Bibliophilia, Please Blogoversary 3: Day 1

Once again, and quite surprisingly, we are passing another annual benchmark here at Bibliophilia, Please. From what started as a one (wo)man lovefest for Kevin Hearne and the great YA Kayla stumbled upon in 2011 has evolved into two well-educated, eloquent, and magnificent women sharing and reviewing the books they love. And then, of course, there is Kayla. (Will is, unfortunately, still missing.)

Be sure to stop back by each day to see how 2014 was for Janelle, Amber, and Kayla; enter the giveaway on Wednesday; and maybe see a special guest post from an up-and-coming author.

Janelle

2014 was a busy year for me. I graduated college and became the first person in my immediate family to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree. I sent my 13-year-old to Europe for three weeks. I had back surgery, then starting working from home full-time. I attended a writing conference and pitched agents my YA contemporary novel. I published two poems, one in an anthology that now sits proudly on my bookshelf, swished in between books by my favorite authors. I started my website, discovered Tumblr, and uploaded YouTube videos (although I have to admit I watch more than I make). I started back to school, working my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

I also joined Bibliophilia, Please because reading books has always been a constant part in my life. This year I read an eclectic mix of mostly young adult books. Grasshopper Jungle (I thought it was about THORNY grasshoppers), Code Name Verity, and The Truth about Alice all came as recommendations from my writing conference. My YA novel contains a gay character so I read Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Two Boys Kissing to learn more about gay and transgender characters. I read award finalists and winners like The Surrender Tree, Speak, and Brown Girl Dreaming. I even read non-fiction like The Opposite of Loneliness and The Port Chicago 50. For school I read Esperanza Rising, The Raft, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

I think The Truth About Alice and Speak were two of my favorites because they were about such emotional topics. The Truth About Alice is a must read for my 13-year-old son before he's allowed on any date (including a dance), and I already forced him to sit through the movie Speak (starring a young Kristen Stewart and based on the book). I think those were the two stories that had the most impact on me personally and really made me stop and think about what goes on in life.

I am very excited to see what 2015 brings. Reading and writing are such a large part of my life and I am so honored to share my thoughts and feelings on those topics here with you.

Debut Author Giveaway Hop #2 (INT)

Hello again, giveaway hoppers! Thank you to the lovely ladies, Mary at Book Hounds and Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, for hosting this hop. I mean, what could be more fun that featuring newly published authors and their books that we loved?

What You Can Win

Earlier this week (because I'm a procrastinator), I asked the other ladies of Bibliophilia, Please which books were their favorite debut reads of 2014. Amber is my reading twin the majority of the time, so her picks were the same as mine. Janelle's choice was one that I enjoyed as well. And here they are:

Amber's Picks



Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy #1) by Pierce Brown
January 28, 2014
Pierce Brown’s relentlessly entertaining debut channels the excitement of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.



My Review

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Title: The Truth About Alice
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Publisher: Roaring Book Press (Macmillan)
Acquired Via: Publisher
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback, Brandon Fitzsimmons, dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody.

Rumor has it Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the "slut stall" in the girls' bathroom: "Alice had sex in exchange for math test answers" and "Alice got an abortion last semester." After Brandon dies, the rumors start to spiral out of control. In this remarkable debut novel, four Healy High students tell all they "know" about Alice--and in doing so reveal their own secrets and motivations, painting a raw look at the realities of teen life. But in this novel from Jennifer Mathieu, exactly what is the truth about Alice? In the end there's only one person to ask: Alice herself.

My Review

First things first, I want to disclose that I've been past my teenage years longer than I was a teenager. Therefore, Jennifer Mathieu's debut, The Truth About Alice, didn't really affect me greatly like most of the reviews that I've seen. Or maybe it was because I went to school in a small town like Healy with a bunch of catty people and found myself just saying, "Yep, that's pretty much what happens." However, the longer it took me to write this review, the more I "got" the novel.