Today’s Bookanista recommendation: Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield (Available July 5, 2012)
How gorgeous is this cover?
From Goodreads: An arresting un-coming-of-age story, from a breathtaking talent… Becca has always longed to break free from her small, backwater hometown. But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town–and Becca–into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life. Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson’s life are intercut with Becca’s own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia’s death.
Amelia Anne had me at hello. The beautiful cover, mesmerizing synopsis, and steady stream of rave reviews were initially intriguing. But then there was the first line:
The night before Amelia Anne Richardson bled her life away on a parched dirt road outside of town, I bled out my dignity in the back of a pickup truck under a star-pricked sky.
Amazing, right? I’m happy to report that each line that follows the first is equally stunning. So are the characters, the setting, and the desperate, raw tone of this novel.
Kat Rosenfield holds nothing back in the weaving of Rebecca and Amelia’s parallel stories. Her prose is enchantingly gritty, and the relationships she fosters between her characters feel real and flawed and dangerously precarious. Amelia Anne is a fast read, one part literary fiction, one part murder mystery, with a twist that packs one heck of a punch. It’s also one of those books that is simultaneously inspiring (I want to write a book like this!) and discouraging (I’ll never be able to write a book like this…). Writers: Read it, perhaps, when you’re not drafting or in the middle of heavy revisions. But DEFINITELY read it.
Rebecca Behrens was kind of enough to pass an ARC of Amelia Anne to me through a giveaway (read her thoughts on the novel HERE), and I’d love to do the same…
Leave a comment below promising to share what you like (or love!) about Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone through the social media outlet of your choice (your blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and tomorrow (Friday) at noon, I’ll randomly choose one commenter to receive the ARC.
{This giveaway is open internationally, and I’d be grateful if you’d take a moment to help spread the word through Twitter/Facebook/your blog.}
♥ Thank you, lovelies! ♥
And a few more Bookanista recommendations for you to check out…
Nikki Katz has been hit by STRUCK
Jessica Love is thrilled by TRANSCENDENCE
katyupperman.com 
Thanks, Katy! This book looks and sounds gorgeous! (yes a book can really sound gorgeous :D)…
If I am the lucky one, I pinky swear to share my love for this novel on my blog 😀 (there is a very high probability I will fall in love with it as this seems to happen often with books you recommend :D)
Wow! That sounds like a “killer” of a story! I’ll be lookin’ for it. Best regards to you. Ruby
I knew you’d love it! One of my favorites so far this year–I’m still thinking about it.
“The night before Amelia Anne Richardson bled her life away on a parched dirt road outside of town, I bled out my dignity in the back of a pickup truck under a star-pricked sky.”
Umm…WHOA. Have me at hello, heck yeah. I am definitely making this a summer read. Thanks for sharing!
I was just smitten with this cover when it was first revealed, and after hearing that opening line, I’m even more anxious to read. (And above all–if you liked it, I’m pretty much guaranteed to, right?)
I promise to share how beautiful the author’s sentences is with the world on my blog. I think literary YA is buried deep underneath many, many commerical books (the DUFF, Vampire Academy, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Pandemonium, etc.) and it needs to be shared more with the reading community. I read the opening pages on one of those free samplers online (somewhere) and fell in love with the language. I’d love to win a copy. 🙂
P.S. I forgot to add – I put up the photo of me in the REACHED bubble on my blog 😀
Whether I get picked to read this ARC next or not, I’ll definitely be reading this book. Both the cover and the summary were enough to make it onto my TBR list some time ago. Thanks for the recommendation, Katy. 🙂 Now I know I’ll like it! Though, I’m revising right now, so we’ll see if I’m ready for the blow to my self-esteem. (I’d love to write what I think about it too.)
I just added this book to my to-read list on Goodreads. 🙂 It sounds really good! I like the murder mystery part. It sounds very intriguing. I promise to share on my blog!
This cover caught my eye months ago. Then the title just sealed it for me!! I think this one sounds brilliant. Also, I promise to review it 🙂
This sounds so good, especially your review of the writing. I want to read it and would review it on my blog.
Oooh, this sounds awesome!