I first met Carol Lynch Williams in 2007 at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference she organizes every year. After the conference Carol and I continued our friendship via email and it’s still going strong today. She’s always there with a kind and encouraging word, or a joke. And now, by a stroke of luck or fate, we are agency mates, and call each other cousin. I’m looking forward to the next family reunion.
Carol is the author of more than twenty middle grade and young adult novels. Her most recent is The Chosen One (2009 St. Martin’s Press).
The Chosen One grabbed me around the throat and wouldn’t let go. It’s an edgy, poetic, page-turning YA novel with a killer voice. It’s one of those books that keeps you up way past your bedtime. I read it in one fell swoop and then was sad that it was over. I wanted a sequel right away.
From the jacket flap of The Chosen One:
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.
But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.
Carol published her first book, Kelly and Me, with Delacorte in 1993 and is still going strong. She is a four-time winner of the Utah Original Writing Competition and winner of Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award, and a 2009 recipient of a PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship.
Her newest book, Glimpse, will be released in June by Simon & Schuster. Glimpse is about two sisters. One has tried to kill herself and the other is trying to figure out why.
To learn more about Carol, stop by her blog and say hi. Or better yet, attend her Conference.
I’m giving away a copy of The Chosen One. Leave a comment between now and noon est. on Thursday and you’ll be entered in a random drawing.
Amanda Bonilla over at Swords, Boots and Shadows is reviewing Silver Borne by Patricia Biggs. And, if you click on Recommended Reads you’ll get links to over sixty other blog reviewing books today thanks to Elana Johnson. But first remember to leave a comment so you’ll be entered in the give away!
She sounds awesome and I have to say that the cover and title of Glimpse immediately draws me in.
I look forward to reading Carol’s books. Thanks so much for highlighting this successful author!
Spread the Awesome is such a great idea. Hope you’ll visit my blog today, where I’m participating too. Have a wonderful day!
The Chosen One sounds fantastic. Sounds like you have a great agency mate. I’m off to visit Carol’s website.
You’ve got skills with words, man. Anything you recommend, I will read, for sure. It’s awesome that we got to see so much about your author, thanks!
I would love to read this. Please enter me. The cover is awesome! I am always looking for new YA authors to read. This day of awesomeness is such a great idea!
Thanks for the spotlight on Carol Lynch Williams. I read THE CHOSEN ONE last year and it was one of my favorite books of the year.
Wow, those sound intense! The Chosen One is going in my TBR list.
Oh, those both look like amazing books! I can’t wait to read them!
Thanks for spreading the awesome!
Paul–this sounds like a wonderful author, and one that wasn’t on my radar. I would love to win this book!! Thanks so much for the opportunity!!
You totally had me at “It’s an edgy, poetic, page-turning YA novel with a killer voice.” – I need to read this! It sounds amazing. I would love to be entered if this is open internationally. Thanks! 🙂
I’m amazingly grateful to Elena for doing this. I’m getting a chance to come across some delightful blogs, yours among them.
This book definitely sounds like something I would enjoy reading. Thanks for the opportunity!(Hugs)Indigo
Well, this is just really cool. Thanks for sharing!
THANK GOODNESS you provided a link to the conference. I’ve been searching for it and all I could find out was that it had been cancelled. What a relief it was just moved!
The books sound phenomenal, I can’t believe I’ve not read them yet. I will have to remedy it post haste.
Great post!
OH FINE, I’LL ENTER.
In all seriousness, Paul, thanks for the heads up! And I’ve been hearing buzz around THE CHOSEN ONE, it looks fantastic.
I hadn’t heard of Carol Lynch Williams, and her books sound great! Thanks for putting her on my radar–that does seem like what spreading the awesome is about. And I love the family reunion comment! That is such a special relationship!
Omgosh…my TBR list is growing and growing today!
