We're an Open Book
Welcome to a week long feature on Book and Sensibility where we countdown 25 authors published under age 25. We hope this feature serves as encouragement to young writers and to those who are young at heart !
To kick off we are going to start with authors who not only published under 25, but when they were sill teenagers.
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Release Date : May 1st 2012
Synopsis: What if there were teens whose lives depended on being bad influences? This is life for sons and daughters of fallen angels in Sweet Evil. Tenderhearted Southern girl, Anna Whitt, was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She’s aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but it isn’t until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage, and her will-power is put to the test. He’s the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Sweet Evil is a provocative paranormal romance with angels, demons and a sinful twist.
The paranormal concept behind this novel is something different than what I have encountered while reading paranormal romance. In the novel Nephilim, the children of fallen angels, live on Earth and embody a sin. Their most important work is to pull humans into sin. Sweet Evil explores the concepts of nature versus nurture ideas of sin. The book made me think about how we make sense of the bad things that others do.
Higgins writing is fun and addicting, and will appeal to teens and YA readers. However I did feel like some parts of the plot were spoon fed, we are told too much instead of being shown and allowed to create our own opinions.
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This week Books and Sensibility will be showcasing our favorite 25 Authors Published Under 25. We want to highlight the accomplishments of young authors and give a little inspiration to young (and young at heart) writers. The authors we are going to highlight include New York Times Bestsellers, award winners and fan favorites.
The week will culminate with a giveaway. Join us every other day from May 1-May 6th as we showcase 25 authors published under 25 !
Welcome to The Sense List ! A feature on Books and Sensibility where we wrap up current YA news and events. This feature was inspired by YA Highway’s Field Trip Friday and Novel Thoughts This Week In YA
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“A world of nevers under a never sky.”
– Veronica Rossi, Under The Never Sky
Synopsis : EXILED from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland–known as The Death Shop–are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild–a savage–and her only hope of staying alive.
Under The Never Sky is a post-apocalpytic road story sprinkled with dystopian elements. The female protagonist, Aria lives a safe and secure life in underground pods, spending her days in vitural realms. Perry lives on the outside or “The Death Shop” a world filled with tribal warfare, Aether storms and savagery.When their worlds collide they learn they may not be as different as they thought.
The novel starts out a little shaky to me, almost everything in the story is told or explained immediately, in an almost checklist like fashion. There is very little mystery and I would have liked to slide easier into the story. Once we get past the introduction the writing does get better and the story begins to take shape.
Basically, Aria and Perry each have their own plot MacGuffin that propels them to journey together in search of what they are looking for. While this jump starts the plot it isn’t my favorite set up.
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“I like how you’re neither here nor there. And how there’s nowhere else you’re meant to be while waiting. You’re just sort of suspended.”
– Jennifer E. Smith, The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight
This has to be one of the most unique and heartfelt contemporary YA books I have read in a while. With a title containing the words ‘love at first sight’ I was afraid it was going to run into insta-love category, but I found it far from it. It’s not so much about love at first sight, but the possibility of love at first sight and other things.
The story follows roughly 24 hours of the life of Hadley Sullivan as she catches a plane to London to attend her father’s wedding to a woman she has never met. Along the way she meets Oliver and through the story she is trying to learn how to reconcile her feelings with her father and his new marriage.
Smith uses an excellent writing style that is sparse and simple, but still tells you so much. She is an excellent storyteller–I felt sympathy with the characters and connected through the use of retrospective story telling.
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