The Soul Keepers – The Bookish Mutant

Start ‘Em Young: YA Books to Transition Younger Teen Readers into YA Literature

Posted on April 11, 2022April 11, 2022 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Monday, bibliophiles!

I’ve been an avid reader from a young age. I read voraciously throughout my pre-teen years, but as I got older, I began reading “older” books—I had been introduced into the wonderful world of YA literature. But it wasn’t quite as smooth as I thought; although young adult books generally encompass a teenage experience, there can often be a wide range of content. While some YA books are lighter and more suitable for younger teens, many range into the “older” teen spectrum that often deals with heavier and more mature subject matter. For me, at least, I think it’s good to have “transition” books for younger YA readers—books that are distinctly “teen,” but aren’t quite as graphic for someone who isn’t mature enough to handle certain topics. I’m doing my best not to make generalizations about the maturity of younger teenagers here, since I was one not so long ago, but I feel like it’s not the best idea to start an 11 or 12 year old on something as dark as Six of Crows or Illuminae. So for those reasons, I’ve decided to compile some books that I think would be great to introduce younger readers to the wide world of YA literature.

Let’s begin, shall we?

📖BOOKS TO TRANSITION YOUNGER TEEN READERS INTO YA 📖

Sorcery of Thorns – Margaret Rogerson

GENRES: fantasy, high fantasy, romance

Sorcery of Thorns had the feel of a lot of middle-grade fantasy novels—not enough magical libraries in YA literature, such a shame 😤

For me, this novel had the perfect balance of whimsy and complexity, and presented a beautiful fantasy world full of magical books and demons!

The Kingdom of Back – Marie Lu

GENRES: historical fiction, fantasy, magical realism

Marie Lu’s books tend to stray on the darker side, but The Kingdom of Back is the perfect standalone for any reader to get into her books. This one is a favorite of mine—such a beautifully-crafted fairytale!

Sisters of the Wolf – Patricia Miller-Schroeder

GENRES: historical fiction

Sisters of the Wolf wasn’t my favorite book, but part of what stood out to me about it (apart from the amazing research that went into the prehistoric setting) was that it hit the perfect balance between middle grade and YA—it’s dark enough to be separated from middle grade, but still palatable for a younger reader transitioning between the age groups.

The Soul Keepers – Devon Taylor

GENRES: fantasy, paranormal, horror

Like Sisters of the Wolf, The Soul Keepers is the perfect bridge between middle grade and YA; even though most of the characters are written as older teens, the level of dark elements struck the perfect balance between younger and older teen readers.

Curses – Lish McBride

GENRES: fantasy, retellings, romance

Nothing like a good fairytale retelling to introduce a reader to YA! Lish McBride’s sense of humor never fails to make me smile, and Curses was a continuously clever and hilarious retelling of Beauty and the Beast. If there’s any Beauty and the Beast retelling to start a reader on, it’s this one.

The Tiger at Midnight – Swati Teerdhala

GENRES: fantasy, high fantasy, romance

The Tiger at Midnight has all of the elements of a classic YA fantasy book, and it’s the perfect choice for introducing a reader into the vast world of YA fantasy! I don’t know why I haven’t picked up the next few books—book 1 was a lot of fun!

Geekerella – Ashley Poston

GENRES: fiction, romance, rom-com

For a reader who wants to jump into romance, the Once Upon a Con series is a perfect starter! Plus, what’s not to love about comic cons, books, and tons of pop culture references?

Once & Future – A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy

GENRES: LGBTQ+, science fiction, retellings, romance

Speaking of retellings…here’s one for readers who are keen on Arthurian legends! Once & Future presents one of the most inventive Arthurian legends I’ve read in a while—space, corporations, curses, and more! It’s wonderfully queer all around as well.

The Light at the Bottom of the World – London Shah

GENRES: dystopia, science fiction, romance

There are a lot—and I mean a lot—of astoundingly mediocre and ridiculous YA dystopias that tried to jump on the Hunger Games train, so why not start off a reader with something that’s genuinely fun and inventive? The Light at the Bottom of the World is a stand-out, action-packed and creative, with a determined protagonist that you can’t help but root for!

I Love You So Mochi – Sarah Kuhn

GENRES: fiction, romance

Here’s another light and sweet romance! I Love You So Mochi is the perfect feel-good romance, and it doubles as a spectacular coming-of-age story about finding your passion and your place.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What are some other books that you’d recommend for younger teens who are just starting to read YA? Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think of them? Tell me in the comments!

