It’s Friday! We made it! So I have only one question for you —
Celebrate #FridayReads by posting in the comments below your reads for the weekend. And if you’ve ever been curious about the origin of #FridayReads, check it out here.
I will be curled up reading Michael Grant’s “Front Lines“.
About three weeks after 9/11 a friend offered a book recommendation. Not a specific book, but rather a collection of books written by multiple authors telling tales about a galaxy far, far away.
That’s right — my friend suggested I read a Star Wars book. I’ve been a fan of the movies since I was a kid and to this day I still swoon when Luke Skywalker enters Leia’s cell and says, “I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you.”
I hadn’t read much science fiction, my favorite types of books had always been mysteries and YA paranormal. However, I was looking for some new reads and the world felt like a really scary place the first few weeks after 9/11. As a young mom at the time, it was overwhelming. I needed an escape. Little did I know that it would be Star Wars novels that would provide that escape and then welcome me into a universe that continued to amaze and delight me page after page.
Thus began my love (and slight obsession) with Star Wars novels and the stories from the Expanded Universe. Below is just part of my Star Wars book collection.
No, I’m not going to discuss/debate the new canon and yes, I read and I did like “Aftermath” by Chuck Wendig. And yes, I’ll continue to read the new books as they’re released. End of discussion. Moving on.
I’m writing this post today because: (1) it’s May 4 and you know what that means: May the 4th Be With You day and (2) I want to encourage other readers to pick up a book from the amazing universe that is Star Wars fiction and read these really cool, fun stories.
There are so many, if you don’t like one or the style of the author, pick another. Are you a fan of tech type/space battle/action stories — check out the X-Wing Series. It’s seriously awesome and my personal favorite is book 2, “Wedge’s Gamble” by Michael A. Stackpole.
Other favorites include “I, Jedi” also by Michael A. Stackpole. This was the book that made me a serious Corran Horn fan. You can check him out here via Wookieepedia. I do recommend “Survivor’s Quest” by Timothy Zahn and both series: The Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi. I’m not a huge fan of the Dark Nest trilogy but I have friends that loved those books.
I’ve delved into many of the books that take place prior to A New Hope — I’m not really into stories of the Clone Wars and the Old Galactic Republic books. I did read and own all the New Jedi Order books with the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. That series is really long, but overall I found it interesting and downright heartbreaking at times. Two very devastating deaths during that series, one which caused me to fling the book across the room. Scared the hell out of the cat.
That is why I love these books. They’ve made me feel. They made me laugh. They took me to a galaxy far, far away when the world at my door was very dark and uncertain. They were a great escape and I will be forever grateful to the writers and to a friend who said, “Hey, I really think you should check out a Star Wars book.”
BELLAMY RISING by A.E. Snow
What do an abandoned house, frightening visions, and a creepy poem have in common? A serial killer, of course.
A madman is on the loose in the small town of Louisa. Teenage girls are disappearing and then showing up dead. Bellamy Foster, a 17-year-old misfit, is having visions of the crime scenes and must find a way to use these visions to find the killer.
When a cheerleader disappears, Bellamy finds herself in the middle of a police investigation. After a second girl disappears, Bellamy goes on a search for the truth which leads her to an abandoned house, a tarot reader, and a poem.
Can Bellamy use her second sight to catch a killer before she becomes the prey?
ABOUT A.E. SNOW
A.E. Snow is a MG and YA author, mother, and pet wrangler. She lives in a tiny mountain town with her husband, two children, three cats, a dog, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aesnowauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aesnowauthor/?ref=hl
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/aesnowautho0001/
Website: http://aesnowauthor.com/
ISBN: 978-1-5137-0400-5
Pages: 212
Contact:
A.E. Snow – aesnowauthor@gmail.com
Bellamy Rising:
ABOUT BOOKTROPE
Booktrope is a new type of publishing company, founded in 2009 in Seattle, WA. We are pioneering a new type of book development process called team publishing. We are committed to the creation of quality books and to our unique marketing methods, which include offering all of our books online to read for free.
Seriously, how AMAZING is that?!?
Author Sherilyn Putnam is releasing her newest book for middle graders on April 30 and you won’t want to miss it! Let’s just take a minute to ogle that gorgeous cover before we dive into the story’s blurb . . . still ogling? Yeah, me too.
With the Earth still recovering from an alien invasion, one boy goes about life the only way he knows how. Survival. It’s working well until he realizes that the aliens have seemingly singled him out.
Now he is left with the decision of staying the path he has picked for himself, or venturing into the unknown. Once he makes the decision, his life will change dramatically. But is it for better or worse?
You can check out my dear friend and author Sherilyn Putnam at her website here or just stalk her like I do on social media (really, she loves it!) at the following links:
Sherilyn Putnam on Facebook and on Twitter.
So go on, go check her out right now. Go. I’m done here.
And don’t forget to mark your calendars for April 30 for ALIEN LIKE ME.
Like many of you, my TBR or to-be-read list keeps growing despite the fact that I continue to read and finish books. And how can it not grow when there’s a continual supply of new books from both veteran and first-time authors?
More than 300,000 print books are traditionally published each year, just in the U.S. You can check out the statistics here.
And what about ebooks? And self-published books? Bottom-line — there are a lot of books available and it’s no wonder our TBR lists keep growing. Personally, I think it’s a good thing to have a large reading list. Recently, I wrote out an actual list of my TBR book titles as part of an effort to get a bit more organized. I didn’t list the books in any particular order and I’m not reading them in a certain order either.
I thought I’d share some of that list with you today along with links to the book so if it strikes your fancy, you can add it to your TBR list as well.
Barb’s TBR Book List (in no particular order)
The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant (sequel to Messenger of Fear)
Front Lines by Michael Grant
The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah
The Replaced by Kimberly Derting (sequel to The Taking)
The Devil Within by Lauren Greene
Deceived (Soul Keeper Series) by L.A. Starkey
Starstruck by Brenda Hiatt
Avoidables by Rachel Medhurst
The Waking Engine by David Edison
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
Cloak of Shadows (The Netherwalker Series) by C.K. Dawn
Ghost Unbroken by Annie McLeod
Doctor Abbott by Michelle Laverdure
Flirting with Fame by Samantha Joyce
Now That You’re Here by Amy K. Nichols
This is a mere snapshot of my TBR list — some pretty amazing books on there and I’m anxious to read each one. Go ahead and leave the title and author of the next book on your TBR list in the comments, I’d love to have more great books to add!
I’ve just posted my first book review on the site a few minutes ago and I promise that my first actual blog post is coming soon. Truly it is. Stay tuned, it will be here. Cat 1 is patiently waiting.
