Recent Reads

I’ve had a lot going on with my day job, which isn’t going to let up until June (but there is an end!), and I have some freelance projects due. So, when something has to give, it’s the blog. I will have some posts throughout May, but I may not get to leave comments for you in return. I will be back eventually – I promise.

In the past few months I’ve read a mix of middle grade and young adult novels.

First I started with a YA I’d heard lots of good things about: Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. It did not disappoint. Although a quiet book in terms of plot, it kept me on the edge of my seat. Masterful characterization and relationship-building made me care so much about Cath and the outcome of her story.

Next was Sarah Rees Brennan’s Untold, Book 2 of The Lynburn Legacy. I loved the first book so much (and her Demon’s Lexicon trilogy – swoon), and couldn’t wait to pick this one up.  While I enjoyed it, I did wish I hadn’t waited so long. It’s hard to remember how the end of one book ended when you read it a year or more earlier. Here’s a good problem with a book: I’ve been made to like the characters so much, that I don’t always like what the author puts them through. 

Suzanne Lilly’s Gold Rush Girl is a historical fiction with a sweet romance written by a good friend who is also one of my critique partners. An easy read that will leave you feeling educated about California during the gold rush and will make you feel good.

Meg Rosoff’s Picture Me Gone confused me a bit as to its category. I found it with the YA books and it felt YA, but the main character was only 12 years old. Despite this, it was well written, mysterious, and another quiet yet gripping plot. I think about this book every time I write a new scene with way too much dialogue. Meg Rosoff told a great story without much dialogue at all. How?! Someone tell me how to do this!

Next was another book I kept hearing about and finally gave a try.Ransom Riggs’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The cover creeped me out. I didn’t think I’d enjoy this one, but I did. Such an imaginative and atmospheric story and I loved the historical connections. 

The only real MG on this list, Tony Abbott’s The Forbidden Stone, the first book in a new series, The Copernicus Legacy. A mysterious and fantastical adventure, this book mixes science and puzzles with a race against time. Four kids must save the world. I love when that happens! I realized A-Read (and possible Sprite, too) would enjoy this book. He’s reading it now.

Now I’m reading Rick Riordan’s The Son of Neptune, which A-Read read last year. He keeps asking me where I am in the book and almost giving away secrets. I understand. Rick Riordan’s books get me that excited, too.

What should A-Read and I read next?