Tag Archives: Badass Chick on Board
ANGELFALL, By Susan Ee
From the summary: It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Read More »Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson
From the summary: Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do.
Read More »The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
From the summary: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
*SEMI-SORT-OF-BUT-NOT-REALLY-SPOILER-ALERT* TFiOS was just released last week, and the author himself has asked that readers not spoil the book for those that haven’t read. And of course, we agree. So as usual, we will gush and squeal and have flailypants while giving away as few of the delicious spoilery details as possible. Deal? Deal.
Graffiti Moon, by Cath Crowley
From Goodreads: “Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers.”
It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.
Read More »GRACELING, by Kristin Cashore
Hello swoonies!
As you know, Alison did a Swoony Boy Alert on Prince Po from Graceling not too long ago. I was totally convinced by her post (and by the enthusiasm from Leiah) to finally read Graceling.
Oh wow.
I don’t need to do a full-blown review here – we’ve already pimped this book on the site – but there were a couple of things that have just completely stuck with me since finishing it last night and I have to unload my love here. For anyone out there who is on the fence about whether to read this book, honestly, it has been added to my favorites pile forever and ever.
It’s true that Po is seriously swoony. And, believe me, there were lines in the book that Alison could have included but didn’t because she didn’t want to spoil the impact. He sees Katsa for who she is at her best, worships her strength, and actually loves that she’ll always beat him in a fight. Po is a wonderful feminist.
Read More »2011 Swoontini Awards – VOTE!!
Well hello there, lovelies! First, some swoon…
he got all dressed up just. for. you. #bowtieswoon
So let’s get right down to business, shall we? *puts on hot glasses* Last week we asked you guys to nominate your three top Swooniest Boy/most Badass Chick of 2011, and added a Super Duper Book Bundle of Awesome to sweeten the deal. Well, take one Bronco’s football helmet (not mine), a whole lot of names written on Sponge Bob notebook paper (also not mine) and we get a winner!! *drum roll* Congrats to Heather62981, who wins our amazingly swoontastic pile O’ books! *confetti* Drop us a line and the Hot UPS Man package is on its way!
we promise not to send this guy.
And now it’s time to VOTE! And because we love and appreciate you all so much (and really just love any excuse to drink wear a party dress), we’re throwing in a BRAND SPANKING NEW KINDLE TOUCH. How do you enter? Well… just vote and leave us a comment saying hi (we need the comment to know who voted)!!! That’s all we ask. Do you have to tweet/blog/tattoo our names on your chest/build a shrine in our honor/pledge your undying love and servitude to us? OF COURSE NOT, although we’d be super stoked if you did. Just vote, leave a comment, and on December 30th we’ll compile the names of everyone who voted and random.org will pick a winner! Simple, right? (a note: if you nominated and it’s not here/wrong, it either wasn’t YA, wasn’t a 2011 release, or Christina has *gasp* screwed up. In which case, let us know and we shall fix.)
ASHES, by Ilsa J. Bick
Welcome back! Today we’re feeling extra lucky. Lo’s adorable sister (aka Lo’s Smister) has finally given in to our begging joined the Swoontini team(!!), and will be helping us bring you more Swoony Recs. So have a seat, grab a peppermint mocha, and let’s all settle in for some swoon. Today’s Rec: ASHES, by Ilsa J. Bick.
From the summary:
It could happen tomorrow . . .
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.
For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.
Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.
Read More »2011 Swoontini Awards! Nominate now!
Hi Swoonies! First: a little swoon…
WORD, PATRICK SWAYZE. SO MUCH WORD.
As the end of the year approaches, we both get a litttttttle bit sentimental. (it has nothing to do with the eggnog, we swear) We feel so much gratitude and love toward the YA community – we wanted to do something extra special for all of you. Two of our favorite things on the site are the Swoony Boy and Badass Chick features, and we get emails, tweets, and comments all the time asking us to feature characters from books we have not yet mentioned here. So we thought, WE SHOULD TOTALLY DO A SWOONIEST BOY OF YA 2011 AND MOST BADASS CHICK OF YA 2011! *highfive* No way have we covered all the good ones yet! Tell us who you loved!
[And because we have so much love for you, pretty readers, we figured we’d make it about loving you, too.]
Read More »HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire
Hello swoonies!
First? SOME SWOONAGE:
OH SNAP! We’re bringing out the big guns. Go ahead, stare. I know I won’t be judging you. I looked at it for about 20 minutes before I was able to continue typing.
So, why the big guns, you ask? Well, today’s Swoony Rec is HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire and HOLY SWOON BATGIRL!
Read More »Badass Chick: The Girls from The DUFF
You really can’t talk about YA lit without a regular series highlighting all the inspirational female protagonists. We have all these easy swoony boy posts, and I’ve been wanting to do my first badass chick post for a while now. But really. THE PRESSURE. I have been trying to decide: do I do Katniss or Karou? Meg Murry or Leslie Burke? THE PRESSURE IS TOO MAAAAAHHHHCH FOR MY WEAK HEART.
The truth is, we all know those badass chicks. I mean, if you haven’t read the Hunger Games, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Wrinkle in Time or Bridge to Terabithia, then seriously, what are you doing here?
So here is when I tell you I’m doing the first Badass Chick on Board post on….the group of girlfriends from The DUFF by Kody Keplinger.
Read More »