What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?, issue 2

Kaylinn57 · Sep 1, 2016

Finished THE WINNER'S CRIME. I wound up liking it just as much as the first. It was a little slow in the middle, but it picked up and I really liked the twist at the end. I really wasn't expecting it at all. Also the imagery is just beautiful. Now I'm on to THE WINNER'S KISS.

Iambriannak · Sep 3, 2016

Starting FIVE SUMMERS by Una LaMarche

Taylor Harbin · Sep 3, 2016

I just finished "Sunborn Rising:Beneath the Fall" by Aaron Safronoff. While it was very imaginative and the illustrations were just dripping with how gorgeous they are, the writing was pretty average. Lots of head-hopping.

elizabeth13 · Sep 3, 2016

Shiny Broken Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton. Loved it - the writing did a great job capturing the intensity of ballet school, and the emotions were believable and understandable.

SarahRoss · Sep 3, 2016

I read TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han in one go last night. And then promptly bought the sequel. So that kind of gives you an idea of how much I enjoyed it.

Lara Jean, the main character, might be one of my favorites. She's a more realistic rendering of a teenage girl than a lot of what I see in YA, but still awesome in a way that's quieter. Just a really great book, completely deserving all of the accolades it receives.

elizabeth13 · Sep 3, 2016

SarahRoss said:
I read TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han in one go last night. And then promptly bought the sequel. So that kind of gives you an idea of how much I enjoyed it..

Same. Loved that book and immediately put all of Jenny Han's work on hold at the library.

Liosse de Velishaf · Sep 4, 2016

Just finished both books in Jenny Han's "To All the Boys..." series. The writing and the characters were stellar, but the main plot, especially in the first book, was in several places very cliche. Although it did get better as the story went on, I still found it off-putting in places. Looking forward to the third book, though.

Iambriannak · Sep 5, 2016

SarahRoss said:
I read TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE by Jenny Han in one go last night. And then promptly bought the sequel. So that kind of gives you an idea of how much I enjoyed it.

Lara Jean, the main character, might be one of my favorites. She's a more realistic rendering of a teenage girl than a lot of what I see in YA, but still awesome in a way that's quieter. Just a really great book, completely deserving all of the accolades it receives.

Seeing all the positive comments about the series, I'll have to check it out. I've enjoyed Jenny's other series as well.

---
Just started Juniors by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Windcutter · Sep 5, 2016

dancing-drama said:
I have to jump in on this discussion. I have to say that I haven't read The Crown's Game yet but IMO saying the author hasn't done her research based on the characters' names in the book blurb seems a little far-fetched. It's not too uncommon to use nicknames/diminutive names in book blurbs and in YA literature in general. (Think Bella Swan, or Jace from TMI) Plus, if I remember correctly, nicknames are very popular in Russia. And if we assume those names are diminutive forms, we could be talking about Viktoria = Vika. Pavel = Pasha. Both Viktoria and Pavel are names that have been in use for centuries.

But you wouldn't really name a fairytale prince Bob, right?

Jace and Bella are contemporary characters.

It's just a super simple thing. Like in S&B MC is called Alina Starkov--but the last name Starkov can only ever belong to a man. And the mysterious word Grisha is actually a simple (and popular) diminutive name. Its full form is Grigorii (=Gregory). Basically their sorcerers are ominously called "the Greg". I also almost literally rolled on the floor laughing when someone drowned their troubles in kvas. Because kvas is a soft drink even kids are allowed to have. It's made using rye and it is brewed/fermented, but it can't get anyone drunk. Maybe if it is unusually strong and the person is very small and skinny and is drinking a ton of it... still the effect would be extremely shallow.
So if the author doesn't get a simple thing right (something that requires three minutes alone with Wikipedia), then what about bigger ones?

