Monthly Round Up: November 2016

So, my reading completely and utterly slowed down in November. And I really didn’t have a favorite this month; it’s all kind of a blur.  I suspect I’m not the only one in this situation…

That said, here’s what I did get read. And here’s hoping December (with all its busy) will be a better reading month.

YA

threedarkcrowns jacobhaveiloved fallingoversideways crookedkingdom
Three Dark Crowns (audio)
Jacob Have I Loved
Falling Over Sideways
Crooked Kingdom

Middle Grade
whenthesea journeysend
When the Sea Turned to Silver
Journey’s End

Non-Fiction
voracious searchingfor
Voracious
Searching for John Hughes (DNF)

Graphic Novel
razzledazzle
Razzle Dazzle Unicorn

Monthly Round-up: October 2016

On the one hand, I’m sitting here thinking, “I survived the fall! YAY!” On the other hand, I’m sitting here thinking, “Where on EARTH did the fall go? I’m not ready for the holidays!”

I keep telling myself, “Deep breaths. You can do this.”

And most days, I can.

Thankfully, I have a LOT of good books to keep me sane. My favorite this month, by far:

sunalsostar

The Sun is Also a Star

So, SO good.

As for the rest…

Middle grade:

insertcoint 9781484709672 missypigglewiggleunbound

Insert Coin to Continue
The Creeping Shadow
Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure
Unbound

YA:

diabolic myladyjane heartlesswhatlightundertow

The Diabolic
Heartless
My Lady Jane
What Light
Undertow

Adult:

redshirts
Redshirts

Non-fiction:

mykitchenyear
My Kitchen Year (audio)

What were your favorites this month?

September 2016 Monthly Wrap-Up

So I’m a couple days late on this! It’s due to a lot of things, mostly this past week being exhausting. The family had to make a quick trip out of town and then I came back to three back-to-back events. I did my first non-author event at schools — the Roald Dahl Splendiferous Spectacular Bus Tour — which was both different (I felt mostly useless, since the actors had their program down to the last detail) and fun (the program really was a lot of fun to watch). And then two authors — Leigh Bardugo (with Ally Carter) who was amazing (I wish more people had come. She deserves HUGE crowds) and Ben Hatke, who I swear is an elf.

img_0085 img_9931

And that doesn’t even begin to cover it.

My favorite for this month?

leaveme

Leave Me

I’m just sad I didn’t get to see her when she came (last week!).

As for the others…

Adult:

tenantofwildfell
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Graphic Novel

ghosts
Ghosts

YA:

kidsofappetitethievingweaselsreplica9780525429746
Kids of Appetite
Thieving Weasels
Replica
Spontaneous

Middle Grade

nineten bestman   secretkeepers gertieframed

Nine, Ten
Best Man
The Secret Keepers
Gertie’s Leap to Greatness
Framed: A T.O.A.S.T Mystery

What were your favorites this month?

Monthly Round-Up: August 2016

So, I’m sitting down, here at the end of August, and I’m thinking to myself: what have I gotten myself into? See, starting on Tuesday, I’ve got two months of nearly non-stop author events, and school visits, not to mention a conference and a literacy festival. I’m thinking that we’ll see just how much reading gets done… it’s also a good thing I’ve blogged ahead a bit for September. But if I suddenly disappear, you’ll know why. The author event gods ate me.

My favorite was one for the on-line book group:

pipersson

The Piper’s Son

I’d never read Marchetta’s realistic fiction before. I was missing out, people. I need to read her others now. SO good.

As for the rest:

YA

girlwhodrankcursedchildmonstersofmen
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Monsters of Men

Middle Grade

fantasticmrfox adventurersguide troublewithtwins

Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Trouble with Twins
The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes

Graphic Novels

mightyjack
Mighty Jack

Adult Fiction

confessions

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Non Fiction

textbook

Textbook

What were some of your favorites this month?

Monthly Round-Up: July 2016

It’s been a month of preparations. Spending every spare minute, planning and then putting those plans into motion. And, on top of that, it’s been high summer, with days at the pool, and the garden ripening, and just being so, so very lazy.

I love this time of year. So: my favorite this month?

withmaliceWith Malice

So, so very good.  And a good adult crossover, too; I sold it to one of our regular customers who was fed up with the extra blather in adult fiction. She loved it as well, which made me very happy.

As for the rest:

Middle Grade

thetwits witches thebfg towersfalling

The BFG
Towers Falling
The Witches
The Twits

Adult Fiction

andthentherewerenonegatheringofshadowsanotherbrooklynsmokemagicians

A Gathering of Shadows
Smoke
The Magicians (DNF)
And Then There Were None
Another Brooklyn

YA:

askandanswer andidarken

And I Darken
The Ask and the Answer

What were your favorites this month?

Monthy Round-up: June 2016

I meant to put this up a couple days ago, but like many things these days, it slipped my mind. Better late than never, I suppose. My favorite for the month was this one:

msbixby

Ms. Bixby’s Last Day

Such a good middle grade novel. One of my favorites this year.

As for the rest:

YA:

 

museumofheartbreak summerdays knifeofnever outrunthemoon ifiwasyourgirl

The Museum of Heartbreak
Summer Days and Summer Nights
Outrun the Moon
If I Was Your Girl
The Knife of Never Letting Go

Middle Grade:

charlieandthechocolatefactory whenfriendship matilda

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
When Friendship Followed Me Home
Matilda

Graphic Novel

unicornvgoblins

Unicorns vs. Goblins

Adult Fiction:

hundredthousandlastoriginalwife

The Last Original Wife (audio book)
A Hundred Thousand Worlds

What were some of your favorites this month?

Monthly Round-Up: May 2016

It’s been a good reading month (note the lack of grown-up books…). I did get a lot read, and even though my piles are growing bigger every day (I need a time turner!), I don’t feel overly hopeless about it all. Maybe that has something to do with my favorite book this month:

shepherdscrownThe Shepherd’s Crown

I loved it, and I think it’s the perfect ending. Really. Not that there wasn’t a number of great books this month. There were. My heart just belongs to Tiffany Aching.

As for the rest:

YA:

sixofcrows haters geniusthegame hiddenoracle writteninthestars youknowmewell laststar

Six of Crows (audio book)
The Haters (DNF)
Genius: The Game
The Hidden Oracle
Written in the Stars
You Know Me Well
The Last Star

Middle Grade:

countingthyme nothingupmysleeve

Counting Thyme
Nothing Up My Sleeve

Graphic Novel:

lumberjanes2 lumberjanes3 msmarvel

Lumberjanes, vol 2 and 3
Ms. Marvel, vol 2

Adult:

maestra

Maestra (DNF)

What were your favorites this month?

Monthly Round-Up: April 2016

It was a crazy month; lots of drama around the house, and I really don’t think I’m reading as much as I used to. Times and seasons, no? That said, I did read some, and my favorite (no surprise), was this one:

ravenking

Raven King

It was such a great ending to a fantastic series.

Oh, and a couple of pics from the event last night:

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13133365_10208869739879222_6052700069161527194_n

And after:

13124649_10208870100328233_5182837890320749532_n 13087559_10209623330638839_383658618303148394_n

And what I ended up writing on the car cover:

IMG_6525

She was amazing. That’s really not overstating it.

As for the others…

Middle Grade:

raymie aintsoawful terribletwogetworse

Raymie Nightingale
The Terrible Two Get Worse
It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel

Young Adult:

winnerskiss wolfhollow lovegelato

The Winner’s Kiss
Love & Gelato
Wolf Hollow

Non-Fiction:

furiouslyhappy quietpower

Furiously Happy (audio book)
Quiet Power

Graphic Novel:

phoebe lumberjanes1

Phoebe and Her Unicorn
Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy

What were your favorites this month?

Monthly Round-Up: March 2016

It was a Middle Grade month, one in which I snuck books in between the cracks. I made some headway on KidlitCon, with a great logo, designed by Sarah Stevenson, a date — October 14-15 — and a hotel. Stay tuned, because we’ve got a registration form coming soon! (It’s work, but it’s manageable so far, much to my surprise!)

My favorite this month was (and is; I keep gushing about it to people at work):

rebelofthesands

Rebel of the Sands

So. Good.

As for the rest:

YA

tellmethreethings

Tell Me Three Things

Adult Fiction:

drivingheat bollywoodaffair darkershade
Driving Heat
A Darker Shade of Magic
A Bollywood Affair (audio book)

Middle Grade:

spiritweekshowdown charmedchildren wildrobot aintsoawful clementine hourofbees alliefirstbooked
The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle
Spirit Week Showdown
The Wild Robot
Completely Clementine
Booked
Hour of the Bees
Allie, First at Last

What was your favorite this month?

Monthly Round-Up: February 2016

Somehow, this month, I feel like I fell behind. I really don’t know why. Probably has something to do with four girls pulling me in four different directions, plus a husband, plus a job that takes some of my time, plus there are actually more TV shows I’m watching (one per girl, really. A quick aside, we’re actually quite liking the Shadowhunters TV series, but mostly because everyone’s so pretty to look at.). But I feel like there’s just less time for reading than there used to be.

Times and seasons, I guess.

My favorite of the ones that got read this month, though was this one:

iamprincessxI Am Princess X

There were a lot of good ones, though, this month. The rest:

YA:

salttothesea hellogoodbye schoolforbrides

Salt to the Sea
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between
A School for Brides (audiobook)

Non-Fiction:

wild littledribbling radioactive

Wild (audiobook)
The Road to Little Dribbling
Radioactive

Middle Grade:

keytoextraordinary fridays

The Key to Extraordinary
Fridays With the Wizards

Graphic Novel

firelight
Amulet: Firelight

What were some of your favorites this month?