Forever Young Adult » Hotsy Totsy!

A new form of interactive fiction

Jenny — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:05:21 +0000

Hey FYAers! A few weeks ago, we posted a teaser chapter for this book, and announced that we were participating in a giveaway for the launch of a new company that will publish active and interactive fiction. Well, that company is Coliloquy, and they have partnered with Amazon and Kindle to release books in a digital format, giving authors and their readers new ways to interact via books told from several points of view, serials and episodic story-telling. Read on for my review and enter to win your very own Kindle with the Coliloquy platform already loaded onto it!

BOOK REPORT for Arcania by Liz Maverick

Cover Story: Thank God it’s on a Kindle!
BFF Charm: Yay
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: Straight Up Gamer Style
Bonus Factors: World Building, Choose Your Own Adventure
Relationship Status: I like hanging out with this book when I’m at my friend’s house

Cover Story: Thank God it’s on a Kindle!

Half-hidden face, girl in a mirror, sparkles? If this cover wasn’t only visible on my Kindle, I’d be brown-bagging it for sure.

The Deal:

Adia’s a bit of an underachiever, but what does it matter? Her twin sister was born with Arcania in her system, and went off with their parents to the spell caster’s world to fight in the battle to save Earth, leaving Adia in charge of taking care of her younger sisters.

All of that changes when Adia wakes up, and her sister’s powers have been transferred to her. Now she has to leave everyone she cares about behind to go to the school on Arcania and join in the fight against the Synelv — that is IF she can figure out how to use her newfound powers and win a spot on a fighting team… without getting herself or anyone else killed.

BFF Charm: Yay

Adia’s got guts, and if I were on a team fighting to save the Earth, I’d definitely want her on my side — even if she didn’t have her powers, because she’s level-headed and kind. What’s more, with this new platform, I get to help her make decisions, which might take a little bit of the spontaneity out of the relationship, but allows me to trump Ariel. I AM part of that world, bish!

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

There’s definitely sparkage flying around between Adia and the school’s top shield, classic Mysterious Loner Dude, Grey. But what happened with Gray and her sister in the past? And why is he so tortured? Can she trust him?

Talky Talk: Straight Up, Gamer Style

Maverick’s writing harkens back to classic serials — it’s full of action and suspense, doling out little tidbits to let you get to know her characters along the way. While I enjoyed this book’s aesthetic, I’m pretty sure it will really appeal to folks who enjoy RPGs. Why? Read on!

Bonus Factor: World Building

Each fighting team is made up of Arcanae with different talents: you’ve got your spellcaster, your shield, a rogue and a healer, at least. And they all have to work together when they travel to different planes to defeat the evil Synelv.

Bonus Factor: Choose Your Own Adventure

You all know how much we like CYOA around here, and with this new platform, it looks like we’re not the only ones! So, much like our own CYOA, readers get interact with the author as each book is being written!

Relationship Status: I like hanging out with this book when I’m at my friend’s house

So, no surprise, I love reading. I also love playing games. But RPG’s tend to either not interest me or stress me out (that tiger in the very first level of Tomb Raider nearly gave me a heart attack) so I tend not to play them on my own. But when I went over to my friend’s house to play a game with her, this book and I met, and we really hit it off! I mean, we don’t quite have enough in common for us to hang out on our own, but I totally look forward to seeing it each week at game night.

FTC FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my review copy from Coliloquy via The Mix Agency. I received neither money nor cocktails for this review (damnit!). Arcania is available for Kindle here.

Want your very own free Kindle with Arcania, plus three other new books from the Coliloquy platform already loaded onto it?

To enter to win, submit a poem — in haiku form — in the comments about technology: your love for it, your hate for it, your love/hate for it! Here’s my very own:

Former technophobe
Now techno dweebic, is lost
without her iPhone

We here at FYA will vote on the submissions and pick a winner next week! Be sure to subscribe to the comments so we can contact you!

The Official FYA February 2012 Calendar

Meghan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:00:17 +0000

Happy February, you guys! The days are getting longer, the nights are getting shorter, and there’s king cake in the grocery stores! Also, it’s time to turn the page on your FYA calendar! Ha, I’ll bet you thought we forgot, didn’t you? But not this early in the year, luckily.

