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Debut YA Novels: March 2018

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It’s time for another round-up of debut YA novels of the month — here’s what we’ve got for March.

This round-up includes debut novels, where “debut” is in its purest definition. These are first-time books by first-time authors. I’m not including books by authors who are using or have used a pseudonym in the past or those who have written in other categories (adult, middle grade, etc.) in the past. Authors who have self-published are not included here either.

All descriptions are from Goodreads, unless otherwise noted; I’ve found Goodreads descriptions to offer better insight to what a book is about over WorldCat. If I’m missing any debuts out in March from traditional publishers — and I should clarify that indie/small presses are okay — let me know in the comments.

As always, not all noted titles included here are necessarily endorsements for those titles. List is arranged alphabetically by title, with pub dates beside them. Starred titles are the beginning of a new series.

Get ready to get your read on.

 

 

The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk (3/6)

Autumn always knew exactly who she was—a talented artist and a loyal friend. Shay was defined by two things: her bond with her twin sister, Sasha, and her love of music. And Logan always turned to writing love songs when his love life was a little less than perfect.

But when tragedy strikes each of them, somehow music is no longer enough. Now Logan can’t stop watching vlogs of his dead ex-boyfriend. Shay is a music blogger struggling to keep it together. And Autumn sends messages that she knows can never be answered.

Despite the odds, one band’s music will reunite them and prove that after grief, beauty thrives in the people left behind.

 

 

*Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (3/6)

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.

 

 

The Midnights by Sarah Nicole Smetana (3/6)

Susannah Hayes has never been in the spotlight, but she dreams of following her father, a former rock star, onto the stage. As senior year begins, she’s more interested in composing impressive chord progressions than college essays, certain that if she writes the perfect song, her father might finally look up from the past long enough to see her. But when he dies unexpectedly her dreams—and her reality—shatter.

While Susannah struggles with grief, her mother uproots them to a new city. There, Susannah realizes she can reinvent herself however she wants: a confident singer-songwriter, member of a hip band, embraced by an effortlessly cool best friend. But Susannah is not the only one keeping secrets, and soon, harsh revelations threaten to unravel her life once again.

 

 

 

No Filter by Orlagh Collins (3/6)

Emerald has grown up in a privileged world – the beloved daughter of a wealthy family, friends with all the right people, social media addict. But Emerald’s family has secrets – and when Emerald finds her mum unconscious on the bathroom floor, no one can pretend any more. Now she’s being packed off to stay with her grandma in Ireland while her mum recuperates and her dad just works and works and works.

Grandma’s big, lonely house is set back from the beach, and there’s no phone signal or wifi. It’s going to be a long summer … Until she meets Liam.

When you’re falling in love, it’s hard to tell someone everything. Even if you’ve got nothing to hide any more. And when secrets and lies are all you’re used to, how do you deal with real love – brave and true – with no filter?

 

 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (3/6)

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

 

To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (3/6)

Princess Lira is siren royalty and the most lethal of them all. With the hearts of seventeen princes in her collection, she is revered across the sea. Until a twist of fate forces her to kill one of her own. To punish her daughter, the Sea Queen transforms Lira into the one thing they loathe most—a human. Robbed of her song, Lira has until the winter solstice to deliver Prince Elian’s heart to the Sea Queen or remain a human forever.

The ocean is the only place Prince Elian calls home, even though he is heir to the most powerful kingdom in the world. Hunting sirens is more than an unsavory hobby—it’s his calling. When he rescues a drowning woman in the ocean, she’s more than what she appears. She promises to help him find the key to destroying all of sirenkind for good—But can he trust her? And just how many deals will Elian have to barter to eliminate mankind’s greatest enemy?

 

 

The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw (3/6)

Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…

Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.

Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.

Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.

Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.

But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.

 

 

12 Steps to Normal by Farrah Penn (3/13)

Kira’s Twelve Steps To A Normal Life

1. Accept Grams is gone.
2. Learn to forgive Dad.
3. Steal back ex-boyfriend from best friend…

And somewhere between 1 and 12, realize that when your parent’s an alcoholic, there’s no such thing as “normal.”
When Kira’s father enters rehab, she’s forced to leave everything behind–her home, her best friends, her boyfriend…everything she loves. Now her father’s sober (again) and Kira is returning home, determined to get her life back to normal…exactly as it was before she was sent away.

