Audiophilia: Who would narrate my audiobook?

I've been listening to a lot more books than usual this year, due to the fact that many digital books appear in my library as audiobooks far before they make their debut as Kindle ebooks. Some of them I absolutely loved as audiobooks. Others were much more "meh" or even "ugh" and I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe it was my mood/busyness level ... maybe it was the narration style ... maybe the story would be better read than read aloud ... maybe the book just wasn't my cup of tea.



With audiobooks there are just so many more variables. I might really love a novel, but find myself walking away from the audiobook yawning or just plain irritated. I've learned several important things about myself so far in this audiobook sojourn: 

(1) I'm not as good at multi-tasking as I think I am
Audiobooks + [vacuuming] and/or [dishes] and/or [emailing] and/or [blog updates] and/or [facebook] .... all these things sound good in theory, but inevitably I catch myself about every 15 minutes thinking: Crap. What just happened in the story?

(2) Making a cup of tea takes a really long time
You can't really speed up boiling water or steeping. So it's either running back and forth from audiobook room to kitchen, or balancing laptop on arm while making tea (not recommended).

(3) Highly dramatized readings are dangerous to my laptop's health
I've discovered that I really really really can't stand it when the narration gets hyper-emotional. Thankfully the largest object that has been thrown at Lappy to date is a pillow.

To date (minus a few randos years ago), I'm now15 audiobooks in. I've uncovered 7 yays, 5 mehs and 3 ughs!  And I have a serious addiction to Julia Whelan's readings. I think she could read my "Policy Responses to Social Exclusion" textbook and I'd be fascinated. Hmm .... now there's an idea! I wonder if she'd consider it ...

What about you? Do you love audiobooks? Hate them? Who would you like to narrate your novel?

MY AUDIOBOOK RATINGS:


Audiobook Yays!

CINDER - Marissa Meyer   (read by Rebecca Soler)
FORGOTTEN - Cat Patrick   (read by Julia Whelan)
LEGEND - Marie Lu    (read by Mariel Stern)
PARTIALS - Dan Wells  (read by Julia Whelan)
STARTERS - Lissa Price   (read by Rebecca Lowman)
STORK - Wendy Delsol   (read by Julia Whelan)
TEMPEST - Julie Cross   (read by Matthew Brown)

Audiobook 'Mehs'
Possible causes: lack of sleep, leaf-blowers, failed attempts at multi-tasking?

A LONG LONG SLEEP - Anna Sheehan   (read by Angela Dawe)
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE - Dodie Smith   (read by Emilia Fox)
RUBY RED - Kerstin Gier   (read by Marisa Calin)
THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE - Jeff Hirsch   (read by Dan Bittner)
UNDER THE NEVER SKY - Veronica Rossi    (read by Bernadette Dunne)



Audiobook 'Ughs'
Possible causes: bad mood, over-emotional narration, personality conflict, improperly brewed tea?

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA - Ursula K. Le Guin (read by Harlan Ellison)
HEREAFTER - Tara Hudson   (read by Emily Eiden)
SHATTER ME - Tahereh Mafi   (read by Kate Simses)



YA Audiobook Addict has a great blog dedicated to  audiobook recommendations. Reading Teen also has an awesome page for this. 
Check them out!

Book Recommendation: Cinder

Marissa Meyer

Pages: 400
Ages: 12+

Cinder is a cyborg mechanic living in New Beijing. As a plague threatens to sweep the city, she's just doing what she can to keep money flowing in and food on the table for her stepfamily. When Prince Kai stops by the shop for a repair, she finally thinks her luck is taking a turn. It is, but for the worse. When her stepsister succumbs to the plague, Cinder's the one who's blamed. Sent to  the labs as a plague research subject, she soon finds herself entangled in a power struggle between the earthbound ruler Price Kai and the cruel Lunar Queen.

A perfect blend of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, fairytale, and fantasy. Meyer does a beautiful job exploring Cinder's inner struggles as a stepchild (ok, that one was obvious), a racial minority (cyborg)  and a girl with a physical challenge (no foot), while slowly revealing the true story of Cinder's past and the intrigue of an interstellar battle for power. There's so much going on in one book, and I'm terribly impressed that Meyer pulled it off so well!

