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Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

March 24, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: April 7, 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: Balzer + Bray

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli | Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

This book had me grinning at so many spots, it's impossible to name them all. This is going to be in the top ten of many bloggers's lists for contemporary YA novels published in 2015: yes, that is how fantastic Simon Spier's voice is. You know how Stephanie Perkins's novels are full of saturation, the voices so PRESENT and easy to picture? That ALL CAPS sensation where you feel like you really know her characters? Yes, this book reminded me of that effect. Simon's voice is original, full of humor and realism. He will have you laughing and grinning and then by turns thinking deeply about the defaults of the world, about the difficulties he has to face because he's going against the mold and of the little things which people (like his father) say that can be taken badly.

The side characters in this novel are truly something to behold as well. There aren't that many contemporary novels with large character casts; I am reminded of Lauren Oliver's contemporary novels but few else. Here we have Simon's adorable family, his best friends and their extended lunch table crew, the cast of the drama musical he's in, his teachers and romantic interest. The sense of community that Oliver has explicitly (in Panic) stated that she hopes her readers will find in her novels is here in spades in Becky Albertalli's novel. The characters by turns support Simon and isolate him sometimes without even realizing it, and the conflicts raised by the extended cast feel realistic and handled so well. The bullying with the blackmail situation, the meeting of a romantic interest online and the difference of an internet and in person connection, the pressure and expectations raised with coming-out, and the coming-of-age and learning to love and embrace yourself running alongside so many other issues. Simon's character development is wonderfully enhanced and developed alongside the other characters and the novel's themes.

One of the really fantastic things about having a large character cast means that this romance feels fresh and almost unpredictable. Simon doesn't know the identity of his pen pal, who he falls in love with, and having a large cast means that you're kept on your toes as you, like him, try to figure out who Blue is. Their email exchange ensures that they are friends before they enter a relationship - before they're even sure that they're physically attracted to one another - and are so, so adorable to read. You see their chemistry before they recognize it and take their friendship to the next level. They'll have you craving Oreos and grinning before long. The plot of this adorable coming-out coming-of-age romance is only amplified by Simon's humorous and real voice.

With the sense of community, large character cast, and friendship that would appeal to Lauren Oliver's contemporary fans; an email-based romance (at first) that I would imagine would also appeal to fans of Jennifer Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like; and the fresh, humorous voice that would appeal to Stephanie Perkins's fans, Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is a sure-fire hit. This combination of coming-of-age character growth, romance, and awesome characters ensures that Becky Albertalli is on my to-watch for future releases. So, so adorable.

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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds (77)

March 25, 2015, 7:37 am
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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds is a feature that will let you know about recent MG/YA/NA book related news. I'll post about articles from the publishing industry, cover reveals, discussions from fellow bloggers, the latest tv/movie news, and giveaways that you're hosting. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest.

Publishing:
Rights Report:
  • Stealing Snow - Danielle Paige (in which 17-year-old Snow escapes a mental institution in upstate New York and ends up lost in Algid, a Winterland of ice, reimagining Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Publication of the first volume is slated for fall 2016; Bloomsbury).
  • The Elementia Chronicles trilogy - Sean Fay Wolfe (debut… an unofficial Minecraft-fan adventure series... The first volume is scheduled for publication in July 2015, the second for October 2015, with the third to follow in January 2016. HarperCollins).
  • The Ministry of S.U.I.T.S - Paul Gamble (debut. After joining the Ministry of Strange, Unusual and Impossible Things, 12-year-olds Jack Pearce and Trudy Emerson discover that the world is not only stranger than they thought, but it also contains a lot more dinosaurs and pirates. Publication is set for April 2016; Feiwel and Friends).
  • The Freedom Dress - Suzanne Nelson (the story of a debutante in 1950s New Orleans whose life changes when her race is unexpectedly called into question, prompting her to uncover long-buried family secrets. Publication is slated for fall 2017; Knopf).
  • The Factory Girl - Josanne La Valley (in which Roshen, a Muslim, is forced from her homeland in northwest China to work in a remote factory where she endures harsh conditions and abuse, and resolves to use her budding gift as a poet to expose these wrongs. It's scheduled for fall 2016; Clarion Books).
Publisher’s Lunch:
  • Roshani Chokshi's THE BRIDE OF DUSK AND GLASS, pitched as a Hades and Persephone style romance infused with Indian mythology, about an unlikely princess who must overcome her sinister horoscope and embark on a quest to unravel her true identity and find the one she loves, to St. Martin's.
From Last week:
  • The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora - Pablo Cartaya (MG novel tells the story of a seventh-grader trying to save his late abuela's restaurant and win the affection of the beautiful Carmen using arroz con pollo and a little Jose Martí poetry. Epic Fail is slated for spring 2017; Viking).
  • Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish - Pablo Cartaya (MG novel follows a school bully and his special needs brother as they head to Puerto Rico over spring break to find their estranged father. Marcus Vega... to follow in spring 2018; Viking).
  • A sequel to the middle-grade adventure Loot - Judy Blundell under the name Jude Watson (It's a heist novel about a group of the world's youngest criminal masterminds. Loot was recently optioned by Will Smith's production company and is in development as a feature film. Publication of the untitled sequel is scheduled for spring 2016; Scholastic).
  • Beast - Brie Spangler (a modern YA retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” in which the tallest, hairiest boy in town meets and falls for his dream girl, who also happens to be transgender. The book is slated for fall 2016; Knopf).
  • Weaving a Net is Better Than Praying for Fish - Ki-Wing Merlin (about a first-generation Chinese-American girl navigating school and classmates while concealing secrets from friends and family, who must learn to rely on others to catch the thief when her father's store is robbed. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Balzer + Bray).
  • The Boy Who Knew Too Much - Romily Bernard, to be written under a pseudonym (The middle-grade story follows a boy who steals a train and is sent to reform school, only to discover that a machine in the basement is cloning students to become model citizens. Publication is slated for winter 2017; Disney-Hyperion).
  • The Evil Wizard Smallbone - Delia Sherman (a middle-grade novel about a boy who, escaping his abusive uncle, becomes the unwilling apprentice of an evil wizard in the wilds of the Maine coast. It's slated for publication in fall 2016; Candlewick).
  • Standard Operating Procedures - Erin Teagan (Debut MG in which genius-scientist-in-the-making Madeline Little starts middle school and soon learns science doesn't have all the answers – and that it's now up to her to discover the cure for her newly messed-up life. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; HMH).
  • The Dam Keeper - Robert Kondo (l.) and Dice Tsutsumi, who created the short (two graphic novels for young readers based on the Oscar-nominated animated short + 3rd novel. The books will pick up after the close of the film and reveal the secrets behind the dark cloud that threatens Pig and Fox's town. Publication is scheduled for 2016; First Second Books).
  • Blood, Bullets and Bones: The Story of Forensic Science from Sherlock Holmes to DNA - Bridget Heos (Aimed at those who are obsessed with shows like CSI and Dexter, the book offers a history of the modern science of forensics. It's scheduled for winter 2016; Balzer + Bray).
  • Such Courage: Polio and the Making of Franklin Roosevelt - James Tobin (a middle-grade biography focusing on FDR's triumph over polio. Publication is slated for fall 2016; Henry Holt's Christy Ottaviano Books).
  • Baskerville Academy - Ridley Pearson (The MG trilogy chronicles young James Moriarty's descent into evil and the origins of his rivalry with his roommate, Sherlock Holmes. The first title is scheduled for publication in September 2016; HarperCollins).
Excerpts: The Wicked Will Rise - Danielle Paige, Don’t Stay Up Late - R.L. Stine, Twist - Karen Akins, Joyride - Anna Banks, Stealing Snow - Danielle Paige, An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir, Penguin’s YA Thrillers, City of Fae - Pippa DaCosta

Awards: The Inky Awards longlist.

Don’t forget to vote for the teen book of the year from CCBC! Lasts until May 3rd.

A summer teen reading list from the NYPL.

Authors: Arrows - Melissa Gorzelanczyk, The Wrong Side of Right - Jennifer Thorne, Dead to Me - Mary McCoy, Nova Ren Suma, David Levithan, Lauren Oliver, Renee Ahdieh & Sabaa Tahir on skype with each other

Book Trailers: The Wicked Will Rise - Danielle Paige

Courtney Summers is hosting a Thunderclap campaign called #ToTheGirls on 04/14. Tell girls that they are seen, heard, and loved.

Danielle Paige sold another retelling novel, this time of Snow White. (See above).

If you’ve been waiting on Lair of Dreams, the second Diviners book, by Libba Bray, turns out that it will be releasing in August.

A summary of author and industry events.

If you’ve ever been curious about the inner workings of the industry, this seems like a really interesting article from an agent, on how the falling euro affects publishing deals and the upcoming Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Oh, look, a sneak peak at Jeff Kinney’s bookstore.

Remember all the pub on Margaret Stohl and #MarvelYA? It’s got a title: Black Widow: Foever Red.

Diversity in the industry. “Lighten Up”: characters in comics. The difficulties that black authors face led this writer to self publish.

And from Sarah McGarry, on last week’s Andrew Smith debacle.

Drop everything and read day is April 12th.

Half a million books will be given to children at clinics by Scholastic.

J.K. Rowling once again proves why she is amazing.

Cover Reveals:

Afterlight - Rebecca Lim
Beautiful Girl - Fleur Philips

Discussion/Other Blogger Posts:

Recommendations / lists section! Want to read more YA books with crime families, magical realism YA books, anthologies, or YA historical novels set in the 20th century? Or regular YA novels with protagonists who happen to be Muslim? Or 10 “best” coming-of-age novels you’ve never read? Or, if you’re a part of March Madness, these books with basketball. Or 14 epic sagas to get lost in or 50 great books about 50 inspiring women (women's history month!), or 18 excellent SFF short stories, or 50 books to read before you die.

What’s the deal with our obsession with YA sorting rituals? An essay on Divergent and Harry Potter.

Text to Text | ‘Speak’ and ‘Waking Up to the Enduring Memory of Rape’

Tommy Wallach talks about the process of writing We All Looked Up and wonders what is YA.

Marieke Nijkamp talks about the politics of language while Melissa Grey talks about how Cinderella is not antifeminist. I haven’t seen the latest Cinderella movie, but I appreciate Grey’s PoV. I don’t think that I’ve ever considered Cinderella as a survivor -- or rather any fairy tale, for their darker elements. #thinkingtime

Reading translated kids books makes a difference.

Wow. 20 bands that are named after classical literature. I don't know why it surprises me - I'm not surprised when other art inspires me - but articles about books inspiring people are just amazing.

Do you ever thinking about how technology is shaping our sentence structure?

Now I want to go shop at a Barnes & Noble store just to get one of their newly redesigned bags.

And hey, apparently some authors get put into video games?!

If you're Dr. Seuss, you'll get honored with a museum in your name.

Bravo to the Salt Lake City library and its around the clock service efforts.

Bravo to hospitals that are also encouraging kids to read.

Check out these unusual library collections.

You should reread your favorite children’s classics now that you’re an adult. And then write about what you’ve learned from that.

Epic Reads and their infographics. This week, we have an infographic with all the actors and actresses from teen movies - how they overlap!

:( what do you know? Another YA hater article (“it’s mostly a lost in translation situation, a language from Young Adult island us foreigners can’t seem to understand. But hey, rock on with your love for books and new worlds to discover. I sincerely applaud that.” … really? because telling people to stop showing their appreciation for a book/movie isn’t saying ‘rock on’ at all):. 18 Things YA fans need to stop saying.

From the UK: 8 best YA novels (and why grown-ups should read them). Doesn’t surprise me that only 2 are female authors. They really need to stop making lists like these, ‘best of ‘an entire audience!’” No one says “best 8 adult books to read,” right? And even if they did, thanks for the diversity.

Are you anticipating these books pubbing in April?

How many of these children’s classics have you read? Oh, Buzzfeed, you never run out of quizzes.

8 diverse fairy tales that need retellings. This is really cool. I love that last week (?) I got to learn about fairy tales from Barnes & Noble and now diverse fairy tales too. Yes, more please!

According to Kirkus, these are the teen titles that adults should not miss.

I discussed blogging milestones that I’ve missed over my four years here.

Meanwhile Latifah Salom discussed her inspiration for The Cake House, a retelling of Hamlet in Los Angeles. The book is currently being given away here on the blog too!

Blogging:
Tips/Advice/Support:
** Rita at Blog Genie:10 Minutes to Your Ideal Reader
** Alexa at Alexa Loves Books: Bard on the Blogs
** Amber at The Mile Long Bookshelf: 4 Tips for Blogging Safely

Blogging & Bloggers:
** Shannon at It Starts At Midnight: Results Part Four: Feel the Love
** Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture:Reading or Blogging Slumps? No worries.
** Aimee at Deadly Darlings:Why I Comment and Comment Back
** Aimee at Deadly Darlings: Help Me Build My Blogger Database
** Alicia at a Kernel of Nonsense:How Blogging Has Influenced My Reading
** Bec at Readers in Wonderland: How Do You Words?
** Lili at Lili’s Reflections: Stop the Goodreads Creepers
** Kailia at Reading the Best of the Best: Doing My Own Thing Is Hard
** Cassie at The Casserole: Why Blog Design Is Super Important
** Emz at Paging Serenity: Does Social Media Affect Your Blogging?
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Let Me Help You With Your Blog
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Blogging Somewhere Other Than Blogger and WordPress
** Lisa at Bookish Broads: Tell Me Your Secrets

Reviews, Ratings, ARCs, Authors, Recommendations:
** Bieke at Istyria Book Blog: Reviewing Can Be Scary to Me
** Nara at Looking for the Panacea: Under the Radar Recommendations
** Guest Post at Oh, The Books!: The Different Types of One Star Reviews
** Mel at The Daily Prophecy: Personal vs. Professional Reviews

Reading:
The Experience:
** Amy at Ten Penny Dreams: 10 Ways to Share Your Love of Reading
** Julie at Chapter Break:Should Books Have Closure?
** Rebecca at The Library Canary:Going in Blind
** Anya at On Starships & Dragonwings: A Reading Old Books Strategy: Turn the Wifi Off
** Nuzaifa at Say It With Books: Taking the Guilt out of Guilty Pleasure Reads
** Christy & Erika at Novel Ink:What Do You Consider Spoilers?
** Ana at Read Me Away: Order Not Required
** Anita at Parajunkee: Confessions of a Bookworm
** Erika at Novel Ink: Book Confessions

Books, Books, Books:
** Hazel at Stay Bookish: Hold on Tight to Books
** Cayce at Fighting Dreamer: Capsule Bookshelf
** Shae at Shae Has Left the Room: What I Think Of When I Think of MacMillan
** Sarah at Workaday Reads: Ebooks and Young Children
** Genevieve at The Reading Shelf: Time for a Little Spring Planning

Hey YA:
** Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture: Facts about New Adult & Young Adult
** Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner: Monthly YA Book Subscription Box Reviews
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: Appropriate Literature
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: Why Friendship Books Are Essential
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: Strong Heroines
** Bekka at Great Imaginations: The Boys of YA: Genre Fiction
** Chiara at Books for a Delicate Eternity: What’s My Age Again?

Movies:
** Ceilidhann at Bibliodaze:In Defence of Cinderella
** Kelley at Oh, The Books!: In Which I Rant about the Insurgent Movie

Movies/TV Shows:

And (!!!) My Heart and Other Black Holes has been optioned by Paramount. - I wrote this last week, but as an edit to my original post, so perhaps you didn’t see it.

The final teaser poster for Mockingjay: Part 2 was released.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has snapped up the rights to Michaela DePrince and Elaine DePrince’s Random House Children’s memoir Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.

Some Insurgent photos: on choices, the movie’s success ($54 million opening weekend and 101 million worldwide despite some people *sigh* writing about whether it will attract ‘male’ viewers), conflict. Wonder what it’s list to be cast as an extra in Insurgent?

A pic of the cast of The 5th Wave.

Curious about Paper Towns? Here’s a report on the event in NYC with John Green and Halston Sage.

Giveaways:

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: 03/30, 04/06, 04/13

Giveaways listed at Saturday Situation by Lori of Pure Imagination and Candace of Candace's Book Blog.

Don't forget to enter YABC's giveaways for the month.

Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday {SF/F Reviews and Giveaways}.

The Cake House by Latifah Salom, ends 03/31.

4 Year Blogoversary giveaway, INT & US, ends 04/15.

If you have a giveaway, you should let me know. NGL, this is the least important section to me.

Other:

New Releases: The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, Half Wild (Half Bad #2) by Sally Green, Liars Inc by Paula Stokes, In the Time of Dragon Moon (Wilde Island Chronicles #3) by Janet Lee Carey, Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed, Catalyst (Control #2) by Lydia Kang, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie and Alyssa Sheinmel, The Tightrope Walkers by David Almond, Me Being me Is Exactly as Insane as You Being You by Todd Hasak Lowy, Door in the Moon (Chronoptika #3) by Catherine Fisher, Boys Don't Knit by T. S. Easton, Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark, Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves edited by Ann Angel, Guardians (Wasteland #3) by Susan Kim and Laurence Klaven

Recent Recommended Reads: You can read my review of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. I also read and loved Chime.

Which articles did you like best? Did I miss any news? Did you host a cover reveal or discussion that I should have posted about? A giveaway? Leave the links, and I'll either edit this post or post about 'em next week.

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YA Sci-Fi/Dystopias & StarTalk

March 26, 2015, 5:28 am
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So, I've been meaning to visit blogs and return the comments y'all have generously left me, but as of late, I've been real tired. In the winter, I stopped walking to the gym because it was coooold. Now that it's spring I have no excuse. But, unfortunately, whenever I try to do significant amounts of work, I seem to fall asleep anyway.

The cool thing, though, is that I've been listening to this awesome podcast on my walks to and from the train station, and to the gym, and while I'm exercising. It's called StarTalk, and it's hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and part of the motto song goes something like 'science for any occasion.' Dr. Tyson encourages you to keep looking up (because he's an astrophysicist). So, anyway, I figured that I'd make a post on:
  • why StarTalk is an awesome podcast that you should listen to
  • as couched in a discussion on how some of the recent episodes I've listened to have gotten me thinking about YA novels and their portrayal of science and the future
In a recent episode, the one thing that Dr. Tyson said that really stuck with me was the idea that War drives science. It was unfortunate, he said, but it was how so many of the world's worst weapons have been created. A lot of the cruelty that has come about because of technological and scientific advancement has been because of war. Not because of the science itself; but because humans seem to have a fundamental sense of entitlement rooted in their survival instincts. We make weapons to better survive; we're creative at killing one another.

This really struck me. Of course not all science is driven by war; but I've never thought of science in this way, and then later on yesterday night, I got to thinking about science fiction novels that I've read. One popular young adult trilogy involves the mutation of the human genome to selectively express certain highly valued virtues in abundance. This leads to a war with regards to genetic purity, which leads to another branch of the government to conduct an experiment on the people with mutated genes. Are they as good as their genetically pure peers or can nature sort out the deficiency that arose from the arrogance of scientists?

