Scott Westerfeld Loves "Purchase" and Kristin Cashore Loves Scott Westerfeld

And I couldn't think of a good title for this post. But I'm going to need you all to just trust me here and stay with me, because I've got a bizarre theory. It has two parts.

1) Scott Westerfeld loves the word "purchase," when used to mean "a firm grip or grasp, footing, etc., on something" (thank you dictionary.com definition 19).

2) Kristin Cashore read his books, liked his use of the word purchase and just had to find a way to get it into her book.

Now, why might I come to these conclusions?

Last Part First: This week I was engrossed in Graceling when suddenly, on page 406, just as Katsa caught sight of Po's castle, there was the word. Purchase. I was immediately ripped out of the story and transported into Scott Westerfeld's Uglies.

First Part Last: Prior to Uglies, I don't think I'd seen "purchase" used with that definition, and I was struck by it. By the end of the book, however, I was quite used it, as he employed that particular definition of the word SEVEN times (thank you Amazon.com's "Look Inside" feature). That's a lot. In later books he doesn't use it as much (Pretties = 4, Specials = 1; no "Look Inside" was available for Extras. Boo.), but I feel like it's his word. He's in love with it. They should get married. And have babies.

Back to the Last Part: So, obviously Kristin Cashore read Westerfeld's books and was similarly struck by his usage of the word and sought desperately to find a way to use it in her book. And she did.

Or maybe I'm just odd and my photographic memory picks up on unimportant things like this, and similarities between the movies for Speak and Twilight.

Or maybe I have too much time on my hands now that school's out.