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Giving Thanks --- and Books --- This Holiday Season

Nancy Werlin is the author of seven novels for young adults, including DOUBLE HELIX, THE RULES OF SURVIVAL and the newly released IMPOSSIBLE, which combines romantic suspense and fantasy in a tale about a young woman who discovers that, as the result of a family curse, she must perform three seemingly impossible tasks in order to save her unborn daughter. In this interview with Teenreads.com's Chris Shanley-Dillman, Werlin explains how the plot arose from listening to "Scarborough Fair" --- a centuries-old ballad popularized by Simon & Garfunkel in the 1960s --- and discusses the metaphor behind the story's villainous Elfin Knight. She also talks about how this book thematically differs from many of today's YA novels, shares her thoughts on blessings and curses, and reveals details about her next manuscript, which was inspired by a song from the musical Wicked.

IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin (Romantic Suspense/Fantasy)
Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.

Inspired by the ballad “Scarborough Fair,” this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.

Lucy is 17 when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their child’s birth. But Lucy is the first girl who won’t be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

-Click here to read an excerpt from IMPOSSIBLE.
-Click here to read our interview with Nancy Werlin.
-Click here to read Nancy Werlin’s bio.

Every month in our Grab Bag of Books contest, five readers are awarded a Teenreads.com signature tote bag filled with some of the hottest books --- and may even include a sneak peak at titles that haven’t been released yet!

This contest period’s winners will each receive a copy of CATHY'S KEY: If Found Call (650) 266-8202, IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS #5: WICKED by Sara Shepard and WHO YOU WIT’?: A Del Rio Bay Clique Novel, by Paula Chase.

-Click here to see our past winners.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), has announced its 2008 Teens’ Top Ten.

Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Nominators are members of teen book groups in 15 school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted in April during National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year during Teen Read Week. Readers aged 12 to 18 can vote on ALA’s website anytime that week.

More than 8,000 teens voted on this year's winners.

November and December’s roundup of New in Paperback titles includes THE DANGEROUS DAYS OF DANIEL X, James Patterson's sci-fi adventure about a boy who uses his unique gifts to hunt down the killer who brutally murdered his parents; WYVERNHAIL, the fifth and final installment in Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’s The Kiesha’ra series, in which readers find out what happens after Princess Oliza abdicates the throne of Wyvern’s Court; UNBELIEVABLE, book four in Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars series that marks a return to the exclusive town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania; COVER-UP, a John Feinstein mystery that finds Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade; RIGHT BEHIND YOU by Gail Giles, a psychologically complex novel in which a boy learns that sometimes your own past can be the scariest thing of all; and THE NIGHT MY SISTER WENT MISSING, a suspenseful mystery from Carol Plum-Ucci involving a summer night, a group of teens --- and a loaded gun.

Teenreads.com Reviews:

GOSSIP GIRL, THE CARLYLES #2: YOU JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH created by Cecily von Ziegesar (Fiction)
Blair, Serena, Nate and Dan may be confined to their television show, but the Upper East Side still exists in novels --- and now it's ruled by the Carlyle triplets, the newest students at Constance Billard and St. Jude's. This second Carlyle adventure is chock-full of spite, status and dating. Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez.

REVELATIONS: A Blue Bloods Novel by Melissa de la Cruz (Fantasy/Horror)
The Blue Bloods are dealing with darker forces in this third volume of Melissa de la Cruz’s series. Most have completed their change into vampires, but they continue to train to hone their skills with The Committee. Some are even preparing for their Bonding. Still, the danger of the Silver Bloods lurks, and plenty of secrets are uncovered in REVELATIONS. Reviewed by Amy Alessio.

WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED by Judy Blundell (Fiction)
2008 National Book Award Winner
It’s 1947 and World War II has ended. Fifteen-year old Evie Spooner is just an average girl from Queens, New York, until everything changes on a family trip to Palm Beach, Florida. Written like a film noir, WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED --- the winner of this year’s National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category --- is a coming-of-age novel set against a backdrop of mystery, lies and shattering reality. Reviewed by Kristi Olson.

