I recently read a popular book by an award winning author. It was terrible. I’m choosing not to name the book, because I realize that my opinion is just that. But that experience, the one of having high expectations for a book and having them fall utterly and completely flat, has affected me as both...
We constantly make comparisons. To describe. To explain. To just make sense of the world. This week, I’ve wondered if perhaps we doth compareth too much. Instance #1: I’d finished reading Sarah J. Maas’s sequel to Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight. I enjoyed it, and I felt the pacing and character development were stronger than the first. (See? Already...
Well, hello 2014. Nice to meet you. The second half of 2013 chewed me up and spit me out like a stick of Juicy Fruit. In 2014 I am determined to find my way back to the things that make me, well, me. Some health issues have made it difficult to read and write these past...
The stories leading in the media this week both perplex me and fuel my outrage over another story. One you definitely didn’t see plastered on CNN’s website. It’s about a male teacher being arrested for soliciting a twelve-year-old girl online. Only this time, that child was really an undercover cop. Here’s the link, if you’re so inclined. Score one for the good guys, right?...
Today I’m reviewing Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light by Jaimie Engle, an ebook ARC received through Library Thing. Clifton is already available in paperback through the usual channels, and will release in ebook format on September 1, 2013. The summary, adapted from Goodreads: A strange arrow transports young Clifton Chase to Medieval England in 1485....
The Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke is the sequel to The Assassin’s Curse, reviewed here. In the interest of remaining spoiler free, I’ll keep my summary brief. Pirate Ananna and Assassin Naji are bound together by an impossible curse, which can only be broken by completing three impossible tasks. Less a sequel and more the second half of one story too...
I love a great series of books. In a series, you get more time with great main characters. You can see secondary characters grow. And the author has more time to expand the plot and the action. But when you read too many series, it’s hard to keep up. I fall behind on which ones are out, and lately...
My summer started with a bang last week. The Florida mid-year SCBWI conference was at the Disney Dolphin Resort, and I knew my kids would never forgive me if I went to Orlando without them. But with more than a few Disney trips under our belts, this time we went to Universal Studios, and a place I’d been...
I have Son 1 to thank again for today’s review. We went to the bookstore together, and this is the first time he’s chosen a book to read completely on his own. (Meaning not influenced by me, a teacher, or a friend.) The cover and the title attracted him, and it turned out to be a...
I while back, I read a YA reviewer’s blog who named Tom Angleberger’s The Strange Case of Origami Yoda as her favorite book of the year. This really struck me, since she’d read and reviewed most of my favorite YA titles. I was excited to finally read the series with Son #1, and we just finished the second book,...
