Ah, well. This post was supposed to go up two weeks ago, along with a video that I had recorded in the usual recap way. :/ But basically I'm still trying to catch up with the posts that were scheduled for my time off but didn't go up.
On the blog, I have been maintaining my bookish rounds posts, which are round-ups of the latest MG/YA/NA book news in terms of book deals, cover reveals, discussions in the book community, tv and movie adaptations, and new YA releases. Since September, you'll find
edition 88,
edition 89,
edition 90,
edition 91,
edition 92,
edition 93,
edition 94,
edition 95,
edition 96,
edition 97,
edition 98,
edition 99, and
edition 100. And, in fact, in terms of the book news, I
gathered half of last year's adaptation news for a round-up post, and I made a calendar with
2016 Adaptations relevant to the YA community, so we could keep track of them. I discussed
Mockingjay Part II, my
New Year's Bookolutions for 2016,
2016 YA Debuts on my TBR list,
2016 YA Books (Non Debuts) on my TBR list,
blogging and booktubing,
the effect of awards in the YA community,
my reading profile,
reader loyalty, and
5 fantasy authors who I fangirl over. I reviewed
Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith,
the Eon duology by Alison Goodman,
the Mapmaker's trilogy by S.E. Grove,
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, and
The Mirror King by Jodi Meadows, and gushed about my
Epic Reads Book Shimmy Award Nominations and the
best books that I'd read in 2015. I also asked for
read-along buddies, and answered
15 weird questions about myself so that y'all could get to know me better.
Fall 2015 & Winter 2016, I didn't blog or booktube more frequently because in the fall, I’d been applying to graduate schools, and then there were the holiday breaks (aka laziness at home), and throughout February, I had a bunch a few graduate school interviews to attend (aka why you didn't hear from me much on social media then either). Maybe one day soon, I'll have actual big news to celebrate on that account. (Pray for me! Cross your fingers! Whatever you do.). In January, I attended the book launches for
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard/
Passenger by Alex Bracken and
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. I appreciated Marieke’s discussion on how the story was inspired, in part, by a yellow school bus, and the discussion of American gun culture vs. in the Netherlands. I appreciated the easy banter between Susan and Alex, and their personable approach to describing their writing styles and their experiences (e.g. researching ships in the eighteenth century). I loved how both events were moderated by other YA authors as well (
Sona Charaipotra (Dhonielle Clayton was supposed to be there but I forget what happened) and
Erin Bowman). And I ended up purchasing all three books for the book launches, as well as books by the author hosts. Here's to hoping grad school fares well too, so that I can say the season was an all around success :D.
In terms of what I've read this past fall and winter.... oh, what a varied list. I’m going to just list them out, and say a few things at the end!
Middle Grade:
1.
The Golden Specific - S.E. Grove (
review here).
Young Adult:
1.
Passenger - Alexandra Bracken (
review here)
2.
Dreamstrider - Lindsay Smith (
review here)
3.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs4.
Eon - Alison Goodman (
review here)
5.
Eona - Alison Goodman6.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander7. All of
Rosamund Hodge's listed short stories.
8.
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness9.
Vengeance Road - Erin Bowman10.
Glory O'Brien's History of the Future - A.S. King, audio
11.
A Creature of Moonlight - Rebecca Hahn12.
Wink Poppy Midnight - April Genevieve Tucholke (review to come!)
13.
The Star-Touched Queen - Roshani Chokshi (review to come!)
Adult Romance:
1.
Wallbanger - Alice Clayton2.
Rusty Nailed - Alice Clayton3.
Screwdrivered - Alice Clayton4.
Mai Tai'd Up - Alice Clayton5.
A Lady of Persuasion - Tessa Dare6.
Goddess of the Hunt - Tessa Dare7.
Surrender of a Siren - Tessa Dare8.
The Rogue Not Taken - Sarah MacLean9.
A Gentleman in the Street - Alisha Rai10.
Once Upon a Marquess - Courtney MilanAdult Fantasy
1.
Feverborn - Karen Marie Moning2.
Captive Prince - C.S. Pacat3.
Prince's Gambit - C.S. Pacat4.
Kings Rising - C.S. PacatNonfiction:
1.
