By Heidi Ayarbe Compulsion. Ten letters. Ten plus zero equals 10. Damn! Not good. If you’re wondering what I’m raving about, wait until you dive into Compulsion and into the very chaotic head of seventeen-year-old Jake Martin, star soccer player and OCD sufferer. Jake’s held prisoner by his compulsions – needing the time, or people’s [ Read the full article… ]

In case you were wondering, the Cybils judging is going just fine. Thanks. Every waking second that I’m not working, writing or mommying/wifeing I’m reading. In reality, that’s not really a lot of seconds but for the first time in history my fast reading skills have come in handy. For once, consuming a book in [ Read the full article… ]

By Vicky Alvear Shecter I like historical fiction – more than I realized until I became a total Ken Follett nut. I like reading about ancient cultures. The past is fascinating to me because it’s already happened and can be analyzed and picked apart to death. I’m an overanalyzing kind of gal (the first step [ Read the full article… ]

Queen of water by Laura Resau Every book has its place and its audience. Although The Queen of Water is fiction, it’s based on a true story and it read like a biography. I think readers who enjoy biographies and those who have an interest in learning about different cultures will be most drawn to [ Read the full article… ]

In honor of Teen Read Week, I’ll try and post a review of some of the Cybils noms I’m reading. Cybils YA noms have topped out at a little over 180 submissions. *swoons* Two weeks into it and being a first round judge is all that it’s cracked up to be. All YA, all the [ Read the full article… ]

When I sold So Not The Drama in 2006, among YA’s hot topics were not enough books featuring African American teens outside of the historical fiction or inner city blues realm and never enough “boy” books. I’m glad to say that based on this year’s Cybil nominations things are (have?) taking a turn. Leverage, by [ Read the full article… ]