Guide to Verse Novels: More Suggested Reads

So after buying and reading everything by Lisa Schroeder and Sonya Sones, I am now working my way through Ellen Hopkin's novels.  If Crank is anything to go by I know I am in for some great reading!  In addition to those three authors I also did my usual thing and looked for as many books in verse as possible  Unfortunately, much to my disappointment, my current bank balance is preventing me from buying them all, but here are all the ones I've found.  I think they all sound amazing!  I've also included a link to a preview if I've found one:)



Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall by Wendy Mass
Pieces of Georgia by Jen Bryant  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)



Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Jinx by Margaret Wild (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)



Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Geography of Girlhood by Kirsten Smith



Realm of Possibility by David Levithan (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Heartbeat by Sharon Creech  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Out Of The Dust by Karen Hesse (Google Books Preview)



Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill  (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz (Amazon Browse Inside Preview)
Kissing Annabel by Steven Herrick

Let me know in the comments section if there are any other great verse novels that you've read that I haven't listed here and I'll add them to the list:)

Guide to Verse Novels: Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins has written 7 Verse Novels for young adults:

Crank

From Goodreads:
Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina -- she's fearless.

Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul -- her life.

You can read a preview via Simon & Schuster's Browse inside here

---

Glass

From Goodreads:
"Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it's all the same: a monster. And once it's got hold of you, this monster will never let you go."

A sequel to Crank, this harrowing and disturbing look at addiction finds protagonist Kristina Snow thinking she can use drugs yet control the consequences. Now with a baby to care for, she's determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is too strong and, before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grips. She needs the monster to keep going, to face the pressures of day-to-day life. She will do anything for it, including giving up the only thing that makes her truly happy.

Read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse inside)

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Fallout

From Goodreads:
Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow's five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years.

Hunter is nineteen, angry, getting by in college with a job at a radio station, a girlfriend he loves in the only way he knows how, and the occasional party. He's struggling to understand why his mother left him, when he unexpectedly meets his rapist father, and things get even more complicated. Autumn lives with her single aunt and alcoholic grandfather. When her aunt gets married, and the only family she's ever known crumbles, Autumn's compulsive habits lead her to drink. And the consequences of her decisions suggest that there's more of Kristina in her than she'd like to believe. Summer doesn't know about Hunter, Autumn, or their two youngest brothers, Donald and David. To her, family is only abuse at the hands of her father's girlfriends and a slew of foster parents. Doubt and loneliness overwhelm her, and she, too, teeters on the edge of her mother's notorious legacy. As each searches for real love and true family, they find themselves pulled toward the one person who links them together—Kristina, Bree, mother, addict. But it is in each other, and in themselves, that they find the trust, the courage, the hope to break the cycle.

Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicling the family's story, FALLOUT is the stunning conclusion to the trilogy begun by CRANK and GLASS, and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person's problem.

You can read an excerpt on the Simon & Schuster website here

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Burned

From Goodreads:
Raised in a stern, abusive Mormon household, a teenage girl starts to question her religion and struggles to find her destiny.

Her father is abusive, her mother is submissive, and her church looks the other way. Confused and angry, Pattyn Von Stratten acts out and is sent to live with an aunt on a Nevada ranch. She finds the love and acceptance she craves, with disturbing consequences.

Simon & Schuster Browse inside preview can be found here

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Impulse

From Goodreads:
Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.

The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want-except his family's love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother's child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.

Preview the book here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse Inside)

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Identical

From Goodreads:
In the latest hard-hitting YA novel by the New York Times bestselling author, 16-year-old identical twin girls must come to terms with their abusive father.

Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for Congress. Everything on the surface of their lives seems Norman Rockwell perfect, but underneath run deep and damaging secrets.

Kaeleigh is the good girl-her father's perfect flower, something she has tried so hard to be since she was nine and he started sexually abusing her. She cuts herself and vomits after every binge, desperate to feel something normal. Raeanne uses painkillers, drugs, alcohol, and sex to numb the pain of not being Daddy's favorite. Both girls must figure out how to become whole, but how can they when their world has been torn to shreds?

Writing in her characteristic narrative poetry style, Ellen Hopkins shows once again how well she knows today's teens and the issues that matter to them.

You can preview the book here (via Google Book Preview)

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Tricks

From Goodreads:
Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching...for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story -- a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, "Can I ever feel okay about myself?"

Preview the book here (via Simon & Schuster's Browse Inside)

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Other places you can find Ellen:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Check back later today for my review of Crank.

In the meantime here are some videos for you to check out:)

What my Girlfriend Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

Review contains spoliers for What My Mother Doesn't Know

From Goodreads:
My name is Robin.

