A series and two books immediately came to mind when Adventures in YA Publishing asked me about the books I wish I’d written!
1 and 2. Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers. When I heard the words “assassin nuns in the 15th century” I was so far in I was already on the other side. The amount of world building and thought Robin has woven into the story is mind-blowing, as is the scads of research she’s done on the high court of Brittany.
And the romance. Swoony swoons. Our heroines are bad asses, and for solid reasons that fall in line with the characters they grow to be. I finished the first in line at Moe’s, tearfully ordered my nachos, and thoroughly freaked out the guy behind the counter. I was smart enough to finish the second at home.
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| Buy on Amazon |
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| Buy on Amazon |
3. The Lost Sun: Book 1 of the United States of New Asgard by Tessa Gratton. An alternate history in which Christianity never comes to America puts Norse gods and mythology up front in this first book in a series. The world and its nuances are fascinating, but the characters are even better. Tessa has a talent for creating souls full of the complexities of impending adulthood.
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| Buy on Amazon |
And I’m not going to lie. The thought of the main character, Soren, standing between the earth and the sky makes me ten shade of melty. He’s a Samoan warrior who’s fighting his berserker side, and a prophetess named Astrid is having dreams about him. Tell me you aren’t intrigued – just TRY.’
4. And it truly all began with my love of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. All these books have a few things in common. Firstly, they’re set in a completely original world that’s solidly built on a foundation that’s unfamiliar, but that I can understand through context. Secondly, strong main characters who each have a problem they have to step out of their comfort zone to solve, even if they’re completely capable in most circumstances. Thirdly, magic with good boundaries, but not so strict as to be confining. I believe anything could happen when I read stories like these!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Myra McEntire knows the words to every R&B hit of the last decade, but since she lives in Nashville, the country music capital of America, her lyrical talents go sadly unappreciated. She’s chosen, instead, to channel her “mad word skills” into creating stories.
She’s an avid Doctor Who fan and will argue passionately about which incarnation is the best.
ABOUT THE BOOKS
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.
So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may also change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should’ve happened?
Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples – cracks in time. Are his powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before he can find out, Jonathan landers, the man who tried to murder is father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want?
In the wake of Landers’ return, the Hourglass organization is given an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he’s stolen on the people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered – with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most.
Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough…
The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time travelers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.
With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.
But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn’t an object. It’s a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?
