Angieville

Not long ago I discovered a few of you tweeting to get me to the 300 follower mark. As little things I read on Twitter often do, that one sort of made my day. You're all really too sweet for words and I joked that perhaps it was time for a giveaway. The truth is I've been in the mood to have one for awhile now and this is as good a time as any. So here's the deal. This will be a triple prize pack giveaway , meaning there are three packs and you can indicate which one you'd like to be entered to win in the comments. I will choose three random winners and contact them. This giveaway is open to anywhere The Book Depository ships! Here's the list of countries , FYI. Since I tend to read a lot of urban fantasy, straight fantasy, and young adult, I've chosen a set of each including all books currently in print in that series. The Urban Fantasy Pack The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (My reviews here , here , & here )   The Fantasy Pack The Queen's Th...

A couple of days ago Kmont over at Lurv a la Mode posed the question: What's with all the crappy parenting in YA novels? I had to smile when I read her thought-provoking post as it's an old, familiar trope of young adult literature--remove the parental units and BANG! You've got free reign. It makes sense to a certain degree, right? In the absence of authority figures and/or the adults in the teen's life most likely to object to all manner of shenanigans, your protagonist can get up to scads of mischief, thus providing the crisis/plot/problem what have you. Better yet, kill off or mysteriously disappear one parent and you've got some juicy material for teen angst and conflict. This is an old trope stretching back to when orphans were prime protagonists in young people's literature and I do think things have changed over the years. But it does seem to still hold true in a large section of YA fantasy novels, since a kind, involved, non-self absorbed set of paren...

Have you ever finished a book that just knocked your socks off? So far off you felt like shouting its praises from the top of someplace very high. And have you then gone trolling around looking for reviews and discussions on said book and been absolutely flummoxed to find...nothing? Or, if not nothing, small pockets of devoted readers here and there but nowhere near the following you feel it deserves. Last week Diana Peterfreund wrote a thoughtful post about Under-the-Radar Books in which she listed a few of the books she wishes everyone were reading and threw the question out to her readers. A lot of it, for better or worse, has to do with money and marketing but in this day and age it seems like authors and readers and bloggers can do a lot to spread the word on a few hidden gems and why they deserve the love. I can think of a host of excellent books--books that have ended up on my Beloved Bookshelf--that I would never have picked up on my own. But because of some other reader'...