Books and Sensibility

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Kat C

The Art of Secrets by James Klise

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  • Release Date: April 22nd 2014
  • Genre: Contemporary / Mystery
  • Pages: 272 
  • Publisher: Algonquin For Young Readers

I first heard about The Art of Secrets in January and was instantly intrigued. I really like what Algonquin For Young Readers is doing in terms of diversity and narratives in YA . I’ve also been into art books and non-traditional narratives so this was a perfect fit!

A fire, a painting and secrets are the fuel for The Art of Secrets. The novel opens with a news clipping from The Chicago Tribune about Saba Kahn and her family coming home to find their apartment burned to the ground by an arsonist. The family is quickly showered with generosity from the parents at Saba’s exclusive private school, there is even a charity auction set up. But when a piece of art at the auction is discovered to be worth half a million dollars it is stolen and now everyone is a suspect….

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Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

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  • Release Date: June 11, 2013
  • Pages: 216
  • Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

 

I honestly have no idea how to begin reviewing a book like Charm & Strange. The entire story is told through the often fuzzy lens of an unreliable narrator, so you never really know what is going on. However by the time I got to the end I was  impressed with this debut novel from Stephanie Kuehn. Charm & Strange has to be the most unique YA I’ve read in a long time, it challenges so many of the ideas of what a YA novel can be.…

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YA Author Group Tour at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA

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This event was in January, so this post is super late, but better late than never! …

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This Star Won’t Go Out by Esther Earl with Lori and Wayne Earl

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  • Release Date: January 28th 2014
  • Genre: YA Nonfiction / Memoir
  • Pages: 428
  • Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Synopsis: In full color and illustrated with art and photographs, this is a collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Essays by family and friends help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

This book debuted around the time I finished Fault in Our Stars (I know… super late to the party) but I had no intention of reading it. Then  I saw it on the shelf at the library and decided why not? I had seen some of Esther’s videos on YouTube, visited her family’s foundation website when she first passed, and I thought I knew most of  Esther Earl’s story. 



Well, that turned out to be completely wrong.…

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Stacking The Shelves 2

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This haul is for the months of February and March !

February

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Days of David Levithan: Lover’s Dictionary and Realm of Possibility

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Between 2013-2014 I attempt to read a large selection of David Levithan novels.
 See the full list here

We are kind of skipping around in publication order because I think these two Levithan novels have a lot in common as they are both love stories written in nontraditional prose.

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