Note: I listened to this on audiobook -- loved the narrator!

Want more book suggestions? See my other Book Recommendations.

Need some more convincing? Check out the reviews of Cinder at Cupcake and a Latte, Hooked on Books, Parajunkee, and The Story Siren!

Book Recommendation: Airborn

Kenneth Oppel

Pages: 368
Ages: 10+

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the airship Aurora. Everything is going swimmingly until Kate DeVries arrives. Well, that and there's also the pesky kid Bruce who stole Matt's promotion to sailmaker, and the sky pirates, and the fact that the airship just wrecked on an island in the middle of nowhere. While the chef grins at his knives and gleefully serves up concoctions of coconut and mango, all Matt wants to do is patch up the Aurora and head for the skies. But Kate DeVries has other plans: find the winged creatures her grandfather wrote about before he died. Problem? The beasts aren't so lovely or so mythological up close.  They're cloud cats: devious, and clawed, and a little bloodthirsty.


This was a really fun MG read. The world-building was perfect. I was immediately caught up in Matt's skyworld, but with just enough taste of the ground to be satisfied. I loved Matt's dedication to both his ship and those he cares about, and Kate's stubborn sense of adventure. The budding romance between the two characters was one of my favorites in an MG. Definitely recommended!


Website of Kenneth Oppel.



Want more book suggestions? See my other Book Recommendations.

RTW: Best Book of March!

I thought I'd finally jump in on YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesdays ... I've been a lurker for awhile and they just look so fun!

March was actually a surprisingly busy book month for me. I was doing a fair amount of beta-swapping so I was in reading mode not writing mode. Looking back, I'm not entirely sure that was the best approach. I often found myself unable to switch myself out of crit-mode when doing my "fun reading." In some ways this  could be a good thing, but it also meant I was hyper-critical of many books that I might not have had such a problem with otherwise. At first audiobooks helped me a bit, but then I started getting annoyed again. My experience culminated in me complaining, blogstyle in a post entitled: Does your YA paranormal romance have enough clichés?

What do you think? Keep beta-reading and fun-reading separate? Turn off your inner critter when reading published novels or keep it roaring?
Note: I read a great post by someone else AK Fotinos-Hoyer about this awhile back (if it was you, let me know so I can bookmark it!! Thanks AK!). 


My Favorite March Read: TEMPEST - Julie Cross


Now that I've digressed enough, back to the topic! Favorite March Reads. This was a tough one, but I think in the end, I'd have to choose TEMPEST by Julie Cross

I loved Cross' approach to time-travel in this book, and I think my fascination with how she developed this aspect was what kept me hooked. It was a little on the longish side, but so fascinating and the relationships so tangible and real. The voice of the MC was great (it's a male protagonist -- props to Cross for writing it so well!) The believability of the male MC might have been helped along by the fact that I listened to this on audiobook, so heard it read by a male narrator (who did a fantastic job, btw).

March Reads Runners Up


  

I loved the characters of Kate and Matt in AIRBORN, plus airships, cloud cats, pirates and tropical islands? You just can't go wrong! A great MG read.

CINDER was a fascinating cyborg retelling of Cinderella. Sci-fi post-apocalyptic with plagues and lunar intrigue. Loved it!

SAVING JUNE was a great contemporary YA book recommended to me by Sage of Like Fireflies in the Brain for its slow, believable approach to the relationship development. It didn't disappoint. Thanks Sage! It's a great book that weaves road-trip, romance, and dealing with the suicide of a loved-one.

I Heart My Little Liebster

Randi Lee at the Emotional Process of Writing a Novel just tagged me for a Liebster Blog Award. Aww thanks Randi!!!! It's my first award, and look how stinkin cute it is! The word “liebster” is of German origin and means “favorite, beloved, dearest”. It's given to favorite blogs that motivate and inspire us, and have less than 200 followers. It's a great way to meet other new bloggers and share the love!


Accepting the award is done in the following way:


1. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded you by linking back to their blog.
2. Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know about your nomination by leaving a comment on their blog
3. Post the award on your blog!


Yay!


My Nominations for the Liebster Award:


A.K. Fotinos-Hoyer
Jaime Morrow
Limey YA Lit Girl
Nindogs
YA Fiction & Whiskey Sours

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books I'd Play Hooky With

It's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the The Broke and the Bookish. This week it's Top 10 Books I'd Play Hooky With.


