Multi-Cultural Book Challenge - Guest Post and Giveaway

Our current Multi-Cultural Book Challenge guest post and giveaway is being hosted by KM at One Page At A Time. Click on over there to read the awesome guest post by Cindy Pon, author of Silver Phoenix and Fury of The Phoenix, and enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of Silver Phoenix!

Multi-Cultural Book Challenge - Guest Post and Giveaway

Our current Multi-Cultural Book Challenge guest post and giveaway is being hosted by KM at One Page At A Time. Click on over there to read the awesome guest post by Diana Renn, author of Tokyo Heist, and enter the giveaway to win a copy of this cool and exciting book!

Interview + Giveaway with Zoë Marriott, Author of Shadows on the Moon

 

I am thrilled to welcome Zoë Marriott, author of several YA novels including the wonderful Shadows on the Moon, one of my favorite books of the year! You can read my review here. Welcome Zoë!

Me: Tell us about Shadows on the Moon.

ZM: Firstly, thank you so much for inviting me to take part in the MCBC! I'm very excited about it!

Shadows on the Moon is a retelling - or maybe it's more accurate to say reimagining - of the classic fairytale Cinderella, set in my version of a fairytale Japan. It's mostly based on the answers I came up with when I asked myself how anyone human *could* be as passive, sweet, patient and apparently without ambition or anger as Cinderella is supposed to be, after everything the character is put through. And I decided that no one human could, which made me wonder just what was going on under that sweet, passive facade. The book deals with revenge, and betrayal, and love, and most of all illusions, both the ones other people have about us, and the ones we have about ourselves. Shadows is also a sort of love letter from me to Japanese culture.

Me: Shadows on the Moon is such a wonderfully written and beautiful story. Where did you get the idea for it?

ZM: Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it. The idea for Shadows on the Moon came to me in three parts, actually. That's the way most story ideas work for me - they're made up of a bunch of different inspirations that come together to form something greater than the sum of the parts.

The first was a result of doing creative workshops in schools with young people. My first book, The Swan Kingdom, is based primarily on the Hans Christian Anderson story The Wild Swans, and so one of the exercises I did with the kids was to show them how to 'retell' fairytales themselves by deconstructing and digging down to find the interesting, hidden parts. I'd ask for suggestions as to which fairytale I should use as an example, and when the hands shot up the first one was always Cinderella. It drove me slightly mad, because I've long thought of Cinderella as a wimp - and what's more, a heroine who is rewarded for her passivity and wimpiness. So for my own satisfaction I'd turn the story on its head for my young writers, saying 'what if Cinderella isn't a romance story? What if it's about Cinderella using the Prince? Maybe there's something else she wants from him?'

This idea stuck in my head and eventually I began to wonder if what Cinderella wanted might not be revenge, because after all, the story starts with the death of her father. And that made me think about the Count of Monte Cristo and all the transformations the character has to undergo for his revenge, and the toll they take on him. This seemed a perfect sort of story for Cinderella, which is after all a fairytale about transformations and illusions, and the way people see each other.

All this was rolling around my head when one Sunday I was re-watching one of my favourite films, 'Memoirs of Geisha' and everything came together in my head with a bit of a thunderclap of inspiration. Just as Cinderella and revenge felt like a natural match, so Cinderella and historical Japanese culture, with its deep reverence for beauty and the proper way of doing things, and its quite rigid social structure, seemed to slot together as if they'd always been meant to be.

Me: I’m a character driven reader so I always ask authors about characters in their books. Where did you get the inspiration for the characters? Which character from Shadows on the Moon is your favorite?

ZM: Suzume grew up very naturally from the sorts of questions I was asking myself about the original fairytale. If all the things about Cinderella that we traditionally know - her sweet, uncomplaining nature, inability to act on her own behalf, patience and lack of anger - were fake, then that meant my character had to be bitter and full of regret, highly active, naturally impatient and raging. Traditional Cinderella skims over the surface of emotion and only really gets upset when she's denied the chance to wear a pretty dress and dance with the Prince. My Cinderella would be full of dark and vulnerable emotions that she was forced to hide, and wouldn't care less about prettiness or dancing for their own sake. Traditional Cinderella shines with natural beauty that is unmarked by the abuse heaped on her others. My Cinderella would be scarred and broken, and her beauty a carefully constructed illusion. She really couldn't be any other way, in order for the story to have emotional truth.

