Bethany Larson

Tune In Tuesday: Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights

September 27, 2011

There are few things I like more than the television series Friday Night Lights.

Jump to, the other day when I was tooling around on Spotify. Someone created an FNL Season 5 playlist of all the songs featured on the show during its final season.

Naturally, I listened. (And looooooved.)

Now, I’ve always enjoyed the music on the show, but I’ve never REALLY thought about it or sought it out. This is partly because a) a lot of the music is stuff I already listen to and b) I spent most of my time swooning over Coach Taylor. So I was really digging on this playlist and then I got to a song by a band I’d never heard of. It made my heart happy. And now I share it with all of youuuuuu.

May I present, Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights, aka, my new band crush.

(Be warned: the video is a tidbit NSFW.)

Tune in Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Ginger at GReadsBooks.

Review: Past Perfect

September 26, 2011

Title: Past Perfect
Author: Leila Sales
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 322
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Format: eGalley via Simon & Schuster Galley Grab

All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.

Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….—Goodreads

THIS BOOK IS SO STINKIN’ GOOD.

It honestly might be the most perfect YA contemp I’ve ever read. It’s silly and girly and rings very true to a typical teenage girl’s experiences. And it is just SO MUCH FUN to read.

Now, I will be honest. I was apparently pre-destined to like this book because it is mostly set in a historic colonial village à la Colonial Williamsburg. I have an undergrad degree in American History and before that, DEEPLY IDENTIFIED with Felicity from the American Girl series. Now, I do realize that I am not unique in this—there are many, many girls my age who loved Felicity and hold American History degrees. And all of those girls need to read this book. Because they will love it as much as I do.

So, ok, you probs want to know why I like this practically perfect little book so much, right? Leila Sales just does such a good job creating characters, especially the main character, Chelsea, that are just likable. Chelsea seems very, very real and very, very normal and the situations she finds herself in are also very, very real and normal. She’s nursing a pouty heart, and around the time that she thinks she can FINALLY get away from her ex (aka, summer break), she realizes he’s taken a job at the historical reenactment village where her parents work full-time, and where she works every summer. Because boys are awful.

And if that weren’t enough, it turns out that there is a Civil War reenactment village DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET from the colonial village (I know, hilarious, right?!), and the teens who work there wage prank wars on each other every summer. It is AWESOME and HILARIOUS. OMG, y’all, my geeky, history-loving heart adored this part of the book so dad-gum much. I read this book on a plane and kept giggling and squealing in delight, and I’m pretty sure my seat mates thought I was bonkers. But I did not CARE because I was having so much fun with this book. Anyway, it turns out that there’s a very cute guy who works at the Civil War place, and of course my girl Chelsea finds herself attracted to him.

Now, one might think that this would breed a love triangle type situation. But it didn’t!!!!!! Sure, Chelsea was still getting over her ex and started having feelings for someone else, but it never became a soul-crushing, OMG THIS IS LIFE OR DEATH kind of thing. And it definitely wasn’t the only thing Chelsea thought about throughout the book. Because she isn’t crazy.

Overall, the beauty in this book is that it is honest and realistic in its depiction of being a teenage girl who has been hurt and is trying to move on. No matter who you are or what your age is or whether or not you even like history, you should pick this book up. It will make you laugh and cheer and smile and want to hug your best friend and maybe want to ask Miss Leila Sales to be your best friend. Or maybe that’s just me. Regardless, Past Perfect is a book I definitely have a crush on. And NOT because of the boys.

But don’t take just my word for it! Check out these other reviews from awesome bloggers:

Anna at Anna Reads

April at Good Books and Good Wine

Ginger at GReadsBooks

Melanie at Reclusive Bibliophile

What I’m Writing {3}: The Best Friend Origin Story

September 25, 2011

Hey loves!

So, this week I’m gonna talk a little more about my currently-untitled-YA-book-in-progress that I am not so creatively calling “Airport Book.” [BOOK TITLE SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME]

I introduced the premise of this book a little bit last week. And this week I’ve been focusing on a chapter from Willa’s perspective. So let me introduce her PROPERLY to y’all.

