You, read these.
Todays book recommendations, from me, courtesy of Caren Johnson Literary Agency (for allowing me the opportunity to read these before they’re released):
1. How to be a Hepburn in a Hilton World: The Art of Living with Style, Class & Grace by Jordan Christy (Available Aug. 13). A humorous guide to not being a “stupid girl” a la Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, etc. I’m only on the first chapter, but already it echoes my thoughts about the behaviors and dress codes of a majority of young women today. Christy gives advice on dressing well, expanding your vocabulary to include words other than “like,” finding, making and keeping good friends, and so on, all designed to make the females of the species more respectable. Chapter two, which I look forward to reading, is titled “Keep Your Chin up and Your Skirt Down.” Fantastic.
2. You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay (out now!) Young adult fiction – “paranormal romance” according to the author herself. Pretty much the complete opposite of the previous book, in that the main character, Megan, is all about getting the attention of dudes, being friends with the “popular” girls, and going to homecoming dances. The only catch? She’s a zombie settler, meaning the dead who aren’t completely satisfied at the time of their death, who have unfinished business, climb out of their graves and go to her to get their business in order. They’re “friendly” zombies. Mostly. Except for the Reanimated Corpses, raised by somebody out to ruin Megan’s social life. Jay’s first novel, You Are So Undead to Me has plenty of humor, suspense and zombies ON FIRE. While this book is aimed at high school girls, I’m enjoying it because it puts a new slant on an old horror classic.
3. Candor by Pam Bachorz (Available Sept. 22, buy it for yourself on my birthday!) Young Adult Fiction. Oscar’s dad founded the resort-like town of Candor to provide relief for families with “troubled” children. How does he provide said relief? By using subliminal messages to brainwash the children, and their parents, into behaving. Except Oscar, having watched his father create these messages and their delivery system, has managed to overcome their effect. He has the ability to push them away, to behave how he wishes. Then Nia moves into Candor, and Oscar finds himself drawn to her. Not wanting the Messages to wipe away the personality he’s so attracted to, Oscar uses his own Messages to counteract those of his father. Everything is going Oscar’s way, until Nia discovers the truth, and Oscar must do everything in his power not to be discovered.
How can I even begin to explain the amount of love I have for this book. Bachorz wastes not a single word in this novel. Her sentences and paragraphs are short, to the point, but pack an amazing punch. The transformation of all the characters from the beginning of the novel to the end is beautifully crafted. When I finally figured out what was about to happen, in the second to last chapter, my eyes got watery. When I got to the end of that last chapter, the one I described on twitter as “devastating” and “haunting,” I was pretty much sobbing. I’m telling every person who will listen that this book should not be missed.
(Just for the sake of full disclosure, the Literary Agency for which I intern represents all these books, although they were already sold and scheduled for publication when I started there. I’m not just praising these books because I work for CJLA. I’m praising them because I really do like them!!)
Edited: June 28th, 2009
