Waiting on Wednesday: Drought

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

After the amazingness that was Candor by Pam Bachorz, you had better believe that I am counting down the days to the January 25, 2011 release of her next novel Drought. This woman just seems to have a gift for writing entrancing books & this one seems to be headed the same way!

Ruby Prosser dreams of escaping the Congregation and the early-nineteenth century lifestyle that’s been practiced since the community was first enslaved.

She plots to escape the vicious Darwin West, his cruel Overseers, and the daily struggle to gather the life-prolonging Water that keeps the Congregants alive and gives Darwin his wealth and power. But if Ruby leaves, the Congregation will die without the secret ingredient that makes the Water special: her blood.

So she stays.

But when Ruby meets Ford, the new Overseer who seems barely older than herself, her desire for freedom is too strong. He’s sympathetic, irresistible, forbidden—and her only access to the modern world. Escape with Ford would be so simple, but can Ruby risk the terrible price, dooming the only world she’s ever known?

From Goodreads

Needless to say, I am practically salivating at the thought of reading this book. I truly hope I can add it to my pile of middle-school appropriate recommendations from the YA section. What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: Drought

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Oscar is the perfect example of what a Candor kid should be. He has the best grades, is active in his community, is a role-model and always willing to help. Too bad it's all an act.

After a childhood accident caused his family to break up, Oscar's father was determined to create the perfect existence. That's where the Messages came into play. They are just self affirmations, but they are played in the background of everyday life all the time. They're in the grocery store, in school, in the bushes, even in the houses. You can't help but follow the simple instructions like, "The great are never late" and "Personal space in every place." Families pay big bucks and sit on a waiting list, hoping to be allowed to join this exclusive community and fix their "problems."

A lot of those "problems" look and sound like Nia. She is the prime example of what Candor is trying to fix. She is artistic (read free-thinking), rebellious (read self-sufficient), mouthy (really, what teen isn't?). Oscar, being the perfect Candor kid that he is, decides to introduce himself to his potential new client. See, Oscar has a few tricks up his sleeve as he knows how to create Messages that combat those of his father and he knows how to get you out. Only, Nia seems different. Oscar is intrigued by her and decides to keep quiet a bit longer than normal because he doesn't just see her as a client. Time is running out though and Oscar has some major decisions to make.

Candor was quick-paced and intriguing. A form of mind-control through subliminal messaging that doesn't usually lend well to reading was used quite adeptly in this book. Bachorz made the messages fun and catchy, giving them all the more credibility when you hear yourself repeating them after you've put the book down (true story, I actually did this). I found the characters very dynamic in that there are those who represent a rebellious "leader," a follower, a flake, and a victim. In a way, the whole story actually sounds plausible and reminds me of the exclusive "McMansion" neighborhoods I see in hip, urban areas. Think The Stepford Wives doing car-wash fundraisers mixed with Ferris Bueller suave and you've got Candor. Great read!

Candor by Pam Bachorz