In My Mailbox (1)

Nov 6

In My MailboxNovember 6, 2011

Let’s see what I’m going to be adding to my already toppling piles of books this week! Click on the book covers to visit each title’s Goodreads page.

FROM NETGALLEY

Ditched, by Robin Mellom

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Ashfall, by Mike Mullin

The Way We Fall, by Melissa Crewe

FROM THE LIBRARY

Wildwood Dancing, by Juliet Marillier

Tighter, by Adele Griffin

Entwined, by Heather Dixon

Wicked Girls, by Stephanie Hemphill

The Poison Throne, by Celine Kiernan

East, by Edith Pattou

Pants on Fire, by Meg Cabot

I’m excited about all of them!! What did you guys get this week?

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Book Review | The Near Witch | Victoria Schwab

Nov 6
Book Review | The Near Witch | Victoria SchwabThe Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Series: The Near Witch #1
Published by Disney Hyperion on August 2, 2011
Genres: Fantasy YA, Horror & Ghost Stories, Paranormal YA, Witches, Young Adult
Pages: 282
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.

If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.

And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger-a boy who seems to fade like smoke-appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know-about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | Anna Dressed in Blood | Kendare Blake

Nov 5

I received this book for free from eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | Anna Dressed in Blood | Kendare BlakeAnna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Series: Anna #1
Published by Tor Teen on August 30, 2011
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 316
Format: eARC
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story…

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

Book Review | The Name of the Star | Maureen Johnson

Nov 3
Book Review | The Name of the Star | Maureen JohnsonThe Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Series: Shades of London #1
Published by Penguin on September 29, 2011
Genres: Contemporary YA, Europe, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mysteries & Detective Stories, Paranormal YA, People & Places, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bought it
Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Goodreads
four-stars

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Reviews, Young Adult

YA saves

Nov 2


So, I know that this hashtag was incredibly popular among the bookish set over the summer, but the passing of time certainly doesn’t diminish the issue of what YA literature means to teenager culture in the United States and elsewhere. Nor does it make the discussion of why exactly “YA saves” untimely, no matter when it comes up. It’s so important that young people have sources for information that will help cushion whatever falls they will have as they grow. Teens and kids today have to deal with so much negative, difficult stuff from their parents, their teachers, their friends (hello, Mean Girls! That movie might have been fiction, but the idea is real), culture at large, and–in the biggest way–themselves. I can’t fathom why (well, unfortunately, I can fathom why, but I don’t agree) anyone would want to discourage young people from finding communities in the books they read, so that they don’t feel so out of the ordinary in their troubles. How many times as an adult do I hear and say, when something has disappointed me or gone wrong, “You aren’t the only one who has dealt with this and made it through”? This is the lesson and the wisdom that young adult literature teaches, and I would have died to have had it when I was younger. Growing up, I had very little YA to guide me, entertain me, explain things I was too embarrassed to discuss, give me things to dream about and consider. To expose me to things that I didn’t understand about the world but that I needed to know. Now that I’m reading YA so often, I find myself relearning and solidifying those things that I picked up elsewhere, and I’m envious.

Back when this issue was really at the fore, I wrote up a little something about what YA means to me, an adult, and what I hoped young people knew about the literature that is out there for them, but I had nowhere to put it! I really want to share it now because I think demeaning the importance of YA and censoring teens from books that are about less than happy things is so sad and dreadful, and promoting young adult books is never irrelevant.

[Read more…]

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Hello dears!

Oct 29

First post!! I’m both excited and nervous. And having odd feelings about who I think I am to be blogging about my opinions, as if other people might read them ever and actually care a little bit about them….Aaaaaaannnnnnddd I’m over it. 🙂 Sort of. But I think that one of my favorite things about YA literature is not just the books themselves, which are so honest, creative, and thought-provoking, but the communities. The communities of writers, bloggers, readers, librarians, teachers, all mingling together, talking to each other, learning from each other, and always spreading the word about how YA books are tremendous. Of all the things I’m feeling about the start of my blog, I’m also feeling eager to meet people and gush or gripe over books together. It’s going to be great.

So I wish for this blog to be a place where I can set down my thoughts on the books I read and the books I want to read and any other ridiculata about books or being bookish or being a librarian or being a nerd I can think of. But we’ll go with the flow, too. Anything goes! So if sometimes I feel like I need to vent a little about something else, I’ll trust my blog and those brave souls who read her to vent with me and accept me like an old, dear friend. You know, the best kind. And I hope that my blog and I will be the same kind of friend to you all, too. Mostly, though, my posts are going to be about what I love and have loved for so long: the books. Reviews, discussion of issues in young adult literature, books that are coming soon, books that come from large publishers and small, probably some memes, hopefully someday soon author reviews and contests, all of it. So, starting soon it’ll be a book love-fest here! It’ll be fantastic, fun, (hopefully!) thought-provoking, and humorous. Welcome, friends!

I hope that you’ll bear with me as a I get everything set up and moving along. I’m so excited to be here with you all!! Until I speak to you again, though, here’s a great quote I found about starting something new. I love it. (I love quotes, btw, and you’ll probably see lots of them here, just because I think they’re wonderful!)

“I watch out my window as the planes take off into space. Oh, that I could fly away and start fresh. But I must realize that fresh starts also come in the pretty wrapped gift called ‘tomorrow.’” –unknown

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