I AM SO EXCITED THIS IS OUT. Thank you, Michelle, for being awesome and rocking so hard and being so patient with me as I liiiived my dreeeam of a co-review. :D

Read on for Nerds Heart YA shenanigans! Be sure to check out Part Two, as well!

 

Two boys, two stories, and all the vagaries of family, friends, and love interests.

Dylan: a creative kid from New York, artistically inclined and hopelessly in love with his best friend, playing it safe in all quarters while in the background his parents marriage has exploded and his brother is on the fast track to becoming a drug dealer–Dylan feels more disconnected from all of his family members than ever. And what does he do about the girl, anyway?

Charlie: tall and awkward, geek to the core, he can’t seem to fit in anywhere: not at school with his peers nor at home with his parents. Finding a boyfriend seems impossible in his small town and his best friend has moved on to a steady girlfriend, leaving him behind and lonely. Maybe the new boy at school will change things up, and Charlie will feel like he belongs to someone for the first time ever…but belonging comes with its own issues.

Nerds Heart YA Round Three, Match Two, Part One: Michelle and Renay throwdown on which dude takes the prize and moves on to compete against My Most Excellent Year. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to very first (of many) co-reviews featuring me, YA Fabulous! proprietor and one of my book-loving, endlessly-peer-pressured-into-doing-book-discussions-and-co-reviews friends. Today I’m sharing my book discussion of Peeps (also known as Parasite Positive) by Scott Westerfeld with Susan. I trust her taste implicitly—and I’m blackmailing her with promises of steamy fanfiction to be here. But who needs pesky facts? Onward!

Scott Westerfeld is a household name in the kidlitosphere. I see his books reviewed consistently throughout various blogs and his accomplishments in the field of YA science fiction are no small feat. I know him best for his trilogy that begins with Uglies but it’s safe to say his other work is just as well-loved. When John Scalzi, Hugo award winning and genre criticism/commentary writer says you’re the bomb, it’s pretty much a done deal.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: The most significant SF writer right now is Scott Westerfeld, whom it seems most adult science fiction fans still have not read and indeed barely know exists. In a sane world, Westerfeld would be a hero to adult science fiction readers, because he’s pretty much single-handedly flown the flag for science fiction to teenagers, thus saving the genre’s bacon for another 20 years.

Because I have never been steered wrong by John Scalzi, it pains me to admit that before Susan suggested this book to me, I hadn’t read a single word Scott Westerfeld had written which probably kicks my YA credentials right in the balls. Shameful.

If you haven’t read Peeps/Parasite Positive and plan to in the future as part of your completion fantasy of reading every YA vampire novel available, turn back now! This co-review is full of spoilers. Otherwise, follow the jump for our discussion. Read the rest of this entry »