Katiaesque

  • Day 2: WHITE STAG

    #YADebut2019 #MagicMirror WHITE STAG, by Kara Barbieri Haven’t read this one yet either, as my TBR pile is a leaning tower of Pisa, but guys, I am so, so excited about it! It just came out with Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s/Macmillan) and it’s a dark fantasy from a 22-year-old Wattpad star and Buffy the Vampire…

    Katia Raina

  • Day 1: WHEN THE TRUTH UNRAVELS

    #YADebut2019 #MagicMirror This debut just came out earlier this month, and the reviewers seem excited! WHEN THE TRUTH UNRAVELS by Ruthanne Snow, Sky Pony Press It’s a teen girl friendship story told from alternating points of view of girls dealing with their own secret heartaches, while trying to lift up their popular friend post her…

    Katia Raina

  • Giveaway Winner And Happy Pub Day To Nan Marino!

    April Middle-Grade Month is rolling along here at the Magic Mirror. Last Monday I talked to Shannon Hitchock, my fellow Namelos debut author.  Well, really, you guys did! Those of you who sent your questions, I thank you for participating. That was so much fun. The answers were really illuminating to me, and I don’t think you…

    Katia Raina

  • Middle-Grade Month Giveaway: The Ballad Of Jessie Pearl

    I am pleased to start this middle-grade giveaway month with The Ballad of Jessie Pearl by Shannon Hitchcock, a Namelos author. Shannon and I have met around ten years ago at an SCBWI retreat on the Jersey Shore, both of us newbies in the world of children’s literature (well, I know I was!) Rooming together…

    Katia Raina

  • Middle-Grade Month!

    No, it’s not an April Fool’s joke — this month the Magic Mirror is going Middle Grade! I will admit, I am a YA writer first. But lately, middle-grade stories have been on my mind. Maybe it’s my daughter growing up. Maybe it’s all this wonderful reading I’ve been doing as part of the Vermont College…

    Katia Raina

  • “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” by Emily Danforth

    Balzer & Bray, 2012 The reviewers have been raving, the readers have been buzzing, and someone in the industry whose opinion I respect very much fell in love with this book. So when I picked it up, I hoped to fall in love, too. Well, I’ll be honest, the beginning — the first chapter or so —…

    Katia Raina

  • New List!

    I am putting together a new “Best” list for you guys, and I need some advice to get me started. This one will include one of my favorite genres — and I think one with a lot of potential — historical fantasy fiction. I am looking for the AWESOMEST literature for young adults that takes…

    Katia Raina

  • “Inside Out and Back Again,” by Thanhha Lai

    Harper, 2011        The winner of this year’s National Book Award for the best YA title of the year just happens to be another great find for my Best Contemporary Historical Novels list, and I couldn’t be more excited! This aching and spare novel in verse (which totally deserves the honor!), tells a story of a ten-year-old girl,…

    Katia Raina

  • Thankful for Books, Part 3

    To conclude my series about the books that left a deep imprint on my psyche, I want to tell you about Ray Bradbury. I don’t remember how old I was — I want to say, ten? — when I fell hard for Ray Bradbury’s legendary short stories. I remember the Martians with their beautiful golden…

    Katia Raina

  • Thankful for Books, Part 2

    Continuing my “grateful for books” series and inspired by the amazingly generous giveaway from an absolutely fabulous sci-fi author Beth Revis, here is the ONE book that probably made the biggest difference in my life. Ready for it? It’s a novel written in the 1930s, once burned, and barely completed before the author’s death in…

    Katia Raina