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Fall 2015 & Winter 2016 Recap

March 1, 2016, 3:00 am
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Wow, it's been a really long time since I did a recap post. In October, I wrote a book talk, but I didn't even mention my blog posts. The last time I did a recap, then, was in September! So much has happened here on the blog, I've read so many books and gone to some great book launches, and I've received and purchased quite a few books as well!

Ah, well. This post was supposed to go up two weeks ago, along with a video that I had recorded in the usual recap way. :/ But basically I'm still trying to catch up with the posts that were scheduled for my time off but didn't go up.

On the blog, I have been maintaining my bookish rounds posts, which are round-ups of the latest MG/YA/NA book news in terms of book deals, cover reveals, discussions in the book community, tv and movie adaptations, and new YA releases. Since September, you'll find edition 88, edition 89, edition 90, edition 91, edition 92, edition 93, edition 94, edition 95, edition 96, edition 97, edition 98, edition 99, and edition 100. And, in fact, in terms of the book news, I gathered half of last year's adaptation news for a round-up post, and I made a calendar with 2016 Adaptations relevant to the YA community, so we could keep track of them. I discussed Mockingjay Part II, my New Year's Bookolutions for 2016, 2016 YA Debuts on my TBR list, 2016 YA Books (Non Debuts) on my TBR list, blogging and booktubing, the effect of awards in the YA community, my reading profile, reader loyalty, and 5 fantasy authors who I fangirl over. I reviewed Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith, the Eon duology by Alison Goodman, the Mapmaker's trilogy by S.E. Grove, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, and The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows, and gushed about my Epic Reads Book Shimmy Award Nominations and the best books that I'd read in 2015. I also asked for read-along buddies, and answered 15 weird questions about myself so that y'all could get to know me better.

Fall 2015 & Winter 2016, I didn't blog or booktube more frequently because in the fall, I’d been applying to graduate schools, and then there were the holiday breaks (aka laziness at home), and throughout February, I had a bunch a few graduate school interviews to attend (aka why you didn't hear from me much on social media then either). Maybe one day soon, I'll have actual big news to celebrate on that account. (Pray for me! Cross your fingers! Whatever you do.). In January, I attended the book launches for Truthwitch by Susan Dennard/Passenger by Alex Bracken and This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. I appreciated Marieke’s discussion on how the story was inspired, in part, by a yellow school bus, and the discussion of American gun culture vs. in the Netherlands. I appreciated the easy banter between Susan and Alex, and their personable approach to describing their writing styles and their experiences (e.g. researching ships in the eighteenth century). I loved how both events were moderated by other YA authors as well (Sona Charaipotra (Dhonielle Clayton was supposed to be there but I forget what happened) and Erin Bowman). And I ended up purchasing all three books for the book launches, as well as books by the author hosts. Here's to hoping grad school fares well too, so that I can say the season was an all around success :D.

In terms of what I've read this past fall and winter.... oh, what a varied list. I’m going to just list them out, and say a few things at the end!

Middle Grade:

1. The Golden Specific - S.E. Grove (review here).

Young Adult:

1. Passenger - Alexandra Bracken (review here)
2. Dreamstrider - Lindsay Smith (review here)
3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
4. Eon - Alison Goodman (review here)
5. Eona - Alison Goodman
6. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander
7. All of Rosamund Hodge's listed short stories.
8. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
9. Vengeance Road - Erin Bowman
10. Glory O'Brien's History of the Future - A.S. King, audio
11. A Creature of Moonlight - Rebecca Hahn
12. Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke (review to come!)
13. The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi (review to come!)

Adult Romance:

1. Wallbanger - Alice Clayton
2. Rusty Nailed - Alice Clayton
3. Screwdrivered - Alice Clayton
4. Mai Tai'd Up - Alice Clayton
5. A Lady of Persuasion - Tessa Dare
6. Goddess of the Hunt - Tessa Dare
7. Surrender of a Siren - Tessa Dare
8. The Rogue Not Taken - Sarah MacLean
9. A Gentleman in the Street - Alisha Rai
10. Once Upon a Marquess - Courtney Milan

Adult Fantasy

1. Feverborn - Karen Marie Moning
2. Captive Prince - C.S. Pacat
3. Prince's Gambit - C.S. Pacat
4. Kings Rising - C.S. Pacat

Nonfiction:

1. The Silk Road: A Short Introduction - James A. Millward.
2. The Madame Curie Complex - Julie Des Jardins
3. Bossypants - Tina Fey, audio
4. Yes Please - Amy Poehler, audio

What’s the deal with all the romance novels? Well, I’ve mentioned this before, but I share my Kindle account with my mother. You’d think this means she’d be more willing to read YA novels—alas, those are all just mine. Anyway, she loves contemporary and historical romance. The majority of the romance novels I read this past fall/winter, I read when I was at home with her. Usually when we’re together I remember that oh shit, I’m supposed to buy more romance novels for her to read. But it doesn’t feel right to just buy her anything out there – in some ways, I get caught too because then I want to make sure I’ve gotten her books that she’ll like. Like Alice Clayton. I read Alice Clayton’s book because I’d posted her cover reveal sometime ago, and I remembered writing that this was a new NA series for her, or she was continuing on Wallbanger, and it was pretty popular. So I tried the books out – I liked them, and my mom loved them. My mom also loves Tessa Dare, and Sarah MacLean and Courtney Milan are automatic pre-orders for her as well.

The young adult and middle grade books went pretty well, and I looooooove the Captive Prince trilogy, so yaaaaaas. And hey, look, I read about 32 books from late November to the end of February. Not too shabby, eh? And now interviews are over… :D :D

In terms of the books I received:

1. The Voyage to the Magical North by Claire Fayers
2. The Treasure of Maria Mamoun by Michelle Chafoun
3. The Wrong Side of Magic by Jannette Rallison
4. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke, which was in my 2016 YA Books on My TBR List (and which I now read -- expect a review soon!)

The Voyage to the Magical North is about a girl and her friend who join a pirate’s quest to find the Magical North, which sounds like a place of secrets and myths and lots of fun. The Treasure of Maria Mamoun is an island adventure about a girl from the Bronx on a journey of mystery and discovery. The Wrong Side of Magic is a modern-day retelling of The Phantom Tollbooth, and all three are Middle Grade titles. I haven’t requested many ARCs as of late, and well, I’ve been more in the mood to read MG, as if it’s easier to review MG because I’ve read so much YA at this point, I almost feel saturated. Have you ever gotten that feeling? Do you think that that’s just a part of a reading slump or something more lasting? I was excited for Wink Poppy Midnight, and it was great – the book was also my first ARC from Penguin Random House. I’m a kind of a passive blogger uninterested in emailing publishers for ARCs, but if I’m sent the request form, I do look through the catalog. It’s always unexpected for me when any of that turns out, and I was doubly excited for Wink Poppy Midnight since it was in my 2016 YA Books on My TBR List. Did not disappoint!

That’s what I read, received, and blogged about in fall 2015 / winter 2016. How were these past couple of months for you? Did you read a lot or find a lot of new favorites? Have you been on your blogging/booktubing game?

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Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds: Cover Reveals (101)

March 2, 2016, 3:00 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 the book community, 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. (If you're interested in how I make these posts, here's your guide.)

Hey, so today's post will only be cover reveals! Since I haven't made a bookish rounds post in over a month, there was just too much to do in one day (aka to make a full post). It took me over three hours just to round up these covers -- not enough time for everything else! Undoubtedly, when I do post the bookish rounds (101), I will have more cover reveals that I missed since I'll be looking through publisher twitter feeds, but for now, check out the last month's cover reveals!

*actually a picture book - my bad
Frozen Charlotte - Alex Bell, new publisher design

The Gallagher Girls - Ally Carter, all six books redesigned -- I’m not sure if larger versions of the covers will be released, so until then I’ve linked to my pin of the image.

Which of these books are you looking forward to? Will be posting the next bookish rounds soon, hopefully! (not today, but soon). Which of the covers are your favorites?

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Review: Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

March 7, 2016, 3:00 am
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Release Date: March 22nd, 2016
Source: ARC via publisher
Published by: Dial

Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke | Goodreads

Every story needs a hero.
Every story needs a villain.
Every story needs a secret.

Wink is the odd, mysterious neighbor girl, wild red hair and freckles. Poppy is the blond bully and the beautiful, manipulative high school queen bee. Midnight is the sweet, uncertain boy caught between them. Wink. Poppy. Midnight. Two girls. One boy. Three voices that burst onto the page in short, sharp, bewitching chapters, and spiral swiftly and inexorably toward something terrible or tricky or tremendous.

What really happened?
Someone knows.
Someone is lying.

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke is unlike anything I've read in YA, yet I'm not surprised that Tucholke is its author. What I remember most from Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is Tucholke's atmospheric writing and her ability to create dynamic characters who were shaped by their environment and multi-faceted, both of which are preserved in Wink Poppy Midnight. The three main characters, Wink, Poppy, and Midnight respectively, have voices that are unique, easily distinguishable (even without the headers), and charismatic. Wink Poppy Midnight is the kind of book that once you start, you won't want to stop: the voices demand to be noticed, the writing is snappy and the plot fast-paced, a small book that is altogether easy to read quickly so that you can discover the truth once and for all. If there's a YA queen of creating unreliable yet (mostly) sympathetic narrators, it's April Genevieve Tucholke.

