It’s at this time of year that I’m sure many a book-blogger’s mind is starting to compile their review-of-the-year posts, planning to stuff them with book lists, reading stats, challenge results, and much more bookish goodness.

One feature that will almost certainly be present in all of them is the ‘Books/Reads of the Year’ section.

For some of us this will be an easy thing to assemble, half-a-dozen books will instantly be obvious to us (and probably have been all year) without us having to think seriously about it, for others it will more difficult, the initial list will be embarrassingly long, and will need some serious trimming to bring it down to anywhere near a manageable size! For those of us that have had a really bad year’s reading, we might not be able to even think of a single book that deserves the accolade… *shudders at the thought*

My question today is, what criteria do you use to make the final selection?

• Does a book have to be perfect both in terms of the writing and your enjoyment?
• Is it just an enjoyment thing?
• Does the writing have to be exquisite, no matter what your enjoyment levels?
• Or is it some indefinable thing?

One of the reasons I ask is that last year, I had at least one book I enjoyed so much it made the list despite it not being among my top ’starred’ books of the year.

Maia Morland is pretty, only not pretty-pretty. She’s smart. She’s brave. She’s also a self-proclaimed train wreck.

Leigh Hunter is smart, popular, and extremely polite. He’s also completely and forever in love with Maia Morland.

Their young love starts off like a romance novel—full of hope, strength, and passion. But life is not a romance novel and theirs will never become a true romance. For when Maia needs him the most, Leigh betrays both her trust and her love.

Told with compassion and true understanding, After the Moment is about what happens when a young man discovers that sometimes love fails us, and that, quite often, we fail love.

- From the Book Flap

My Thoughts

I quite liked this one. The main character Leigh, is a thoroughly decent teenager, not perfect by any means, but always tries to be a good friend, son, brother, student. Which, when his step-sister Millie’s dad passes away, means he goes to spend a couple of weeks with her.

(Can I just add here how much I wanted to throttle Leigh’s dad and his stepmum, for leaving it to him to arrive and break the news – now I can understand Leigh being the type of guy that would want to do what he can, but what kind of parent (or adult) would add that weight to their son’s shoulders?) Yes, they come good for Leigh in the end, and do what they can and help their kids in the ways in which they feel able, but still…

Anyway, Leigh clearly loves his family and in particular his step-sister, and when soon after he returns home, his sister sends a letter asking him to come and live with them for the year, Leigh always knows what he is going to do.

He, moves his life to help his sister out, living their full time, he starts to spend more time with, Mille’s older friend, Maia.

The way the relationship develops between him and Maia, is tender, slow and touching, and it’s painful when events break them apart.

A certain part of me, thinks I would have enjoyed it a bit more had I known what those events were, just so they weren’t casting such a shadow over the build-up, but then, some of the effect these events have would lose some impact. Still, it is what effect those events have that are most important, and how it informs both their lives ‘after the moment.’

I was also a little uncertain in the opening chapters of the exact family relationships and who was who, but once I had that settled, I had very little to complain about.

A touching and compassionate read.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

About Garret Freymann-Weyr

Garret Freymann-Weyr (née Weyr) was born and raised in New York City. She inexplicably went to college in North Carolina (UNC-Chapel Hill) and, just as inexplicably, got an MFA in film (NYU). She now lives outside Washington, D.C. with her husband. She has written five books for young adults, one of which, somewhat inexplicably, won a Printz honor. Her work has been sold to countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and China. Her next book, French Ducks in Venice, is a picture book for a younger audience.

Website | Facebook

Many Thanks to TLC Book Tours and Garret Freymann-Weyr for sending me this book and allowing me to be part of the book tour!

Previous Tour Stop | Next Tour Stop (Tomorrow)

• Buy, After the Moment by Garrey Freymann-Weyr, from The Book Depository

Not only that, but she got it signed too!

And Secret Santa is Back!

Nymeth, along with her team of helpers is once again hosting the Book Blogger Holiday Swap!

The holiday swap is a way for book bloggers to connect and celebrate the holiday spirit by sharing gifts. It’s done secret Santa style; all of the participants are randomly assigned a blogger to send a gift to, and these assignments are kept secret until the gift has been delivered. So no one knows who their gift is coming from!

You can join in the fun by filling in the Google Form on the event’s introduction post. You have until the 12th of November to do so. You’ll then be randomly assigned another blogger, whose Secret Santa you’ll be!

What with the onset of man-flu the day before the readathon and website server issues just as my mini-challenge slot arrived, I wasn’t in the best states to give a book with dense block of text any attention. So ‘zine’ like mix of formats in this one worked perfectly for me!

The book is about teenager John, who’s life since his parents divorce some years earlier, is a mess. His mother avoids any physical contact with him, and his father would obviously rather me anywhere else on a Friday night than having dinner with his so.

His mother’s new fiancé, whilst a decent bloke, wants the both to up-sticks and move in with him.

His best mate is discovering girls, and well, John hasn’t even decided if he likes girls yet!

In an effort to find some release, he discovers the ‘zine scene, and soon starts his own, calling it ‘Bananafish’ in which John writes articles such as “Interview with the Stepfather” and “Memoirs from Hell”

He soon meets Marisol, creator of “Escape Velocity” one of his favourite ‘zines, and a friendship soon forms with this self-proclaimed “Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian.” A friendship which as it deepens and develops, John mistakes for ‘romantic’ love.

