It’s Sunday! Time to curl up with a good book.

And take a walk. Or go for a bike ride. Whatever you choose, get your body moving.

Here’s more Books of the Day you may have missed. It’s the last set, too! Now I need more weekend content. Or do I?

Ginny Myers Sain, When the Bones Sing

Vanessa Le, The Last Bloodcarver

Judy I Lin, A Magic Steeped in Poison

Zoraida Cordova, The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina

Synithia Williams, Frenemies with Benefits

We’re just trucking through April. I hope your weather’s been good and you’ve been able to get out and breathe some fresh air. It’s good for the body and the mind. And the soul.

We’re almost, but not quite, caught up with the Book of the Day that I’d posted at Facebook before doing it over here (with working links! I’m still aggravated about that).

Here’s our next group of five:

Abby Collette, Body and Soul Food

Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon’s Arms

Aiden Thomas, The Sunbearer Trials

Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Virtue and Vengeance

Andie Burke, Fall for Him

Be sure to tell me if you’re reading any of these books, and if you are, what you think of them!

Ahh, let’s get right to the books. I’ve got nothing to say that’s boring, let alone interesting!

Sonora Reyes, The Broposal

Arden Powell, Of Socialites and Prizefights

Penelope Leslye, Daughter of the Merciful Deep

Kristina Forest, The Love Lyric

Chinelo Okparanta, Under the Udala Trees

First off, I forgot to mention this, but it’s my birthday month and I have gifties for my newsletter subscribers! Be sure to get on the Susan Helene Gottfried newsletter; the other is my editorial newsletter.

Of course, if you need an editor who sends out a newsletter about her availability and not much else, well, go for that one too. I’m always glad to welcome new friends into my worlds.

Happy Passover to my fellow Jewish friends! May your seders not be boring and the wine good. I’m writing this post in advance, but I’m about 100% certain there’s no seder for me again this year.

Let’s get to the backlog of Books of the Day!

Camryn Garrett, The Forgotten Summer of Seneca

The Global Fund for Children, Global Babies

Sangu Mandanna, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

Adeeba Jafri, Show Yourself

Frances Gilbert, Allison Black (Illustrator), Go, Girls, Go

There you go!

Five more books, previously posted at my Facebook business page, but now with working links — I can’t believe I hadn’t realized the links weren’t live. Ugh — and to Bookshop.org, too, so you’re supporting either the independent bookshop you identify OR you’re benefiting ALL the independent bookstores. Either way, you can’t lose.

Remember that money spent in your local community tends to remain there, so support your local indie bookshops where you can. And if you can’t? That’s the beauty of Bookshop.org. I’m not kidding when I say they put the affiliate money into a pot and pay it out to ALL the stores in its network. Now you’re supporting more than one, including the stores in struggling communities you may not have heard of yet. Now THAT is a good deed!

It’s Tuesday. My editor self actually really likes Tuesdays because Mondays are always so hard to focus. But Tuesdays? Tuesday are the day when it clicks and it’s a day of plugging along, getting pages done and all the editing stuff. (Reminder: editing isn’t only looking for typos!)

Writing:

Despite how tired I still was from the weekend — and sore. What’s that about? — I had a fantastic writing session last night, working on the standalone.

Populated is still on sale at Kobo!
Safe House is still on sale all month, at all retailers.

Editing:

Plugging along here too! Now up to seven manuscripts that I’m waiting on. Seven!

Book of the day:

Echoes and Embers, by Pedro Iniguez

I’m still having fun with this daily check-in and Book of the Day. If you are too, why not say thanks? Pick up a copy of one of my books. Check them out from your local library, even! (Ebooks only) Or buy me a figurative bottle of fountain pen ink via my Ko-fi.

In the meantime, keep on plugging along!

Good morning friends and book lovers!

I’m headed home today; it’s a ten-hour drive, and there’s also a time change to take into account. Worth it to spend time not only with my kid but my cousins, too.

On to former books of the day!

Elise Kova, A Duel with the Vampire Lord

Gina L Carroll, The Grandest Garden

Myah Ariel, When I Think of You

Kristina Forest, The Love Lyric

Nora Nguyen, Adam and Evie’s Matchmaking Tour

Five more books for you to check out… I hope you’re learning as much as I am about the amazing books out there, and how easy it is to overlook… just so many.

Have a great week, everyone!

I’m looking at my media files and WOW there’s a lot. I could add extra books of the day, just by recycling those old book covers. And that’s only the books I’m confident fit the criteria!

As I’m writing this, in advance, there’s nothing on my calendar. I might be settling in for a day of writing, but I’m definitely doing my accounting, since we sold books yesterday at the end of the panel discussion. Not gonna lie, I always wish I’d sold more, convinced more readers to give my books a try. Hopefully more will take advantage of Hoopla and Libby and do just that!

On to the catch-up list of Books of the Day!

Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

AJ Sass, Ana on the Edge

Walter Dean Myers, Street Love

Regina Sage, Ocean’s Embrace

Mariah Ankenman, Perfect Imperfections

There you go! There’s the next five!

Go forth and read! Remember that libraries are treasures that need to be used in order to keep their luster. There’s zero shame in not buying books and borrowing them instead — in fact, it’s good for you, it’s good for your library’s circulation numbers, and it’s good for your community.

I got a call to restock copies of Maybe the Bird Will Rise at Blythe Books, the Pittsburgh-based used bookstore that also champions local authors.

I shouldn’t be so surprised. I wrote a really good book. One thing I’ve noticed at in-person events is the way the right readers gravitate toward my covers. It’s cool to watch.

In a way, it’s cooler to get restock messages. And one day, I will be in the store when someone gravitates toward the book and decides to buy it without talking to me about it first!

Editing: Still waiting on five edits. Five!
But at least this gives me the time today to run out to Blythe Books for the restock. Pittsburgh book lovers! Might I be leaving other titles too?

Writing: I got a lot done yesterday on the standalone. The storyline has changed subtly, so I’ve got to deal with that.
I’ve also been working on another typo check of Safe House, along with a reader’s group guide. Look for those when I can afford a website refresh. Another reason I hate waiting on manuscripts!

Book of the Day:
I know this is what you come here for, so here it is!
Darius the Great is Not Okay, by Adib Khorram

Having fun with the Book of the Day? Buy me a bottle of fountain pen ink!

I truly hate being between edits. Y’all can fix that, I’m sure.

Writing: I had a meeting last night at the temple, so I only got a bit of writing in, but I worked on a short piece that’ll be available only at my direct store.

Book of the Day: Pardon my Frenchie by Farrah Rochon

That’s it! No real plans for the day — I need a good tea ball and some ice trays, so if you have recs, I’m all ears! — and am hoping for some serious writing today/tonight.

Although I’ve been at my desk, working, during this holiday break, I decided that since most people aren’t, anything I could or would post would wind up being ignored. So… West of Mars has seemed dark.

I hate the word seemed in fiction because it’s often used incorrectly. Webster’s defines it “To give the impression of being” (or something darn close to that; let’s see how good my short-term memory is these days), and in fiction, that’s often attached to something that actually doesn’t give an impression. All too often, what’s being tagged with seem winds up doing more than giving an impression.

And so I may seem to not be around, but that’s not the whole picture. Because I’ve been here, working, both on client work and my own fiction. My workspace is insanely comfortable and I love to be in here. And there’s only so much Two Dots that a girl can play.

I have Lines of Distinction and Featured New Book Spotlights coming up in the new year. I am debating doing a year-end reading roundup like I used to, but truth be told, I didn’t read 40 books this year (I think my number stands at 38 or 39) and… they weren’t particularly memorable books. At first, looking over the list, I thought it was me, being pickier about the books I read for pleasure. But looking back at various roundups (Here’s 2011’s), I truly was more excited about what I was reading. It felt like in 2017, I was just reading books as a way of marking time.

I will have to fix that.

Give me book suggestions, will you? Books that you love, series you can’t wait to spend more time with.

And send me your manuscripts to edit, so I can afford to buy and support more of the really good stuff that’s being written. See how the cycle works? Buy it, read it, review it, blog about it, someone else buys it, reads it, reviews it, blogs about it… and on and on.

Let’s power some really good stuff to the forefront in 2018, shall we?

I got an e-mail out of the blue, inviting me to join in an April Fool’s Blog Exchange. How could I — why would I — say no? The icing on the cake? The City to my Iron? All the bloggers are in my home town of Pittsburgh, a city I’m not nearly visible enough in.

Enough about me. Today’s blog post is brought to us by a fellow April baby and book lover. Could that matchup have been any more heaven-sent?

.

Here’s Tiffany Harkleroad, a woman who has actually laid eyes on me and can vouch to the fact that I’m not an orange S on a red background.

