Review: My True Love Gave To Me

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: October 14, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: young adult romance short stories
(mostly contemp, but some magical realism & fantasy)

Format/Source: eARC, from the publisher
HC & audio, purchased from B&N and Audible respectively

Status: short story anthology, standalone
one story has a sequel in Summer Days & Summer Nights

Summary:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ...This beautiful collection features twelve gorgeously romantic stories set during the festive period, by some of the most talented and exciting YA authors writing today. The stories are filled with the magic of first love and the magic of the holidays.

Blog Tour: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Rating: 4 stars

Pub Date: April 26, 2016

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Genre: young adult fantasy

Format/Source: ARC, from the publisher

Status: STANDALONE (!!!)

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. The full tour schedule can be found HERE. Please go give my fellow tour hosts some love!

Summary:

Fate and fortune. Power and passion. What does it take to be the queen of a kingdom when you're only seventeen?

Maya is cursed. With a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, she has earned only the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her whole world is torn apart when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. Soon Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Neither roles are what she expected: As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds something else entirely: Compassion. Protection. Desire...

But Akaran has its own secrets -- thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Soon, Maya suspects her life is in danger. Yet who, besides her husband, can she trust? With the fate of the human and Otherworldly realms hanging in the balance, Maya must unravel an ancient mystery that spans reincarnated lives to save those she loves the most. . .including herself.

A lush and vivid story that is steeped in Indian folklore and mythology. The Star-Touched Queen is a novel that no reader will soon forget.

Waiting on Wednesday: My True Love Gave To Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

My True Love Gave To Me

edited by Stephanie Perkins

Coming October 14, 2014

St. Martin's Press

Summary:

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Why I want it:

Perkins. Taylor. White. Levithan. Rowell. Forman. Han. I mean, how can I not want this?! They're all my favorite authors IN ONE ANTHOLOGY TOGETHER! Plus, I met Stephanie for the first time at Dark Days in February. My True Love Gave To Me had already been announced so I told her I was looking forward to reading it. She didn't give me any hints or anything, but just her excitement about the book got me even more excited. It's an infectious thing, and I am so grateful for that opportunity to talk to Stephanie about this book, which is a vastly different project than what she's done before. That was a really cool moment, and I'm glad I'll always have it!

Why I think you should want it:

Perkins. Taylor. White. Levithan. Rowell. Forman. Han. They're probably all your favorites too! Plus, there's a rumor that Laini's story is part of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone universe.... And as each couple on the cover represents each story and there's a boy with horns & gazelle legs skating with a blond girl...those rumors may be more true than you might first believe...

Will you be picking up My True Love Gave To Me come October? Or are you desperately hoping and waiting to see if your Netgalley request has been approved like I am? Whose story are you most excited for? Please share your thoughts and your picks for WoW in the comments!

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Rating: 5 stars

Pub Date: September 10, 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (imprint of Macmillan)

Genre: young adult/new adult, contemporary romance, college fic

Format/Source: hardcover, borrowed from the library

Status: standalone

Summary:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?