Writer . Editor . Coach 🐾📚🖋️🍪🥛
I’ve been pretty good about not going on requesting sprees. And to shake it up, I’ve been requesting a lot more middle grade. A lot of the YA coming out just doesn’t feel like something I’d like to request and I’ve learned from my past hubris not to request books I knowingly will not like. I did that a lot when I first started reviewing and, honestly, I hate writing up reviews for bad books. I’d much rather tell you about books that I loved than books I don’t think you should bother reading.
In my personal life…School starts this week which means I’m at residency. I’m actually sitting in the airport waiting for my currently delayed flight, but whatever. A lot of things are getting done for the wedding! Kiel picked out his tux and styles for his groomsmen, our gift for our guests came in, my shoes came in. It’s getting real everybody!
I made it jut a little over halfway through a rewrite of my old MS and about 10k of the way through a new piece. I’ve also started a new middle grade MS that I’m hoping to pursue alongside my newer YA piece this semester. We’ll see how long that lasts since I’m getting hitched halfway through the semester.
I’ve definitely had a slow month reading wise. I’m picking up more middle grade since I want to explore that more and hone in a good middle grade voice.
I’ve already started posting less since school is back in swing. But I’ve tried to remain active for comments and likes since that’s what helps keep me visible. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve done a book tag or a weekly other than Bring Your Own Book (which is fun so you guys should comment so I can tag you!) and I feel like I should stock up.
Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
The Gallery of Unfinished Girls by Lauren Karcz
http://bookedallnight.podbean.com/e/episode-5-why-we-write/
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Jessica and Maggie talk about why they write, what they write, and when they started to take it seriously. Jessica admits to being a precocious little monster and Maggie tells us about her own Terabithia.
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http://bookedallnight.podbean.com/e/episode-4-the-first-book/
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Jumping off a previous discussion, Maggie and Jess talk about the first book they read in a variety of genres and relive some shameful titles.
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I have officially started moving out! I actually packed up all of my hardbacks and they are at my fiance’s place along with new my brand new desk. Next week I’m hoping to get my shelves over there… although… no idea where those are going…
I’m roughly halfway through re-writing my novel from a different viewpoint. I’ve got to say-my new MC is a psychopath. I can’t wait to introduce her to you.
I have been L-A-Z-Y. I look at my TBR and I’m like… yep! Those are books!
These were on my list for last month, but I was approved for them so expect reviews to come out for them.
I’ve definitely been a lot more active. I even started doing my own weekly. It’s Bring Your Own Book, which is an actual game you can get at Barnes and Noble. Lot’s of you have liked the posts but so few have commented so far. It’s a lot of fun to play I promise!
Just the one review. I was really slow this month.
I love the cover. I love the format. And I love the alternating viewpoints. But I don’t love the third viewpoint or where it gets added.
Tessa Hart’s world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it’s like his speaking directly to her…
Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn’t help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.
When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast—like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric’s plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world’s best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn…
Follow Me Back was everything I wanted with experimental formats. Conversations are formatted to look like tweets, the accounts actually exist online (see @TessaHeartsEric and @EricThornSucks), the platform itself is used correctly and not altered for the sake of what is needed for the story, and the police transcripts add just the right amount of tension.
I loved all of that.
Follow Me Back accurately depicts the real struggles of those with anxiety disorders. Geiger did a wonderful job with Tessa’s character, always showing her high levels of anxiety and letting us know her feelings on it. There was a never a moment when Tessa didn’t acknowledge that her anxiety was irrational.
These characters are their own, which is so important given the viewpoints are short and we switch from Eric to Tessa after as few as two paragraphs.
When Tessa and Eric’s relationship starts to get serious, we finally get the third viewpoint. And – I think it could have been left out. When I got there-I had no interest in this new character, and only a few sentences in I had strong suspicions as to who it was, and I was correct. I don’t like being correct when I read thrillers – it takes all the fun out of it.
I very strongly recommend that this book finds its way to your shelves, even with its extra character. You won’t regret it.
I finally started making the centerpieces for my wedding. Need something to do with those ARCs? Wrap them in scrap book paper! But seriously, these books look amazing and I can’t wait to stack them up. Also-every time I tell people we’ll add the candle next to the book everyone responds with “BUT THEY’RE FLAMMABLE!” Like-uh huh-and did you forget about LEDs? Because they exist for that exact reason.
