Books and Sensibility

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Jess

Skylark Release Party @ One More Page Books in Arlington, VA

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I love the details on the cake. 

Last weekend, Kat and I headed to the Northern Virginia bookstore,One More Page Books, for the release party of Skylark by Meagan Spooner. We’ve been excited for this book since BEA, so we just had to go to the release.

The party was packed with friends and family of Meagan along with readers, booksellers and of course bloggers.

Meagan made a wonderful speech to start off the night. You can tell she has great friends and family supporting her. During the signing she took her time talking with each person and writing a personal message in each book.

Meagan has such a great energy about her and towards the end of the night she took the time to talk us about her journey to publication and her writing process.

We got to see the UK cover of Skylark and learned that the genre of the novel is less Dystopian and more Magical Steampunk. Doesn’t that sound like an awesome genre ?

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Free Stock Images : Be Worry Free

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A lot of bloggers are concerned about copyright and using images without permission. You can find out why here. I want to suggest a few freeware websites for stock images and fonts that can be used for non-commercial purposes.

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Book Review : Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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  • Release Date : August 7th 2012
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury
  • Pages: 416

Synopsis: After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

I was very excited to read Throne of Glass after learning the story originally gained a large following as Queen of Glass on fictionpress.com. I think it’s great when an author has a built-in fandom e.g. Amanda Hocking, Marissa Meyer and Cassandra Clare.  How could you go wrong with a  story and character that enthralled many before it had an official publication?

The first few pages of the novel throws readers into the salt mine prison of Endovier in the magic stripped land of Ardalan. Here Celaena Sardothien a.k.a Ardalan’s Assassin, the country’s most dangerous assassin, is being released into the custody of the crown prince to fight for her freedom in a competition to win the title of the King’s assassin.

The novel starts off strong, but overall the story feels watered down. It seemed like there was supposed to be this fierce competition but it was just really boring. I mean there was very little action involved  and  the other competitors where throwaway characters.

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Summer of Sarah Dessen : This Lullaby

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“Everything, in the end, comes down to timing. One second, one minute, one hour, could make all the difference. So much hanging on just these things, tiny increments that together build a life. Like words build a story, and what had Ted said? One word can change the entire world.”

― Sarah Dessen, This Lullaby

  • Release Date: March 27th 2002
  • Page Number: 345
  • Genre: Contemporary
  • Publisher: Speak

Synopsis: When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs are all about?

Remy Starr is  better, she swears. 

She doesn’t sleep around anymore, she doesn’t smoke nearly as much and , most importantly  her eyes are set on Stanford in the fall. The only thing standing in her way ?  The summer. This will be the summer the girl who thinks she knows everything gets a lesson in love, the Potato Opus and what one summer can do.

Unlike Dessen’s previous novels Remy is not a “good girl”. Remy is not a quiet introspective character. She isn’t best friends with the  screwed-up rebellious girl, she IS that girl. 

The love interest Dexter, provides a nice foil to the extremely “Type A” Remy. He is the spastic, hyper lead singer in the band, Truth Squad. When this group of essentially “lost boys” rolls into town with nothing but a white van and Dexter’s dog, Monkey, things on Remy’s side of town is never the same.
After reading Dessen’s novels in publication order, I think This Lullaby  is a turning point in Dessen’s novels. It combines the friendships, eccentric parents and quirky characters of her first three novels, with the summer time setting of Keeping The Moon. It also plays up romance and love much more than her previous novels…

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Summer of Sarah Dessen : Keeping The Moon

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“You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.” 

― Sarah Dessen, Keeping the Moon

  • Release Date : September 1999
  • Publisher : Viking/Penguin
  • Genre : Contemporary
  • Pages : 240
  • School Library Edition : 228

Synopsis: Colie expects the worst when she’s sent to spend the summer with her eccentric aunt Mira while her mother, queen of the television infomercial, tours Europe. Always an outcast — first for being fat and then for being “easy” — Colie has no friends at home and doesn’t expect to find any in Colby, North Carolina. But then she lands a job at the Last Chance Cafe and meets fellow waitresses Morgan and Isabel, best friends with a loving yet volatile relationship. Wacky yet wise, Morgan and Isabel help Colie see herself in a new way and realize the potential that has been there all along.

Keeping The Moon is a short read that manages to hold its own and pull a at the heart strings. This was the first Sarah Dessen novel  I’d ever read almost ten years ago *cringe* when I was 14-years-old. I remember that as soon as I finished it I sat there for a minute and then started to read it again.

Now 45 pounds lighter, Colie Sparks is no longer the “fat” girl in school.While she could easily shed the pounds, losing her low self-esteem and self consciousnesses is going to take a summer of change.

With bullying a hot topic nowadays this novel is still relevant today. Fifteen year old Colie Sparks has been lled fat, she has been made fun of  and is even called a slut. She is so down in her self that she begins to expect these things even whens she spends the summer in a town where no one knows her.

In the beach town of Colby, NC Colie befriends  a pair of  20 something best friends; Morgan who is a sweet optimist and Isabel, the straight forward brash beauty.As we are introduced to the town of Colby and its residents you really get the feel that you are meeting and getting to know these people for the first time

I did find this novel off plotting wise. It seems as if two plots; the friendship between Colie’s and her aunt’s young border, Norman, and her friendships with Isabel and Morgan could have been worked together. Instead it felt like they were separated into different sections, as if they weren’t apart of the same story.

This isn’t your average light summer at the beach novel. This novel begins real turn in Dessen’s writing. Plot and message began to flow more evenly in her writing after this. This is one of Dessen’s first books about summer and I think she really finds her place there.

Connections

I didn’t pick up any connections to her previous three novels.

 

What is the Summer of Sarah Dessen ?

The Sense List Vol. 13

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