This book is about me.

It tells the story of what happens when after almost 15 pathetic years of loserdom, the girl of my dreams finally falls for me.

That seems like it would be a good thing, right? Only it turns out to be a lot more complicated than that.

Because I'm not gonna lie to you -- there are naked women involved. Four of them, to be exact. Though not in the way you might think.

Don't get me wrong -- my girlfriend's amazing. But the way things have been going lately, I'm starting to believe that the only thing worse than not getting what you want, is getting it.

Not only was I really please that we get a sequel to What My Mother Doesn't Know but I was really pleased it was going to be told from Robin's point of view.

The story starts of at the exact place What My Mother Doesn't Know finished and follows the aftermath of Sophie's decision. I really enjoyed seeing this from Robin's point of view as well as getting to see Sophie through his eyes.  I loved Robin in What My Mother Doesn't Know but I adored him in this. I loved how he is with Sophie and even though he makes a few mistakes it obvious that he's just a really sweet guy.

Another aspect that plays a big part in this one is art. I loved the way Sophie and Robin communicated through it - the whole story board make up was great!  I also liked how the two of them coped with the backlash over their relationship.  Having read the previous book I had a really good idea of how much it was hurting Sophie and I was really, really annoyed at her friends for behaving the way they did.  I'm not sure if I would be particularly forgiving!  But I loved the whole T-Shirt thing.  Very clever!

Again Sonya Sones infuses this story with great humour. Her books are just great fun to read and this time even the way the poems are presented on the page have meaning too. A couple of times these are hilarious! You'll understand what I mean when you read it.

I think this one will have to share the top spot with One of Those Hideous Books Where The Mother Dies as my favorites of Sones books. I loved it!

What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones

From Goodreads:
My name is Sophie.
This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also of my second.
And, okay, my third love too.

It's not that I'm boy crazy.
It's just that even though
I'm almost fifteen
it's like
my mind
and my body
and my heart
just don't seem to be able to agree
on anything.

This was a fun read.  When we first meed Sophie she is dating Dylan, a really good looking and popular boy from her school.  Things are great to begin with but then Sophie starts to feel differently...

I enjoyed taking Sophie's journey through her first experiences with love - discovering that it's not what someone looks like but who they are that matters. I absolutely loved her for her decision at the end (you will need to read it to understand what I mean) and it set's up the next book perfectly.  The story also explores Sophie's home life and her relationship with her mother and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

I love how Sonya Sones manages to really capture life as a teen and to infuse it with humour.  She really captures relationships well too and reading her books are always great fun.  I really enjoyed it and as soon as I finished it I grabbed the sequel (which is awesome!).

Guide to Verse Novels: Sonya Sones

Sonya Sones has written four verse novels for young adults:

Stop Pretending

From Goodreads: It happens just like that, in the blink of an eye. An older sister has a mental breakdown and has to be hospitalized. A younger sister is left behind to cope with a family torn apart by grief and friends who turn their backs on her. But worst of all is the loss of her big sister, her confidante, her best friend, who has gone someplace no one can reach.

In the tradition of The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Lisa, Bright and Dark comes this haunting first book told in poems, and based on the true story of the author's life.

2000 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA) and 2000 Quick Picks for Young Adults (Recomm. Books for Reluctant Young Readers)

You can read my review here and read a preview here (HarperCollins Browse Inside)

---

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

From Goodreads: Fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken leaves her best friend, her boyfriend, her aunt, and her mother's grave in Boston and reluctantly flies to Los Angeles to live with her father, a famous movie star who divorced her mother before Ruby was born.


You can read my review here and read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster Browse Inside)





----

What My Mother Doesn't Know
From Goodreads:
My name is Sophie.
This book is about me.
It tells
the heart-stoppingly riveting story
of my first love.
And also of my second.
And, okay, my third love too.
It's not that I'm boy crazy.
It's just that even though
I'm almost fifteen
it's like
my mind
and my body
and my heart
just don't seem to be able to agree
on anything.

You can read an excerpt on the Simon & Schuster Website here

-----

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know
From Goodreads:
My name is Robin.
This book is about me.
It tells the story of what happens
when after almost 15 pathetic years of loserdom,
the girl of my dreams finally falls for me.
That seems like it would be
a good thing, right?
Only it turns out to be
a lot more complicated than that
Because I'm not gonna lie to you --
there are naked women involved.
Four of them, to be exact.
Though not in the way you might think.
Don't get me wrong -- my girlfriend's amazing.
But the way things have been going lately,
I'm starting to believe that the only thing worse
than not getting what you want,
is getting it..

