Friends, I received this ARC from a fellow publishing colleague on Tuesday. I started reading it on the train Thursday morning and finished it last night (which would be Friday for those trying to figure that out). This is the first book that I have fully read in a while and I gulped it down like a refreshing glass of water. So yes, thanks for the trouble, Tommy Wallach, for quenching my thirst for a good read.
Few of you know that most of my days are spent as a barista at a popular coffee joint that you may or may not frequent one…maybe two…alright three times a day. After working at a coffee shop for multiple years I have discovered that there becomes a certain bond that manifests between barista and beverage. You understand the ends and outs of each hand-crafted drink and you know which customer will savor its flavor and which ones will hand their freshly made cup right back to you.
So, what happens when your favorite YA heroine enters your local Starbucks?
I, too, have asked myself this question many a times and thought, “hey, I might actually know the answer!”
Therefore I introduce this post, “Coffee & Characters: Favorite YA Heroines”
1. Katniss Everdeen: Tall Black Coffee
via zombiesruineverything.com
Katniss grew up poor, so even walking into a Starbucks is probably the most terrifying and guilt-ridden feeling in the world. Coffee is totally a “Capital” drink, especially when it’s priced at $1.75 a cup. However, if ordering coffee won her the hunger games, which would she choose? My guess, is a tall black. I mean come on, 1. It is the cheapest thing on the menu (besides water) and 2. Strong coffee is made for a strong girl (right?!). However, she should probably stick with decaf because I am sure her anxiety is already through the roof.
2. Bella Swan: Grande Vanilla Latte
via coolspotters.com
Bella is more of the plain-jane/every-day gal type. So, I’m going to say she would most likely order a grande vanilla latte. Nothing says “simple” quite like vanilla. And since she is cold-blooded, something warm is probably more her fancy. However, come Halloween I could foresee her switching it up and sipping a “Franken Frap” with Edward for kicks and giggles…or excuse me, hisses and bites.
3. Tris Prior: Double Tall Cappuccino
via youtube.com
I would peg Katniss and Tris to have similar tastes since they come from similar back stories. However, Tris has a little more punch to her. She’s brave, fierce, and isn’t afraid of leaping off the edge (literally). So why not pump up her drink with an extra shot of espresso? Plus, I think she needs the energy with all the punching, ducking, running, climbing, jumping, spinning…you get my point.
4. Hermonie Granger: Venti Butterbeer Frappuccino
via tr.harrypotter.wikia.com
I would be a fool if I said otherwise, right?! Hermonie is super studious and often serious, but she also has a huge fluffy and fun side making a frappuccino her best bet. And what frappuccino you ask? None other than the Butterbeer frappuccino, of course! A little toffee nut, some caramel, all blended and melted together? It’s like magic! YUM!
“It is “butterBEER” not “butterBEAR!”
5. Clary Fray: Tall Mocha
via mortalinstruments.org
Clary is a pretty simple girl, okay not really, but you can sort of relate to her on a teenage, love-sick level, right? What Clary definitely has is a warm, protective side. She is super caring and loving and is always looking out for her friends and family, even if it means reaching a bit into the dark side. That’s why a tall mocha would be her beverage of choice. The base of the drink is simple, but the mocha adds a sweet yet strong and dark aspect making it totally Clary.
Did I miss your favorite YA heroine? Let me know in the comments and I will remedy this blunder with their preferred drink choice!
Geek Girl by Holly Smale Published by HarperCollins
Who hasn’t wanted to be an international supermodel their entire life? Oh… that would be Harriet Manners. Harriet is all numbers and logical thinking. She gets math but doesn’t understand fashion. She leaves all of the beauty tips and tricks to her best friend, Nat. At least until she gets “spotted” at a local fashion event where her “geek” life gets flipped upside down.
Geek Girl by Holly Smale is laugh-out-loud funny and will leave you with all the warm and fuzzies. It will remind you to celebrate who you are and that we are more than what we label ourselves.
Smale’s characters are golden. Each character holds their own and their are so many dominant and out-there personalities you will constantly be entertained even after the last page.
There are a handful of super duper moral guidances hidden among the pages of this book which unveil a beautiful coming of age story. One of the greatest is rendered in this quote:
“Nobody really metamorphoses. Cinderella is always Cinderella, just in a nicer dress. The Ugly Duckling was always a swan, just a smaller version. And I bet the tadpole and the caterpillar still feel the same, even when they’re jumping and flying, swimming and floating.
Just like I am now.
I didn’t need to transform after all.
My name is Harriet Manners and I am a geek.
And maybe that’s not so bad after all.”
If you are in search for a feel good and light-hearted novel, this one’s for you.
For full synopsis for Geek Girl, click here.
All opinions are my own and are not affiliated or endorsed by any company or organization.
Anyone else feel like March sort of just blew right by? I sure do, but I am happy to say that Spring is finally here! (Hooray!)
March was packed with really great happenings (some book related, some not) as well as some not so great moments (totally not book related). All this to say, it has been a really busy month and my reading has greatly suffered. I did manage to FINALLY finish The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon. It wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, but that hasn’t strayed me from looking forward to the third installment of The Bone Season. This month I also picked up Red Queen (so good-go read it now) and I just put down The Last Time We Say Goodbye (review to come).
