Review: Famous Last Words

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Contemporary Young Adult
288 pages
Henry Holt and Co.
Available July 2nd
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Samantha D’Angelo has death on the brain. Her summer internship at the local newspaper has her writing obituaries instead of soaking up the sun at the beach. Between Shelby, Sam’s boy-crazy best friend; her boss Harry, a true-blue newspaper man; and AJ, her fellow “intern scum” (aka the cute drummer for a band called Love Gas), Sam has her hands full. But once she figures out what—or who—is the best part of her summer, will she mess it all up?

As Sam learns her way around both the news room and the real world, she starts to make some momentous realizations about politics, ethics, her family, romance, and most important—herself.

MY THOUGHTS
Famous Last Words is a completely satisfying comfort read, a beautifully simplistic story about finding something that ignites passion and drive, and embracing the things that passion teaches us about ourselves. There’s very little drama, romance or otherwise; it’s more a delightful romp in the day-to-day life of Sam as she stumbles through a summer internship, a crush, and an evolving friendship in completely adorable fashion, and though nothing momentous or epic takes place, our time with her feels valuable and well spent regardless.

Sam doesn’t read either overly mature or frustratingly young for her age, instead she seems to fit her sixteen-going-on-seventeen years perfectly, at times fully dedicated to her new job and making herself a better writer while also easily distracted by a cute boy. She has her eyes wide open and yet wears blinders at the same time, her intuition about one of the reporter’s cases and her determination to get the answers he can’t a direct contrast to her complete obliviousness to fellow intern AJ’s interest in her. Granted we have the benefit of outside perspective and AJ masks his feelings well, but we just want to reach in and give her a little shake at times to hopefully reset her focus, providing new perspective so she no longer sees only what's on the periphery and finally gets a glimpse at what’s right in front of her.

Luckily for us Sam’s obliviousness is not of the frustrating variety, rather she’s cutely clueless in the AJ department, and their witty banter combined with the ease they clearly feel with one another proves to be immensely gratifying. They have a few small spats and arguments here and there, but overall their relationship is tense with possibility instead of melodrama and misunderstanding, and it shares equal page time with Sam’s relationships with her family and best friend Shelby. The story itself is focused mostly on Sam herself as she comes to terms with the various pieces of her life taking on new shape and slotting themselves into place in an order different from what she might have expected at the beginning of the summer, and it's simply a pleasure to watch those new slots open up and welcome Sam in.

Overall, Famous Last Words is a quick and lovable read, a great go-to book to lift our spirits on a bad day or in between much darker books.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Jennifer:

Website • Blog • Twitter  • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

A Post of Pretty: New Covers

This week has been an insane week for cover reveals, with HarperTeen unleashing a torrent of stunning new designs for their Winter 2014 lineup, and because I'm such a huge fan of all things design-related I wanted to share some of them on the blog today. You can check out the full roundup over at Epic Reads HERE, but below are some of the ones I love most. Is it 2014 yet? *stares longingly at calendar*

INTO THE STILL BLUE

Under the Never Sky #3

Veronica Rossi • January 28th, 2014

FROZEN
Taken #2

Erin Bowman • April 15th, 2014

SPLIT SECOND

Pivot Point #2

Kasie West • February 11th, 2014

CRUEL BEAUTY

Rosamund Hodge • January 28th, 2014

INFINITE

Newsoul #3

Jodi Meadows •  January 28th, 2014

EVERTRUE
Everneath #3

Brodi Ashton • January 21st, 2014

AVALON

Mindee Arnett •  January 21st, 2014

And now for my three favorites on the list:

ELUSION

Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam • March 18th, 2014

From Goodreads:

Soon, Elusion® will change the world and life as we know it.

A new technology called Elusion is sweeping the country. An app, visor and wristband will virtually transport you to an exotic destination where adventure can be pursued without the complications—or consequences—of real life.

Regan is an Elusion insider. Or at least she used to be. Her father invented the program, and her best friend, Patrick, heir to the tech giant Orexis, is about to release it nationwide. But ever since her father’s unexpected death, Regan can’t bear to Escape, especially since waking up from the dream means crashing back to her grim reality.

Still, when there are rumors of trouble in Elusion—accusations that it’s addictive and dangerous— Regan is determined to defend it. But the critics of Elusion come from surprising sources, including Josh, the handsome skeptic with his own personal stakes. As Regan investigates the claims, she discovers a disturbing web of secrets. She will soon have to choose between love and loyalty…a decision that will affect the lives of millions.