I'm struggling to write this review mostly because I think that you ought to read Wink Poppy Midnight with as little information as possible. Let the voices guide you. That's one of its similarities to We Were Liars: both emphasize knowing little, because for Wink Poppy Midnight, wondering about the identities of the liar, the villain, and the hero drives the plot, characterization, and reader intrigue. Knowing too much might simply ruin part of your reading experience. Wink Poppy Midnight is a twisty, fast-paced mystery, slick with atmospheric writing and unique characters who capture your attention and are much more than they appear. (Side note: I'm in awe of the cover designer. Wink Poppy Midnight has a beautiful cover that represents its contents quite well, including the many symbols, without actually revealing any crucial plot details. Hard to achieve and well done).

In terms of its audience, I would recommend Wink Poppy Midnight to fans of We Were Liars and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. While Wink Poppy Midnight is unlike anything I've read in YA, I think that it shares some of that suspenseful "what-is-going-on,""what's-the-truth" element driving both Mara Dyer and WWL. We Were Liars is driven a little more by tragedy and grief than Wink Poppy Midnight, but like We Were Liars, Wink Poppy Midnight explores that psychological edge between fairy tale and reality; to what extent do all the stories you read and hear shape your perception of the world around you? Do fairy tales actually reflect the truth of our realities, or do the way in which we tell our tales reflect the truth of our own identities? And do our self-identities match with how others perceive us? Meanwhile, in relation to Mara Dyer, I think that Wink Poppy Midnight similarly asks: are these characters insane? Is there something supernatural happening? Is what's happening really happening, or is everything a matter of perspective? How much of what happens feeds into the atmosphere of the novel, and are these actual events?

Having read both Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Wink Poppy Midnight, I am in awe of April Genevieve Tucholke's versatility as a writer. You might call them both psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators, but they're written in such different ways that I'm hard-pressed to actually compare the two and instead only see Tucholke's growth and talent. I am reminded yet again that April Genevieve Tucholke has so much potential as a writer and that I can't wait to see what she will come up with next.

(If you're interested in Wink Poppy Midnight, I'd suggest reading the excerpt that was released with the cover. I read and loved the excerpt, and I think that it was a good predictor of my reading experience.)

Some other people are participating in a themed promotion and giveaway for Wink Poppy Midnight, and I thought that I'd at least answer part of the theme in my review.

In Wink Poppy Midnight, there are three different narrators who are not all they appear to be. Midnight, the quiet, sensitive hero, is drawn to both Wink, the mysterious and wild girl next door, and Poppy, the sharp manipulative villain of the story. Or so they seem. Who is the real hero? Who is the villain? Someone is lying.

If I were to choose my favorite hero(ine), that would probably be Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. My favorite heroes are the ones who are so staunch in their determination that they make serious mistakes (but of course later grow from those mistakes). If we're being gender specific, my favorite hero would be Eugenides from The Queen's Thief series. Each book in that series builds on his character arc, even though he's not always the protagonist or the main PoV, and he becomes an even richer character for those perspective decisions. I refuse to say more, because I want y'all to experience him for yourselves. Also Harry Potter. As for favorite villain, I could go several ways. Grendel's an adorable monster. Laney from Black Iris has an interesting agenda. The Darkling from the Grisha trilogy also blurs the line between the potential to be better and the absolute fall from grace. The Regent from the Captive Prince trilogy is ridiculously manipulative. And the person who I'm not sure about... BELLAMY. What has he been doing lately?!?!

Who are your favorite heroes, villains, and people you're not sure about? Are you going to read Wink Poppy Midnight, or have you already?

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Fans of Magical Realism & Speculative Fiction

March 8, 2016, 3:00 am
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YA Magical Realism is still a fledging genre, I think. Compared to the YA fantasy and contemporary books that are published each year, it’s a much smaller part of the pie. But as I’ve said before, I’d love to see more YA magical realism. I basically love magical realism because I think in YA, in particular, these kinds of stories take really unexpected turns and can push the boundaries of what YA does. Some people think that magical realism stories are slow-paced and they can be, but for good reason. I’m not an expert, but the magical realism definition according to Wikipedia involves work that “share… an acceptance of magic in the rational world…. Magical realism… refers to literature in particular that portrays magical or unreal elements as a natural part in an otherwise realistic or mundane environment.” According to The Atlantic, when they wrote an obituary for Gabriel Garcia Marquez, they mentioned how his works were “quintessential examples of ‘magic realism’: fiction that integrates elements of fantasy into otherwise realistic settings.” (More magical realism definitions, re: YA magical realism& urban fantasy vs. magical realism).

This is where things get a little hazy for me – because Urban Fantasy often includes magic + contemporary settings, but the feeling of urban fantasy is much different from that of magical realism, though I think both could end up in an urban setting if you wanted. I think that UF is much more likely to include creatures of legends; both can have that dreamy feeling, too, but then I think magical realism focuses more on the individual, the main character and the MC’s unique experience. You can have character-driven urban fantasy, of course, but the actual experiences of the character PoV in magical realism tales are more deeply explored, I think. Hey, for all I know I could be talking out of my ass, but if you’re looking for more YA magical realism books to read, here are some of the ones that I’ve enjoyed reading!



** Chime by Franny Billingsley.

Chime is the story of a girl whose life turns upside down once a new boy comes to her witch-intolerant village swamp, because his presence helps to reveal long-lost secrets. It’s cyclical and beautifully written, and the swamp – here’s another magical realism quality! The setting is almost ALWAYS its own character! Which should happen in most books anyways, but can be critical to magical realism – the swamp is its own character. You get fantastic new magical creatures in the swamp, and Briony’s coming-of-age and sexual awakening are twined together so beautifully in her quest for the truth. Highly recommended! The writing style might throw some people off, but stick with the book and you’ll be so rewarded!

** We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

We Were Liars is the story of a girl who no longer remembers the tragedy that happened at her family's summer home but seeks to discover the truth behind all the lies.. The details of her fifteenth summer at her family's private island elude her, and her family is reluctant to talk about what exactly happened. Her quest for the truth is interspersed with fairy tale like stories about her family and her memories of their summers at their island retreat. It’s a beautifully written suspense story on grief, privilege, family, duty, friendships, and much, much more.

(Is WWL technically Magical Realism? Or is it more speculative? It could just be considered contemporary, but given the above definition, I think it still fits into magical realism.)

** The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle.

First off: if you’re a fan of We Were Liars, definitely check out The Accident Season. Set in Ireland, The Accident Season is the story of a family plagued by “accident seasons” – they fall down; they bruise; their bones break. Is everything that happens in The Accident Season truly an accident, or is there something more sinister going on? Like We Were Liars, The Accident Season is beautifully written, full of atmosphere, and it centers on family, grief, truths and more as well.

** Bone Gap by Laura Ruby.

Bone Gap is the story of Rosa, a girl who suddenly appears in Finn’s life and then just as suddenly goes missing, and Finn, a boy who witnesses Rosa getting kidnapped but who isn’t believed in town because everyone thinks he’s weird and maybe a little unstable. The story takes place in a town where again! Setting is its own character. People can go missing in the “gaps” of the town, all the corn fields… What really happened the day that Rosa went missing is up for the both characters to discover. Laura Ruby really does a wonderful job developing the setting and making the people of Bone Gap feel unique to Bone Gap (but also familiar to us). The story does a great job examining the construct of beauty and perception, and is unlike anything I’ve read in YA (despite me lumping it in here with other magical realism books).

** The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma& Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma.

The Walls around Us and Imaginary Girls are the two Nova Ren Suma novels that I’ve read, but they definitely won’t be the last. The Walls around Us was described as Orange is the New Black Swan, and I think that’s a perfect description—and yes, the book focuses on girls, jealousies, intimacies, and more. Imaginary Girls is the story of a girl sent away from her sister when she discovers a body in their town’s reservoir. When she returns to her sister, certain secrets will be revealed. Nova Ren Suma writes gorgeous, atmospheric stories that are about and told in the voices of girls, and both of these are no exception to her list of highly recommended reads.

** Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block.

Love in the Time of Global Warming is a YA magical realism post-apocalyptic retelling of The Odyssey told from Penelope’s point of view. Francesca Lia Block’s writing is as always incandescent, proving why she’s one of the founders of YA. Reading this made me want to go back and reread The Odyssey, which I think is always a sign of success for a retelling—rekindling or stirring new interest in the classic.

** The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater& The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater.

I don’t even know whether to consider either of these novels magical realism. Some part of me wants to classify The Scorpio Races as a high fantasy because it takes place on a fictional island, and so the society is also modeled after ours but is its own thing. But The Scorpio Races is also written in a way that reminds me of magical realism novels. The Raven Cycle could also be categorized as urban fantasy or just fantasy, but looking at the definition for magical realism, hey, the series could fit too. Plus part of that dreamy atmosphere, again, makes me think of magical realism novels. Oh, genre categories.

Every November on the fictional island of Thisby, its inhabitants compete in a dangerous race riding legendary, deadly water horses. The Scorpio Races is a standalone filled with magic, adventure, and romance—and is unlike anything I’ve read in YA. The Raven Cycle is a tad harder to describe. One of the main characters, Blue, has been told all her life that if she kisses her true love, he will die. It’s implied that Gansey is her true love, and she ends up getting caught in Gansey’s quest to find Glendower, a mythical sleeping Welsh King who’s supposed to grant a wish to whoever wakes him up. A very bare bones sort of intro summary—but anyway, the books have multi-layered, complex characters, unpredictable, complicated plots… magic, adventure, atmosphere, romance. I talk on and on about these books, so get to reading them if you haven’t already!

