Notable Releases: 7/2-7/7

Here are some new releases from this past week that I'm eager for, are buzzy books, look interesting etc. Note: Looks like publishers changed the release date of Now I Rise from last week to this week. ;shakes fist at publishing gods for making me look wrong;

MG/YA

A Void the Size of the World by Rachele Alpine

Interesting looking mystery.

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy

Spooky looking mystery I've been hearing good things about.








Adult Fiction

Stillhouse Lake Book 1 by Rachel Caine

It's Caine, so I'll be giving this book a look at some point in time.

Queens of Renthia Book 2: The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst

I've been a long time Durst fan and I naturally loved the first book in this series. I'm glad to see it looks like people are finally starting to take notice of her books or at least this series.

Alex Craft Book 5: Grave Ransom by Kalayna Price

The fifth book in the Alex Craft series. I...need to get caught up on this series still.







Non-Fiction:

Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan by Elaine M. Hayes

Interesting looking biography.







Graphic novels/Manga

Woods Vol. 7
Angel Catbird Vol. 3
Berserk Vol. 38
Injustice Ground Zero Vol. 1
Wonder Woman, The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 2
Monstress Vol. 2
Wayward Vol. 2
Star Wars Vol. 5: Yoda's Secret War

Graphic Novel Review: Saga Vol. 7

TITLE: Saga
Vol. 7 in the Saga series
AUTHOR: Brian K. Vaughan
ARTIST: Fiona Staples
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
STARTED: 2012
ISSUES COLLECTED: 37-42
GENRE: Science-Fiction
PREMISE: Hazel and her parents rest in a place that has never-ending war...
MY REVIEW: Okay, for those new to comics, or who by some chances are into comics but not have picked Saga up yet, I'll summarize it for you: Romeo and Juliet in space, if Romeo and Juliet were soldiers, who were smarter and got together to have children and deal with the war. Saga has been around a few years now and probably doesn't need my help giving it press, but what the hell, I feel the need to talk about it.
Because as always, major things went down in this volume. I'll refrain from spoilers, but if you know the series, you probably already have an idea of what to expect. And you know why I have feelings right now. There was a character death (of...sorts...) that I'm sad about. We get to see Hazel and her family get to be a family for awhile which was nice to see. There's just...so much going on in this volume as there always is. I definitely advise starting at the first volume. This is an ongoing story arc, unlike Marvel or DC, you do have to read this one from the beginning or you'll be lost.
This series is space opera at its best. I will warn, it's a very adult series as most Image comics tend to be. But if you don't mind sometimes very random gore/sex (and I do mean random...), it's a great series to dive into. As a bonus, the art is gorgeous and it is one of the few long-running series out there that doesn't constantly change artists so you're not suddenly getting a different art style every other issue.
WHO SHOULD READ: Star Wars fans, space opera fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five

Book Review: Being Jazz

TITLE: Being Jazz-My Life as a Transgender Teen
AUTHOR: Jazz Jennings
PUBLISHED: June 2016
CATEGORY: Non-Fiction
GENRE: Memoirs
PREMISE: Activist Jazz Jennings talks about her life growing up.
MY REVIEW:Another memoir that I'm not sure how to go about reviewing. I do think it's very well done. As this is aimed at teenagers, I don't have much of an issue with the fact that it's a slightly chatty memoir. This is something happens with a lot of celebrity memoirs and it kind of works for me.
Jazz is overall a very positive person and that absolutely shines through in here. She's very comfortable in her skin and I hope I get half the confidence she has one day. Because frankly the things she's done at her young age are damn impressive.
This is a very quick read. I believe I read it in like two short sittings. If you want a positive memoir to give you hope that this new generation will do better than we have, it's a good read.
WHO SHOULD READ: you want positive memoirs
MY RATING: Four out of Five books to give you hope

Book Review: The Hate U Give

TITLE: The Hate U Give
AUTHOR: Angie Thomas
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: February 28th, 2017
GENRE: Contemporary
PREMISE: A girl deals with aftermath of a police shooting. A shooting that involved one of her friends and that she witnessed...
MY REVIEW: Chances are you have heard about this book already and pretty much already know the deal about it. Heck, you've probably already made up your mind about whether or not you're going to read it by now. But in the small case you haven't let me assure you: it is as good as people are saying. I have a feeling this is going to be my best book of the year because so far nothing has topped it yet (Upside of Unrequited came damn close, but this still won out in my heart).
The writing is great, the characters are all fully realized, the plot and topics it touches on gives you so much to unpack and think about. There's no easy solution in the ending. It just...I could go on forever about all the ways this book just does things right.
This is one of the best debuts I've read in a long while. And to the people on Goodreads/general internet who keep trying to say this is racist/unfair towards white people, as a white person here is my response to that:

WHO SHOULD READ: Anyone who is interested.
MY RATING: Five out of Five debut authors who I hope stick around because this book was damn good.

