J. K. Rowling News!

So you want to hear some fantastic news? J.K. Rowling attended the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House where she read from The Sorcerer's Stone (along with musical guests Justin Bieber and the cast of "Glee") and confirmed that there's another book coming. Rowling is "quite sure in the not-too-distant future, I will bring out another book." The even better news? She did not rule out the prospect that at some point she will write a new book which will be set in the Potter Universe!

Twilight News

Stephenie Meyer announced yesterday that there will be a novella (almost 200 pages) published about the newly turned vampire Bree from Eclipse. The book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, will be released on June 7 and will be available in print as well as a free e-book for a month.

What do you guys think? Are you excited? Interested to read Bree's story? I'm curious to know how much of it will include Meyer's most popular characters, Bella and Edward and how much of it will be about Bree's life as a newly turned vampire. What I can't figure out is if it's a standalone story based around events in Eclipse or if it will remain safely in the Twilight universe, catching up with the Cullens. In any case, I'm not sure how I feel about it...but what I do know for sure is that I'm not a huge fan of the cover art.

In other YA news, the sequel to Lauren Kate's Fallen will be released on September 28, 2010 and will be called Torment (check out the cover.) Did you guys like Fallen? Are you excited for the next episode in the saga? How did it compare to Twilight? (as there are obvious similarities between the two books.)

Book Review: The Secret Year

I recently read The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard. I had been intrigued by the premise for awhile, I must admit I'm a huge fan of clandestine secret love and tortured rich girl/wrong side of the track pairings, especially if they end tragically (for some reason I am a total sucker for tragic relationships.) Because of this odd enjoyment I knew I would probably like The Secret Year. After all, this is a book narrated by Colt, coming to terms with the death of Julia, a girl he was secretly seeing for over a year. So secret that NO ONE knew. And then she dies. And still NO ONE knows. Okay, I'm hooked.

So how was it?

Right before I started reading the book, I read a not so positive review, so I was somewhat apprehensive about how much I would actually like. However I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I was going to, which is saying something....since it already sounded like a book I would like. The Secret Year, like many books I've read recently is built around the "journal" plot device. In this way, Julia's journal (delivered to Colt by her younger brother following her death) supplies her voice from beyond the grave. It's a similar device to the journal in Hold Still and the tapes in 13 Reasons Why and it serves the same function, it provides the back story for Colt and Julia's relationship and it allows Julia to live and breathe as a fully formed character even though she is dead for the entire story. The journal allowed Julia to become more than just a spoiled rich whiny girl slumming with Colt, all the while dating a more accepted boy. The journal explores Julia's relationship with her "real" boyfriend, her struggle with what is expected of her versus what actually makes her happy, her dreams for the future, travel plans, poetry, and her complicated feelings for Colt. I looked forward to Julia's journal entries throughout the book, because they gave everything Colt was feeling more impact and meaning.

The book meanders and doesn't really follow a traditional plot filled with a beginning, a middle and an end. If you crave action this book will probably bore you as there is very of it in. The Secret Year it is a book more about a boy trying to figure out what to do in the aftermath of a tragedy and to come to terms with a loss he is unable to talk about. The little action that is included felt forced. My least favorite parts of the book were the "rich/poor" fight (which felt overdone and unnecessary) and Colt's two romantic entanglements (both which explode in his face.)

The Secret Year provides a snapshot into both Colt and Julia's lives. You get to know them. Their families. Their friends. Their (doomed) relationship. You even get answers and (some) closure.

Mortal Instruments Jewelry

Anyone fans of Cassandra Clare's Moral Instruments series?

I stumbled across this Mortal Instruments jewelry line (jewelry inspired by the book series) today...I actually think a lot of it is pretty cute.

New Books!

I've been taking advantage of all the new YA books at the library and reading a ton! In the past few weeks I've read The Body Finder, Incareron, The Lonely Hearts Club, and A Spy in the House.

I really really really loved Incareron, which suprised me because I've never been big on fantasy books. It had everything I look for in a book:

Eclipse Trailer: It's Here!

Check out the just released Eclipse trailer:



Eclipse hits theatres on June 30th.

New Books at the Tucker Free Library!

We just got a bunch of new YA books!

Here's a quick summary of what's new in the world of YA books at the Tucker Free Library. Currently, the newest YA books are on display at the table to the right of the front desk.



Incarceron, Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is a prison unlike any other: Its inmates live not only in cells, but also in metal forests, dilapidated cities, and unbounded wilderness. The prison has been sealed for centuries, and only one man, legend says, has ever escaped.
           
Finn, a seventeen-year-old prisoner, can’t remember his childhood and believes he came from Outside Incarceron. He’s going to escape, even though most inmates don’t believe that Outside even exists. And then Finn finds a crystal key and through it, a girl named Claudia. 
           
