I finished Ann Brashares latest novel My Name is Memory last night and instantly wondered if maybe my review copy had left out a much needed “to be continued…” at the end of the book. The way the first novel ends is incredibly frustrating, but thankfully after a little online research I discovered that this is going to be a trilogy so I can now stop my eyes from bugging out of my head in annoyance. In all seriousness though a little clue into that fact right up front might have helped me deal with the agony I was feeling when I was down to the last five pages and nothing was wrapping up. I’m curious if the actual copies that are for sale in bookstores now alert readers to this fact or not? I’ll have to pop over to Porter Square Books at lunchtime and see.

Notwithstanding the rather abrupt ending, My Name is Memory weaves together elements of so many genres that I love including historical fiction, romance, and sci-fi. The best part is that they all seem to work harmoniously together. The basic premise of the book revolves around the many lives of Daniel. Daniel has a memory that stretches across centuries. Thankfully not in the “I’m a vampire and I’ve lived for 2000 years” mode. Daniel lives and dies like a normal man, but somehow Daniel is able to retain his memory from each of his lives as he is reincarnated over and over again.

Many of his lives intersect with a woman whom he refers to as Sophia. In each of these instances he is consumed with persuading this woman of their destiny. As you can imagine having a strange man you’ve never seen before explain that you have hundreds of years of history together could be a bit daunting. The present day incarnation of “Sophia” who is actually known as Lucy essentially runs screaming from Daniel when he starts spouting his seemingly crazy notions. But his strange tale stays with Lucy and she begins to wonder if perhaps there could be something to Daniel’s claims.

While Lucy ponders, Daniel takes the reader on an epic jaunt through his past lives. I loved Daniel’s portions of the book. Reading about his many adventures in various foreign and far-flung places offered an exciting pace to the story, and the frequent near-misses in Daniel and Sophia’s tragic inability to ever be together left me feeling frantic for them to meet in the present day.

Of course, nothing comes easily to these star-crossed lovers. In true villain fashion Daniel’s evil brother, who also harbors the same supernatural ability but with a more wicked twist, decides it’s time to make his presence known.

Will Sophia and Daniel ever live happily ever after? Well you wont find out in this book, but perhaps by book three we’ll all be able to celebrate a merry resolution to this epic love story.

Just as an aside, I actually had this book with me on a flight home from Houston where Alexis Bledel sat two rows in front of me. I was instantly star struck and thought it was such a cool coincidence that the star of the film versions of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was on the same plane with me while I read an Ann Brashares novel. I know…I know…I’m a total geek.

I can’t quite figure out why Jennifer Weiner’s newest book, Best Friends Forever, has such an uninspiring title. In spite of this rather insignificant shortcoming (that is honestly more than made up for by the gorgeous cover art) I can absolutely recommend this tremendous chick-lit novel to you without any reservations at all. To me Jennifer Weiner is the queen of escapist novels. Her stories are filled with endearing and memorable protagonists that get into and out of bizarre shenanigans in ways that seem truly plausible. Her ability to weave such well-rounded and likable female characters is a true gift, and I enjoy nothing more then to curl up beach-side or pool-side with a brand new copy of her latest novel and drift away. Unfortunately this means that my Weiner books are almost always splattered with a mixture of water, sand, and sunscreen, but it’s a small price to pay for a light summer afternoon read that leaves you feeling truly happy and satisfied.

Best Friends Forever examines the relationship and subsequent break-up between childhood friends Addie Downs and Valerie Adler. Addie and Valerie are polar opposites. Whereas Addie is shy, cautious, and prone to weight issues, Valerie is outgoing, curious, and eventually blossoms into a blonde bombshell. Unfortunately the cliques and pettiness of high school lead to a betrayal of trust and Addie and Valerie end their friendship.

Then on the evening of their fifteen year class reunion Valerie appears on Addie’s doorstep with blood on her coat and the two women are thrust into an amusing Thelma and Louise like road trip where deep pains from their respective pasts are revealed.

One of my favorite portions of the novel involved a childhood trip to Cape Cod that the girls take with Valerie’s crazy mother. Jennifer Weiner’s decadent description of traditional beach food found on The Cape made my mouth simply water:

There was corn on the cob and clam chowder and red plastic net bags filled with gray clams that Val and her mother called steamers. There was coleslaw and French fries and a tangled mound of thin, crispy onion rings, tall plastic cups brimming with ice and soda, and little plastic dishes filled with melted butter. A dozen oysters lolled slick in their shells on a bed of crushed ice, and two gigantic lobsters sprawled over oval-shaped plates, leaking steaming pale-pink water.

See what I mean? I would kill for some clams right now. Absolutely kill! So if you have a little vacation time left this summer and you’re looking for that perfect book to bring along I’d suggest that you promptly pick up a copy of Best Friends Forever and stash it in your overnight bag immediately.

