The end of the year is a time of self-reflection. This year, instead of just staring into a mirror and lamenting about all of the goals I never achieved and promises that I broke to myself, I thought I would celebrate the achievements of the blogging community. So, I went to Twitter and asked for your favorite posts that you wrote this year, whether it was a review that you are proud of or a thoughtful discussion that didn't get as much love as you wanted. There is a whole spectrum of posts in this list with all kinds of book bloggers lending their favorite posts of 2018. I learned a lot from this list and found quite a few new bloggers. Sometimes, the posts that we are the most proud of aren't the ones with the most comments, the most views, or the most shares on social media. Pride doesn't have to equate to statistics. The heart writes what the heart writes, whether or not it goes viral. That being said, I hope this master list of posts can help spread some love to the posts we are most proud of this year.
*I also included some quotes from random posts to further entice you to check out these posts and their discussions.
Paper Girl By Cindy R. Wilson 400 Pages Published December 4th, 2018 Young Adult, Contemporary Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Panic Attacks, Drugs, and Alcoholism This book was provided to me from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
I haven’t left my house in
over a year. My doctor says it’s social anxiety, but I know the only things
that are safe are made of paper. My room is paper. My world is paper.
Everything outside is fire. All it would take is one spark for me to burst into
flames. So I stay inside. Where nothing can touch me.
Then my mom hires a tutor. Jackson. This boy I had a crush on before the world
became too terrifying to live in. Jackson’s life is the complete opposite of
mine, and I can tell he’s got secrets of his own. But he makes me feel things.
Makes me want to try again. Makes me want to be brave. I can almost taste the
outside world. But so many things could go wrong, and all it takes is one spark
for everything I love to disappear...
As soon as December 1st hits, it is the Christmas season for me (sometimes even before that). And, at least in my hemisphere, that means sweaters, snow, and everything else wintry. So, I am calling my combined wrap-up of October and November my "fall wrap-up" in order to properly welcome the holiday spirit and winter wonderfulness. Not to mention the fact that I have already had snow in my wonderful Northern location, so I am going to reap the benefits of the winter season if Mother Nature is going to throw snow at us this early.
How to Fracture a Fairy Tale By Jane Yolen Published on November 5, 2018 320 Pages Fantasy, Short Stories, Retellings This book was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
Fantasy legend Jane Yolen presents a wide-ranging offering of fractured fairy tales. Yolen fractures the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets, holding them to the light and presenting them entirely transformed; where a spinner of straw into gold becomes a money-changer and the big bad wolf retires to a nursing home. Rediscover the tales you once knew, rewritten and refined for the world we now live in―or a much better version of it.
By Kendare Blake Three Dark Crowns #1 Published on September 20, 2016 398 Pages Young Adult, Fantasy
When kingdom come, there will be one. In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions. But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins. The last queen standing gets the crown.
I am the first to admit that I am a coward. I don't do horror movies, haunted houses, scary costumes, or anything that will involve a jump scare. When it comes to horror, I am screaming mess who reacts to every little scare (sometimes things that aren't even meant to be scary). Due to my sensitivity to spookiness, I always feel left out during the Halloween season. After the age of 12, it is so longer acceptable to wear cute costumes and content yourself with candy. Instead, you are meant to dive headfirst into a world of horror, blood, and guts-- a world I was not meant for. For the past couple of years, I have been searching for the common ground between scaring myself senseless and just sitting on my couch alone, eating candy while watching rom-coms. So, in the spirit of being a scaredy-cat who still wants to enjoy Halloween, I am going to list some of my favorite Halloween inspired books to help you enjoy the season even if it scares the dickens out of you.
