.

Rayne can’t wait to start her summer job at a remote country mansion, far from the crowded, noisy London she so desperately wants to escape. But the retreat soon turns into a nightmare — the mansion is creepy, the legends of ghosts keep Rayne up at night, and she doesn’t feel safe anywhere.

Can Rayne figure out why she’s so freaked — before she becomes a ghost story herself?

Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared—the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in blood. But she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night really held. And when Daniel returns three years later, Grace can no longer deny her attraction to him, despite promising Jude she’ll stay away.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, her actions stir the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind Jude and Daniel’s dark secret . . . and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it—her soul.

Love can be a dangerous thing….

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna’s tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she’s far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

It’s a fight to the death – on live TV – when a gladiator’s daughter steps into the arena

Lyn is a neo-gladiator’s daughter, through and through. Her mother has made a career out of marrying into the high-profile world of televised blood sport, and the rules of the Gladiator Sports Association are second nature to their family. Always lend ineffable confidence to the gladiator. Remind him constantly of his victories. And most importantly: Never leave the stadium when your father is dying. The rules help the family survive, but rules – and the GSA – can also turn against you. When a gifted young fighter kills Lyn’s seventh father, he also captures Lyn’s dowry bracelet, which means she must marry him… For fans of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, Lise Haines’ debut novel is a mesmerizing look at a world addicted to violence – a modern world that’s disturbingly easy to imagine.

They look sooooooooo good!

R.I.P. John Hughes

We were saddened to learn that iconic 80s movies writer and director John Hughes has passed away yesterday at age 59, of a heart attack. John Hughes was responsible for some of our favourite movies growing up:

Ana: Thea and I exchanged a few emails talking about how we loved his movies and I became so nostalgic, I couldn’t sleep, as I kept thinking about my favourite lines, or favourite stories. Or how they affected me: for example, I can still remember the day I watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for the first time. I must have been 12 (as the movie was already out on VCR when I first saw it) and I can see right in front of me, my TV. Above all, I remember how it felt watching that scene in the parade when Ferris takes over the microphone and sings Danke Schoen (to this day, the only German words I know – it means Thank you) and then Twist and Shout. It was like being struck by lightning – It was the first time I ever heard of The Beatles and I was all like OMG what is this song? Want. Need.

Thea: Ahh Ferris. Yes, an iconic film, and Matthew Broderick is just so adorable! And of course, the song – you know, the “de bow bow…chick chick-chicka!” (If anyone watches It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, this is funny).

The most hilarious Hughes moment for me has to be from Sixteen Candles. You know, the incredibly horrible racist take on a Chinese exchange student? Auuutomobiiiile?! (Also, “MARRIED?! YES married!” cracks me up like no other) But as for a favorite scene EVER? It’s close. Though Duckie’s Try A Little Tenderness gives it a run for its money, my favorite has to be the cathartic final scene from The Breakfast Club. You know, the paper being read, the Claire and Bender kiss, the final image of Bender’s arm up in victory while “Don’t You Forget About Me” is playing? I don’t think it gets any better than that. (And no clip because I can’t find one! Gaah!)

Ana: I will leave you with Ferris singing Twist and Shout.

And a question for you, dear reader: what is your favorite John Hughes’ movies memory?

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers