Published: Delacorte Books (March 13, 2012)
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Series: No
Source: NetGalley
GR Summary: 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.

Kirsten Hubbard lends her artistry into this ultimate backpacker novel, weaving her drawings into the text. Her career as a travel writer and her experiences as a real-life vagabond backpacking Central America are deeply seeded in this inspiring story.

My Thoughts: So sometime not long ago, I got a borderline incomprehensible text from Anna telling me about Wanderlove and its glory. Usually, when she geeks out over a book, I know I'm in for something special.

I know that Jen is huge on music and is interested in hearing about the process of writing and the influence (if any) that a certain artist, song, album has had on a book.

First, let me say that there’s a good bit of music in PURE. There’s a song sung by children early on in the novel.

Burn a Pure and breathe the ash.
Take his guts and make a sash.
Twist his hair and make a rope.
And use his bones to make Pure soap.

I hear this song in my head sung by children, voices floating and echoing as if in an alley.

Writing a post-apocalyptic novel means that you have to ask certain kinds of questions: What survives? Does music survive? Does the concept of God and faith? Does the desire to make art survive? Does love survive? To my mind, all of these things endure because they’re facets of the human condition. In book two, FUSE, there are more songs, eerie ones that haunt the characters.

But also, one of the things that Pressia remembers about her mother is a song, a lullabye. This becomes very important. The lullabye, although never identified outright, is a song that many people should recognize. (Here’s a hint – it’s about about a girl on a front porch and someone is begging her to take his hand to ride with him into the Promise Land.) So, yes, music is important, essential. It survives.

I don’t listen to music while I write, but sometimes I listen while plotting which for me can be a fairly associative, visual, and improvisational. It’s strange to think of plotting a novel as anything but the organizational mapping of a book – something that’s done in a very self-aware way. But for me, it’s not at all. I gather images and visual clips of what I want to write. I use large art-book sized sheets and jot those elements that have been surfacing and resurfacing. And then, sometimes to music – sometimes the same song, over and over – I quilt those images together, creating stitches that would attach one to the next. I create a map, one that I think will see me through to the end of the novel; it never does. In the writing process, the characters are willful and start to do things I don’t expect. These are moments I long for. It means the characters are real enough to make their own demands.

For PURE, toward the end of writing it, there was a song that I turned to. The Smith’s “How Soon Is Now?” It’s dark and industrial and seems, to me, to resonant with a dystopian aesthetic while insisting on being human, each of us deserving to be loved.



"I am human and I need to be loved. Just like everybody else does."
_____________________________
Julianna, thank you so much for stopping by! I'm about halfway through PURE right now and honestly, The Smiths' song is PERFECT for the feel of the novel. It's dark, it's ominous, it's desperate. Go HERE to order PURE from Amazon. It's released today!

Visit Julianna's Site
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TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and thought up by my awesome friend, Jamie!

Guys, let me be honest: I don't often make book recommendations to non-readers. I read a lot of YA and am STILL in the phase where I'm quite embarrassed by this. If someone asks me what I'm reading (DAMN me for reading something that's not on my Nook!) I'll slowly turn the book over and say "oh, nothing special." But there are a select few that I've given my awesome bookish advice to and here are the books that I chose.


1. The Twilight Saga
Why? Because it's what got me reading. And from like 1998 - 2007, I probably read a grand total of 15 books for pleasure. Love it or hate it, this stuff has worked. Though I'm running out of people to recommend, because they've all seen the movies and still don't like to read. (Ahem, losers.)

2. Harry Potter
Why? Because I listened to the audiobooks and, while it takes longer to complete, you can read while doing other things. People aren't going to ask you what book you're listening to, because they're going to assume that you're listening to music. Plus, they're effing phenomenal. The movies don't do them justice.


3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Why? Well, there's going to be a movie from them. And following suit with every other movie in existence (except Breaking Dawn), the book is probably better.

4. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Why? Because it's easy breezy. I recommended this book to my sister and, even though she hasn't read it yet, I still maintain she'll love it. Who doesn't adore this love triangle, anyway? It's a good one.


5. The Shade Series by Jeri Smith-Ready
Why? Because it shows that not all YA is "young." Sure, the characters are, but this is heavy material here. And it's painful. There's not much fluff found in this series, but that's why I love it. It makes me feel.

6. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray
Why? Because how can you not fall in love with this world? If a non-reader is looking for fantastic world-building, gripping storytelling, and an unreliable narrator who is 100% unsure of herself, so we learn as she learns, this is definitely something they'll want to check out.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. YAY for sharing the books we got and spreading the love.

No books for review this week, but FEAR NOT. There's still a nice chunk of awesomeness that is taking up even more space on my shelf.



Gifted
A Want So Wicked by Suzanne Young (thanks, HD! YOU ROCK!)

Bought
River Marked by Patricia Briggs (read the first 4 in the series. need to catch up. love mercy & adam!)
The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart (finished. loved.)
Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt (my first by her!)

Published: Greenwillow (February 28, 2012)
Pages: 299
Format: Hardcover
Series: Book 2 of 3
Source: ARC from Publisher
GR Summary: Eden won the battle-she saved her true love from the darkest evil. But the war has only just begun. With secrets swirling around her, powerful allies unraveling, and life-and death-as she knows it eroding, Eden and those she loves tread dangerous ground. Can she trust anyone? Will her unearthly powers be her salvation or her downfall? A sweeping, dark, and sexy paranormal romance that will haunt readers with an inventive mythology and a cinematic New York City filled with shadows and longing.

My Thoughts: Just when I thought it couldn't any more dark and dismal... After the insanity that was A Touch Mortal, A Touch Morbid definitely lives up to its predecessor. And Leah Clifford LIES, people. This is definitely not just a "touch" morbid. It's as if the Grim Reaper formed this 300 page book out of severed body parts. BUT I LOVE IT. And Eden's wicked green highlights.

There were some moments within Morbid where I was legitimately scared. As per the ending of Mortal, we know Gabe has fallen. GABE. You kill me. You kill me dead with your goodness, even with your flaws. And he definitely pays for it in Morbid. Seeing the struggles that Gabe is forced to endure made me wince a couple times.

Az and Eden are as adorable and tortured as ever. Why can't these two just have their happiness? Honestly. I guess it wouldn't be nearly as fun for readers if they did. And there wouldn't be much of a story to tell, because it just wouldn't be wonderfully angsty without the struggles. I am terrifyingly in love with this world.

We have a girl being consumed from the inside out. We have good vs. evil. We have Luke, who is way so intriguing that it pushes the envelope of my comfort level, given what he is. We have scary, scary demons. We have addiction. Throw these all together with amazing plot twists and SO MUCH ANGST that my heart cannot handle it and you have yourself an unputdownable read.