Ready, set, blog! (reflective) - blog challenges ahead

Did you ever get a "little set in your ways"?
Is it time to push your writing muscles a bit?
A blog challenge may be just what you need!

With over 150 book recommendations, BooksYALove heads into its 12th month with a wow, as I participate in the A to Z Blog Challenge in April.

Rather than just posting 3 books a week, I will be posting on 26 of April's 30 days according to the Challenge's alphabetical schedule, starting with A on Sunday, April 1 (no fooling).

Naturally, trying to align the alphabet with the stack of great YA books that I want to recommend isn't as easy as I'd hoped. Using book titles would be simple - if I had some that began with X or didn't have multiple titles that all start with the same letter. Ditto for authors' names, last or first. So, there will be a few entries that get shoehorned into a letter slot because of their subject or a major character.

But why do a blog challenge in the first place? You've heard that it takes 30 days to acquire a new habit, so a month-long challenge with a set framework and some coaching will make your success more likely, as will being accountable to the challenge organizers and fellow bloggers as we exercise our blog-writing 'muscles' and encourage each other.

On April 30th, my blog's first birthday, I'll take another deep breath and plunge into the full 31-day Wordcount Blogathon, with a big thank-you to its host Michelle Rafter. Yep, I finally began blogging so that I could participate in the 2011 Wordcount Blogathon. Lots of excellent advice, a forum to share our posts, guest post exchange - you should sign up for the 2012 version, too! It's free, you won't get any sales pitches, and your blogging muscles will get great exercise. Sign-ups will begin soon, so I'll remind you!

Ready, set, April!
**kmm
(photograph of lichen on oak branch (c)2012 H.B. Massingill Jr. - thanks, Dad!)

World Wednesday (fiction) - Writers from all over

When your mind wanders, where does your imagination take you?

If you really want to go places - without leaving your favorite reading spot - be sure to check out these interesting books written by authors from outside the USA.

Travel back to the time of Scheherazade when Yeats ventures Between Two Ends - magical bookends, that is - to rescue a young girl trapped in her favorite story decades ago, now facing almost-certain death. Canadian author David Ward takes readers far from the Bronze Age Britain setting of his Grassland Trilogy in this exciting tale.

Katherine wants people to see what's inside her, ignoring her burn scars - can she break free of limitations set by others, like Butterflies burst from their cocoons in the Sydney springtime? A story beyond the usual everyday high school worries, ably written by Australian Susanne Gervay.

French author Guillaume Prevost takes us all over the world, hopscotching across centuries as Sam uses The Book of Time to search for his father and stop a cunning criminal. William Rodarmor translated all 3 books in the series, with its dizzying turns and twists through time.

Amazing determination sets apart young Eon: Dragoneye Reborn from others competing to become Dragoneye apprentice. Courage and loyalty in the face of massive psychic and physical peril keeps Eona and her country alive in this adventure duology by Australian author Alison Goodman.

Berlin during the waning days of the Great War was an increasingly dangerous place, as Socialist demonstrators clashed with police and wounded German soldiers returning from the front lines told truths that the government would not let newspapers publish - German author and international schools teacher Monika Schroeder brings us young Moritz' perspective in My Brother's Shadow.

Japanese mythology collides with modern life in London as Miku and her friend Cait race to save the teen's baby brother from evil Takeshita Demons who have followed her family from Osaka. Australian author Cristy Burne sent me a tweet to say that books 2 & 3 in the series are now available in the US.

Living in London and going to school is much better than staying in their tiny Pakistani village for Halima, but the threat of an arranged marriage and no further education sends her running. The Payback promised by the groom's family will end her hopes of choosing her own Muslim husband and could end her life! British author Rosemary Hayes says only the names are fictional in this story.

Perhaps Mercy is the ultimate exchange student, flung from heaven to earth, suddenly awakening in someone else's body (with their mind riding shotgun), on a mission to stop a crime - when she doesn't know what it is yet! First in series by Australian author Rebecca Lim - Exile (book 2) and Muse (book 3) are already published, with Fury on the 2012 horizon.