Now that doesn't really diminish the pleasure of a story for me--I really enjoyed THE L0TUS WAR series despite a lot of similar moments.

jtrylch13 said:
Vika is short for Victoria I think, and Pasha was short for something else, but I don't remember what it was. There was a Pavel in his name somewhere I think. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she's knowledgeable on the subjects, but made choices for her book for whatever her reasons were. She actually talks in the back of the book about the things that weren't correct, like the fact that the tsar did have 2 kids, but they both died and were both girls, but in this one, the kids live and there's a boy and a girl. Anyway, not being an expert in the subject matter, it didn't annoy me when she took creative license, so I don't know how someone would feel if they did know a lot about it.

Did a re-read of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN by Renee Ahdieh so I can start THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER and remember everything from the first book. I unfortunately tend to forget details. It was still good the second time, which is good since there aren't a lot of books I read the second time and enjoy as much. The problematic parts were still problematic to me though. Nothing changed that.

Yes, those are pet names. Vika is for Victoria, and Pasha is short for Pawel/Pavel, and no one in that setting would actually use their names like that. "Vika" in particular also has a pretty contemporary ring.

All this talk made me curious, though, so I picked up a copy.

MaeZe · Sep 5, 2016

MaeZe said:
Tried Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia. Put it down after the first chapter. Too much cutesy banter.

But I'm getting the The Last Star tomorrow, last book in The Fifth Wave series. I can't wait.

Finished The Last Star, now I'm in withdrawals.

How do you do spoiler tags here? I can't lament about the ending without spoiler tags.

I got a slew of books from the library to find another good one.

Liosse de Velishaf · Sep 5, 2016

Windcutter said:
But you wouldn't really name a fairytale prince Bob, right? Jace and Bella are contemporary characters.

It's just a super simple thing. Like in S&B MC is called Alina Starkov--but the last name Starkov can only ever belong to a man. And the mysterious word Grisha is actually a simple (and popular) diminutive name. Its full form is Grigorii (=Gregory). Basically their sorcerers are ominously called "the Greg". I also almost literally rolled on the floor laughing when someone drowned their troubles in kvas. Because kvas is a soft drink even kids are allowed to have. It's made using rye and it is brewed/fermented, but it can't get anyone drunk. Maybe if it is unusually strong and the person is very small and skinny and is drinking a ton of it... still the effect would be extremely shallow.
So if the author doesn't get a simple thing right (something that requires three minutes alone with Wikipedia), then what about bigger ones?

Now that doesn't really diminish the pleasure of a story for me--I really enjoyed THE L0TUS WAR series despite a lot of similar moments.

Yes, those are pet names. Vika is for Victoria, and Pasha is short for Pawel/Pavel, and no one in that setting would actually use their names like that. "Vika" in particular also has a pretty contemporary ring.

All this talk made me curious, though, so I picked up a copy.

Woo boy. People were pissed about how she messed up S&B. There was a lot of issues with the world-building there. XD

InsomniaShark · Sep 5, 2016

MaeZe said:
Finished The Last Star, now I'm in withdrawals.

How do you do spoiler tags here? I can't lament about the ending without spoiler tags.

I got a slew of books from the library to find another good one.

I haven't been able to figure out what I'd consider spoiler tags here.

I've seen people change their text colors so you have to highlight to read it though. ---->Like this. CAN YOU SEE ME? O_O

ETA to add: I used color #F0F8FF, which I think is the bottom of the dark blue column of color choices.

edutton · Sep 5, 2016

MaeZe said:
How do you do spoiler tags here? I can't lament about the ending without spoiler tags.

In the post, go to Advanced Mode and change the color of the text you want to hide. You may need to play around with it, but you'll have to select the More Colors option as none of the standard colors hide against this background, and put in an actual HTML color code.

Testing colors. (This color is #F6F6F6)

MaeZe · Sep 5, 2016

I can see those invisible words. :e2shower:

Oh well. Thanks anyway.

InsomniaShark · Sep 5, 2016

MaeZe said:
I can see those invisible words.

Oh well. Thanks anyway.

Really?! Crud. I thought there was only one forum skin to choose from, so shouldn't the post backgrounds be the same for everyone? Maybe it's just our different monitor settings.

