Waiting on Wednesday: Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Drama by Raina Telgemeier
Expected Publication: September 1, 2012
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 240
Genre: Graphic Novel
Audience: Middle Grade

From Goodreads:

Raina Telgemeier, the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Eisner Award winner, SMILE, brings us her next full-color graphic novel . . . DRAMA!

Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she's a terrible singer. Instead she's the set designer for the stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that occurs once the actors are chosen, and when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier! Following the success of SMILE, Raina Telgemeier brings us another graphic novel featuring a diverse set of characters that humorously explores friendship, crushes, and all-around drama!

Raina Telgemeier's Smile is probably my favorite graphic novel of all time (though I think graphic memoir is a more accurate description) and as soon as I finished reading it, I was ready for her to publish a new book.  It took three years, but I finally get my wish. I can't wait for September!

Pre-order Drama today:

Or, if you can't wait, read Smile to tide you over:

Waiting on Wednesday: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Blind Spot by Laura Ellen
Expected Publication: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Pages: 356
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer. This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.

This book sounds ah-mazing. And YA lit needs more mysteries. There are not nearly enough of them. I'm excited that this book is there to fill that need. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Bon Appetit: The Delicious Life of Julia Child by Jessie Hartland
Publication Date: May 22, 2012
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 48
Genre: Biography
Audience: Primary/Middle Grade


From Goodreads:

Follow Julia Child—chef, author, and television personality—from her childhood in Pasadena, California, to her life as a spy in WWII, to the cooking classes she took in Paris, to the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, to the funny moments of being a chef on TV. This is a comprehensive and enchanting picture book biography, told in many panels and jam-packed with lively, humorous, and child-friendly details. Young chefs and Julia Child fans will exclaim, "ooooh la la," about this book, which is as energetic and eccentric as the chef herself.

Having read Julia Child's memoir, I love the idea of her life being a children's picture book. The picture on the cover alone has already endeared me to this book.

Waiting on Wednesday: Ask the Passengers by A.S. King

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Ask the Passengers by A.S. King
Expected Publication: October 23, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown BFYR
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Astrid Jones copes with her small town's gossip and narrow-mindedness by staring at the sky and imagining that she's sending love to the passengers in the airplanes flying high over her backyard. Maybe they'll know what to do with it. Maybe it'll make them happy. Maybe they'll need it. Her mother doesn't want it, her father's always stoned, her perfect sister's too busy trying to fit in, and the people in her small town would never allow her to love the person she really wants to: another girl named Dee. There's no one Astrid feels she can talk to about this deep secret or the profound questions that she's trying to answer. But little does she know just how much sending her love--and asking the right questions--will affect the passengers' lives, and her own, for the better. 

I loved A.S. King's Please Ignore Vera Dietz.  In fact, I am ashamed that I haven't read her other books yet since I loved Vera Dietz so much. It doesn't help that now I have this book to add to the pile which sounds equally as compelling as all of King's other plot descriptions.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart
Series: Mysterious Benedict Society #0.5
Publication Date: April 10, 2012
Publisher: Little Brown
Pages: 480
Genre: Mystery/Adventure
Audience: Middle Grade

From Goodreads:

Before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was simply a boy named Nicholas Benedict. Meet the boy who started it all....

Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict has more problems than most children his age. Not only is he an orphan with an unfortunate nose, but he also has narcolepsy, a condition that gives him terrible nightmares and makes him fall asleep at the worst possible moments. Now he's being sent to a new orphanage, where he will encounter vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances -- and a mystery that could change his life forever. Luckily, he has one important thing in his favor: He's a genius.

On his quest to solve the mystery, Nicholas finds enemies around every corner, but also friends in unexpected places -- and discovers along the way that the greatest puzzle of all is himself.

I loved the first Mysterious Benedict Society. The other two? Not so much. So I'm incredibly curious to see how this prequel will fare as part of the series. Will it go the way for the first book or will it fizzle out the way the other two did?

