Happy Memorial Day! I hope my fellow Americans are enjoying the day off. I’m thrilled to feature THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING on the blog today. It’s especially appropriate since The Writer’s Voice is in progress right now, and I was on Team Krista in 2012, the first year the contest happened. It was…
middle grade
MMGM: THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES by Kimberley Griffiths Little
I’ve been blindly pulling books out of my stash from the Scholastic Warehouse Sale (no peeking to see what’s next!), so I was especially delighted when I came out with Kimberley Griffiths Little’s THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES. You see, most of my warehouse sale finds are books that either look interesting to me or…
2015 Debuts I Can’t Wait to Read
I saw a few people posting the debuts they’re most anticipating in 2015 and thought, you know, I want to jump on that train! Because I have some writing friends/acquaintances with books coming out this year, and I’m really excited about that. Besides, I’m not going to have any reviews for a couple of weeks…
My Favorite Reads of 2014
I’m doing this post a week early because I’ll be traveling for Christmas (attention crazies: my house will not be empty!) and I’m sure I’ll be playing catch-up when I return. As of today, I’ve read 104 books. I’ll probably squeeze in a couple more before the end of the year, but we’ll go ahead…
MMGM: EVERBLAZE, BALANCE KEEPERS, and THE MAP TO EVERYWHERE
Today I’m continuing my reading roundup with middle grade books–because of course my reading extravaganza included a few of those. I wish I had the time to give them full reviews, but alas, still speed-reading. Of course I have to start with the book by MMGM founder Shannon Messenger. EVERBLAZE is the third installment (and…
LAILAH Giveaway, Plus A Few Other YA Books You Should Read
About a month ago, I went to the Fierce Reads event here in St. Louis and bought a stack of books I was privileged to get signed from the authors. I had time for one of them–LAILAH by Nikki Kelly–before I got buried in library books. I’m not kidding here. I think the library has…
MG Series Recommendation: The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West
I had another YA book ready to review today, but I bumped it because I finished reading the final book in Jacqueline West’s The Books of Elsewhere series last week and I just have to gush about it. THE SHADOWS, the first book in the series, was one of the first middle grade books I…
MMGM: THE BOY PROJECT by Kami Kinard
A couple of weeks ago I read a post on humor by author Kami Kinard and promptly requested three of the books referenced in her post. Ms. Kinard was actually promoting her second book, but as I hadn’t read the first in the series, I had to read it first and found it thoroughly delightful….
MMGM: ALL FOUR STARS by Tara Dairman
It’s only been two weeks and I have another MMGM. Can you believe it? I’ve been waiting to read ALL FOUR STARS ever since October 2011, when it was entered in the same Secret Agent contest as my first middle grade manuscript. That first page is pretty similar to what I remember :). About six…
MMGM Interview & Giveaway: AT YOUR SERVICE by Jen Malone
I’m back! I know it’s been forever since I had an MMGM, but this is a good one because it’s for a book that comes out tomorrow–AT YOUR SERVICE by Jen Malone. I won an annotated e-ARC of this book a couple of months ago, and I loved reading it this way so much Ms….
MMGM Review & Giveaway: EYE OF THE STORM by Kate Messner
I promised that the next time I had an MMGM it would include a giveaway, so here we go. It’s another one of my Scholastic Warehouse Sale finds–EYE OF THE STORM by Kate Messner! In the not-too-distant future, huge tornadoes and monster storms are a part of everyday life. Sent to spend the summer in…
MMGM: A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd
Happy Memorial Day to my fellow Americans! I am spending the day at Six Flags with my family but didn’t want to miss out on posting an MMGM. Today’s review is on a title that kept jumping out at me, much as words do in the story itself :). So many people were recommending A…