Monday, January 30, 2012

Author Interview with Amanda Grace

How different is it writing more serious novels like But I Love Him and In Too Deep in comparison to your lighter fare under the name Mandy Hubbard, like You Wish? Do you write one type of novel followed by the other, or do you get into a mood and write several more serious books in a row?

I usually have to switch back and forth to accommodate deadlines. I wrote the initial draft of BUT I LOVE HIM just a couple of weeks before PRADA & PREJUDICE sold, and then I had to dive back into that. I don’t have much trouble alternating on two extremes, but when they’re a bit closer (RIPPLE is also serious) it can be harder. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m using the wrong character names and have to do a find and replace.

Most often, authors tackle the subject of rape from the perspective of a survivor in a way that demonizes the rapist, what made you want to take on this issue in such a unique way? 

I’m really fascinated by character who choose to lie, for one reason or another. HARMLESS by Dana Reinhardt is a book like that. Two girls lie about what they were doing one night to avoid getting caught for something fairly minor—but their lie spirals. I know books like this one can be frustrating for the reader—telling the truth is such an obvious choice, and right for moral reasons. It’s fun to explore a character who makes the wrong choices.

Have you ever experienced a rumour spiraling out of control?

Hmm. Certainly not to this extent. I was misunderstood, in general, in high school. I was shy and awkward but desperately wanted others to think I was effortlessly cool, and the result was not talking to a lot of people but pretending I didn’t care, and that made people actually think I was a snob, at times. It’s so easy to be misunderstood in high school, when we don’t have the life experience to see beyond the surface.

Getting Caught, a novel that you co-wrote with Cyn Balog, was recently published in ebook only format. What made you go this route as a traditionally published author? Can we expect anymore e-book releases from either Amanda Grace or Mandy Hubbard in the future?

Getting Caught was such an insanely fun project for me to write, and Cyn and I had a blast working together! It’s contemporary, fun, and centered around friendship, which is a hard sell in this market. We decided to explore the ebook-only idea because I think that’s just the best platform for a book that might be considered “too quiet” to break out in traditional publishing.

What are you reading and writing habits like?

If I’m not on deadline, I tend to write about an hour a day, alternating between fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, my fingers can barely keep up with what’s spewing out, and sort of tinkering and re-reading things. I definitely discover the story as I go, even when it is plotted out in advance. Twists and turns present themselves as I write. For reading, I tend to fill most of my reading time with full manuscripts. I tend to feel guilty knowing writers are oh-so-patiently waiting for my response, and then pulling open a published book and reading that instead. I went from reading about 75 books a year to more like 25 when I became an agent.

What are some of your favourite books you've read so far in late 2011/early 2012?

Right now I am reading A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL by Suzanne Young and loving it. I’m really excited to dive into BITTERSWEET By Sarah Ockler next. Earlier this year, I fell in love with REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly. And I had the pleasure of reading another e-pubbed amazon book, CROSS MY HEART by Katie Klein, and it’s freaking amazing.

Amanda Grace is a pen name for Young Adult author Mandy Hubbard (PRADA AND PREJUDICE, YOU WISH). She lives near Seattle, Washington, with her husband and young daughter. She is also a literary agent for D4EO Literary Agency.

Thanks so much to Amanda/Mandy for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her novels, including In Too Deep, stop by her website. Click here to read my review of Ripple. Click here to check out the other stops on this tour.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Author Interview with emily m. danforth

On your website you describe The Miseducation of Cameron Post as being about, among many things, "A girl named Jane Fonda and the hollowed compartment in her prosthetic leg." is there anyway you can elaborate on this without spoilers? If not, what else makes the novel so unexpected?