Waiting on Wednesday: Until I Die by Amy Plum

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Until I Die by Amy Plum
Series: Revenants #2
Expected Publication: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 352
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Audience: Young Adult


From Goodreads:

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy. 

I listened to the audiobook of Die for Me and enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. As someone who is not a big lover of the paranormal genre, I think what made the first book so memorable for me was the setting. Writing a fantasy set in a real-life romantic setting really helps with the enjoyment of a book for me since I'm all about travel. Having the book take place in Paris really made that book come alive for me. Because of that, I am anxiously awaiting the second book.

Waiting on Wednesday: See You At Harry's by Jo Knowles

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles
Expected Publication Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Candlewick
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Middle Grade/Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. Her dad is always busy planning how to increase traffic to the family business. Her Mom is constantly going off to meditate. Her sister Sarah, who's taking a "gap year" after high school, is too busy finding ways not to work; and her brother Holden is too focused on his new "friend" to pay attention to her. And then there's Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, and the center of everyone's world.

If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's best and oldest friend, there would be nowhere to turn. Ran is always calm, always positive. His mantra "All will be well" is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe.

But when their lives are unexpectedly turned upside down, Fern feels more alone than ever, and responsible for the event that wrenches the family apart. All will not be well. Or at least, all will never be the same.

Many of the teachers I admire and follow on Twitter who have had the privilege of reading this book already are all a-twitter about it. It's one of those books I probably would have passed by had it not been for the buzz surrounding it. It's one of those books you want to read for the sake of the reading community it garners. Just like The Fault in Our Stars, Wonder, and The One and Only Ivan, See You at Harry's is a book that is going to generate a lot of discussion with teachers and librarians once it comes out in May.

Waiting on Wednesday: Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
Series: This Dark Endeavor Chronicles #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Expected Publication: August 21, 2012
Pages: 310
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed.

If only these things were not so tempting.

When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

I recently read and reviewed the audiobook of This Dark Endeavor and fell head over heels for it. So much so that I felt compelled to request the ARC of Such Wicked Intent. I have no idea if Simon & Schuster will send me one, but given how rarely I actually request ARCs (like maybe I've requested 5 in the past two years) that should give you some idea of how much I want to read it.  Kenneth Oppel is one of those authors who just doesn't get as much praise for his talent as I think he deserves. Dude can totally write. He managed to take a stale tome (Frankenstein) that many high schoolers dread reading in their English lit classes and breathe new life into it by introducing us to Victor Frankenstein as a young man. I am actually curious to read the Mary Shelly classic now and I'd never felt any sort of compulsion to read it in the past.

Waiting on Wednesday: Violins of Autumn by Amy McAuley

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Violins of Autumn by Amy Mcauley
Expected Publication: June 19, 2012
Publisher: Walker Children's
Pages: 336
Genre: Historical Fiction
Audience: Young Adult


From Goodreads:

Go behind enemy lines during World War II in this tale of romance and espionage...

Betty, an American teenager living in Britain, is determined to contribute to the cause when the Germans begin bombing London in World War II. Instead of collecting scrap metal or running air raid drills like most girls her age, Betty lies about her age and trains to become a spy and member of the Special Operations Executive. Now known by her secret agent persona, Adele Blanchard, she soon finds herself parachuting over German-occupied France in the dark of night to join the secret Resistance movement.

Adele's missions in Paris and throughout the French countryside delivering top-secret messages, lead to several close calls with the Gestapo, but it's when she crosses paths with a young American pilot that Adele fully realizes the brutality of this war and the seriousness of her circumstances. Plus her changing feelings for this pilot are as uncertain as their future. Can Adele elude the Gestapo long enough to enjoy the future they are trying to protect?

A young adult spy novel that takes place during WWII? YES PLEASE!!!! Strangely enough, I don't read a lot of spy novels but I LOVE spy movies and TV shows like The Bourne Trilogy (yes, I know they were books first) and Covert Affairs (and even Pan Am to some extent).

Waiting on Wednesday/Cover Reveal: Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.


