Category Archives: Blog

Ask Melissa de la Cruz & Margaret Stohl A Question

You must enter your question before midnight tonight! If you were already a newsletter subscriber you would’ve gotten an earlier heads up. So be quick about it and get on our mailing list so you don’t miss anymore awesome author interviews!

8 Awesome June Upcoming YA Titles

This was hard to put together because so many of the awesome titles I wanted to include got pushed back! Some you’ll see in July, some in August, and some have left me with a TBD.

Spring Cover Wraps

We’re back at it again, Quarantine Style! Well, Cover Wraps hasn’t really changed much. We’re mostly still going to be showing you some of the prettiest upcoming books and their covers, matched aesthetically to some super pretty nail wraps! Just, this time, we’re doing it at least six feet apart and mostly staying home. PleaseContinue reading “Spring Cover Wraps”

How To Make A TBR Jar

Spring is almost here! Or is here based on the weather in your area (it’s definitely nice out where we are). Which means it’s the perfect reading weather! Because all weather is the perfect reading weather. And you probably have a lot of books left over from all that awesome holiday money. And you probably still need supervision going to the bookstore because you can never have too many books. But now that TBR pile is growing. And you can’t decide what to read next off of it. It’s time to revive the TBR Jar.

May First Impressions

February is the month of chocolates, dates, and staying in to finish that book. Is romance your guilty pleasure genre? Because I don’t think it’s mine.

May Upcoming Titles

Summer’s coming, the pandemic is still going, but we’ve got some pretty awesome books on their way! Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Our heroes are backā€¦ kind of. From the bestselling co-authors of the Illuminae Files comes the second book in the epic series about a squad of misfits, losers, and disciplineContinue reading “May Upcoming Titles”

10 Awesome Authors To Checkout

So you’re still stuck at home. So are we. So is everyone. But the good news is that books exist and you have plenty of time to discover some authors

YALLSTAYHOME

YALLWEST returns for its sixth year with more than 70 authors presenting on April 25-26, 2020. The annual gathering typically draws over 20,000 readers to Santa Monica High School, but this yearā€™s event will be entirely virtual.

15 Recommendations for Reading in Quarantine

Book Nerds are no strangers to self isolation. We’ve been preparing for this our whole lives! Don’t go out. Don’t be around people. No touching, no sharing, no crowds. We’ve got this. And our books have got this too, to be honest. Just look at all these titles (new and old) that feature their own reasons for a quarantine.

April First Impressions

Stay inside. Order books. Watch your author visits get canceled. Cry. Rage. Tea. We get it. These are trying times. But it’s a new month, one that hopefully brings us closer to lifted quarantines. Without much further ado, let’s jump into some first impressions. BOOKED ALL NIGHT URGES YOU TO STAY HOME WHEN POSSIBLE! WASHContinue reading “April First Impressions”

Don’t Check Out This Book! Spotlight

Beneath Appletonā€™s mystery, there is a pure, unabashed celebration of words, and the rights of all readers to choose their own books. Hilarious, empowering, and exciting, Donā€™t Check Out This Book! is filled with clever winks to the audience, as if to say ā€œYouā€™re a reader. You get it.ā€ And by the end, we do.

March First Impressions

Spring is so, so close! So we need to hide away from the last of the winter frost with some upcoming March titles. Let’s see what’s coming up! Bone Crier’s Moon – Kathryn Purdie Bone ā€‹Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power toContinue reading “March First Impressions”

Jinxed

Lacey Chu has big dreams of becoming a companioneerĀ for MONCHA, the largest tech firm in North America and the company behind the Ā “baku” – a customisable smart pet that functions as a phone but makes the perfect companion too. WhenĀ Lacey finds out she hasn’t been accepted into Profectus – the elite academy for cutting edgeContinue reading “Jinxed”

Winter Cover Wraps

There’s nothing quite like a good ol’ aesthetic, isn’t there? It’s pretty and soothing and lots of fun to make. You’re not really procrastinating on your writing if you’re making a mood board full of aesthetics, are you? It’s an integral part of your process, by jove! Once upon a time, we made posts calledContinue reading “Winter Cover Wraps”

Every Other Weekend

Can life begin againā€¦every other weekend?

Adam Moynihanā€™s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a home life so perfect that it could have been a TV show straight out of the 50s. Then his oldest brother died. Now his fun-loving mom cries constantly, he and his remaining brother canā€™t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired proved himself a coward by moving out when they needed him most.

Jolene Timberā€™s life is nothing like the movies she lovesā€”not the happy ones anyway. As an aspiring director, she should know, because sheā€™s been reimagining her life as a film ever since she was a kid. With her divorced parents at each otherā€™s throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love sheā€™s starving for.