Well, that “synopsis” on my website is a bit cheeky, I suppose, and also maybe a little misleading, out of context, because it’s really built around Flannery O’Connor’s belief (one that I very much share) that “a story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to do so…a statement would be inadequate; so when anyone asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him to read the story.” I know that’s not a particularly satisfying answer, but I think it’s true: if I could have gotten at everything I wanted to get at in The Miseducation of Cameron Post with just a statement or a synopsis then I wouldn’t have needed to write a novel, right? So, you know, keeping all of that in mind: Jane Fonda is a character who appears in the second half (really, third act) of the novel. And no, she’s not the Jane Fonda—as in famous film actress, activist, fitness guru, and daughter of Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda—but certainly the Jane in my novel recognizes that her name, which, in most ways, is quite plain (plain-Jane), has this whole strange celebrity connection.

Jane is one of Cameron’s fellow “disciples” at God’s Promise, which is an evangelical boarding school and conversion therapy center Cameron’s Aunt Ruth sends her to when she finds out that Cam has been romantically involved with a girl from their church. (The novel goes into great detail about just what religiously informed conversion therapy is, but for our purposes here I’ll just say that it’s intended to fix the “sexually broken” (ie: anyone not exhibiting traditionally accepted gender and sexual identity traits). As you might imagine, a place like this has many strict rules and regulations and so its “disciples” (the teenagers sent there, some of them against their wills) have many secrets amongst them. In fact, the novel, as a whole, is very much about secrets and how the process of sharing those secrets (or not), and just how and to whom one shares one’s secrets, comes to shape the characters profiled within, especially Cameron.

As you mention above, Jane Fonda has a prosthetic leg and she does have a compartment she’s built within it to hide things, and some of those things are very much forbidden at God’s Promise. But this kind of hiding is also an echo of an earlier series of moments in the novel with Cameron, who before being sent to God’s Promise often stole small things and glued them to the inside of a huge Victorian dollhouse she keeps in her bedroom. Cameron’s an orphan, so the dollhouse, an elaborate construction built for her by her father, is imbued with all kinds of meaning.

Anyway, back to Jane: she’s a veteran of God’s Promise, she’s been around, is a little older than Cameron, and she’s absolutely unafraid to be exactly who she is, which is something Cameron isn’t yet sure how to do (partly, maybe mostly, because she’s just not yet sure just who she is). Jane is strange and complicated and, I hope, sometimes funny, and she plays a vital role in Cameron’s development, and her “big decision” at the end of the novel. It’s important for Cameron to realize that her own “sad story” is just one of many sad stories, and maybe not even all that unusual or tragic when she compares it to those of her fellow disciples.

You were born and raised in Miles City, Montana, the same place that Cameron ends up after her parents die, did you draw a lot of inspiration from your own life in telling this story?

Cameron is actually from Miles City, too; she’s also born and raised there in the novel. (It’s her Aunt Ruth who moves there to be with her (from Florida) after her parents’ die). Unquestionably my own childhood and adolescence in eastern Montana informed the sense of place in the novel: it’s cowboy country, big sky country (as the state tourism board would have it, though really, the sky is huge out there, just enormous), and lots of the folks who live there are very connected to the land, if not by profession then by passion or necessity.

There are less than a million people in the entire state, but it’s also the fourth largest state in the country, so even if you’ve never been there (and I recommend visiting—go to Glacier National Park, you won’t regret it) you can probably imagine the vastness of the land, the immense expanse of the prairie, and the way all of that “big sky” informs your daily life as a Montanan, even if you live in town, as Cam does. Also, the novel explores the often provincial social customs of a small western ranch town—the fairs, the festivals, the dances and parades—and what it’s like to “participate” in all of those events when you feel like an outsider, which Cam often does, both because she’s an orphan and because she’s a girl who “likes girls.”

Miles City is "best known for its Bucking Horse Sale"; what is emily m. danforth best known for?

 Hmmm. Well, I suppose I’d like to be best known for my fiction. But, at this point, among close friends and family, anyway, I’m probably best known for my uncanny ability to impersonate a squirrel eating a cracker and my prowess at the board game Clue®. I’m tough. So long as I get to be Mr. Green, anyway: I’m nearly unbeatable.

