Thursday, October 29, 2020

Toronto International Festival Of Authors 2020

 Welcome back bookworms! If you've been following me for a while, you'll know exactly what I'm about to share and discuss with this years Toronto International Festival Of Authors (TIFA) event that was held Virtually this year due to the pandemic. TIFA has been a festival that helps bring readers and authors together for an eleven day event with plenty of panels and discussions to choose from. This year the event is being held from October 22nd to November 1st. There are still many events to attend virtually and since it's all online, that means anyone from around the world this year can sit in and watch, which I think is AMAZING!

I've been able to attend quite a few events between work, and I have to say they have been pretty great! There have been a lot of discussions that have been talked about based off what we've been witnessing this year, and I think that it was a great way to open these discussions up even further, and to get people talking about what is happening in the world. I also have been enjoying listening to their writing process, how they deal with writers block, and so much more that I know many fellow writers love to listen about!

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Finding Yvonne By: Brandy Colbert

Finding Yvonne
Author: Brandy Colbert
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Published: August 2018
Format: ARC Paperback
Pages: 276
Rating: 3.5/5
Summary:
Since she was seven years old, Yvonne has had her trusted violin to keep her company, especially in those lonely days after her mother walked out on their family. But with graduation just around the corner, she is forced to face the hard truth that she just might not be good enough to attend a conservatory after high school.


Full of doubt about her future, and increasingly frustrated by her strained relationship with her successful but emotionally closed-off father, Yvonne meets a street musician and fellow violinist who understands her struggle. He’s mysterious, charming, and different from Warren, the familiar and reliable boy who has her heart. But when Yvonne becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she has to make the most difficult decision yet about her future.


Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Elektras Adventures In Tragedy By: Douglas Rees

Elektras Adventures In Tragedy
Author: Douglas Rees
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Published: May 2018
Format: ARC Paperback
Pages: 288
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
Sixteen-year-old Elektra Kamenides is well on her way to becoming a proper southern belle in the small Mississippi college town she calls home. That is, until her mother decides to uproot her and her kid sister Thalia and start over in California. They leave behind Elektra's father—a professor and leading expert on Greek mythology, and Elektra can't understand why. For her, life is tragedy, and all signs point to her family being cursed.

Their journey ends in Guadalupe Slough, a community of old Chicano families and oddball drifters sandwiched between San José and the southern shores of San Francisco Bay. The houseboat that her mother has bought, sight unseen, is really just an ancient trailer parked on a barge and sunk into a mudflat.


What would Odysseus do? Elektra asks herself. Determined to get back to Mississippi at all costs, she'll beg, cheat, and steal to get there. But things are not always what they seem, and home is wherever you decide to make it.


Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Everything Everything By: Nicola Yoon

Everything Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Published: September 2015
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 306
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.


Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Sunday, October 4, 2020

An American Marriage By: Tayari Jones

An American Marriage
Author: Tayari Jones
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: February 2018 (First Published January 2018)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 308
Rating: 3.5/5
Summary:
Newlyweds, Celestial and Roy, are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is artist on the brink of an exciting career. They are settling into the routine of their life together, when they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a deeply insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward- with hope and pain- into the future.

Friday, October 2, 2020

Stay Gold By: Tobly McSmith

Stay Gold
Author: Tobly McSmith
Publisher: Harper Teen
Published: May 2020
Format: ARC Paperback
Pages: 368
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
Pony just wants to fly under the radar during senior year. Tired from all the attention he got at his old school after coming out as transgender, he’s looking for a fresh start at Hillcrest High. But it’s hard to live your best life when the threat of exposure lurks down every hallway and in every bathroom.

Georgia is beginning to think there’s more to life than cheerleading. She plans on keeping a low profile until graduation…which is why she promised herself that dating was officially a no-go this year.


Then, on the very first day of school, the new guy and the cheerleader lock eyes. How is Pony supposed to stay stealth when he wants to get close to a girl like Georgia? How is Georgia supposed to keep her promise when sparks start flying with a boy like Pony?


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