Posted in Humor, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Weird Science, reimagined: You Were Made for Me

You Were Made for Me, by Jenna Guillaume, (April 2021, Peachtree Publishers), $17.99, ISBN: 9781682632956

Ages 12-17

Part Weird Science, part Wonder Woman origin story, You Were Made for Me is a fun teen rom-com that touches on topics including asexuality, bullying, male body image, and friendship. Kate Camilleri is a 16-year-old who sculpts her vision of her dream guy out of clay. When she wakes up in the morning, she discovers she’s not alone: a six-foot  tall, floppy haired hunk is laying next to her! Her creation, whom she names Guy, exists to love Katie, but she discovers a whole slew of new problems, including some friction between she and her best friend, Libby, who’s going through some relationship issues of her own, and her male best friend, Theo. All Katie wanted was the perfect first kiss! A fun romp, written in the first person from Katie’s point of view, with additional commentary from Libby, make this a fun read for middle schoolers and high schoolers alike. Good beach read for the summer!

Posted in Uncategorized

Spotlight On: The Black Lotus

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Blog Tour Schedule:
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The Black Lotus
by Claire Warner
Release Date:June 29th 2014

Summary from Goodreads:

….though I would dearly love to play court to you, I would hurt you more than any other.

It is 1752.
The year that will change the life of heiress Melissa De Vire. As she makes her first fumbling steps into society, she meets the handsome young cad Justin Lestrade and his world tears her perceptions apart. For Justin is more than he appears, and his secrets and enemies are manifold. Drawn irresistibly to him, she finds herself sinking into a realm of feuds, magic and old curses and her life will never again be the same.
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The Black Lotus ebook coverExcerpt from The Black Lotus:

“Justin?” He turned as she spoke, “I think you should pursue Melissa De Vire.”

He dropped what he had been holding and walked towards her.

“What?” Utter shock permeated his tones and he stared down at her as though he could not believe what he had just heard. “You must be mad.”

“No, just practical.” Unconcerned by the anger on his face, Emily reached down and pulled the gold bracelet back onto her wrist. “You like her, that much is obvious and she seems to have some interest in you, despite her transparent denials.”

For a long moment, Justin said nothing, stunned by the words that were coming out of Emily’s mouth. “Haven’t you just convinced me that this existence is so much hell, that you would lie with someone you don’t care for just to rid yourself of it? Why would you ask me to pursue someone I couldn’t be with? Do you hate me that much?”

Emily turned away and sat down in one of the chairs. “I don’t hate you Justin, but if you don’t take her and make her yours you will regret it.” She picked up her bonnet and began pulling at the flowers set into it. “Alistair already knows about her, give it a little time and she will be linked with us. I’d much rather you drag her along rather than leave her to be fodder for John.”

“So how does my brother know about Melissa?” Justin’s voice was dangerously quiet as he stood opposite her. “Have you stirred the pot again?” He turned and slammed his fist into the wall. “I thought you were past these petty games. Real people are at stake.”

“Yes.” She stood and faced him. “Real people are at stake and if you do not act this time, John will merely take her from you in the same way he took Anna.” She grabbed his fist and brushed the drops of blood from the knuckles. “Do you not realise yet that there is nothing that you can do to hide her from him.”

“I’ve spoken to her once.” He hoped that she did not see through the lie, “And that has been all. God curse it Emily, she may only be intrigued, do not turn this into a grand love affair on the basis of one conversation.” He pulled his hand free and seized the back of her neck. “If you start this, you’d better be prepared to face the consequences.”

Emily laughed in his face. “Don’t threaten me darling, I won’t take it.” Her hand snaked around his wrist and she pressed hard on the joints, causing him to gasp in pain. “I will not spend the next few decades suffering from your ill temper. Don’t forget love, that I know you almost as well as you know yourself.”

Justin allowed his hand to drop from her skin and whispered. “Then why would push this? I am interested yes, but I know that I can’t have her. John need only know that I flirted with her, as I do with many women.”

“I push because John will know regardless. He has his spies and he will find out.”

About the Authorclaire warner
When I was a child, I made up games and characters when my sister and I played with dolls. As I grew older, I would make up scenarios and scenes, fully intending to write them down but never finding the time. In my late teens, I discovered the world of role playing and settled into an avid ‘geeky’ life of D&D, comics, sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Years passed, and I finally gave voice to the stories in my head. I write romance, fantasy, action and adventure. I love tales of steampunk and history, tales of magical powers, and dark curses lurking in the shadows. Though The Black Lotus is not my first attempt at a novel, it is the first I have finished.