But is that what Kira really wants?

 

 

Nothing Left To Burn by Heather Ezell (3/13)

The autumn morning after sixteen-year-old Audrey Harper loses her virginity, she wakes to a loud, persistent knocking at her front door. Waiting for her are two firemen, there to let her know that the moment she’s been dreading has arrived: the enormous wildfire sweeping through Orange County, California, is now dangerously close to her idyllic gated community of Coto de Caza, and it’s time to evacuate.

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, as Audrey wrestles with the possibility of losing her family home, she also recalls her early, easy summer days with Brooks, the charming, passionate, but troubled volunteer firefighter who enchants Audrey–and who is just as enthralled by her. But as secrets from Brooks’s dark past come to light, Audrey can’t help but wonder if there’s danger in the pull she feels–both toward this boy, and toward the fire burning in the distance.

 

 

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (3/20)

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

 

 

Miles Away From You by A.B. Rutledge (3/20)

It’s been three years since Miles fell for Vivian, a talented and dazzling transgender girl. Eighteen months since a suicide attempt left Vivian on life support. Now Miles isn’t sure who he is without her, but knows it’s time to figure out how to say goodbye.

He books a solo trip to Iceland but then has a hard time leaving the refuge of his hotel room. After a little push from Oskar, a local who is equal parts endearing and aloof, Miles decides to honor Vivian’s life by photographing her treasured Doc Martens standing empty against the surreal landscapes. With each step he takes, Miles finds his heart healing–even as he must accept that Vivian, still in a coma, will never recover.

Told through a series of instant messages to Vivian, this quirky and completely fresh novel explores love, loss, and the drastic distances we sometimes have to travel in order to move on.

 

 

Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles (3/20)

When Marvin Johnson’s twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid.

The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it’s up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

 

 

 

 

 

The Beloved Wild by Melissa Ostrom (3/27)

Harriet Winter is the eldest daughter in a farming family in New Hampshire, 1807. Her neighbor is Daniel Long, who runs his family’s farm on his own after the death of his parents. Harriet’s mother sees Daniel as a good match, but Harriet isn’t so sure she wants someone else to choose her path—in love and in life.

When her brother decides to strike out for the Genesee Valley in Western New York, Harriet decides to go with him—disguised as a boy. Their journey includes sickness, uninvited guests, and difficult emotional terrain as Harriet comes of age, realizes what she wants, and accepts who she’s loved all along.

 

 

 

 

Frat Girl by Kiley Roache (3/27)

For Cassandra Davis, the F-word is fraternity—specifically Delta Tau Chi, a house on probation and on the verge of being banned from campus. Accused of offensive, sexist behavior, they have one year to clean up their act. For the DTC brothers, the F-word is feminist—the type of person who writes articles in the school paper about why they should lose their home.

With one shot at a scholarship to attend the university of her dreams, Cassie pitches a research project: to pledge Delta Tau Chi and provide proof of their misogynistic behavior. They’re frat boys. She knows exactly what to expect once she gets there. Exposing them should be a piece of cake.

But the boys of Delta Tau Chi have their own agenda, and fellow pledge Jordan Louis is certainly more than the tank top wearing “bro” Cassie expected to find. With her heart and her future tangled in the web of her own making, Cassie is forced to realize that the F-word might not be as simple as she thought after all.

 

Teenagers Competing to Travel to Outer Space

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There’s been a weird sort of mini-trend among YA science fiction lately: teenagers competing to travel to outer space. I’ve noticed three that have all published within six months of each other. In each example, a shady organization run by shady people needs to send teenagers to complete a secret mission, or a mission that is not what it seems, in outer space. The only thing is, there are a limited number of spots available – not enough for the number of candidates vying for the jobs. What follows is a fierce – possibly deadly – competition as the teens strive to outfight and outwit each other for the opportunity to attain glory, wealth, and affordable health care for their families. The books focus wholly on the competition; expected sequels will likely focus on the completion of the mission itself. Each book has a different, potentially believable, reason for the need to send teenagers and not grown, trained astronauts.