Forced to spend every other weekend in the same apartment building, the boy who thinks forgiveness makes him weak and the girl who thinks love is for fools begin an unlikely friendship. The weekends he dreaded and she endured soon become the best part of their lives. But when oneā€™s life begins to mend while the otherā€™s spirals out of control, they realize that falling in love while surrounded by its demise means nothing is ever guaranteed.

Upcoming February Titles

Love is in the air and it’s between us, and these books. All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice, Adalyn Graceā€™s All the Stars and Teeth is a thrilling fantasy for fans of Stephanie Garberā€™s Caraval and SarahContinue reading “Upcoming February Titles”

Interview An Author With Us!

We recently switched podcast hosting to Anchor.fm and weā€™re having all sorts of fun with it. One feature that weā€™re absolutely loving is MESSAGES! you can leave us a message at any time right here, but only our newsletter subscribers will know whoā€™s coming up on the podcast.

As soon as we have a set date for an interview, whether itā€™s a week away or a whole month, we send out a special edition of the newsletter to let you know whoā€™s stopping by.

Here are some authorā€™s youā€™ve already missed because you werenā€™t subscribed to our newsletter!

An Excerpt from A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes – via EW

Last summer, Scholastic announced that the Hunger Games world was getting a prequel. Which excited us book nerds who were, strangely, eager to return to Panem. Slowly, very, very slowly, we got more information. TITLE: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. PUB DATE: May 19th, 2020. And now, courtesy of EW and Scholastic Inc., we have a preview.

January First Impressions

Happy New Year, Book Nerds! Let’s get down to business. Actually, let’s get down to books. Business is boring. We’ve gone ahead and rounded up some upcoming titles. Let’s see if we’d request them.

Let’s Discuss Yvonthia Leland

We interrupt your regularly scheduled holiday book recs to bring you YA twitter drama.
We might take a vacation from the blog in December but we certainly don’t miss out on all the YA lit drama. And this winter, the big event was from an author bashing reviewers. Who could forget the horror story that was Kathleen Hale hunting down an anonymous reviewer for giving her one star on GoodReads which sparked outrage about author/reviewer etiquette? The answer is Yvonthia Leland.

How To Read During The Impending Holidays

Thanksgiving is this week, Hanukkah is coming, Christmas is looming on horizon, and New Yearā€™s is after that. Whatā€™s a book nerd to do? People will be everywhere. Children looking over your shoulder. Aunts and Uncles asking ā€œWhatā€™s the book about?ā€ Mothers demanding that you ā€œcome join your family.ā€ Fathers reminding you itā€™s ā€œjust for a few hours, youā€™ll survive.ā€

BUT YOU WONā€™T! YOU WONā€™T SURVIVE! Who can go a few hours without reading!? No one. So hereā€™s how weā€™d hide it.

November First Impressions

Ah, November. The days are short, the nights are long, and the white hot chocolate is raising my blood sugar. My dashboards are covered in contemporary titles just ripe for reading at a Starbucks with your feet up on the table. Time to see if anything coming up this month is making it to myContinue reading “November First Impressions”

October First Impressions

Time to look at some upcoming titles that caught my interest in one way or another. Here are five titles that caught my interest… and a few that lost it quickly.

8 June 2019 YA Releases To Be Excited For

June is going to be an exciting month, book nerds! Especially for fantasy fans. Did we include your most anticipated June read? If not, tell us what we missed in the comments below!

7 Places To Hide And Read Over Memorial Day Weekend

We all know what’s about to happen: the family, the friends, the music, the BBQ. It’s all coming to cut into your weekend reading time. You’re going to open that book, someone is going to ask you what it’s about, and then they’re going to talk about John at the office. Don’t worry. We’re here to help. Here are some places to hide this weekend to get in your well deserved reading time.

May 2019 YA Releases We’re Excited For

So many good and pretty books are coming out just in time for Spring weather. Early Spring that is. Before the pollen gets so bad that we can’t read outside and while the bugs are still deciding if they want to sleep in.

