Tag Archives: Music

Review: Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth Kiem

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Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy by Elizabeth KiemDancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy (The Bolshoi Saga #1)
Elizabeth Kiem
Soho Teen
Published on August 13, 2013

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About Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy
Marya is a ballet dancer born of privilege; her mother, Sveta, is the most popular ballet dancer in the Soviet Union and its glamorous face to the West.

When Sveta disappears, Marya and her father suspect their own lives are in danger and arrange a harrowing defection. Marya is certain that her father is doomed to be murdered at their new home in Brighton Beach, where his closest friends are unapologetic criminals . … Continue reading →

Review: Behind These Hands by Linda Vigen Phillips

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Behind These Hands by Linda Vigen PhillipsBehind These Hands
Linda Vigen Phillips
Light Messages
Published on July 7, 2018

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About Behind These Hands
Fourteen-year-old Claire Fairchild has always known music would be her life. She enters a prestigious contest pitted against Juan, a close childhood friend. It doesn’t help that her thoughts about him have turned romantic. But nothing compares to the devastating news that both younger brothers have Batten disease.

While attending a conference about this rare neurodegenerative disorder, Claire receives word that she has won the contest. Her musical goals no longer seem relevant. She can’t reconcile the joy and prestige that a classical music career would bring to … Continue reading →

Review: Recipe for Hate by Warren Kinsella

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Recipe for Hate by Warren KinsellaRecipe for Hate
Warren Kinsella
Dundurn Press
Published on October 21, 2017

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About Recipe for Hate
The X Gang is a group of punks led by the scarred, silent, and mostly unreadable Christopher X. His best friend, Kurt Blank, is a hulking and talented punk guitarist living in the closet. Sisters Patti and Betty Upchuck form the core of the feminist Punk Rock Virgins band, and are the closest to X and Kurt. Assorted hangers-on and young upstarts fill out the X Gang’s orbit: the Hot Nasties, the Social Blemishes, and even the legendary Joe Strummer of the Clash. Together, they’ve all … Continue reading →

Review: Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner

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Goodbye DaysGoodbye Days
Jeff Zentner
Crown Books for Young Readers
Published March 7, 2017

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From Goodreads
One day Carver Briggs had it all—three best friends, a supportive family, and a reputation as a talented writer at his high school, Nashville Academy for the Arts.

The next day he lost it all when he sent a simple text to his friend Mars, right before Mars, Eli, and Blake were killed in a car crash.

Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident, and he’s not the only one. Eli’s twin sister is trying to freeze him out of school with her death-ray stare. And Mars’s father, a powerful judge, is pressuring … Continue reading →

Author Interview with Len Vlahos

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When I received an email asking if I’d like to participate in the blog tour for Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos, I knew immediately I had to ask for an interview. Scar Boys by Len Vlahos caught my eye on one of those “Top YA Books You Must Read Like Right Now” lists probably on Buzzfeed or a site like that. I did read and love Scar Boys (yeah, he had me at punk boys in a band– my number one literary weakness.) and eventually got my hands on a review copy of Scar Girl, which was a fantastic follow up. So now, here I am, joined by the wonderful Len Vlahos for some chitchat about his latest novel, Life in a Fishbowl. Yay!

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Top Ten Books Featuring Music

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Top Ten TuesdayTop Ten Tuesday is a weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is music in books. I think the actual prompt is geared more toward either listing songs that would make great books or identifying a theme song for a particular book. I’m horrible at that sort of thing, and also deep in the revision process of my own project, so all I could think of were songs for my own scenes.

Instead, I’ve put together a list of books in which characters are either in a band or in which the stories feature music as an important theme. For me, music has always been a huge part of my life, so I was … Continue reading →