Waiting on Wednesday (59): 2012 Contemps!

Dear Postal Office, where are my books? *sigh*
Anybody here having problems with slow mail service?

Anyway! Here are our picks for this week:

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Title: Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler
Release Date: March 6th 2012
Published by: Simon Pulse

Want? Add to your Goodreads shelf!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving and lacking a single memory of the accident that landed her there. What she can remember, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the accident.

As she takes us through her transformation from invisible girl to on-trend Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby herself does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why is Gabby left alone to take the fall?

Putting the pieces together will take every ounce of Gabby's strength. As she peels back the layers of her life, she begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex...and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

Why I'm waiting for Where It Began:

It kind of reminds me of Michele Jaffe's Rosebush, minus the thriller/stalker aspect and more of real-life, tough situations and also a little bit of Here Lies Bridget. I have a feeling this is mostly about Gabby's life and transformation to someone else. Sounds like a heart breaking book, actually. I wonder what happened. Maybe someone died? We'll never know unless we read the book.

Title: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, Maira Kalman (Illustrator)
Release Date: January 2nd 2012
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Want?Add to your Goodreads shelf!

Summary (from Goodreads):

I'm telling you why we broke up, Ed. I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

Why I'm waiting for Why We Broke Up:

Now this should be quite a challenging read. Would you really want to read the reasons why you broke up with someone? No? But for some reason I want to read this, the story about those bottle caps, movie tickets and all the other stuff left in the aftermath of Min and Ed's relationship. And it looks like it will have illustrations!

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So what are you guys waiting for this week? I'm pretty excited to get my hands on both books in my WoW meme today!