Tag: victoria aveyard

YALLSTAYHOME

YALLWEST 2020 REBRANDED AS YALLSTAYHOME: OVER 70
BESTSELLING & AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS CREATE A VIRTUAL BOOK FESTIVAL

YOUR TOWN, YOUR STATE: YALLWEST returns for its sixth year with more than 70 authors presenting on April 25-26, 2020. The annual gathering typically draws over 20,000 readers to Santa Monica High School, but this year’s event will be entirely virtual. The biggest teen and middle grade book festival in the country is going worldwide (web). Rebranded as YALLSTAYHOME, this free event will feature a weekend of online panel discussions, giveaways, games and more. Special events will surround the festival, with promotions across social media platforms. Additionally, the festival is connecting participating authors with twenty underserved Los Angeles schools for virtual visits via Zoom and providing e-books to their students. Festival founders and #1 New York Times Bestselling authors Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures) and Melissa de la Cruz (The Queen’s Assassin) open the event at 10:00 AM (PDT) by discussing their decade-long collaboration culminating in their upcoming novel, Jo & Laurie. Starsight and Mistborn series author Brandon Sanderson will lead the afternoon keynote at 4:00 PM (PDT).

Saturday closes as Angie Thomas, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbusters On the Come Up and The Hate U Give, host the annual YALLWEST SMACKDOWN variety show with Nic Stone (Dear Martin). Pseudonymous Bosch and Shane Pangburn host a Middle Grade Storyball on Sunday at 10:00 AM (PDT). The entire YALLSTAYHOME experience will end with a star-studded lineup of authors reading their earliest writing on Sunday, April 26th at 5:00 PM (PDT).

Additional YALLSTAYHOME attending authors include Cassandra Clare, Rainbow Rowell,
Karen McManus, Maureen Johnson, Ransom Riggs, Victoria Aveyard, Marie Lu, Roshani Chokshi, Mariko Tamaki and many others (see next page for full line-up). Multiple bestselling authors will appear on the virtual stage for the festival’s Saturday opening and
closing events.

Full event schedule and panel registration can be found at yallwest.com/schedule.

2020 FESTIVAL LINEUP YALLSTAYHOME ‱ April 25-26, 2020

Renée Ahdieh
Melissa Albert
Becky Albertalli
Elise Allen
Janella Angeles
Victoria Aveyard
Gwenda Bond
Pseudonymous Bosch
Alexandra Bracken
Julie Buxbaum
Cecil Castellucci
Traci Chee
Soman Chainani
Roshani Chokshi
Dhonielle Clayton
Ally Condie
Mintie Das
Charlotte Nicole Davis
Melissa de la Cruz
Jennifer De Leon
Natasha DĂ­az
Hafsah Faizal
Jennifer Donnelly
Simone Elkeles
Sarah Enni
Francesca Flores
Romina Garber
Stephanie Garber
Kami Garcia
Stuart Gibbs
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Adalyn Grace
Shannon Hale
Frances Hardinge
Carlos Hernandez
Isabel Ibañez
Jordan Ifueko
George M Johnson
Leah Johnson
Maureen Johnson
Mike Johnston
Marisa Kanter
Amie Kaufman
Bill Konigsberg
Jay Kristoff
Victoria Lee
David Levithan
Alex London
Marie Lu
Tahereh Mafi
Sam Maggs
Karen M. McManus
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Shannon Messenger
Samuel Miller
Bethany C. Morrow
Sarah Mlynowski
Lauren Myracle
Danielle Paige
Shane Pangburn
Lewis Peterson
Rory Power
Brendan Reichs
Ransom Riggs
Lilliam Rivera
Margaret Rogerson
Zan Romanoff
Rainbow Rowell
Brandon Sanderson
Adam Silvera
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Tara Sim
Margaret Stohl
Nic Stone
Mariko Tamaki
Angie Thomas
Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Sarah Watson
David Yoon
F.C. Yee
Abigail Hing Wen
Tracy Wolff
Nicola Yoon

King’s Cage ★★★★★

Blog Features & Headers (3)

So not that long ago, I posted Full Series Stop, in which I was talking about how the preview for this book was making me less excited for it. I would now like to apologize for letting my enthusiasm wane. We waited for King’s Cage and Aveyard delivered.

In this breathless third installment to Victoria Aveyard’s bestselling Red Queen series, allegiances are tested on every side. And when the Lightning Girl’s spark is gone, who will light the way for the rebellion?

Mare Barrow is a prisoner, powerless without her lightning, tormented by her lethal mistakes. She lives at the mercy of a boy she once loved, a boy made of lies and betrayal. Now a king, Maven Calore continues weaving his dead mother’s web in an attempt to maintain control over his country—and his prisoner.

As Mare bears the weight of Silent Stone in the palace, her once-ragtag band of newbloods and Reds continue organizing, training, and expanding. They prepare for war, no longer able to linger in the shadows. And Cal, the exiled prince with his own claim on Mare’s heart, will stop at nothing to bring her back.

When blood turns on blood, and ability on ability, there may be no one left to put out the fire—leaving Norta as Mare knows it to burn all the way down.

Let’s first talk about the viewpoints. Of course, we stay with mare throughout her imprisonment in Whitefire castle, but we also see Cameron and… wait for it…

SPOILERS

Continue reading King’s Cage ★★★★★

Red Queen Series

Blog Features & Headers (2)

I fell in love with this series when Epic Reads shared the first seven chapters just a few short years ago. Now I recommend this series to everyone looking for good books to read. In lieu of having reviews for each of these books, I’ll just post their back copies.

Continue reading Red Queen Series

BookCon Autographs

Some of them were sold out by 12:01pm. The autograph ticketing site opened at 12:00pm. That is insane.

In the mean time: Thought I’d let you guys know who I’m seeing and what panels I’m planning on squeezing into and maybe I’ll see some bloggers there?

June 3

Signings

  • Kerri Maniscalco Signing
  • Marissa Meyer Signing
  • Victoria Aveyard Signing

Panels

  • The Magic of World Building – Danielle Paige, Renee Adhieh, Marie Lu & Melissa de la Cruz
  • Confronting Social Issues
  • Magic with an Edge – Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo
  • Find Your Voice – Sarah Dessen, Shannon Hale, Henny Han, and Morgan Matson
  • A Spectrum of YA Authors
  • Do You Ship This?
  • BookTuber Booksplosion

June 4

Signings

  • Bill Nye Signing
  • Lemony Snicket Signing

Panels

  • Books + YouTube = BookTube
  • A Picture Tells 1,000 Words: Graphic Novels
  • Real Science, Big Adventure: Bill Nye the Science Guy’s New Series for Kids

Glass Sword ★★★★★

If I could sum up my entire experience of Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard in a single gif, it would be this one:

Glass Sword? More like Glass Case of Emotions!

If you’ve spent any amount of time on this site, or listening to our Podcasts, you know how much of a fan Jess and I are of Victoria Aveyard. We fell in love with Red Queen last year, and Glass Sword delivered as many emotions as its predecessor. Maybe even more.

Continue reading Glass Sword ★★★★★

The Red Queen

9780062310651In a recent EpicReads.com post, Harper Teen, an imprint of Harper Collins, shared the first seven chapter of a debut novel by Victoria Aveyard: The Red Queen. They aren’t kidding when they say they’ve been teasing us with snippets. They released book covers, they tweeted, they shared Facebook statuses… they teased us with this alright.

So when I saw they were sharing the first seven chapters on my Facebook feed–I jumped on that opportunity. Let me just say this to Miss Aveyard:

Continue reading The Red Queen