In these novels we have the opposite of reality: science makes war. This is what I mean when I say I'm concerned about the anti-science message in books - what other message could you take from a society couched in the evils that it's science forefathers have made? In a podcast with Richard Dawkins, Dr. Tyson and Dr. Dawkins discuss how selectively enhancing our genome by mutations is not impossible for the future but it's impossible with the technology we currently have. So a book that would include such mutations would probably also need a lot of futuristic technology to indicate how far we've come. Forget all that for a second, and just ask this: how is it that the government policies and bureaucracies that guide scientists today disappeared? Because there is no possible way for such experiments to take place. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) would reject any such proposal because of the harm that would come to others. It's true that people have not always been moral about scientific experiments; this is one of the first things you learn in ethics training, about Nazi human experimentation and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. Both have the overlap of terrible events, the Great Depression and World War II. This reminds me of 'war drives science.' Of course that's not an excuse for either, but what I will say is that the Tuskegee experiment led to the Belmont Report and the establishment of the Office for Human Research Protections. It's harder to repeat the mistakes of the past, and anyway, both are such exceptions to the legacy of science, you'd really have to make sure this other mutation study was occurring on a small scale compared to the vast number of research studies happening daily. Making the government in charge of a study mutating people is essentially, to me, comparing the atmosphere of WWII to what we have today. Which is ridiculous.

It's how these dystopian / science fiction novels handle government regulation that strikes me as so weird. Some try to say that such unethical science was happening on the side, because of a corrupt company, which is possible I guess, but that also strikes me as lazy, like the loose ends have not been tied, so why not just make an excuse that will cover everything without thinking on how to tie the ends. The rest that blame things on the government...

Another thing that Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned was the idea that people would be grateful for increased governmental control in the face of climate change (if it turned worse). He pointed out how Americans were very glad for increased government during WWII. In fact, given the prevalence of WWII in literature, I'm surprised that we haven't seen something like this in YA. (If you have, feel free to chime in; I personally can't think of any examples myself).

This is my central dissatisfaction with most YA dystopias. I am an idealist; I am optimistic and believe deeply in helping others reach their full potential, and yet many YA dystopias read to me as being too idealistic. If this novel is meant to read as warning teenagers about climate change, how is it that the people have become that dissatisfied with the government? How is it that we as a society have not voted out the representatives who didn't increase protection measures? How could a government in the face of a disaster not be voted out or introduce measures to combat their very extinction? Because even if we presume "marshal law," you have to have a very Handmaid's Tale like situation for that government to stay in place. Why would teenagers growing up in a harsh climate change affected world have the notion that the government is bad when history suggests that they might want *more* of their government, more regulation, and that is all? So many premises seem to hinge on the idea that the teenager main character is the only one to realize how awful the world is and the government's terrible secret role in propagating such horror - or, well, maybe not the only one, but certainly the focus is on that character's realization. But is that a realistic expectation?

The reason why a dystopia like The Handmaid's Tale reads to me as so frightening and compelling is because there is a concrete explanation for how this came about (and also so much of it is layered in current reality). Several times I have read explanations for how a YA dystopia has come about and thought... No. Just no. I don't understand. I honestly would rather prefer The Hunger Games route where we know little about the apocalyptic event that led to Panem and the near enslavement / death of children was led about by war. As Dr. Tyson says in yet another episode, evil is on the other side of the gate. People are only human if you're not fighting them. The idea that war could lead to the THG cruelty was not unreasonable to me. The idea that scientists would abandon all sense of morality in the pursuit of having their questions answered is. Science doesn't drive war; war drives science. There are so many regulation measures already in place for science, it's ridiculous to assume that something else doesn't happen first that would then change how people perceive and allow for science.

Anyway, so go my early morning ramblings. If there's anything to be gotten from this post, it's that you should listen to StarTalk. It's free and it's awesome and it inspires plentiful thoughts about the world. And if you read the rest of the post, that's great too ;). Let me know what you think.
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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds (72)

February 11, 2015, 9:06 am
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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds is a feature that will let you know about recent MG/YA/NA book related news. I'll post about articles from the publishing industry, cover reveals, discussions from fellow bloggers, the latest tv/movie news, and giveaways that you're hosting. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest.



Publishing:
Rights Report
  • Ever the Hunted - Erin Summerill (Debut; a fantasy that follows 17-year-old Britta Flannery who is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. Her father, a legendary bounty hunter, is murdered, and the stakes are fatal if she doesn’t find his killer. The book is slated for fall 2016; HMH).
  • Towers Falling - Jewell Parker Rhodes (It tells the story of Deja, who 15 years after the events of 9/11 grapples with the effects still felt by her community. Publication is planned for spring 2016; Little, Brown).
From Publisher’s Lunch:
  • Evelyn Skye's debut THE TSAR'S GAME, pitched as DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE meets THE NIGHT CIRCUS, in which star-crossed lovers battle in a lush, magical version of tsarist Russia in 1825, to Balzer & Bray in a two-book deal.
From last week:
  • The Mysteries of Cove - J. Scott Savage (the first volume in the Fires of Invention series, about a steam-powered city built inside a mountain, where creativity is a crime and “invention” is a curse word. Publication is set for fall 2015; Shadow Mountain).
The others were not posted yet.

You a fan of Raymond Arroyo? Turns out he sold a new MG series.

Authors: Echo - Pam Muñoz Ryan

Excerpts: Bone Gap - Laura Ruby, Ice Like Fire - Sara Raasch

Book Trailer: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

Awards: Y’all ought to last week’s post for awards. That was ALAYMG time. New Visions award nominees. The 2015 Amelia Bloomers list. 2015 Great Graphic Novels for Teens (+ Top Ten). 2015 Notable Children’s books. The Walter Award needs submissions! Deadline: November 1. Tomas Rivera Award Winners.

John Green gave a keynote to booksellers at Winter Institute 10 in which he said that “life would suck” without booksellers (in reference to authors).

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a bookseller? Here’s an interview with one who works at the Strand in NYC.

A brief summary of author and industry events last week.

I Am Malala won for best Children’s album at the Grammys.

BEA announced its author line-up last week… and guess what? They’re all white again, with only one woman author too. Bustle has something to say about that (I so agree with Kelly Jensen - WNDB panels are packed, what is wrong with BEA?)

If you wish you could’ve attended ALA and been to Diversity Day, here’s a storify so you can see for yourself via the internet.

If you’ve felt overwhelmed by WNDB and what you can do, here’s ONE THING that you can do now to help.

To celebrate Black History month, The Brown Bookshelf will be posting about a different author each week who has published in kidlit.

YAAAAAAAAS audiobooksync has released the line-up for this coming summer. Rose Under Fire is there! I loved the audiobook for Code Name Verity. Can’t wait for some more Elizabeth Wein!

If you’re a fan of the Beautiful Creatures series, guess what? There are some more e-stories headed your way.

Little, Brown has had such great success with Novl that they are turning it into an e-book imprint.

The top 12 titles that Kirkus Reviews is excited about in February are…

Soooo, DC comics is releasing a bunch of new comics under Convergence and they’ve got diverse authors to help.

Cover Reveals:

Young Adult New Adult Cover Reveals
Sanctuary - Jennifer McKissack
*May not be final cover. It had the most votes when voting closed, but Swoon Reads may choose one of the others for whatever reason.

The cover for Ice Like Fire will be revealed today. As will Second Position and Blood and Salt. And on the 13th, Dreamland and Gathering Deep. On Friday, the cover reveal for Six of Crows will also be revealed. The cover for Dumplin’ coming 02/17. This Monstrous Thing, 02/18.

Discussion/Other Blogger Posts:

The magic of storytelling.

Epic Reads has a lot of plans for this Valentine’s week.

Books before Bros. Oh yeah.

The worst things that could happen to a book lover. Yeahhh, the lending thing has definitely happened to me and unfortunately my copies of HP are also starting to look that way.

If you want to read more YA graphic novels, here’s your list. If you want to read excellent indie contemporary YA novels, here’s your list. True crime YA novels? Girl-powered YAs on the Impact of Music? Books for bibliophiles.

Book plots in 140 characters or less… with emojis? What.

More 2015 YA Debuts to have on your radar this year!

Top Ten Children’s books that deal with death and bereavement.

Oh, hey, look you can listen to 60+ classic audiobooks for free on Spotify.

Fascinating stuff for Game of Thrones fans. Are you curious about what George R.R. Martin had planned for the series originally? I read some of his previous outline and WOWWWWWWW things are so different from what that original outline had! Goes to show how much things change while you’re drafting the manuscript, huh?

Why I want more unlikable female characters.

Prime users.... Amazon is squeezing us for money o.O. Look at the infographic.

Beautiful library pics. The usual for these bookish rounds. And how to make the most of your library trip.

Why Americans Don’t Read Foreign Fiction. I don’t think it’s that simple. And I’d love to see more foreign fiction made available. (“Why are foreign authors so unknown in the U.S.?” → Also maybe some sort of arrogance on our part?).

OOO which literary heroine are you? “You’re Anne of Green Gables! You’re vivacious and your imagination gets you through good times and bad. Hard-working, loving, and always there to help out a friend, you are also likely to cause a bit of mischief. Quick tip: a bit of imagination can get a girl places but try not to let it lead you too far astray.” Harrumph. I got the heroine of the book I haven’t even read. I was hoping for Lizzie Bennett :P.

Can you guess which out of print books are most requested? I’m also surprised to see how many Stephen King novels are there - King is so common, why wouldn’t all his works be readily available?

I discussed how to respond when someone disdains Young Adult Literature. Complete with pretty infographic!

Publishing/Definitely Read These:
** Asti at Oh, The Books!: The Opinion on Blog Tours: Survey Results
** Lili at Lili’s Reflections: The Intern Diaries: The Perfect Request Email

Blogging:
Support/Advice/Tips:
** Rita at Blog Genie:From Nearly Quitting to 4x the Traffic
** Ashley at Nose Graze: How to Add a Favicon to Your Blog
** Stephanie at These Paper Hearts: Previewing Fonts with Wordmark.it

Blogging & Bloggers:
** Kel at Booked Till Tuesday:When Big Life Changes Hit
** Jenna at Rather Be Reading YA:How I Started Blogging
** Topaz at YA Asylum:Netgalley mistakes
** Ashley at Nose Graze: It’s Okay to Want to Grow Your Blog
** Nova at Out of Time: My Unpopular Opinions
** Kelley at Oh, The Books!: When Bookish Sisters Make Bookish Dares

Ratings, Reviews, Recommendations, Authors, ARCs:
** Jessi at Novel Heartbeat:Don’t Be Afraid to Be Yourself in Reviews
** Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture:Recommendations: Fall in Love with Quotes
** Renae at Respiring Thoughts: Renae Recommends: Trilogies
** Jen at YA Romantics: What Happens When You Try to Censor Reviews
** Amber at The Mile Long Bookshelf: Tagging Authors in Negative Reviews
** Carrie at The Mad Reviewer: Further Thoughts on One Star Reviews
** Ana at Read Me Away: Interview Style

Personal + HP!:
** Nuzaifa at Say It With Books: Pinterest for the Visual Lover in You
** Kristy and Melissa at Book Nerd Reviews: Harry Potter Tour of Warner Brothers: Hogwarts
** Terri at Starlight Book Reviews: HP Moment of the Week: Worst Death in the Series

Reading:
The Experience:
** Rose at Chapter Break:Do Spoilers Have Time Limits?
** Alexa at Alexa Loves Books: Everybody’s Changing, But I Don’t Feel the Same
** Hannah at So Obsessed With: If We Ever Meet Again
** Pam at [YA]Escape From Reality: Do You Ever Intentionally Read a “Bad” Book?
** Jen at The Starry-Eyed Revue: Re-loving Books
** Josephine at Word Revel: Reading on the Go
** Mel at The Daily Prophecy: Second Chances

Books, Books, Books:
** Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction:I’m a Series Failure
** Allie at Little Birdie Books:When Do You Get Down with Audiobooks?
** Bec at Readers in Wonderland: We Could Be Millionaires If It Weren’t for Books
** Bekka at Great Imaginations: Tour Bekka’s Shelves!
** Lisa at Read. Breathe. Relax.: Books You Love With All Your Heart

Romance & Vday:
** Alice-Jane at Crazy Red Pen: DIY // Valentine’s Day Cards
** Hazel at Stay Bookish: Valentine’s Day Cards for Book Nerds
** Emz at Paging Serenity: The Problems with Shipping Characters

Hey YA + Trends:
** Sophie at A Daydreamer’s World:Is Mental Illness Becoming a Trend?
** Kelly at Stacked Books: The Rise of Suicide in YA Fiction and Exploring Personal Biases in Reading
** Kimberly at Stacked Books: Get Genrified: YA Urban Fantasy

Movies/TV Shows:

Lauren Oliver was hired to adapt her own book, Panic, into a screenplay by Universal.

A new Insurgent TV spot, “I’m Not Afraid,” was released during the Grammys. Plus a ton of stills were released: Natalie Prior, Christina, Hector, Edgar, Evelyn, Marlene, Jack Kang, Max, Marcus Eaton, Uriah, Tori, Johanna, Peter. If you don’t want to click through all those links, here’s a wrap-up of those stills. Here are some other stills, like of Tris, Four, and Jeanine. Also another couple of new stills.

A sneak peak at the making of the Duff, coming to theaters on the 20th!

A new still from the 5th Wave set.
Samuel L. Jackson has joined the adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I was excited by the THG castings, Kate Winslet… Tim Burton as director of Miss Peregrine’s… and now Samuel L. Jackson? Holy shit, yes, go YA adaptations!!!

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman - trailer was released!

Just Add Magic by Cindy Callaghan is getting a TV Pilot Episode on Amazon.

No, no, no: Lionsgate confirms that it wants more Hunger Games films. Here’s the thing - Warner Brothers can expand on Harry Potter because J.K. Rowling had already made the content for it. Is Lionsgate going to move ahead without Suzanne Collins just to expand the franchise?

Giveaways:

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: 02/14, 02/27.

Giveaways listed at Saturday Situation by Lori of Pure Imagination and Candace of Candace's Book Blog.

Don't forget to enter YABC's giveaways for the month.
Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday {SF/F Reviews and Giveaways}.

Hardcovers of Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff, Geek Girl by Holly Smale, City 1 by Gregg Rosenblum, and The Prey by Tom Isbell, INT, ends 02/27.

Kindle Paperwhite + Some Fine Day by Kat Ross, US only, ends 03/07.

ARC of I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios, INT, ends 02/13.

Other:

New Releases: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Ruby Circle (Bloodlines #6) by Richelle Mead, My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga, The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand, The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons, When Reason Breaks by Cindy Rodriguez, The Shadow Cabinet (Shades of London #3) by Maureen Johnson, Promposal by Rhonda Helms, One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin, Utopia, Iowa by Brian Yansky, Rebellion by Stephanie Diaz, Temple Boys by Jamie Buxton, Best Friends Through Eternity by Sylvia McNicoll, I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell, Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton, & Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers.

Recent Recommended Reads: You can read my review of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Up at my booktube channel, I posted about the 15 YA TBR Books I’m Reading This Year and the 2015 YA Debut Novels That I Want to Read.

Which articles did you like best? Did I miss any news? Did you host a cover reveal or discussion that I should have posted about? A giveaway? Leave the links, and I'll either edit this post or post about 'em next week.
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How I Make My Bookish Rounds Posts

March 30, 2015, 3:00 am
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This might not be a topic a lot of people are interested in, but one of the most frequently asked questions on my bookish rounds posts is 'how do you do it?' Sometimes, it's rhetorical, like how do I find the time and energy to make such long posts full of MG/YA/NA publishing news, cover reveals, discussion posts, etc. But sometimes, I think that people are very earnest and would like to know how I've gathered my links and kept up with the news. Asti once explained how she created her very popular Bookish Games feature. I figured that I might do something similar.


I'll split this up by the same sections I do for Bookish Rounds.


Publishing/Discussion/Movie/TV show News:

