On Marks: A Review of Deep Connections by Rebecca Graf

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review....So here we go.

 Brenna is a high school English teacher, and profoundly ordinary. But out of the blue, it seems that someone is stalking her--breaking into her home, calling her, and so forth. Luckily, Brenna has two men in her life eager to protect her. Eaton has been slowly trying to build a relationship with Brenna over coffee and the occasional movie. Sadly, she thinks of him as a friend. Slaton, on the other hand, seems out of Brenna's league, and yet is all to eager to amp up their relationship. The fact that they are destiny bound soul mates certainly gives him an edge.

Positive Comments

 

Okay, so...I do actually like fated mates books. I'm sorry, but it's true. I'm a sucker for that instant connection, meant-to-be kind of romance. To a point. So when I say that I liked the romance in this book, and I enjoyed the chemistry between Brenna and Slaton (again, to a point), you have to take into account my personal taste. If you don't like fated mates, the romance in this book will not work for you.

The plot is mysterious, and it definitely keeps you alert and guessing as the story progresses. It suffers from some false starts and some pacing issues, but it does one really important thing well: it does not bore you. I liked the conclusion of the story, which tied the events together nicely.

Critical Comments

 

Brenn was an overall useless and uninteresting character with little depth and only slightly more development. Her range of emotions throughout the book are fear, confusion, and attraction to the hero. She relies on everyone around her for shelter and comfort, and doesn't seem that motivated to help herself until the very end. Her behavior with regards to her relationship(s) is the most frustrating of all. She's not sure she wants a relationship with Slaton, but sees absolutely no problem in staying at his house and in his bed (while he's on the couch), or in falling asleep on his shoulder, or letting him bring her meals and take her places. Yes, they end up together. But what if they didn't? Brenna struck me as a user, and her callous attitude prevented me from really connecting with her.

The love triangle plot was also sadly distracting and unnecessary. Eaton has never so much as tried to kiss Brenna, but gets really upset when her growing relationship with Slaton becomes apparent. Sorry buddy, but I have no sympathy. You had your chance. More to the point, why the author felt the need to have him as an alternate "love interest" is beyond me, and that entire subplot felt fake and forced.

The editing needed a heavier hand, both in terms of fixing outright typos and in changing and rewording awkward sentences and paragraphs. This book is not the worst I've seen, but I do believe that the number of mistakes are enough to bother pickier readers.

Recommendation

 As with many books, your enjoyment of this will depend on your personal taste. So if you like romance (with fated mates) and you like mystery, and you can ignore the above mentioned flaws, I'd recommend this book. 3 stars.

Misc. Monday: Cat Tales

For your Monday enjoyment, a quick update or two on my kitty.

Max has grown, and is harassing penguins all over the apartment. He doesn't really harm them, he just drags them from room to room. Especially the little ones. Cats=Bullies.

Max seems to hate the color red, and will attack things that have the audacity to be that color. Last time I painted my nails red, he clawed my hands until I looked like I'd been in a fight with a lawn mower. Or taken up self mutilating. Or punched my way out of a glass cage. Cat's hurt.

Even though Max is larger, he has no awareness of his size. He keeps knocking stuff over because he doesn't fit in places that he used to go. He also keeps trying to mount the hamster cage, and knocks over the stuff around it. Dwarthy has zero survival instinct, and climbs right up on the bars of the cage to sniff him. I've had to build an anti cat jumping barrier to prevent hamster harassment, and even that is only 90% effective.

Max is a piggie. We feed him twice a day, and every time he acts like he's starving. He also tries to steal my cheese. Not cool, dude. Cheese is for people.

Max is a super hero of cuddling. He's started growing his winter coat, which means he's extremely warm and fuzzy. And he's got a lion mane.  He likes to share my pillow, and lay on my chest in the morning. Cats are adorable.

On Paper: A Review of Cornerstone by Misty Provencher

Sometimes I open a book knowing exactly what I'm getting. More often (because I don't read excerpts and sometimes even skip the blurb) I have no idea what to expect, but I dive in and only discover what I've gotten into a few chapters in. With this book, however, I had no idea what I was reading until far, far into it. I think that's what makes this book special.