Then, because I wanted my Cinderella to find - and reject - love, I had to ask myself, what sort of person would value and come to care for a girl like this? What sort of person would she be forced to value and care for in return? And the answer, of course, was someone who was in many ways her opposite. A sweet natured and patient person, full of natural happiness and with a unique beauty of their own that only the heroine would see - a person unafraid of scars because he wore his own proudly and openly. Otieno formed in my mind as Suzume's perfect match. Someone outside her own culture, who would have the vision to perceive her as she really was without misconceptions, and change her perception of herself in the process.

I must confess though, that my absolute favourite character in the book is Akira. She appeared in the story on cue and just took over, one of those characters who warp every scene around themselves with the strength of their personality. Believe it or not, she was originally supposed to have a fairly small role - as a bitter, cold, emotionally unavailable woman who would serve to the heroine as a warning about living in the past. Her humour, warmth and vitality took me completely by surprise, and I fell in love with her!

Me: Shadows on the Moon is set in a fantasy version of ancient Japan and I see that your new series, The Katana Trilogy, will feature characters from ancient Japan as well. Why do you feel drawn to this culture and time period? How familiar were you with this culture and time period before writing the books? Was a lot of research required?

ZM: I've been fascinated with Japan since I was quite a young child, and I happened to see Hayao Miyazaki's 'Laputa: Castle in the Sky' on TV one rainy Sunday afternoon. I should say that I love Japanese culture in general, not just ancient Japan - but being a fantasy writer means that I tend to draw on myth and folklore from Japan, and things and people from history, because they fit so easily within my genre.

Shadows on the Moon did take a huge amount of research. Soon after I realised that I just had to set my story in a fantasy version of Japan I began to realise that being a manga and anime addict and reading books or watching films made by Japanese writers and directors wasn't really the same thing as actually being Japanese (bummer, right?) and I was likely to make some truly offensive mistakes if I didn't knuckle down and do the work. I applied to the Society of Authors here in the UK for a work-in-progress grant to help with buying reference books, and I was incredibly lucky to be selected to receive the Sasakawa Prize, which meant I could afford to do crazy things like import an authentic Kimono and paraphernalia and learn to dress as a traditional Japanese woman might have, walk and move as she might have. I bought a Japanese tea set and ingredients online - I bought Japanese music - I built up a small but extremely expensive reference library. It was wonderful, and gave me the opportunity to make the book much better, much more real, than it could otherwise have been.

With Katana, the inspiration for the story came from a poem called The Bedpost by Robert Graves. But I decided straight away that instead of being trapped in a bedpost (not exactly glamorous or active!) my hero should be trapped in a sword; and what kind of sword is more magical than a Katana, a Japanese longsword? Urban fantasy and paranormal stories have had an explosion in popularity in recent years and we've seen every variation on Western mythology that there is - everything from Greek Gods to angels and demons to werewolves to fairies and pixies to vampires. I think there's been sense lately that it's all been done, that no one wants to see another vampire or another angel (although people still come up with new takes now and again that can surprise us). But one of the most wonderful things about Japan is that, because their culture was so isolated from the Western world for so long, there's this amazing wealth of truly unique, unknown stuff to discover. Stories and archetypes and myths and monsters which just have no equivalent in the stories we all know so well - but still have that amazing sense of depth and history. Researching Japanese monsters, myths, fairytales and Gods for this series was pure fun and still is!

Me: Why do you think it’s important to write young adult novels featuring multi-cultural and multi-ethnic characters?