Last month, we brought you our Twilight parody, vastly improving that cover by gracing it with a delicious champ can, but this month we chose an FYA favorite to honor, rather than one to lampoon.

It’s a time of year when everyone’s thoughts turn to Valentine’s Day, whether they like it or not. When, as the weather warms up (at least here in the south), love — or at least candy — is on our minds. And who else would we turn to at a time like this but Cameron Quick? Sure, he might not be there when we turn to him, but we can’t help but hope a little. And then make a stiff drink to recover from the inevitable heartbreak. So presenting, in honor of Sweethearts, the February calendar downloads:

[Click on the above image for the PDF of the calendar]

[Click on the above image for the desktop wallpaper]

Sniff! Make mine a double, please. And do let us know if you have suggestions for future cover covers! Cheers!!

FYA Recommends One More Way For You To Waste Time

Megan no h — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:00:13 +0000

I bet I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you’re damn glad it’s Friday. Okay, fine, that was a given. But do you know what else you’re thinking? You’re thinking that between this blog, other blogs, news outlets, youtube and all of your social networks…that you just don’t have enough to do on the internet. So I’m here to provide you with one more additional time sink. That’s right…it’s time to play Pinterest.

So what is Pinterest you ask? It’s a photo sharing site that is a bit like a tumblr collage. And in the last couple of months its become one of the most popular (and fasted growing) sites on the nets.

So how does it work? First you create boards. Boards are a blank space to which you can pin photos or videos from anywhere on the internet. Most boards have some sort of unifying theme, like fashion or food or animals or travel.

Then anytime you see a photo or video you’d like added to one of your boards, you pin it with a button that you add to your browser toolbar. If you like someone else’s pin, you can re-pin it. And similar to Twitter, people can follow you or you can follow them and see when they’ve pinned something new.

And that’s it. No, really, that’s it. There’s really not much to it. Some people find practical uses for their boards – like wedding planning, room redecorating or wish lists. Others, like me, use it for completely superfluous reasons like making a board composed entirely of creepy vintage drawings of cats. No, wait, that’s actually just me.

Because we love you all (or were bored – definitely one of those two), Forever Young Adult made its own Pinterest account this week. Some of our boards are practical, like a quick visual guide to tv shows or books we love and think you should too. Others are just eye pornography filled with delicious desserts or tasty drinks. And some we wish were straight up pornography, but that’s probably against the terms of service and besides, I’m 99% sure Taylor Kitsch hasn’t done porn. That 1% of doubt probably means it’s worth investigating.

So yes, we made a board comprised entirely of sexy photos of Taylor Kitsch. We know you could just google image search him yourself, but sometimes google likes to show you things that aren’t Taylor or (even worse) photos of Taylor who may or may not be underage and has terrible blonde helmet hair. Really, I think this last paragraph stands as my thesis as to why Pinterest really matters.

If you’re already on Pinterest, you can follow FYA here. If you don’t have account and would like one, you can request an invite from their main page. Or leave us a comment and we can send you an invite (just make sure to put your email in the email field of the comment form). And sound off in the comments with ideas of boards you’d be interested in seeing FYA make!

Excuse me, miss, but your dress is on fire

Meghan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:00:35 +0000

After last week’s release of the Hunger Games Tribute Parade costume photos, we thought we’d try to get a jump on the costume directors (and maybe give them a gentle nudge in the right direction) and show some ideas for Katniss’s interview gown that would not make her look like an extra from Blade Runner: Replicants on Ice (thanks, Posh, for the joke). Besides, we just got a Polyvore account and it’s super fun to pretend we’re the Fug Girls, so you’re the lucky recipients of our new obsession! Hooray!

If you’re looking to score a Girl on Fire look for your next red carpet event (or HG-themed cocktail party), here are some ideas. And don’t worry if you don’t have $10,000 to drop on a dress — I’ve got a few alternatives. And if you DO have $10,000 to drop on a dress, you should know FYA is currently seeking sponsors for its FYA Yacht and Champagne Fund. Ahem.