I haven't done a WoW post since OCTOBER. This school year has been so crazy-busy for me, I haven't really had much time to look at my Goodreads TBR pile to do a proper WoW. BUT Carrie Harris revealed the cover of her latest book today on her blog and since I loved Bad Taste in Boys my anxiously awaited title this week is:

Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris
Expected Publication: November 13, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:
Senior year is positively hair-raising.

Kate Grable is geeked out to shadow the county medical examiner as part of her school’s pre-med program. Except when he’s arrested for murder, she’s left with the bodies. And when Kate’s brother Jonah stumbles upon a dead gamer girl, she realizes that the zombie epidemic she cured last fall was only the beginning of the weirdness taking over her town. Someone’s murdering kids—something really hairy. And strong. Possibly with claws.

Is it werewolf awesomeness like Jonah and his dorktastic friends think? Kate’s supposed to be a butt-kicking zombie killing genius...but if she can’t figure out who’s behind the freakish attacks, the victims—or what’s left of them—are going to keep piling up.

It’s scary. It’s twisted. It’s sick. It’s high school.




I met Carrie at her book launch for Bad Taste in Boys this past summer and she is a riot. Her quirky, fun personality shines right through in her writing.  I cannot wait to read this second installment of what I am sure is an equally mad-cap romp with the ultra-cool, yet ultra-geeky teen heroine, Kate Grable 

Waiting on Wednesday: A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Expected Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart. 

In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis mesmerizes us again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

I am generally not a huge fan of science fiction but Beth Revis wrote such a vivid, intriguing world onboard the Godspeed that now I am waiting with bated breath to see what happens next. I loved that she ended Across the Universe with a satisfying sense of closure, but set up the story for this next book.

Waiting on Wednesday: Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

I haven't done a Waiting on Wednesday in a while because I have been so insanely busy with teaching that I haven't had much time to even think about my blog during the week, let alone write in it.

But alas, I have returned, and here is my pick for this week:

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Expected Publication: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Walker & Company
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Allie lost everything the night her boyfriend, Trip, died in a horrible car accident—including her memory of the event. As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long: the horrible reality of their abusive relationship.

When the police reopen the investigation, it casts suspicion on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free?

This is one of those books that I totally judged by its cover. The distinctive red high heels along the road near the guardrail clearly indicate an ominous foreboding in the air and it makes me want to know more. But sometimes I judge the book by its cover and then read the synopsis and decide to pass on it because even though the cover is compelling, the synopsis does not make the story seem so. But, after I read the synopsis of this book this book, I still definitely want to read it. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Publish date: November 15, 2011
Publisher:
Genre: Dystopia
Pages: 352
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

I was definitely starting to feel the covetousness this past weekend when it seemed like everyone and their brother got an ARC of this one.  I have heard the writing in this book is amazing and that is really what gave me pause and decided to put this one on my TBR list.

Waiting on Wednesday: Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories
Edited by: Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones
Publish Date: September 6, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 352
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

You are not alone.

Discover how Lauren Kate transformed the feeling of that one mean girl getting under her skin into her first novel, how Lauren Oliver learned to celebrate ambiguity in her classmates and in herself, and how R.L. Stine turned being the “funny guy” into the best defense against the bullies in his class. 

Today’s top authors for teens come together to share their stories about bullying—as silent observers on the sidelines of high school, as victims, and as perpetrators—in a collection at turns moving and self-effacing, but always deeply personal.

This is one of those books I wish would have been published a couple weeks earlier, either that or I had been able to get an ARC of because I was hoping to have it finished before the start of the school year. I really want to find a way to incorporate this book into my literature and English classes. I'm already imagining how I can use this book along with the picture book One by Kathryn Otoshi in order to address the bullying problem that seems to be so rampant in schools today.

Waiting on Wednesday: Fever by Lauren DeStefano

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.


My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Fever by Lauren DeStefano
Publish Date: February 21, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Dystopia
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

When I read Wither back in March, it left me spellbound. I knew that as soon as Fever came out, I would be scrambling to read it. When Lauren DeStefano revealed the cover of Fever a few weeks ago, it left me just as breathless as I felt when I finished reading Wither. I'm hoping Simon & Schuster adds this much anticipated sequel to their monthly GalleyGrab soon!

