Dare You To - Katie McGarry

Synopsis: If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....
Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.
But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

I fell in love with Katie McGarry's writing and storytelling in Pushing the Limits. I had very high expectations going in to Dare You To and McGarry definitely met all of them. She has the power and skill to create such well-rounded characters that feel as though they are really off living their lives somewhere. Even after I finished Pushing the Limits, I would find myself, days later, thinking about Echo and Noah and what they were up to now. I felt the same way after finishing Dare You To - Ryan and Beth don't disappear when you close the book.

Ryan stole my heart in the first page of this book. He is the ultimate. I love baseball, I love writing, and I don't know why I didn't realize before - but OF COURSE the most perfect boy on the planet is an extraordinary pitcher and an eloquent writer. Plus, he's daring and sweet. He knows exactly what he wants and he's not afraid to fight for it. I could write poetry about this boy. If I could sing, I would definitely sing songs about him. I love him, I love him, I love him.

Overkill? Nah. He really is all kinds of amazing.

Beth was frustrating in so many ways, but you can't help but totally be on her side. It's hard because sometimes she seems so determined to keep doing things that make her miserable or to help the people who hurt her, and she seems completely blind to the good things in her life. But the flip side of that is that she's wonderfully stubborn, determined and fiercely loyal. And she balances Ryan out so nicely. She makes him step up and fight for what he wants and she makes him fight for her. Where she teaches him to fight, he shows her that her life doesn't have to be a constant struggle.

I love the way they come together. Their relationship happens organically, it starts out slowly and then it just happens all of a sudden. I like the way the dares play into their story as well. It's a way for Ryan and his friends to just be boys - to be competitive and to liven up a small town. But Ryan meets Beth because of one of those dares, but where it matters, he's totally up front about it. Even where they both seem to self-sabotage, they still manage to turn it around to make their relationship strong and real.

One more thing I love about Katie McGarry's books is the way that adults come in to play. She writes really strong adults that come in and do their best to help out the teens in their lives. In Dare You To, it's Beth's uncle who is just amazing and he puts up with so much just to make sure Beth's life will improve.

This was another amazing book from Katie and I can't wait to meet the other characters she has waiting in her brain for a chance to spring to life. The same way I still occasionally think about what Echo and Noah are up to, I know I'll be thinking of Beth and Ryan and wishing they're happy. I have a feeling that as Katie keeps writing, I'm going to have a group of friends that I'll have to keep reminding myself are fictional. 

Requiem - Lauren Oliver

::Post by Jackie Lindert::

Synopsis: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

I've got to be honest and admit that I wasn't as smitten with this series as everyone else seems to be. I loved the premise of love being considered a contagious disease. It got me really excited to read Delirium. I think I just had a classic case of extremely high hopes, and they just weren't met. I won't go into detail about the particular things that rubbed me the wrong way, though, since I don't want to turn anyone off from reading these because Lauren Oliver is SO cool. She is awesome on Twitter, and I went to an author panel she was a part of, and she was by far my favorite. She just rocks. I wish I would have liked the Delirium series more.

Due to my loving Lauren Oliver and all the hype surrounding these books, I continued reading even after Delirium didn't rock my socks off. I also love all things dystopia, so I was rooting for Pandemonium to improve my feelings toward the series, which it definitely did. I've heard mixed reactions about book 2, but I liked it a lot. Lena finally grew a pair in my eyes. I liked her a lot more, so I enjoyed reading about her more--plus I have a major crush on Julian. Sorry! 

Requiem started out as my favorite of the trilogy. I'm a sucker for sticking it to "the man," and government vs. the people. Characters who want their freedom are automatically cooler than your average protagonist. I also enjoyed the varying points of view in this one, which was done SO well. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave you with what fell flat for me, just so you are warned. The ending of the book--and the series--leaves a lot open. I feel like I don't know what happened to several characters I was interested in. But by all means, please enjoy these books more than I did.

Author Interview: Juliana Haygert

        I'm stoked to have Juliana Haygert on the blog today answering my questions! Juliana is the lovely New Adult author of Destiny Gift and the upcoming Breaking the Reins. If you want to check out my review of Destiny Gift you can check it out HERE.

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   In the Best Worlds: What are three things about yourself that not many people know?

Julianna Haygert: Wow, what a start!

Okay, let’s see.