And some fun facts about me:

I sew.
My favourite Disney film is Atlantis.
I’ve been a film extra and stood 5 feet away from Sam Rockwell.
Babylon 5 is my fave sci-fi show.
I cried at the end of Toy Story 3.

Author Links:
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Playlist for The Black Lotus:

Burn: The Cure
The Kill: 30 seconds to Mars
Prayer: Disturbed
Moonchild: Fields of the Nephilim
Gimme Shelter: Rolling Stones
Closer to the Edge: 30 seconds to Mars
In the End: Linkin Park
The Farthest Star: VNV Nation
Bring Me to Life: Evanesence
Sadness: Enigma
We are Glass: Gary Numan
Down in the Park: Gary Numan
Seed of a Lie: Gary Numan
Queen of the Damned Soundtrack: Various
Anyplace Anywhere Anytime: Kim Wilde and Nina

 

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Posted in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

A Curse of Ash & Iron – YA with a little steampunk, a little fairy tale

Ash & Iron eBook 1000A Curse of Ash & Iron, by Christine Norris (May 2015, Curiosity Quills Press), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1620078853

Recommended for ages 13+

Eleanor lost her mother when she was a child, and has been living under her evil stepmother’s thumb ever since. She’s a stranger to her beloved father; indeed, to everyone she once knew – her stepmother has managed to bewitch her so that no one will recognize her. Living as a servant in her own home and forced to wear a stranger’s face in public, Ellie is in for a bleak future until her childhood best friend, Ben Grimm, sees through the spell and recognizes her. Together, guided by a mysterious benefactor, Ellie may have a chance to regaining her life after all.

Heavily influenced by Cinderella, this steampunk fairy tale is great YA reading for girls who like a little steam power in their romance. Ellie isn’t a simpering, fainting Victorian heroine; she’s a smart, determined young woman who is darned angry about the way her life has gone, and she’s going to fight to get it all back. The evil stepmother is truly an awful human being – you’ll be waiting the entire book for a giant anvil to fall out of the sky and bean her, I promise you – and Ben, as the long-lost childhood friend, has his own subplot about his personal quest for independence that will put you firmly in his corner.

Great characters, steam and brass, and a familiar fairy tale feel to comfort you on days when you just want to be a kid again. A Curse of Ash & Iron is the book for your burgeoning steampunk collection. If your readers aren’t quite ready for Gail Carriger’s Finishing School assassins, they’ll love Ellie and her friends. Historical notes at the novel’s end will appeal to history buffs!

Author Christine Norris offers printable goodies on her website, along with some extra content geared toward librarians. Give her some love, she’s one of our tribe!

Posted in Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Check out Cinderella’s Shoes by Shonna Slayton!

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Cinderella’s Shoes by Shonna Slayton

Release Date: 10/06/15, Entangled Teen

Cinderella's shoes_500

Summary from Goodreads:

The war may be over, but Kate Allen’s life is still in upheaval. Not only has she discovered that Cinderella was real, but now she’s been made Keeper of the Wardrobe, her sole responsibility to protect Cinderella’s magical dresses from the greed of the evil stepsisters’ modern descendants. 

But Cinderella’s dresses are just the beginning. It turns out that the priceless glass slippers might actually exist, too, and they could hold the power to reunite lost loved ones like her father—missing in action since World War II ended. As Kate and her boyfriend, Johnny, embark on an adventure from New York to Italy and Poland in search of the mysterious slippers, they will be tested in ways they never imagined.

Because when you harness Cinderella’s magic, danger and evil are sure to follow…

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Don’t forget to add the first book in the series, Cinderella’s Dress, to your reading list!

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shonna slaytonAbout the Author

SHONNA SLAYTON is the author of the YA novels Cinderella’s Dress, (Summer 2014) and Cinderella’s Shoes (Fall 2015) published by Entangled Teen. She finds inspiration in reading vintage diaries written by teens, who despite using different slang, sound a lot like teenagers today. When not writing, Shonna enjoys amaretto lattes and spending time with her husband and children in Arizona.

Author Links:

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From the Author… My Cinderella Shoes

#MyCinderellaShoes

In high school, one of my prized possessions was a pair of mint green Chuck Taylor All Stars. To fully understand the uniqueness of these shoes you have to know that I lived in a small town (aka very few stores, and none of them selling Chucks.)