  • The single most important element of gathering all the links for bookish rounds posts is knowing which twitter accounts to follow. Probably the most helpful for publishing news, at least, is Children's Bookshelf run by Publisher's Weekly. For discussion, I know that I can always count on the teen blog for Barnes & Noble to have recommendations to post; or Epic Reads to have a Book Nerds Problem video or a discussion post or one of their lovely infographics designed to promote YA books first and their HC books second. So, essentially, I've made a list of accounts that I go through on Tuesdays to find the appropriate posts. Publishers, agents, bloggers, etc. Some accounts are more helpful than others, like Epic Reads, whereas another publisher might just be promoting their books alone. Sometimes that helps; I'll get book trailers, interviews, excerpts; but sometimes I'll get book sale deals, like X and X is $2.99 on Kindle, which is an extraneous tweet not related to my doing the bookish rounds. If I'm doing just a week's worth of news, this link round-up can take anywhere from 2-5 hours. The accounts are all good for different things, though.
  • Publishers also tend to post when their books have been optioned for film, so that helps me gather movie / tv show news. Sometimes Children's Bookshelf will even mention if a book is being optioned or on the table for optioning. They do "movie spotlights" as well. The two main accounts for movie/tv show news that I used to follow heavily were Page to Premiere and YA Hollywood. YA Hollywood is a little difficult to follow because they cover EVERYTHING YA, not just the adaptations. So some tweets follow people like Shailene Woodley and what films she'll be in next, but truthfully I don't really care about the individual actors; for bookish rounds posts, I like to cover news on the adaptations alone. So, Page to Premiere is ideal, except recently they've been posting a lot more quotes and other material, so I've just been taking to looking at the official accounts of the bigger movies, like Paper Towns and Insurgent. They'll have trailers, stills, etc. just the same.
  • As for book blogger discussions, I've given up on using Feedly. It did allow me to organize things for a time -- discussions and cover reveals -- but then I wanted to include more blogs in my discussion section but then my Feedly just became overrun with blogs and so hard to follow. Now I've a Google Doc titled "Discussion." In there I have an already made format of blogger names and their blogs, and so I click the links and search for a discussion post within that week. If I've linked to it previously, I won't link to it again. If it's about something like writing, I probably won't link to it. It's hard choosing what to link to and what not to -- I'm probably inconsistent within my own internal rules for this but oh well. So, essentially, it's like: "** Christina at Christina Reads YA: http://christinareadsya.blogspot.com/." I copy and paste all the bullet points like this so that I can edit freely and leave my template untouched. The negative to this is that I've got to add more blogs. Some bloggers have quit, and I just haven't had the time yet to rearrange which blogs are there. There's over 100 blogs, and convincing myself to add more is a little tiresome, considering that linking to blogger discussions posts takes about 1-2 hours (in addition to the other link round-ups, cover reveals, etc.).
  • Well, I've sort of given up on Feedly. Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I'll look through Feedly for a few giveaway posts. Mostly, though, I've just kept the same bloggers there. Lori of Pure Imagination has "Saturday Situation" each week and bloggers get to link their giveaways there, so why not keep posting that? Why not link to Children's Publishing, which has a giveaway every week? YABC Central, giveaways each month. Most of the time, I'm not in the mood, so I don't actively search for giveaways, so I leave that section least edited.
Cover Reveals:
  • In the earlier days of these posts, I used to do Google searches. "Young adult cover reveals" or "new adult cover reveals" and I would limit the search frame to within the last week. Sometimes it helped, some major covers were revealed across many, many blogs. But there were over ten pages of results for those searches, and sometimes the reveals were repetitive across blogs, and this method was primarily good for catching self-published cover reveals. Some of the covers were so ugly! (No, I don't think all self-pub covers are ugly. Not at all). And given that this just added extra time onto an already labor intensive post, I ended up cutting off this method. It wasn't giving me the major cover reveals, the ones from the big publishing houses that I figured y'all were most interested in. Sometimes, though, I do something similar. I search "cover reveals" on twitter. The good thing about this search is that twitter will a.) tell you when that tweet happened (no need for a filter like with google) and b.) twitter tells you which of the people you follow are following the person who tweeted the cover. If someone like a publicist is following the tweeter, there's a good chance that cover reveal is more legit than the ones from someone who has no common followers with you.
  • This is when it's good to be on Pinterest. There are a lot of awesome pinners I follow who do a good job finding cover reveals too: Mery Snz, Cat at Addicted to Heroines, P. Blanca Flores, Sana at Artsy Musings, Katherine Skye, Petra Poet, and more. Should some of those stop pinning, I could look into the people who I see pinning from me again and again - I'm sure they have boards dedicated to cover reveals as well. Actually I'm pretty sure that in general I could be A LOT better about following cover reveals. For instance, when I see pins from amazon, immediately I start to question that pin. Amazon seems well known for revealing covers ahead of time and thus partially ruining planned cover reveals - so at that point, I wonder, is that pinner on Amazon that often, or do they have alert for when Amazon's added new covers? The same thing has happened with Goodreads. I see covers that haven't really been revealed yet or just don't have HUGE posts about their reveals, and they're pinned, and I think that there must be a section in Goodreads Librarian edits where you can see if someone has added covers. I haven't investigated either of these theories mostly because I don't really care and/or want to spend the extra effort. As of now, bookish rounds posts have about 25 - 70 covers per week. Maybe I'll miss a few cover reveals. Who's really counting?
  • To mitigate the number of cover reveals that I miss, I check other features dedicated to cover reveals: on Thursdays, Cover Snark, and Sundays, YA Interrobang.  Most often for Cover Snark, this is MG titles because I'm not very active about following twitter accounts related to MG content. For YA titles, YA Interrobang sometimes gets a couple I've missed. The total time for cover reveals is probably 2 - 3 hours. For the actual post, it's maybe only 1 - 2 hours writing up the titles and getting Goodreads links and saving the covers to my computer and arranging the covers in PicMonkey, but then I'm on Pinterest often, "liking" pins for future investigation (are these cover reveals "MG/YA/NA" or are they erotica/adult literary/etc.?), and I have to add an hour for that alone.
"Other" section:
  • Initially this section was just meant as a section for me to share my blog's posts this week. My reviews, you know. Doesn't a bookish rounds post seem to you like a newsletter? It seemed appropriate that I would have a "recent recommended reads" section, something personal that made it clear that I was still here and could comment a bit on my own personal life. But then I'd also added another element.
  • It seemed fitting to add New Releases to this section. If I'm going to link to my own reviews, why not write about the books that it's likely you'll see reviews of that week? Plus reminding folks that these books are out. If I have a post of cover reveals and publishing news with promotional content, why wouldn't I also link to traditionally published YA novels (I know I say "MG" and "NA" news too, but those new releases... I've considered adding but ugh all the extra work! no more adding on things!). Several bloggers track new releases with features of their own: Jen Ryland (Hot Off the Presses), Giselle (Fresh Batch), Stephanie (Hot New Titles), Stories and Sweeties (What's New), YA Interrobang (above), and more. If I were a less lazy blogger, I could also look on Goodreads for say, "March YA titles" lists. I could sort through the titles on my own each week. I could also find some pinners who keep track of new releases - some of the pinners I've already linked to do just that. Heck, even Publisher's Weekly has started to do its version of "hot off the presses." But, most of the time I rely on these other bloggers because quite simply, it's easier.
Ah, it's good to have finally written a post like this. I've given credit to people before for their help with links and covers and the like, but I haven't done that on a larger scale like this. There are a few people who purposely do not tell you how they've gotten their information - it's a carefully kept secret for them - but I'm not going to be one of them. Y'all are free to all this information, but I doubt that you're really going to want to spend between 7-10+ hours per week on creating a post like this (and more so when I would make book byte videos :O!). It takes determination and a lot of effort. I don't care if you know my methods, and I know that other people who do variations on book news or news round-ups do only "chunks" to reduce the amount of time required. If you do choose to follow any of the tips here for that, I would definitely advise that method.

Are you surprised by my methods? Do you have any more efficient ones that you follow yourself? Are you considering keeping up with new releases, movie news, etc. on your own? Do you have any suggestions for improvement or things you'd like me to add to bookish rounds posts?

Let me know!

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Review: The Girl at Midnight - Melissa Grey

March 31, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: April 28, 2015
Source: Netgalley
Published by: Delacorte Press

The Girl at Midnight - Melissa Grey | Goodreads

For readers of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones and Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, The Girl at Midnight is the story of a modern girl caught in an ancient war.

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, but if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.

But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.


My first question for you is: does the idea of "City of Bones" meets a mash-up between Ruin and Rising (firebird + no-family girl + motley crew) and Daughter of Smoke and Bone (feathery human/animal mashed creatures + war between two races + girl in between both with romance tied to the opposite side + doors into the other world) appeal to you? If yes, proceed to the next question. If no, well, please still proceed to the next question.

Does the idea of this writing appeal to you?
"Echo threaded her way through the midafternoon crowd on Saint Mark's Place, swerving around packs of female students from the Catholic high school nearby, plaid skirts rolled up past the point of propriety, cigarettes dangling artlessly from their fingers, filters tinged pink with cherry lip gloss. They glared at her as she walked past, as if she were a threat to their prime real estate in front of the falafel joint. Echo didn't bother glaring back. In another life, she might have been one of them. 
The street was an eclectic mix of old and new, gentrification clashing against a past that stubbornly clung to the dirty sidewalks of the East Village. A tattoo parlor that doubled as a crepe cafe was sandwiched between a brilliantly illuminated frozen yogurt bar and a store that seemed to sell nothing but ironic T-shirts. Above her head hung a three-font-long plastic hot dog, marking the entrance to Crif Dogs, home of the trendiest frankfurters in the city. Echo pushed open the door and smiled at the girl behind the counter with booted feet propped up near the register, a long strand of blue hair twirled around her finger. The girl didn't smile back. That was fine. Echo wasn't here for hot dogs. 
She made a beeline for the old-school phone booth at the back of the restaurant, its black wood and glass doors harking back to a New York that Echo was too young to remember. Once she stepped into the cramped square and pulled the door shut behind her, the clickety-clack of laptop keys and the rattle of dishes from the kitchen fell away..." (chapter 10)
So, I don't remember much of the Mortal Instruments. It's been a while since I've read a Cassandra Clare book (2-3 years? though Clockwork Princess is still sitting on my shelf at home...), but what I remember most about the praise for TMI was that people said that her writing really captured the essence of New York. Reading Melissa Grey's writing, this is what I thought. The Girl at Midnight is not entirely set in New York, but regardless of where the action was taking place, I could trust in Melissa Grey to paint this distinctly beautiful atmosphere and picture of what I was supposed to see. Cassandra Clare and New York, or Laini Taylor and Prague, or just a wonderful new writer whose career I am most definitely going to follow no matter what, because her writing is GORGEOUS. Kyoto, New York, so many cities rendered beautifully under Grey's skillful touch. Regardless of whether or not you liked the City of Bones and Ruin & Rising/Daughter of Smoke and Bone comparison, maybe you'll just like the book for its writing. (To me, despite what I said above on the R&R & DoSaB comparison, it's also more "City of Bones" than the other two.)

But, back to the comparisons, I think that those are pretty good indicators of whether you'll like the book. The Girl at Midnight reminds me of the wit in a Cassandra Clare novel. The characters have plenty of banter back and forth; and they've all got their unique personalities. One thing that Melissa Grey did that City of Bones and other urban fantasies haven't always done is give each of her main characters point-of-views from the outset. We get to understand the shape of their characters through their perspectives in addition to their witty dialog. What also distinguished this book, for me, from others is that I found Echo to be a really compelling main character. She could easily have been a Mary Sue - the only girl able to steal the firebird so to speak. The only girl with the ability to stop this war. But Melissa Grey has grounded Echo in her wants, the family that she left behind and her very desperate desire to join the Avicens even though they consider her an Other; the bravado that Echo puts on whenever she's feeling upset or has no control; and the fact that she is very much a teenage girl. Crushes can be all consuming. They don't necessarily change who you are, but they do wreak havoc on your emotions and your wants/needs. I loved how Grey wove in Echo's pickpocket skills, and the personality she's acquired from having to steal, with Echo's role in this otherworldly war. Melissa Grey's writing is so beautiful that I'm convinced she could make me fall any which way for the romance that she offers in The Girl at Midnight.

The Girl at Midnight also reminds me of the feeling of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. DoSaB was a beautiful book - one of my favorites - but there was a sense of more to come, more about the world of the chimaera and seraphim that we had not yet learned. And we had two more books for just that; same with The Girl at Midnight. I want to know more about the Avicen and the Drakhari worlds. We've gotten a hint of their inner political landscape and certainly war has been going on for a while, war is all the characters know. But more: what of other "fairy tales" like the firebird? Have they been lost to time? And the ancient Avicen books and the Drakhari loss of magic: is there a deeper thread to these elements? I am sure that there are many more answers, and I look forward to more adventure and atmosphere, banter and steamy romance from Melissa Grey.

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Going to BEA?

April 2, 2015, 3:00 am
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Hello, everyone :). Last year, I was pretty quiet about going to BEA until the actual days when I posted recaps and tweeted about various things. Well, I suppose you might count this as an announcement sort of post.


I'm headed to BEA this year. If you would like to meet up, email me :). I'll be around.

P.S. - If you're curious what's been going on with this blog / me this path month, you can check out my recap post as well :). It'll be up tomorrow.
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Interview & Giveaway: Francesca Zappia

April 6, 2015, 3:00 am
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I've got a special treat for y'all today. A wonderful interview with Francesca Zappia, the author of MADE YOU UP, which is a 2015 spring debut title that you've already seen me rave about, oh, multiple times. You, too, can rave if you win the awesome giveaway in this post...

Release Date: May 19, 2015
Source: Edelweiss & ARC
Published by: Greenwillow

Made You Up - Francesca Zappia | Goodreads

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.



First off, you can read my previous interview with Chessie, in which we discuss the portrayal of mental health in YA, comparisons to her novel, her favorite scenes to write, what she thinks readers can expect from her work, and what books define her as a reader.

I've already read and LOVED Made You Up, and you'll be able to read my review on April 14th, but this comes first. Without further adieu, let me welcome Francesca Zappia, author of Made You Up, to Christina Reads YA. Here's our interview, with a fantastic giveaway to follow.

A.) For those who are unfamiliar with Made You Up, do you have an elevator pitch for the book?

Girl with paranoid schizophrenia is determined to get through her senior year of high school unscathed; boy from the past shows up with a monkey wrench.

B.) In the prologue, you introduce the idea of "the lobster tank" and an old childhood memory and/or delusion from Alex's PoV. Why lobsters in relation to paranoid schizophrenia?

The lobsters were actually from my own childhood. I used to do what Alex does in the book, which is stand at the lobster tank and wonder if there's some way she can free them. Alex spends a lot of the book comparing herself subconsciously to the lobsters in the lobster tank, and being trapped to await her unavoidable fate: "boiling"/being lost completely to her illness. The thing about the lobsters is that they don't understand where they are or what's happening to them, because they're lobsters; Alex questions, too, if she can ever fully perceive the truth of the world around her.

C.) Similarly, in the synopsis, we are told that Alex, ready to fight her delusions, is armed with her magic eight ball and camera. Why a magic eight ball?

Magic Eight Balls are so innocuous. When you're not using one they just seem like a fun, nostalgic toy, but when you start asking it questions it immediately feels like it takes on its own voice and life; sometimes it tells you want you want to hear, sometimes it smacks you upside the face with negative answers, sometimes it mocks you with non commitment.

D.) And the last of this question type, sorry, trying to avoid spoilers - Made You Up has several references to Germany and Nazis. My kidlit professor once pointed out how often references to WWII seemed to crop up in literature, so I'm curious as to why you included them in MYU.

I agree, references to WWII and Nazis crop up all the time not just in literature but in television and movies as well. The references to Germany and Nazis in MYU all spawn from the close relationship Miles had with his grandfather (who was a pilot in the Third Reich's Luftwaffe), and from the way Miles's classmates see and treat him. Miles was always German--I included it because I love Germany, and I find it an interesting and beautiful place--but I saw a lot of people in my own high school throwing around the word "Nazi" as if it was some kind of funny evil creature that only popped up in movies. So many Germans feel they can't express a love for or pride in their country because of what's happened in the past. Miles's classmates call him "the Nazi," a term with a weight Miles feels very acutely, and Miles learned to hide his Germanness to keep himself safe. Much more skilled writers than I have taken on the difficult topics of genocide and oppression that spawned from Nazi actions during WWII. I feel it would have been distasteful and out of place to relate those to anything happening in MYU, so I focused on this other facet instead.

E.) What is the thing you most hope to have gotten "right" in MYU?

The characters' experiences. Judging by responses to the book so far, your mileage may vary on your perception of the accuracy of Alex's illness and Miles's (possible) autism, but I hope they always act and react believably, and take readers on a journey that feels true to who they are and what the story is.

F.) And an oft-asked question in interviews, which character are you most like?

Oh, Miles, definitely. I'm not as positive as Alex or as friendly as Tucker, and a lot of Miles's social issues come from my own. I think Miles is who I actually am on the inside, and Tucker is kind of what I look like on the outside.

G.) What has been your most gratifying or surprising - or both - experience as an author thus far?

It's definitely been the response to the book, and how supportive so many people have been. Readers, book bloggers, booksellers, other authors--the genuine helpfulness of people in the book and YA communities honestly surprises me every time. I wasn't brought up to expect a lot of help in what I do, so I appreciate everything anyone does, even if it's just mentioning MYU in a tweet, or saying they're excited to read it.

H.) I'm always looking for book recommendations and I'm sure other readers are as well. What have been some of your favorite books that you've read recently? Or, what have been your favorite fellow 2015 debuts?

Most recently I read THE MIME ORDER by Samantha Shannon, the second in the Bone Season series, and it really drew me in to the series! As for 2015 debuts, though, in this past month or so I've read Ilene Gregorio's NONE OF THE ABOVE, an amazing book about a girl who finds out she's intersex; MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, Adam Silvera's debut pitched as a YA Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; ZEROBOXER by Fonda Lee, an absolutely awesome YA sci-fi about zero-gravity boxing with some delicious world building and a tight plot; and SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA, which just about everyone has been talking about, and yes, I can confirm it is cute enough to make you barf sparkles.

I.) Can we have a hint as to your next project?

I'm working on another contemporary book right now, but ideally it will be a lead-in to my fantasy and sci-fi stories. Actually, MADE YOU UP was kind of an outlier--I loved Alex and Miles enough to write their story, but I don't normally do contemporaries! One of my favorite things is getting deep into world building, and while contemporary stories have their own brand of world building, SF/F is what I really love.

You can find Chessie many other places: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Goodreads | DeviantArt (from which I got the artwork in this post & copyright goes to Chessie). You can pre-order MADE YOU UP at a variety of bookstores: iBooks | Indigo | The Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Amazon & more.

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And y'all are in for a true treat. Chessie has taken the time to annotate an ARC, and one of y'all has the opportunity to read (and review?/ramble about?) Made You Up, with Chessie's lovely annotations at your side, before the book gets released. INT, ends 04/30/15.

If you don't want to enter the giveaway, still let me know what you thought of Chessie's responses. Have you read and liked any of her recent book recommendations? Are you planning on reading Made You Up soon?


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Review: Crimson Bound - Rosamund Hodge

April 7, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: May 5, 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: Balzer + Bray

Crimson Bound - Rosamund Hodge | Goodreads

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.

(This is a standalone novel, not part of the Cruel Beauty Universe.)

You can see my original thoughts on this book in this post.

Since this novel is not set in the Cruel Beauty universe but is similar in feel to Cruel Beauty, I figured that I would expand on the similarities and differences between the two novels so that if you have tried and disliked Rosamund Hodge's debut, you might give her work another chance; and if you haven't read Cruel Beauty, or have and loved it, you'll be intrigued by the promise of Crimson Bound.

Similarities to Cruel Beauty:

A.) Both protagonists have severe destinies and not so optimistic looks on life. Both have grown up believing that they've been doomed to death, and both of their character growths involve redemption of some sort: whether for themselves or the fate they have been dealt and now must accept.

B.) Both have similar love triangles, where there is obviously a good romantic interest who sees her as she is and challenges her, and a bad romantic interest who highlights the good in the other because he sees the MC for how he wants her to be. The ideal vs. the reality; one a well-realized, well-developed character who's a foil to the real romantic interest.

C.) Both have other stories, fairy tales, woven into their plotlines. In Cruel Beauty, we were told all about the demons and the great kings like Claudius who came before the Gentle Lord assumed responsibility. In Crimson Bound, we are told of a brother and sister fighting the forestborn, a story which, as in Cruel Beauty, may prove to hold the key for how the MC should proceed.

D.) Both have fairy tale like elements. Both are inspired by popular fairy tales and thus have elements like enchanted castles that hide secrets. A choice or event that lead the heroine down her main dark path - one she has never particularly liked nor understood. In Crimson Bound, Arthurian elements like swords and enchanted forests.

E.) Both are not true fairy tale retellings. Both books are inspired by fairy tales, but definitely do not follow the same plot events of their inspiration.

Differences from Cruel Beauty:

A.) Less Romance -- or the romance seems to get less focus. Maybe this one is just my perception, but Crimson Bound seems to have more focus on Rachelle's character development and more cinematic action scenes than Cruel Beauty despite a large portion of the plot, in both, occurring in castles. Perhaps this is because Cruel Beauty had Nyx married and in the same place, at all times, as her romantic interests... and in Crimson Bound, Rachelle is more focused on her duty and wondering whether she can trust anyone at all with her task besides herself.

B.) Point of view -- Crimson Bound is a departure from Cruel Beauty because it is no longer told in first person but becomes more distanced with third person past. This will probably work better for the people who did not, unlike me, like Nyx as a character. The distance might then allow them to connect better to Rachelle as a character.

C.) Magic System vs. Magic Creatures -- In Cruel Beauty, Nyx is taught the Hermetic arts, a magic system. In Crimson Bound, Rachelle must understand the inner workings of the Forestborn, immortal magical creatures with fierce strength and speed. For people who did not like the magic system in Cruel Beauty, perhaps this is a better alternative for them.

