Archives for November 2015

MONTHLY RECAP | Thankful for Cover Awards + Love-A-Thons! (November 2015)

November 30, 2015 Comments : 4

november

Here we are, nearing the biggest holiday of the year! TIS THE SEASON, FRIENDS! I am bundled up in layers because I’m perpetually cold, which I prefer than sweating from the heat. November was a fairly chaotic month—in that I had to prep everything for the YA Book Cover Choice Awards!

WHAT’S UP?

I kicked off the 2015 YA Book Cover Choice Awards!

Busy, busy, busy!

For those who do not know what the YA Cover Choice Awards is, it’s an annual awards that I created because I wanted to show appreciation for the book covers that had been published. It’s my baby.

The YA Cover Choice Awards essentially took over my life. It’s quite exhausting and rewarding to do everything. I’m extremely thankful to everybody who commented, nominated, and voted. It means a lot to me that you are excited about this Awards like I am!

Stay tuned for Wednesday, December 2 PST when I should have the final round up!

Reviews

REVIEW | Lots of Cheesy Romance, No Time Travel Theory (Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins)

November 30, 2015 Comments : 4

until we meet again

Country clubs and garden parties. The last thing Cassandra wants is to spend the summer before her senior year marooned in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. Cass craves drama and adventure, which is hard when she just feels stuck.

But when a dreamy stranger shows up on her family’s private beach, claiming that it is his property-and that the year is 1925-Cass is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making. As she searches for answers in the present, Cass discovers a truth that thrusts Lawrence’s life into jeopardy. It won’t matter which century he is from if he won’t live to see tomorrow.

Desperate to save the boy who’s come to mean everything to her, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever.[/note]

myreview

First sentence: “Date: July 8.”

Time traveling + romance? Oh, how I fell for temptation, and it spat me out with my reading soul hurting.

You’d think I’d trust my instincts more, but any time I see time travel + romance, I’m hopeful it’ll be different, but it unfortunately never is.

Until We Meet Again tells a time travel romance about a pair of characters from two different time periods—Cassandra in 2015 and Lawrence in 1926—who meet each other on the beach of a Massachusett’s North Shore house. As the two characters learn about each other, the pair fall madly in love with each other (*rolls eyes*). However, Cassandra discovers that Lawrence may be endangered, and she and Lawrence try to figure out how they can prevent anything bad from happening to him. Ugh.

Comics

FROM PANEL TO PANEL | November Graphic Novel Releases I’m Excited About!

November 28, 2015 Comments : 2

from panel to panel

I love comics and graphic novels, so what do I do with that love? Well, I turn it into a new feature!

From Panel to Panel is a new feature where I talk about the awesome (and perhaps not-so awesome) comic books and graphic novels I’ve read. Basically, this will be me pushing them onto your laps. You’re welcome.

Prepare yourself because November has tons of first volumes that should really be on your to-buy list (or your Christmas wishlist).

Now, onto those November graphic novels I’m excited about (and you should too!). You’ll see ones about the infamous Birds of Prey, Princess Leia kicking ass, paranormal detectives, time paradoxes, and so much more!

*BIRDS OF PREY · VOL. 1*

Alone, they are driven vigilantes. Together they are a force to be reckoned with.

Witness the beginnings of the Birds of Prey team, as Oracle (the former Batgirl, Barbara Gordon) teams up with ex-Justice Leaguer Black Canary and other female heroes of the DC Universe in globetrotting adventures in espionage.

Black Canary goes undercover to expose the truth behind a corporate conspiracy. Oracle must send in reinforcements, but will this save Black Canary or doom her? Plus, the Birds of Prey invade Santa Prisca to stop a slavery ring while helping to overthrow the local government.

Collected for the first time in chronological order: BLACK CANARY/ORACLE: BIRDS OF PREY #1, SHOWCASE ’96 #3, BIRDS OF PREY: MANHUNT #1-4, BIRDS OF PREY: REVOLUTION #1, BIRDS OF PREY: WOLVES #1 and BIRDS OF PREY: BATGIRL #1

Written and created by Chuck Dixon, and illustrated by Matt Haley. — DC Comics

Publication date: November 4, 2015 by DC Comics

Buy: LCBS · Amazon · Barnes & Noble · The Book Depository · Indigo · Comixology

Why I’m excited: This is the one that kicks off the partnership of the infamous Birds of Prey! And boy, am I excited!

I love the ladies that make up Birds of Prey—Oracle (Barbara Gordon), Black Canary (Dinah Lance), and various other DC female superheroes! (By now, I’m sure you know how I’m a massive fan of Barbara Gordon and Dinah Lance.) I haven’t gotten around to actually read the Birds of Prey comic even though I really should, and why not start with this volume which collects their beginnings chronologically?

