Kelly Jensen's Blog, page 28

A Day In The Life, Summer Edition

I really love reading when people share a day in their life. It’s fascinating to get a peek behind the curtain of the things they do, as well as how they do it. Since last month Kimberly and I took time off the blog and I began really focusing on my time and energy management, I’ve gotten smart about taking solid notes about what I do and how I do it during any given day. It felt right to share one of my days.

Often, I get asked how I manage to get work done or how I stay disciplined since I work from home. It’s natural to me now, but it took a lot of creating blocks of time and parceling out my energy in appropriate ways. I know I get worn out by late morning and see another surge of energy if I leave the house for a bit or do something entirely unrelated to editing or writing or books. That’s reflected here. I’ve found that using some of the tools Kara Lowentheil offers up for how to get things done has been unbelievably useful for how I work, and it’s what allows me to get as much into a day as I do. I sprung for a fancy paper planner and that, combined with using the digital task management system Things, is how I do it.

Without further ado, here’s how my Thursday, July 11, 2019 played out. This was one of the first lighter days work-wise I’ve had in a while, and I let myself enjoy that quiet thinking time.

A Day In The Life

4:45 AM: My alarm usually goes off at this time, and usually, I hit snooze. But not today! I’m up and getting ready for the day.

5:30-6:45 AM: I need to enjoy two slow cups of tea while I wake up, plot out the day in my agenda, then catch up on my internetting. I typically read the local news, scroll social media, schedule out Twitter, and respond to any quick emails.

6:45 – 8:15 AM: Every other week, I teach a mother and daughter duo a private yoga lesson on Thursday mornings. They are both such a delight and getting to teach them at their home is a real joy. This week, we did some hip openers, and I talked a lot about inversions and the value of doing legs up the wall pose.

8:30 – 10 AM: I ate breakfast (two hardboiled eggs and fruit) while updating Book Riot’s Pinterest account with the content from the prior day. I also drafted the “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter for the following Monday.

10 – 11 AM: I had a phone interview with someone doing an episode of the Annotated podcast with me for September. This guest is a special collections librarian and we nerded out about her job and about how her job is connected to the topic of the podcast.  Once we finish the recording, I had the files uploaded and transcribed so I could use them in the script.

11 – 11:30 AM: I have an interview for the same podcast for Saturday morning, so I made sure everything was ready for it — including drafting the questions so the guest would have them in advance.

11:30 – 12:30 PM: I enjoyed lunch, along with catching up on YA book news. I spend time every day seeing what news has hit to collect for sharing with newsletter readers, Book Riot contributors, and, of course, my own edification.

12:30 – 1:30 PM: My best friend calls and we chat for about an hour. She lives in Utah and we used to have regular phone dates when I drove for yoga teaching, but when my schedule changed we found lunch time calls worked well for both of us.

1:30 – 2:30 PM: I used this time to do some thinking about what I want to write and about my job more broadly. I also had the chance to catch up on work emails, to assign out content for some of the Book Riot contributors, and to draft some of my own posts for work.

2:30 – 3:30 PM: This was the time I used to do some script planning for my Annotated episode, as well as plan out the books I want to make sure I request and read in anticipation of recording August’s All The Books podcast with Liberty. I also scheduled the next episode of Hey YA: Extra Credit, which posts the next Wednesday (but I’d gotten the file early so decided to do it right then, rather than wait).

3:45 – 5:45 PM: Every week, on Thursdays, my pal Alyssa and I have dedicated writing dates at a local cafe. My goal is 2,000 words on this day, and I did a little bit more than that. We ended up at a cafe that did not have air conditioning, so it was hot (it was high 90s that day) and we decided to pick a place we knew had air for our date the next week.

6:00 PM: The benefit of where we worked, though, was it was across the street from my new salon, so I got to walk over and get my hair colored. I’ve been so overwhelmed with work stuff up until this week that the break to get my hair done was so wonderful. My stylist and I talked about horror movies, since we both love them, and I walked out feeling like a brand new person.

7:00 PM: I got home and my husband had made dinner. We caught up with each other’s day, and we talked about how my stylist did such a good job with my hair it looked like I’d gotten it cut and not just colored. We watched some episodes of “Shark Tank,” now that it’s streaming on Hulu.

9:00 PM: I get up early, which also means I go to bed early. Add to that the social interaction and creative work accomplished, I was bushed. I tend to crawl into bed with a book for a bit before shutting off the light, feeling the cats climb on me, and fall asleep.

 

This Week at Book Riot

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

 

How to reframe your thinking in order to overcome your biggest reading fears.

 

In honor of Lucille Ball’s birthday, a roundup of books about Lucy, Desi, and I Love Lucy.

 

The latest episode of Hey YA is a fun one! Tirzah Price guest hosts and we’re talking about queer YA from 2019, as well as YA books featuring full names in the title.

 

Elsewhere…

My tips and tricks for doing yoga in a bigger body is up on Bust’s website (in addition to the latest print edition!).

Harry Potter Around the World

Whenever I visit a new country, I try to pick up a copy of the first Harry Potter book in that country’s native language. I chose this particular title because not only do I love it to the ends of the Earth, it’s one of the most widely translated books in history and thus usually pretty easy to find. (I also look for The Golden Compass/Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, but have only been able to find French and English copies so far.) It’s fun to compare the artwork, the translations of some of the proper nouns, and the different ways each language formats the text (dialogue varies pretty widely from language to language, for example).

 

French

   

I purchased this copy in Paris in 2002 or 2003, when only four of the books had been published. The back cover only lists the first three, but the fourth is also on the flyleaf, so I assume all four had already been translated into French by this time. The cover art and spot artwork on the back by Jean-Claude Götting are more cutesy than the American versions, and there is no artwork in the main text. You can barely see the lightning-bolt shaped scar on Harry’s forehead if you squint hard enough. The title on the spine reads from bottom to top, the opposite of how most titles are oriented in the United States. To indicate dialogue, this French-language version uses a hyphen at the beginning of the line and no quotation marks at all, leaving the reader to determine from context when the dialogue actually ends. Note that the translation of the title is Harry Potter and the School of Sorcerers and doesn’t mention the stone at all!

 

British English

   

It was several years before I traveled outside the United States again. I purchased this copy when I visited London in 2013. I liked that the cover illustrations by Thomas Taylor were different from any of the versions I had seen in America. Dumbledore’s outfit on the back is particularly grand. British English only uses a single quotation mark to indicate dialogue.

 

Icelandic

      

You would be forgiven for thinking this was the English language version if you only glanced at it, since the cover art by Mary GrandPré is also the original cover art for the American edition. GrandPre’s chapter artwork is not reproduced. Interestingly, translator Helga Haraldsdottir appears to have changed “Privet” to “Runnaflöt.” Icelandic is a fun language to try to sound out – it uses most of the same alphabet as English, but also includes a few extra letters, including the thorn (Þþ), which was also found in Old English. Reading Icelandic can make an English speaker feel a bit like they’re trying to decipher Beowulf. The Icelandic version uses the double quotation marks to indicate dialogue, but the first set is actually located on the bottom of the line, not the top as it would be in English. (The second set is on the top of the line.) The direction of both the first and second sets are also reversed compared to English, so they are facing out, not in. I purchased this version just last year, in 2018.

 

Irish

   

I returned from a 10-day trip to Ireland yesterday, and I was lucky to have found this Irish-language version on my first try. It was the only Harry Potter book in Irish, and in fact the only Irish-language book I could see in the entire store, though I expect they do carry more titles in less prominent locations (or perhaps for special order). While you will find Irish as the primary language on all street signs and other official places in the Republic of Ireland, which I assume is an attempt to help restore the language to more common usage, only 1 in 4 Irish people actually understand any of it or speak it. With this information in mind, I feel fortunate I was able to find a copy of Harry Potter in Irish. The artwork by Jonny Duddle is the same as you’d find on any other Bloomsbury edition of the book, but all my other copies of Harry Potter had other illustrations, so I’m glad to have a copy of this lovely version.

Teens of Color On YA Book Covers in 2020 (So Far!)

When I started pulling together these roundups of YA books featuring teens of color on the cover, the pickings were slim. In 2014, when I did the first post, I was hoping we’d see more than what I could pull together. Now, for the first time since beginning this annual series, most of the book covers for 2020 have yet to be shared publicly, and I’ve got a nice, huge collection of books featuring teens of color on the cover. We’re still far from perfect, but this is such a wonderful, encouraging change from the sea of white teens on covers that have been too-long a staple of YA.

This is but the first in what will likely be multiple roundups for 2020 YA books. I’ve not included the cover designer information for a couple of reasons: the information is exceptionally hard to track down (authors, please include this more prominently on your websites!) and two, sometimes covers change before their release, meaning cover designers might, too, change.

I’m really digging the illustrated covers featuring teens of color. I’m usually not huge on illustrated covers, but these are all fantastic.

I’ve not read any of these books yet in finished form — I’m still firmly reading summer 2019 books! — so please accept the Goodreads descriptions in lieu of my own. Links for the titles take you to Goodreads for quick adding to your TBR.

 

Teens of Color On 2020 YA Book Covers

 

 

A Love Hate Thing by Whitney D. Grandison (2/11)

When they’re stuck under one roof, the house may not be big enough for their hate…or their love.

When Tyson Trice finds himself tossed into the affluent coastal community of Pacific Hills, he’s ready for the questions, the stares and the feeling of not belonging in the posh suburb. Not that he cares. After recovering from being shot and surviving the mean streets of Lindenwood, he doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He doesn’t even care how the rest of his life will play out.

In Pacific Hills, image is everything. Something that, as the resident golden girl, Nandy Smith knows all too well. She’s spent most of her life building the pristine image it takes to fit in. After learning that her parents are taking in a teen boy, Nandy fears her summer plans, as well as her reputation, will go up in flames. It’s the start of summer vacation, and the last thing Nandy needs is some juvenile delinquent from the ’Wood crashing into her world.

Stuck together in close quarters, Trice and Nandy are in for some long summer nights. Only, with the ever-present pull back to the Lindenwood streets, it’ll be a wonder if Trice makes it through this summer at all.

 

 

 

A Phoenix First Must Burn edited by Patrice Caldwell (3/10)

Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic.

Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs, have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that centers Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.

Authors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Amerie, Dhonielle Clayton, Jalissa Corrie, Somaiya Daud, Charlotte Davis, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, Danny Lore, L.L. McKinney, Danielle Paige, Rebecca Roanhorse, Karen Strong, Ashley Woodfolk, and Ibi Zoboi.

 

 

 

 

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (4/28)

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.

 

 

 

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha (1/28)

For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.

So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother.

Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.

 

 

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown (1/14)

Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic . . . everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you. Echo soon realizes there is pain flowing through everyone around her, and a black veil of depression threatens to undo everything she’s worked for.

Heavily autobiographical and infused with magical realism, Black Girl Unlimited fearlessly explores the intersections of poverty, sexual violence, depression, racism, and sexism—all through the arc of a transcendent coming-of-age.

 

 

 

Brown Girl Ghosted  by Mintie Das (3/24)

WE WERE LIARS meets RIVERDALE with a supernatural twist, in this timely #metoo thriller about mean girls, murder, and race in a quiet Midwestern suburb.

 

 

Don’t Read The Comments by Eric Smith (1/28)

Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya—better known as popular streaming gamer D1V—regularly leads her #AngstArmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising-star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mom pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun—and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer D1V.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new worlds…and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real-world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line…

And she isn’t going down without a fight.

 

 

Every Reason We Shouldn’t by Sara Fujimura (3/3)

Fifteen-year-old, biracial figure skater Olivia Kennedy’s Olympic dreams have ended. She’s bitter, but enjoying life as a regular teenager instead of an athlete… until Jonah Choi starts training at her family’s struggling rink. Jonah’s driven, talented, going for the Olympics in speed skating, completely annoying… and totally gorgeous. Between teasing Jonah, helping her best friend try out for roller derby, figuring out life as a normal teen and keeping the family business running, Olivia’s got her hands full. But will rivalry bring her closer to Jonah, or drive them apart?

