Author: David Levithan
Publication Date: 08/28/2012
Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 322
Source: ARC

Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

As a baby, A woke up with different parents, siblings, and in the happy, careless way of children, thought nothing of it. A was always taken care of and that's all that mattered - until the rotating cast of family started mentioning a concept A couldn't grasp: tomorrow. "See you tomorrow!" "Good night!" For A, these things could never exist. Good night was good bye. There was a painful transition period where A had to come to terms with existence. A's rotating life never posed much of a problem after that. Until Rhiannon.

I absolutely loved this book. Some writers have a way of speaking so easily to the humanity within everyone that their books have a way of touching people on an individual level even if there is no one situation described that you as a person can identify with. David Levithan made that humanistic connection so easily that there were moments that I had to read passages over and over, in awe of how much I felt I could relate to the words or circumstance that A was going through. Though the premise is implausible, his ability to do so made it one of the most realistic books that I've ever read. Every Day is realistic, believable, and strikes you in your core. A is no one and everyone and that is why A is so genuine.

One of my favorite things about this book is that gender is completely unimportant. A is not male nor female; A is a person, human. A was able to relate to all of the bodies inhabited on such an instinctual level because A has lived by proxy hundreds of different lives in varying situations. And so it was interesting to see Rhiannon's reaction to A's ever changing landscape - A is the epitome of the ability to love someone for who they are, not their aesthetics. In this manner Levithan is able to make the story universal; everyone wants to be loved, to be able to live as themselves, and everyone has some sort of obstacle in their way. In this way, A is sort of the every-person, able to showcase the different issues people have in interacting with others. This is the beauty of Levithan's craftsmanship.

Though Every Day is about A and the way A experiences the world, there's a fascinating cast of background characters that A meets along the way in different lives that help to flesh out the different experiences and help A create a unique way through which the world can be viewed. And though A has sworn not to interfere in the lives of the bodies that A wakes in, there are a few times where I was inordinately pleased at the way tricky situations were handled without changing too much, and in a respectful manner.

Reading David Levithan is like swimming in a sea of poetry. I kept on wanting to write quotes down, but then I realised I'd be quoting the entire thing. Every Day is no different, which makes it easily one of the favorite books that I've read this year. Its ability to be universally applied, with poignant and realistic descriptions, makes it a book that I would recommend to anyone. Regardless of the fact that Every Day is published by Knopf Books for Young Readers, this is a book for any person simply by virtue of being human.

I really enjoyed writing my post touching on trends in reading and all of the discussion that came with it. I have to admit that when I first started this blog over a year ago that those were the types of things that I had in mind to write about. I want to be able to think critically about what I'm reading, share it with others, and receive feedback and new thoughts.

And so, inspired by Anita Sarkeesian's fabulous Tropes vs. Women series I'd like to try and address some topics that come up with females in young adult fiction. Though I doubt I'll be able to do it with anywhere near the aplomb that she has in discussing these concepts, I'm going to try my best to do it with as much equanimity as possible.

This is something that I've been thinking about doing for a while, and though I'm not quite sure what this is going to look like overall yet, I hope it ends up being useful to you in some way or otherwise adds meaningful discussions to an important topic.

The first idea I'd like to put out there for discussion is:
the idea of a female character as defined through a male lens.

For example, let's create the fictional character of Kate. Kate is your average seventeen year old girl. She may or may not have graduated high school yet. She may, due to plot circumstances, not be in a setting that does traditional schooling (perhaps futuristic Kate is in a dystopian political school for girls). Kate is fairly content with everything that's happening around her, but sometimes she wonders why everyone seemingly does the same job. In any case, Kate will be done soon and then she'll get to work for the government too. Right?

But then there's been a transfer from some distant government branch and a new guy is brought in. Kate and new guy work together on occasion through a cooperative program between the boys and girl schools.

At this point it's incredibly formulaic, but nothing is inherently wrong with the gender interaction.

Until Kate starts to realise that through talking with new guy that perhaps changes need to be made. She doesn't know as much as she thinks she did and new guy sees her in a way that makes her feel alive.

This - this is where the problem begins. Kate was questioning things on her own before new guy came, and his presence doesn't or shouldn't overshadow that in any way. She doesn't need to be affirmed by anyone else that what she is doing is right or wrong, and the fact that new guy helps her see herself in a 'new light' only illuminates the idea that a woman needs a man to help her make decisions about herself. This could not be any less true.

The better scenario would be where new guy offers new information for her to formulate her own hypothesis. Kate thinks and comes to conclusion on her own and acts on it. Kate gets to think independently to determine her own sense of self, while new guy is less of a plot device and more of a character I'd like to get to know.

