Read This!: THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS by Marieke Nijkamp

Read This, Reviews,

This Is Where It EndsThis Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Summary: Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

This was a difficult, heartbreaking read, with a horrifying topic handled with spare grace. It took me a couple of days to recover! I love the way the author shows multiple perspectives of the shooting, drawing us in to the intertwining stories of a diverse group of students undergoing a terrifying ordeal. Sometimes it’s through straightforward narration, sometimes through tweets and texts and blog posts. Hard to read, but rewarding in its reaffirmation of the humanity that ties us all together.

THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS is out now.

View all my reviews

Read This!: FIRSTS by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Read This, Reviews,

FirstsFirsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.  Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.  When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up

This book reminded me a bit of THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger – both books take a frank, unvarnished look at teenage sexuality, both feature likeable protagonists who struggle with real intimacy, and both are populated by winning characters that suck you right into the story.

Mercedes is a flawed, relatable girl whose unconventional response to her own sexual trauma is to devote herself to making the first time better for other girls – by training their boyfriends in secret. Her own relationships spin wildly out of her control – with Zach, the one guy she really cares about but can’t bear to get close to; with Angela, the naïve best friend who has no idea about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities; with Faye, the new girl who challenges Mercedes’ ideas about herself; with her mother, who long ago stopped trying to be any kind of maternal figure. And Mercedes tries to exert control through her secret sexual life. Of course, in the age of social media and rampant slut shaming, her lessons can never stay secret, but when it all falls apart, Mercedes finally learns the most important lesson of all – that she has people in her life who love her, and that she is worthy of that love.

FIRSTS is available now.

View all my reviews

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Life

A few things I am grateful for, in no particular order:

1) My family, especially my ten-year-old son, who gets excited about publishing stuff even when he doesn’t understand it and who regularly gives me pep talks without even realizing it.

2)The chance to immerse myself in stories and to be able to share them with other people. Basically, the wonder of writing.

3) The break I have given myself from writing for the last two weeks. Basically, the wonder of not writing. Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving! →

Around the Internet

Sword and Verse

Advance Reading Copies of Sword and Verse are out in the world now, and bloggers are responding!

Barb at A Book and Hug: “Wondrously meticulous world-building makes the setting a vital character in its own right as the romance builds, the tension spirals upward and the deep threads of self-discovery and our own potential for greatness explode.” Read the full review.

Queen of the Bookshelves: “Very rarely does a book of this caliber fall into one’s hands.” Read the full review and see a neat image collage inspired by the book.

Alyssa at The Eater of Books: “I was LOVING the romance, despite how different it was compared to most romances in YA. I was half in agony, half completely intrigued, and not at all sure how things would end.”- 5 Reasons You Should Read Sword and Verse

 

 

 

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending KidLitCon, right here in my hometown of Baltimore, and presenting a session on “Connecting with Debut Authors” with Alyssa Susanna of The Eater of Books! blog.  I wanted to give attendees a sense of the particular neurosis that is being a debut author, and that means making one thing crystal clear: the waiting.

Oh, the waiting.

To that end, I polled my fellow Sweet Sixteens, and eleven authors graciously agreed to anonymously share the timelines of major developments in the publication of their debut novels.  You can find the entire PowerPoint linked at this post at Alyssa’s blog, but here are some of the averages from our completely unscientific sampling that might surprise you:

waiting game

The moral is: if you wanted to be a published author, be prepared to do a lot of waiting.