One Final NaNoWriMo Post

I did it! I won! I finished! I wrote 50,000 words in 30 days!

For three consecutive years, I have participated in and won NaNoWriMo. It's incredibly exciting. The fact that I've done it twice before doesn't make it any less exciting and awesome this time around. Of course, my story isn't quite done yet; I may have hit the 50k mark, but the story part still has some wrapping-up to do. Maybe I'll get to that later tonight, but between now and then I must acknowledge reality and do some homework.

But anyway, yay for NaNo! How has it been for the rest of you NaNo-ers out there? If you're not done yet, do not despair! You still have nearly 5 hours (well, if you're on EST like I am) in which to finish, and 5 hours is plenty of time for writing. If you still have words to write... good luck! You can do it! If you did finish already, congratulations!! :)

Also, just a small reminder that Matched is out in stores today. And it is just waiting for you to read it.

Happy Tuesday!

Review: Matched

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 384
Series: Matched #1
Rating: 5 stars
From the book jacket: 
Society matched them, but love set them free.

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow - between perfection and passion.

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I don't even know where to start. Matched was such an utterly amazing book that I really have no idea where to begin. So I suppose I'll begin by saying that I absolutely adore this cover. It is so gorgeous. Also, it shimmers. Love love love.

And the story! It's set up within a typical dystopian frame - "perfect" society, someone rebels. (I'm totally not trashing this frame, by the way - it's just part of the genre.) But it feels like it has so much more to it than that! The Society is so intricate, so well-developed. It just kind of makes you shiver with how these are all realistic people acting so...machine, but still with their human characteristics. I'll stop now before I go off into my whole spiel about how much I love dystopian fiction, but suffice it to say that the Society in Matched is one of the best.

The background is perfect: just add characters. Honestly, I feel like the characters could have been boring as all get-out and the book would still have been semi-readable because the backdrop is so good, but Ally Condie did so much better. Cassia is one of the most real protagonists I've encountered, especially with this kind of set-up. And Xander and Ky....oh, man. I love Xander and all, but Ky is so....ahh. I would not want to have to choose. Poor Cassia.

Okay, I recognize that I'm rambling. I shall attempt to stop that. Basically, Cassia gets Matched to Xander, so the two of them will be married...but then, for just a moment, Cassia sees Ky's face on her Matching screen. Cue forbidden love and all sorts of intrigue.

The plot sounds kind of basic, but the execution...I could read pages and pages of absolute nothing, as long as it was written as beautifully as this book. I love love love Ally Condie's writing. And when paired with an awesome dystopian society (er, Society) and some amaaazing characters...well, you're in for a novel you don't want to miss. My only complaint was that I wanted to see more development of the minor characters, but really, I felt like even they were well-rounded.

Long story short, I love this book. Definitely, definitely read it.


Matched is in stores November 30, 2010 (that's tomorrow, for those of you reading this on the day I'm posting it). I recommend finding a copy.

me with Ally Condie at ALAN

Links: 
Ally Condie's website/blog

NCTE/ALAN 2010, Part 2: Many Pictures

I promised pictures...so here is a very abbreviated selection of my pictures from this weekend! There are a ton of author pictures, so I've picked out just a few; you'll see others soon, I'm sure. When I post a review of a book by one of the authors whose picture I haven't added in this post, I'll show you that picture then. Enjoy!

books. lots of books.

me with Deborah Wiles, author of Countdown

me with Melissa de la Cruz

me with Lisa McMann

me with Holly Black (at which point I tried very hard to remain calm and not go all spazzy fan)

me with Lauren Oliver

me with Robin Wasserman, author of the Skinned trilogy

me and topiary Mickey Mouse

me with Carrie Ryan. One of my favorite quotes of the weekend was in her ALAN speech:
"Hello, zombies. You are strange, and I am now in your company." I was amused.

the room where ALAN occurred

me with Heather Brewer, author of the Vladimir Tod series

a very tall man named Walter picking up me and Lauren Myracle (we're both short)

Tada! A small selection of what occurred at NCTE/ALAN last weekend. :)

NCTE/ALAN 2010, Part 1

After tagging along with the Best Dad Ever to NCTE/ALAN in Orlando and a wonderful Thanksgiving with my extended family, I'm back home and ready to start blogging again! I hope all of you had a lovely holiday as well (or just a lovely week, if you're not in the US).

The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) conference/convention/whatever-it-is (I'm not actually sure which word they prefer) was incredible. I spent most of the time hanging out in the exhibit hall, collecting free books and talking to people. I got to talk to some fabulous authors and some lovely publishing people as well. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and willing to talk about books and publishing and even blogging. To those authors and publishers, I want to say an enormous THANK YOU! Y'all rock. :)

ALAN (Assembly of Literature for Adolescents at NCTE, I think, but don't quote me on that) was also amazing. Two days of listening to authors talk about their books, their writing, their lives, and other random stories, plus the opportunity to chat with them and get a box of free books...it was pretty spectacular. To all those authors who spoke at ALAN: you guys were awesome!

On the whole, it was a fantastic experience and I am so grateful that I got the chance to go. I could go on and on telling you all about the minute details, but I'll spare you; I'd get bored listening to me, so you all probably would as well. But I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures to share!

Happy Thanksgiving!

To those of you within the US of A, Happy Thanksgiving! (To my international readers -- hello, international readers! Y'all rock too -- happy ordinary Thursday!)

I'm spending today with family, having a grand old time with relatives I rarely see and eating lots of good food and remembering all the wonderful things I have to be thankful for. My awesome blog readers made that list easily. Thanks, guys!

Here's wishing you all a great day!

~Becky

Waiting on Wednesday: The Lucky Kind

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

This week I'm waiting on The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel.

Description from Goodreads:
High school junior Nick Brandt is intent on getting a girlfriend, and Eden Reiss is the one that he wants. He has exactly four semesters to get the girl, but when the phone rings on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday night, life for Nick and his parents will never be the same. What had been a seemingly idyllic home life has become something else entirely. But with this shake-up comes a newfound confidence for Nick; he's become a bolder version of himself, no longer afraid to question his parents, and no longer afraid to talk to Eden.

Alyssa B. Sheinmel has written a powerfully gripping story about family secrets, falling in love, and finding luck in unexpected--and sometimes unwelcome—circumstances.

**********

I think The Lucky Kind looks intriguing and I want to know what that news is that Nick got! I'm already excited to read this one, and it doesn't come out until May 10, 2011.

What are you waiting on this week? Leave a link in the comments and I'll stop by to visit!

Review: Firelight

Title: Firelight
Author: Sophie Jordan
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 323
Series: Firelight #1
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the book jacket: 
A hidden truth. Mortal enemies. Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki -- a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away -- if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.

Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

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I shall begin by saying that I adore the cover of this book, because it is just gorgeous. But I shall move very quickly from the lovely cover into the equally lovely story within.

Dragons! There are dragons! Well, sort of. Technically they're draki, which are different from dragons. But still. Dragons make me happy. It's basically Forbidden Love, Draki Edition -- which has the potential to be boring and unoriginal, but it totally wasn't. Jacinda especially was such a relatable character. I just loved her. It was so hard watching her struggle to fit in, feeling like the outcast of her family...it was clearly fantasy, of course, but at the same time it was heartbreakingly real.

And then there's Will. I still can't decide quite what I think of him, but I think I like him. He certainly makes a good love interest for Jacinda. And Cassian and Xander are so easy to despise. I wish we had gotten to see more of Jacinda's best friends, Azure and Catherine, because they seem like great characters. We'll have to see what happens with that arc in book two!

Aaand the romance. My goodness. Mmm. Perhaps not the most realistic, but who cares? It was delightful to read about.

Firelight was not a perfect book. There were places where I just wanted Jacinda to shut up about Will and actually do something, and there were places where I was just confused. However, despite all that, I loved it, and I definitely think it's worth reading. Dragons and intrigue and danger and a literally sizzling romance...go read it now!

Links:
Sophie Jordan's website