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New Releases: January 2015

By |2020-03-28T13:42:19-05:00January 12th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: , , , , , , , |

JANUARY 1ST (UK) The Art of Being Normal (David Fickling Books, 2015) The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson -- (TRANS) Goodreads Summary: "Two boys. Two secrets. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl. On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan. When [...]

Review: Lies my Girlfriend Told Me by Julie Anne Peters

By |2020-03-28T13:42:19-05:00January 11th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , |

Lies My Girlfriend Told Me (Little Brown Books, 2014) I bought this on a whim because it showed up on the ‘What other customers bought’ section of my Amazon page, which made no sense at all the book I was looking at just then was a totally unrelated YA horror. Amazon clearly has some issues with its recommendation system, then, but it’s all good: after finding this book I was very grateful that they’d plagued me on that particular day. The book opens when Alix’s parents come into her room and tell her that her girlfriend, [...]

Women In Love

By |2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 24th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: , , , , |

Make sure to check out the Twinja Book Reviews Diversity Month, where they feature interviews and guest posts from all sorts of great bloggers and authors-- it's happening now! I’m catching up on Orange Is the New Black as we speak. As a long-time Netflix basher, I finally caved in and became a subscriber. Even though I'd bought the first season on DVD, I couldn't wait to finally watch season two, to see all these interesting stories about women unfold. Orange is the New Black (Netflix series created by Jenji Kohan) I saw relationships end and start. [...]

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Book Review: Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson

By |2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 22nd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , , |

            In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions...an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine her more than once. Fighting Kudzu is the lyrical saga that traces Noble's life as she emerges into adulthood and discovers herself. The plot synopsis given on the back cover, and given above, of Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson comes nowhere near the actual depth [...]

Author Interview: Mystic Thompson

By |2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 21st, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Interview|Tags: , |

Author Shannon LC Cate was nice enough to share with us an interview she had with Mystic Thompson, about her novel "Fighting Kudzu". Let's read what Mystic had to say about it!   Fighting Kudzu (Strategic Book Publishing, 2009) FIGHTING KUDZU by MYSTIC THOMPSON.   In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions...an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine [...]

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I Was Made to Believe There’s Something Wrong With Me: Why #BlackLivesMatter in YA Lit

By |2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Black Lives Matter Series: Day 1 - Previous Posts: Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series by Nakiya I’ve been reading LGBTQ YA fiction for almost five years and I’ve never read a book focused on a black LGBTQ woman. When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite books was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. In middle school two of my favorite series were The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin and Animorphs by K. A. Applegate, both of which had a central black female character. I grew up in a town that [...]

The Question of Queering the Mainstream Novel: A Conversation with authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith

By |2020-03-28T13:42:21-05:00December 5th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Author Interview|Tags: , , , , , , |

The story behind the story is sometimes, as they say, stranger than fiction. Stranger is the title of a Viking November release by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith and, if you read this book, as I did (when Rachel asked me, in my paranormal YA novelist persona Tate Hallaway, to blurb it,) you might not think much more beyond how awesome and captivating a story of superpowers and survival in a post-apocalyptic future it is. Stranger (Viking Juveline, 2014) This book, however, almost didn’t get published.  Sure, okay, you’re thinking, lots of great books don’t get published, what’s [...]

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Hey, Dollface: Pushing the Boundaries of YA in 1978

By |2020-03-28T13:42:23-05:00November 26th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , |

It was around then I began to realize that there was some current between Chloe and me that was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before; it was a vague, clouded feeling that I couldn’t quite place or identify. It didn’t happen all of a sudden; it was more like moments of dim awareness, followed by a gradual recognition that it was there without my understanding what it was. Deborah Hautzig’s Hey, Dollface, written while she was a student at Sarah Lawrence College, was originally published in 1978, one of the first books of its kind. I’ve only ever [...]

Interview With Alaya Dawn Johnson: Transcript

By |2020-03-28T13:42:27-05:00October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Book Club|Tags: , , |

We interviewed Alaya Dawn Johnson author of The Summer Prince and Love is the Drug. Find the recorded interview here!  V: Hey everyone, I’m Victoria. K: And I’m Kathleen.  Today we have Alaya Dawn Johnson with us, author of our September book of the month, The Summer Prince.  Alaya, thank you for joining us, all the way from Mexico City! A: Thanks so much for having me. K: The Summer Prince is a dystopian science fiction novel that takes place many years in the future. V: We chose it for our September book of the month because it [...]

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Halloween Reads

By |2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 16th, 2014|Categories: Archive|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Looking for a good Halloween read? Fed up with the excessive cishetero-ness of most book lists? We've got you covered! To start you off, here are some realistic mystery/thriller novels with gay, bi, lesbian, and trans protagonists: Dark Tide by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books, 2014) For Ricky Hackworth, a summer job to save money before he leaves for college is a necessity. When he lands a job as a lifeguard at the Mermaid Inn in Latona, Alabama, on the beautiful Gulf Coast, it’s like a dream come true. But once he moves into the Inn, he starts [...]

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