The Silk Road: A Short Introduction - James A. Millward.2.
The Madame Curie Complex - Julie Des Jardins3.
Bossypants - Tina Fey, audio
4.
Yes Please - Amy Poehler, audio
What’s the deal with all the romance novels? Well, I’ve mentioned this before, but I share my Kindle account with my mother. You’d think this means she’d be more willing to read YA novels—alas, those are all just mine. Anyway, she loves contemporary and historical romance. The majority of the romance novels I read this past fall/winter, I read when I was at home with her. Usually when we’re together I remember that oh shit, I’m supposed to buy more romance novels for her to read. But it doesn’t feel right to just buy her anything out there – in some ways, I get caught too because then I want to make sure I’ve gotten her books that she’ll like. Like Alice Clayton. I read Alice Clayton’s book because I’d posted her cover reveal sometime ago, and I remembered writing that this was a new NA series for her, or she was continuing on Wallbanger, and it was pretty popular. So I tried the books out – I liked them, and my mom loved them. My mom also loves Tessa Dare, and Sarah MacLean and Courtney Milan are automatic pre-orders for her as well.
The young adult and middle grade books went pretty well, and I looooooove the Captive Prince trilogy, so yaaaaaas. And hey, look, I read about 32 books from late November to the end of February. Not too shabby, eh? And now interviews are over… :D :D
In terms of the books I received:1.
The Voyage to the Magical North by Claire Fayers2.
The Treasure of Maria Mamoun by Michelle Chafoun3.
The Wrong Side of Magic by Jannette Rallison4.
Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke, which was in my
2016 YA Books on My TBR List (and which I now read -- expect a review soon!)
The Voyage to the Magical North is about a girl and her friend who join a pirate’s quest to find the Magical North, which sounds like a place of secrets and myths and lots of fun. The Treasure of Maria Mamoun is an island adventure about a girl from the Bronx on a journey of mystery and discovery. The Wrong Side of Magic is a modern-day retelling of The Phantom Tollbooth, and all three are Middle Grade titles. I haven’t requested many ARCs as of late, and well, I’ve been more in the mood to read MG, as if it’s easier to review MG because I’ve read so much YA at this point, I almost feel saturated. Have you ever gotten that feeling? Do you think that that’s just a part of a reading slump or something more lasting? I was excited for Wink Poppy Midnight, and it was great – the book was also my first ARC from Penguin Random House. I’m a kind of a passive blogger uninterested in emailing publishers for ARCs, but if I’m sent the request form, I do look through the catalog. It’s always unexpected for me when any of that turns out, and I was doubly excited for Wink Poppy Midnight since it was in my
2016 YA Books on My TBR List. Did not disappoint!
That’s what I read, received, and blogged about in fall 2015 / winter 2016.
How were these past couple of months for you? Did you read a lot or find a lot of new favorites? Have you been on your blogging/booktubing game?
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I've read several of the Buzz Book Publications and have greatly appreciated the reference they provided in helping decide what to read, and specifically, what to read next! The YA 2016 fall/winter edition was certainly no exception. I've been on a bit of a YA kick as of late, fueled in part by all the attention the genre gets on book tube and blogs that I follow but there are always so many new books coming out all the time in this genre, that it's hard to narrow it down to the one book I'm capable of reading at one time. I've found that often I either love ya or hate it and can usually tell with in the first chapter or two what category a book will fall into, not always, but most of the time. With that being said this handy dandy little reference is must have for me and readers like me and I've found it to be an excellent tool for helping me find excellent reads, beefing up my tbr shelf significantly, and also in steering me away from books that have gotten good reviews but either aren't what I was expecting or don't appear to be something I would enjoy. This particular edition is of 20 different fall/winter 2016 YA reads and it includes, for each novel sample featured, a brief summary, a lengthy excerpt from the books, and a small bio about the author, in that order. I believe that any and all readers who enjoy reading from the YA genre need this little gem on their bookshelf. I easily rated it 5 out of 5 stars - now that's not to say that all 20 of the featured books with samples within deserve, or will receive, 5 stars individually, but this publication as a whole, which readers the opportunity to gain insight and reference on their next read, is certainly deserving of 5 stars, in my opinion.
