When I was at the ALA Annual Conference, I talked to the Penguin Random House representative who spoke highly of DC's new imprint called the Young Animal which was created by Gerard Way, the leader singer of My Chemical Romance. I asked the representative about the imprint's targeted audience and content which he suggested were appropriate for teens. I wanted to find out for myself and asked for his suggestion on where to start. He told me he is a big fan of  Shade, the Changing Girl by Cecil Castellucci. When I saw it was an advanced copy was available for review on Netgalley I thought I would try it. Shade, The Changing Girl, will be published on July 18, 2017.


Description: Far away on the planet Meta, Loma's going nowhere fast. She's dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend and is bored out of her mind. She longs to feel things. That's where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come in. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer.

Description: Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

Review: The Shade of Magic series is a great introduction to fantasy for readers who may not be too comfortable with the genre. It is fast paced adventure that is quick to get into with a great, medium-sized cast of characters with an easy to understand world and magic system. It is also a great teen to adult crossover book. 

Description: After experiencing a series of dangerous—and frankly, humiliating—trials at Camp Half-Blood, Apollo must now leave the relative safety of the demigod training ground and embark on a hair-raising journey across North America. Fortunately, what he lacks in godly graces he's gaining in new friendships—with heroes who will be very familiar to fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series.

Review: The Dark Prophecy is the second book in the Trials of Apollo series in which the Greek god Apollo has lost his powers and immortality and has been brought to Earth as an acne ridden American teenager. While the Dark Prophecy is a quick, fun read it is also a transitional book in the series. Apollo must work with other demigods, prominent in Riordan's Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series, to help save Meg and other characters from a dark demise.
 I still find Apollo highly amusing from his self absorbed "woe is me" haiku poems that preface each chapter. I like that his human side is allowing him to see his own flaws and become a stronger person and character. While there are no particular myths that this series retells there are stories that are closely with Apollo that are interwoven in this series. I also appreciate Riordan's attention to diversity in his works as Apollo openly discusses his bisexuality plus meeting lesbian parents, and we meet demigods from various ethnicities and races throughout the series. It is not until the last few pages that a cryptic prophecy is revealed which clearly sets up the next book in a series. If you are interested in seeing why Riordan is super popular, I would highly recommend picking up the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series first as it sets up the foundation for his later series and gives you a sense of Riordan's trademark humor, action, and mythology retelling. I'm really looking forward to seeing where Riordan takes Apollo next.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing scenes in the book and some of the stories mentioned in the book are quite violent. Recommended for Grade 6 and up.

If you like this book try: Olympians: Apollo by George O'Connor graphic novel, The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan (Trials of Apollo #3 coming in May 2018)

Description: There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.
Caden is a Nice: the boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: the brooding, dark-souled guy who is dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose the Nice or the Bad?
  Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be—whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die. What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

Review: The Love Interest was one of my most anticipated debut novels of 2017. I was super excited for a diverse spy novel that flips familiar book tropes. Sadly, despite a fantastic premise the book is a major let down and disappoints in many ways.
Caden is a spy. He's spent most of his life so far in an underground facility called the Love Interest Compound, being groomed physically and mentally to become a Love Interest for someone influential. His job is to woo the candidate and win her trust while also divulging her secrets to the Compound who will later sell the information to the highest bidder. The concept of the Love Interest Compound is really cool, but the world building is unfortunately undeveloped. I had many unresolved questions regarding its creation and purpose. I did find it interesting though that the institution goes as far as altering the Love Interest physical features with surgery to ensure physical attraction, which reminded me very much of the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, and tagging them with a tracker much like we do to our pets. After a very long time Caden has been chosen and pegged as a Nice, the nerdy-boy-next-door type. He is given a script and plays the role as Juliet's long lost friend. 

  I was approached by Sarah at Publishizer regarding a book contest for inspiring writers with a focus on diversity and I wanted to share this great opportunity with you. Read the guest post below to find out more information about the contest and its $1,000 prize!




  Imagine a YA publishing process without gatekeepers. One where editors and agents read the manuscripts that readers love, not vice versa. One where anyone with a knack for writing, a passion to succeed, and a little flair for self-promotion, has a fair shot at being published.

All too frequently, this isn’t the case. Books often get rejected for reasons beyond authors’ control. One editor turned down an ultimately successful book by saying, “The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level.” The book in question? The Diary of Anne Frank. Furthermore, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only about 10% of all YA books accepted for publication feature “multi-cultural content.” Clearly, there are some blind spots that need addressing in the publishing industry.

It’s with this vision in mind that Publishizer is launching its YA book proposal contest called Plot Without a Cause. Publishizer is a startup seeking to fill a hole in the publishing industry through crowdfunding.

 It works like this: You write the book proposal. You know the book proposal I’m talking about. The one you’ve been daydreaming about for years. The one that just popped into your head last week and you haven’t stopped thinking about since. The one for the manuscript that’s been dearly loved by you but maybe not so much yet by the publishing industry. That one. Then you register (for free!) on Publishizer’s website and post your proposal in the Plot Without a Cause section (again—for free!).

  Now this is when you’ll have to start hustling. Crowdfunding runs on pre-orders, so you had better start promoting that proposal. Reach out over social media, post on your blog, email your old roommates—whatever it takes to start building buzz. If you get the most preorders by the time the contest ends, you’ll win $1000 dollars. And if you don’t have the highest number of preorders, don’t worry—you’ll still be queried to major publishers who fit your proposal.

Previous Publishizer contest participants have gotten interest and landed deals with a variety of traditional publishing companies, including Harvard Square Books, She Writes Press, and Weiser. Publishizer takes a small commission on pre-orders when you choose a publisher at the end.

Every year, thousands of books are rejected by the publishing world for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book—they’re too mainstream or not mainstream enough, too similar to books already being published or too different from books already being published. Or the literary agent just doesn’t stand to make much money on the deal so they pass on a perfectly good book! Imagine how many brilliant YA manuscripts go unpublished every year thanks to frustrating rejections. Imagine how many hugely talented authors quietly give up on their dreams, just because the gate to a traditional publishing path isn’t open to them.

  With their new YA book proposal contest, Plot Without a Cause, Publishizer is seeking to level the playing field. Publishing decisions shouldn’t be based solely on a literary agent’s judgement
or how many friends you have in the industry. They should be based on quality of writing and how many readers the book attracts.

   Great books get overlooked all the time, and this is an opportunity to show acquiring editors that yours is worth paying attention to. Not to mention the readership and funds you could gain in the process. Crowdfunding (or crowd-publishing, in this case) is growing in popularity and brings a personal touch back to book sales—for readers and publishers. Are you in?

For more information, visit the contest page or contact Sarah White directly at sarah@publishizer.com.