Michelle I. Mason's Blog: Michelle I. Mason, page 11

Dear 1995 Michelle

For the month of September, I participated in daily prompts on Instagram and Twitter with other members of of my debut group, the21ders, to introduce ourselves–and books, of course!–to the world. (You can also visit our website, www.the21ders.com, for info on all the amazing books coming out next year!) The final prompt of the month was: What would you tell your younger writer self?

Honestly? This very long journey has made me into the writer I am. So I wouldn’t change anything. But since Jenny in YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED jumps from 1995, I decided it would be appropriate for this prompt to address my note to 1995 Michelle. As a frame of reference, 25 years ago today, Michelle would have been in the fall semester of her senior year of high school. Okay, that’s just weird talking about myself in third person. I would have been in the fall semester of my senior year. Here goes…

Dear 1995 Michelle,

As much as you love romance novels, you are not a romance novel writer. Sorry.

But go ahead and write that romance novel anyway, because you’ll learn from it.

And send it to agents without letting anyone read it. You’ll learn from that too.

I know it’s scary to let other people read your work, but other writers are the ones who make you better and get you through this very long journey.

Even though you’ll be an adult by the time young adult books really start exploding, READ THEM! That’s where you’ll find your writing rhythm.

Most of all, have patience. And DON’T GIVE UP!

Love,

2020 Michelle

What would you say to your younger self? Any key words of wisdom?

The month was full of fun prompts, starting with introductions and following up with everything from favorite writing snacks to book soundtracks. Below are thumbnails of some of the posts, but if you want to explore them fully, click through to Instagram (this link will take you to the first post of the month)! I also had a few videos I’m not able to include here.

I already have some ideas about things I plan to expand on further here on the blog based on these prompts, but if there’s anything you see that you’d like me to blog about, let me know!

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MOST LIKELY and A Few Other Books You Should Read

For the second year in a row, I completed author Jessica Brody’s 30 Books in 3 Months summer reading challenge on Instagram. You can see all of the books I read over the summer in the image below, and I already posted mini-reviews on a few of them. Keep reading for a few more, but if you have questions about any of the books I didn’t cover, feel free to ask in the comments!

On to the reviews! I never review everything I read, and as I posted a couple of weeks ago, I was a bit overwhelmed with life and got behind, so here’s a roundup of the last several mini-reviews I posted on Instagram.

How often do you read a book and find yourself completely blown away by the ending? That’s how I felt at the end of MOST LIKELY by Sarah Watson.

I love the setup of this book. It opens with a woman about to be inaugurated as president, holding the hand of her husband, who she met while in high school. We’re also given the clue that she was pressured at some point in her political career to take his kind of goofy last name. Then the story flashes back to senior year of high school and four best friends, all of whom keep encountering a boy with this same last name.

There are so many things I loved about this book—how individual each of these girls’ goals and struggles were, the strength of their friendship, their passion for saving the park where they met as kindergartners. The four POVs are extremely well done—so well done that I stayed in suspense about which girl would end up with the boy whose last name matched the soon-to-be-president’s husband right up to the end. Add in one scene that made me both swoon and laugh at the same time and multiple gasp-out-loud moments, and this became a book I will read again.

I’m really glad I read this on my Kindle the first time because I totally would have peeked at the ending and ruined it, but I will now have to get a hard copy too.

I read romance novels, and unlike Rowan in TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW by Rachel Lynn Solomon, I didn’t keep it a secret in high school. I even posted it as my goal in the yearbook that I wanted to write them—although after attempting a few, I later discovered YA and found that was a better fit for me.

Even so, I still have hundreds of romance novels on my bookshelves, including the Nora Roberts book that plays a key role in TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW

My New Website Is Live!

My new website is live at www.michelleimason.com!

The website was designed by Jenny Medford at Websy Daisy, and I’m so excited to share it with all of you! She took a list of random things I like and created a fantastic design that fits me perfectly. I hope you’ll visit the site and explore a bit. It includes:

An updated description for YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED along with 1995 facts to introduce readers to Jenny’s world view.
For anyone who’s really curious about me, I’ve added some fun firsts & favorites on the About page.
Information on author visits. I’d love to come talk writing with students and/or other writers!
A page compiling my top posts over the years for writers, including my list of MG/YA books agents represent.
Information about my freelance public relations services.
A contact page!
And, of course, the blog.

I’ll be updating the site over the next year as I have more news to report–a cover! book two!–so stay tuned. If there are particular topics you’d like me to address, let me know. I’m always open to suggestions!

The post My New Website Is Live! appeared first on Michelle I. Mason.

Battling A Review Slump

I’ve been reviewing books here on my blog since its inception in 2012. When I started out, I was writing middle grade books, and I made a point of reviewing a middle grade book every week. Over time, my review priorities have changed. I shifted to reviewing more young adult books than middle grade–although I’ve always tried to keep my reviews on Mondays for consistency. Several years ago, I introduced a mini-review feature, and it’s become the main way I do reviews since my own book release date has gotten closer. It’s just easier to post short reviews on Instagram and compile them here when I’ve written several.

I don’t know what the future holds for reviews on this blog, but I do know I’m in a bit of a slump at the moment. It’s not the first time this has happened. I keep lists of the books I’ve read each year here on the blog, and they link to the ones I’ve reviewed. Sometimes those lists will have ten or fifteen books in a row with no reviews. And the thing is, it’s not necessarily because I didn’t like those books enough to review them. Sometimes even though I do really enjoy a book, I either have so much going on in my life or in my head that I can’t muster the energy to write reviews. I feel bad when that happens because I want to support other authors, but at the same time I know there is only so much each of us can do in any given day or week.

So, for now I accept that I’m in a review slump and anticipate when I’m ready to get back to reviewing books I love again. What I expect will happen is I’ll read something that will get me so excited I can’t help but gush about it, no matter how crazy things are. Looking forward to that! And who knows? You might still see some reviews from my kids again.

Also, in other news, my new website is coming very soon! My existing reviews will all still be on the new site. The reading logs I just mentioned above will no longer be pages. I’m going to convert them to blog posts since they aren’t very popular anyway

OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS and A Few Other Books You Should Read

I have quite a mix of books in today’s review roundup–YA time travel, adult dual timeline, contemporary middle grade, YA historical fiction, and YA contemporary. So that should offer a little bit of something for everyone!

[image error]As soon as I finished OPPOSITE OF ALWAYS by Justin A. Reynolds, I knew it would be one of my favorite reads of the year (you can hold me to that in December). I mean, it’s a YA involving time travel, so that shouldn’t surprise anyone

10 Story Elements That Always Hook Me

As I was going through all the old posts on my blog to clean up the categories, I noticed it had been quite a while since I did a general reading post that wasn’t a review. I also noticed a number of my reviews included statements like “any book that includes _____ has my immediate attention,” and I thought it would be fun to compile those statements into a single post. In no particular order…

Any book that includes…

[image error]1. Baking – I love to bake myself, so I love to read about it too. Kids baking, teens baking, baking contests, baking camps, eating baked goods–any kind of baking is good. Other kinds of cooking aren’t quite the same, but it might catch my attention if the characters are whipping up something less sweet. If you check out my Instagram, probably one in five pictures are baked goods

Coming Soon: A New Website!

Since 2021 and the release of my book is rapidly approaching–let’s all be honest, we’d all like to time travel at least six months ahead, right?–I’ve hired a web designer to create a new website for me! Many authors are much more talented than I am and are able to create something on their own, but I feel much more confident focusing on the content and handing over design to a professional. My blog will be imported into the new site, so if you are one of my regular readers, I will definitely still be blogging, and from what I understand, you won’t have to do anything to keep following me.

I’m in the process of organizing all of the pages that will be on my website, and while I’m doing that, I’d love to hear what you like to see on an author website. Here are a few questions related to features I’m considering:

Do you like it when authors include fun facts with their bios? Do you like straightforward bios focusing on the present or those that include childhood memories as well?
What most catches your attention on an author’s homepage? Book info? Author info? A landing page that shows all other pages? An interesting design?
What resources do you find most helpful on author websites? Writing resources? Resources related to the author’s books? Something else? Note: I will definitely still have the page that lists MG/YA books agents represent, as this is one of my most-visited pages.
What’s your favorite author website? I’ve been checking them out for inspiration!

