Book-Crush Wednesday (7)

Today's book crush is on a book that pretty much everyone in the country is crushing on. So many people, in fact, that in its VERY FIRST WEEK, this book, by a DEBUT AUTHOR, made it to number SEVEN on the NYT Bestsellers list for children's chapter books. (The fact that this is my seventh book-crush Wednesday? Mostly a coincidence. OR IS IT??)

That's right, readers, today we're talking PARANORMALCY, and all its awesomeness. I thought instead of me rambling for paragraphs on end like I normally do, I'd list the

Seven Reasons Why I Loved Paranormalcy

1. PINK.As I mentioned in my discussion of How to Say Goodbye in Robot, I'm not above loving a book based on its color. And Paranormalcy is just FULL of pink. There's pink on the cover, pink in main character Evie's wardrobe, pink sparkles on a bleeping TASER. I mean, come on. How much more bad-ass can you get? Yeah, not even a little bit more. That's what I thought.

2.The WTF Factor. Seriously. This book will keep you guessing. I mentioned the other day how being a writer has basically ruined my ability to enjoy reading, and part of the reason is because I can often spot the plot twists and turns - I know to look for them, so I can guess when they're coming. But as I was reading Paranormalcy, I kept formulating different theories. "OMG. That person is the bad guy." "No, wait. THAT person is the bad guy." "Uhm, DUH!! That person is SOOOO the bad guy!!" And for a book to keep me guessing the whole way through? Yeah. Bleeping awesome.

3. Witty dialogue. Earlier this year, I read Hex Hall, and my blog (and brain) had an explosion over the awesome voice that Rachel Hawkins gave Sophie. Evie is similarly awesome, and I can see why Kiersten and Rachel have said that Sophie and Evie would be OMGTOTALBFFs - except they would never talk like that, and would probably be making fun of me right now for saying something that lame in the first place. (Ugh, I would be SUCH a loser in the paranormal world.) Seriously, though. For awhile now I've been wanting to go out and get a notebook to write down memorable passages for inspiration...well, I didn't make it to the store until after I was three-quarters of the way through Paranormalcy, but then I had to go back through and find all my favorite moments. Because I knew my notebook wouldn't be complete without them.

4. Swoonage. Kiersten manages to make things like hand holding, kisses on the forehead, and television watching totally swoon-worthy. I had no idea how, but it's done, and it's awesome. I got that fluttery, first-crush feeling all over again, which I first felt when I was majorly crushing on David Smith in middle school. (He totally broke my heart, by the way. But that's a different angsty blog post altogether.) Plus, there's a character who is literally a DIFFERENT HOT GUY every time he's on the page, so no matter what kind of hottie floats your boat, Kiersten's got you covered.

5. It's totally fresh. I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not into your average paranormal adventures. Actually, that statement isn't really true - paranormal adventures I LOVE - paranormal romances on the other hand? I'm getting tired of them. Just about the last thing I want to read is yet another story about a totally average girl who falls in love with a handsome-but-dangerous immortal who is, for some reason, attending high school for the 1,000th time, and the mayhem that ensues as a result of their forbidden love. But Paranormalcy is different. It's not a paranormal romance, but there is romance in it. It's not a satire of the genre, but it's funny as all bleep. It's not a mystery, a thriller, a suspense novel, or a Stephen-King style horror - but it has elements of all of those genres. Basically, it's awesome and unique and will change the way you think about paranormal books.

6. Evie. Have I mentioned my dogs before? Yes? Once or twice? Well one of my dogs is named Evie. When I met Kiersten, of course I mentioned this to her, and she kindly informed me that her Evie's name is pronounced differently than mine (mine is Eve-ee, hers is Ev-ee). But still. Anyway, that's not really the point. (I just wanted to mention my dog again. Because look how cute she is!) The point is that Evie? Kiersten's Evie? She is WOW. She's a girl and not ashamed to be one. She loves shopping and pink (though I think we covered that) and cares about her appearance and worries about normal girl things like making friends. But she's also tough when she needs to be, stands up for herself, kicks some paranormal butt, and is so loyal. And then she's vulnerable and asks for help when she needs to and is so HURT and complicated. And she's so bleeping funny. I think she's a great female main character, strong but not too strong, approachable and someone people can relate to but still totally messed up and twisty on the inside. 

7. Kiersten. You guys. Kiersten White is awesome. And not just because she's written a totally amazing book, but she just is awesome. We met at SCBWI - she was staying on the same hall as my roommate and I, along with her roommate Stephanie Perkins (who, I'm sure, will be getting her own book-crush post in the future with her lovely Anna and the French Kiss). We ran into Kiersten everywhere - in the elevator, in workshops, getting coffee, at the cocktail party. I mean, she was pretty much stalking us. But she was a totally adorable and gracious stalker, and every time she had a friendly smile and witty remark for us. She was totally approachable and humble. Also, her blog is great. I really couldn't be happier for her, and if anyone was going to be successful with their debut book this month, I'm so, so glad it's Kiersten. (But I'm also glad that more than one person can be successful this month.)

So, in short...Paranormalcy is awesome. It's pink (or some of it is, anyway.) You should buy it. You should read it. You should talk about how awesome it is to everyone you know.