Staff Recommends

There's a lot that goes into picking a staff recommends book. You've got to look at what you like, and what's in store, and then ask yourself the hard questions: what genre should your book be; is it out in paperback; does it have anything controversial in it; is it a stand-alone or part of a series; what age range does it say it's appropriate for, and what ages is it actually appropriate for?  I thought I'd take you through a run-down of my staff recommends books and the books I considered.

First Staff Recommends Book:

The Selection-- I was a little embarrassed about how much I liked this book. However, I basically had to chose The Selection, because whenever I walked by and saw someone looking at it, I couldn't stop myself from going over and giving it a proper recommendation. My pitch: "The Selection is like Cinderella mixed with the Bachelor, with 35 girls competing. Not only are they trying to win the Prince's heart, but one of these girls will become queen. The great thing about the main character is that she's not there to fall in love, she's there to help her family. She's not a girly-girl, she's like, 'Let me wear pants,' and the first thing she does is make a deal with the prince--he'll keep her around if she tells him which girls he can trust." The Selection is a fun read that you don't need to take too seriously.

Current:

Enclave-- Everyone's read Hunger Games, everyone's read Divergent, most people have read Matched. Enclave is the best book that no one has read. One of the best things about the series is that all three books are strong. I have a problem where the main characters in a book will want to rebel against society, and they go off to hide in nature.  That's nice, but nature is boring.  The thing I like about utopia/dsytopia books is learning all the customs and rules in a society, you take that away from me, and I simply cease to care. Enclave starts out where everyone lives underground, and there are three jobs in the community: Builder, Breeder and Hunter/Huntress. This is a rough society where you don't even get a name until you've lived long enough to earn one.

Considering for next:

Love and Other Foreign Words-- When you choose a staff recommends book, (and you can only choose one) you're making a prediction about what type of book people will be interested in. Love and Other Foreign Words is one of the many books that the publishers are comparing to Rainbow Rowell and John Green. Some reviewers scoffed at this, but I agree with the comparison. When I read this as an arc, I thought this could be the next big thing. Josie, a genius with social interaction-troubles, meets the guy her sister is going to marry and immediately can tell it's up to her to stop the wedding. We've got the family relationships, attempts at romantic relationships, but what sew the book together is Josie and her slightly different way of looking at the world. The banter and journal entries are especially hilarious. I was totally charmed. Granted, I did go into this book with low expectations.

Heavily Considered in the past:

Incarnate-- I am obsessed with this beautifully written series. How it works: there are one million souls in the world and whenever anyone dies, they will be the next baby born and keep all their memories from all of their lives. Well, everyone except Ana, who has no memories of any past lives and seems to be a new soul, or no soul, altogether. (Can you imagine how much you could accomplish if you had more than one life? And the relationships with your partner or various parents?) It's such a perfectly weird story, because on top of the never dying thing, this is also a world populated by dragons and phoenixes, and this weird tower... I didn't pick it as my official staff recommends because I was worried it was too "out there," and not everyone wants to read a book shelved in Teen Paranormal Romance.  Additionally there's a character referred to as God (who is clearly not the God from our world), which I was pretty sure would rub some people the wrong way. But it's fabulous and you should read it. If you're into this sort of thing.

Forgotten--
This is the most engrossing read with an out-there ending. The main character, London, remembers her future, but not her past, and must write herself notes on what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow. This works out fine until she meets a boy who keeps showing up in her life, although she does not see him in her future... It's just so freaking cool! It reminded me a lot of Memento, the movie, in the way that you can mess with what people know or how events will occur, because of the different way your memories work--just fascinating. However, by the time I'd discovered this read, it was already out in paperback and wasn't slated to be in store.

Feed-- Feed was claimed as a staff recommends by another employee before I put  in my request in for it. Housed in the Sci-fi/Fantasy section, Feed is one of the best zombie novels I've ever read, because it takes place after the initial invasion. The zombies are still around, but normal life has kind of stabilized and continued--but with extra precautions and frequent blood checks. It's a new world, with lots of characters named after characters from other zombie stories--George, Shaun, Buffy... The initial outbreak started at Comic-Con--this is brilliant stuff down to the tiniest details and is also somewhat of a political thriller. You see, the Internet is what allowed people to communicate and survive the initial outbreak, so blogging has become a bigger thing than it is even now. It all starts when our sibling main characters are chosen to follow a Presidential candidate and cover the campaign...

All These Things I've Done-- Set in 2083, where chocolate and coffee have become illegal--prohibition style--our main character, Anya, is the daughter of a chocolate-manufacturing crime boss, who gets involved in family/police matters when her ex-boyfriend gets poisoned by some of her family's chocolate. Add to that her blossoming relationship with the new assistant D.A.'s son...  All These Thing I've Done is the first book of the trilogy, and I loved all three. The arc I read of the last one made me cry hardcore, though I've read rumors that the arc and book that got published are vastly different...Anyway, Zevin has quietly become one of my favorite writers, because, no matter what she writes, it's good, well, more like great.

Until the End/Final Friends-- It's hard having Christopher Pike as a favorite author because most of his stuff has been out for a while, and when his stories are released, they tend to be bundled together--which is not always the best thing, the exception being the Final Friends trilogy. This series covered a variety of characters as their two high schools are blended for their senior year. As you can imagine, there is a lot going on with relationships, SATs, illegal activities, feuds and so on. During a party early in the year, a high schooler dies, adding a murder mystery to list of things that are happening. Yes, this story was originally published in 1988, but the high school experience is still totally recognizable, and you'll end up knowing half the school on a first name basis. Were I to choose a Pike book that can still be found in-store for a first impression, it would be this one. Although, I'd probably need to make sure the reader was at least 16, just to be safe.

Questions: Trilogy versus stand-alone? Any books that I should be considering? What do you think will be the next big thing and why?