Please do look for these fine books at your library or independent bookstore as you support the local institutions that take our imaginations everywhere! And click Non-US Authors in the Labels section on the right for these and other great books by writers who bring us different perspectives and other dreams.

**kmm
sitting on my Florida porch, wondering if those sunset clouds will ever bring us rain

Peter & Max (fiction), by Bill Willingham - Fables, love & revenge

Peter and Bo live up on The Farm,
keeping to themselves after Bo's crippling accident,
near the moon-jumping cow and that talkative puss.

Oh yes, storybook folk and creatures live in our boring mundane world, leaving behind the enemies and evils that attacked them in their magical homeworlds. But you won't find Fabletown on any maps of New York City and no country road will let you drive to The Farm upstate where all the magical animals stay. None of the Fables want to draw the attention of the mundy populace - laying low is their key to staying alive.

But here comes Peter's brother Max, asking for admittance to Fabletown after all these years of evil power and magical domination over Hamelin, outside the mysterious Black Forest.

He wants revenge, he wants Bo Peep, he wants to take over a new kingdom.

Even if you haven't read the Fables graphic novels, you'll enjoy the twists and turns of familiar Fables with Willingham's skillful backstory additions. And Fables fans will delight in this long-form narration which fills in some storyline gaps while staying ever-true to the series.

p.s. remember that the Fables series started publication over 10 years ago, well before TV shows like "Once Upon a Time" - see this interesting article by Bill Willingham.
**kmm

Book info: Peter & Max (a Fables novel) / Bill Willingham; illustrations by Steve Leialoha. Vertigo/DC Comics, 2009. [author's website] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Left for dead in the Black Forest, Peter and Max are separated from their minstrel family and must find their way through its terrors alone. Sinister forces prey upon the Piper brothers’ minds, twisting one toward wrathful revenge while the other draws closer to the magical music of the flute given to him by their father.

Making such otherworldly music exacts its price, and Peter’s mouth collects many small cuts and scars as he plays. Max finds an instrument of his own, invoking its darker powers to get back at Peter and anyone who may have helped him escape the Black Forest.

Yes, this is the tale of Peter Piper, whose playing gladdened the heart, and of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, who lured away all that town’s children. So long have their stories been told that the people are now Fables themselves, including Peter’s childhood friend and love of his life, Bo Peep.

Replaying the same dark vengeance wearies even Fables, so Peter and Bo decide to leave their storybook land and retire to an obscure corner of the human world. Such an unmagical place shouldn’t attract the dangerous interest of the dark forces who pursue Fables in their enchanted homelands – but sometimes evil slips through Fabletown’s watch spells and guards.

Max has come into the human world, and he plans to duel Peter to ultimate death, taking Bo Peep as his prize. Can Peter win this fight without exposing Fabletown to the humans?

Peter & Max is the first novel based on the long-running Fables graphic novel series, and author Bill Willingham has called on series cartoonist Steve Leialoha to provide illustrations for this compelling story. Whether you’re a longtime fan of the series or are visiting Fabletown for the first time, you’ll enjoy meeting familiar storybook characters in most unfamiliar circumstances. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Wizard of Dark Street (fiction) - magic, crime, beauty creams

Pendulum House, with its namesake device swooshing through the parlor in great arcs.
A dragonbone desk and enchanted daggers.
The Gates of Iron, opening into New York City every midnight for exactly 60 seconds.

Welcome to Dark Street, last of the 13 great roads connecting the worlds of humans and Faerie, in 1877 as yet another crime investigation is bungled by Inspector White. In just weeks, Oona Crate will be considered old enough to select her own life path, and she knows that she must become a true detective, ignoring the magical blood that flows through her.

Stereotypes for wizards and witches go by the wayside on Dark Street, as Oona must deal with slippery memories, the Goblin Tower prison, suppliers of contraband, and a most puzzling riddle.

