On the Same Page | Anna and the French Kiss | Stephanie Perkins

Mar 30

on the same page

Anna and the French Kiss • Stephanie Perkins

Guys, I was pretty stoked when we chose our March book for this year. When Alyssa said she wanted to read ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, it made me super happy. Not only because she would be reading it for the first time, but because I’d be reading it for the, I think, 6th time, and I LOOOOVE rereading this book. It’s one of my go-to, happy mood, slump breaker books, so I find myself reaching for it often. There’s nothing quite like a perfectly sweet romance to get me out of whatever doldrums I’m in. Plus, ANNA AND ETIENNE. I die.

Since I’ve read this book so many times, and since rereading is something I do ALL THE TIME, I decided I’d talk about my impressions of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS after this reread. The things I notice, the things I always forget, the things that change or not from one read to another. I can give you a spoiler right now, though: One thing that NEVER changes? My love for this book and the way it warms my heart.

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On the Same Page | American Gods | Neil Gaiman

Mar 2

on the same pageAmerican Gods • Neil Gaiman

As you all probably know, Alyssa is like the one true Gaiman fan. She adores his writing and his stories and his wisdom and his hair and himself. However, since AMERICAN GODS is, I believe, the only work of his she hasn’t read, and Brittany and I are always looking to expand our knowledge of the Gaiman-verse, we decided to make this our February book. I’m so glad we did. It’s dense and dark and thought-provoking, but it was also amazing.

Since I have an abiding love of mythologies of all kinds, and since AMERICAN GODS uses those same mythologies to weave this incredible story, I thought I’d highlight a few of the major players for my post. Note: In the book, these gods go by different names (except for a few, but it’s not a huge spoiler to reveal them), so I’m not giving away any secrets. Shadow, the main character, deals with gods, but doesn’t know who they all are right away. It makes for a super fun guessing game, in addition to an engaging and mysterious story about belief, family, religion, and America.

Hat-tip to the artists who drew these amazing pictures, too! Y’all are so talented, I can’t even.

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On the Same Page | Midwinterblood | Marcus Sedgwick

Feb 2

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Midwinterblood • Marcus Sedgwick

MIDWINTERBLOOD has been on my radar for a little while, friends, but I always balked just a little when it came to reading it. Not sure why. Maybe it’s because it’s a hard book to describe, maybe because the thought of reading another story–even a shorter one that is merely a part of a larger whole–about vampires increased my “meh” quotient. Maybe it’s because I’d never read a book by Marcus Sedgwick and his writing intimidated me. Whatever it was, I’m glad that I held onto it until it came time for the three of us to choose our books for this year, and we all decided to read MINDWINTERBLOOD first. It really does defy description, but it’s still powerful and touching.

One of the things that fascinated me about the structure of this book is the way Marcus Sedgwick broke each of his stories down by full moon. I’ve always been intrigued by this naming of full moons, and I loved the way the moons corresponded to the tales within, and the way those tales wove the entire story together, so I thought I’d shed a little light on those full moons in MIDWINTERBLOOD while also talking a little bit about the stories within.

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On the Same Page | Snow White and Rose Red

Jan 8

on the same page Snow White and Rose Red • Patricia C. Wrede

I’m always excited to read books that my besties love. It makes me feel like our friendship is really special because we’re sharing things that mean a lot to us. SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED by Patricia C. Wrede is one of those books for my dear Alyssa, who loves this book fiercely. I can see why. A retelling of a classic fairy tale, with a Fey bonus. I really loved this book, which makes me so happy but also makes me think about my own personal experiences with reading about faeries. Since two of the main characters in SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED are half-fey, and other fey creatures play important parts in this story, I thought I’d chat for a few about what it is about faeries that I sometimes love and sometimes find boring beyond all things. Let’s hope that I can actually get to the bottom of it, because frankly, I have no idea.

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On the Same Page | Sunshine | Robin McKinley

Dec 17

on the same pageSunshine • Robin McKinley

So we’re only a month behind with this one, friends. That’s not bad at all, right?! I’m glad that we took our time to read SUNSHINE by Robin McKinley, though. It’s a very different vampire book than any other I’ve read, but in a good way. SUNSHINE is certainly not a book to devour quickly. And hey, since I introduced that eating metaphor, I might as well carry it through my post! No, no, I’m not going to talk about vampires feeding on humans. I’m talking about BAKING. You heard me right.

Sunshine is something of a renowned baker, working at Charlie’s Coffeehouse in New Arcadia. It’s America, but post-Voodoo Wars America, where vampires and weres and demons are on the verge of taking over the Earth. In the midst of all this supernatural drama, Sunshine gets up at 4:30 every morning to make her famous Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head. I want to stuff one in my face RIGHT NOW. She bakes all kinds of things for Charlie’s customers, but there were a few that stuck out in my mind, and are what I would imagine are her “signature” recipes.

