YA Books Podcast - Episode 102 - Find Layla
YABooksPodcast's podcast
The Amazon blurb and preview of the best selling book, "Find Layla"
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 101 - A Girl From Nowhere
YABooksPodcast's podcast
A first three chapter review of the YA book, "A Girl from Nowhere"
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 100 - The Selection
YABooksPodcast's podcast
A first three chapter review of the YA book, "The Selection"
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 99 - Turtles All The Way Down
YABooksPodcast's podcast
First Chapter Review of the book, "Turtles All The Way Down" written by John Green
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 98 - A Court of Thorns and Roses
YABooksPodcast's podcast
Information about the book and the first two chapters read. My opinions about why I think it is a good book to read.
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 97 - The Hate U Give
YABooksPodcast's podcast
The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas 4.8 on 1242 reviews Published Feb 27, 2017 675 in the paid Kindle store Voted #1 for Young Adult Fiction in the Goodreads Readers Choice awards for 2017 (Next week I'm going to review number 2. The the following week #1 in Young Adult Fantasy.) Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer....
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 96 - To The Falls
YABooksPodcast's podcast
To the Falls Book one of the falls trilogy Heather Renee 4.6 stars on 120 reviews Published April 29, 2017 Book 2 From The Falls, Published on August 4th and has 4.7 stars on 94 reviews Book 3 Embracing the Falls, Published on on December 29th, just a few days ago. It has a 4.9 star average on 56 reviews. This author has her street team in place to get that many reviews up so quickly. Good for her. She appears to be a self published author and making smart moves. She has published her entire trilogy in one year and all three books are in the top 55K for the paid kindle store. That means she...
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 95 - Inception
YABooksPodcast's podcast
Inception: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 1) by Bianca Scardoni Published in September of 2015 it has 4.5 Stars on 727 Amazon reviews. I chose this book because I wanted one that was doing really well on the top 100 Young Adult book index. This was number 11, behind a bunch of Harry Potters and Hunger Game titles, on the day I bought it. It's now at 31 on that list, though #1 on three indices and #205 on the paid kindle store. Book 2 was published in June of 2016 and Book 3 in April of this year, 2017. I don't know from looking at them if they will end with the third book, or if...
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 94 - Beauty
YABooksPodcast's podcast
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin Mckinley First published in 1978 by HarperTeen So, that is the first chapter of Beauty. About sixteen pages. I love the author's use of language. Even though the story is told in first person, I hardly notice it. The story continues with the family selling off their mansion in the city, traveling to the country and setting up shop on the edge of an enchanted forest. It takes a few twists but eventually Beauty ends up in the magical castle, alone with the fright some beast. When Disney's Beauty and the Beast was announced, I...
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YA Books Podcast - Episode 93 - Erasmus T. Muddiman
YABooksPodcast's podcast
Erasmus T. Muddiman by Kathrine Pym In retrospect, I think this is more of a middle grade story. At least it starts that way. And since I already recorded the first two chapters I'm going with it for this weeks episode anyway. Mostly because I like the author's voice. She has found a convincing way of portraying the time period in her choice of language. The characters are interesting and realistic. Also, the other book I started had two violent rapes in the first five pages and the writing was mediocre. If you're interested in reading a violent, mediocre book, email me at...
info_outlineFrom the Sky, Book 1 of the Beyond Moondust Trilogy by JE Nicassio.
Published September 6th of this year. Book two came out two days later.
Book 1 of 2 in Beyond Moondust Triliogy (2 Book Series)
4.4 stars on 20 Customer reviews.
From the Sky from best-selling author J.E. Nicassio writes the kind of close encounter that will leave readers spellbound. When high school junior, Samantha Hunter, and her father move to New Mexico, it's a chance to leave tragedy behind and start over. However, the arrival of a dark-haired stranger changes everything. Lucien introduces Sam to the prospect of enjoying life again, and to the hidden world of aliens. But crazier than that, Lucien doesn't feel entirely like a stranger. Redemption and romance follow Sam in her new life as she works to understand the alien-human romance she's developing--a romance that feels beyond her control. There's something bigger happening around her, and to her, too, and this is just the beginning....
--J. E. Nicassio packs in the action like a superhero movie-- From the Sky has all the hallmarks of a Hollywood blockbuster--ready to light up the sky like a fleet of UFOs. "A must read! It had me from the very beginning to the last word. Every page had a plot twist and turn to make my imagination run wild." --Online Book Club.org Nicassio is a freelance writer and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) Field Investigator in Pittsburgh, PA, where she resides with her mother, two sons, and German Shepherd, Ava. She loves writing and is passionate about creating stories that entertain and comes straight from the heart. Her Children's book, Rocky (About Rockefeller Center and a tiny Christmas tree named Rocky) made the Amazon Top Ten Christmas Book List in 2016.
The Amazon preview has the Prolog and the first four chapters. I'm going to read you the prolog and the first two chapters.
(Read Chapters)
How did I like this so far?
I thought the first chapter, er, rather, the prolog, was great. It was a fast paced introduction to the main character and some unknown characters. They didn't say their names, but one of them says, "There'll be consequences, Brother." So either these first two strangers are brothers, or members of a religeous order. Anyway, it appears the Brother heals Sam.
Could this be Lucien, the love interest mentioned in the Amazon blurb?
If you read on in the preview, Chapter 3 is titled, Lucien. So, if you want to find out before you buy the book, you can read further than I did. I have to admit that by the end of chapter two, the pace of the story had slowed sufficiently that I wasn't really interested enough to read on at this point.
I thought chapter one was good and built on what we learned from the preview.
I felt like chapter 2 was mainly filler and slowed down considerably as she walks out to the bus stop.
I give this a three star rating and if I had nothing else to read, I'd read a few more chapters to see if this one picked up.
Part of what drags the recommendation down for me is the poorly written Amazon blurb. An Amazon blurb needs to grab you with the first sentence and drag you to the second which pushes you to the third and then shows you an emotional reason why you need to buy this book right now. This blurb starts out with telling us how great the author is.
From the Sky from best-selling author J.E. Nicassio writes the kind of close encounter that will leave readers spellbound.
Not only is the first line of the blurb improperly punctuated, it tells me nothing about the book--only claims that I will be spellbound, but not why. And frankly, "Best Selling" means nothing anymore. Maybe she's made some list somewhere. If I don't know the author's name and what they had written that was best selling, saying so will mean nothing.
So, in conclusion. If what the blurb promises appeals to you, it could be worth reading the next two chapters on the Amazon preview, or just paying out the 99 cents it costs right now to get book one. If you like it, there's at least one more book in the series, or two it it's a trilogy.
Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.