Those are my YA magical realism novel recommendations. One I’m looking forward to reading this year is A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry, which made my 2016 YA Debuts on my TBR list. Let me know if you’ve got any other recs! Have you read any of the books I recommended? Is magical realism your “thing”?

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5 Year Blogoversary Giveaway Celebration!

March 14, 2016, 5:28 am
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I can't believe I've been blogging for five years. It's really something. I guess blogging just becomes a part of you, even though it's a hobby, and then time passes and wow.

Well, anyway. One part of blogging that I really enjoy is the community. The community is so foundational to everything that you do. And one thing that the community does really well is keep books alive. So, today, to celebrate blogging for five years, here's the requirement for this giveaway.

Tell me about your favorite #QuietYA. Were it  not for bloggers, I wouldn't have discovered some of my favorite books, and some of these quiet YA books especially fall into the cracks. So tell me about your favorite #QuietYA. They don't have to be in any specific time period. If you liked a book from the 1990s, go ahead and recommend it! If you thought that a 2015 book fell into the cracks, go ahead and recommend it! Just tell me why you love it. Help me build up my recommendation and TBR list. We all know bloggers are excellent at that.

In return, I'll order you whatever book you'd like! Help me build my list, and I'll help you get a book that you really want to read :). Like with my previous giveaway, I'll have three winners. This giveaway is INT, and ends on 04/15.


Get recommending :).

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Review: The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi

March 23, 2016, 6:00 am
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Release Date: April 26, 2016
Source: Netgalley
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin

The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi | Goodreads

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

The Star-Touched Queen is a beautifully written gem, lush with an epic romance and imaginative details of an Otherworld inspired by mythology. Sights, scents, textures, and more are captured under Roshani Chokshi's deft hand such that the world and the characters truly come to life. This will not be the only book of hers that I read. (If you are interested, I'd recommend reading one of Chokshi's online stories (I read The Star Maiden by Roshani Chokshi). That will give you a sense of her writing style. If you love her writing style, you're more than likely to really enjoy the book. Alternately, you can also read the first five chapters of The Star-Touched Queen here.)

First and foremost, I would give The Star-Touched Queen to fans of Cruel Beauty and Daughter of Smoke and Bone. The Star-Touched Queen was "pitched as a Hades and Persephone-style romance infused with Indian mythology, about an unlikely princess who must overcome her sinister horoscope and embarks on a quest to unravel her true identity and find the one she loves." You may already see why I made these comparisons but anyway-- the set-up, I think, feels similar to what happens in Cruel Beauty, where Nyx ends up married to the Gentle Lord and things are not as she expected. Here, in The Star-Touched Queen, Maya doesn't expect to end up married. There is a similar level of exploring the meaning of their new marriages alongside worlds and romances that are inspired by mythology. On a detail level, of course the books are very different; plus, Nyx is bitter about her fate, whereas Maya wholeheartedly embraces the idea of marrying someone who wants her to be his equal. Marriage is her escape--and while Nyx discovers that later, Maya knows that from the start, and she's a different lead to follow. Still should have overlapping fanbases. As for Daughter of Smoke and Bone, you can imagine that with the Hades and Persephone pitch, there is talk of an Other/underworld in The Star-Touched Queen - talk of death and fantastical creatures like demons, which fits with DoSaB. Also likely to appeal to DoSaB fans are the lush writing and epic romance within The Star-Touched Queen.

Okay, now enough about the comparisons and more on the book itself. From the start, it's easy to sympathize with Maya, our heroine. Because of her sinister horoscope, Maya has been mistreated by her father's harem and court. They mistrust her and her fate; and I think that it's always easy to sympathize with someone who's less privileged because of their birth. Plus Maya herself is a delightful heroine who, despite the great cause for bitterness, remains optimistic about finding a way for her sinister horoscope to not define who she is or what her future will be. As for the world, Roshani Chokshi hits the sweet spot: she included plenty of details to set the mood and stage for the romance, and the creatures and magic system are elaborated on enough so that you, too, can imagine yourself there and the kind of choices you would have to make. Meanwhile, there's still room for more in the giant world she's built, which means Roshani Chokshi has been posting some cool extras on The Star-Touched Queen website. But maybe you really want to know about the romance. Oh, readers, it is glorious. The romance in The Star-Touched Queen has glorious feminist leanings such that the equality between Maya and her husband is always emphasized. They are equal partners. Romantic one-liners are frequent, but they're also backed up by action -- fighting for that epic love in name and deed. Like I said, beautifully written gem, lush world-building and epic romance.

(If you've ever seen the Broadway version of Aladdin, remember the magic carpet ride with all the lights and the epic romantic singing and the shifting stage. That's what reading this book felt like to me. Wondrous, magical; a whole new world to explore and evoke your imagination.)

I think my only complaint would have been that I wanted more. I wouldn't have minded if the book were a little longer to answer some questions I had-- but I think that's always a great complaint to have of any book. Assuming you liked the book, the more you want, the more successful the author was in hooking you. And that's exactly what happened for me and The Star-Touched Queen.

I hope that you all give this book a chance. It was on my YA 2016 debut TBR list and I nominated it for Most Anticipated 2016 Book for the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards. It did not disappoint.

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Reader Character Wishlist

March 24, 2016, 6:00 am
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There are a bunch of hashtags out there for wishlists – agents have their manuscript wishlists, and my brain is currently freezing so I can’t remember what the hashtag for reader wishlists was, but that exists too. Lately I found myself thinking about some of the characters I’d like to see in more YA novels. Consider this the first of many posts on the kinds of characters I wish populated more YA novels. (I’m sure I’ll think of more characters in the future!)


1. Badass Females Who Aren’t Badass B/C of Traditionally Masculine Things

Think of your favorite or at least the most popular SFF “strong female characters.” (I feel like people use badass to describe their friends or SFF characters; for some reason I can’t picture with contemporary??? Does anyone feel this way?). How many of them have power because they’re considered ruthless or they’re given a weapon? (It’s usually the weapon thing that bugs me – as if the only way to power is to have some fighting skill). I’d really like to see some magic system or just a character whose compassion, sensitivity, and conscientiousness is what gives her power. Like Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. Bitterblue knows how to defend herself because she’s a queen, but that doesn’t much enter the equation. Her power stems more from being a compassionate queen – her compassion helps her country heal from the wrongs inflicted by her psychopathic father (who was the former king).

2. The Girl in the Arranged Marriage Actually Accepts Or Change Her Background a Bit?

Okay, so if you’re going to have the arranged marriage trope, I’d like some girls to be a.) actually happy or accepting (if my parents wanted to set me up on a blind date, I would accept, but I’ve also been raised by Lebanese immigrants. I think that American culture is so individualistic, it doesn’t want to accept the very idea of arranged marriages despite the fact that there is a huge precedent in history and this is *actually* happening in places today) or b.) making the most of the situation like Elisa in The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson or c.) accepts the marriage because arranged marriages were historically ways that women could get more power, and the woman wants to be more empowered. I’d also like to see more books that shake up that character more! So, I’m excited to read Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst because the character ends up falling in love with someone else too, so there’s a conflict between duty and love. I’d love to see an arranged marriage that makes homonormativity the default in the way C.S. Pacat’s Captive Prince series does. Also, why do so many arranged marriages end up focusing on teen girls? They weren’t the only ones either forced or asked to marry other people. Put more diversity in these arranged marriages! Use them to challenge concepts of privilege and racism and so much more.

3. The Chosen One Who’s Not Actually the Chosen One:

Okay, so actually there is a fantasy series out there right now that deals with the concept of the person who is raised as the Chosen One not actually being the Chosen One. I won’t say what that book is because that’d be a spoiler, but I want more characters like this and fewer actual Chosen Ones. I think that fantasy reflects reality with different symbols, so I’m going to talk about a personal story. In high school, I was at the top of my class. I was used to things feeling easy if I put in some work. When I got to college, I was no longer special; I was in a group of really intelligent people who thrived on challenges, and I needed to get on board and try harder. I see this as sort of relating to this “you think you’re special, but you’re not *that* special” and I think that how people react to that situation is interesting and shows a lot of their character. So if you have a character that’s been raised to think one way, and the carpet is swept out from under their feet – what happens to them? Do they become a villain? Do they fade into nothing? Etc. It's like imagining Neville if he'd actually known about the prophecy.

4. Villains!

Stories with villains at the forefront (e.g. The Young Elites)! Complex, complicated villains who aren’t only evil for evil’s sake but who are fully fledged characters are ALWAYS! Appreciated.

(And of course more diverse characters ALL AROUND will always be welcome with me too. I was considering including that on the list but then I don't know that I want to encourage non #ownvoices people to be writing some of the character types, etc.)

So that’s the first of many “reader character wishlists.”

Would you like to read any books with these kinds of characters? What characters would you like to see more of?

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Young Adult Adaptations That Will Become Successful

March 30, 2016, 6:00 am
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As the release dates for the adaptations of the final books in The Maze Runner series and the Divergent trilogy approach, people are hungry for the successor to the young adult franchise throne. After The 5th Wave movie adaptation yielded less than expected in the box office, some film analysts have written that no YA adaptation could truly follow in the footsteps of The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter and that the young adult adaptation market was dead.

