December's First Class Post & Monthly Recap

First Class Post - because this post is first class!

Won:

The Love & Lies of Rukhana Ali by Sabina Khan (my US edition - 29th January 2019, but UK edition published Feb 2019)

Books Received for Review:

Books with an * are reading copies I received as a book seller.

Finished Copies:

Oh My Gods by Alexandra Sheppard (3rd Jan 2019)
The Graces by Laure Eve (3rd Jan 2019)
The Curses by Laure Eve (3rd Jan 2019)
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala* (17th May 2018)

eARCs:



Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (8th March 2018)
The Binding by Bridget Collins (16th April 2019)

Thank you to Sabina Khan, Scholastic, Faber Children's Books, Hodder & Stoughton, and Macmillan Children's Books, Borough Press via NetGalley for the review copies.

Check out mail memes: The Sunday Post on Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves on Tynga's Reviews.
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On the blog:

Reviews:

• Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri - Aaah, I absolutely loved this book! An incredible #OwnVoices high fantasy based on the Indian Mughal Empire and Hindu beliefs! Such fantastic characters and incredible world building! I just loved it! And written by a UK author of colour, too!
• The Winnie-the-Pooh Now We Are Grown Up Range - Funny and adorable quote books from our friends at The One Hundred Acre Wood!
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang - An undeniably incredible #OwnVoices high fantasy inspired by Chinese history, but I didn't enjoy reading it. Second half of the story focuses on the war, and events get more and more awful, and there's no let up. I ended up losing interest because nothing else happened. But it's a case of I was the wrong reader, rather than that the book is bad.
• Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa - This was such an enjoyable Japanese inspired high fantasy! It's not as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was more character driven, and the characters were just awesome! I loved it!
• Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig - This was just a complete delight! It's magical and charming, and I absolutely adored it! A wonderful conclusion to the Christmas trilogy! Looooved it!

Discussions:



Interviews & Guest Posts:

• Interview with Tasha Suri, Debut Author of Empire of Sand
• Guest Post: Laure Eve Discusses Her Magical Inspiration For The Curses

Blog Tour:



PULPStories Tour: Robin Talley's LGBTQ* YA Recomendations

Other Posts:








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What I've Been Reading Online:

Cover Reveals:

• Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao on Den of Geeks.
• A Dream So Dark by L. L. McKinney (+ Adaptation News) on EW.
• When the Ground is Hard by Malla Nunn on B&N Teen Blog.
  
• Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson paperback cover on Penguin Teen.
• Love From A to Z by S. K. Ali (+ Excerpt) on Bustle.

Books:

• 8 New and Upcoming YA Books That Make Perfect Chanukah Gifts on B&N Teen Blog.
• The YA Trans Ownvoices Masterlist on Ray Stoeve's website.
• The Must-Reads of 2018 from We Need Diverse Books on Goodreads.
• The Curses by Laure Eve Excerpt on Pique Beyond.
• The YA Trends of 2018 on Goodreads.
• 2019 Releases by Muslim Authors on BookRiot.
• 8 Fiction Books with Non-Binary Characters on Autostraddle.
• 19+ Books to Add to Your #MuslimShelfSpace in 2019 on Headscarves & Hardbacks.
• Samantha Shannon's list of 2019 releases by authors based in the UK & Ireland on Goodreads.
• 50 of Our Most Anticipated YA Fantasy Books of 2019 on B&N Teen Blog.

Authors:

• Tasha Suri: The History of Faith and Magic in Fantasy on Book Riot.
• Tasha Suri: Three Real Historical Dynastic Struggles Ripe for Fantasy Adaptation on B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog.
• Empire of Sand: Q&A with Tasha Suri on Journey to the BEST!

Book-to-Screen Adaptations:

• Victoria Schwab’s City of Ghosts to Be Adapted for Television on Tor.com.
• Jenny Han announces on Twitter that there will be a sequel to To All the Boys I've Loved Before.

Bloggers:

• Do YA Books Have Too Much Romance? (Ft. List Of YA Books With No Romance!) on Paper Fury.
• If You Liked #10: Asian Fantasy YA Edition! on Vicky Who Reads.
• The Double Standard Applied to POC in the Book Community on Vicky Who Reads.

Misc.:

• ‘Mum this is me!’: The Pop-Up Bookshop that Only Sells Diverse Children's Books on The Guardian.

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