Last week the Top Ten Tuesday was Top 10 on my TBR list. So since those were the books I'm most anticipating, I'm interpreting this week's theme as being Top 10 Old Favorites. All the stories listed below are a perfect blend of cozy, familiar, and satisfying as a warm mug of hot chocolate. Perfect for a call-in-sick-and-curl-up-on-the-couch-day. I mentioned some of these in my Valentine's Day post, but the ones here are only the very creamiest of creams, in no particular order:

Top 10 Books I'd Play Hooky With:
Old Favorites
1. Anne of Green Gables (the series) - L.M. Montgomery
2. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare
3. The Chronicles of Narnia (starting with the Magician's Nephew) - C.S. Lewis
4. Little Women (the series, most importantly: Little Men and Jo's Boys) - Louisa May Alcott
5. The Dark is Rising  (series) - Susan Cooper
6. Many Waters - Madeline L'Engle
7. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
8. Fairy Rebel - Lynne Reid Banks
9. Lord of the Rings (series)- J.R.R. Tolkien
10. Harry Potter (series) - J.K. Rowling


Runners-Up: Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder //Search for Delicious - Natalie Babbit //The Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander

Dystopian Book Recommendations (What to Read After The Hunger Games)

One of my favorite ways to discover new books is to read recommendations from other bloggers with similar tastes. A couple weeks ago I listed my Top Ten Dystopians, but I thought it would be fun to contribute in a visual way! Below is a mindomo map of some of the dystopian books I've read. They're linked together based on similarity. If you liked one, follow the chain back or forwards to find others that you might enjoy!

[click to enlarge]

Dystopian Book Recommendations

If you liked [that] Dystopian, you might like [this] one:

If you liked ...

THE HUNGER GAMES
   you might like ....

   Divergent / Insurgent
   Under the Never Sky
   Legend
   Uglies
   Starters
   Partials
   A Long Long Sleep
   Life as We Knew It
   Insignia

FEED
   you might like ....

   Bumped
   Awaken
   Insignia
   Little Brother
   Candor

MATCHED 
   you might like ....

   Delerium
   Crewel
   Wither
   The Selection
   The Handmaid's Tale

What about you? What dystopian books do you recommend? Know of other books like the Hunger Games? Other books like Divergent?

Recent Reads Roundup: March Edition Act II

I managed to read a lot more in March than I expected! See my first set of March reads here. I really enjoyed most of these books, but my favorite was a Middle Grade book: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. I need to read more MG!

                 

                 

              

Forgotten - Cat Patrick (2011 Debut)

Every night, London's memories are erased. All she can 'remember' are events in her future. She's never really tried to change things before, but when visions of a funeral keep recurring, she knows she has to do something. If only she knew whose funeral it was. A really fascinating premise and I can't wait to see what they do. I will note that I listened to it on audiobook and I think it would be better to read in print.

Stork - Wendy Delsol (2010 Debut)

Katla Leblanc just wants to graduate and get started on her career in fashion design. But there's a lot that's been getting in the way lately. The biggest offender? She just found out she's a Stork - a member of a super secret sect that decides who gets preggers ... joy.

Hereafter - Tara Hudson (2011 Debut)

Everything about her existence is fuzzy except one thing: Amelia is dead. She's also stuck haunting the real world. She rescues a boy from the river and they fall for one another. But will her jealous protector allow them to be together?

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

Cassandra lives a not-so-fairytale life in 1930s England. The only hope of lifting their family out of poverty is for her older sister Rose to marry well. Things are going perfectly until Cassandra realizes she's fallen for her sister's betrothed.

A Long Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan (2011 Debut)

Rose is awakened from stasis to find that she's slept for nearly 100 years. Everyone she knew and loved is dead. But at least she escaped the Dark Times and the deadly plague that took so many lives. But now an elusive and deadly automaton is out to claim hers.

Airborn - Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse feels at home in the air. When his beloved Aurora crashes on a tropical island, all he wants is to fix her as soon as possible and head for the skies. But passenger Kate De Vries has other plans for them: find the mysterious cloud cats from her grandfather's journal.

