Patricia Stoltey

Author

X is for Xander (as in Zen and Xander Undone)

By:

Zen and Xander Undone is the new YA novel by Amy Kathleen Ryan, one of our Northern Colorado writers. The book’s official release date is in May, but I ordered and received the book last week.

I read Amy’s previous novel, Vibes, last year and thought it was excellent. It’s now out in trade paperback, so if you have an older teen who loves to read, you might want to consider this story of a girl who thinks she’s psychic and doesn’t like what she sees and hears as a result.

The new novel, Zen and Xander Undone, is for the older teen (and for grownups like me who love to read YA novels). The publisher’s synopsis as listed on barnesandnoble.com:

“Zen and Xander are sisters—truly, madly, deeply sisters, and this is their last summer together.

Zen is the “good” girl with a black belt in karate and a newfound penchant for kicking heads. Xander is a wild scientific genius with a self-destructive streak a light-year long. They have three things in common: they’re brown-eyed blondes, they’ve noticed the boy next door has turned into a hottie, and they miss their mom, who died almost a year ago.

These sisters are surviving just fine—except Zen keeps getting into fights that are harder and harder to finish, while Xander spirals into a vortex of late-night parties, scary men, and drugs. What’s worse, Xander has scholarships to the most coveted universities in the country, but she’s about to ruin everything. Should Zen keep trying to protect Xander, or finally let her go?”

I was lucky that I didn’t have to comb the dictionary for a good “X” word to use for this post in the A to Z Blog Challenge. Serendipity…

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Comments

  1. I agree, you did X and Z! This one looks intriguing; I love a good psychic story! I will have to check this out; my 14yrs old loves to read! Thank you~

  3. Sounds like a perfect story for me. Thanks for the tip. Also, thanks for always supporting your fellow writers. You are a warm fuzzy with pompoms!

  5. Hi Patricia! It’s a pleasure to meet you too, and thank you for stopping by my blog as well. I really enjoyed this review and put “Zen and Xander” on my To-Read list. 🙂

  12. I will definitely put this book on my list to buy. The synopsis is intriguing. I’m always looking for excellent YAs to read, my favorite genre next to memoir. I just finished a wonderful YA novel called Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond. Set in Stoneygate, England, it’s filled with “mystery and wonderful,” truly (as an online blurb says). Thanks so much for this new recommendation.