I’ve come up with two different looks — one that’s a fairly traditional interpretation of the text (dresses with actual flames were either super ugly or slutted it up too much), and one I like to call Katniss’s afterparty look. Let me talk about that one for a minute, okay? It’s my favorite, mostly because of the BADASS Alexander McQueen shoes, which are a MUST for the look. So if you don’t have a spare $800 lying around, I suggest you get a second job. And frankly, the two cheap options to the Cavalli dress are kind of fug, but what can you do when your budget’s been blown on shoes? Also, I have a thing against Betsey Johnson since I went in there to try on dresses for my sister-in-law’s wedding, and I asked if they had the dress I wanted in a 12 because the 10 didn’t fit my ginourmous baby-nursing boobs, and the size AT LEAST 18 salesgirl sneered at me, “We don’t carry sizes that large? OK?” and so I vowed never to buy a Betsey Johnson dress, even though there are some I dearly covet (and I’m not making fun of her size! I’m just saying she was definitely bigger than the size she was so rude about).

OK, enough chatter. The looks:

Girl on Fire by foreveryoungadult featuring an elbow sleeve dress

{center} Elie Saab chiffon dress, $10,883
{right} BCBG Max Azria elbow sleeve dress, $338
{left} Two-toned sequined dress
CO-OP Barneys New York peep toe high heels, $169
Barry M Dazzle Dust, 96 – Gold: Amazon.co.uk: Beauty, £4.50
Nailside: Flame Job How-To

Katniss at the Afterparty by foreveryoungadult featuring platform shoes

{left} Roberto Cavalli embroidered dress, €2.127
{center} Betsey Johnson sequin dress, $179
{right} Lipsy evening party dress, $116
Alexander McQueen platform shoes, $765
Pamela Love Sterling silver obsidian arrowhead ring

Yay? Nay? Not with a 50-foot flaming arrow and can full of gasoline? Is Cinna weeping all his gold eyeliner off?

The Official FYA January 2012 Calendar

Poshdeluxe — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:30:32 +0000

Happy New Year, you guys! It’s 2012! LIKE WHOAH! So, I have a feeling this year is gonna be pretty great. I mean, the sequels to Divergent AND Delirium are both coming out! FYA fave Rebecca Serle’s hotly anticipated debut novel is being released! We can finally watch The Hunger Games movie and see if it sucks or not! And, best of all, the last Twilight film is hitting the big screen in November, and the drinking game for that one will surely bring on the apocalypse.

In honor of this epic year, we at FYA decided to follow in the footsteps of the Calendar Girls and make our own calendar! But minus the nude part! Obviously! (What kind of website do you think this is, anyway?)

At the beginning of each month, we’ll publish a calendar for you to print out for your wall or use as your wallpaper desktop. And instead of posing nude, because no, we decided to recreate YA covers… with an FYA twist! Of course, we had to start with a YA icon. Twilight has spawned many, many imitators, but I think it’s safe to say that we totally blew them out of the water with this WORK OF GENIUS:

[Click on the above image for the PDF of the calendar]

[Click on the above image for the desktop wallpaper]

Damn, January is already looking SPECTACULAR, don’t you think? And if you have any suggestions of covers you’d like us to tackle, let us know in the comments. HAPPY HAPPY HOUR, Y’ALL!

A Highly Specific FYA Book Gift Guide

Megan no h — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:06:54 +0000

Last week we brought you FYA’s Holiday Gift Guide, but some of you may still be wondering “what about booooks?!” Now chances are, if you’re hanging around this site, you’re already a pretty big reader. And book tastes are so specific and you know your friends better than I do, etc! But all of that said, we love lists around here. So with the help of the other FYA ladies, I’ve put together a highly specific book gift list. If you have any family or friends who fall into these categories, we just may have found their perfect present.

Book to give to your friend who is dating a guy that you (and everyone else) hate:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Hopefully the wise words of Brimstone can help your friend realize the folly getting involved with inconsequential penises.

Alternative recipient for this book: your dentist

Book to give your friend who complains about everything:
Everybody Sees The Ants by A. S. King.

Book to give to the person who is always gives you shit for crying at the movies:
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Oh that person. The one that acts like they’re so much better than you because they have no feelings/heart of stone. You will break them yet.

