Genre: Magical Realism

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Kiki’s Delivery Service; Embassy of the Dead; The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez; Middle School Bites; and Into the Tall, Tall Grass

As my regular readers know, I’m a round one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category. Because of that, I’ve been reading LOTS of books lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will […]

Posted November 19, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 10 Comments

I’m a 2020 Round One Cybils Awards Judge! Plus, Quick Reviews of Last Year’s MG Speculative Fiction Finalists

I really enjoyed being a round-two judge for the Cybils Awards. The process for picking a winner was WAY harder than I expected it to be, but it was also great to have in-depth discussions about each of the finalists. I was surprised how many of the books I absolutely loved! This year, I said I’d be willing to be either a round-one or round-two judge, and I was chosen for round one for the […]

Posted September 23, 2020 in Cybils, Reviews / 8 Comments

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos: Excerpt & Giveaway

Today I’m sharing an excerpt and giveaway for The Wise and the Wicked. Epic Reads aptly calls it a lush, dark, and unforgettable story of the power of the past to shape our futures—and the courage it takes to change them. I’m reading this one now, and I’m loving the LGBTQ rep in the book. For now, I’m sharing just a little taste of what you can expect with this story … EXCERPT FROM EPIC […]

Posted May 23, 2019 in Giveaways (Ended) / 12 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of The Way You Make Me Feel & The Girl and the Grove

I’ve got two bite-sized reviews for you today, both YA review books. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This is a cute summer read that features an MC who has a lot of growing up to do (luckily she does!). Clara starts out pretty unlikeable—she’s a jokester and a prankster, but it all feels a little mean-spirited. She has a never-try attitude and doesn’t really care when things […]

Posted May 18, 2018 in Reviews / 12 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, Deception So Dark and Some Kind of Happiness

I’ve got three bite-sized reviews for you today: two YA and a MG. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! This middle grade book tackles some very heavy topics, focusing on Finley’s anxiety and depression. It also covers divorce, family schisms, mysterious deaths, and secret-keeping. The result is a somewhat dark, but ultimately hopeful middle grade read. First off, I want to say that I think Legrand does an excellent […]

Posted March 16, 2018 in Reviews / 30 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of Long Way Down, Nyxia, Hanna Who Fell from the Sky & My Heart and Other Black Holes

I’ve got four bite-sized reviews today. Three new(ish) releases and one backlist book. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! I honestly don’t even know how to describe in words how I felt about this book. You almost just have to experience it for yourself to understand its brilliance. When I started the book, I was both delighted and scared to see that it was written in verse (it’s all […]

Posted October 27, 2017 in Reviews / 23 Comments

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland: Review, Giveaway and Sutherland’s Top Ten Addictions

This book starts out super fun and quirky, and to be honest, that’s all I was expecting out of it, but it turned into something more. In fact, there were parts of this book that were downright heartbreaking. By about halfway through, I realized that there was more than meets the eye with this little gem. It’s not just a book about facing a list of fears (often in humorous and quirky ways). No, this […]

Posted September 8, 2017 in Author Top Ten Lists, Coyer, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 30 Comments

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera: What Would You Do With Your Very Last Day?

The genre for this book is sort of hard to describe, but I guess I’d call it paranormal or magical realism. The setting feels mostly contemporary but then there’s this obviously fantastical element: the fact that people receive a call to warn them on the day they die. This fact has (rightfully) affected society in many ways, so we get a modern-day world with a twist. What Fed My Addiction: The unique concept. I found the […]

Posted September 5, 2017 in Coyer, Reviews / 20 Comments

A Start of Two Series: Bite-Sized Reviews of (the Start of) The Ruined Series and The Gold Seer Trilogy

Today I’ve got bite-sized reviews of two awesome fantasy series that I’ve started (they’re not done yet, so it’s actually not my fault this time that I haven’t finished them!). Hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! On the surface, this book seems like it might be sort of derivative. It’s not. Well, okay, it sort of is. I mean, just based on the basic description, I feel like I’ve read this […]

Posted May 22, 2017 in All-Time Favorites, Reviews / 25 Comments

Bite-Sized Reviews of the Rest of the Books I Read in 2016 (Including The Beauty of Darkness and Glass Sword)

Okay, so I might be exaggerating a little bit with that title—I’m not actually reviewing all of the rest of the books I read in 2016, but I am reviewing most of them. The only holdouts are a couple of books that I plan to review along with future books in the series and a couple that are releasing next week (which I’ll review then). Oh, and I’m still reading and the month isn’t quite over, so […]

Posted December 30, 2016 in Reviews / 12 Comments