This Week in YA: Rowling is Queen

In today's episode of This Week in YA, we have Hunger Games tour news, new book releases, and an announcement that made the internet blow up. You probably already know what it is.

And here's all the links for all the people who like to do their own research :)

Movie News:
Hunger Games Pre-Sale Record http://bit.ly/xwPAah
Hunger Games Mall Tour http://bit.ly/ysY43y
More Twilight Films? http://bit.ly/xai5ts
RPatz Says No More http://bit.ly/xAk6mX
Percy Jackson 2 http://bit.ly/yYSSrs

Television News:
The Selection http://bit.ly/A3Luq5

Cover Releases:
Defiance by CJ Redwine http://bit.ly/zwMYpk
Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone http://bit.ly/zFXwwi
Tilt by Ellen Hopkins http://bit.ly/xwUJ9v
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Paperback http://bit.ly/xZBHIf
Ten by Gretchen McNeil http://bit.ly/xlz8bG
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo http://bit.ly/zCrGBl

Book Trailers:
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington http://youtu.be/bhBWPVdi9SE
Nightmare Garden by Caitlin Kittridge (Made by Vania of VLC Photo) http://youtu.be/2ez8QQyOPZk
Ripper by Stefan Petrucha http://youtu.be/L_9xSYLA6SA

Publishing News:
JK Rowling's New Book http://bit.ly/womNCX

http://www.jkrowling.com/

Illustrated Harry Potter http://bit.ly/z2bZgS

Be sure to subscribe for your weekly dose of YA news!
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Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/JeffreyWest

About TWiYA:
This Week in YA is a fresh look at the latest news in the world of Young Adult literature. Each Saturday, we will discuss topics dealing with book-to-movie news, book releases, book trailer releases, new YA book deals, etc. all in one place. Think of it as a YA Reader's Digest.

Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Hardcover: 384
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
Author Info: Website | Twitter
Buy the Book: Amazon | IndieBound
Add It: Goodreads | Shelfari

New soul


Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.


No soul


Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?


Heart


Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

So I picked this book up out The Stacks because of the Dark Days tour. Dontcha hate going to a tour where there are all of these very nice authors who smile at you, and are so pretty and you haven’t read their books and you feel like a complete asshole? Yeah. So, I said ‘NOT THIS TIME!’ Then I started reading... and kept reading... and then was so rudely interrupted by this thing called sleep, got up and kept reading.

Now I am going to spew and gush my love for this book into paragraphs.

Over the years of reading YA, I’ve grown tired of the blasé female protagonist, the indecisive, slightly coy female. Ana is not that. At all. She is prickly and blunt and emotionally buried herself behind thick walls so no one can touch her. I’m going to reemphasize the bluntness, cause you probably read over it. Rarely, if ever, have I seen a character be so direct in situations, most characters will hide a truth or not speak their feelings and then conflicts arises from it. To have an honest character is actually (I think) more difficult because then the author has to create conflict for the character in another way. (Sorry, that got a little writer-y, but it’s refreshing and important!)

Now, I must address another huge reason of my arm-flailing love of this book. Sam. I have a mental list of male characters I call: The Best Boys Ever. Additions are rarely made because it is a rather select list. Sam is now on that list. The supremely annoying thing is that there are THINGS I would like to tell you, but it might lead to spoilers and you know I don’t do that. So I’ll do this in my favorite vague way. Page 287-290. Oh mah gaw. Jennifer dead.

The world. I’ve known some people that read this book and were a little... disturbed... at the world of Heart. I, however, drank it up like a 5 year old drinks chocolate milk at recess. I just LOVED it. The history, the societal norms, the people, everything. Said disturbed people were freaked out at a society where every person has been reincarnated i.e. everyone is some one’s physical child, but then might later be a mate. I suppose I can see where some would be unnerved. I was never bothered by it. Really, it was just a little creepy and completely fascinating blended together into utterly beautiful.

