Waiting on Wednesday: The Girl of Fire and Thorns & Switch

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and features books that we just can't wait to get our hands on!

This week's picks:

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

"Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do."

This one sounds like just my style. Princesses and kings? Countries in turmoil? Dark magic? Revolution? Romance? Yes, yes, YES. The only thing I'm worried about is the "chosen one" aspect and the prophecy, because that's so done - but if handled right, I could totally be up for it. Plus the cover is pretty! 

Switch by Tish Cohen

"Good girl, honour-roll lifer, Berkeley-bound, mildly neurotic, high strung twelfth grader Andrea Birch just wants a bit of privacy. Oh, and perhaps a bit more of a social life. Or just a life in general. But when your mom and dad are foster parents who can’t turn away a child, trying to carve out a little space for yourself while tending to the needs of everyone from twin toddlers to angst-ridden adolescents is nearly impossible. And then Joules Adams, daughter of internationally famous rock star Nigel Adams, jumps into Andrea’s car, setting off an improbable car chase and ending in detention.

For Andrea, it’s the last straw. Why is it that Joules, breaker of all rules, living a life of luxury, gets off so easy? Why does she have everything, including a cool famous dad, and Andrea has nothing, not even her parents’ full attention?

In a modern, hip take on the classic Freaky Friday story, Tish Cohen delivers a fresh look at wishing your life was someone else’s."

Okay, I loved Freaky Friday when I was younger. That book is hilarious! Not sure how similar this one is — I'm assuming they actually switch bodies? Anyway it sounds like it could be a humorous read!

What books are you waiting on?

Talk is "Cheep"!

I have a confession to make:
 
I have never been a fan of books with talking animals.

I don't mean animals that use onomatopoeia to communicate, I mean honest-to-goodness apparently-speaking-in-English animals. Lots of kids' books seem to have very gregarious four-legged creatures and I know children often love them, but I was not one of those children.

Small Review posted recently about some things that turn her off certain books, and one of them was talking animals. My comment turned into a little rant and so I thought I'd do a whole discussion post about it here. I'm trying to figure out why exactly I dislike some talking animal stories and not others (because there are exceptions, certainly), and I also wanted to get everyone else's opinions about it.

I think it boils down to a few key questions:

A) Who do these animals talk to?

Namely, is it:

1) Only to each other? For instance, in Watership Down, Redwall, Babe, The Cricket in Times Square, and Silverwing, the animals are the protagonists, and if humans are involved, they're not on speaking terms with them. For the most part I think I wasn't big on these books because I couldn't connect with the main characters, since they were all animals.

Plus Watership Down was just plain creepy.

2) To human characters as well? The Chronicles of Narnia, James and the Giant Peach, Winnie-the-Pooh, the Wizard of Oz, the Doctor Dolittle series and the Phantom Tollbooth are all examples of this. Generally I liked books in this category more, I think because there were human protagonists and I could relate to them better. I wasn't a big Narnia fan, though, and I really didn't like James and the Giant Peach (although I think that was more because I strongly dislike most insects).

The beavers from Narnia are multi-talented. Not only do they talk, they even cook dinner!

B) Is this story set...

1.) In the real world? For example, Charlotte's Web is set on an ordinary farm, The Wind in the Willows near a river in the British countryside, James and the Giant Peach starts out at a cottage in England by the sea, and Doctor Dolittle travels all over the world. Somehow it always seemed to me very contradictory to have all the limitations of our actual world cast aside when it came to animals' linguistic abilities.

Wilbur: "I can talk! I can actually, factually, talk!" Me: Please don't.

2.) In a fantasy world? The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Perloo the Bold, Redwall, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Alice in Wonderland all fit here.

Even the White Witch doesn't approve of talking animals. Especially not talking lions.

C) Is the animal-talking due to magic of some kind?

In The Goose Girl the main character Isi is able to mind-speak with her horse. And Tamora Pierce's heroine Daine, from the Immortals series, also has an ability to mentally communicate with animals. I find the whole thing much easier to swallow if it is presented this way, probably because I'm not trying to picture animals moving their jaws and physically producing the English language.


D) Are these animals really humans who just shapeshift?

Because if they're werewolves or were-tigers or were-elephants or whatever, then for the most part I think of them as human. And it seems the general rule for writing shapeshifters is to have them communicate mentally anyway.