Alternative book for this recipient: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Alternative book for this recipient: Plain Kate by Erin Bow
or consider giving them anything with our DNRIP tag (besides the ones with ugly covers)

Book to give your friend who always brags about how he/she went to boarding school:
Variant by Robison Wells

Book to give your friend who can’t let go of the past/get over their ex:
Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Book to give your friend who doesn’t have health insurance so he/she can learn how to make drugs:
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Book to give your fashion-challenged friend:
Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Alternative recipient: your friend whose homepage is Go Fug Yourself

What to get your sullen teenaged cousin:
Wintertown by Stephen Emonds

It’s sweet and touching and almost painful, and it portrays average broken people sympathetically but not unrealistically. Plus it’s a sure way of giving your sullen teenaged cousin a way to escape through literature.

Book to give to your lady friends who are feminists but won’t call themselves that because they’d be brainwashed into thinking its a dirty word:
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Now, if only this book had existed when I was in high school. I could have given it to everyone I knew.

(alternatively) Book to give that annoying know-it-all girl in your feminist theory class:
Eve by Anna Carey

Book to give to the friend you haven’t seen or heard from since SWTOR came out:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Book to give your friend who has a boyfriend but won’t admit she’s in love with someone else:
A Room With A View by E. M. Forster

Book to give to the person who just recently discovered (and acts like they’re the first ever to do so) The Hunger Games:
Divergent by Veronica Roth

What about you all? Any ~~passive aggressive~~ highly specific books you plan on giving out this year?

A FYA Christmas and Holiday Gift Guide

Megan no h — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:51:22 +0000

If you celebrate the birth of Santa (or any of the other many winter holidays), you might be struggling for last minute gifts. So we’re delighted to bring you FYA 2011 Christmas and Holiday Gift Guide, tailored especially for those of you who like books and cool things. Some of them are book related. Others are completely unrelated to anything other than that I naively assume I know the FYA readers well enough to link around to stuff you’d want to buy. So get them for a friend! Or add them to your real (or imaginary) wish list for friends and family. Or just buy them for yourself because you _______ (insert: don’t celebrate holidays and/or just get cash/gift cards and/or are give terrible presents from other people). And don’t we all deserve a treat?

Champ Cans (and other Booze):

It’s well documented that we ladies love our drinks. And champ cans are an FYA favorite. But for those of us unlucky enough to be located in an area whose liquor stores don’t carry them, there is always the internet. So give the best Christmas gift of all…the gift of tiny pink cans of champagne with a straw.

Stationery:

Stationery is a great gift, because if you buy it for someone else…there is always the chance you may get a letter in return. Or you can buy it for yourself to send to friends and family and brighten there day with a real old fashioned letter or card. You can go traditional, kawaii or find anything you could possible want on etsy.

Ornaments:

Ornaments are tough. They aren’t exactly practical, since you can only use them once a year. Plus, some people are particular about them or like to pick out there own. That said, every once and a while you can find an ornament so great, it’s hard to stop yourself from getting it for someone. And any big movie or TV show your friends loves is bound to have many great options to pick from. Me, though? Normally, I always feel like I have enough ornaments. But a sparkly unicorn? Now THAT is something that I need.

Lisa Frank:

Did you know that Lisa Frank has an online store? Well, now you do. And you need all of it. Especially the school supplies and especially these tie dye shorts.

BFF Necklaces:

Look, I really think BFF necklaces are due for a comeback any day now. Let’s make that happen. When you’re a bit older, it’s more than likely you may not live in the same place as your BFF. I think adults, more than kids, could really benefit from having a reminder of who their friends are. So everyone get your BFF a necklace this holiday! You’ve got your traditional hearts. But why settle for that when you can have cupcakes and snow-cones?

Art/Wall Things:

People’s styles and taste vary dramatically when it comes to decorating. But I think we can all agree that things printed on the back of old book pages? Are…kind of incredible.

Paper Dolls/Coloring Books:

We’re never too old for a little bit of old school fun. For paper dolls, why not get you or you friend the American Girl they had growing up? Or how about the March Sisters or Bennet Sisters? If you’re into fashion, you have your choice of famous designers, classic Hollywood, WWII pin ups or even 90s red carpet starlets.

For coloring books, how about Harry Potter or Anne of Green Gables? If you’re looking for something a little more unique, you can purchase a 90s coloring book or let people draw their favorite gangsta rapper.