I have been a book reviewer for 4 years now. I have been working at a library for 4 months. I have stacks of books in every room. I papered my living room floor with book pages. I think it is safe to call me a book lover. But how did this love of literature begin? I trace it back to my parents.
My parents are both readers, and even though they had little spare time to read while working full time and raising 3 children, books were always a present in our home. My parents always took the time to read to us, and with us, as our reading skills progressed. As I got older, I would beg my parents to take me to bookstores to spend any allowance or birthday money I had saved up. But the thing that I most strongly remember from childhood was my parents taking me to the library.

Trips to the library were not an easy thing for my parents. We lived in a rural, outlying area, so it was about a 20 minute drive to the library, then we could count on being there for at least an hour, plus the drive back. For busy, working parents, this was a sacrifice, yet my parents never complained a bit. As soon as school was out for the summer, my parents would take me to the library, and help me check out a tower of library books. Two weeks later, we would trek back, return them, and get another stack. I firmly believe that my parents’ support of my library adoration set me up to be a reader for life.

So here we are, 30 years later. I still love books, I still love libraries, and I want to share that love with others, the way my parents shared it with me. Since I have no children of my own, the best way for me to accomplish this is to encourage the children in my community to love books the way I love books. But how?

April is my birthday month, and I like to use that as an opportunity to celebrate the things I love best. Seems like the perfect opportunity to celebrate reading, and encourage reading in my community’s children. So here is what I am doing: I am asking folks to help me build a Children’s Literacy Activity Center for the Ford City Public Library (where I work). I have created an Amazon Wish List of items needed to create the center. I am asking friends, family, and fellow book lovers to purchase items from this list in honor of my birthday. The items will be shipped directly to the library. You can find the wish list here.

It is my birthday wish that I can share my love of reading with the children in my community. I hope you will help make my wish come true.
You can visit my personal blog at talltalesfromasmalltown.blogspot.com, or my book review blog at tiffanysbookshelf.blogspot.com

I think Tiffany might have topped me on this one… I usually release a book on my birthday, figuring I’ll get the gift of royalties and you can keep the goods. But this? Takes it to an entirely new level. Wow.

You go, Tiffany!

You can read my post over at Oh, Honestly, Erin.

Beezus Kiddo

Crank Crank Revolution

D&T In the Burgh

Don’t Forget to Eat

Downtown Living

Emily Levenson

everybody loves you…

jelly jars

‘lil Burgers

Ngewo’s World

Oh Honestly, Erin

Orange Chair Blog

PGH Happy Hour

Radio Chumps

Red Pen Mama

Sean’s Ramblings

Small Town Dad

Sole for the Soul

Syntaxxerrorrr

The Firecracker Blog

The Pittsburgh Mommy Blog

The Steel Trap

West of Mars

Ya Jagoff

Yinz R Readin

Yinzster

Yum Yum PGH

I clicked through to a post this morning that was supposed to be about censoring books. I’ve had Trevor’s Song censored so many times because of its language, I like to be able to laugh it off with fellow authors.

But man, did this post set me off. It was a different sort of censorship.

The author was talking about how she’d published some romances with some sensual or sexual scenes (to what level of sensuality/sexuality, I don’t know) under her own name. Her husband wasn’t thrilled with her choice, because this woman has standing in her community.

She’d brushed him off — and been shocked to discover teens she was familiar with were reading her books. Sex scenes and all.

Her contention was that we parents should be censoring what our kids read.

Now, if you’ve been hanging around my blog for any length of time, you’ve noticed that on Tuesdays, one or the other of my kids likes to blog.

I have read very few of the books they blog about.

To put it simply: I don’t have time. Both kids can read a book in two days during the school year. Less during the summer. Teen Girl Rocks and Reads, as she calls herself, isn’t a teen yet. And she has fallen in love with the ease of Overdrive and her iPod. For her, the iPod is a book depository first and a toy second.

So let’s take a look. Two kids, who each devour books. One mom, a single parent who owns a successful, growing business, who runs the household, who is active in her community, and who has her own life. (pretty much in that order, too.)

Do the math.

Go on. Maybe your head won’t explode like mine just did.

So now I’m going to say something that might be unpopular with the helicopter crowd, but here it is: as parents, our job is to instill values in our kids. When my daughter downloaded a book with sexual content that made her uncomfortable (and hadn’t been hinted at in the book description, she claimed), she simply hit delete. No muss, no fuss. She didn’t even tell me about it until I asked her about a kissing scene in a book I’d recommended to her. When she fessed up, I shrugged it off. She’d done the right thing, as far as I was concerned.

Think about it: she saw something she didn’t like, and she walked away.

