#Kayla Whaley

[the-final-sentence]

And we went home.

Kayla Whaley, from "The Leap and the Fall"

[katesharmasheart]

books i read in 2022♡ Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite by Zoraida Córdova, Natalie C. Parker, Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Mark Oshiro, Julie Murphy, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, V.E. Schwab, Kayla Whaley

“Vampires may not be real, but the stories make them something we share.”

[theobviousparadox]

Review: Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman

Review: Up All Night edited by Laura Silverman

Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and SunriseEdited by Laura SilvermanAlgonquin Young ReadersPublished July 13, 2021 Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads About Up All Night When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a…

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

The Grimoire of Grave Fates edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

goodreads

Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party. Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect. A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome—but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect. Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules. . . . Contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez.

Mod opinion: I've heard of this anthology before and while it does sound interesting, I don't think I'll read it myself, since interconnected anthologies like that rarely work for me.

[badassbutterfly1987]

Unbroken: Stories Starring Disabled Teens (individual stories reviewed)

I picked up this book on a whim at the library. I started reading and had some thoughts about both the stories and the representation. For some personal context: I have diagnoses for both epilepsy and autism, as well as some form of chronic pain/fatigue; while I can offer perspective on that, I'll have less to say about other disability representation.

'The Long Road' by Heidi Heilig:

story: Lihua is a teen girl in historical China traveling to Persia with her family. She has a unnamed disability that they are hoping to recieve a cure for. She meets a girl with a similar experience that tells her there is no cure, only lifelong treatment.

disability: implied to be some kind of mood disorder, possibly bipolar. The treatment is described as 'clean living' as well as finding connections and keeping hope.

'Britt and the Bike God' by Kody Keplinger

story: Britt is a tandem biker. She is paired up with Andre, a boy she crushes on but worries that he only views her as a burden slowing him down. They clear up the misunderstanding mid race.

disability: progressive blindness, specifically retinitis pigmentosa. Detail is given about how Britt had to adjust from traditional biking to tandem biking after she started to lose her vision. She struggles with feeling like a burden on her biking partners.

'Leap and Fall' by Kayla Whaley

story: Gemma guides Eloise to a abandoned carnival hidden in the woods. They explore and find a place for a tarot card reading. Gemma is revealed to be possessed by a ghost who lured Eloise in to share the same fate.

disability: Eloise uses a wheelchair. While it affects how she interacts with her surroundings, it's very much secondary to the rest of the story. Not much to say for this one.

I enjoyed this one less overall. It may be just because I couldn't tell what genre it was supposed to be until the third act. Was it a romance? A toxic friendship? No, it was a ghost/possession story.

'Per Aspera Ad Astra' by Katherine Locke

story: Lizzie is a teen on a sci-fi world who due to health issues stays at home. When the planet is attacked, she needs to reset the defense shield that she designed.

disability: Lizzie has severe anxiety attacks. It has caused her to stay at home and only take online classes, though even the anxiety of turning in a paper and waiting for results gets to her. At least one caretaker is dismissive of her anxiety, treating it like unreasonable fear over nothing.

'Found Objects' by William Alexander

story: Unnamed narrator is a high school theatre kid. He has a magical gift that tends to pop up when he's acting. When he gets a bit too into his Richard III role during rehearsal, it creates a Richard doppleganger that he needs to dispel.

disability: Narrator is a cane user with chronic pain. He is notably more bitter than most of the other story leads, having angry thoughts about the casual ableism he encounters. He recalls a time when a friend admitted they were glad that their recently dead aunt was at least no longer in pain, while narrator can't expect an end to his pain and is bothered by the implication that being dead is better than being in pain.

This is one of my favorites, both for the creative magic and the meditation on handling pain. It's neat to see a character use their pain to power their magic.

'Plus One' by Karuna Riazi

story: Hafsah is a Muslim teen on a pilgrimage to Mecca with her family. She hopes it will get rid of her 'monster'.

disability: the exact disability is unnamed but symptoms sound like anxiety and mention is made of night terrors.

'The Day the Dragon Came' by Marieke Nijkamp

story: Alix and Delfin live in a medieval-ish city that is building a tower that will have an important dragon figure set at the top; messenger Alix dismisses it as just a fancy weather vane while carpenter Delfin thinks it's both symbolically and magically powerful. They develop a bond but conflict when Alix wants to run away while Delfin wants to stay.

disability: Alix is a cane user with chronic pain, specifically back and leg pain. She is used to being pushed away and is unsure how to handle Delfin's friendship and possible romantic feelings. She buys mediocre canes at the market because she can't afford better; Delfin carves her a better cane as a gift.

Notes: not sure if this is historical or fantasy, as the references to the dragon and plague-causing sprites are vague enough to be either. I also appreciate the trans representation with Delfin.

'Captain, My Captain' by Francisco X. Stork

story: Alberto is a Mexican immigrant who lives with his sister Lupe, her garbage boyfriend, and their toddler son. He struggles with deciding to stay with them or strike out on his own.

disability: Alberto has a developmental disability. He struggles with what I think is intrusive thoughts he has labeled as Captain America, who encourages him to run away and live on his own.

'Dear Nora James, You Know Nothing About Love' by Dhonielle Clayton

story: Nora writes dating advice for her school newspaper despite not dating herself. She is still dealing with her parents' divorce.

disability: Nora has a stomach disorder as well as related anxiety.

didn't like this one as much, partly because my interpretation of the setup didn't match the conclusion. Nora is uninterested in dating, something I thought might be because she's aro or ace, but it's then implied to be because she's hurt by the divorce and might start dating at the end. There's a teen boy that's been crushing on her for years, a character I thought was meant to be a loser creep, but nope guess he's a sweetie that she should give a try.

[transbookoftheday]

The Grimoire of Grave Fates by Hanna Alkaf & Margaret Owen

Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party.

Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect.

A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome—but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect. 

Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules. . . .

Contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 4/5

Book Blurb: Crack open your spell book and enter the world of the illustrious Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary. There's been a murder on campus, and it's up to the students of Galileo to solve it. Follow 18 authors and 18 students as they puzzle out the clues and find the guilty party. Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort has just been murdered, and now everyone at the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect. A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome—but there are some who aren't so happy with the recent changes. That includes everyone's least favorite professor, Septimius Dropwort, a stodgy old man known for his harsh rules and harsher punishments. But when the professor's body is discovered on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his lifeless hand, the Academy's students must solve the murder themselves, because everyone's a suspect. Told from more than a dozen alternating and diverse perspectives, The Grimoire of Grave Fates follows Galileo's best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort's mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo's halls. But they're about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn't always play by the rules. . . . Contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez

Review:

A professor has been murdered and everyone at the magical academy known as the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a suspect. Eighteen students, 20 hours, and a murderer to catch. Told from 18 different students, along with evidence, interviews, and notes, the mystery and events unfold all leading up to who killed the despised professor Septimius Dropwart and how each of the students could be involved. This was such a fun and magical read, especially when you get to see the events fold bit by bit from each student’s perspective all leading up to the events of the professor’s death and who could be involved. The mystery is revealed in tidbits and overall, it was a fun mystery read told in a unique format that definitely was an undertaking. i would highly recommend this for fans of mystery and fantasy reads! The students all had possible motives and all of them had some connection to the event. With so many unique perspectives and personalities, all the students were interesting to get to know and the overall villain was a fun one to figure out. Seriously, what a fun read!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[triada-literaria]

Reseñas octubre: Especial Leo Autoras

Podéis leerlas en: https://triadaliteraria.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/mis-lecturas-octubre-2022/

-El monstruo del bosque y los monstruos de la ciudad de Julia Rupérez

-Brujas de arena de Marina Tena Tena.

