Top Ten Tuesday: Recommendations

 This week's topic is all about book recommendations. These are books I read because I saw people chatting about them on social media.

I have co-workers with similar taste in books, so sometimes we just pass the book around the staff.

Have you read any of these?

How do you hear about new books?

Review: Violets are Blue

 

Twelve-year-old Wren loves makeup—special effect makeup, to be exact. When she is experimenting with new looks, Wren can create a different version of herself. A girl who isn’t in a sort-of-best friendship with someone who seems like she hates her. A girl whose parents aren’t divorced and doesn’t have to learn to like her new stepmom.

So, when Wren and her mom move to a new town for a fresh start, she is cautiously optimistic. And things seem to fall into place when Wren meets potential friends and gets selected as the makeup artist for her school’s upcoming production of Wicked.

Only, Wren’s mom isn’t doing so well. She’s taking a lot of naps, starts snapping at Wren for no reason, and always seems to be sick. And what’s worse, Wren keeps getting hints that things aren’t going well at her new job at the hospital, where her mom is a nurse. And after an opening night disaster leads to a heartbreaking discovery, Wren realizes that her mother has a serious problem—a problem that can’t be wiped away or covered up.

After all the progress she’s made, can Wren start over again with her devastating new normal? And will she ever be able to heal the broken trust with her mom?  - Summary from the publisher

My Thoughts: I loved this one. Over the past few years, Barbara Dee has become an auto-read for me and an auto-buy author for the library. Her books hit home and they cover important topics. This was was super cool with the plot line about special effects make-up and social media. I loved the bits about friendship, finding your voice, and standing up for yourself. I felt terrible for Wren and wanted to give her a great big hug. 

Cover Thoughts: Love it - but you have to read the book in order for it to make sense. 

Source: My Library

Library Recommendation: A Must Have book for school and public libraries. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors

This week's topic is all about social media and authors I enjoy following. To be honest, I follow a lot of authors. So it might be hard for me to narrow down, but I'm going to try.

Sarah MacLean - talks a lot about romance books.

Meg Cabot - talks about books and royalty and cats

Kristan Higgins - talks about romance books and life. She often makes me laugh.

Maureen Johnson - for bookish news, dog pictures, and funny moments about life

Rick Riordan for funny tweets and news about his publishing imprint

Carrie Jones for her animals' daily words of wisdom

Shana Galen (Facebook) for her historical clothing pictures

Tessa Dare for her chats about romance books and tweets about life.

Maya Rodale for her posts about awesome women from history and her romance book inspirations and about romance books in general.

Vashti Harrison for her art work and sharing of book news

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I'd Follow

This week's topic is all about book characters I'd follow on social media. This could be a crazy long list. And it's going to be hard to break down. Or to Stop. Of course I'd follow old favorites like Anne of Green Gable, Lizzie Bennet, Hermione, and Jo March but here are some new ones.

Recent Reads:

@RedheadRecs

For all the romance book recommendations

Kels 

for the book chatter but also the cupcake pictures

Torte Bakery

for the mouthwatering treats

Michigan from:

She'd be really inspiring about females in sports

Pepper AND Jack

for their banter but also their food creations

Happily Ever After Bookstore

for their romance book recommendations and cute kitten pictures.

Lindsey 

to see what's happening in library land

John

to read about his and Shelby's cases

The Royals

for a glimpse into a very different world

Would you follow any of these characters?

BBAW: Staying Connected to the Community

Since joining twitter and reading tweets, my blog reading has significantly changed. I no longer go to certain blogs every day. There are times when I realize I haven't hit up my favorite blogs in a while and I go check them out and leave a few comments, but that is no longer how I read the majority of blogs.

With twitter, it's so easy to read my feed and click on the links that sound interesting. Sometimes that's a review or a book list or an interview. But other times it's the start of a discussion.

Comments have also changed. There are times when I'm more likely to comment on twitter or on facebook than on the blog directly.

Twitter moves quickly, but I feel connected to more people because they talk about blogs and reading, but they also talk about their personal lives. I like getting that blend of both worlds.  I love that if you're having a bad day, you can post something about it and get immediate responses of people cheering you up and the same goes for if something great happens to you. 

Plus I like how Twitter allows for the connection between authors and readers. I like telling authors that I love their books or their covers. I love the idea of chatting with authors and being able to respond normally without sounding like a total fan girl. 

Are we friends on Twitter? We should be! I'm @yabooknerd. 

Review: Endangered

Panda has a HUGE secret that no one knows - not even her best friend. She's the person behind the website that takes people down a notch or two.

They're not nice people and she has no problem exposing their dirty secrets.

But now someone knows HER secrets. Unless she plays a game, that person will expose her to the world. Panda's worked really hard to become invisible in the walls of high school. She's not interested in being in the spotlight again.

But she might not have a choice as the game becomes dangerous.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book for several reasons.
* The main character's love of photography (I loved learning more about getting the good shots
* Panda's blog of exposing people made this book a thoughtful read, especially after her last post had severe consequences. I'm glad that I wasn't in middle school or high school in the age of social media.
* While I'm not a fan of some of Panda's choices, she had the best of intentions. 
* I love thrillers for teens and this lived up to it  with the action and danger and cryptic notes (even though I did have an inkling of the bad guy before)
* I like how the end played out with her parents and the police and how she finally understood her role in everything
* Panda is bi-racial

Cover Thoughts: Perfect, I love the way the main character is captured in the camera lens.
Source: My Library

Final Thoughts: A fantastically entertaining read that will keep you turning the pages