For me, that’s the greatest success I could have as a parent. She handled a situation with no drama and no demands that Mom come to the rescue and delete the book so she didn’t have to look at it ever again. She didn’t inform me she was never reading another book, never using Overdrive. Nothing. She just said she wished that the information had been in the book description. If she had known, she wouldn’t have downloaded it.

Yes, my kids are still young enough to need some protection from the world. Absolutely. But on the flip side, I dashed down to a small town half an hour from my home yesterday to pick up my son, who got off a charter bus 10 days after I’d last seen him. We’d had contact once, when he’d asked me to send him a care package.

He was at the Boy Scout National Jamboree. He spent days with new friends I’d never met, led by two men I’d never met (and two I know well), walking in the woods, managing his own schedule, his own cleanliness (a shout-out to the other Scout parents who now chuckle at the words ambient shower), laundry, money, responsibility, and even a day devoted to giving back to the West Virginia community at large.

Even if I had been one of the adult leaders on-site, I couldn’t be there to protect him. To warn him before the many thunderstorms rolled in, or tell him when it was safe to go back out. I wasn’t there to make sure he handled guns safely, or had his harness attached to the zip line properly. Those are the sorts of things that, as a Scout, he is expected to know and be attentive to on his own, even before the staff checked to make sure he was following protocol.

In short: the Scouts instill values in him, values that help him make smart choices.

As a parent, I have tried to instill values in both my kids. And when I see my daughter quietly walk away from a book with content she isn’t comfortable with, I know that while I may have hugely failed in other areas, at least in this one, I’ve been a success.

So, no. I won’t censor what my kids read. I’ll gladly read anything they tell me is worth my time and that they want to share or discuss with me. I’ll let them make their own decisions, and I’ll take a deep breath and let it out each time those decisions prove I was right to trust them.

I got that proof with my son and Jamboree. I got that proof with my daughter and that book.

For all my missteps as a parent — and some have been huge — I know I am doing something right. There’s no going backward from here.

Hello everyone!

Last week I was out of town, away from all technology, thus being unable to post. But here is Behemoth, the second in the Scott Westerfeld series. Jump in!

Behemoth: Scott Westerfeld
out of
4/5

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker Powers.
Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what’s ahead.

Immediately after Leviathan, our story picks up. The Clankers have revealed a new Shocking weapon, one that will bring the Darwinists to their knees. However, the Darwinists have the Behemoth, their fierce new weapon. But the Ottoman Empire is one who remains neutral, and they WILL be a turning point in the war, if the Darwinists can gain their trust.

I have read a lot of series where the books run right into each other, and most of them have been either bad, or awful. This book, by those standards was amazing, not only in the fact that the two books ran right into each other, but the book itself was amazing. Next week, we have the series finale, Goliath, and then we move on to a new series. Most likely the Bartimaeus series, but if I get any other ideas, we will delve into that.

See you next week,
Your Friend at TBR

Ok, everyone. Sorry it has been so long, but I have just forgot to post, but will have posts more regularly as summer rolls in. Again, sorry. I wrote this post a while ago, but never posted it. So, I bid you best reads.

Well, It’s here.

Department 19, book TWO! The Rising. Amazing. excited. Lets get it before I can’t type.

Department 19: The Rising
out of (5/5)

91 DAYS TILL ZERO HOUR.

THAT’S 91 DAYS TO RUN.

91 DAYS TO HIDE.

OR 91 DAYS TO PRAY FOR DEPARTMENT 19 TO SAVE YOU…

After the terrifying attack on Lindisfarne at the end of the first book, Jamie, Larissa and Kate are recovering at Department 19 headquarters, waiting for news of Dracula’s stolen ashes.

They won’t be waiting for long.

Vampire forces are gathering. Old enemies are getting too close. And Dracula… is rising.

12 weeks after Lindisfarne, The department has picked itself up and most who went survived. But all who went changed. And Valeri Rusmanov has been working Dracula back to life, and the vampires and becoming bolder, and they are leaving graffiti on all the walls. He Rises 91 days to slay Dracula, because after then, Dracula becomes the world’s dictator and all the humans will be non-existent. Unlikely alliances will form, all to bring down these monsters.

Holy Heck in a handbasket. To make this simple, Department 19 blew almost every other book I have read out of the water. The Rising blew the first one out of the water. Yeah. So, next week, I am trying something new. I am going to give a “Reccommended Reads/Recently Read,” and we’ll see how that goes. After that, I will do the Leviathan Trilogy BY Scott Westerfield, and Then Mortal By Phillip Reeves.

