Road Trip Wednesday- Best of March

This Week's YA Highway Road Trip Topic:

What was the best book you read in March?

I had another incredible listening month. Next Monday I'll share the whole list. But today I need to pick a favorite.

My love of Historicals won out this month. Along with the fact I haven't seen any buzz about this book online.

It's WRAPPED, by Jennifer Bradbury:

Agnes Wilkins would much rather be traveling the world than having her debut into society. But when she pockets an item from a mummy at an unwrapping party, she finds that the world might end up coming to her...in dangerous ways.

As I've admitted before, I'm highly biased toward Historicals and YA ones are hard to come by...making me even more biased toward them.

Nevertheless, I loved how this one managed to throw in some believable teen angst...plus the problem of never liking the guy your parents (mom, especially) want/wants you to like.

The English fascination with Egyptian artifacts brought me back the my Amelia Peabody listening days (A wonderful Historical Mystery series by Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels). So, overall, a thoroughly enjoyable listen for me.

What about you? Read/heard of Wrapped? Read anything by Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels?

Debut Author Challenge #3

For Debut Author number three, I chose (thanks to Audible) BORN WICKED, by Jessica Spotswood.

Cate Cahill has to pick a husband soon or have one picked for her by the Brotherhood. Only, she has two younger sisters to protect. All three sisters are witches, and if the Brotherhood found out about that, Cate would have far worse things than a forced marriage to worry about.

I enjoyed this book. Historicals, even Fantasy/Alternative History style, always get bonus points with me, but I think a lot of female readers could relate to this one. The forbidden love element helps too.

Most important (to me, anyway), is that male dominance in our culture may be of a more subtle nature, but there are still parts of the world where the lack of choices for females and the risk of persecution are as strong as in Spotswood's world.

What about you? Read this one? Any other debuts to recommend?

Road Trip Wednesday-You Had Me At...

This Week's YA Highway Road Trip Topic:

A long-awaited kiss, a surprise ending, a character's sudden decision… these are the moments that make us smile, gasp, and LOVE a book for the rest of our lives.

What is your favorite literary moment?

There are so many great YA moments: 

-Meeting Hermione in HP

-Evie's taser love in Paranormalcy 

-The chapter beginnings with advice/theories about men from different characters in Honey Baby Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

-How Eragon defeats Galbatorix in Inheritance...It lived up to the four book buildup for me (and that's saying a lot as I think defeating undefeatable villians is one of the hardest things to do as a writer)

-The advertisements in Beauty Queens.

-The friend who's a talking head in Hold Me Closer Necromancer

-The slang in the Uglies series (so crazy making)

-The ending of Heist Society where I decided I wouldn't mind living in that world

-Tiny's monologue on the swing set in Will Grayson, Will Grayson

But the one that got to me most is a complete spoiler from Catching Fire:

**************Spoiler Alert*****************

When I read that Katniss had to go back into the arena I yelled, (OL, for real) "No," and had to put the book down for a while before I could continue.

I laugh and even cry often during books, but that's the only time I remember having a physical reaction to a plot twist...that one killed me. 

What about you? What's your favorite one that I listed? What was your most Earth-shattering fictional moment? 

Friday Update

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Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
-I love Hawthorne, and I love this quote...even more so since I don't think most high school students would think of Hawthorne as "easy reading." Interesting to know that he was aiming for that in his day.

*******

Anyhoo, I haven't said much about CHEATER BEATERS since my Big News announcement, so I decided to post an update.

A rough, rough is done for the first book in my series (minus special features and alternate plot paths), and I had a conference call about it with my editor today. Love it when I have an excuse to say my editor...good feeling. And I love working with her too!

There's still a lot of work to do. I have no production timeline or cover to share, but things are moving...and I'm getting the distinct feeling that this is really happening. Yay!!!

Also, Coliloquy (my publisher...another my statement I do like saying) just released its first stand alone YA novel, FLUID, by Travis Sentell. A story with 500 different plot pathways...my writerly mind boggles at the thought, but it sounds amazing.

What about you? Read anything from Coliloquy yet? Have any of your own updates to share?

Road Trip Wenesday-Globetrotting Dreams

This Week's YA Highway Road Trip Topic:
In honor of the release of Kirsten's WANDERLOVE yesterday--which is amazing, by the way; get yourselves to a bookstore if you haven't!--we bring you a travel-themed RTW prompt today! If you could wander anywhere in the world, where would it be, and why?

I would love to wander the whole world, but my only trips outside the U.S. have been short ones to Mexico and Canada.

Given that, I'd wish to start my wanderings in Great Britain.

Sure, it's beautiful. There's the Tower of London, Stonehenge

And the Scottish Moors to see.

But the thing that draws me there most is my first love...the books I tore through as a dreamy teenager...Historical Romances. I tried reading the ones set in Historical U.S., but only the ones set in Great Britain would do.

AND, my more recent book love, Jane Austen. I'd want to pay homage to her too.

What about you? Where would you wander?

Debut Author Challenge #2 (and contest winners)

My second debut book of the year comes to me via Audible. It's Graffiti Moon by  Cath Crowley: 

Lucy's looking for the perfect boyfriend she hasn't met yet, an anonymous graffiti artist named Shadow. Little does she know that she's persuing her dream guy with the actual version of him.

I love anything set in England, historical or contemp, and this book proved no exception. In contemp ones, I especially like that most girl protags, even if they're fairly innocent, are more upfront about "hooking up" issues than their U.S. counterparts (think Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging). I find it refreshing and more authentic.


AND...the winners of this month's How Many Have You Read/Heard contest are: Lori and Jaime. I'll be sending out emails later today.

What about you? Read this one yet? Any other debuts?

Road Trip Wednesday

This Week's YA Highway Road Trip Topic:

NAME THIS LIFE: What would your memoir be called?


After a little soul searching this morning, I decided on:

The Heart is Willing (my hands just haven't figured things out yet)

or, maybe:

The Unrequited Optimist

I know...niether is too smart or pithy...and they wouldn't have them yanking it off the shelves (or clicking the ebook into their shopping cart), but they fit where I am right now.

I hope for and care about so much...my family, my writing, the world and its future...I just haven't figured out the best ways to help with all of it yet. I'm still definitely a WIP.

Ah, there it is. The pithy (if not smart) title:

Me: A WIP



What about you? What would your title be?

How Many Have You Read/Heard Contest (My February Listens)

Now for my favorite post of the month, my How Many Have You Read/Heard Contest.

I'm giving away these two books:

(signed)

 (also signed)

To win, let me know how many of my fabulous February listens you've read or listened to.

Here they are:

A dystopian from two POVs. Their different worlds meet, making way for possible change.











The setting is its own character in this part fantastical/part historical story that will draw you into its magic.

The finale of Tamora Pierce's Beka Cooper series , which started with Terrier. Gritty Fantasy meets who-done-it in this wonderful series, which tops all her other work...which is saying a lot as I've always enjoyed her work.

I was so thrilled when my library system got the audio of this highly recommended book.

A debut author book I haven't posted about yet...so, stay tuned. But right now I'll tell you that it's well worth reading!










 My first debut listen (already posted about). A time bender like none you've ever read before.









Also highly recommended. Was also thrilled when my library got the audio.














Another highly recommended book, but I got this one through Audible.

Picked this as my February favorite (Here). But as you can probably tell from the list above, it was a tough choice to make.






Read any of these? Let me know which ones. One entry per book.