 

 

 

Girls Save The World In This One by Ash Parsons (4/14)

Shaun of the Dead meets Clueless in this hilarious YA horror comedy set at a local zombie convention—featuring a teenage girl gang that has to save the world from a horde of actual zombies. Perfect for fans of Geekerella, Undead Girl Gang, and Anna and the Apocalypse.

June’s whole life has been leading up to this: ZombieCon, the fan convention celebrating all things zombies. She and her two best friends plan on hitting all the panels, photo ops, and meeting the heartthrob lead of their favorite zombie apocalypse show Human Wasteland.

And when they arrive everything seems perfect, though June has to shrug off some weirdness from other fans—people shambling a little too much, and someone actually biting a cast member. Then all hell breaks loose and June and her friends discover the truth: real zombies are taking over the con. Now June must do whatever it takes to survive a horde of actual brain-eating zombies—and save the world. This is a hilarious and heartfelt horror comedy, an ode to zombies, friendship, and girl power that readers are going to love.

 

 

Glitch Kingdom by Sheena Boekweg (2/18)

The teenage daughter of an executioner and the traitorous prince she can’t kill must reluctantly join forces to dethrone a paranoid queen after discovering they are trapped in a video game where “Game Over” equals death in this fast-paced YA debut.

Ryo is the golden boy, the playboy prince, until his uncle betrays him and everything falls apart. Minor nobles Dagney and Grigfen are suddenly forced to fight for their lives after their father is branded a traitor. McKenna, queen of the enemy realm, has been given a mission of conquest, though she isn’t sure she’s fit for the task.

But things are not always what they seem… All of these teens are actually players in the newest, most immersive virtual reality game, competing against each other for a highly coveted internship.

Now this golden opportunity has suddenly become a deadly trap. There’s a glitch in the software and it has trapped the players inside a world that is slowly falling apart. If they die in the game they die for real, and the only way out is to win.

 

Note: I know this says cover not final, but I really hope it is. I can only imagine how many black girls who use a wheel chair will be over the moon to see themselves on a book cover. 

 

 

Go With The Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann (1/14)

Good friends help you go with the flow.

Best friends help you start a revolution.

Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen.

Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, the girls confront a world that shrugs―or worse, squirms―at the thought of a menstruation revolution. They band together to make a change. It’s no easy task, especially while grappling with everything from crushes to trig to JV track but they have each other’s backs. That is, until one of the girls goes rogue, testing the limits of their friendship and pushing the friends to question the power of their own voices.

Now they must learn to work together to raise each other up. But how to you stand your ground while raising bloody hell?

 

 

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen (2/4)

When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.

Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.

Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?

 

 

 

Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles (1/21)

Del has had a crush on Kiera Westing since kindergarten. And now, during their junior year, she’s finally available. So when Kiera volunteers for an opportunity at their church, Del’s right behind her. Though he quickly realizes he’s inadvertently signed up for a Purity Pledge.

His dad thinks his wires are crossed, and his best friend, Qwan, doesn’t believe any girl is worth the long game. But Del’s not about to lose his dream girl, and that’s where fellow pledger Jameer comes in. He can put in the good word. In exchange, Del just has to get answers to the Pledgers’ questions…about sex ed.

With other boys circling Kiera like sharks, Del needs to make his move fast. But as he plots and plans, he neglects to ask the most important question: What does Kiera want? He can’t think about that too much, though, because once get the girl, it’ll all sort itself out. Right?

 

 

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (2/18)

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

 

 

Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales (3/3)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda meets Clueless, inspired by Grease.

When Ollie meets his dream guy, Will, over summer break, he thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After. But once summer’s ended, Will stops texting him back, and Ollie finds himself one prince short of a fairytale ending. To complicate the fairytale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country—Will’s school—where Ollie finds that the sweet, affectionate and comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted—and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.

Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship. But as Will starts ‘coincidentally’ popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, Ollie finds his resolve weakening.

The last time he gave Will his heart, Will handed it back to him trampled and battered. Ollie would have to be an idiot to trust him with it again.

Right?

Right.

 

 

 

Rogue Princess by BR Myers (1/21)

Princess Tianna knows that it’s her duty to choose the right husband and gain powerful alliances for her failing planet. Yet, she has always dreamed of marrying for love, and feels like there must be a better way. Determined to chart her own course, she steals a spaceship and runs away, only to discover that her get-away ship is already inhabited.

All Sinter wanted was to “borrow” a few parts to fix his ship so he could find the hidden treasure his mother told him about. Okay so maybe liberating the parts from a royal ship wasn’t the smartest plan, but he never expected to be kidnapped by a run-away princess!

Sparks fly as this headstrong princess and would-be thief uncover a rebel conspiracy that could destroy their planet forever in this gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of Cinderella.

 

 

 

Saving Savannah by Tonya Bolden (1/14)

The story of an African-American girl becoming a woman on her own terms against the backdrop of widespread social change in the early 1900s America. As a daughter of an upper class African American family in Washington D.C., Savannah is lucky. Feeling suffocated by the structure of society, Savannah meets a working-class girl named Nell who introduces her to the suffragette and socialist movements, inspiring her to fight for change.

 

 

 

Shadowshaper Legacy by Daniel José Older (1/7)

A house divided

Sierra and the shadowshapers have been split apart. Juan, Anthony, and Izzy are in jail, anxiously waiting to find out what will become of them. Back in Brooklyn, the other shadowshapers have been getting threatening messages from whisper wraiths, catching strangely shaped figures stalking them, and fending off random spirits. A war is brewing among the houses, and the very magic of the shadowshapers is at stake.

The fate of the worlds

Sierra is determined to protect her own in the coming conflict. Even if that means keeping secrets from them. But a deal with Death by one of Sierra’s ancestors has far-reaching consequences in the battles of the present, and as old fates tangle with new powers, Sierra will have to harness the Deck of Worlds and confront her family’s past if she has any hope of saving the future and everyone she loves. Only doing so will mean following the magic to places the shadowshapers have never gone before . . . and may never return from.

 

The Silence of Bones by June Hur (4/21)

I have a mouth, but I mustn’t speak;

Ears, but I mustn’t hear;

Eyes, but I mustn’t see.

1800, Joseon (Korea). Homesick and orphaned sixteen-year-old Seol is living out the ancient curse: “May you live in interesting times.” Indentured to the police bureau, she’s been tasked with assisting a well-respected young inspector with the investigation into the politically charged murder of a noblewoman.

As they delve deeper into the dead woman’s secrets, Seol forms an unlikely bond of friendship with the inspector. But her loyalty is tested when he becomes the prime suspect, and Seol may be the only one capable of discovering what truly happened on the night of the murder.

But in a land where silence and obedience are valued above all else, curiosity can be deadly.

 

 

 

Stealing Mt. Rushmore by Daphne Kalmar (3/24)

No description yet, as of 8/1!

 

 

 

The Blossom and The Firefly by Sherri L. Smith (2/1)

From the award-winning author of Flygirl comes this powerful WWII romance between two Japanese teens caught in the cogs of an unwinnable war, perfect for fans of Salt to the Sea , Lovely War , and Code Name Verity . 

Japan 1945. Taro is a talented violinist and a kamikaze pilot in the days before his first and only mission. He believes he is ready to die for his country . . . until he meets Hana. Hana hasn’t been the same since the day she was buried alive in a collapsed trench during a bomb raid. She wonders if it would have been better to have died that day . . . until she meets Taro.

A song will bring them together. The war will tear them apart. Is it possible to live an entire lifetime in eight short days?

Sherri L. Smith has been called “an author with astonishing range” and “a stellar storyteller” by E. Lockhart, the New York Times-bestselling author of We Were Liars, and “a truly talented writer” by Jacqueline Woodson, the National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming. Here, with achingly beautiful prose, Smith weaves a tale of love in the face of death, of hope in the face of tragedy, set against a backdrop of the waning days of the Pacific War.

 

 

The Degenerates by J. Albert Mann (3/17)

The Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded is not a happy place. The young women who are already there certainly don’t think so. Not Maxine, who is doing everything she can to protect her younger sister Rose in an institution where vicious attendants and bullying older girls treat them as the morons, imbeciles, and idiots the doctors have deemed them to be. Not Alice, either, who was left there when her brother couldn’t bring himself to support a sister with a club foot. And not London, who has just been dragged there from the best foster situation she’s ever had, thanks to one unexpected, life altering moment. Each girl is determined to change her fate, no matter what it takes.