See Ya next time,

Your Friend at TBR

Hey everyone,

Today is my recommended reads post. All of these books are really good, so read some!

Artemis Fowl Series- Eoin Colfer
All Books I have reviewed, for the most part
Holes- Louis Sachar
Rick Riordan- I will not read him, but I know he is really good
Margaret Peterson Haddix, Amazing author
I, Q- Roland Smith
Jerry Spinelli
Evil Genius- Catherine Jinks
Alex Rider- Anthony Horowitz
Eragon-
Maximum Ride- James Patterson WARNING!! When Reading a James Patterson Book, look under his name. Patterson Has many people writing under his name!
Eoin Colfer in general
Dan Gutman, Sports
Jack Gantos
HIVE- Mark Walden- LOVE IT!
Rangers Apprentice- Never read it, but have heard nice things about it.
Warriors- Erin Hunter
The Mostly True Story of Jack

Thanks for reading,
Your friend at TBR

Hey, guys. Sorry I haven’t posted in such a long time, but I just have been sorta busy. Today I have a good book for you. Crater, by HOMER HICKAM as in October Sky, and Rocket Boys. This is the first in a series, and is a great mix of Sci-Fi, Action, adventure, and more.

Lets get in.

Crater, by Homer Hickam
out of

It’s the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people mine the moon for Helium-3 to produce energy for a desperate, war-torn Earth. Sixteen-year old Crater Trueblood loves his job as a Helium-3 miner. But when he finds courage he didn’t know he had and saves a fellow miner, his life changes forever. Impressed by his heroism, the owner of the mine orders Crater to undertake a dangerous mission. Crater doubts himself, but he has no choice. He must go.

With the help of Maria, the mine owner’s frustrating but gorgeous granddaughter, and his gillie—a sentient and sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells—Crater must fight both human and subhuman enemies. He’ll battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly but magnificent lunar terrain before vaulting into the far reaches of space, there to recover an astonishing object that could mean the difference between life and death for every inhabitant on the moon.

Far into the future, the moon has been colonized and helium-3 found on the moon. A few men live on the moon and mine it of it’s Helium-3 to provide to a war-ravaged Earth. One day, when he save his best friend, the mining company owner calls him in and decides to send him on a very dangerous mission.

Crater, having no choice in the matter, is switched to the convoy company and is sent across the moon to retrieve a package for the owner. On the road, he must face everything from traffic delays to the subhuman trying to stop the convoy and, most of all, kill Crater. Crater is no warrior, let alone adult. Crater must wrestle with a budding interest in Maria, the mine owner’s REALLY stubborn granddaughter, who Crater Trueblood, a sixteen-year-old miner truly is, what he really wants to be and CAN be…

Wow. Hickam hit this one out of the ballpark. It has been a while since I read this, but it is amazing. Well, the book was a non-stop kind of book, you know, those books you can’t put down. I enjoyed this book a lot, and was joyed when I was able to check out Department 19, and will be giving you that review next week.

Sorry Again for the lack of reviews these past 2 weeks.

Stay bookworming, (is that a word?) my friends,

Your friend at TBR

Hey everyone,

Next book in the Tripods Trilogy. The name will be explained. Dive in!

The City of Gold and Lead- John Christopher
out of

Long ago, the Tripods–huge, three-legged machines–descended upon Earth and took control. Now people unquestioningly accept the Tripods’ power. They have no control over their thoughts or their lives. But for a brief time in each person’s life–in childhood–he is not a slave. For Will, his time of freedom is about to end–unless he can escape to the White Mountains, where the possibility of freedom still exists. The Tripods trilogy follows the adventures of Will and his cohorts, as they try to evade the Tripods and maintain their freedom and ultimately do battle against them. The prequel, When the Tripods Came, explains how the Tripods first invaded and gained control of the planet.

After Will, Beanpole, and Henry made it to the White Mountains, they were taken in by a society of uncapped men. These men havea plan to get Will, Beanpole, and their best athletes in to one of the Tripods’ Cities by having them win an athletics competition, but will our three friends all make in in and out alive?

The book was good, but it was a lot of talk, and not much happened, although it did go fast, so that made up for it a little bit. Another good point was that the evil dudes were oddly human in a way. The reason the book is called such is because the aliens need heavier gravity, hence LEAD and the GOLD comes from the sheen of the walls, gold. Well, the final book in the trilogy is next week. See you then!