Nerdy (and by Nerdy, I mean AMAZING) T-Shirts:

If you’re anything like me, you probably already have several drawers full of t-shirts you hardly ever even wear, but cannot convince yourself to get rid of. But that doesn’t stop me from buying more, constantly, for myself and others. And with t-shirts like these, can you blame me?

The one on the right and middle are kind of awesome for their subtlety. In fact, I have the Harry Potter House Brawl t-shirt and I adore it. And for you Whovians, the Tardis set in a damask print? Pure awesome. But I’m not always feeling subtle and sometimes I like a more IN YOUR FACE shirt. And there is nothing more in your face than announcing you are Team Somebody. And while I tend to shy away from encouraging this debate (because for me, it is SO OBVIOUS), this Team Peeta shirt is so well designed, it’s a must. I mean, the bread loaf alone! (And fine, here’s the Gale one. Also, this same shop makes Edward/Jacob – and Mike! – shirts that crack me up.) And bonus miscellaneous nerd t-shirt link: everything on this site.

Board Games:

Not everyone is a board game geek, but they should be. There are plenty of fun games based on movies or books. Like this Hunger Games board game, which I have yet to play, but desperately want to. I have, however, played this Battlestar Galactica board game which is made of win. For the little more adventurous, how about introducing a friend to the world of European style strategy games? Settlers of Catan is a great place to start. It is, after all, the monopoly (!?) of our generation.

E-reader Cover/Tablet Holder:

I spent a long time looking for a Kindle cover back when I first got it. And after scouring the whole of the internet, I always came back to Oberon Designs covers. They’re leather and gorgeous and you will feel extra fancy reading your Kindle, Nook or iPad. And they have plenty of other great (non-electronic holding) things.

Netflix:

Do you seriously have any friends or family who DON’T have Netflix in the year 2011? I know it sounds crazy, but those people do exist. Sometimes they don’t have enough money to justify it, other times they’re just trying to prove that they’re too good for TV (NO ONE is too good for TV) and sometimes they just honestly don’t know what they’re missing. So show them. Give them the gift of Netflix. There are just so many good and terrible things for them to watch. It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving.

So what do YOU all want for Christmas? Are you getting something for a friend or family member that is the cat’s meow? Share with us your gift ideas in the comments!

Surprise! We’ve got a brother (and he’s way cooler than Dawn)

Poshdeluxe — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:11:08 +0000

Attention YAngelists! I have some super exciting news to share with you today! Like, mega spazzworthy, crack open a champ can in celebration kinda news.

No, we are not getting married to Ryan Gosling, in spite of his newfound love for YA.

And no, we’re not publishing a book… not yet, anyway!

Here’s what we ARE doing: launching an official partnership with Badass Digest, home to fierce film and television reviews, newsy scoops and posts guaranteed to make yr life more badass. It’s basically the GentlemanNerd to our LadyNerd, the Todd to our Viola, the Four to our Tris. I was going to say the Peeta/Gale to our Katniss, but I don’t want this post to erupt into another debate, and frankly, neither of those dudes is as kickass as Katniss, so it’s not a fair analogy.

The point is! We’re honored to be officially connected with such an awesome site, and it’s going to bring a lot of exciting changes ’round these parts, including:

New Layout! We’ll be adopting a similar structure to Badass Digest (BAD), although of course we’ll look a bit more girlie. Hopefully, this will make our site easier to navigate. Plus, who doesn’t love a good makeover montage?

Expanded Coverage! Over the last year, we’ve started including non-book posts, like our teen movie reviews, TV recaps and LadyNerd guides. While we will always remain true to our first love, YA literature, we’re eager to write about other things we adore, especially so we can share them with you guys!

Big Scoops! Partnering up with BAD is like befriending the coolest kid in school, so now we’ll get to sit in the caf with some real movers and shakers. Hopefully, this means we’ll be able to land some juicy exclusives, but don’t worry, we won’t forget who our real friends are.

Badass Guests! Each week, one of the BAD writers will stop by FYA HQ to share something of interest to us. It could be a film review, a book recommendation or maybe some news about one of our casting faves. We’re looking forward to hosting some new perspectives in the girls’ bathroom, and we’ll totally let them borrow our lip gloss.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, and it will take some time before all of these changes go into effect. But we’re absolutely thrilled about our new brother, and we hope you will be too.