Today’s song:

this is such a fun album!! not a bad song here

That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Monthly Wrap-Ups

November 2021 Wrap-Up 🥧

Posted on November 30, 2021December 5, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Hey again, bibliophiles!

Jeez, it’s still so hard to believe that 2021 is almost over. It doesn’t feel like it should be over, but really…good riddance. As of now, there were good parts, but the burnout from online school, precalc, taking the SAT, and everything else in this mess deserves to go in the trash with 2020.

Okay, maybe I went too negative there. But this year did sort of suck. The first half, at least.

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

Lenny Busker from Legion | Aubrey plaza, Aubrey plaza legion, Legion

As a whole, I’d say November’s been alright. The pinkish-purple part of my hair has faded to this cool silvery color, and I’m liking it a lot.

NaNoWriMo has been a major part of this month, and it was a wild ride! There were times that I felt, in the words of Colin Robinson, “like I [had] the power of a thousand cowboys running through my veins,” but there were major slogs as well. But through it all, I managed to reach my word count and finish up the draft of that particular WIP! Looking at it now, it’s fairly short (only around 150 pages), but I’m more comfortable with it at a novella length like that. I feel like anything else that I could put in there would be filler.

And this is the last year of NaNoWriMo that I’ll be doing in the Young Writer’s Program…by the time next year comes around, I’ll be doing the full 50,000…

Other than NaNo, November has felt…strangely slow. I guess it’s the calm before the storm, since I have a big project coming up for my AP Gov class very soon [screams into the void], but it’s been an alright month; I finished up season 3 of What We Do in the Shadows (I’m sorry WHAT WERE THOSE LAST TWO EPISODES), saw Soccer Mommy live, drew more frequently, and listened to the abundance of new music that came out! Snail Mail, Spiritualized, Radiohead…life is good, folks. Life is good. Plus, Aurora’s End finally arriving brought so much joy into my life, and I’ve been gushing about it ever since.

this gifset doesn't do that scene justice | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgir

It’s been strange, though…we’ve had almost no snow this fall here in Colorado; by now, we’re usually having a little bit of snow almost every week, but since October, we’ve seen…maybe only three or four snows? And out of all of them, only one of them accumulated, and even then, it melted the next day, and it was barely an inch. It better snow come Christmastime. It better. I’m not much of a cold weather person, but you just can’t have Christmas without snow.

READING AND BLOGGING:

Counting my re-read of Aurora’s End, I read 21 books this month! Pretty good, all things considering. Also, I’m counting the fact that I’ve only re-read Aurora’s End once as a step in the right direction.

2 – 2.75 stars:

Amazon.com: Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove, 3): 9780063038936: Mahurin, Shelby: Books — *Gods & Monsters*

Dream Country – Ashaye Brown (⭐️⭐️)
The Way You Make Me Feel – Maurene Goo (⭐️⭐️)
Six Wakes – Mur Lafferty (⭐️⭐️)
Sweet & Bitter Magic – Adrienne Tooley (⭐️⭐️)
The Ghost Seekers (The Soul Keepers, #2) – Devon Taylor (⭐️⭐️.5)
Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove, #3) – Shelby Mahurin (⭐️⭐️.5)

3 – 3.75 stars:

Amazon.com: The Soul Keepers (The Soul Keepers, 1): 9781250309136: Taylor, Devon: Books — *The Soul Keepers*

The Turn of the Screw – Henry James (for school) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Trouble the Saints – Alaya Dawn Johnson (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Rise to the Sun – Leah Johnson (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Ms. Marvel: Stretched Thin – Nadias Shammas and Nabi H. Ali (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
City of Shattered Light – Claire Winn (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
You Know I’m No Good – Jessie Ann Foley (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
Death Prefers Blondes – Caleb Roehrig (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)
The Soul Keepers (The Soul Keepers, #1) – Devon Taylor (⭐️⭐️⭐️.75)

4 – 4.75 stars:

Amazon.com: The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: 0760789273384: Turton, Stuart: Books — *The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle*

The Girls Are Never Gone – Sarah Glenn Marsh (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry – C.M. Waggoner (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Perfect on Paper – Sophie Gonzales (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Gender Queer – Maia Kobabe (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

5 stars:

Aurora's End eBook by Amie Kaufman - 9781524720902 | Rakuten Kobo Canada — *Aurora’s End*

Aurora’s End (Aurora Cycle, #3) – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (read twice) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

FAVORITE BOOK OF THE MONTH: Aurora’s End – 5 stars

SOME POSTS I’M PROUD OF:

I had so much fun reviewing A Conjuring of Light and Aurora’s End!
Snail Mail is back, and I wrote an album review of Valentine!