 

 

The Map From Here To There by Emery Lord (1/7)

It’s senior year, and Paige Hancock is finally living her best life. She has a fun summer job, great friends, and a super charming boyfriend who totally gets her. But senior year also means big decisions. Weighing “the rest of her life,” Paige feels her anxiety begin to pervade every decision she makes. Everything is exactly how she always wanted it to be–how can she leave it all behind next year? In her head, she knows there is so much more to experience after high school. But in her heart, is it so terrible to want everything to stay the same forever?

 

 

The New David Espinoza by Fred Aceves (2/11)

Obsessed with the idea that he is not muscular enough and tired of being bullied, David, age seventeen, begins using steroids, endangering his relationships with family and friends.

 

 

 

This Train Is Being Held by Ismée Williams (2/11)

When private school student Isabelle Warren first meets Dominican-American Alex Rosario on the downtown 1 train, she remembers his green eyes and his gentlemanly behavior. He remembers her untroubled happiness, something he feels all rich kids must possess. That, and her long dancer legs. Over the course of multiple subway encounters spanning the next three years, Isabelle learns of Alex’s struggle with his father, who is hell-bent on Alex being a contender for the major leagues, despite Alex’s desire to go to college and become a poet. Alex learns about Isabelle’s unstable mother, a woman with a prejudice against Latino men. But fate—and the 1 train—throw them together when Isabelle needs Alex most. Heartfelt and evocative, this romantic drama will appeal to readers of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen.

 

 

We Are Totally Normal by Rahul Kanakia (3/31)

Nandan’s got a plan to make his junior year perfect. He’s going to make sure all the parties are chill, he’s going to smooth things over with his ex, and he’s going to help his friend Dave get into the popular crowd—whether Dave wants to or not. The high school social scene might be complicated, but Nandan is sure he’s cracked the code.

Then, one night after a party, Dave and Nandan hook up, which was not part of the plan—especially because Nandan has never been into guys. Still, Dave’s cool, and Nandan’s willing to give it a shot, even if that means everyone starts to see him differently.

But while Dave takes to their new relationship with ease, Nandan’s completely out of his depth. And the more his anxiety grows about what his sexuality means for himself, his friends, and his social life, the more he wonders whether he can just take it all back. But is breaking up with the only person who’s ever really gotten him worth feeling “normal” again?

From Rahul Kanakia comes a raw and deeply felt story about rejecting labels, seeking connection, and finding yourself.

 

 

 

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey (3/3)

Keeping your magic a secret is hard. Being in love with your best friend is harder.

Alexis has always been able to rely on two things: her best friends, and the magic powers they all share. Their secret is what brought them together, and their love for each other is unshakeable—even when that love is complicated. Complicated by problems like jealousy, or insecurity, or lust. Or love.

That unshakeable, complicated love is one of the only things that doesn’t change on prom night.

When accidental magic goes sideways and a boy winds up dead, Alexis and her friends come together to try to right a terrible wrong. Their first attempt fails—and their second attempt fails even harder. Left with the remains of their failed spells and more consequences than anyone could have predicted, each of them must find a way to live with their part of the story.

When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk (3/10)

You can’t rewrite the past, but you can always choose to start again. 

It’s been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla’s friendship imploded.

Nearly a month since Cleo realized they’ll never be besties again.

Now, Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex–best friend. But pretending Layla doesn’t exist isn’t as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she’s assigned to be Layla’s tutor. Despite budding new friendships with other classmates—and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom—Cleo’s turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both.

Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love.

Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky (4/14)

Jessi Zabarsky’s lushly illustrated shoujo-adventure comic that introduces Lelek the witch as she blows through town one day, kidnapping the peasant girl Sanja. The unlikely pair grow more entangled as they travel together, looking for the missing half of Lelek’s soul – the source of her true magical abilities. Both women are seeking to learn, in their own ways, how to be whole again. This book collects the serialized story all into a single volume, including the heart-gripping conclusion and other all-new material.

 

 

Woven In Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez (1/7)

A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history.

Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.

When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.

She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.

