bookshelves of doom

Julie Anne Peters.

Her website.

Her blog.

Her Twitter feed.

Her Facebook page.

Titles I've written about:

It's Our Prom, So Deal With It (2012):

[Azure's voice] definitely dominates, and she's also much harder to like, mostly because her behavior is so hypocritical: she's supposedly hugely open-minded and stridently opposes People Judging Each Other, but she's very dismissive of people who have opinions different than her own, and she judges other people on the basis of their appearance on a regular basis. BUT, realizing that is a big part of her personal journey.

Between Mom and Jo (2004):

It gets ugly. Really, really ugly. The whole second half just made my jaw ache. (It didn't make me cry—it wasn't that kind of book—it was closer to rage. Nick's emotions just tunneled their way right into me. Rage, pain, frustration, betrayal, confusion. It's raw.) 

Pinterest boards: Across the USA Through YA: Colorado; YA Authors.

Ingrid Law.

Her website.

Her blog.

Her Facebook page.

Contact her.

Titles I've written about:

Savvy (2008):

To all of you Savvy-lovers: You win. Ingrid Law had me from that first sentence, and I have nothing but praise for this book. It surprised me, again and again—I'd think that I had it figured out, and then she'd throw a curveball—to the point where I realized that I really didn't know how it would all turn out, even right down to the last few pages. (And yes, I got a little weepy.)

Scumble (2010):

This is, and will be, a great story for booktalking, reading aloud, and just general recommending. Like Savvy, it's got colorful characters, an engaging plotline, and despite some hurdles to be overcome, fears to be faced, and tears to be shed, it's a pretty gentle adventure. Though there is someone trying to Do Bad Things, he's doing it out of fear and grief, not out of evil or even plain meanness. So, yes, in brief, thumbs up.

Pinterest boards: Across the USA Through YA: Colorado; YA Authors.

Jennifer Shaw Wolf.

Her website.

Her blog.

Her Twitter feed.

Titles I've written about:

Breaking Beautiful (2012):

Overall, this is a solid mystery/thriller/romance. For me, it was obvious from the first page that Trip was a d-bag. But that wasn't a problem—it actually made things immediately more intriguing. Because, hey: if she has no memory of The Night In Question, maybe she did have something to do with Trip's death, right? And as the story progressed, I wondered more andmore if she'd caused it, not less—even as I got more emotionally invested in her and her story, my suspicions grew. Which was an unusual reading experience, but a cool one.

Martine Leavitt.

Her website.

Her faculty page at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Info page at the Mormon Literature and Creative Arts database.

Titles I've written about:

My Book of Life by Angel (2012):

Unlike a lot of verse novels, it reads like poetry: lots of rhythm, lots of passages that convey multiple meanings, even some wordplay. As the title suggests, Angel is writing her own story, and voice is believable, raw, determined, and surprisingly enough considering her circumstances, displays a decent amount of humor. I don't want to say that there are moments of loveliness in the story—because, for me, there weren't—but the writing itself is lovely.

Keturah and the Lord Death (2006):

Though it isn't technically a retelling of another story (as far as I know), I'll be recommending it to readers who are drawn to Donna Jo Napoli, Robin McKinley and older fans of Gail Carson Levine. I'm also going to try it on some of my Twilight girls. Stylistically, they're very different books, but the dark romance is similarly attractive.

Katie McGarry.

Her website.

Her blog.

Her Twitter feed.

Titles I've written about:

Pushing the Limits (2012):

I appreciated the fact that the book was honest about underage drinking: they drank, and it wasn't a Big Issue. And I also appreciated that Noah's narration focused on Echo's physical attributes pretty regularly—that's something that I don't see all that often in YA romance, and while it makes him come off as a tad less classy, it also adds that much more realism—but other than that, their two narrative voices weren't all that distinct from each other.

Natasha Friend.

Her website.

Her blog.

Her Twitter feed.

Titles I've written about:

My Life in Black and White (2012):

Kudos to Natasha Friend for the best friend storyline, too: Lexi is angry with Taylor for hooking up with her boyfriend, but it's about the betrayal more than anything else. She doesn't stoop to slut-shaming—even when her mother does—and even more impressive, when Lexi has an opportunity to stand back and let Taylor's own choices result in what some might term 'just desserts', she does the stand-up thing. It's quite satisfying, and again, rings true.

For Keeps (2010):

If you like Sarah Dessen, I'd recommend that you pick this one up, despite the (I say this in retrospect -- while reading I enjoyed myself so much that this didn't occur to me while reading) Days of Our Lives-ish-ness of some of the plot twists. 

Terry Farish.

Her website.

Her blog.

Titles I've written about:

The Good Braider (2012):

It's got a fantastic sense of place and Farish conveys long periods of time spent waiting without ever slowing the pace of the story, both of which are quite impressive considering how few words she uses. The contrast between cultures is striking, and it's especially nice that the book portrays Viola attempting to understand and fit into American (and even more specifically, Maine) culture, but never uses the somewhat-tired "I renounce my former culture/this new culture is so horrible and wrong; oh wait, now I'm proud to be a part of both cultures" storyline. She's drawn towards both worlds, but she just... keeps on keeping on, and eventually finds her place in both.