Oh, dear readers–you can thank me later–for turning your attention to another AMAZING book. The Class of 2k12 ARC Tour is still in effect and this week I had the chance to read THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats. I shall begin my gushing immediately after I give you a synopsis of the book.
In thirteenth-century Wales, ten years into English rule, two girls at cross purposes are caught up in ethnic strife, institutionalized corruption and impending rebellion.
1293. North Wales. Ten years into English rule.
Cecily would give anything to leave Caernarvon and go home. Gwenhwyfar would give anything to see all the English leave.
Neither one is going to get her wish.
Behind the city walls, English burgesses govern with impunity. Outside the walls, the Welsh are confined by custom and bear the burden of taxation, and the burgesses plan to keep it that way.
Cecily can’t be bothered with boring things like the steep new tax or the military draft that requires Welshmen to serve in the king’s army overseas. She has her hands full trying to fit in with the town’s privileged elite, and they don’t want company.
Gwenhwyfar can’t avoid these things. She counts herself lucky to get through one more day, and service in Cecily’s house is just salt in the wound.
But the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem, and the suffering in the countryside is rapidly turning to discontent. The murmurs of revolt may be Gwenhwyfar’s only hope for survival – and the last thing Cecily ever hears.
THE WICKED AND THE JUST goes on sale TOMORROW!!!! You can order it here…
Kimberly Sabatini’s Review of THE WICKED AND THE JUST
The blurb on the front of THE WICKED AND THE JUST goes like this…
“I am gobsmacked by this astonishing story. A remarkable achievement.” –Karen Cushman
I’m here to tell you that GOBSMACKED is the only word that adequately sums up this tale of both cruelty and generosity of spirit.
I am always amazed at how truth can be so much harder to wrap your mind around than fiction. Combine that with the imagination of a very talented author, and you come up with a book that just blows me away. THE WICKED AND THE JUST did exactly that.
I may have mentioned before that I don’t tend to gravitate towards historical fiction, but when it finds me, it’s usually for a reason. I am so happy that this book made it’s way into my hands.
I want to sit here and wax poetic about what life was like in Caernarvon in 1294 but I’d just be blathering on and on about the meaning of life and change, history and evolution, humanity and inhumanity. It would just be easier if you read the book and then we talked. And I hope we do. I love to discuss books that are this good.
But I can’t pass up the opportunity to talk about the characters in this story. I have NEVER loved and hated two characters as much as Cecily and Gwenhwyfar. I was so vested in the lives of these two girls that it was painful at moments. J. Anderson Coats has a gift for writing characters that leave a mark on you–that change who you are and how you see the world. She does this with out preaching or manipulation. It is her mastery of the nuances of people and their behavior that makes this story exquisite.
I am proud of the company I keep in the Class of 2k12 and without a doubt, I will be reading this amazing book to my boys.
J. Anderson Coats has dug for crystals, held Lewis and Clark’s original hand-written journal and been a mile underground. She has a cool surgery scar unrelated to childbirth, she reads Latin, and she’s been given the curse of Cromwell on a back-road in Connemara. On a clear day, she can see the Olympic mountains from her front window. On the foggy ones, she can smell the Puget Sound.
She writes historical fiction set in the middle ages that routinely includes too much violence, name-calling and petty vandalism perpetrated by badly-behaved young people. Her work is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
The Wicked and the Just, J’s debut novel, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in spring 2012.
You can find out more about J. Anderson Coats and THE WICKED AND THE JUST here…
I also wanted to announce the winner of a pre-order of TOUCHING THE SURFACE. *drum roll please*
The winner is…Ashley of Ashley Loves Books!!!!! Congratulations to Ashley.
So…I’m wondering if there is a genre of books in which you find yourself being a reluctant reader, but are often pleasantly surprised when you do read that type of book? What’s you’re favorite genre to read in? Do you have a type of book you don’t usually tell people that you like to read, but you’re going to quietly whisper it in my ear now? Come on–spill the beans.
Once again, Readergirlz and Figment did ROCK THE DROP in honor of Support Teen Lit Day on Thursday, April 12th. All I had to do was find some YA books that I wanted to share with the world and then
* Snag a bookplate, created by the uber-talented David Ostow (who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and then proclaim that I will ROCK THE DROP! I love proclaiming things so this was already gonna be fun.
* Print a copy of the bookplate and insert it into a book (or 10!) to drop on April 12th. The goal is to drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!
* Snap a photo of your drop and post it at the readergirlz Facebook page. Then tweet the drop at #rockthedropwith all the other lovers of YA books.
You can visit the readergirlz blog for more news and pictures before, during, and after the event!
In each book I included a class of 2k12 bookmark and a TOUCHING THE SURFACE bookmark.
