Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder’s brain interference has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it “a matter of national security,” but Cinder suspects it’s more serious than he’s letting on. Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder’s intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is…
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Book Review // Hero
Fourteen-year-old Zach Harriman can feel the changes. The sharpening of his senses. The incredible strength. The speed, as though he can textmessage himself across miles. The confidence and the strange need to patrol Central Park at night. His dad had been a hero, a savior to America and a confidante of the president. Then he died, and the changes began in Zach. What Zach never knew was that his father was no ordinary man-he was a superhero, battling the world’s evil. This is a battle that has been waged for generations and that knows no boundaries. And now it’s Zach’s turn to take on the fight. It’s Zach’s turn to…
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What I Think Of Emma Woodhouse
A poem in the style of Doctor Suess // Expressing my righteous indignation at Emma Woodhouse from Jane Austen’s Emma I do not like her in a book I do not like her in a nook I do not like her personality She would not win Miss Congeniality. I do not like her here and there I do not like her in her lair If people heard the things she said Behind their backs, they’d flush red. Perhaps I’d like her with some kindness Her biggest fault might be her blindness Her prejudice could be much less She’s worse than Miss Elizabeth*. I do not like her…
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Book Review // The Giver Quartet
Yes, I am that weird girl who takes pictures of her books on the back deck… *sighs. I read The Giver back in January, and I loved it! I don’t typically like sad books, but this… this! Everyone should read it. It has a few graphic descriptions and it’s (as aforementioned) very sad, so I would only recommend it to mature readers. But that ending! If you’ve read this book, you know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t, go read it. (Kidding. Sorta.) I had to read the next ones. Had to. Because that story ended in one of the worst places ever. Five stars. Thus, I checked…
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A Library Haul//What I’ve Been Reading
It totally hasn’t been over a week since I posted. You’re imagining it. Forget what you were thinking and certainly don’t scroll down to look at my previous post. Oh, never mind. Yes, I haven’t posted for eleven days. Sorry. Kind of. The library might just be my favorite place… because where else would you get beauties like these (to follow)? Sarcastic reader: The bookstore, Zane. And I am totally not stealing an idea from Olivia. *Cough cough. A random fact: I can literally feel my heart pounding faster when I come into a library and know I can check out as many as fifty beautiful stories. Although I usually stick…
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Blogger Book Tag
I saw this book tag on Emily’s blog For The Bookish and immediately wanted to do it! It looked super fun and also I’ve never done a tag before. So here we go. 1. Name a book you’re embarrassed you haven’t read. Um, well, that’s a lot. The complete Pilgrim’s Progress? (I recently learned that my edition was abridged.) Emma? To Kill a Mockingbird? The huge stack of books in my room that I keep meaning to read? 2. What is the strangest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark? Oh, dear. For the most part I use bobby pins, but the strangest thing? Hmm… Oh! Once I used a piece…
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Book Review: The Storybook of Legends, by Shannon Hale
“At Ever After High, an enchanting boarding school, the children of fairytale legends prepare themselves to fulfill their destinies as the next generation of Snow Whites, Prince Charmings and Evil Queens…whether they want to or not. Each year on Legacy Day, students sign the Storybook of Legends to seal their scripted fates. For generations, the Village of Book End has whispered that refusing to sign means The End-both for a story and for a life. As the daughter of the Evil Queen, Raven Queen’s destiny is to follow in her mother’s wicked footsteps, but evil is so not Raven’s style. She’s starting to wonder, what if she rewrote her own…
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Historical Fiction, Strange Research Methods, and Other Ramblings
I have a mortal horror of getting facts wrong when I’m writing historical fiction. It’s a problem. Because when you’re inserting fictional characters in a real time period with people who actually existed… it’s kind of hard to keep things completely factual. Actually, it’s impossible. Fiction is fiction. History is history. And anything that I write isn’t going to change history. It’s just going to show people what I think about the time period. What my characters would have thought about the time period. What the time period should have been like. (Kidding. Totally kidding here.) Whoa. Feels good to get that off my chest. (Not to mention, I now have an…
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Best Books of 2016
There are exactly 16 books on this list. No more. No less. It was accidental, but I think it worked out rather nicely, for the end of 2016. I read a lot last year. Over 360 books. I know this because I didn’t start Goodreads until March and I had read a lot before that… and I didn’t start plugging my Currently Reading books in until later. So, it was probably closer to 400. Not sure. Let’s move on. Without further ado, my favorite books of 2016. I was introduced to Trixie Belden last year. And it was so good. SO GOOD. I’m almost to the point of fangirling over this series.…
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Book Review: Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White
“SOME PIG,” Charlotte the spider’s praise for Wilbur, is just one fondly remembered snippet from E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. In Some Writer!, the two-time Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet mixes White’s personal letters, photos, and family ephemera with her own exquisite artwork to tell his story, from his birth in 1899 to his death in 1985. Budding young writers will be fascinated and inspired by the journalist, New Yorker contributor, and children’s book author who loved words his whole life. This authorized tribute is the first fully illustrated biography of E. B. White and includes an afterword by Martha White, E. B. White’s granddaughter. (Via Goodreads) Click here to…
