New YA Books in May 2011

1.  First, Between Here and Forever by the fabulous Elizabeth Scott!

I am very excited about this book, since she is one of my favorite authors.  Hopefully, I will buy it for my Nook very soon...but I already love the story line and the complications. 

Story of a girl who has always found her identity in being everything her sister is not, but now she has to discover who she is without her sister and in the process also discover things about her sister she did not know and might not have ever known. 

Of course, the love story...makes it better for me.  So, another coming-of-age story, but that's what I love to write. 

Isn't a lot of YA all about this is some way or another...the identity story, the growing up story, the remember when story, the coming-of-age story.  Luv It!

Enjoy the video...very interesting for all you aspiring authors, including me!

Elizabeth Scott on Between Here and Forever

2.  Ok, all you die-hard paranormal romance/Twilight fans, here's one for you by newcomer Lisa Kuehne with her debut YA, True Intentions.

(From author's website)

Ava is unaware she possesses a rare and unique gift, a soul with the ability to influence mankind toward virtue instead of sin. Unfortunately, Satan will stop at nothing to gain control of her special ability.

Ava's faith is seriously shaken when she is the sole survivor of the car accident that kills her twin brother and dad. When she relocates and faces the ultimate temptation in Samuel Perry, her mysterious classmate living on earth as a soldier of Satan since 1798 to tempt and damn mankind; Ava isn’t sure she can do the right thing— resist. Sam must choose if he will lead her straight into the devil’s trap or place his immortal existence on the line in order to keep the girl he is falling for alive.

What ultimate price is Ava willing to pay for love? What if it means giving up her life or turning over her soul straight into Satan’s hands— for the boy of her dreams?

 

I've only read a brief excerpt of this novel online, but I will say the Prologue gets you into Ava's story right away and her doomed, fated attraction to a someone who can only mean bad.  It seems the ultimate conflict will be between the forces of bad and good with love mixed in...reminds me of the frog's lines in the animated film Gnomeo and Juliet..."Your love is doomed, your love is dead" as she rips petals off a flower.  

So will Ava turn her boy to good or will Samuel turn Ava to evil? 

 

I would hope somehow Samuel becomes a friendly ghost, gives her an unforgetable kiss, and gives her up to his own blissful eternal sleep as someone who once lived as a human. But this is not likely since True Intentions is the first book in a series.

 

My favorite line so far?  He will remain here, an angel among us.

 

And the cover?  Fabulous look I think.

YA Wire...Elizabeth Scott on Goodreads

Any of you a member of Goodreads...virtual library for organizing all the books you read and post reviews and read what others have to say about books?

I absolutely love it...before I found Goodreads, I was using an ExCel spreadsheet to keep track. But no more!

Anyways, I one of the authors I follow through Goodreads is Elizabeth Scott, author of books such as Living Dead Girl and The Unwritten Rule. I found an interview on her Goodreads page that you might have missed. And, even if you have read it (like me), it's just nice to see the very everyday personality of an author you love. By the way SS stands for Simon & Schuster and the interview dates back to December 2009. Enjoy.

Quick Start

SS: How would you describe your life in only 8 words?

ES: Lucky. Very, very lucky

SS: What is your motto or maxim?

ES: Life is too short to not follow your heart.

Questions About Books and Writing

SS: Who are your favorite authors?

ES: Too many to list!

SS: What are your 5 favorite books of all time?

ES: Only five??? I can't pick just five.

SS: Is there a book you love to reread?

ES: There are many books I've read over and over (and over!) again.

SS: Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?

ES: Read.

SS: What comment do you hear most often from your readers?

ES: I get a lot of requests for sequels, and I always say that I've learned to never say never...

General Questions

SS: What were your previous occupations?

ES: I've done a little bit of everything--I've worked in a hardware store, I've sold pantyhose, I even spent three days at a dot.com where my only task was to burn CDs. (You can guess how exciting *that* job was!)

SS: What was/is your favorite job?

ES: Writing.

What Readers want to know...

SS: How would you describe perfect happiness?

ES: Spending the day with my husband, a dog, and a good book. It simply doesn't get better than that!

SS: What’s your greatest fear?

ES: Squirrels. (You laugh, but it's true!)

SS: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?

ES: Wales. Or Ireland. Although I have to say, right now I'm pretty happy where I am.

SS: With whom in history do you most identify?

ES: Mata Hari. Just kidding! I actually have no idea.

SS: If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?

ES: Time travel. Imagine the possibilities!

SS: What’s your greatest flaw?

ES: Worry.

SS: What’s your best quality?

ES: Stubborness.

SS: What trait is most noticeable about you?

ES: My crazy hair.

SS: What is your biggest pet peeve?

ES: Toilet paper hung the wrong way. (Yes, for real!)

SS: What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?

ES: Reading.

SS: What’s your fantasy profession?

ES: Being paid to read.

SS: What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?

ES: A true soul, a sense of humor, and the ability to love fully.

SS: If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?

ES: Fritos!

SS: What do you regret most?

ES: That I can't eat chocolate!

By the way, I love the bookcover for The Unwritten Rule. -Minnie

Living Dead Girl...A Shock to Your System

For those of you who have read previous YA novels by Elizabeth Scott...be warned. Living Dead Girl is not a teenage romance; it is a gripping, dark novel about a fifteen year old girl who has been living with her abductor, Ray, since the age of ten. Elizabett Scott does not shy away from an intense narrative that at times reads like an intimate dream sequence, or rather, nightmare. The ugliness of sexual abuse and abduction, as well as the sinister pleasure motivating pedophiles, will be a shock to many readers who have very little knowledge or experience with the subject matter. Childhood sexual abuse is something you hear about on the news or something that happens to someone else, but through the author's use of the first person point of view, this novel takes you further into the realms of darkness than possible on a news report. It is amazing how raw and brutal the narrative reads, and with that in mind, I feel the novel is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 16. I mean, I'm a lot older than 16, and I found many of the scenes to be disturbing. It's not that the scenes are explicit, but the bare, gritty details of those things Alice chooses to share are darkly intimate and painful. In Alice we hear the voice of an empty, soulless body only available for Ray, her abductor. Her mental state has been warped to the point that she will do anything to have someone else take her place. The only splinter of light in this novel is the end, although it is ambiguous and any hope taken from it will be on the part of the reader. I commend Scott for writing something so compelling and original. She has graduated from entertaining YA fiction to something more of literary genius.