Book Review: Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling

Set in London, during the preparations for the Olympics, this book is a perfect read for this holiday. It is the second installment of the Benedict series, and in my opinion a (more than ) worthy successor of Finding Sky.

Yves' story.
This is about getting you out...I'm stealing you.
Phoenix belongs to the Community - a gang of thieves with paranormal powers. Yves Benedict - an American student visiting London - is her mark. But Yves turns out to be more than just a target. He is her destiny. Her soulmate. But the Community owns Phoenix's past and it wants her future too.

My thoughts

Phoenix is a young Savant girl, surviving by stealing off unsuspecting tourists. When she is ordered to find a specific victim her whole life changes. Yves Benedict, another Savant, is her prey. She messes up and is not sure whether she can still rely on her remarkable gift. More importantly, she is not sure whether she will last the day. Luckily, she does and we get to enjoy a wonderful story.

I must admit I was first a bit skeptical when I found out this book wasn't about Sky & Zed. During Finding Sky I had grown attached to these two, while I liked Yves I didn't want to let go off them. After months of procrastinating I finally decided to give this one a try and I'm glad.
The story is a whole new one: New main characters, new place, new developments.Yes, the other Benedicts still play a significant role.
Again, Stirling's writing was amazing. The way she described everything made me feel like the book was about me myself, like I was Phoenix. How Phoenix feels, what she sees, what she thinks. Every sentence written in this books is interesting and creating vivid imageries. Stirling is definitely a creative mastermind.

Another thing I loved about this book is the character development. The Benedicts are intriguing, as well as their bond. Every single one of the seven brothers is different, what makes reading about them fascinating.
Yves is my kind of guy: intelligent, caring, romantic and a tad shy. How he's willing to do everything for Phoenix, right after he finds out she's his soulfinder, was touching. Though he immediately falls in love with her their love is hesitant at first. Yet he doesn't give up on Phoenix. As the story progresses their love runs deeper and develops, something I missed in Finding Sky.

Phoenix is an admirable heroine, someone I can relate to myself. The way she desperately wants to find a way out of the Community, the way she has trouble trusting others, the way she lost faith in humanity really. Throughout the book she learns to trust others, she learns to accept events even when she doesn't like them. 

Phoenix and Yves are from completely different worlds, them being together, it felt impossible at first. However, they complement each other perfectly. It's just right. 

Just like "Finding Sky" this story had me hooked right from page one, I can't wait to find out more about the Benedict brothers and their Soulfinders.
Stealing Phoenix was packed with loads of action and dangerous intrigues, and during their adventure Phoenix and Yves crept up on me.

Cover

Although the cover is nothing really "outstanding" nor related to the story, I like it. It's subtle, pretty. 

My rating of this book

Source

Bought at the local bookshop. 

Other links

Find this book on Goodreads

Visit Joss Stirling's website here

~ Sylke

Book Review: White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.
Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

My thoughts
White Cat is a paranormal Young Adult book. The book tells a story set in our world, yet a small part of the population are born as workers. They can literally work people with their hands, by touching them they can change memories, bring good luck or bad luck, kill, and some other not quite average things.
The concept is new, or at least something I've never read before myself. Not only is it new, it's intriguing, mysterious and amazing.

Holly Black's writing style has a lot to do with this as well. Black has a rare talent for making you as a reader symphatize with a character, no matter what terrible crimes they have commited in the past. You can't help but feel sorry for a murderer, even though he deserved the hurt. 

I loved the main character, Cassel. It was refreshing to read a book with a male protagonist for once.
Cassel is a murderer, one of the bad guys. Cassel is manipulative, a murderer and very charismatic. He's a saint compared to the rest of his family, murder and theft is nothing extraordinary. And yet I felt sorry for him, I hoped he was innocent and everything was just a big mistake.
Cassel's character developed a lot during the book, he changed as he found out more and more things about himself and his family. Most happenings are predictable, but instead of being bothersome it only made me feel more connected to Cassel. At times I felt like yelling to Cassel what to do, so he wouldn't get hurt or something similar. I just hoped he would figure things out himself.

Despite the heavy subject and crimes, the book isn't dark. I do think the story is heading that way though. At the beginning of the book Cassel was an innocent young boy, at the ending he's deeply involved with the maffia and in great danger.

If you like paranormal books, you should definitely give this one a try. It's a unique read, I guarantee you.

