Okay, so… WOW! I was completely enthralled by Smith’s THE ROAD TO WINTER almost from the first page. The gritty feel of the world he created is palpable. Recently, I have been super into Australian YA, and if you haven’t yet been introduced, now is the time – start with this one. Finn is a…
Review: The Truth About Happily Ever After
The Truth About Happily Ever After is kind of a hard one for me. I loved Cozzo’s previous book How To Keep Rolling After A Fall – LOVED, sooo much. But, I struggled with the main character in this one. Here, we meet Alyssa, and honestly I didn’t find her super likeable at first. She…
Jake the Fake Keeps It Real Blog Tour
We don’t cover a whole lot of middle-grade on the blog, so when we do, it’s for a good reason. In this case, there are several. One is that my son, who is 9, absolutely loved this book. Another is that I think Craig Robinson is one of the funniest comedians working in showbiz. And…
Letters to the Lost Blog Tour: You’ve Got Mail
You’ve Got Mail! Earlier this year I ended up reading four books, including LETTERS TO THE LOST, that centered around a teen couple getting to know each other via “letters.” Some of the stories very clearly had a You’ve Got Mail/Shop Around the Corner vibe, and others were simply epistolary love stories, but still, it…
Waiting on Wednesday: Seeking Mansfield
Seeking Mansfield by Kate Watson is our latest Waiting on Wednesday. I stumbled on this book while scrolling through Goodreads, and it could not be more up my alley. It’s a modernization of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and they’ve made Fanny Price an aspiring theatre director. It kinda has me written all over it. I am…
Literary Crush: Chase from Some of the Parts
After a long hiatus, Literary Crush is back with Chase from Some of the Parts by Hannah Barnaby. Name: Chase Abbott Age: 16 What does he look like? Tall and lanky with dark curly hair and dark eyes. A dead ringer (please excuse the unfortunate pun) for the female main character’s dead brother. What does…
Editor’s Pick: Lucky Strikes by Louis Bayard
In the middle of the Great Depression, 14-year-old Melia suddenly finds herself without a mother, and in charge of not only her two younger siblings, but her mother’s old gas station as well. Without a legal guardian, Melia and her siblings will be split up in foster care and the station will go to the…
Stranger Than Fanfiction Giveaway
We’re thrilled to partner with Little, Brown to promote author-actor Chris Colfer’s latest book, Stranger than Fanfiction. Since the characters in Stranger than Fanfiction are die-hard fans of a hit teen sci-fi show called Wiz Kids, we’ve got some recommendations for you based on particular television fandoms. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones,…
Why I Still Care About Diversity in YA
I originally wrote this at the beginning of the year when a friend asked a bunch of us to share an issue we were passionate about for a story. It turned out she only needed a paragraph. Here’s what I wrote. We’ve all got issues close to our hearts. One of mine continues to be…
Editor’s Pick: Everlife Series by Gena Showalter
You know that feeling you get when you start a new series, and you know it will be one you wish you could read again for the first time? Everlife by Gena Showalter will be a series like that for me. The world in this series is so richly drawn, I felt the struggles of…