Cinder Trailer

Today, I want to share the awesome book trailer for Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which was just released a few days ago on January 3rd by Feiwel & Friends.

Cinder: Book One in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time…. Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.

Doesn't the book description sound awesome?! Modified humans, fractured fairy tale, science fiction... sounds like great fun!

The dates for Marissa Meyer's extensive author tour can be found on her blog and if you're unable to attend, there will be an author event/party on January 9th on Facebook/Twitter at 7:00 EST.

Waiting on Wednesday (37)

The Selection - Kiera Cass
*April 24th, 2012 HarperTeen

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

First WoW post of 2012 :) This week's feature is The Selection by Kiera Cass. There's something very striking about the cover, all the feathers and gowns and fractured reflections. A little reminiscent of Black Swan. And in light of the recent royal wedding, princes and princesses and weddings are certainly very much in society's mind currently.

The synopsis sounds great too. America sounds like a very intriguing leading lady, to find something so coveted by others a nightmare.

What're you waiting on this Wednesday?!

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Essay Contest for Aspiring Writers of YA/MG

Happy New Year! Hope 2012 has been going well for everyone so far :)

Today, I just wanted to quickly help share a writing contest for the Book Wish Foundation:

__________

Win a literary agent or acclaimed author's feedback on your unpublished manuscript for young adult or middle grade readers. This rare opportunity is being offered to the six winners of an essay contest recently announced by the literacy charity Book Wish Foundation. See http://bookwish.org/contest for full details.

You could win a manuscript critique from:

• Laura Langlie, literary agent for Meg Cabot

• Nancy Gallt, literary agent for Jeanne DuPrau

• Brenda Bowen, literary agent and editor of Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal winner Out of the Dust

• Ann M. Martin, winner of the Newbery Honor for A Corner of the Universe

• Francisco X. Stork, winner of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award for The Last Summer of the Death Warriors

• Cynthia Voigt, winner of the Newbery Medal for Dicey's Song and the Newbery Honor for A Solitary Blue

All that separates you from this prize is a 500-word essay about a short story in Book Wish Foundation's new anthology, What You Wish For. Essays are due Feb. 1, 2012 and winners will be announced around Mar. 1, 2012. If you win, you will have six months to submit the first 50 pages of your manuscript for critique (which means you can enter the contest even if you haven't finished, or started, your manuscript). You can even enter multiple times, with essays about more than one of the contest stories, for a chance to win up to six critiques.

If you dream of being a published author, this is an opportunity you should not miss. To enter, follow the instructions at http://bookwish.org/contest.

Good luck and best wishes,

Logan Kleinwaks
President, Book Wish Foundation

What You Wish For (ISBN 9780399254543, Putnam Juvenile, Sep. 15, 2011) is a collection of short stories and poems about wishes from 18 all-star writers: Meg Cabot, Jeanne DuPrau, Cornelia Funke, Nikki Giovanni, John Green, Karen Hesse, Ann M. Martin, Alexander McCall Smith, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Nate Powell, Sofia Quintero, Gary Soto, R.L. Stine, Francisco X. Stork, Cynthia Voigt, Jane Yolen. With a Foreword by Mia Farrow. Book Wish Foundation is donating 100% of its proceeds from the book to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, to fund the development of libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad.

Top 10 of 2011

It's kind of insane to think that it's been a full year since the 'Top 10 of 2010' post. In any case, it's been another year of awesome YA books, so let's celebrate that a little! Like last year, a brief disclaimer: the following list is comprised only of books published this past year that I've read. Doubtless there're numerous other great books out there (many of which I've been meaning to read, but haven't gotten around to yet) that aren't included. But anyway, without further ado, let's start the countdown:

9th and 10th place go to Choker by Elizabeth Woods (January 4th, 2011 - Simon & Schuster) and Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey (September 20th, 2011 - HarperTeen), respectively. Choker is a thrilling and mysterious read that'll leave you thinking long after the last page is turned [review] and Cold Kiss has a great fresh twist that makes it a unique paranormal romance [review].
Mandy Hubbard's Ripple (July 21st, 2011 - Penguin) and Gayle Forman's Where She Went (April 5th, 2011 - Penguin) take 7th and 8th place, respectively. Ripple [review] is a super unique and creative mermaid tale, while Where She Went [review] is the emotionally breath-taking sequel to If I Stay [review].
Coming in 6th place is Ally Condie's Matched (November 30th, 2010 - Penguin). I love science fiction and dystopians, and I've read a decent amount of the YA dystopians out there - Matched definitely measures up among the best. Amy Plum's Die For Me (May 10th, 2011 - HarperTeen) takes 5th place for the year. The first in a series, Die For Me is alluring and fresh and takes place in Paris - romantic! [review]
Ranked 4th is Julia Karr's XVI (January 6th, 2011 - Penguin). Another futuristic YA dystopian, XVI proposes a lot of interesting concepts worth thinking about. Thought-provoking and action-packed, XVI also ranks up there with the greats. 3rd is Myra McEntire's Hourglass (June 14th, 2011 - EgmontUSA), a timeslip romance. The leading lady has got spunk! Hourglass is a fun read - it's different from any other YAs currently out there [review].
This takes us to 2nd, which goes to Beth Revis with Across the Universe (January 11th, 2011 - Penguin). Across the Universe has got a bit of many aspects of my favourites - plot turns, space, science fiction, dystopia... It's a pretty epic read! [review] [interview]

