Wildly Lived

Book Review: Brave Enough by Kati Gardner - Basically, this book has a little bit of something for everyone, and so teens and adults should find something new to learn, something to relate to, and ultimately, a lot to enjoy.

Brave Enough Kati Gardner 9781635830200, Flux, paperback, Pub. Date: August 21, 2018 Ages 14+

Publisher Description: Teenager Cason Martin is the youngest ballerina in the Atlanta Ballet Conservatory. She never really had a choice of whether she learned to dance or not. Her mother, the conservatory’s artistic director, has made all the decisions in Cason’s life. But that’s about to change. Cason has…

Book Review: The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl by Stacy McAnulty - Fans of WONDER should enjoy this, as it straddles that line between inspiration novel and genuine kid-focused story.

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl Stacy McAnulty 9781524767570, Random House Books for Young Readers, Pub. Date: May 1, 2018 Ages 8+

Publisher Description:

Lucy Callahan was struck by lightning. She doesn’t remember it, but it changed her life forever. The zap gave her genius-level math skills, and ever since, Lucy has been homeschooled. Now, at 12 years old, she’s technically ready for…

Book Review: Carolina Catch by Debbie Moose: As a seafood lover new to North Carolina, this book has been invaluable! #bookreview #northcarolina

Carolina Catch Debbie Moose 9781469640501, hardcover, Pub. Date: April 9, 2018

Publisher Description:

Early in life, North Carolinian Debbie Moose encountered fish primarily in stick form, but once she experienced her first raw oyster and first fried soft-shell crab, their pure flavors switched her on to shellfish and fish forever. Moose has now written the cookbook that unlocks for everyone the…

Book Review: Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter - I read this in one sitting and recommend you do, too.

Not If I Save You First Ally Carter 9781338134148, Scholastic Press, Pub. Date: TODAY

Publisher Description:

Maddie thought she and Logan would be friends forever. But when your dad is a Secret Service agent and your best friend is the president’s son, sometimes life has other plans. Before she knows it, Maddie’s dad is dragging her to a cabin in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.

No phone. No…

Nora Roberts has done it again, in a book sadly more relevant than ever. SHELTER IN PLACE combines mystery, thriller, & romance with touches of vintage Nora. #bookreview

Shelter in Place Nora Roberts 9781250161598, St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, Pub. Date: May 29, 2018

Publisher’s Description: Sometimes, there is nowhere safe to hide.

It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game…

The Map of Salt & Stars, @jenniferzeynab: Parts will make your heart stop and parts will make it again. An incredible force, with vivid descriptions that made me long to see, smell, and taste everything described.

The Map of Salt and Stars Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar 9781501169038, Touchstone Books (Simon & Schuster), Pub. Date: May 2018

Publisher’s Description: This rich, moving, and lyrical debut novel is to Syria what The Kite Runner was to Afghanistan; the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary…

SKY IN THE DEEP by Adrienne Young: well-written, great pacing, well-structured emotion & violence, but utterly predictable. #bookreview

Sky in the Deep Adrienne Young 9781250168450, Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, $17.99, Pub Date: April 24, 2018

Publisher Description: OND ELDR. BREATHE FIRE.

Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient, rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the…

This post will be cross-posted on Broche’s book blog, WildlyRead, tomorrow. If you’re interested in reading more about bookish things, check her out over there. Now read on to find out more about her favorite books on the subject of two wheels!

Top Ten Books About Two Wheels

Confession #1: Not all of these books are about the type of two-wheeled bicycles that one pedals with their feet. Some of…

New book review: Dark in Death (#46) by JD Robb - does not disappoint!

Dark in Death (In Death #46) JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) 9781250161536, St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, $27.99, Pub. Date: January 30, 2017

Publisher’s Description: There’s always a reason for murder. But when a young actress is killed in a swift and violent attack at a cinema screening, that reason is hard to fathom – even for Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her team.

It’s only when bestselling crime…

Silly, funny, and empowering for young girls: meet Princess Pulverizer! #bookreview

Princess Pulverizer #1: Grilled Cheese and Dragons Nancy Krulik, illustrated by Ben Balistreri 9780515158328, Penguin, hardcover, $15.99 (paperback also available), Pub. Date: January 16, 2018

Publisher Description: Princess Serena (or as she prefers, Princess Pulverizer) doesn’t want to be a princess–she wants to be knight! But her father, King Alexander of Empiria, thinks she still has a lot to…

Book review: Charming & informative exploration of cows, milk, and cow by-products in India.

The Milk Lady of Bangalore: An Unexpected Adventure Shoba Narayan 9781616206154, hardcover, $24.99, Pub. Date: January 23, 2018

Publisher’s Description: When Shoba Narayan, a writer and cookbook author who had lived for years in Manhattan, moves back to Bangalore with her family, she befriends the milk lady, from whom she buys fresh milk every day. These two women from very different backgrounds…

Cinder meets The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pride & Prejudice and Zombies. A mixed-race young woman trained to kill zombies tries to keep herself and her friends alive while navigating the treacherous landscape of post-Reconstruction America in Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Dread Nation Justina Ireland 9780062570604, Balzer & Bray/Harperteen, hardcover, $17.99, Pub. Date: April 3, 2018 Age: 14+

Publisher Description: At once provocative, terrifying, and darkly subversive, Dread Nation is Justina Ireland’s stunning vision of an America both foreign and familiar–a country on the brink, at the explosive crossroads where race, humanity, and survival meet.

Jane McKeene…

New mystery book review: The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

The Widows of Malabar Hill (Perveen Mistry #1) Sujata Massey 9781616957780, Soho Crime, $26.95, Pub. Date: January 9, 2018

Publisher’s Description: Bombay, 1921: Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father’s law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with a legal education from Oxford, Perveen also has a tragic personal…

New blog book review: Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet, #4 - prickly & smart!

Calpurnia Tate: A Prickly Problem (Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet #4) Jacqueline Kelly 9781627798754, Henry Holt, hardcover, $15.99, Pub. Date: April 10, 2018

Publisher’s Description: In this story in the Calpurnia Tate, Girl Vet chapter book series, Callie must help the family dog out of a prickly situation.

When the Tate family dog, Ajax, has a run-in with a porcupine, things get prickly—and…

New #bookreview of @alooghobi's Feb 2018 #graphicnovel. Hint: 💖👍🏽🏳️‍🌈👑💃🏼

The Prince and the Dressmaker

by Jen Wang

9781626723634, $16.99, paperback, First Second, Pub. Date: February 2018

Publisher Description: Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:

Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the…