The author has scripted, scored, and recorded a musical introduction to Oona's world that you won't want to miss in a video that charmingly showcases his composing and singing skills.

Look for The Wizard of Dark Street at your local library or independent bookstore.
**kmm

Book info: The Wizard of Dark Street / Shawn Thomas Odyssey. Egmont USA, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Oona wants to be a detective, not a wizard. Although she is the first natural-born magician in 200 years, she ought to be allowed to cultivate her other talents – as long as she doesn’t get permanently killed in the process.

As Wizard’s apprentice, Oona was learning spells needed to defend humankind if evil forces from Faerie realms attacked; even in the modern world of 1877, the Wizard must be ready. Dark Street lies in the heart of New York City, but ordinary humans rarely find this last corridor between the worlds of Man and Faerie.

But the Wizard’s disappearance, an increase in crimes along Dark Street, and an incompetent police inspector lead her to investigate many things – Why do only young witch girls venture out of Witch Hill? Who has stolen all of Madame Iree’s dresses? Is the blind actor a victim or a criminal?

A new apprentice must be selected since Oona wants to step away from that role, but which candidate will be chosen – witch girl, human young man, snooty Miss Iree, the clever brother? Something is wrong about all this…

Luckily, Oona has enchanted raven Deacon to tutor her in further magic and her own natural curiosity to lead her in detection. Are the criminals after something bigger than just designer dresses? Were her parents really killed by magic instead of an accident?

This first Oona Crate mystery places readers solidly into its 1877 setting and a very magical place indeed. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Becoming Marie Antoinette (fiction) - alliances, intrigue, braces

Everyone knows about Marie Antoinette and how her life ended at the guillotine...
On a World Wednesday, we look at what was it like before she became Queen of France.

This novel begins when she was just a little girl in Vienna, one of Empress Maria Theresa's many daughters, all destined for marriage into political alliances to benefit Austria.

As dentists put gold braces on her teeth and tutors smoothed her accent, Maria Antonia was completely refashioned into a princess in the French style, one whom the teenage Dauphin would desire as his wife.

The young strawberry-blond Dauphine despaired over many things in the unfamiliar French court, especially that her marriage to Louis-Auguste was not consummated for seven years - a male heir to the throne must be produced!

And author Juliet Grey (pseudonym of nonfiction author Leslie Carroll) reminds us that, as queen, Marie-Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake!" First book in a trilogy, to be followed by Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow in 2012.
**kmm

Book info: Becoming Marie Antoinette / Juliet Grey. Ballantine Books, 2011. [author's website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: As younger daughter of the Empress, Maria Antonia knows her life path already – to be married into a political alliance someday. But as a young girl, she would rather pick wildflowers than practice foreign languages, would rather chase butterflies than learn court etiquette. To her, the French ambassador’s visit to Austria in 1766 was a surprise; his announcement that she was now betrothed to the King’s grandson was a shock! Someday, the Dauphin would become King of France – someday, this shy 10-year-old girl would reign beside him as Queen Marie Antoinette.

However, there was much to be done in the years before their wedding. Antonia’s healthy complexion had to become pale in the French manner, her crooked teeth straightened (yes, she truly wore golden braces, agonizingly painful in their beauty), her accent polished, even her hairline had to recover from all those tight-pulled ponytails of childhood.

In the meantime, smallpox claimed members of the Austrian court and threatened the Empress, another sister was promised in marriage to the far-off King of Sicily, and Antonia finally receives a portrait of the Dauphin, so handsome and serious, waiting for her at Versailles.

At the grand ceremony on the French-Austrian border, a proxy stands in for Louis Auguste who must remain with his grandfather the King of France as they are declared married and numerous treaties are signed. Maria Antonia leaves behind her childhood as she crosses the river, becoming Marie-Antoinette, a young teenager without allies in a foreign court full of intrigue.

