We made it through the spoopiest month of the year! October is over, and hopefully yours was great! In very fun personal news, I was very ace and pan in public. You might not be able to tell, but my shoes are pan colors (and super comfy), and my friend also did my eyeshadow in…
It’s Monday and I don’t have a full review for you today. However, I do have several mini-reviews of books I’ve listened to in the last few weeks! You can read some previous selections of my Monday Mini-Reviews here, if you’re interested in more of these. The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy – Mackenzi Lee I…
As you guys know, I’ve been working on a lot of fiction recently. As such, I’ve been taking advantage of a lot of great resources. I thought it might be fun to share some of those resources with you, my friends! Today’s list is all about worldbuilding and scene setting. 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Method for Setting…
When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn in In The Vanisher’s Palace, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn’s amusement. But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to…
An adult anthology of 5 stories featuring trickster themes, each loaded to the brim with conspiracies, scoundrels, tricks and plot twists galore. A jilted silent film star plans a revenge heist with the unscrupulous childhood friend he always found rather handsome. A bank tycoon’s son plans to run off with Daddy’s money—and maybe his florist.…
The Poet X – Elizabeth Acevedo I listened to the audiobook for The Poet X because I know my attention span for poetry isn’t as great as it could be. I did not regret a single second of it. Acevedo is a stunning poet, and her narration of Xiomara’s story was heartbreaking and perfect. This…
What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when you find them?Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. From early childhood, she heard the story of her adoption as a comforting,…
Hello, readers! Welcome back to CandidCeillie, where we are interviewing Destiny Soria, author of Iron Cast and Beneath the Citadel. Destiny Soria grew up in a tiny town in Alabama that you’ve never heard of, where she spent her summers playing with sticks in the woods and exploring such distinguished careers as Forest Bandit, Wayward Orphan, and Woodland…
The first time the Nightmares came in A Blade so Black, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she’s trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.Life in real-world Atlanta isn’t always so simple, as Alice juggles…
It’s September, which means I turned 25 this month! Happy birthday to me! Here’s all the stuff I did! I signed my book for the first time for the fabulous Shauna (they pronouns, left photo) and met Zoraida Córdova (she pronouns, right photo) in person for the first time at the Bookmarks NC Book Festival in…
In 500 Words or Less, Nic Chen refuses to spend her senior year branded as the girl who cheated on her charismatic and lovable boyfriend. To redefine her reputation among her Ivy League–obsessed classmates, Nic begins writing their college admissions essays.But the more essays Nic writes for other people, the less sure she becomes of…
This post was written by Pablo Cartaya, author of Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish. I loved books and movies and TV shows as a kid. The problem I had was that so many shows had characters that looked nothing like me. It wasn’t until I went to the premier of the “Super Mario Bros” movie that…
Hello, friends! Today, I am we are proud to be interviewing stunning author and intersectional social justice advocate L.L. McKinney. McKinney is the author of the very-soon-to-be-released A Blade so Black – a badass Alice in Wonderland retelling! Get to know her and then go grab her book! A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling…
Maaya is a teenager who can see ghosts, and she and her three friends get by on the poor streets of Sark by sealing away troublesome spirits under the direction of a deceptive, malicious wealthy man. Accompanying them is a ghost named Saber, Maaya’s long-time friend. Maaya doesn’t concern herself with world affairs, focusing only…
I’m supposed to be doing a lot more resting than I am, but one of the ways I’ve been doing that is by watching relaxing reality television shows. You’d think that those don’t necessarily go together, but Great Britain came through for me. This group of shows is delightful, because you get to get invested…