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So You Want to Read YA? Guest Post from Brandy Colbert (author of the forthcoming Pointe)

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This week’s So You Want to Read YA? post comes to us from author Brandy Colbert.

Brandy Colbert grew up in the Missouri Ozarks, holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, and has worked as an editor for several national magazines. She lives and writes in Los Angeles. Her first novel, Pointe, is forthcoming from G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers/Penguin in April 2014. You can find her at brandycolbert.wordpress.com or hanging out on Twitter @brandycolbert.

I love recommending books to people, whether they’re avid readers or haven’t picked up a novel in months. And even better when I’m introducing someone to YA. Young adult novels have changed a lot since I was a teenager, and for the better. They’re much more prevalent, and YA covers such a wide range of topics that there’s truly something out there for everyone. Yup. Even for the snobbiest of book snobs. My list of favorite YA novels is constantly growing, but here are some of my top picks to get you started:

Nothing Like You by Lauren Strasnick is a book I think about often. The protagonist, Holly, starts out making incredibly poor choices from the first page, and yet I found her a multi-layered, sympathetic character from beginning to end. Strasnick’s writing is quietly edgy, and she’s a master of providing depth and emotion in her lovely, oh-so-spare prose.

I was irrationally nervous about This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers before I’d even picked it up. I’m a huge fan of Summers’ books, but zombies? No. And then this book made me care. The situation is bleak: The zombie apocalypse has arrived and we’re thrown into the story of six teens trapped in their high school while the undead rage and tear apart their town. But this is one of the most remarkable character studies I’ve ever read—which made me completely forget I wasn’t interested in zombies after the first chapter.

Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott is majorly tough to get through, despite the fact that it’s less than 200 pages. Scott went there. She wrote a novel from the perspective of an abducted child that leaves no questions about the horrors of such a life. It’s stark and disturbing and the kind of book that will make you set it down mid-scene to get a grip. Alice’s story is impossible to shake, but I think that’s what is so brilliant about this book. Through Alice, Scott deftly reminds us to watch, to care, to never look away from a situation that doesn’t seem right just because it’s easier to ignore.

In Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Caitlin’s pain is palpable as she tries to make sense of why her best friend committed suicide. But this book is also hopeful and rewarding, as we see Caitlin heal and learn to trust again. This is a quiet novel that deeply explores grief, love, and forgiveness with beautifully nuanced writing.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson uses lyrical, unconventional prose to tell a story that’s unlike any other book I’ve read about anorexia. What I find most engaging is that Anderson truly digs into Lia’s soul, and we’re drawn into her mental illness with no reprieve—which is exactly the type of terrifying, uncomfortable, and heartbreaking experience I love as a reader.

I haven’t stopped talking about Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King since I put it down two years ago. It’s everything I look for in a story: Vera has a fantastic voice, and her world is serious and funny and painful and weird (there’s a talking pagoda—which somehow works?). This book is real and raw and uncomfortable and so very special.

***




Brandy Colbert’s POINTE will be available in April 2014. 

When they say don’t read the comments . . .

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. . . you should totally listen and not read the comments.

Or maybe you need to be a bit of a less sensitive person than I am in order to do so and not walk away feeling a little bit beat up.

I thought the comments over at Book Riot were pretty great. Even though the person causing a bit of a ruckus there was putting on a show, it didn’t necessarily turn personal for a couple of days. That’s when the community manager stepped in and put a stop to it (and despite what another commenter noted there, the good Dr. did lay out some hate speech, directed at a number of groups. The action for him to be banned and those comments to be deleted were absolutely the right steps to take).

But then the piece went up at The Huffington Post and the comments there were quite a bit different. Many were personal — I don’t suggest clicking through because it’s not as interesting or enlightening as those over at Book Riot. There were comments suggesting that YA fiction is crap, that librarians don’t know how to do anything but shelve books, and other gems that you can check off your bingo card.

And man, did they hurt.

I don’t get worked up about blog posts and people disagreeing with what I have to say. Healthy debate is just that: healthy debate. Attacks that feel more personal, though. They’re different.

Nothing was that bad. Nothing was that unexpected.