The theological and philosophical content. Whoa. College words, right? Sit tight, I’ll make this painless. While, I am not a religious person, I appreciated the whole soul-reincarnation-God/Janan thing and, even more so, the questioning of it. It was presented in a way that makes the world almost dystopic and THAT was interesting because I hadn’t heard many people classify it as that (by now, you must realize I do not Goodreads a book to death before reading it, I want to be untainted). And then there’s whole thing where Ana doesn’t know if she’ll be reincarnated again, living around people who most likely will and have for the past 5,000 years. Kinda gives a new perspective on the ‘this is your life, live it the way you want to’ philosophy.

Goodness, this review is long, so I’ll try to wrap this up quickly. Brief version: I went to Dark Days, Jodi Meadows is so nice and pretty (like I said in the first paragraph), and it made reading like a speed demon the two days before the tour totally worth it. So now I am going to end with... GO. BUY. THIS. BOOK. It is pretty and sexy and awesome. GO.

JK Rowling Announces New Book Deal!!!

From Publishers Marketplace:

"Little, Brown has world English rights to the first novel for adults by JK Rowling, the company announced Thursday morning. Little Brown UK publisher David Shelley, Publisher will serve as Rowling's editor and Michael Pietsch will oversee publication in the US. All other details--title, pub date "and further details about the novel will be announced later in the year." But one important element has been settled: While the world waits for Pottermore and the Harry Potter ebooks, Little, Brown promises they will publish "both in print and ebooks."

Rowling says in the release: "Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series, which has been published so brilliantly by Bloomsbury and my other publishers around the world. The freedom to explore new territory is a gift that Harry's success has brought me, and with that new territory it seemed a logical progression to have a new publisher. I am delighted to have a second publishing home in Little, Brown, and a publishing team that will be a great partner in this new phase of my writing life." Rowling was represented by Neil Blair at The Blair Partnership."

I can't. I just can't even!!!! This is seriously the best news I've heard in a LONG time!
The next few months are gonna be filled with crazy anticipation as I await a book title, cover, synopsis, etc.
I don't even care that it's completely different from HP, I prefer it even. I just love that we're finally getting more Jo!

What do you think? Are you excited too?! Let us know below!

Dark Days Tour: Austin, TX

This past Friday night, I had the AWESOME opportunity to go to the Dark Days tour stop in Austin, TX (where, in case you didn't already know, I hail from) to see Courtney Allison Moulton, author of the Angelfire series, Cynthia Hand, author of the Unearthly series, Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath and Jodi Meadows, author of Incarnate. They read excerpts from their books, did a Q&A, asked trivia questions for some awesome prizes (see below), and signed books afterwards. Here are the few salvageable pictures from my uncooperative camera:

Courtney Allison Moulton reading from Wings of the Wicked.

Cynthia Hand reading from Hallowed.

Brodi Ashton reading from Everneath.

Jodi Meadows and Incarnate!

Many of pictures were blurry thanks to Barnes and Noble's mood lighting,
but this was just cute...

Now I get to tell you the FUN part: Trivia time!
Cynthia whipped out these awesome Team Tucker cowboy hats and asked two questions.
What was the name of is truck? Bluebell.
What was the name of his horse? Midas.
Jennifer fail on both of these.

Then she pulled out Team Christian beanies.
Who does Christian live with? I knew it was some kind of not-immediate male family member. I ventured with grandfather. She said that wasn’t it and I shot back with uncle, which is it.

Then it was Jodi Meadows’ turn. And she only had ONE thing, so the pressure was ON.
The question: What is Ana’s favorite sound?
Audience silence.
Since I’d already won something else, I felt greedy about answering, but no one else did so I ventured with “Dossam’s music”. She said “more specific”. Then I said Phoenix … then I struggled with the rest of it. Sonata? Cantata? Frittata?? I couldn’t remember exactly, even though I’d read it the day before! I finally landed on symphony, which is right.

The Spoils of Trivia