What are five things the reader should know about Cameron? 

1. She’s brave if not always entirely sure of how to direct that bravery.
2. She has a thing for dollhouse-dioramas (read the book to learn more about that).
3. She’s seen a lot of movies, many of them a whole bunch of times. You might even call her a film-buff, though she’d probably laugh at that.
4. She’s curious about the world and her place in it.
5. She’s ultimately a real romantic, even if she often gets sort of awkward and sarcastic to cover that up.

Lastly, because I have to ask, as a professor of literature, why does your name always seem to appear in complete lowercase? 

Honestly: because I like the way it looks. It’s a visual thing. It has absolutely nothing to do with my academic position. I love the lowercase e + lowercase m combo, those curves like sloping hills. That’s all. It’s not an e. e. cummings tribute (though cummings is great) or a political statement. I like the way it looks and have been writing it lowercase since junior high (maybe before that, even).

emily was born and raised in Miles City, Montana, a town best known for its Bucking Horse Sale-which was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the most intoxicated people, per capita, of any US event. She obsessively collects erasers, large-letter linen postcards from the 1940s, snow-globes, and neologisms. (She has an iced-coffee addiction, too.)

Thanks so much to Emily for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her debut novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, stop by her website. Click here to check out the other stops on this tour

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sequels I'm Lusting Over

In which I make up my own theme and only list nine titles
2012 is officially the year of the sequel. These are a couple I'm excited about, one of which I've already read, Hallowed, and another I'm in the progress of reading, Pandemonium, but that doesn't make them any less exciting as sequels.
  1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
  2. Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
  3. The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
  4. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
  5. The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
  6. A Million Suns by Beth Revis
  7. Fever by Lauren DeStefano
  8. Rebel Heart by Moira Young
  9. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins (It counts, right?) Postponed, so this will be on my 2013 list instead :)
And yup, they are all YA because YA seems to love its sequels in a way that the majority of the adult fiction I read (pretty much contemporary) doesn't. There's also a ton of interesting sequels coming out for books I haven't read the earlier novels for, so they've missed out on this list. Honestly, I think one of my goals this year should be to start fewer series! I hate having to wait. Or maybe read some more series that are already complete, that was the nice thing about delving into Westerfeld last year, and I plan to read at least one more series by him this year. There are also a few series I started this year that I'm not sure I will continue, which feels weird or unfinished but if I didn't really love the first book I figure I should cut my losses, especially considering middle books are notorious for their cliffhanger endings.

How do you feel about series? Any sequels you're absurdly excited for this year?

    The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen

    The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen

    Release Date
    : September 15th, 2011
    Pages: 384
    Format: ARC
    Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
    Source: TLC Book Tours
    Buy It: Book Depository
    When John and Ricky's son dies just 57 hours after he is born they try to return to their lives, but their marriage and their family have never been quite as intact as they pretended and soon a terrible secret emerges with implications that reach far into their past and threaten their future.
    If the title of this novel, The Grief of Others, doesn't state it clearly enough- this is not a happy book. What it is instead is an emotional, deep, and moving tale of tragedy, loss, and light struggling to emerge from darkness.

    From the beginning, I found myself entranced by Cohen's story, the complex emotional intricacies it dissects and develops. But the problem was that the story seemed to end far before the novel did. After about a third, possibly half, way into the book, the magic faded. There was a lot of time spent on a flashback to an event, a summer at the beach, that I felt I was already familiar with from the way it had been referenced previously, and having to spend all this time reading about it didn't add anything new to the story and lost my attention from The Grief of Others in a way that it never recovered from.

    As beautiful, rich but with a sharp edge, as Cohen's writing is, there were times when I found it didn't fit quite right for the story. For example, sometimes the language was a bit too advance for the characters, like when in the context of Biscuit thinking of somebody's voice it is described as "a water voice, trickling and eddying and cool." when I wasn't convinced the ten year girl would really know (and use in normal thought) the word eddying. Or other times when obscure brands are mentioned, cookies I had never heard of or supplies to do with set design, language that doesn't add anything to the story but rather detracts by jarring the reader out of the novel with their confusion.

