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YABooksPodcast's podcast

I interview Young Adult, YA, authors about their books. YA novels may be Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Action, Horror, or General Fiction. We talk about the author's lives, locations, work, careers, training, education, inspiration, writing methods and routines.
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Now displaying: August, 2017

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Aug 31, 2017

Wendy Terrien
"The Rampart Guards"
After his mom disappears, Jason Lex and his family move to a small town where he has no friends, no fun, no life. Things get worse when he’s chased by weird flying creatures that only he can see--Jason thinks he’s losing it.

But when Jason discovers new information about his family, he’s stunned to learn that creatures like Skyfish, Kappa, and the Mongolian Death Worm aren’t just stories on the Internet--they’re real and they live unseen alongside the human race. Many of these creatures naturally emit energy capable of incinerating humans. An invisible shield keeps these creatures hidden and protects the human race from their threatening force, but someone, or some thing, is trying to destroy it.

Unsure who he can trust, Jason is drawn into the fight to save the people closest to him, and he finds help in surprising places. Confronted with loss, uncertainty, and a devastating betrayal, Jason must make a gut-wrenching decision:

Who lives, and who dies.

https://www.amazon.com/Rampart-Guards-Chronicle-Adventures-Jason-ebook/dp/B0734B2JTC/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2NHQ5K017C3W0J0D1BSK

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Aug 24, 2017

Under Different Stars, The Kricket Series, Book 1

By Amy A. Bartol


4.6 stars on 1230 reviews
December 2014
#424 in the paid Kindle store and #1 on three teen and Young Adult indices.


Amazon Blurb:
Kricket Hollowell never wished upon stars. She was too busy hiding in plain sight, eluding Chicago’s foster care system. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she now eagerly anticipates the day she’ll stop running and finally find her place in the world.

That day comes when she meets a young Etharian soldier named Trey Allairis, who has been charged with coming to Earth to find Kricket and transport her to her true home. As danger draws close, he must protect her until she can wield the powers she cannot use on Earth…and he soon realizes that counting a galaxy of stars would be easier than losing this extraordinary girl.

Kyon knows the powerful depths of Kricket’s gifts—gifts he’ll control when he takes her for his tribe and leads the forces that will claim Ethar and destroy his enemies, starting with Trey Allairis. Now, Kricket faces the most difficult choice of her life: whether to wage a battle for survival or a fight for love.

 


(Read Chapter)
The first time I read through this chapter I was laying in bed and falling asleep. I found it well written, but I missed a lot of the detail of the story. Recording this chapter tonight, the details were much clearer.
I want to know who these three thugs are and how she is going to evade them, if she gets away at all. They are obviously from another world, the world Kricket comes from--they have matching eyes. She obviously doesn't remember this world. It's clear when they tell her she's a criminal and she is wanted for disertion.
How did she come to this world and why doesn't she have any memory of the former. Inquiring minds want to know. Read on to find out. I'm going to...

Aug 17, 2017

Before I get to the story I want to update, "One of us is Lying". I'm almost done listening on Audible, I have 56 minutes to go out of about 11 hours total. It's well recorded switching the point of veiw between the four main characters, each one narrated by a different actor. We've figured out who the murderer is and were in kind of a bonus thriller type ending. I still give it five stars for the writing and characterization, even though I was able to guess who the murder was about half way through. Try it, though. I think you'll like it, even if you figure it out like me.
Today's episode...
17 Marigold Lane, Prudence Penderhaus
R.M. Gilmore
4.7 Stars 26 reviews
Published in September of 2015
Here is the blurb:
I was just an ordinary weirdo until the day one word changed the course of my life forever.

I’d given up on life as I knew it, and in the blink of an eye, made a decision that would turn my world, and the town of Flintlock, on its butt.

Uncovering a hidden boy and a town secret kept buried for decades, I maneuvered through my numbered days with one goal in mind, but the sheriff, life, and my body had other plans.

My name is Prudence Penderhaus. I've never done anything remarkable. Never even bothered to look up. Until the day I found out I was dying.

