Tag: marie rutkowski

Spotlight on: Teens’ Top Ten Nominees – Part 3

TeensTopTen_winner_WMWelcome back to our 4-part series highlighting the 24 titles nominated (by teenagers; no grown-up opinions polluting the list!) for this year’s Teens’ Top Ten list. You can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here, if you missed them earlier. Voting starts this week, on August 15, so encourage the teenagers you know to exercise their right to influence sales, movie deals, and publishing trends by voting here.

Here are the penultimate 6 books nominated for the Teens’ Top Ten list this year:

Since You've Been GoneSince You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson – In this, Matson’s third stand-alone contemporary fiction title, relationships and personal growth share center stage with the unique pleasures of summer’s disrupted routines and subsequent possibilities for change. Matson’s first novel, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, was a 2011 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults pick and a 2012 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults pick, and her second novel, Second Chance Summer, was a 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, so her work is already well-established. Matson has an author page, and is active on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

The Shadow ThroneThe Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen – The third and final volume in the bestselling, historical-fantasy Ascendence trilogy. The first title in the series, The False Prince, was a 2013 Teens’ Top Ten book and a 2015 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults pick. Nielsen has an author page here (currently highlighting the first book in her newest series, The Mark of the Thief), and she’s also on Twitter and Facebook. A movie adaptation of The False Prince is currently underway (it’s still in the scripting phase, so it’ll be awhile still), and rumor (aka The Hollywood Reporter has it that a Game of Thrones story editor is in charge of the adaptation, so this has certainly has the potential to stick around and continue to attract more readers.

Continue reading Spotlight on: Teens’ Top Ten Nominees – Part 3

Jukebooks: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Winners Curse coverIn this lush high fantasy set in a society much like ancient Rome, Kestrel enjoys all the luxuries afforded to the daughter of a powerful Valorian General, whose army has conquered the Herran peninsula and enslaved its people. When she impulsively bids on a Herrani slave in the marketplace, Kestrel has little idea how the slave, Arin, will upset her life. They match each other in intelligence and share a deep love for music. Romance between mistress and slave is naturally forbidden. But like star-crossed lovers everywhere, they find that their feelings cannot be altered by any custom or law.

Kestrel plays piano, often late into the night. To please Arin, Kestrel plays a piece of Herrani music written for the flute on her piano, a beautifully intimate scene between the two. I imagined this music to be simple and lovely, a folk song that expresses yearning for home.

I am still imagining this song.

In the end, I decided to take the easy road and use a lovely Beatles song from their album Help!, which is from the 1965 movie of the same name. Fortunately for Jukebooks, there is a perfect Beatles song for every book.