Claudia claims to live Outside—her father is the Warden of Incarceron and she’s doomed to an arranged marriage. If she helps Finn escape, she will need his help in return. But they don’t realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost far more than they know. 
           
Because Incarceron is alive.

The Mark, Jen Nadol

Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark—a glow around certain people reminiscent of candlelight. But the one time she mentioned it, it was dismissed as a trick of the light. Until the day she watches a man awash in the mark die. After searching her memories, Cassie realizes she can see a person’s imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.

Armed with a vague understanding of the light, Cassie begins to explore her “gift,” seeking those marked for death and probing the line between decision and destiny. Though she’s careful to hide her secret—even from her new philosophy-obsessed boyfriend—with each impending death comes the temptation to test fate. But so many questions remain. How does the mark work? Why is she the only one who sees it? And finally, the most important of all: If you know today is someone’s last, should you tell them?



Heist Society, Ally Carter

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history--or at least her family's (very crooked) history.



Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover, Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls Book 2)

When Cammie "The Chameleon" Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she's in for an exciting end to her summer break. After all, she's there to watch Macey's father accept the nomination for vice president of the United States. But when you go to the world's best school (for spies), "exciting" and "deadly" are never far apart. Cammie and Macey soon find themselves trapped in a kidnappers' plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.

As her junior year begins, Cammie can't shake the memory of what happened in Boston, and even the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn't feel like the safe haven it once did. Shocking secrets and old flames seem to lurk around every one of the mansion's corners as Cammie and her friends struggle to answer the questions, Who is after Macey? And how can the Gallagher Girls keep her safe?

Soon Cammie is joining Bex and Liz as Macey's private security team on the campaign trail. The girls must use their spy training at every turn as the stakes are raised, and Cammie gets closer and closer to the shocking truth.



The Sky is Everywhere, Jandy Nelson

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.



The Lonely Hearts Club, Elizabeth Eulberg

Penny is sick of boys and sick of dating. So she vows: no more. It's a personal choice. . .and, of course, soon everyone wants to know about it. And a few other girls are inspired. A movement is born: The Lonely Hearts Club (named after the band from Sgt. Pepper). Penny is suddenly known for her nondating ways . . . which is too bad, because there's this certain boy she can't help but like. . . .



Boys, Girls & Other Hazardous Materials, Rosalind Wiseman

Looking for a new beginning after a terrible mean girl past, Charlie Healey realizes there's no escaping high school drama.

Charlie Healey thinks Harmony Falls is the beginning of a whole new life. Middle school was brutal. But high school is Charlie's big chance to start over and stay out of drama, except that on her first day she runs into Will, her ex–best friend, who had moved away. Now a varsity athlete and hotter than Charlie remembered, Will hangs with the crowd running the school. But Charlie doesn't understand their power until an innocent delivery guy falls victim to a near-deadly hazing prank.

Torn between doing what's right and her secret feelings for Will, Charlie must decide whether to turn in her very best friend or live with the guilt of knowing what he did.



Tangled, Carolyn Mackler

Paradise wasn't supposed to suck.

Not the state of being, but a resort in the Caribbean.

Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all there for different reasons, but at Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Paradise will change them all.

It will change Jena, whose first brush with romance takes her that much closer to having a life, and not just reading about those infinitely cooler and more exciting.

It will change Dakota, who needs the devastating truth about his past to make him realize that he doesn't have to be a jerk just because people think he's one.

It will change Skye, a heartbreakingly beautiful actress, who must come to terms with the fact that for once she has to stop playing a role or face the consequences.

And it will change Owen, who has never risked anything before and who will take the leap from his online life to a real one all because of a girl he met at Paradise. . . .

From confused to confident and back again, one thing's certain: Four months after it all begins, none of them will ever be the same.



Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Beth Fantaskey

The undead can really screw up your senior year . . .

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.



Magic Under Glass, Jaclyn Dolamore

Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for mere pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.



The Dead Tossed Waves, Carrie Ryan (sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth)

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.



The Monstrumologist, Rick Yancey

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for nearly ninety years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.

So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a doctor with a most unusual specialty: monster hunting. In the short time he has lived with the doctor, Will has grown accustomed to his late night callers and dangerous business. But when one visitor comes with the body of a young girl and the monster that was eating her, Will's world is about to change forever. The doctor has discovered a baby Anthropophagus--a headless monster that feeds through a mouth in its chest--and it signals a growing number of Anthropophagi. Now, Will and the doctor must face the horror threatenning to overtake and consume our world before it is too late.



The Body Finder, Kimberly Derting

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

Check the new books out...Let me know what you think!