Nice surprise

I opened my front door last night and a package fell into the living room.  It was an Advance Reader's Edition of Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done.  I think AREs or ARCs or galleys or whatever they are called are the best things to find in the mail - except for long chatty letters from far-flung family and friends. (Hint, hint, far-flung friends and family!)

Zevin got rave reviews for her earlier book Elsewhere.  Elsewhere examined the afterlife of a girl who died at fifteen.  It was such a sad, thoughtful, wry and hopeful book that I couldn't wait to get my hands on All These Things I've Done.

I haven't gotten too far but I have learned an appalling aspect of the world in this book.  Caffeine and chocolate are both outlawed.  This book must be a HORROR story.  I swoon to think of a world where chocolate is a controlled substance.

The heroine, Anya Balanchine, is the daughter of a notorious - and dead - crime boss.  And the new delicious boy at school is the son of the new District Attorney of the city.  Oops!  Set somewhere in the not-too-distant future, this book promises a good read.  And since the author is Zevin, I'm sure there will be some surprises.