Book Review: Gone by Lisa McMann

This is the third and final installment in the dream catcher series that includes WAKE and FADE. My recommendation is to read all of the books together if you can (I had a 10 month break between books 2 and 3, and was lost for the first few chapters of GONE). If you haven't read the first two books yet, please read my review of those titles and skip this one so you don't get too spoiled!

After finding out the terrible consequences of being a dream catcher, Janie has a big decision to make and everything points towards isolating herself from everyone including her beloved Cabel - that is until a chance meeting with an important stranger makes her realize that her choice is even more horrible than she could have ever imagined.

So does anyone think this book can have a happy ending with a set-up like that? I know I caused a furor over on Goodreads the other day when I described this installment as "bleak and depressing". But hey, I call them like I see them, and although there is a "happy end" of sorts, the story itself is still ... yes ... depressing as hell.

GONE is very much about Janie making her decision about her future and the other characters, even Cabel, fade very much into the background. We see a lot of Janie's inner turmoil and the plot centers around Janie and the stranger that suddenly enters her life. It's not quite as exciting or eventful as the first two novels, but the resolution seems logical (if brutally so).

GONE will be released in hardcover on Feb. 9th, 2010. Find out more about it on the author's website.

Book Review: The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan

It's 1915 and teenage Bess realizes that her world is about to change drastically. She's always lived in the shadow of Niagara Falls, but now it is poised to become an even bigger part of her life - for better or worse.

This is a finely crafted historical romance that held my attention for the most part, though I thought certain parts were overly melodramatic. I liked how bits of local lore and politics of the day were mixed in to the main story, and it's always inspiring to read about women making their own way in the world and being strong enough to make choices that are right for them.

Thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for sending me this book.

THE DAY THE FALLS STOOD STILL is available now in hardcover. Find out more about it on the author's website.

Book Review: How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

Carly has "never met a book she liked" so her well-to-do parents decide to hire an author to write a novel just for her - one she'll have to love. Hilarity ensues.

This is an ambitious, smart novel which I highly enjoyed. Not only does it have a very original structure - sections are divided by literary device - but it also presents main characters that are worth spending time with. I loved the relationship between Carly and her crush/best friend - golden boy alcoholic and avid reader Hunter. But the relationships between supporting characters, such as Carly's author, Bree, and her college chum and literary idol Justin (who happens to live in Carly's community) are just as compelling.

This is one of those that you could definitely read a second time and pick up on a lot that you might have missed the first time around. I thought some of the novels within the novel sounded brilliant and I wouldn't mind reading them too!

One of my favorite quotes:

"Not until she'd met Hunter had she even given any thought to what kind of person she wanted to be. Before Hunter it had never even occurred to her that you could choose." (p 199)

HOW TO BUY A LOVE OF READING is available in hardcover now. Find out more about it at the author's website.

Book Review: Secret Son by Laila Lalami

18 year old Youssef El Mekki has lived all his life with his mother in the slums of Casablanca thinking that his father died in an accident when he was a baby. When he finds out his father is not only alive but also a rich businessman, Youssef tracks him down and father and son begin a tentative relationship. Youssef begins to enjoy a life of privilege and allows himself to finally hope for a brighter future – but forces beyond his control threaten to take his new life away from him.

One of my favorite aspects of reading international fiction is being able to immerse myself in the culture that the author is presenting – in this case modern Morocco. Author Lalami writes with such immediacy and passion that it’s easy to get drawn into Youssef’s story. As is often the case with sagas involving family secrets, selfishness and a lamentable lack of communication shape the characters’ destinies.

As I’ve told a couple of friends since reading this, it seems that Lalami already had an ending in mind and then fashioned a narrative that would lead to that end. I can understand why Lalami would want to tell a story with the type of ending she has chosen, but she put so much effort into Youssef’s character that this ending ends up feeling like a cop-out and not the inevitable one she may have been going for. SPOILER: (Roll over the following text with your mouse to read) The ending has strong similarities to the Jeff Bridges/Tom Robbins movie Arlington Road – but the movie’s ending was better set-up and just better. I guess if you haven't seem the movie, this isn't much of a spoiler, but if you have, you know what I am talking about.

SECRET SON is available in hardcover now. Find out more about the book (and watch the trailer) at the author's website.