    Overall, I was enchanted by Cohen's writing but found the storytelling itself lacking at times. In the end I find myself conflicted over The Grief of Others, because as difficult as it was to finish it started with a beautiful flourish. Although this is a book I'm unlikely to recommend, it has still left me admiring Cohen's way with words and I am potentially willing to try another book by her in the future.

    Friday, January 13, 2012

    Review Elsewhere: A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

    "Sheehan’s writing is lyrical and strong, the symbolism is beautiful, and the character struggles are raw and emotional. Her teenage voice felt genuine, and many of the issues Rose faced could be applied to contemporary times as well. "

    2012 Reading Goals

    I'm kinda late with this but I wasn't really reading when 2011 ended. Now that I am again I figure it's a good time to think about what I want to read this upcoming year.
    • Read at least 5 books of poetry (The Chameleon Couch by Yusef Komunyakaa; Coming to That by Dorothea Tanning; The Smooth Yarrow by Susan Glickman; )
    • Read at least 5 collections of short stories (Radio Belly by Buffy Cram; )
    • Read at least 2 plays
    • Read at least 5 novels in verse (I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder; Fallout by Ellen Hopkins; October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman; Collateral by Ellen Hopkins; )
    • Read at least 5 non-fiction books (The Untamed Garden by Sonia Day; The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper; Invincible Microbe by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank; The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall; The Art of the Epigraph compiled and edited by Rosemary Ahern)
    • Read at least 5 classics ( )
    • Read at least 5 memoirs (Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill; Blue Nights by Joan Didion; The Guardians by Sarah Manguso;  )
    Some specifics: 
    • Read a book by Laurie Halse Anderson
    • Read a book by Sarah Addison Allen
    • Read a book by Lauren Oliver (Pandemonium; Before I Fall; The Spindlers)
    • Read Matched by Ally Condie 
    • Read a book by Kelley Armstrong (The Calling)
    • Read a book by John Green
    • Read The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
    • Read Waking Storms by Sarah Porter
    • Read a series by Scott Westerfeld (Peeps; The Last Days)
    • Read a book by Maile Meloy (The Apothecary)
    • Read a book by Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss; Lola and the Boy Next Door)
    • Read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
    • Read a book by Kirsten Hubbard (Like Mandarin; Wanderlove)
    • Read The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
    • Read a book by Haruki Murakami
    • Read a book by Donna Freitas
    • Read a book by Amy Reed
    • Read a book by Laura Kasischke
    • Read a book by Sarah Dessen 
    • Read a book by Courtney Summers (Cracked Up To Be; Some Girls Are; This Is Not A Test)
    • Read a book by Sarah Ockler (Twenty Boy Summer)
    • Read a book by José Saramego
    Well there they are. I don't plan to check back to this list often but I figure it can't hurt to have some inspiration if I feel like I can't find anything to read. Do you have any 2012 reading goals? Or anything I absolutely must add to my list?