I always liked the spoiler tags that left a grey button in your post, and when you clicked on it the text was revealed. Color doesn't matter for them. :]

MaeZe · Sep 5, 2016

InsomniaShark said:
Really?! Crud. I thought there was only one forum skin to choose from, so shouldn't the post backgrounds be the same for everyone? Maybe it's just our different monitor settings.

I always liked the spoiler tags that left a grey button in your post, and when you clicked on it the text was revealed. Color doesn't matter for them. :]

Well, it's still easy not to read if one doesn't want to, no sense stressing about it just because one piddly forum member said she can see the lettering. :tongue

AW Admin · Sep 5, 2016

Do you see the text that says colors in his post or do you see the tag explanation?

Sage · Sep 5, 2016

Oh, hey, actually reading a YA book right now. Reading AVALON by Mindee Arnett. It's like Firefly in YA form (minus the western).

MaeZe · Sep 5, 2016

edutton said:
In the post, go to Advanced Mode and change the color of the text you want to hide. You may need to play around with it, but you'll have to select the More Colors option as none of the standard colors hide against this background, and put in an actual HTML color code.

Testing colors. (This color is #F6F6F6)

AW Admin said:
Do you see the text that says colors in his post or do you see the tag explanation?

I can see the text, and I could see it in more than one post that used it. But it's barely visible. It looks like white text on a light grey background.

Becca C. · Sep 5, 2016

Guys I'm halfway through G1LDED C@GE and it's SO GOOD.

MaeZe · Sep 5, 2016

Becca C. said:
Guys I'm halfway through G1LDED C@GE and it's SO GOOD.

Google does not offer me a translation as to what that means. Is that the actual title or some code all the cool people know?

Or is it simply Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1) and you are messing with those of us not in the know?

Netz · Sep 6, 2016

It's a code that all the cool people know. :tongue

(It's so that the title doesn't come up in searches or Google alerts, etc. It's sometimes done for authors' names, too.)

Liosse de Velishaf · Sep 6, 2016

MaeZe said:
Google does not offer me a translation as to what that means. Is that the actual title or some code all the cool people know?

Or is it simply Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts #1) and you are messing with those of us not in the know?

It's so authors don't get bombarded with irrelevant google alerts from multiple posts in the same thread. Or that's how it was explained to me. It's not mandatory, and not everyone does it. But it is something a tradition.

edutton · Sep 6, 2016

MaeZe said:
Well, it's still easy not to read if one doesn't want to, no sense stressing about it just because one piddly forum member said she can see the lettering.

I see my "hidden" text above as a faint white blur. ~~I'm sure it's possible to find the exact color code for the background, but I haven't bothered so far...~~ the base colors are defined in the stylesheet, so not visible in the page code. It also doesn't help that the edit box isn't the same shade of gray as the final post window.

The exact color of the background is #F0F0F0.

Be aware that color codes do not work in preview mode (in the Subscriptions list, for instance, or under New Posts), so any spoilery text should ideally be a few lines down so it doesn't show in the preview. Blank lines also don't show in preview mode. And of course if you quote spoiler text then the background color is different yet again, although it still doesn't seem to be readable without highlighting.

edutton said:
The exact color of the background is #F0F0F0.

dancing-drama · Sep 6, 2016

Windcutter said:
But you wouldn't really name a fairytale prince Bob, right? Jace and Bella are contemporary characters.

Aaah, damn, now I have to rename the prince in my novel

What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?, issue 2

Kaylinn57

Insert snarky comment here

Iambriannak

Taylor Harbin

Power to the pen!

elizabeth13

SarahRoss

elizabeth13

Liosse de Velishaf

Iambriannak

Windcutter

MaeZe

Liosse de Velishaf

InsomniaShark

edutton

Ni. Peng. Neee-Wom.

MaeZe

InsomniaShark

MaeZe

AW Admin

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

MaeZe

Becca C.

MaeZe

Netz

Freshly caught writing bug lives!

Liosse de Velishaf

edutton

Ni. Peng. Neee-Wom.

dancing-drama

Priestly Up!