Wow, this sounds like an amazing book. I’m so glad that you’ve introduced me to a new author! Please enter me! I’m adding her to my TBR list 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway. : )
I’d love a copy of this book… the cover art is gorgeous, too.
Another wonderful book to add to my list! 🙂
Count me in!
The Chosen One sounds so great. I like poetic books, as well as page-turners! Please include me in the giveaway only if it’s open internationally.
I would love to read and review this one.
Great post! Glimpse sounds awesome as well. I’ll have my eyes open for it.
I read this book a few months ago. It was interesting to say the least! It pulls you in and it’s hard to quit reading.
I’ve heard great things about this book and still haven’t had a chance to read it. Sounds like I need to bump it up on my TBR list.
Thanks for the reminder. Sounds like you have an awesome agent mate. 🙂
I’ve heard of this book – you made it sound very intriguing. I’d love to win a copy.
Oh, I’ve seen that book around and been intrigued. Now, you make me really want it! Please enter me, and thanks for posting about it. Elana sure had a wonderful idea.
I love this book. Carol is such a talented writer.
These sound like great reads! Thanks for the recommendations. Please count me in for your drawing! 🙂
Wow. That sounds intense. And so different from other YA books right now. Love that. Even though it was published a while ago, it feels like a fresh find. Great review Paul. You are so lucky to know Carol! Thanks for the recommendations!
Wow, the blurb grabbed me! A 13-year old with a sixty-year old man? Yuck! Hope she escapes that fate!
Please enter me (:
Another book I haven’t heard of! It looks like I’ll be stocking up next time I go to Barnes & Noble!! 🙂
Thanks for an awesome post! I’m going to add this author to my summer reading list for sure!
I’d love to read/win this book. It’s sounds great!
Any book with a “can’t put down” recommendation is one I want to read!
Wow — I’ve met her and didn’t even realize it until this very moment. She was the organizer at the conference I went to a couple of summers ago! How crazy is that???
And man, both The Chosen One and Glimpse look simply amazing. Great post, Paul!!
Whoa! That synopsis had me at the first sentence! That sounds like an amazing book for sure.
Wow! Those sound really intriguing. 🙂 Great reviews.
Carol sounds like an awesome writer. The info on both books has me hooked already.
Enter me, please! That book sounds really good – I’ll have to find a copy on my own if I don’t win this one.
Count me in please 🙂
I’ve seen this book before, but wasn’t sure if I could get into it, but sounds like it’s a MUST!
I was at that WIFYR conference too. Did we meet there? It’s entirely possible. Anyway, I have been wanting to get this book, but you know, a person can only buy so many books at once. And for that matter, only read so many at once.
But I’ve heard this is incredible. I really need to read it.
The book description gave me the chills. So provocative… I can’t wait to read it!
Thanks for the book recommendation and letting me know about Carol Lynch Williams!
I haven’t read that one yet. Enter me, please!
Pick me! Pick me! Sounds amazing and I’m getting it even if I don’t win. 😀
I’ve been adding to my TBR list all night, and now I have some more great books to read.
I’ve always wanted to read this book! So, please enter me! Thanks!
This book is on my to-read list, for sure. As is her newest.
Please do enter me in the contest! Thanks and off to check out her conference…
Sounds like an intriguing book. Wow. Thanks for the review. I’ll have to check that one out!
Hi, Paul!
The book you selected sounds GREAT! I would love to win it, of course, but best of luck to everyone else, too.
Nice “meeting” you and I hope you’ll stop by my blog from time to time, because I’m going to check in with you, now that I’ve discovered you.
Until next time,
Cynde (Cynde’s Got The Write Stuff)
http://cyndes-got-the-write-stuff.blogspot.com/
Hi everyone! Thanks for entering the contest. I’ll be announcing the winner on Monday!
Guess I’m a little too late; I just saw this now.
The novels sound really good.
WOW! Both of those books look incredible! Definitely adding them to my TBR pile.
I love this book i wanted to know if there is a seqaul