#BookMail: Week of October 27

I’m so excited about this stack of bookmail I received last week! I got my October Fairyloot and Illumicrate books and they’ve both got sprayed edges and are going to look *fabulous* on my shelves.

Thank you to all of the wonderful publishers who sent along these beauties!

(from the top of the stack to the bottom)

Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles

The blurb on the back of this ARC described this book as “Moulin Rouge meets Phantom of the Opera” and I couldn’t be more sold.

In a city covered in ice and ruin, a group of magicians face off in a daring game of magical feats to find the next headliner of the Conquering Circus, only to find themselves under the threat of an unseen danger striking behind the scenes.

As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.

Goodreads synopsis

Tentative pub date: June 2, 2020 by Wednesday Books

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

The epic conclusion to Marissa Meyer’s thrilling Renegades Trilogy finds Nova and Adrian struggling to keep their secret identities concealed while the battle rages on between their alter egos, their allies, and their greatest fears come to life. Secrets, lies, and betrayals are revealed as anarchy once again threatens to reclaim Gatlon City.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: November 5, 2019 by Feiwel & Friends

Becoming RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Journey to Justice by Debbie Levy, Whitney Gardner

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a modern feminist icon—a leader in the fight for equal treatment of girls and women in society and the workplace. She blazed trails to the peaks of the male-centric worlds of education and law, where women had rarely risen before.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: November 5, 2019 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick

It’s summer in the city and passions are soaring along with the temperature—for everyone but Mitchell Fisher, who hates all things romance. He relishes his job cutting off the padlocks that couples fasten to the famous “love story” bridge. Only his young daughter, Poppy, knows that behind his prickly veneer, Mitchell still grieves the loss of her mother.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: April 28, 2020 by Park Row

Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah

All Beth has to do is drive her son to his soccer game, watch him play, and then return home. Just because she knows her ex-best friend lives near the field, that doesn’t mean she has to drive past her house and try to catch a glimpse of her. Why would Beth do that and risk dredging up painful memories? She hasn’t seen Flora for twelve years. She doesn’t want to see her today—or ever again. But she can’t resist. She parks outside the open gates of Newnham House, watches from across the road as Flora arrives and calls to her children Thomas and Emily to get out of the car.

Except . . . There’s something terribly wrong. Flora looks the same, only older. Twelve years ago, Thomas and Emily were five and three years old. Today, they look precisely as they did then. They are Thomas and Emily without a doubt, but they haven’t changed at all. They are no taller, no older. Why haven’t they grown? How is it possible that they haven’t grown up?

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: February 4, 2020 by William Morrow

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves

By all appearances, Frank and Maggie share a happy, loving marriage. But for the past six months, they have not spoken. Not a sentence, not a single word. Maggie isn’t sure what, exactly, provoked Frank’s silence, though she has a few ideas. Then Frank finds Maggie collapsed in the kitchen, unconscious, an empty package of sleeping pills on the table. Rushed to the hospital, she is placed in a medically induced coma while the doctors assess the damage. If she regains consciousness, Maggie may never be the same. Though he is overwhelmed at the thought of losing his wife, will Frank be able to find his voice once again—and explain his withdrawal—or is it too late?

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: April 7, 2020 by William Morrow

The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer

What if you could turn into the animal of your heart anytime you want?With such power, you’d enter the cream of New York society, guaranteed a rich life among the Vanderbilts and Astors, movers and shakers who all have the magical talent and own the nation on the cusp of a new century.
You could. If you were a Trader. Pity you’re not.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: April 7, 2020 by Tor Books

Inexpressible Island by Paulina Simons

Julian has lost everything he ever loved and is almost out of time. His life and death struggle against fate offers him one last chance to do the impossible and save the woman to whom he is permanently bound. Together, Julian and Josephine must wage war against the relentless dark force that threatens to destroy them. This fight will take everything they have and everything they are as they try once more to give each other their unfinished lives back.

Goodreads Synopsis

Tentative pub date: November 19, 2029 by HarperCollins

I Met Marie Lu!

Last Thursday I had the privilege of moderated my THIRD author event at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul. And this time I got to chat with the one, the only Marie Lu!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thank you to Macmillan and Angela at RBB for thinking of me! I’ve been so blessed to meet and talk with amazing authors this year.

BLOG TOUR: Chicken Girl, Heather Smith (March 5, 2019)

Hate to admit it, folks, but it’s been a pretty slow reading year. Not many books have caught my attention or if they, I’ve felt relatively let down by it. When I agreed to be a part of the blog tour for CHICKEN GIRL by Heather Smith back in November, I knew that this was just one of those books that was going to be up my alley. And from the very first page, Poppy and her new friends stole my heart.

The 411: Poppy used to be an optimist. But after a photo of her dressed as Rosie the Riveter is mocked online, she’s having trouble seeing the good in the world. As a result, Poppy trades her beloved vintage clothes for a feathered chicken costume and accepts a job as an anonymous sign waver outside a restaurant. There, Poppy meets six-year-old girl Miracle, who helps Poppy see beyond her own pain, opening her eyes to the people around her: Cam, her twin brother, who is adjusting to life as an openly gay teen; Buck, a charming photographer with a cute British accent and a not-so-cute mean-streak; and Lewis a teen caring for an ailing parent, while struggling to reach the final stages of his gender transition. As the summer unfolds, Poppy stops glorifying the past and starts focusing on the present. But just as she comes to terms with the fact that there is good and bad in everyone, she is tested by a deep betrayal.