Cover

Don't let the dull cover scare you. I don't get why this cover was chosen, it's in no way connected to the story in my opinion. 

My rating of this book

Source

I borrowed the book from the local library. 

Other links

Find this book on Goodreads

Visit Holly Black's website here

~ Sylke

Book Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Eighteen year old Saba has lived her entire life in Silverlake, her life is  all about surviving the hash life there. Dangerous sandstorms and drought is a part of everyday life, still Saba likes her life as long as her twin, Lugh, is there by her side.

One day everything changes, out of a big sandstorm a group of riders emerge and they take Lugh, by force, with them. Saba swears that she won't stop searching until she finds her brother again. To find Lugh Saba has to go out into a very unsafe world and if that wasn't hard enough in itself her little sister Emmi insists on tagging along.

My thoughts:

Blood Red Road nearly took my breath away, it was that good. The first few pages was kind of a struggle because the entire story is written in dialect, but that was so easy to forget. I might add that the whole dialect aspect brings another dimension to the whole world author Moira Young has created in this novel, it shows how the people lack education. These people have a lot more pressing matters to tend to than learning how to read and write. When I had the time to sit down and enjoy this novel I devoured the pages(just almost literally LOL), I was sucked into the story and didn't want to close the book until I made it to the final page.

In Blood Red Road we travel with Saba through her adventures journey towards freeing her brother, Lough, from captivity. What I really loved about this story was that the whole quest was about so much more than one initially was lead to believe. Saba is in no way a one dimensional character, she feels genuine, she is though and not always the nicest kind of person. Saba can behave in a way that tugs at your heartstrings, still you have no other choice but to root for her.

I would like to add that this is a most excellent and well thought through debut novel I've read in quite awhile. This was a fabulous dystopian YA novel that I wholeheartedly recommend others to read. Blood Red Road can work as a stand alone but it seems to be a sequel in the making. I hope Moira Young can pull it off with that difficult second book, one which I'm longing for already.

Book trailer:

The cover:
I actually think it depicts the harsh conditions in which Saba lives quite accurately(at least how I imagine it to be).

My rating of this book:

- this is one awesome dystopian!

Want a second opinion?:
Presenting Lenore 
holes in my brain
Emily's Reading Room

Want to know more?
Add Blood Red Road to your Goodreads wish list
Visit Blood Red Road's homepage
Full disclosure: Review copy from the Norwegian publisher.

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries. 
                                                                                                              

Book review: The Autumn by Jan Henrik Nielsen

I'm not going to say that The Autumn is the Norwegian equivalent to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the story is much to different to be labeled that way, but I will say this its a great, dark YA dystopian filled with glimmers of hope.

The Frankfurt Book Fair ended recently and publishers from all around the world have been hard at work to sell the rights to some of their best novels to foreign publishers. According to NYT it seems like translation is foreign to American publishers, that is sad, really. There is so much great literature out there that deserves to be translated but the good thing was that the article inspired me to write this review :)

I know copies of one of my favorite YA dystopian reads from 2011, The Autumn by Jan Henrik Nielsen, went home in the suitcase of several foreign publishers. I've decided to translate my review to, hopefully, help the book on its way out in the big world.

Fride, soon to be six years old, cannot remember life outside of the isolation of their dark, moist bunker, her older sister Nanna, twelve years old, have vague memories of life outside. For five years now the sisters have lived in safety below ground with their father, they sought out a secure place when animals, nature and then humans started to wither away. The girls are bored with their daily routine, how can their father be so sure that it is still dangerous out there when they have no contact what so ever with the world above? The food supply is running short and then Nannas' and Frides' father gets sick. The family has no choice, the father has to send his two precious girls to the city in search of their old flat to find food and medicine. It is a highly dangerous journey for two young sisters, what lies beyond the next turn? Maybe their wish of life outside should have stayed merely a wish, they might wish for the boring, dark safety of their little bunker..

My thoughts:
Dystopian novels are very popular at the moment and I'm proud to say that we finally have an excellent Norwegian dystopian on our hands. I can honestly say that it exceeded my expectations and that I wanted more when the book was finished. I'm not sure weather or not this is a standalone but the ending left the doors open for a potential sequel.

The Autumn is about a dark future that feels so, so close to our own, it feels like this could very well be happening tomorrow and that is quite an accomplishment of the author to create that feeling within me I would say. It is delightfully frightening and good at the same time.