-El campamento de Rocío Remesal.

-Última noche en el páramo de So Blonde.

-Corre, Renina, corre de Celia Añó.

-Gótico (Mexican Gothic) de Silvia Moreno-García.

-Malas pulgas de Ana Morán.

-Los vampiros nunca mueren (Vampires never get old): Tessa Gratton, Rebecca Roanhorse, Julie Murphy, Heidi Heilig, Samira Ahmed, Kayla Whaley, Zoraida Córdoba, Natalie C. Parker, Laura Ruby, Mark Oshiro, Dhonielle Clayton y Victoria Schwab.

[lgbtqreads]

Know of any ya romances where one of the characters is a wheelchair user or otherwise has a mobility disability? Prefer girls or NB MCs.

Not in full-length novels (yet - Melissa See has one coming in 2023 called Love Letters to Joy about a panromantic asexual girl with CP), but Kayla Whaley's written a couple in short stories - check out her work in Up All Night and Unbroken, and keep Out of Our League on your radar.

[signal-failure]

Up All Night

Up All Night is a collection of late-night YA adventures, edited by Laura Silverman, with short stories by Brandy Colbert, Kathleen Glasgow, Maurene Goo, Tiffany D. Jackson, Amanda Joy, Nina LaCour, Karen M. McManus, Anna Meriano, Marieke Nijkamp, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters and Francesca Zappia. Even though (almost) all the stories are great, Up All Night is hard to read in one sitting. There…

[the-final-sentence]

She gives the slightest of nods and LOTTE’s relived exhale whooshes through the mic and across the whole tennis court like a clean winner on match point.

Kayla Whaley, from “No Love Lost”

[literary-lion]

Up All Night | Can't-Wait Wednesday

Up All Night | Can’t-Wait Wednesday

Why am I waiting on this title? I can never have enough anthologies! I always want more. I love the bite sized stories all centring around some sort of theme. For me that’s one of the best reading experiences. This book was immediately up my alley when it was announced. The theme is loose enough that a variety of stories can be told without going too far off base, but it also makes sure there’s…

[dramyhsturgis]

Halloween 2020, Day 22

If you’re looking for a contemporary vampire read, Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite is brand new, edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker with stories by an all-star lineup of authors including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.   

If you’d like to sample a taste from the collection, Tor.com has a spooky excerpt from Rebecca Roanhorse’s story “The Boys From Blood River” here.

Enjoy a couple of eerie snippets.

Now let’s go old school...

But first, on earth as vampire sent, Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race; There from thy daughter, sister, wife, At midnight drain the stream of life; Yet loathe the banquet which perforce Must feed thy livid living corse: Thy victims ere they yet expire Shall know the demon for their sire, As cursing thee, thou cursing them, Thy flowers are withered on the stem.

From “The Giaour” by Lord Byron (1813).

(Art is “Vampire” by akelataka.)

[metaforia]

Anticipated September Releases

So this is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, partly to help myself keep tracks of new releases I’m interested in and partly because I honestly just want an excuse to talk more about books.

September is a pretty hectic month for publishing apparently, because there’s a lot of releases this month and so I’m pretty much 100% certain that I’ve missed some. I might do a follow-up post to…

[luartemisfowl]

VAMPIRES NEVER GET OLD: TALES WITH FRESH BITE

VAMPIRES NEVER GET OLD: TALES WITH FRESH BITE

HEAR OUR VOICES BOOK TOUR

Welcome to my stop for the Hear our voices book tour of this amazing collection of stories!

Thank you so much, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, for the chance to read and review this book!

Vampires never get old is a wonderful collection of short stories and I really loved reading how each author talked about lore and traditions surrounding vampires, from…

[2020ya]

VAMPIRES NEVER GET OLD

edited by Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C Parker

(Imprint, 9/22/20)

9781250230010

Add to Goodreads

Purchase from Indiebound

Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!

In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.

Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Vampires Never Get Old

includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.