ZM: Because young people are multi-cultural and multi-ethnic. They live in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, diverse world. That's just the reality. And that is a wonderful thing! Yet mainstream mass media presents it as some kind of a problem, a dirty secret that needs to be whitewashed away by sterile casts of skinny, homogeneous white characters - who are nearly all always straight, able-boded and cisgendered too - in books, films, advertising campaigns. That sad, colourless version of 'reality' has nothing to do with reality at all. It not only excludes the vast majority of young people, but it deprives even the ones who fit that into that vision of the chance to see people as the beautiful, difficult, flawed, complex and above all unique creatures they are. It tells young people: 'Conform. Fit in. Be what we want you to be - or be written out of history'. How devastating for young adults to look at the world and see that they have already been judged and found unworthy due to ethnicity, gender-identification, religion, sexuality or physical status! How sickening to realise that you will be silently but irrevocably IGNORED, probably all your life. I hate it. If any one of my books can make even one young person feel less alone, more included, or one young person think 'Maybe being different is cool...' then I will die a happy author.

Me: Do you read the same genre as you write? What are you currently reading?

ZM: Oh yes! Ravenously! I love YA - it's daring and colourful and vibrant in a way that few other publishing categories are, and fantasy is my favourite thing of all. At the moment I've got an eARC of Tessa Gratton's The Blood Keeper (sequel to Blood Magic) and I'm dying to start that. I've also got Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris which I've just started and am loving, and I've also stared Bryony Pearce's Angel's Fury, which is great - I'm switching backward and forward between those when they get too intense. These are all on my eReader. The physical book on my nightstand right now is The Sharing Knife: Horizon, an adult fantasy by Lois McMaster Bujold, one of my all-time favourite writers. I'm trying to make it last because it is ssssoooo good.

Me: What other projects are you working on at this time?

ZM: Well, I'm about halfway through the second book in the Katana Trilogy right now. The Katana Trilogy will be launched in 2013 with the first book The Night Itself. It's about Mio Yamato, an average British-Japanese teenager who decides to steal her family's priceless katana from the attic of her parent's house to spice up her costume for a Christmas party. Not a great decision in the first place - but unknown to her, the katana is far more than just an antique sword. She only figures this out when monsters from her grandfather's bedtime stories about Japan begin turning up and trying to take it from her, and the point is underscored when a mysterious warrior boy appears just in time to save her. The sword's mysterious powers begin to change her almost at once, and her family and friends all get sucked into her quest to discover just what the katana is and how to save London from the consequences of her reckless actions.

The next project I'll be looking at after this will also have a Japanese twist. I intend to revisit the setting of Shadows on the Moon - Tsuki no Hikari no Kuni - in order to retell another fairystory; Beauty and the Beast this time. Once again I'm doing a pretty radical reimagining, sending a tough young peasant girl hunting the legendary Beast through the deep dark forests of her mountain home. Hopefully that will be out some time in 2015. You can see inspiration boards for all my current and future projects here on Pinterest.

Me: Thank you, Zoë!

ZM: Phew! Thanks again for inviting me to be part of this, Novia :)

About the book:

Title: Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Pages: 464 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Buy: Amazon, B&N, The Book Depository
Contact the author: Website - Twitter - Pinterest

Goodreads Summary: A powerful tale of magic, love, and revenge set in fairy-tale Japan.

Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to re-create herself in any form - a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother's new husband, Lord Terayama? Or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama's kitchens? Or is she Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to use her skills to steal the heart of a prince in a revenge plot to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even the one true aspect of her life- her love for a fellow shadow-weaver.

And now for the giveaway. As a part of the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge, Candlewick was wonderful enough to offer a finished copy of Shadows on the Moon for giveaway. If you take part in the challenge, you will have more entries in the giveaway. You can sign up for the challenge here. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview + Giveaway with Andrew Fukuda, Author of The Hunt

I’m thrilled to welcome Andrew Fukuda, author of The Hunt, to the blog! I reviewed The Hunt yesterday, it is so good and you can read my review here. Welcome to the blog, Andrew!

Born in Manhattan and raised in Hong Kong, Andrew Fukuda is half-Chinese, half-Japanese. After earning a bachelor's degree in history from Cornell University, Fukuda worked in Manhattan's Chinatown with the immigrant teen community. That experience led to the writing of Crossing, his debut novel that was selected by ALA Booklist as an Editor's Choice, Top Ten First Novel, and Top Ten Crime Novel in 2010. Before becoming a full time writer, Fukuda was a criminal prosecutor for seven years. He currently resides on Long Island, New York, with his family.

