Well, you would be wrong.

This was my favorite offering from this year’s Yuletide. It becomes even more awesome when you consider that the fic was written for me by one of my BFF’s!

P.S. In other random news, I’ve decided that my best of 2009 list is not getting written. Just go out and read Tender Morsels , which I didn’t ever manage to review, and you’ll have read my favorite book of 2009. (Sadly, no one wrote Tender Morsels fic for Yuletide. Next year, however…)

Unfortunately, I have plans for a large part of the day, and I can’t pull an all-nighter because I have essays to write for school, but I am going to read as much as I can and cheer everyone else on.

Not sure how I’m going to update you all on my progress. I guess we’ll see how I’m feeling about blogging in general. I do know I’ll be tweeting a lot, so feel free to follow my updates if you don’t already. Also, be sure to check out the #readathon hash tag to see what other participants have to say.

It’s going to be an awesome time, and I can’t wait to participate.

The only book I know for sure I’m going to read is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, because I’m a little over halfway through and I think I can knock it out. As for other books, I have no idea. It will be a surprise!

I’ll be posting a more structured review over at The Good, The Bad, and the Unread later, but rfor right now, I’ll simply tell you all to go out and buy Life on the Move by Megan Reilly. I literally just finished it, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get some flavor of A grade, because I immediately felt the need to go squee over it.

The blurb:

Home is where the heart is. Until the truth comes knocking.

Casey Smith and her dad move around a lot, so packing boxes, driving all night, and moving into a new apartment in a new town is nothing, well, new to her. While it’s weird that her dad is so restless, she’s never really minded before—after all, there’s nothing she can do about it.

But this time is different. This time they’ve moved to a place where she almost fits in. She’s even made some friends, including Ethan, a gorgeous guy who could turn out to be more than just a friend—if only she could be sure she’ll have time to really get to know him.

Just when her life is starting to have all kinds of possibilities, a knock comes on the door.

And everything Casey has ever known is turned upside down.

You can even read an excerpt here.

I didn’t expect to like this book, because while I’m not against YA books in general, they’re not really the sorts of books I read frequently. Besides, the last YA romance I tried was Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, which I hated with the fiery passion I normally reserve for right-wing talk radio. But Life on the Move doesn’t even compare. The characters are nuanced, and they are real, and the story manages to work extremely well despite its short length. And while this book does have a great romantic subplot, there’s so much more to it.

As I said, I’ll write up a more formal review later, but seriously, go forth! Buy the book! You can thank me later.

So, I have been telling myself that while Shannon has been out living life to the fullest this weekend, I was going to keep all of you lovely people company. I’m the other half of Team Awesome, except that I have a whole heck of a lot to catch up on because Shannon knows how to give the content like nobody’s business. Also, as she said somewhere below, I keep geting distracted by shiny things. Maybe she won’t be home by the time I remember how to post again and then you all can say that I kept you from boredom the whole weekend long.

I am making an effort to try to be better. I put the pro in procrastination and am working on my follow through! One of the shiny things distracting me is this huge to be read pile. I was going to write out a list but I don’t know how to make it look all shiny and blogtastic, so I’ll mention it the next time around.

The lovely folks at Joyfully Reviewed has a very kickass interview of Lauren Dane whom I love like a kid loves candy. It also helps that she lives in my neck of the woods. Woohoo, go Washington state!

In the interview, she gives the best writing advice ever. It’s especially great for those like me who really really want to write an EBook but are procrastinating out the yinyang or have some serious confidence issues in their writing. “STFU and Write”

I can totally dig that. I have read her Witch’s Knot series and will be gobbling up the next one. I’ve loved that entire series and wish I could have sold the lovely Shannon on the awesomeness that is her books. Reading that interview was a great start to my weekend of which I essentially didn’t do very much. You know how it is…shiny things!

And now for my request. It is rumored that I wish a certain part of a time period which seems to be featured in many romance novels would fall off of a cliff. It’s true. I have tried reading novels set during Regency England. I want to enjoy them. I swear I want to devour such books and talk about the awesomeness that is Regency England. Except I can’t because I really, really hate everything I’ve read. Admittedly, it probably isn’t all that much in the grand scheme of things. But there’s only so many virginal heroines yearning to be touched and then getting all pissy when our daring hero looks at them crosseyed. I hate the excessive amount of exclamation points because it really really bothers me. I am not a grammar guru by a long shot, but if I am noticing it then there’s something wrong. The women in the novels that I have read seem so very shrieky and angry and hateful and it makes me want to spit nails. Poor Shannon has had to deal with my rants over the phone.