I’ve read the first two out of the three below and thought both were quite good. They’re packed with action and a ton of fun details about what the future will look like (it’s not great). Despite their similarities in plot, the tone of each is different, as is the narrative voice. Each author has also devised their own set of unique tests to put their competitors through. The casts of characters are diverse and distinct from each other. Still, the competition aspect makes them seem very, very similar. I’m interested to read The Final Six to see how it deviates (or doesn’t) from the other two. To be honest, I love this trope so much I probably wouldn’t get tired of reading a dozen stories featuring it. Then again, I’m also a huge fan of space travel in general and am thrilled to see so many books featuring it hitting the shelves recently.

Synopses are from Goodreads.

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen

Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family.

Forever.

Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.

But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

The rules are simple: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her.

As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she’ll never back down . . . even if it costs her everything.

The Final Six by Alexandra Monir

When Leo, an Italian championship swimmer, and Naomi, a science genius from California, are two of the twenty-four teens drafted into the International Space Training Camp, their lives are forever altered. After erratic climate change has made Earth a dangerous place to live, the fate of the population rests on the shoulders of the final six who will be scouting a new planet. Intense training, global scrutiny, and cutthroat opponents are only a few of the hurdles the contestants must endure in this competition.

For Leo, the prospect of traveling to Europa—Jupiter’s moon—to help resettle humankind is just the sense of purpose he’s been yearning for since losing his entire family in the flooding of Rome. Naomi, after learning of a similar space mission that mysteriously failed, suspects the ISTC isn’t being up front with them about what’s at risk.

As the race to the final six advances, the tests get more challenging—even deadly. With pressure mounting, Naomi finds an unexpected friend in Leo, and the two grow closer with each mind-boggling experience they encounter. But it’s only when the finalists become fewer and their destinies grow nearer that the two can fathom the full weight of everything at stake: the world, the stars, and their lives.

 

Anatomy of a YA Anthology: THE RADICAL ELEMENT edited by Jessica Spotswood

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Welcome to another edition of “Anatomy of a YA anthology.” I’m really excited to present this interview with Jessica Spotswood, in honor of the release of her new anthology The Radical Element, which hits shelves today. Spotswood’s first anthology, A Tyranny of Petticoats, was a fabulous romp through history and I’m eager to dive into the companion.

But without further ado, Jessica is here to talk about the work behind the creation of her anthology.

 


Your Name​: Jessica Spotswood​

 

Your Anthology’s Name​: THE RADICAL ELEMENT: 12 ​STORIES OF DAREDEVILS, DEBUTANTES, & OTHER DAUNTLESS GIRLS​

 

Anthology Description​: ​

 

Respect yourself. Love yourself. As radical a decision for an American girl to make today as it was in 1927, as radical for a student as for a spy, for a printer’s apprentice or a poker player. It’s a radical decision when you’re balancing on the tightrope of being a second-generation immigrant, of neurodivergence, of facing down American racism while loving America. It’s the only decision when you’ve weighed society’s expectations and found them wanting.

With respect and love, twelve of the most talented writers working in young adult literature today —an impressive sisterhood that includes Marieke Nijkamp, Meg Medina, and Anna-Marie McLemore — have created a century and a half of heroines on the margins and in the intersections, young women of all colors and creeds standing up for themselves and their beliefs. They are ignoring their mothers’ well-meant advice and forging their own paths — whether secretly learning Hebrew in early Savannah, using the family magic to pass as white in 1920s Hollywood, or singing in a feminist punk band in 1980s Boston. And they’re asking you to join them.

 

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

​I had enjoyed the process of editing A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS and the publishing team so much that I wanted to edit a second historical anthology with them. This time I wanted to focus on women who were outside the norm in their communities, whether by virtue of race, sexuality, religion, disability, or the profession they were pursuing. And I wanted to seek out more authors who shared marginalized identities with their characters. In A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS, many of our heroines were brave in big, adventurous ways – robbing banks to feed their families during the Depression or running a saloon in the lawless Alaskan frontier. In THE RADICAL ELEMENT, they’re brave in quieter, more personal ways as they learn what it is they’re willing to fight for, whether they want to explode tradition or embrace it.

