I may have mentioned that I was dog-sitting this weekend. I have serious dog envy, folks. Now, I’ve known Gracie for seven or eight years now (a fraction of the time I have known her human, who is my best friend) so we understand each other pretty well. Gracie is gorgeous (she’s a random-breed that, back in Florida,would have been called a “Florida red dog” and we keep seeing “Gracies ” all over town), well-behaved, spoiled rotten, and a little princess. She sits around with her paws crossed. And she growls whenever she doesn’t get her way, deep in her throat, like a little lion.

And I mean when ever she doesn’t get her way. Like, after I’ve taken her for her evening walk, if I dare to refill her water bowl before getting food in her dish. Or if I wake her up past her bedtime. Or if I sit on her side of the couch. Or if I don’t scratch her neck for the appropriate number of hours.

Love that dog.

But alas, her humans came home today, so I am again petless.

This morning I went to the Library of Congress, and I got my research card, which I find rather more exciting than you might think about the whole “getting a library card” process. Strangely enough, it was a far more simple process to get into the Library of Congress than it is to get into my own local library. But the LOC Madison building is this vast, windowless, monolithic slab of marble downtown, where every floor is zoned in colors and the staff give directions like “walk to the end of this hall, then turn right, walk to the end of that hall, go past all the reds, and when you hit the blues, that’s where Room 140 is.”

The main LOC building is one of my favorites in all of Washington.

After I got lost trying to get my card (process is simple, fun, and organized), I got lost trying to find the lecture hall where Melissa Marr was speaking about folklore and incorporating same into modern stories. Great speech. I know she’s a once and future teacher, and I can see why — she’s such a natural. I always sound like a doofus when speaking to strangers.

Or even not strangers. I completely forgot my whole spiel at my wedding — all I got out was “I’m so excited to marry you — let’s do it right now!” Still kicking myself over that one.

I was one of the few non-librarians present, and I had a great conversation with the librarians about manga, and steampunk, and why publishers change formats mid-series. Afterwards, the man in charge of the presentation invited me to lunch, so I got to hang out with Melissa, a few librarians, and a Lit PhD candidate, and learn more about her upcoming projects and Harper. Rebecca, the student, is writing a thesis on Rumor Theory, which I wish I’d gotten to chat with her about more, since it sounds so intriguing.

Also, a great band name.

This afternoon, I had a nice long chat with my YA editor about the final tweaks on Rampant, the state of romantic comedy, unicorns we have known, whether or not SB should read my books, and Rites of Spring (Break) — OUT IN A MONTH!!!!!! — an ARC of which she read on her vacation. (She’s a fan — not an editor — of my adult books.)

I’m a little scared of my two editors ever meeting. That much awesome in one place would surely cause a rift in the space-time continuum, right?

Then I had pizza with my best friend, her husband, and Gracie. She was very sweet to me, perhaps trying to show her humans what a good babysitter I was. Or, you know, apologize for the growling.

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The Midnighter’s Books: The Secret Hour, Touching Darkness, and Blue Noon, by Scott Westerfeld. These are my favorite Westerfeld books, and they’ve just been rereleased in snazzy new versions by Harper Collins. The premise is that the world freezes for an hour at midnight — everything, rain freezes in the act of falling from the sky, etc. — and monsters come out. Only children born at the stroke of midnight have access to this secret midnight hour world, and they all have special powers. It’s thrilling, romantic, magical, and there’s a lot of very, very cool math.

The Uglies Books: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras, by Scott Westerfeld. I blame Uglies for jump-starting my obsession with YA books. The books are set in a futuristic society where everyone gets plastic surgery to make them “beautiful” at age sixteen. There’s dystopia, body image questions, and lots of cool hoverboard chases.

Peeps and The Last Days, by Scott Westerfeld. I know, I know, but Westerfeld is really incredible. The best thing about his books is that, unlike a lot of YA, it crosses genre lines. These books are companion novels, set in New York City on the brink of apocalypse by a vampire-like parasitic plague. The first one is about a vampire hunter. The second one is about a band.

The Gemma Doyle Books: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing, by Libba Bray. The first one is a debut novel. Bray was at the forefront of this new Golden Age of YA. These books are set in Victorian England, where an India-raised girl winds up in a boarding school after the death of her mother and discovers that she has the ability to unlock the entrance into a magical world called The Realms, a world that can give her amazing powers. Only problem is, everyone else wants the power, too, including a group of male mystics, and the madwoman who killed Gemma’s mother. It’s about the Victorian era, Imperialism, feminism… it’s just amazing.

Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, by Holly Black. Ironside is a sequel to Tithe, but my favorite of these books is Valiant, which can be read independently. All the books are urban fantasy, showing incredibly dark fairies and the doing of the fairy courts as seen by teenage humans who get caught up in that world. Valiant is the story of a teen runaway who winds up living in the subway tunnels of NYC and working as a drug runner… for a troll who lives under a bridge. You will never see trolls the same way again. It’s one of the best books I read that year, a powerful story of addiction, redemption, and love.

Keturah and Lord Death, by Martine Levitt. This unusual novel was the runner up for the National Book Award in 2006. It’s a fairy-tale story about a young woman who gets lost in the woods, and tricks Death into letting her return to her village so she can save them from plague by telling him a Sheherezade type tale over a series of days.

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin. The word I most often use to describe this off-beat tale of the afterlife, in which people age backwards until they are “born” again is Capra-esque. Heartwarming and imaginative.

The Giver, by Lois Lowry. Totally cheating, because I read this many years ago, in college. In an unspecified future society, the world is stripped of all color, emotion, and memory, except for one person, known as The Giver. The story is about him training his successor. There have since been two sequels.

Magic or Madness?, Magic Lessons, and Magic’s Child, by Justine Larbalestier. The first one is a debut novel. Reason Cansino is forced to make a terrible choice: use the magic in her blood and die young, or go mad. A story about family, Australia, math, and doors that exist in Sydney and New York City.

Uninvited, by Amanda Marrone. A debut novel. A vampire book for people who are sick of vampire books. Jordan is in a deep depression after the death of her boyfriend — one that isn’t helped by the fact that he now appears at her window every night, a vampire, begging to be let in. And she just might be willing to let him… Powerful stuff.

Feed, by M.T. Anderson. Quite frankly, this book blew my mind. I was not in the least bit surprised when Anderson’s next novel won a National Book Award. But this is my favorite. Set in a future world where everyone has the internet in their brains, and dealing with one boy’s adventures after he meets an usual girl and gets “hacked.” It’s difficult to describe in brief how brilliant the writing in this book is, but Anderson perfectly captured the voice of a teen who has never, ever had to “search” for the right word.

Inexcusable, by Chris Lynch. It’s the story of a rape, told from the point of view of the rapist. Strong stuff, and controversial as well, but masterfully done.

So Yesterday, by Scott Westerfeld. Honestly, the last Westerfeld rec (until he comes out with something new). A mystery set in New York about “trend spotters,” it’s exciting, and relentlessly cool.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Another book that blew my mind. Incredibly powerful and moving story about a high school freshman who is shunned by the entire student body because she broke up a party the previous summer. Isolated from friends and ignored at home,s he slowly stops speaking. When you find out why, I dare you not to cry. The intimate, stream-of-consciousness style voice in this story is phenomenal.

How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff. I think this is also a debut novel. A beautifully written tale of survival. An American teen goes to live with her aunt and cousins at a farm in England. Her aunt leaves the country for a conference, and the nation is taken over by unnamed terrorists. What follows is a heartbreaking account of what the children are forced to do to survive in this scary new world. I cried buckets over this one.

What Happened to Cass McBride? by Gail Giles. A psychological thriller told from several points of view: a girl who has been kidnapped and buried alive, her kidnapper, and the detecitive who is trying to find them in time. The narrative goes back and forth in time, and deals with social politics, abusive parents, suicide, and the cruelty teens can inflict on each other. Edge of your seat reading!

And, just so you don’t think it’s all doom and gloom and people burying each other alive on my bookshelf, a few lighter reads I’ve enjoyed:

Major Crush, by Jennifer Echolls. One of my favorite romances. This debut novel is about a beauty queen turned drum major clashing with her co-drum major in a small Alabama town. Echolls perfectly captures all the overwhelming feelings of first love. The “hand” scene…. oh! I love it!

The Luxe, by Anna Godbersen. This dishy read has one of the most gorgeous covers I’ve ever seen. I admit it, I was attracted to the cover, but the story inside, a sort of “Gossip Girls in the Gilded Age” is so much fun! Chock full of period details, fabulous clothes, romantic triangles, and scandal scandal scandal! I can’t wait for the next one.

Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, by Tina Ferraro. Another debut! After spending the last of her savings on the perfect dress, Nicolette gets stood up by her dream date, when his old girlfriend moves back to town. Months later, she’s still crushing on Rascal and daydreaming about the junior prom night that never was. But soon she’s got bigger things to worry about — her parents’ broken marriage, her mom’s financial difficulties, her spot on the volleyball team, and of course, the constant pressure of the school social scene, and the rumors going on about her. Great read!