So I’m asking you all to help me. Please give me some ideas of a novel with a hero and a heroine that I can love and want to take home for ravishment. Please make me love a genre that everyone else seems to squee over while I stand on the outside making a sour puss face. I will make you cookies. alright, so you might not want me baking anything that you’re likely to consume, but still, I will be a happy Jal. And then I’ll review that book and comment you up the kazba.

Alright, I’m done now. I always feel like I need to write some spiffy closing remark to these things. I can’t just stop. How do I end a blog post? Peace out? Catch you on the flip side? Word to my maternal unit? Happy trails on the internet express? Time to fizzle in the hizzle? This is really hard. I’m done now!

KU BEAT MEMPHIS IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NCAA GAME!

I am feeling really proud to be a Jayhawk right now. And let’s not talk about the fact that I didn’t actually watch the game or anything. Because that is not the point! I have no idea what the point actually is, but rock chock Jayhawk anyway!

Anyway, later this month, around the book’s actual release, I’ll be posting an interview with Ann, and we’ll be giving away two copies of the book. One will be a signed copy that Ann has generously offered up. The other will be the copy that I would have bought from Amazon if I’d, you know, been able to read a print book purchased from Amazon in the first place.

But anyway, today I was listening to Mountain Stage on the XM Public Radio station and they had a segment on with Susan Werner who is a singer/songwriter I should clearly be listening to more often. Anyway, I’m not sure if it’s her latest CD, but she’s got a fairly recent album called The Gospel Truth It is described as the first ever agnostic gospel album, and I really loved the selections that she played on the show. In fact, I decided right away that I need to own this CD like right now, which goes to show you that I am not just an obsessive fangirl over books.

I saw that Marg nominated me for a You Make My Day award. If I were smart, I would paste a graphic illustrating this in my blog, but I’m not, so no graphics.

Anyway, I’m supposed to nominate ten people, too, right? So here goes.

• Lisabea is number one, because she made me feel welcome when I switched from LJ and started blogging over here, and I love that when she’s enthusiastic, she *really* gets into what she’s talking about.

• Teddy Pig introduces me to books I’d never read ordinarily, and though we don’t always agree, it’s nice to have a champion for the rights of blind ebook readers out there in romancelandia.
• Melissa, who is one of my best friends and a girl who’s always got my back. Er, not that she’ll ever see this, but she rocks hardcore.
• Holly, who is getting married which is way cool. I’d love to get to know her better, because she seems like an awesome chick.
• A. and K. because I love their animal stories, and I’m probably totally butchering that URL, but they’re still awesome, and plus they know my parents.
• Rosario, my reading twin, because we agree so much.
• Sybil, even though I owe her a review
• Tumperkin, who writes some lovely thoughtful posts in a style that I very much enjoy reading.
• Bev QB, because I like her blog, and even though we disagree in principle about what we like, her reviews are just a lot of fun to read.
• Dakota, who I thought would want to tar and feather me for her B- review, but she didn’t.
• Meredith, because I like her book reviews and she needs to post more regularly.

Wow, spreading the love has made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Too bad my next post is one where I get my hate on for a book.

“But Shannon,” you may be asking yourself. “Who’s the guest author and what’s the contest?”

Well, I’m so glad you asked, because the guest author is none other than the lovely and talented Dakota Cassidy, whose first novel with Berkeley Sensation, The Accidental Werewolf comes out today. In addition to my posting an interview with Dakota in which I ask all the hard-hitting questions (at least all the hard-hitting questions that occurred to me at 1 A.M. last Saturday night), I’ll be holding a contest and giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter.

Incidentally, here’s the synopsis of the book, just to give you something to chew on, and I’ll be posting a review later tonight.

When Marty Andrews gets bitten by a mangy mutt while walking her teacup poodle, her blond hair darkens, the hair on her legs starts growing at an alarming rate, and her mood swings put her dream job as a sales rep for Bobbie-Sue Cosmetics in serious jeopardy. Then a drool-worthy man shows up at her door claiming that he accidentally bit Marty. And since he’s a werewolf, she is now, too. Thinking Keegan Flaherty is clearly insane, Marty refuses to believe a word until a kidnapping makes her realize there’s more at stake than just her highlights. And she must put her out-of-control life in the hands of the man who makes her blood run wild in more ways than one…

Turns out my favorite author I’ve never actually read, December Quinn has a new release on Wednesday. I should be good and not buy it, because I am trying to work on being a model of frugality and thriftiness, but I want!