If you’ve been following me a while, you know I have a LOT of posts here. As I was looking through other author sites and seeing how their blogs looked, I realized I’d made a mess of categorizing my posts, so I spent the past week and a half adding sub-categories, converting some categories to tags, and deleting others altogether. My goal was to make it easier to search for posts using the categories. I made this word cloud to show my greatly reduced list of categories (you can also see them–with sub-categories–on the sidebar of the blog). Now I’ll just have to make a key so I don’t forget what I did with them

TRULY MADLY ROYALLY and a Few Other Books You Should Read

It’s time for another roundup of mini-reviews! In light of recent events, I took a hard look at my reading habits and realized that while I certainly wasn’t reading all white authors, I wasn’t making a concerted effort to read and support Black authors–or to bring those books to my kids’ attention. So as a family, we are working to expand our reading lists, and today’s roundup reflects some of the amazing new authors I’ve discovered, along with a couple of books I already had on my TBR list.

[image error]How often do you start reading a book and immediately know it’s going to be one you truly love and will read again? That’s how I felt within the first few pages of TRULY MADLY ROYALLY by Debbie Rigaud. I’d had this book on my TBR list since it first came out, and now I’m just sad I didn’t read it sooner.

It’s about Zora Emerson, who’s just enrolled in a prestigious summer program, and unexpectedly clicks with Owen Whittelsey, prince of a small European country.

Basically, I loved EVERYTHING about this book. Zora is a strong teen girl who loves her community and doesn’t let obstacles keep her from going after her goals. The chemistry between Zora and Owen is adorable; their corny jokes are the best. And then there’s a great cast of additional characters—Zora’s best friend, Skye, Zora’s family, the kids at her program, and the new friends she makes at school. As a writer, I also loved the plotting—so well done! I’ll definitely add this book to my re-read list, PLUS I discovered Debbie Rigaud has other books available, so I’m going to check those out.

Read this book because it’s awesome. Also because it showcases a Black teen being awesome.

[image error]Is there a place you love so much you’ll read pretty much any book set there?

For me, that place is Paris. I’ve only been there once, but it was a magical visit, and I can’t wait to return, so if a book is set there, I’m on it! But when I read the description for THE PAPER GIRL OF PARIS by Jordyn Taylor, I was additionally intrigued by the dual timelines. The story’s about Alice in the present, who has just inherited a mysterious apartment that has been locked for more than 70 years. Once she enters, she discovers her grandmother had a sister, and the story flashes back to Adalyn during World War II, working in the French Resistance against the Nazis.

I loved how this book followed two distinct, heart wrenching family stories—Alice struggling with her mom in the present and Adalyn heartbroken over keeping secrets from her sister (Alice’s grandmother) in the past. The tension within each timeline and even between the two was fantastic. I found myself completely stressed out over Alice’s concern about what her great-aunt was involved in. Plus, there was a really sweet love story in the present and a deeper one in the past. The resolution was very satisfying.

I highly recommend this book, which came out in May. Such a fantastic read!

[image error]I got NEW KID by Jerry Craft for my kids to read (mainly my daughter, who loves graphic novels), and they both finished it within 24 hours. Actually, my daughter grabbed it with the words “My best friend read this!” and read it in less than three hours. My son then tore through it by the next morning, so that was a good sign I should read it too.

It’s about Jordan, whose parents enroll him at a prestigious private school where he’s one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. I loved Jordan’s character—his passion for art, love for his family, and struggle to figure out how to fit his different friends and worlds together. This book tackles many different aspects of racism, outright and careless, from other students AND teachers. By seeing it from Jordan’s viewpoint, it’s clear why ALL of those are hurtful and offensive. Even while there are many characters who don’t get things right, there are also hopeful moments throughout the book.

I especially loved the chapter titles and Jordan’s journal entries. I learned so much from this book, and I will definitely be picking up the companion novel, CLASS ACT, this fall.

