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…
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~
Not only did you find your X word, you now have your Z word!
Helen
Straight From Hel
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!
It sounds like a great book with a really strong storyline. Nice. 🙂
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. 🙂
You should buy Amy a chocolate bar for making the topic for this post relatively easy.
Thanks for the plug, Pat! You’re the best!
Sounds like a good read.
It’s a lot of fun to read YA/Teen/Middle Grade novels these days. The writing is great and the characters are amazing.
I’ve been trying to fit more reading into my day, but have to pick things that are different than what I’m writing. This looks perfect. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hearth Cricket
That looks like an awesome book for me to read next…thanks for the review! Thanks for coming by as well!
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.
Ooh… that book looks good. I am such a YA reader. I’ll have to check it out! I have to go dictionary digging for my X word.
I haven’t read much YA lit, but this one sounds intriguing.
Karen
Sounds like a good book, will keep my eye out for it.
Yvonne.
Sounds good! I’ll check it out, Patricia. My son likes reading YA too, but I don’t know if this one is down his alley.
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Don’t you love it when that happens!
I have an award for you on my blog.
Serendipity indeed. Sounds like a great book. I haven’t read any YA books and I need to. This one will definitely go on my list. Thanks.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress