This is Teen Event: Libba Bray, Meg Cabot, Maggie Stiefvater

The always wonderful Anderson's Books brought in 3 more great Young Adult authors: Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries, Mediator series, Jinx, Abandon and too many to list here!), Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver and Mercy Falls series) and Libba Bray (Gemma Doyle trilogy, Going Bovine and Beauty Queens):

They spoke about their newest books and the This is Teen community forum which aims to give young readers a place online to talk to authors and find new YA books to read. I found it inspiring what Libba said during the Question & Answer spot about what most influenced her to become who she is today. She suffered severe injuries after a car accident as a teenager, and while she recovered she wrote all of her feelings in a "little yellow journal." From then on, she kept writing. It wasn't until later that she realized being a writer was a viable career option. She points back to journal writing as her biggest inspiration. What an awesome plug for keeping a written journal!

Some of the recent author events I attended I was not as familiar with the author's books. I've read all but the newest book of Libba Bray, and have read several of Meg Cabot's books for adults and one from a young adult series. If I have a book signed, a lot of times I don't have a lot to say to an author unless it's something basic. I have to say, this group of authors was so friendly and chatty, they took time to talk to everyone who went through the signing line.

See how friendly Meg looks?

I mentioned to her how much I liked the book Size 12 is not Fat, which is about a former teen pop star who after her career fizzles out, moves into a college residence hall for work and solves campus mysteries on the side. What stuck with me is a part where the main character determined a girl could not have possibly pushed a fellow student down the elevator shaft because she had a Ziggy (a totally lame outdated Sunday comics character) notebook in her room - surely no one who had anything with Ziggy on it was capable of murder.

I'm planning to buy Beauty Queens for my e-reader (when I finally buy it! Hopefully soon...) and I'll post a review. I have Abandon which I'm planning to read next.

Next up this weekend: Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books: a free event with seminars and panels from local midwest and national-level authors. It will be my first foray into any type of publishing conference. I thought I'd start with a smaller scale one that seems to be less about publishing and more about writing and books in general. I will do a write-up next week!

Book Review: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride

I've been making a point to write reviews of what I read and post on Amazon & Goodreads. I depend on reviews so much, I want to contribute to the pool to help people know more about what's out there. As a note: any review I post on my blog is something I've either purchased myself or borrowed from the library (not paid for any reviews).

Title: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer
Author: Lish McBride
Category: Young Adult, Paranormal, Humor
Published: 2010

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer is an enjoyable read with a great title -- I love the title. It was refreshing subject since I have not seen necromancy (raising the dead) explored much in YA fiction. The humorous angle was a big plus for me. Although werewolves make an appearance here, it contributes more to the subplot than the main storyline.

I enjoyed the shifting point of view, which is another aspect I don't see often in YA. The story's main character is Sam, whose chapters are told from a first-person perspective. The chapters involving secondary characters are told in third-person and spaced throughout. I felt the secondary character's chapters rounded out the story rather than detracting from it, with the exception of the first time Bridg appears, since she is entirely new about a 1/3 of the way in. Each chapter is titled with a clever song reference.

The villians are truly creepy. To have a few chapters from the point of view of Douglas solidified the creepy factor. There is a fast, clever vibe here, with interesting supporting characters. I am glad to see a sequal is in the works! No cliffhanger here, the ending wraps up fairly well, but there is clearly potential to continue the story. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series by Lish McBride.

Click here for a FREE Kindle bonus short story: Necromancer: A Novella by Lish McBride.