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to ask ‘em in the comments. And remember: even though we’ve got a new sibling, you guys are first and foremost our family.

In which we get to post a teaser of Liz Maverick’s “Arcania” and announce a Kindle giveaway!

Jenny — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:08:15 +0000

You read that right, folks! I’m going to be reading Arcania to review it, and one lucky reader of this site will be winning a Kindle with the book loaded onto it!

See, Liz Maverick is releasing her new book on a yet-to-be-announced publishing platform for the Kindle. What does that mean exactly? (You might ask.) Well, it means that the author will be able to write episodically, rewriting chapters from different characters’ points of view, and revising history depending on whose side of the story is being told. It could bring about a whole new genre of book, so stay tuned for more — I’ll be reviewing it and hosting the giveaway in the next couple of weeks! Read on after the break for a teaser of the first chapter:

Arcania

Trial by Fire #1
by
Liz Maverick

Chapter 1 Teaser

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. The guidance counselor’s mouth continued to move, blasting me with an endless wave of peppermint yuck. She wanted to help me, you see. Didn’t she always? The D grade in Algebra was my latest transgression. It was kind of a screw up, I admit. I’d meant to keep my average average by getting another C. Nothing more, nothing less. Just fly under the radar. That was the goal.

I sniffed once, for show, and hung my head then decided it was excessive and looked up at her again while trying not to think about how much she resembled a Hummel figurine with bad lipstick. Mrs. Rafferty, I want to help you. That brown sack dress might look great on the sort of model who gnaws at her own fingernails for breakfast, but on you? Yikes.

“I think maybe we should have a discussion with your parents.”

The words sliced through the lovely fog I’d cultivated in my brain—apathy, beautiful apathy—boring into my skull like an old-fashioned dental drill would a tooth. Sharp, deep. Impossible to ignore.

“That won’t be necessary,” I blurted. Mrs. Rafferty’s lips continued to flap about how I needed to “reach for the sky” while her fingers groped for another hit from that plastic bowl of pillow mints on her desk.

I would have lodged a more convincing protest against the idea of involving my parents were it not for the thread of purple-black smoke suddenly twisting through the air just to the right of a kiosk of self-help brochures sporting cheerful titles designed to prevent you from cutting your arms with razor blades or going too far with boys to get attention. Out of habit I looked at Mrs. Rafferty, quickly, to see if she noticed, even though I knew she hadn’t. She wouldn’t see anything at all. She took my glance as attention, however, and kept on about junior year being too late to recover from bad grades and how I needed to apply myself now, as a sophomore. From the corner of my eye I watched the smoke swirl, thin and stretch into a large oval.

Lara, is that you?

My sister didn’t answer my silent query. She never did. She was better than that. Better than me. Lara wasn’t just arcanic; she was considered extraordinary even among her own kind—which I wasn’t, despite being her twin. I could always sense something of what she was feeling, though, even if I was a genetic loser and had barely any arcania in me at all. I think the twin thing was the cause, because something in me had tracked Lara’s training in arcanic arts from the day she started. This was by far the darkest emotion I’d ever sensed from her.

“Adia Hawkins! You are not listening to me. There are consequences to your actions, you know.”

A roaring noise crashed down on my head like an ocean wave; the smoke in the air collapsed in on itself, grabbed at my heart and ripped at me from its pulsing center. I clutched wildly at my chest, feeling like I was about to be sucked down a bathtub drain. Then I slammed back in my chair with a gasp. The tension had abruptly ceased. The smoke vanished. I was left behind.

Mrs. Rafferty’s eyes narrowed to slits. “I am not amused by your dramatics, young lady. We will include your parents in further discussion.”

“That really won’t be necessary, Mrs. Rafferty,” I managed to say, fighting panic along with the aftermath of arcanic whiplash. I still wasn’t quite sure what had happened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything.”