Waiting on Wednesday: Thou Shalt Not Roadtrip by Antony John

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Thou Shalt Not Roadtrip by Antony John
Publish Date: April 12, 2012
Publisher: Dial
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

When sixteen-year-old Luke's book, Hallelujah, becomes a national best seller, his publisher sends him on a cross-country tour with his unpredictable older brother, Matt, as chauffeur. But when Matt offers to drive Luke's ex-crush, Fran, across the country too, things get a little crazy. Luke thinks he's enlightened, but he really needs to loosen up if he's going to discover what it truly means to have faith, and do what it takes to get the girl he loves.

There's just something about roadtrip novels that I can't get enough of. I love the cover of this one and it based on the summary, it sounds like mayhem will ensue, which is always entertaining in any roadrtip novel or movie. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Water Balloon by Audrey Vernick

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Water Balloon by Audrey Vernick
Publish Date: September 5, 2011 
Publisher: Clarion Books
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Middle Grade

From Goodreads:

Marley's life feels as precarious as an overfull water balloon--one false move and everything will burst. Marley's lifelong best friends appear to be ditching her and her parents, newly separated, have decided she should spend the summer with her dad in his generic subdivision house, with a summer job she didn't ask for and certainly doesn’t want. On the up side there is a very cute boy who loves dogs as much as Marley does living across the street . . . but young love can be rocky too, with lots of opportunity for humiliation and misinterpreted signals. Luckily Marley is a girl who trusts her instincts and knows the truth when she sees it, attributes that make her immensely appealing and make her transitional summer worthwhile and satisfying to experience alongside her. 

Even though Water Balloon is Audrey Vernick's first novel, you might already know her from the hilarious picture book Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten. If Water Balloon is even half as endearing as her Buffalo books, this novel is going to be a home run. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Publish Date: March 6, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 448
Genre: Dystopia
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads: 

Lauren Oliver captivated readers with Delirium, the first book in a thrilling dystopian trilogy in which Lena Haloway dared to fall in love with Alex and escape the cure, the government-mandated procedure that renders a person immune to the disease of love.

Pandemonium continues Lena’s gripping story. After escaping from Portland, Maine, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community, where she transforms herself into a warrior for the resistance. A future without Alex is unimaginable, but Lena pushes forward and fights, both for him and for a world in which love is no longer considered a disease. Swept up in a volatile mix of revolutionaries and counterinsurgents, Lena struggles to survive—and wonders if she may be falling in love again.

Full of danger, forbidden romance, and exquisite writing, Lauren Oliver’s sequel to Delirium races forward at a breathtaking pace and is sure to appeal to fans who crave the high-stakes action of The Hunger Games and the bittersweet love story of Romeo & Juliet.


I am not someone who likes to re-read books. I just have so many other books on my TBR pile that I don't have the time or inclination to re-read anything. But I read Delirium AND I listened to the audiobook a few months later. This is huge for me. So to say that I'm looking forward to Pandemonium is an understatement. 

Recently Lauren Oliver revealed the paperback edition of Delirium on her blog and I'm happy to see that the same model is on the Pandemonium cover as well. I think this model is a much better representation of what Lena looks like than the hardcover model, in my mind anyway. 


What title are you anxiously awaiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Publish Date: November 21, 2011
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 309
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

I think the reason this story's premise resonates so much with me is because this could be my story. In 1996 I got my first computer and logged onto the Internet for the first time. Now in 2011 I am a digital citizen, on Facebook regularly and consulting the Internet for just about every life decision. I am dying to read how this story plays out. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and is meant to showcase upcoming books that you can't wait to read.

My anxiously awaited title this week is:

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
Publish date: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 400
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Audience: Young Adult

From Goodreads:

It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

I love travel memoirs and I love contemporary YA fiction so this book sounds like a perfect amalgamation of the two. So excited for this one!