We get to see a post apocalyptic world through the eyes of two young girls, which is part of why this story made such a big impact on me. Fride is so young and has no memories of the world as we know it, her descriptions of things she sees and her questions makes you believe in her character. I have no problem believing that a person who knew nothing of our life would ask and observe like Fride did.

The world is sad and grey but the girls, especially young and naive Fride, brings the reader some hope for the survival of our human race. There is no love triangle in this book, in fact no romance at all, but the love for family has a central role in this story. The relationship between the two sisters is described in a most vivid way, so much that it feels real and made me fall head over heels for these two characters.

 I only have one negative comment and that is that some of the dialog felt to short and simple but that might be conscious choice by the author due to the age of the youngest character.


Cover:
So very different from the "girl in a dress"- covers. I LOVE it! If that doesn't say dystopian than nothing does. 


My rating of this book:

 - I want more books about Nanna and Fride.

Want to know more?

Published: August 2011
Publisher: Cappelen Damm
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9788202363390
Full disclosure: Review copy received from the Norwegian publisher for honest review on my Norwegian book blog.

 

Book review: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

A letter arrive 50 years too late and Edie Burchill reads it even though the letter is addressed to her mother. Edie sets out on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, where the Blythe spinsters live. During WW II Edie's mother came to live with the Blythe family. The oldest Blythe sisters, twins, has taken care of their youngest sister Juniper since 1941, Juniper lost her mind when her fiance left her in 1941.

Edie dig's deep down into her mother’s past, a past she has kept hidden all these years. What happened at Milderhurst castle?

My thoughts:

Welcome into Milderhurst castle and this wonderful Gothic inspired tale. I'm sure you do not wish to leave until you've closed the final page, at least I know I didn't. The Distant Hours was a true page-turner(perhaps a bad choice of word since I listened to the audiobook). I've heard incredible things about Kate Morton's books but The Distant Hours was the first one for meg. Kate is an incredible storyteller and she writes beautifully. I would say that this is is a book to save until winter and enjoy when the snow is falling heavily outside your windows. 

Sure The Distant Hours is a brick of a book but it doesn't feel that way when your all caught up in the mystery of the story. When I thought I knew something the story took an unexpected turn. Sometimes the setting was a bit eerie and it felt a bit like I was reading a ghost story thanks to Juniper, she was one scary character.

The Distant Hours is reminiscent of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and I feel pretty confident that those who loved TTT will fall for this book as well.

Although this is an adult title older young adults might like this one.


Book trailer:

Cover:
Lovely.


My rating of this book:

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
The Book Nerd Club
Confessions of A Book Addict
Beyond Books

Want to know more?

Add The Distant Hours to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Kate Morton's homepage 

Read Kate's blog 

Check out Kate's fanpage on Facebook 

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Published: 2010
Pages(hardcover): 674
Publisher: Mantle
ISBN: 0230748325 (ISBN13: 9780230748323)
Full disclosure: I purchased the audiobook version of this novel from Audible

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.

Book review: Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford

Five things you should know about Carter:

1. He has a stuttering problem, particularly around boobs and belly buttons.
2. He battles Attention Deficit Disorder every minute of every day...unless he gets distracted.
3. He's a virgin, mostly because he's no good at talking to girls (see number 1).
4. He's about to start high school.
5. He's totally not ready.

My thoughts:
It's been two years since I read GreenBeanTeenQueen's excellent review of Carter Finally Gets It and I finally got around to listening to this book on audio. Now I have to ask myself, why did I wait this long? This book was great! 

Author Brent Crawford haven't forgotten what it was like being fourteen and even though I'm a girl who is way past fourteen I had no trouble relating to Carter. I laughed out loud so many times, I couldn't listen to this book in public. 


Crawford addresses many serious topics in this coming of age novel but he does so with lots of humor. Carter is a character with his issues like any other normal teen. Carter isn't a perfect jock, or a swimmer or the perfect boyfriend, but he does his best but sometimes things just doesn't go as planned. I loved Carter as a character, he had such a great voice. And speaking of voice Nick Podehl does an excellent job narrating the story.


Cover:
Okish


My rating of this book:

- I'm running over to Audible to get the next book about Carter ASAP.

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
GreenBeanTeenQueen
Eating YA Books

Want to know more?