GRACELING by Kristin Cashore (Fantasy)
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight --- she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. Her uncle, King Randa of the Middluns, sees her as nothing more than a weapon with which to threaten and torture those who oppose him. Into Katsa’s life comes another Graceling, Prince Po, who challenges Katsa to dig deep and discover her own heart. Reviewed by Usha Reynolds.

THE SMILE by Donna Jo Napoli (Historical Fiction)
In the 1490s, the women of Florence don’t have much say in their lives. Most likely, Elisabetta’s father will arrange a suitable marriage for her when she turns 15. However, an acquaintance of the family, a famous painter named Leonardo da Vinci, introduces Elisabetta to a young man who instantly steals her heart --- and calls her Mona Lisa. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

CREEPERS by Joanne Dahme (Horror/Suspense)
From moving to a new house to making new friends and preparing for high school, life for the new girl in town can be unsettling. But Courtney is unprepared for how creepy life in Murmur, Massachusetts turns out to be. She finds herself thrust into a full-fledged haunted adventure after meeting Christian and Margaret Geyer, a strange father and daughter with unfinished family business. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

-Click here to read an excerpt from CREEPERS.

THE INDIGO KING: The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, Book Three by James A. Owen (Fantasy/Action & Adventure)
On a September evening in 1931, John and Jack, two of the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, discover a cryptic warning on a medieval manuscript --- which is not only addressed to them but seems to have been written by their friend, Hugo Dyson. But before they can discover the origin of the strange book, Hugo walks through a door in time and vanishes into the past. And in that moment, the world begins to change. Reviewed by Amy Alessio.

THE GATE OF DAYS: The Book of Time II by Guillaume Prevost (Fantasy/Action & Adventure)
In the first installment of The Book of Time trilogy, 14-year-old Sam Faulkner began his quest to find his missing father. In Book II, THE GATE OF DAYS, Sam’s 12-year-old cousin Lily joins him in his time travels to rescue his father from the dungeon of Dracula’s castle. Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt.

DEAR JULIA by Amy Bronwen Zemser (Fiction)
Elaine Hamilton is a master cook of French cuisine, but she is also shy and self-deprecating. Then Lucida Sans (self-named after a computer font) enters her life. Lucida's goal is to be famous at something. Elaine and Lucida are unlikely friends who impact each other's lives in startling ways, propelling this charming tale. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

DIARY OF A CHAV by Grace Dent (Fiction)
Shiraz Bailey Wood is a chav --- or so others say. A chav is a "British insult for white working-class people fixated on street fashions derived from American hip-hop such as imitation gold and fake designer clothing." So, not surprisingly, she loves to wear hoodies, go shopping and text her friends. Shiraz also likes to write in her diary, where she can be as loud-mouthed as she wants without getting into trouble. Reviewed by Sarah Hannah Gómez.

-Click here to read our Christian Fiction reviews.


Recent Bookreporter.com Titles Perfect for Teens:

THE LONGEST TRIP HOME: A Memoir by John Grogan (Memoir)
Long before Marley entered John Grogan's life, the Catholic Church was the center of his parents' lives. They expected the same from him. But when John realizes he's a skeptic, this knowledge tears a rift in the family. That chasm adds thought-provoking layers to this poignant love letter to his mom and dad, detailing the author's often hilarious upbringing, the sorrow he feels as his parents decline, and his love for them. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon and excerpted.

GRACE by Richard Paul Evans (Fiction)
Fourteen-year-old Eric Welch, with some help from his younger brother, hides a runaway girl named Grace in the clubhouse in their backyard for two months. In due time Grace’s secret is revealed, and Eric grows up all too quickly while trying to protect her. Reviewed by Carole Turner.

SONGS FOR THE MISSING by Stewart O'Nan (Fiction)
It was the summer of her Chevette, of J.P. and letting her hair grow. It was also the summer when, without warning, popular high school student Kim Larsen disappeared from her small midwestern town. Her loving parents, her introverted sister, her friends and boyfriend must now do everything they can to find her. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.

-Click here to read the Bookreporter.com titles perfect for teens.

Poll:

Are you giving books this holiday season?

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Question:

What book did you love so much that you would want to give multiple copies of it this holiday season?

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