I don’t know when my obsession with these shoes started. Probably from an ad in a magazine! But I so wanted a pair.

I couldn’t buy them off the internet because back in the day…no internet! *gasp*

Finally, on an unexpected trip to Calgary, Alberta during spring break I found a store at the mall selling Chucks. It took all the money I had with me, but I bought those shoes (and a T-shirt saying “Get your Yucks in Chucks.”) Then a few weeks later, one of my friends took a trip to Vancouver, BC and came back with a peach pair.

Being the same shoe size, we swapped one shoe each and wore two different colored shoes—mint and peach—until the end of the school year.

My feet grew a half-size since then, but I kept the Chucks. They are in one last box of my belongings left at my parent’s house. I thought maybe my daughter might want to wear a pair of retro shoes one day.

 

The History Behind the Story of Cinderella’s Shoes

Cinderella’s Shoes is set during the summer of 1947, and takes place mostly in Europe. Have you ever thought about what life was like in Europe after World War II?

Well, immediately after the war ended in 1945, life was about the same as it was during the war. Roads and railroads were still bombed out. Bridges were still out of commission. Food was still rationed. And the black market was still the place to get the products you really wanted.

People were angry. Some wanted revenge. And who exactly was in charge of keeping the peace?

This is the background my European characters are coming out of when my American characters arrive on the scene.

In my research, I read about many of the atrocities committed during the war, and those that were allowed to happen immediately afterward to “help” people deal with their emotions and settle back into regular, non-wartime life. (For example, Google: WWII head shaving.)

Various countries handled this change in power differently, and this transitional time led to the rise of communism in Poland, the heart of my Cinderella stories.

But Cinderella’s Shoes is mostly a fairy-tale story, so I don’t go into gruesome details, just hint at events that might have occurred in my character’s lives. However, I couldn’t avoid the setting, nor could I forget what I had learned. Neither could my characters.

 

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Posted in Uncategorized, Young Adult/New Adult

YA Media Blitz: The Glass Mermaid, by Poppy Lawless!

The Glass Mermaid by Poppy Lawless
Release Date: 07/14/15
Love Potion Books
Summary from Goodreads:Kate

I’m the last mermaid.

I’m back on shores of Lake Erie, but the cold waters are silent. There is
nothing here for me but ghosts and the beach glass that litters the rocky
shore. Long ago, I lived below the waves. Now, I am the sole survivor, and at long last, my mermaid glamour is leaving me.

Every day, I walk the beach. Every day, I wonder what happened to my people. The little pieces of colored glass that wash ashore give me simple pleasure. They are gifts from the lake, reminders of home. I fashion them into trinkets: necklaces, earrings, bracelets. They are beautiful things. The humans seem love them.

Every day, I walk the beach. Nothing ever changes, until the day he says hello.

 

Cooper

I’m dying.

It’s not a question, it’s a fact. The cancer is eating me alive. They told me I have six months to live, maybe less. I came home, back to Chancellor on Lake Erie, to die. The sunsets are vivid there, and I will relish every one.

I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than a Lake Erie sunset until I see her.

All life is fragile as glass.


W
hat would you sacrifice to save the one you love?

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About the Author: Romance author. Cupcake connoisseur. Certified herbalist. Beach bum. Fan of all things Starbucks.
Holistic healing advocate. Surfer girl wanna-be. Lost guru. Maker of dandelion wine. Counselor. Paranormal buff. Etsy addict. Secretly Jedi. So not a geek girl. Gifted in sarcasm. Hot wife. Ninja mom. And now, I’m ready to share a whole head full of witty, mouthy, smart, lovely, heart-warming, and hot characters with the world. Are you ready?

Poppy Lawless is the author of the forthcoming series Love & Chocolate releasing in 2015 and The Glass Mermaid. Poppy holds degrees in English and Psychology. She is a counselor in the field of mental health and is a trained herbalist. Poppy’s new series blends the best of romance with a Practical Magic or contemporary Bewitched appeal.

 

Author Links:
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Posted in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

An excerpt from The Temple of Doubt

I recently reviewed Anne Boles Levy’s sci-fi/fantasy YA novel, The Temple of Doubt. The book is about to hit shelves, and I’m able to bring you an excerpt… you know, to whet those appetites. Here you go:

temple of doubt

“Brown snakes as thick as a man’s arm slid from branches on either side of our punt and into the water, where they writhed across the murky surface. The boat paused to avoid them and then skirted the narrow, spiked waterwood roots that poke above the water line. A pole wedged between several roots the puntsman couldn’t see, and he twisted it free. 