D.) Villains -- Crimson Bound seems to have a lot more direct villains than Cruel Beauty did. These villains factor directly into the climax and other action in the novel whereas the evil forces at be in Cruel Beauty seemed more like distant antagonists who weren't characters so much as forces.

E.) Comparisons -- Cruel Beauty was marketed as Graceling or Greek Mythology meets Beauty and the Beast. Crimson Bound, per the author's description in the acknowledgements, is something like a 17th (?) century France meets Little Red Riding Hood meets the Maiden with No Hands.

Regardless, Rosamund Hodge astounds me with her talent at creating complex characters and character relationships alongside some seriously cool plot twists. If you like the religious/saint/Apparat element in the Grisha trilogy; the romance dynamic in Cruel Beauty; the discussion of what makes a monster in Graceling or the half-dragon worries in Seraphina; the bodyguard-angel dynamic of damphirs-Moroi from Richelle Mead; or the Arthurian like quest in the Raven Boys, you'll find that and more in Hodge's intricate mythology. Just as I did with Cruel Beauty, I have made a lot of comparisons here because both books have struck me with that sense of universal appeal, where I do in fact think that they will generate a huge readership among already existing fanbases. And why not, with the layered feel of Rosamund's writing and world. I admire her talent greatly, and I hope that you'll give her books a shot.

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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds (78)

April 8, 2015, 7:34 am
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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds is a feature that will let you know about recent MG/YA/NA book related news. I'll post about articles from the publishing industry, cover reveals, discussions from fellow bloggers, the latest tv/movie news, and giveaways that you're hosting. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest.

Two weeks worth!

Publishing:
Rights Report 1, 2, 3:
  • The Shepherd's Crown - Terry Pratchett (the fifth and final Discworld novel featuring young witch Tiffany Aching. Pratchett died on March 12 at age 66. Publication is set for September 15, 2015; HarperCollins).
  • This May Sound Crazy - Abigail Breslin (a memoir and essay collection; Part autobiography, part lifestyle guide, the book is aimed at teenagers and is slated to publish in fall 2015. HarperCollins).
  • The Explorers Club - Adrienne Kress (first in a middle-grade series. The story follows a precocious boy whose life is sent spiraling into adventure after he discovers a pig in a small hat and returns it to its home at the mysterious Explorers Club. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Delacorte).
  • The Raven's Prophecy Tarot - Maggie Stiefvater (tarot card deck and accompanying book; part guide to the cards, part meditation on the creative life. Publication is planned for fall 2015; Llewellyn Worldwide).
  • The Thrifty Time Traveler's Guide - Jonathan Stokes (new series in which a future time travel agency puts together affordable vacation packages to history's biggest events. The first books will span Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and WWII, and will include illustrations, maps, and infographics. The series will launch in 2017; Viking).
  • Untitled - Brian Conaghan (The first book will tackle the subject of mercy killing, and is scheduled for spring 2017. Bloomsbury).
  • See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan - Jack Cheng (MG: When 11-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, sets out to launch his iPod into outer space, his three days away from home turn into a longer, unexpected road trip. Publication is planned for fall 2016 or spring 2017; Dial & Puffin).
  • I Am Drums - Mike Grosso (debut about 12-year-old Samantha Morris, whose dreams of playing the drums run up against the hard reality of school budget cuts and her own family's financial woes. The book was originally set to be published by Egmont. Publication is slated for fall 2016; Clarion).
  • When the World Became White - Dalia Betolin-Sherman (debut YA short story collection about an Ethiopian girl's immigration to Israel and the new life she finds there, inspired by the author's life story. Publication is slated for spring 2017; Philomel).
  • 26 Kisses - Anna Michels (Debut YA novel; When Veda's boyfriend dumps her right after graduation, she embarks on a summer love quest: to kiss 26 boys, one with a name for each letter of the alphabet. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Simon Pulse).
  • Safe at Home - Jenn Barnes (writing as Jenn Bishop) (MG debut which alternates between two baseball-filled summers – last summer, when Quinnen was struggling to repair her relationship with her older sister, and this summer, when Quinnen is reeling from her sister's death. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Knopf).
  • The Kindness Club - Courtney Sheinmel (New MG series; Pitched as The Baby-sitters Club with an altruistic twist, three fifth graders form a Kindness Club and look for proactive ways to do nice things for others, but things don’t always work out the way they intend. Bloomsbury).
  • The Pragmatist - Stephanie Kuehn (In the first book, 17-year-old Arman is grasping for any distraction from his terrible health and his disastrous family, and follows charismatic spiritual advisor Beauregard to his wilderness retreat. But things go from strange to bizarre once they arrive at the compound, and Armen's focus switches from self-actualization to self-preservation. It's scheduled for publication in summer 2016; Dutton).
  • Chasing Secrets - Gennifer Choldenko (a middle-grade novel set in the Gilded Age in San Francisco just before the outbreak of the plague, where 13-year-old Lizzie Kennedy must race to save the people she loves. Also acquired is the fourth book in the Al Capone series, Al Capone Does My Dishes, as well as one untitled middle-grade novel. Publication for Chasing Secrets is August 2015 and the Al Capone book is slated for fall 2017; Wendy Lamb Books).
  • The Weight of Zero - Karen Fortunati (The debut YA story follows Cath, a teenager with bipolar disorder who is contemplating suicide, and her march towards – and struggle to recognize – better mental health, supported by a network of family, doctors, and friends. Publication is planned for fall 2016; Delacorte).
  • Justice High - Kimberly Reid (contemporary YA inspired by an actual high school for at-risk students in Colorado. It tells of an overachieving prep school girl from a successful con artist family who gets a tutoring job at a transition school for juvenile delinquents and becomes the leader of a teen crew after she convinces them to use their criminal skills for good. Publication is scheduled for early 2016; Tu Books).
  • Bad Blood - Demitria Lunetta (about a 16-year-old girl haunted by dreams and compelled to cut herself until she discovers a family secret and a past full of magic that could save her or put her in mortal danger. Publication is set for spring 2017; Delacorte).
  • Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee - Mary G. Thompson (in which a 16-year-old girl escapes her captor six years after being kidnapped with her cousin. She is too traumatized to say what happened or lead anyone to the scene, but realizes that she might have to go back to go forward. It is slated for publication in spring 2017; Putnam).
  • Of Jenny and the Aliens - Ryan Gebhart (debut YA; a girl-meets-boy-meets-alien tale about love, sex, and friendship. Publication is scheduled for spring 2017; Candlewick).
  • Two Truths and a Lie - Ammi-Joan Paquette (l.) and Laurie Ann Thompson (a middle-grade nonfiction series which combines made-up entries with wacky-but-true stories from science, history, and more. Publication is slated for winter 2017; HarperCollins/Walden Pond Press).
  • Feminism for the Real World - Kelly Jensen (a YA anthology of essays, lists, poems, photos, and illustrations about feminism from a diverse range of well-known voices. Publication is planned for spring 2017; Algonquin Young Readers).
  • Untitled - Akilah Hughes (The personal essay collection explore Hughes's unique journey to adulthood, from entering college as a 16-year-old freshman, to her summer job as a princess in a theme park, to her current starring role on laptop screens everywhere. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Razorbill).
  • Saving Hamlet - Molly Booth (YA debut featuring a 15-year-old stage manager running her high school's production of Hamlet, who falls through the stage trapdoor and lands in the basement of the Globe Theatre in 1601, during Shakespeare's original debut of the play. Publication of the first book is set for winter 2016, with the second to follow in winter 2017. Disney-Hyperion).
  • Cherry - Lindsey Rosin (YA debut pitched as American Pie for girls. It's a funny look at sex, love, and friendship during four best girlfriends' last year of high school. Publication is scheduled for spring 2016; Simon Pulse).
  • Kill the Boy Band - Goldy Moldavsky (The debut book follows a group of girls who accidentally kidnap their least-favorite member of their most favorite boy band and then have to deal with the aftermath when he winds up dead. Publication is planned for spring 2016; Scholastic).
  • Drawing on Hope - Alexandra Diaz (In this contemporary middle-grade novel about illegal immigration, a boy flees his home in Guatemala to seek a new, safer life in the U.S. Publication is set for fall 2016; Simon & Schuster's Paula Wiseman Books).
From last bookish rounds:
  • The Ministry of S.U.I.T.S - Paul Gamble (debut. After joining the Ministry of Strange, Unusual and Impossible Things, 12-year-olds Jack Pearce and Trudy Emerson discover that the world is not only stranger than they thought, but it also contains a lot more dinosaurs and pirates. Publication is set for April 2016; Feiwel and Friends).
  • The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora - Pablo Cartaya (MG novel tells the story of a seventh-grader trying to save his late abuela's restaurant and win the affection of the beautiful Carmen using arroz con pollo and a little Jose Martí poetry. Epic Fail is slated for spring 2017; Viking).
  • Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish - Pablo Cartaya (MG novel follows a school bully and his special needs brother as they head to Puerto Rico over spring break to find their estranged father. Marcus Vega... to follow in spring 2018; Viking).
  • A sequel to the middle-grade adventure Loot - Judy Blundell under the name Jude Watson (It's a heist novel about a group of the world's youngest criminal masterminds. Loot was recently optioned by Will Smith's production company and is in development as a feature film. Publication of the untitled sequel is scheduled for spring 2016; Scholastic).
  • Weaving a Net is Better Than Praying for Fish - Ki-Wing Merlin (about a first-generation Chinese-American girl navigating school and classmates while concealing secrets from friends and family, who must learn to rely on others to catch the thief when her father's store is robbed. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Balzer + Bray).
  • The Boy Who Knew Too Much - Romily Bernard, to be written under a pseudonym (The middle-grade story follows a boy who steals a train and is sent to reform school, only to discover that a machine in the basement is cloning students to become model citizens. Publication is slated for winter 2017; Disney-Hyperion).
  • Standard Operating Procedures - Erin Teagan (Debut MG in which genius-scientist-in-the-making Madeline Little starts middle school and soon learns science doesn't have all the answers – and that it's now up to her to discover the cure for her newly messed-up life. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; HMH).
Excerpts: None of the Above - IW Gregorio, All the Rage - Courtney Summers, The Game of Lives - James Dashner, The Girl at Midnight - Melissa Grey, Lady Midnight - Cassandra Clare, The Game of Love and Death - Martha Brockenbrough, The Keeper - David Baldacci, A Thousand Nights - EK Johnston, Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli + bonus emails between Simon & Blue, Boarding School Girls - Helen Eve, Conviction - Kelly Loy Gilbert, Sweet Madness - Trisha Leaver and Lindsay Currie, Avalon Rising - Kathryn Rose, Things I’ll Never Say, Galgorithm - Aaron Kao, Magonia - Maria Dahvana Headley

Book Trailers: A music video inspired by The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre. We All Looked Up - Tommy Wallach

Authors: Skandal - Lindsay Smith, None of the Above - IW Gregorio, Kissing Ted Callahan (And Other Guys) - Amy Spalding, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli, The Wicked Will Rise - Danielle Paige, Everything That Makes You - Moriah McStay, Leaves - Samantha Mabry, Blackbird Fly - Erin Entrada Kelly, Zeroboxer - Fonda Lee, Under a Painted Sky - Stacey Lee, A Study in Charlotte - Brittany Cavallaro, Duplicity - N. K. Traver, The Wrath and the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh, Rita Williams-Garcia

Awards/Lists: Best Books of April from Amazon, Best children’s books from April: Poetry edition from Washington Post. The Lambda literary award finalists were announced. So were the CCBC choices for 2015. And the Indie’s Choice nominees for 2015. And the International Thriller Award Finalists for 2015. And iBooks Best books of April. And the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize Winners. And PopSugar’s best books of April too.

Don’t forget to vote for the teen book of the year from CCBC! Lasts until May 3rd.

A cool feature now on YABC: Diversify your shelves. Tea Time last week also discussed diverse books. Matt de la Peña wrote a brilliant piece on how we do & don’t talk about diversity when we read with our kids. Huge congrats, too, to We Need Diverse Books, which is now officially a non-profit / public entity with tax exempt status.

Courtney Summers is hosting a Thunderclap campaign called #ToTheGirls on 04/14. Tell girls that they are seen, heard, and loved.

Curious about the Bologna Children’s Book fair that agents were mentioning? Here’s an agent’s blog post recap, and a post from Publisher’s Weekly, including photos since the attendance rate has increased. SSN picked eight standouts from the fair, and look at some of the authors who were there.

Those of you attending YALLWEST this weekend, have fun!!

People who live in Boston, you’ll have a new kids book festival.

If you missed out on last month’s Andrew Smith controversy, here is a neutral recap of what happened.

There’s a lot of speculation going on right now since HarperCollins refused to sign a deal with Amazon, and that harkens back to the Hachette dispute.

Promoting literacy via audiobooks sounds like a good plan. As does adding books to shelters. Don’t forget that audiobooksync starts on May 7th!

A Dubai theme park has The Hunger Games inspired attractions. Don’t know about you… but my thoughts are something like: what?? WHY. So we’re making light of the fact that the book is about CHILDREN killing CHILDREN on reality tv?

Penguin Random House is doing really well since its merger. One of its best books is The Girl on the Train, which has become the fastest selling hardback adult debut of all time.

A Spanish-language bookstore has finally opened in Los Angeles.

Buzzfeed is launching a writer’s fellowship with its new literary editor. How cool.

There are a few articles this week that are too technical for me, so I’ll just link to them here: 'Special Delivery' Promotion Has Readers Putting Their Own Stamp on Things, Penguin and Smithsonian Team Up for New Series, Capstone Sponsors Residency for Children's Authors and Illustrators, Mattel Takes More Control of Storytelling, Forms Vertical Publishing Team, & Edda USA Teams with DreamWorks for Nonfiction.

Cover Reveals:

Fully illustrated (by Jim Kay) book, cover reveal for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Vain - Fisher Amelie, redesign, NA
Greed - Fisher Amelie, redesign, NA

Vote for the cover of Libba Bray’s new short story!

The cover for Truthwitch by Susan Dennard will be revealed today. The cover for We Own the Night by Ashley Poston will be revealed later this month.

Discussion/Other Blogger Posts:

Ah, as is usual when I don’t do bookish rounds and need to do 2 weeks worth, I’ve got a ton of recommendations posts for y’all: Vegas-set YAs, Books recc’d by other YA authors, books for young feminists, books for X-philes, April YA contemporary romance, books with otherworldly settings, funny zombie YA books, paranormal historical YA books, weird paranormal YA books, west coast set YA, alien invasion YA, 5 books to spook you in the springtime.

Also common to posts after a long time: quizzes! Which YA BFF are you? A quiz on what you should read next this spring. And a quiz that guesses your age based on your taste in books. I got 28. Almost accurate??? 5.5 years off.

Lol, hey, a quiz on which Hogwarts professor is your soulmate…. You got: Minerva McGonagall. Well, aren’t you the lucky one? Minerva’s strong, powerful, smart, and incredibly brave. She’ll teach you some magic tricks, and together you’ll keep the Wizarding world at peace. Which is a nice way of saying, I’m an old soul with an old soulmate.

And fancasting / characters in specific roles. YA books with characters fit to a presidential cabinet.

Ha, if you’ve ever been afraid of buying e-books because they don’t take up space on your shelves, and your vanity is pricked, look, you can create origami based off the e-books you own.

Ah, this is kind of cool. An infographic on how millennials in the US and UK read. Finally an article with stats rather than accusations against my generation and how we’re so “lazy.”

And hey, an infographic on the world’s most translated books. Definitely was surprised by some of these - and thought Harry Potter would be ALL the way at the top o.O.

And since we’re on cultural divisions… can you guess what was voted the best children’s book in the UK? How about in Australia?

Yo, book bloggers. A TBR calculator. That’s right. How long will it take you to get through your TBR? If you’re intimidated by the amount of time, here are 10 tips to get more reading in.

A LIBRARY WITH WALLS LITERALLY MADE OUT OF BOOKS. How cool does that sound?!

Fascinating: why modern fiction has turned its back on friendship (Without our friendships, life would be thin. On the other hand, from a certain, instrumental point of view, they are inessential, eccentric luxuries, difficult to justify in the common currencies of money, duty and procreation. The comfort of enduring witness and voluntary intimacy that friendships provide, the sense of conducting a two-way experiment in knowing: such benefits are less tangible than those of spouses, children or parents. Friendships derive their value from the ways in which they supplant or compensate for these primary kinships… That friendships between adults are harder to rationalise than other close relationships may be one reason they are underrepresented in modern fiction, considering their importance in most people’s lives.). But then again, by this reasoning, shouldn’t we see friendships taking greater precedence in teen literature, the argument being that in growing up, our primary kinships take over? Maybe that’s the effect of adults writing for teens, seeing a greater emphasis placed on those primary kinships.

Insurgent and why Young Adult Novels make for box office hits. (“Luckily for Hollywood, there is no shortage of fast-moving and dialogue driven YA books out there. After Green’s Paper Towns, R.L. Stine’s creepy Goosebumps will hit screens later this year, while the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of Ransom Rigg’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is due in 2016.”)

Ahhh, a list of the top 10 twins in children’s literature -- and another sign I definitely haven’t read enough if I’m familiar with only the Weasleys o.O.

Pets in bookstores. AKA: adorable.

You can always turn to JK Rowling for life advice.

Weetzie Bat is not a manic pixie dream girl -- and more on the book from Francesca Lia Block, often considered one of the founders of YA contemporary.

Which modern day children’s books will become classics? How is it, when they’re looking at the last 20 years, that His Dark Materials gets mentioned more often than Harry Potter? The sheer popularity of HP will ensure its status.

Okay, I can get on board with most book nerd problems, but I dog-ear my books and I’m not a problem :P. I also have definitely read books while walking.

Well, there are some books I’ve read for school that were awesome and I definitely reread them later for fun (well - depending on ‘fun’ because THT is not “fun” so much as stunning), like Jane Eyre and The Handmaid’s Tale, though I do understand this distinction.

Catching Fire was one of my favorite sequels too.

Have you ever thought about YA sci-fi / dystopias and government regulation - how unlikely some of these portrayals are? And do you like Startalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson? Here’s my post for you ;).