But when you write for the internet regularly and regularly write for a space that is decidedly welcoming, friendly, and intelligent — even in the midst of healthy debate — you can forget other corners of the internet exist.

I’ve mentioned it once or twice or regularly, but it bears repeating: blogging and sharing any of your work on the web is not easy. It might seem like it is, but it’s not. And it’s certainly not something I take lightly. This particular post is one I’ve been working variations of for three weeks or so, and getting it just right meant a hell of a lot to me. So knowing it was well-received at Book Riot, then picked up by the Huffington Post, was a huge honor (it was also tweeted out by NPR Books and shared over at The Dish). Like. I had a piece of my writing run at the Huffington Post. It was on their main page. It was the lead piece in their Books section. 

It’s really damn cool.

It’s also really damn scary because your words are all that are standing. It is a real feeling of being alone and in the spot light (remember when you blog you don’t have editors or publishers or an agent or anyone, really, to back you up or remind you you’re not crazy). So it really is you there and that’s it. Even being as proud and honored and excited as I was, though, those damn comments sucked, even though they were the minority. It’s part of our psyche, attaching to the negative much more than attaching to the positive things (and despite what one commenter said, my background includes adolescent developmental psychology).

I’m not sure what I’m going with here, if I’m going anywhere. Maybe it’s this: thanks for being the awesome, kind, supportive readers and community that you are. Every person who shared my piece and offered me a nice word — be it publicly or privately — I so appreciated it.

Yes, I cried this weekend. Then I watched this awesome video of Lindy West talking about her own work on the internet and how she spent a lot of time crying over comments, too (it was sent to me by a friend).

And then I felt less bad.  Also felt less alone or weirdly fixated on a few small nasty things.

I’ll never stop writing what I know needs to be said. And I’ll never stop sharing those things other people write that need to be said, too. It might take a little while to get full steam again, but I’ll find that space again.

This morning, edits for my book popped up in my inbox, and I couldn’t help smiling a little bit. The people who thought I was promoting rape or child porn or pushing things into the hands of fragile teen minds who should be protected by people like me, rather than protected from them — they’re going to hate this entire book. I’ve got a whole chapter about talking with teens about rape, a whole chapter about talking with teens about bullying, as well as bits about the importance of talking about these things openly and honestly with teenagers. And you know? That hate almost feels a little more empowering. 

Quick roundup of worthwhile reads

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First, my post from Book Riot this week is up at the Huffington Post now, too. 

If you didn’t go over to the original post at Book Riot, I suggest doing so and spending some time in the comments. One of the original book banners I talked about in the piece has been making his case over and over again. And this morning, he suggests he needs to in order to save the children from people like myself (using my name as an example of who parents need to protect their kids from — it is weird, strange, bizarre or any other similar-word to see your name being connected to an idea like that). 

But despite the show he’s caused and still causing there, the ardent and impassioned responses from other people in the comments are great. 

My favorite, though, is this. From a 13-year-old:

Dear Dr. Swier, I read the book ‘Speak’ at age 10…possibly 11, I can’t really remember now. I’m thirteen now and have read countless books with much longer and detailed sex scenes than the 7 or 8 lines of “he hurts me he hurts me he zips up his jeans” in Speak. I like to think I make responsible decisions in my reading material as well as my (let’s be honest here, nonexistent) sex life. My reading material isn’t monitored by my parents or librarians; to be honest, most adults I know are pretty stoked that I read whatever I can get my hands on and think critically about each book.
Reading books with sex scenes has never felt “scandalous” to me, or “turned me on” at all. (“By golly, that was some good porn. Man, that girl got raped by someone she didn’t know and lived her life in a depressed haze for the next year, too paralyzed to tell anyone what had happened! I think I’ll go round up some of my teenage buddies now and see who’ll have sex with me!”) Some teenagers have sex sometimes. It’s a fact. We know it, I know it, and you know it. Sometimes it’s an issue, yes; I would like to argue that sometime’s it’s a non-issue as well, but that’s beside the point. Ignoring the fact of teenage sexuality doesn’t cause it to cease to exist. Instead, “squeaky-clean” YA lit and abstinence-only sex ed programs just create a bubble of ignorance around young adults. Trying to blind them to a true fact is ineffective; in fact, once they’re eventually (and inevitably) introduced to sex, undereducation may be their downfall as they are more prone to partake in risky behaviors without knowing the consequences. LIKE RAPE.
Dear Dr.Swier, it’s rather blatantly obvious that you haven’t actually READ “Speak”. The entire book is told through a fog of depression in the aftermath of the protagonist’s rape at a party. It’s clear that the event was utterly traumatic and life-altering and depression-inducing and AWFUL and just bad, bad, bad. If anything, I consider it an eye-opener to much of the YA population on the aftereffects of rape. I’ll say this for teenagers: there’s some stupid among us who don’t think about their actions, and those are the type of people who can/will mature into sexual predators. I really don’t think Ms. Anderson wrote Speak as a “don’t do this kids” book, but LET’S GIVE SPEAK A CHANCE TO KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THE AFOREMENTIONED DUNDERHEADS, allright?
And in response to your “rape in the Bible” comment further down this thread: I’ve read the Holy Christian Bible cover-to-cover as well. I have to say it’s more graphic than anything in Speak. THE “SEX SCENE” IN SPEAK READS THUSLY:
“No.” No I did not like this. I was on the ground and he was on top of me. My lips mumble something about leaving, about a friend who needs me, about my parents worrying. I can hear myself — I’m mumbling like a deranged drunk. His lips lock on mine and I can’t say anything. I twist my head away. He is so heavy. There is a boulder on me. I open my mouth to breath, to scream, and his hand covers it. In my head, my voice is clear as a bell: “NO I DON’T WANT TO!” But I can’t spit it out. I’m trying to remember how we got on the ground and where the moon went and wham! shirt up, shorts down, and the ground smells wet and dark and NO! — I’m not really here, I’m definitely back at Rachel’s crimping my hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean and he hurts me hurts me hurts me and gets up
and zips his jeans
and smiles.
———
I don’t know how you can call that graphic. It doesn’t use the word “penis” or “vagina” (ooh, scary, I know)–nor does it even use the word “sex”! (Or the dreaded f-bomb.) It’s to the point and intelligible without being overly descriptive or salacious. (Actually, it’s not salacious in the SLIGHTEST. Rape isn’t sexy! Rape isn’t a turn-on! Reading about rape doesn’t make me want to go rape/get raped/have sex!) By your arguments (anything ABOUT rape is PROMOTING rape) this entire comment has promoted rape, which is preposterous. In case you’re getting the wrong message here, let me disclose this: Rape is when someone partakes in sexual acts with someone else without that person’s consent. (That was about rape.) Rape is awful and shouldn’t happen, ever. (Also about rape. Promoting rape..?)

If that doesn’t give you shivers, I don’t know what will. What a well-spoken, incredibly-reasoned 13-year-old. If nothing else, that is a reminder why I do what it is I do and why I love doing it. 
I wanted to share a few other things, too. 

  • Tanita Davis wrote a wonderful post yesterday about Speaking and Not Speaking and how to tell big stories and little stories, if there’s such a thing as one or the other. 
This has been a strange week. But if I can make one suggested take away, aside from reading these posts and the comments and yes, sharing my article, it’s this: get these books into the hands of those readers who need them. If you haven’t read Speak or you haven’t read any of the other books listed in my post or in the post I’ve linked above about discussing topics like rape, please do. 

A Trio of Adult Romance Reviews

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Here at STACKED, we mostly stick to YA. But as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I enjoy reading adult romances, though I hadn’t done so in quite some time. After finding all of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton books for sale at my local library, I impulse-bought them (not hard to do when they’re only 25 cents each) and then spent the next several days reading almost every single one.

Then, naturally, I did some reading online and picked up a few other romances by authors I hadn’t read before (all historical Regency-era). Reading these books has broken me out of a reading rut like magic; the three below are some of those I’ve enjoyed most.