April YA Releases We’re Excited For

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own. Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, dreaming of an unremarkable life. But when her beloved father is found dead, sheā€™s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of a surprisingly unstable kingdom.Continue reading “April YA Releases We’re Excited For”

S2E1: Welcome Back & The Hate U Give

We’re back, book nerds! After a lengthy and well-earned break, we have finally recorded a new episode! We relive the nitty and gritty details about finishing a grueling MFA program, talk parenting tips for some strange reason (it’s totally logical and prompted, we swear), and then finally remember that we watched an AMAZING adaptation ofContinue reading “S2E1: Welcome Back & The Hate U Give”

Mera: Tidebreaker ~DNF~

Princess Mera is teenage royalty and heir to the throne of Xebel, a penal colony ruled by the other no-so-lost land under the sea, Atlantis. Her father, his court and the entire kingdom are expecting her to marry and introduce a new king. But Mera is destined to wear a different crownā€¦. When the XebellianContinue reading “Mera: Tidebreaker ~DNF~”

You Are The Everything ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†ā˜†

An unusual, often confusing tale of a boy and a girl who are the sole survivors of a plane crash, and the relationship that blossoms afterwards. Can you want somethingā€”or someoneā€”so badly that you change your destiny? Elyse Schmidt never would have believed it, until it happened to her. When Elyse and her not-so-secret crush,Continue reading “You Are The Everything ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†ā˜†”

What If It’s Us ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†

A sweet, co-authored meet-cute that takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions from some amazing heart-breaker writers What If It’s Us is sure to leave you wanting more–and crying just a lot a bit. Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, itā€™s that the universe can deliverContinue reading “What If It’s Us ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†”

Nine ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†ā˜†ā˜†

I requestedĀ Nine because I was intrigued by the world: people literally killing themselves to better themselves (where am I familiar withĀ this concept?). But it all just fell short. In an alternate world startlingly close to our own, humans have nine livesā€”and they canā€™t wait to burn straight through them. As you shed lives, you shedContinue reading “Nine ā˜…ā˜…ā˜†ā˜†ā˜†”

Episode #35: Bruja Born UNCUT

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-rr4nw-936360 Join us this week as we discuss Zoraida Cordova’sĀ Bruja Born, the sequel toĀ Labyrinth Lost. Eat your heart out Lula Mortiz, we’ve got some opinions. This episode is the uncut episode for our patrons. Want to listen to the whole shebang AND a whole bunch of awesome interviews we have coming up? VisitĀ patron.podbean.com/bookedallnight and supportĀ theContinue reading “Episode #35: Bruja Born UNCUT”

Episode #35: Bruja Born

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ccupy-9259c1 Three sisters. One spell. Countless dead. Lula Mortiz feels like an outsider. Her sister’s newfound Encantrix powers have wounded her in ways that Lula’s bruja healing powers can’t fix, and she longs for the comfort her family once brought her. Thank the Deos for Maks, her sweet, steady boyfriend who sees the beauty withinContinue reading “Episode #35: Bruja Born”

Episode #34: The Illuminae Files

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bnzy8-918c90 Viruses… IN SPACE! War… IN SPACE! Psychotic AIs… IN SPACE! You know Jess loves this series and now we’re finally talking aboutĀ The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. And we have some thoughts… IN SPACE! Ā .Ā  Subscribe to the podcast on Podbean Follow Jessica Twitter . Facebook Follow Maggie Twitter . FacebookContinue reading “Episode #34: The Illuminae Files”

Jessica’ March TBR

For Review Title: Children of Blood and Bone Author(s): Tomi Adeyemi Pub Date: March 6, 2018 Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers Buy Links: Amazon . B&N ZĆ©lie Adebola remembers when the soil of OrĆÆsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelieā€™s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changedContinue reading “Jessica’ March TBR”

Giveaways

Unfortunately, we didn’t meet our goal to giveaway an ARC of Children of Blood and Bone. Make sure to tune in March 8th, 2018 for our discussion on Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel. And make sure to get your pre-orders in so you can read before we spoil it.

Maggie’s February TBR

I keep making the mistake of requesting more and more ARCs even though I haven’t finished the ones on my list… But with The Belles coming out in a few days and Reign of the FallenĀ out already, I can hopefully breeze through my February ARCs so I can get to the ones I’m most excitedContinue reading “Maggie’s February TBR”

Jessica’s February TBR

A few titles are back on my TBR after the holidays and with the semester starting. I’m trying to read more middle grade this semester since I feel like I haven’t touched a lot of it. And I have three ARCs on the list. If anyone has any good, recent, sci-fi bookrecs, please leave themContinue reading “Jessica’s February TBR”

Between the Blade and the Heart EXCERPT

When the fate of the world is at stake Loyalties will be tested Game of Thrones meets Blade Runner in this commanding new YA fantasy inspired by Norse Mythology from New York Times bestselling author Amanda Hocking. As one of Odin’s Valkyries, Malin’s greatest responsibility is to slay immortals and return them to the underworld.Continue reading “Between the Blade and the Heart EXCERPT”