You can read a preview here (via Simon & Schuster Browse Inside)

---

Three of her books have all recently had new cover designs with I think are fab! Check them out below:

Places you can find Sonya:

Website
Goodreads
My Space
Facebook

Check back later for a quick Q&A with Sonya:)

Reviews for What My Mother Doesn't Know and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know will be posted tomorrow:)

Guest Post: Lisa Schroeder

I'm absolutely thrilled to present a guest post by Lisa Schroeder...



Why I write in verse.

Probably the most common question I get about my books is - why verse? Some people love it. They love how the verse gets to the emotional core of the story. They love the way the story plays out, scene by scene, in the most poetic way possible. Other people don't like it as much. Some miss the beautiful descriptions some books have that fill in details about people, places, and more. Other people have said they think it's a waste of paper to have so few words on them.

When I wrote my first novel, I had a dream about a girl whose boyfriend died, and he loved her so much, he didn't want to leave her, and came back as a ghost. I didn't know a lot of information when I sat down to write. I didn't know how he died. I didn't know what the hauntings would look like. But I knew it wasn't not going to be a scary ghost story as much as it would be a love story.

The story wanted to come out in a sparse, poetic way. I wrote about ten pages and thought - what am I doing? As if selling a novel isn't hard enough, now I'm going to make it harder by writing in this strange format? But I liked what I had so I kept going. I had been a fan of verse novels by authors like Sonya Sones and Ellen Hopkins and Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, but I had never tried to write one.

What I found is that I really enjoyed it. I'm often not good at long, beautiful descriptions. Trying to find a poetic way to describe something, though, that came more easily for me.

So now, I've written four novels in verse (the fourth one is coming out next year called THE DAY BEFORE) and I realize why I like the format for these stories. It creates an atmosphere I can't create with prose. In FAR FROM YOU, the fear Alice felt in the snow and cold was made stronger through the atmosphere of the verse. In CHASING BROOKLYN, two characters are dealing with their grief in their own way, and the verse allowed me to really get at that grief in a unique way, I think.

Not all stories work in verse, however. I'd probably argue, most don't. If you need a lot of dialogue, for example, to tell the story, verse isn't going to work because dialogue that's realistic isn't going to be poetic.

For me, writing a verse novel is no different than writing one written in prose. For other authors, I know it is. They write different poems and move them around, but I write the story from the beginning to end. To me, story is still the most important thing. You have to have an interesting story, or readers will set the book down, regardless of how pretty the verse is. So I work hard on story, and for me, telling a story works best writing it from beginning to end. I usually know a few things about my character and what's happening, and the rest I let play out as I write. I'm very much about discovering things as I write - it keeps it fresh and interesting for me, and hopefully for the reader as well.

To those people who are afraid of verse novels, I hope you'll try one and just see what you think!! I promise, my novels are very accessible - the poetry doesn't make them hard to understand. In fact, they are especially great for teens who don't really like to read, because they move quickly, there are no chapters to wade through, and they often are shorter than regular novels.

Happy reading! And thanks so much for having me here on your blog!

----
Thanks Lisa!  I can't wait to read The Day Before!

If you missed it yesterday you can check out my 'Guide to Verse Novels: Lisa Schroeder' and my reviews for I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Far From You and Chasing Brooklyn.

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

From Goodreads:
Restless souls and empty hearts.

Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca died a year ago, and now their friend Gabe has died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there, waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca chasing her through her dreams.

Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying so hard not to feel the pain of missing Lucca. But when he begins receiving messages from his dead brother, telling him to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

I adore Lisa Schroeder's writing.  There is just something about it that completely captures my attention - it's as if she has the ability to strip down a story to the perfect number of words and then makes them as beautiful as possible.  I wish I could explain it more articulately - but for me her writing just has it.  I'm starting to think she could make a shopping list sound fabulous!  So perhaps I should apologise in advance for what is going to be a rather gushing review of Chasing Brooklyn.

Having read and loved I Heart You, You Haunt Me, and absolutely adored Far From You I'm just blown away by Chasing Brooklyn.  I loved the story, the characterisation - it make me laugh and cry and I want to start at the beginning and experience it all over again.

The story is centered around two main characters: Brooklyn, who's boyfriend Lucca died a year ago and Nico, Lucca's brother.  Although a year has past both are finding it hard to move on with their lives.  Brooklyn no longer draws and all Nico can think to do is keep running.  When another boy from their school dies of an overdose it hits them both hard.  Because Gabe was Lucca's friend, and he was also the boy driving the car that killed Lucca.  Now he haunts Brooklyn and Nico starts to get messages from Lucca to help Brooklyn.  So Nico contacts Brooklyn, starting the friendship they both desperately need.

