Skip to main content

A Month of Reading: February


Best reads of the past month:

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
This is Marillier's first foray into YA lit and I will confess, I did smile knowingly to myself from time to time, thinking about what the book would be like if she'd written the same story for adults. She's just so good at tension and darkness and the otherworldly that this combination Frog Prince/Twelve Dancing Princesses/Vampire story would make a delicious non-YA. That said, it was a wonderful story and I found myself fascinated to see how she tied together the two familiar (though not necessarily similar) fairy tales, set it in Romania and added in a dollop of vampire lore for good measure. Very imaginative.

The China Garden by Liz Berry
This was part mystery, part fantasy and it kept reminding me of a YA-Mary Stewart novel. Particularly Touch Not the Cat. The rambly old English estate, the family inextricably tied to the land, the ESP. Add some exploration of ancient pagan rites meets early Christianity and you have The China Garden. A fun read.

The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Ok, this was pure fluff. But it made for a fun night's reading curled up on the couch with a blanket and some hot apple cider. I saw it recommended somewhere for fans of Carolyn Mackler and the similarities are certainly there. I prefer Mackler's main characters. They seem a little more willing to take control of their lives when chaos ensues. That said, I enjoyed reading about Roo's adventures at Tate Prep and the sessions with her shrink, Dr. Z, are hilarious.

Valiant by Holly Black
I held off picking up Valiant because, though I definitely enjoyed Tithe (its predecessor), I'm a little tired of Tam Lin retellings. I don't seem capable of being fully satisfied with any of them. Just not my fairy tale, I guess. So I waited for Valiant to come out in paperback and then I picked it up. So glad I did. Though set in the same "world" as Tithe, this urban fantasy is a Black original and I enjoyed it so much I missed Val and Ravus and that crystal sword for a week after finishing it.

Best rereads of the past month:

A Woman of the People by Benjamin Capps
I first read this book in my 7th grade English class in San Antonio as part of our Texas literature unit. I loved it then and hadn't read it since. All the research I've been doing on the history of Native American tribes and their interactions with early settlers reminded me of this book and I managed to find a copy to reread (my old one is in storage. sigh). It was as wonderful and heartbreaking as I remember it being.

The Road Home and Life Without Friends by Ellen Emerson White
Sometimes I need good dialogue so bad that rereading a White is the only solution. Guaranteed to cure any reading slump.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, Review + Giveaway!

It seems a long time ago now that I first read Shiver -- the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. But looking back I started it on the plane ride to BEA and finished it there in the conference center, fingers gripping the cover tightly, while sitting on the floor in one of the many autograph lines. And now it's May again and BEA is right around the corner and I emerge from my recent and nasty reading slump stupor to find a copy of Linger sitting in my mailbox like a glove thrown down in the dirt. "I will be the one to pull you out," it whispers to me slyly. "Just open me up and take a sip. I promise--one sip is all it will take." And I look at it with fear and longing written all over my face. "You promise?" I ask  intently. "Because it's been a long walk in the cold and I'm not sure I can take another disappointment." "Just open me up," it says, confidence written all over its cover. And so I do. And everythin...
161 comments
Read more

Interview with Sarah Rees Brennan + Giveaway!

You are all quite familiar by now with my obsession with The Demon's Lexicon trilogy (you can read my reviews of the first two books  here  and  here ).  I discovered book one at the end of last year and went absolutely wild with delight over the darkly twisting combination of work-their-way-under-your-skin characters and the sinister magical underbelly of the world they live in. It instantly went on my best of the year list and I eagerly awaited the sequel. Today is release day for book two-- The Demon's Covenant --and I can tell you right now it is an incredibly awesome read. To celebrate its release, Sarah Rees Brennan agreed to drop in and answer a few of my questions. I think you'll enjoy the results...  First things first: Hot brothers. We love them. We love you for creating such good ones. Do you have any brothers? Where did the basis for Alan and Nick’s incredibly complex relationship come from? I too love hot brothers, Angie. Not mine. I mean...
93 comments
Read more

Interview with April Lindner + Jane Giveaway!

I'm very excited about today's interviewee. As you know, I had been looking forward to the publication of Jane for months when a review copy happened in my lap and I let out a gasp of joy. Being a modernized retelling of Jane Eyre with a rock star-ized Mr. Rochester named Nico and a cover that hits every last one of my aesthetic buttons, it was sort of made to order for this reader. Needless to say, it more than lived up to my not inconsiderable expectations and I have been recommending it on a pretty much daily basis to family, friends, co-workers, neighbors . . . you get the picture. It's now just under a month until the book is out and, in anticipation of the release, I invited  April Lindner over to dish about all things Jane. She kindly accepted. Please welcome April! First things first: The Cover. I am in deep smit with that cover. Did you have any input and what was your reaction upon seeing it for the first time? I adore the cover too, and was blown away the...
76 comments
Read more