Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin + Contest + Reminder!

Pub date - August, 2009 (I want to say 25th but I'm not positive)

Sophie Blue is sarcastic, artistic, and always decked out in black leather and Midnight Noir lipstick. A year ago on her birthday, her dad left. Or spontaneously combusted. Or joined an Amazonian cult. Either way, it's sorta bad timing, since a scary Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. He's got the cheerleader, the scoring title, the matching sweat suit, and sneakers that cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.
(book flap blurb)

This book is nine different level of FUCKING AWESOME! I don't know what's better; the total snark attack or the fact that the plot is so FUBAR that you have to read it again and again and again because it's twisted your brain into a knot and no matter how much you squint, you just can't untie it.

This is not a book you can just skim through because if you do, you'll be more lost than Hansel and Gretel. You have to pay attention. And if you do, you will be amply rewarded and quite possibly become a Sean Beadoin fangirl/boy by the end of it.

It starts off so linear. A little odd, but linear, normal. Your regular, slightly funky story. And then the weird shit gets weirder but running right along next to it, the fuzziness of all of the situations starts to get clearer. I'm sure that makes zero sense. Weirder and weirder but clearer and clearer. I'm not about to spoil and if I say anything about anything, it'll give it away. Just trust me on this.

I love the language of the characters. It's probably the most realistic I've read in any YA book (which is one big bucket of ironic considering the story, read it and you'll get me). It's not that faux trying-to-be-hip-and-current language that the likes of other YA books try to sound like. The dialogue, the jam, just read so naturally. The OS's upspeak is the shit. Because you know you know someone that sounds like they end all their sentences in questions. You know you do. But how often is that portrayed in YA despite the fact that it goes on all the time? Rarely. You get authors trying to bank on the dialogue but never on the actual patterns. Beaudoin does that. He doesn't rely on colloquialisms of the day to get through. It's all about sentence structure. You know "they" say that that good writers can portray accents not through phonetics but through structure. And it's true.

And this is quite possibly one of the most intricately written books I've ever read. And not just in YA. There is nothing simple in this book despite how simple it appears or how you think you've got it all figured out. You're wrong. The skill that a writer needs to write something so non-linear and so utterly fucked up but keep it this intact and understandable is phenomenal. It makes my writing so one dimensional and makes Beaudoin's look like a nine-sided Rubik's Cube. Sure, everything comes together in the end . . . except there's that one stupid red square in with all those yellows that just . . . won't . . . go . . . back . . .

I have nothing to complain about with this book. And you all know me. Even if I love it there's usually something I can point out. Nope. Not here. I wouldn't call it perfect but this is the kind of writing I'm jealous of. If you like books that really make you think while holding you on the edge of your seat while you flip page after page after page because it's your crack, read this. Read it now. Even the comic in the middle is wicked. A book with pictures! Yay! But seriously. Read it.



CONTEST TIME!!!

You want a signed copy of Fade to Blue? Here's your chance. Comment with your email and answer the following question to enter - If you could be anyone else, who would you be and why? You must answer the question for your entry to count.

+ 1 for new followers
+2 for current followers
+2 for linking to the contest (up to three links for a total of 6 points)

I want to stress that this contest is open to US residents only! Ends August 18th.

Reminder!

Today is the last day to enter my Strange But True American contest! Be sure to get your entries in by midnight, EST!

24 comments:

Brooke Reviews said...

This sounds good! I'd like to read it. If I could be ANYONE else for a day...tough call. It's a tie between my dog or the president. lol Drastic right?

I'm a current follower.
bacarleton(at)gmail(dot)com

a flight of minds said...

Wow, this sounds so interesting. I'm turned off by the cover, but after reading the description and your review, I think I'll have to go read it. I'd enter the contest, but I'm canadian. :( Great review!

- Alex

Jamey Genna said...

If I could be anyone for a day, I'd be my ten year old daughter--gets to go swimming whenever she wants, doesn't have a job, gets to eat chocolate without repercussions, reading books for the first time, skinny and looks good no matter what kind of haircut she's got, and everybody likes her. All she ever wants is a new puppy.

throuthehaze said...

I would be by kid self again. Life was much simpler when I was a kid.

+2 current follower

throuthehaze at gmail dot com

Turtle said...

+2 current follower

i would not really want to be someone else, just shape and mold a few things about the current me!

Amy said...

Gotta read this1 The cover kind of put me off, but the premise does sound quite good! Great review:-)
-amy

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an interesting book...
hmm... I don't think I can want to be anyone else once I've been me. But if I had never been me, and was given a view of everyone in the world, I would probably choose to be No one, because it must be so fun being part of the Non-being.

irma_nomani@yahoo.com

The Lovely Reader said...

Anyone else for a day? I think I would love to live the life of JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter for a day, to see what it is like to be a famous author :)

+2 Current Follower

Emily said...