 

What steps did you take from idea to proposal?

​I was lucky in that I had a very positive pre-existing relationship with my Candlewick editors, so I proposed this in a very informal way. It was just a paragraph-length ​pitch and a list of authors I wanted to approach.

Did you use an agent? If you didn’t use an agent, how did you find a publisher?

​Yes, I have a fabulous agent, Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. He sent the proposal to our acquiring editors at Candlewick, Hilary Van Dusen and Miriam Newman.

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How did you find your writers?

​All of my authors are folks whose work I’d admired. Some of them (Erin Bowman, Mackenzi Lee, Stacey Lee, Meg Medina, Megan Shepherd, Sarvenaz Tash) had written historical fiction I loved. Others had written primarily contemporary fiction (Dahlia Adler, Sara Farizan, Marieke Nijkamp) but I was an enormous fan of their work and was purposely seeking out more intersectional authors this time around. And then there were Dhonielle Clayton and Anna-Marie McLemore, whose work I love, and whose skill in fantasy world-building I suspected would translate beautifully to historical fiction.

 

How did writers pick their story or essay topic ideas? What process did you as editor use to vet them?

I asked each author to send me a brief, paragraph-length pitch. The parameters were as follows: the story needed to be ​​between 5000-7000 words and setting needed to play a strong role; each story needed to feel like it couldn’t take place anywhere or anywhen else. I used the pitches to ensure that we didn’t have five stories about girls cross-dressing as boys or four stories set during the 1920s. There was one conflict with two pitches that were too close in theme and would have appeared next to each other chronologically, so I asked the author who had turned in her pitch last to rethink it, and she came up with a fantastic, powerful new idea.

​

As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

​​I am enormously grateful that Candlewick handled all of the contracts, payments, and tax paperwork for the authors. I know that is somewhat unusual.

 

How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I sent each writer an edit letter, noting things I loved and thought were working well in each story, and asking questions about things I thought were unclear or could be strengthened. At this stage it’s about the big picture: setting, character motivations, conflict, stakes, pacing. I made suggestions, but tried to emphasize that it’s the author’s call which suggestions to implement and which suggestions to use as a starting point to find a different solution. The authors revised. Then I did a round or two of line edits, focusing in more on the prose and tweaking pacing and character as needed. The authors revised accordingly, and then we were off to copyedits!

Money talk: how did you get paid for your work? ​

I got an advance from the publisher. I was paid half of it after we signed the contract, and half when the manuscript was accepted (when it went to copyedits).

 

How did your writers get paid? ​

If the sum total that the publisher paid for the book was X, I received half of X and the writers got the other half of X, split twelve ways, paid directly from the publisher. (I also got paid for my story.)

 

What role did you take on as editor of the anthology? Were you hands on? Hands off?

I was hands on, but I was also lucky to have the support and guidance of our Candlewick editors. They sent me a paragraph or two of big-picture thoughts on each story, which I incorporated and extrapolated into my edit letters along with my own thoughts and questions.  They each did some light line-editing of the stories too, though I did the bulk of it. It’s fantastic to be able to compare notes and bounce ideas off them. Reading is so subjective; it makes me more confident knowing that I’m approaching our authors with a consensus of what is working and what isn’t yet.

How did you communicate with your writers? What sort of information did you share with them and how?

I email them. I’m definitely a fan of sharing information (like positive trade reviews) as they come in. I’m very aware that they’re all working on other projects, and many of them have families and day jobs too, so I try not to email too often, and I try to be very clear about what I need and when I need it by.

Where and how did you decide to include your own work in the collection?

I knew I’d include a story of my own, but I tend to decide what it will be once I’ve collected all of the pitches, so it can fill any gaps in chronology. We had a really big gap this time between 1863 and 1923, so I decided to set my story in 1905 Tulsa. Which worked out well for the heyday of the traveling circus.