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with Laura Oliver, a Random House representative, at my local library. Not only did she tell me about all the upcoming RH releases for this spring, but she also gave me THREE ARCS. I don’t think I have ever been so excited. One book she got me stoked about is An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir which releases this month! (YAY!)
Speaking of…let’s talk about what other reads make their debut this month.
1. Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys) by Amy Spalding
Releases April 7th by Poppy
via Goodreads
I was lucky enough to receive an advanced readers copy of this book from Poppy and NetGalley. I absolutely loved Spalding’s portrayal of teenage life and her main character, Riley, is laugh-out-loud funny. You can read more of my thoughts on Kissing Ted Callahan here.
Sneak out. Make out. Rock out.
Riley and her best guy friend, Reid, have made a pact: they’ll help each other pursue their respective crushes, make something happen, and document the details in a shared notebook.
While Reid struggles with the moral dilemma of adopting a dog to win over a girl’s heart, Riley tries to make progress with Ted Callahan, the guy she’s been obsessed with forever. His floppy hair! His undeniable intelligence! But between a chance meeting with a fellow musician in a record store and a brief tryst with a science-geek-turned-stud-not to mention Ted’s own tentative attentions-cute guys are suddenly popping up everywhere. How did she never notice them before?! As their love lives go from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye, Riley and Reid’s pact may prove to be more than they bargained for.
Filled with cute dogs, cute boys, and a few awkward hookups, this hilarious tale from Amy Spalding chronicles the soaring highs and embarrassing lows of dating in high school.
2. Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Releases April 7th by Balzer + Bray
via Goodreads
This read caught my eye a few weeks ago with its interesting and semi-creepy cover. I have also seen it pictured multiple times with Oreos. I mean… you can’t pass up anything regarding Oreos!
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story—wrapped in a geek romance—is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.
3. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Releases April 28th by Razorbill
via Goodreads
I foresee this being the biggest book this year. (I know that is quite the statement, but I have heard nothing but amazing things about this read.)
Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told. LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution. ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor. When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.
4. Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
Releases April 28th by HarperCollins
via Goodreads
Neil Gaiman’s Stardust meets John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars in this fantasy about a girl caught between two worlds…two races…and two destinies.
Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.
Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.
So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn’t think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.
Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.
Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?
5. In A World Just Right by Jen Brooks
Releases April 28th by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
via Goodreads
Imagination takes on new meaning for a uniquely talented teen in this debut novel that is a breathtaking blend of contemporary, fantasy, and romance. Sometimes Jonathan Aubrey wishes he could just disappear. And as luck—or fate—would have it, he can. Ever since coming out of a coma as a kid, he has been able to create alternate worlds. Worlds where he is a superhero, or a ladies’ man, or simply a better version of himself. That’s the world he’s been escaping to most since sophomore year, a world where he has everything he doesn’t have in real life: friends, a place of honor on the track team, passing grades, and most importantly, Kylie Simms as his girlfriend. But when Jonathan confuses his worlds senior year and tries to kiss the real Kylie Simms, everything unravels. The real Kylie actually notices Jonathan…and begins obsessing over him. The fantasy version of Kylie struggles to love Jonathan as she was created to do, and the consequences are disastrous. As his worlds collide, Jonathan must confront the truth of his power and figure out where he actually belongs—before he loses both Kylies forever.
6. The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
Releases April 28th by Delacorte Press
via Goodreads
For readers of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.
Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she’s ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she’s fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it’s time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it’s how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.
What are you reading this month?
All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.
Image via Goodreads Release Date: April 14th from Poppy
Um, Amy Spalding have we met? Because I am pretty sure you just wrote about me in your newest book, Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys).
Awk-ward. No really, awkward. This book is chock-full of it and it will have you laughing out loud (and yes, mighty loud) til the end.
I love Spalding’s characters, like L-O-V-E. Each of her characters hold their own. You have Riley who runs head first into love, says the first thing that pops in her head, and is (just a little bit) reckless. Reid is her fierce band companion, and I love their platonic friendship. (Who says boys and girls can’t just be friends?!) He is a bubble of insecurities, and I appreciate that Spalding added a male character like his into the mix. Then there is Lucy, she is sensible, nice, and is the definition of what a friend should be. Milo, who is quite possibly the coolest (and smoothest) kid in town. Oh, and let’s not forget Ted! I may or may not have a crush on Ted. He is a bit of a mystery, plus he is smart, kind, thoughtful, and seems to be the All-American good guy. He may be a bit of a geek, but those are usually the best kind of guys. (I mean have you watched The Big Bang Theory?!)
This book has been compared a lot to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. It definitely has a similar vibe, meaning Riley is in a band and music is a huge part of this story, but Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) is definitely in a category of its own. Spalding was very smart when she wrote this novel. It is a love story that is so authentically adolescent, you will feel like you are in your teenage shoes again.
Get ready to laugh because this one brings everything to the table.
For full synopsis click here.
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Release Date: April 14, 2015
Publisher: Poppy / Little, Brown Book for Young Readers
Special thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown for this ARC. It was a pleasure reading this title!
All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.
The Book Trove 