Me: In the spirit of Twitter, tell us about The Hunt in 140 characters or less.

AF: Don’t get eaten. #RunForYourLife

Me: The combination of humans being hunted to extinction and the nature of the hunters in The Hunt is unique and exciting! How did you come up with the idea for the story?

AF: The Hunt likely began while watching Adam Lambert’s performance of Tears for Fears’ Mad World on American Idol. The following lyrics made an impression, and stayed with me for days afterwards.

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me.

From those lyrics, a single image popped into my head: of a boy sitting in a classroom, desperately lonely despite the many students around him, wanting to be ignored. This boy had a secret, I came to see, one so awful that if it were ever made known his otherwise civil classmates would--in a split second--kill him. I pondered what that secret might be. When it came to me, I literally jumped out of my seat: the boy was the only surviving human in a world filled with vampire-like creatures. No existence could be lonelier or scarier than that.

Me: Now that is a cool way to come up with an idea for a story!

Me: I read in your bio that your debut novel, Crossing, was inspired by your work in Manhattan's Chinatown with the immigrant teen community. What were your inspirations while you were writing The Hunt?

AF: There were many inspirations while writing The Hunt, but I feel particularly indebted to Edward Hopper, a painter who once stated that he had a “propensity for solitude.” His work Morning Sun was a painting I returned to time and again, especially during dry spells in my writing. Something about the stark loneliness of the woman on the bed despite (or because of) the sunlight captured the solitude and isolation with which I wanted to fill the pages of this book. I feel indebted to this painting for the way it spoke of loneliness in a manner that was both nuanced and powerful. Hopefully, this layered kind of loneliness came through in the protagonist Gene of The Hunt.

Me: What do you have in store for the series and how many books will there be?

AF: I can’t get into specifics but there are some mind-blowing revelations to come. The Hunt is a trilogy, so two more books to come.

Me: Why do you write novels for young adults and how did you get started?

AF: I’m not sure I ever planned to be a YA author. I’ve always written simply for myself. In fact, while writing The Hunt, I wasn’t aware I was penning a YA book. I simply wrote in a way which came natural to me. My wife likes to tease that deep down, I’m a perpetual (wait: did she say petulant?) teenager; I prefer to think there’s an eternal fountain of youth in me.

Me: What is your favorite thing about writing?

AF: I love the creation and exploration of completely new worlds of my own imagining. Somebody once said that the art of creation is a sacred act, and there are times – when I’ve written the perfect sentence/paragraph/chapter – that I’d tend to agree.

Me: What are you currently reading?

AF: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Her writing is some kind of wonderful. It curls my toes and makes me want to hug myself.

Me: Thank you, Andrew!


About The Hunt

Title: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Dystopia, Horror
Buy: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository

Goodreads Summary: Don’t Sweat. Don’t Laugh. Don’t draw attention to yourself. And most of all, whatever you do, do not fall in love with one of them.

Gene is different from everyone else around him. He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood. Gene is a human, and he knows the rules. Keep the truth a secret. It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood.

When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him. He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?

And now for the giveaway. As a part of the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge, St. Martin’s Griffin was wonderful enough to offer a finished copy of The Hunt for giveaway. If you take part in the challenge, you will have more entries in the giveaway. You can sign up for the challenge here. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and good luck!

April Multi-Cultural Book Challenge with Jolene Perry, Author of Night Sky

This month, KM at One Page At A Time is hosting Jolene Perry, author of Night Sky for the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge. Click on over there to read an excerpt from this beautiful YA contemporary novel and enter the giveaway to win an electronic copy of the book!

Title: Night Sky by Jolene Perry

Release Date: March 1, 2012
Publisher: Tribute Books
Pages: 247 pages
Genre: YA Contemporary

Goodreads Summary: Girl I’ve loved, girl I’m falling for. Now that they’re both in view, the problem is clear.