There are endless permutations to this idea, and this is probably the number one reason I'll put a book down. As far as character romance goes, there is nothing appealing about a girl changing the way she thinks about herself for someone else. What do you think about this trope and/or Kate's situation? And if there are any other ideas or situations that you'd like to bring forward, please do in the comments! This is meant to be a series so I welcome your ideas.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. If you love lists

and wracking your brain for answers, then this is the meme for you!

Top Ten Book Romances That You Think Would Make It In The Real World

01. Anna and Étienne (Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins)
Is this cheating? I mean, they live in contemporary society. And they're adorable.
02. Puck and Sean (The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater)
Though this is also contemporary, an experience like theirs can make our break you. It worked for them.
03. Aria and Perry (Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi)
I'm pretty sure there are a few parallel situations you could put these two in in the real world. Hot and cold, these two, but lasting.
04. Anna and Bennett (Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone)
Also a contemp, but with a unique situation. Still, the way Tamara wrote them made their friendship and intrigue work so well that it would stay true just about anywhere.
05. Kate and Vincent (Die For Me by Amy Plum)
Despite the paranormal themes, I just love these two together, and one of my favorite aspects of the book is getting to read them in normal, everyday situations such as going to a café. Their chemistry leads me to believe that they'd do well without their crazy backstory.
06. Augustus and Hazel (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green)
No commentary necessary.
07. Brontë and Brewster (Bruiser by Neal Shusterman)
I don't know how Neal does it, but every single book that I've read has wrenched my heart. There's so much happening in this book on so many levels, but there was a lovely moment between both of them that made me smile big. I believed it.
08. Blue and ? (The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater)
I...can't tell you. But I loved it. A lot. Why, yes, there are two entries by Maggie on this list. Because I love her heaps and it's my blog and I'll Maggie if I want to.

I'm going to stop at eight rather than name names for listings' sake. To make it is something difficult and long and though there are a lot of YA love stories that I've enjoyed, I'm not sure how many of them could exist out of their situation.

Who's on your list?

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publication Date: 08/07/2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 406
Source: Publisher (ARC)

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.<br>
Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.<br>
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Note: The third paragraph was removed from the Goodreads summary, as I think it's unnecessary to know before reading and drags the synopsis down.


Celaena Sardothien has many names: she is Adarlan's Assassin, Queen of the Underworld, but in the end Celaena is really a young girl who's made do in an otherwise lethal set of situations. Having been trained as an assassin from the age of eight, Celaena did what she had to in order to survive. The law caught up with her at seventeen, and she was tossed into the prisoner camp of Endovier where people are placed to die. A year later she's given an offer she can't refuse - freedom in exchange for a series of tests and the next four years of her life. Never one to pass up a good opportunity, Celaena jumps straight into the lion's den where things even she can't expect await her.

Somehow I hadn't heard of Throne of Glass before I snagged a copy at BEA, but when it was described to me as a mashup of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones I was immediately sold. I don't really care for book marketing that relies on the success of other books, but I can see where there are definitely some elements of each in this book. In any case, it was enough for me to pick one up and want to read it fairly immediately. And I'm really glad that I did - I absolutely adore a good fantasy, and Throne of Glass is just that, a good fantasy.

The worldbuilding was complete enough to have a working grasp of why things are happening in Erilea without being bogged down as is want to happen in many fantasy series. In fact, there's just enough there to make me really interested in what happens outside the capital city of Rifthold. (Maas is releasing backstory e-novellas to flesh things out leading up to the book's release.) The juxtaposition of the beauty of a glass castle with the horrific concept upon which it had been built was weaved in nicely. This is also done with the characters of the king, and Prince Dorian's brother (a real meance), who were absent for the most part, but felt like haunting spectres throughout the majority of the story. I was able to imagine every step of this book from the moments in Endovier to the tests Celaena had to undergo, to the multiplicity of characters.

One issue that presented itself, although occasionally, was with Celaena herself. While I know that she was raised as an assassin, the extent to which she believes the world revolves around her was slightly bothersome. I believed in her strength, and in her intelligence (she loves to read!), and I really enjoyed reading about a woman who could take care of herself. But every so often there was peppered in a statement where Celaena conflated lack of interest in her aesthetic to be a lack of interest in her as a person. She was similarly offended when people didn't think that she was the best. For the majority of the story I enjoyed her as a character, but a woman doesn't need to be superhuman in order to be interesting. I hope this gets toned down somewhat over the rest of the series. In any case, I loved how there was a vast cast of characters who each had their own developed personality and didn't exist solely as someone for the main character to interact with. Choal, Nox, and Nehemia were some of the most interesting for me, and I hope we get to see more of them over the course of the plot.

Though I'm not sure how the finished copy will be, the back of the ARC says: "Two men lover her. The whole land fears her. Only she can save them all." Many of you are interested in whether or not there is instashipping or love triangles in a book, so I'll say here that I don't really feel that there is a love  triangle, though I was slightly disappointed in the way the romance developed, perhaps because I would have chosen the other guy. Neither is there instashipping, though I wish the relationship would have been better expounded upon on the male's part (not mentioning names due to spoilers).