Happy Reading,

Your Friend at TBR

Hey Readers,

I recently read The White Mountains by John Christopher. It isn’t the newest book, but it was still phenomenal. So, without further ado, I will launch in. Also, please don’t rage on me because I did not do the prequel first.

The White Mountains-John Christopher
out of

Long ago, the Tripods–huge, three-legged machines–descended upon Earth and took control. Now people unquestioningly accept the Tripods’ power. They have no control over their thoughts or their lives. But for a brief time in each person’s life–in childhood–he is not a slave. For Will, his time of freedom is about to end–unless he can escape to the White Mountains, where the possibility of freedom still exists. The Tripods trilogy follows the adventures of Will and his cohorts, as they try to evade the Tripods and maintian their freedom and ultimately do battle against them. The prequel, When the Tripods Came, explains how the Tripods first invaded and gained control of the planet.

Many years on the future, an alien race known only to mankind as the tripods, has invaded, destroyed, and turned the Earth back in time. Everyone lives in a permanent pre-industrial revolution era. There is no war, and at age 14, everyone is given a “cap,” a metal mesh that goes over the head and is infused into the flesh. Will, who is soon to be capped, soon meets a man known only as Ozymandias who is posing to be a Vargrant, someone whose mind was destroyed during the capping process. Ozymandias tells him to go south, to the White Mountains where he will live free for the rest of his life, or so he is told.

The book was quite good, especially since I have read a few pretty bad Sci-Fi novels. However, my librarian said that before he had read the book, he HATED Sci-Fi. But, all in all, it was a good book, fusing technology with adventure, escape, and fun. More of the trilogy coming your way!

See you later,
Your Friend at TBR

Well, I have another book for you today. Beware, this book is VERY mature and NOT geared for small children. DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY!

Department 19
Will Hill
out of

Jamie Carpenter’s life will never be the same. His father is dead, his mother is missing, and he was just rescued by an enormous man named Frankenstein. Jamie is brought to Department 19, where he is pulled into a secret organization responsible for policing the supernatural, founded more than a century ago by Abraham Van Helsing and the other survivors of Dracula. Aided by Frankenstein’s monster, a beautiful vampire girl with her own agenda, and the members of the agency, Jamie must attempt to save his mother from a terrifyingly powerful vampire.

Department 19 takes us through history, across Europe, and beyond – from the cobbled streets of Victorian London to prohibition-era New York, from the icy wastes of Arctic Russia to the treacherous mountains of Transylvania. Part modern thriller, part classic horror, it’s packed with mystery, mayhem, and a level of suspense that makes a Darren Shan novel look like a romantic comedy.

After Jamie Carpenter’s father died, his life changed. And it is not for the better. He has been moving around ever since that day. And now, his mom has gone missing. After being whisked away to top-secret wing of the British Government and given a military-level fight-and-weapons training, he learns that his mother has been captured by vampires. The second oldest, and the second most ruthless vampire, Alexandru, to be exact. This puts Jamie, a TEENAGER, on the hunt for one of the world’s most dangerous creatures, ever.
OMG! I could never stop raving about this book! It was the best thing that I have read in a long time, and that is really saying something. I won’t actually describe the book since I would go on and on and on about it, but I will say that it is a LOT more mature than all of the other books I have reviewed so far, so take caution. If this book was a video game, it is rated M, and as a movie, it would be rated R. Just saying. Young children, take caution. But it is a great book, despite all the blood and vampires exploding. Check the book’s website out at department19exists.com

Saddened by our parting again,

Your friend at TBR

Hey, everyone.

Got another book for you in the series of books designed exactly for teenage guys to read. Well, dive in!

Guys Read: Thriller
Edited by Jon Scieszka
out of (3/5)

Volume 2 of the Guys Read Library of Great Reading has been described as “chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity.” Also “a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.” Who are we to argue? But we will say it’s all that and more.

Guys Read is BACK!! This thrilling collection contains all the Thriller short stories you could ever need! If you did not realize that, reread the title. Edited by Jon Scieszka, we have some of the greatest Thriller novel authors all piled into one!
Well, I can truthfully say that thrillers are not my favorite kind of book. However, this was MUCH better than Revolver, the last book I read. This, being the second of three existing Guys Read books, will be the second in this review trilogy. The next is Guys Read: Sports Pages.
Well, the book was good, but like I said, I don’t really like thrillers. But albeit the fact that it was a whole collection of thrillers, the book WAS good. Not really all that much more that I can say, but I CAN say that I liked the book.

Keep reading, my friends,

Your friend at TBR