Tag: book review

Review: ReMade, a Serial Novel

Leave a comment

So, do you remember the good ol’ days of fanfic? Of the thrill of rushing to your school’s computer lab to see if a certain now-mega-famous author uploaded a new episode of her fanfic? Or do you still catch yourself checking those incomplete fics that may never be finished?

Well, have I got an app for you! It’s called Serial Box, and it delivers serialized fiction right to your phone, or your computer. In other words, you get an “episode” of a book, once a week. These episodes are more than just a chapter. Like a TV show, they tell a complete tale, building to a season finale. Plus, you get a free audio file with each episode! Here’s the link

Subscribing is super easy, and cheaper than buying each episode. It totally makes my Wednesday when I know I have something new to read–its that same buzz as when a fanfic updates with a new chapter, except these stories are 1. professionally edited! and 2. guaranteed to never leave you hanging for an ending that never comes.

As this is a YA blog, I decided to review their YA serial, called ReMade.

remade_serial_landscape_large_lores

Every minute, 108 people die. This fall, in one of those minutes, twenty-three of those deaths will be teenagers. Now they are humanity’s last hope for survival. Awakened in a post-apocalyptic world and hunted by mechanical horrors, these teens search for answers amidst the ruins of civilization. Fate, love, and loyalty face off in this adrenaline-pumping YA adventure.

One of the first things I noticed is that ReMade has some seriously amazing writers. I mean, Gwenda Bond AND Kiersten White? Cue fangirl screams from me

The series itself is super fun. It combines dramatic, contemporary elements with a sci-fi/dystopian storyline. It’s also worth noting this is a WAY more diverse cast, both racially and sexuality-wise than any other dystopian out there. It’s like the 100, except way less problematic! Each episode revolves around one (or two!) characters, so it’s worth trying more than one if a character doesn’t strike your fancy.

Have you read a serial novel before? Do you think you’ll give Serial Box a try?

Book Review: Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard

Leave a comment

Confession: I don’t read much middle-grade. I was one of those kids who jumped straight from classics like Little Women and the Narnia books, into the realm of YA. However, as an adult, I have read a little more middle-grade, and some of them are real gems.

Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier is the type of middle-grade novel that makes me wish for a time machine to give the book to my younger self. The characters are so dynamic, and the writing is so lush and vivid, that I read the whole book in one sitting.  I, admittedly, didn’t read the first book in this series before, but had no problem catching up. Sophie is brave and bold, and the quest to find the books “Where, What, and When” made me smile long after I closed the book. If you have any young readers in your life, buy this today!

SOPHIE QUIRE AND THE LAST STORYGUARD by Jonathan Auxier

for purchase at  Amazon, Indiebound

Official blurb: It’s been two years since Peter Nimble and Sir Tode rescued the kingdom of HazelPort. In that time, they have traveled far in wide in search of adventure. Now Peter and Sir Tode have been summoned by Professor Cake for a new mission: find a 12-year-old bookmender named Sophie Quire. 

Sophie knows little beyond the four walls of her father’s bookshop, where she repairs old books and dreams of escaping the confines of her dull life. But when a strange boy and his talking cat/horse companion show up with a rare and mysterious book, she finds herself pulled into an adventure beyond anything she has ever read.
.