Author Archives: Holly

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Covers of Books I’ve Read

toptentuesdayTop Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted at The Broke and the Bookish

When I first saw the prompt for this week I cheered inside and made a mental note not to miss it. Maybe it’s the small bit of art historian that’s still left in me but I’ve loved talking about cover art since I started blogging. Before I started a Tumblr account, I also ran a semi-regular feature called Book Art. I enjoyed every minute wasted spent looking at the covers of books I’ve read in the past years on Goodreads. With that in mind you should know how serious I took the creation of this list and that I was both selective and discriminate. I also couldn’t help but notice trends in my taste and mark close seconds and honorable mentions. So here you are, in random order, the top ten favorites covers of books I’ve read:

Marcelo in the Real World

1. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork - One of the first covers that came to mind and one that will always be one of my favorites, because 1) The silhouettes of Marcelo and Jasmine, 2) The tree and tree house, because they’re both beautiful, and they actually exist in the book, and 3) The twinkling star-filled sky. (Starry Night honorable mention: I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan.)

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2. The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan – White background? Check. Modern typeface? Check. Text dominant? Yes! *sigh*

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3. The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan (UK edition) – With the combination of comic style, graphic drawing, and accurate narrative details like the suspension bridge fight, this cover is far superior to the US version. I’m dying to own this but I can’t rationalize shelling out the cash.

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4. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell  – The headphonesampersand! And the distinctive hair. And the typeface. Those two figures ARE Eleanor and Park. I predict that I will be forever smitten with this cover. (Close second: The UK edition of Eleanor and Park.)

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5. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (paperback) – I didn’t fall in love with this book but I am still slayed by the striking contrast in color, silhouette, and sprawling text of this edition every time I see it. (Type-face dominant, turquoise/black/white silhouette honorable mentions: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.)

Daughter of the Forest UK paperback
6. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (UK edition) – This edition is lush and bright, reflecting the richness of the story within. Again, if it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to order this edition from the UK, I would own it already.

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7. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (UK edition) – Very modern with silhouettes, minimal color, and an interesting juxtaposition of strong horizontal and diagonal lines. (Close second: The US edition of Attachments.)

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8. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr – Minimal but with impact. And who doesn’t fall for a heart-shaped, pink sugar cookie? (White background with silhouettes honorable mentions: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and the original hardcover of Abundance of Katherines by John Green.)

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9. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell – Technically I haven’t finished this yet, but I’m currently reading it, so that counts, right? As is true for all of Rowell’s covers, the cover art for her newest is modern and innovative and fits her story. My favorite part? How the characters sit on the title.

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10. Jane by April Lindner – Perfect combo of rock and historical for a modern retelling AND an unapologetic shade of pink? *hugs*

And yep, all three of Rainbow Rowell’s books deserved to make the list. Any of my favorite covers make your list?

Happy Blogiversary + Giveaway!

6a011168668cad970c0163014e1623970d-400wi smallThree years ago to the day I launched this blog with an early book review of Maggie Stiefvater’s Linger, and I’m not sure whether I should be congratulating myself or feeling old. When I started, I wasn’t sure how long I’d make it. But even when blogging feels like work, I can’t seem to quit. I love reviewing books, sharing book-related thoughts, and being part of an engaging online community. I’m not sure when I will choose to celebrate another blogiversary, but as of 2013, I’m nostalgic and better yet for you, generous so I’m hosting a giveaway in your honor, loyal readers. One book or ARC to a better home can be yours out of the five titles pictured below:

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(This Is What Happy Looks Like, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke, A Corner of White by Jacyln Moriarty, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, and This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers.)

The giveaway will run for two weeks and is open internationally. Sign up below in my first Rafflecopter widget. Here’s to many more firsts for me. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3 Title + Cover

God-And-MonstersEntertainment Weekly posted the title and cover for the third and final installment in Laini Taylor‘s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series on their Shelf Life page today. I like the implications of the title, Dreams of Gods and Monsters, since the seraphim and chimera war will overflow into the human world, but I’m not sure how I feel about the non-figurative cover, since the other covers are not as minimal. The bad news? Its release is slated for Spring 2014, which feels like a looooong way off. Good thing I still have her Dreamdark series to read in the meantime.

REVIEW: Game. Set. Match. by Jennifer Iacopelli, or in which I find an excuse to talk about tennis

16082871When her mother died, rising junior star Indiana Gaffney stopped playing tennis. But even she couldn’t stay away from the game completely. After watching up-and-coming American player Penny Harrison win the Madrid Open, Indy decides to accept the invitation from coach Dom Kingston to train at the Outer Banks Academy (OBX), an elite, world-renowned tennis facility in North Carolina. Soon enough she’s outranking more experienced players, gaining enemies, and catching the eye of Penny’s older brother, agent Jack Harrison.

Penny Harrison is on cloud nine. She just beat the number one player in the world at the Madrid Open. Now it’s time to gear up for Paris and the French Open. Everything is going smoothly until her coach teams her up to train with bad boy Alex Russell, the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936, and someone with whom she had a recent fling. Can she handle the tension between them without letting it undo her?

Jasmine Randazzo is the child of two former Grand Slam champions and Olympic gold medalists. With her parent’s beach front estate only a walk down from Outer Banks, Jas has practically grown up at the academy. Her budding tennis career looks promising until Indy arrives and takes over as the new junior tour ‘it’ girl. To complicate the already intense expectations she shoulders, Jasmine’s in love with her best friend, Penny’s twin Teddy, who’s also a player on the pro tour. Neither Indy, Penny, or Jasmine can win both on and off the court, but they sure won’t want for drama, or romance, at OBX.

