Mystery, science, and intrepid investigative skills–ON THE MOON–all collide in this smart, fast-paced middle grade adventure. Title: Space Case Author: Stuart Gibbs Genre: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Middle Grade Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication Date:…
A Diana Wynne Jones book is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get – except for a guaranteed good time. Old School Wednesdays is a weekly Book Smuggler feature. We came up with the…
The Time Travel Project is a new regular feature in which Ana reads Time Travel novels, new and old. More on the feature here. Passenger is the first in a duology by Alexandra Bracken and Ana’s first official read…
It’s Friday and we are over at Kirkus! Today, Ana reviews Midnight Taxi Tango, the sequel to Half-Resurrection Blues. The post is up at Kirkus. Go HERE to read the review.…
Old School Wednesdays presents an epic reread of The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. THIS MONTH ON THE RE-READ: we rediscover young Harry Potter as he finds his way to Hogwarts for the very first time in Harry…
Deceivers and Reclaimers clash in The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman–a tantalizing opening to a brand new trilogy. Title: The Dark Days Club Author: Alison Goodman Genre: Speculative Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult Publisher: Viking Books…
The Time Travel Project is a new regular feature in which Ana reads Time Travel novels, new and old. More on the feature here. Passenger is the first in a duology by Alexandra Bracken and Ana’s first official read…
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, is the first review of The Time Travel Project. …
In this episode of Decoding the Newberry, Catherine Faris King reads Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz Decoding the Newbery is a monthly column in which Newbery Medal winners are examined and deconstructed by regular contributor and…
Another case for Young and Yang – and Bottoms. Title: The Tiara on the Terrace Author: Kristen Kittscher Genre: Middle Grade, Mystery Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books Publication Date: January 5 2016 Hardcover: 400 Pages In this funny, clever novel,…
A fitting, epic end to a delightful middle grade series. Title: The Last Ever After Author: Soman Chainani Genre: Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fantasy Publisher: Harper Collins Publication Date: July 2015 Paperback: 672 Pages In the epic conclusion…
It’s Friday, which means we are over at Kirkus for our regular weekly column! It’s Thea’s turn today with her review of First Light by Linda Nagata! The first book in the recently re-released The Red trilogy from Linda…
It’s Friday Monday, which means we are over at Kirkus for our regular weekly column! Today, Thea is taking over with a review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization by Alan Dean Foster… Like many other people, Thea…
It’s Friday and we are over at Kirkus! Lungdon, the third AND FINAL novel in Edward Carey’s excellent Iremonger Trilogy just came out recently. Ana took this opportunity to talk about the entire trilogy – go HERE to read…
Old School Wednesdays is a weekly Book Smuggler feature. We came up with the idea towards the end of 2012, when both Ana and Thea were feeling exhausted from the never-ending inundation of New and Shiny (and often over-hyped)…
A review in which we are…conflicted. Title: The Dark Forest Author: Cixin Liu Genre: Science Fiction Publisher: Tor Books Publication Date: August 11 2015 Hardcover: 512 Pages This is the second novel in the “Three Body” near-future trilogy. Written…
Decoding the Newbery is a monthly column in which Newbery Medal winners are examined and deconstructed by regular contributor and author Catherine Faris King. This month, Catherine reads The Giver, the Newbery winner for 1994. “… He had been…
It’s Friday and we are over at Kirkus! Picking up a book on a whim without knowing a lot about it or its author can be a risky business but this time it totally paid off. I loved Planetfall…
As we continue down the road to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we read a brand new Princess Leia adventure–and we LOVE it, precious. Title: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure (Journey to STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS) By:…
It’s Friday Monday, which means we are over at Kirkus for our regular weekly column! Today, Thea continues with the Star Wars readathon and reviews Dark Disciple by Christie Golden–a book that follows one of Thea’s favorite characters from…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is nearly here and Disney Publishing Worldwide and Lucasfilm have put together a publishing schedule of tie-in stories in the lead up to its release – The Book Smugglers will been reading all of…
This Thanksgiving weekend, we gear up for Star Wars: The Force Awakens–Thea starts off her long weekend with a review of this fun trade that starts just after the events of The Return of the Jedi… Title: STAR WARS…
It’s Friday, and we are over at Kirkus. Today, Ana reviews T. Kingfisher’s The Seventh Bride This was wonderful and now I want to read all of her novels. Go HERE to see why.…
An A.I. on a powertrip defines the rules of rulership in the future…and it’s pretty badass. Title: The Scorpion Rules Author: Erin Bow Genre: Speculative Fiction, Dystopia, Post-Apocalypse Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books Publication Date: September 2015 Hardcover: 384…
A spectacular, gut-wrenching beauty of a book. Title: Illuminae Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Genre: Science Fiction, Epistolary Novel, Young Adult Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Publication Date: October 2015 Hardcover: 599 Pages This morning, Kady thought…