The Astonishing Color of After 5 stars Genre: YA magical realism Pros: Addresses the complexities of griefProvides multiple cultural referencesUses sensory poetic language Cons: Repeats color themes that may be distracting What an amazing and heart-wrenching book! I'm really glad I picked it up. It ties in cultural significance with the accuracy of feeling like an in-between girl straddling two worlds. I love how real the novel gets about grief and the ways we … [Read more...]
BookBub Revisited
"You will receive a compliment from a stranger." I wanted to revisit my BookBub campaign to dissect the outcome with a little more distance than right after the deal. Though BB didn't yield the quick results I expected, I do appreciate the experience. My book, Dragonfly Dreams, got a lot more readers because of the campaign. I feel like my young adult novel is an extreme type of book. People either love it or hate it. I now have two profiles on the BookBub site and have secured … [Read more...]
#BookReview: Children of Blood and Bone
Children of Blood and Bone 5 stars Genre: YA fantasy Pros: West African influence Modern-day parallelRefreshing boy-girl take Cons: Reckless choices by a character I loved the Children of Blood and Bone. The world is set in such a vivid way, with accurate turmoil shown and interesting types of people portrayed. (I also liked that Adeyemi tried to parallel modern day dynamics in her fantasy world.) Although there were changing perspectives because of the frequent … [Read more...]
Number One New Release
Hi All, Just a quick reminder that Brave New Girls: Heroines Who Hack is out now! This anthology of teen heroines has already hit #1 for New Release in Children's Steampunk Books. Pick up a copy for yourself or your favorite adolescent! Proceeds go to the scholarship fund through the Society of Women Engineers. … [Read more...]
Brave New Girls
"Personal achievement will be your key to happiness." Hi, all! If you remember, I recently posted that I was part of a STEM science fiction anthology for girls. The title of the volume I'm in is Brave New Girls: Tales of Heroines Who Hack. You can find a list of all the titles in the anthology, along with short descriptions of the stories here. … [Read more...]
#BookReview: Cinder
"You have an unusual magnetic personality." Cinder 5 stars Pros: A new kind of fairy tale retelling Smart and spunky protagonist Introduction of new races and interweaving of other fairy tale characters Cons: Changes the fairy tale quite a bit, especially the ball It’s been a long time since I’ve invested in a series, but The Lunar Chronicles is an excellent group of books to read. I’ve seen Cinder around but didn’t get to it on my TBR list because of the time investment … [Read more...]
#BookReview: Warcross
"Never do anything halfway." Warcross by Marie Lu 5 stars Pros: Fascinating technology Mysterious antagonist Smart and independent Asian main character Intriguing love interest Cons: Easily guessed the antagonist I absolutely loved Warcross. I’m a big fangirl of Marie Lu ever since she exploded on the scene with the Legend series. Yes, there are some single titles within her two series (Legend; Young Elites) that I don’t enjoy as much. Overall, though, I love her … [Read more...]
Dragonfly Dreams Relaunched
As promised, with the closure of Booktrope and the reversion of my rights, I've relaunched my latest young adult novel, DRAGONFLY DREAMS. In celebration, I'm offering a sale price of 99 cents until June 17th. If you'd like to, feel free to pick up a copy for you or a friend! https://www.amazon.com/Dragonfly-Dreams-Jennifer-Chow-ebook/dp/B01GFJ89BQ/ … [Read more...]
June 1st Relaunch
"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure." After the sudden and shocking news of my publisher closing, I've finally regrouped. I ended up compensating all my team members with flat fees and am moving ahead with self-publishing. Dragonfly Dreams will be relaunching June 1st, so please remember to support me then. Here's to moving forward and onward! … [Read more...]