The Amazon preview has all of the first chapter and a bit of the second. I couldn't find a good place to cut off in the middle of the first chapter, so I'm going to read the whole thing.
Here goes me reading the part of a teenage girl again...

(Read story)

My review.
I like Prudence. I think she has a lot of characteristics that will appeal to a broad amount of readers. She's an underdog who is down on her luck having just received the bad news about cancer. When insult is added to injury and she gets bombed by the big gulp she decides to take destiny into her hands and investigates the spooky house.
If you've listened to a few of my author interviews, you probably know that I have a son with autism. Cassius sounds very much like my son, except Desmond is anything but organized. All of our dvd's end up in stacks around the living room. He does memorize and recite dialog from his favorite shows, though his favorite is knowing which studios and production companies make the movies. We were recently at Despicable Me 3 and as the theater went dark when the movie was about to start, Desmond exclaimed, "Here it comes, the Universal Logo". And he was right, the logo for Universal Studios spread across the screen.'
In this story, I'm interested to know how Prudence's desease progresses, how her friendship with Cassius progresses, and I'd like to know how they kept everyone in the house so well hidden.

Thanks for listening to the Young Adult Books podcast, this podcast is for you...

Aug 10, 2017

Brinwood
Small town cults linger around our communities. They’re hidden among us, picking up believers and working to grow strong, though most remain invisible to us. What would happen if a heavily religious cult took over one of our towns? How much damage would it cause us? Casper is an exile from his home, but when he finds out his brother has died, he returns to save his family from the ravenous followers who have taken over. Returning for his sister and mother, the young man must fight against the brainwashed folks he used to call neighbors. Can he save them? Or will his return cause the demise of the rest of his family? Welcome to the cold walls of Brinwood.
#1 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short Reads > Two hours or more (65-100 pages) > Teen & Young Adult

From the Author
When I first thought of Brinwood, I actually envisioned it as a graphic novel. I wanted to write a book someone could pick up, get hooked, and finish all in one day. My main focus was entertainment so I focused on creating engaging characters, limiting exposition, and increasing the tempo. It amazed me how quickly I finished the first draft. The characters came to life and started acting on their own. It felt like I was watching a movie and transcribing the action scenes. Of course the book would never have been completed without the help of my editor. I owe most of my success to their diligent work.
I hope you enjoy this tale.
Your support truly means the world to me.
About the Author
R.K. Gold is an internationally published poet and novelist from Buffalo, NY. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Literature and has appeared in over a dozen publications since he began seriously pursuing writing in January 2014. His influences range from traditional American writers and poets like Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, and Kurt Vonnegut, to pop icons like Alan Moore, Stan Lee, and Stephen King. A writer, an environmentalist, and a dog lover, R.K. Gold hopes to make novels and philanthropy his full time profession in the future.

Lost in the Clouds
Neville Canton was about as average as any man can be. He had a mediocre job, a pleasant wife, an on-going feud with his sister, and an average case of cancer that took his life.

But death wasn’t the end of his problems and even average people have to learn to overcome.

Now trapped in a cloud between the living and the dead, he must find his way to the afterlife.

With the help of a spiritual guide he navigates through seven challenges; seven tasks to sever his final connections to the mortal world.

If he fails, he forfeits his eternity and the consequences may be worse than death.

Aug 3, 2017

One of us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
It has 4.4 stars on 141 reviews.
It was published on May 30th of this year, 2017 by Random House.
Here is the blurb:

Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

The Book is broken into three parts, Simon Says, Hide and Seek, and Truth or Dare.
Each part is divided into chapters and it looks as if they are named after the point of veiw character narrating that chapter.
The preview has the first one and a half chapters, for 5% of the total book. I'm going to read you all the preview. You will understand why, after I read it...
So, here it goes....
(Read)

What do you think? Pretty intense, right?
This is set up like a classic mystery with a dead body right off the bat, and a number of solidly potential murders. I'm going to read on to find out, "who dunnit".
Honestly, I bought this ebook for $10.99 and I'm probably going to get this on audio for Lisa to listen to. I think she would love it, too.

Thanks for listening. I hope you've found a new book to read or listen to, and I'f you'd like to help me buy some more books.....

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