{List-O-Rama} Memorable Reads: 1st Half of 2012

Sarah Moon
Listorama

How has half a year gone by already? Seriously, 2012… slow down!

I thought I’d use this Sunday’s List-O-Rama to round up some of my most memorable reads thus far in 2012—and I am going to bug Laura, Renegade and Sandra to do the same. (We’ll see if they cooperate, the CEFS contributors are not known for their blind acquiescence.)

Published in 2012

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

YA Novels

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler - This is definitely my favorite Sarah Ockler; I definitely connected with dynamics of growing up in a small down. {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - This book has been rather divisive, but I loved it—and I really affected by the TFiOS tour stop I attended.  {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller - SLN is a book I’ve been recommending left and right to people—especially those who are afraid of reading YA. It strikes a perfect note of authenticity. {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

 

{Book Matchmaker} Tracey Seeks Romance, Dystopia & Urban Fantasy Featuring Strong Female Characters

Sarah Moon
Book Matchmaker

Tracey, our latest Book Matchmaker victim lucky participant, filled out our extremely sophisticated Book Matchmaker questionnaire in search of recommendations for some fresh reads with romance, but also with strong female characters.

You’d think this would be an easy one—but snooping on her Goodreads profile, Tracey had already read a lot of our go-to recommendations. But we came up with some good ones—or at least we hope so. 

Tracey’s Responses

YA or Adult: Surprise Me
Genres: Romance, Urban Fantasy
Multiple POV
Swoon Factor: 4
Gross Out Factor: 3
Smut Factor: 4
Fluff Factor: 4
Likes: “On the Island, loved the character development. And multi-POV. Hunger Games, Graceling, Wicked Lovely, Enders Game, Feed, Divergent! Strong women, romance—but great characters and strong writing are a must”
Dislikes: No quest books, no sagas that need maps and a glossary to keep track of everyone! Bad writing and bad character development. 

The Results

Thumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped & Thumped by Megan McCafferty (YA)

I know. It’s shocking to think that the government would try to stick its nose in our ladyparts.

This satire by the author of the fabulous Jessica Darling series is recommended by Laura as a great read for someone looking for a something fresh in the cluttered dystopian shelves. 

{Review} I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella Andre

Rebeca aka Renegade
Books

I Only Have Eyes for You by Bella AndreOne of my favorite themes is the ever-poignant friends-to-lovers storyline.

What could be more wonderful than a love that develops because of a deep understanding of one another?

What could be more terrible than unrequited love for a “kindred spirit”?

The best part of this storyline, in my opinion, is the balance point, the metamorphoses of a friendship into something more. Bella Andre’s I Only Have Eyes for You seems to rush past the shift in thinking that characterizes this moment.

Sophie, one of the 8 Sullivan siblings, has loved her brother’s friend Jake since she was 5 years old. Her love has grown and changed with her own development, but Jake has never acknowledged her as a woman. At one of her brother’s wedding, Sophie decides to shake things up and make Jake reevaluate his preconceptions.

“I told them all I wanted was to have fun with the hairdresser and makeup artist. But I was lying to them. And to myself.” She looked him straight in the eye. “I did it for you, Jake. To see if I could finally get you to notice that I was alive. To see that I’m not a little girl anymore with a silly crush. That I’m a woman.”

It was at this point in the novel that Andre lost me. We’re told Sophie loves Jake. We’re told Jake has struggled to conceal his growing interest in his best friend’s sister. Then the sexytimes commence.

There’s no chance for tension to build, no opportunity to learn about the characters ourselves, before they’re succumbing to their passion.

{Review} Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell

Sandra
Books

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell

Riley Rose. What a name and what a personality.

She’s complex, beguiling and difficult for others to understand. Her outward appearance and verbal flippancy belies the depth of her emotions. She charmed me with her always unexpected and often cynical insights.

In Everything Beautiful, Australian author Simmone Howell created a character who’s a seemingly tough teen with a rough exterior, yet inside is soft, tender and vulnerable. 

She’s overweight. She’s experiencing an acute loss after the death of her mother. She’s having difficulty adjusting to her father’s new love, a Christian woman who’s a radical contrast to everything that was her family. Riley Rose is experimenting with sex. She’s found a great new friend who’s a perfect partner in any new adventure they embark on.

In other words, Riley Rose is one vulnerable teenager.

{Interview} Alanna Blackett on Unsecure Connection, Science Fiction and Sexytimes

Sarah Moon
Interviews

I first “met” Alanna Blackett a few years ago, when both of our favorite NBA teams, The Trail Blazers (me) and the Hornets (her) were looking to take names and kick butt. (Yeah… that didn’t really pan out, sadly.) Being that the internet sports world is dominated by a lot of male voices (though there are loads of female sports fans—don’t let anyone tell you any differently), we would regularly chat on Twitter about basketball.