Book Review: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Jenna has just awoken from a coma and is suffering from amnesia. Her 17 years on Earth have been well documented though, and her parents have her watch videos of herself to help her remember. As Jenna recovers, she starts asking questions. Why does her grandmother seem to dislike her? Why did they move away from their former home? Why can’t she attend regular high school? What exactly happened in the car accident that put her in the coma?

This is one of those novels where the reader and the main character are on the same page – we discover things as Jenna discovers them – and it's a very thought provoking journey. Set in the non-too-distant future, the novel raises some interesting questions about ethics, the limits of technology, and the nature of identity. I was thoroughly impressed with the storyline, the characterizations, and the writing. I even marked quite a few quotes to possibly use in my review, but then I was so excited about it, I loaned it out before I had the chance to write this.

Anyway, after this one, and THE MILES BETWEEN, Mary E. Pearson is certainly on my shortlist of go-to authors.

There is still time to enter my contest for one of five copies of THE MILES BETWEEN. Don’t miss your chance!

Book Review, Author Interview and Giveaway: The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson

It is October 19th and Destiny Faraday embarks on an unauthorized road trip with three boarding school classmates. Destiny feels like life has dealt her a bad hand and she wishes more than anything that she could experience just one fair day – a day where the good guy wins and everything adds up to something just and right.

THE MILES BETWEEN is difficult to summarize and review without giving too much away – and trust me, this is the type of novel you want to go into unspoiled. I can tell you that I loved it. Not only does it explore deep topics such as the nature of fate and the role of coincidence in our lives but it is also full of zany fun, gives us memorable characters (as well as a pet lamb), and has a plot twist that blew me away (seriously – my mouth was hanging open).

I read THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX shortly after, and I have to say, Mary E. Pearson knows how to deliver an intelligent, satisfying YA novel with mega crossover appeal. THE MILES BETWEEN should be a big hit when it comes out in September. It will definitely be on my year end best list.

For a bit more of what you can expect (but still, no spoilers), here's an interview with Mary:

I have kind of an obsession with coincidences which is what initially drew me to THE MILES BETWEEN. Do you have any crazy coincidences in your own life that you’d like to share?
I think I have the usual variety that most people have, the kind that make you pause for a moment and say, “wow, what are the chances?” Most, I have forgotten, but a few still remain with me, like the time I was invited to a party to meet my daughter’s future in-laws, and I discovered I already knew the mom! We had worked together years before our children were born. And then when we started comparing notes we found a dozen ways our lives kept intersecting over the years in near misses, even to the point of finding that we had their daughter on videotape for a dance recital both of our girls had been in when they were toddlers. My daughter was shocked to say the least.

Or there was the time when we first moved into our house which was in the middle of nowhere and I found out that my next-door neighbor went to the same high school I did and which was eighty miles and two counties away. Or one of the strangest, when both of my daughters were diagnosed with same serious illnesses on the exact same date, six years apart. You do have to scratch your head, and say, huh? And of course, I remember back in high school whenever my friends and I said the same thing at the same time we would shout “you owe me a Coke!” like there was some weird cosmic magic in it all.

Many people say if an author concocts a plot with a lot of coincidences, it’s lazy writing. What would be your response to that?
I would have to agree with them completely! If a coincidence isn’t earned, that is, it is a “deus ex machina” plot device that a writer uses when they get stuck and don’t know what else to do, that is at least clumsy, if not lazy. But this story was about coincidence and I think from the very beginning the reader is on that journey with me, picking up on some of the clues that hint that there is more to this than meets the eye, so the coincidences don’t come completely out of left field. I also think that coincidence can very much be in the eye of the beholder–one person may pay attention to every unexpected detail in life and attribute great meaning to it, while another person shrugs it off as completely explainable. I tried to play with those two viewpoints in the story so we are never really sure where fantasy and reality meet. Ha! Much like real life, right?

I had a really hard time placing the story - it could have been in any English speaking country. Did you do that on purpose?
Yes! As much as possible I wanted to create a surreal setting so you’re not sure if you’re standing on terra firma or not, or at the very least you are not sure what world or time you have stepped into. I think the definition of slipstream literature, the “fiction of strangeness” certainly fits this story. Slipstream literature creates a certain cognitive dissonance, so I tried to make the setting echo that feeling.