Book Review: The Bane Chronicles

TITLE: The Bane Chronicles
Part of the Mortal Instruments series
AUTHOR: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson
CATEGORY: YA
PUBLISHED: 2014
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
PREMISE: A bunch of short stories written by Clare and others that deal with some of the history of Magnus Bane.
MY REVIEW: I know what you all are thinking: hey, didn't she say she was done with this series after the last Mortal Instruments book? Yes. Yes, I did say that. But come on, we all knew it was a lie. We knew I'd come crawling back to this series because I just can't seem to resist it despite my many many many issues with it. I blame all the gushing on YouTube about the new series. It's made me curious again.
So I figured I'd just dive in again like the weak person I am with The Bane Chronicles, because Magnus Bane is basically my favorite thing about this series. As usual with story collections, some are better then others. Most didn't really reveal anything new to me. It was kind of fun seeing what the MI world was like during history, but other then that....not much to these stories. I think my favorite bit in this was when all the characters called Magnus' phone to bug him about the break-up in...I don't remember which book. But this story was hilarious.
So yeah...expect a review of Lady Midnight soon. Because I just can't quit this damn series.
WHO SHOULD READ: Mortal Instruments fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five favorite characters being awesome

Reading Through the Classics: Summer

TITLE: Summer
AUTHOR: Edith Wharton
PUBLISHED: 1917
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Romance (sort of...), Drama
PREMISE: A young woman has an affair in her small town...
MY THOUGHTS: So, this is my first Edith Wharton. I actually wasn't planning on reading this, but library. picked up on a whim, you know the drill. Plus, I'm just trying to get stuff off the TBR list. Have I mentioned it's huge?
Anyways, Wharton...very interesting. I kind of think of this as the anti-romance novel. Like, you know how romances in general tend to mostly be escapist fiction with happily ever after guaranteed? Yeah, Wharton basically took that idea and tossed it out of the window. She made everything in this realistic, including (spoiler alert) not having the affair end in happily ever after. Like Madam Bovary, this is one of those books that during its time was seen as sensual. Like Madam Bovary it...really isn't. But it was interesting seeing a book from this time period actually have its main female character be interested in sex and not slut shame her for it (like Madam Bovary did).
This was an interesting reading experience, to be honest. I'll definitely be picking up more Edith Wharton in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: The Awakening fans, classic book fans, Edith Wharton fans

Your Syllabus for: YA Before Twilight

As someone who has looked long and hard at publishing dates of things I've noticed something: there is a big difference in YA before the first Twilight book and after. Namely, the section was much smaller. I am the first to tell you, I do not like Twilight. But I'm also the first to tell you that yes, it did indeed have an impact in YA. Now, I don't think it is the sole reason for the big boom in YA that happened after 2005. There were a few factors that led to the boom:

-Harry Potter fans were growing up and the publishers realized they could cash in on this built-in audience.

-John Green started writing around this time, bringing in many new fans, a lot of them adults. 

-The Percy Jackson series also started and The Book Thief, Uglies series, and a lot of other highly popular YA books that gained the section a lot of new fans were published during this year. Any publisher worth their salt would have seen the sales coming from those books and realized there is money to be made here.

But no matter the reason, I tend to think of the changes in the YA section as waves, sort of like in feminism. From the 50s to 2004 is in my mind, the classic era of the YA section. The second wave (that I kind of just call The Boom Era) goes from 2005 to...around 2012 or so. I think we're currently in a new wave. I'm not sure what to call it exactly, but there definitely is a bit of a change from today's YA to the YA from five years ago. I'd actually go as far as to say, we may be entering a new wave now because even this past year there's been a shift in what's being offered in the YA section.

This syllabus is focusing on the books from those early years. Not everything is on here, because there was a lot published over those couple of decades, but I have managed to include the ones that have stood the test of time and that people still talk about to this day. 

YA Before Twilight:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Pub. 1954, Survival fiction

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

Pub. 1967, Contemporary, considered by some to be the book that actually started the YA section. 

Forever by Judy Blume

Pub. 1975. Blume has written a few YA books over the years, but I'm going with this book that caused parents to clutch their pearls everywhere because it dealt with teenagers ;gasp; having sex. 

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Pub. 1978, Mystery

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Pub. 1978, also check out the Damar books, Sunshine, and others

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

Pub. 1982, Contemporary

Tortall series by Tamora Pierce

Started 1983, Fantasy series, several arcs within a series. Absolutely fabulous and still be added too this day (next book comes out in February!)

Also check out her Circle of Magic series started in 1997 and still going strong.

The Vampire Diaries series by L. J. Smith. Also look into The Secret Circle series 

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

Pub. 1992, Contemporary. Also check out Saving Francesca, pub. in 2003.

Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix

Started 1995, Fantasy

The Once Upon a Time retellings series by various authors

Started around 1997, bunch of one-shots written over time that are various retellings of fairy-tales.

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Pub. 1996, Contemporary

Dessen actually has a few she wrote before 2005: Keeping the Moon, Dreamland, Someone Like You, This Lullaby, and The Truth About Forever. Probably some I missed in there too.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Pub. 1999, Contemporary. 

Anderson also has many other books she wrote before 2005.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Pub. 1999, Contemporary

Confessions of Georgia Nicolson Series by Louise Rennison

Started 1999, Contemporary

The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot

Started 2000, Contemporary, also look into The Mediator series, the 1-800-WHERE-R-U series, Teen Idol, and All American Girl

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

Pub. 2000, Contemporary

Sweep series by Cate Tiernan

Started 2001, Urban Fantasy

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares

Started 2001, Contemporary series (with magical realism type elements)

Rainbow Boys Trilogy by Alex Sanchez, pub. 2001, Contemporary

Feed by M. T. Anderson

Pub. 2002, Dystopian

Tithe Trilogy by Holly Black

Started 2002, Urban Fantasy

Matteo Alacran series by Nancy Farmer

Started 2002, Sci-fi/dystopian series

The Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini

Started 2002, Fantasy series

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Pub. 2002, Mystery

East by Edith Pattou

Pub. 2003, Retelling, Fantasy

Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale

Started 2003, Fantasy Retellings. 

Geography Club by Brent Hartinger

Pub. 2003, Contemporary

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Pub. 2003, Contemporary

Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters (also check out Luna, pub. in 2004), both contemporary

Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins

Started 2004, Contemporary, verse fiction

The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson

Pub. 2004, Contemporary, also check out The Key to the Golden Firebird released the same year.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Pub. 2004, Dystopianish

Is it YA? We Will Probably Never Agree on This (books that crossover into YA frequently but aren't always considered by some to be YA):

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Pub. 1868

I've seen this often shelved in libraries as YA. I personally think it's more middle-grade, but honestly is one of those rare books that can be all categories as it follows the March sisters from childhood to adulthood. 

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Pub. 1951, I've seen so much debate about whether this is a YA book or not. The publishing world seems very evenly split on this one. I think it is one of those frequent crossover books that is both YA and adult fiction. 

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Started 1996, Fantasy series, seen shelved as both YA and Middle-Grade and sometimes adult fiction. 

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Pub. 1997, Fairy-Tale Retelling. I personally think this is firmly YA, but for some reason the book world doesn't seem to think so.

Holes by Louis Sachar

Pub. 1998, Contemporary

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman

Started 1995, Fantasy trilogy, put here because I've often seen this also categorized as Middle-grade. I think it's both MG and YA which does often happen (see Harry Potter)

The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling

Started 1997, Fantasy series, again it is both YA and MG. 

A Wrinkle in Time Quintet by Madeline L'Engle

Started 1962, Fantasy series, both YA and MG (I actually remember reading this one in elementary school)

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

Started 2003, have seen shelved as MG and YA.

Notable Releases: June 25th-July 1rst

Wow, guys, we're halfway through the year already, time sure does fly. Only a few this week are on my radar. Including some highly anticipated ones on my part.

MG/YA:

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee

I've been hearing amazing things about this book and honestly the premise alone is enough to make me want it.

Glittering Court Book 2: Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead

I...did not much like the first book in this series so chances are high that I won't be reading this book. However, there might be a reader here that liked it and wants to know about the sequel, so...here you go.

The Conqueror's Saga Book 2: Now I Rise by Kiersten White

And I Darken was among my top ten books of last year. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.







Adult Fiction:

Scandal and Scoundrel Book 3: The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

I will get to this series eventually. Currently I've been working my way through Quinn's Bridgertons series (on book 3 now) so it may be awhile as that series is eight books long.

Wrexford and Sloan Mystery 1: Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose

Historical mystery that looks like it's going to be lots of fun. Also, I'm all about that cover.

Two Nights by Kathy Reichs

This week's twisty thriller read comes to us from the author of the Temperance Brennan series. AKA the series that inspired Bones.

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Thriller that looks amazing. Basically a bunch of final girls from slasher film-like scenarios get together and then it turns out someone starts killing them off one by one.






Graphic Novels/Manga:

Batman Beyond Vol. 1: Escaping the Grave
Flash Vol. 9: Full Stop
Octopus Pie Volume 5
Postal Vol. 5
Foolkiller Vol. 1: Psycho Therapy
Ghost Rider Vol. 1: Four on the Floor
Great Lakes Avengers Vol. 1: Same Old, Same Old
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Vol. 3
Prowler Vol. 1
Thanos Vol. 1: Thanos Returns
Devil is a Part-Timer Vol. 9 manga
Your Name Vol. 1 manga