It's not.

(Will future films ever reach the level of success that those "Big 3" did? I don't know that anyone can make a prediction of that magnitude, but films like Divergent, Maze Runner, The Fault in Our Stars, If I Stay, Paper Towns, etc. were still considered successful even without becoming a "Big 3." And I do think that future films have, at least, the potential to reach that level of success.)

Most of the aforementioned articles, though intended to analyze the future success of the YA adaptation market, fail to take into account the perspective of its target audience, avid fans of young adult books. While they may not live up to the massive success of Harry Potter, these adaptations have the potential to do well and have even caught the attention of Hollywood studios.

Here's to hoping that they're greenlit soon.

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: Every November on the fictional island of Thisby, its inhabitants compete in a dangerous race riding legendary, deadly water horses.

Movies like War Horse (also an adaptation) and Seabiscuit prove that there are plenty of filmgoers who find stories focusing on horses compelling. Like Stiefvater's writing, the story premise has a cinematic quality, and may appeal to fans of The Hunger Games who don't necessarily want another dystopian tale but appreciate the danger inherent to The Scorpio Races. Stiefvater would appeal to Hollywood backers looking for an already established fandom; she has sold millions of copies of her books and maintains an active online presence. As for merchandise, which has typically been associated with several YA films, I can picture water horse stuffed animals and the ribbons that riders wear sold alongside the t-shirts and artwork that would accompany any film. Stiefvater has also posted a recipe for November cakes, a treat written into the culture of Thisby.

Status: In September 2015, Focus Features announced that Matt Sobel would direct The Scorpio Races based off the screenplay written by Jack Thorne.

2. The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani: Two best friends are kidnapped to attend the legendary School for Good and Evil, which trains its ordinary students to become fairy tale heroes and villains.

Technically, The School for Good and Evil is middle grade, not young adult, but it should still appeal to YA fans, especially given its premise. The success of series like Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles and Sarah Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses prove that the young adult market remains interested in fresh spins on fairy tales while popular TV shows like ABC's Once Upon a Time (now in its sixth season) highlight the interest of a mainstream adult audience. The School for Good and Evil also has its own legion of fans: in a promotional article for the trilogy's conclusion, which was published in July 2015, Publisher's Weekly reported that over 500,000 copies had been sold worldwide. Soman Chainani hosts an online Youtube show, Ever Never TV, to promote the books and interact with his fans.

Status: Universal Studios optioned The School for Good and Evil, but as Chainani wrote on his website this past January, the script is currently being rewritten.

3. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson: A girl follows travel instructions written in envelopes from her dead aunt, which she must open one by one, and backpacks through Europe without a cell phone or guidebook.

I was in eighth grade when the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants adaptation was released, and I can still remember my excitement. Capturing a similar adventurous summer feel, 13 Little Blue Envelopes is in the unique position as a YA contemporary novel of appealing to fans who don't want another teary If I Stay or The Fault in Our Stars but who liked the recent journey-focused story in Paper Towns. Fans of 13 Little Blue Envelopes will love watching the characters come to life onscreen while a wider audience, unfamiliar with the novel's contents, will be caught in the suspense of not knowing what instructions the next envelope would contain. All moviegoers can imagine what adventure they would plan or take with their own set of envelopes. As one of the early YA writers and a close friend of YA author celebrity John Green, Maureen Johnson has a significant fanbase that should also draw Hollywood's attention.

Status: In conjunction with New Line Cinema, Alloy Entertainment purchased the rights to develop 13 Little Blue Envelopes as a feature film in April 2015.

4. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: A girl no longer remembers the tragedy that happened at her family's summer home but seeks to discover the truth behind all the lies.

The rich setting -- a private island off the coast of Massachusetts -- calls to mind the previously successful adaptation of Gossip Girl and the notoriety of the Hamptons and Martha's Vineyard. Slipping into the lives of the wealthy Sinclairs enables a kind of escapist fantasy even as the truth and the main character's confusion lend a heartbreaking edge to the suspense of what happened two summers ago. Random House came up with a catchy slogan to encompass the fanbase: if anyone asks you how the book ends, just LIE. Like Maureen Johnson, E. Lockhart is a well-established YA author and friends with John Green, whose blurb on the first edition proclaims that We Were Liars is "utterly unforgettable."

Status: Imperative Entertainment hired Stephanie Shannon to write the screenplay in April 2015.

Bonus: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson, The Fever by Megan Abbott, This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Young Elites by Marie Lu, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle, and Just One Day/Year by Gayle Forman are also movie and tv adaptations widely held as promising.

(Ask me more about these, and I'll tell you why ;)).

Bonus (X2): Set for 2016 releases, the tearjerker A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, fan-favorite Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling, and star-studded Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs look like promising adaptations as well. And this year we can prove to all the naysayers of YA and YA films that no, they are not dead even if they don't reach the "Big 3" level of success.

Ah, but now you're asking, "So, Christina, what are you trying to do? Is this a call to action? Is this a letter to studios? Are you updating all of us on the status of these films?"

It sort of is a call to action. I wish studios were listening. Sometimes I think that what gets made into a film, or what's optioned, are things that I can't ever actually imagine playing out on the big screen - like whoever optioned the book wasn't actually envisioning the movie but just keeps hoping for the success of the Big 3.

But I'd like to hope that's not what all the options mean; I'd like to hope that the YA market stays alive and well. I'd like to hope that the movies above will eventually get greenlit, as I think that they particularly would be successful. And I am updating y'all on the status of those adaptations, so that we can all discuss the awesome potential of those adaptations and maybe our collective enthusiasm will push for those books to be made into their respective adaptations. Maybe a studio representative will see this post (ha ha ha), and push for those adaptations as well. Who knows? But above all, I do love to discuss YA books, so let's chat!

Do you think that those adaptations will be successful? What books would you add to the list?

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Learning from Books as a Reader (Changing Reading Tastes)

April 13, 2016, 5:24 am
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A lot of y'all seemed to like my 5 Fantasy Authors I Fangirl Over post, so I thought that I'd go over more books that I've read and learned from as a reader about my own reading tastes. (And I don't mean learning facts - though I once did write about that as well).


As a reader, my reading tastes are always changing. And I realized that:

A.) I don't like when fantasy books start off with the main character as a kid (though the MC is an actual adult). I actually like middle grade novels; I like the voice, I like the characters, etc. But when fantasy books begin by showing us the main characters as a child - or even begin at age fourteen and then head to age seventeen - I start to wonder when the story will actually begin. Plus, the voice isn't the humorous, upbeat middle grade voice; it's the voice of an adult showing you how the character came to be where they are now. On a practical level, I can acknowledge that that's the way our lives work - if we're truly coming of age, there's no one "starting point." We learn many, many lessons along the way. At age fourteen, something guides you as you continue developing on through to seventeen and such. Yet I no longer have the patience to slog through those beginnings to see what kind of character I'm following (yeah, a younger version of you reflects the older version but not 100%; I'd like to think that I'm much more interesting now than I was at a younger age lol). Stories with an older, more "classic" writing style, also often considered a more "literary" style, tend to do this because pacing is of less importance. And I find myself skimming the beginnings when they do. Take, for instance, The Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm only on page 10 or so. I'm already bored not because it's badly written but because that's the kind of beginning I'm not a huge fan of. On a surface level, the writing is great. It's establishing the suspense of who Locke Lamora is and how he got to be the way he is and what exactly he is now, given his criminal start as a child. But for this reader, I'm ready for something else to happen.

B.) I've said before that I like when romance is a side plot, but what I really meant is that I like when it's tightly tied to the main plot. To me, that's a slight difference. Take for instance the Captive Prince trilogy. I hesitate to call it a fantasy romance, though in many ways that is exactly what the books are. And that's because the romantic aspect is tied very, very tightly to the political intrigue of two princes trying to reclaim their thrones. Every one of their conversations has this undercurrent of tension, even when they're discussing what they'll do next to thwart the Regent. I looove books with that kind of tension. I often dogear the conversations and scenes that I love best -- frequently, those are the romantic scenes, and if the book has tied the romance tightly to the other plot, that means almost every conversation is one that I'd like to dogear. And those are the books that I love best. Another great example? Summers at Castle Auburn. The romance there also involves other obstacles that the couple often discusses when they're together, and when you've read the book and know how both sides have grown and how they see things, you can go back through and read the scenes again, see how much is left unsaid. Definitely dog ear worthy.

B. Part II) I love romances where the main character thinks that he/she loves another person while the romantic interest waits for them to realize, hey, I'm better for you. YES. I love romances tied to the coming of age plot. The main character is innocent and naive. He/she has a crush on someone else. He/she doesn't see what's right in front of him/her. See, even though I recognize the practical elements of starting off as a kid, I feel like this right here is another good way of showing how the main character goes through a lot of change in a short period of time. Here's a lesson that the main character learns and grows from. Some people might consider this a love triangle - I don't. The tension is so perfect in these scenes, where you as a reader can tell that the real romantic interest is there; we have to wait until the main character realizes it as well. *Sigh*

C.) My favorite kind of openings give us a hint of who the main character is while setting up the major conflict. The Winner's Curse has one of my favorite openings. From the beginning, you know that Kestrel likes to gamble with sailors and frequently wins because she's more clever than people expect. She also disobeys her father in gambling; this is what she does on her own time, for herself. You already get a sense of her character within those first couple of pages, and then not long afterwards she's at the slave block... and buys Arin, which sets off the central conflict for the book and trilogy. I also just bought Riddle-Master. In the first chapter, the main character is ordering his family around - telling them to get to their individual duties. We see his responsibilities, we see his every day life, we see his love for his family. And yet we see his family recognize his lies (they have a specific dynamic with each other), and he has to admit to what he did when he was grieving for their parents. We get a sense of their backstory and how that loss has affected each of the family members but also how the backstory then sets off the central conflict (he set off on an adventure when his parents died, answered a riddle, won a prize-- but, oh, the prize meant more than he realized). It's such a brilliant beginning that I immediately bought the entire trilogy; I felt like my brain was getting bigger just by reading it.

Do you ever read books and think about how you've learned more about yourself and your reading habits? What kind of tropes do you avoid and what kind of openings do you like best?
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Spring Book Haul 2016

April 14, 2016, 6:57 am
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Even though I'm moving in a couple of months, I seem to have a penchant for buying books. I mean, my bookshelf is teeming with books that I still haven't read and WHAT DO I DO? I BUY EVEN MORE BOOKS. Ugh, I dread when I'll have to lug these sluggers with me to the Post Office for shipping. BUT ANYWAY LET'S BE CHEERFUL. LET'S LOOK AT THE AWESOMENESS I BOUGHT AND HAVE READ!


The Books That I've Read:

1. The Winner's Kiss - Marie Rutkoski

I LOVE the Winner's trilogy. The Winner's Crime was on my Best Books of 2015 list, The Winner's Curse was on my Best Books of 2014 list. I nominated The Winner's Crime in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards and probably have mentioned these books at multiple points, in multiple posts in this blog (5 Fantasy Authors I Fangirl Over, Preview of 2015 Books, Review: The Winner's Curse, TBR: Releases to Watch Out For, Review: The Winner's Crime, My Reading Profile, & more). It should thus come as no surprise to you that I pre-ordered The Winner's Kiss and spent the 29th reading that book. Also spent the weekend and week before trying to sneak peeks at the book through Amazon excerpt, which is an obsessive habit I have when I reaaaaaally want to read a book (until I shake and distract myself by doing something else).


Ahem, anyways. This book surprised me in a lot of ways, all of them good. I also understand why they changed the covers -- the girl in the ball gown no longer fits the horrific scenes of war. If the first book set the grounds for the differences between the two countries and the romance, establishing our link with Arin and Kestrel; and if the second book delved deeper into strategy, games, political intrigue, alliances and quiet rebellion amid heartbreaking loss; then the third book was about all of that coming to head. War. Violence. The consequences of the politics between these three major countries. The differences in beliefs and how they've shaped our characters' attitudes and hopes but how there's still common ground to be had. The power of love and stories, forgiveness and new life amid an onslaught of death. As always, lots of character development, beautiful writing, romance, political intrigue, strategy, intriguing world-building, and more. Yes to these books.

The second book reminded me a little of Bitterblue (by Kristin Cashore). This book reminded me a little of the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner and the His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers. Right now, I can't think of a good comp title for the first book, but I think that if you like any of the aforementioned books, you should definitely try The Winner's trilogy.

2. Summers at Castle Auburn - Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn is mentioned by a lot of fantasy authors, it seems. So I wanted to try one of her books, and Summers at Castle Auburn is the one that was recommended. If you read my Learning from Books as a Reader (Changing Reader Tastes) post, you know that I'm not a huge fan of books that begin with the main character as a child. Summers at Castle Auburn does that. But it also does something which I am a HUGE fan of -- twining the romance in with the main plot very heavily, and also making the main character's coming-of-age twined in with her realization that her initial crush sucks and that the real romantic interest is the one she loves. If you watched my booktube video, you saw how many dogeared pages there was. That's because when the romance is that way, I bookmark basically every page there's even the slightest encounter between the main character and the romantic interest. It makes no sense, but I love it, and I read Summers at Castle Auburn the day before I was presenting a poster at a research conference, and clearly I should've gotten sleep. Instead I read. And had a book hangover. *Sigh*

3. Serpentine - Cindy Pon

I read Serpentine a while ago. I reviewed Serpentine, nominated Serpentine in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards, and included Serpentine in my Best Books of 2015 list as well as my Cinderella Book tag. I ordered Serpentine when I pre-ordered The Winner's Kiss, so the book didn't arrive until just now, but I'm happy to finally have my own shiny copy... and y'all should read the book too! Highly recommended from me (just check out any of those links!).

4. The Wrath and the Dawn - Renee Ahdieh

Like with Serpentine, The Wrath and the Dawn I had already read. I just wanted to own a copy. Persian culture is slightly different from Middle Eastern culture, I think, but as someone with Middle Eastern heritage, I can say that Renee Ahdieh capture the essence of Arab culture pretty well.

The Books That I Have Yet to Read:

5. A Fierce and Subtle Poison - Samantha Mabry

A Fierce and Subtle Poison was on my 2016 YA Debuts I Want to Read list. As I mentioned in my Best Books of 2015 list, I want to read more Young Adult Magical Realism novels-- so much so that I made a list of my current YA Magical Realism recommendations. When I was in the Strand, I read the first couple of chapters of A Fierce and Subtle Poison and really loved both the writing and the setting of Puerto Rico (though I think that I still needed to attach the main character). The book has been blurbed by both Nova Ren Suma and Laura Ruby, and I love their books too, so I'm looking forward to finishing this one later!

6. Feed - M.T. Anderson

Ameriie at Books Beauty Ameriie recommended Feed to me a while ago, particularly the audiobook. But my library doesn't have the audiobook, and when I saw that Feed was at the Strand for only a few dollars and that Feed was "out of print," I bought it anyways. When I'm in a more science fiction mood, I'll read this one. I'm pretty sure it's considered a classic of YA literature too.

7. The Riddle-Master trilogy - Patricia A. McKillip

The Riddle-Master trilogy has one of my favorite opening chapters ever. If you read my Learning from Books as a Reader (Changing Reader Tastes) post, you know that I was pretty entranced with this book. The first chapter introduces us to the main character, who is a land-owner. Traders are coming, so he tells his brother and sister to go about their duties. There are also childhood friends and others who are in the crowd when they find out about the traders. So, you get a clear sense of the immediate duties and setting for the MC's family and life (as well as a sense of the personalities of each of these side characters as they interact with each other). Then, you learn that the MC's parents disappeared a while ago, and that the siblings have all grieved in their own way, and his way was to go off on an adventure, solve a riddle, and a win a crown from a ghost. This backstory is revealed in a convincing way -- whereby we see his family recognizing that he's acting weird, and they confront him, and so we see what normal family dynamics are like, as well as when one of them is acting strangely. We get a sense of the main character's personality through his interactions with his family, his daily duties, and his backstory, and we get a sense of what the central conflict will be, since winning this crown clearly has consequences and implications that the main characters doesn't know yet. It's awesome. I felt like my brain got bigger reading that beginning, and so I immediately bought the entire trilogy. Can't wait to read the books!

SO, those were the books I bought this past spring. What are you planning on reading soon? What have you bought recently? Have you read any of these books? Let's discuss!

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Afraid to Read (The Pressure of Hype & Your Own Expectations)

April 26, 2016, 5:32 am
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I am afraid to read The Raven King. I was one of the lucky few whose pre-order had shipped out early - who people were threatening (don't you dare release spoilers!) and begging (release spoilers! I can't wait). By this account, I should've already finished the book, especially because spoilers are out there and I don't want to be spoiled. I've mentioned my love for The Raven Cycle multiple times, and it was one of my most anticipated books of the year. Yet I have not finished the book. I am afraid.

Do you ever get like this? Where a book can be so hyped and your expectations so large that suddenly you don't even feel like reading the book anymore? I'm on page 84, I believe, and that was all good and I was still excited. But then I started to embrace the bad habits-- I started to skim ahead, I looked at the ending. That's not me saying "bad book" but rather a part of that fear. What will the book do? I love Maggie's writing and I had to slap myself out of that one because hey, skimming is not enjoying the writing in the same way. It's a strange situation. I don't want to not read the book - it'll sit on the shelves and god knows when I'll get to it later, if I don't get it to now. Yet reading now means some part of the experience might be ruined -- when you're not even sure you want to read at the time because you've built the book up, why read it?

So I turn to you my fellow readers. What can I do now? Do you have any tips to combat the pressure of hyped books and any tips to get back into the reading experience and the experience of The Raven Cycle? I don't think I'll have the time to reread the previous novels, and the recaps aren't the same, but...? Help!

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Tina Makes the Bookish Rounds (101): Cover Reveals Part II

April 27, 2016, 3:46 am
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Tina 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 the book community, 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. (If you're interested in how I make these posts, here's your guide.)

Er, I haven't posted a bookish rounds since January 27, I believe, and even this cover reveal round-up covers covers from March 2 until today, April 27. You could say that I'm a little bit behind. (Make sure you check out my cover reveals round-up (101) too. That post covers reveals from January 27 - March 2). I do still plan on making a bookish rounds post at some point, even if it's literally been 3 months since the last one. At least I'm caught up on cover reveals! ha ha. I really do miss being more involved and knowing more bookish news and such. At some point, maybe I'll be less behind...

young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
Lament - Alexandra Adornetto, redesign (formerly titled Ghost House)
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
Grimm's Fairy Tales, audio version illustrated by Divya Srinivasan
Hotel for the Lost - Suzanne Young, redesign (formerly titled Hotel Ruby)
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
*not sure about this book
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals
young adult and middle grade cover reveals

Which of these books are you looking forward to? Will be posting the next bookish rounds soon maybe... Which of the covers are your favorites?