Like many of you the first novel of Margaret Atwood’s that I read was The Handmaid’s Tale. I remember feeling utterly bewildered by it at the time. Truth be told it was probably a bit over my head. In Junior High I went into adult novel high gear and routinely devoured anything that didn’t involve girls my own age. A dystopian world of women forced to become surrogates for wealthy and well placed couples was quite a departure from my usual diet of V.C. Andrews and Jude Deveraux but because I found the book on my Aunt Beth’s bookshelf I simply had to read it.

Years later though I appreciate Margaret Atwood’s novels thoroughly. From Alias Grace to The Robber Bride each story is beautifully developed and seems to always stay with me in a haunting manner. This was doubly true for the apocalypse fueled Oryx and Crake. Interestingly enough Atwood chose to revisit the world she created in this novel in her latest work, The Year of the Flood. Whereas Oryx and Crake was told from the perspective of two men, The Year of the Flood is told from the viewpoint of two women: Toby and Ren.

At the opening of the novel a virus has decimated humanity. Toby has sealed herself inside the luxury spa she managed where thankfully many of the treatments she used on clients are edible. Ren, a trapeze artist, is trapped inside the high-end sex club that she danced at. Food is running low and both women wonder if anyone besides themselves have survived the unnatural element that has wiped out society. A disaster that was vocally predicted by Adam One the leader of the pro-animal and vegetarian activists the God’s Gardner’s whom they both followed in the past.

The novel deftly moves between Toby and Ren’s respective back stories and the horrors of their present day confinement. Reader’s of Oryx and Crake will fully recognize familiar plot points including the CorpsSeCorps (the corrupt corporation that essentially has taken over all aspects of the American life), Rakunks (half skunk, half raccoon engineered animals without a skunk smell), and of course Jimmy aka “Snowman” who had his own connections to the downfall of humanity.

I find Atwood’s ability to create such an alien human existence that feels so completely foreign and yet frankly quite possible given today’s tumultuous environmental and political climate to be an amazing gift. I simply couldn’t put the novel down and found myself racing through the story frantically reading to uncover how Toby and Ren ended up in their respective predicaments.  The Year of the Flood will be released on September 22, 2009.

The story of Katie Kampenfelt would be engaging all on its own. An eighteen-year-old girl skips college in order to take a year off while we steadily watch her world unfurl. Her hunt for “true love” involving her parents, friends, and men her own age all fall flat. Then a clandestine affair we rather frighteningly see coming a mile away erupts and Katie’s world is turned completely upside down.

But Undiscovered Gyrl isn’t as cut and dry as your traditional teen taking the “road less traveled” story. There’s a twist. Katie Kampenfelt isn’t our narrator’s real name. She’s quite upfront about that. In our extremely connected world Katie Kampenfelt is (of course) sharing her life with us via her personal blog and she’s changing identifying details to “protect the innocent.” While we as readers follow our unreliable narrator’s online persona down a path of drugs, booze, and risky sexual behaviors we never quite know what is truly real and what might simply be hyperbole.

Katie’s self-destruction is intensely emotional, raw, and realistic. I found myself frequently debating whether or not I wanted to strangle her or hug her. Obviously when she’s stalking the 32-year-old film professor she’s having an affair with it’s difficult not to condemn her, but then she would do something endearing or a little more truth about her background would trickle out to explain her motivation and I would begin to root for her all over again.

Without going into many details, as I’m very anti-spoiler, I do admit to having some mixed feelings about the ending of the novel. I found the “resolution” to be a bit preachy, but the book on a whole was very well done and Allison Burnett has detailed the inner workings of a troubled young woman phenomenally well. I’d absolutely recommend picking it up (and then we can discuss the ending).

In true Web 2.0 fashion Undiscovered Gyrl not only has a website of its own but also a Facebook profile for the main character. I love that such a plugged in book is actually utilizing the internet so thoroughly in the marketing campaign. This title will be released on August 11, 2009.

It’s Supernatural meets Veronica Mars in Lili St. Crow’s new young adult novel Strange Angels. Straight away our scrappy heroine, Dru Anderson, hears some odd tapping noises at her back door. Surprise! Dad’s been turned into a zombie. Fortunately Dru is channeling bizarre Allison DuBois like psychic abilities and her grandmother and father (before he became reanimated) both schooled her thoroughly in the art of things that go bump in the night. Even so what she has to do in this scenario is every daughter’s worst nightmare.

It goes from bad to worse quickly and unfortunately Dru just can’t catch a break. Her new friend Graves lets her crash in his swinging hidden bachelor pad at the mall but then they get attacked by “wulfen” and Graves is bitten. Thankfully he’s a virgin though so legend has it he wont be turned into a freaky fury fiend.

I’m not entirely sure I understand the difference between “wulfen” and “werewolves” so if someone wants to enlighten me feel free. In the novel vampires are also referred to as “suckers” which feels awfully offensive to me for some reason, but at least the vampires are properly vicious and don’t sparkle.