After losing Sarah, the friend he’s loved, to some other guy, Jameson meets Sky. Her Native American roots, fluid movements, and need for brutal honesty become addictive fast. This is good. Jameson needs distraction – his dad leaves for another woman, his mom’s walking around like a zombie, and Sarah’s new boyfriend can’t keep his hands off of her.

As he spends time with Sky and learns about her village, her totems, and her friends with drums - she's way more than distraction. Jameson's falling for her fast.

But Sky’s need for honesty somehow doesn’t extend to her life story – and Jameson just may need more than his new girl to keep him distracted from the disaster of his senior year.

Multi-Cultural Book Challenge - March Guest Post and Giveaway

March’s Multi-Cultural Book Challenge guest post and giveaway is being hosted by KM at One Page At A Time. Click on over there to read the awesome guest post by Ashley Hope Perez, author of What Can’t Wait, and enter the giveaway to win a copy of the book!

Book Review: Magic Under Glass

Title: Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore

Release Date: Dec. 22, 2009
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 225 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Read for the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge

Goodreads Summary: Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir.

Unsettling below-stairs rumors abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.

Magic Under Glass is a short and sweet fairy tale. The story is told from the first person perspective of Nimira, a dancer and singer who is hired to perform with an automaton that people believe is haunted.

The story is set in a world where humans were at war with fairies in the past and relations with them are still very strained. Nim is an outsider in the country of Lorinar, a brown-skinned foreigner who went there to make her fortune. Nim is treated poorly by most people and jumps at the chance to work for Parry, partly to get out her dead-end job situation and partly because she secretly hopes the rich and powerful sorcerer may be romantically interested in her. All that changes when she meets Erris and finds out that he is not an automaton at all.

I liked the fantasy world the Dolamore created and thought her descriptions of the settings were wonderful. However, I did not connect with any of the characters emotionally and thought they were underdeveloped. I liked Nim and Erris and wanted them to have their happily-ever-after, of course, but I would have loved some more depth from both of them.

Despite my feelings about character development, I am looking forward to the sequel, Magic Under Stone, which was released yesterday. Magic Under Glass is sweet and worth reading, especially if you are in a fairy-tale mood.

Content: Kissing and violence

My Rating: Just Fine

Multi-Cultural Book Challenge - February

February’s Multi-Cultural Book Challenge interview and giveaway is being hosted by KM at One Page At A Time. Click on over there to read the awesome interview with Sonia Gensler, author of The Revenant, a spooky YA historical novel, and enter the giveaway to win a copy of the book!

Giveaway: Living Violet by Jaime Reed

The first giveaway of the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge is of Living Violet by Jaime Reed (check out my review here) and while it was originally only for challenge participants, KM at One Page At a Time and I have decided to open the giveaway to everyone. However, if you do take part in the challenge, you will have more entries in the giveaway. You can sign up for the challenge here.

To enter the giveaway, just follow the Rafflecopter directions below and good luck!

Book Review: Living Violet

Title: Living Violet by Jaime Reed

Release Date: Dec. 27, 2012
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 304 pages
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Publisher

Goodreads Summary: He's persuasive, charming, and way too mysterious. And for Samara Marshall, her co-worker is everything she wants most--and everything she most fears. . .

Samara Marshall is determined to make the summer before her senior year the best ever. Her plan: enjoy downtime with friends and work to save up cash for her dream car. Summer romance is not on her to-do list, but uncovering the truth about her flirtatious co-worker, Caleb Baker, is. From the peculiar glow to his eyes to the unfortunate events that befall the girls who pine after him, Samara is the only one to sense danger behind his smile.

But Caleb's secrets are drawing Samara into a world where the laws of attraction are a means of survival. And as a sinister power closes in on those she loves, Samara must take a risk that will change her life forever. . .or consume it.

I read lots of paranormal books and while I love them, I'm always looking for something different to shake up my reading routine. I was very pleasantly surprised and rewarded by Living Violet because there is nothing cookie cutter about this book. There is no high school angst, no love triangle and absolutely no insta-love. Living Violet is original, well paced and a completely enjoyable read.

