YA New York

It’s release day, darlings, and I’ve never been more glad. Because not only is Matthew Sweet’s new album, Sunshine Lies out today, but two of my most anticipated books of the year are out as well.

Let’s start with Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin. Meet Jill and her part-time brother (or second identity?), Jack. Jill is a normal high school senior, except that four days a month she … umm … turns into a guy. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Lauren McLaughlin conceived this book whilst suffering debilitating menstrual cramps, and she describes Jill’s condition as the “worst case of PMS ever.”

I have to say it: The book was brilliantly written, and I’ve been looking forward to reading it since May, when Scott Westerfeld recommended it after I said, “I’m starting a YA review site.” He said, “You should read Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin.” I dutifully wrote down the details, but only finally got the book last week. Good thing. It’s still fresh in my mind. (Note: This was my one and only convo with Scott Westerfeld. Alas, we are not best buds, though I consider his books to be some of my dearest friends.)

Back to Cycler, Jill is really stunningly normal, and maybe a little bitchy. She “deletes” her other persona each month, and she and her mother have conspired to keep Jack locked inside the house for the entire duration of his existence. Okay, forget bitchy. Maybe a little cruel more like it.

Lauren tells the book from both Jill’s perspective and Jack’s. One chapter is Jill, the next Jack. Weirdly, Jack is the much more interesting character. Much, much more interesting. And more fun. And maybe cooler. But the story itself is also way cool, and really well told, and generally brilliant. Hey, listen. If Scott Westerfeld says it’s good, take his word for it. He is, in my opinion, a far more reliable source than I am.

Oh! But you shouldn’t take his word for it, either, because Lauren has ever so kindly made an excerpt available her website. Go read it, and then go read the whole book.

Next up in our Splendid Splashing Release day edition, Kimberly Pauley’s debut novel, Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe). It’s got a long title, but can be summed up in just one word: hilarious.

Look, there’s a lot of vampire lit out there right now. Not only do we have Stephenie Meyer setting the bar, but we’ve also got Claudia Gray’s Evernight series and … okay, how’s this for wacky: a series about Upper East Side high schoolers who are rich and beautiful and vampires. Gossip Girl: the vampire version??? Weird, but existent.

Kimberly, however, did something completely different. She wrote a comedy, a slightly angsty coming-of-age story about a girl who attends vampire classes that are something like driver’s ed. And vampires aren’t good, or bad. They’re just people who live forever and drink blood and stuff. And Mina, our heroine, has to decide whether she wants to take the plunge and become a vamp, too. There’s a bit of romance, of course, but mostly it’s just plain funny and awesome and doesn’t have any of the worrying connotations of like, Buffy coming out and kicking some vampire butt. It’s not about that at all, and that’s what I love about Sucks to Be Me. It’s just plain awesome funny fun.

Kimberly, btw, is having an online book release party all this week. So stop by her site to win giveaways and to read posts from her special guest authors.

And of course, you can buy Cycler and Sucks to Be Me from Amazon.com.

Oh, and by the way: This Matthew Sweet album kinda rocks. It’s not as good as Girlfriend or 100% Fun, of course, but it’s still awesome.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 1:35 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.