As a punishment–er–present to myself this summer I am rewriting one of my pieces from a different character’s POV. I’m also currently working on two other peices, one of which is with Magdalyn Ann.
I’m hoping to finish the re-write this summer so that it’s done and I can focus on edits, but the other two pieces are still fresh little babies. One of them, I actually just pantsed a lot of it and it was amazing to just let my creativity ride. But I’m finally at a point that I have ten end-game scenes and only a few things to begin with and I’m looking for the bridge in between them.
As so the co-written piece: We are planning some bare bones with it and jumping around like bunnies on that thing. But I think we have to. We can’t both write the same scene and it works really nicely to connect my work to someone else’s. I’ve no idea how Maggie is holding up with that because she is not a jumper.
I’m becoming a jumper.
Poor Maggie.
I read–like–no books this month. That’s a lie. I read 3. I think. My history says 4. More like 4 1/2 since I’m still in the middle of one.
I’ve actually been pretty active this month and I’ve definitely delved more into the community. Especially now that it’s summer and I have the time to do so.
That’s mah teachah!!
I’m not going to lie, I’m mainly excited for The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora because Pablo Cartaya was my mentor last fall at Sierra Nevada College and he was the #Best. Pablo is ridiculously talented and I’m 100% psyched for everything he does. And since, technically, Epic Fail is already out, I’m just waiting for it to be delivered to my house!
Save the restaurant. Save the town. Get the girl. Make Abuela proud. Can thirteen-year-old Arturo Zamora do it all or is he in for a BIG, EPIC FAIL?
For Arturo, summetime in Miami means playing basketball until dark, sipping mango smoothies, and keeping cool under banyan trees. And maybe a few shifts as junior lunchtime dishwasher at Abuela’s restaurant. Maybe. But this summer also includes Carmen, a cute poetry enthusiast who moves into Arturo’s apartment complex and turns his stomach into a deep fryer. He almost doesn’t notice the smarmy land developer who rolls into town and threatens to change it. Arturo refuses to let his family and community go down without a fight, and as he schemes with Carmen, Arturo discovers the power of poetry and protest through untold family stories and the work of Jose Marti.
Funny and poignant, The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora is the vibrant story of a family, a striking portrait of a town, and one boy’s quest to save both, perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia.
I posted a whole newbie guide for BookCon at BookedAllNight, but I wanted to help spread this section specifically. I think there are a lot of anxious BookNerds in the world and more cons should be adopting this trend.
Some cons include social cards with your badges. Green for “I’m social! Please feel free to talk to me!” Yellow for “I’m a little shy. Please don’t talk to me unless I’ve instigated the conversation.” Red for “Do not talk to me.” This helps people who don’t do well with crowds (like myself). BookCon does not include these types of badges but I’ve made up a few that you can keep with you to put with your badges in case you need them.
I recommend getting the Scotch brand photo lamination packets and then punching a hole at the top so that you can swap between these. But you can also tape them over your badges-they should fit. Put them on the front so that you don’t cover up the QR scan for your badge.
Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give blew up the book community when it released in February 2017, and for good reasons. The Hate U Give is an intense look into the lives of black kids living in a racist society that’s trying to keep them down. It was not only an incredibly well written story that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, but it was also very heart-wrenching in a way that made me, a white woman, realize my privilege because I knew that I would never be found at the end of such an injustice.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
In The Hate U Give we follow Starr Carter, a sixteen year old girl from Garden Heights, a predominant black community, as her life gets turned upside down when she’s the sole witness in the shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil. She’s pulled into the rollercoaster of the movement to give Khalil the justice he deserves.
The Hate U Give comes right on the heels of the Black Lives Matter movement, the largest movement of the current generation. It’s a must read for anyone and everyone.
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of contemporary stories. They’ve never been for me. I mainly read fantasy for the escapism, but when it comes to police brutality and the state of our world, there’s no place for escapism. The Hate U Give hooks you in and keeps you in the real world, a world where violence against children isn’t always met with the right justice, a world that can still have hope among all the darkness, a world worth fighting for.
Amazon . B&N . Indiebound
J M Tuckerman 