Yep, Jacob Black looks human enough to me... :D

End result: if there is *nothing* fantastical about the story apart from the talking animals, and it's set in the real world...chances are I'm not going to go for it. If it's set in another world or there's magic aplenty going on, well, I've already suspended my disbelief somewhat, so I can afford to suspend it a little more. Let's face it, if there are dragons or animated playing cards in that world, then talking animals are the least of your problems.

Don't worry about talking animals...worry about talking DRAGONS.

Oddly enough, my aversion to books with talking animals does not carry over to movies. I loved the Charlotte's Web movie when I was younger, and many Disney movies with their infamous animal sidekicks. I think this might be because the movies actually visualize it for me, so I kind of *have* to believe the animals are talking when I see them doing so on screen.

So, what about you guys? Love talking animals in books? Hate them? Like them only when they talk to each other? Tolerate them, but barely? Let me know!

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

This meme is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and this week's topic is bookish pet peeves. I haven't done a Top Ten Tuesday post in a while (too long!) so I'm happy to be back at it.

And so, in no particular order, my bookish pet peeves are...

1.) When the jacket description doesn't remotely resemble what the book's actually about. You think: "Awesome, this book is going to be all about {insert-exciting-topic-here}!" and then you read it and realize that {insert-exciting-topic-here} is mentioned exactly once, as a sidenote. Not cool.

2.) When the jacket description gives too much away and so for the majority of the book you know exactly what's going on even when the main character doesn't. This is particularly deadly if it's a mystery.

3.) When the illustration/model on the cover doesn't look anything like the main character, or there are other inaccuracies that make you go, "HUH? But there is no black cat in Hex Hall! How did *you* get in there?"

4.) When there are stickers or library bar codes that obscure the MOST IMPORTANT part of the cover image. Case in point:

Chapters, you have made this book into Girl v. Weird Being With An Orange $2 Head instead.

5.) Love triangles where it's really obvious to the reader which guy the author wants the heroine to get with (this often means I end up rooting for the other guy because he doesn't seem quite so perfect).

6.) Love triangles where the girl flits between two guys, absolutely unable to make up her mind, and neither of them calls her on it.

7.) Books that address some psychological issue inaccurately. I majored in psychology so it really bugs me when they misrepresent a disorder or whatever because they're basing it on pop psychology misconceptions rather than real research.

8.) Plot holes. Obvious, gaping plot holes that make me wonder if the editor was on their break when the book went to production.

9.) Annoying or despicable main characters that I just can't get behind. Wuthering Heights, I'm looking at you.

10.) TOO MUCH ANGST. Sorry emo teenagers, but I can only stand so much.

I could keep going here, really, but that's 10 now so I'll stop. I actually quite enjoyed making this list!

What are your bookish pet peeves?

In My Mailbox (20)

In this meme, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, we share the books we've received, bought or taken out from the library.

Won:

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker, from Jill Scribbles (thanks very much, Jill!) — can't wait to read this one! It looks like so much fun.

Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee (from Goodreads)

From the library:

Warped by Maurissa Guibord
XVI by Julia Karr
Grace by Elizabeth Scott

A Cornucopia of Dystopia Giveaway Schedule

A Cornucopia of Dystopia kicks off tomorrow! Here's what the giveaway schedule is looking like right now:

March:

21 – Loud Words & Sounds – Awaken cover redesign contest

22 – I Swim For Oceans – Awaken

23 – Musings of a YA Reader – Memento Nora

24 – Down the Rabbit Hole – XVI cover redesign contest

27 – Midnight Bloom Reads – Awaken

29 – Supernatural Snark – Memento Nora

April:

1 – The Book Worms – Memento Nora
5 – A Tapestry of Words – Awaken
7 – A Tapestry of Words – Enclave

12 – Books in the Spotlight – Memento Nora + international giveaway

14 – 365 Days of Reading – Dark Parties; The Bookish Type - Enclave
16 – The Bookish Type – Bumped

17 – Literary Explorations – signed Delirium

There will also be one larger giveaway for my Canadian readers (sorry, but shipping outside of Canada is crazily expensive) going on throughout the event on my blog, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Also, the event schedule, which you can find here, is subject to change, so be sure to check back on my blog or Casey's for the latest version.