Monday, January 3, 2011

The Sisterhood of the Sequel

As regular readers of this blog know, I’m a series girl. While there are a several stand-alone books that I’m looking forward to in 2011, a lot of favorite authors are publishing or will publish sequels this year. Here are the three series books and one other that I am the most excited about!

1) Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart – I really enjoyed the first three books in this series because Ruby, the main character, is complex, flawed and adorable. In the first book in the series, Ruby does something that alienates her friends and pays for it later. Lockhart is a very funny and clever writer who creates an inconsistent path for Ruby that feels remarkably real and makes you root for her.

2) Caddy’s World by Hilary McKay. Caddy’s World is the sixth and possibly last book in the Casson family series. My favorite aspect of these books are their mastery of absurdist humor. The parents are artists and they are hilariously impractical. McKay also gives the reader a great view of their world by using excellent visual descriptions, making you see what the characters see. I’m really intrigued by one character, Saffron. I hope there’s more about her in this book!

3) Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. I had always hoped that there would be a fifth book in the Traveling Pants series, even though the pants were lost in the fourth book. The series, in many ways a character study of its protagonists Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bee, is one of my favorites. I hope Brashares answers some of the questions I’ve been wondering about, like what will happen with Lena and Kostas and how Bee is handling adult life!

4) Cut and Run by Sarah Dessen – This book isn’t exactly part of a series but Dessen writes about a group of characters in the same small town so there are some glimpses of past heroines. All of Dessen’s books are elegantly constructed. Their plot and timing are beautiful. At first they seem like a very familiar theme: lonely girl meets boy, finds happiness forever. But once you dig into the story you realize that the angle that Dessen takes is unique and exciting.

What books are you looking forward to this year? Let me know in the comments section below and you can win a copy of The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman. Remember to leave your contact information!

2 comments:

  1. I didn't know a new Casson family book was coming out! squeeeeee!

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  2. Cut and Run seems like a great read. And, I love the title. Those words made such a political splash, but were fiction.

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