This came up on one of my online writer groups last week – whether customer reviews on Amazon are important.  And how important?  Is it bad if a book only has a few?  Do they play a part in whether a book shows up as “recommended for you” or “viewed by other customers” or whatever? I don’t [...]

This book was excellent.  Here’s the blurb: From the outside, Lucy’s home looks normal. All of the secrets start inside the front door. Towering piles of newspapers and magazines. Bags of junk flooding every inch of open space. The rotting smell permeating the air. This is what she’s kept from everyone—that her mother’s compulsive hoarding [...]

Another from the Tenner ARC tour, here’s the synopsis of this middle-grade novel by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich: For middle schooler Reggie McKnight, being called “Pukey” is the least of his problems. School elections are coming up, but he’s as far away from being school President as he is from shutting down his enemy Donovan or meeting up [...]

Nimira is a music-hall performer used to dancing for pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. But in Parry’s world, long-buried secrets are about to stir.  When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing fairy gentleman [...]

My fourth book in the Tenner ARC Tour:  The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy.  When the Prom Queen becomes your fairy godmother, be careful what you wish for. Sixteen year old outsider, Jess Parker, gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join a secret society of popular girls dedicated to defeating the mean [...]

I finished Amy Brecount White’s debut novel, Forget-Her-Nots, this morning (just in time to send it to the next lucky Tenner before leaving on vacation!).  Summary from the back of the ARC:  Fourteen-year-old Laurel discovers she is part of a secret society dedicated to the magical language of flowers in this debut novel set at [...]

I was never a cheerleader.  In fact, personality-wise, I’m about as far from cheerleader as you can get without painting your fingernails black.  But I thoroughly enjoyed The Naughty List and its cheer-captain main character, Tessa. Suzanne Young’s YA novel is the third Tenner ARC I’ve read and here’s what I really, really liked about it: -The pacing and [...]

I read my second Tenner book over the weekend and loved it.  The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting will be released in March 2010.  What was so great about this book? -it’s fast-paced and well-written with totally believable and likable characters -there are two very compelling story-lines – the hunt for a serial killer and a budding [...]

As our ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) become available, the Tenners are sending a copy on tour to each of the other Tenners who’ve signed up, in turn.  I just finished my first one, Irene Latham’s Leaving Gee’s Bend.    What I loved about this novel: -The voice is amazing.  The protagonist is a dirt poor ten-year-old black girl [...]