Waiting on Wednesday (9): The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee

From Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.

After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home, undaunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom. At school, her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.

With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?
Annaliese? Or herself?

Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: July 17th, 2012
Amazon, Goodreads, Author's website

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I know that young adult fiction probably isn't the most accurate reading material when it comes to psychiatric issues, but ever since the incorporation of mental illness with mysteries into The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I've wanted to read more. The great reviews coming out of Goodreads don't make it look half-bad either.

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Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine.

Armchair BEA Day 1: Personal Interview

I couldn't even do Armchair BEA last year, much less go to the actual BEA, so I'm excited to be a part of the party this year! If you're visiting for the first time, welcome! All comments are appreciated, and I'm so excited to get to know some of my fellow book bloggers.

Here we go!

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 

My name is Emily :) I'd say that I'm a high school senior but I finished all of my AP tests and will be graduating June 21st, so calling myself that doesn't feel accurate anymore. I've been blogging since March 2011, and what got me started was that I had been invited to write reviews for the teen writing website Figment, and I thought that book blogging would be a great way to keep them organized!

2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I am currently reading Stardust by Neil Gaiman for a final AP English project, Hold Me Closer Necromancer by Lish McBride for fun, and Book 1 of the Seven Soldiers of Victory series by Grant Morrison because I want to get more comics into my life this year. 

My favorite books so far have been either I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

3. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Probably Aziraphale from Good Omens, because he's really cool and owns a bookshop, which is always excellent in my book.He's been around for a while too, so he probably has some great stories.

4. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

Ireland, ever since I read the first Artemis Fowl book. From the pictures that I've seen it's a beautiful place, and I've got to get to Europe eventually! So, why not start there?

5. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

They haven't been changed so much as realized. I realized that I like books that deal with complex issues, male main characters, good sarcasm and wit, comics and graphic novels, dystopians with a base in real life (as opposed to just slapping the label on a crappy society). I've found it's okay that I don't like paranormal romance like a lot of other people, including bloggers I look up to, do.

No matter what, there are always books being published, or have been published, that I can read and enjoy, and that the love of the majority doesn't have to be my love. I don't have to read a book that doesn't sound interesting to me just because Book Blogger A, who I love, gave it five stars. 

So, I hope that I'm a halfway interesting person and that you liked reading my responses to the questions. I love and respond to all comments, so feel free to leave a few!

Ta-ta!

Congrats, Presenting Lenore!!!

Presenting Lenore was the first book blog that I started following regularly, and I'm so happy to see that her project Level 2 has come to light! She revealed the cover this week, and everything has just been going so fantastic for her you should definitely head over and give her a little love :)

Presenting Lenore

Once again, congratulation! 

Camp NaNoWriMo Approacheth!

The first place that I heard about NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month for those out of the loop*, was on another blog. So, I figured that there was no better place to spread the love than here!

National Novel Writing Month is a month-long (really?) event spanning November where participants write, or at least strive to, 50,000 words of an original story. No previously written content allowed, just you and your imagination for thirty days straight. At approximately 1,666 words a day, nobody said that this was easy.

For one reason or another, some people can't do it in November, and that's totally cool. So cool in fact, The Office of Letters and Light, the brains behind NaNoWriMo, put their smarty-pants heads together and came up with Camp NaNoWriMo with one session in June, another in August. You can do one, the other, both, or save your ideas for November instead. It's all the fun of NaNoWriMo with more bug bites!

I really cannot stress enough how much fun this is. Even if writing isn't your thing, that's no excuse, because I hadn't written a script before I wrote a 100 pages of one with Script Frenzy in April. Even if you don't finish you'll at least walk away with something, even if it's just a few thousand (or hundred) words that, hey!, you may even want to pick up later.

The only question left is, why not? But if that's not the only question left feel free to leave it in the comments or check out the FAQ. Hope to see you there!

*We're the best kind of exclusive club, the kind anyone can join

Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

From Goodreads:

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. 

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

To say that this book is sad, insightful, touching, hilarious, inspiring, and truthful (all at the same time) is an understatement.

John Green has taken a wholly ordinary character, Miles, and turned him into one of us. He is the quintessential "ordinary" person, which is what sparks his journey to find that "great perhaps." The more that we read about said journey, the more that we realize that either a) we're already on that journey, or b) we're about to go on one. We want to jump for joy at his successes and cry along with his pain. We can all find a piece of ourselves in Miles.

The incorporation of last words, both as Miles' hobby/ love and as an element of the story, was a brilliant move on Green's part. Not once did they feel cumbersome, or like they were just there for show. Every quote mentioned does something to either enhance the story or clarify something to the reader. I walked away with a few new favorites to scrawl in assorted places.

And Alaska Young... How do you begin to describe her? Enticing and enthralling, I didn't know if I wanted her to kiss me or punch me in the face. At times I was left wondering if she was actually there in the story or some glorious figment of Miles' imagination; she seems to transcend existence itself. Contrary to Miles' relatability, Alaska is like some sort of separate entity, from all of us. She is both what we strive to be and what we never hope that we become.

Do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book. Read it. Banned in your area? Honor Alaska Young and seek it out. You'll have no regrets.

Amazon, Goodreads, John Green's website
Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Publisher: Puffin
Publication Date: December 28th, 2006
Page #: 221
ISBN: 0142402516

Waiting on Wednesday (8): Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

From Goodreads:

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life. 

In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina's tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they've turned the final page. 

Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: July 10th, 2012
Amazon, Author's Website

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I've been trying to get back into fantasy books again, and from the already-stellar ratings over at Goodreads it looks like I'll have to get this one to help me on my way. I like the idea of dragons "folding" into human shape, along with the conspiracy theme. But, what I really love is that Prince Lucian is described as "dangerously perceptive," and that his description doesn't immediately follow that up with "sexy," "seductive," or any of the like. Romance is fine in small doses, but I really can't stand it when a relationship status is used to define an entire person. I really can't wait for this one!

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Waiting on Wednesday is hosted over at Breaking the Spine.

Fantastic Covers Friday (6): XVI by Julia Karr

Fantastic Covers Friday is a weekly meme over here at Brave New Shelf where I highlight beautiful covers that I find, from both old books and new, from young adult books.

This week:

XVI 

by: Julia Karr

Cover Design: Emilian Gregory

Cover photos copyright Christina Page

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I normally hate faces on the covers of books. I'd much rather have a symbol from the story or some sort of minimalist design going on. But here, broken up with the title and that scared/ depressed/ broken look on the model's face is just too perfect for this book as a whole. Incorporating the title into the design on the cover of the book itself rather than just slapping it on was also brilliant.