A Month of Reading: December

Best reads of the past month:

Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
This fun little book was like a sweet summer's day in the dead of winter. Mara Valentine reminds me of myself in high school. Socially backward and uninterested in being otherwise. Single-minded when it comes to being valedictorian. Hopelessly in love with a really cool guy. One of my favorite things about Mara is that, rather than letting herself be consumed by her ex-boyfriend's lameness, she opts for a healthier obsession and becomes a vegan. Awesome.

Best rereads of the past month:

In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce
Read the first one last month, so I had to follow up with the rest of the series. What fun books. They got me through being 13. Somehow I'm not surprised they can get me through being 28, too.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
The anticipation for Book 7 is rising fast. I figured I'd go back and give Book 6 its first reread. It was great. I picked up on tons of stuff I missed the first feverish time around. My only requirement for Book 7: Harry cannot die. And neither can Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, or Neville. Do you hear me, Ms. Rowling? They're off limits. Please.

Deerskin by Robin McKinley
Because when she takes a story in hand, you can trust her. And you finish the book thinking it could never have been written any other way.

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Interview with Diana Peterfreund + Rampant Giveaway!

Ever since I fell in love with Diana Peterfreund 's Secret Society Girl series last year, I've been hoping I'd get the chance to interview her here. Tomorrow marks the release of her new novel, Rampant , and let me tell you that you have not read a book like this before. You can read my review here , but all you really need to know is that it's a story about killer unicorns and the young women who hunt them. You want to read it now, don't you? Oh, yeah, and it's YA and the first in a series! To celebrate the release, Diana graciously answered a few of my most burning questions. As she is always a delight, I know you'll enjoy them as much as I did. First things first: When did the idea for Rampant first hit you and what (if anything) did you know right off the bat? In early 2005, just after selling Secret Society Girl , I had this dream of being chased by a very dangerous unicorn. I woke up and went to go look it up to see if I could figure out the meanin...

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

This book has made the rounds and no mistake. I started seeing early reviews awhile back and read a few delightful interviews with Leanna Renee Hieber and found myself intrigued to read her first novel-- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker . I was, therefore, tickled to receive a copy for review from Ms. Hieber and quickly set about settling in. I knew it was a Gothic paranormal mystery of sorts, featuring (among other things) a group of loyal comrades, a private London academy, a bit of magic, an albino, and a swoon-worthy broody professor a la Richard Armitage in North & South . *moment of silence for the awesomeness of The Armitage* And that was the extent of my pre-reading knowledge. That and the fact that I loved the cover with its simple yet moody, midnight blue and its slightly off-kilter, scripty title. Miss Percy Parker is about to embark on an adventure, albeit a much larger one than she imagines. Leaving the convent--the only home she's ever known--a...

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see: The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes , basically every book in The Cabots series , and of course We Could Be So Good . And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just take care of each other as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other. Only two things in the world people count b...

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