    Sunday, January 01, 2012

    2011 Reads

    January

    1. The Metropolis Case- Matthew Gallaway (January 4 2011) + Author Interview
    2. The Memory Palace- Mira Bartok (January 6 2011)
    3. The Lotus Eaters- Tatjana Soli (January 8 2011) + Author Guest Post
    4. The Mother Who Stayed- Laura Furman (January 9 2011)
    5. XVI- Julia Karr (January 10 2011)
    6. Henry's Demons- Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn (January 12 2011)
    7. The Girl in The Green Raincoat- Laura Lippman (January 12 2011)
    8. Crazy Beautiful- Lauren Bartaz-Logsted (January 13 2011)
    9. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand- Helen Simonson (January 13 2011)
    10. Twelve- Nick McDonell (January 14 2011)
    11. An Exclusive Love- Johanna Adorjan (January 15 2011)
    12. Angry Young Man- Chris Lynch (January 15 2011)
    13. Cryer's Cross- Lisa McMann (January 16 2011)
    14. The Woman in White- Wilkie Collins (January 17 2011)
    15. Once Dead, Twice Shy- Kim Harrison (January 18 2011) Audiobook
    16. Super Sad True Love Story- Gary Shteyngart (January 19 2011)
    17. Cloaked- Alex Flinn (January 19 2011)
    18. Under the Mercy Trees- Heather Newton (January 20 2011) + Author Interview
    19. Darkness Becomes Her- Kelly Keaton (January 21 2011)
    20. Small Wars- Sadie Jones (January 23 2011)
    21. Bride of New France- Suzanne Desrochers (January 24 2011) 
    22. Early to Death, Early to Rise- Kim Harrison (January 26 2011) Audiobook
    23. History of a Suicide: My Sister's Unfinished Life- Jill Bialosky (January 26 2011)
    24. Wench- Dolen Perkins-Valdez (January 27 2011) 
    25. Lonely: Learning to Live with Solitude- Emily White (January 29 2011) + Author Guest Post
    26. Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join The War- Deb Olin Unferth (January 30 2011)
    February
    1. So Much Pretty- Cara Hoffman (February 1 2011)
    2. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running- Haruki Murakami (February 2 2011) Audiobook
    3. Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide- Linda Gray Sexton (February 2 2011) + Author Guest Post
    4. Beatrice & Virgil- Yann Martel (February 3 2011) 
    5. The Lover's Dictionary- David Levithan (February 3 2011) 
    6. The Tempest- William Shakespeare (February 4 2011) 
    7. Shadow Tag- Louise Erdrich (February 5 2011) 
    8. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love- Raymond Carver (February 5 2011)
    9. The Dream of Perpetual Motion- Dexter Palmer (February 6 2011)
    10. Delirium- Lauren Oliver (February 8 2011) 
    11. The Properties of Water- Hannah Roberts McKinnon (February 9 2011) 
    12. The Paris Wife- Paula McLain (February 12 2011)
    13. Beastly- Alex Flinn (February 13 2011)
    14. Where She Went- Gayle Forman (February 15 2011)  
    15. I Am The Messenger- Markus Zusak (February 17 2011) Audiobook
    16. The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus- Margaret Atwood (February 18 2011) Audiobook
    17. The Fifth Servant- Kenneth Wishnia (February 19 2011)
    18. Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens (February 20 2011)
    19. The Other Life- Ellen Meister (February 20 2011) + Author Interview
    20. Between Shades of Gray- Ruta Sepetys (February 21 2011)
    21. What Comes After- Steve Watkins (February 22 2011) 
    22. The Source of All Things- Tracy Ross (February 23 2011)
    23. The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus- Sonya Sones (February 24 2011)