And 1st place for 2011? Wither by Lauren DeStefano (March 22nd, 2011 - Simon & Schuster). Absolutely loved Wither. Also a dystopian. Definitely well worth checking out! [review]

So there you have it - my list of top 11 YA books for 2011. What were your favourites this year?

Sarah Dessen Meet & Greet Recap

On Thursday, September 22nd, I had the awesome opportunity to attend a Meet & Greet with Sarah Dessen at the North York Central Library. So after an early dinner, my friend M. & I TTCed over to North York (more exploration of the city, woo!) North York Central is a really big library (& one of the nicer ones I've seen)!

We got to go into a back room (the staff room?) and there was a square arrangement of sofas - and Sarah Dessen! (I don't have any photos from inside, but there's one on Sarah's blog. You can see part of my leg & my black bag on the left side :)

Sarah was really awesome and super nice and down to earth and genuine. I'll admit, I was a little starstruck. (Or as M. phrased it, "I wasn't sure if you were still breathing.") Then we got adorable lock & key necklaces from Penguin (Thanks Penguin!) and a hardcover copy of either Along for the Ride or What Happened to Goodbye and we lined up to get books signed.
Next, we all went back out into the general seating area, where Dana Krook from Faze magazine interviewed Sarah. And as it turned out, Audrey from Holes In My Brain was sitting behind me, & lo and behold, we go to the same school (and live basically across the street from each other). I was even one of the Frosh Leaders who'd been assigned to help the Frosh move into her residence building! Crazy small world ;)

Listening to Sarah speak was kind of surreal and really awesome and entertaining and inspirational, all at the same time. Dana did a great job asking lots of interesting questions. And after the official "interview" was done, the audience members got to ask some questions as well.

After all that was done, people lined up for book signings. Over all, it was a really cool experience and it was super awesome getting to meet Sarah Dessen!

*Photos of signed books & necklace to come in the next IMM post.

Waiting on Wednesday (36)

Destined - Jessie Harrell
*November 17th, 2011 Mae Day Publishing

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.

Destined is a fresh and heartachingly romantic retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth from debut novelist, Jessie Harrell.

Featuring this one as a "waiting on" book for a number of reasons. First off, it's a pretty striking cover. The pale tones and colour scheme are very soft and seem to fit Psyche very well. Secondly, it's a mythical re-telling of Cupid & Psyche.

It seems like myth re-tellings are pretty big in the YA realm these days, but excited about this one nonetheless. (I actually took a course on Classical Mythology lately, which was very interesting!)

So what're you waiting on this Wednesday?

*WoW is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine

Giveaway: My Life Undecided

Hard to believe that it's already October and cool Autumn days are here once again. Coloured leaves, layered clothing and piping hot chocolate... despite the cooler weather, Fall is still a pretty awesome season. So... giveaway time! In collaboration with Zeitghost Media, Lucid Conspiracy is pleased to present a giveaway for a copy of My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody!PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

Contest open to US & Canada [mailing addresses] and runs until October 15th, 11:59pm EST. First entry is a freebie.

ENTER HERE

Submit your entry here, and good luck! Check out Jessica Brody's site or the book site for more info.

Word on the Street 2011

Sunday, September 25th was The Word on the Street, an annual national book & magazine festival that celebrates literacy and the written word. (WOTS site) It was pretty cool last year (Yann Martel had a presentation!), so J (who went with me last year too) and I decided to check it out again this year.

We went earlier in the afternoon this time around, and it was definitely a lot more packed, as we were there during peak hours.
^ Look, it's the HarperCollins booth! Not sure if you guys can tell from the photo, but there are cover promos for Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (set for release November 2011) and Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon (October 2011), among others.
Overall, it was a pretty cool festival!

Did any of you guys check it out/what did you think?