July 30, 2019

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Let’s Make New Friends: Share Some of Your Favourite Blogs

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings, where the blog's owner Heidi discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.
Here is what is on deck this week:

LET'S MAKE NEW FRIENDS: SHARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE BLOGS

Most of the blogs I'm listing here will probably be familiar to you. The book blogging community is quite a tight one, and I love that about it. But even if this list should end up being a shout-out to all my closest blogging friends and nothing else, hey, it would be time well spent 😘. Here goes (in strictly alphabetical order by blog name)...

July 23, 2019

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Fun Post: Share Interesting Things about Yourself

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings, where the blog's owner Heidi discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.
Here is what is on deck this week:

FUN POST: SHARE INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF

Actually, I already wrote a post along these lines 3 years ago. But I'll try and entertain you with more of my dirty secrets, besides my curly hair fascination, refusal to own a cell phone, fear of driving and swimming, addiction to make-up, and other fascinating trivia (explained) that you can find in the post linked above...

July 17, 2019

More Madness: Memoirs of an Italian Poll Clerk Pt.2


Hello sweeties,

As you might remember from this post, I've been a poll clerk for a few year now, so I thought I'd entertain you with a recount of my experience πŸ˜‰. My previous post covered the hows and whens and whats of your average poll clerk activity, but it left out all the funny incidents that happen while you're on duty. So I decided to write a second post covering them as well. Enjoy!

July 12, 2019

Karen Healey: "When We Wake"

Title: When We Wake [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: When We Wake (1st of 2 books)
Author: Karen Healey [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Sci-Fi, Afterlife
Year: 2013
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Strong characters with distinctive voices. Lots of (intersectional) diversity. On-point social/environmental commentary perfectly integrated into the story. Fast pace.
Cons: A few familiar tropes/premises.
WARNING! One brutal death. Mass murder of children.
Will appeal to: Readers who care about the state our world is in. Readers who like a thrilling yet romantic adventure. Beatles fans.

Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027 - she's happiest when playing the guitar, she's falling in love for the first time, and she's joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world. But on what should have been the best day of Tegan's life, she dies - and wakes up a hundred years in the future, locked in a government facility. Tegan is the first government guinea pig to be cryonically frozen and successfully revived. But the future isn't all she hoped it would be, and when appalling secrets come to light, Tegan must make a choice: does she keep her head down and survive, or fight for a better future? (Amazon excerpt)

Review: I'm ordinarily all for books without tropes, or employing as little of them as it's humanly possible - but sometimes an author can breath new life into an old concept, or make up for a familiar scenario with a great execution. Both things happen in When We Wake - hence my rating. (Also, for your information, this one is set in Australia, which is a nice change from your usual all-American scenario).

THE GOOD FIGHT

I was originally drawn to WWW because of its premise - a girl dying (well, almost), getting frozen and waking up a century later. Though I'm sure it's not a new concept, I've never seen it used in YA, and I was curious how it would pan out. But this book has a lot more to offer than a sci-fi/afterlife (or relife) crossover story. I was prepared for the huge SJW vibe, but got pleasantly surprised by the amount of diversity. The highest point of it is Bethari, a bisexual, hijabi teen hacker/aspiring journalist who befriends the main character Tegan. Oddly, while in 2128 Australia both Muslim and queer people seem to be perfectly integrated (and the government has gone to great lengths to minimise environmental problems, though a bit late), there's a cruel no-immigrant policy in place that struck too close to home, what with the current situation in Europe and the U.S. I loved how Tegan is not perfect - in her first life, she wasn't a true activist, but more like a follower of her friend Alex and her crush Dalmar - but she's inquisitive, and her heart is in the right place. She begins to question the real reason why she's been revived and its impact on society, while refusing to think of herself as an abomination, the way a certain religious cult does. She mourns her past life (that, for her, is only a day away), but embraces the perils that her new one hides under its facade if she doesn't stay down, and bravely fights for the right cause. [...]

July 07, 2019

Tooting Your Trumpet #2


Some people toot their own trumpet. I mean to toot yours. On the first Sunday of every month, I'm sharing your posts, your sites, anything interesting I stumble upon during my internet vagrancies. This month on TYT...
  • DEATH'S DAUGHTER (a short story by my writer friend Fanni that got recently published)
  • FLIPPED  by Wendelin Van Draanen (a book review for that rare thing called a MG/YA crossover on Shayna's blog Clockwork Bibliotheca)
  • GENRE SNOBBERY IS A BITCH (a witty and articulated discussion post on The Orangutan Librarian's blog)
  •  HOW DO YOU KEEP GOING WHEN BLOGGING FEELS LIKE TOO MUCH? (a TMST discussion post on Karen's blog For What It's Worth) 
Please note: all the graphics featured in these posts are property of the blog/site owners, and are only used in association with their blog/site links (except the Death's Daughter pic, which I took myself).

July 02, 2019

Taste the Books: Review Morsels #13 Seanan McGuire, Matthew Green, T.E. Carter


Intro


Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL. But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version πŸ˜‰. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random! So, here goes...