Monstrous Beauty

Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama is a beautifully told mermaid tale. It opens up in 1522 with Syrenka, the immortal mermaid, lusting after the human Pukanokick. And then she accidentally drowns him by forgetting that us silly, weak humans need air.

The novel alternates chapters between Syrenka and her love story and the current day Hester and her own love issues. Syrenka and her love from the 19th century--a man who studies marine life and falls madly in love with her. Hester and her decision to never fall in love. Every generation the women of Hester's family die in childbirth. Every generation. Is it genetics, a family curse? When Hester meets Ezra in a beach cove, everything changes for her. Everything.

This darkly gothic paranormal romance is not the typical YA paranormal romance novel. Which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. I read this a few months ago and reviewed for a book journal. Typically, that means that I will not blog about it here or on my goodreads page. But this title struck me still as one that needs to be highlighted. It has a little bit of everything in it. Mystery, ghosts, romance, horrific mermaids, murders, violence, history, and rich characters. Without the characters' depth that story would have faltered.

My only complaint about this novel is the cover art! The image on the left is the hardback version. The image on the right is the cover image from the ARC (Advanced reading copy) that I reviewed. I love that cover art. Who decided to change it to the boring one on the left?

Anyway, if you're looking for something a bit more than the typical paranormal story. Something with a bit more grit, depth, literary quality, et cetera. Look no further than Monstrous Beauty. You won't be disappointed.

Coming Soon Books

We now can buy books for this fiscal year. We haven't been able to purchase books since May so we're playing catch-up in some cases, pre-ordering fall titles in other cases. I thought I'd share some of the interesting titles we have now (or will later this week) in our catalog for you to get your hands on to read!


Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
The forbidden story of a 16 and 17 year old siblings incestuous relationship as they function as the parents of their three younger siblings. This title is sure to creep some readers out just for thinking about the concept, but older, mature teens may find an interesting read in this taboo topic. Plus the cover is awesome!


Perfect by Ellen Hopkins
Not in our catalog yet, but coming soon! The newest Hopkins' book comes out in September is a companion to her book Impulse.

The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller
This historical piece alternates voices between the four Grand Duchess daughters of the Russian Tsar in the early 20th century as their lives are torn apart by world war and revolution. You may have heard of one of the Grand Duchesses--Anastasia, anyone? The story of Grand Duchess Anastasia is fascinating for so many reasons. Let's hope this title does it justice!


Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
It's here, it's here! Well, not until November really, but starting next week you'll be able to at least put it on hold! What? you don't know what I'm talking about? Really? Inheritance is the final book to Paolini's Inheritance series that began with a little book called Eragon. Now's the perfect time to re-read the series to freshen up on all the Aagaesia lore that may be needed for the final book!



Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles
Book three following the lives of the Fuentes brothers. Perfect Chemistry followed Alex; Rules of Attraction had Carlos. Now Chain Reaction has Luis! Judging a book by its cover, I'm saying yowzer!


Brother/Sister by Sean Olin
The subtitle to this book is "Just give them a chance to explain" which totally should be the subtitle for Forbidden too! Brother and sister, Will and Asheley, tell the story of how their summer spun out of control and ended quite violently. Ah, murder, intrigue, and bad parents. What more is there to love?

An Awesome Book

See the book title? It says it all. Based on the blog 1000awesomethings.com, this book gives you reminders about the little things that make us happy.

It's the perfect book to bring a smile to your face --especially when you get frazzled by the heat, or work, or family. As the author says, "it's fun to stop for a minute and share a universal high five with the rest of humanity." Take a look at the handful that I picked out to share, are they some of the small joys in life that you overlook sometimes? Do they make you smile too? I think it's a universal thing.

Popping Bubble Wrap
How do you like to pop it? I'm for the stepping on it, myself. Though twisting it into a bundle is fun too. Did you know that it was originally being made for wallpaper? Can't you just imagine someone running up and shoving themselves against the wall to make it pop!

Sleeping New Bedsheets
An extra bonus feeling is if you do this right after you've been sick. You feel so much better after sleeping in fresh sheets.

The Smell of New Crayons
As an adult it brings a sense of remembrance of childhood days past -- scribbling on a Care Bears coloring book that I got for my fifth birthday.

Licking the batter off the beaters a Cake Mixer
That's actually how I like to eat brownies and cakes. Give me the liquid gooey happiness anyday. And the way you have to stretch your tongue to reach the center of the beater and end up getting batter all over your face is priceless. Hmmm, I think I should make some brownies tonight.

Laughing so Hard You make no Sound at all
Everyone has a moment in their mind like this. An extra thing that I love about this is that when you think back to that moment, you usually start laughing again. I'm doing it right now. Seriously. I'm at the reference desk chuckling to myself about lumpy milk plopping into my cereal and my husband's face when I told his grandparents that I thought the milk went bad.

Priceless.

New Books -- December 2010

Wow!  We got a lot of great stuff this month!  Check it out!

You want books! We've got Books!

Sixty two new books, to be exact. Watch the video, then place some holds!

What Has 70 New Books & a Video to Share?

The Teen Librarians!

So Many New Books...

There were 133 new books added to the collection in July. 

How do I know this?  I put all of them in a video.  See it below.

Two New Books

One of the advantages of working in a library is knowing what new books are coming out soon and putting them on hold. The drawback is that those books tend to arrive all at the same time. Case in point: the eight new teen books that materialized on my desk yesterday afternoon. I have to read fast (not a problem) and prioritize which titles I want to start with (a little harder).

The first book on my list is The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. Today I'm 50 pages in and hooked. The premise is a fabulous one---female pirate, Emer, buries a great treasure right before she dies. However she is also cursed right before she dies. Emer must live 100 lives as a dog before being reincarnated as a human. Through each of these lives she retains her memory and knowledge of her first life as a pirate. Which means that when Emer is finally housed in the body of Saffron, a twentieth century teenage girl, her whole focus is on getting out of suburbia and back to the Carribbean to dig up her treasure. So far I am loving this. Even if the prose is sometimes a little clunky, the humor is great. This is the most original premise I've encountered for some time. Plus, I quite like the cover, which you might remember is something that's probably more important to me that it ought to be. Call me shallow.

Second on the list, The Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Asbhy. I've got to say it's the cover that draws me to this book. That cover gets an A+. In fact I was so distracted by the cover that I had to look up a book review to remember what the book is about. In short, a teenage girl, attempting to cast a love spell, accidentally turns her entire high school into a bunch of flesh-eating zombies. Man, do I like zombies. Haven't read this yet so I can't give a review, but it's next on my to-be-read list and I have high hopes for it.