Awkwordly Emma

November 22, 2018

Ed Sheeran Book Tag

I found a book tag themed after another of my favorite music artists! Let's get started.

Shape of You - A book with amazing chemistry.

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From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon, without a doubt. Twinkle and Sahil are great together.

Castle on the Hill - A book with the best friendships.

I'm torn between, like, three Emery Lord books, but my gut is telling me to go with The Start of Me and You.
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Paige, Tessa, Morgan, and Kayleigh are all so wonderful together, and Paige manages to find friends in Ryan and Max, too.

Thinking Out Loud - A book with the cutest romance.

I read a lot of good YA romances, but my pick is definitely going to be...

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Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson. Brandon is a smol precious child, and he and Ever/Elliot are lovely together.

A Team - A book with characters you want to fix.

Definitely in a they-need-to-be-better way.
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This Is My Brain on Boys by Sarah Strohmeyer

Give Me Love - A book with your favorite romance.

I love the ones I already listed, plus Emma Mills's books PLUS:
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P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

I'm a Mess - A book that left you emotionally destroyed.

Without a doubt, Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen.
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I found the tag over at Always Me. Feel free to do it yourself too!

November 20, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish People I'm Thankful For

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Happy almost-Thanksgiving! Today I'm going to talk about the writers and bookish people I'm thankful for.

1. Catherine Tinker - Author extraordinaire, critique partner, and all around wonderful friend.

2. Sarah - Another lovely writer friend, who I've gotten to know this summer and fall.

3. Courtney Griffin - One of Bloomsbury's excellent publicists, who let me shadow her back in February, therefore opening a door for my internship.

4. Morgan Matson - For writing books I consider the stories of my heart.

5. Heidi Heilig - For all she's done in the YA community.

6. Kayla - A writing friend from school, who is so much like me despite writing in a different genre.

7. Heather Vogel Frederick - For writing stories that made me want to write fanfiction which led me to becoming the writer I am today.

8. Dr. Brown - One of my English and creative writing professors in college who never stopped believing in us and who kept us going when others told us we shouldn't write middle grade and young adult stories.

9. Shae - For all the book recommendations over the years and her advice about the publishing industry.

Who or what are you thankful for this year?

November 18, 2018

Rewind & Review #122

Created by Shae Has Left the Room.

~I had a job interview. If y'all could be praying, that would be a real blessing.
~Getting ready to go home for Thanksgiving!
~Went to the Met again yesterday, my first time for members' morning hour since June.

Books I Received for Review

This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura (from HarperCollins via Edelweiss)
Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell (from Amberjack Publishing)

Books I Read

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson (reread)
The Girl King by Mimi Yu (4 stars)
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (4 stars)
This Promise of Change by Joyce Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy (4 stars)
The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo (reread)
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (3 stars)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (reread)
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (4 stars)
Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan (4 stars)
The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro (3 stars)
Wonderland by Barbara O'Connor (3.5 stars)
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (reread)

Blog Posts You Might've Missed in the Last Few Weeks

(from 11/5-11/10)

Guest Post: Tiana Smith's Favorite Rom-Coms
Review: Finding Felicity by Stacey Kade (3.5 stars)
The Reputation Book Tag

(from 11/11/-11/17)

So You Like... #75
Review: Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm (3 stars)
Random Friday: Favorite Authors Who Have 3+ Published Books

November 16, 2018

Random Friday: Favorite Authors Who Have 3+ Published Books

Want to participate in Random Fridays? Just do the following:

Include the above image in your post and link back to my blog.
Blog about this week's topic (or a variant of it).
Add the link to your Random Friday post at the bottom of this one.

There's nothing like reading a debut novel and loving it. But I think there's also something to be said for authors with longevity, who have written at least three books and hopefully won't be going anywhere any time soon. So this is a shout-out to all my favorite authors who clearly love writing.

1. Ally Carter (15 books)

Between three series and a standalone, I've read and liked a lot of Ally Carter books.

