Angieville

So I approached Where She Went with almost equal amounts trepidation and excitement. It's hard to follow up an ending like the ending of If I Stay . In many respects, I felt like the mere existence of a sequel might mar the beauty of the first book. I just . . . I loved how it ended so much, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to know what happened next. And if you know me at all you know how hilarious that sounds. I always want to know what happens next. I regularly fill my life with beloved series I can't quit. But I am also an enormous admirer of standalone volumes, particularly those featuring a judicious and perfect ending. Such was the case with If I Stay . But the tenor of my emotions for Mia and Adam by the end of that book ensured that I wouldn't be able to stay away from a follow-up in the end. Especially as that follow-up was set three years later . So I only lasted about 24 hours in between finishing the first book and plunging into the second. A warning: If ...

It was all the hype surrounding the release of Where She Went that actually got me interested in reading If I Stay . I was aware of the love it received upon its publication a couple of years ago. But even though it appeared to be universally loved, I never picked it up, as I tend to be somewhat leery of coma/out of body experience stories. It's not that I've read a ton of them, but in the few that I have read, I've had a hard time connecting to the main character. What with them being . . . well, comatose and all. So I'd pretty much decided I wasn't going to try this one, until the blogosphere had a collective meltdown over there being a sequel at all and then at how awesome it apparently was. You know how hard it is to resist that promise of a sequel that lives up to (possibly even surpasses) its predecessor. I'm certainly not able to hold out against it for long. So I snagged a copy of  If I Stay     and ignored my niggling concerns to see just what all th...

I was browsing through upcoming books, and I came across these paperback releases of fairly recent young adult titles. One I've read and one I've not. But isn't it interesting the differences between the hardback covers (left) and the paperback covers (right)? In this case, both   hardback covers for Jandy Nelsons '  The Sky is Everywhere and Gayle Forman 's  If I Stay are done in bright, eye-catching colors, and are somewhat abstract and simple in style. The paperback covers, on the other hand, opt for more detailed photographs depicting the female protagonists themselves, both lying down. I find them certainly more concrete, perhaps a bit grittier. I'm not sure I'm sold on the switch in either case. What do you guys think? I wonder sometimes what goes into the decision to repackage a book for its paperback release. I'm sure it's about widening the potential audience and perhaps catching the eyes of those readers who might not have given the origi...