The Book of Luke, by Jenny O’Connell. When Emily gets dumped by her boyfriend, she realizes she’s tired of being a nice girl, and when her family forces her to move back to New England and the private school she left several years before, she’s going to prove it. When her old/new best friend is dumped by the school hottie, they decide to use him to experiment on why boys are such jerks, and how to bring them to heel. Naturally, it backfires.

Angel’s Choice, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Like Juno, but without the overly precious soundtrack and all that “too hip for our own good” nonsense. Angel is a good kid and a star student on track for Yale, when she gets pregnant. This depiction of how one intelligent girl might deal with her situation is moving and unputdownable.

Jinx, by Meg Cabot. This is my favorite Cabot book, and one of the only “I’ve got a secret” books I’ve actually enjoyed. Jinx moves to NYC under mysterious circumstances to live with her cousin and said cousin’s rich-rich-rich family. There’s country mouse in the big city, cousin rivalry, and a big heaping dash of witchcraft. So much fun!

Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande. A debut novel. Like the protagonist of Speak, Brande’s Mena starts high school with a whole group of children who hate her. And not just kids. Her whole church hates her too, which means her best friend, a lot of adults, her pastor, even her parents, are furious! To top it off, her favorite new biology teacher is the new target of her old church’s wrath, for teaching evolution. The top-notch characterization, sweet romance, and the timely topics of church and science make this book a must-read.

Girl at Sea, by Maureen Johnson. For you romance readers, this is a RITA finalist this year. Artistic Clio is forced to live with her irresponsible, treasure hunting father and his research team on a yacht in the Mediterranean. So, half dream, half nightmare. Adventure, romance, family drama, and really great settings ensue, all in Johnson’s trademark snappy prose.

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I’m pretty sure I’ll think of more the second I hit post. And I bet that others will have more recommendations in the comments as well. Enjoy!

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They discussed the preponderance of red hair in romance novel heroines (this has also been a topic in YA), as well as the lack of blond heroes (this is often attributed to the fact that blond heroes don’t sell covers).

I started looking at the characters in my own novels, natch. In the unsold romances, I had brown/brown, red/blonde (yes, a redheaded heroine, but her hair is truly awful, a short, frizzy orange mop), blonde/blonde (my model for this hero was Sean Bean), brown/brown. Only the last heroine, a brunette, had hair that the hero ever spent time thinking about. Hers was really gorgeous, though. Long and thick and rich in color.

The two main characters of my contracted novels have, respectively, average hair and really great hair, but I don’t spend much time talking about either. Their hair is not particularly interesting to me, to the people they interact with, or to the story at large.

Amy has nondescript brown hair. Unlike the covers on the books, it’s not incredibly long. In the first book, it’s a longish, layered bob that she can barely get into a ponytail. It’s grown out somewhat in the second book, and over the summer, she experimented with red streaks. (College is when I discovered hair dye, so I figured Amy could, too.) The only description you get in book three is that she can still get it in a ponytail. Amy likes ponytails. (I hated them, personally. They hurt.)

Jenny, Clarissa, and Odile get much more in depth hair descriptions. I think Amy has a bit of hair envy going on when it comes to Clarissa’s gorgeous, long blond tresses (possibly extensions), and with Jenny, her endless hair is… well, you people who have read the books know what it is.

I had really long hair when I was in college, mostly because I couldn’t be bothered to cut it. It was probably as long, if not longer than the hair of the cover-model-Amy, and really, really thick. I cut it all off the year after I graduated. That’s a story in and of itself.

Astrid, the heroine of the unicorn book, looks like this.

Her hair is actually lighter than that, though, more like a white-blond, cornsilk kind of color. She showed up that way, and she showed up being named Astrid, too. One of the few characters who sprung, fully-formed like that. My little Athena.

So Astrid’s got this gorgeous, to-die-for hair, if you stop and think about it, which she never does, and as a result, the narrative never does. It’s not particularly practical in her line of work, so she tends to keep it tucked away in braids as well. I know for a fact that it’s not what her love interest finds attractive about her.

I wonder if people will meet her, see that she’s got waist-length, white blond hair, and decide that I’ve tipped over into Rapunzel land. Or Ayla land. Or Eowyn land.

Hmmmm, interesting. Perhaps I’ll just say it’s an homage to all three.

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Our terror stems from the fact we’re soft squishy primates, descended from animals even softer, squishier and smaller than we, and thus to survive as a species our brains have instinctually internalized the concept that something big and mean that we can’t see lurking right over there is totally going to eat us.

Hee hee. That one’s for my brother-in-law.

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