Hey y’all, Kimberly here. I’m on vacation this week at a beautiful lake in New Hampshire (pictured below) snuggling my nephew and visiting family I haven’t seen in a decade. My regularly scheduled post this week is also on vacation! Have a great Wednesday, and I’ll see you all next week.
A curious thing in YA: title trends. I’ve seen many come and go, of course, and probably have many a draft post with a title trend as something worth covering. There are a lot of YA titles about Ashes and Fire. And as we’ve seen, the girl/s trend is no where near dissipating.
But this one caught me by surprise.
How about a ton of YA books on the edge? That is, YA books with “Edge” in the title. I didn’t notice it until looking at a few recent YA reads in alphabetical order by title. What a nice nod to what it is to be a teenager.
These are all relatively recent titles, pubbed in the last couple of years. Know of others? I’d love to hear them in the comments.
At The Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson
Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished.
More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie.
Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking.
When Ozzie is paired up with new student Calvin on a physics project, he begins to wonder if Calvin could somehow be involved. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy.
But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy–that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles
For the perfect love, what would you be willing to lose?
It’s been a shattering year for seventeen-year-old Zoe, who’s still reeling from her father’s shockingly sudden death in a caving accident and her neighbors’ mysterious disappearance from their own home. Then on a terrifying sub-zero, blizzardy night in Montana, she and her brother are brutally attacked in a cabin in the woods—only to be rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter they call X.
X is no ordinary bounty hunter. He is from a hell called the Lowlands, sent to claim the soul of Zoe’s evil attacker and others like him. X is forbidden from revealing himself to anyone other than his prey, but he casts aside the Lowlands’ rules for Zoe. As they learn more about their colliding worlds, they begin to question the past, their fate, and their future.
The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle
Growing up in privileged, Manhattan social circles, Caggie’s life should be perfect, and it almost was until the day that her younger sister drowned when Caggie was supposed to be watching her. Stricken by grief, Caggie pulls away from her friends and family, only to have everyone misinterpret a crucial moment when she supposedly saves a fellow classmate from suicide. Now she’s famous for something she didn’t do and everyone lauds her as a hero. But inside she still blames herself for the death of her sister and continues to pull away from everything in her life, best friend and perfect boyfriend included. Then Caggie meets Astor, the new boy at school, about whom rumours are swirling and known facts are few. In Astor she finds someone who just might understand her pain, because he has an inner pain of his own. But the more Caggie pulls away from her former life to be with Astor, the more she realises that his pain might be darker, and deeper, than anything she’s ever felt. His pain might be enough to end his life…and Caggie’s as well.
The Edge of Forever by Melissa E. Hurst
In 2013, sixteen-year-old Alora is having blackouts. Each time she wakes up in a different place with no idea how she got there. The one thing she is certain of? Someone is following her.
In 2146, seventeen-year-old Bridger is one of a small number of people born with the ability to travel to the past. While on a routine school time trip, he sees the last person he expected—his dead father. The strangest part is that, according to the Department of Temporal Affairs, his father was never assigned to be in that time. Bridger’s even more stunned when he learns that his by-the-book father was there to break the most important rule of time travel—to prevent someone’s murder.
And that someone is named Alora.
Determined to discover why his father wanted to help a “ghost,” Bridger illegally shifts to 2013 and, along with Alora, races to solve the mystery surrounding her past and her connection to his father before the DTA finds him. If he can stop Alora’s death without altering the timeline, maybe he can save his father too.
The Edge of The Abyss by Emily Skurtskie
Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart.
But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect?
Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?
The Edge of The Light by Elizabeth George (Also see her The Edge of The Water)
Since his beloved grandfather’s stroke, Seth has been focused on getting Grand home again, before his aunt can take advantage of the situation to get her hands on Grand’s valuable real estate. Then there’s Prynne. Seth would like to get his relationship with her on solid ground. He loves her, but can he believe she has her drug use under control?
Meanwhile, things are complicated for the other Whidbey Island friends. Derric has found Rejoice, the sister he left behind in Uganda, but Rejoice doesn’t know she is his sister. Jenn is discovering feelings for her teammate Cynthia, feelings her born-again Christian mother would never find acceptable. And Becca, hiding under a false identity since her arrival on the island, is concealing the biggest secret of all.
In the final book of the Whidbey Island saga, events build to a climax as secrets are revealed, hearts are broken, and lives are changed forever.
On The Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis
January 29, 2035.
That’s the day the comet is scheduled to hit—the big one. Denise and her mother and sister, Iris, have been assigned to a temporary shelter near their hometown of Amsterdam to wait out the blast, but Iris is nowhere to be found, and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going, they’ll never reach the shelter in time.
