Reader, Writer, & Writing Teacher
Not all of these books are hidden gems, but I do think all of them deserved more buzz and attention then they received. I loved all of these stories and am always excited when someone else discovers one of these beautiful YA contemporary gems. Continue reading “Ten YA Contemporary Gems”
I finished The One, by Kiera Cass and reviewed it over the weekend. When I decided to do a marry date or dump based on this series, I first tried to think of three male characters to include. I quickly abandoned that idea since there are really only two prominent male characters (except for the king who I knew would be an automatic dump for everyone). I think it would be more fun to hear which of the possible princesses you would marry, date or dump. Let me know in the comments and feel free to include if you like Prince Maxon or Aspen better (even though I’m firmly team Maxon I won’t hold it against you if you say Aspen!).
Continue reading “Marry, Date or Dump: Contestants from The Selection by Kiera Cass”
I’ve never done a cover reveal, but I am so excited about Kate Brauning’s upcoming book HOW WE FALL that I wanted to share it with you. I’ve been a long time reader of Kate’s blog The Bookshelf and even write occasional book reviews for it. Becoming friends (well…Internet friends) with Kate has been one of the best things about becoming a blogger. Reading about her journey to publication was hugely inspirations. And once you read more about her book and see the cover I think you will be (almost) as excited as I am. So without further adieu… Continue reading “Cover Reveal: HOW WE FALL, by Kate Brauning”
Earlier this week I read If I Stay and the sequel Where She Went, by Gayle Forman. Both books were stay-up-way-to-late, read-in-one-sitting books for me. While both books, especially the first one, have plots that are designed to create an incredible amount of tension it was the plot that kept me reading. It was the characters. I fell in love with almost all of them. Continue reading “If I Stay & Where She Went, by Gayle Forman”
For about a year, I’ve been trying to work my way through all of Maureen Johnson’s novels. So when I found The Bermudez Triangle, by Maureen Johnson at the library last week, I knew it would be a perfect book for my first 2014 LGBT Reading Challenge review. The story switches points of views between three female best friends as they approach the summer before their senior year. Nina Bermudez has always been the leader of their threesome, and pretty much everything else (straight A student, class president, etc.). To hone her leadership skills she leaves her two best friends, Mel and Avery, for the first time to go to a pre-college program for ten weeks. During the program she makes a whole new life for herself, with an “eco-warrior” boyfriend and a roommate who steals her underwear. She expects Mel and Avery to be the same when she returns, but they make a new life for themselves as well. A life where they are more than just friends. When Nina finds out her two best friends are in love, she knows their trio will never be the same, but she’s unsure if their friendship will survive senior year. Continue reading “The Bermudez Triangle, by Maureen Johnson”
On Wednesday night, I saw two things I’ve been thinking for a long time clearly articulated on twitter. One by YA author John Green, the other about him. The first was a series of tweets, termed by Green himself as a “twitter rant”, defending Twilight fans and shining a light on the misogyny that underlies the attacks on the series. After negative feedback, he further clarified his position with this post on tumblr. After reading about this, I saw this series of tweets and further conversation about John Green’s influence on the New York Times Bestseller list and the lack of women on the list.
I’m sharing these on my blog today because I’ve wanted to write about why I like Twilight and the nerdfighter domination of the bestseller list for a long time. I also want to start a discussion, or at least share some of my feelings, about the negative reactions to both social media events. Continue reading “My Rant about John Green, Twilight, and Female YA Authors”
When I think of Dystopian novels I immediately pair the genre with young adult fiction. I don’t think I’m alone in this. In fact, last week the New York times made the same association. Of course if you examine the history of the genre, there are plenty of books written for and about adults: Brave New World, 1984, The Road, etc. However, with a few exceptions, in the last ten years the genre seems to have been claimed by teenaged characters and readers. While the summaries of Archetype, by M.D. Waters call the book a futuristic suspense novel, it feels like it belongs firmly in the Dystopian category. It is nice to have an author write a female-centric, Dystopian novel with adult characters and adult problems. Furthermore, this was a fun, quick read that kept me turning the page until I’d finished the novel in just two sittings (both in the same day). Continue reading “Archetype, by M.D. Waters: A Dystopian Book for Adults”
I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. It’s beautiful out in Big Sur, so I probably won’t be spending too much time on the Internet today. But in case you feel the desire to wander through the world wide web, here are some links I found pretty darned interesting. Enjoy!
Two weeks ago I wrote about the verb to be plaguing me. Now the monkey on my back is obsessing over my WIP’s (work in progress) word count. Word count has always been a bit of a sore subject for me. I always felt like my short stories came out too long and in my previous two attempts at novel-writing they’ve come up too short.
I’ve spent many hours over the years googling how long a novel should be. Most of them say things like “there is no should” and “however long it takes to tell your story”. I can’t think of anything less helpful. I appreciate the bloggers give number ranges, but this information is often contradictory. Some say a novel is never less than 70,000 words. While others insist on somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 for a first time author. Short of taking my favorite novels and physically counting the words, I’ve been at a loss to answer this question (which lets face it is probably just a tricksy form of procrastination). Until I discovered AR Book Finder, a site that will give you the word count for almost all novels.
Alison Doherty 