34 Comments »One of the privileges of my job is that I sometimes get to read books before their release. This is awesome because nothing makes me happier than finding a great new book and then telling you guys about it. 
This year, one of my favorites is Sharks & Boys by Kristen Tracy:
When 15-year-old Enid Calhoun follows her boyfriend Wick to Maryland for a party, fearful that he might be intending to cheat on her, she finds herself sneaking on board a houseboat where Wick and his friends plan to have a wild night. But before the boys discover their stowaway, a hurricane strikes, and the teenagers are carried miles from the shore and shipwrecked. What follows is a harrowing, yet heartwarming, story of survival, as the teens battle hypothermia, dehydration, man-eating sharks—and along the way, confront their own deepest secrets, including their catalytic roles in the disaster.
(Description from BN.com and image from KristenTracy.com)
I first heard about this book last summer when Kristen and I met on the UnREQUIRED Reading Tour. She described it as “The Breakfast Club with sharks.” And of course, that is one of my all-time favorite movies, so I was like, I HAVE to check this out.
You guys. This book kept me in my seat from page one all the way until the end. I was riveted. Because my friend KT? Not afraid to kill people off. And the descriptions of being out on the open water, all alone, with no water and no food…it was enough to make me nervous about ever going out on the ocean again.
And yet, it’s not this big over-the-top “I SURVIVED” kind of tale–it’s mostly about a girl whose life is falling apart. And she makes one bad decision (well, okay, a series of bad decisions that involve following her possibly cheating boyfriend) and ends up in this life-or-death situation.
And it’s funny. I know that seems counter-intuitive but that’s one of things that makes this book so fresh and enjoyable. It’s not like anything I’ve read before.
For example, Enid’s mom makes wedding cakes, and Enid helps by creating the marzipan (it’s edible almond paste that you can mold into shapes) cake figures of the bride and groom. And Enid takes great care to get them just right, to make them as close to perfect as possible.
So, when she loses it a little while delivering the cake to a wedding–she’s freaking out because her boyfriend may have truly broken up with her and then she’ll be left with dating someone like Gary, the weird awkward groomsman–the marzipan figures suffer:
“I bite the shoes off the groom. It only takes one snap of my jaw, and I’ve got a wad of almond paste in my mouth. I chew it like I’ve been poisoned and marzipan tuxedo shoes are the only antidote. At his pant cuffs, I can see my smooth teeth marks.
Then I lift the bride to my mouth. I’m careful to take just her shoes and leave her delicate ankles intact. As I chew the marzipan, I try to swallow it fast. I want to digest it. I want it to become a part of me. I look at the de-footed bride. If you focus on her head, she doesn’t really seem that different. But if you zero in on her ankles, she looks like she’s been in some kind of unfortunate accident with a butter knife. I run my tongue along my teeth and smile. Take that, I think to unnamed hordes of people out there who think I’m boring. I just did something crazy. I just did something stupid for no good reason at all. And I’m not finished either.”
Awesome.
So, in celebration, I’m giving away TWO signed copies of Sharks & Boys! (We may also have a signed deck of Hyperion playing cards to give away as well. I’m seeing Kristen tomorrow–yea!–and I’ll see what else I can get her to sign.)
There are two ways to enter:
1) Leave a comment below with your worst fear/phobia. (For example, mine would be birds. *shudder* Don’t ask.) Make sure to include your email with your comment so I can contact you!
2) Tweet about your worst fear/phobia and use the hashtag #sharksandboys. (Be sure to use the word “and” in the hashtag and not “&” because punctuation always freaks out the hashtag system on Twitter, don’t know why.)
We’ll draw two winners next Friday, July 15. The contest is open internationally.