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BIG NEWS: I AM GOING TO BE IN A BOOK

April 28, 2016, 11:10 am
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HUGE news! I am going to be in a book! Specifically, I’m participating in the YA villain-themed anthology, Because You Love to Hate Me curated by Ameriie, which is being published in July 2017 by Bloomsbury simultaneously in the US and UK, and as an audiobook in the US and UK. I’m not participating as an author but as a booktuber/blogger. More information below the cut! Aaaah!


You can check out Ameriie's announcement video here (and the others at their individual channels & spaces). Also the official Publisher's Weekly announcement here.

Add Because You Love to Hate Me to your Goodreads shelf here.

THE AUTHORS INVOLVED:
  • Sarah Enni: Sarah is the creator & host of the First Draft Podcast, and will be making her debut YA writing appearance in BYLTM. 

You’d think that might be all the contributors to the anthology, but Because You Love to Hate Me is different from most anthologies. The above authors will be writing short stories based on villain-themed prompts provided by booktubers!

THE BOOKTUBERS INVOLVED: 

All booktubers will be paired with one author. They will write an introduction to that author’s story, and we’ve all already provided prompts for our authors to use as inspiration. You'll find out later who is paired with whom, and which villains are being used :).

Let me rave about this anthology. Can I just say how much I love this sort of creative collaboration among readers and authors? We’ve seen it in the community for things like Litographs fanart T-shirts, extra content based on reader votes / input, paperback pages printed as appreciation for reviewers, etc., but this is first story collaboration that I know of, and I think that’s really neat.

So, not only is this anthology cool because of the creative collaboration, but it’s also cool because OF ALL THOSE AUTHORS. Renée Ahdieh? Gorgeous, sensual writing that can add really great layers to characters and here, to a villain we love to hate! Soman Chainani? The School for Good and Evil has a great atmospheric start, and Chainani has already switched up the moral good/evil sides—I’m sure his villain will be compelling. Susan Dennard? Everyone at the Truthwitch launch had mentioned how the villain was intriguing and complex, and Susan will create something equally, if not more, exciting for this anthology! Marissa Meyer has already written a book on the villain of the Lunar Chronicles (aka Fairest), so her villain will be equally compelling. Uh, did you not see me ramble on about my love for Serpentine? Cindy Pon creates wonderful, multi-layered characters, and I can’t wait to read the villain she will write! Victoria Schwab! Vicious! Blurring the lines between what’s right and wrong, and who’s the bad guy – sounds like a recipe for creating another great villain! Samantha Shannon’s Bone Season series is on my all-time favorites list, and of course I’m excited to read about her villain! Adam Silvera has already dealt with moral ambiguity in More Happy Than Not: how does a place like the Leteo Institute exist? With his character-centric focus, Adam will create a great villain too. Andrew Smith has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut, so duh, he’ll create an awesome work. April Genevieve Tucholke has gorgeous, atmospheric writing and River from Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was a fascinating, multi-layered morally ambiguous character, so hello awesome villain-to-be! Nicola Yoon created multi-layered characters in Everything, Everything and I’m excited to see where she’ll go next after such a powerhouse debut! Sarah Enni is making her YA fiction debut with the anthology, and that's really exciting too!

BUT YOU KNOW WHO I’M MOST EXCITED FOR? Ameriie. I’ve been Ameriie’s critique partner for about three and a half years now, and all of her work is fantastic! Great writing and characterization, fast-paced, multi-layered plots, thematic works with story at the forefront, and I can heap on so, so much more praise. She's definitely an upcoming author to watch :), and I can't wait to see what see comes up with too.

ARE YOU AS EXCITED FOR BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME AS I AM? I hope so!

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Cover Reveal Round-up

May 13, 2016, 5:00 am
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I will -- hopefully next week (i.e. when I might have some free time) -- actually post a full bookish rounds, but until then here is another round-up of MG, YA, and NA cover reveals from the past two weeks. Obviously, I may be missing some since I haven't done a full bookish rounds post in a while, but there's still a lot here. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest.

young adult cover reveals
Queens of Geek - Jen Wilde
young adult cover reveals

Which of these books are you looking forward to? Which of the covers are your favorites?

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My Blog & Channel State of Affairs

May 24, 2016, 6:19 am
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Hey, all! You may have noticed some changes around here, and this post is just to address some of those changes if you're interested. If you've got more questions for me, feel free to ask them in the comments as well!

A.) You haven't been as active lately. What's up?

For almost a month now, it's been as though I've got two jobs. At work I've tried to get all my shit done, but the thing about academia is that there's always work to be done. I have a manuscript (maybe two, given a recent development) that I need to write. I still have some free time right now (the further you get in your career the less free time you have, it's said) -- so shouldn't I be learning a valuable skill too? There's always more literature to read, more things to know and update yourself on. That's on top of regular administrative and research duties. And then I leave work, go to the gym, and come home. By that time, I'm tired. I have only a couple of hours before I need to sleep. I need to feed myself. And with the second job feel, it's basically that in those couple of hours, I need to read up on an entirely different set of literature than the one I normally work with, so I'm "catching up" in those hours. (If it's not the literature, it's the other things that go with having to move soon, like finding a new place, dealing with deadlines and doctor visits and whatnot). Needless to say, it feels kind of exhausting. When I'm on that kind of schedule, it's hard to have the energy and motivation for my blog and channel. My creative juices aren't flowing as much, and even when I can think of a new post, will I have the time to finish it? Maybe not, unless I wake up earlier and try to do it before I have to leave. Except then that contributes to the cycle because I become more tired and being more tired definitely doesn't help with finding the time and energy to write and film posts and videos.

That's not a real complaint. I realize that far better people deal with this on a daily basis and have found ways to cope. I just haven't found my way to cope quite yet, so the blog and channel are lagging behind until I find the adjustment right for me :).

B.) You changed your social media profiles to Tina Burke. What's up?

Well, you probably already know that Burke is a part of my pen name. I chose a pen name because I need to separate my social media profile/ online book personality from my work in real life. My actual name is Christina, and my family has always called me Tina. I've always wanted to encourage people to use a nickname instead of my full name. So it seemed appropriate to just go with Tina. Really, the better alternative would've been to not name a blog Christina Reads YA, but alas I've had this for too many years now, so meh.

Also, my blog name and my channel name are different. I did that on purpose, because I don't like my blog name. But in terms of people thinking about this blog or the channel, it's not good to have separate names. So I thought that it'd be better to unite them both under a name -- Tina Burke. Tina Burke Books everywhere I can manage. Since booklikes and tumblr are just extensions of my blog (i.e. all blog posts are uploaded there), they stayed the same, but Pinterest, twitter, etc. were changed. Search for me as that! And feel free to call me either Tina or Christina or your own nickname :D.

C.) Are you ever going to bring back your "bookish rounds" posts?

I have every intention to for multiple reasons. They were my most popular and defining feature. Just because something is popular though doesn't mean you should keep it-- but the truth is I enjoyed them too. They take a shit ton of time, but they also keep me up to date with what's happening in publishing and the blogosphere. I'm twitching right now thinking about all that I've missed FOR ALMOST FOUR MONTHS. But you can see that it gets harder the longer I postpone making a post. I'm such a perfectionist that I can't even picture starting afresh (i.e. just making a post for this past week, ignoring all that has passed before). I've considered making separate posts for each "element" of those (Bookish Rounds: Publishing Posts and Book Deals; Bookish Rounds: New Releases, etc.), but haven't done that yet. So far, I've managed to keep up with cover reveals (post 1, post 2, post 3), and that helps. It also helps that I'd started to make a post months ago, so it wouldn't be completely empty... though there's still so much left...

Basically, the answer is yes. I just haven't figured out how to do everything since I'm behind on my life, not to mention this blog lol. Weeeeeeeeee!!!

D.) What do you have in store?

Yo, I'm not quitting blogging and booktubing for at least another year. There's always going to be plenty in store. Though I haven't been reading as much lately either -- or really reading things that take up more brain space (sometimes I read romance novels, but I skim a lot of scenes in those) -- I definitely have a lot of books to review and post ideas just waiting. Seriously, there's at least like 20 drafts, and there always has been, and I keep thinking about new graphics that I want to make. The MBTI graphics take a long time, and there aren't many popular books/series that have enough characters to fill every slot, but I have been thinking about creating a new feature around graphics of quotes from books I love. The limiting factor isn't me thinking about posts. It's just getting around to them and the books! The books I have to review at some point include:

The Voyage to the Magical North - Claire Fayers
The Wrong Side of Magic - Janette Rallison
The Treasure of Maria Mamoun - Michelle Chalfoun
A Darkly Beating Heart - Lindsay Smith
Enter a Glossy Web - McKenna Rae Ruebush
Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake
Of Fire and Stars - Audrey Coulthurst
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire - Rosamund Hodge

(If any of you have these books and want to buddy read, let me know!)

So, yeah. Definitely stuff coming up! And see my answer to C and E.

E.) Is it true that you're participating in an anthology?