Design

2015 YA Book Cover Choice Awards! · Semi-Final Round!

November 23, 2015 Comments : 14

2015yacoverchoiceawards

[quote]The YA Book Cover Choice Awards (aka YABCCAwards) aim to honor all the wonderful (and not-so wonderful) book covers that were published in the past year. It will be nominated and voted by readers (à la Goodreads Choice Awards and the *Book Shimmy* Awards) for the best cover design in each categories.[/quote]

Bye, bye nominations. Helllllloooo, voting round!

Let me say, 1. thank you to everybody who nominated! <3 and 2. I am EXHAUSTED after laying out and putting this post together non-stop. It’s so much to do for one person—compiling the votes, making the images and laying everything out. (Good thing is that I had this layout already, so I didn’t have to figure out the logistics of everything. Bless that I started doing the Cover Awards last year.)

What you find in this post are: 15 (yes, that’s right) covers for each category + polls. I was amazed at the many different covers that people nominated, but unfortunately not all of them made it in the semi-finals round because they didn’t have a lot of nominations for them or didn’t belong in the category or in YA. (So sad that Conviction didn’t make it into “Best Typography” or The Walls Around Us in “Best Illustration.”)

Enough chit chat. This is a lonnnnnnnng post, so beware of scrolling. ;D (Seriously. When you reach the bottom, you will go, “man, Cee wasn’t kiddin’ around.”)

And once again, we begin.

What You Need To Know

This is the semi-finals. (This will determine the eight books that will make it to the final voting.)
These covers are all reader nominated.
Vote for the cover you believe should win each category because it’s superior and prettier than the others and fits.
Judge base on the covers. Not what’s in the book.
You’re only allowed to vote for up to THREE covers once. (You can vote for one cover or two or three.)
DO NOT CHEAT. I will be checking the spreadsheet for suspicious activity.
If you click on the pictures, it will pop up a bigger image. If you want a bigger picture, click on the links in the Google Docs poll.
When you click on the category links below, it’ll take you directly to that category.
If you have questions or need clarifications, feel free to ask them and I will answer. :)
Voting ends Sunday, November 29, 2015 11:59 PM PST.
Last but not least, have fun! Share this with friends and force them to vote!

Reviews

REVIEW | Clarissa Darling All Grown-Up! (Things I Can’t Explain by Mitchell Kriegman)

November 19, 2015 Comments : 4

A complete re-imagining of Clarissa Explains it All as 20-something Clarissa tries to navigate the unemployment line, mompreneurs and the collision of two people in love.

She was a smart, snappy, light-hearted girl who knew it all at fourteen. Now a woman in her late twenties, her searching blue eyes are more serious, but mostly amused by the people around her. The gap-toothed smile that made her seem younger than she really was is gone, but she still lightens up the room. Her unpredictable wardrobe rocks just like when she was a kid, but her fashion sense has evolved and it makes men and women turn their heads.

After leaving high school early, Clarissa interned at the Daily Post while attending night school. At the ripe old age of twenty- two she had it made – her own journalism beat (fashion, gender politics and crime), an affordable apartment in FiDi and a livable wage. She was so totally ahead of the game. Ah, those were the days! All three of them. Remember the Stock Market Crash of 08? Remember when people actually bought newspapers?

All of Clarissa’s charming obsessions, charts, graphs, and superstitions have survived into adulthood, but they’ve evolved into an ever-greater need to claw the world back under control. Her mid-twenties crisis has left her with a whole set of things she can’t explain: an ex-boyfriend turned stalker, her parents’ divorce, a micro relationship with the cute coffee guy, java addiction, “To-Flue Glue,” and then there’s Sam. Where’s Sam anyway?

Things I Can’t Explain is about knowing it all in your teens and then feeling like you know nothing in your twenties. [/note]

myreview

[note note_color=”#BFD1D1″ text_color=”#ffffff”]I received this book for free from St. Martin’s Griffin for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.[/note]

First sentence: Was it Malcolm Gladwell who said, “Where you’re standing now is not where you’re going to be”?

Confession: I never watched Clarissa Explains It as a kid. I was very, very, very young when it aired and went off the air.

What I know about it are: it had Melissa Joan Hart in it, Clarissa talked to the camera a lot (breaking that fourth wall!), and Clarissa had a best friend named Sam who climbed into her window a lot.

With all that knowledge, I happily jumped into Things I Can’t Explain, and well, it was just ~okay. (A very loaded ~okay.)