POSTS I ENJOYED FROM OTHER WONDERFUL PEOPLE:

SONGS/ALBUMS THAT I’VE ENJOYED:

great album! this is one of my favorite songs from it, but also a song that I can’t listen to frequently…tugs at the heartstrings

NEW SPIRITUALIZED NEXT FEBRUARY THIS IS NOT A DRILL

we are blessed by a truly FANTASTIC Snail Mail album!!

KID A MNESIA gave me an excuse to finally listen to Amnesiac…great stuff!

I’ve listened to this an alarming number of times since August but I haven’t fit it into any of my wrap-ups, so

historian was a pretty fantastic album!

this came on my shuffle the other day and I forgot how AMAZING it was

DID I FOLLOW THROUGH ON MY NOVEMBER GOALS?

Read at least 20 books: 21, counting the Aurora’s End re-read!
Enjoy Thanksgiving Break: good, AP Gov homework notwithstanding.
Keep the progress on my current WIP: the draft is finished!!

DECEMBER GOALS:

Funny Gifs : rudolph the red nosed reindeer GIF - VSGIF.com

Read 20 books
Survive that AP Gov project [heavy breathing]
End 2021 on a good note!

Today’s song:

I know I’ve already posted once today and put in a different song, but since I didn’t have time to post yesterday, I figured I’d put in an extra song. love this one

That’s it for this month in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: November 15-21, 2021

Posted on November 21, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

Most of this week has just been “getting through to Friday because break starts after that,” but it hasn’t been a bad week. In fact, I’d say it’s been a good one—chiefly because I got to finally read Aurora’s End! Even though some of the books I read this week weren’t as good, Aurora’s End brightened everything, and my heart is so, so full for Squad 312. As always. But more than usual.

I’ve been chugging along through NaNoWriMo as well; it’s felt a little more like a slog this week, but I’ve still been able to reach my daily word count every day. [knocks on wood]

Other than that, I’ve just been volunteering at the library, drawing some aliens, and notifying everybody I know who’s into the Aurora Cycle that my school library stocked two copies of book 3. I am nothing if not extremely predictable. And now it’s Thanksgiving Break! It’s nice to have a week off here.

Finding Nemo Todays The Day GIF - Finding Nemo Todays The Day The Sun Is Shining - Discover & Share GIFs

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:

City of Shattered Light – Claire Winn (⭐️⭐️⭐️.5)

City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

Aurora’s End (Aurora Cycle, #3) – Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (read twice) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

The Ghost Seekers (The Soul Keepers, #2) – Devon Taylor (⭐️⭐️.5)

Amazon.com: The Ghost Seekers (The Soul Keepers, 2): 9781250168337: Taylor, Devon: Books

Gender Queer – Maia Kobabe (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Gender Queer: A Memoir : Kobabe, Maia: Amazon.in: Books

POSTS AND SUCH:

SONGS:

CURRENTLY READING/TO READ NEXT WEEK:

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton (for book club)

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Six Wakes – Mur Lafferty

Gods & Monsters (Serpent & Dove, #3) – Shelby Mahurin

Gods & Monsters by Shelby Mahurin | Hardcover | Epic Reads

Death Prefers Blondes – Caleb Roehrig

Amazon.com: Death Prefers Blondes: 9781250155825: Roehrig, Caleb: Books

Today’s song:

That’s it for this week in blogging! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Book Tags

Squad 312 Book Tag 💫

Posted on November 19, 2021November 21, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Friday, bibliophiles! I’m glad to be out of school for Thanksgiving break…I need some time off.

This book tag has been sitting in my blog sticky note for a while, but I figured it would be the right occasion to do it since I’ve just finished Aurora’s End (🥲). The tag was originally created by Jemma @ Starry Eyed Reader, and I found the tag on her blog as well. The Aurora Cycle is my favorite series, so I just had to do this tag!

Let’s begin, shall we?