YES. It's an amazing opportunity. In case you haven't already read or heard about this, HERE'S THE POST DESCRIBING THE AWESOME BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME. I wrote a draft of my essay months ago, and the prompts were conceived a while ago, so at least this hasn't been embroiled in my current ack-need-coping-mechanism-for-work situation. Plus, even if it was, honestly I'd prioritize my commitment to that over writing blog posts. Y'all can survive a week without a Christina post or video. Me missing an important deadline, though, is unacceptable. Can't wait to share more about that anthology with y'all -- I hope you're excited too!

Got anything else you'd like to ask me? Let me know! I'll answer in the comments. Sorry that I'm such a bad friend as of late and haven't been as involved :/.

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Young Adult (YA) Anthology Recommendations

May 25, 2016, 7:01 am
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Anthologies are great. They're an easy way to discover new authors while reading about fascinating worlds and fun characters. The nature of the short story means that everything has to be compact; every scene must work on multiple levels. I've enjoyed every anthology that I've read, if not every story within them, and I'm glad for these YA anthologies, especially because they helped me discover some of my favorite authors.


** Shards and Ashes edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong& Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

Shards and Ashes features stories by Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Veronica Roth, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Rachel Caine, Nancy Holder, Beth Revis, and Carrie Ryan. So, from my notes back in the day: You don’t need to have read any of the author’s previous works to understand the stories in this anthology. There was diversity in the stories and their worlds, plus some in the characters. The degree to which the worlds for each of these stories was dystopian and “broken” varied a lot, which gave the anthology an extra edge and challenged the notion I’d had of YA dystopic worlds (i.e. in a novel, it’s often about a society/corporation that needs to be overthrown, but since that’s really hard to pull off in a short story, the authors had to get inventive). And the variety in the plots – the focus on world, characters, plot/romance— was also refreshing. Definitely recommended if you’re in the mood for some dystopian shorts!

Enthralled features stories by Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Vincent, Sarah Rees Brennan, Jeri Smith-Ready, Mary E. Pearson, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Jessica Verday, Claudia Gray, Jackson Pearce, Carrie Ryan, Rachel Caine, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Kimberly Derting, and Ally Condie. If you find yourself looking for paranormal romance stories, look no further. There’s a nice variety of the creatures and powers mentioned in the novel, and the writing styles and tones taken are also varying enough that you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll like – whether or not that’s the more humorous story Sarah Rees Brennan wrote or the story with alternating perspectives from Melissa Marr.

I must admit that my memories of Enthralled will always be skewed positively. Enthralled was among the first ARCs I’d ever received. Before I started blogging, I’d been an avid follower of various author blogs, one of which was Ally Condie’s. I’d won a “Breathless Reads” poster back in 2011 from Penguin (the tour name they’d done for Ally Condie, Beth Revis, Kirsten Miller, Brenna Yovanoff, and Andrea Cremer), but it never arrived. I’d asked Ally Condie if she’d heard anything about the poster, and she suggested that I email Penguin, but nothing happened after I did. Fast forward a couple of months, I’m still following Ally Condie’s blog and I enter her giveaway, and I don’t win, but she emails me because she recognizes my name among the other entries. She offers to send me an ARC of Enthralled to make up for the lack of a poster. And you know what, I’m never going to forget that kindness. It wasn’t her fault that I never received that poster, but she took the time to follow up anyway.

** My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins.

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories featured stories by Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell, Kelly Link, Matt de la Peña, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Holly Black, Gayle Forman, Myra McEntire, Kiersten White, Ally Carter, and Laini Taylor. This anthology came on the heels of the call for more diverse books, and I think that showed in part. What I didn’t expect was how the authors would apply the holiday theme – some involved fantastical, almost magical realism elements, Laini Taylor’s was a fantasy story (Jenny Han’s, too, except inventing a new side to Santa Claus & the North Pole, instead of a high fantasy world), and the rest had contemporary romance elements. But all were fantastic at getting at the sort of togetherness that the holidays tend to inspire (at least for me!). I loved this one and the stories inside so much that Stephanie Perkins’s other anthology (Summer Days and Summer Nights) is on my 2016 YA Books on My TBR List.

Now here comes the set of anthologies I don’t remember as well. These I read before I started blogging, so that’s over five years ago. Reading these anthologies was essentially my beginning foray into young adult.

** Corsets & Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances edited by Trisha Telep& Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love edited by Trisha Telep& The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire edited by Trisha Telep.

Corsets & Clockwork: 13 Steampunk Romances features stories by Maria V. Snyder, Tiffany Trent, Kiersten White, Jaclyn Dolamore, Tessa Gratton, Caitlin Kittredge, Adrienne Kress, Lesley Livingston, Dru Pagliassotti, Dia Reeves, Michael Scott, Ann Aguirre, and Allan Frewin Jones. Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love features stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Becca Fitzpatrick, Rachel Vincent, Karen Mahoney, Diana Peterfreund, Daniel Waters, Carrie Ryan, Justine Musk, Daniel Marks, Sarah Rees Brennan, Michelle Rowen, Michelle Zink, and Caitlin Kittredge. The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire features stories by Rachel Caine, Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, Melissa de la Cruz, Karen Mahoney, Maria Snyder, Holly Black, Kelley Armstrong, Libba Bray, Sarah Rees Brennan, Nancy Holder, Debbie Viguié, Lilith Saintcrow, and Dina James.

Can I tell you much about these anthologies? Not really—I read them too long ago to remember, but as I said about anthologies in general, I really like them because even if you don’t like ALL of the stories, you’re bound to like some (If you don’t like a single story in an anthology, I might raise my eyebrows at you a little). And I’d recommend those books for people looking for vampire, paranormal, and steampunk tales. I remember really wishing Kiersten White would write more about her heroine in Corsets & Clockwork. I remember discovering A LOT of authors from the Kiss Me Deadly anthology, which I think was the first anthology I’d read. Since I didn’t know where to start in the YA section, I looked at the author bios and marked the books of the authors whose stories I’d enjoyed the most. When I look at this author list, I think that there were only two or three authors here whose books I didn’t buy because of that anthology. And the Eternal Kiss anthology I’d bought, I think, because I’d liked both the steampunk stories and Kiss Me Deadly? Maybe? Vampires, I think, I’ll always be willing to read about.

** Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke features stories by April Genevieve Tucholke, Stefan Bachmann, Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, A.G. Howard, Jay Kristoff, Marie Lu, Jonathan Maberry, Danielle Paige, Carrie Ryan, Megan Shepherd, Nova Ren Suma, McCormick Templeman, and Cat Winters. I’ve actually only read the very first story, which is by Nova Ren Suma, and it was deliciously atmospheric and creepy, and I can’t wait to get back into the anthology.

And!!! Of course, here’s an anthology you should get excited about: BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME (goodreads), which is a YA villain-themed anthology, where booktubers write prompts that authors then use as inspiration for the stories they write. It features:
Those are all the anthologies I’ve read and absolutely loved, and would recommend to you all! Have you read any of these? Which stories did you like/dislike? Do you have other anthologies to recommend?

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Tina Makes the Bookish Rounds: Cover Reveals (101) Part III

May 26, 2016, 5:01 am
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Tina 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 the book community, 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. (If you're interested in how I make these posts, here's your guide.)

Cover reveals from January 27-March 2: cover reveals round-up (101) part I
Cover reveals from March 2-April 27: cover reveals round-up (101) part II
Cover reveals from April 27-May 13: cover reveals round-up

Today covers the cover reveals from May 13 to May 26. As I said in my state of affairs post, it is fully within my intention to restart these bookish rounds posts. I just need to decide how in terms of catching up with all the other elements (e.g. publisher book deals, new releases, etc.). In the meantime, enjoy the cover reveal coverage!

young adult cover reveals
Haunt Me - Liz Kessler, UK
Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher, 10th anniversary edition
young adult cover reveals
A Conjuring of Light - V.E. Schwab (not technically YA but lots of crossover fans)
Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls, 50 year anniversary edition

Which of these books are you looking forward to? Which of the covers are your favorites?

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Tina Makes the Bookish Rounds (101): Cover Reveals Part IV

June 6, 2016, 12:30 am
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Tina 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 the book community, 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. (If you're interested in how I make these posts, here's your guide.)

Cover reveals from January 27-March 2: cover reveals round-up (101) part I
Cover reveals from March 2-April 27: cover reveals round-up (101) part II
Cover reveals from April 27-May 13: cover reveals round-up
Cover reveals from May 13-May 26: cover reveals round-up (101) part III

Today covers May 26-June 5. My hope had been to include movie news with this post, especially as I am going on vacation from June 5-19, so as to start the process of catching up with the backlog in these bookish rounds posts. Alas. Another time.


**all of these are not technically YA but prob have crossover interest
*slightly old, my bad

Which of these books are you looking forward to? Which of the covers is your favorite?

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Recommendations: Nerdy Academic Love Interests

June 9, 2016, 12:30 am
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So, say you've read A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and you realized, hey, you like the romance, you like the sex, you want more of this in YA but there aren't too many novels for you to read. Maybe you want to move up, find other romance novels.

Or maybe you, like me, like romance novels and just want recommendations. Heh, well, I'm about to have a couple of recommendation posts specific to that. Today is about the nerdy love interests and heroes & heroines!