A mistake that leaves the friendship in ruins, and potentially irreparable.

As they both attempt to recover what they’ve lost, John learns that you can’t always get what you want, love can be hard, potential can be found when you’re not looking and sometimes that’s okay.

John and Marisol were both fantastic characters, quirky and adorable, and the development of their friendship was genuinely touching, which made it all the more heart-breaking when it shattered, especially as you could see it coming, but were helpless in stopping it.

As Chris noted, the ending isn’t a happy one, it is tinged with sadness, but it is the right one, and while they can never go back to what they had, they will both carry something forward from each other for the rest of their lives.

A very entertaining, and moving read.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Other Reviews to Consider

• Stuff as Dreams are Made on
• The Book Reader
• Leafing Through Life

Buy,  Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger from the Book Depository

Life for Bat Lash is looking good. His family’s farm is on the up, the local card-sharps have been taken for a ride, and he has the love of a good woman – Dominique, daughter of a wealthy landowner. But Dominique has been promised to the vicious local sheriff, and Bat’s love for her will cause everything in his life to change…

More than once, Bat Lash is gonna have to go for his guns!

- Publishers Blurb

My Thoughts

I’d never heard of Bat Lash before, so even though this one is a new version telling the story of the origins of the hero Bat Lash (the original apparently first appeared in 1968) I had nothing to compare it to. So, when I was looking for some graphic novels to read for last weekend’s readathon. I simply picked it up because it looked the best of a very sorry selection at the library.

What I found was a very fun introduction to the ‘legend’ with crisp story telling, and some excellent (if not particularly stand-out memorable artwork). It’s obvious from the start this is a western out to entertain rather that simply be serious all the time, with plenty of humour and quips to balance out the darker moments.

I really enjoyed the prequel, however I don’t think I’ll be searching out any of the original series.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Just as it seems all hope is lost, the girl returns to her bedroom to find that a tiny red seedling has grown to fill the room with warm light.

- Publisher’s Blurb.

This was my first read for last weekend’s readathon, and it was a perfect one to start with! Short. Moving, and Beautifully illustrated.

It’s a case of pictures saying more that words are able to, with each scene movingly depicting, the main characters feelings of isolation and despair as her day progresses, with short tag-lines and sentences really only there to guide. It is the artwork that does most of the work.

Especially so at the end, when no words are needed to explain that even amongst all that despair, there is hope, and something to look forward to, if you look for it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Other Reviews to Consider.

• Stuff as Dreams are Made on
• Valentina’s Room
• Reading Adventures

Buy, The Red Tree by Shaun Tan from The Book Depository.

Have you read this one? What were your thoughts?

Well it’s the end of the challenge, so it’s time for a round-up, I actually competed the challenge a few weeks ago, but continued to read just for the fun of it!

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As you can see I managed to read eight books for the challenge, the best books were by some margin, The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the any of the others, because I did! But they are likely to be my favourite reads of the year, so it’s no surprise others don’t quite meet the high standards they set.

My least favourite book, was the only one I haven’t reviewed, A Certain Slant of Light.

Thanks to Carl for once again hosting one of the most fun challenges out there!

Bad Blogger’s point to Nymeth then! This one spent a long time hanging around the featured shelves and tables at my local book store last year, and I was always tempted but never ended up buying a copy. Considering I didn’t particularly enjoy the only McEwan I’ve read (On Chesil Beech) I do seem to be getting quite the collection of McEwan’s books! (I now have this one, Enduring Love & Saturday to read)

My nephew commented he’d read this one, when he spotted by copy of Saturday. My nephew. Who. Does. Not. Read.

It was only 99p what was I to do?

• Bad Bloggers: Is hosted by Chris of Stuff as Dreams are Made on.
• Mailbox Monday: Is hosted by Marcia, of The Printed Page.  Head over there if you want to see what everyone else has received in the last week or you want to play along.

Currently Reading: Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld
Title of book(s) read since last update: The Red Tree, Bat Lash (Guns and Roses), Hard Love
Number of books read since you started: 3
Pages read since last update: 40
Running total of pages read since you started: 439
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 30 mins
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 260 mins
Mini-challenges completed: Introductory Meme, Trending, Hour 3, Hey Lady

Hour #21

Currently Reading: Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld
Title of book(s) read since last update: The Red Tree, Bat Lash (Guns and Roses), Hard Love
Number of books read since you started: 3
Pages read since last update: 126
Running total of pages read since you started: 399
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 45 mins
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 230 mins
Mini-challenges completed: Introductory Meme, Trending, Hour 3, Hey Lady

Hour #20

Well I’ve managed to get a few hours sleep in, so I’m feeling a bit for refreshed than before, but this damn lurgy/cold is still here (and I’d put money on it being gone tomorrow, when it matters less!) but, I’m back and I actually got some reading done in the last hour!

Currently Reading: Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger
Title of book(s) read since last update: The Red Tree, Bat Lash (Guns and Roses)
Number of books read since you started: 2
Pages read since last update: 50
Running total of pages read since you started: 273
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 30 mins
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 185 mins
Mini-challenges completed: Introductory Meme, Trending, Hour 3, Hey Lady
Blogs Visited this Hour:  Chris

Have fun everyone!