Nalena's mom hoards paper, but there's more to it than that. She spends her days scribbling down one sentence stories in tiny writing, covering page after page until the paper fills every corner of the house and there is barely room to sit or walk. Nalena hates this lifestyle, especially since it's made her a target for bullies at school. Still, she loves her mother, and continues to bring her paper and quietly endure the loneliness. But when Nalena starts to develop abilities beyond her understanding, she knows that there's more going on in the world than her mother has ever shared with her. Garret Reese seems to have the answers to Nalena's questions, although he and his family are also somewhat mysterious.

Positive Comments

I liked a lot of Nalena's qualities. Her loyalty to her mother is what hooked me initially. Even when she (and the reader) is given to understand that her mother is clearly mentally ill, Nalena remains as a loving and accepting daughter. I liked how the author captured the dysfunctional family atmosphere between Nalena and her mother, and made it still feel like a loving relationship.

Nalena's dysfunctional lifestyle stands in sharp contrast to Garrets very normal seeming family, representing things she's missed out on. I liked seeing Nalena's reaction to them, and I liked how it effected her development and her decisions. I liked the Reese family as a whole, with their rambunctious and welcoming attitudes.

I liked that Nalena and Garret's relationship is slow building and awkward. It felt real to me, very reflective of how actual adolescent relationships tend to start out.

The plot started out mysterious and kept me guessing up until the climax. I loved that. I really expected the book to go in an entirely different direction, but I'm happy to be surprised.

Critical Comments

Outside of Nalena, the character development is pretty shallow or nonexistant. That's kind of disappointing,  when you consider that the characters themselves are set up to be so interesting. I was especially disappointed that Garret didn't get more of an arc, since he is the love interest. He starts out nice and awesome, and continues on that level throughout the story. Personally, I like more depth than that.

Recommendation

This is a great book for fans of young adult fantasy. It's a fast, suspenseful page turner with a lot of unique elements. 4 stars.

Follow Friday 9/21/12

 

Q: What hyped up book do you think was not worth all the talk?

 

Existing readers can already guess my answer. Twilight. Dear God, Twilight. By the time it came out, I had like five years of paranormal romance under my belt and so when I read that (or actually, listened to the audio book I think), I just couldn't. I was like "Yeah, it's a romance novel with a really douchey hero. Been there, seen that..." I think what made it worse were all of the people telling me that I "just don't get it", and also arguing the point that it is, in fact, a romance novel.  No, I get it. I understand the appeal. But I like my romance novels to have likeable MCs, relationship building, and satisfying endings. Thanks.

End rant.

Books that were worth the hype?

Hunger Games was not as good as people said, but it was still good. Anna and the French Kiss surpassed my expectations. Divergent was decent. I'm sure there's others...

On Ripples: A Review of Hourglass by Myra McEntire

This was a book that I tried because I kept seeing it everywhere, and having tried it I decided to read it entirely. That was a month ago, so technically it took two attempt to actually read this book. Nonetheless, I did really enjoy it.

Emerson Cole is used to seeing people from other times. She's not sure if they're hallucinations or ghosts--she just knows that she sees what no one else does, and that it makes her feel crazy. Her brother calls in Michael, a consultant from a place called The Hourglass, to help Em manage her ability. Emerson is surprised to learn that Michael is an attractive college student with a similar ability, and that he needs her help. Together, Emerson and Michael have the ability to save a life and restore the world...or possibly destroy it.

Positive Comments

 

The characters are well written. Emerson is tough and smart, but has her vulnerable points too. Her abilities make her feel isolated. When she finally finds a purpose for them, her determination and her courage make her unstoppable. We don't get to know Michael quite as well, but I did like what I saw as far as he's concerned. I liked his sense of honor and his willingness to make sacrifices. I liked the connection between Em and Michael, and while I felt the relationship building needed some work, I did find the overall tone to be romantic.

I both love and hate the plot. I love the teens-with-superpowers gimmick, I think Michael and Emerson's specific abilities are intriguing. I loved the idea of trying to alter a really unpleasant reality. I loved that the author brought up both the logical and moral implications of trying to change one's circumstances. Just because you can change things, doesn't mean that you should. The consequences of altering things are very real and unpredictable. And so forth.

Critical Comments

 

Okay, now I have to get into a tiny

Spoiler, Shield Your Eyes!