Add Carter Finally Gets It to your Goodreads wish list.

Visit Brent Crawford's homepage 

Visit Boobspeak(the books homepage)

Follow Brent on Twitter 

Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford

Published: 2009
Pages(paperback): 304
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 1423112466 (ISBN13: 9781423112464)
Full disclosure: My copy was a audiobook purchased from Audible.

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.

Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Summary:

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

My thoughts:

Matched is one of many dystopian YA novels I have read lately, but it definitely manages to stand out from the rest. The story is set in a world where The Society decides everything from how fast you can run on the treadmill, to who you will marry, to when you will die. We don't get much of an explanation as to how this system developed, but the purpose seems to be that if everyone wears the same clothes and eat the same food, and nobody has anything more than anyone else, people won't have a reason to be jealous of each other. It's hard to imagine living in a world where you're never allowed to make your own decisions, but if that's all you've ever known, would you just accept the situation or would you long for something more?

The main character Cassia has never questioned the ways of The Society, but throughout this novel she will start seeing everything in a different light. She goes through some pretty big changes, and it was very easy for me to relate to Cassia and the choices she has to take. Will she risk everything she's used to, or choose what's familiar and safe?

Matched is so much more than just another dystopian YA novel. It is a beautiful love story, a great tale of how difficult it can be to tell right from wrong, about the choices you have to make, and the consequences those choices will have on both you and others. I cried, I laughed, I cursed some characters while I fell in love with others, and when I had read the last page I was left with a feeling of hope. My only complaint about Matched is that it is very slow paced, and any scenes with action are over almost before they've begun. Still, it is one of the better YA love stories I have read in the last year.

The cover:

Beautiful, and very fitting for the story.

My rating of this book:

4,5 stars out of 5


Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
MoonStar
Confessions of a Book Addict

Eating YA Books

Want to know more?
Add Matched to your Goodreads wish list
Visit Ally Condie's website 
Follow Ally Condie on Twitter

Matched by Ally Condie

Published: November 30th 2010
Pages (hardcover): 366
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
ISBN: 0525423648 (ISBN13: 9780525423645)
Full disclosure: Checked out at local library

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and online book stores like Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store has free shipping to over 90 countries.

Book review: Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Pages(hardcover): 352

Published: August 2009

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

My tears have dried and I'm finally able to write a review. I cried through the last 30 pages of the book, and that ladies and gentlemen was not because the book was poorly written.

And so the Prophecy begins :

Perhaps because it seems so appropriate, I don't notice the rain. It falls in sheets, a blanket of silvery thread rushing to the hard almost-winter ground. Still, I stand without moving at the side of the coffin.

Tell me what's this book about?
I started out writing a short summary of the book, then I discovered this great video clip where Michelle Zink herself talks about Prophecy of the Sisters. Since I enjoyed watching it I thought perhaps my readers will enjoy this video too.

My thoughts on Prophecy of the Sisters:
I loved it and cannot wait to get my hands on the next book, Guardian of the Gate(release date is August 1, 2010)! It was extremely hard to put the book down, so a take it from me it might be such a good idea to start book if you're only days away from an my exam. If Guardian of the Gate is 10 times better I need to be alone once I get my hands on it. Lock myself up in a room and stay there with my book.

It is hard to believe that Prophecy of the Sisters is Michelle Zink's debut novel. This is a skilfully crafted novel with three dimensional characters. The characters in the Prophecy was so well written that I kind of got sucked into their world. I cried when they cried, laughed when they laughed. I believe that an author has to be really talented to make the readers feel that way about the characters in the story

If you read the first paragraph you noticed the gloomy beginning, this novel has a very Gothic feel all the way through(Michelle also points that out in the video clip). It fits perfect to a story based on a prophecy set in New York in the late Victorian era. Zink has a way of describing things that I could just about feel the rain and the wind seeping off the pages. She never bores her readers with tedious descriptions of things and places, but uses just the right amount of detailed descriptions. See I kind of have an issue with overly detailed descriptions in books, it tends to put a it off the book I'm reading*blush*

If there's one thing I might put my finger on it must be the character Henry, I so wish we'd get to know him a bit better, that he was a bigger part of the plot. Perhaps we will see more of him in the future?

My rating of this book:
4.5 out of 5 stars(I gave it a four star rating on Goodreads, they don't do half a star :( ).
Why I didn't give this book a five star rating? I'm saving it for Guardian of the Gate of course!

