Like most audiobook listeners, I have some narrators I love: Jim Dale, Barbara Rosenblat, almost anyone at Full Cast Audio. Then there are some who are just duds, who can turn a good book into an annoying or even miserable experience.
Archives for March 2012
STACKED’s review policy: Expanded and updated
We’ve updated our review policy page — we’ve been using the same guidelines for a couple of years now, and given the influx of pitches we’ve received lately, we wanted to be more up-to-date. You can find the updated version under the table at the top of our blog, as well as pasted below.
Our blog receives good traffic, with over 800 subscribers, roughly 300 unique hits a day and 15,000 page views a month, as of March 2012.
Please note that we are selective in accepting pitches. The best way to approach us is to be familiar with our review policy and contact us with some knowledge of why your book would be a good fit with our reading interests and preferences. We respond to those pitches in which we’re interested in only.
We cannot make guarantees for reviews or other blog features, but we make our best effort to read and review what we receive. Our collective email address is stacked.books [at] gmail [dot] com and you can find our individual contact information below.
Genres of Interest
We accept most genres, though we have preferences as outlined below. We do not accept self-published titles unless it is by an author with a proven track record, and we do not accept e-books unless we request it specifically (via Netgalley or Edelweiss). Pitches including unrequested e-books will not be opened.
Genres of most interest include:
– Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade: realistic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, coming-of-age, mystery/thriller, historical fiction, and romance are favorites.
– Adult and Young Adult Non-Fiction: contemporary issues, social issues, psychology, cook books, history books that tell about lesser-known events or that put a new twist on well-known events, memoirs or biographies.
Kelly’s Preferences
I prefer contemporary YA, but I also love adult non-fiction, genre-bending books (especially magical realism), and psychological thrillers of the YA or adult variety. Favorite authors include CK Kelly Martin, Blake Nelson, Nova Ren Suma, Courtney Summers, Siobhan Vivian, Melissa Walker, and Blythe Woolston. You can get an idea of favorite specific titles across all genres on my GoodReads page.
You can reach me at kellybjensen [at] gmail [dot] com.
Kimberly’s Preferences
My favorite genres include science fiction and fantasy (including dystopias/post-apocalyptic stories), mysteries/thrillers (especially heist stories), historical fiction, and some contemporary fiction. These hold across both YA and adult fiction. I’m also an audio book listener in any of these genres. Please feel free to pitch me your full-color, plot-driven graphic novels, too. Examples of favorite recent reads include Ilsa Bick’s Ashes, S. A. Bodeen’s The Raft, Vera Brosgol’s Anya’s Ghost, Ally Carter’s Heist Society series, Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Kim Harrington’s Clarity, Pete Hautman’s Obsidian Blade, A. S. King’s Everybody Sees the Ants, Y. S. Lee’s Mary Quinn mysteries, Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace, Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, Meg Rosoff’s There Is No Dog, Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Amy Kathleen Ryan’s Glow, Laura Wiess’ novels, Gene Yang’s work, and Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.
You can reach me at kimberlymfrancisco [at] gmail [dot] com.
Jen’s Preferences
I prefer YA and MG, with the occasional adult or nonfiction book thrown in. Favorite genres include contemporary, fantasy, magical realism, and dystopian across all reading levels. Favorite authors include Libba Bray, Jennifer Brown, Meg Cabot, Kate Messner, Patrick Ness, Laurel Snyder, and Sara Zarr.
You can reach me at jpetroroy [at] gmail [dot] com.
Genres Generally Not Accepted
Please do not pitch us paranormal/paranormal romance, morality tales, religious fiction, or self-published titles unless you have a proven track record of traditional publication.
Formats Accepted
We accept print books, including graphic novels in any of our preferred genres. We also accept audio books.
Cross-posting
We link our reviews not only to the blog, but also to our respective GoodReads accounts (Kelly, Kimberly, and Jen), to Twitter (Kelly, Kimberly, and Jen), and to other sites, including Amazon and Pinterest.
Giveaways and Other Features
While our goal is to promote reading, we are selective in accepting books for blog tours unless it fits well within our genre interests. We are, however, receptive to author interviews, guest posts, and other similar opportunities. We will not participate in a tour, interview or giveaway if we are not offered the opportunity to review material beforehand.
Giveaway Policy
All giveaways are one entry per person, unless otherwise specified. Parameters of any giveaway are listed, and sources are disclosed. Only entries received via designated entry forms will be accepted, in respect for the privacy of our readers. All giveaways are open only to those 13 and older. Winners are notified via email.
Privacy Statement
We respect the privacy of all publishers and of those who enter contests we may hold. Therefore, no publisher’s contact information will be shared with others and no personal information of readers who enter our contests will be shared.
Disclosures
Per FTC guidelines, we disclose where we have received our review items. While we believe our reviews speak for themselves, we disclose any personal relationships we may have out of respect to our readers.
We are happy to have you stop by!
At the Hub: March debuts
I’m over at YALSA’s The Hub blog today, sharing some of the debut novels coming out in March. I’d love if you’d check it out — bet you didn’t realize this month was the month of featuring a girl with a weapon on your cover.
Let’s hit the road: Books featuring road trips
“Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” — John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley
A lot of people give Jack Kerouac credit for the road trip novel — he wrote his well-known travelogues when America was building highways to allow for cross-country travel. And without doubt, On the Road is one of those books that is a classic (I would go as far as to call it a classic, not just a cult classic). But Kerouac’s novel is nothing compared to Steinbeck’s road trip book, Travels with Charley. My dog-earned, spine-bent copy of Steinbeck’s work is marked up like crazy with great lines and observations that happen when one takes a cross country journey — he cuts to the heart of people and places in a way that sort of defines the purpose of a road trip all together.