My favorite villains are the ones who may not be evil. I love a good villain who can convince me that they are the hero of their own story. I love conflict between right and wrong that doesn't have a clear answer, as the line between good and bad is rarely clear in the real world either. In short, I like it when villains make me think. They need to have a good backstory. They might even be masquerading as heroes. Sometimes a main character is neither unequivocally good or bad, and I think that the gray area in between is the most interesting. I am interested in where the lines meet, when a character is not necessarily a hero but doesn't exactly fit the bill of a villain either. Authors who can make me love a villain or root for an unlikeable anti-hero have clearly mastered the art of the character. Here's a list of my current favorite complicated villains and morally ambiguous heroes (and heroines!).
By Maureen Johnson Truly Devious #1 Published on January 18, 2018 416 Pages Young Adult, Mystery
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place" he said, "where learning is a game."Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym, Truly Devious. It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester. But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
5 Takeaways is a feature designed to exalt books that deserve more than just a review. You can see the other posts in this feature here. This feature is specifically for books when I decide that a review was kind of pointless. Almost everyone knows about the book and you don't need another person screaming at you to read this book (no matter how amazing it is).It is a given that my review would never do it justice. Instead of convincing you to read it, I want to discuss what I got out of it besides a five-star review. The Hitchhiker's Guide is a renowned classic on multiple levels, but not on the dusty old level of Shakespeare and Dickens (which I say with the most love possible, as an English major). It is a cult classic that has greatly influenced science fiction, including one of my favorite shows of all time, Doctor Who. Even though it isn't an academic classic, there are still a bunch of takeaways worth discussing (in a fun way, not in an English class way, I promise).
The seasons have finally changed and I am embracing the colder weather by staying inside with a cup of tea and a good book. Time is moving faster than the falling leaves and I am completely unprepared to say goodbye to September. I had forgotten how quickly time moves in college, with countless deadlines and sleepless nights making time a little too scarce. I haven't even had time to put up my Halloween decorations yet. But, as months come and go, I just remind myself that we are a little bit closer to Christmas. I am not in the business of holiday erasure though, so I fully plan on celebrating Halloween, particularly with some "spooky" novels. Even though I can't do full on horror (for books or movies), I am planning on reading books with more mysteries, ghosts, and witches. But first, let's recap what happens at Crazy for YA and in my life during September!
Hello, my name is Tessa and I am really bad at keeping up with series. I have talked about this before in a discussion post, but the time has come again to shame myself into actually finishing some series. Unfortunately, this problem even affects my favorite authors. Even though I have loved their past writing, I cannot bring myself to read their other books. Sometimes it is due to the fear of being disappointed (a girl has to have high standards) or sometimes I just get distracted by shiny new books. Regardless, I still love each and every one of these authors, even if I haven't gotten to one (or maybe three) of their books yet. Fun fact: Most of these books can be found in my TTT from 2016. Yes, my procrastination problems span years, not mere weeks.
Like Rome, Crazy for YA was not built in a day. Or even a year. This little baby is going on six years and I still don't think that it is completely built. But, despite the never-ending pursuit of building the perfect blog, the process of writing, posting, reviewing on this blog has changed my life. When I started this blog with my friends, I didn't think it would last beyond middle school, let alone to the 500th post milestone that I am celebrating right now. Writing a single review would take me hours, and they didn't have graphics, SEO, fancy fonts, or even a book summary. What they did have was an obnoxious pink font and a whole lot of love and care. However, despite the obnoxious colors, middle school writing, and complete lack of design, I still haven't deleted any of my old posts. There is literally an archive of my blogging journey (mistakes and all) still available for public criticism. This blog is me. This is me at my best and at my worst. These typos are me. These terrible graphics are me. These bad decisions, lack of knowledge, hurried posts, all led to where I am today. And all I can say is that the view is pretty good from here. That being said, read on if you want to see a timeline of Crazy for YA throughout 500 posts and six years!