    24. Bumped- Megan McCafferty (February 25 2011)
    25. So Much For That- Lionel Shriver (February 26 2011)
    26. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother- Amy Chua (February 28 2011)
    March
    1. The Postmistress- Sarah Blake (March 1 2011)
    2. Die for Me- Amy Plum (March 2 2011) 
    3. Wither- Lauren DeStefano (March 4 2011)
    4. Lysistrata- Aristophanes (March 5 2011) 
    5. The Raising- Laura Kasischke (March 5 2011) + Author Guest Post
    6. The House on Salt Hay Road- Carin Clevidence (March 8 2011)
    7. The Uncoupling- Meg Wolitzer (March 10 2011) 
    8. This Gorgeous Game- Donna Freitas (March 11 2011) 
    9. The Unbearable Lightness of Being- Milan Kundera (March 12 2011) 
    10. As Long as the Rivers Flow- James Bartleman (March 13 2011) 
    11. Imaginary Logic- Rodney Jones (March 15 2011)
    12. The Needle- Jennifer Grotz (March 16 2011) 
    13. Is- Anne Simpson (March 17 2011) 
    14. Boyfriends with Girlfriends- Alex Sanchez (March 18 2011)
    15. The Long Goodbye- Meghan O'Rourke (March 18 2011) 
    16. A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman- Margaret Drabble (March 19 2011)
    17. New Selected Poems: 1984-2004- Carol Ann Duffy (March 20 2011)  
    18. The Beauty of Humanity Movement- Camilla Gibb (March 22 2011)
    19. The Running Dream- Wendelin Van Draanen (March 23 2011)
    20. The Gathering- Kelley Armstrong (March 25 2011) 
    21. Hotel Iris- Yoko Ogawa (March 26 2011) 
    22. Blood Magic- Tessa Gratton (March 27 2011) 
    23. Nobel Genes- Rune Michaels (March 27 2011)
    24. House Rules- Jodi Picoult (March 29 2011) Audiobook
    25. A Fierce Radiance- Lauren Belfer (March 29 2011)  
    26. The Adults: A Novel- Alison Espach (March 31 2011)
    April
    1. Underground: A Novel- Antanas Sileika (April 2 2011)
    2. Double Shadow- Carl Phillips (April 3 2011)
    3. Better Living Through Plastic Explosives- Zsuzsi Gartner (April 4 2011)
    4. The Summoning- Kelley Armstrong (April 4 2011) 
    5. Stay- Deb Caletti (April 5 2011)
    6. The Awakening- Kelley Armstrong (April 6 2011)  
    7. Wake- Lisa McMann (April 7 2011) Audiobook
    8. The Reckoning- Kelley Armstrong (April 7 2011)
    9. The Lipstick Laws- Amy Holder (April 8 2011) 
    10. The Pun Also Rises- John Pollack (April 9 2011) + Author Guest Post
    11. Fade- Lisa McMann (April 10 2011) Audiobook
    12. Small Mechanics- Lorna Crozier (April 11 2011)  
    13. Separate Kingdoms- Valerie Laken (April 11 2011)
    14. Small Memories- José Saramago (April 13 2011) 
    15. Bees: Nature's Little Wonders- Candace Savage (April 16 2011)
    16. Wrecker- Summer Wood (April 18 2011) + Author Interview
    17. Folk- Jacob McArthur Mooney (April 19 2011)
    18. The Sky is Everywhere- Jandy Nelson (April 22 2011) 
    19. Bird in a Box- Andrea Davis Pinkney (April 22 2011)  
    20. Two Kisses for Maddy- Matthew Logelin (April 24 2011)
    21. Anatomy of a Disappearance- Hisham Matar (April 25 2011) 
    22. Promise Not To Tell- Jennifer McMahon (April 25 2011)
    23. Russian Winter- Daphne Kalotay (April 28 2011)  
    24. Origami Dove- Susan Musgrave (April 28 2011) 
    25. The Peach Keeper- Sarah Addison Allen (April 29 2011) 
    26. Far To Go- Alison Pick (April 30 2011)
    May
    1. Island of Lost Girls- Jennifer McMahon (May 1 2011)
    2. Between Here and Forever- Elizabeth Scott (May 2 2011)