2. Maud Hart Lovelace (12 books)

Well, we won't be getting any more books from Maud, but the Betsy-Tacy series is wonderful, and I love Carney's House Party and Emily of Deep Valley.

3. Kasie West (10 books)

I even wrote a post ranking her books back in August. And we're getting two more in 2019!

4. Heather Vogel Frederick (10 books)

After all, The Mother-Daughter Book Club series is definitely one of the reasons I love YA so much.

5. Shannon Hale (8 books)

So much love for Princess Academy.

6. Jennifer Lynn Barnes (8 books)

No one writes a mystery/thriller like Jenn.

7. Morgan Matson (5 books; 9 if we count the Katie Finn titles I've read)

Her books are so, so, so good.

8. Megan Whalen Turner (5 books)

She's a recent love, but The Queen's Thief series is so very good.

9. Emery Lord (4 books)

Also, I needed The Map From Here to There, like, yesterday.

10. Emma Mills (4 books)

Ok, so Famous in a Small Town isn't published yet, but I've read it, and I can't get enough of her writing.

11. Stacey Lee (3 books)

Her historical fiction is my favorite.

Ugh, I hate how white this list is. I promise I do enjoy authors of color's books but they tend to be debuts or only have two books out. I'd love to redo this list in a few years and see what the ranks are like then!

November 14, 2018

Review: Love à la Mode

Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Grade: C+
Release date: November 27, 2018
An e-galley was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: Rosie Radeke firmly believes that happiness can be found at the bottom of a mixing bowl. But she never expected that she, a random nobody from East Liberty, Ohio, would be accepted to celebrity chef Denis Laurent's school in Paris, the most prestigious cooking program for teens in the entire world. Life in Paris, however, isn't all cream puffs and crepes. Faced with a challenging curriculum and a nightmare professor, Rosie begins to doubt her dishes.

Henry Yi grew up in his dad's restaurant in Chicago, and his lifelong love affair with food landed him a coveted spot in Chef Laurent's school. He quickly connects with Rosie, but academic pressure from home and his jealousy over Rosie's growing friendship with gorgeous bad-boy baker Bodie Tal makes Henry lash out and push his dream girl away.

Desperate to prove themselves, Rosie and Henry cook like never before while sparks fly between them. But as they reach their breaking points, they wonder whether they have what it takes to become real chefs.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Food books are one of my favorite things. I'm already daydreaming about a recipe to make inspired by Love à la Mode. Unfortunately, overall, the book wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, apart from the food.
The drama between Henry and Rosie relies a lot on communication issues and a sort-of love triangle, neither of which I especially enjoy. They start out strong, which is maybe the problem. Characters can't stay stagnant, so the only way their relationship could go was down before it can go back up. But because of all the drama, there wasn't nearly enough page space devoted to the secondary characters: Yumi, Priya, Marquis, and Hampus. Readers get little details about them, but nothing that makes them feel more than two-dimensional. Even the sort-of mean girl, Clara, is very two-dimensional. Eventually, Strohm starts to skim over cooking class details in order to focus on the romance, and I started to lose interest. Give me all the food, not the love triangle-esque drama! There's another guy, Bodie Tal, interested in Rosie. On paper, he and Rosie are a bit more similar. They're the only students more interested in being pastry chefs, and this helps them bond. Rosie has a crush on him, but she also seems drawn to Henry and I'd rather it be clearer cut. Like, Bodie can have feelings for Rosie, but I would've preferred her to only like Henry (who honestly needed to get a grip and stop reacting so jealously any time Rosie interacted/spent time with Bodie).
Love à la Mode was pretty readable, at least. I'll give it that. But it needed more kitchen drama and less romance drama. Don't get me wrong; I love romantic stories, but I think so much drama in that part can get old very fast.

Content warnings: a few small kitchen injuries, death of a family member.

The Verdict: Not all I hoped it would be. I guess I just don't click with Strohm's writing, which is sad because her books have such cute premises.

Buy: Read Between the Lynes Barnes & Noble

Will I be adding this book to my library?: Nah.