Want to know more?

Visit Michelle Zink's official homepage
Follow Michelle on Twitter


Want another opinion on this book? Check out these reviews below(all from the fab bloggers I have in my blog roll:

• Reverie Book Reviews
•  BOBBI'S BOOK NOOK
• Melissa's Bookshelf
• Juiciliciousss Reviews
• Shooting Stars Mag 
• Persnickety Snark
• Library Lounge Lizard  
• Steph Su Reads 
• The Book Smugglers 
  
• The Hiding Spot

Don't forget to enter my contest for a chance to win Knife(Spell Hunter) and Rebel by R.J. Anderson!

Book review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Synopsis:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival.

This book has swept over the blogging community and I'm sure most of you already have read about it on several blogs, still I have to write a few words about The Hunger Games. Some of you might find the synopsis slightly boring, but I promise you that this book is no way near boring. I must admit that I might never have given this book a change if it weren't for a blog review stating that I would miss out on something if I didn't read this book. Well I couldn't let that happen, could I?

The Hunger Games fitted perfectly as a part of my 2009 Young Adult Challenge, so I decided to give it a chance. I was a bit worried that this book would be horrible, 24 kids killing each other off sounds a bit horrible to me. Maybe especially since I am a mother myself, and every normal parents would want to protect their children from any harm. In this book the parents can only watch their children being chosen to participate in this collective punishment, as to remind everyone of who's in charge of Panem. I pray that reality-tv never ever goes this far!

Suzanne Collins has manged to create a great fictional story that not only contains crulty but is a story about familyties, love, kindness and friendship. What an amazing read this was! The suspense in this book is neverending, a real page turner. The best book I have read so far this year. I'm really looking forward to read book two in this trilogy, Catching Fire, it'll be released in September. Catching Fire can be preordred at Amazon.



My rating of this book:
4.5/5

Oh, I nearly forgot but this book is on the planning stage for filmadaption and the release date will be sometime in 2011!

If you have reviewed this book let me know and I'll post a link to your review below.
Want another opinion on this book? Check out these reviews below:

• Booking Mama - Review: The Hunger Games
• NotNessie - Review: The Hunger Games
• Carol(ina) - The Hunger Games
  

About the author:
Suzanne Collins lives in Connecticut with her family.

Her career began in 1991 as a writer for children's television shows, she worked on several shows on Nickelodeon.

Collins met an author of children's books which inspired her to write children's books herself. She wrote a series for children called The Underland Chronicles, inspiration for the series she got from the fairytale Alice in Wonderland.

Read more about Suzanne Collins and her books on her homepage.

Book review: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Let me start off with my favorite quote from the book:

'I reached inside the envelope. It was a postcard of a Rembrandt self-portrait. On the back it said: Dear Al, Wittgenstein once wrote that when the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it. I wish I could draw you. Happy early birthday. Love, your Uncle Julian.'

Book description:

Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands full—keeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wild—she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories.

'... as a rule of thumb, whenever there appears a plural, correct for a singular. Should I ever let slip a royal WE, put me out of my misery with a swift blow to the head.' - Leo Gursky in The History of Love.

I could very well keep this post short and simple with J.M. Coetzee's praise for this book 'Charming, tender and wholly original' but I want to add something. This is truly a wonderful book and I loved reading it, although I thought it had a bit of a slow start.

Nicole Krauss has a wonderful way of portraying feelings in this book, love, loss, grieve and loneliness. The main character in this book, Leo, is an old lonely man. For me it is truly horrifying to imagine a future alone without anyone. I cannot help but think about how many elderly people living out there, lonely; in this world where many people even shy away from caring about their next door neighbor.

'Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.' - The History of Love.

This book describes feelings many of the Jewish refugees experienced around the time of World War II. I believe it is very important that we never let ourselves forget what happened in Europe during that time period. The author herself had grandparents that fled to America before the war started (several of Krauss older relatives died in the Holocaust). In the dedication of the book she writes about her grandparents 'who taught me the opposite of disappearing'.

My rating of this book 4.5 out of 5.


Short about the author, Nicole Krauss:

Nicole Krauss was born in USA in 1974. Lives in New York with her son and husband, author Jonathan Safron Foer. Her first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, was published in 2001. She has written some poetry and was nominated for the Yale Younger Poet's Price.