RTW: Best Book of February

Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival hosted by YA Highway. This week's topic is: What's the best book you read in February?

For a short month, I sure read a lot:

One of my favorite voices of all time.
(More on that here)

Very sweet lower-YA, and the
Valentine's theme was perfect
for this month.

I don't think you have to be a '90s teen
to enjoy this one, but it's such a fun trip
for someone who was.

I can't believe it took me so long
to finally read this. Instant favorite.
(Not just because it's my name)

Seriously beautiful writing and
containing just the right amount
of magical realism.

Honest, heartbreaking,
incredibly well-written.

I can't pick a best, so I'll highlight All These Lives,* because it was the only ARC on my list. Here's some info from Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky. She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal. And Jena is wasting away.
To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives. Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one. Someone like Jena. But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization. Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all. Maybe she really only ever had one.

I loved Dani's voice: insightful, authentic, and sometimes cynical and sometimes very funny. But what I loved most about this book was the very honest and nuanced portrait of Dani's family and in particular the bonds between sisters. Like The Sky is Everywhere, it made me pick up the phone and call my sister when I turned the last page. It releases in June 2012 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

What was the best thing you read this month?

*Full disclosure: I share an agent with the incredibly talented author, Sarah Wylie.

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