 

This turns into a time travel book, with our heroes going back in time to save a man's life. We are specifically told that this is okay, only because certain circumstance mean that they can effect what happened without creating a paradox. At this point, I got nervous as a reader, because I know very well that time travel books tend to be (by their very nature) riddled with plot holes. The author of this book does a pretty good job,  and avoids some of the common plot hole pitfalls, but then at the end she kind of ruins it. She tears open some holes and creates some time lines, and now I'm concerned about how she'll explain it all in future books.

End Spoiler.

Mainly, my issue is that the author has been deliberately vague about how the powers work and what the rules are. I'm concerned that things will either remain vague (which would be annoying) or that upon further explanation, things will stop making sense.

Recommendation

 

If you like light science fiction, with a touch of romance and a great deal of heart, I recommend this book. It's a well crafted and enjoyable YA novel. 4 stars.

Misc. Monday: Reading YA as an Adult

That title should, by all rights, say "Adult", because I don't think I've ever fully grown up. I don't really plan to. I'm going to keep my Disney movies, and my dolls, and my fuzzy pink slippers, thank you. Those things aside, I am in all other ways an employed, rent paying, married twenty-something adult. Who occasionally reads teen literature.

My Journey Away From, and Back Into YA...

 

I read virtually no teen literature while actually a teen. The last arguably young adult thing I remember picking up was Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn when I was twelve or thirteen. By Christmas of my thirteenth year, though, I was pretty much exclusively reading adult paranormal romance. I remember this, because I asked for a bunch of them for Christmas and that's exactly what I got. My mother has never been one to forbid books...but that's a story for another post.

So, my teens went by with Harry Potter being the only under 18 MC in my life. There were a couple of reasons for this. The primary reason is that I'm always resistant to entertainment that reflects whatever is actually going on in my life. I wouldn't watch teen movies while I was a teen, or college movies while in college. I drove everyone crazy during my engagement because I wouldn't even watch Bridesmaids. I can't explain it, other than to say that it's not escapism for me if I'm going into the same environment.

Then, about a year and a half ago, I was browsing the internet for books. I came across Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series. I was already familiar with her Shifters books, and liked those well enough, so I was thrilled to see that she had something else. But, oh whoa is me, they were young adult. It got me thinking things over, and I realized that I was now several years removed from high school, entirely past the teen stage of my life. Thus, it would now be much less uncomfortable for me to read a book with a high school setting. I knew it was going to be an easy read, it wouldn't take up that much time, and so it seemed like it would be silly not to give it a try.

I haven't actually caught up on the Soul Screamers books (someday, maybe), but what they did do was open the door for me to read a genre that I had bluntly ignored for eight or nine years. This meant that I had well over a decade of untapped authors and series to try out, and to say that I dove in head first would be an understatement. You can see on this blog that I've reviewed quite a few YAs, and I've tried out even more. I love these things.

The "Shame" of Reading YA

 

I put shame in quotations to emphasize that I personally, absolutely do not feel ashamed to read YA. However, shortly after I started talking about these books I noticed that there are plenty of people--in real life, on forums and blogs, in review comments--that are eager to shame adults who read teen books. It's usually along the lines of  "I don't know why all of these adults want to read things meant for young people, what is wrong with them, this is yet more proof that literacy is in the toilet, no wonder there are so many stupid people..." and so forth.

I can't defend all adult YA readers, because I don't know all of them. It is entirely possible that some of them are stupid or barely literate or incredibly immature. I highly doubt that this is the case. It's far more likely that most of them are like me. There is nothing wrong with my education or my reading ability. I've read over a dozen Shakepeare plays, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, and so forth, many of my own volition. I've slogged through scientific journals where the jargon is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and I've been made to write critical essays about them after the fact. My brain is in full working order. On an unrelated note, sometimes I read teen books.

As I said, though, I also read romance novels, so I'm inoculated to the shame of reading stigmatized genres. Sit is a cafe full of frat boys with a book who's cover looks like this--

--and your ability to feel shame will gradually dwindle into nothingness.

Why Adults Read YA

 

Now that we've established that adults can read YA, you might ask "But why would you want to?"