The idea of the road trip is all about the idea of change and growth, of observation and discovery. More than that, it’s about freedom, which is why I think it’s such a huge trend in the YA world. It’s a trend I dig quite a bit as a road trip junkie myself.
Here’s a list of road trip books that have been published in the last couple of years, along with a handful of titles to be published in 2012 that incorporate a road trip as a key element to the story. I’m certainly not going to hit them all, and they’re in no particular order, though I’ve noted the publication dates on the titles not out yet. You’ll see reviews of a few of these in the next few weeks, too.
If you can think of other recent titles, leave a comment. I’d be particularly interested in road trip novels that don’t take place in the States or more than feature male main characters. And I urge anyone who loves a good road trip novel to read Steinbeck’s book if you haven’t, and I think without doubt, both it and Kerouac’s books have teen appeal — I know I read them both for fun when I was in high school.
All descriptions come from WorldCat.
Take Me There by Carolee Dean: After violating his parole, seventeen-year-old, semi-literate Dylan Dawson drives from California to Texas to try to see his father on death row in an attempt to figure out how his own life has gone so terribly awry.
Crash Into Me by Albert Borris: Four suicidal teenagers go on a “celebrity suicide road trip,” visiting the graves of famous people who have killed themselves, with the intention of ending their lives in Death Valley, California.
Saving June by Hannah Harrington: After her sister’s suicide, Harper Scott takes off for California with her best friend Laney to scatter her sister’s ashes in the Pacific Ocean.
In Honor by Jessi Kirby (May 8, 2012): Three days after she learns that her brother Finn died serving in Iraq, Honor receives a letter from him asking her to drive his car from Texas to California for a concert, and when his estranged best friend shows up suddenly and offers to accompany her, they set off on a road trip that reveals much about all three of them.
Catch & Release by Blythe Woolston: Eighteen-year-old Polly and impulsive, seventeen-year-old Odd survive an deadly outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria, but resulting wounds have destroyed their plans for the future and with little but their unlikely friendship and a shared affection for trout fishing, they set out on a road trip through the West.
The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg: A novel based on the true story of seventeen-year-old Clara Estby’s walk across America with her mother Helga in 1896, to win a ten thousand dollar prize and save their home from foreclosure.
Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown (July 10, 2012): Seventeen-year-old Kendra, living in the shadow of her brother’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, takes a life-changing road trip with him.
Don’t Stop Now by Julie Halpern: Recent high school graduates Lil and Josh leave Illinois for Oregon seeking Lil’s sort-of friend Penny, who faked her own kidnapping to escape problems at home and an abusive boyfriend, but Lil also wants to find out if she and Josh are meant to be more than friends.
Thou Shalt Not Road Trip by Antony John: Sixteen-year-old Luke Dorsey is sent on a cross-country tour to promote his bestselling spiritual self-help guide accompanied by his agnostic older brother and former girlfriend Fran, from whom he learns some things about salvation.
Pretty Bad Things by CJ Skuse: When they were six years old, twins Beau and Paisley were famous for surviving on their own after their mother died of a drug overdose, and now, at sixteen, they escape from their abusive grandmother to look for their father, who is out of prison and, unbeknownst to them, has been writing them letters since he was put away.
Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith: When her boyfriend Zan leaves high school in Utah a year early to attend Pitzer College, a broken-hearted Joy and Zan’s best friend Noah take off on a road trip to California seeking “closure.”
Kiss the Morning Star by Elissa Janine Hoole (April 1, 2012): The summer after high school graduation and one year after her mother’s tragic death, Anna and her long-time best friend Kat set out on a road trip across the country, armed with camping supplies and a copy of Jack Kerouac’s Dharma Bums, determined to be open to anything that comes their way.
Finding Somewhere by Joseph Monninger: Determined to set an old horse free, sixteen-year-old Hattie and eighteen-year-old Delores head west in search of range land on a road trip that takes unexpected turns as the girls get their own taste of freedom and confront the reasons they left home.
Reunited by Hilary Weisman Graham (June 12, 2012): Alice, Summer, and Tiernan were best friends who broke up at the same time as their favorite band, but four years later, just before they are preparing to go off to college, the girls reluctantly come back together, each with her own motives, for a road trip from Massachusetts to Austin, Texas, for the band’s one-time-only reunion concert.
Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler: Ever since V’s mom dumped her with her grandparents, she’s bounced from guy to guy. That is, until a fateful hockey puck lands her in the lap of Sam Almond, who is different from the start. But V makes an irreversible mistake at her graduation party and risks losing Sam forever, spurring her on a cross country road trip to visit her mom in hopes of putting two thousand miles between herself, Sam, and the wreckage of that night.
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green: Having been recently dumped for the nineteenth time by a girl named Katherine, recent high school graduate and former child prodigy Colin sets off on a road trip with his best friend to try to find some new direction in life while also trying to create a mathematical formula to explain his relationships.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray: In an attempt to find a cure after being diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s (aka mad cow) disease, Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen-year-old boy, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital.
Nobody but Us by Kristin Halbrook (January 2013): Two teenagers who, in search of a better life, run away to Vegas, but realize they can’t run fast enough when they end up wanted by the police, out of money, and out of options, pitched as a YA Bonnie and Clyde.
I think it’d be neat if someone manipulated a Google Map and actually included all of the trips through these books on it. That was my original plan in writing this, but I haven’t read enough of the titles/remember all of the journeys. But it’s there for the taking if someone wants to give that project a go.
So You Want to Read YA?: Jen’s picks
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