Cheryl Rainfield's Blog, page 98

Enjoying Eon by Alison Goodman

I am reading and *loving* EON by Alison Goodman (YA fantasy). I love it when a good book really makes me care about and root for a character, and believe in the story world. I also love finding strong girl characters, especially in fantasy. And I enjoy finding an author new to me that I love, where I think I'll want to keep reading and buying all their books. That's such a delight!

Goodman's book reminds me a little of some of Tamora Pierce's books that I've loved–a girl warrior who is emotionally strong, talented, and who finds her own way. And in EON, I love that it's a girl who is posing as a boy, being a warrior when it is forbidden to girls. It's also very cool to find a trans character in the book. Loving it so much so far!

Have you read Eon? Did you enjoy it? Do you have a YA fantasy with a strong girl character you want to recommend?

Some YA fantasy ebooks on sale

If you like YA fantasies, there are a few ebooks on sale on Amazon:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic) is still $4.69

Angel Burn by LA Weatherly (Candlewick) is $3.49

Firelight by Sophie Jordan (HarperCollins) is still on sale for $1.99

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver (St. Martin's Griffin) is $2.99

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) (Hyperion) is $5.49 (middle-grade)

The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan (Hyperion) is $5.59 (middle-grade)

The Underland Chronicles: Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic) is $5.24 (middle-grade)

And pre-orders:

Thad, the Ghost, and Me by Margaret Peterson Haddix (HarperCollins) is $0.99

Nate Macavoy: Monster Hunter by Bruce Hale (HarperCollins) is $0.99

Free AudioBook: Hard Times by Charles Dickens

If you like Charles Dickens and you like audiobooks, then you'll want to get this free audiobook: Hard Times by Charles Dickens (with PDF eBook).

You have to create an account and log in to get it. Once you've logged in, you'll see "FREE DOWNLOAD · ENTIRE AUDIOBOOK · LIMITED TIME!" Click on the "CLICK HERE" link, and you'll be able to download the audiobook plus an ebook for free. It looks like it's available for the month of August, so download it soon if you want it.

Scars giveaway (in celebration of my birthday).

Today is my birthday. I love giving gifts that people enjoy–there's something so feel-good about it! And I'm so glad Scars is reaching people. So in celebration, I'm going to give away three signed hardcover copies of Scars (first edition). All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Enter away!

Contest limited to US, Canada, and the UK. Though if I can cheaply mail a copy of Scars to your country through the Book Depository, you can also enter (it just won't be signed).

Online and browser proofreading tools

Sure your browser has a built-in spell checker. But does it catch everything? Check out these free browser-based & online Proofreading tools (spelling & grammar) that can help you catch more mistakes.

Free YA ebook (novella) Haunting The Night, and smart book promotion

The YA ebook Haunting the Night, which is a novella in the Past Midnight series, by Mara Purnhagen, is free right now on Amazon for Kindles. I think this is such *smart* book promotion, and something a lot of authors and book publishers should be thinking about–offering a short story or a novella for free to give readers a taste of the author's style and the books' series. I've seen this happening more and more, and it's something I plan to do once Scars is available in ebook form.

What do you think? Do you pick up free short stories and novellas from authors that tie into their books for sale?

My Top 10 favorite LGBTQ movies

Over on Zoe's Book Reviews, as part of the SCARS paperback blog tour, I list my Top 10 Favorite LGBTQ movies. Do you have others you love? Do you like any of the ones I do? Let me know.

Contest for students – letter to author who changed your life

The US Library of Congress has a contest for students grades 4-12 to write a letter to an author who changed your life. You can read past winners on the site.

Lending libraries in subway stations

Lending libraries in subway stations–how cool is that?? There's some other neat libraries mentioned in the article, but libraries in subway stations are my favorite. How amazingly convenient! I wish we had them.

What do you think? Would you borrow books from libraries located in subway stations?

Three more free (for now) ebooks for writers

There are three more free (for now) ebooks on Amazon for writers. (They should also be free on Barnes & Noble, too.) If they interest you, you may want to get them now while the promotion is still on:

Portable MFA in Creative Writing (New York Writers Workshop)

Robert's Rules of Writing by Robert Masello

Grammatically Correct by Anne Stilman