Middle Grade Madness! discussion

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Hey everyone! So normally November is when we do our writer's showcase event which is always fun buttttt I thought we could change it up and do a readathon instead this year.

SO let's create a list of indie books to read in November!

If there are any MG authors out there, yes, you definitely can recommend your own books for the list, and in the spirit of our past writer's showcase, I'll try and highlight those books in our list.

Recommend indie books for our readathon below or on this poll:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Please remember by indie I mean independently published but you can also include traditionally published books that aren't super well known like good hidden gem books etc. This is about celebrating lesser known books and embracing the spirit of National Novel Writing Month.

The books can be MG, YA, adult, or new adult.
If the book is from a series, please recommend the first book only!

The Book List!

MG
Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers by Georgina Warren - Georgina

The Orange Curse by Kristina Kamaeva - Kristina

Montgomery Schnauzer P.I. and the Case of the Stealthy Cat Burglar by Timothy Forner - Timothy

The Blameless by E.S. Christison - Kadi
Jack Mathias and the Boonetown Bandits by G.M. Savage - Little Reading Wizard
The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night - Ilsen
The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray by B.A. Williamson - Lynn
A Boy Called Duct Tape by Christopher Cloud - Lynn
The Detention Club by David Yoo - Lynn
The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtauld - Kristina
Fly With Me by Julie Hahn - Audrey
Billy: Messenger of Powers by Michaelbrent Collings - Audrey
Shadowguard by Gama Ray Martinez - Audrey
Light-Years From Home by Michaelbrent Collings - Audrey

YA
Son of Shadow by John Lenahan - Kadi
The Named by Marianne Curley - Kadi
Between Jobs by W.R. Gingell - Kadi
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee - Ilsen
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado - Ilsen
The Alchemists of Loom by Elise Kova - Ilsen
The Madonna Ghost by Linda Maria Frank - Lynn
An Affinity for Burning by Alex Nonymous - Finn
Into the Deep by Indigo McCorry - Finn
The Sapling's Curse by James Persichetti - Finn
Quest of Awakening by Daniel Dickson - Finn
Fire Light by J. Abram Barneck - Audrey
Secrets of Fathara by Robin Glassey - Audrey
The Supes by Matthew Pritt
Pitch Green by The Brothers Washburn - Audrey

Adult
The Beast of Talesend by Kyle Robert Shultz - Kadi
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree - Ilsen
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake - Ilsen
Seeds in the Wind by Aaron Lee Yeager - Audrey
The Longest Con by Michaelbrent Collings - Audrey
Woven by Bree Moore - Audrey
Animal Future by Robert McGraw - Audrey
Dane Curse by Matt Abraham - Audrey

(The books in bold are books written by our own group members!
Names in italic are the recommenders.)

Wow guys we've got quite a long list! So many books have peaked my interest so a big thanks to everyone who recommended titles👏🏻

Would anyone like to buddy read one of the books with me? It could be fun to discuss them
Particularly one of these books maybe: The Crowns of Croswald, Jack Mathias and the Boonetown Bandits, The Marvelous Adventures of Gwendolyn Gray, Shadowguard, or The Supes

I would love to reread The Crowns of Croswald so I would be down to buddy read it!! Maybe it will give me the push I need to get the sequel!

@Ilsen omg yay! Ok let’s read it! I’ll set up a buddy read page so we can natter about it without overloading the Readathon page.

It’s funny because I remember the first time you mentioned this book like years ago! It has such lovely art so I can’t wait to read it! It kind of gives Nevermoor vibes.

When do you want to start? I’m not reading anything else right now so I’m ready whenever you are. And if anyone else wants to buddy read it with us, please do!

Omg after reading Nevermoor, it does give Nevermoor vibes! I’m so excited to see what you think! I really love your middle grade recommendations so I’ve been dying to see what you think. I think this will be right up your alley! Also, I really need to continue the Nevermoor series but I got the second book finally!

I’m good with starting next week! I just started this new job so I’m still trying to figure how to incorporate my reading so I hope this buddy read will jumpstart it again. Also this weekend, I will be busy going to the Book Fair so I doubt I will be reading.

I read it in 2020 and I was in love with it. I actually got this book at the Book Fair to try it and I was so surprised on how much I loved it! I’ve been really wanting to get the sequel but since it’s an indie book, it’s hard to find and I suck at getting books online. Maybe she will be there and I can finally get the other books! I was so sad when I missed her at Supercon so hopefully she will come!

Disclosure, I was the editor for Fly With Me. It is so good!

@Ilsen you’re really hyping me up for this and I loved Nevermoor (despite how long some of the books were) for its creativity and subtle but clever plots and it’s great characters. So if Crowns of Croswald is anything like that I’m sure I’m going to love it!!

Ok I’ve set up the buddy read page here so we can discuss it: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
And I’m starting it today! So I’ll leave thoughts every couple of chapters or whatever and we can discuss it as we both read it!

How was the Book Fair over the weekend by the way? I actually got this book as an ARC back in 2020 I think so it would be nice to finally review it lol.
And how is the new job going? Juggling a job with reading is quite hard! I’m not working at the moment so I have more time for reading and it’s great to get back into it after not having read for a while.

@Audrey it looks great! I’m adding it to my TBR

I’m excited to see your thoughts so yay! The Book Fair was amazing! I didn’t get to go last year because of school and with the pandemic, the Fair was trying to get their footing back again after two years. But it was amazing! There was so many amazing vendors that I was able to buy other things like bookmarks and booksleeves (one of them I recognized and I was so excited). Also all of the panels were so fun and interesting!! Usually I only go to the panels and I don’t buy anything from the tents but I just couldn’t help myself. I spent a lot of money..whoops.

My job is ok, thank you for asking. It’s kinda a boring first job and not one I expected for myself because I want to work with books. I’m just an office assistant at a realtor office and I do some menial tasks like filling out a spreadsheet, making calls, and sorting out mail. But it’s a job and I hope I can move up to something I want in the future. I haven’t read anything since I started and I’m still reading The Secret History from September. I really like the book though, it’s so good!!

Welcome back, Kadi!! It’s nice to see The Blameless on your list of indie recs! ♥️