27424908._SX540_ — all character art in this tag is from @kiranight_art

💫SQUAD 312 BOOK TAG💫

TYLER JONES—THE ALPHA: Your favorite main character

Amazon.com: Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle): 9781524720995: Kaufman, Amie, Kristoff, Jay: Books

I’m trying to stray away from using any of the Aurora Cycle books for these prompts, which makes this question…[ahem] difficult…

But for this one, I chose Ellie Baker from The Sound of Stars—she’s rebellious and relatable, and she runs a secret library! Great taste in music, too.

SCARLETT JONES—THE FACE: Which character could talk themselves out of anything?

Jesper Jesperfahey GIF - Jesper Jesperfahey Shadowandbone - Discover & Share GIFs

Jesper from Six of Crows would be able to fast-talk himself out of anything and everything. Would the other Crows approve? Probably not, but that’s not what matters here, right?

ZILA MADRAN—THE BRAIN: A super smart character who would probably kill you

Amazon.com: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea: 9781536204315: Tokuda-Hall, Maggie: Books

Genevieve from The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is certainly a very deadly and cunning character—I’m interested to see what the sequel holds for her!

FINIAN DE KARRAN DE SEEL—THE GEARHEAD: Your favorite piece of fictional technology

Does a ship count as a piece of technology? This was a hard one, but the Harbinger—a giant ship that ferries the souls of the dead—from The Soul Keepers is a really cool concept for me. It’s most of the reason that I picked up the book in the first place.

KAL GILWRAETH—THE TANK: A book that made you angry

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel (The Carls): Green, Hank: 9781524743444: Amazon.com: Books

(my boy Kal deserves a better prompt than this…😔👊)

I DNF’d An Absolutely Remarkable Thing at around the 30% mark; I was already debating whether or not to put it down, but the bisexual rep was HORRIBLY offensive for me, so I jumped ship. Would NOT recommend.

CAT BRANNOCK—THE ACE: A fictional crush you’re still not over

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell — Prologue Bookshop | Columbus, Ohio - Books, Games, Gifts, & More

I don’t get book crushes all that often, and my main ones happen to be in Aurora Rising (Kal and Auri are both SO CUTE, I CAN’T HELP IT…now that’s some bi panic for ya), but I’ve always thought Baz Pitch from Carry On looked cute on the cover art.

AURORA JIE-LIN O’MALLEY—THE GIRL OUT OF TIME: If you had to pick just one book or series to read for the rest of your life what would it be?

Amazon.com: Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle): 9781524720964: Kaufman, Amie, Kristoff, Jay: Books

Okay, I’m breaking my self-imposed “I’m not using the book that inspired this tag as answers for this tag” rule, because the Aurora Cycle is the only series that fits this bill. I always come back to the books; in the past two years, they’ve become so uniquely dear to my heart, and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without them in it.

I TAG:

Ritz @ Living, Loving and Reading
Rachel @ A Bookworm’s Paradise
Phoenix @ Books with Wings
Brianna @ Brianna’s Books and Randomness
+ any other Aurora Cycle fans who want to participate! If you see this tag and want to do it, I’d love to see your answers! And if I tagged you and you don’t want to do the tag/have already done it, no worries.

The Aurora Cycle Dream Cast | The Awkward Book Blogger

Today’s song:

it’s been too long since I’ve listened to this song…so sweet

That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves! And of course, Squad 312 forever.

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: November 8-14, 2021

Posted on November 14, 2021 by madeline @ The Bookish Mutant

Happy Sunday, bibliophiles! I hope this week has treated you well.

Emotionally, it hasn’t been an ideal week, but it’s picked up in the last few days. To make things better, though, I had a string of great books in my library haul (minus one of them), and I had some time to read this week. I also held my school’s book club meeting this month, and everybody seemed really excited about A Darker Shade of Magic!

NaNoWriMo has also been going steadily! I’m at nearly 20,000 words, and my goal is 45,000 by the end of the month. (I’m still in the Young Writer’s Program.) It’s been a lot of fun to give myself time to write every day, and though getting 1,500 words in every day has been a little difficult, I’m getting used to it.

Other than that, I’ve been listening to Snail Mail on repeat, playing my guitar, drawing aliens, and waiting for my package of Aurora’s End to arrive. (!!)

AND IT ARRIVED TODAY

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF AKAKDAFKHDJFKFSJSAHJK