The Magicians - Lev Grossman

Ever since he read the Fillory series as a small boy, Quentin's always played with magic. But it's all been trickery, sleight of hand, illusion. Then one day his life changes forever. Magic is real, and he is invited to participate in one of the world's few magical universities. This has Narnia/Harry Potter parallels but is written for an adult audience. 

Cinder - Marissa Meyer (2012 Debut!!)

Cinder, as you might imagine, is a re-telling of the story of Cinderella. But don't think fairy-godmothers and magic pumpkins. Cinder is a cyborg mechanic in futuristic New Beijing. There are plagues, androids and lunar rulers with telepathic powers, and an intent to overthrow earth. I enjoyed it.

The Bookman - Lavie Tidhar

The young poet Orphan goes off on a quest to find his recently (possibly) deceased girlfriend who was inadvertently exploded by the Bookman. It's a jumble of automatons, pirates, royal lizards and endless queer happenings, discoveries, and quests.  Fun and dark at the same time.

Top Ten Tuesday: Autumn TBR List

It's Top Ten Tuesday again -- a meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.


This week:
Top 10 Books on my  Spring Autumn "To Be Read" List 


I had to alter this Top Ten list topic slightly, because for all of us down here in the Southern Hemisphere, we're heading into autumn, not spring!! I have a lot on my TBR list, but my highest priorities are for debut authors from 2012 and 2011.  So many good reads, so little time!!

             

     

 

  

2012 Debut Books:
Article 5 - Kristen Simmons
Starters - Lissa Price
Everneath - Brodi Ashton
Incarnate - Jodi Meadows

2011 Debut Books:
Enclave - Ann Aguirre
The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson
The Emerald Atlas - John Stephens
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Other Books:
The Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (is it cheating if I've already started it?)

Ooops!  Forgot Insurgent by Veronica Roth. Totally cheating ... Top 11:

WIP: The Movie

Ok, so I'm totally late to the party, but I got inspired by all folks who made it in time to do the WIP: The Movie Blogfest last week, and thought I'd still post.

The idea is to "cast" the key characters in your novel, were it to be made into a movie. Cool huh?
So here is my cast! Caveat: I definitely went for 'the look' over the acting style/experience, which would have taken waaay too much time to sort out. So without further ado:

The Awakening of Minna Gray .... If it were a movie

Minna Gray
(Nicola Peltz - The Last Airbender)

Minna's spent her entire life working alongside her parents as they struggled to be promoted into Emerald District. Now that they've 'made it' the dreamworld has lost much of its appeal: she still never sees her parents and her strange visions seem to be getting more frequent. When two boys she's babysitting go missing, her panic soon turns to horror: they're not just missing. In fact, with the exception of her best friend, no one else remembers them. They've been erased.




 Piper:

(Alexz Johnson - Smallville)

Piper is Minna's best friend. Aspiring architect/ballerina, she's brilliant, easily distracted, and always ready for adventure. That is, until her brother goes missing. She soon discovers that real adventures are a lot different than the ones you dream up to sneak out of school.

Corrin:

(Alex Nifong - Pretty Little Liars)

Corrin's there for Minna when she needs it most. Best of all he doesn't just believe her when she says the boys she's looking for have been erased ... he actually thinks he might know where they've gone. With his knowledge of the Resistance, they might be able to find them. But they'll have to work quickly, before it's too late.

And yeah, I picked this actor mostly for his messy hair. Ha!

Last but perhaps most importantly, here are a few songs that I'd include on the soundtrack for the movie:

Silvia - Miike Snow

Love this song (except for the pronunciation of coup de grâce ) The video probably fits the feel of the sequel better than the first book, but ...

I Follow Rivers - Lykke Li

Oh Lykke Li. I would put anything/everything by her on the soundtrack.

Also:

Heavy in Your Arms - Florence and the Machine

Tired of Being Sorry - Ringside

Desert - Emilie Simon

I Drive Alone - Esthero

Sundrenched World - Joshua Radin

Walking with a Ghost - Teagan and Sarah

Oh Tiger Airways, How We Love You

This is the closest image I could find to capture the ridiculousness of our recent adventure at the Melbourne airport. There are almost no words. This, in a nutshell, is what happened:

We arrived at the Melbourne airport three hours early. We were fresh off a fantastic whirlwind trip which included: gyros eaten beneath stalactites, penguins (!!!), the beaches of St. Kilda, a heaping plate of sichuan peppers, art galleries, wine-tasting, chocolate-tasting, hiking in Yarra Ranges Ntl. Park, and most importantly an afternoon of koalas, echidnas, and platypi (I could have watched them forever. Literally.). As you can see it was quite a pleasant trip. And then we get to the Melbourne airport.