Road trip time! A big pink Cadillac is left running in front of your house. Who are you going to take with you, and where are you going to go?
Oh, you are too kind! Yay! Grab the hubby and kids and head for Palm Springs (this is a convertible, right?) First stop, strawberry ice cream–a drive-through if we can find one–because we don’t want to get out of this fabulous car. Next leg, a drive along the California coast. Big Sur! Malibu! Oh! Pismo Beach where we can drive the car on the sand! And last but not least, a cruise down Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, because a car like that must have a chance to strut!

What is your take on the current state of YA novels? Do you agree that we experiencing a young adult renaissance? Would books that came out 15-20 years ago survive in the market if they were released now?
Yes! If you mean that the world is discovering by leaps and bounds the joy of YA literature. I think there is an ever-widening circle of YA readers. It seemed not that long ago, that the majority of YA was read by middle-schoolers, and perhaps by a few avid high school readers who sought it out on their own via their high school librarians. But I think more and more high school teachers are making time for YA literature in their classrooms, and of course there is now a proliferation of teen reading sites online which helps spread the word about teen books. And it is certainly not just for teens anymore. This past year I visited with several adult book clubs who were reading my book, so many adults outside of the industry are discovering YA literature too.

I think many of the books from 15-20 years ago ARE surviving and are still much beloved, The Outsiders, My Brother Sam is Dead, The Chocolate War, The Pigman, Weetzie Bat, just to name a few. Of course, many of the books from twenty years ago published in today's market might not make it, but that doesn't discount at all the contribution they made to literature or the foundation they laid. They broke ground that may now be well tread, but they did it first. Without them we would not have the books we are enjoying today.

Thank you Mary! Visit Mary online at http://marypearson.livejournal.com/

And now, because I am sure after reading my review and interview you simply cannot wait until September to get your hands on this novel, I am pleased to announce that Henry Holt is generously donating advanced reader copies to 5 lucky winners. All you have to do to enter is tell me about a coincidence that happened in your own life (or, if you'd rather, you can tell me about your dream road trip). The first person to respond is an INSTANT WINNER of one copy (previous instant winners may NOT claim a second instant win - let's spread the wealth).

As always, earn 1 extra entry by linking to this contest from your blog (sidebar is fine) or social media site (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) and leaving an extra comment telling me you did so.

This contest is open to those with shipping addresses in the US and Canada and ends on July 21st at 11:59 CST. Good luck!

P.S. And yes, that is a new cover - different from the one on the ARCs.

Book Review and Author/Character Guest Post: Milestones by Samira Armin Hodges

I hit a milestone today: This is my 500th blog post! Ironic that this milestone comes as I feature a book called MILESTONES, isn’t it?

Summary
Can you keep a secret? When 14 year old Faye Martin gets hit by lightening in front of Benji, the boy she’s had a crush on since the 4th grade, her parents inexplicably decide to send her off to summer camp. And not just any summer camp, but one that no one’s ever heard of, in the middle of nowhere where she’ll have no contact with the outside world for months. Her one small consolation is that Benji has been sent there too. Will they be able to unravel the mystery of the unusual camp before it’s too late?

Guest post by Faye Martin, main character of MILESTONESOkay. Introductions are in order. My name is Faye Grace Martin – though only my mother calls me that - and I’m fourteen years old. I’ve been asked to tell you all about my experience at camp Milestone. The thing is: I hate camp Milestone. Better yet, I loathe it. Despise it with every ounce of my soul. So I’d rather not write about it at all. Why should I give this poor excuse for a camp the satisfaction of writing about it? Or glorifying it? No thanks. Instead, I’ll write about another camp. The camp I wish I had gone to instead of camp Milestone. So here it goes. My informal essay about my ideal camp.

My ideal camp is not set in the middle of nowhere. It’s not isolated or secluded or whatever. It’s outside a big city where there are resources. My ideal camp is also “friendly”, and “comfy” and “lovely” and aesthetically pleasing. When you walk onto the camp grounds, you see beauty and nature and trees and you notice amazing activities taking place around you and you feel excitement. You want to be a part of it. You DON’T walk onto the grounds, look around and wonder where the hell you’ve landed. You don’t wonder if your cabin is made of rotting wood or some sort of straw. Because the cabins at my ideal camp are strong and sturdy and made of real wood .

Plus, my ideal camp is awesome. It has a hundreds of campers and dozens of camp counsellors. It doesn’t have a dozen campers and one counsellor. Cause that, my friends, would be weird. Weird and freaky. Oh! You know what else? You can so find my ideal camp on the internet. Yeah! It totally exists online. You can Google it, look it up and find out pertinent information about it. You can see pictures of previous campers and they all look like they’re having a blast. Like they’ve made friends. Awesome friends. The kind of friends you don’t want meeting your school friends. The type you want to keep to yourself and not share with anybody. You know that type, right? The kind you bond with and never let go?

On another note, my ideal camp is not the least bit scary. It doesn’t make you fear for your life. You don’t do crazy tasks and you certainly, certainly have some kind of access to your family and friends. I’m talking internet, cell phone…or heck, even a regular old fashioned phone. Furthermore, my ideal camp is not at all mysterious. What you see is what you get. Because people go to camp to have fun. I mean, isn’t that the entire point? To break free from school, stress and drama? And to have a summer romance or something? An unforgettable summer and yadda yadda? As opposed to freaking out, being more stressed than you ever knew you could be and wondering if you’re going to live? All the while trying to figure why in heaven’s name your parents (YOUR PARENTS!) would choose to send you to a place like this when you know for a fact that they love you? And you are constantly wondering, why, why, why they would this do this to you deliberately if they do in fact love you??? And you can’t help it but you find yourself obsessed!! Constantly second guessing! Constantly searching for evidence, for hints, for ANYTHING AT ALL that would explain why you’ve been sent to this hell hole…. without a phone………. without a clue……….without a paddle……….

Yeah.

THAT would be MY ideal camp in case you’re wondering.

Basically, it’s just a normal camp. A normal safe camp.

Not much to ask, is it?

My reviewOk, so here’s the deal. MILESTONES is incredibly clever and the concept/mystery is well executed and fun to try and figure out. Once you have that “a ha!” moment, everything clicks into place and what seemed pretty random finally starts to make sense. What I’m afraid of though, is that a lot of readers aren’t going to have that much patience. After the first chapter, a choppy, repetitive introduction to Faye where she complains (A LOT) about having to go to camp, I felt like Faye and I had something in common – she didn’t want to go to Camp Milestone and I didn’t want to read about her going to Camp Milestone. Fortunately, we both stuck it out, and in the end, I can say we’re both glad we did (despite what she says about it in her guest post today).

MILESTONES comes out in hardcover on August 1st. This post is a part of the MILESTONES book tour. For a list of the other stops and for more information about this title, go to http://www.eatabook.com/.

Let's discuss!
I attended many summer camps when I was younger, and the absolute worst has to be "Whistle Camp", a strict church camp in Michigan. I was looking forward to finally spending some quality time with my best friend Sommer who had been vacationing with her family for a whole month, but when we got there, they divided us into teams that shared activities, meals and cabins, splitting Sommer and me up, ensuring that we'd never see each other.

But that wasn't even the worst part - at anytime of day or night, the camp "elders" could blow their whistle and summon us to take our places at the designated spot for our team. Teams were rewarded for being complete and quick and punished for missing members and being slow. Not fun.

At one point, an elder suspiciously asked my friend Margie what she had in her water bottle. Margie being Margie (read: supremely sarcastic), she replied "It's my vodka. I need it to sleep at night." She tucked it in next to her pillow and left the room. When she returned, all her water (yes, it WAS just water) had been poured out.

How about you? Any camp horror stories to rival those of mine and Faye's?

Book Review: Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Alexis’ life has always been pretty dysfunctional. She has no real friends, gets in trouble at school, keeps her parents at arm’s reach, and has a younger sister with a very unhealthy doll obsession. When strange things start happening at home, it doesn’t take long for Alexis to suspect that her house is haunted and her sister is possessed.

I have to give this novel serious props for pulling off a tone that is hilariously snarky and yet still so tantalizingly creepy. I didn’t have to turn my nightlight on to sleep or anything, but I did have goose bumps on several occasions.

