What Tanya Wants: April 2016

Algonquin Young Readers To Be Published April 12, 2016 288 Pages

 

April is going to be one expensive month.

What Tanya Wants: June 2015

Year in Review: Series

I have over 260 books in the year of 2013! I’m extremely proud of myself considering last year I only read 86. But I digress.  Today is the last day of 2013 and I wanted (like so many others) to take the time and reflect and break down my loves and love nots.

 Love

I loved the imagery, the  suspense and the realistic characters of these books.  Yes, there are two maybe three missing from this list but these are the ones that immediately came to mind when I sat down and began to write.

Each of these authors created stories from old stories or themes and created something new.  It showed passion, fire and love. These are series are highly recommended.

Love Not

I hate the fact that these series made the list because they had so much potential. But the biggest flaw to all of these books was characters. These characters were either selfish, bratty, and/or boring.

But this wasn’t the only issue with these books. The stories were undeveloped, lacked personality, and flare. They were a struggle to get through and showed no hope for the second book or third book.

BEWARE! the pretty titles and covers.

Love, Tanya

Confession

Amanda Sun, writer of my beloved book “Ink” tweeted me back in response to the interview request I asked for and I quote

“Thank you for thinking of me! Unfortunately at this time my schedule is such that I can’t take on interviews . . . .hopefully in a few months things will calm down. If you’re still interested than, send me a note (on her personal email)”

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Guys! I WILL BOOK THAT INTERVIEW!

Book Review: Ink by Amanda Sun

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Before I even begin to explain this book let me tell you about this cover. IT’S BEAUTIFUL! Also it’s a paperback book not the cheap packbacks but nice and thick. I loved touching the book (stop judging).

So anyways . . .

Japanese-American Katie Greene moves to Japan after her mother’s death. She hates it. She can barely speak Japanese; she misses her friends, and would rather be in Canada with her Grandparents. But due to the fact her Grandfather has cancer; she is unable to be there.

Ink by Amanda Sun (goodreads)

But every dark cloud has a silver lining and Katie meets Tomohiro; the handsome, mysterious star player of the school’s Kendo team. Instantly there is something there between them and as much as Tomohiro tries to fight it, Katie stalks him. Yes, she stalks him and he finds that there is a connection deeper than just an attractive girl.

What I loved about this book was it was straight to the point. Katie knew there was something going on with Tomohiro and instead of waiting for it to blow up; she took matters in her own hands and did her thing.

Tomohiro was being a butt but I ended up liking his charm. He was a funny and a sensitive guy. I wasn’t expecting their relationship minus the whole ancient God thing, to be so easy. They really were into each other purely.

What I also liked was the lack of a love triangle. The author, Sun, had me worried for a moment because there is another guy who really likes Katie and although she found him cute she wasn’t pushing up on him, even when Tomohiro was being a butt.

What I didn’t like in the book was how Katie was always unsure of herself. From the beginning of the book til the last page she just couldn’t figure herself out. I understand you’re in a new country, you have to learn the language and friends but she was just a nervous wreck and her whining was killing me UGH!

The author did a great job of wheeling me in; mainly because she jumped into the story pretty fast and there was no looking for it. I loved it.  I most importantly loved the fact that the main character was not a white female. There are not many young adult supernatural, fantasy books that involve someone that isn’t white or someone in which it isn’t clearly defined what ethnicity that are. I thought it was great.

This book gets a 9 out of 10; Can’t wait for the second book.