Tag: books

Erin’s Pick of the Week: Flash Burnout

“Click.
Telephoto lens. Zoom.  In a shutter release millisecond Blake’s world turns upside down. The nameless woman with the snake tattoo is not just another assignment. “That’s my mom!,” gasps Marissa.

Click.
Saturated self-portrait: Blake, nice guy, class clown, always trying to get a laugh, not sure where to focus.

Click.
Contrast. Shannon, Blake’s GF. Total Babe. Marissa, just a friend and fellow photographer. Shannon loves him; Marissa needs him.  How is he supposed to frame them in one shot?
Click.
Chiaroscuro. Lightdark. Marissa again, overexposed.  Crash and burn.

Talk about negative space.

Click.”

– from the inside front flap of Flash Burnout.

Blake is a photographer. Blake is a guy caught between two girls.  Blake is a comedian.  Blake is someone you’re going to want to meet.

Flash Burnout won the William C. Morris Young Adult Fiction Debut Award last year. Author L.K. Madigan passed away last month, leaving behind this and only one other novel.  She was very talented and the book world will miss her.  Honor her by picking up this book.

Erin’s Pick of the Week: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour

A few months ago Amy lost her Dad in a car accident.  Now she is losing her home because she is moving with her Mom from California to Connecticut.  Her mom needs Amy to get their car across the country, but since the accident, Amy hasn’t been driving.  Enter Roger, the son of a family friend, who agrees to drive the car, and Amy to her mother’s new house.

Amy expects a boring trip, with an unknown boy, sticking to her mother’s detailed travel itinerary.  But Roger turns out to be cute, and good at playing twenty questions.  Soon enough, the detailed travel itinerary is replaced by a road trip connecting the dots across the country: where Amy remembers going with her Dad, where Roger remembers being in love with a girl, where Amy always meant to go with her Dad, and where Roger seeks closure from his failed romance.  Along the way are playlists, fast food receipts, lonely roads and a bit of romance.  It turns out this road trip was just thing thing both Amy and Roger needed.  Makes me want to load up my iPod with music, get in the car and drive.

Mortal Instruments Trivia Quiz

Do you love the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare?   The fourth book in this action-packed, romantic, and often hilarious paranormal fantasy series, City of Fallen Angels, is coming out on April 5.  Try your hand at our trivia quiz to win a copy of the new book.

Instructions:

1. Contest is open to teens and adults.

2. Grab a copy of the paper quiz at the display in the teen section at the library, or fill it out online here:
http://tiny.cc/cplmortalinstrumentsquiz

3. Return paper quizzes to the Help Desk.

4. A winner will be selected from the quizzes.  Correct answers and creative responses to why you love this series will improve your chances!

5. The winner will be notified by phone or email on April 5, the book’s release date.  If you win, come to the library to claim your prize.

Erin’s Pick of the Week (or so): Anna and the French Kiss

This incredibly sweet and realistic love story is set in romantic Paris. Anna is sent abroad for her senior year of high school to an elite American boarding school. She was reluctant to leave her life in Atlanta behind her, but quickly falls in with a close-knit group of friends, including the smart, handsome and intriguing Etienne St. Clair. He is from Paris, San Francisco, and London, and has an adorable English accent. He has a girlfriend, she has a boy with potential back home, so while their attraction is apparent to the audience, they decide to be friends. What grows from their friendship is a deep understanding of each other complete with witty banter that blooms, over the course of the book, into love. In addition to swooning over the love story, I really enjoyed the setting of this book. The dorm life aspect is very realistic and all of the Parisian landmarks, cinemas, and patisseries made me want to go to France!

My favorite romance of 2010.