Karenschoice books

Hello readers!   I am going to slow things down. Like, two posts a week instead of sporadically. I am going to be a sophomore in high school, and I am taking 7 classes (8 including lunch). It's one more class than many people, because I have 0 period AP European History.  I will keep reviewing and keep doing the things I do, but just twice a week, yeah? Also, I've got a huge treat for you on the fourteenth of this month. I've been working on it for ages and it's sucked up a lot of time and effort, so I hope it'll make up for my "slowing" of things.  What do you think? Do you have like, set days where you post, or do you just post whenever? -Kirthi

I've been reading articles and posts on this topic (most recently Kimberly Derting's blog) and I thought I'd guess a few answers. Is YA becoming darker? I think the impact of the growing trend was magnified by Twilight, which started a chain of paranormal films targeting teenagers. Authors then got into it, and started writing paranormal fiction, which caused teenagers to have more paranormal books to read, which publishers thought "More! More!" and that all sums up to an overall realisation that YA, conglomerated with other books, like YA for historical fiction and such, is overall becoming darker. That's not fair, is it? So no: I don't think that the genre of YA is becoming darker, I think that paranormal books, which are in nature really dark, are becoming and ARE popular. More paranormal books published outshine all the other YA books. Why? From a writer's perspective, using paranormal elements is an easy way to make a story interesting. O...

Hello readers! (and writers!)    I'd just like to tell you all about this super awesome competition that's going on over at my writing blog, Voyage . Here's what it's about, and the awesome prizes!  The Rules  Anyone is allowed to enter (must be a follower of voyage and Inky Compositions ) Entries must be the entrant's actual work (no stealing etc...) I doubt any of you would do that Word limit: 2000. You may go a little over or under, I don't mind Stories must be one of the chosen titles (no swearing, obscene writing, or other suggestive content) Must be sent to my e-mail: raokiki6(at)gmail(dot)com or Ashley's e-mail: asgwilli(at)gmail(dot)com  We'll e-mail you back confirming that we've received your entry  Titles To Choose: "Beautiful" "The Forest of Bones" "The Storyteller" "The Bakery" "A Million Smiles" "By Starlight" Prizes Ashley helped with the amazing! gift cards, and Ryan an...

book info: ages: 13 and up grades: 8 and up. years: 9 and up on sale: August 14th copy from: publisher (Crown) thanks! pages: 448 title: The Second Empress author: Michelle Moran After the bloody French Revolution, Emperor Napoleon’s power is absolute. When Marie-Louise, the eighteen year old daughter of the King of Austria, is told that the Emperor has demanded her hand in marriage, her father presents her with a terrible choice: marry the cruel, capricious Napoleon, leaving the man she loves and her home forever, or say no, and plunge her country into war. Marie-Louise knows what she must do, and she travels to France, determined to be a good wife despite Napoleon’s reputation. But lavish parties greet her in Paris, and at the extravagant French court, she finds many rivals for her husband’s affection, including Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine, and his sister Pauline, the only woman as ambitious as the emperor himself. Beloved by some and infamous to many, Pauline is fiercely loyal ...

Hello readers new and old!   Thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it! A little brush up on my tweaked rules: If I followed you, you are NOT required to follow me back: only if you want to :) If you follow me, I'll seriously consider following you back, but it's not guaranteed    I don't like how people are required to follow other blogs in this hop. I think people should follow a blog because he or she likes it, not because they feel obliged because the blog owner/writer followed him or her. You know? Now: on to the question! Q: Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy? My reading habits, changing on my mood...I'll eat chocolate if I'm feeling cozy. But I almost always read either Harry Potter, or Eragon when I eat chocolate. The only substantial habit I have while reading is to read without stopping, for hours and hours until I finish it (and if I'm interrupted, I'm in...

I finished this a week ago and have been meaning to post about it! My summer reading required me to complete a dialogue journal of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and I think I did loads better than last summer's. Blood, sweat and tears, my friends :) Since notebook was a plain, plastic green covered composition one, I decided to make it fit the....aura of the book, by making a cover out of newspaper. I cut out letters to make the titlte, and used postage envelops for the yellow strips (thanks to Scholastic, for the envelope, hehe) The golden ribbon is to keep the notebook shut and not bend any pages. Plus it's flashy :D The watercolour cover I made as my version. The one I had was with dominoes and I didn't really like it. The Book Thief, or my copy of it, did not have a table of contents, and my journal required I label the chapter, so I had to make my own table of contents. I wrote them on bookmarks, then hand-wrote them all together for a final time.  That's an exam...

book info: ages: 14 and up grades: 9 and up (Years 10 and up) on sale: now copy from: library publisher: Little, Brown and Company pages: 369 (big pages) title: The Blood of Flowers author: Anita Amirrezvani photo credit: goodreads In 17th-century Persia, a 14-year-old woman believes she will be married within the year. But when her beloved father dies, she and her mother find themselves alone and without a dowry. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to sell the brilliant turquoise rug the young woman has woven to pay for their journey to Isfahan, where they will work as servants for her uncle, a rich rug designer in the court of the legendary Shah Abbas the Great.  Despite her lowly station, the young woman blossoms as a brilliant designer of carpets, a rarity in a craft dominated by men. But while her talent flourishes, her prospects for a happy marriage grow dim. Forced into a secret marriage to a wealthy man, the young woman finds herself faced with a daunting dec...