23 Young Adult Fiction Pick and Mix 8/3/13 Edition and MY CHEMICAL MOUNTAIN Giveaway

Announcements

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had an amazing week. Was it just me, or did it seem even shorter than most weeks?

Don't forget the August First Five Pages Workshop with guest mentor Sherry Ficklin will open for entries at noon today! Get the rules and information here.

I'm working on nailing the shape of my second book and preparing to get edits back from my wonderful editor. Plus I'm moving my daughter, possibly/probably having gallbladder surgery, trying to close out a slew of clients, and prepping for the Breakout Novel Workshop with Donald Maass. Basically, I'm going to be up to my eyeballs for the next few weeks, so apologies in advance if I get behind on leaving comments on your blogs or responding to comments here. As you may or may not know, I do my blog reading through Feedly now, and that's a lot faster than visiting blogs individually, but it doesn't make it easy for me to comment as frequently as I'd like. Please bear with me. I'll be doing my best to still keep up!!!!!

Thought for the Week

Young Adult Novel of the Week

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Sarah Dessen is a genius at creating characters so genuine and warm, you can't help but fall in love with them. Emaline is another great example. She's relatable, layered, and vivid. I loved the romantic elements in this one, too. The only thing that would have made this better is being out on a beach somewhere reading it with a fruity tropical drink.

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I also LOVED:

Pre-Order from Amazon | Pre-Order IndieBound | View on Goodreads

I was a little wary, when I realized this was based on the Perspehone myth, that it was going to be too familiar to be truly gripping. But Bree Despain pulls it off! Her world is complex and new, and full of vivid characters we haven't met before. Characters I love! The set up is fresh, and I was sucked in from the very first page. Even though I was lucky enough to get the ARC, I will definitely be buying the book when it comes out next spring! 

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Young Adult Giveaway  

Complete the form below to win a copy of MY CHEMICAL MOUNTAIN by Corinna Vacco

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Rocked by his father's recent death and his mother's sudden compulsion to overeat, Jason lashes out by breaking into the abandoned mills and factories that plague his run-down town. Always by his side are his two best friends, Charlie, a fearless thrill junkie, and Cornpup, a geek inventor whose back is covered with cysts. The boys rage against the noxious pollution that suffocates their town and despise those responsible for it; at the same time, they embrace the danger of their industrial wasteland and boast about living on the edge. 

   Then on a night the boys vandalize one of the mills,  Jason makes a costly mistake--and unwittingly becomes a catalyst for change. In a town like his, change should be a good thing. There's only one problem: change is what Jason fears most of all.

And Here Is the Winner

The winner of last week's PARADOX by A.J. Paquette: ERIKA 

Buy on Amazon | Buy on IndieBound | View on Goodreads

 Fans of James Dashner's Maze Runner series will love this postapocalyptic adventure about a girl who must survive an alien planet in order to save the Earth.

   Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?

   Meeting up with three other teens--one boy seems strangely familiar--Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They're working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana's mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can't remember anything?

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More Young Adult Giveaways:

• Five New Release Giveaways: EARTHBOUND; BROTHER, BROTHER, MIDNIGHT FROST; PREP SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL; and THE BOY ON THE BRIDGE. Also covers, blurbs, and author interviews for the new YAs in stores next week!
• This Saturday Situation linky from Candace's Book Blog and Lori at Pure Imagination has giveaways and book reviews!

          

Young Adult Reader of the Week:   

Victoria

She loves reading books and watching movies. Her favorite books are still the Twilight series, but she enjoys reading paranormal, ya, romance, and some horror. She loves mixing books from a variety of different genres into her reading, and loves spending hours just reading a book.
        
* Want to be the reader of the week next week? Leave a comment on our Thursday or Friday posts! 

  

Young Adult Writer/Blogger of the Week: 

Rosi of The Write Stuff 

Rosi writes stories, poems, and articles for children, as well as children's novels. She spent many years teaching high school English and is in love with words, books, theatre, and related subjects.

She regularly reviews children's and young adult books for the San Francisco and Sacramento Book Reviews.
She regularly runs reviews and giveaways on her blog. Here are just a couple to get you started:



Whistling Past the Graveyard and Princess Academy - two reviews and one giveaway
The Boxcar Children Beginning -- Review and a Giveaway

Head over to The Write Stuff

* Want to be the blogger of the week next week? Leave a comment. I'll pick from among the bloggers who leave comments here on the blog today through Wednesday.

Writing Tip of the Week

       
Write to explore what you're afraid of:

    

More Writing Tips

• Using the Plot Dot Test to find Pacing Issues (Great!) via Natalie Lakosil
• Pacing a Novel by Lish McBride
• Tips on Writing Deep POV via Barbara Wallace for romance university
• Develop Voice by Listening via TL Costa for Writer Unboxed
• Eight Tips for Creating Characters via Janice Hardy
• Urgency to Keep Reading via Avalon Jaedra
• Beginning Your Novel in Media Res via Cori McCarthy
• Breaking the Writing Rules via Tim Tharp         

Writing Brain Fuel     

         

Great infographic that sums up a lot of the great information in Lisa Cron's brilliant WIRED FOR STORY

More Writing Inspiration

• "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." ~ Thomas Edison
• "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." ~ Mother Teresa
• Good Writing is Born of Dreams via Alissa Grosso
• The Only Known Recording of Virginia Woolf--Her Eulogy to Words via Maria Popova

Getting Published

• How to Write a Query Letter via Veronica Park
• 13 Ways to Convince a Literary Agent to Represent You via The Write Life
• What Does a Literary Agent Want to See When They Google You? via The Write Life
• Researching Comp Books via Jill Corcoran

Publishing News and Trends                         

• The End of Discoverability and the Rise of Merit via James Scott Bell
• The Case of Outing JK Rowling Settled out of Court via Publishing Perspectives
• The New Faces of Book Pirates -- Plagiarists via Jami Gold
• What Are Grown-ups Afraid of in YA Books via Book Riot

Just for Smiles

• Being a Writer: Expectation versus Reality via Buzz Feed
• Dirty Dancing is a Subversive Masterpiece via XOJane
• What I Learned About Getting Married from Dystopian Books via Bookish

              
What About You?                     

What are you reading? Writing? Have any quotes or thoughts you'd like to share? Did you find or write any book reviews or blog posts you want to let people know about?