Alexis starts out as just another of these tough, sarcastic, independent minded teens that have pervaded pop culture in recent years, but she develops so much through the narrative that I really had no idea what she would do next. It’s the same with most of the supporting characters – they are introduced as stereotypes and then defy all expectations.

This is such a fun, wild ride that I was able to forgive the slightly cheesy ending. Anyone see Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson? Now there’s an awesome ending to a possession story (though I did have my nightlight on for weeks after seeing that one - so beware).

Bad Girls Don’t Die comes out in hardcover on April 21st.

Book Review: Where am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman

When I worked on a project for Tommy Hilfiger, writing product copy for their high-end European TH Denim line, I became very interested in the process of making jeans. During a visit to the flagship showroom in Amsterdam, designers walked me through their newest styles, explaining the details. They also told me that making jeans is not an automated process. It takes actual workers to load washing machines full of jeans and stones to make stonewashed jeans, deconstructions and fraying are done by hand, and resins and paint are hand sprayed to make each pair unique.

I would have loved to go on a factory tour and see some of these jeans being made. Kelsey Timmerman got to do just that, and it’s the reason why I picked up his book about his journey across the globe to see where his clothes were made. He went to Bangladesh for his boxers, Honduras for his t-shirt, China for his flip-flops, and upstate New York for his shorts. And, in my favorite section by far, he went to Cambodia to tour Levi’s factories.

I’ve been to Cambodia – even toured a local village – so many of his observations about their culture and low standard of living weren’t new to me. Apparently, Timmerman isn’t a professional journalist, and his prose is sometimes choppy and disjointed, but he mixes hard facts with humorous anecdotes to make this a highly interesting and informative read. At one point he describes asking a Levi’s employee in Phnom Penh if he can get a factory tour. He is open and honest about his intentions and he expects a rebuff:

“As I talk, he presses a button on his phone. I wait for a trapdoor to open beneath my chair, swallowing me. I imagine I’ll slide down into a pit full of idealistic, anti-globalization activists. I’ll be the only one wearing Levi’s and drinking a Coke. Some of them, having been there since the mid 1990s, will be zombielike, and they’ll walk towards me all herky-jerky with outstretched arms chanting, “Diet, Cherry or Vanilla, Coca-Cola is a killa!” Then they’ll eat my brains, because that’s what zombies do.” (p.113)

The employee surprises him though and arranges someone to take him. At the factory, he sees workers grinding jeans with stones and sandblasting them with sand guns. He interviews employees at their homes and comes to the conclusion that even if they don’t live well – they earn only about $60 a month, half of which they send back to the villages to support their families - they are a lot better off than if the garment industry didn’t exist there. We may think of them as sweatshops, but they are also opportunities for desperate people who might otherwise be picking through trash dumps to earn a living.

Timmerman believes in being a conscientious consumer and even provides some resources on how you and me can become one too. That means supporting companies that support fair working conditions. And it means understanding where our clothes come from. This book is a step in the right direction.

Where am I Wearing? is available in hardcover now.

Fun Fact: One of Tommy Hilfiger Denim's most expensive pair of jeans is made in Italy and hand scraped with brush of iron nails to give it its lived-in, vintage look. Now that even sounds kind of fun!

Book Reviews: Wake and Fade by Lisa McMann

17 year old Janie feels like she’s cursed. Not only is she dirt poor with an unemployed drunk for a mother, she also gets sucked into other people’s dreams if they fall asleep in her vicinity. Afraid of what would happen if someone found out about her ability, she tries to cope with it as best she can all alone. But the stakes are raised when she falls into someone’s gruesome nightmare and sees herself as a participant. Will she ever be able to just live a normal life?

Wake is at its heart a classic “superhero” origin story. Janie may not wear a cape, but she does have a “superpower” that she has to come to terms with and learn to control during the course of the novel.

Janie is often exhausted physically and emotionally due to all her dream excursions, so her attitude is pretty no nonsense. She does just enough to get by – at home, at school and at her job at a nursing home. The writing style really reflects this, with short, choppy sentences that don’t beat around any bushes.

The tone is on the dark side, but I liked that as Janie works through her issues, she also starts expand her personal interactions – even enough to include a love interest. Janie’s relationship with broken boy Cabel is one of the more touching I’ve read.

