Waiting on Wednesday – Week 158

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It’s to spotlight upcoming releases that I’m DYING to get my hands on!

This week’s WoW is:

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows

For fans of The Princess Bride comes the comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey.

Lady Jane Grey, sixteen, is about to be married to a total stranger—and caught up in an insidious plot to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But that’s the least of Jane’s problems. She’s about to become Queen of England. Like that could go wrong.

June 7, 2016 ● Goodreads

I’m sad to say I haven’t read any of these three authors’ books, or even watched or read The Princess Bride (yet), but I’m absolutely sure that I NEED this book. Like, NOW. Historical-fiction is my THANG people. Cute YA historical-fiction? Even more so. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one... I hope it goes up on Edelweiss soon!

What are you waiting on?

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

Release Date: August 27, 2015
Publisher: Walker Books
Rated: YA 14+
Format: Paperback
Source: Pansing
Buy: Available at all good bookstores!
Goodreads ● Website

What if you aren’t the Chosen One?

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.

Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions.

After reading The Rest of Us Just Live Here I know for a fact that I will read absolutely anything by Patrick Ness. ANYTHING. Memoirs? Yup. Scripts? Yup. Grocery shopping lists? YUP. This is only the second book I’ve read by him and I’m absolutely in love. I fell hard with More Than This (but wasn’t too big a fan of the ending despite the brilliance of the book in general), and after this one I’m still pretty stunned. 

I have always wondered about the people who weren’t the ones saving the world but were rather just watching on the sidelines and who were kind of affected by what was going on. You always see things like Harry Potter according to other people:

Source

But nobody writes a book* about these other people, do they? At least, they didn’t.
*fanfic doesn’t really count–for me, at least. Sorry!

UNTIL NOW.

What I love about this is that there are actually two stories running parallel to each other. You do get to know what’s going on with the “chosen one” while the primary focus remains on Mikey and his friends.

❝Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly.❞

–p. 236, Paperback (UK)

I really liked how “ordinary” Mikey and his friends were. Well, ordinary in the way they behaved, like actual teenagers. Their circumstances on the other hand... Mikey has OCD, his sister went through and is currently recovering from an eating disorder, and his best friend is not all that *ordinary*. Yeah, not really “normal” but more normal than the fearless brave warrior (known as “indie” kids in this book) who’s supposed to save the world.

Amazing. Just...amazing. Patrick Ness is brilliant and this book is brilliant. Is it too early to say that The Rest of Us Just Live Here is one of the best books I’ve read this year? Smart and funny with a lot of heart (and cats), Ness’s latest novel is bound to be a new favourite.

▪ ▪ ▪ Thank you so much to Sasha at Pansing for sending me a copy for review! ▪ ▪ ▪

If you like this, try...

• Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith ● Goodreads
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green ● Goodreads

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Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Release Date: January 5, 2016
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Rated: YA 15+
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website

Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time–the kind Mercedes never had herself.

Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy–so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.

When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

Firsts shot up to the top of my to-read pile after I read a raving review–I had to know how on earth a book about a de-virginizing service went down. This contemporary truly stood out from other young adult books that I’ve read for one main reason: it deals with sex. While sex isn’t new to YA, it’s generally not the focus of the novel like it is in Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s book. There aren’t a lot of “promiscuous” young adult books out there and while this one doesn’t go into too much detail, the fact that there is a ton of sex in the book makes it a lot more different from others in the world of teen fiction.

However, after reading the book I come away feeling a little bit torn. On one hand, I did love that it had a unique premise and was edgier than other YA contemporary novels. This novel was also hilarious at times, despite some of the heavier tones! Also, it’s pretty rare to find a book where the girl isn’t the virgin but actually the more experienced one. On the other hand though–it did come with its own set of problems. I will say that it was a really good read because I couldn’t stop reading, but only after I’d finished the book I started to look back and see some issues with it that I didn’t really think about while reading.

First of all, while I did like Mercedes’s character at points in the novel I couldn’t help but feel that what she was doing was wrong. Stealing a guy’s first time just so that “he could get it right with her” wasn’t a good enough excuse. You’d want the first time to have some meaning at least! And I mean, if the guys really loved the girls they were with, would they actually “cheat” on them, even if it was just to make them have a better first time? Despite the unique concept I just couldn’t see how it was right in any way. Obviously, there’s a ton of character progression and mistakes are made along the way and realised in the end, but it doesn’t completely justify the reasons to begin with. I also feel that Mercedes’s backstory wasn’t given too much thought. Yes, it’s a pretty traumatic and tragic backstory but when it’s revealed to us readers, it’s almost brushing over it a little. Like, it isn’t important, when clearly it plays a whole pivotal role in the story (well... pre-story).

A captivating read, Firsts goes where not many young adult novels have gone before. Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s daring debut cuts to the chase, pulling readers along in this funny, clever and risqué (in the best way) story. While I did have my issues with parts of the book, there’s no denying that this one was fascinating from start to finish. I’m curious to see what this author comes up with next!

▪ ▪ ▪ Thank you so much to Michelle at St. Martin’s Press for an eGalley for review! ▪ ▪ ▪

If you like this, try...

• #scandal by Sarah Ockler ● Goodreads
• Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen ● Goodreads

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here’s to an amazing 2016.