2012 #YASSH Question 59

Looking for this, hunters? I have today's trivia questions from Fiction Fervor's 2012 YA Story Scavenger Hunt here for you. 2012YASSH challenges you with your knowledge of young adult books published this year, and if you enter, you might win a prize! Check out it here for more info. And be sure to read the rules!

Without further ado, today's questions come from A Million Suns by Beth Revis.

Easy: What is Elder's favorite swear word?
Medium: Where did Harley live before he lived in the Hospital?
Hard: When Elder was 4 or 5, who made a cake for him before he left and what was written across its top?

Enter your answers in the form below!

In my mailbox #2

So, I tried to make this a video IMM post, but things like dogs and tripping over my tongue just kept getting in the way.  Plus, I still have bed-head, so lets just stick with typed words and photographs for this week, shall we?  Thanks.

Ok, so, first things first, Friday was awesome.  I got not one, but two packages in the mail!  The first was from Carolina Valdez Miller (you can follow her blog, Carol-in-print, or on twitter @cvaldezmiller).  I entered to win an ARC (advanced readers copy) of The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker (you can follow these sassy sisters on twitter, too, @LandLRoecker).  The ARC is great, I started reading it yesterday, and the best part---its signed!  Carolina was also nice enough to send an Across the Universe bookmark, which is great, as I tend to lose bookmarks!

 

The second package I received was from Penguin Publishing Group.  Last month, I had a post celebrating the launch of Across the Universe by Beth Revis.  Below you can see what they sent me:

 These buttons are the celebrate the Breathless Reads tour (click here for more info) that the authors are on.  From left to right, the buttons celebrate Sapphique by Catherine Fisher, Matched by Allie Condrie, Nightshade by Andrea Cremer, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, and The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller.  Head over to the website, you can read the first few chapters of each book and download a cool song (all for free!).
Also in that package was this!

  That's right.  My very own personalized, signed copy of Across the Universe.  Pretty sure I screamed like a 13 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert (that's right, I went there).

I would just like to say, "Thank you", to Carolina, Lisa and Laura Roecker, Penguin Publishing Group and Beth Revis.  I am overwhelmed.

IMM is a weekly MME hosted by The Story Siren.  

When I go "Across the Universe"

Honestly, I finished the New York Times bestseller (!) Across the Universe by Beth Revis a couple days ago.  I don't know why I haven't sat down to write a review, maybe because other stuff was going on, but I think its because I just couldn't find the right words to describe how I felt about ATU. 

First, the synopsis, from Barnes and Noble:
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.
Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.
Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.
Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

I guess I should preface this review by saying, science fiction usually isn't my "thang".  However, after reading everyone absolutely rave about this book on twitter and other blogs, I figured, why not?  Lets give it a shot!  I am so glad I did.

Across the Universe is so much more than a science fiction book.  Its also a murder mystery.  Its a romance.  Its young adult.  Its all these wonderful elements wrapped up in this great story.

Like I said, sci fi isn't my preferred reading choice, so I kind of went into this book with that ideal in my head ("Ok, its set on a space ship.  It must be like Star Trek or something like that").  But, the more I read, the more the characters and the story unfolded, I realized that it wasn't just some Trek-y thing.  I LOVED the twist at the end with Elder and Amy (I won't say more, but just know its there!).  I got teary at some parts (you twisted my arm, a favorite character died).  And it really made me think about what I would do, how I would react if I were trapped on a space ship, or anyplace really, without those I loved and with no hope of ever seeing them again.

I read on twitter (see below for author Beth Revis' twitter handle) that ATU is actually going to be a trilogy.  One word:  Awesome.  I will definitely be picking up those books.

Do I think you should read this book?  Yes, but only if you're over about 14.  I think the content and just the different themes might be a little hard for younger kiddos (grades 5-8ish) to really fully appreciate. 

You can follow author Beth Revis on twitter, @BethRevis.  Her tweets are hilarious, and she's tweeted me back (insert fan-girl squeal!)  She's currently on tour with a bunch of other authors promoting their books (The Breathless Reads Tour).  Sadly, the closest she's coming to VA is NC.  But, if you google it, I'm sure you can find more information.