“Adia, we definitely have a problem,” Mrs. Rafferty announced, her fingertips idly brushing the sticky-looking receiver of her landline. Then her expression softened. “But there’s no problem in the world that can’t be solved with a little talking. I’m sure your parents want to know that you’re struggling. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Embarrassed? Not exactly. My parents already knew my struggles, and they were as unavailable for parent-counselor conferences now as ever, considering they lived on an entirely different plane of reality and only stopped by on rare occasions to check on me, sort of like solar eclipses or the way that disgusting puke-scented flower in Hawaii pops out of the ground every five years or something. Not that that’s how I felt about my parents. I’m just saying. It was a rare, rare thing to see them. I probably couldn’t even get them if I wanted. The Council would probably get fake parents and then—

“Please, Mrs. Rafferty,” I said, surprising myself as real tears filled my eyes. I cleared my throat. “Please don’t ask them to come in.”

Adia, pull your shit together!

Together my shit did stay, through another five minutes of a rambling, mixed-metaphor-strewn motivational speech involving ball sports and fighter pilots. I even managed a few more apologies. Unfortunately, at the end of it I still walked out with a parent-teacher conference summons. Hellfire and damnation seemed a more pleasant alternative, but Mrs. Rafferty hadn’t offered the option.

I crossed just beyond the school boundary to sit on the unofficial smokers bench, summons hanging limply from one hand. Minka Gross was sitting there in a cloud of smoke, fiddling with a massive new piercing in her ear that I was pretty sure would deform her lobe for the rest of her life. She flicked away her clove cigarette by way of greeting and we sat in companionable silence until I just had to ask, “You see anything lately?”

She exhaled slowly. “No.”

Minka wasn’t a huge conversationalist. Even had she been, we still probably wouldn’t have had a whole lot to chitchat about. She was black kohl eyeliner to my cherry Chapstick. But though neither my “normal” boyfriend Brandon nor my “normal” friends understood why I was nice to the biggest outcast in school—other than as some outsized humanitarian gesture to prevent her from getting suffocated by bullies in a locker room garbage can—I was. Because they didn’t know what I did. They didn’t have a clue about what we really were.

Minka and I had one very important thing in common. It was a connection that didn’t require we like the same clothes, music, or hobbies. It was that we were arcanic rejects, the Arcanae’s half-assed lessers, left on Earth to keep our genetic lameness from infecting anyone else while our talented peers, the true firebloods, took care of business. You’d be surprised what kind of bond simple inferiority can build. Even if that bond is never verbalized.

I put Mrs. Rafferty’s Parental Form of Doom down on the picnic table. Minka eyed it and raised an eyebrow.

“Did she give you the speech about basketball, marine biology or fighter pilots?” Her gaze quickly returned to the chipped black nail polish on her left hand.

“Mostly fighter pilots. A touch of basketball. A lot of ‘reach for the sky.’ You got marine biology?” I’d never heard that speech.

“Yeah. One where she talks about fish in the sea. Schools and the like. Very creative. ‘The world is your oyster’ and other pearls.” Minka grimaced at her own joke. “Very confusing. S’posed to be about teamwork and mingling. But, then, you probably won’t get that one ’cause you’re not an anti-social weirdo.”

“Nope. Just a pathetic underachiever. She doesn’t consider the remarkable consistency of my C-average a virtue.” I leaned back and stared up at the sky, felt the table edge cut into my back. “‘The sky’s the limit,’ I said, mimicking the counselor.

Minka snorted. She poked at the corner of Mrs. Rafferty’s letter, pushing it back toward me. “You’re gonna have to contact the Council. The parents thing is always a problem.”

“I know,” I snapped, more harshly than she deserved. Having someone else say it out loud made everything worse, and it didn’t help that the bangs of Minka’s dyed black hair blocked the view of most of her face. I couldn’t tell if she was on my side or not. Was anyone ever on my side? I got up from the table, shoved the form into my messenger bag and walked away. Screw you, Minka Gross. Watch me bother to defend you again when the stupid jocks start making fun of your name.

“I get straight A’s,” Minka blurted.

I froze, my back to her. This was the most personal thing she’d offered up in years. I mean, our shared situation as arcanic lessers had occasionally led to discussions about preventing discovery by normals, but we’d never—and I mean ever—talked about her life. Not real life.

I slowly turned, the way you do when you don’t want to spook an animal. Two red spots glowed in Minka’s cheeks, and she was breathing fast. “I get straight A’s,” she repeated.

I had the sense that the moment could slip away, that if I said the wrong thing she’d close up forever, but I had no idea where she was going. What she wanted. What she wanted us to share. “And…?”

