Friday Finds #17

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading. Each Friday, you share the great books you heard about or discovered over the past week: "books you were told about, books you discovered while browsing blogs/bookstores online, or books that you actually purchased."



A Blue So Dark
by Holly Schindler

Available as: paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 277
Publisher: Flux
Publication date: May 28, 2010
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"Fifteen-year-old Aura Ambrose has been hiding a secret. Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura's dad left them. Convinced that "creative" equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent. But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination. Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that art, love, and family are profoundly linked—and together may offer an escape from her fears."

Cleopatra Confesses
by Carolyn Meyer

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Publication date: June 7, 2011
Suggested tags: young adult, historical fiction, ancient times



From Goodreads:

"Meet teenage Cleopatra in this first-person account of history that captures “sibling rivalry at its most vicious” (Publishers Weekly).

It is the first century B.C., an ancient time of everpresent drama and danger. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh’s six children, is whom her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious, and sensuously beautiful, Cleopatra possesses the charm to cause two of history’s most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely—herself.

The tale of her teenage years is a story of power and romance that stands the test of time—centuries later, Cleopatra remains a figure of mystery and intrigue. Now, award-winning author Carolyn Meyer mesmerizes readers with revelations in this novel about one of the greatest women who ever lived."

Putting Makeup on Dead People
by Jen Violi

Available as: hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 336
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Publication date: May 24, 2011
Suggested tags: young adult, realistic fiction, contemporary



From Goodreads:

"In the spring of her senior year, Donna Parisi finds new life in an unexpected place: a coffin.

Since her father’s death four years ago, Donna has gone through the motions of living: her friendships are empty, she’s clueless about what to do after high school graduation, and her grief keeps her isolated, cut off even from the one parent she has left. That is until she’s standing in front of the dead body of a classmate at Brighton Brothers’ Funeral Home. At that moment, Donna realizes what might just give her life purpose is comforting others in death. That maybe who she really wants to be is a mortician.

This discovery sets in motion a life Donna never imagined was possible. She befriends a charismatic new student, Liz, notices a boy, Charlie, and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too, and finds herself trying things she hadn’t dreamed of trying before. By taking risks, Donna comes into her own, diving into her mortuary studies with a passion and skill she didn’t know she had in her. And she finally understands that moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting someone you love.

Jen Violi’s heartfelt and funny debut novel is a story of transformation—how one girl learns to grieve and say goodbye, turn loss into a gift, and let herself be exceptional...at loving, applying lipstick to corpses, and finding life in the wake of death."

The Winds of Heaven
by Judith Clarke

Available as: hardcover, Kindle edition, ebook
Pages: 288
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication date: September 28, 2010
Suggested tags: young adult, historical fiction, 20th century



From Goodreads:

"Clementine thinks her cousin Fan is everything that she could never be: beautiful, imaginative, wild. The girls promise to be best friends and sisters after the summer is over, but Clementine’s life in the city is different from Fan’s life in dusty Lake Conapaira. And Fan is looking for something, though neither she nor Clementine understands what it is.

Printz Honor Winner Judith Clarke delivers a compassionate, compelling novel with the story of a friendship between two young women, and of the small tragedies that tear them apart from each other, and from themselves."