Bookanistas: GILT

GILT by Katherine Longshore

In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free-- and love comes at the highest price of all. 

When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

Wow. That was all I could say when I finished this book. Wow.

I'll be the first to admit, my knowledge of history is... pathetic. More than likely, I learned about this period of history at some point, but then promptly forgot it. (Side note: if my teachers had me read books like this, I would've remembered. I swear. There is NO WAY I will forget this.)

Another side note: This title? Perfection.

Anyway, on to the story... first of all, the characterization. Fantastic. I loved the main character, Kitty, and I loved viewing history through her eyes. I loved how this was still her story, amidst the history. There are some major characters who probably *should* seem unlikeable--for their selfishess, or foolishness--and yet, I believe I understood them all. To Longshore's credit, I felt for them all (whether they were in the wrong or right). I was horrified for them all. I cared for them all, despite their faults. Or maybe because of them. They seemed so painfully real.

I haven’t stopped thinking about this book. About all the ways you can be bound to a person, indebted to another, about all the ways you can be in a prison—and not even realize it. I haven’t stopped thinking about all the ways a person can be guilty—and punished.

This is one of those at-a-loss-for-words books. I have this desire to force GILT into everyone’s hands. So, this is me, forcing this book into your hands. Go! Read!

Check out the recommendations from the rest of the Bookanistas this week:

Christine Fonseca  interviews author Sandra Almazan

Stasia Ward Kehoe is spellbound by ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD & GIRL OF NIGHTMARES

Jessica Love falls for UNBREAK MY HEART

LiLa Roecker swoons over STORYBOUND

Debra Driza celebrates STARTERS

Bookanistas: STARTERS

STARTERS by Lissa Price

From Goodreads:

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man. 

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .

I love a book that can surprise me -- as a reader, I'm constantly trying to guess what twists might be coming up, and I honestly thought I had Starters figured out.

I was wrong.

This book is such a mind-bender, in the best possible way!

Aside from having such an interesting initial premise -- people renting bodies! -- Starters took that idea a step further. Callie wakes up, you see.... and she knows her renter was planning to use her for something big. So Callie has to pretend to be the renter who is pretending to be her -- AH! Mind = blown. And that's just the beginning. Throughout the book I was constantly wondering...who is who they say they are? Who is in someone else's body? And, the big question: what was Callie going to be used for, and why?

Politics, lies, family, and twists within twists... and yet, for all the complexity, this is a crazy-fast read. Starters is in bookstores now!

Lissa is currently on tour for Starters. You can check right here to see if she'll be coming to your area.

Check out the Book Trailer and the Facebook site for Starters

Come see what the rest of the Bookanistas are talking about this week:

Christine Fonseca  interviews author Heather McCorkle

Debra Driza gives stars to STARTERS

Stasia Ward Kehoe is giddy about GEEKTASTIC – with giveaway!

Nikki Katz praises PANDEMONIUM

Hilary Wagner swoons for PINK SMOG – with giveaway

Bookanistas: SLIDE + giveaway

SLIDE by Jill Hathaway

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

Where to even begin. I adore this book. I've adored this book since the first time I read it, as a draft on a computer. I loved it so much that I begged Jill—who I met through our agent—to be my critique partner. Because in the first few pages, I could tell… it’s the type of writing you sink into. Regardless of what Jill writes, you start reading, and you just…fall. You slide into the character (see what I just did there??), and you feel.

SLIDE is a true mystery with a paranormal element -- yet the world feels very real. The characters feel real. The fear is tangible. The writing is fantastic. Think I’m biased? Publishers Weekly called it an “emotionally taut thriller with depth” in their starred review of the book. My thoughts exactly.

Anyway, I’m totally giddy about seeing SLIDE out in the world (it comes out March 27th). Jill is not only an amazing writer, but an amazing friend—and I’m so, so happy for her!

Do you want SLIDE? I think you do. So I’m giving away a pre-order (US only this time, sorry!) Fill out the form for a chance to win, tweet/FB/what-have-you for an extra entry (paste the link in the form). Contest runs through Thursday, March 15^th. I’ll email the winner for mailing address. (You can also enter to win 1 of 5 packs of signed Slide & Fracture bookmarks) Good luck!