This book is great to read and discuss with your kids. Also funny and a book kids will re-read.

[image error]DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone is about Justyce McAllister, a good kid, an honor student, always there to help a friend—none of which matters to the police officer who handcuffs him over a misunderstanding. Justyce begins studying the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and writing letters to him in a journal, seeking answers. One day, he’s riding in the car with his best friend with the music turned up really loud, sparking the anger of an off-duty cop in the truck beside them. Shots are fired.

I don’t want to get into what happens next because I encourage you to read the book yourself, but this book is extremely powerful and explores a number of different viewpoints and experiences. It delves into several aspects of racism, from daily encounters at Justyce’s school, to his black friend raised mainly in a white community, to the police bias. But it’s also more than just a look at race. It’s about friendship and falling in love and figuring out what you believe about the world and your place in it. It’s extremely well done and I highly recommend it.

I also recommend THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas along these same lines.

[image error]This photo shows my expression when I finished reading AURORA BURNING by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I had stayed up until 12:15 in the morning to finish the book, and it was a total cliffhanger! But still, the book was an amazing sequel to AURORA RISING, and I can’t wait for the finale!

If you aren’t familiar, the series is about a squad of misfits trying to save the galaxy from an ancient race that assimilates entire planets in its path. The characters are all hilarious, plus there are bonus romantic story lines and tons of action. If you don’t like cliffhangers, wait until the last book comes out to read these

MMGM: EPOCA THE TREE OF ECROF by Kobe Bryant and Ivy Claire (a middle schooler review)

A couple of weeks ago, MMGM host Greg Pattridge at Always in the Middle informed me I was one of the winners of a box of 10 middle grade books for his 1,000th post giveaway. Since my son has been doing the MG reviews lately, I suggested he address the box to him, and today he’s decided to review one of those books.

EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF is an amazing read. It was written by Ivy Claire but was created by Kobe Bryant. I don’t exactly know the difference between written and created, but I think that Kobe Bryant came up with the idea and story while Ivy Claire wrote the book off of that idea. I would like to thank Mr. Pattridge for giving the book away; I had a lot of fun reading it. There were many things that I liked about it and I think you will too.

Set in an alternate classical world dominated by sports and a magical power called grana, EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF is the story of two children: the lowly born Rovi and the crown princess Pretia who uncover and battle terrible evil and discover their inner strength along the way.

EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF takes place at the most elite sports academy in the land, where the best child-athletes are sent to hone their skills. When Rovi and Pretia arrive, each harboring a secret about themselves, they begin to suspect that something evil is at play at the school. In the course of their first year, they must learn to master their grana in order to save the world from dark forces that are rising.

So, here are some of the things that I like about it.

Th[image error]e pages are colorful. While this is not important to the story, it made me happy looking at unique, colorful pages instead of the regular white pages. This is what the pages look like.  ➩
I liked the characters. The character building was great. They always had a motive. You felt like what they were doing was right in a way that even if it hadn’t happened to you, you understood.
I like the setting. While there are a couple different places in the book, mostly it is on the island where the elite athlete academy is held. It has many strange and exciting things, yet are relatable and you can visualize exactly what they are.
Everyone has this magical power to them, called grana. In a society based around sports, the more powerful grana you have, the more famous you are, the more achieved you are, the more known and loved you are. I have always liked the idea of superpowers, especially those special to you, so this was one of the most prominent points that stuck out to me during the read.
I liked that it had sports. Even though some of the sports I hadn’t heard of or didn’t understand, I still appreciated what they put in there. I rarely get to read a good fiction book about sports.

I hope you enjoyed this review, and I hope that it causes you to read this amazing book. So, have a good day and happy reading!

Sounds like he needs some recommendations on books with sports. If you have some, please pass them along!

MMGM: THE UNWANTEDS: ISLAND OF SILENCE by Lisa McMann (a middle grader review)

As promised, my middle grader has moved on to book two in THE UNWANTEDS series this week. As of now, he says he’s going to continue reviewing the rest of the series. However, I know he already finished re-reading all of them, so we’ll see if he decides to switch to something else he loves in the coming weeks