Where and how did you come to “direct” the anthology? Did you have an idea of how you wanted pieces to progress early on or did you wait until all pieces were available to you to begin constructing the collection?

The clear choice for us was to organize the story chronologically; that’s how TYRANNY was organized as well. The stories start in 1838 Savannah with a Jewish girl seeking a religious education forbidden to women, and end in 1984 Boston with an Iranian American immigrant who joins a feminist punk band.


How involved was your editor/publisher throughout the creation process, prior to turning in a manuscript?

I went into this a little bit above, but basically: they weighed in with big-picture thoughts, did some light line-editing, answered my questions, and advised me through any hiccups with the contributors. They never emailed the authors directly; I served as the intermediary. I conveyed notes, reminded authors of upcoming deadlines, and kept the authors apprised of any news (cover, jacket copy, on-sale date, etc).

When it came to the package of your anthology, how much say did you have in the cover or design? How much were contributors involved in that part of the process? ​

I didn’t see a cover it was close to final – but when I did get to see it, I was wowed. I love the pink and yellow; I think it’ll really pop on shelves. I love the girl’s silhouette and the way her hair blows forward; to me it symbolizes progress and momentum, and looks a bit more modern than the silhouette for TYRANNY. So while I wasn’t involved in the design process, I had absolute trust in the team at Candlewick and that trust was totally rewarded. I did help write the jacket copy though! The contributors were not involved, but hopefully they are as pleased with the packaging as I am.

 

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

​I​ love the editing process. I love being able to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of a piece and having a sense of what questions to ask the author to help make the story stronger. I love getting a revision that just nails it – especially when they address my questions in an unexpected but brilliant way.

What was your least favorite part? ​

Hitting “send” on edits! There really is almost as much nervousness in sending an edit letter as in receiving one. I know it can be tricky to get constructive criticism, especially from a colleague. Fortunately, all my authors are gracious and wonderful to work with. But I’m always nervous anyhow.​

 

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology?

I didn’t want to assign any author a specific subject/setting, and I don’t want to assume that any author will only want to write characters that share their own marginalization. But I realized at the end of the editing process for THE RADICAL ELEMENT that despite having six authors who identify as queer, we don’t have any stories that feature a f/f romance. I’ve seen that some reviewers are disappointed about that, which is totally valid. Next time I would try to make sure during the pitch process that we didn’t have any obvious gaps in representation.

 

What were some of the biggest successes?

​I’ve been thrilled by our trade reviews so far. We got a starred review from Kirkus that said, “A needed collection to broaden understanding of the many different faces of history.” School Library Journal said, “This collection is extremely informative, intersectional, and inspirational, and will be sure to spark dialogue. Recommended for all young adult collections.”

​

If you are working on another anthology, what made you want to try your hand at it again? What, if any, parts of the process are/were different in the next project?

​My next anthology, TOIL & TROUBLE: 15 STORIES OF WOMEN & WITCHCRAFT, will be out August 28. I love editing, and I find the collaborative nature of anthologies super satisfying, so I knew I wanted to do a third (and now I’d love to do a fourth!). TOIL & TROUBLE was different because I had a co-editor, Tess Sharpe, and we were working with a different publisher (HarlequinTeen).

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

​I’m often asked what I hope readers will take away from THE RADICAL ELEMENT, and it is this: I hope that they will notice that the voices of women – especially women of color and queer women and disabled women – are often missing from our traditional history lessons, and they will ask themselves why, and then ask themselves how they can boost those voices now. And I hope my young readers especially will remember that their voices are important and that it’s vital to speak up.

____________________

 

Want more posts in the “Anatomy of a YA Anthology?” You can read the previous posts here.

Falling In Love With Audiobooks Again

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In the early days of STACKED, I was a big audiobook listener. I had an hour-long commute each way between home and work, and I could sail through audiobooks pretty quickly. An hour each way is about a disc each way, meaning I could get through a decent-length audiobook in a little over a work week. I worked my way through a number of adult fiction titles, some award-winning YA titles (I’d found that it was often easier to get those titles on audiobook rather than wait on the holds list for print), and nonfiction. And pretty quickly, I discovered that nonfiction on audiobook really worked for me.