I also added in the readergirlz Rock The Drop bookplate.
Since I planned on getting out of the house and doing some writing (in addition to wanting to try to catch the finder of the book) I decided to take all three books with me to Panera.
So I planted to books and waited–going through my emails with one eye on the lookout. I was in between the breakfast and lunch crowd so I figured I needed to get a little writing done while it was slow. I got lost in my manuscript and when I looked up…all the books were done. For a moment I felt some panic. I’m usually very careful to screen perspective new parents of books that I loved. What if…
But I decided that when you Rock the Drop you’re moving outside your box and you never know what’s going to happen.
Do you like to give books as gifts? Do you have one go to book that you give everyone? Any great stories of book gifting? Planning on Rocking the Drop next year? You know I am–I’ll have my own book to leave too. <3
I just found out yesterday that TOUCHING THE SURFACE is now available for pre-order at Barnes & Noble and I’m crazy excited!!!! I thought that I’d celebrate by giving one lucky winner a pre-order of the book. I know–you won’t get your prize until October 30th, but I will send ahead some SURFACE swag along with your preorder confirmation.
What do you have to do to win?
1. Please check out my the book on Barnes & Nobel and click on the section that says… Nook Books: Want to read this on your NOOK? Request as NOOK Book from the publisher. And while you’re there feel free to hit any LIKE buttons that you come across.
2. Second, leave a comment telling me what has captured your attention about TOUCHING THE SURFACE. Is it the cover? Synopsis? Is it because we know each other? There’s no wrong answer–I’m just curious to know what has drawn you to the book.
*Please make sure that you leave a contact email address in your comment so I can get in touch with you if you are a winner.
Ummmm three day holiday weekend and I’m in a chocolate bunny coma. I need a video. A really funny blog worthy video so I don’t have to write a post. Hmmmm…who makes really funny videos about writing YA books???
Did Jackson miss anything??? What other stuff do you hear non-writers say that makes your toes curl?
For information purposes, I’m going to copy a previous post right here to adequately explain why I’m going to do something really bizarre at the end of this post. So here–catch up…
Truth or Dare Challenge
So exciting! I’m attempting to join a new group of young adult authors called teamTEEN author (the brain child of Julie Cross–author of TEMPEST)In order to get the secret password into this new club and a shiny virtual medal…
(You know you want one too) I have decided to brave the Truth or Dare Challenge. Dum, dum, dum, dum. Why? Because I really want to be a part of this exciting new group–particularly because of The Perfect Ten!!!! What is The Perfect Ten you ask?
They are a hand-picked group of young adults who have been given an ARC of Touching the Surface for their ARC Relay!!!! You can learn more about The Perfect Ten by clicking on the link above. They look extremely cool. Yup-that’s ten amazing reasons why I should risk public humiliation. It sounds worth it to me.
So here’s how it’s going down. You dear reader, get to post a question for me to answer truthfully AND a dare. I will pick one–and I’ll either answer your question or take on your dare. If I do the dare I will post proof!! If I chicken out, I have to post a chicken pic on my blog for a week…sigh
So hit me with your best shot–teamTEENauthor–here I come!!!!
I’m also going to give you the link to the original post so you can check out the truth or dare comments. Original Post
But the short version is that I answered all of my truth questions and I decided to do a dare anyway. Cause that’s how I roll. I was challenged to do the chicken dance in a public place. I had originally attempted to do this on the corner of Main Street in my town, near the Post Office. (high traffic area) My 11yo was mortified. I decided to wait for the younger kids to be on spring break and try again. They haven’t hit peak embarrassment levels yet. It just so happens that on Wednesday I ran into a friend that I used to teach with. She just happened to tell my kids that I was a champ at embarrassing my former students. The winner being the time I did the Hokey Pokey in the cafeteria lunch line. *grin*
I knew I had an accomplice for my dare! Here is the chicken dance a la Kim in my local Target…
I know it doesn’t look like it from the video, but there were quite a few folks in the store as I was doing this (spring break and all) it’s just that they were FLEEING THE AREA!!! I wish I had a camera on my kids and the people rounding the corner behind them LOL! Looney Tune in Aisle seventeen!!! My own kid’s faces were a mix of bemused acceptance and horror. I could see the wheels turning as they realized that it might never be safe to bring a date home to mom. Of course my friend who took the video for me said…”Wow! I’ve missed you.” *love* I think I may have to do this more often. I’m going to proudly go hang up my teamTEENauthor medal now.
Before you go…spill the beans. What is the worst dare you’ve ever done? What would you do to be a teamTEENauthor? What embarrassing trait actually makes you pretty proud?
BTW–that was my first official YouTube video…how scary is that???