Willa Thompson is 17 and she lives in NYC. My goal is for her to be smart and serious about her future and responsible, but sort of eccentric and goofy at the same time. We’ll see if I ever succeed on that front. And Willa’s best friend is named Ana Cabral. In this particular area of the book, Ana is traveling with Willa to visit her dad.

So, I wrote this whole Willa-Ana friendship origin story and now that I’ve written the damn thing, I don’t think it REALLY matters. I mean, what’s more important is that they’re friends, right? I don’t want to bore my hopefully-somewhere-in-the-future readers with this whole expositional story if in the end is has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the story.

Buuuuut . . . I kind of really like their little origin story. It’s not all that shocking or weird or different, but I think it does a good job of explaining the dynamic between the two girls. So! After the jump, feel free to check out the very very rough edit of the BFF Origin Story.

After take-off, I grabbed my copy of Candide and cracked the cover. Before I could even take in the first word Ana grabbed my book out of my hands and said, “Willa. It’s June. We literally started summer break last week. You are NOT already doing next year’s homework.”

“So what if I am?” I countered defensively.

“Willa. Give your brain a break.” She handed me Vanity Fair. I look back at her and say, “You do realize that this particular magazine has a reputation for great articles.”

“No, I don’t realize that. Because all normal people do is look at the pretty pretty pictures.”

“Are you saying I’m not normal?”

“Girl, everything about you is not normal,” she quipped without looking up from the pages of Vogue.

This is why I love Ana.

[THIS IS WHERE I MADE THE CUT]Which is funny, because when we first met five years ago, we loathed each other. We were in the second week of sixth grade, and she had just enrolled. I was assigned by the counselor to be her school guide and I was fascinated by Ana, whose family had moved to New York from Brazil. But she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me. In fact she said in her perfect English, “Just because you’re my tour guide doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

It wasn’t until a year later, when we were forced to work on a history project together that we spoke again. I was in the midst of my goth phase (meaning I wore black nail polish, skull barrettes, and Doc Martins, much to the chagrin of the nuns. There was no way they’d let me get away with safety pins in my uniform or fishnet tights. My mom wouldn’t either.) and Ana was the most popular girl in school with her couture handbags and naturally shiny black hair. But it wasn’t an insta-friendship by any means. We did our project, made an A on our presentation, and that was that.

And then Ana started saying hi to me in the hallway. Not that that was earth shattering or anything, but before the project, she didn’t deign to look at me. And then one Friday she asked if I had plans, and I said no, and she said good, and then invited me to a sleep over at her place. When I showed up, the other girls were completely confused. Some of them thought it was some sort of evil prank Ana had planned. But Ana gave me a big hug and invited me in and glared at the other girls until they were nice to me. I even let them give me a make-over. Ever since then, Ana and I have been friends. [END OF CUT SECTION]

For the rest of the flight, we chatted and looked through magazines and picked out our must-haves for the fall. Well, Ana picked out must-haves. I made mental notes to find knock-offs or vintage. I kept waiting for her to push me about the Samuel/Dan situation, but she didn’t.

That made me nervous.

Alright, so that was it! I know it’s a little boring, so feel free to tell me that. But, what I’m more curious about is if this sort of background info is of interest to you when you read or if you just don’t care about how your characters know each other. Lemme know in comments, s’il vous plait!

Let’s Celebrate Banned Books Week! With a Hop!

September 24, 2011

Hello everyone, and welcome to my giveaway for Banned Books Week Hop, hosted by the awesome bloggers at I Read Banned Books and I Am a Reader Not a Writer.

As someone who has loved reading since I can remember, the fact that books are contested/censored/banned makes me feel like I’m going to turn into the Hulk. And I think that particularly now with the weird backlash to YA and the subsequent YA Saves movement, there is more and more focus on book censorship.

And lately, the books being challenged are RIDICULOUS. Like, Sherlock Holmes books. Really. SHERLOCK HOLMES. People are uptight and touchy and really need to stop looking at books as purveyors of immorality and sin. Because they aren’t.

So, with that. Here are the two books I’m giving away for this very awesome week and hop.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is a book that means a whole hell of a lot to me and no one should be denied access to it. Ever. For any reason. It’s important and has important things to say about, you know, humanity and compassion and decency and life in general. Which obviously means it should be banned? I SAY GOOD DAY TO THOSE PEOPLE and show them the door. I hope it hits them on the way out.