I’m glad I waited to read this until I got the sequel, because as soon as I turned the last page, I was eager to dive into Fade.

****If you haven’t read Wake yet, and you don’t like spoilers, don’t read any further because I am about to discuss its sequel, Fade.****

As Fade begins, Janie is finally feeling kind of good about herself: she has a boyfriend (even though they have to meet in secret for now), she’s working on controlling her powers, and she has a sense of purpose thanks to her job with the police. But then, when Janie is put on a case involving a suspected sex predator at her high school, she gets in way over her head. And she learns the bleak truth about being a dream catcher.

Fade was just as engrossing as Wake, and although the undercover police plot seemed a bit too convenient in many ways, the dream catcher reveal was really shocking and surprising. Fans of the Janie/Caleb relationship in Wake will also be thrilled to know that they’ll be getting lots of hot “off again/on again” drama between the two.

Fade doesn’t end on a cliffhanger (thank God!), but I am definitely looking forward to February 2010 when I can get the next book in the series.

Both Wake and Fade are available now.

Read a great new interview with Author Lisa McMann over at Maw Books Blog.

Book Review: This One is Mine by Maria Semple

Violet Parry is an LA woman with everything: a successful and faithful husband, a beautiful toddler, and so much cash that she drops $300 on premium chocolate just because she feels sorry for the store. Since quitting her TV writing job though, she feels dangerously isolated in her expensive house and just might do something reckless…

Sally Parry, Violet’s sister-in-law, has just one thing on her mind (other than herself) and that is marrying a man whose star is on the rise. She has her sights set on someone, and this time, no one, especially not her chosen prey, is going to keep her from getting what she wants…

This is not the type of book I usually read, but when I heard that Author Maria Semple was a writer for the TV show Arrested Development (my favorite TV comedy of all time), I decided to give it a go. Arrested Development was not only brilliantly hilarious, it also excelled in making the viewer sympathize with characters that were extremely unlikable.

True to the Arrested Development mold, Violet, Sally and most of the supporting characters are extremely egocentric, make very bad decisions and are not the type of people you would ever want as friends. But somehow, you do end up caring about what happens to them. And yes, there are many absurdly funny scenes. There are also mentions of diseases as diverse as autism, diabetes and hepatitis C, but refreshingly, none of these are played for laughs.

I read the first few chapters aloud to Daniel and he enjoyed the authentic LA feel of the novel (he lived there for 5 years), but he said had trouble concentrating so he’ll finish it on his own (yeah, right!).

There is a heart buried deep within all this dysfunction, and I think it is perfectly expressed by the Hafiz poem Semple chose to include at the beginning of the book:

Someone put
You on a slave block
And the unreal bought
You

Now I keep coming to your owner
Saying
“This one is mine.”
You often overhear us talking
And this can make your heart leap
With excitement.

Don’t worry,
I will not let sadness
Possess you.

I will gladly borrow all the gold
I need

To get you
Back.

This One is Mine is available in hardcover now.

Book Review and Author/Character Interview: The Dust of 100 Dogs by AS King

Today I have something extra special you don’t want to miss! Not only do I get all fangirly in my review, I follow it up with an exclusive interview with Saffron, one of the novel’s main characters.

This one was my very first WOW (Waiting on Wednesday) pick, and I think the jacket summary is so perfect, I’m just going to repeat it word for word here:

In the late 17th century, famed pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Three hundred years later, after one hundred lives as a dog, she returned to a human body—with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

When I first read the summary on the official website, my whole body tingled. I HAD to have this book. You see, I adore high concept novels, and I’m always looking for books that somehow shock me out of my novel conventions and blow me away, such as David Mitchell’s Cloud Altas or Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair (two of my top 10 books of all time). And the summary gave me hope that it would turn out to be just such a book.

Well I am thrilled to report that it delivered on its high concept, innovative premise (just absolutely not in the way I expected it to) with a rich story spanning four centuries and several continents and featuring two very well developed heroines (who ARE separate entities though they are mystically linked). In stories that alternate every few chapters, we follow Emer’s tumultuous childhood in Ireland and her evolution into a famed Caribbean pirate as well as Saffron’s own struggles in a downtrodden modern American family who has pinned all their hopes of a better life on her. It somehow manages to be epic and intimate at the same time.