One of the things that still amazes me about verse novels is how much story and characterisation can still be present in what can be a quick read.  But believe me it is!  In this case, having the story told from both Nico and Brooklyn worked brilliantly and I instantly knew who was narrating.  Brooklyn came across as incredibly sweet and Nico was just really kind and nice.  I absolutely adored him, and the relationship that grows between him and Brooklyn is just so lovely - something that wasn't just about being attracted to someone but based on friendship and genuine feelings.

The story also deals with the realities of grief and loss in such an honest way - showing the devastation of losing someone close to you and how easy it could be to lose yourself in grief.  To just isolate yourself so you don't run the risk of getting hurt again.  I loved how the story had me crying one minute and laughing the next - usually at one of Nico's attempts to lighten the mood.  It was just brilliantly done and it's definitely my favourite book of hers so far.

I really, really loved this book and hope you give it a try.  Utterly brilliant!

Guide to Verse Novels: Lisa Schroeder

Lisa Schroeder is the author of three verse novels for young adults:

I Heart You, You Haunt Me.
From Goodreads: 
Girl meets boy.
Girl loses boy.
Girl gets boy back...
...sort of.

Ava can't see him or touch him, unless she's dreaming. She can't hear his voice, except for the faint whispers in her mind. Most would think she's crazy, but she knows he's here.

Jackson. The boy Ava thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. He's back from the dead, as proof that love truly knows no bounds.


You can read my review here and check out a preview of the book here ( via Google Book's preview). 
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Far From You.
From Goodreads: 
Lost and alone...down the rabbit hole

Years have passed since Alice lost her mother to cancer, but time hasn't quite healed the wound. Alice copes the best she can, by writing her music, losing herself in the love of her boyfriend, and distancing herself from her father and his new wife.

But when a deadly snowstorm traps Alice with her stepmother and newborn half-sister, she'll face issues she's been avoiding for too long. As Alice looks to the heavens for guidance, she discovers something wonderful.

Perhaps she's not so alone after all...

You can read my review here and check out a preview of the book here ( via Google Book's preview).
-----

Chasing Brooklyn.
From Goodreads:
Restless souls and empty hearts.

Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca died a year ago, and now their friend Gabe has died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there, waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca chasing her through her dreams.

Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying so hard not to feel the pain of missing Lucca. But when he begins receiving messages from his dead brother, telling him to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

You can check out a preview of the book here ( via Simon & Schuster's browse inside).
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Lisa Schroeder's fourth book, The Day Before is being published by Simon Pulse in June 2011

You can find Lisa at the following places:

Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
YouTube

Also, check back tomorrow for a review of Chasing Brooklyn and a guest post by Lisa! 

I'll leave you with some book trailers - enjoy:)

Chasing Brooklyn:





I Heart You, You Haunt Me:

Welcome to Verse Week :-)

So, what are verse novels exactly? Well according to Wikipedia:

'A verse novel is a type of narrative poetry in which a novel-length narrative is told through the medium of poetry rather than prose.'

Now!  I have to be honest here.  If you had asked me a few years ago if I would enjoy reading a verse novel I would have (politely) told you that you were insane. I would even go as far as saying there were books I actively took off my ‘wish list’ purely because I discovered they were written in verse. I had no interest in reading poetry so I definitely had no interest reading a novel that was told through poetry!

But then I picked up I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder. I had read so many great reviews for it that it had really sparked my interest.. So I read the first page - just to see.   And I was completely and utterly captured by the story. And, much to my surprise I actually found the fact it was written in verse made it that much better. I absolutely loved it and couldn’t wait to try another.

Much to my delight I have enjoyed all the verse novels I’ve read so far. I have really enjoyed finding new authors and a new ‘reading experience’ and I really wanted to share that with you.

So  - Welcome to Verse Week and my (latest) addiction.  The aim of the week is to share with you lots of verse related posts.  I have picked three authors to highlight as a Guide to Verse novels, have a list of suggested reads, reviews, a Q&A with Sonya Sones and a guest post by Lisa Schroeder. I'll be doing a couple of posts a day so there should be lots for you to check out!

Hope you all enjoy the week and thanks for stopping by:-)

Verse Week:18-24 October

Having just recently discovered verse novels they have become something of an addiction for me so I thought I would channel that into a Verse Week.  It will run 18th - 24th October and I've got a lot of verse related goodness, including: 

• A guest post by Lisa Schroeder 
• A quick Q&A with Sonya Sones 
• Reviews 
• A guide to Verse Novels  
• A Giveaway.

Hope you stop by and check it out:)