Reading, Writing, and Me

The Incredible True Story of the Making of the Eve of Destruction  by Amy Brashear (November 13) Overview: Hollywood is coming to Griffin Flats, Arkansas. And they're going to blow it up. Well, for the movie. Laura Ratliff wins a radio contest that guarantees she'll get to be a part of it. She decides to take her stepbrother Terrance as her +1, and she's actually excited to see a real Hollywood set, even if the theme of the movie centers around her worst fear, a real nuclear attack. Even though everything seems fine at first, when the movie bombs go off, no one can be sure it was just a prop. Overall: 3 Characters: 4 I loved Laura. She's an awesome main character. In the opening scene, she pulls the string to make the sprinklers run in the science lab so that she wouldn't have to do all of her lab partners work. I knew from that moment that we were kindred spirits. And I did love Laura's voice throughout as well as her stepbrother and best friend. Some of ...

Four Three Two One by Courtney Stevens (November 13) Overview: There were four survivors of bus 21 after the charter bus was bombed a year ago. There was a young couple from a commune in Kentucky, Golden Jennings and Chandler Clayton. There was a soccer star left wheelchair bound, Rudy. Finally, Caroline, the last survivor was the bomber's girlfriend, and she's left to shoulder his guilt and her own. When the bus gets reassembled as part of an art installation/memorial by one of the paramedics who helped saved Golden, she feels determined to get all of the survivors back together, even if that means hurting some of her own relationships. Overall: 5  Characters: 5 All of these characters are so deep and individual. They've also had the trauma touch their lives in different ways. Golden has always been stuck between leaving the Hive and going to Emerson or staying and getting married to a boy she's loved almost her whole life. She knows there's no combini...

Yesterday, I had the chance to go to Blue Willow to see Alley Carter and Jennifer Lynn Barnes speak. It was perfect timing because I'm flying out tomorrow and would have been crushed to miss them. While I have yet to read any of Jennifer's books, Alley was the author that helped me transition from the world of Middle Grade into YA. Her YA voice with more toned down content is the perfect first step into more teenage books. Over the course of the speaking session, Jennifer shared about her new series featuring a group of debutants and their misadventures. She discussed how the book ended up being more personal than she first anticipated. In one scene, where a character is duct-taped to a chair, she pulled from her own personal life. In high school, when she was the only girl in physics C, she got left in the boys bathroom with all of her limbs bound to the chair. Luckily, a past of reading Nancy Drew books helped her work her way out of it, and the story earned a place in he...

Your Own Worst Enemy  by Gordon Jack (448 pages) Overview: Stacey is going to be class president. It doesn't matter that two more candidates just threw their hat into the ring. She's been in student government since freshman year. She's running on a recycling program, her best friend, Brian is running her campaign. Obviously, she's perfect for the job. But Julia, the new student from Canada, and Brians new crush, might pose a real threat. She's made powerful alliances as she advocates from the school's minorities, and she's running on a no homework platform. She's different. And then there's Tony who's swept the freshman vote. He doesn't even want to win. He just wants chocolate milk back in the classroom. Overall: 4  Characters: 4 I enjoyed reading about all the characters. Like the plot, they're all a bit larger than life, but they're compelling as well. Stacy has a thirst for power because she thinks that's her destiny. H...

Last night, I had the chance to see Ed Sheeran perform. I've been a fan of Sheeran's since my mom started playing his first album around the house before he really cracked the radio. My mom isn't on the cutting edge of music, but she had the right feeling about Ed, and we've been waiting to see a show since. I've watched the movie on Apple Music, and I know the albums backwards and forwards, so needless to say, I had high expectations. They were all met. He took the stage with a smile and explained his loop pedal and how he is able to achieve all of the layering in his songs completely live, completely alone. His stage is tiny, yet made for the way he moves around it. It's unbelievable that one man can entertain a stadium full of people as well as a massive artist with three backup singers and a squad of dancers. His vocals and instrumentals were on point, and he exploded with life as he flew around the stage jumping up and down the layers of his stage. Whi...

Today's post is a little bit of a mash up. At the end of the post, I'll be giving two short reviews, one for upcoming release, This Splintered Silence  and one for the All The Bright Places  audiobook. But right now, I want to have a short discussion about an area of YA that's very small. It's college aged YA. Sometimes, it's called NA (for new adult), but the category isn't widely used, and, sadly, NA has come to mean sexy YA. This turn has started to destroy that market as its 18-25 year old intended audience tend to go for YA or adult reads instead. What got me thinking about the need for more upper YA was an amazing post I came across on Twitter by Vicky Who Reads (you can check it out  here ) who discusses how YA is forgetting it's core audience... teens. She discusses how we need to serve all teens both younger (bridge from YA into MG) and older. Off the top of my head, I can only think of two books that feature college protagonists ( Fangirl, Em...

At the beginning of October, I unconsciously started reading murder-thriller books. It started with finally reading One of Us Is Lying  and then I went to Lauren Oliver's book event for her new book, Broken Things , so I decided I would pick up a few more to read on the many plane rides I've taken recently and make a list for you. I've ranked them by the books I enjoyed most, but I'm also throwing a scariness ranking below too. 1. The Cheerleaders  by Kara Thomas I loved The Cheerleaders . Even if I wasn't narrowing this to just thrillers, this would still be up there. While there's no immediate threat, there's still a sinister feeling five years after five cheerleaders die in a year in three accidents. One of the girl's sister, who investigates, also has a complicated life of her own. Thomas did an awesome job of sprinkling the mystery clues and bringing us a story through such a strong voice. Here's my full  Review Here  (4.5 stars overall, 2...