Welcome to a friendly, neighbourhood construction notice from Bookcase Bizarro!

As a soon-to-be self-published author, my work life is undergoing some serious renovations, and this newsletter is part of that. Completing the edits for SHADOW APPRENTICE, working with a book cover designer while still trying to write the next book has made me realize I don’t have enough creative bandwidth to post 4+ reviews in multiple children’s genres on my blog every month.

In fact this month, I don’t have enough creative bandwidth to post any.

I need to pare things down a tad.

Starting in September, the number of books I review will decrease from 5 down to a more manageable 2. I’ll focus exclusively on MG (mostly upper MG) and YA. These are the genres I know best, since they make up the bulk of the books I read. (Also, I suck at trying to describe visual art.) I’ll tag any other particularly good books I’ve read during the month with a ‘Recommended Reads’ rather than a short review.

Like this:

Recommended Read: Don’t Breathe a Word, by Jordyn Taylor. (HarperTeen, 2021)

Seriously, do yourself a favour and read this one.

Past and present stories interconnect around an elite society at a private boarding school, and a secret fallout shelter hidden built during the Cold War paranoia of the 1950s. Group think and corruption are prominent themes. For fans of dark academia. (Okay, I did have enough creative bandwidth to write a review this month after all.)

Finally, I’ll continue to headline with author news and share any interesting links that have snagged me during the month.

This is all about creating a sane pace of work amidst the increased demands of running an author business, and making sure that I leave enough time for important essentials like REST and FUN. Remember those? Me, too.

Thanks for bearing with me and I’ll see you again in September!