Blogging:
Tips/Advice/Support:
** Rita at Blog Genie:Ask Yourself This One Question Before Writing Your Blog Post
** Rita at Blog Genie: Design Your Site On Purpose: Content Mapping
** Stephanie at These Paper Hearts: How to Add CSS to Your Blog
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Tips for Choosing the Perfect Blog Name + a Free Worksheet
** Ashley at Nose Graze: How to Choose a Blogging Platform That’s Right for You
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Where to Find Images to Use in Web Design
** Ashley at Nose Graze: How to Customize the WordPress Emoticons
** Ashley at Nose Graze: How to Override Old CSS with New CSS
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Creating an Author Website Just Got Easier
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Add a Jetpack Subscription Form Below Your Blog Post
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Rock That Effing About Page
** Ashley at Nose Graze: What Is a “Slug” in Wordpress + Tips for a Great Post URL
** Ashley at Nose Graze: Add Bootstrap Styles to the Comment Moderation Message in WordPress

Blogging & Bloggers:
** Carmel at Rabid Reads: How Do You Fight Blogging Slumps?
** Lili at Lili’s Reflections: A Revamp & Being Thankful
** Amber at The Mile Long Bookshelf: Should Book Bloggers Get Paid?
** Chiara at Books for a Delicate Eternity: If I Could Turn Back Time
** Cait at Paper Fury: How to Get More Comments On Your Blog
** Mitchii at Aeropapers: Breaking Some Stereotypes

Recommendations, Ratings, Reviews, Authors, ARCs:
** Shannon at It Starts At Midnight: The Art of OverARCing
** Anne at Lovely Literature:What Should I Pick Next?
** Kayla at The Thousand Lives:It’s spring break yet I’m already craving summer
** Alexa at Alexa Loves Books: Time Travel to: Regency England
** Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner: Fear Not
** Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner: Whatcha in the Mood For?
** Anya at On Starships & Dragonwings: When Should We Send Publicists Reviews?
** Trish at Between My Lines: The Benefits of Book Reviews
** Hannah at the Irish Banana Review: ARC Essentials with Candlewick
** Christina at A Reader of Fictions: Time to Shake It Up (If Not Off)
** Cait at Paper Fury: Disgustingly Talented Teen Authors
** Mitchii at Aeropapers: A Little Dent on My Book Buying Habit
** Nova at Out of Time: How Should an Author Respond to Negative Reviews?

Reading:
The Experience:
** Kat at My Shelf Confessions: Lost in the World of Fanfiction
** Carmel at Rabid Reads: Do You Notice Easter Eggs?
** Rebecca at The Library Canary:Road Trips and Reading
** Kara at Great Imaginations: Mood Reading by the Seasons
** Lisa at Read. Breathe. Relax.: When Do You Call It Quits/DNF a Book?
** Guest Post at Oh, The Books!: What Makes a Fantastic Story?
** Ana at Read Me Away: Tell Me the Twist… Not!

Hey YA & girls!:
** Kelly at Stacked Books: Where do we go from here? Wrapping up “about the girls”
** Kimberly at Stacked Books: On (Not) Reading Science Fiction as a Teenage Girl
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: On Curiosity
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: Staking Our Claim in the Science Fiction Universe
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: What about Intersectionality and Female Friendships in YA?
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: Abortion, Girls, Choice, and Agency
** Guest Post at Stacked Books: On Being a Feminist YA Author and Daring to Write “Unlikable”
** Bekka at Great Imaginations: The Boys of YA: Realistic & Nonfiction

Genre & trends:
** Julie at Chapter Break: Dystopian Genre
** Timon at YA Asylum:On Atmosphere: Don’t Pull the Trigger
** Timon at YA Asylum:The Rules: Bleed Like You Mean It
** Kimberly at Stacked Books: Get Genrified: Westerns
** Cayce at Fighting Dreamer: LGBT Is the New Black
** Emz at Paging Serenity: Can Romance Make or Break a Novel?
** Gillian at Writer of Wrongs: When the Last Book Ruins Everything
** Genevieve at The Reading Shelf: We Need Books for the In-Betweeners
** Cait at Paper Fury: Why Is There So Much Sexism in Epic Fantasy? WHY
** Amanda at On a Book Bender: Why I Love Historical Romance
** Asti at Oh, The Books!: My Love of Villains

Dat TBR Pile & Spring Cleaning:
** Shannon at It Starts At Midnight: My Bookshelf Needs Your Help
** Bec at Readers in Wonderland: Have I Learnt Self-Restraint?
** Stormy at Book. Blog. Bake.: Tackle the TBR
** Jessica at Literary Etc: Culling Your Bookshelf: A How-to Guide
** Emz at Paging Serenity:How Do You Organize Your Shelves?
** Rachel at Parajunkee: Blogger Spring Cleaning
** Ana at Read Me Away:Try “Again” Later Shelf
** Kelley at Oh, The Books!: I Joined the TBR Jar Club

Books, Books, Books:
** Ceilidhann at Bibliodaze:The Hugos, Sad Puppies, and the Fallacy of the Apolitical
** Amy at Ten Penny Dreams: If Jane Austen Was Your Pen Pal
** Julie at Chapter Break:Did the Movie Prompt You to Read the Book?
** Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture:Bookstagram Lov’in
** Kara at Diary of a Teen Writer:Paperback vs Hardback
** Bieke at Istyria Book Blog: Cinderella
** Anne at Lovely Literature: Why Aren’t There Reverse Adaptations?
** Sam at Sharing Inspired Kreations: Why Are 5 Star Books So Hard to Come By?
** Sarah at Workaday Reads: Ebooks and Young Children
** Asti at Oh, The Books!: Reuniting with Books
** Josephine at Word Revel: What’s the Point of Abridged Audiobooks?
Movies/TV Shows:

A small video with Chloe Moretz about the 5th Wave movie. A still too from the set.

The winners of the Twilight storytellers contest were announced.

The Mortal Instruments is being turned into a television show, Shadowhunters, on ABC Family.

Canyon Creek Films optioned The Glory by Lauren St. John.

The Girl with All the Gifts has been optioned with Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, and Glenn Close as stars. Not a YA novel, but definitely seemed to have crossover between fanbases.

Fox Searchlight acquired a documentary on Malala Yousafzai’s life.

Julie Andrews and Emma Walton will be producing a Very Princess TV Show.

Hey, this is cool. I had no idea Francesca Lia Block was actively searching for directors for Weetzie Bat, or that she was hoping to make it into a small film.

Apparently we’ll be getting a new Paper Towns clip soon.

Disney is developing a live action Mulan.

Steven Spielberg has signed onto the Ready Player One adaptation.

Giveaways:

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: 04/13

Giveaways listed at Saturday Situation by Lori of Pure Imagination and Candace of Candace's Book Blog.

Don't forget to enter YABC's giveaways for the month.

Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday {SF/F Reviews and Giveaways}.

Annotated ARC of Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, INT, ends 04/30.

4 Year Blogoversary giveaway, INT & US, ends 04/15.

If you have a giveaway, you should let me know. NGL, this is the least important section to me.

Other:

New Releases:

March 29th to April 4th: Black Dove, White Raven by Elizabeth Wein, The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, Otherworld (Elusion #2) by Cheryl Klam and Claudia Gabel, The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige, Sisters of Blood and Spirit by Kady Cross, King (Prophecy #3) by Ellen Oh, The World Within by Jane Eagland, Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman, What Waits in the Woods by Kieran Scott, Instinct (Chronicles of Nick #6) by Sherrilyn Kenyon, The Cemetery Boys by Heather Brewer, The Kidney Hypothetical by Lisa Yee, Twist (Loop #2) by Karen Akins, Solitaire by Alice Osman, The Conformity (Incarcerate #3) by John Hornor Jacobs, Playing a Part by Daria Wilke.

April 5th to April 11th: Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre, Empire of Night (Age of Legends #2) by Kelley Armstrong, Lies I Told by Michelle Zink, Skandal (Sekret #2) by Lindsay Smith, Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2) by Rachel Hawkins, One Thing Stolen by Beth Kephart, Don't Stay Up Late (Fear Street Relaunch #2) by R.L. Stein, The Truth About Us by Janet Gurtler, I Am Her Revenge by Meredith Moore, Palace of Lies (Just Ella #3) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Ask the Dark by Henry Turner, Fig by Sarah Elizabeth Schnoz, Summer by Summer by Heather Burch, Anastasia and her Sisters by Carolyn Meyer, Awakening by Shannon Duffy, Miles from Nowhere by Amy Clipston.

Recent Recommended Reads: You can read my review of The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey or my review of Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge or both ;).

Also, major formal apology for being so behind. I thought that I would catch up last week while I was at home, but being with family was just too good :P. I’ll try again this weekend! I promise, I haven’t forgotten!

Also also, I’m going to BEA. Let’s meet up?

Also also also, I made a post about how I make these posts if you’re interested.

Also also also also, here's an interview with Francesca Zappia, author of MADE YOU UP, and the chance to win an annotated ARC!

Which articles did you like best? Did I miss any news? Did you host a cover reveal or discussion that I should have posted about? A giveaway? Leave the links, and I'll either edit this post or post about 'em next week.

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Review: Made You Up - Francesca Zappia

April 13, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: May 19, 2015
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: Greenwillow

Made You Up - Francesca Zappia | Goodreads

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

You can read my original interview with Chessie here and my second interview, which offers you the opportunity to win an annotated ARC, here. You can see my original thoughts on this book in this post. Also, if you're interested in this book, you could look at the quotes I've added. See how funny Alex is???

The prologue of this book hooked me in easily. It's true that some other YA contemporaries probably have chapters with younger versions of their MCs, but this beginning felt different. There was a sly humor, a great control in how the daily life of seven-year-old Alex was portrayed. The Freeing of the Lobsters was, no doubt, a wonderful start to this novel not just to show us Alex prior to the onset of her schizophrenia (and establish the themes and layered questions of this novel: how much of this was real? was Alex already have a hard time distinguishing between delusion and reality at that age, or was this normal for a seven-year-old (albeit one with a vivid imagination)?) but also Alex and Mile's personalities before the world hardened and chiseled them into teenagers struggling to cope with their new realities. And so, from the prologue and the first chapter until the very last, I was hooked to this book.

Of all of Chessie's characters, Alex and Miles are my favorites. In the past, I've told Chessie that her manuscripts have very "Chessie characters." I've struggled to explain what this means, but Made You Up transcends that description. I was reminded of a Maggie Stiefvater novel; all her characters are unquestionably produced by her, there's a certain quality to them that you start to recognize once you've read enough of her work. So, Maggie Stiefvater is clearly the one writing and developing the characters, but in her novels, her characters also become their own people, independent of the creator. This is what Chessie has achieved in Made You Up, and damned brilliant she is for doing it in her debut novel. Authors will spend years before they have the level of control over their authorial voice that she already has. This works well to her advantage with the story being told too: because Alex is such a real character and her hope so pervasive, the question of what is real and what is delusion is that much harder to decipher. This control aids her already well drawn plot and effective, multi-layered portrayal of Alex and her schizophrenia. Because Alex is this kind of character and her delusions are real to her, they are also real to you as a reader.

Alex is a brilliant role model for all readers, teenagers and adults. She is full of hope. She wants to go to college, to live a normal life. Her struggles with schizophrenia are peripheral to that hope. She is NOT broken. Her determination is one of her defining characteristics: she wants to be able to function all on her own in the real world and doesn't like her medication or seeing her therapist, but she recognizes that, despite her reservations, these treatments help her, and will help her succeed in her goals; there is no sign of that trope where medication or therapy is an evil, and thank goodness for that. To see Alex as she interacts with her sister is both heart-warming and funny. Alex's humor -- the general humor, jokes, and funny characterizations in this novel -- liven the questions of the narrative. Alex also works at a restaurant and gives most of her money to help her financially struggling parents. How great of a character is she? Funny, responsible, determined, hopeful, smart; and her character growth only makes her feel that much more developed and three-dimensional.

Miles surprised me. I had heard so much about Alex and him from Chessie that I was floored when I saw what a jerk he was to Alex in the beginning; but the great thing is that Alex pushes back. So then I started to flip the pages for more of Miles, to see how he would provoke Alex and to see how she would respond. Honestly, it reminded me of two cute little kids in a sandbox, and I wanted to smush them together from the first. I can say, with one hundred percent sincerity, that I had not expected to ever like another arrogant romantic interest with asshole tendencies, but Miles has changed the game. He knows that he's smart, and he has a little bit of an elitist attitude about his classmates, and he has some emotional and social problems, but he's well-adapted to living his life without focusing on those problems. And the more he interacts with Alex, the more we get to see that shining golden heart, the vulnerability behind the arrogance with his regard to his intelligence. You could probably even compare the way Miles reads to the way Cath from Fangirl does; she doesn't always come off as being kind or socially aware or adept, but she's got her own determination, humor, and sterling qualities, similar to Miles. Some of Miles's antics also remind me of the pranks and fun in Paper Towns. Chessie's characters are as smart and funny as John Green's characters yet still remain realistic.

The romance is plain adorable. I told you that from the start, I was rooting for Alex and Miles. They have similar humor and hopeful outlooks, and their chemistry is obvious in the several games of twenty questions they play. But you know what's the best thing about the romance between Alex and Miles? It's what Chessie said herself in her interview: "They don't fix each other, they just understand each other and make things a little easier to bear, like any struggle gets easier when you have someone to share it with."

This book has a lovely portrayal of mental health, as somewhat discussed above, given how ordinary both Alex and Miles feel as characters. They are two people with their own struggles who do not need to be fixed; they like the world they live in and have found their own coping strategies. The plotting of this book is also marvelous. To convey a sense of Alex's schizophrenia, the plot works in several layers of symbolism, several scenes of delusion v. reality - you decide what's what, but then as you do that, you realize that THAT is Alex's daily reality. An effective, layered approach to mental illness. Parallel plots work in tandem with Alex and Mile's individual character arcs to enhance their development and the portrayal of mental illness, further working at the stigma that is so prevalent in society today. And in the background, we have a host of wonderful, funny side characters who reminded me of The Breakfast Club and who give their high school a well-rounded edge and unique quality.

What's not to like about Made You Up? Alex and Miles are fantastic neuroatypical characters with struggles that feel authentic to their character and not just a characteristic of mental illness. They're well developed and their romance will make shippers happy. Alex's voice is humorous and hopeful. The plot is layered, serious yet fun; keeping you entertained while keeping you guessing. You want something different from the usual YA contemporary thoroughfare? Take it with a shot of twenty questions and diversity in Made You Up.

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March/April Recap

April 14, 2015, 3:00 am
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Hello, everyone. You're all busy, so I'm here to make it easier for you to keep up with my blog and booktube channel, The Lushables, with a recap of my posts and videos for the last two months. Click on any of the pictures in the video to be taken to the post in question or look under the cut for the links all listed for you :).


On my blog, I posted my bookish roundsedition 75, edition 76, edition 77 and edition 78. Bookish rounds posts cover MG / YA / NA book related news -- from new publishing deals to cover reveals to movie and tv adaptation news to the newest releases for young adult.

I gave away a copy of The Cake House by Latifah Salom and hosted Latifah Salom with a guest post, where she talked about her inspiration for writing her debut novel, which was described as a Hamlet retelling set in Los Angeles. I also interviewed Francesca Zappia, author of MADE YOU UP, in which a girl with paranoid schizophrenia is determined to get through her senior year unscathed, and a boy from her past shows up with a monkey wrench. In that post, I'm giving away an ARC annotated by Ms. Zappia herself.

I discussed my reading tastes and experiences, the blogging milestones that I've missed, and YA science fiction/dystopian novels based off something that Neil DeGrasse Tyson had said on StarTalk. I confessed that I'm terrible at reading lists. I also revealed how I make my bookish rounds posts - how I gather my links and follow cover reveals and the like.

I reviewedThe Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman, Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey, and Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge. On April 13th, you'll be able to read my review of Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, and on April 21st, you'll be able to read my review of The Heart of Betrayal by Mary Pearson (and win my ARC!).

And I announced that I'm headed to BEA.

I'm also celebratingmy four year blogoversary! Head over to my blog before April 15th for a chance to win some books.

In terms of booktube videos, I posted my top 7 recommendations for YA science fiction novels.

WHUT. Why do I only have one video? Well, so a lot of things have been going on in my life that have needed more attention. At the end of February, the beginning of March, I was supposed to be giving a presentation on the data I've been analyzing since I started my job in July. I got SO nervous. I really shouldn't have, because I've been doing a lot of work, and I know this; and yet I couldn't stop myself from getting extraordinarily stressed about the whole prospect. And then it was over, and I realized that that Friday, I was going on vacation to Japan to visit a friend. Oh, I thought, I should really prepare for that, huh, but I couldn't get everything done in time. I was in Japan for a week, and then when I returned to work, there was this really silly technicality on a project I'd done and LITERALLY no one else in the department had been asked to do something like that despite their projects being very, very similar. So that week, it was like trying to catch up after a vacation, trying to get this side thing done, and I was headed to a professional conference the next week, so I was preparing my materials for that, doing more research. In a class that I'm auditing, I'm supposed to write up a manuscript for a journal article (for those of you who don't know, science is pretty similar to book publishing; you write up manuscripts for submission for publication in journals, etc. etc.). And that was so much more work than I thought it would be because my god, there's always something to learn! I actually didn't finish it before I left and was spending part of my vacation in SoCal working on it. Anyway, the last week of March I headed to San Francisco for the conference, and since I was on the west coast, I went home to see my parents in southern California. And this past week, I've been catching up on everything else!

Besides all that, I figured that from now on, I don't think that I'll be able to post more than 1 booktube video a week. Running a blog and a booktube channel at full capacity is just impossible unless I want them to take over a lot of my time. Enough of that depressing news! 

What did I read these past months?

I read Chime by Franny Billingsley, and you can read my mock review of that on Goodreads. If you've been blogging for a while, you know about the Chime controversy. For the 2012 National Book Awards, I think it was, the nominees were announced, only instead of Chime, they'd said Shine by Lauren Myracle. But obviously they meant Chime, and so there was this back and forth of apologies and clarifications and hooplah. The good thing was it exposed me to this book, and I'm SO glad I read it. I would compare my experience reading Chime to my experience reading the Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Chime has got this magical realism atmosphere and it's quite simply beautifully written and unlike anything else I've read in YA.

I read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, which is going to be as popular as everyone says; The Ruby Circle by Richelle Mead, which was a bittersweet closing for the Bloodlines series; The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey and Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman, both of which I reviewed these past two months as well. While I was home, I, uh, read the entire On Dublin Street series by Samantha Young.

Okay, so there's kind of a story here. When I was in my sophomore year of college, I volunteered at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. I don't know exactly when it was that I first started reading romance novels, but I'm guessing that it started after that convention. And anyway, my college was only about an hour's drive away from home, so sometimes my parents would visit. I would give my mom some books to take back with her because there wasn't any space and I'd already read them. It turned out that when she saw the bodice ripper covers of the romance paperbacks, she read them. And then she started to ask me if I had more of those books. She would ask me to order her some. And during my senior year of college, she said that she wanted to read these novels while she was exercising but it was too hard to grip the paperbacks and the font was too small. During my junior year, she'd bought me a new laptop even though my old one was still working; so I got her my old laptop and synced my Kindle account there, and suddenly my mom was reading my romance and erotica novels while she was exercising. She likes to say that "they give her energy" to continue. Anyway, that laptop is over five years old and is definitely going to break down soon, so after I'd graduated and was living at home, I bought her an iPad with the money I had saved from college. And so after that she got through the novels even quicker because she takes her iPad with her everywhere. Even though I've shown her how to buy ebooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, she'll still ask me every once in a while about getting her some new reads. So when I was home last week, I was like, well, I have heard good things about On Dublin Street and my mom does like contemporary romance more than my usual historical romance, so why not? But the thing is, I get sucked in too, when I buy these books for her. For me, I think it's that romance novels are strangely calming. I don't know why -- maybe it's because some of them are wish fulfillment, and some are predictable, and some will have HEAs; nope, I don't know why. But there were several moments when my mom and I were less than feet away from each other, on sofas, reading our romance novels. MOTHER DAUGHTER BONDING, y'all.