I'm a character driven reader and Samara is an awesome main character. The book is told from her perspective and she is very likable. Jamie Reed writes relationships well and I love how she portrays Samara’s relationships with her parents and friends. Samara is a smart, responsible, take-no-nonsense kind of girl and her personality stays true throughout the book.

By far, my favorite part of the book is Samara’s voice. She is witty, funny and sarcastic. Samara is the kind of girl I would want to be friends with, and as a matter of fact, her honest (and humorous) outlook on life’s situations reminds me of some of my own friends.

I also love how Caleb’s character is developed. We are not sure about Caleb at first. We know there is something different about him but we don’t know if he is a good or bad guy. I love the unique paranormal elements of the story and the big reveal was worth the wait. I don’t think I have read another YA book about this subject before.

Living Violet exceeded my expectations and with its diverse and interesting cast of characters, it’s the perfect book to kick-off the Multi-Cultural Book Challenge. I raced through this book and I am dying for the sequel, Burning Emerald, which comes out in May.

Tune in tomorrow when I interview Jaime Reed on Living Violet and other projects she is currently working on.

On a side note: I love that the author is lighthearted enough to poke a little fun at the YA paranormal romance genre with the Specter (a fictional novel mentioned in the book) references. There are more than a few lines in this book that made me laugh out loud, in a really good way.

Content: Some profanity, sexual discussions, attempted rape, kissing and violence.

My Rating: Really Good!

2012 Multi-Cultural Challenge - January

Welcome to the first month of the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge hosted by KM at One Page At a Time and myself. The goal of this challenge is to highlight the fabulous YA books written by muti-cultural/ethnic minorities OR featuring multi-cultural/ethnic minorities as main characters.

More information on this challenge is located on the challenge page and I have included the sing-up Linky below. 

For January, we will feature and give away a signed copy of Living Violet by Jaime Reed. The giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. This giveaway is open to everyone but challenge participants get extra entires!

To earn extra entries, sign-up for the challenge, post at least one review a month of a YA book that meets the criteria and upload the review link to the Rafflecopter form below (also available on the challenge page). Reviews must be completed and posted during the participating month and you can upload more than one qualifying book review per month.

We are very excited to see the variety of multi-cultural YA books that you will be reading and review for the month!

Announcing the 2012 Multi-Cultural Book Challenge!

Welcome to the 2012 Muti-Cultural Book Challenge hosted by KM at One Page At a Time and myself. KM and I thought it would be great to highlight the fabulous YA books written by muti-cultural/ethnic minorities OR featuring multi-cultural/ethnic minorities as main characters.

The goal of this challenge is to read 12 minority YA books for the year. The books can be newly published or been around for a long time. Every month, either KM or I will feature a book or author that meets the criteria and do a book giveaway to those participating in the challenge. All you have to do is review at least one book per month that meets the criteria, upload that review to the Google Doc that will be on either of our sites and you will be entered to win! This is a chance to win a new book every month!

For January, I will feature and give away Living Violet by Jaime Reed: a YA paranormal novel with an African American main character written by an African American author.

There are so many great books to choose from, but if you need some suggestions, check out this list on Goodreads. Ready to sign up? Just declare your participation in the challenge by writing a post on your blog and add your post to the Linky provided. (Special thanks to Kristin from Kristin Creative for designing our awesome challenge button!)




Some of the books I plan to read for the challenge (and the ethnic background of the author or main character) include:

1. Living Violet by Jaime Reed (African American)
2. Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott (Asian)
3. The Book of Wonders by Jasmine Richards (African American)
4. Spirit’s Princess by Esther Friesner (Asian)
5. Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan (Asian)
6. Shifting by Bethany Wiggins (Native American)
7. Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck (Indian)
8. The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Córdova (Hispanic)
9. The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong (Native American)
10. The Calling by Kelley Armstrong
11. A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee (African American, Asian)
12. Daughter of the Flames by Zoe Marriott (Multi-Cultural)

I hope you will grab our button and join us for a year of awesome reading!