Already people have tried answering this-- there's a Goodreads list of Guys with Glasses in Romance Novels and one of Girls who are smart, funny, and proactive and another of Nerdgasms. I haven't looked at those lists in full but I personally don't tend to use those lists, and so will be recommending some of my favorites.



Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton (contemporary romance)

When a friend recently asked me for recommendations for "romance novels with nerdy guys," this was the first one I thought of. If you're looking for a romance novel involving a cranky librarian and a confident woman (who amusingly thinks that she's living her own romance novel), this is a surefire bet-- plenty of hot times and humor to go around.

Earth Bound by Emma Barry & Genevieve Turner (historical romance - a couple of decades back instead of Regency, Georgian, etc.)

Space exploration, the sexism that comes with history and being a brilliant woman in STEM, and the tense, hot dynamics between a socially awkward, fastidious, demanding supervisor and his employee (technically she has another boss, but he's someone she sort of reports to). Loooved the characterization in this one. If you like the dynamic in Screwdrivered, you'll probably like it here too (though the backdrops mean that this one has less humor than Screwdrivered).

Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran & That Scandalous Summer by Meredith Duran (historical romance)

Meredith Duran is one of my favorite romance novel authors. Seriously read any book by her (I might actually write a post to that effect). But if I go with my theme of nerdy love interests & heroes/heroines, then these two sort of fit the bill on her part. Bound by Your Touch involves a socialite falling in love with a spinster scholar who lives with her father. A Scandalous Summer involves another socialite who unexpectedly meets a doctor by fainting in his bushes. Can't recommend Meredith Duran enough (though I actually some of her other books better than these--still great though!). Her characterization and writing are amazing, and everything is rendered so much more tense, steamy, etc through her great character dynamics.


Courtney Milan is yet another favorite whose books I'd highly recommend. These three, in particular, involve somewhat nerdy (somewhat bc does "nerd" still apply when you're thinking in historical constructs?) love interests and heroes/heroines. The Duchess War follows an idealist Duke looking to help the people and a girl who wants to avoid the public eye because of her past (involving chess). The Countess Conspiracy is about a woman who does brilliant science but cannot take credit for it in her time and asks her best friend to present it for her-- only people call him unnatural because of the nature of the science, and tensions erupt between the two. Unraveled is about a magistrate who has risen to his rank through hard work and dedication--he's not about to let some girl distract him. This isn't like with the first two recommendations--Courtney Milan, Sherry Thomas, and Meredith Duran are amazing, and I can't recommend their books more.

Beautiful Player by Christina Lauren (contemporary romance)

Christina Lauren started off with Beautiful Bastard, which was an erotica spin-off of Twilight, but have since continued writing, and this is my favorite of her (their) books. Beautiful Player is about a graduate student who overworks herself but also wants more of a sex life and turns to her brother's friend for some help with her social life. Lots of great, hilarious situations and lots of steamy interactions, and I might be a fan because I'm probably that graduate student too but ssshhhh and just enjoy the book!


As I mentioned above, Sherry Thomas is another go-to romance author of mine. Meredith Duran is my favorite for characterization-- her characters toe the line between villain & hero frequently, and their dynamics are just always so fantastic to read. Courtney Milan is great for historical characters who confront the issues of their time and are defined by their time (social justice somewhat melded into historical romance to really define the characters so that you know these characters are specific to that book instead of a cliche). Meanwhile Sherry Thomas excels at romantic angst-- the unspoken words and longing between couples and not-yet-formed couples who just need a little push to find their HEA. His at Night is about a girl who desperately needs to escape (here: through marriage) and entrap a man who is playing dumb to investigate someone else. The Luckiest Lady in London is about The Ideal Gentleman, a man who "all men want to be and all women want to possess," and whose curiosity is aroused when the heroine doesn't react to his presence. How do these fit into the "nerdy" category? Well, I admit, it's a stretch, but in particular for The Luckiest, there's a scene where husband and wife are having an astronomy and math lesson that turns interesting.

Losing It by Cora Carmack (contemporary romance) (likewise: Unteachable by Leah Raeder).

If you want a book about an academic falling in love with his student, here ya are! In Losing It, it's a theatre/drama professor, and in Unteachable, it's a high school film teacher. Losing It is a lot more light-hearted, some of its humor coming from the heroine being clumsy and awkward. Unteachable is incredibly intense because of the beautiful, poetic writing style. 


This is not actually a romance! It's a romantic contemporary. Romantic, because it's a side plot. But this series looks at a girl who joins a previously all-male secret society at an alternate version of Yale, and the hijinks and politics that follow. The romance is kind of Pride and Prejudice like and develops over the series -- it's a slow burn. The heroine has to realize that she doesn't hate the guy, that he's actually a good guy, etc. Lots of fun and lots of great dynamics between the two, esp if you're interested in romance but maybe don't want to go the whole way and read a romance novel.

The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie by Jennifer Ashley (historical romance) & A Rake's Midnight Kiss by Anna Campbell (historical romance) were some other potential recommendations, but I'm really stretching the definition of "nerdy" here. Oh well.

So those were my romance novel with nerdy love interests and heroes/heroines. Do you think you'll ever read these novels? Do you also think that there's a huge overlap in romance novel readers and YA (I wonder if it's because both are maligned by the general public and some authors do write both?)?

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Review: Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

June 13, 2016, 12:30 am
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Release Date: September 20, 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Published by: HarperTeen

An early review, I know! But in case you have an ARC and are debating whether to read... or debating whether to pre-order...

Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake | Goodreads

Every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.

But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.

If only it was that simple. Katharine is unable to tolerate the weakest poison, and Arsinoe, no matter how hard she tries, can’t make even a weed grow. The two queens have been shamefully faking their powers, taking care to keep each other, the island, and their powerful sister Mirabella none the wiser. But with alliances being formed, betrayals taking shape, and ruthless revenge haunting the queens’ every move, one thing is certain: the last queen standing might not be the strongest…but she may be the darkest.

Give this one to fans of Red Queen and The Falling Kingdoms (betrayal, Game of Thrones like political intrigue, character relationships tenuous) as well as those of Rae Carson (mix of religious elements amid the powers -- Goddess granted? What is her purpose? Has she been chosen to lead? Etc.). Yet while I make those comparisons, I can also say that Three Dark Crowns felt different from most YA fantasy we are seeing these days.

When I opened the eARC of Three Dark Crowns, I almost closed it right away. You see, I have this thing against third person present narratives. Of all the perspectives to use for a story, it is my least favorite. The last YA fantasy I read with a third person present narrative -- or really, I should say the last first chapter of a YA fantasy with a third person present narrative -- I immediately put down. It wasn't my thing. So I started out apprehensive, yet that apprehension soon faded because of the mastery with which Kendare Blake crafted her narrative.

First off, the third person present narrative makes it so that you really don't know if which queen will survive -- or really which characters in general will. I've seen that comment made of first person present too, but unless the narrative introduces a blurb by another character or is told in dual PoVs (examples of the author trying to acclimate a reader to a PoV shift), it's fairly safe to assume that the protagonist will survive. Not so with Three Dark Crowns and this choice of narrative. The present tone also gives the narrative the action-packed, tense feel that the Hunger Games had, where everything plays out in a cinematic fashion and you're there for the ride too.

Another great thing provided by the choice of third person is perspective. In fact, what I liked best about Three Dark Crowns is that it doesn't tell you how to feel about its characters. The perspective shifts so that you can see the queens in their separate areas and the lives of those closest to them -- whether they're scheming, jockeying for power, or falling in love for the first time and making foolish choices along the way. The characters feel so much more multi-dimensional because you get the internal perspective and the external-- how other queens view their rival's actions, how the adviser sees the queen and the throne, how the queen sees herself. A narrative like that could have easily told you: this character is evil while this one, oh, she's the true fighter and savior. But a character cheats despite truly loving his/her partner, and another character causes unintentional deaths due to a loss of control, and multiple characters plan deaths to better protect their loved ones (and their interests). You can decide if they're evil; the narrative won't make it easy for you. (Good book club book!). Also yesssss to a YA fantasy that legitimately has a huge character cast-- and one with characters who aren't flat, and have their own motivations, and would probably earn the right to have that comparison to Game of Thrones and its shifting alliances.

While I loved the characterization, romance, and writing in Three Dark Crowns, I can also see what might turn away other readers. First off, I think that the writing creates this really interesting atmosphere for the island and the magical powers that these families have, and the magic of triplet queens (and their history). But if you're the kind of reader who wants long, detailed explanations of how things work, or what their origin was -- how the island came to be as it is -- this world might not be your favorite. I like "going with the flow" and seeing what the narrative provides; there's still plenty of potential for expansion in the sequel and this book definitely intrigued me enough with what was present. But that may not work for all. Also, I think expectations matter a lot with regard to this book. What I remembered was the pitch: three sisters, mutual queens who have to kill each other on this remote island as a part of magical precedent. I think that I expected more to happen in this book because of that pitch -- the edited synopsis above seems more accurate to the first book. It's like in Shadow and Bone-- when Alina arrives at the palace. Did you like the court intrigue, romance, and magic practice? Then you will like the plot here. It starts off explosive, showing the queens demonstrating their powers, and then gets into their individual factions, introducing you to the characters so you can understand more of the dynamic between them and what's at stake. That middle segment is slower. And then eventually it gets to its heart-rending climax and conclusion. In that sense it does remind me of the plot structure of S&B. Personally I liked both novels.
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