On My Wishlist is a weekly event highlighting a book that I really want to read. The book may be 20 years old, or the pub date may not be until next year, but either way I'm excited about it, and hopefully you will be too!
Because it is the holiday season (and because I had to miss last week's On My Wishlist) I though I would do a supersized edition this week. Instead of one book, I give you three.
All These Things I've Done (Birthright#1) by Gabrielle Zevin
Pub. Date: January 1st, 2011
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux (BYR)
Hardcover
354 pages
354 pages
Synopsis from Goodreads
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.
Because It Is My Blood (Birthright#2) by Gabrielle Zevin
Pub. Date: September 18th, 2012
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.
Engrossing and suspenseful, All
These Things I've Done is an utterly unique, unputdownable read that blends
both the familiar and the fantastic.
Pub. Date: September 18th, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux (BYR)
Hardcover
350 pages
350 pages
Synopsis from Goodreads
Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship. But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.
In The Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright#3) by Gabrielle Zevin
Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship. But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.
In The Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright#3) by Gabrielle Zevin
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux (BYR)
Hardcover
286 pages
286 pages
Synopsis from Goodreads
All These Things I’ve Done, the first novel in the Birthright series, introduced us to timeless heroine Anya Balanchine, a plucky sixteen year old with the heart of a girl and the responsibilities of a grown woman. Now eighteen, life has been more bitter than sweet for Anya. She has lost her parents and her grandmother, and has spent the better part of her high school years in trouble with the law. Perhaps hardest of all, her decision to open a nightclub with her old nemesis Charles Delacroix has cost Anya her relationship with Win.
All These Things I’ve Done, the first novel in the Birthright series, introduced us to timeless heroine Anya Balanchine, a plucky sixteen year old with the heart of a girl and the responsibilities of a grown woman. Now eighteen, life has been more bitter than sweet for Anya. She has lost her parents and her grandmother, and has spent the better part of her high school years in trouble with the law. Perhaps hardest of all, her decision to open a nightclub with her old nemesis Charles Delacroix has cost Anya her relationship with Win.
Still, it is Anya’s nature to
soldier on. She puts the loss of Win behind her and focuses on her work.
Against the odds, the nightclub becomes an enormous success, and Anya feels
like she is on her way and that nothing will ever go wrong for her again. But
after a terrible misjudgment leaves Anya fighting for her life, she is forced
to reckon with her choices and to let people help her for the first time in her
life.
In the Age of Love and Chocolate is the story of growing up and learning what love really is. It
showcases the best of Gabrielle Zevin’s writing for young adults: the intricate
characterization of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and the
big-heartedness of Elsewhere. It will make you remember why you loved
her writing in the first place.
I've heard only really great things about the series. So, what do you think? Is it one that you'd like to add to your wish list? Have you already read it?
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