RTW: Book of the Month for March, 2013

Before we begin, you might have noticed a new look to the blog. This is not my doing. I use a template designed by someone else (“SimpleNotes” by Carla Izumi Bamford), and sometime recently, the designer updated the template. I don’t hate it, though I prefer the old look. Oh well. I plan to make my own template some time soon. Then I’ll feel like a real blogger–like when a Jedi makes their own lightsaber. Anyway, just in case you were wondering…

It’s the end of March. 2013 is already a quarter done. And Spring is sort-of-here-but-not-really. Technically it’s Spring, but the weather has yet to catch up. Most importantly for today, it’s that time on the YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday calendar to reflect on our past month’s reading and pick a favorite book. Last month I had a hard time choosing a book–in fact, I didn’t. None of the books I read measured up to the standard I set for consideration as a “Book of the Month.” This month, I have the opposite problem. Just about every book I’ve read this month was great, and worthy of recommendation. And the list of books I’ve read include YA, non-YA, and non fiction. The book I have chosen for my March Book of the Month is…

SCARLET by Marissa Meyer. No surprise there to readers of this blog, or to people who have read–and raved about–this book. I reviewed it a few weeks ago (see HERE), so I won’t rehash my verbal exuberance here. I will say that this is more than just a great idea for a story. It’s a good book on many levels: execution, style, voice, character. The way Scarlet’s story is integrated into Cinder’s. The twists in the tale–especially when you know it’s based on “Little Red Riding Hood,” and so you have expectations about where it’s going… and it doesn’t go there… or does it…? Very cleverly done. I can’t encourage you enough to read this. I don’t care if sci-fi’s not your thing, or YA isn’t your thing. This is a series that transcends “things.” Yes, it’s that good.

At the beginning of the month, I gave a heads-up about the release of Stephanie Jaye Evans’s SAFE FROM HARM, the second in her Sugar Land Mysteries series, featuring Pastor Walker “Bear” Wells. I expected it to be as good as her debut, FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, which I enjoyed, and I was wrong. It’s better! I have a full review of it on Goodreads, but since I mentioned the book on the blog prior to reading it, I wanted to let you know that I have read it and it is excellent. The story revolves around the death of Phoebe, a sometime-friend of Bear’s teenage daughter. It seems a clear-cut case of suicide, but as the story progresses, there’s more to the case than meets the eye. I especially want to draw my YA reader/writer friends to this book because Jo, Bear’s daughter, features heavily, and I think Stephanie has done a wonderful job of writing her. Jo is a complex character. She’s a pastor’s daughter, but she is struggling with her own identity, living with parents she loves, but wanting to strike out on her own, not always wanting to follow the rules. She’s rebellious, and there are times she breaks her parents’ hearts, but she knows she’s loved. There’s something very real about Jo and her family situation that I think readers of YA will appreciate. So, my shout-out of the month is SAFE FROM HARM, by Stephanie Jaye Evans.

What was your favorite read this month? Have you read SCARLET or SAFE FROM HARM and want to offer your thoughts? Or perhaps you want to participate in the Road Trip yourself: the details are on the YA Highway blog.