The first reason is that YA is oddly nostalgic. I'm not saying that I'd like to relive my teen years, because they weren't exactly easy. But sometimes reading about a character who's dealing with the same issues that I dealt with back then is cathartic. I can say to myself, "Yep, I got through that. Phew..." Sometimes there will be a character that reminds me of an old friend, or a setting or circumstance that I remember. In other cases, the characters are dealing with such tough stuff that it makes me feel like I got off easy as a kid, and that is also a comforting thought. Sort of.

The second reason that I like reading YA is that I really enjoy good character focused stories with a lot of personal development for the main character. That is exactly what a good young adult book should be about. Most people take the biggest strides toward finding themselves between the ages of 15 and 25. Watching a character do just that, and find courage, integrity, and purpose, is absolutely fascinating.

...specifically, YA romance

Sometimes the characters also find love. This is the sticking point for most people that argue with me against the merits of teen literature. I encounter a remarkable number of people who think that a romantic relationship that begins in high school can't or should not work out. To which I say: Screw you. It's great that you think you've found the perfect formula to lasting relationships, and I hope that works for you. For me, personally, I don't think that such a formula exists, and I don't think that older people have a monopoly on love that lasts. I believe there's hope for teen couples, because I was once part of a teen couple, and we ended up married. After a very long engagement (I'm not reckless).

There are a couple of things that I like about teen romance. Primarily, I like that it's usually based on pure relationship development, where sex is a small or nonexistent factor. In adult romance, authors can get caught up in the physical aspects of the relationship and forget that there is also emotional development that needs to happen. I find that young adult authors are often better at the friendship, connectivity, and longing that are involved in the early stages of a relationship (for good examples, see Stephanie Perkins, and Jolene Perry).

And Now For A Break

 

All of this was my long winded way of saying that I do, with absolute conviction, love young adult novels. However, I may be taking a tiny "break" from them. Oh, not entirely, but I would like to cut it down to one or two a month. I get a lot of review requests from YA authors (you guys rock, and thank you for the opportunity), and as a result I feel like they've taken over my reading hours and this blog to a greater extent then I would like. In the coming months, I'm going to try to focus on the adult books gathering dust in my TBR. I miss them. I miss the gore, and I'm not going to lie, I miss the sex.

That said, to all of my adult readers, specifically those who have not read any teen literature in recent years, I really hope that you'll give it a try. There are a lot of amazing authors doing phenomenal work in that genre. These are authors that take their audience seriously, and we shouldn't be afraid to be a part of that audience.

On Revenants: A Review of Redlisted by Sara Beaman

I should start by saying that I turn down and ignore a lot of vampire novels these days. There are too many of them and I'm too jaded to review them fairly. That happens with any sub-genre--after a few dozen, you need to take a break or you will lose your mind. So, obviously, what enticed me to read this book was not the vampires.

Redlisted is the story of Kate, who cannot recognize her own face or remember who she really is. She finds that she needs blood to keep going, and becomes dependent of Adam (a revenant) to supply it to her. She and Adam (along with a cast of secondary characters), try to recover Kate's memories while balancing between opposing vampire factions and trying to expose the truth about one evil vampire.

Positive Comments

As expected, the vampires weren't the hook for me in this book. What set it apart, what made it work for me, was the creepy, weird, and at times disorienting thriller story about a woman (Kate) who's very identity was taken from her. The style suits this perfectly, switching narrators and using gradually recovered memories to reveal the back story. Kate remembers things in reverse order, remembering a scene at a time, constantly raising more questions for the reader. That method of storytelling often works for me, as I find myself insatiably curious about how all of these events got started. There are downsides, but I'll get to that later.

Along with Kate's story, we are also shown how Adam came to be as he is. Vampire origin stories are a dime a dozen, aren't they? Yet, I felt that the author did a fair job of keeping this tired story line intriguing enough that I was able to get through it without much eye rolling, and I did start to feel some sympathy and concern for Adam.

Critical Comments

The downside to any amnesia story is that the remembering part of the plot takes over and leaves little room for moving forward with the character arc. In this particular story, I felt that it had the unfortunate side effect of making Kate rather hard to identify with. We don't know anything about her, and most of the memories that are recovered revolve around the conspiracy and the mystery. She's never given a proper personality. Really, she could be anyone. It took me awhile to figure out if I was reading about a girl in her teens, or a woman in her twenties or thirties. That's how flat the character development is.

The vampire politics,while interesting, add very little to the plot or tone of the story. It's all explained rather vaguely, and you'll be lucky to get a firm grasp on who's in charge and what is being done.