1) I have a moon shaped scar on my right knee (just like Victor does).

2) I’m obsessed with my weight – I exercise like crazy, and I cry whenever I gain a pound.

3) I hate it when my husband travels for work (which thankfully doesn’t happen much anymore) because I don’t feel like I’m “safe” when he’s gone. I’m dead serious.

   ITBW: New Adult consists largely of contemporary fiction, so what made you decide to write a paranormal NA novel?

JH: Though I’ve been on a contemporary phase lately, Paranormal and UF are my favorite genres, and most of my ideas always come to me with something supernatural about them. When I first started writing with publication purposes (around 2009), I wrote three UF manuscripts before attempting contemporary, simply because that was the order the ideas came to me.

ITBW: Destiny Gift is set 30 years in the future. What made you decide to write during that time? Did you have any challenges in picturing our world in the near future?

JH: I wanted a different world, and, after a lot of thought, I figured it would be easier to change the future than to change the past. Though, I had to delete several pop culture references on the book, like at one point I mentioned Lady Gaga and her fame, and then I thought, hm, Lady Gaga would be almost 60 years old during DG’s period so I had to take those out.

ITBW: There’s a unique mythological story line in Destiny Gift. What inspired you to write outside of traditional Greek and Roman mythology?

JH: I LOVE mythologies. Always have, always will love.

At first, I thought about using Egyptian mythology (my favorite – I will write a book involving it someday!) or Greek and Roman, which are the most common – but, in the end, I wanted something different. There are so many books out there that deal with Greek and Roman mythology, I didn’t want DG to be compared to them. Besides, it was fun creating my own gods and creatures and legends.

ITBW: What is your favorite thing about writing in the NA field?

JH: The freedom to write the heck I want. Seriously. I mean, if you write YA and there are sex scenes in your books, people are gonna talk (bad) about it. If you write adult but the tone of your protagonist is a little immature or if that’s not enough sex (gasp!), people are gonna talk (bad) about it. With NA, you have the immature + mature, the new + old, the sex or no sex at all, the responsibility + the stupidity that comes with thinking you’re responsible.

Well, people still talk a lot about NA, band AND good stuff LOL

      ITBW: Are there any NA books you’d recommend?

JH: There are sooooo many. Easy by Tammara Webber, Broken at Love by Lyla Payne, The Wild Ones by M. Leighton. I have a “new adult” and a “favorites” list on goodreads – there you’ll find all the books I recommend ;)

 ITBW: What are you working on now?

JH: I’m finishing revisions on Breaking the Reins, my upcoming NA Contemp, and soon I’ll be drafting the sequel of Destiny Gift! And then I think I’m gonna pick up a forgotten NA contemp and rework it ;)

    ITBW: Finish these sentences…

::We could be best friends if...you were Jennifer Lawrence lol Seriously, the girl is so awkward         and so crazy. Love her.

            ::When I was 20 (or a new adult) I…got married.

            ::You should read my book because…it’s a crazy, unexpected ride!

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More about Juliana: While Juliana Haygert dreams of being Wonder Woman, Buffy, or a blood elf shadow priest, she settles for the less exciting - but equally gratifying - life of a wife, mother, and author. Thousands of miles away from her former home in Brazil, she now resides in Connecticut and spends her days writing about kick-ass heroines and the heroes who drive them crazy.

Find Juliana Online: Website :: Blog :: NA Alley :: Facebook :: Twitter 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is: Top Ten Favorite Covers of Books I've Read

1. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson - The colors and the movement and the font just capture the wildness, the freedom, the whimsy, and somehow just looking at it still breaks my heart. 

2. Hourglass by Myra McEntire - Don't know what it is about this cover, but I swear it actually beckons. I had no intentions of reading this book but it sat on my desk and stared at me until I read it. Now I still see it as a powerful cover. 

3. The Diviners by Libba Bray - I love what's going on in the background of this cover. So beautiful. There's nothing lit city lights. 

4. Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma - SO beautiful. And so appropriate for the story it tells. 

5. Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian - I don't know what it is about this cover, but I just adore it. 

6. Dreamelss by Josephine Angelini - The colors are so gorgeous and the cover is so much better in real life. 

7. Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley - It's just perfect. 

8. Clockwork Princess by Clockwork Princess - I love the Infernal Devices cover, but this one is just really fabulous. The silver and golds are just beautiful. And so shiny. 

9. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - I didn't read Cinder for a year because I hated the cover. Well, not hate...it just didn't seem like my thing. But I read it and it blew me away. And I was SO excited to go on to Scarlet, which is also incredible, and the cover is perfect. The lettering is awesome and I love the Little Red Riding Hood cape. 

10. Just One Day by Gayle Forman - I don't even know where to start with what I love about this cover. It evokes memories of my own time in Europe, it's exotic and familiar at the same time, the girl is  interesting, and I know this is weird - but I really want that watch. Also, it's such an amazing book that looking at that cover just brings back all the things I love about it. 

Destiny Gift - Juliana Haygert

Synopsis: Thirty years in the future, a sinister New York City exists in permanent darkness.
A student at the secured NYU, nineteen-year-old Nadine has visions of Victor Gianni, an imaginary guy she has real feelings for. Afraid of being truly insane, she explains the visions away as simple daydreams, but she can no longer deny them when she bumps into Victor in real life. But this Victor doesn’t know her, and turns her away. After the encounter, Nadine’s visions change to those of eerie fates, gods she’s never heard of, demons with sharp claws they are not too timid to use … and instructions.
To discover if she’s losing her mind, Nadine follows the vague directions—with the real, rude and reluctant Victor—leading to a man who knows it all: Nadine can restore an ancient creed by unveiling the clues on her visions, and bring sunlight and peace to the world again. But that’s only if the demons and the other evil forces behind the darkness don’t stop her first.

For as obsessed as I've been about New Adult, I hadn't ventured beyond the contemporary genre until I read Destiny Gift. This book is really great for breaking apart all the labels people have taken to placing on NA lit. It combines mythology and urban fantasy, throws in a dark futuristic setting and it has a love interest that doesn't take precedence over the story at hand. Even with all these things, Nadine is still at college and dealing with the type of independence, decisions, and friends that come along with being that age. Destiny Gift really is a unique story that kept me on my toes, totally surprised me, and left me needing more.

Juliana creates her own mythology for this story. I kept trying to figure out what mythology the gods and goddesses in this story were based of of, but once I realized they were totally new I got really excited. They're very well written, so it's hard to tell that they haven't been around for a long time. I also loved that there's a nod to Greek and Roman mythologies, where she acknowledges their existence and kind of sets this structure up as the true one, even if it's fairly unknown. The gods and goddesses have their own fascinating feuds, there are scholars of the religion, and of course you have humans who are pawns in their schemes.

And of course when things blow up between gods, the whole world suffers. Which brings us to the world Nadine lives in. It's much darker and bleaker than the world we live in now, yet it's set just 30 years in the future. Natural disasters hit all the time and it's dangerous to walk unguarded in New York. Nadine attends NYU, which is heavily guarded. She's a relatively normal girl who's studying pre-med and has friends who worry she doesn't get out of the apartment enough. She's normal, except that she has visions and has fallen in love with the guy in her visions. All of these aspects come together in a really interesting way - because the visions and the mythology are really enhanced by the background of this potential future.

Then there's this guy that Nadine is in love with in her visions, who doesn't seem like the same guy when she meets him in real life and then there's Micah who swoops into her life from out of no where and it's hard to figure out why he's there. It seems for a bit that there's a love triangle setting up, but honestly the romantic storyline takes a back seat to all the action going on, so it's hard to really decide if there's enough feeling on the part of both guys to really set up a proper triangle.

I love where the story was heading, especially after it turned into a kind of avoid-the-apocalypse type of road trip. But there was a moment where I was truly stunned at the way the story took a turn and I got really excited. A lot that didn't quite fit all suddenly fit into place, but there are still a lot of things that I need answers to. I'm still really curious how Nadine fits into the larger picture, where pieces are beginning to become more clear.

I'm really happy with my first non-contemporary foray into NA and if you're looking for something different in NA lit, definitely give this book a shot. It might change your ideas of what NA is all about. Plus, it's just a great and enjoyable story. And for the next couple weeks it's only 0.99 cents. So really, why not give it a shot?

Siege and Storm - Leigh Bardugo

Synopsis: Darkness never dies.
Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can't outrun her past or her destiny for long.The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling's game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm. (From Goodreads)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how a second book should be written. It's another thrilling and richly told story set in the same vibrant world we saw in Shadow and Bone. There are no fillers in this book. Alina faces real challenges and along with characters new and old, she stretches and grows. The new characters are so wonderful and I had some surprising reactions to the way some relationships affected me. I loved the new places Alina and Mal went, I loved that it starts out on the True Sea, and the new mythological creature is awesome. With every page, Alina's story gets more complex and this world just springs to life right in front of you.

Siege and Storm starts off with Mal and Alina on the run. We're taken to the high seas where there are sea-worthy men and a mythological monster. It's just incredible how Leigh Bardugo has created this world that breathes and it expands so effortlessly. You can start to imagine that this story just takes us to a small part of this world that just has to exist somewhere. I like that there are familiar places that resurface, but the time they spend on the run and at sea is really an awesome expansion to Alina's world.

Meeting Sturmhond is the one of my favorite things from this book. He's charming and dangerous and completely unpredictable. Most surprises came from him and he just totally captured my attention and my heart. I'm not saying I think he should be with Alina, I'm just saying he's a wonderful, wonderful character. I also like that we saw a lot more of him and not as much of the Darkling. I'm still a little bitter at the Darkling for making me trust him.

By the end of this book, I actually felt like Mal and Alina should not be together. When I realized I was feeling this way I had to step back and try to figure out how that happened. Because Mal is perfect and he and Alina are perfect in Shadow and Bone. I think Alina just grows so much - into her power and into herself - that she becomes this incredible force and beautiful character, while Mal kind of moves in the opposite direction. He deteriorates as she gets stronger, and I really hate to say it, but he's holding her back. I already know that other people won't agree with this and I'm all for rooting for two people really meant to be together to get through a rough patch. But, I can't help but think this isn't just a rough patch, but two people legitimately growing apart. I guess we'll see.

I'm so happy the second book holds up to the high bar set by Shadow and Bone. It continued to weave an intricate story line that just seems to get bigger and bolder with every page. And it definitely kept me on my toes. I have no idea where it's going to go from here and I've stopped trying to guess. I whole-heartedly put my imagination in the hands of Leigh Bardugo and I know she'll do amazing things with it.

New Adult Discussion: Why NA is a Relevant Genre

::Post by Jackie Lindert::

I'm going to start this post by saying that I love New Adult (NA). I think it is more than just a marketing strategy, and it deserves to be recognized as separate, important genre.It's not YA. It's not adult fiction. It's NA, and it is awesome.

I think it goes without being said (despite the fact that I'm saying it anyway) that I am a big fan of YA. I read about it, blog about it, and love it. I see people all over the map about YA, both authors and readers. Some think NA is just sexier YA, some think it's straight up erotica (I hate when people generalize all NA as erotica!), and some think it isn't even a real classification--most books falling into either YA or romance/fiction for adults. Well I am here to say that it is about time there is a new, not a revived or pre-existing, genre for these books.

I will say that I believe NA did morph out of the YA genre. I say that having studied sociology and psychology and other fancy -ologies that make me feel qualified to give the following opinion:

It takes longer for "kids" today to grow up. We are the generation that is coddled, over-protected, and get prizes just for participating. I'm not saying whether that is good or bad, but just hear me out. There is an actual term for the parents of our time: Helicopter parents. They hover! College students have their parents scheduling their classes and graduates have moms going with them on interviews (horrifying!). My Dad told me that when he was 18 and moved to college, he phoned his parents once a month and saw them on holidays. Going to college was goodbye parents; hello independence. Blame it on cell phones or parents compensating for the naughty lives they led as teens and young 20-somethings, but times are different.

The point of all that is this: NA for post-high school kids is what YA was for teens of past generations. Think of all the soul searching and self finding that happens in all the classic YA novels:

All these coming-of-age books were helping people deal with serious issues and getting ready for them to become an adult (as in a YOUNG adult! It all makes sense!). But, thanks to society and helicopter parents, it takes people longer to come of age and be independent. NA helps those of us who graduated high school and/or college, and are just now getting our life sorted and figured out. Here are some great examples of NA books where the character comes into their own for the first time even though they are older than 17:

Just like YA, NA is amazing and important to everyone looking to read about someone going through the same things that they are. It's just at a different point in life, and answers different questions. It surprises me how many authors don't want their books affiliated with the NA label. I say to them: Be trailblazers in this great emergence of a new genre! What do you think about this controversial topic?