Recent Middle School/YA Reads

Here are three Middle School/early YA reviews. Two are already released, and one will be available in March. All have strong female leads, but I would still recommend them for boys - I actually have an issue with the idea that just because a book features a girl that boys "can't" read it. Seriously - I have a son and he reads the same stuff my daughter does and he loves it. He does appreciate stories that are more action-packed, but a female lead doesn't drive him off. [Mini-rant done.]

This Week...

...my mom is visiting, so not a whole lotta posting going on. Working on some reviews, though.

Anything you've read lately that you want to talk about?

A Little Update...

So, back at the end of January, I was over at Stellar Four talking about the Snow White movies and at the end, I mentioned the Snow movie that I really wanted to see, but wasn't sure if it would be made, The Order of the Seven. Basically, it was more from the perspective of Snow's seven compadres. There was the hint of much action and ass-kicking.

Then, wouldn't you know it, I saw this post on io9 "Disney moving forward with yet another Snow White film — this one with Saoirse Ronan and kung-fu".

This movie has been "in the works" for years, so I'm still not holding my breath, but it does show some promise.

I am a bit torn on the casting in this one - if the movie is set in China, and it's very king-fu inspired, why can't an Asian actress be Snow? I get that the seven will be from all over the globe, but still.

On the other hand, Ronan kicks ass, so her being in this one also works for me.

I'll keep an eye on it, see how things do (or don't) develop.

A Story That Hits Home

Shotgun Gravy by Chuck Wendig was free last week, but I'd actually bought it before then. Just like many of the books I own, it was sitting on my Kindle waiting for me to finish something else. The sale reminded me to finish reading it, so I did. I wrote down my first impressions of the story, a short on extreme bullying, then allowed it to sink in for a bit. Wouldn't you know it, about the same time my eldest was having her own run in with the Mean Girls. In first grade.

First, here's my thoughts on the story.

Atlanta Burns, the main character in Shotgun Gravy, is dealing with some serious, violent bullies. There is an undercurrent of hate through her town that is having monstrous results. The characters are teens, but is this a YA? I'm vacillating. And this doesn't mean I don't think teens should read it - I read adult books when I was a teen, so that's neither here nor there. It's just would I group this with YA or not? I think I'm leaning towards not, however, it does deal with a real issues that teens face: bullying. Let's face it, bullying isn't confined to high school. How many of us have encountered the bully who's still at it, this time in the corporate jungle versus the jungle gym.

Of course this story deals with bullying in a holy crap kind of way.

Recent Reviews

It's another one of those days, where I let loose a bunch of reviews that have been sitting in draft form for a bit. I've tried to get in the habit of letting my thoughts on a book percolate for a bit - saves me having to retract any knee-jerk reactions that may or may not have affected my overall feeling for the series. See, I'm growing up (slowly). That and I've found that sometimes a character will piss me off, or I'll have some other visceral reaction to a book, but I still crave the next one.

Today I have a Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and a Romantic-Suspense.

Today I'm at....

Stellar Four! Very happy to be part of their birthday celebration.

Go Red for Women!

Heart attacks affect both men and women, of course, but women are more likely to have non-traditional symptoms that might make them question the need to get to the ER.

I could parrot back a lot of info, but today I read someone else's blogpost that does it better than anything I could write here.

Megan over at Stellar Four shares her personal story, the warning signs of a heart attack, and also some awesome heart necklaces too. http://www.stellarfour.com/2012/02/go-red-and-geeky-for-women.html

Share the info with your friends and family. Know the signs. Maybe put on a red shirt, necklace, dress, shoes - let's get the word out!

What's Sitting On My Shelf....

....and why is it stuck there?

I've mentioned before that I don't write reviews for books I don't finish. I have a deep, personal aversion to it. (And I'm totally cool with it if you write DNF reviews, I'm just saying I can't do it). The primary reason is that so many times I've gone back to my DNFs and then enjoyed them. But that is not always the case.

So, I am not going to break my no DNF review rule, but I will give reasons why I am stuck on some of these books.