About Me

Librarian. Okay, okay. Uber-librarian. Minus the MLS. That might happen. Someday.

I grew up in a small town in Maine—so small that by the time I was twelve, I'd read most of the books in the local library. So small that up until sixth grade, my class only had twelve kids in it. When I hit the middle school/high school, my class size expanded to a grand total of 92 kids—and that was 4.5 towns worth of teens. So yeah. Small. I wanted out. I wanted out so bad that I thought once I hit college, I'd never go back.

Of course, less than a semester into my first year, I realized that Maine was (and is) The Place I Want To Be. It took me eight years—including my four years at Brandeis—but I finally made it back.

I'm not a writer, I'm a reader. I don't review books critically and objectively, I respond to them personally and from my gut. So beware. Highbrow intellectual critiques do not live here.

A few years later: Okay, first off, I'm pretty amazed that I've had this blog for so long. My reviews continue to be mostly comprised of my personal response to the book, but I think I've started to treat them a bit more critically and objectively than in the past. Sometimes. When I'm in the right mood. There's still a distinct lack of highbrow intellectualism, though.

I've participated in the Cybils every year since they began, I was one of the original Guys Lit Wire posters, and I blog on a weekly basis for Kirkus Reviews. My sister and I recently started a book review podcast called The Roy Girls Read.

I blog because I love YA books and the YA community, and because I love to spread the word about books (regardless of genre or target age) that I love. (Could I possibly cram the word 'love' into this paragraph any more? Probably. Don't tempt me. Love love love love love the books books books books books.)

In real life, I live in a tiny Maine town (go figure) with my husband, our dog and two ridiculous cats. As of August 2013, I've been running the public library in our town—previously, I've worked in an academic library, a middle school library, and a different (larger-but-still-smallish-on-the-grand-scale-of-things) public library—and I've finally gotten around to working (slowly, like, one class at a time—cut me some slack, I'm a busy lady) on my MLS.

Ads: The Amazon ad in my sidebar should make it obvious that this blog is part of the Amazon Associates program, but in case it doesn't, I am. Which means that if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I get a (tiny) commission. Same goes for Indiebound, and I also offer adspace through Blogads.

Review policy: I read and review primarily YA fiction. There are exceptions to that rule, mostly for crossover fiction, historical mystery/romances, crime, and other genre fiction. While I'm perfectly okay with unsolicited review copies, I cannot promise to review everything I receive.