In a voice that was a bare whisper she said, “And there’s no one to tell.”

We looked at each other. A lump formed in my throat and I reached out to her, my hand stretching across the table. She didn’t move, though, just stared at it. I slowly took her palm in mine and gave it a squeeze. A beat passed, and I couldn’t decide whether the look on Minka’s face meant she was going to stub her cigarette out on the top of my hand or squeeze back.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I know…”

Just when I thought I’d been dismissed, Minka squeezed back. The moment lasted only a fraction of a second before she pulled away, but it happened. Then she tossed her head to make her hair cover her face and turned her back on me.

I walked toward the school on the verge of tears. It had been a strange moment. Nobody had it easy. Not Minka, not me, and not even Lara, though I sometimes selfishly wished my sister’s gifts had been given to me instead. I suddenly felt like a total bitch for thinking mean thoughts about Mrs. Rafferty’s tendency to walk around looking like a peasant from a Van Gogh painting, especially because she was actually rooting for me to improve myself. Usually her talks were just: would I please stop cutting class and passing notes to Brandon? Mrs. Rafferty seemed to think I had a meaningful future, and I should have been thankful that she cared. I just knew she was wrong.

Check back in for my review!

Blog Tour: Never Have I Ever

Megan no h — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:02:28 +0000

Earlier this year I read Sara Shepard’s The Lying Game, the first book in a new series that involves murder, secrets, and indential twins. I was excited to be asked to join the official blog tour for Never Have I Ever, the second book in the Lying Game series. Keep reading to learn more about the books and the new Lying Game TV show. Plus, a chance for you to enter to win an epic GIVEAWAY!

For those of you new to the series, here is the Never Have I Ever official summary:

My perfect life was a lie.

Now I’d do anything to uncover the truth.

Not long ago, I had everything a girl could wish for: amazing friends, an adorable boyfriend, a loving family. But none of them know that I’m gone—that I’m dead. To solve my murder, my long-lost twin sister, Emma, has taken my place. She sleeps in my room, wears my clothes, and calls my parents Mom and Dad.

And my killer is watching her every move.

I remember little from my life, just flashes and flickers, so all I can do is follow along as Emma tries to solve the mystery of my disappearance. But the deeper she digs, the more suspects she uncovers. It turns out my friends and I played a lot of games—games that ruined people’s lives. Anyone could want revenge . . . anyone could want me—and now Emma—dead.

From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.

Never Have I Ever is on sale August 2nd (that’s today!) Be sure to check out my review later in the week. Plus, The Lying Game TV series will be premiering on ABC Family on Monday, August 15th. Forever Young Adult is planning on recapping the series, so you should be sure to check it out.

For more information on the TV series go to ABC Family’s website. For more information on the books, check out the official Lying Game website or you can follow Sarah Shepard on Twitter.

Now for the fun part (as in, the part where you can win stuff!) Monday through Friday this week, participating blogs will host a different game of NEVER HAVE I EVER, featuring three “Never Have I Ever…” statements from a different set of twins. Readers must post a comment below correctly identifying the lie, as well as answer whether the Never Have I Ever statement from The Lying Game’s Emma and Sutton is true or false. Readers who successfully comment on each of the 5 blogs with all the right answers will be entered to win Sara Shepard’s books (all nine Pretty Little Liars and the first two Lying Game books)!

Since today’s twins are Emma and Sutton, you only have one question you need to answer for today’s quiz. Tell us which of the following statements is a lie.

Quiz: Sutton Mercer and Emma Paxton

A. Never have we ever been elected to the Halloween homecoming court
B. Never have we ever tasted alcohol
C. Never have we ever crashed the same party

There is only one answer. Please give your answer in the comments below. Remember, readers must include their name and email address in order to win (note: email addresses placed in the the “email field” will be private). Don’t forget – to win, you have to enter on all five stops of the blog tour, so remember to check out these other blogs this week:

Monday, August 1st: Katie’s Book Blog
Tuesday, August 2nd: here!
Wednesday, August 3rd: I Swim for Oceans
Thursday, August 4th: Naughty Book Kitties
Friday, August 5th: Princess Bookie

The deadline to enter the comment on each post is 11:59 PM EST on Friday August 5th. Good luck and happy lying.