Suspense, thrills, and romance fuel this near-future story about the seductive nature of a perfect virtual world, and how far one girl will go to uncover the truth behind the illusions.

HOUSE OF IVY & SORROW

Natalie Whipple • April 1st, 2014

From Natalie Whipple's Blog:

They say a witch lives in the old house under the bridge . . .
 
What the residents of Willow’s End don’t know is that there are two witches living in the crumbling old house draped in ivy. Ancient, toothless Dorothea Hemlock . . . and her seventeen-year-old granddaughter, Josephine.


Jo has always managed to keep her magical life separate from her normal one. But now the mysterious Curse that killed her mother—and so many Hemlock witches before her—has returned. Soon Jo realizes that the life she’s fought to keep hidden could destroy the one she’s worked so hard to protect.

ALL THAT GLOWS

Ryan Graudin • February 11th, 2014

From Goodreads:

Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

What do you guys think? Which is your favorite?

Preview Package: Keeping Her + Cora Carmack

I don't think it will come as a surprise to those of you who read this blog with any frequency, but I just have to say it again: I adore Cora Carmack's books. I read Losing It a while back and loved it, and then I devoured Faking It just a little bit ago and loved that one even more. Cora Carmack, in my opinion, writes fantastic characters and the types of stories that just suck you right in and absolutely refuse to let you get back to your regularly scheduled life before you reach the last page.

I may or may not have done a spastic happy dance when I found out my time with Garrick and Bliss from Losing It was in fact not over, as Ms. Carmack is gifting us with a novella about their life together post-last chapter. I KNOW! It's awesome. To get you as excited as I am about the upcoming release of Keeping Her (August 13th from William Morrow), I have a very special preview package to share with you today, you'll find all the goodness below.

If that wasn't enough excitement for one day, I have even more news to share. First, Cora and author Jay Crownover (Rule) will be participating in a Goodreads chat on June 26th, so be sure and mark your calendars! Second, join Cora on her Facebook page from 3-4pm EDT on June 27th for a little book club fun with Faking It. You can ask her all your most desperate questions about Max, Cade and their relationship, but first be sure and check out all the preview package fun!

Preview Package: Cora Carmack's KEEPING HER by AvonBooks

• • • • • • • • • • 

KEEPING HER

Garrick Taylor and Bliss Edwards managed to find their happily-ever-after despite a rather . . . ahem . . . complicated start. By comparison, meeting the parents should be an absolute breeze, right?

But from the moment the pair lands in London, new snags just keep cropping up: a disapproving mother-in-law-to-be, more than one (mostly) minor mishap, and the realization that perhaps they aren't quite as ready for their future as they thought.

As it turns out, the only thing harder than finding love is keeping it.

B&N • Apple • Amazon • Goodreads

Stick With Me!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to do a quick post this morning about Bloglovin' for those of you who aren't familiar with it. Rumor has it that in a few weeks Google is going to do away with Google Reader, so any of you that rely on it to keep up with the latest happenings on your favorite blogs will lose that connection. It's unclear (at least to me, if someone knows for sure, please update us all in the comments!) as to whether this means Google Friend Connect will be departing along with Google Reader or if it will stay, but fear not because there's Bloglovin'.

I've been using Bloglovin' for weeks now and I really like it. I wasn't a big Google Reader person to start with so I can't really tell you all the differences between the two, but I do love getting my daily update email from Bloglovin' so I can scroll through and see what posts I might have missed when making my rounds. It makes me feel plugged in to this community I love so very much.

I can't even begin to explain how much I appreciate each and every one of you taking time out of your day to read my blog, it means the absolute world to me and there just wouldn't be a blog without all of you. I hope when Google Reader goes away that many of you will make the transition to Bloglovin' and continue to follow this blog and others you love, as being a part of this amazing community brings a smile to my face every single day.

Please be sure and check back at noon today as I have a special treat for fans of the New Adult genre and Cora Carmack in particular, but for now, this is me hugging all of you treasured readers, friends, and fellow bloggers.

{{{{{{{{{{{MASSIVE HUGS}}}}}}}}}}

Guest Post: Deborah Valentine + The Knightmare

I'm excited today to have author Deborah Valentine stop by the blog to talk to us a little bit about love and her new historical time travel fantasy, The Knightmare. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Deborah!

