Tara Lynn Masih's Blog, page 3

Hanna Wins Gold!

After so many years of work and research on My Real Name Is Hanna, I'm thrilled to announce that it has just received a Gold Medal in YA from the Florida Book Awards, which declares:

"The Florida Book Awards, coordinated by the Florida State University Libraries, is the nation’s most comprehensive state book awards program. It was established in 2006 to celebrate the best Florida literature."

https://news.fsu.edu/news/arts-humani...

These awards mean so much to authors and publishers, so thank you to the FBA judges and committee members!

Hanna Makes Top Lists for 2018

Thanks so much to Left on the Shelf book blog for taking the time to review My Real Name Is Hanna and to list it as a TOP TEN for 2018! I'm so grateful to the bloggers who have helped promote this little book.

https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp...

Thrilled to be mentioned with such writers as Jesmyn Ward and Gail Honeyman!

Update: And a Top Three list on Instagram from girlwhosmellsbooks:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsHJsEInzWr/

Happy New Year to my Goodreads friends! Thanks for your support in 2018.

Keep reading,

Tara

Hanna Makes Paperback Paris' Must-Read Fall List!

Thrilled to make Paperback Paris' List: "17 Must-Read Historical Fiction Books to Warm Up With in Fall 2018" Some wonderful books on here, and I'm honored to be listed with some authors who have much more experience than I have in historical fiction:

http://www.paperbackparis.com/best-ne...

Kindle is finally Live!

I know people have been waiting for the Kindle edition for My Real Name Is Hanna for almost two months. Apologies as there were issues uploading it and some preorders may have been lost, but hopefully recovered. There were also some NetGalley readers whose ereaders did not download the NG file correctly and had a poor reading experience. Hopefully they will give Hanna a second chance and will be assured that the ebook should be downloadable with no issues (though if you have an old ereader, I hear there is no control over its performance):

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Name-Hann...

Hanna Makes Goodreads' Ultimate Fall Reading List for YA Book Fans and is a Book of the Month for September!

I was shocked but gratified to see My Real Name Is Hanna was selected by Goodreads, my favorite social site, to be included on their fall Ultimate YA Book Guide.

It's being called out in Historical Fiction. I'm thrilled!

How can I thank the many bloggers and reviewers who took the time to give my little book some legs? I can't reach them all, so can only hope they'll see this post and know how much their words have meant to me and my publisher and their staff who worked so hard on this novel.

https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1...

Book Trailer for My Real Name Is Hanna

I love the book trailer that GraphixMotion produced to go along with My Real Name Is Hanna. The material is difficult and the project needed to be treated with sensitivity and respect, and I think the producer did that.

It gives a brief peek into Hanna's world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KZ4g...



Due out Sept. 2018.

A 2018 Skipping Stones Honor Award Book

Thrilled that My Real Name Is Hanna just received a 2018 Skipping Stones Honor Award for "fostering respect." One of 29 "outstanding" books for children and adults.

https://www.skippingstones.org/2018Bo...

A Great Week for Hanna

It's always hard for a writer to wait for those first reviews. But when they start coming in and are good, you start to relax a little (just a little :-). This week, I was excited to get a blurb from none other than Code Name Verity's Elizabeth Wein:

“Hanna’s story brutally captures the slow, relentless creep of wartime chaos into ordinary lives, then uncovers an astonishing, rich vein of hope in a world gone utterly dark. The anguish and love painted here are both timeless and timely.”
–Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

And a beautifully written review from Small Press Book Review:

"Author Masih maintains a perfect balance of pacing and tension, and in Hanna creates a strong and inspiring young female protagonist. Elegantly detailed . . . Highly readable and affecting, it’s a haunting and hopeful work that deserves a broad audience. And at this particularly divisive time when fear and intolerance is constantly crowding the headlines, this book offers seeds of compassion to young and experienced readers alike."

https://thesmallpressbookreview.blogs...

Thanks to both of them!

Goodreads Giveaway for My Forthcoming Novel

5 free ARCs available for grabs in a Goodreads Giveaway for my forthcoming novel due out in September, My Real Name Is Hanna:



https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Good luck!

The Most Memorable Books I Read in 2017

Each year I like to give a little nod to the books that stayed with me, despite being shelved for many months. I can't help but note how dark most of the covers are. I guess that shows how much I like dark writing! For 2017:


How I wish I could write like this! A book you can't put down, with prose that belies that this is a debut novel. The main characters and the setting are unforgettable. But note: nothing to do with wolves!


This nonfiction memoir is an important addition to the exploration of trauma and its after effects. While it concentrates on the Holocaust, it discusses other traumas as well. Elegantly written.

This novel deals with many of the issues that Survivor Cafe deals with, only it follows a fictional family. The power of this book for me was in the deep emotions that the author is able to convey within the framework of the Holocaust.


The prequel to The Glass Castle. I read this a year ago but the dust, the horses, the family, the pioneer life still linger. My mother is reading it now and loving it! I adore Walls's writing style.



One of the best books I've ever read, with a master translator at the helm. For literary fiction fans.