There are also a few chapters from the POV of an old, paunchy man named Fred which at first seem wildly out of place, especially in a YA novel, but do fit into the overall narrative. The 8 "Dog Fact" sections, which share lessons learned from 100 dog lifetimes, are fascinating (if a bit on the preachy side in tone).

If you are looking for an original, genre bending, mind-blowing read, you have three options: Buy this book when it comes out on Feb 1st, go by AS King's blog http://dogfact9.blogspot.com/ in these weeks leading up to the launch and try to win a copy in one of her random contests (Subscribing to the blog is the best way to stay updated, because the contests are random and fast!), or be ready to draw your cutlass and then pry the ARC out of my cold dead hands. I implore you to choose option 1 or 2.

And now let’s hear from Saffron herself.

Thanks for joining us Saffron ;)

You’re very welcome! Thrilled to be here.

So Saffron, in the late 17th century, you were a beautiful pirate named Emer who was cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Then you lived the lives of 100 dogs before being reincarnated as a human baby in 1972 with all your memories intact. As far as I know, this is highly unusual. Have you heard about any cases similar to yours where this dust was used to the same effect?

I’ve never heard of another case, but I’ve never looked into it, either. I’m thinking most people would find it hard to believe – but people believe all sorts of crazy things depending on what they’re taught. I understand the Caribbean is still rife with voodoo. You might want to investigate down there, if you’re wondering.

Do you think it’s possible that you have past lives even further back than Emer? Is it something you’d like to find out?

I think anything is possible, within reason. But I’m not sure I’d want to find out. I mean, on one hand, it’s been cool having this knowledge all my life, but on the other hand, it’s not easy to have the memories of another person running through your head. I need to get on with my own life and move forward now.

What would you do with all that pirate booty you buried as Emer if you ever find it?

Tough question to answer without spoilers. But, before I got to Jamaica, I really hadn’t thought about what I was going to do with the booty. I just saw it as a key to my freedom, when really, leaving was the key to my freedom.

Have you “inherited” any of Emer’s more physical talents like sword fighting or cross-stitching or just the intellectual memories?

Sewing wasn’t big in my house. Sadie (my mother) wore a lot of polyester, you know? The few times I’ve been faced with a fight, I was more scared than daring. I’m more of a peacekeeper this time around, I think. Probably a by-product of the 300-year-old brain.

Did you know so much about the goings on in the Truman White House as a young child because you actually lived there as a dog, or because you watched a lot of TV or read a lot of newspapers as a dog? And did any of your owners notice that you seemed more “human” than most dogs?

I was one of the Trumans’ two dogs during their time in the White House. I didn’t stay for long, but I paid attention while I was there.

I allowed only one owner to see the full spectrum of my ability. Back in the 1790’s, I lived with a little girl named Bertha, and she was very ill. I obeyed everything she said, and used my knowledge of human language to attend to her until her final breath. We held entire conversations during her last days, and though she assumed it was a disease-induced hallucination, I know deep down she knew it was really happening.

You must have been a lot of different breeds of dog. Which breed did you enjoy being the most?

I always loved being a healthy, well-treated dog, no matter what breed, but my favorites were the Doberman, Labrador retriever, Rottweiler, and Great Dane. (Note: being a small dog is nice, but being a big dog has clout. It matters.)

What was your best experience as a dog? What was your worst? Ever hang out with any nice cats (My cat Emmy wanted me to ask this)?

Best: Swimming in the sea and drying off in front of a hot beach fire.

Worst: You really don’t want to know. Some people are very cruel to dogs.

Cats: Yes! I met a lot of awesome cats over the years. It took me a while to understand the feline way, but all it takes is patience and a knack for turning the other cheek when scratched. After a few tests, most cats will allow you into their world (as long as you don’t try to eat their food.)

It was amazing to have you here, Saffron. Thanks again!

(note: The dog pictured was Author AS King's first dog. She says, "She was a true education in dog ownership!")

UPDATE Jan 29, 2009: Here's another great interview with Saffron at Michelle's Minions.

UPDATE Feb 2, 2009: Here's an interview with Emer (and Amy) at The Book Muncher.