    3. Skinny- Diana Spechler (May 3 2011) 
    4. Gone- Lisa McMann (May 4 2011) 
    5. Abandon- Meg Cabot (May 5 2011)
    6. Long Drive Home- Will Allison (May 6 2011)  
    7. Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps- Dave Isay (May 8 2011)
    8. Don't Breathe a Word- Jennifer McMahon (May 10 2011)
    9. Paper Garden- Molly Peacock (May 14 2011) 
    10. The Council of Dads- Bruce Feiler (May 23 2011) 
    11. The Violets of March- Sarah Jio (May 24 2011) 
    12. Divergent- Veronica Roth (May 24 2011)
    13. Something Deadly This Way Comes- Kim Harrison (May 31 2011)
    June
    1. The Filter Bubble- Eli Pariser (June 1 2011)
    2. With or Without You- Brian Farrey (June 4 2011)
    3. I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl- Kelle Groom (June 5 2011)
    4. The Day Before- Lisa Schroeder (June 14 2011) 
    5. Sometimes It Happens- Lauren Barnholdt (June 15 2011) 
    6. When God Was a Rabbit- Sarah Winman (June 16 2011) + Author Guest Post
    7. Creep- Jennifer Hillier (June 16 2011)
    8. Ashes, Ashes- Jo Treggiari (June 19 2011) + Author Guest Post
    9. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- Ann Brashares (June 19 2011)
    10. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood- Ann Brashares (June 20 2011) 
    11. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood- Ann Brashares (June 21 2011) 
    12. Once Every Never- Lesley Livingston (June 23 2011)
    13. Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood- Ann Brashares (June 24 2011)
    14. Sisterhood Everlasting- Ann Brashares (June 25 2011) 
    15. The Lying Game- Sara Shepard (June 27 2011) Audiobook
    16. Thoughts Without Cigarettes- Oscar Hijuelos (June 27 2011)
    July
    1. Breaking Up With God- Sarah Sentilles (July 1 2011)
    2. Noah Barleywater Runs Away- John Boyne (July 3 2011) 
    3. Down From Cascom Mountain- Ann Joslin Williams (July 8 2011)
    4. The London Train- Tessa Hadley (July 10 2011) 
    5. Stone Arabia- Dana Spiotta (July 10 2011) 
    6. The Secret Lives of the Four Wives- Lola Shuneyin (July 11 2011) 
    7. Blood and Flowers- Penny Blubaugh (July 13 2011) 
    8. Before I Go To Sleep- S.J. Watson (July 13 2011) 
    9. Everything We Ever Wanted- Sara Shepard (July 14 2011) 
    10. Love Begins in Winter- Simon Van Booy (July 15 2011) 
    11. Holy Ghost Girl- Donna Johnson (July 15 2011) 
    12. Close Your Eyes- Amanda Eyre Ward (July 16 2011)
    13. The Rules of the Tunnel- Ned Zeman (July 18 2011)
    14. Want To Go Private?- Sarah Darrer Littman (July 19 2011)
    15. Across the Universe- Beth Revis (July 19 2011)
    16. Forgotten- Cat Patrick (July 20 2011)
    17. Vaclav and Lena- Haley Tanner (July 20 2011) 
    18. Subject Seven- James A. Moore (July 23 2011) 
    19. Unearthly- Cynthia Hand (July 25 2011) Audiobook 
    20. Blood Red Road- Moira Young (July 26 2011) 
    21. Tunnel Vision- Susan Shaw (July 26 2011)
    August
    1. Centuries of June- Keith Donohue (August 1 2011)
    2. What Language Is- John McWhorter (August 6 2011) 
    3. The Book of Lies- Mary Horlock (August 7 2011)
    4. The Secret Lives of People in Love- Simon Van Booy (August 8 2011)
    5. Beauty Queens- Libba Bray (August 9 2011) Audiobook 
    6. Possession- Elana Johnson (August 9 2011) 
    7. Everything Beautiful Began After- Simon Van Booy (August 11 2011) 
    8. Gluten-Free, Hassle Free- Marlisa Brown (August 11 2011)
    9. Paramita, Little Black- Suzanne Robertson (August 12 2011)
