1. This is the book I heard an excerpt from at Cherry Con.
2. The excerpt was excellent and I was dying to read the rest right away.
3. I had already read _Adios to My Old Life_ by that point.
4. I told Caridad* Ferrer that she made me cry in Starbucks.
5. I read _It’s All About the Accent_ almost entirely on my couch, which is just as well because it made me cry too.
6. I flirted with danger and read parts of _When the Stars Go Blue_ in Starbucks. (And on the bus, and metro and of course, my couch.)
7. Just in case it wasn’t clear, _Stars_ made me cry too.
8. Books making me cry happens less often than you might think.
9. I feel I should clarify, this is not a sad story, there are just some heartbreaking moments. Totally a worthy journey.
10. I know that the wait for _Stars_ isn’t the longest wait ever for a book.
11. It did kinda feel like it though.
12. It was totally worth it.
13. Yes, I am making this list longer by making each entry only a sentence or two.
14. I confess most of my familiarity with “Carmen” was the year both Debi Thomas and Katarina Witt performed pieces from it in figure skating. (I was team Thomas, and not just because she was American.)
15. For all the talk of _Twilight_, _Harry Potter_ and _Hunger Games_ (not that there’s anything wrong with any of these), for non-dystopian, non-paranormal - which is to say contemporary young adult romance - this is the stuff. (Yes, there is other stuff too.)
16. I expect great things to happen with this book. (Hear me, Universe?)
17. I want more. (Hear me, Caridad?)
*Yes, I know her name is Barbara.
Rants About New (and old) Things