Currently reading:

Uh, I'm not allowed to tell you what I'm currently reading, haha. But after THAT, I'll probably be reading Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn.

Book Haul:
And I got a bunch of books for review and I don't know why (especially since so many are sequels and I haven't even read the first book!), but I'm giving ALL OF THE FOLLOWING books away, so check out the links when you can!
So that was March and April for me. How were/are they going for you? What did you get to up to this month? Read anything interesting? Like any of the blog posts listed? Let me know!

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Review and Giveaway: The Heart of Betrayal - Mary E. Pearson

April 21, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: July 7, 2015
Source: ARC
Published by: Henry Holt

The Heart of Betrayal - Mary E. Pearson
The Heart of Betrayal - Mary E. Pearson | Goodreads

Intrigue abounds in this hotly anticipated sequel to The Kiss of Deception!

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save her life, Lia's erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: there's Rafe, who lied to Lia, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be barbarians. Now that she lives amongst them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.

After finishing The Heart of Betrayal, my first thought was: this is more epic than The Kiss of Deception. The Kiss of Deception is a little more epic high fantasy, since Lia and co. travel from Morrighan to Venda and places in between - and to me, an epic high fantasy involves countries on a larger scale; it's not really an appropriate term for books dealing with the development of one country's culture, political situation, etc. But, The Heart of Betrayal, despite taking place mostly in Venda, is much more epic in stakes and the scope of the plot. If you liked the deception, intrigue, and political games of The Kiss of Deception -- and the implications of the second half of that book -- then you will probably like the high stakes action of The Heart of Betrayal. Although I liked the originality of the first half of The Kiss of Deception, since most high fantasies do not take that path, I wanted more of the second half; and so was very pleased with The Heart of Betrayal. To ensure that we understand the grand scale of political consequences, Mary Pearson has added in another point of view (which I don't remember from TKoD, but I might be wrong), and this helps add to the tangle of political intrigue and subterfuge.

For me, however, my favorite part of these books has been Lia herself. In the first book, I admired her rebellion against the arranged marriage; I admired her determination to try for a normal life despite her high ranking and the place others would have for her in their schemes. I admired her spirit and strength even in the less pleasant times to come. This book raises my admiration of Lia. In an enemy country where her death is never far from becoming a reality, she manages to not only survive but to also make herself a player in the political games that everyone else is playing. There's a really nice scene when Lia specifically demands for others to recognize that she, too, is at the table and that they are making a grave mistake in not recognizing her abilities. Yes, I loved Lia and seeing her adapt to the circumstances. She's a bad ass heroine, and it's an absolute treat to watch her grieve and grow.

For those of you who were worried about the love triangle in The Kiss of Deception, this is why I didn't consider that a love triangle. Lia makes decisions and sticks with them. That, of course, doesn't mean there aren't games and strategies to play. And times when the deception might fool you, and the other characters, as well. But, if you're well and truly bothered by love triangles, don't worry. Though both the assassin and the prince have points of view in The Heart of Betrayal, the focus is less on the romantic elements and more on their respective duties to country, family, and friends. Romance -- and love -- has been established. Now they are to be tested; and thus the plot rises in the stakes, and the individual story threads have begun to weave together into this truly epic tale.

I would recommend this series to fans of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, the Grisha trilogy, and Finnikin of the Rock. All three have political intrigue twined with more religious elements - religious backgrounds and stories influencing the world, each culture's perception of events, and the plot itself -- and in The Heart of Betrayal that becomes especially apparent with Vendan culture and Lia's gift. They also have quest-like elements, and for the Grisha trilogy, the Komizar reminds me a little of the Darkling and how he and Alina interacted. I might also recommend this to Megan Whalen Turner fans since Queen's Thief has similar religious/political intrigue combinations. But yes and no: Turner seemed to focus more on the individual characters (Gen, Attolia, Eddis, Sophos) than their countries, whereas the Heart of Betrayal goes really in depth for the Vendan culture and general dynamics between Venda, Morrighan, and Dalbreck. Still, that's what makes me think (about this book): good epic high fantasy.

Like this review and the sound of The Heart of Betrayal? Well, I'm offering you the chance to win my ARC and get to read and review this book before its release as well :). INT, ends 05/12/15.

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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds (79)

April 22, 2015, 8:26 am
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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds is a feature that will let you know about recent MG/YA/NA book related news. I'll post about articles from the publishing industry, cover reveals, discussions from fellow bloggers, the latest tv/movie news, and giveaways that you're hosting. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest.

Two weeks worth!

Publishing:
Rights Report& another one + yet another:
  • Queen of Hearts - Colleen Oakes (Set in Wonderland before Alice has arrived, this fantasy re-imagining tells the origin story of classic literature's most-feared villain, the Queen of Hearts. The first two books in the series were originally published by SparkPress. Prisoner of Hearts, book one in the trilogy, is slated for summer 2016; HarperTeen).
  • Maudeville - Michelle Schusterman (MG standalone was previously under contract with Egmont USA. It's about a girl who longs to sing and, after flubbing a big audition due to stage fright, comes upon an old theater run by a glamorous but sinister grand-dame of show business. Publication is scheduled for spring 2017; Random House).
  • Hibiscus Daughter duology - Lana Popovic (The YA contemporary fantasy series, pitched as The Night Circus meets the The Tiger's Wife, is about two sisters, one cursed to be Death's courtesan and one forced to pass the curse on to the next generation, who must find a way to save each other. Publication for the first book is planned for 2017, with the second to follow in 2018; Katherine Tegen Books).
  • Useless - M.J. Beaufrand (a YA novel set on an island in Puget Sound, in which a teenage girl and her four brothers search for a missing child, but uncover disquieting truths about themselves and their community along the way. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; Abrams).
  • The World from Up Here - Cecilia Galante (a middle-grade novel following a 12-year-old girl who, in the wake of a family event, must confront her fears while moving to an aunt's house with her autistic brother and their dog. Publication is set for summer 2016; Scholastic).
  • Deleting Tenley Tylwyth - Jennifer Gooch Hummer (In the MG Debut, a 13-year-old girl who can create weather patterns must protect humans from an evil and vindictive Mother Nature. Publication is slated for 2017; Month9Books).
  • Invincible Wild - Jessica Taylor (YA magical realism debut in which a teen Wanderer must choose between the rambling way of life she's always known and the townie boy she falls for, even when all signs portend doom if she stays. The novel was formerly set to publish on Egmont's fall 2015 list and will now publish in 2016; Sky Pony Press).
  • My Body Was Made for This - Calla Devlin (YA debut; the story of three sisters who travel with their mother to Mexico so she can receive alternative treatments for her leukemia, while remaining unaware that an illness far more insidious than cancer poisons their home. Publication is scheduled for fall 2016; S&S/Atheneum).
  • Cici Reno Knows it All - Kristina Springer (first in the middle-grade Yoga Girls series; It follows a pre-teen yoga enthusiast who helps her best friend get a crush's attention by impersonating her on Twitter, but a friendly favor turns into a social media love triangle. Publication is slated for spring 2016; Sterling Children's Books).
  • The Boy with Seventeen Senses - Sheila Grau (a middle-grade reboot of "Jack and the Beanstalk" featuring a resourceful boy, a greedy neighbor, and a planet where every inhabitant has synesthesia. Publication is planned for fall 2016; Abrams/Amulet).
  • How to Disappear - Ann Redisch Stampler (It's a thriller about a girl on the run after she witnesses – or commits? – a murder, told in alternating points of view by two unreliable narrators. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Simon Pulse).
  • Doreen - Ilana Manaster (a contemporary YA debut take on The Picture of Dorian Gray. The social hierarchy of New England boarding school Chandler Academy is thrown into upheaval after roommates Heidi and Biz take in new arrival Doreen Gray and Photoshop her profile pic. It's slated for 2016; Running Press Kids).
  • Alterations - Stephanie Scott (A debut re-imagining of the movieSabrina, set in Miami. It tells the story of a shy, hopeful fashion designer caught between her lifelong crush and his awkward, nerdy brother. Publication is planned for early 2016; Bloomsbury Spark).
  • Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery - Jill Diamond (MG debut about two best friends with a flair for intrigue who uncover a string of mysteries in their community, set against the backdrop of Día de los Muertos. Publication is set for fall 2016; FSG).
  • Rocket and Groot: Stranded on Planet Stripmall! - Tom Angleberger (The middle-grade novel follows Rocket Raccoon and a walking, talking tree, Groot, as they crash-land on a planet made up of 99 cent stores, nail salons, dry cleaners, maniacal robots bent on customer service, and killer toilets. Worldwide publication is scheduled for March 2016; Marvel Press).
  • Did I Mention I Love You trilogy - Estelle Maskame (The first novel in this contemporary YA series follows Eden during a sun-drenched summer in Southern California, where she unexpectedly falls for the one boy she shouldn't – her infuriating stepbrother, Tyler. It's slated for publication in spring 2016; Sourcebooks Fire).
  • The Problem Children - Natalie Lloyd (a middle-grade series about seven strange siblings, all born on a different day of the week, and the neighbors who keep trying to tear their family apart. Publication is planned for fall 2017; Katherine Tegen Books).
  • I'm Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Noodlings for Precocious Children, Typical Youth, and Weirdly Immature Grownups - Chris Harris (debut poetry collection; It's a selection of humorous poems for all ages with an absurdist twist. Publication is set for fall 2016; Little, Brown).
  • Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies - Laura Stampler (debut pitched as The Devil Wears Prada meetsSex and the City. When Harper scores the summer internship of a lifetime, she moves to New York City to work as a dating blogger at the hottest teen magazine in the country. There's just one problem: she's not exactly the dating expert she claimed to be. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Simon Pulse).
  • Saving Hamlet - Molly Booth (debut in which a 15-year-old working on her high school production of Hamlet falls through a stage door and lands at the Globe Theater in 1601. Publication is slated for winter 2016; Disney-Hyperion).
  • Truth or Dare - Barbara Dee (a novel that follows a late-blooming tween girl who lies to keep up with friends in an extended game of truth or dare. Publication is set for fall 2016; S&S/Aladdin).
  • The Ethan I Was Before - Ali Standish (MG debut; The story is about a boy who moves with his family to a small, eccentric seaside town after an accident that killed his best friend, but finds himself struggling to makes sense of the past and future when a mysterious new girl enters his life. Publication is scheduled for winter 2017; HarperCollins).
  • One Shadow on the Wall - Leah Henderson (a middle-grade debut about a newly orphaned boy who discovers the power of self-reliance as he protects his younger sisters from poverty and bullying in contemporary Senegal. Publication is planned for summer 2017; S&S/Atheneum).
Nothing From Last Time...
  • The Thrifty Time Traveler's Guide - Jonathan Stokes (new series in which a future time travel agency puts together affordable vacation packages to history's biggest events. The first books will span Ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and WWII, and will include illustrations, maps, and infographics. The series will launch in 2017; Viking).
  • See You in the Cosmos, Carl Sagan - Jack Cheng (MG: When 11-year-old Alex Petroski, along with his dog, Carl Sagan, sets out to launch his iPod into outer space, his three days away from home turn into a longer, unexpected road trip. Publication is planned for fall 2016 or spring 2017; Dial & Puffin).
  • Safe at Home - Jenn Barnes (writing as Jenn Bishop) (MG debut which alternates between two baseball-filled summers – last summer, when Quinnen was struggling to repair her relationship with her older sister, and this summer, when Quinnen is reeling from her sister's death. Publication is scheduled for summer 2016; Knopf).
  • The Kindness Club - Courtney Sheinmel (New MG series; Pitched as The Baby-sitters Club with an altruistic twist, three fifth graders form a Kindness Club and look for proactive ways to do nice things for others, but things don’t always work out the way they intend. Bloomsbury).
  • Two Truths and a Lie - Ammi-Joan Paquette (l.) and Laurie Ann Thompson (a middle-grade nonfiction series which combines made-up entries with wacky-but-true stories from science, history, and more. Publication is slated for winter 2017; HarperCollins/Walden Pond Press).
Publisher’s Lunch:
  • Carol Goodman's MG debut THE METROPOLITANS, the story of four unlikely friends who come together at New York's Metropolitan Museum on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack to track down the missing pieces of a lost Arthurian manuscript before the Nazis can turn it into a tool for war, to Viking Children's.
Authors: Lying Out Loud - Kody Keplinger, Challenger Deep - Neal Shusterman, Melissa Marr, Written in the Stars - Aisha Saeed, Crow’s Rest - Angelica Jackson, Melanie Conklin, The Devil Diaries - Tatum Flynn, All the Rage - Courtney Summers, Sarah Darer Littman, Kiersi Burkhart, The Water and the Wild - Kathryn Ormsbee, Dating Down - Stefanie Lyons, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli, I Am Her Revenge - Meredith Moore, The Weight of Feathers - Anna-Maria McLemore

Excerpts: Nimona - Noelle Stevenson, Scarlett Undercover - Jennifer Latham, Challenger Deep - Neal Shusterman, Cold Burn of Magic - Jennifer Estep, Gods of Chaos - Jen McConnel, The Grace of Kings - Ken Liu, Hold Me Like a Breadth - Tiffany Schmidt, Inked - Eric Smith, Play On - Michelle Smith, The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things - Ann Aguirre, Last Year’s Mistake - Gina Ciocca, Dangerous Deception - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, The Clouded Sky - Megan Crewe, Hit - Delilah Dawson, The Royal Wedding - Meg Cabot

Book trailers: Challenger Deep - Neal Shusterman, Magonia - Maria Dahvana Headley, Hold Me LIke a Breath - Tiffany Schmidt, The Edge of You - Theresa DeLayne, Rook - Sharon Cameron

Awards: Bisexual Book Award Finalists were announced. As were the May Library Reads. And the winner of the LA Times Book Award as well as the E.B. White & Indie’s Choice Awards… and the YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Nominees for 2015…. and the 2014 RT Book Awards.

A librarian analyzed the NYT Bestsellers list by author gender. Are the results what you would expect? For me, yeah. Not surprising. Disappointing too.

You can check out the VIDA count for 2014.

So, for all that debate on “oh, do diverse books sell well?,” don’t forget the part where editors basically said “One Asian Book Is Quite Enough.” How will you ever know when you don’t give them the chance? But apparently this is not far from the norm: books that are about diversity or written by diverse authors are among the most censored books. Frequently. And here specifically for 2014, though it’s not just for books. I can only hope that this will change as WNDB gets more support, like this partnership with the CBC. Besides these figures, here’s another reminder why diversity is important in books.

So, there are a bunch of pictures and reports from an event that happened April 19-21, Children’s Institute. Jon Scieszka: Reaching Out to Reluctant Readers: Children's Institute 2015; Mac Barnett and Jory John: The Pranksters Get Serious About 826 Valencia: Children's Institute 2015; Jewell Parker Rhodes: Living the Dream and Writing for Children: Children's Institute 2015; Jeff Kinney: Wimpy Kid Author Turns Bookseller: Children's Institute 2015; Marla Frazee and Allyn Johnston: Collaboration Thrives After 15 Years: Children's Institute 2015; 10 Children’s Bookseller Challenges—And How Stores Solved Them: Children's Institute 2015; Lots to Do at Children's Institute; Wimpy Kid 'Bookseller' Opens Enthusiastic CI 3

There was also the AWP: The Art and Business of Writing Children’s Books, at which WNDB told AWP to write diverse books that sell.

And of course, Teen BookCon, which you can see the pictures for here, and even a summary of the Bologna Book Fair from weeks back. And pictures from the inaugural YALLWEST!

Plus a report on the LA TImes Book Festival last weekend.

Not surprising (to me): children’s book sales are doing so well, and so, so much better than adult book sales.

Interesting to think about, in this age -- a YA anthology, whose cover I featured last time, called Among the Shadows was funded on Kickstarter.

David Fickling Books Joins Scholastic.

A summary of industry and author events from two weeks ago and last week.

Sooo, though HarperCollins was reportedly putting its foot down against Amazon (it wants to sell its ebooks at full price, and because it can sell them through its website, people think it’s going to do better in this fight than Hachette did….), that doesn’t matter. HC signed a contract with Amazon.

If you’re an author who feels dissatisfied with how much marketing your publisher has put into your book, you are not alone. Fascinating survey of authors on their publishers.

This is a little hilarious. Salman Rushdie just started using Goodreads and didn’t realize that his ratings would be publicly visible.

This is really cool and considerate, Overdrive. The app now features a dyslexic font option.

Sorry, y'all. HP 8 ain’t happening.

This was pretty fascinating to me, a profile on Julie Strauss Gabel, who’s an editor at Dutton and has worked with John Green and Ally Condie among others. I always find things about/by editors really interesting because how cool is it to watch a book evolve into something that’s actually on the shelves? That you’ve helped someone else achieve their artistic vision?

A really lovely portrait of Toni Morrison too.

Gayle Forman & Jay Asher are teaming up for an event on suicide awareness.

Courtney Summers’s #ToTheGirls campaign trended worldwide and was covered in the NY Times, Hello Giggles, The Huffington Post, Quill & Quire, BlogHer, micdotcom and USA Today as well as by Sofia Vergara.

So, I didn’t realize that there was a new Dr. Seuss book even being published, but looks like the sales for it may already be strong.

Cover Reveals:

Witch Switch - Sibeal Pounder
The Murdstone Trilogy - Mal Peet {maybe not YA, not sure}

Cover Reveal Watch -- Brooks Benjamin: My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights on Pop! Goes the Reader on MAY 4th!

Discussion/Other Blogger Posts:

May’s most anticipated titles. So, like, what is up with all the MOST ANTICIPATED things of the year getting tossed in May? I thought that that was a fall thing, but then I’ve not been able to pre-order a bunch of things yet because they’re all coming out in May and I won’t I WILL NOT BUY ALL THE THINGS NOW.

Oyster compiled a list of the 100 best books of the Decade so far - and would you believe it, there are actually a few YA books there.

I really like this Bustle article on how YA authors can stand up to stereotypes about women through their writing.

Have you read these popular April YA books?

A list that’s constantly evolving (via viewer vote) about the most overrated books of all time. Basically, what I understand of this is that any book that’s really hyped will either have people who LOOOOOOOOOVE it or hate it on so much that they’re gonna vote it high there (*cough* HP *cough* - b/c why else would that be there?).

As always we’ve got some beautiful pictures of libraries + improbable libraries. And beautiful quotes from YA books on libraries. And on the real purpose of libraries.

You know what was on the top of Amazon’s bestseller list? Colouring books for adults. Apparently they’re great destressors.

Were you a bookworm as a kid? Here are signs pointing to YES.

If you’ve ever wanted to read more international books, here’s a good list for you. Books from the LA Times winning a Translator’s award.

