Taking the 2011 Debut Author Challenge

Twitter has been a time suck, no lie. But it's also been an awesome resource to find out about really cool things like The Story Siren's 2011 Debut Author Challenge.

The basic premise is that participants sign up to read and review 12 debut YA/MG novels, one for each month of the year. It's super easy to sign up and a great way to motivate myself to read more.

Here are my picks for the year, based unscientifically on what kind of buzz I've heard or how cool I think the title is. I haven't done any research, so unless I have already heard about it, I'm going on title alone. I may change my mind during the year, but this gives me a starting point.

January: Across the Universe by Beth Revis; I've heard some early buzz about this one and it sounds promising

February: How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy by Crystal Allen; funny title gets it picked

March: Entwined by Heather Dixon; sounds like it's a romance

April: Bump by Megan McCafferty; heard a lot of buzz about this one, tooMay: How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain; Best. Title. Ever.

June: Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard; sounds like it's contemporary YA, probably issue-driven

July: Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. by Medeia Sharif; second best title

August: Vanished by Sheela Chari; sounds like it's a mystery or thriller and I don't have any of those on the list yet, so it gets picked

September: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin; sounds paranormal, maybe a ghost story

October: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez; I have no idea what it can be and that intrigues me

November: Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts; it's the only one listed for November so far

December: Fetching by Kiera Stewart; sounds like it's a funny twist on a fairy tale

I'm looking forward to seeing how close my guesses are on the novels I picked based on title only. I'm also looking forward to reading the DAC reviews of the books I haven't chosen.

Here's to 2011: The Year of Reading