Being Jamie Baker

Hey guys! Today I bring you news about a book and a contest.

Kelly Oram's debut novel, Being Jamie Baker, came out in June. I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet, but I have read the first chapter online (which you, too, can do by clicking on this link; you can also watch the trailer here, although I've been having some trouble getting it to load) and it looks like it would be a fun read. Here's the summary from Goodreads, if you're curious:

"Most superhero stories start with a meteor shower or a nasty insect bite, but mine actually starts with a kiss..."

An accident that should end in tragedy instead gives seventeen-year-old Jamie Baker a slew of uncontrollable superhuman abilities.

To keep her secret safe Jamie socially exiles herself, earning the title of Rocklin High’s resident ice queen. But during a supercharged encounter with star quarterback Ryan Miller she literally kisses anonymity goodbye. Now the annoyingly irresistible Ryan will stop at nothing to melt the heart of the ice queen and find out what makes her so special.

Unfortunately, Ryan is not the only person on to her secret. Will Jamie learn to contain her unstable powers before being discovered by the media or turned into a government lab rat?

More importantly, can she throw Ryan Miller off her trail before falling in love with him?

Intriguing, no? But wait! you say. You haven't told us about the contest yet! Well, on her website, Kelly Oram describes a contest in which she'll be giving away one signed copy of her book each week through the month of November. You can find out more about that here.

And from what I can tell from the first chapter, there's a lot of talk about a character named Becky. If novel-Becky ends up being a significant character, I'm going to feel like I'm talking about myself in third person a lot when I talk about Being Jamie Baker. I haven't encountered a whole lot of literary Beckys (Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer excepted, of course).

Laters!
~Becky

I Am on a Horse

I apologize, dear readers, for the lack of bookishness in the last few BOOKworm Boulevard posts, but I have been very busy what with school and preparing to take the SAT tomorrow (again). I haven't had much time for reading. I shall hopefully remedy that this weekend.

In the meantime, though, I present this video for your amusement, shared with me by one of my best friends. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Old Spice commercials (I love them, they're hilarious), but I'm pretty sure you all know Sesame Street.

I am still laughing hysterically at this. Observe:

It's Wednesday Again!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week the book I found is Razorland by Ann Aguirre. It's a dystopian sci-fi and the summary reminds me a little bit of the fifth Pendragon book (series by D.J. MacHale, definitely worth reading).

Description from Goodreads: 
In Deuce’s world, individuals become adults—and earn the right to a name—only if they survive their first fifteen years. By this point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups: breeders, builders, or hunters. As the names imply, each group has definite roles to play for the survival of the group.

As a Huntress, Deuce’s purpose is clear—to roam the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading the ferocious humanoids known as Freaks. This has been the status quo for as far back as anyone can remember; this is, the elders tell everyone, the way it has to be. With the introduction of Fade, a male hunter a couple of years older than Deuce, who had been adopted into her enclave a few years earlier, she becomes aware of the hidden realities of the Orwellian society in which she was born. Deviation from the norm is punished quickly and harshly.

As Deuce’s perception of her world shifts, guided by her complex partnership with Fade, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival in the tunnels. The Freaks, considered dangerous only due to their sheer numbers and ferocious appetite, have long been held as incapable of any level of thought. And yet, as Fade and Deuce encounter them in the tunnels while in a reconnaissance mission to the nearest enclave, the creatures’ behavior is evidently cunning, and therefore more dangerous. It is evident that the danger is imminent, and yet Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she's ever known.

*****
Honestly, I don't find the cover that attractive. I might really like it, but something about the girl's face seems...off to me. Still making up my mind on the title, too. But the summary looks like something I'd enjoy and the early reviews I've seen have been very positive! Razorland comes out on April 12th. I shall be looking for it then!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave your link in the comments, I'd love to see!

Review: Intertwined

Title: Intertwined
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 440
Series: Intertwined #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
There's something about the new guy at Crossroads High...

Most sixteen-year-olds have friends. Aden Stone has four human souls living inside him:

One can time-travel.
One can raise the dead.
One can tell the future.
And one can possess another human.

With no other family and a life spent in and out of institutions, Aden and the souls have become friends. But now they're causing him all kinds of trouble. Like, he'll blink and suddenly he's a younger Aden, reliving the past. One wrong move, and he'll change the future. Or he'll walk past a total stranger and know how and when she's going to die.

He's so over it. All he wants is peace.

And then he meets a girl who quiets the voices. Well, as long as he's near her. Why? Mary Ann Gray is his total opposite. He's a loner; she has friends. He doesn't care what anyone thinks; she tries to make everyone happy. And while he attracts the paranormal, she repels it. For her sake, he should stay away. But it's too late...

Somehow, they share an inexplicable bond of friendship. A bond about to be tested by a werewolf shape-shifter who wants Mary Ann for his own, and a vampire princess Aden can't resist. Two romances, both forbidden. Still, the four will enter a dark underworld of intrigue and danger - but not everyone will come out alive...

**********

Before you start reading this review and think that I'm trashing this book, I want you to know that I really enjoyed it. It was excellent, and I'm definitely going to have to read Unraveled (the sequel) as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. But...

I'm going to start off with the stuff I didn't like. There were so many things that reminded me of Twilight! Vampires and werewolves involved in forbidden/impossible romances with humans, and a vampire + bodyguard named Victoria and Riley. Really? And I hate what the jacket flap says. It's way too long winded and it doesn't even get to the point about what the story is about.