LOVE BY MANY NAMES

“The name of wife may seem more sacred or more binding, but sweeter for me will always be the word mistress, or, if you will permit me, that of concubine...”

Now there’s the way to decline a marriage proposal! Incredibly, this is a quote from the 12th century from the brilliant scholar and eventual Abbess of the Paraclete Convent, Heloise. Could 20th century bra-burners have done it more eloquently – or elegantly? Heloise was a master (or rather, mistress) of words. Her affair with her tutor, the great philosopher Peter Abelard, was the stuff of legend, though it was indeed a true story. How far ahead of her time was this charmingly independent Heloise? Or perhaps it isn’t that she was ahead of her time, but that across millenniums many women have thought as she did and some are just better advertised.

So why do I bring this up? Because, as a writer, we all have read stories that have touched us, inspired us, made us look at the world differently and have served as a jumping off point for our own imaginations. For me, Abelard and Heloise is one such story, lurking round the corners of my mind for many years. I read their collected letters as a teenager and they stuck with me becoming an – I hate to use to the word ‘obsessive’ – let’s just say an intense and much loved area of research. Finally, it became a pivotal point for my book, The Knightmare.

As the saying goes, it is love that makes the world go round; and love is nothing if it doesn’t encounter an obstacle or two, or more. And what is great about writing is that you don’t have to be literal, one story breeds another. The Knightmare came about because I imagined what might have happened to their son, because they did indeed have one who has disappeared from history. What would he be like? What choices would he make in life when his parents’ love affair had such tragic consequences? For they were tragic. To cut a convoluted story short, Heloise’s guardian had Abelard hideously mutilated and he became an abbot while Heloise was forced into a convent (where she excelled, by the way, as a brilliant administrator).

And so a character was born, my Knight Templar, trying to avoid love, a medieval workaholic falling headlong into his own series of unfortunate decisions while trying desperately not to repeat what he saw as his parents’ mistakes. Many of us have done the same, ergo no matter how fantastical the story what the writer hits on is a universal truth about the way human beings behave. The idea of using a genuine historical figure and naming them as such – putting words in a real person’s mouth or purporting to know what they thought as if I’d witnessed events personally – gives me the heebie-jeebies.

I’ve changed many things – the names, played with the time frame, juggled things round, lied as writers do. I’m sure the real son of Abelard and Heloise didn’t become a Knight Templar, fall in love with a ‘witch’ (although I do hope he found someone equally unsuitable), participate in sword fights or the Albigensian Crusade, or assisted an alchemist in pagan rituals, or has been reincarnated as an career-focused Formula One driver. But I still hope I’ve done the lad justice and given him an adventure, even if it is fiction. In its own way, it is a homage to real people I admire greatly. As I said before, this is a great joy of writing, you don’t have to be literal. In fact, it’s better if you’re not.

As a postscript to Abelard and Heloise, after ten years of separation they started working together as abbot and abbess. A different kind of relationship, a different kind of love. Perhaps not so tragic after all, just not the conventional happy ending. Perhaps even, one day, a whole other story.

• • • • • • • • • • 

DEBORAH VALENTINE

Deborah Valentine is a British author, editor and screenwriter who once lived in California but far preferred the British weather and fled to London, where she has resided for many years. She is the author of three books published by Victor Gollancz Ltd in the UK, and Bantam and Avon in the US. Unorthodox Methods was the first in the series, followed by A Collector of Photographs and the Ireland-based Fine Distinctions. A Collector of Photographs was short-listed for an Edgar Allan Poe, a Shamus, a Macavity and an Anthony Boucher award. Fine Distinctions was also short-listed for an Edgar. They featured the characters of former California sheriff Kevin Bryce and artist Katharine Craig, charting their turbulent romance amid murder and mayhem. They are soon to be available as eBooks on the Orion imprint The Murder Room. With the publication of The Knightmare she has embarked on a new series of books with a supernatural edge.

Website • Facebook

• • • • • • • • • • 

THE KNIGHTMARE

France, 1209: A Knight Templar riding through an eerie forest is suddenly attacked by an assassin as a man and woman watch from a distant hillside. When his death seems certain, the woman takes up a sword...