Contest now closed (emails being sent to winners):

Winner of pre-order: eek theladyreads

Winners of bookmark packs: Juhina, Lori, Sabrina, Amy, & Jen

Check out this week's other Bookanista recommendations!

Christine Fonseca  interviews PIECES OF US author Margie Gelbwasser

Carolina Valdez Miller adores WANDERLOVE - with giveaway

Jen Hayley takes a shine to STARTERS

Stasia Ward Kehoe discovers THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND ME

Tracy Banghart  gives a shout-out to SHUT OUT

Jessica Love wonders at WANDERLOVE

Bookanistas: UNDER THE NEVER SKY

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi

Since she’'d been on the outside, she'’d survived an Aether storm, she'’d had a knife held to her throat, and she'’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’'s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He'’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria'’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.

"Enthralling debut" and "unforgettable adventure." That's exactly how I feel about UNDER THE NEVER SKY. Here's why:

The setting. There are two very distinct worlds in this book, and neither of them is like ours. We get to experience each of them from the perspective of both insider and outsider. The pods, the aether storms, the heightened abilities of certain characters, all of it is weaved effortlessly into the story. It’s all new, and yet it’s so easy to picture. I believe this is also because of…

The characters. And not just the characters, but the relationships between them. Aria and Perry are each very much a product of their separate worlds, and the relationship between them builds slowly and realistically. I loved seeing Aria’s growth over time. She's a girl exiled from her home, left for dead, untrusting of the unfamiliar, slowly coming into her own. And Perry was such an interesting, layered character. But I really appreciated that their romance was secondary to the plot. Because it is their pre-existing relationships that drive their motivations: Aria and her mother; Perry and his brother; Perry and his nephew. All the danger they encounter, the very relationship between Aria and Perry, builds from a motivation we can all relate to.

The plot: This book starts with a bang, with terror that anyone would be able to relate to no matter what world they live in. And nothing in the story is as straight-forward as it seems. The plot moves fast, but the relationship builds slowly and realistically.

Gorgeous writing and a fantastic story. I can’t wait to read the next book!

Available January 3, 2012

Check out what the other Bookanistas are talking about this week:

Shannon Messenger shouts about twelve 2012 releases she can't wait for--and a pre-order giveaway!

Corrine Jackson gushes over THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST

Stasia Ward Kehoe gets psyched for 2012

Bookanistas: Untraceable

UNTRACEABLE by S.R. Johannes

I was lucky enough to read this book when it was but a file on a computer. I sat down on the couch next to The Husband and opened my computer with the intention of reading just a few pages.

20 minutes later, The Husband: “Are you breathing?”

Me: “Shh.”

20 minutes later, The Husband: “No, really, I think you need to breathe.”

Not. Possible.

About UNTRACEABLE:

Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival.

When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father. 
Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves.

To say this book moves would be a huge understatement. There are twists, and there are twists within those twists. There's non-stop action, and there’s this unsettling feeling that follows you through every scene: because there’s something we’re not quite seeing, and you can feel it. I was on edge while reading this book, never sure which characters I should trust.

There’s another layer of depth to this book, underneath the break-neck pace, underneath the romantic tension, underneath the search for her father. This is also a story about what's happening in the wilderness around her -- and it's bigger than the disappearance of Grace's father.

And Grace is so very real: she has no paranormal abilities, no super-human strength. But she is tough. And she’s the only one who believes her father could still be alive….

UNTRACEABLE is available NOW, as an ebook here or here, or as paperback.

 

Come see what the rest of the Bookanistas are recommending today:

Lisa and Laura Roecker gush about HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

Shannon Messenger raves about CINDER--with an ARC Giveaway!

Corrine Jackson falls for UNDER THE NEVER SKY

Stasia Ward Kehoe celebrates MY VERY UNFAIRY TALE LIFE

Debra Driza sings the praises of EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS

Katy Upperman gets swept away by THE SCORPIO RACES