All tagged Holly Goldberg Sloan

Love, Hope & Empathy in Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Love, Hope & Empathy in Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Sarah Moon
Books

Holly Goldberg Sloan's beautiful 2011 novel I'll Be There is one of the novels I often recommend, especially to folks who shy away from the young adult label.

It's a magical little novel about a teen boy, Sam, and his young brother, Riddle, who spent their lives on the run with their abusive father until they meet Emily Bell and her family and everything changes. 

{Note: This post contains spoilers for I'll Be There. You've been warned.}

Could something be an anchor if it wasn’t weighing you down?
Was it possible to be anchored to the sky? 
Because that was how it felt to be with Emily: airborne. But with his feet on the ground.

 

Recommendation Roundup: July 2014

Recommendation Roundup: July 2014

Sarah Moon
Recommendation Roundup

Better late than never, right? I had a staggeringly good reading month, which included a couple of much-anticipated surprise sequels: Just Call My Name and Sinner. 

I also finally read Chuck Wendig's Under the Empyrean and and am retroactively mad that I waited so long to get to it--I'm currently listening to the audio of the sequel and it's even better, if you can believe that. I've been hitting my local library (have I ever mentioned that my house is on the same street as the library?) pretty hard and discovered a fun older Meg Cabot novel that's a great example of the epistolary format, if that's your jam, Boy Meets Girl. 

In other news, Sandra finally fixed her enormous oversight in never having read A Northern Light, and has rave after rave for the new Michael Koryta novel, Those Who Wish Me dead. And, Laura listened to the fabulous audio edition of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown--be sure to snag that if you're an audiobooker. 

Onward to the recommendations!

 

Big-Ass (Belated) 2014 Summer Reading List

Big-Ass (Belated) 2014 Summer Reading List

Sarah Moon
Books, Listorama

I started writing this post in May. Oops.

I always like to put together a highly-aspirational list of the books I'd like to read over the summer. My schedule is a bit more flexible, in theory, and so I hope for chunks of time to read. I don't really think there's a particular type of book that makes a "summer read," though I know for a lot of folks that's not the case. 

My list of 20 books (I'm so not getting to all of these--let me know if you've read any of them so I can prioritize) and my comments are below. 

Click on the book cover image for more info.

{List-O-Rama} Memorable Reads: 1st Half of 2012

Sarah Moon
Listorama

How has half a year gone by already? Seriously, 2012… slow down!

I thought I’d use this Sunday’s List-O-Rama to round up some of my most memorable reads thus far in 2012—and I am going to bug Laura, Renegade and Sandra to do the same. (We’ll see if they cooperate, the CEFS contributors are not known for their blind acquiescence.)

Published in 2012

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

YA Novels

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler - This is definitely my favorite Sarah Ockler; I definitely connected with dynamics of growing up in a small down. {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - This book has been rather divisive, but I loved it—and I really affected by the TFiOS tour stop I attended.  {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller - SLN is a book I’ve been recommending left and right to people—especially those who are afraid of reading YA. It strikes a perfect note of authenticity. {Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

 

Book Matchmaker: Jillian Hearts Fairytales and Hates Insta-love

Sarah Moon
Book Matchmaker

Well, this is a tough one! Jillian from Pure Fictional Intent filled out our very scientific book matchmaker questionaire looking for some genre reads she hasn’t yet discovered.

Since she’s a blogger and Goodreader, Jillian has her finger what’s happening in the book world, so we were challenged with this one. 

Adult or YA: Surprise Me

Genres: Dystopia, Fantasy, Paranormal, Steampunk

Narrator/POV: First Person, Third Person, Multiple POV, Present Tense, Past Tense, Female POV, Main Character or Narrator

Swoon Factor: 4

Gross Out Factor: 4

Smut Factor: 3

Fluff Factor: 3

Favorite Books/Themes: Ella Enchanted, Finnikin of the Rock, Froi of the Exiles, Keturah and Lord Death. Why? I love that they take “old” ideas (fairy tales, fantasy world with conspiracies and intrigues, and folk lore, respectively) and bring fresh, engaging spins to them.

Turn Offs: Love triangles, instant love between heroine/hero and love interest, faulty and unengaging world-building

The Results

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis