All tagged Jenn Bennett

Episode #31: Chatting Books & Libraries with Molly Wetta

Episode #31: Chatting Books & Libraries with Molly Wetta

Sarah Moon
Podcast: Season Three

Awesome librarian, Tumblr rockstar, YALSA's The Hub editor and all around awesome human being Molly Wetta was on our "hit list" of dream podcast guests and we're so, so, so thrilled she was finally about to join us for a chat!

This is a pretty freewheeling discussion, with topics ranging from what it's like to work with books professionally (buying books with someone else's money seems like a dream job, but it's also really hard!), library school, how to make book recommendations and some of the more interesting questions she's gotten on Find Your Next Book. It was a whole lot of fun!

Links & Things: September 20th

Links & Things: September 20th

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Hi y'all! How was your week? Mine was... exhausting. I really don't understand why life doesn't stop so I can curl up with a good book and drink a cup of tea. That doesn't seem unreasonable, does it?  

Here's some interestingness--an abbreviated version, that is--I spotted on the web this week that you may have missed. 

Recommended Reading

The Bridge from Me to You is a YA novel that is part verse, part prose. It is told alternately by a 17-year-old girl who is new to a small town with a family secret, and the star football player she meets who is having a tough year and has big dreams beyond the field. Publication is planned for summer 2014.

Read the rest--> 

Links + Things: Semi-Short & Sweet Edition

Links + Things: Semi-Short & Sweet Edition

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Just a semi-quick roundup of links this week, since I'm on a semi-vacation at home this week and next. So, just bulleted news, cover art and some good deals on books in this edition. We'll be back to our regular programming shortly.  

Recommended Reading

List-O-Rama: Thinking About Summer Reading

List-O-Rama: Thinking About Summer Reading

Sarah Moon
Listorama

Summer reading tends to be feast or famine for me.

My work schedule gets a bit weird, so I alternate between no free time and loads of it. As a result, I tend to be a bit more random with my reading choices (which is saying something, since I specialize in random and don't keep a reading "schedule" like many folks do) and binge on series or authors and try a lot of stuff out that piqued my interest that I previously passed up due to business, etcetera.

Here are a few (actually, a whole lot) of books I'm thinking about tackling this summer.

Darkest London Series by Kristen Callihan

I picked up the third book in Kristen Calligan's Darkest London Series at ALA earlier this year, not realizing that it was part of an ongoing series (I started reading Winterblaze and was promptly confused). I find myself more and more intrigued by historical fantasy (is that what the sub-genre is called?) and this one while having pretty trashy covers, comes highly recommended by several folks whose taste I trust.

Amazon | Goodreads

The Paranormal YA Series Enders

I have a weird habit with series endings: I kind of hate them. There's so much pressure for series to end "right" and in the case of paranormal YA, since there's not a lot that I love, love, love, with Jeri Smith-Ready's Shade trilogy, Rachel Vincent's lengthy Soul Screamersseries and Kim Derting's Body Finder quartet, it's not just series ending stress I'm facing--I'm also looking at not having a lot left in the genre that intrigues me.

Shade Series on Amazon | Goodreads
Soul Screamers on Amazon | Goodreads
The Body Finder on Amazon | Goodreads

Review: Leasing the Tempest by Jenn Bennett

Review: Leasing the Tempest by Jenn Bennett

Sarah Moon
Books

It’s no secret that Jenn Bennett’s Arcadia Bell series is one of my favorite urban fantasy series, up there with Patricia Briggs’ wonderful Mercy Thompson books.

In fact, the two series share a lot of commonalities. Both are packed with memorable, multi-faceted characters, good humor and warmth. 

The long wait between books in this series is mildly torturous (though, thankfully, each wraps up a complete story) but fortunately, Leashing the Tempest is a fun novella which fills the gap between Summoning the Night and the third book, Binding the Shadows (out May 2013). 

Leashing the Tempest finds the series’ core characters—Arcadia (an extremely skilled magician with a complicated past), Lon (Cady’s older demon boyfriend), Jupe (Lon’s charming teenage son) and Kar Yee (Cady’s best friend and business partner)—on a day cruise on the Pacific coast near their hometown in northern California. The contained environment of the boat is the perfect chance to test Jupe’s newly-developed knack (his magical skill) on Kar Yee, who’s agreed to serve as a volunteer. (There’s an amusing ongoing story in the series of 13 year old Jupe’s crush on Kar Yee which adds to the already funny premise for fans of this series.) 

Naturally, it being Cady and Lon, a day cruise can’t be just a ride on a boat, but instead an angry storm is unleashed and something’s suspicious about the boat’s captain. It’s up to Cady and Lon to save everyone on the boat and stop the magical force that’s ruined their day.

For fans of the Arcadia Bell series, Leashing the Tempest will seem familiar.

List-O-Rama: Eleven Memorable Settings

List-O-Rama: Eleven Memorable Settings

Sarah Moon
Listorama

I read two great blog posts this week about the idea of setting. 

The first was from the ladies at The Readventurer who put together a fantastic post about settings from books they’d most like to visit. There are some awesome ideas—though most of them terrify me because I am not adept at hand-to-hand combat (or any other combat, if I’m going to keep it real). The second great post about setting was from Molly Backes who wrote a guest post on Stacked about the importance of setting in contemporary young adult fiction. 

Both posts got me thinking about setting in books and what works for me and what doesn’t—and why some books have such memorable settings, sometimes even overshadowing the characters and plot. And my conclusion is that when setting is strong and memorable, the place almost serves as a character itself. Think about Dillon, Texas in the Greatest Television Show Ever aka Friday Night Lights. The characters would not be who they are if they didn’t live in Dillon—and when they leave Dillon, they’re transformed too (i.e., Tyra and Jason). 

Earlier this year, I went up to Seattle for an event featuring Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman and Nina LaCour. Stephanie said something that’s stuck with me, that (I’m paraphrasing) she thinks about character first, setting second and plot last. As a reader, that’s the order I think about books too. I can’t buy into a plot if the first two don’t work.

Here are a few books or series with memorable settings.

The Mercyverse - Mercy Thompson; Alpha  & Omega Series
Author: Patricia Briggs
Setting: Pacific Northwest (Tri-Cities, Washington) & Rural Montana

I love the world Patricia Briggs created over seven Mercy Thompson books, numerous graphic novels and three books in the spinoff Alpha & Omega series. What strikes me most is that Briggs has taken a very ordinary place and made it quite extraordinary with an eery underworld. When the books shift to Montana for the Alpha & Omega series, the deep cold woods of the region looms large. 

 

List-O-Rama: 7 Spooky Reads for Halloween

List-O-Rama: 7 Spooky Reads for Halloween

Sarah Moon
Listorama

I am a tremendous wimp. So it really doesn’t take a whole lot to scare me. As a result, I tend to avoid anything that’s too scary or creepy because I don’t have the fortitude for it. 

But, in getting in the spirit of Halloween (because I am most definitely not dressing up), I thought I’d share a few of my recommended spooky or just plain scary reads. 

Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett (Arcadia Bell #2)

Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett (Arcadia Bell #2)

This is the second in my new favorite Urban Fantasy series—I chose this one instead of the first book because 1) it’s way scarier than the first and 2) it takes place during Halloween. It also gives you a great excuse to read the very awesome first book in the series, Kindling the Moon. 

{CEFS Review | Amazon | Goodreads}

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

I recommend the hell out of this standalone upper-YA novel about a teenage witch. It’s a bit spooky, but not terrifying, and is also pretty darn funny. It’s a great choice for lightweights like me. Also, it’s features a completely fun rural Texas setting that I really enjoyed. (I have such a fondness for Fake Texas, as we know.)

{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} Tracey Seeks Romance, Dystopia & Urban Fantasy Featuring Strong Female Characters

Sarah Moon
Book Matchmaker

Tracey, our latest Book Matchmaker victim lucky participant, filled out our extremely sophisticated Book Matchmaker questionnaire in search of recommendations for some fresh reads with romance, but also with strong female characters.

You’d think this would be an easy one—but snooping on her Goodreads profile, Tracey had already read a lot of our go-to recommendations. But we came up with some good ones—or at least we hope so. 

Tracey’s Responses

YA or Adult: Surprise Me
Genres: Romance, Urban Fantasy
Multiple POV
Swoon Factor: 4
Gross Out Factor: 3
Smut Factor: 4
Fluff Factor: 4
Likes: “On the Island, loved the character development. And multi-POV. Hunger Games, Graceling, Wicked Lovely, Enders Game, Feed, Divergent! Strong women, romance—but great characters and strong writing are a must”
Dislikes: No quest books, no sagas that need maps and a glossary to keep track of everyone! Bad writing and bad character development. 

The Results

Thumped by Megan McCafferty

Bumped & Thumped by Megan McCafferty (YA)

I know. It’s shocking to think that the government would try to stick its nose in our ladyparts.

This satire by the author of the fabulous Jessica Darling series is recommended by Laura as a great read for someone looking for a something fresh in the cluttered dystopian shelves. 

{Early Review} Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett

Sarah Moon
Books

Summoning the Night by Jenn Bennett

Jenn Bennett’s debut, Kindling the Moon, was one of my favorite urban fantasy releases of 2011. Her protagonist Arcadia Bell’s world of magic, good humor, family and community are what I’ve dubbed, “Urban fantasy with heart.”

Whenever I love the first entrant into a series as much as I did Kindling the Moon, reading the sequel is rather stress-inducing. What if it doesn’t live up to the first in the series? What if it’s a one-hit wonder?

I’m thrilled to say all my worries were needless—Summoning the Night exceeded all of my expectations and firmly cemented the Arcadia Bell series as one of my favorites.  

(Note: the rest of this review contains mild, but inevitable, spoilers for the previous book in this series, Kindling the Moon. Read my review of Kindling here.)

{Book Matchmaker} Matt Wants Books with Action, Sex and Violence

{Book Matchmaker} Matt Wants Books with Action, Sex and Violence

Sarah Moon
Book Matchmaker

Okay, okay… so that headline is a tad inflammatory, but since I’ve known our latest Book Matchmaker victim volunteer since we were freshmen at good ol’ Canby High School, I’m going to take the opportunity to embarrass Matt, a fan of urban fantasy, adventure and Star Wars, just a bit.

Side note: when we were in high school I knew that Matt was nerdy, but I had no idea how incredibly nerdy he was until he filled out our Extremely Scientific Questionnaire. I mean, we were both in the Advanced Nerding Classes, but still… ;-)

Matt’s responses:

YA or Adult: Surprise Me

Genres: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Mystery/Thriller, Magical Realism

Narrator/Style: First Person, Third Person, Multiple POV, Graphic Novel or Graphic Elements, Present Tense, Past Tense, Male POV, Main Character or Narrator, Female POV, Main Character or Narrator

Swoon Factor: 2

Gross Out Factor: 4

Smut Factor: 4

Fluff Factor: 4 

Fave Authors: Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Vicki Pettersson: Sign of the Zodiac, Hunger Games, The Call of the Wild, Harry Potter, the Star Wars novels. I am a guy: I like action, sex and some violence in my stories. I am also a tad whimsical, and like to believe there is more out there than what we see in our everyday life.

Dislikes: Victorian, Elizabethan, anything that doesn’t use common language; I don’t care much about nonfiction; I read to be entertained and “turn my brain off.” Twilight makes me want to throw up because it’s too teenage-girl-angsty. No horror, please. 

The Results:

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts Series (Adult Urban Fantasy)

Dude. This series. It’s completely effed up and awesome, as it follows drug-addicted witch and ghost hunter Chess during the Ghost Apocalypse. This is a rough series, with Serious Consequences™ around every corner. 

 

{List-O-Rama} Three Urban Fantasy Series Worth Starting

Sarah Moon
Listorama

I don’t know about you, but I get series fatigue. (I know Laura agrees with me on this one!) And, in one of my favorite genres—Urban Fantasy—the series is The Standard. (Has there ever been a stand-alone UF novel? Seriously… it’s okay to end a story after 400 pages!) So, when a series piques my interest, I usually wait until there are two or three books before getting started, because I hate the wait for the next part of the story—especially if it’s cliffhanger-tastic at the end of each novel. 

However, I’ve succumbed to temptation and discovered a three series that are only one novel in that are worth starting! Each of these series had their first book release in 2010, and have sequels hitting the shelves this year, so you won’t have to wait too long if you enjoy the first book. 

Unbound Series by Rachel Vincent

You guy! Rachel Vincent’s books are like Pixie Stix laced with extra sugar—once I start, I cannot put her books down. She’s even made me break my, “No YA Paranormals” rule with her Soul Screamers series. But, as much as a (somewhat guiltily) enjoyed her Shifters series (it took me about ten pages to get over the WTFery of the concept of werecats; werewolves I’m cool with, werecats are another thing altogether), her new series with Mira is in an entirely different stratosphere (it’s actually what started me on my Epic Rachel Vincent Binge last fall—I read all of her books in about six weeks). 

{Review} Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett

{Review} Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett

Sarah Moon
Books

Whoo, boy, this one was fun!

I enjoyed the hell out of Jenn Bennett’s debut urban fantasy novel. I’ve tried so many new UF series the last few months as I tried to fill the void until the next Mercy Thompson installment comes out in 2013 (arg!) and so many have been “meh” to me—but this (along with Rachel Vincent’s new Blood Bound series and Rachel Caine’s new Working Stiff series) is an exception. I would almost give Kindling the Moon five stars, but the resolution came very quickly, and it felt jarring to me as a result.