Recommendation

Thriller/horror/mystery fans, this one is for you. It's dark, creepy, and impossible to put down. It's very light on the romance and even lighter on the humor, so exercise caution if you lean toward either of those genres. Personally, I found this very readable, and I would be intrigued enough to read future books in the series. 3.5 stars. 

On Wizardry: A Review of The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron

I bought this book on sale forever ago, and it's sat in my TBR for probably over a year (many books do). I finally pulled it out this month at random. This is an obscure book, even by my standards. I haven't seen it reviewed or discussed much, and that's a shame, because I personally found it amusing.

What we have here is an epic fantasy setting, humorous characters, and a campy tone. Eli Monpress is a thief who wants to increase the bounty on his head. He does so by stealing increasingly high profile things, and ultimately, in this book, he steals a king. Eli is a wizard, with abilities unlike any other. But the man who takes over the kingdom after the king is stolen is yet another kind of wizard--the most dark and evil kind of all. With a team that includes a swordsman, a demonseed, and an uppity Spiritualist, Eli fights to get his due and save the kingdom.

Positive Comments

It's refreshingly light-hearted. I think if you were to read this with a 100% serious mind, you'd be disappointed. You need to read it with an eye for satire and whimsy, and I promise it will make you smile at least a little.

I really enjoyed the characters. Eli, with his enthusiasm for high stakes plans, his sense of mischief, and his charming manners, was a fun protagonist. Josef, the swordman, is surly and totally focused on his craft. Nico is mysterious and frightening. I loved the group dynamics, and that helped me to get invested in their individual stories and goals.

I found the plot serviceable. I really liked the idea of spirits that reside in everything, and of wizards using those spirits for their own purposes. I was less concerned with the evil wizard/king plot, but I didn't find it boring.

Critical Comments

It never quite achieves the scale or depth that you typically find in this genre. It loses it's "epicness" amidst the whimsy. That lowers the stakes and keeps the reader from ever becoming truly concerned with outcomes. I think that's why I found the plot only serviceable, rather than extraordinary.

Recommendation

For those who like The Princess Bride and things of that nature, where a fantasy setting clashes with a comedic tone. For those of you who like Robinhood, loveable scoundrel type heroes. For anyone looking for a different kind of fantasy novel, I recommend this book. 4 stars.
 

Follow Friday 9/7/12

 

Q: What book(s) are you reading right now? What do you think of it?

I'm just now finishing The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron (Review to follow soon), and I really like it. I find it humorous, original, and fun.

  Welcome, old and new visitors! If you leave an address, I do visit back, although it might not be until later into the weekend. In the meantime, don't forget to enter the DiSemblance giveaway!

Review+Giveaway: DiSemblance by Shanae Branham

This one surprised me a bit. When the author contacted me, asking me to read what she described as a techno-thriller, I thought I might enjoy it. I didn't really expect to get so drawn into it, though.

Jason is the son of a brilliant but misunderstood inventor. His father invented a computer that allows people to enter a virtual world and exist in whatever reality can be programmed. As the story opens, we see that Jason and his brother love the virtual world, because it allows them more freedom an opportunities than the real world. But then, their father goes missing. At the same time, evidence links their father to an ongoing investigation of a serial killer.

Positive Comments

If you like the Matrix, or things of that genre, you'll enjoy this book. It has that ongoing theme of uncertainty, where neither the characters nor the reader know what's real. The plot is highly engaging and well paced. The murder investigation blends well with the science fiction aspects to create a clever resolution.

Watching Jason discover the pitfalls and huge downsides to virtual reality made for excellent character development. He goes from preferring the imaginary world, to understanding that real life (though flawed) is preferable because it allows real contact with real people.

In addition to this, the book touches on subject like death, souls, and the possibility of the afterlife. It's a bit too subtle about it all, almost to the point of being to vague, but at least the ideas are there. 

Critical Comments

I did feel as though the character arc provided for the secondary characters--Boston (aka love interest), and Bruce (the detective), were most noticeably shafted in the story department. Boston goes from understandably distrusting Jason, to loving him completely. Bruce is struggling with a new marriage (to a woman who just doesn't get what she signed on for), and this also comes to a rather abrupt and ill explained resolution.

