Bitchin' Blog Posts
: Ya
May 21, 2012 | Monday | 35 Comments
First, via Katiebabs and KatiD on Twitter: More from Plagiarism Chutzpah! YA Author Sarah Cross has a guest blog about plagiarism and how it sucks a lot (which it does). It's not a bad post, as it discusses the different types of plagiarism. But it's a guest post on Kristi Diehm's site, The Story Siren, where plagiarism occurred last January, and was discovered last month. Unfortuantely, this guest post, if you're keeping score at home: 1. includes as a description the exact thing Kristi Diehm did when she lifted content from fashion bloggers Beautifully Invisible and Grit and Glamour. 2.…
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May 11, 2012 | Friday | 6 Comments
Brigid asked for a recap of the event I was part of last Wednesday night, Edgy Moms in Suburbia, so here's my wrap up of the evening - with a LOT of links to books I want to buy, so be ye warned. They're not romances, though, so at least that's something. I drafted my essay (or entry or article or whatever it was I was trying to write) about four or five different times, trying to figure out what the hell was edgy about me (I am not edgy. I am very rounded in all my parts), and ended up…
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March 30, 2012 | Friday | 56 Comments
Earlier this week, news broke that Universal and Focus Features paid a staggering amount of money for the film rights to 50 Shades of Grey - rumors are "in the neighborhood of $5 million (US)." And on this week's Entertainment Weekly cover, readers get a choice of a cover featuring the clothed Hunger Games' Jennifer Lawrence or a very naked, mostly faceless woman rubbing her shoulder blade (or shaving her armpit) with a copy of 50 Shades of Grey. The continued media saturation around 50 Shades, especially as it's cast alongside the Hunger Games movie, got me thinking about book-to-movie deals, and how…
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November 07, 2011 | Monday | 23 Comments
Whenever I read a first person YA novel, I feel like I need to state in the review that it is first person, and the narrators are telling the story to the reader in each chapter directly. I know that drives some people bananas, though it doesn’t bother me. But be ye aware: this is first person narration from the hero and heroine’s point of view. Awareness aside: Holy, holy crap, I really enjoyed this book. Plot summary ahoy! Elodie Rose has just moved to town, and is keeping a big ol’ secret. She’s on the cusp of turning into…
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October 17, 2011 | Monday | 13 Comments
Y’all know I can’t resist a geek/romance crossover, so I had to check out Hero, a YA novel about a gay teen superhero that involves a love story. It was solidly written, painful, and touching, and although I haven’t the foggiest idea of what it’s like to be a gay teen it had the feel of honesty to it. However, it wasn’t very much fun. That’s not surprising, because it deals with some very painful topics. Not every love story or superhero story has to be fun. Personally, though, I want my romance to have some joy, and I want…
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August 24, 2011 | Wednesday | 0 Comments
Get ready! Tonight at 8:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time, the window below will go wild and crazy with discussion about Jennifer Estep’s Touch of Frost. We’ll have lots to talk about - and I am so curious to hear what you think of the book.
I also hear rumors of prizes and things to win (woo!) from Estep and Kensington Teen, which is always the most fun. I hope you’ll join us tonight! See you then!
Sizzling Book Club Chat: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
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August 20, 2011 | Saturday | 3 Comments
Friendly reminder time!
The Sizzling Book Club Chat will be Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 8:30 EDT. We’ll chat live about the book in our ever-quickly-scrolling live chatroom, and Jennifer Estep will join us at 9:30 EDT to answer questions and enjoy the mayhem.
Want to make sure you don’t forget? Here, have a spiffy button to add it to your Google calendar:
See you next week!
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August 01, 2011 | Monday | 69 Comments
My pick for august, is paranormal, YA, and is the first book in a series - woo! Touch of Frost is a new YA series from author Jennifer Estep, and I thought it was spiffy. Here’s the synopsis: Gwen Frost is an outsider at Mythos Academy, a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody’s head with a sword. Gwen is an outsider both to the students of the Academy and the rest of the world. But when her gift of psychometry - the ability to know an object’s…
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July 27, 2011 | Wednesday | 9 Comments
First, the Bulwer-Lytton was announced, if you missed it. The Romance category winner is, as email correspondent Rosie described it, “a corker.”
As the dark and mysterious stranger approached, Angela bit her lip anxiously, hoping with every nerve, cell, and fiber of her being that this would be the one man who would understand—who would take her away from all this—and who would not just squeeze her boob and make a loud honking noise, as all the others had.
Ali Kawashima, Greensboro, NC
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July 10, 2011 | Sunday | 7 Comments
Sarah writes in with a book she’s been looking for since she was younger.
I used to read what I think were YA romances on a regular basis as I
traveled around the country as a military brat. When ever we got to a new
place, I would make a bee-line for the library to find a book by a single
author, whom I now can’t recall. The books were very formulaic, which I
found reassuring in a new place - I didn’t know anyone, but I knew how this
book would turn out, darn it!
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June 30, 2011 | Thursday | 16 Comments
There was not a review submitted for the RITA® Reader Challenge, so out we go for more reviews. Plot Summary: When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she…
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June 30, 2011 | Thursday | 1 Comments
There was no review submitted for the RITA® Reader Challenge, so avast, we set sail and hunt down reviews. This novel finaled in the Young Adult Romance category. Plot Summary: Amy is drawn to the misty, mysterious clearing behind her Aunt Mae’s place because it looks like the perfect place to hide from life. A place to block out the pain of her last relationship, to avoid the kids in her new town, to stop dwelling on what her future holds after high school. Then, she meets a boy lurking in the mist—Henry. Henry is different from any other guy…
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June 30, 2011 | Thursday | 7 Comments
This RITA® Reader Challenge was written by Ren. English is not Ren’s first language, but Ren really wanted to review this book. Go Ren! This book finaled in the YA category. Plot Summary: Carlos Fuentes doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him in Boulder, Colorado. He wants to keep living on the edge, and carve his own path—just like Alex did. Unfortunately, his ties to a Mexican gang aren’t easy to break, and he soon finds himself being set up by a drug lord. When Alex arranges for Carlos to live…
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June 25, 2011 | Saturday | 9 Comments
Every now and again I post Book Rants, where people email me for many, many kilobytes about a book that set their pants on fire in a bad way. Today I have a guest review that is mostly in the form of a Book Squee, lest you think we don’t squee enough around these here parts. Tina C. would probably flail her arms and jump up and down if forced to give this review out loud. Tina wrote, I just finished a book, Warped, by Maurissa Guibord, that I downloaded from our local library. It is a YA, which I…
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June 03, 2011 | Friday | 12 Comments
This book was a departure from romance reading for me. Spoiled is not a romance. It’s a YA novel, with a minor romantic element, and a long-distance relationship element. Without meaning to I stepped out of the genre and thoroughly enjoyed myself. But be ye aware, this is not a romance. That said, I really enjoyed it. It’s freaking hilarious. It is funny and fluffy and sudsy and silly. Really, you have to like silly humor a bit to enjoy this book. In fact, it can be summed up in two words: Chanandaler Bong. If you get that reference, and…
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