Praise for Crow's Rest

The 4-star review for Crow's Rest that just came out from San Francisco Book Review reminded me that I never posted an excellent review from my local paper, The Mountain Democrat. So I'm posting a few quotes from each, along with the links to read the entire reviews.

On June 4, 2018, Wendy Schultz of The Mountain Democrat said:

"A haunted castle (one everybody knows), a clash between realities, changelings, fairies and teenage hormones make for a combustible tale that is just beginning. If you love fantasy and characters who continue through a series of books, you’re going to enjoy Angelica R. Jackson’s young adult fantasy adventure series, “Faerie Crossed.”"

You can read the full review in The Mountain Democrat's Between The Covers feature.

In the September 2018 issue of San Francisco Book Review, reviewer Elizabeth Konkel also had praise for Crow's Rest:

"The story focuses on a small group of characters, each one well-defined, whose actions drive the plot forward, even the lovable dog next door has a part to play...Jackson has delightful and often flirty humor woven into a story of courage, adventure, love, secrets, and strength."

You can read the full review on the San Francisco Book Review site.

I'm so happy that Crow's Rest is getting some love, as we're barely a month away from the release of the sequel, Merlin's Stronghold. You can click on the cover below to pre-order Merlin's Stronghold on Kindle (the other formats won't be live until October 23).

RTW: Best Book(s) of August 2011

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What's the best book you've read in August?

I jumped the gun a little on this post back on August 12, where I listed some great books I'd been reading. You can follow the above link for my comments and a video, but the titles were:

White Cat, Red Glove, and The Poison Eaters by Holly Black
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst
Zombies vs. Unicorns ed. by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

All of those are definitely recommendations (can't wait for the next Curse Workers book, Black Death) and I'll probably reread them again sometime, but the best book of the month for me was not technically YA (although it was exactly the kind of book I would have been delighted to find as a teen):



I've mentioned before that I used to work in a book store (where I met my husband, but that's another RTW) and one of our former coworkers is now a sales rep for a publisher. He and his wife (who also met while working at the same book store, but that's another another RTW)(and also, HI!, since she reads my blog) kindly send me packages of books every once in a while.

The last two boxes were a treasure trove of titles that I haven't quite worked my way through, including some Gene Wolfe books. Anvil of the World was nestled in there, and I can see that there was a theme going on. Kage Baker does a lot of the same kind of highly skilled character- and world-building as Wolfe, but she adds little brushstrokes of humor a la Terry Pratchett. The closest book in tone that I can think of is The Flying Sorcerers by David Gerrold and Larry Niven.

Here's the little blurb on Anvil of the World from Amazon: "The Anvil of the World is the tale of Smith and his feud-prone people, the Children of the Sun. Smith, formerly a successful assassin, is trying to retire, hoping to live an honest life in obscurity in spite of all those who have sworn to kill him. But when he agrees to be the master of a caravan from traveling from the inland city of Troon to Salesh by the sea, trouble follows.As always, Baker's approach is charmingly distinctive. Smith's adventure is certainly the only fantasy featuring a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat."

This was one of those books that the entire time I was reading it, and after I finished, I kept telling my husband, "You have to read this one!", even though our tastes don't always overlap. But I also say to you, dear blog readers, "You have to read this one!"

Read-a-Thon

I don't usually do book reviews, but I will occasionally recommend books as part of the YAHighway Road Trip Wednesdays that round up the best books of the month. But rather than wait for the next one, I've had the opportunity over the last week to catch up on my TBR list, and to discover some new favorites. So here's what I've been reading and liking lately:








I've been on a bit of a Holly Black binge, mainly because I stumbled across White Cat at the library and liked it so much that I hunted down some more of her titles(Tithe and Valiant are still in the TBR pile), including its sequel Red Glove. I loved the characters and alternate world she created for these two; a good read for boys, too.

The next book is Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst, and I stumbled on this video so why not let her tell you about it?

Sarah Beth Durst Talks About Enchanted Ivy

And lastly, I mowed through Zombies vs. Unicorns in a day. And, strangely, it took another week before I had a zombie-filled nightmare. Mmm, that sounds like a delicious snack cake: Zombie-Filled Nightmare! Now with spongey cake! Pardon me, you have some raspberry filling around your mouth . . .

Back from a real-world road trip

YA Highway and friends are at it again for Road Trip Wednesday.

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic:What's the best book you read this month (September)?

We just got back from a road trip to southern Utah, where we explored Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Escalante. Beautiful country and we stayed in a great little house, with a kitchen and sunrise/sunset views. It pretty much made the 2-day drive each way to get there worth it (I am not a pleasant long-drive companion--my inner 10-year-old comes out: "when are we going to get there?" "I need to get out and play, we've been in the car for hours" This last whine starting at about the 20-minute mark)

We did listen to the Book Thief on CD; I had read it but my husband hadn't, so that was a great choice. We walked around calling each other soumensch and soukerl for the rest of the trip--although we made sure to do it softly when there were Germans around, which seemed to be a lot of the time. And Italians, too. There was a really cute group of young Italian women that just chattered away the whole shuttle trip, and I'm pretty sure teasing sounds the same in any language. And they teased each other mercilessly.

We also got most of the way through an audio of Bite Me by Christopher Moore, which could almost be YA considering that it's narrated by a wonderfully snarky, annoying Goth teen. She has some of the greatest lines--mostly insults. I would say this was my favorite book of the trip even though I technically listened to it rather than reading it. But I would recommend reading the first book in the series, Bloodsucking Fiends, before tackling Bite Me. Incidentally, the beginning of Bite Me is pretty much a recap of the second book, You Suck, from different POVs. You can skip the second book or savor it, whichever you please.