Please enter me :) Sounds like a pretty cool book.

If I could be anyone else I would be Stephen King...I would love to have that much imagination!

+2 I'm a follower

+2 Added you to my blog sidebar
(redhousebooks.blogspot.com)

WilowRaven[at]yahoo[dot]com

Anonymous said...

This book sounds AWESOME!

+2 follower

libridilectio@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Sounds like my kind of book!

If I could be anyone else I would be Lucy Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia(It doesn't have to be a real person, right?)

+1 New Follower

xclockworkxangelx@gmail.com

Ninja Fanpire said...

+1 If you could be anyone else, who would you be and why?
I'd be somebody famous. I don't know exactly who, because there are different people that I admire. But then, if I was that person, I wouldn't be able to enjoy their work. So.... I'm not sure.

+2 Current Follower

+2 Linked to the contest in a Blog post: http://ninjafanpire.blogspot.com/2009/07/contests_31.html

+2 Linked to the contest on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NinjaFanpire/status/3065617671

Sab H. said...

+2 for current followers
+2 for linking to the contest:
Sidebar: http://crystalreviews.blogspot.com/
+2 twittered (SabriHorande)

crystalreviews[at]gmail.com

Sonja said...

If I could be anyone else, I'd like to be the librarian of The Library (a planet sized library in the 51st century that has every book ever written from the Doctor Who Universe). As for Why I would like to be the librarian, I wouldn't have to bother with my own limited library and dispense with the trouble of inter library loans. And besides -- every book ever published within the reach of my fingers! Also, I could tell all sorts of creatures to be quiet and stare at them quite grimly over my spectacles.

But if only real people count, then Neil Gaiman, because I wouldn't mind having a poke around his very imaginative brain.

+2 for being a current follower.
+2 for linking the contest:

Live Journal Side Bar: http://polemically.livejournal.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sonjanitschke/status/3110224632

And Wordpress: http://sonjanitschke.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/red-alert/

Shawna L. said...

Shawna Lewis
weloveourdogs@juno.com

OMG I have yo have this book!!!!!

+1 I am a follower

+2 I posted this on Twitter
+2 I posted this on Facebook
+2 I posted this on Goodreads

Total 7 points YA!!!!!

The Obsessive Reader said...

+2 for current followers
+2 Pulse It
http://pulseit.simonandschuster.com/_Contest-Giveaway/blog/495995/107649.html
+2 Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/50123-fade-to-blue-contest
+2 My blog
http://theobsessivereader-rachel.blogspot.com/

rconnell94@yahoo.com
Rachel

Hailey said...

I would be my best friend who can eat mounds of food and still be skinny as hell!

+ 1 New follower!

Shadowofwonder47[at]yahoo[dot]com

Anonymous said...

If I could be anyone else in the world, I would probably not choose because if I was not I, I would not be living the life I have now.

speckldharted22(at)aim(dot)com

April (BooksandWine) said...

If I could be anyone else in the world I would want to be an heiress because working a minimum wage job instead of reading SUCKS!

+1 new follower
+2 linked contest in my sidebar
(http://readingisthespiceoflife.blogspot.com)

goodbooksandgoodwine(at)gmail.com

Paradox said...

If you could be anyone else, who would you be and why? - I wouldn't want to be anyone else but me... from the real world. There are a bunch of characters from books I'd like to be. Well, temporarily. Like Hermione Granger.

+2 for current followers
+2 for linking to the contest: http://twitter.com/ParadoxRevealed/status/3374257254

paradoxrevealed (at) aim (dot) com

donnas said...

Please include me.

If I could be anyone else for a day, I would want to be one of the pretty rich that have the time and money to party. But only for 1 day, just to experience it once.

I am a current follower.

Posted on the sidebar here: http://donnasbloghome.blogspot.com/

bacchus76 at myself dot com

Anonymous said...

Mary D
zenrei57 (at) hotmail (dot) com

This book sounds like an UBER FUBAR - I'd love it. Please count me in to win and thank you :)

Now, if I could be anyone in the world I would choose to be GOD (or a reasonable facsimile thereof lol)Why? Hmmm -- well, mainly curiosity I suppose. People all have their own idea of what God can do, or is like, but God could be an energy source or ancient lifeform or who knows what? So I guess I would love to be God and have, hopefully, all my questions answered. Or at least create the perfect fat-free chocolate cake :)

Unknown said...

I would love to be my cat for a day. I would love to just lay around all day.

+2 for current followers
+2 added to sidebar
http://neverendingshelf.blogspot.com

Kate
neverendingshelf@gmail.com

Katie said...

Hmm if I could be anyone else I would have to pick one of my favorite book characters. Maybe Katniss from The Hunger Games because I just love Gale and Peeta!

+2 for current followers

katieb206@gmail.com

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