200th Follower Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to those of you who entered the contest. I did what I said I would, wrote your names on paper and threw them in a bowl, then pulled one out. The name that I pulled out was Liza over at Book Crook Liza. Congratulations Liza! Thanks for entering, and I'm now following you as well!

I'm so excited to go see Scott Westerfeld tomorrow night. However, I just figured out tonight that I only own the first two books in the Uglies series. I must have checked the rest out from the library. So now I must decide, do I go ahead and try to find time tomorrow night to run to Barnes and Noble, the store I work at, to buy them with my 30% discount, or should I just purchase them from the bookstore, our local independent competitor, at least for getting in authors, that is actually hosting him. Now, we have a location of our store right almost across the street from where this is going to be, so maybe I'll just go there and get them so I can get my discount. 30% is 30%. Although I swear somewhere up there is another of the books that I haven't read before, so need to go do some digging and make sure before I buy it again.

Again, congrats to Liza, and I'll be emailing you after I publish that to find out how you'd like it personalized, and to get your mailing address. As I live in Missouri, it shouldn't take long for it to get to you in Kansas!

Skinned by Robin Wasserman

I'm a bit ashamed to start this blog out by saying, I'd seen Robin Wasserman's books in our teen section for at least 4 or 5 years, yet I'd never read any till just now. I had picked up this very book, and read the back several times, so I was interested in it, just never got the commitment to reading it until I began following her on Twitter.

This was as good as I expected. It reminds me of one of my favorite series, the Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, as well as a book I just read for the Truman nominees, The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

Our main character is Lia Khan, one of, or maybe "the" most popular girl. Lia has just been in a horrible car accident. Now this is a futuristic world, the cars drive themselves, so this should never have happened. Another thing is that it shouldn't even have been Lia, it should have been her younger sister Zo in the car. Lia should have died, but this is the future remember, they can download your brain and put you into a new body. It's a robot, but very lifelike. Normally, if you have time, you can get your new body to look just like you did. However, because of the abruptness of this accident, Lia's new body is only one that is similar in looks to her. Her family, her friends, many in the world, do not accept this. They are called, Skinners. One boy does stick up for her, Auden, a boy she would never have looked at before this happened. She also must go to support groups for other kids like her, where she soon meets people who take her to meet Jude. Another skinner. Only these skinners don't want to be integrated back into society, they want to be recognized for what they are.

Lia has to decide what she wants to be, who she wants to be. Along the way she learns some sad htings about her family and friends, and her boyfriend.

The ending is a cliffhanger, totally leaves you wanting more. So I was excited to see that the 2nd will come out in paperback in a month I think. I've got my copy ordered. :-)