Can you tell where the quote is from? Classic or YA Lit?

And some quotes about spring to put you in the mood. (I’ve been told that these are the 2 good months of NJ/the east coast and yet it rained so frakking heavily yesterday, I wasn’t dry until like 4 p.m. And that’s only walking like 20 minutes in the rain.)

Apparently there are a lot of YA books with 5 word titles. (I would similarly say, why are there so many YA books with 1 word titles).

What do you do when your book bff moves away?

And how do you find a new book bff?

Man, all those people who say that they don’t like to read are really missing out on some awesome benefits. And if you like reading, well here are some tips for reading even more!

Hmm, according to Buzzfeed, these are 29 underrated book series for YA lovers. But I’m really skeptical about that “underrated” label when so many of those books are already popular.

More feminist lists! Huzzah! 23 Feminist Books Every Child should read.

Wowza, if you’re a SFF fan, here’s io9’s “most essential” picks for April. I’m happy that some YA books do make the cut. And here’s a list of the 10 best YA books for April by Paste Magazine. If you are looking to keep books on your radar, here’s April - June in YA.

According to Tor, these are some YA books you should read.

7 YA Books for Girls Interested in STEM (I would like to point out that 1/7 was published in 2006; many are old books… aka there are not many books with girl protagonists who love science, and as someone who did while I was in HS, this is disappointing), 5 Books to Help You Celebrate #UKYA Day (sometimes I forget that while YA is experiencing a huge surge in the U.S., some countries don’t have many conventions where YA books are sold, or any dedicated to YA -- I love that some lists like this exist), 6 YA Series That Needed to Be TV Shows Yesterday (do you ever wonder sometimes if film companies have interns look for articles like that? or if they just look at the “big” deals and the manuscripts that end up on their desk?), 5 YA Characters Who Should’ve Had a Sibling (but if they did, they wouldn’t be the same character…?), 7 YA books set in art school, and 7 YA Reads for Game of Thrones Fans (and this is probably the list I’m least interested in because GoT comparisons are everywhere).

More recommendations! That one was the paragraph I wrote up last week & then didn’t post :P. If you’re waiting on summer movie season, here’s a list pairing movies to YA books. Man, I need to watch more TV, like Orphan Black - a list on the Orphan Black Club characters & relating them to YA books, plus book recommendations for Orphan Black fans. Huzzah to this list of 7 YA Heroines who know “Girly” does NOT mean weak& to counter that (sorta, if they’re like Katniss), 8 badass YA Heroines who aren’t Katniss. 15 of the best opening lines in YA, the 8 most embarrassing parents in YA, and plenty of greek mythology inspired retellings.

I love this look at how kidlit can help children cope with what’s going on in their lives. Earlier today I actually saw this wonderful billboard with a quote from Frederick Douglas: “It’s easier to raise strong children than to repair broken men.” (I may have the phrasing a little bit wrong - but I am reminded of that now).

7 YA Books to Give You a Reality Check -- and open your empathetic eyes to new worlds.

IF you’re a blogger who’s read & reviewed Ruin and Rising, make sure to leave a comment on this post.

A list of America’s most literate cities.

Bestselling fantasy books, with stats broken down by copies sold/book & total number sold. It’s interesting to see which kidlit books made it.

You know how some people sell books for one cent on Amazon? Did you ever think that they could be making any profit whatsoever? Turns out there’s a method to the madness.

50 Best Genre-Bending Books - this one is for you, C.J., after all that we’ve discussed :P.

30 Teen Books that Changed Our Lives& this was in honor of Teen Book Day, which was last week, April 16th.

Blogger Discussions to come!

Movies/TV Shows:

You can be a fan correspondent for the new Twilight Short Film Stories that are coming out, if you’re interested.

The Luckiest Girl Alive was optioned by Reese Witherspoon’s company.

Fox & Temple Hill optioned The Young Elites by Marie Lu.

The trailer for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was released.

McG will be directing the new Shadowhunters (The Mortal Instruments) television show on ABC Family. Also, Dom Sherwood will be playing Jace.

Disney is joining Steven Spielberg in the BFG movie.

There’s a new clip from the Paper Towns movie with Margo & Q. They’re also planning on revealing more clips and information about the movie at Bookcon.

Eddie Redmayne is reportedly in talks to play Newt in the adaptation of Fantastic Beasts (by JK Rowling).... and omg that would make me so happy if he got cast. YASSSSSS.

Both Maze Runner and TFiOS had big wins at the MTV Movie Awards.

Screenwriters have been hired for the Just One Day/Just One Year adaptation.

A new still from the Scorch Trials.

They’ve cast Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the live version of Beauty & the Beast.

A new Peter Pan poster& teaser trailer were released.

Giveaways:

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: Win THE SHADOW CABINET by Maureen Johnson, ends 5/11/15; Win SEEKER by Arwen Elys Dayton, ends 5/4/15; Win ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Stephanie Perkins, ends 4/20/15.

Giveaways listed at Saturday Situation by Lori of Pure Imagination and Candace of Candace's Book Blog.

Don't forget to enter YABC's giveaways for the month.

Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday {SF/F Reviews and Giveaways}.

Annotated ARC of Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, INT, ends 04/30.

ARC of The Heart of Betrayal by Mary Pearson, INT, ends 05/11.

If you have a giveaway, you should let me know. NGL, this is the least important section to me.

Other:

New Releases:

April 12 - April 18: All the Rage by Courtney Summers, Forged by Erin Bowman, Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier, The Promgoers Interstellar Excursion by Chris McKoy, The Wondrous and the Wicked (Dispossessed #3) by Page Morgan, The World Forgot (Ever Expanding Universe #3) by Isla Neal and Martin Leicht, Denton's Little Deathdate by Lance Rubin, The Revelation of Louisa May by Michaela MacColl, Hit by Delilah S. Dawson, Shredder (Crusher #3) by Niall Leonard, The Fearless by Emma Pass, Mapmaker by Mark Bomback and Galaxy Craze, The Pretty App by Katie Sise, Andreo's Rage by Pam Withers, Bloodline by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, First There Was Forever by Juliana Romano, The Truth Commission by Susan Juby.

April 19 - April 25: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman, The Death Code (Murder Complex #2) by Lindsay Cummings, Becoming Jinn by Lori Goldstein, City Love by Susane Colasanti, The Remedy (The Program 0.5) by Suzanne Young, The Trials (Paper Doll Project #3) by Stacey Kade, Endangered by Lamar Giles, Challenger Deep by Neil Shusterman, Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby, Invisible Monsters (Talker 25 #2) by Joshua McCune, Every Last Promise by Kristin Holbrook, Finding Paris by Joy Treble, Still Waters by Ash Parsons, Wrong About the Guy by Claire LaZebnik, Sophomore is Greek to Me by Meredith Zeitlin, 99 Days by Katie Cotogno.

Recent Recommended Reads: You can read my review of Made You Up by Francesca Zappia. You can also check out my March & April recap, where you’re guaranteed to find everything that’s been on this blog and my booktube channel as well as an update on my own personal life. You can read my review of The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson.

Which articles did you like best? Did I miss any news? Did you host a cover reveal or discussion that I should have posted about? A giveaway? Leave the links, and I'll either edit this post or post about 'em next week.

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Favorite YA Heroines

April 24, 2015, 7:42 am
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This video is all about the YA heroines I adore, organized somewhat by “personality type.” I’ve included them in “types” so that if you’ve read a book from one PoV of the same personality type, maybe you’ll like the rest in that category. I’m a huge character oriented reader and most often I continue reading in books only if I feel invested in the characters’ lives, so I thought that this could be a sort of recommendation feature.

Unfortunately I forgot to change the size on my video cam, so this is not the usual video.

First off, obviously there’s overlap in these categories. A bold heroine is often a strategist and leader too. Second off, I don’t know that I’ve “categorized” these heroines entirely correctly; I may be reacting to an author’s writing style more than the character’s personality (e.g. Sam & Before I Fall; is she really a romantic or is that Lauren Oliver’s magical realism dreamy writing style?). Third off, all of these characters ARE unique, their OWN characters. Grouping them by personality type doesn’t mean that the characters are stock figures. Not one bit. And I’m sure there are many other points to be made about this video, ha, but let’s get to the categorizations first.

Bold/Brash/Confident/Sometimes Extroverted/“Intense”:

Rose (Vampire Academy), Katsa (Graceling), Willowdean (Dumplin'), Meliara (Crown Duel), Echo (The Girl at Midnight), Sophie Mercer (Hex Hall)

Strategists/Logical Thinkers/Planners/Sometimes Unwittingly Made into Leaders:

Kestrel (The Winner's Curse), Bitterblue (Bitterblue), Tula Bane (Tin Star), June (Legend), Cath (Fangirl), Seraphina (Seraphina), Attolia (The Queen of Attolia)

Romantics/Dreamers/Idealists/Sensitive/Open to the World:

Anna/Lola/Isla (Stephanie Perkins's books), Lennie Walker (The Sky Is Everywhere), Terra Cooper (North of Beautiful), Sam (Before I Fall), Macy (The Truth about Forever)

Underestimated (see, lol, not really a “personality type”):

Tris (Divergent), Paige (The Bone Season), Lee Westfall (Walk on Earth a Stranger), Ismae (Grave Mercy), Lia (The Kiss of Deception), Agnieska (Uprooted)

Guilt-ridden/antiheroines/deep thinkers/no category I really knew(?):

Fire (Fire), Briony (Chime), Alex (Made You Up), Hermione (Harry Potter), Nyx (Cruel Beauty), Celaena (Throne of Glass), Sophie (Howl's Moving Castle), Sophia (The Glass Sentence)

In classics: Antigone, Jane Eyre, Jane Austen's heroines

Despite having written a post on why I like fantasy better than contemporary novels, every time I found myself compiling lists of favorite novels, I would see about an equal number between the two. I’d wonder, why. I definitely do like fantasy more than contemporary novels, and I think I’ve stumbled upon a reason.

Having created this list, I wonder at the lack of contemporary heroines here. I think that sometimes contemporary heroines may not be allowed to “shine” as fully as their peers in fantasy, or some personality types are missing from contemporary. Most of the contemporary stories I’ve read have featured some sort of introverted type, few with the “bold, brash, confident” exterior. And I wonder why – is it harder to pull off the moments of reflection needed in a contemporary novel if you choose a heroine who’s a little more intense?

Or am I reading the wrong books? I don’t discount this last question – I leave that to you, my readers, to tell me. And if I am, perchance recommend me some others. Because right now, I’m thinking that contemporary more easily translates to the romantic/dreamer type while fantasy, it’s harder without the character getting a lot of “hate” (e.g. Sansa Stark).

Do you think this is a useful way of recommending books / will you be reading some of these books now? Do we share any favorite heroines? Do you have any books that you would recommend to me based on the above? Let me know!

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Review: Uprooted - Naomi Novik

April 28, 2015, 3:00 am
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Release Date: May 19, 2015
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Del Rey

*Note: this is considered an adult title because of a few scenes and because it's a bit darker than most YA. It definitely has cross-over appeal, but I thought that I should at least have a disclaimer first.

Uprooted - Naomi Novik
Uprooted - Naomi Novik | Goodreads

Naomi Novik, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

I first heard about this book from Maggie Stiefvater. If I'm not mistaken, she'd posted about it on her tumblr, and then I'd added it to my GR to-read shelf. Then, sometime later, I'm told there's a giveaway for this book, and I get curious. I see all the blurbs for the book. I see that Maggie has recommended the book to Diana Wynne Jones fans, of which I definitely am. I see that Rachel Hartman loved this book, and I quite like Seraphina. And so I had a feeling that I was going to really enjoy this book. So I did.

I disagree with the Diana Wynne Jones recommendation. I think that perhaps the plot structure and the themes (Agnieszka says that she won't get chosen; it's her friend's fate to get chosen, she's not up to par... Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle says that the eldest of three children is the unlucky one; she's not up to par... etc.) might be similar, but Uprooted, as a whole, is much darker (and for "older" audiences, I guess, if you really and truly follow those labels) than what I've read from DWJ. I would recommend this to fans of Rosamund Hodge, which I will explain in a little bit, and also to fans of Seraphina - not just because Rachel Hartman liked and recommended this book, but because I actually had a similar experience reading this novel and Seraphina. I think that both have very similar lenses for how the plot/character development/tone is approached.

This book is supremely well executed and well written. I'm not sure that I really have any complaints for how anything was handled here. My only complaint would be to poke at myself and wish that I could get more involved in high fantasy worlds (I tend to be more of a character oriented than plot/world oriented reader, so sometimes I will skip over descriptions of the HF world because I don't care about furniture or clothing, etc. that much, though I do appreciate that the author considered these elements).

ANYWHO. The world-building is absolutely phenomenal. If you like fairy tales, darker Grimm retellings, you'll definitely love this book. If you love high fantasies with clearly defined magic systems, you'll love this. So, there's a cinematically creepy Wood. It's sentient and gorgeous but also brimming with dangerous, nightmare-inspiring creatures (imagining this on screen was terrifying). Not only do you get to find out more about said creatures and the dangers of the Wood, but you also get to uncover its history and see how each individual character has been affected by the presence of the Wood in his/her life - whether the character is the King and far away from its dangers, or like Agnieszka, rather close and well aware of the seed of corruption it can plant in people's minds. And the magic system is very well defined: we learn more about previous magic users (the wonderful history of this world!) as well as simple spells and how not everything is known about magic as it stands today (gasp, exceptions/rule-breakers do exist!). There's a magical hierarchy, books, etc. Each wizard clearly has their own specialty and their own way of using magic. It's all a delight to read and explore; and you ALWAYS get a sense of how this world has affected each and every character - their outlook, their attitudes, their goals, wants, needs, etc. Because the world is so well developed, with a pretty well developed history (enough so that you can imagine a companion novel elsewhere), the plot twists in really unexpected ways, and I never knew quite what to expect for what would come next or how the terrors the Wood posed would be solved. Plus, it then became really easy to picture what was going on (read above: imagining some of the scenes was terrifying; THE WOOD IS TERRIFYING).

The heroine, Agnieszka, gets to grow so much in this novel. Just reading the synopsis, you already know how little she seems to think of herself. Her best friend, Kasia, is beautiful, the Chosen One for the Dragon, of course. Not. So, Agnieszka has to learn to change her expectations for her future. She's heard so many things about the Dragon and what living with him would be like -- and of course so few of those rumors were right too. The Tower is so hard to navigate, and magic so draining. But if there's a will, there's a way; and the circumstances force Agnieszka to adapt. She becomes stronger once she accepts herself and her magic, and more confident of her place in helping others. I said that this book was for fans of Rosamund Hodge. This is because of the fairy tale feel + mysterious castle/Tower layout + the heroine's self-growth. In Cruel Beauty, Nyx is also forced to reevaluate the Gentle Lord and what she has heard of him, just as Agnieszka must learn to trust the cold Dragon in order to find out more about what he is hiding, how she can improve her magic, and what she can do for her village and country. However, the romance is much more of a side plot in Uprooted than it was in Cruel Beauty, and much more of a side plot than I expected (with the synopsis focusing on how the Dragon would choose Agnieszka, I thought that their relationship would be at the forefront... it's important and helps in a lot of character realizations/plot twists, but it definitely falls back when Novik needs to move the plot along in other directions). Still, the romance has its moments -- huzzah for Agnieszka taking charge and being so confident by the end! The main female friendship between Agnieszka and Kasia also reminded me of the sisterly bond in Cruel Beauty, dark but unbreakable. Naomi Novik is not afraid to point out the less kind thoughts we may have about one another, even friends; but how exposing those thoughts and moving past them would allow for deeper rooted friendships and relationships.

So, what do we have here? A side plot of slow burning hate-to-love romance (the Dragon is a bit of a jerk, and cold, towards Agnieszka), extensive character development for a determined, spirited heroine who learns to wield magic with skill, plenty of plot twists and an absolutely wonderful main female friendship. Plus, of course, a creative fairy tale world, with a cinematically creepy evil Wood. Are you reading Uprooted? I would certainly hope so. You'll be in the hands of a master storyteller.

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Being Terrible at Reading Lists

March 16, 2015, 12:30 am
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Do you make lists for what you're going to read in the upcoming year? Do you do challenges?

I must say, I try not to do challenges because I feel too pressured when I do. But I always make lists as ways of "promoting" various upcoming titles... but whenever I look more closely into how much I read of those lists...

Well, it's a little disappointing.

My first list was from a video of the 15 TBR books that I was going to read in 2015. It featured:
In two months, how many have I read from this list?

One: The Boyfriend List. If there are 15 books on that list and 12 months in a year, I have to read at least a book a month. Clearly I'm already behind here. I do have plans to read Chime by Franny Billingsley with Lyn from Great Imaginations. But I'm still behind according to this.

Another list I made was of the Top Ten / Eleven YA Debuts I Was Looking Forward to Reading.
Okay, this list I'm doing maybe a little bit better on? At the time that I'm writing this post (early March), I'm currently reading The Girl at Midnight... and an author friend said that she would lend me her copy of An Ember in the Ashes. So maybe better??? Or the exact same.

And my last list was of the 14 Books Being Released in 2015 That I Wanted to Read:
At the time that I write this, I'm currently reading Shadow Scale. I can't really fault myself for being terrible at following through with this list since so many of them have not even been released yet (whereas debuts need a lot more publicity and/or have actually have ARCs vs. say, Winter & my TBR books are definitely already out).

But, let's look at the book that is out even now. The Ruby Circle. I haven't even ordered my copy yet. With the points I earn from using my credit/debit card, I choose to get the $25 Barnes & Noble gift certificate. By using my points for that and forcing myself to wait until I have that gift card, I'm helping to curb my book buying habits (#budgettips). So, I have that card and some weeks ago, I went to the B&N site and put Ruby Circle and The Glass Sentence - which I read last year and LOVED - into my cart. I was three cents away from a $25 total, which means you get free shipping.

And then I was like: well, that's just annoying. I'll wait a few days to see if one of them increases in price. THREE CENTS PEOPLE. It was a matter of principle.

Then I forgot about the book for like two weeks.

And The Ruby Circle went down by like 3 dollars when you no longer had to pre-order it and it was available everywhere (I wonder why -- is there some law that says pre-orders are so much more expensive than when the book actually releases?). So then nothing I did was going to get to that even $25. I considered buying two books from my "saved-later" cart to reach that goal but then thought c'mon, seriously? Three books all together? Like you're going to actually read all of them right when they arrive. Apparently I have better impulse control for online buying than when I'm actually in the store (e.g. see my Instagram account and book hauls from the Strand). So then I turned to the other pre-orders in my cart (e.g. The Wrath and the Dawn, on said above list), and they fit the $25 combination requirement with The Ruby Circle, but you have to bundle your books for free shipping and that means The Ruby Circle wouldn't arrive until the release date of that other pre-order and I was like hugngggghhh I'll wait.

WHY DO I MAKE NO SENSE. I sabotage my own attempts to finish reading the books on my lists.

