Tag: young adult

My Year in Reading: Cassie-la’s July 2018 Wrap Up

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Scream All Night by Derek Milman (★★★★☆½)

On the outside, Scream All Night looks like a horror novel, but twist: it’s actually a coming of age story. The YA debut follows emancipated teen Dario, who is forced back into the family business (which just so happens to be his father’s B-horror movie film studio). Full of an eccentric cast of characters and some tough subject matter, Milman’s novel explores what happens when the monsters are found behind the camera. [Read our creator Q&A with author Derek Milman.]

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen (★★★★★)

I loved this super fast-paced science fiction story more than I ever could have imagined. Full of complex characters and shocking twists and turns, Nyxia features a definitely evil corporation who are taking young people to another planet to mine a mysterious material know as Nyxia. What could go wrong? Since this is the first book in the series, it’s focused solely on the kid’s training before arriving on Eden, a second earth-like planet inhabited by humanoid creatures known as Adamites.

The Traitor’s Kiss by Erin Beaty (★★★☆☆½)

The Traitor’s Kiss started off super promising, but unfortunately, things got real dumb real fast, and the story completely lost me toward the end. Set during an indistinguishable time period where everyone has to be paired by a matchmaker, this book definitely should have been a standalone novel. While things start off great with the matchmaking stuff, this far superior/way more interesting section was mostly glossed over to make way for a time jump and some nonsensical plot about spies and secret princes for no reason.

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Waiting on Wednesday: ‘Sky Without Stars’ by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell

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Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly series hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming book releases we can’t wait to get our hands on.

This week’s Waiting on Wednesday pick is a science fiction re-imagining of the Victor Hugo classic Les Miserables: Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell.

The duo’s retelling will follow a thief, an officer, and a guardian who live on the French planet-colony of Laterre, which just so happens to be inching toward revolution.

Yes, yes, and hells yes.

Sky Without Stars will hit shelves everywhere on March 26, 2019. Can it be 2019 now, please and thanks.

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Waiting on Wednesday: ‘Last of Her Name’ by Jessica Khoury

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Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly series hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming book releases we can’t wait to get our hands on.

This week’s Waiting on Wednesday pick re-imagines the life of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia … in space: Last of Her Name by Jessica Khoury!

Khoury’s upcoming novel follows the lost Princess Anya, who unbeknownst to her former subjects was not murdered a long time ago during a rebellion in a galaxy far, far away.

Think science fiction Anastasia, but with less singing.

Last of Her Name will hit shelves everywhere on February 26, 2019. Plenty of time to work on your grabby hands.

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My Year in Reading: Cassie-la’s June 2018 Wrap Up

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The Elizas by Sara Shepard (★★★☆☆½)

Sara Shepard’s latest adult novel is a thriller that features some of my favorite writing mechanisms, including an unreliable narrator and a story within a story. Unfortunately, like the majority of Shepard’s young adult novels, there is a heavy reliance on doubles (no more doppelgangers or twins ever again, please!), and the novel doesn’t get really interesting until about a third of the way through … before completely losing the plot again shortly thereafter.

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows (★★★★☆½)

Historical fantasy meets alternate history in this much happier and way more fantastical re-imagining of the life of Lady Jane Grey (AKA the Nine-Day Queen). Told by the trio now known as the Lady Janies, My Lady Jane follows book-loving Jane Grey, who lives in a world where some people can turn into animals. Unbeknownst to Jane, she’s going to be named next in line to the throne by her dying cousin, and she’s about to be married off to a man who is sometimes a horse. Sure it’s super wacky, but it’s also really funny and charming.

Frostblood by Elly Blake (★★★☆☆½)

I had a lot of trouble with the first 75% of Frostblood. Despite being blessedly fast-paced (the only thing that kept me going), the beginning of Blake’s book has a predictable plot that I’ve already read a million times over. Spoilers: the magical girl who can control fire is going to be the chosen one who falls in love with the attractive yet damaged man who can control ice. Thankfully, all that turned around when I got to meet the real villain of the story. Thanks for saving this entire series evil frost king!

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Creator Q&A: ‘Scream All Night’ Author Derek Milman

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Actor and horror movie aficionado Derek Milman’s debut novel Scream All Night is a love letter to classic B-horror movies, but it’s also a coming of age story about Dario Heyward, the son of an infamous director who knows that monsters are sometimes found behind the camera.

After legally emancipating himself from his legendary father, Lucien, Dario is forced to return to Moldavia Studios — the real-life castle and filming location for all of Lucien’s movies — at the behest of his older brother, and is sucked back into the life he worked so hard to escape.

On its surface, the story is a fun look at the eccentric cast and crew of a movie studio, and an exploration of the B-horror movie genre, but it’s really a deep dive into grief, trauma and mental illness.

To learn more about his first novel, we sat down with Derek (virtually of course), to talk about all things SAN.

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