    10. Don't Kill the Birthday Girl- Sandra Beasley (August 13 2011)
    11. The Zoo in Winter- Polina Barskova (August 14 2011)
    12. The Diviner's Tale- Bradford Morrow (August 15 2011) Audiobook
    13. Addicted: Notes From the Belly of the Beast- edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane (August 16 2011) 
    14. Lost Voices- Sarah Porter (August 17 2011) Audiobook 
    15. Vital Signs- Tessa McWatt (August 18 2011) 
    16. Ripple- Mandy Hubbard (August 18 2011) 
    17. Forgive My Fins- Tera Lynn Childs (August 19 2011) 
    18. Stork- Wendy Delsol (August 19 2011) Audiobook 
    19. Once a Witch- Carolyn MacCullough (August 21 2011) Audiobook
    20. Fins Are Forever- Tera Lynn Childs (August 21 2011)
    21. Hereafter- Tara Hudson (August 22 2011) Audiobook
    22. Always a Witch- Carolyn MacCullough (August 23 2011) 
    23. Sharks in the Rivers- Ada Limón (August 23 2011)
    24. Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green and David Levithan (August 24 2011) Audiobook 
    25. Life as We Knew It- Susan Beth Pfeffer (August  25 2011) Audiobook 
    26. The Dead and the Gone- Susan Beth Pfeffer (August 26 2011) Audiobook
    27. This World We Live In- Susan Beth Pfeffer (August 26 2011) Audiobook
    28. Wherever You Go- Joan Leegant (August 27 2011) + Author Guest Post
    29. Along For The Ride- Sarah Dessen (August 29 2011) Audiobook 
    30. Insatiable- Meg Cabot (August 31 2011) Audiobook
    September
    1. Overbite- Meg Cabot (September 3 2011) Audiobook
    2. Irma Voth- Miriam Toews (September 4 2011)
    3. The Accident- Linwood Barclay (September 5 2011) 
    4. Exposed- Kimberly Marcus (September 5 2011) 
    5. Cold Kiss- Amy Garvey (September 6 2011) 
    6. The Secret Hour- Scott Westerfeld (September 8 2011) Audiobook 
    7. Frost- Wendy Delsol (September 9 2011) 
    8. Touching Darkness- Scott Westerfeld (September 10 2011) Audiobook 
    9. Blue Noon- Scott Westerfeld (September 13 2011) Audiobook 
    10. Uglies- Scott Westerfeld (September 15 2011) Audiobook 
    11. Swing Low- Miriam Toews (September 18 2011)
    12. Pretties- Scott Westerfeld (September 19 2011) Audiobook
    13. Specials- Scott Westerfeld (September 23 2011) Audiobook
    October
    1. Extras- Scott Westerfeld (October 3 2011) Audiobook 
    2. A Long, Long Sleep- Anna Sheehan (October 5 2011) Audiobook 
    3. The Grief of Others- Leah Hager Cohen (October 9 2011) 
    4. Half-Blood Blues- Esi Edugyan (October 12 2011) 
    5. Mr. Fox- Helen Oyeyemi (October 16 2011) Audiobook
    6. Waiting For Robert Capa- Susana Fortes (October 20 2011) 
    7. Prized- Caragh M. O'Brien (October 22 2011) 
    8. Practical Jean- Trevor Cole (October 22 2011) 
    9. TruthBeauty- Alison Nordstrom (October 23 2011)
    10. Liesl & Po- Lauren Oliver (October 27 2011) 
    11. Lark- Tracey Porter (October 28 2011) 
    12. Love Alone- Emmanuel Kattan (October 30 2011)
    November
    1. Fracture- Megan Miranda (November 9 2011) 
    2. Tankborn- Karen Sandler (November 11 2011) 
    3. The Wild Book-  Margarita Engle (November 12 2011)
    4. Hallowed- Cynthia Hand (November 14 2011) 
    5. The Night Circus- Erin Morgenstern (November 18 2011) Audiobook 
    6. Audition- Stasia Ward Kehoe (November 19 2011) 
    7. Every You, Every Me- David Levithan (November 19 2011) 
    8. Tortured- Caragh M. O'Brien (November 21 2011)
    9. May B.- Caroline Starr Rose (November 23 2011)
    December
    N/A