The nice lady at the ticket counter took our passports and weighed our carry-ons for us.
   
         "You're overweight," she said.

This could have been considered offensive in many ways, but unfortunately the way she meant it was in the worst possible way: our carry-ons. Turns out, our luggage was magic! Despite the fact that the bags weighed exactly the same as when we boarded the plane in Sydney, they were now all suddenly 'overweight.' What's the fee for an overweight bag? Oh just a cool $70 per bag. Panic.

We stumbled away from the counter. Turns out we'd been misinformed back in Sydney. The carry-on limit was two bags at a max of 7 kilos per bag, but there was also a 10 kilo max for the two bags combined, not the 14 kilos total that we'd been granted in Sydney. We sat staring blankly at one another for awhile, then hatched a plan.

I don't know if you've ever tried to wear five tank tops, five long-sleeved shirts, and a pair of pants over a pair of shorts, but I can tell you right now it's not easy. When you do finally get everything tugged on, you get the added bonus of looking like a big fat marshmallow. Also note that layering is rather hot when it's 80 degrees out and the airport has no air conditioning.

But we made it! We might have been overweight but our bags were not! We waltzed through the ticket counter, through security where we were hand-picked for an explosives inspection (cause let's face it, we looked a little bulky), all the way to the gate, where we looked at each other's outfits and promptly collapsed in a giggling fit for the next 20 minutes.

Lesson learned? Next time, wear shorts over jeans, not under. That way they won't feel (and look) so much like diapers.

Lucky 7 Meme

A.K. Fotinos-Hoyer tagged me to participate in the Lucky 7 Meme. Fun!! 

Here's how it works:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating
4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know

My 7 lines from page 77 of THE AWAKENING OF MINNA GRAY:

         “No one’s home,” she said, tossing her bag on the floor as they stepped inside on Friday afternoon. Everything was white. White marble floors, white columns, white leather furniture, beneath creamy white satin curtains. Here and there a red accent was placed – a flourish of scarlet roses, a red velvet pillow, a vermillion painting on the wall.              
          “No one is ever home,” she sighed.  They walked around to the second living room, and Cassandra stepped lightly up the stairs to the kitchen
          “Want anything to drink?” she asked, opening the fridge door. “I am going to have a Starfire. We have everything your little heart could desire. Mother doesn’t eat, she drinks.”


Kinda funny that these are the lines that came up, because I know this character is getting axed in my next round of edits. So you, dear blog reader, may be the only one to ever see them!

Tag, You're It!

These are the authors I'm "tagging" to participate in the Lucky 7 Meme. Not sure if they'll be able to, but at any rate, check out their websites!

Angela Francis

Mara Moser

Rachel Taylor

Sage like the spice

Stephanie Bibb

Thali

Theresa McClinton

Top Ten Tuesday : Top 10 Dystopian Novels

The Broke and The Bookish

This is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish! Each Tuesday they have a different "Top 10 List" topic. This week it is Top Ten Books in a subgenre-of-your choice! Even though about 88% of the participants are probably going to pick the same genre as me, I decided to go with ...


Top 10 Dystopian Novels!


I know, I know. Everyone's addicted to dystopian these days, and it may get worn out soon. But right now I am just eating it up, and I figured what a better opportunity to capture this era in reading history than with a blog post! Maybe in years to come I'll look back and think, "Oh yes I remember, those were the days when I enjoyed reading about dystopias..." (and hopefully I won't add: "...back in the days when we weren't living in one.")


1. Divergent - Veronica Roth
My favorite read of 2011! What would happen if people divided themselves into factions by virtue? Well, Ms. Roth will show you what happens, and it's not pretty!