Then a last-minute encounter leads them to something better than a temporary shelter: a generation ship that’s scheduled to leave Earth behind and colonize new worlds after the comet hits. But each passenger must have a practical skill to contribute. Denise is autistic and fears that she’ll never be allowed to stay. Can she obtain a spot before the ship takes flight? What about her mother and sister?
When the future of the human race is at stake, whose lives matter most?
On The Edge by Allison van Diepen
Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back.
But when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. Lobo is mysterious and passionate, and Maddie begins to fall for him. But when they live this close to the edge, can their love survive?
On the Edge is a compelling story about fighting for what’s right and figuring out where you belong. The novel showcases a gritty, realistic voice and earth–shattering romance that will intrigue readers of Simone Elkeles and Paul Griffin and captivate fans of Allison van Diepen’s other novels.
Walk The Edge by Katie McGarry
Smart. Responsible. That’s seventeen-year-old Breanna’s role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyber-bully’s line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas “Razor” Turner into her life.
Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don’t belong. But when he learns she’s being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it’s time to step outside the rules.
And so they make a pact: he’ll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she’ll help him seek answers to the mystery that’s haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they’re both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they’re going from here.
Over on Book Riot this week…
Elsewhere…
Snow White by Matt Phelan
Matt Phelan excels at the nearly-wordless graphic novel. His rendition of Snow White – updated to 1928 New York – surpasses the high bar he set with The Storm in the Barn and is my favorite book of his yet. Phelan’s artwork is well-suited to a stylized, noir-ish retelling of the classic story. He uses mostly black and white with a few splashes of red for effect, taking full advantage of shadows in alleyways. In Phelan’s version, Snow White’s evil stepmother is the Queen of the Follies, her father is the King of Wall Street, and her protectors are seven street urchins. The whole package is clever and lovely.
The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing
Charles has just moved to Echo City, and he’s not thrilled about it. They’re living in an old hotel, which his parents are being paid to renovate. Naturally, it’s haunted – Charles soon learns there’s a monster in his closet. Luckily, there’s Margo Maloo, a girl (or something more?) whose job it is to mediate disagreements between Echo City’s monster inhabitants and its humans. She may like the monsters more than she likes the humans, but who can blame her? Charles is an aspiring journalist, so once he gets over his fear (or nearly so), he’s eager to find out as much as he can about Margo and her monster friends. This is a fun middle grade graphic novel with a bit of humor, a bit of adventure, and a bit of mystery – everything you could want in a book, basically.
Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland
I’ve actually never read any novels by Scott Westerfeld, and I’m not sure this graphic novel will convince me to change that. It’s got a good hook – a mysterious “spill” (chemical? otherwise?) occurred in the city a few years back, and now no one is allowed in the area. The spill killed everyone who was there at the time, and now the corpses occasionally move, among other horrifying things. Addison Merrick used to live in that part of town, and she sneaks back in regularly to take photos and sell them to collectors. It’s a cool idea, but the execution is disappointing. This first volume (over 200 pages) feels like all exposition – it abruptly ends before anything is resolved or even explored in much depth. Its timeline is occasionally difficult to follow as well. Perhaps it’s best read in tandem with the second volume, forthcoming July 2018. Puvilland’s artwork is good, and the story is intriguing and unique – it just didn’t quite live up to the high quality I had expected.
“So what do you do?” is a question I get asked a lot. And it’s immediately followed with either a “why,” a “how,” or a giant facial question mark. It seemed like a prime opportunity in the sizzling center of summer to put together a quick day-in-the-life.
First: my job title. Working full-time for Book Riot, my title is associate editor and community manager. The fancy title is a way of saying I do a lot of writing and editing of my work and others, I am responsible for some social media stuff, and I take care of behind-the-scenes tasks, including being available for contributors to bounce questions and ideas off.
Beyond the full-time job, though, I also edit for myself and write for myself. I’ve always got other writing and freelance obligations on my plate because I like having a wide array of writing and projects to bounce between. Having one focus doesn’t work for me, and, as it turns out, working entirely from home all day nearly every day, so I’ve taken a (very) part-time position at my yoga studio, too. It’s a way to stay involved in a business I love, as well as get to know more of the folks who come to yoga who I don’t get to see when I’m there for my own practice.
My work schedule on the Book Riot side makes me the special snowflake of the team. Unlike the rest of the editors and ad/ops folks, I don’t work a standard 8-4/9-5/10-6 workday. I split my days, working some hours in the morning and some in the evening. I also have Sundays and Mondays as my weekend, meaning that Tuesdays are essentially my Monday and that Saturdays, I’m at the helm for everything. Having done this now for a number of years, I’m not intimidated…except when things fall to pieces on a Saturday, which, while rare, does happen. I like to think I am pretty good, though, at the Emergency Backup Plan To Solve Problems.