I shared the narrow craft with Mami and S’ami and two guards to prod us along. It was a tight fit, and knees would knock at any unexpected turn of the craft. I wasn’t going to make good on my days-ago wish of throttling S’ami with my head scarf, but it did take effort not to wince whenever he looked my way. He was the only Azwan with us. The other Azwan and half the guards had remained behind in the expectation S’ami would die.

I’d forced myself to keep my head straight and not glance around, feverishly looking for Valeo. I hadn’t made up my mind whether I wanted him there nor not. I didn’t want anyone I knew, even slightly, to be out in the wilds with us. But I also didn’t want to die alone here without a single ally among the hulking Temple Guards. Who else besides Valeo would care even a little whether Mami and I made it back?”

You can buy The Temple of Doubt on August 4th. Check out the Sky Pony website to order your copy; while you’re at it, follow them on social media. They’ve got some great books coming out!

Posted in Fantasy, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

YA Book Blitz: Love in the Gilded Age by Saruuh Kelsey

 

Love In The Gilded Age (Fissure Chronicles, #1)
Release Date: 10/28/14
Summary from Goodreads: Once in a hidden queendom…
There is an ocean: In the infinite distance, between one hidden world and the next, is an unmeasurable expanse of twenty seas. One sprawling edge of the
world to another is filled with waters as beautiful as they are deadly, as miraculous as they are fraught. Treasure and treachery litter their ocean beds, sleeping side by side with adventurers whose travels ended abruptly, lives caught and held under a wave until all breaths fled.
There is a land: Tucked into a corner where four oceans fold together, land rises up illustrious in a jagged slash of mountains and forests, with secrets and wonders as plentiful as any water.
There are chronicles: Not of the twenty savage seas but of the fissure of land and the people who sigh life into it.
In an original epic fantasy world, Love In The Gilded Age reimagines the heroes and heroines of Grimm fairy tales as ethnically diverse, LGBT, disabled, and gender flipped.
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EXCERPT:
Xanna drove herself forward, leaning into the run to propel them along. Her mother was trailing behind her but didn’t have an option except to follow as Xanna leapt from the last bit of land and crashed into the pond. She heard Koal’s strangled shout as she broke the surface, gasping and paddling wildly. She fought every bit of tiredness in her muscles as she dragged her mother from the depths of the water; she emerged spluttering and angry. “He will kill you for that,” her mother said without emotion. No fear
for her daughter’s life, no regret, no anger, just a blank statement of facts.
“No,” Xanna hissed. “I won’t be the one dying today.”
“Three souls will pass in this last fight.” Her mother dissolved into the senseless chanting of before, only repeated the ominous three souls will pass in this last fight. At least she had the good sense to pump her legs and move her arms to stay afloat.
Xanna had to get the rope off them if her plan was going to work. She pulled at their bound wrists, fearful and frustrated, and the vine uncoiled as if in response to her wish at the same moment the Wolf
reached the edge of the pool and leapt in. It loves my mother, Xanna thought, but found she didn’t care. She gripped the rope in a fist as she put three lengths between her mother, watching the Wolf wade sloppily through the water to the woman it loved.
She didn’t have long. Xanna had to act, and she had to be both quick and quiet about it—an impossibility now that her every movement made a splash. Still, she had to try. Koal was shouting at her from the clearing but she blocked out his warnings.
The Wolf only noticed her presence when she wrapped the vine around its neck and pulled it taut. Growling, it fought to face her but couldn’t spin and remain afloat at the same time. Xanna kicked her legs faster, unable to use her arms to keep her from a drowned death as she strangled the animal. She was slipping, on the verge of sinking. Without warning, the Wolf dipped underwater, testing her grip on the vine. She lost the rope.
Xanna looked around for it desperately. It was her only weapon.
The vine didn’t resurface but the Wolf did.

About the Author

Saruuh Kelsey is the author of several novels for young adults, including the free Lux Guardians series and The Legend Mirror series. Her latest releases include THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, and a collection of diverse fairy tales in LOVE IN THE GILDED AGE. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.co.uk.

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Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

YA Cover Reveal: Nora and Kettle by Lauren Nicolle Taylor!

Nora & Kettle
Release Date: 02/29/16
Clean Teen Reads
Summary from Goodreads:
What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid  just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?

Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese- American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to—the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having “one drop of Japanese blood in them”—things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.

Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora—the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.

For months, they’ve lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting.  But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.

In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.

Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores
the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.
 
About the Author
Lauren Nicolle Taylor lives in the lush Adelaide Hills. The daughter of a Malaysian nuclear physicist and an Australian scientist, she was expected to follow a science career path, attending Adelaide University and completing a Health Science degree with Honours in obstetrics and gynaecology. 
She then worked in health research for a short time before having her first child. Due to their extensive health issues, Lauren spent her twenties as a full-time mother/carer to her three children. When her family life settled down, she turned to writing. She is a 2014 Kindle Book Awards Semi-finalist and a USA Best Book Awards Finalist.
 
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Posted in Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Book Blitz: They Call Me Alexandra Gastone, by T.A. MacLagan

 Books can show us visions. Have you ever found your mind beginning to imagine the characters you meet within the pages? Have you experienced a film projector of scenes in your
head as you read about the girl who travels to the fifth dimension, or the boy who’s trying to graduate from being a wallflower? When you read, your mind naturally creates images, almost like watching a movie.  Why not turn those images into a reality by making a movie poster?
Full Fathom Five and T.A. Maclagan are hosting a movie poster design contest to celebrate the
release of T.A.’s debut, They Call Me Alexandra Gastone, a novel heralded by Booklist as “An intricate, debut spy thriller…” The contest will run from July 7th to August 15th.
One winner will receive a $100 gift card to the retailer of their choice, a book from FFF’s
list of authors, and Alexandra Gastone swag! All participants will be featured on T.A. Maclagan’s blog and Tumblr, and the winner will be featured on the Full Fathom Five website! Artists may use any medium from crayon to Photoshop.
They Call Me Alexandra Gastone
Release Date: 05/20/15
Full Fathom Five Digital
226 pages
Summary from Goodreads:
When your life is a lie, how do you know what’s real?Alexandra Gastone has a simple plan: graduate high school, get into Princeton, work for the CIA, and serve her great nation.

She was told the plan back when her name was Milena Rokva, back before the real Alexandra and her family were killed in a car crash.

Milena was trained to be a sleeper agent by Perun, a clandestine organization from her true homeland of Olissa. There, Milena learned everything she needed to infiltrate the life of CIA analyst Albert Gastone, Alexandra’s grandfather, and the ranks of America’s top intelligence agency.

For seven years, “Alexandra” has been on standby and life’s been good. Grandpa
Albert loves her, and her strategically chosen boyfriend, Grant, is amazing.

But things are about to change. Perun no longer needs her at the CIA in five
years’ time. They need her active now.

Between her cover as a high school girl—juggling a homecoming dance, history
reports, and an increasingly suspicious boyfriend—and her mission in this
high-stakes spy game, the boundaries of her two lives are beginning to blur.

Will she stay true to the country she barely remembers, or has her loyalty shattered along with her identity?

Praise for They Call Me Alexandra Gastone:
“An intricate, debut spy  thriller…readers will keep turning pages, and the surprise ending will have them anxiously awaiting a sequel.” —Booklist
“…the intersection of action, espionage, and drama makes for solid…entertainment: readers will gladly sit back and watch Alexandra navigate the obstacle course that comes with playing her role too well. It’s a strong debut for New Zealand author Maclagan.” —Publisher’s
Weekly

“Death-threats, global takeover, double-agents, hidden files and a blown cover—by the time you get to the shocking conclusion of this cliff-hanger, you won’t know who to trust…” Girls’ Life

About the Author
T.A. Maclagan
is a Kansas girl by birth but now lives in the bush-clad hills of Wellington, New Zealand with her Kiwi husband, son and four pampered cats. With a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in anthropology, she’s studied poison dart frogs in the rainforests of Costa Rica, howler monkeys in Panama and the very exotic and always elusive American farmer. It was as she was writing her ‘just the facts’ dissertation that T.A. felt the call to pursue something more
imaginative and discovered a passion for creative writing. They Call Me Alexandra Gastone is her first novel.
You can find her online at:

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Posted in Teen

Blackout Poetry in the Classroom

I’ve been working on Summer Reading programs to bring into my libraries, and the concept of Blackout Poetry in the Classroom grabbed my eye (thanks, Hushlander!). It reminded me of the book Rhyme Schemer, which I enjoyed, and think that my teens and tweens may get a kick out of using a Sharpie and an old newspaper or book page to create some art. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Does anyone have any Summer Reading programs for teens to talk about? I’d love to hear!