But then I got a new job at a new library that was in my town. My commute went from an hour each way to a mere five minutes total. I tried audiobooks but they didn’t work for me. There wasn’t enough time to sink into them, and more, the job took a lot out of me, and I cherished the silence I got in that short commute.

Keep in mind, too, that this was in the days before digital audiobooks were ubiquitous. To listen to an audiobook meant getting a CD set or hoping you could score a Play Away. There wasn’t a convenient way to listen to audiobooks that weren’t in the car at this point, so listening during free time or during tasks at home meant a lot of work to get CDs to a device.

While I like technology, I much prefer laziness when it comes to things like that.

I left that job and worked from home for about a year before getting a job with a thirty minute commute each way. But, having gotten out of the habit of listening to audiobooks, I couldn’t motivate myself to do it.

But now, eight or so years later, working entirely from home and having done so now for four years, I have become obsessed with audiobooks again.

It began, though, with podcasts.

Gretchen Rubin, whose habit-forming book Better Than Before did not resonate particularly well for me, has a podcast with her sister Elizabeth I really enjoy. And it was there I figured out exactly why it is audiobooks are working for me again: the concept of the blank slate. It is with a hard reset or change in your life where you’re most likely to make change.

That hard reset, it turns out, was moving.

When I had to clean and pack the home we’d lived in for eight years, I started using Audible to buy an audiobook every month — this was a job perk, and I decided to take advantage of it. As it turns out, listening to an engaging audiobook while you’re scrubbing baseboards or emptying cupboards makes the time and tasks much more enjoyable. Being able to tote those audiobooks digitally in my literal back pocket made it easy to move room-to-room without cords.

I packed and cleaned and listened to audiobook after audiobook. I moved those items from our home in one state, across the border to another, and listened to an audiobook in the car as I drove. An hour each way, on top of the hours of packing and cleaning, meant blowing through book after book.

And then, the habit continued.

I’m not moving now. Most of my stuff has been unpacked. But I’m still picking up audiobooks and listening, adding additional credits to my account each month and splurging on daily deals for titles which sound interesting and ring in at just a couple of bucks.

I listen every day when I am getting ready in the morning. Twenty minutes here and there adds up. Pair those minutes up with spending ten or twenty minutes at the beginning and/or at the end of the day laying in bed and listening, and eventually, it’s close to an hour of listening each day. For audiobooks ringing in at 10 or 15 hours, it only takes a couple of weeks of listening here and there to finish a book. Particularly good audiobooks are motivation to get errands done out of the house, too: I can listen to forty minutes of audiobook if I choose to go to one of the bigger grocery stores in the next town. And each week, when I make the trek to teach yoga an hour away, I can blow through two more hours of listening.

Those little pockets of time add up. But more than add up numerically, they’ve added such a nice change of pace to my day and created a companion to the quiet that I otherwise find myself in. I’m a quiet person and keep a quiet home, but going all day without much noise or companionship because of my work setup can get overwhelming. Audiobooks give a sense of not only company, but it’s company that I get to control. When I need the silence to think, I can have it. When I need a story to let my mind wander, I can have it.

This blank slate of moving — this reset on my life — has given me the opportunity to fall back in love with audiobooks.

I’m excited to dig into the collection of audiobooks available at my new library, as Libby is now an option for borrowing and downloading easily.  I’ve relied on Audible for the time being because I’ve got enough books available to me there that one credit a month has been sufficient — though I cannot recommend digging into Janssen’s guide to Audible for anyone curious about it or curious how to save money using it (those daily deals are GOOD).

I can’t wait for the weather to finally turn and I can resume a daily habit of walking outside. I can only imagine how many more audiobooks I’ll be enjoying while creating new paths and adventures in this new place.

This Week at Book Riot

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Over on Book Riot this week…

 

 

There’s also a new episode of Hey YA! out this week. Eric and I talked about this year’s Norton Award list and those of years past, and then we talked at length about the differences between middle grade and YA fiction….and authors who’ve written both. It’s a good episode.