Books and Sensibility

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Jess

Book Review : Coldest Girl In Coldtown

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  • Release Dat : September 13th 2013
  • Pages: 432
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Publisher : Little Brown For Young Readers

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.
One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown is based on the world created in Holly Black’s short story of the same name. I reviewed this short story a few months ago so I had some insight going into the novel….

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Book Review : All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

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  • Release Date : September 3 2013
  • Genre : Sci-Fi/Thriller
  • Publisher : Hyperion Teen
  • Pages : 368

Synopsis : Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.
Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside . . . All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

All Our Yesterdays has been on my radar since I heard it was one of the books on the 2013 Book Expo America YA Editor’s Buzz Panel. It was described as “deceptively simple” and  “more than  a standard girl goes back in time to save the world.”

This is a story that starts at the end. Em is a prisoner in
a secret government facility. Her only company is   Finn, the boy in the cell
next to her. Now I know this might sound like Shatter Me byTahereh Mafi but don’t let these first few pages fool you.  Em and Finn have to escape and go back in time to their yesterdays (wink wink nudge nudge) and kill ‘ the doctor”, the man who changed the world for the worst in order to save the future.…

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Tumble & Fall by Alexandra Bullen Coutts

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  • Release Date: September 17th 2013
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher : FSG (Macmillan)
  • Pages : 384

Synopsis : The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn’t how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that’s left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand. 

 I think most of the criticism of this book comes from the misconception that this novel is a full on dystopian. When I started Tumble & Fall I got what I expected;  a contemporary with some pre-apocalyptic undertones. Even with that said,  this book doesn’t hit a lot of high notes for me. 

…

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The Beginning of Everything (Severed Heads, Broken Hearts in the UK) by Robyn Schneider

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  • Publisher : Katherine Tegen Books
  • Release Date : August 27th 2013
  • Pages : 352

Synopsis: Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

The Beginning of Everything tells the story of Ezra Faulkner, the popular high school tennis star with the perfect senior year in front of him. But it all falls to pieces in a moment when Ezra is hit by a car and left walking with a cane. Now, his girlfriend has left him, he doesn’t know how to relate to his friends and has resigned to spending his senior year alone. Then he is taken in by his neighbor, Toby, and along with a few quirky debate team members  Ezra grows in ways he never expected….

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Algonquin For Young Readers First List Giveaway

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 This Fall Algonquin (best known for publishing Water For Elephants) launched  Algonquin Books For Young Readers ! This new imprint will feature books for both children and YA audience with “unforgettable characters, absorbing stories and superior writing.”

We were very excited to hear about this new literary minded YA brand and are so happy to host a giveaway of the first list novels from Algonquin for YA readers.

…

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Book Review : If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

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  • Release Date : August 20th 2013  
  • Genre : Literary Fiction
  • Publisher : Algonquin For Young Readers
  • Pages : 256

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six. They’ve shared stolen kisses and romantic promises. But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love—Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed if their relationship came to light.
So they carry on in secret—until Nasrin’s parents announce that they’ve arranged for her marriage. Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that they can go on as they have been, only now with new comforts provided by the decent, well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry. But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively—and openly.

If You Could Be Mine is not only the debut novel of Sarah Farizan but also the first YA release for   Algonquin’s newest imprint, Algonquin BooksFor Young Readers.

Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend Nasarin most of her life and will do anything to be with her, but the romantic relationship between the two girls is forbidden by law.  Sahar’s only chance to be with the one she loves is to have a government-approved sexual reassignment surgery to fix her “illness.”

Without context this might sound like speculative fiction,  but this is the reality of modern day men and woman living in Iran. A little background; the act of homosexuality is illegal in Iran and  even punishable by death, however the government will help pay for sexual reassignment surgery to cure their “illness”, but the lives of  transsexuals is far from easy. …

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