Dog Ears

If you want to learn how to write cliche YA fiction, Snow Like Ashes  by Sara Raasch can show you exactly how. The main character, Meira, is a cookie cutout heroine; tough and not like the other girls, but cursed with the unique challenge of having to decide between two handsome and charming men. These men are basically the same, yet Meira is being forced to marry one while the other she can't have. If you predicted that she falls in love with the one she doesn't want to marry, though, you'd be right! There's barely any conflict between them, and I found their relationship to be boring. Mather, on the other hand, is the king, and therefore Meira can't be with him. Even though they are both homeless refugees from a ruined kingdom, somehow she still isn't worthy of him. Maybe this is Winter culture, I don't know since we don't get to learn much about any of the kingdoms' cultures.  I saw the plot twist at the end coming from a mile away. I'm sure...

It's almost cruel, in my humble opinion, to release a book for pre-order months before it will actually hit shelves. Look at this! the author shrieks, waving a promotional bookmark in your face, I wrote something you are going to love! But I'm not going to give it to you yet. I'm going to make you w a i t. As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan. That doesn't, however, mean that I don't participate in this evil practice. My Amazon cart and wishlist are already holding some upcoming titles for me and will continue to do so until the book actually comes out in ten billion years. Here's what I got. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing - Hank Green I have been a John Green fan ever since I first read A Fault in Our Stars  and have loved Hank Green just as much since I discovered the Vlog Brothers YouTube channel. Hank is an incredibly creative and intelligent person, as seen in his videos, songs, etc, so I'm excited to see how that will take novel form. Hon...

Until about a month ago, I didn't know handing out free chapters was a thing that authors did, but honestly, it's a great idea. The first chapters are the most important ones in the whole book, they determine whether or not the reader keeps going. They're the hook, the trap, that pulls readers into the story, or they're the reason why the reader puts the book down.  TL;DR first chapters are really important.  I grabbed a couple sample chapters at a local author event last month and figured "hey, I could judge these chapters and talk about whether or not I'd keep reading." Thus, the first chapter gauntlet was born. Here we go.  One of the samples I nabbed was Hope(less)  by Melissa Haag (who I got to talk to at Author Daze and is really nice). The sample I got contained the first four chapters of the book, but I focused on the very first one. That was plenty, though, a LOT happens right off the bat.  We are introduced to a girl who has the po...

In the Barrel, everyone knows there's nothing Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker can't do, so when Kaz shows up at your door looking to build a team, you know something serious is about to happen. Six of Crows  is a thrilling young adult heist novel by Grisha Trilogy author Leigh Bardugo that is well worth its 465-page length. It follows Kaz Brekker and his personally chosen dream team as they attempt to do something no one in their right mind would even think about, breaking in, then out, of a dangerous and highly guarded prison. To do this, Dirtyhands recruits a sharpshooter with an unhealthy passion for gambling, a runaway merchling, an ex-circus performer turned assassin, a woman surviving the slubs with a deadly power, and a slave-trader rescued from a life sentence. With such a talented team, a heist of this nature should be simple, given the crew doesn't kill each other first. I absolutely adored Six of Crows  and am already excited to read it again (even though ...