 

 

 

Any favorites? I’d love to hear about ’em!

This Week at Book Riot

 

This is the last week off from Stacked, and I’m super excited about what we’ve got coming your way soon. In the mean time, here’s what I was talking about over on Book Riot this week:

Over 50 awesome bookish stickers for your laptop, water bottle, notebooks, wherever.

 

I dug into Norma Klein’s No More Saturday Nights for this week’s Hey YA: Extra Credit podcast. It wasn’t my favorite read, but it was a nice reminder how few books are out there about teen fathers in YA.

This Week at Book Riot

 

Kimberly and I are enjoying one more week of vacation before we’re back here to our normal schedule. In the mean time, you can catch me over at Book Riot this week with these pieces:

 

The most popular under-the-radar books in US libraries so far this year.

 

Zaria and Hailey Willard are two sisters sharing bedtime stories on Facebook every night. Get to know them and why they do this.

 

How listening to a graphic memoir on audio changed my relationship with my own reading habits.

 

Eric and I have a full episode of Hey YA up this week, wherein we talk about the kinds of vacations you don’t want to take in YA, and then we offer up great ghost books for reading while you’re on various vacations from hell.

This Week at Book Riot

 

Writing STACKED is such a joy, but I won’t lie: this break has meant a significant amount of work has been done on a novel I’m toying with. I will be so fired up to blog when August rolls around, of course, but in the meantime, here’s what else I’ve written lately:

You’ll want every one of these awesome YA book necklaces.

 

I recently updated my list of books like The Hate U Give, so I’ll reshare it for those looking either for themselves or young readers.

 

There’s also a new Hey YA: Extra Credit podcast episode. I talked with YA author Tom Ryan about Norma Klein’s Breaking Up, which was a wonderful surprise of a book.

This Week at Book Riot

 

I had a super busy week over on Book Riot:

 

200+ excellent .

 

A peek at the books and formats that brought in tremendous revenue for publishers in 2018.

 

A guide for how to become a book editor.

 

And then there were the podcasts. As in multiple. As in…three!

I cohosted “All The Books” with Liberty this week and talked about some of the best releases this week.

 

This week’s episode of “Hey YA” is a full episode. Eric and I dig into what we’re seeing in YA, both as forthcoming staples in the category as well as trends, and then we offer up some HOT books for cold days and some COLD books for hot days.

 

Last, I cohosted “Get Booked” with Jenn and offered recommendations for great cookbooks, transhuman fiction, classroom reads, and more.

 

One more fun thing:

 

 

You can read my guide to crafting an anthology proposal in the August issue of The Writer.

This Week at Book Riot

 

While we’re enjoying our July vacation from Stacked, here’s how you can keep up with what I’m doing elsewhere!

 

Here are over 150 YA books hitting shelves between now and the end of September.

 

There’s a new Extra Credit episode of Hey YA, where I dig into Norma Klein’s Love Is One Of The Choices. This is the one with a student-teacher relationship that turns into marriage and a baby. There is…a lot here to unpack.

 

I shared this over on Instagram and never came over here to share: I’ve got an article in the latest edition of Bust Magazine! If you’ve ever wanted tips and tricks for practicing or teaching yoga in a bigger body, I’ve got some for you. This art that they paired with my words is unspeakably good. Grab it at any place you purchase magazines — it’s the one with Awkwafina on the cover.

 

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Came home to a wonderful surprise: not only is my article on doing yoga in a fat body in July/August’s @bust_magazine, but it’s highly designed and BEAUTIFUL. The issue will hit news stands soon and I hope it helps make yoga more accessible, comfortable, and enjoyable for folks like me who simply take up more space and require a little bit of creative navigation. #100dayproject #100dayaofyoga

A post shared by kelly jensen (@veronikellymars) on Jun 25, 2019 at 7:11am PDT

See You In August!

 

It’s high summer where Kimberly is and, well, attempting to be summer in the midwest where I am. We’re taking July to enjoy this weather, to enjoy a little rest and relaxation, and to read our eyes out in preparation for blogging our hearts out in August. I’ll be swinging by on Fridays to link to work elsewhere, but otherwise, we’ll see you next month and hope you enjoy some solid reading time this month.