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
You guys. This book. This may be the perfect romance novel. It features Francesca Bridgerton, the sixth Bridgerton sibling, and she’s actually already married at the beginning of the book. Her husband is John Stirling, the Earl of Kilmartin, and they love each other very much. And then he dies, after a mere two years of marriage. John’s cousin, Michael, is now the Earl, and he’s wracked with all sorts of uncomfortable emotions. He’s loved Francesca all along, you see, but he also loved his cousin, whom he regarded as more of a brother.

You know what’s going to eventually happen, but seeing the two leads work their way through their grief for a man they both loved very much is gratifying and incredibly moving. Francesca’s attraction and eventual love for Michael develops gradually and believably. I loved reading a book where the hero loved the heroine from afar for years, rather than the opposite, which seems to happen much more frequently. All of Julia Quinn’s trademarks are here: funny repartee between the two leads, crackling wit from ancillary characters, families who love and support each other and embrace their differences.

Personal copy

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
I don’t think there’s any author I like as much as Julia Quinn when it comes to romances, but Sarah MacLean is a good alternative. Lady Calpurnia Hartwell is 28 and has given up on finding a husband. Her younger sister (by 10 years) has just become engaged, and while listening in on her sister’s conversation with her new fiance, Callie learns that she’s perceived as passive by most of society. She’s always made sure to keep her reputation spotless, but now that she’s sure she won’t ever marry, she doesn’t see much point. So she makes herself a list. Nine things – nine non-passive things – she’ll do to have a little fun and start living, the way she’s been afraid to for a decade. Things like smoking a cheroot, and gambling at a men’s club, and drinking whiskey at a bar. And, of course, being kissed. That tops her list, and she knows just who she wants to help her cross that particular item off.

Gabriel St. John is the Marquess of Ralston, and Callie has loved him afar for ten years, ever since her first season when he spoke to her briefly and made her feel better about her horrid dress, which made her look ridiculous. He had forgotten the conversation long ago, but Callie never did. And when Callie shows up at his home, daring to make him the person who bestows upon her that first kiss…well, you know where this is heading.

Honestly, I was hoping that Callie would be a bit more proactive when it came to her list. She resolves to do something rather extraordinary, and then when it comes down to it, she holds back. It’s understandable, but I wanted to see her fully commit to at least one item without prodding from Ralston. Ralston remains a bit of an enigma throughout the book, as well, and there’s a bit at the end (that’s a bit of spoiler) that was quite off-putting and dropped this to a 3-star read for me (plus some questionable remarks about Ralston’s absent, now-deceased, mother). All that aside, this was a thoroughly engaging story with an interesting subplot featuring Ralston’s half-sister. I liked seeing Callie come into her own, and her pursuit of the items on her list created wonderful comedic moments.

Borrowed from the library

What the Duke Desires by Sabrina Jeffries
Lisette Bonnaud is the illegitimate daughter of a viscount and his French mistress. When her father died without ever marrying her mother, her half-brother, the legitimate son, cut her and her brother Tristan off completely. Luckily for Lisette and Tristan, their other half-brother, the younger legitimate son named Dom, took them in so they could survive, to his detriment; as a result, his older brother cut him off too. They make money to survive by running a private investigation agency, and Lisette longs to take a more active role in it.

Maximilian Cale is the Duke of Lyons, and he inherited the title after his older brother Peter was kidnapped and eventually declared dead. But then he receives a note from Tristan Bonnaud, claiming he has proof that Peter is still alive. Tristan misses the arranged meeting with Max, and Max is so put out by it that he tracks down the Bonnaud residence in England, where he meets Lisette. Long story short, they team up as a faux married couple and travel to France to investigate Tristan’s disappearance. Lisette hopes to prove to Max that Tristan is not a con man, and Max hopes to figure out what happened to Peter once and for all – or make Tristan pay for the lie.

I rather like romances that include a mystery, and this is a fun one. It gets a bit convoluted at the end, but it’s never uninteresting. What’s really important is the chemistry between the two leads, which is great. I love good repartee, and they have it. Lisette is the most assertive of the three heroines I discuss in this post. She has almost no qualms about haring off to France with Max in tow, and her actions are motivated by love of family. She knows what she wants and she knows she’s smart enough to get it. Max is…not my favorite hero. Alas. Nothing beats a Bridgerton book.

Review copy received from publisher