May 25 2012
The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love (1995) Genre: YA GLBT Grade: C+ It’s hard to find good GLBT movies without some guidance as to what’s worth it and what’s dreck. As such, I often go with average ratings at sites like Netflix and IMDB. “2 Girls in Love” is a movie that(…)
May 23 2012
Dear Ms. Friesner, I’ve never read any of your books but I’ve certainly heard of you. How could I not? Not only do you have a substantial backlist, you’ve had a long career. Recently, it seems like you’ve turned your attention towards YA retellings of mythological princesses. In this novel, you focus on Himiko, the(…)
May 19 2012
Dear Ms. Sharp, There is a strong stigma surrounding self-published YA novels that suggests that they are all badly written and derivative. Even with authors like Amanda Hocking becoming successes in both print and digital publishing, there is an inherent idea that self-published YA is bad and a constant stream of riffs on the latest(…)
May 17 2012
Dear Ms. Marriott, I’m always on the lookout for books featuring nonwhite characters so when I stumbled across your new novel on NetGalley, I had to request it. I know my previous encounter with your work was so-so but the experience certainly wasn’t enough to turn me off to the possibility of giving you another(…)
May 12 2012
Dear Ms. Griffin, I’m a big Edgar Allan Poe fan. Any book with a title referencing him is always going to get a second look from me. Combined with a striking cover, it’s almost guaranteed I will pick it up. I initially thought Masque of the Red Death was a debut, but your name sounded(…)
May 10 2012
On Sunday, April 22, I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Part 1 of my report on the festival Part 2 of my festival recap And now for Part 3: Fiction: Love, Actually My friend Bettie and I left the Anne Rice panel while Anne Rice was taking questions from the audience and(…)
May 3 2012
Dear Ms. Norris, I admit I went into your debut novel not knowing much about it. I knew it was a YA. I had an idea about the basic set-up: a girl dies in a car accident and is brought back to life by a classmate. This somehow leads into a race against the clock(…)
May 1 2012
Dear Ms. Wasserman, I’m a sucker for an evocative title, even more so than I am for a striking cover. And for me, you don’t get more evocative than The Book of Blood and Shadow. It caught my eye immediately on NetGalley. On top of that, the premise sounded different. That’s not something you can(…)
Apr 25 2012
Dear Ms. Fredericks, I was in the mood for something different when I ran across your novel. A reader can take only so many paranormal and dystopian YAs before she loses it. A YA mystery/thriller sounded right up my alley. Your novel delivered what I needed, along with something more. Rain was once best friends(…)
Apr 5 2012
Dear Mr. Ness, I feel like quite the scrooge because while I liked your YA novel, A Monster Calls, I didn’t love it the way everyone else I’ve seen reviewing it seems to have done. The book has a powerful and moving story of how it came to be. The idea behind it was the(…)
Apr 4 2012
Dear Ms. LaFevers, One advantage of being offered books for review is that it has made me more adventurous as a reader. Even reading a bad book has some value to me if I can get a review out of it, so it’s not as much of a risk for me to take a chance(…)
Apr 2 2012
News On Friday, Reuters reported that Apple and five of the Big 6 publishers are moving toward settlement. My guess is that either Random House is arguing that it wasn;t involved in any collusive activity as it’s decision to move toward Agency came far later and based on market influence rather than any collusion or(…)
Mar 29 2012
Dear Ms. Zink, I admit it. The lovely cover is what made me stop and give your new novel a second look. I’m a sucker for pretty covers, and I thought this one was highly effective for the genre. If only I could say the same for the content. Helen Cartwright is the sheltered daughter(…)
Mar 24 2012
Dear Ms. Masterson and Mr. Halpin: My interest in this book was piqued by an off hand remark but excited remark by The BookSmugglers. When it became available for review, I requested it. I’m a casual reader of Young Adult fiction books and my tastes run toward the YA romances more than issue books but(…)
Mar 22 2012
In light of fan fiction, collaboration, and just plain fascinating stuff comes the story of a Redditor turned screenplay writer. Wired recounts the transformation of James Erwin from Redditor commenter who began to envision a story about a group of military folks in Afghanistan being time warped back to the Roman period. His scenes made(…)
JOINT REVIEW: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh (and Giveaway)
Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour: District 5, Our Giveaway
Something is very wrong with us, and it’s not bad reviews
Berkley Fall Giveaway
Author DeborahAnne MacGillivray Harasses Amazon Reader
Recent Comments