(my attempt at taking an artsy-bookstagram photo)

My Rambles: There is so much wonderful representation in this book that it’s hard to even cover it all. And Poppy is a heroine all teen girls (all females, really) need to read about at least once in their life. I especially connected with Poppy’s body issues and insecurities. Another character I appreciated was Cam, who used to be a jocky-sports guy before coming out and now has become a more flamboyant version of himself. Poppy feels this isn’t who Cam truly is and wants him to be himself. His jocky self. A complete 180 from the stories we usually get about gay males. When Poppy first talks to Lewis and finds out about his gender transition, she’s isn’t eloquent. She says the wrong thing. And Lewis understandably calls her out and helps her understand. The interaction is refreshing and doesn’t point fingers and they both learn from the situation. This is something our world is in desperate need of today. CHICKEN GIRL is a short book, only a little over 200 pages and surprisingly isn’t one that I just flew through. For the best reason. You know those times when you’re watching a movie or tv show and you’re cringing because it’s just that relatable? This was me the entire time reading this book. Poppy feels like a real person whose life you are watching on camera. It almost feels intrusive how much I related to this character.

MY RATING:  ✰✰✰.5

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for including me on this tour and for providing my galley.

I’m Moderating My Second Author Panel!

As you all may know, back in May I moderated my first author panel on the St. Paul stop of the Fierce Reads Tour from Macmillan. A few weeks ago I was contacted by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers about moderating an author in October…and this time it’s with…

The lovely, LAINI TAYLOR!

I had to leave BookExpo early and was super bummed when I found out I wasn’t going to be able to attend her ARC signing of MUSE OF NIGHTMARES. The first book, STRANGE THE DREAMER, was one of my biggest surprises of 2017 and I was so excited to dive back into the world of Weep. So you can imagine my delight and surprise when I got a copy of MUSE in the mail about a month later. (I apologize to my coworkers, that was a pretty loud pterodactyl scream I let out.)

STRANGE THE DREAMER tells the story of librarian Lazlo Strange, who has been obsessed with the mythical city of Weep and what exactly happened to it and its inhabitants. He’s then given a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only find out the answers, but to go to Weep itself. Then there’s a backstory with some teens with blue skin who powers and of course, a perfect love story if that’s your sort of thing (it’s mine).

MUSE is the second book in this duology and it’s perfect. I was super satisfied with the ending of this story. [Full review of MUSE OF NIGHTMARES to come!]

If you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should def drop by the wonderful Red Balloon Bookshop on October 8 and hang with me and Laini. Her writing is so lyrical and gorgeous and the worlds she creates are so detailed and diverse, I cannot WAIT to chat with her.

#Recommendsday: Book Community Edition!

One of the best decisions I made this year was to get more involved with the book community as a whole. I’ve got some recommendations for big outlets: Insta, YouTube, and blog platforms. (There’s some overlap–many of these wonderful peeps are overachievers and do all three.) Please send me any and all recs you have–I definitely need more diverse and male-identifying voices on here!


Bookstagrammers

All these pictures are always gorgeous–teach me your ways! And I love watching book mail openings. 👇🏽

xenatine, darkfaerietales_, myfriendsarefiction, bookish_mai,


Booktubers

I love rants. I love raves. I look unboxings. I love booktube. Check these out 👇🏽

jessethereader, emmmabooks, A Clockwork Reader, PeruseProject


Bloggers / Reviewers

I strive to be like every single one of you. 👇🏽

The Suspense Is Thrilling Me, Her Bookish Things, A Page with a View

What I’m Loving Wednesday: 11/29/17

Happy Wednesday! Whooooaaaa we’re halfway there. I hope all of your weeks are going well so far. Two more days, peeps. We can do it.


What I’m Listening to…

If you’re not sold by the amazing playlist name, STEVE’S MORNING HAIR GROOVES, you’ll be convinced by the eclectic mix of hits from the 80s. I’ve been listening this as a pump up playlist every morning this week and it’s legit. And it’s all in homage to my favorite STRANGER THINGS’ character, Steve.

 


What I’m Watching…

This week was the annual Arrowverse crossover event between SUPERGIRL, THE FLASH, ARROW, and LEGENDS OF TOMORROW. I’m a religious watcher of Supergirl and The Flash, but I know enough about Legends and Arrow to understand what’s going on.  I still have to watch Part 4 (I bailed for This Is Us) but the first three parts were awesome. I’ll say it again: DO NOT WRITE OFF THE CW. I still think they have awesome programming. I’m excited for BLACK LIGHTNING to be added into the mix.

PS, everyone run to go see WONDER in theatres. But bring tissues and prepare to be emotionally destroyed.


What I’m Reading…

I’m about a quarter into THUNDERHEAD, the sequel to SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman and I’m SO happy to be back in this post-natural death world, where highly respected citizens known as Scythes are responsible for keeping the human population level manageable by “gleaning” aka executing people who fit certain categories. It’s a little morbid, pretty dark, and full of conspiracy and creepy surveillance (the Thunderhead). I’m breezing through this and loving it. Add this series to your TBR!


>> “What I’m Loving…” ARCHIVE <<