Here’s how the donuts get made on a typical day.
5 am: I wake up. For real. My husband works over an hour away and he’s started his days closer to 7 am recently, so when he gets up, so do I. I could stay in bed, but I do like getting up and started on my own business before most everyone else.
6:15 am: By now, I’m usually showered, dressed, and with tea in hand. I start my Book Riot days by reading through the posts that went up the previous day — I’m always a day behind on reading content because of my schedule — and then start scheduling pushes for those posts on Tumblr and on Pinterest. When I wrap up the social media coverage on both of those, I tinker with our Goodreads page. I can’t possibly keep up with the comments over there in our forums, but I peruse them to make sure there aren’t fires to put out. I also like to add some book recommendations (generally pulled from either our New Books! Newsletter or from our Riot Recommendation posts of the best books we read in the previous month).
8 am: I am also in charge of indicating some information about sponsored posts, so a small part of my every day work is going into the program we use and making sure everything is labeled appropriately. It’s not a task that takes a long time, but it gets tedious sometimes.
8:15 am: Check and delete the email. Almost all of our office communication is through Slack, so 95% of my inbox is pitches for books and/or updates from Goodreads. I don’t need to keep much, if any, of it.
8:30 am: My time for miscellaneous housekeeping. This might be responding to emails or reaching out for interviews or researching YA news for the newsletter. This is a time when I like to update any information I have about contributors or reach out to them with reminders for what they’re writing this week that’s part of an ongoing series. I’ll use any time in here to dig through general book world news for my weekend Critical Linking post on Sundays.
9:30 am: Writing. I write the YA newsletter, a weekly column, and other miscellaneous pieces. They’re all in various stages of done throughout the week, so I pick up where I am and do a bit of work. Depending on what day of the week it is, I may write for a couple of hours on all of these or I may do more research for future pieces.
On a “typical” day, I tend to stop working between 10:30 and 11 am. There are days it’s earlier, as well as days it’s later — we have staff calls every week which happen either at 12:30 pm or 2 my time, so on those days, I just work on through. It gets me a ton of quiet time for getting a lot done.
But we’re calling this a “typical” day, so let’s play it that way!
11 am: I’ve already put in half a day of work, and by now, I’m ready to work on my own projects. This might mean answering emails or editing pieces for (Don’t) Call Me Crazy. It might involve working on household projects or chores, and it might also mean working on homework for any of the online classes I’ve been taking. I use this time, too, to journal or to go out and take photographs and let myself have some creative freedom. It’s this time when I generally eat lunch in front of my screen and work on other freelance work. By this point in my day, I feel like I’ve been so productive that I’m able to ramp it up and get piles of work done in what feels like a relatively short amount of time.
1:30 pm: Usually by now, unless I’m out of the house, I relocate from my office to the living room. This is quiet time that I permit myself to use as I wish. I could work more if I want, but I can also read and feel no guilt for spending a few hours doing that. It took me years and years to permit myself time to just be and by also permitting myself choice during this time frame, I know that if there is work I have to do for a deadline or there’s something someone else wants of me (i.e., an answer to an email), I can do it here. If I choose. I don’t expect people who work normal hours to bend to me during their non-work hours, and allowing myself the same parameters within my odd schedule has been so good for my mental wellness.
4:30 pm: Three hours of me time in the afternoon is generally enough time to find the energy to get myself to yoga. My yoga classes are 90 minutes long, so by the time I get there and home, I’m nice and sweaty. Around 4:30 is when I also log back on to everything for work — Twitter, Facebook, and Disqus for website comments — and log on to Slack to see what I may have missed. Having this half hour of prep time before leaving lets me know what to prepare for when I get back home. It also is a great motivator for working hard on the mat, if necessary, to get the anxiety and stress out.
7:15 pm: I’m home and making dinner at this point. Depending on the day and what I need to get done, I may use this time to do more social media work and/or writing for Book Riot. But this is also the time I’m 100% available to contributors, which sometimes, can be what I do most of the night. Reading posts, brainstorming, doing research — I love that stuff. It’s nice and makes it easy to also monitor and respond to what needs addressing on our social accounts. At night when you see snark going down? Usually that would be me. My husband is home by this point, and I often am less sitting at my computer for work and more up-and-down with cooking, some cleaning, and a lot of playing with various animals.
9:30 pm: I love to use the last bit of time while I’m doing social coverage and community management to brainstorm what needs to happen the next day, to take notes for what to share in calls, to peruse Edelweiss for things I should have on my radar. It’s a nice cooling down, and it’s a nice prep for the next day. I like to know if I’m going to go into a day where I do a single day’s work…or a day when I need to make sure I cram in 3 days’ worth of work.
10 pm: This woman is in bed. No joke. Because the next day will be coming soon enough.