Written as a diary, Antonia’s observations about the differences between life with her 15 brothers and sisters in Austria and the scandalous behavior of French courtiers trying to move up the social ladder at Versailles are fascinating. First in a trilogy, Becoming Marie Antoinette ends just as the Dauphin becomes King of France. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

A little traveling music please (reflective)

How time flies... our baby-girl is getting married tomorrow!
I love this photo of us from Austin College homecoming 23 years ago :-)

This wedding will be "suits and boots" instead of tuxedos and formality, as the bride wears my wedding veil with her new dress, the groom spiffs up his cowboy boots, and their puggle dog sports a dashing bow-tie collar. Family and friends will be there from far and wide to toast the happy couple over barbecue and the bride's famous cupcake tower (wait till they see the groom's cupcakes!!).

So we're praying for good weather, planning for bad weather, charging the camera batteries and hoping that the mascara really is waterproof as we journey by plane and car from work location to home to a lovely chapel in the Texas Hill Country for her special day.

It will be different from this scene - that's my husband and me renewing our vows five years ago in Beijing in a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony on our 25th anniversary.

Back to new books next week - here's your invitation to browse through the 150+ recommendations on this site with the Labels on the right or perhaps search by keywords using the box at top left (with the magnifying glass symbol).

I'll enjoy a cupcake for ya!
**kmm

Mercy (fiction) - exiled from Heaven, dreams of demons, earthly evil

Jolting along on a school bus,
gradually becoming aware of her surroundings,
whose body is Mercy in this time?

Meet an exile from Heaven who doesn't know why she keeps coming back to earth,
or why she feels that she must help the person that she's unwillingly "soul-jacked",
or why her immortal beloved warns her in nightmare-dreams not to interfere in this world.

A kidnapping, long-standing grudges between choir directors from neighboring schools, dogs that bark at Carmen/Mercy and at no one else... the town of Paradise isn't living up to its name for the visiting choir students - will they manage to perform this challenging work without losing anyone along the way?

First in series by Australian author Rebecca Lim, Mercy is followed by Exile (book 2) and Muse (book 3). Be sure to read these in order before Fury (book 4) arrives in 2012!
**kmm

Book info: Mercy / Rebecca Lim. (Mercy, book 1). Hyperion, 2010. [author interview] [book Facebook page] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Recommendation: Landing in an earthly body is so hard – having only fragments of memory makes it even worse for Mercy, every time she wakes up in a new body. Trying to make it through the day without alarming those who knew the person before this, struggling through her nightmares – why can’t this exile from heaven remember the reason she keeps coming back to earth, again and again and again?

This time, Mercy is inhabiting the body of teenaged Carmen, part of a high school choir traveling to their annual multi-school concert. Everyone will stay with host families in Paradise, attend classes, practice with together other area high school choirs and directors, then perform a grand concert. Uh-oh, Carmen is a soloist?! Mercy falters badly on Carmen’s first solo – Tiffany will delightedly step in if she blows it again.

Carmen’s host family includes handsome high school student Ryan and his grieving parents – his twin sister Lauren was kidnapped two years ago. After an awkward beginning, Carmen and Ryan get along okay as he shares his conviction that Lauren is still alive. Mercy’s nighttime demon warns her not to get involved, but hints that perhaps the police really didn’t get all the facts from Lauren’s local boyfriend…

Naturally, the choir teens are flirting through rehearsals instead of concentrating on the new music. So the directors divide and conquer, working with sections separately so they’ll be ready on time. One practice with Mr. Stenborg (“call me Paul”) and Mercy can finally call on Carmen’s amazing abilities (yes, Carmen’s still in this body, too) to sing like an angel. The other directors are envious; Tiffany is openly furious.

Even as two directors battle over how Carmen should sing certain parts, Ryan and Mercy uncover information about Lauren’s disappearance that leads them into terrible danger. Will Mercy’s actions while in Carmen’s body hurt the singer’s scholarship chances? Will she get to stay in this body long enough to find Lauren, to sing in the concert, to discover why she cannot stay in heaven?

Australian author Lim crafts a strong story of paranormal mystery, human evil, and undying love in this first book of a new series. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.