Present, Formula 1 race, Magny Cours: Observed by the very same couple, Conor Westfield, a career-obsessed Scottish driver, is in a horrible racing accident. Miraculously, he survives what seemed to be certain death.

As he is recovering from his injuries Conor’s childhood nightmare recurs, a strange jumble of terrifying images that feel more like memories than dreams. Can it be mere coincidence that the very next morning he is informed a mysterious woman with whom he had very brief affair has died and left him as her heir? But this was no ordinary woman and no ordinary affair. Dogged by a niggling feeling of déjà vu, Conor travels to Amsterdam to identify the body. At her home he finds an illuminated book that transports him back in time, to a woman he left behind and a life lived in the shadow of a tragedy that cries out across 800 years for resolution.

Weaving history with the present, fact with fantasy, The Knightmare is an unforgettable story of angels and alchemy, betrayal and sacrifice, and a truly extraordinary love.

Amazon • Goodreads

Review + Giveaway: Impostor

IMPOSTOR
Variants #1
Susanne Winnacker
Paranormal Young Adult
274 pages
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from Media Masters Publicity/Razorbill

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again.

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

MY THOUGHTS
Impostor is a deeply satisfying start to a new series, balancing romance and mystery perfectly so that we get just enough of each to keep our nerves on edge and our emotions in flux. Many times with murder mysteries there is a blatantly obvious suspect from the beginning, a glaring red herring that we know cannot possibly be the true culprit just from the sheer number of signs that point to them. Our focus then shifts to the person least suspicious, and the game of whodunit becomes less of a challenge. With Impostor, Ms. Winnacker gives us a decent sized pool of possible killers, but instead of any one of them standing out as a red herring or a sleeper suspect, everyone on Tessa’s list is a genuine possibility, and while the identity of the killer at the end is not a jaw-dropping surprise, our keen detective’s eye does spend majority of the story bouncing around from one potential threat to the next.

Tessa possess a very unique and dangerous gift in the context of politics, terrorism and espionage, able to shift her appearance to take on that of anyone with whom she’s physically come in contact. She’s both strong and vulnerable, her training with the FEA preparing her in self-defense, crime scene investigation and various other related areas for a future agent, but her job impersonating Madison is her very first in the field, and we get a front row seat to see just how very different training is from a real mission. Her gift, as she finds out, is not as flawless and reliable as everyone thinks it is, and her time with Madison’s loving family is a stark and painful reminder of the absence of her own family, causing our hearts to hurt for her as the type of life she wants most is handed to her on a silver platter of deceit.

The romance with Alec is a highlight, no insta-love or threat of a romantic third party in sight, just the relationship between two people who have been friends for years but who clearly want to be so much more. Their every interaction is ripe with tension, a delicious sense of anticipation thrumming between them whenever they come in contact, but Alec remains hesitant and repeatedly tries to deny any attraction, citing the difference in their ages as well as the fact that he has a girlfriend who works with both of them at the FEA. While at first the idea that Alec could play with Tessa’s heart when he’s with someone else puts us off, it’s made very clear to us that there is something more to his relationship with Kate than meets the eye, the suddenness of their couple status despite his obvious feelings for Tessa raising many a red flag we can’t wait to see explored in future books.

Overall, Impostor is a book that gives us a complete story in this first installment, but the revelations surrounding Madison’s killer provide this series with legs to stand on, a much larger enemy sliding into place and a new group of FEA recruits that have the potential to wreak havoc on the suddenly fragile bond between Alec and Tessa entering the picture. Those who might be looking for thorough explanations for Tessa and the other Variants' gifts will not find them in this book, their differences from the rest of humanity simply are what they are, but the story and characters are engaging enough to distract from any pressing questions, and it's simply a delight to read on a variety of levels.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Impostor:

B&N • Indiebound • Amazon

Check out my interview with Susanne! 

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SUSANNE WINNACKER

Susanne Winnacker studied law before she became a full-time writer. She lives with her husband, a dog that looks like a sheep and three bunnies that have destroyed every piece of furniture she's ever owned in Germany. She loves coffee (in every shape and form), traveling and animals. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her in the kitchen, experimenting with new vegan dishes.

She blogs for The League of Extraordinary Writers.

 

Website  • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads 

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 GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Razorbill, I have one hardcover copy of Impostor to give away on the blog today! WOO HOO! I hope everyone loves this book as much as I did. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US residents only, good luck everyone!

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