Jen Minkman - YA Paranormal and Dystopian Author: 2015

woensdag 16 september 2015

Le garçon du bois



Julia a été amoureuse de Michael pendant des années. Il est le garçon le plus beau du lycée, et elle n'arrive pas à le croire quand ils se rapprochent enfin, lors de leur bal de fin d'année. Mais son rêve ne dure pas bien longtemps, après quelques rendez-vous, il la largue brutallement sans qu'elle s'y attende. Les grandes vacances pour Julia commencent avec un coeur brisé et un grand désespoir.
Puis, un jour, elle sauve Michael dans les bois après qu'il ait eu un accident de moto dans un violent orage. A partir de là, sa vie se trouve totalement bouleversée. Michael a complètement changé à cause du coup à la tête qui avait faillit le tuer...et il veut la récupérer. Mais pourquoi est-il si différent? Et va-t-elle pouvoir lui faire confiance cette fois-ci?
Est-ce que le garçon qui vous a brisé le coeur peut un jour réussir à le regagner?

Back to foreign books page

maandag 11 mei 2015

Sometimes, I don't understand the way Goodreads people rate...

I think I may have written a blog post about the 4-star requirement that a lot of promo sites out there use sometime last year. As some of you may know, if an author wants to make his or her book more visible these days, it's a jungle out there and nobody is going to find your book unless you advertize, so that's what authors with a bit of money to invest do. And many sites such as EReaderNewsToday, BookBub, The Midlist, and other sites ask that you only submit books with an average rating of four stars or more for their consideration. Just so they don't taint their name and promote rubbish.

Now, don't worry, this is not another rant about the unfairness of judging a book's merit based solely on star ratings. It is, however, a little piece of my mind about how truly unique voices in literature aren't rewarded the way they should be. Not if Goodreads opinions are anything to go by.

Take, for example, Marcus Sedgwick. I'm reading one of his books right now (Midwinterblood, which I highly recommend) and the man is an effing genius. I'm going to buy the rest of his books ASAP, take my word for it. Imagine my shock and unpleasant surprise when I went over to Goodreads to check out his work and saw that NONE of his books have a rating above 4 stars. None of them. In fact, his author profile has an average rating of 3.67 stars. And the same goes for Nova Ren Suma, who is another literary mastermind. Her books (I've read all of them now except her latest creation) are so evocative and magical and a pure pleasure to read that I'm jealous I didn't write her books myself. Guess what HER average rating is. 3.53 stars. If these authors were self-published, no one would want to promote them. Maybe it's because the crowd on Goodreads isn't what it used to be, or maybe their books aren't palatable enough. I don't know, but I'm shocked.

You know, a lot of self-pubbed authors think that the traditional publishing world is in its death throes and nobody needs a publisher anymore, because nowadays, readers have the power and they decide what sells and what doesn't, but I'm kind of happy that the Big 5 (or 6?) are still there. I shudder to think what would have happened to Mr. Sedgwick's and Ms. Ren Suma's books otherwise. They'd never have found their way to my ereader or bookshelf, because they'd never have been picked up by promo sites and in all probability I'd have never come across them. I'd have missed out on a beautiful reading experience.

So, yeah, sometimes I think it's pretty awesome that publishers still get to decide which books should see the light of day. :)

End of rant!

donderdag 12 maart 2015

YA Spring Fling Giveaway! Loads of cool books to be won!


Oh yeah! It's time for some spring goodiness. The YA Spring Fling giveaway that I'm also a part of runs from March 20th to April 3rd and gives readers the opportunity to win ebooks, paperbacks, audiobooks and swag from some of the most awesome YA writers around.

To be in with a chance of winning head over to Sarah Dalton Books after the giveaway opens.

But wait, there's more: if you sign up to the mailing list before the 20th you’re guaranteed at least one free ebook of your choice! So what are you waiting for? Get a spring in your step and head over to win some free books! :)