As a primarily contemporary reader, nothing excites me on the eve of a new year like the promise of new stories of brutal realism, light romance, psychological thrill rides, and everything in between. Being that contemporary is my absolute favorite genre, my “must-read” list is far longer than this, but apparently it’s frowned upon to […]
In 2015, We Need Diverse Books’ battle cry for more diverse reads rang out loud and clear! And in 2016, thanks to readers who are demanding more and publishers who are heeding the call, we can expect even more fabulous—and decidedly diverse—reads to hit the shelves. Herewith, just a small sampling of the awesomely diverse […]
Welcome back, sophomores! We loved their first books, we’ve anxiously awaited their followups, and now they are magically almost here. While they’re dominated by contemporary (largely because this post is strictly for standalones; great in-series sophomore novels can be found as part of the upcoming sequels preview), they range from sweet summer romance to sweeping intergenerational, […]
We all know that representation matters—now more than ever. But the CBC’s latest report on diversity numbers in kid lit and YA shows that while we’re still making strides slowly but surely toward increasing the number of protagonists of color and from other marginalized communities in the books we read, the bottom line is that […]
Sophomore Slump. Second Book Syndrome. We’ve all heard the ways a sophomore book can tank for readers, and if you happen to be an author, too, well…you’re probably very well familiar with how horrendous the experience of writing that first book under contract can be. But fear not, sophomores! It can be done! It will […]