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WIN THIS BOOK! Savoy (Celia Rees)

Welcome to this stop on the Young Adult Giveaway Hop!

To win a copy of Savoy, leave a comment on which book you’re most excited to read in 2012. For an extra chance to win, tweet or blog about the contest and include a link to this site (leave me link in the comments and I’ll enter you an extra time for each place you post). The winner will be randomly drawn on February 1^st. For a full list of the over 200 blogs with giveaways, visit "I am a Reader, Not a Writer." Good luck!

Title: Savoy

Author: Celia Rees

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Length: 416 pages

Rating: 2.5/5

Savoy is a privileged English lady who runs into trouble head-first when she goes looking for her missing father during the crux of the French Revolution and just as England is in turmoil trying to avoid a revolution of their own. She disguises herself both as a highway robber and as a proper young lady, befriending a notorious but dashing criminal, a studious American, and a cross-dressing prostitute along the way.

If you like European history and the French Revolution, you’ll like this book- there’s a lot of history deeply interwoven into the plot. It’s even a little Sherlock Holmes-y with a dark mystery running through as well. I enjoyed the strong female character- you have to love a spunky leading lady in historical fiction where there is more at stake. However, I didn’t think there was enough personal story to counteract the crazy historical territory the author covered. With all those male characters, I was hoping for a little more drama on that front.

Give this book a try if you like history. Enter to win below!

FFFT: Characters and Contests

I'm fascinated by the female characters that populate and usually protagonize (new verb?) young adult literature. I usually mention if I like/dislike a character in my reviews and why, and often, the more I like a main character, the more I like a book.

An editor I admire created this list of positive character traits (find them at her blog here). I agree with all of them and more.
Lesson for Writers:  Cheryl’s Fourteen Qualities of Attractive Characters***:

1. Newness (someone I haven’t seen before)
2. Viewpoint (the POV character)
3. Desire (the character wants something)
4. Expertise
5. Friends (the character likes or is liked by people the reader likes))
6. Enemies (the character is disliked by people the reader dislikes, so we like the character -- Harry Potter being hated by the Dursleys is the classic example)
7. Action (the character does something)
8. Jeopardy (being in it)
9. Kindness
10. Positivity (a good attitude in general)
11. Humor/Wit
12. Enthusiasm (passion for one specific thing)
13. Complication (meaning that while they have at least one likeable element, as per #9-12 generally, they do experience darker & deeper emotions)
14. Mystery (the character is keeping secrets, even from the reader)

Speaking of Cheryl's blog, she's running a contest right now for some of her latest books. What's that? You missed the link above? Here you go! A couple of her books are on sale right now as ebooks. Have I told you I'm joining the tech-savvy world and getting an e-reader for Christmas? Might have to partake of this sale myself!

Back to characters we love. Check out this fun Tournament of Heroines from the YA Sisterhood, a fellow YA blog. 

But what about those characters you love to hate? Here's an interesting article about Bella from Twilight that argues she's not the weak, passive character you see upon first glance.  

Okay, that's enough reading for your Friday. Enjoy the weekend!

FFFT 11/11/11

I have oodles of things to share with you on this Friday!

Put all of these on the TO-READ list: Publisher's Weekly and Amazon have both released their top YA books for 2011 lists.

Ever wonder how a book cover is created? See a sample of the process through Blood by K. J. Wignall. (This book will be reviewed on the blog soon. I mean, just look at the picture below!).

We all do it. We think, do teens actually act this way? Here about the "believability factor" from a YA author. 

Remember my obsession with Divergent (still the best book I've read all year)? If you loved it as I did, you might be interested to hear how Veronica Roth was inspired to write it.

And while I'm aware that it's no longer October, I found these pumpkin carving ideas and just had to share!

CONTESTS! I love them, you love them. Here's one to win free YA ARC's from The Young Adult Literature Review.

Okay finally, this is hilarious: Is YA Lit RUINING Our Children?? Mad-lib style.