New Releases Tuesday!

Because I've been completely absent, I'm going to reach back a couple of weeks for this "New" Releases Tuesday.

No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale

Ok, look at this cover. This cover is the best. Judge this book by its cover, because it is also awesome. Gory, hilarious, morbid, and gripping, this murder mystery is a little bit of a Fargo rip-off, but it's so much fun to read, it's hard to really care about that.

When Kippy's (yes, Kippy) best friend is brutally murdered, she sets out to find the killer through the victim's explicit and hilariously bitchy diary. With enough Wisconsin slang to make you think you're watching Bobby's World (remember that, kids?), and a good helping of suspense, this is a fun read and a strong debut from Kathleen Hale.

In Dreams by Erica Orloff

From the book description: "Inception meets Unearthly in this hot romance for fans of Meg Cabot's Abandon series!"

Considering I almost walked out on Inception and really only stayed for the Leo and the JGL, I'm going to give this one a pass since it has neither of those people, but to each his own. (Maybe I could just picture Leo/JGL and it would be the same? Now I'm considering it...)

(From December 31, 2014)

The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine

Sometimes a book is just a giant fuzzy scarf wrapped around you on a freezing day, and sometimes that's all you need. As the winter gets colder, cozy up with this charming, funny, realistic romance that just makes you want to drink hot chocolate and call your best friend to talk about crushes.

If all of this sounds too cliche for you (snow falling outside the window? Too much?), just know that the voices of these two characters make a somewhat predictable romance completely entertaining. It's an antidote to the dystopian desolation that's still popping up everywhere, even though all I want right now is for it to warm up and for a couple of people to love each other, OK?!



(From December 24, 2013)

Roomies by Sarah Zarr and Tara Altebrando

In your freshman year of college, nothing is as important as the random roommate assignment. As someone who ended up lifelong friends with her random roomie, I can certainly vouch for the importance of such a relationship, so the exploration of that burgeoning relationship is of particular interest to me. If you hated your roommate...sorry.

Told from the POV's of both potential masking-tape-line drawers, it sounds like this book will tackle some pretty heavy coming-of-age material, but be light enough not to drag you down too much. Definitely on the want-to-read list for me!

On writing, resolutions, and making time

So...the last re-start of the blog didn't go so well. After some editing offers that I couldn't turn down, my free time turned into freelance time, and I honestly didn't make the blog a priority (obviously), although I wish I would have.

I'm usually not one for New Year's resolutions, but now that my monster freelancing projects are done, I have some time to assess how I spend the hours that aren't in front of my work computer. One thing that my job sometimes lacks is opportunity for creativity, but for some reason I haven't ever thought to make up for that lack of creativity *outside* of work. So that's what I'd like to do now.

I can't promise that I will post twice a week, and I can't promise that there won't be moments of silence, but I do want to start funneling my energy into some kind of creative venture, even if it's just a blog about YA books with stupid jokes and too many caps lock rants.

Happy 2014! Here's to words.