After some gun wielding, a great escape, and a little research Dru and Graves make contact with a mysterious vampire-not-a-vampire named Christophe, who is appropriately dreamy and well heeled, but is he on their side or just leading them astray? I’ll never tell…

Some parts of this novel felt a bit too much like other popular media in the supernatural category, but it’s well paced for the book to develop into a series. I’m intrigued enough to want to read the next novel, Betrayals, scheduled to be released this Fall (especially since we’re left with a cliffhanger ending) in hopes of unraveling some of the many hanging plot points surrounding Dru’s family and the other mysterious beings who are introduced.

By the way, thanks to that nasty zombie at the beginning of the book, I had three separate zombie nightmares last night. Miss St. Crow I think this means that all in all you did your job.

I have a not-so-secret addiction to YA Novels. I used to be embarrassed to purchase books from the Young Adult section of bookstores, but not anymore. Over the last few years I’ve come to terms with my love of all things not rooted in the “grown-up” world. Besides, I live that reality every day of my life and I’d much rather escape with a narrator that houses a completely different set of issues and tribulations. A common misconception held by many readers is that YA novels are somehow lowbrow knockoffs of adult titles. This is so absolutely not the case. I can honestly say that many of the YA novels I’ve read over the years have been head and shoulders above some of the popular adult fiction that so often finds its way onto various bestseller lists and then become critical darlings. Just because 14 people in your subway car are reading the same book doesn’t mean that you have to. Below are some of the excellent YA titles I’ve read recently that I think will also serve to convince you that there’s nothing wrong with loving YA.

The Hunger Games is a brilliant character driven tale by Suzanne Collins that takes place in a distopian version of America called Panem in the not-so-distant future where a rather Shirley Jackson type lottery is held each year that forces two adolescents from each of the country’s twelve districts to compete on a vicious reality television program where only one survivor can win. And by survivor they mean you have to be alive at the end, none of this “silly” you’re voted off the island and go back to civilization and a segment on the Today Show business. These young men and women are expected to fight to their deaths under harsh conditions and artificially manufactured scenarios. In the story we follow, Katniss, a young woman from one of the poorest districts in Panem, who volunteers for the games after her younger sister’s name is drawn to be a participant. Katniss takes her sisters place and is then forced to participate in some of the most horrific mentally and physically challenging tasks one can imagine. The horrible irony of the novel is that there are several secondary characters that Katniss meets and interacts with that you will inevitably grow to love, including the endearing young baker’s son whom she grew up with, Peeta, and an intriguing young girl named Rue who will steal your heart, but The Hunger Games insist that there can be only one winner so please prepare yourself for a bit of heart wrenching grief. I found this novel to be incredibly addictive. I couldn’t put it down and honestly I’m beside myself with the thought that I have to wait until September to read the next title in the series.

Graceling is hands down the best book I’ve read in the last 6 months. I’m not generally into fantasy novels. I’ve never really cared about magical worlds with mythical creatures and dastardly bad guys riding horses to storm cold stone castles but since reading Kristin Cashore’s amazingly plotted first novel I have to say my mind has been thoroughly changed. Graceling is the story of Lady Katsa who lives under the command of her not-so-nice uncle King Randa in the kingdom of the Middluns. In the world of this novel certain individuals are born with special abilities called graces. These “gifts” range from the mundane, such as being an amazing cook, to the extreme such as being able to read minds or, as in Katsa’s case, the ability to kill. Men and women who are graced are marked by having two color eyes. Suffice to say, her henchman-like reputation precedes her and Katsa, with her stunning green and blue eyes, is both revered and feared by the people she encounters. When Katsa meets Po, a fellow graceling with whom combat skills have been bestowed upon, things start to get very interesting. It appears that not everything is as it seems in the kingdom and Po and Katsa set out on an eventful journey to uncover the truth. Long days on horses and even longer nights by the fire allow for a burgeoning romance between the two which plays off nicely with the continuous swashbuckling adventure that ensues. You will not be disappointed with this story. The prequel to Graceling, Fire, is set to be published this fall. I suggest that you get it on your pre-order list immediately. In the meantime, you can keep up with all of the author’s going ons at her blog: This is My Secret.

For all of my fellow Gossip Girl addicts I implore you to check out the Luxe novels by Anna Godbersen. The first novel opens with a quote from The Age of Innocence so I’ve always thought of these novels as Gossip Girl meets Edith Wharton, which is even more funny as Gossip Girl just recently aired an episode where our favorite Upper East Siders put on a play of The Age of Innocence. Truly escapist in nature and dripping in romance and intrigue these novels trace the daily activities of the beautiful Holland sisters, Elizabeth and Diana, and their eccentric circle of equally rich and troubled friends. Instead of chauffeured cars, Manolo Blahniks, and iPhones we have horse and buggies, Parisian seamstresses, and calling cards but the effect is still quote similar. The third title in the series, Envy, was just released in January and I’m impatiently waiting for my friend Anna to finish reading it so I can curl up in my favorite chair and devour it.

Some additional upcoming and currently available novels on my “to read” list include:
Jumping Off Swing by Jo Knowles (scheduled to be released on August 11, 2009) 

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Along for the Ride by Sarah Desen (scheduled to be released on June 16, 2009)

The Kings Rose by Alisa Libby