Naturally, when I found out she was publishing a novella, Unsecure Connection, with Decadent, I bought it as soon as it was available. But it’s always a little stressful reading something written by someone you know—even if it’s just through the series of tubes that makes up the internet. This was amplified that I’m very science fiction-phobic, and Unseure Connection is science fiction. But I fretted needlessly—I quickly blew through the novella in an evening and loved the story of a pair of misfit hackers in a grim, gritty future version of New York City. The other thing that struck me is what a female-positive story Unsecure Connection is. Riley is tough and smart and crafty, and in surprising ways. It’s definitely a story I’d recommend for anyone looking for something different.

So, I thought I’d invite Alanna to chat with us about about her novella and books and reading in general. And sexytimes. Ahem.

{Pro Tip: Be sure to read all the way to the end of the interview.}

I’d love to hear a bit about Unsecure Connection, its plot, characters and gritty, creative setting in your own words.

It’s a cyberpunk romance novella featuring two hackers who are kind of stalking each other around Interspace, which is basically a virtual reality internet. When the story opens, Riley’s hacking into a database and she realizes someone’s tracking her. That person is CJ, who used to be a top-tier hacker until he got caught by the Evil Corporation. So now he’s being forced to work for them as a high tech bounty hunter, trying to catch his old friends and colleagues. Riley doesn’t really trust CJ (with good reason), but they have so much in common that she can’t help liking him. This all takes place in a future where New York City is controlled by corporations and has expanded to take over much of the lower half of New York state. I had fun writing it.

True Blood Snark-Cap - Episode 5.4: We'll Meet Again

Sarah Moon
Television

HBO is so wacked out about the possibility of people watching their show with subscribing to an expensive cable package, that they have all kinds of “failsafes” on the HBOGo streaming app that often prevent legit subscribers like me from watching their shows.

This morning, I logged on to zip through yesterday’s craptastic episode of True Blood and snag some screencaps (because the ones that HBO releases are so nonsensical, I can’t even deal) and I repeatedly got the message that my session had timed out. I couldn’t watch more than a few seconds without getting this error message. So, anyway… you have the jerks at HBO to thank for this post sucking and not having any fabulous pictures.

 

And… By the way, here’s my little love note to HBO.

Dear HBO,

In case you didn’t realize, there are many, many ways to watch your programming without a subscription—don’t make it so hard for your paying customers. It kind of disincentivizes people from actually, you know, giving you money. I want to give you money—stop making me feel like you hate me and the rest of your paying customers by treating us like pirates.

xoxox, 

Sarah

So, we’ve decided… until this season gets its act together and stops sucking, we’re referring to these recaps/analysis as “Snark-Caps.”

(Thanks to Laura for the brilliant name.)

This season is just so ridiculous and convoluted, I have no words to describe its suckitude. I mean, the Orgy Season was pretty bizarre, but at least the story was united under an umbrella of bizarre. This season, is just like a series of random vignettes that have no interconnection. I wonder if they’re working up to something, or if they’re really going for the soap opera-style of storytelling now? Other than the Pam-Eric scenes, the rest of this episode was just full of WTF—and not the awesome kind. I mean, was anyone even shirtless in this episode?!

Obviously, the following “analysis” contains spoilers for Sunday’s episode of True Blood. If you haven’t seen it and want to remain free from spoilage, please don’t continue reading. Instead, I suggest checking out Renegade’s intro to romance novels—she made my to-read pile a whole lot bigger. 

{Review} Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander

Sarah Moon
Books
It was strange being there, eating dinner with them. They knew that I knew, and I knew that they knew, and there we all were, a zombie, an assortment of werewolves and/or weredogs, and me, a nurse who was getting used to dealing with vampires. I was struck by how completely normal it felt to be with them, for all of our differences.

Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander

Dragons and vampires and zombies… oh my!

Cassie Alexander’s debut urban fantasy novel, Nightshifted, hits a sweet spot with an appealing mix of action, imagination and humor, with just the right dash of romance. 

I picked up Nightshifted on the recommendation of Angie, whose taste in Urban Fantasy seems to be pretty similar to my own. She promised that this book featured a jaded heroine who’s easy to root for and a gritty world, and did Nightshifted ever deliver. 

Edie has taken a nursing job in a secret ward, Y4, at a run-down county hospital. The patients there aren’t quite… normal. They’re paranormal beings of all sorts, and many of them are very, very dangerous. Despite the low pay and occupational hazards, Edie works there as part of a deal with some unsavory characters who promise to use their magical mojo to keep her addict brother off of drugs following a near-overdose. 

Edie’s stuck. 

Things get a whole lot worse when a “Daytimer” (a semi-vampire thing—it makes sense, trust me) dies during Edie’s shift, and she goes looking for Anna, a name he uttered with his dying breath. She stumbles upon some bad stuff, and accidentally kills a very nasty vampire in the process of rescuing Anna, who appears to be a teen girl (trust me, no one in the Nightshifted world is as they appear). As a result, Edie finds herself wrapped up in the paranormal underground, trying to save her own life. 

Edie is a fantastic narrator—she’s real and funny and prickly.