I won't be surprised if this book gets optioned for film, or if it has been already. It's a fantastic fantasy that is well-developed and easily imagined as you read featuring strong female characters and mysterious palace intrigue that will keep you turning the page well beyond the chapter you promised you'd put it down. I think it's important to say that though there is more to the story than just this one book, it would work fine as a stand-alone.

note from kaye: While I haven't had a chance to yet read Resa's books, I was instantly taken in by her description of a strong female MC in a world where it's difficult for them to step forward and take charge. I'd also like to note that perhaps this post may include trigger warnings for some with regards to sexual harassment, so please take that into consideration before reading.

How I Chose the Journey for Astrid, the Female Blacksmith Hero of the Dragonslayer Series:

     My first fantasy series is the 4-book Dragonslayer series, and it revolves around the adventures of a female blacksmith who makes swords for dragonslayers. I’ve always loved the Viking culture, especially because of the rights women had in that culture. So I created a world that’s parallel to ours, and I decided to choose an easily recognizable Scandinavian name for my hero, Astrid. But the real story behind the story is how I chose her journey. It began many years ago when I worked as a receptionist at the corporate headquarters of a big company. As the receptionist, I was the least powerful person in the company. So when I was propositioned by a vice president (who had a wife and two young children), I felt shocked and disappointed. I thought we had a good working relationship, and his advances made me feel betrayed. At the same time, I knew speaking up could put my job at risk. There had been an earlier incident where I’d made a complaint about another man who had a recorded history of stalking women, and the company had let me down by failing to take appropriate action and treating me as if my concerns weren’t legitimate. The company I worked for had already proved that it couldn’t be trusted. I knew if I complained about the vice president, he’d probably lie, and I’d probably get fired. So I had to figure out how to protect myself at work while keeping my job. 

     That’s how Astrid’s journey began. I wondered what it would be like if I had a job where people depended on me to have a good working relationship with a man who protected them from harm. If I’d written a mystery story, I might have written a story about a female beat cop being propositioned by an important detective or district attorney or judge. If I’d written a science fiction story, I might have written about a lowly lab assistant being propositioned by a scientist who held the answer for keeping the planet from being destroyed by an incoming asteroid.  Because I decided to write a fantasy story, it made perfect sense for me to write about a female blacksmith who provides weapons to the dragonslayer who keeps her village safe. To raise the stakes, the village has always been protected by a dragonslayer who is her friend and sweetheart. But when he vanishes without a trace, the village hires a stranger to replace him – it’s this stranger who propositions Astrid. And she has to figure out what to do about it without putting everyone she cares about in danger. After all, if the new dragonslayer decides to stop protecting the village, they’re all at risk of being killed by a dragon.

     

     Many years ago, being propositioned at work was one of the most horrible things I’d ever experienced. That vice president had no respect for his wife or his family or me.  He only wanted what he wanted with no regard for how his actions would hurt other people. The funny thing is that while I have no desire to ever see or speak with him again, I’m grateful for what happened because otherwise Astrid wouldn’t exist, much less the entire Dragonslayer series!

(If you’d like to sample my work for free, you can download a free “mini” ebook called “Dragonslayer Stories” from my website at http://www.resanelson.com/files.  No cost, no obligation, nothing to sign up for, no information gathering.  I like giving away samples of my work so you can decide for yourself whether you like it or not.  Also, you can enter to win signed copies of the first three novels in my Dragonslayer series on GoodReads at this link:  http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/27323-the-stone-of-darkness.  You can get 10% off my books (ebooks and paperbacks) when you buy them from my publisher (www.mundania.com).  Enter this code at checkout:  MP10.)

Resa Nelson has been selling fiction professionally since 1988. She is a longtime member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) and is a graduate of the Clarion SF Workshop.

Resa was also the TV/Movie Columnist for Realms of Fantasy magazine for 13 years and was a contributor to SCI FI magazine. She has sold over 200 articles to magazines in the United States and the United Kingdom. Her first novel, The Dragonslayer's Sword, was nominated for the Nebula Award and was also a Finalist for the EPPIE Award. This medieval fantasy novel is based on a short story first published in the premiere issue of Science Fiction Age magazine and ranked 2nd in that magazine's first Readers Top Ten Poll. The Dragonslayer's Sword is Book 1 in her 4-book Dragonslayer series. Book 2, The Iron Maiden, was published last December, Book 3 was published in May, and the final book in the series is scheduled for publication in November. Resa's standalone novel, Our Lady of the Absolute, is a fantasy/mystery/thriller about a modern-day society based on ancient Egypt. Midwest Book Review gave this book a 5-star review, calling it "a riveting fantasy, very highly recommended." Resa lives in Massachusetts.