Recommendation

Again, if you like a little computer based sci-fi in your young adult novels, you will like this book. It's smart, fast paced, and a lot of fun. 4 stars.

Now, as an added bonus, the author has generously agreed to give away one signed copy of DiSemblance to a lucky winner! Just follow the directions on the form bellow for your chance to win. Open to all entrants.  Giveaway ends September 11, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

On Shadow Lords: A Review of Pledged by Gwynneth White

You know, I spent a lot of time with this book. I dragged it to work, read during lunch, on the ride home, on the coach, in bed, late into the night...it felt like I spent ages reading this book. Yet, it's hard to articulate how I feel about it. I can say for sure that it's neither the best, nor the worst book I've read in 2012...But beyond that, what can I say?

I was asked to read this for the purpose of participating in the blog tour, and the synopsis provided really didn't give me an accurate idea of what I was getting into plot wise...I don't know if I can describe it any better, but I'll try. Seth's brother is marrying Erin's sister, and so the two meet in Botswana on the way to the wedding. Seth has agreed to help his brother (Kyle) find an ancient diamond that turns out to be the key to making or breaking an ancient curse. Guardian angels swoop down and grab Seth and Erin and promptly tell them all about soul mates, and how they knew each other before they were born, and how their are many couples just like them, and isn't it wonderful? But in order to be together, they need to break the curse tied to the diamond. To understand the curse, they have to peer into the ancient past and watch how it has kept other couples from their happy endings. The remainder of the book mostly takes place in the 10th century A.D., with Seth and Erin as invisible witnesses to the loves and losses of a would be Shenayan leader.

Positive Comments

I really liked a lot of the concepts that the book presented. I find the idea of a soul mate, someone you met and loved before you were born, to be very intriguing. Suspense is created when the reader is informed that having or meeting your soul mate doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending--you need to work for that yourselves. That's a very balance view of fated romance, and I like it.

Critical Comments

When Seth and Erin travel back in time to watch the events of the past unfold, it brought to mind for me the sixth Harry Potter book, where Harry spends most of the book watching people's memories in order to try to understand Voldemort's seeming immortality, and also his potential weaknesses. I really enjoyed the concept in that book, so...why doesn't it work as well here? Well, I think the difference is that with Harry Potter, we had already had five books to build up stakes, make us care about what's going on in the present day, and curious about what happened in the past. With this book, we are only given the most vague descriptions and accounts of our main characters before they are sent to the past as invisible onlookers. I don't know enough about them, or feel enough toward them, to care about how the colossal pile of info-dump and back story relates to them. Stylistically, it just doesn't flow well, and it failed to keep me invested.

Seth and Erin have no real chemistry...because an inadequate amount of time is spend building that chemistry. So it's not a very romantic book.

Seth, and pretty much every male character in the book, is selfish, short sighted, and stupid. He gets better, but for me it was too little and too late.

It has more pages than the content of the story justifies, taking 100 pages to tell us what could be said in 50. The pacing is snail slow. You feel every page of the book, because you're waiting for the main characters to be able to do something. But they just watch, and you just wait, and not much comes of it.

I couldn't get invested in what went on in the historical portion of the story 1)because the characters are unlikeable 2)because I know the stories end badly, or we wouldn't have the present day story 3)because nothing in the narrative makes it feel like I'm in 900 something AD. I'm not anal about historical accuracy. However, I do find it distracting to have foreign characters in an ancient time using super modern language. Terms like "sleep together" (as a euphemism for sex), or being told that the warlord of this time has a desk...those sort of things feel out of place. There was nothing to really create the proper tone of being in a different time and very different culture.

Recommendation

Obviously, for me personally, cons outweighed the pros for this one. I did not enjoy the experience. What kind of reader would really like it? Well, I'd say if you like stories with dick-ish heroes that eventually see the light, and if you really get into angels and demons and curses, and you don't mind wading through back story, this is a good book for you. For those who like a deeper romance, a faster pace, and a more concise plot, don't bother with this one. 2 stars.

Best Book of August/September Preview

As predicted, August was a sparse month for Reading to Penguins. The good news is, things are quieter now, so September should be a more blog friendly month. But before I tell you what to look forward to, we have to crown the best book of September!

Drum roll, please....

Wooo, Dragons!