What I loved, though, was the story itself, and the characters, and the paranormal elements. They even mentioned dragons at one point, although we didn't see them. For a long time, one of my Random Literary Goals has been to find a book that mentions vampires/werewolves and dragons, because I love dragons but they never appear in the same stories as the others, even though vampires and werewolves and dragons are all paranormal. So this book gets major points for that.

But getting back on track: the story was great. A little predictable in places (the whole Eve thing - you'll understand if you have read it or decide to read it, but I don't want to say more because it's spoilery), but one of the most original storylines I've found in a long time. Aden has these four souls living inside of him, and somehow he did something that called all the paranormal creatures to him - including the vampires, led by Vlad the Impaler, and his daughter, whom Elijah (one of Aden's souls) has seen in a vision. And then there's Mary Ann, who feels just as weirdly drawn to Aden as he does to her, and somehow negates Aden's powers. I really want book two to find out what's going on!

And the characters. It's not often that an author can create this many characters and give them all such distinct personalities - especially with two narrators - but not only do Mary Ann and Aden both feel separate and real, Victoria and Riley and the souls (Eve, Elijah, Julian, and Caleb) are also distinctive, particularly Eve.

Other random asides: I love the idea of the je la nune vampire-killer, and I love the name Aden.

Long story short: READ IT. You may initially draw a few parallels to Twilight but it goes away quickly. It's great!

Links: 
Gena Showalter's official fan page

In My Mailbox (5)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

I have five new books this week. Well, "new" - none of them are actually mine, they all came from the library:

Agh, so it's a little blurry. As you may notice, this is the first time I've uploaded an actual photograph of the books I got, and in my defense, I took this picture with a webcam. Anyway, the books are:

-Fade by Lisa McMann. I read Wake back at the beginning of June and enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

-The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I've heard so many great things about this book (including that it's dystopian), so I'm definitely excited to read this one!

-Killer by Sara Shepard. Yup, it's another Pretty Little Liars novel.

-Guardian of the Gate by Michelle Zink. I read (and reviewed) the first one, Prophecy of the Sisters, a little while ago and I'm excited for the sequel! Want to find out what comes next.

-Broadway Lights by Jen Calonita. This is the fifth(?) Secrets of My Hollywood Life book. It's been a while since I read the first four, but I heard there was a new one out so I thought I'd check it out. I'm really interested in film production, so if it's got to do with acting or film stuff...I'll read it.

That's it for me this week, guys! What did you get in your mailbox?

Assorted Non-Bookish Things, Mostly

Hello, people of the interwebs! No, I haven't forgotten about you. I have just had the most insane week ever. Homecoming at my high school was last night (we lost the football game 60-6. Hey, it's an academic magnet school, not a sports school), and Spirit Week leading up to it was absolutely crazy. Also totally wonderful. It was made of awesome.

Then I spent five hours or so today working on a physics project (and getting distracted by sparkly Sesame Street t-shirts in Wal-Mart). I understand that physics is useful and relevant and so on in the real world, but in all honesty, I despise physics.

But between physics and Homecoming festivities and the like, I have had very little time to read. I've been about halfway through Intertwined for a while and I hope to finish it before too terribly long, although schoolwork is being interfering and obnoxious and all that. In the meantime, I have some non-bookish things to share with you.

First, the song "The Call" by Regina Spektor. You may have heard it...it's been totally and completely stuck in my head for the last three or four days. Also, the song "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago. This one popped into my head because the theme for our senior homecoming hallway this year was jailbreak. It never fails to amuse me, although I will warn anyone clicking that link who hasn't seen the musical to be prepared for some rather risque dancing. (The links to both of those songs go to YouTube. Please do not download them from YouTube. That is illegal and does not support the artists.)

Also, perhaps this is old news by now but the movie Inception is absolutely and totally amazing. I bring this up only because I was thinking about it earlier.

My family is watching football right now. I don't understand why football is so entertaining to so many people.

If you're looking for a random amusing flash game, Achievement Unlocked can be quite distracting. Yay for procrastinating!

Happy October, everyone. I shall return tomorrow with an IMM post.

~Becky

Waiting on Wednesday: Exposed

As of this morning, I had completely forgotten it was Wednesday, so I wasn't prepared to have a literary magazine staff meeting after school (I also left Macbeth, which I needed for English class, on the kitchen table, but that has nothing to do with it being Wednesday). Since then, however, I have remembered today's Wednesday-ness and now have a book to introduce to you.

My Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine) pick this week is Exposed by Kimberly Marcus. Something about the description of this reminds me of Hold Still by Nina LaCour, which I read pre-blog but absolutely adored. Here is the cover:

Description from Goodreads: 
In the dim light of the darkroom, I'm alone, but not for long.
As white turns to gray, Kate is with me.
The background of the dance studio blurred, so the focus is all on her
legs extended in a perfect soaring split.
The straight line to my squiggle,
my forever-best friend.

Sixteen-year-old Liz Grayson is photogirl—sharp, focused and ready to take the world by storm with her camera. But Liz's entire life is called into question when her brother is accused of a crime—and the accuser is Liz's own best friend. As the aftershocks from that accusation rip through Liz's world, everything she thought she knew about photography, family, friendship and herself, shifts out of focus. And for the first time in her life, Liz finds herself unable to trust her own point of view. Told in stunning, searingly raw free verse,   Exposed is Kimberly Marcus's gut-wrenching, riveting debut and will appeal to fans of Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson and Virginia Euwer Wolff. 

I think it sounds awesome and I definitely can't wait to read it! Exposed will be out February 22, 2011. I'll be waiting to read it!

What are you waiting on this week?