I had never heard of this new adult ebook until I received a review request from someone at its publisher, Coliloquy. If I hadn’t already fallen for the instantly recognizable tennis title and the neon and black-and-white cover, all I needed to hear was the word ‘tennis’ and I was in. I started playing tennis in elementary school and played throughout grade school at the local club as well as on the high school tennis team. (To indulge me more on this see the note below.) With a few exceptions, I find sports movies boring, and I’d never read fiction that features a sport prominently, let alone my favorite sport, so I couldn’t help myself. But I never worried about how Game. Set. Match. and I would get on. I wasn’t expecting a deep, character-driven novel, though Indy, Penny, and Jasmine are well-rounded characters. I wanted tennis matches and rivalry and a little romance and that is exactly what Jennifer Iacopelli’s debut novel delivers.

Game. Set. Match. strikes the perfect chord between fun and light but not overly light. There is substance in the characterization, the relationships, and the tennis action scenes. The first thing I didn’t anticipate was the prominence of the romances in Game. Set. Match. With the current trends in ebook new adult publishing, I think of it being tamer contemporary romance for the older YA or college-aged reader. The romances take more of a back seat to the tennis in Iacopelli’s novel, which I liked. There is some drinking and a few steamy moments, though not more graphic than some of the mature YA contemps I’ve read (i.e. Jennifer Echols and John Green) that are often placed in the adult fiction collections of public libraries rather than the young adult section. So smexy readers, don’t fret! But as this is the first book in the Outer Banks Academy series, beware of some unresolved relationships and tournaments.

The second aspect of Game. Set. Match. which caught me off guard was its strengths. There are a handful of important tennis matches played by each of the girls that had unpredictable outcomes. My biggest complaint with sports films is the predictability in your team winning the decisive game at the end of the film. It was thrilling to read about matches in which either opponent could end up winning . Even better, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed in the outcome because the tennis was always written with suspense and with each girl’s individual technique and mental game in mind. I was also pleased by the unexpected nuance in the mean girl style rivalry between Indy and Jasmine. I love when the initially one-note mean girl defies stereotype in YA contemps (see Courtney Summers). Jasmine and Indy’s hate relationship develops into a complicated friendship by the conclusion, and I enjoyed how they came to support each other in each other’s love life and tennis career. As can be expected with rotating perspectives, you’ll have character(s) you prefer. While it took the longest for me to genuinely sympathize with Jasmine’s character and I would’ve loved to be closer to the male leads, I’m happy that this is a series and Iacopelli can give Indy, Penny, and Jasmine the further attention and development they deserve in future installments. It can be a fine line for me between preferring a debut novel to be a stand alone or the first of a series but in this case I’m delighted at the thought of spending more time with Indy, Penny, and Jasmine at OBX in the near future.

Note: I’m not naturally athletic (just look at any picture of me!) so I worked harder than most players around me to keep up, and I was always proud of that. I don’t play very often now, but I hope to pick up the sport again in the future. In lieu of playing I’ve become a hard core fan of professional tennis and particularly the Grand Slam tournaments, which I’ve been watching with my mother since I was a little girl, when Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi were still playing. I was even able to attend a women’s semifinal Wimbledon match between Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams when I was living in London in 2005, which was a dream come true. Also, I was the lucky viewer of all of the nearly five hour epic Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer at Wimbledon in 2008, which has been lauded as the greatest match ever played. Besides Nadal, I have a soft spot for Brit Andy Murray, who was the only celebrity I spotted while living in London. Nadal and Andy FTW!

And finally, a picture of a few items I dug out from high school tennis:

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Second Opinions
Mostly YA Lit – “I thought Jennifer Iacopelli balanced the romance, the multiple stories, and the connections between them nicely.”
My Guilty Obsession – “Overall I really enjoyed this read and will definitely be continuing with the series.”
The Autumn Review – “I don’t feel like you have to understand or even like tennis to appreciate this book.”
The Bookish Babe – “Game. Set. Match. was such a fantastic read.”
Xpresso Reads – “I found it to be a perfectly balanced feel-good book.”

 

Top Ten Tuesday: When You Need Something Light & Fun

toptentuesdayTop Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted at The Broke and the Bookish

And another great Top Ten Tuesday topic I couldn’t pass up: My Top Ten Light/Fun Reads (in order of publication):

1. Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer – Fun banter and loaded interactions between textile artist Maya and Silicon Valley CEO Derek make this a true comfort read.

2. I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella – A hoot. I loved the entire experience of reading my first Kinsella.

3. Edenbrooke by Juliane DonaldsonPeriod romantic comedy a la Jane Austen. Need I say more?

4. Until There Was You by Kristan Higgins – Cute and fun with comic relief from all sides. My first Higgins and one of my favorites.

5. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – Charming and funny, with a slow-burn, swoon-worthy romance to boot. Either of Perkins’ YA novels could fit in this spot.

6. Fairy Tale Fail by Mina Esguerra – My favorite Fillipino chick lit novella. Light and fun describe it perfectly.

7. Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James – The love/hate relationship between attorneys Payton and JD made me laugh until I cried. One of the most fun reading experiences I’ve ever had.

8. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie – One of the best pick-me-up, romantic comedies I’ve read. Cal and Min are a riot.

9. A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson – Sweet and enchanting YA historical fiction. Any of Ibbotson’s historical novels would fit on this list.

10. Romance is a Wonderful Thing by Ellen Emerson White – For anyone looking for a retro YA romance, this breezy, fun book features Boston, tennis, Tab cola and high school love.

Any must-read light and fun books I’m missing? One can never have too many.