In honor of Sunshine’s baked goods that made me salivate while reading, I’m going to share some recipes with you! One of them I’ve used a number of times; in fact, I use it every Christmas. I can vouch for it’s UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLENESS. The other just sounds good and reminds me of a recipe of Sunshine’s. So break out your aprons and your measuring cups, friends! It’s SUNSHINE: THE COOKBOOK. (I wish this actually existed, though. I would buy it immediately.)

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On the Same Page | The Goose Girl | Shannon Hale

Oct 15

on the same page

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Guys, I was beyond excited to reread one of my FAVORITE books for this month’s On the Same Page. There is very little as awesome to me as reading a favorite book with your favorite people, and I couldn’t wait for Brittany and Alyssa to dive in. As always, we all reacted differently, but I was reminded how much I love THE GOOSE GIRL. I couldn’t get enough of Shannon Hale’s writing the first time I read it, and I was captivated by it again.

Because I love the writing in this book so much, I wanted to share just a small handful of my favorite quotes with you guys. YAY QUOTES!
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On the Same Page | Burial Rites | Hannah Kent

Sep 17

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Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Guys, it’s so nice to be talking about BURIAL RITES for our most recent On the Same Page feature!!

Hannah Kent’s debut was atmospheric, gorgeously written, thoughtful, and complex. I loved it. What struck me as particularly outstanding, though, was the setting. Iceland just seemed so stark and isolated (umm, probably because it kind of is), and it really set the perfect tone for a story about a serving woman who is sentenced to die for a murder she may or may not have committed.

To that end, I’ve grabbed a few images of some of the places where the actual events from BURIAL RITES took place, or things that are replicas of important locations. Visualizing places when I read is always hugely important to me, and Hannah Kent was able to bring the world of Agnes Magnusdottir to life for me.

**Also, HEADS UP to people who haven’t read BURIAL RITES yet but are planning on it: There’s a possible spoiler picture down here. ALERT ALERT!!**

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On the Same Page | Unspoken | Sarah Rees Brennan

Jul 31

on the same page Unspoken • Sarah Rees Brennan

This is one of those times when there’s a book that’s been out for a while that none of us have read yet, which makes On the Same Page PERFECT! Because now we get to read things together! UNSPOKEN by Sarah Rees Brennan is one of those books, so we were all really looking forward to reading this one. There are some great visuals from this book, so I’ve created another Pinterest board. This one was a little harder for me than my previous Pinterest board, but still lots of fun! I’m going to highlight a few of my pins below and then send you off to my board (which I will continue to update) to see the rest. Huzzah!

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On the Same Page | Landline | Rainbow Rowell

Jun 30

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Landline • Rainbow Rowell

We were all so stoked to read LANDLINE, friends, that we bumped it up in our monthly schedule when all three of us managed to snag advanced copies. Because RAINBOW. And because reading any of her books, whether they are geared towards young adults or full grown-ups, always have an impact on all three of us.

Book cover Landline Rainbow RowellLANDLINE is about a relationship that is struggling. Rainbow tells amazing stories about relationships, and the one between Georgie McCool (I KNOWWW) and her husband, Neal, is fraying. Georgie writes for a TV comedy and Neal is a stay-at-home dad to their two girls. When Georgie and her long-time friend and writing partner get news of a potential big break right before Christmas, Georgie and Neal’s relationship goes from “just ok” to “MAYDAY! MAYDAY!” Neal heads off with the girls to Nebraska as the family planned, and Georgie stays behind in LA to work on her TV show. Except when she starts spending time in her old bedroom at her mom’s house, she finds an old rotary phone in her closet and uses it to call Neal’s parents’ house to talk to her husband. And THAT’S when things get INTERESTING.

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On the Same Page | The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls | Claire Legrand

May 26

on the same pageThe Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls • Claire Legrand

In celebration of our everlasting love of middle grade, as well as the Kids Author Carnival we’ll all be volunteering at this Book Expo weekend, our May book was one I’ve been looking forward to for a while: THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS by Claire Legrand. I’m always up for some MG goodness, especially when it involves one of my very favorite things to read about: friendship. Particularly between a boy and a girl. My OTP of this would obviously be Harry and Hermione (forget that nonsense that JK was spouting a while ago). I always love reading about this, and it always makes me so happy when the friendship is unencumbered by romance, and I thought that Victoria and Lawrence from THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS wound up having a pretty strong friendship, even if it didn’t seem to start out that way.

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