The Fourth Talisman #1 400 Pages Published on October 14, 2017 Young Adult, Fantasy
This book was provided to me from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
Nocturne, a wilderness of eternal night. Solis, a wasteland of endless day. Nazafareen is a Breaker, a mortal who has the rare ability to shatter spell magic—although her power carries a high price. With the memories of her former self erased and nowhere else to turn, she comes to Nocturne hoping to start a new life under the triple moons of the darklands. But when an assassin forces Nazafareen to flee to the sunlit mortal city of Delphi, she finds herself embroiled in a deeper mystery whose origins lie far in the past. Why was the continent sundered into light and dark a thousand years before? And what really happened to the elegant but ruthless creatures who nearly reduced the world to ashes? The new Oracle might know, but she’s outlawed magic and executes anyone caught practicing it. Nazafareen must hide her powers and find a way out of the city—before it’s too late. As the net slowly tightens, something ancient and vengeful begins to stir in the arid death zone called the Kiln. A dashing daeva named Darius is pursuing Nazafareen, but so are a multitude of enemies. War is brewing again. Can she stay alive long enough to stop it? So begins the first installment in an epic new fantasy series from the author of the Fourth Element Trilogy!
Even though I find myself a pretty agreeable person, I do have a nemesis that I hate more than anything else in the world--book slumps. For those of you who are lucky enough to never have suffered through one (please tell me your secrets), book slumps are extended periods of time when reading just isn't fun anymore. There are many causes, such as lack of time or the after-effects of a five star book, but no concrete cure. When I am in a slump, all the books I try to read end up disappointing me. And then, if the case is severe enough, I stop reading altogether. However, in the spirit of mercy for my mortal enemy, the book slump, I forgive its wrongdoings. Grudges apparently aren't good to hold on to, so here are some benefits to being in a book slump.
It is officially the time of year when I start freaking out about finishing all of my yearly goals, including but not limited to my Goodreads reading challenge. I always start out with the best intentions, getting ahead of myself, but it never lasts and I end up with three months to read more than I did in the past six months combined. Thankfully, I am not beneath using cheap tricks to achieve my goals. From now until the end of the year, I will be reading copious amounts of novellas, graphic novels, and short books in order to inflate my reading numbers. I am not proud of it, but I am going to do it anyway. The good news is that if I read more books (even if they are shorter) that means more wonderful reviews like these for you to read. Really, I am doing this all for you.
Most people think that I am crazy, but I love dark chocolate. I would rather eat one bar of dark chocolate than have one thousand white chocolate bars. I guess that there is a metaphor in there about my preference for preferring my sweetness to be mellowed with a little tartness. Just like dark chocolate, August is always bittersweet. It is the end of summer's freedom, but also the beginning of a new school year with promises for new opportunities and amazing people (as well as homework, but that isn't the main point right now). The blogging news this month is also a mixed bag; I have been making a lot of progress but the impending school year is going to stunt some of it.
The Raging Ones By Krista Richie and Becca Ritchie The Raging Ones #1 Published on August 14, 2018 Young Adult, Science Fiction
This book was provided to me from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds. Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday. Until the day she does. Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him. Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny. With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do.
Even though it comes the same time every year and I am fully aware of its impending doom, the start of the school year always surprises me. When I am in summer mood, it feels like nothing will ever harm me again (or at least make me do homework again). Alas, every summer comes to an end at the same time in August and I have to grieve my last of free time and freedom. However, the great thing about college is the opportunity to pick your own classes, and being an English major, my classes mostly revolve around my passion, literature. So, in an attempt to look on the bright side, I am going to share the required texts that I am actually excited (or at least not dread) to read.
Published on August 28, 2018 Young Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
This book was provided to me from Netgalley and The Fantastic Flying Book Club in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.
5 Takeaways is a feature here at Crazy for YA designed to exalt some books that deserve more than just a review. You can see the other posts in this feature here. This feature is specifically for books where I decided that a review was kind of pointless. Almost everyone knows about the book and its pristine reputation. You don't need another person screaming at you to read this book (no matter how amazing it is). It is a given that this book received five stars and that my review would never do it justice. To me, the signal that a book is truly great, unforgettable, and absolutely worth reading is that it taught me something. Or even in rare cases, more than one thing. The real power of Children of Blood and Bone not only lies in its good story, but the ideas it leaves with the readers.
