Books and Sensibility

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Why YA Author Martina Boone’s Compulsion For Reading Campaign is Totally Awesome

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Martina Boone

YA author Martina Boone is very busy; she serves on the board of the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia , debuted the second novel in her Heirs of Watson Island series and organizes a book drive campaign to help educators get book into the hands of teens.

Boone’s debut novel

Earlier this month Martina took the time to share with us how she got involved in YA and the beginnings of the Compulsion for Reading campaign.



Martina’s debut novel Compulsion was published by Simon & Schuster last year , and since then Martina has been working to solve a problem that can exist between teens and their next favorite book. Access.  She started The Compulsion for Reading Campaign to bring book to teens across the country. Each month a nominated teacher or librarian is chosen to receive a set of books donated by bloggers, authors or readers.
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Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

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  • Release Date : September 1st 2015
  • Genre : Contemporary
  • Pages : 320
  • Publisher : Delacorte Books For Young Readers

 

To Madeline Whittier the world is a stranger. She suffers from a rare illness that makes her allergic to…everything. She has classes, the internet and mom to keep her connected, but when a troubled family with a curious boy moves next door she realizes she could have more.


I went into this novel thinking it would focus on a romance between Olly and Maddy, but the story focuses more on Maddy’s coming-of-age.  For me this book was all about Maddy and the romance didn’t quite do it for me. I  was more drawn to how Yoon wrote Maddy’s inner conflicts. As the reader you know the risks she takes to be normal are bad for her, but you still want her to take the chance….

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6 YouTubers Who Totally Need Book Deals

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This year so many YouTubers published books…which is no surprise considering the audience YouTube has enabled content creators to grow.  Here are six YouTubers I’d like to see get book deals next!

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Fairest ( Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer

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  • Release Date: January 27th 2015
  • Genre: Sci-Fi/Space Drama
  • Audiobook Hours: 6 hours and 36 minutes
  • Publisher: Macmillan Audio

I’ve never DNFed an audiobook, but let me tell you Fairest came *this close*. It wasn’t so much that the book was bad it just didn’t have the heart or fun I’ve come to expect in this series. The plot threads and world-building elements that hold the series together started to unravel for me.

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Unboxing Book Riot YA Quaterly Box #02

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Last week I sat down and opened up my YA Quarterly Box from Book Riot.com. This box featured a set of YA contemporaries with female leads as well as some fun bookish accessories. I’ll reveal the items below and you can watch me unbox it here

Books

Chasing Shadows Swati Avasthi 

I did a quick flip through this book sand it looks like a combination of prose and images. I’ve been wanting to get into graphic and visual novels so this might be a great combo for me.

Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour

First of all I like the lightness on this cover and the font is very dynamic. I’ve seen the cover online but it looks better IRL. In this novel a girl gets carried away by a mysterious letter writer.



A Sense of The Infinite by Hilary T Smith 

Released earlier this summer this book is about a  girl dealing with the tough stuff in life. It’s been a while since I’ve jumped into the contemporary boat, so this could fill that gap.

Bookish Items. 

  • LED Clip Light by French Bull  (I’m totally clipping this to my Kindle for nighttime reading)
  • 50 Assorted Library Cards by Knot and Bow
  • Hilary T. Smith Signed Book Plate
  • A Sense Of The Infinite Postcards (3)

Final Thoughts

 Once again, I was happy that these were books I wasn’t overly familiar with and didn’t already own. I see myself using the library cards as bookmarks or to take notes for reviews. Over all this box appealed to me more than the last box.

Audiobook Review: Fake ID by Lamar Giles

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  • Release Date: January 21, 2014
  • Genre: Contemporary/Thriller/Mystery
  • Length: 7 hours 58 minutes
  • Publisher: Harper Audio

In Lamar Giles debut novel, new kid in town Nick Pearson finds himself mixed up in a murder with a side of corruption. As Nick searches for answers to a murder that could upend all his secrets he dodges bullies, crashes a party and tries to keep his parents together.  Move over Veronica Mars, Nick Pearson is on the case.

Lamar Giles writing is clever. He lays out tension, plot and conflict in front of you while still sneaking in a bit of misdirection. He has a great way of ending chapters on mini cliffhangers and you just HAVE to know what happens next.  I totally did not see the ending coming. I was like “what !?” This isn’t really a spoiler but. . .literally anyone can die. Which takes the tension up to eleven

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