Quick Post

As the title states, this is going to be a quick post, because there is just so much that I want to do.  All of my pre-orders are starting to come in.  Scumble has arrived, although I haven't been able to read it yet, and quite a few others should be here within the next two weeks.

Maybe I'll talk about it more in depth at another time (I probably won't), but The Duff is the debut novel by Kody Keplinger.  The title (and I love the cover) is what drew me in.  There were a few technical problems (stilted dialog, overuse of cliches), but they were easy to overlook as the story developed and hooked me.  It was cute and I was actually disappointed when in ended.  But maybe this was because I felt like a lot of important things had been left unresolved: the narrator is inexplicably angry all the time (more than just an outspoken personality, it's unhealthy to be that angry), the father's alcoholism is basically brushed over (it's a lot harder to get back on the wagon the second time around, but the father's struggle really isn't shown), and the reformation of manwhore/love-interest Wesley is practically a given (I think quitting girls in favor of a monogamous relationship may be a tiny bit harder for Wesley to do and Bianca to accept).  It certainly tied up a lot cleaner than I expected.  I could get more into it, but I'm not going to.  Kody was 17 when she wrote this and I'm pretty impressed.  She's definitely there as a storyteller and her writing will only get better with time.

I re-read Hunger Games in preparation for Mockingjay.  I can't believe it's been so long since I've read this book.  I am unbelievably excited for Tuesday when my book will arrive.  I'm in the process of rereading Catching Fire, now (which is why this is such a short post), but tomorrow I will post about my predictions for Mockingjay.  According to Amazon it is on it's way.