Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The final book in D.J. Schwenk's Dairy Queen trilogy, I read it one day, one sitting. I cried at the end because the ending is (1) so satisfying and perfect, (2) incredibly moving, and (3) the end of her story. I love D.J. I can't get even my good readers who trust my recommendations to read it because of the title and the cover of the first book, but I adore this character and her books. Plus, the secondary characters are all fully realized, complex, interesting, and distinct. I had to skim the basketball descriptions because I'm just not that interested in the plays and drills and games, but I still loved the book.

Intertwined by Gena Showalter

Aden has recently moved to a home for troubled (male) teens. Since when he enters graveyards, the bodies exhume themselves and he ends up having to dismember them in defense, authorities tend to think he's a grave-robber/body desecrater. Plus, there are souls that live inside of him, so he often appears schizophrenic. He meets good-girl Mary Ann Gray and feels compelled to be with her since being around her appears to quiet the souls inside of him. But he doesn't like her in "that way;" she just has a desire to hug him "as though he should be mussing her hair and teasing her about boyfriends" (subtle!). Victoria, the vampire princess who appears because of the recent mystical forces Aden's been stirring up, is the one Aden's attracted to. Her wolf bodyguard, Riley, is Mary Ann's hot boy love-interest. They're all trying to figure out why Aden's suddenly stirred up these forces and how it's possibly connected with Mary Ann.

I wanted and expected to like this book, and I did for a while. But to be honest, I didn't finish it and it's been like an albatross around my neck for a few weeks now. Since I couldn't bring myself to finish it, I haven't really been able to move onto any other books. I think these were my issues: Everything seemed so telegraphed from the very beginning. Also, there were so many characters with so many different powers, the world-building just fell apart for me. I just didn't care about the characters or the plot after a while.

Two of My Favorite Things

I LOVE "Ace of Cakes" on Food Network. On the last episode, they made cakes for two YA-related events: the Harry Potter movie premiere and a Tanya Hurley Ghostgirl party at NYPL. See Tanya's pics of it here. Really puts all my past YA-related baking to shame.

See!

Two days ago, I posted about how the likes of Amazon and PW are already coming out with their "Best of 2009" lists. To me, this is sort of like how my grocery store is already playing Christmas music, and we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet. We have two months left of the year! I'm sure reviewers for those outlets have already gotten access to all the major books being published this year, but it just seems a little premature for me. I like to read those kind of things when the year is coming to an end and I'm thinking about New Year's Resolutions and reflecting on my year. And they are including books like Beautiful Creatures that haven't even come out yet. It would be like nominating a movie for an Oscar when it hasn't even premiered yet. And the rest of us still have 2 months left of reading before we get to decide what we liked best this year!

That Time Already?

It's not even November yet, and already we're seeing "Best Books of 2009" lists. Amazon's includes a few YA so far:

64. Lowboy by John Wray (I have this in the library but I haven't read it yet. It's going on my TBR pile on Monday.)
62. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (which I also quite liked)
42. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (loved it)

PW's list (which notably has no female Top 10 authors) includes David Small's Stitches. I haven't read it, but only one of my students has checked it out, and she said it was "good but sad." There just hasn't been much interest in this book, although I might be able to drum up a little more if I let them know it's a true story.

Contest!

You could win a Kindle or gift cards in the Fangs, Fur, and Fey Three Year Anniversary Contest! Click here for details.

Crash Into Me

I haven't received my library's copy of this yet, but it's definitely going on the "road trip" bulletin board I'm doing next week when Halloween is over.