But, okay, let's say that I count the books I'm currently reading and I've planned a read-along for and the couple I've read. That's FIVE books out of 40. Hahahahahahahaha. And we'll assume, too, for fairness that that is my record for 3 months. At this rate, I'm looking at a 50% completion rate.

YAY! I suck at following through with reading lists.

Being a mood reader sometimes really gets in the way of having concrete plans. (*sigh* but also #firstworldproblems).

Have you made lists of books that you're going to read this year? Are you following your challenge plans? Or are you like me, making them but not great at following through?

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My Attempt at Bookstagram & Questions about Blogging

April 30, 2015, 3:00 am
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What is this Bookstagram you speak of? Good question! Here's an introduction post by the lovely Joséphine Simone of Word Revel (if you want to drool over book porn, her account is highly recommended. Always gorgeous work.).

Essentially bookstagram = books + Instagram, but with a lot more subtlety than just that phrase. I actually have an Instagram account, but I'm definitely not very successful at making it bloom.

Do you ever have that feeling where you think that various things in blogging are sucking you in?

So, here's the thing. I know that I can be a better blogger. I know that I can be a better booktuber. I know that I can do so much more with everything book-related, but to do so is falling into that pit.


A photo posted by Christina (@chbreadsya) on

I could be better at blogging in so many ways. I could do what others have and post less so that I'd comment and interact more. I could take any one of the ideas I've had for infographics and follow through, or hey, what about all those discussion posts? I have so many ideas for how to improve this blog and get it to a place where I'd feel more invested (really, it's quite remarkable, the spreadsheet full of ideas), and the same goes for booktubing, especially on the interaction. I had a lot of ideas for videos I was going to film, and I was commenting on different videos and trying to interact with different people I'd subscribed to, and then March came along and I fell behind in everything, and now I find these doubts that I have increasing more and more.

I don't know that I want to be better. To be better is to work harder. To work harder means more hours spent on this hobby. Is it worth it? If I'm having that question, should I even be blogging?


An example of this is actually bookstagram. I really like and admire photography. I've always regretted not taking more photography classes (the only one I really took was in high school, at my local college, and it was mostly about Photoshop. For my surrealist collage, I had a chicken on a wall fighting against a giant robot astronaut looking dude amid plumes of colorful smoke (y'all I was such a deep high school kid, what can I say?).). I could probably find some good guides online too -- and I want to, but then it's that rabbit hole. Am I doing this for my general knowledge in photography or am I getting caught in that blogging spend-all-the-time-here phenomenon?

It's actually fairly recent that I even have a few bookstagram photos. I took some photos while I was home in March/April because I figured, okay, maybe I'll actually try for once. I've seen people taking pictures with books in nature, and here there are some nice spots whereas I'm much less likely to do any of this once I return to NJ.

Except I don't really know what I expect(ed). So I took some pictures. It made me a little happy to take them, but I'm also real lazy sometimes so I don't know that I would do it again. (Did I care enough?). So then, what does it matter? Was I, like, expecting more likes and followers? Who am I asking for validation? This is my major issue with most social media. This is one of many reasons why I don't like it - I don't need validation, and it brings out parts of me that I don't like, that start asking these questions and yes, I was a shy child, so of course I'm start getting obsessive over whether people actually like it blah blah blah blah.


So really, why the fuck do I care?

It's like with those MBTI infographics. To this day, they're one of my most popular features here. People still comment on that post, sometimes telling me that I'm an idiot and that of course blah blah isn't an INFP and the like. And I like that I made something pretty and discussion worth. But it also took over eight hours to create, and what does it matter? Was I really doing anything I would actually admire - I mean, some of the people who focus on those MBTI infographics do the exact opposite of what I'd hope, and like, actually focus only on the label and get sucked deep into that. And so why does doing that matter? Why does a review matter? Yeah, I like making graphics, and yeah, MBTI had helped me at one point in my life, but is it all really worth that much TIME?

A photo posted by Christina (@chbreadsya) on

This is why I sometimes don't post bookish rounds every week. I get annoyed with myself. I mean, I do it for myself, all this bookish news and trying to keep up with it, but also have the benefit of others looking at it. But still you've already read about my time constraints.

Do you ever get these doubts? Do you ever consider cutting back? Sometimes I think the issue is that I'm so spread out in different areas, but I think that it doesn't really take me that long to link posts and reviews to Goodreads, Booklikes, Pinterest, and the like. Cutting one account there is nothing, since my major "engagement" with people is here, at the blog, occasionally on twitter or other accounts, and often through email. And sometimes there's that voice that says, hey, you don't need to do this. You can still interact with your friends - the ones you've made while here - without really needing to do any of this. Except that also triggers the part of me that's like: you can't quit no no no!

So, that's where I'm at. Ha, how about you?

(these are the moments when I'm like, god, being a perfectionist sucks.)

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Reading Black Iris + April Book Haul + Giveaway

May 1, 2015, 3:08 pm
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Hey, everyone! Since I already posted my March / half of April recap, I figured that I'd post a book haul covering what I received for the last half of April and discuss what I've been reading in this latter half. I've received a bunch of books, and I know that I won't be able to read them anytime soon, so I'm passing them onto anyone who's interested in this giveaway.


Oh, did I mention that I also read the first chapter of Black Iris by Leah Raeder in this video? ;)

So my book haul for the latter half of April!

The Orphan Queen - Jodi Meadows | Goodreads
Release Date: March 10, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.
  • Really enjoyed reading this! I see now why all the reviews mentioned an evil cliffhanger, though I figure the cliffhanger will be less evil than otherwise currently deemed. It's got a nice blend of adventure + spirited heroine + mysterious magic + love/hate romance. I like that they're doing that whole novella prior to sequel marketing thing (was this first introduced with Sarah J. Maas, or is it that I only remember the trend as far as Maas?). I'm interested in knowing more about the character highlighted in the novella, and Jodi Meadows plotted the book so that there's never a moment spent waiting. The very first chapter enables the plotline described in the summary and from there, it's all action. So, it doesn't surprise me that this book is super popular, though I may still like Incarnate more than The Orphan Queen because of the philosophical components of Meadows's debut.
City Love - Susane Colasanti | Goodreads
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

Sadie, Darcy, and Rosanna are living together in New York City the summer before their freshman year of college begins. With no parents, no rules, and an entire city to explore, these three girls are on the verge of the best summer of their lives.

Sadie is a native New Yorker. She is hopeful, romantic, and an eternal optimist who is ready to find her soul mate. Then she meets her dream boy: cute, funny, and quirky in all the right ways. The chemistry between them is unreal. Could he be the one?

Darcy is a free spirit from SoCal with rebellious tendencies and unlimited financial resources. Moving to New York City is just another adventure for her. Darcy wants this summer to be all about boy adventures—nothing serious. But how much fun is too much?

Rosanna leaves Chicago for NYC so she can put her past behind her and reinvent herself. The only thing standing in her way is the grand total of seventy-three cents she has saved. Then she meets a guy who wants to show her the glamorous side of New York—a side that she would never get to experience on her own. If Rosanna doesn't resist, she may find herself in city love.

Told from alternating points of view, City Love captures the moments in each girl's life when everything is thrilling, amazing, and terrifying all at once . . . in a way it will never be again.

*Pretty sure I kept mispronouncing her name during this video. Whoops, sorry!

Etherworld - Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam | Goodreads
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

In this sequel to Elusion, three teens fight a virtual reality program that threatens to destroy their minds. Dangerous secrets and lies add up to a thrilling futuristic fantasy with an Inception-inspired twist.

Elusion was hailed as an exciting leap in technology—until users began to disappear amid rumors of addiction. Regan’s search for the truth led her and her new love interest, Josh, to Etherworld. Etherworld is a dimension hidden deep beyond Elusion's firewall, where players can hide, and ultimately fight back. Regan's father and others are here working to destroy Etherworld, but the longer they stay the less likely they'll be able to return to the real world alive.

Escape means attacking Elusion from within the program. It's dangerous and it’s a puzzle. And even if they manage it, how will they be able to stop Orexis from distributing Elusion to the masses when the people who run it are corrupt?


Invincible - Amy Reed | Goodreads
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

The Fault in Our Stars meets Go Ask Alice in this dramatic romance about a teenage girl who survives a terminal cancer diagnosis, only to get trapped in the deadly spiral of addiction. Fans of Gayle Forman and Sara Zarr will be swept away by this gritty romance, the first in a duology.

Evie is living on borrowed time. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer several months ago and told that by now she'd be dead. Evie is grateful for every extra day she gets, but she knows that soon this disease will kill her. Until, miraculously, she may have a second chance to live.

All Evie had wanted was her life back, but now that she has it, she feels like there's no place for her in it--at least, not for the girl she is now. Her friends and her parents still see her as Cancer Girl, and her boyfriend's constant, doting attention is suddenly nothing short of suffocating.

Then Evie meets Marcus. She knows that he's trouble, but she can't help falling for him. Being near him makes her feel truly, fully alive. It's better than a drug. His kiss makes her feel invincible--but she may be at the beginning of the biggest free fall of her life.


Wrong about the Guy - Claire LaZebnik | Goodreads
Release Date: April 21, 2015
Published by: Harper Teen

Claire LaZebnik's latest twist on a beloved classic asks the age old question: Could the girl who knows everything be wrong about the guy?

As the stepdaughter of a TV star, Ellie Withers has it all: an amazing house in LA, a devoted friend who loved her before she even knew who Ellie’s stepfather was, and a burgeoning romance with handsome Aaron Marquand. But Ellie isn't the kind of person who’s content with simply having it all—the people in her life have to be equally happy. And, of course, she knows exactly what they need.

When Ellie’s plans for her family, her friends, and even her love life don’t turn out the way she imagined, she begins to wonder if maybe she could stand to learn a thing or two after all. Most surprising, though, is that the perfect person to teach her is the last person she'd expect.

With her signature witty narration and swoon-worthy romance, Claire LaZebnik (the author of fan favorites Epic Fail, The Trouble with Flirting, and The Last Best Kiss) once again breathes new life into a perennially popular love story: Jane Austen’s Emma.


Everything That Makes You - Moriah McStay | Goodreads
Release Date: March 17, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

One girl. Two stories. Meet Fiona Doyle. The thick ridges of scar tissue on her face are from an accident twelve years ago. Fiona has notebooks full of songs she’s written about her frustrations, her dreams, and about her massive crush on beautiful uber-jock Trent McKinnon. If she can’t even find the courage to look Trent straight in his beautiful blue eyes, she sure isn’t brave enough to play or sing any of her songs in public. But something’s changing in Fiona. She can’t be defined by her scars anymore.

And what if there hadn’t been an accident? Meet Fi Doyle. Fi is the top-rated female high school lacrosse player in the state, heading straight to Northwestern on a full ride. She’s got more important things to deal with than her best friend Trent McKinnon, who’s been different ever since the kiss. When her luck goes south, even lacrosse can’t define her anymore. When you’ve always been the best at something, one dumb move can screw everything up. Can Fi fight back?

Hasn’t everyone wondered what if? In this daring debut novel, Moriah McStay gives us the rare opportunity to see what might have happened if things were different. Maybe luck determines our paths. But maybe it’s who we are that determines our luck.


Encore to an Empty Room - Kevin Emerson | Goodreads
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

Summer always wanted Dangerheart—the band of talented exiles she manages—to find success. Now that they've become an overnight sensation, her hard work is really starting to pay off.

So how come her life seems to be snapping like an old guitar string?

Maybe it's because part of her knows that college applications are due soon, but another part of her can't imagine leaving her life behind—especially when the band is on the verge of a record deal and her relationship is becoming something more than she ever dreamed of. And especially when there's a chance of finding another missing song written by the famous dead rocker who is also Caleb's father.

But are Caleb, the band's future, and the lost songs more important than college? Summer will have to decide. It's time to choose who she wants to be, even if that might mean kissing Caleb good-bye.

Filled with infectious music, mystery, and romance, this electrifying sequel to Kevin Emerson's Exile doesn't miss a beat.


Drive Me Crazy - Terra Elan McVoy | Goodreads
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Published by: Katherine Tegen

Buckle up…

Lana and Cassie have met only once before, at the wedding of Lana’s Grandpa Howe and Cassie’s Grandma Tess two months ago. They didn’t exactly hit it off—in fact, depending on who you ask, that first meeting was either an embarrassment or a disaster—but they’re about to spend an entire week together, just the two of them and their honeymooning grandparents, road-tripping in Cassie’s grandmother’s Subaru.

Lana thinks a summer road trip sounds like fun, but the backseat is a crowded place for two tween girls with two huge secrets to hide, and this bumpy road to friendship is full of unexpected twists and turns. Like it or not, they’re in this together, full speed ahead on the adventure of a lifetime.

And I'm currently reading:

BLACK IRIS - Leah Raeder | Goodreads
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Published by: Atria

The next dark and sexy romantic suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Unteachable.

It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.

If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.

She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.

But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.

Which was the plan all along.

Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.

She's going to show them all.

If you're at all interested in BLACK IRIS, you should definitely watch the above video! In it, I read the first chapter -- and hey maybe I'm not the best reader, but you can definitely see what a beautiful writer Leah Raeder is even within those first six pages. If you're not hooked, I don't know what to tell you. I'm about 80 pages in and generally very much in awe of Leah Raeder's talent.

But anyway, as to the HarperCollins books, I won't have that much time to read this month :(. Aside from Black Iris, and the other two books I've pre-ordered, I don't think that I can read and review those titles. Even if I could, I still feel that they should be in the hands of someone who's anticipating them more than I am... so giveaway time!

All the above titles -- except for Black Iris and The Orphan Queen -- are up for grabs. INT, ends 05/31. I think that this time, I'm going to only choose one winner and try and shove all those books into one box rather than individually selecting a winner per book. If I can't fit all the books in one box, then I'll do two winners and randomly put books in each box. Sounds fair? Cool!


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Review: Black Iris - Leah Raeder

May 5, 2015, 6:36 am
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Release Date: April 28, 2015
Published by: Atria

WARNING: This is a New Adult book, which means that it features scenes that may be considered too much for younger readers.

Black Iris - Leah Raeder | Goodreads

The next dark and sexy romantic suspense novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Unteachable.

It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.

If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.

She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.

But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.

Which was the plan all along.

Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.

She's going to show them all.

So about a week ago, a friend of mine asked me what I was reading. She missed talking to me about books. I told her BLACK IRIS and soon A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, and she ordered both immediately. Now that I've finished BLACK IRIS, I asked her how far in she is and where she thinks the book is going. She said 20% and "she has no idea where it's going, just that it's not anywhere sunny."

Here's the thing about BLACK IRIS: It's dark. Really dark. Challenging. Radical. With any book that points out less palatable genre conventions(e.g. "magic dick lit"), and makes you aware that it is doing so (e.g. the fourth wall is down), and features questionable ethics and/or young people acting out when all the adults want them to conform to standards, you can expect some sort of polarized reaction. That's why, when scrolling through Goodreads, you'll see lovers and haters and people in between who just haven't decided where they lie on that spectrum.

Here's another thing to consider: This reads like Leah Raeder's heart book. Some books feel dry, stale; you wonder why the author even wrote the book if he/she wasn't passionate about it, or was just passionate about the topic and not the characters. But, every once in a while, you'll read a book that brims with sincerity and passion, and even if you don't have a character who says that the fourth wall is down, you already know that the fourth wall is down because here is the author, in every page. Those are always my favorites to read because there's a good chance the author has considered every word and action, and your emotions are going to get tangled in the words. The book will evoke some sort of reaction in you (rather than being another "meh" read).

There are a lot of things I could say about BLACK IRIS. As a suspense novel, it does its job well. The unreliable narrator? Very well established and definitely made it harder to predict where things were going and what would happen next. As a romance novel, it does its job well. The sex scenes are… wow. And in Leah’s poetic voice? They feel ALIVE. As a new adult novel, it does its job well. The characters are balancing college classes and deeper issues (e.g. their pasts & futures) amid the main plot. Plus contemporary romance, y’know.

But what I most want to say doesn’t really have to do with the actual plot or the very well developed characters. It has to do with the lovely moments of realization and deeper issues being tackled in BLACK IRIS.

It’s rare to find a book that handles mental illness, gender and sexual identity among other issues so well, so boldly, and so fearlessly. Especially a book with younger characters. When I was in college, one of the labs I was in, its main purpose was to “unbox science.” We were researching the queer community and one of the questionnaires asked participants to rate themselves on a sliding scale for how they viewed their gender and sexual identity, and if that scale didn’t fit, there was another area where participants could explain. If they wanted to label themselves, they could. It was meant to give participants their voices back in the science community and to allow them the chance to define themselves, but the irony was that once it came to analysis, we had to find a way to compress the scales and numbers and labels. Maybe it was too ambitious of a project, but maybe this is where art like BLACK IRIS comes in to bridge that gap. And BLACK IRIS addresses this in many beautiful moments.
“If I was gay, I wouldn't need an asterisk beside my name. I could stop worrying if the girl I like will bounce when she finds out I also like dick. I could have a coming-out party without people thinking I just want attention. I wouldn't have to explain that I fall in love with minds, not genders or body parts. People wouldn't say I'm 'just a slut' or 'faking it' or 'undecided' or 'confused.' I'm not confused. I don't categorize people by who I'm allowed to like and who I'm allowed to love. Love doesn't fit into boxes like that. It's blurry, slippery, quantum. It's only limited by our perceptions and before we slap a label on it and cram it into some category, everything is possible.”
As for how BLACK IRIS handled mental illness, my god. I cried. Actual tears. I'm emphasizing that because it is SO rare for me to actually cry while reading. Let's see... North of Beautiful by Justina Chen; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling; The Bridge of Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. These are the novels that I can name off the top of my head which have made me cry. I don’t have the book with me right now, but there’s a moment when Laney talks about feeling all the pressure build up and just cracking. That's it. That's what I became in that moment too.

But you know, it’s not even how BLACK IRIS handles social issues that should make it really popular. It’s the beautiful writing at the moments on characters and character realizations.
“Girls love each other like animals. There is something ferocious and unself-conscious about it. We don't guard ourselves like we do with boys. No one trains us to shield our hearts from each other. With girls, it's total vulnerability from the beginning. Our skin is bare and soft. We love with claws and teeth and the blood is just proof of how much. It's feral. 
And it's relentless.”
This quote is tagged as an example of Laney and Blythe together, but whenever Laney talked about the relationships between girls, I found myself nodding. Whenever Laney talked about love and forgiveness and gender expectations – and so, so many other things – I found myself nodding. Leah Raeder has a beautiful writing style and one of the things I most appreciate in novels – these little observations about life – was done perfectly by her hand. Even if I don’t necessarily agree with what the characters do, it doesn’t matter. This book captivated me from start to finish.

So, I mean, what am I really saying here? We have a book that's thought-provoking and likely to manipulate your emotions, beautiful writing, wonderful moments of life truths. In short, even if you don't like revenge or suspense stories, or you don't want to read something that's very dark, or you don't tend to like "the typical NA" novel, you should still read BLACK IRIS. At the very least you know you'll have read something interesting.


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