2. Bumped - Megan McCafferty
My favorite read of 2012 (thus far)! In the vein of M.T. Anderson's FEED, but deals with reproduction. More accessible, more lollipop-teeny-bopper disturbing , and perhaps even more thought-provoking. Just read it.


3. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld
I picked up this series later than most, but was totally sucked in by the concept of homogenous Pretty-dom, the characters, the world. I haven't gotten my hands on the rest of the series yet, but will, soon.


4. Legend - Marie Lu
I really liked this one for its simplicity: creepy government, plagued populace, and character studies.


5. Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
Rossi is an amazing writer and storyteller. Here plugged-in, genetically perfected girl gets thrust into the wilderness, and her fate becomes intertwined with an Outsider. I'm putting this on my re-read list soon!


6. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood 
A classic.

7. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
What? Why is Hunger Games this far down on my list?? Isn't this the best-selling-movie-making-book-everyone's-crazy-about? Yes these things are all true. But this is my list, it's difficult to rank my favorite books, and this one had a little more fear-factor than I would have liked. Yes I'm a scaredy-cat, I know this.


8. Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky
Explores what the world might look like for teens in a not-so-distant digitalized future.


9. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
10. Matched - Allie Condie 
To be 100% honest, I started reading #9 and #10 when I had just about had it with romance-based plotlines. However I completely adore, in particular, Oliver's writing (only a brilliant writer can bring a reader nearly to tears in the first 20 pages!), and Condie's world-building. 


On my Dystopian "To Read / Read Again" List:  Article 5 - Kristen Simmons // Glitch - Heather Anastasiu // Shatter Me - Tahreh Mafi (after reading: it's a paranormal romance, not a dystopian) // Blood Red Road - Moira Young // Candor - Pam Bachorz // The Forsaken - Lisa Stasse // Dark Parties - Sara Grant // XVI - Julia Karr // Birthmarked - Caragh O'Brien // Enclave - Ann Aguirre // Posession - Elana Johnson // Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shytengart // Eve - Anna Carey // Iron Heel - Jack London // Neuromancer - William Gibson // White Mountains - John Christopher // Time Machine - H.G. Wells //

Recent Reads Roundup: March Edition

Late February/ Early March has been a busy time for me. But I've still managed to read a fair amount of books, many of them are new favorites. Check out the mini summaries below!

        

                  

                

    

Glass Houses - Rachel Caine

Claire is 16, and a freshman in college. She's smart, but not smart enough to avoid crossing paths with a townful of vampires and their fashion-conscious, violence-loving minions.

Legend - Marie Lu

June is dedicated to the Republic. When her brother dies in the line of duty, she'll stop at nothing to bring down Day, his murderer. Until she accidentally falls for him. RECOMMENDED    -- full review --

Maze Runner - James Dashner

Thomas doesn't remember anything from before he arrived at the Glade. None of the boys can. They're stuck at the center of an ever-changing maze, without any way to escape.

RECOMMENDED

Fallen - Lauren Kate

Luce just wants to be normal, and for Daniel to notice her. But she sees things - shadows. She's fairly sure they had something to do with the fire that killed her ex-boyfriend, and now they wont leave her alone, even at reform school.

Crossed - Allie Condie

In this sequel to MATCHED, Cassia wants nothing more than to find Ky, and he is determined to live long enough to find her. But if they find each other, will their feelings be the same?

Tempest - Julie Cross
Jackson is a time traveler. When his girlfriend is killed, it makes perfect sense that he'd try to go back in time and prevent it. The only problem? No matter what he does, he can't change the past.

RECOMMENDED   -- full review --

Lost Voices - Sarah Porter
Luce's home life is darker each day. One night she makes a decision, and finds herself in sea - as a mermaid. She's safe and happy, but torn, because she must serve as a siren.

Under the Never Sky - Veronica Rossi
Aria is a Dweller, exiled from Reverie and the safety of its digital realms. Perry is an outsider and an unlikely ally. But if she's to find her mother and he his nephew, they'll have to work together.
RECOMMENDED   -- full review --

The Iron Thorn - Caitlin Kitteridge

Aoife (Ee-fah) has the necrovirus. But she's practical. Before she turns 16 and goes crazy, she's determined to find her father. Outside of steam-powered Lovecraft, things get complicated. If she's to save her family, she may have to help her worst enemy.

RECOMMENDED