Too many books, too little clarity #IMWAYR

It's Monday! What are you reading?  

The kidlit version of #IMWAYR was started by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts. You can also follow the hashtag on Twitter. 

Unfortunately, no, this is not what I'm reading at the moment. 

If only I'd ordered the audio version of some of these lovely books, I'd be listening to them right now! My vision is still blurry. The ophthalmologist says it's an "unexplained swelling in the retina" of my right eye. The prednisolone eye drops that I have to use three times a day are actually helping or I wouldn't be able to type this. But reading is still difficult and tiring. I have an appointment with the retina specialist in January. I figure it can't be too serious or they wouldn't make me wait a month!

Just another bump in the road that has been 2020. I'm sure you are looking forward to 2021 as much as I am! This year has been mostly horrible but with some wonderful moments (like joining #the21ders in June and getting to know some of my fellow debut authors! And reading some of their wonderful e-arcs before my vision went blurry). 

What I AM reading (slowly) is a physical ARC of another of The21ders' debut novels, GLITTER GETS EVERYWHERE by Yvette Clark, coming May 4, 2021 from HarperCollins.  I'm not very far into it yet, because I can't read more than a chapter a day, but I'm already in love with Yvette Clark's writing and her main character, Kitty. 

You can preorder it from the publisher or other book sources. Here's a link to Yvette's website with handy preorder buttons (although I wish they included Bookshop or Indiebound). Or if you preorder it from your local independent bookstore, they will love you forever! And it may help them stay in business during this ongoing pandemic.

What are YOU reading?

And since I won't post again for a while, Happy New Year!

THE NIGHTMARE THIEF by Nicole Lesperance for #IMWAYR

Hi, everyone! First, please forgive me for joining #IMWAYR -- and then disappearing for three weeks. I've been dealing with headaches and blurry vision, so reading has become difficult. The good news: I had a CT scan of the head and neck, and a follow-up video visit with my neurosurgeon. She says my brain is in great shape! (Yes, contrary to popular opinion, I do have a brain...) No new aneurysms, and the coils, clip, and shunt are all working properly. 

As for the blurry vision, I have an ophthalmologist appointment at the end of this week. Keep your fingers crossed that it's not serious. I feel as if my prescription changed suddenly. 

In the middle of all this, I finally received page proofs from my editor and had only ten days to read through them. So I had to discipline myself to stay off social media, stay off the computer for other reasons, and read 25 pages a day of my proofs for those ten days. I've never been so happy to have written a novel in verse. So few words on the page!

From now on, I will try to continue to participate in #IMWAYR, but probably only every other week. And it may take me a few days to read your posts, so please be patient with me. 

Onward!

The Nightmare Thief by Nicole Lesperance (coming January 12, 2021, Sourcebooks, ages 8 and up)

What a fascinating novel! It's both deliciously creepy (oh, that villain! Oh, those nightmares!) and heartwarmingly touching at the same time. This book will rank right up there with Coraline by Neil Gaiman, A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd, and Savvy by Ingrid Law. And the writing is so imaginative and so visual I could totally see this book as a movie.

Set in the fictional New England town of Rockpool Bay, this delightfully whimsical tale of magic and dancing and dreams will pull you in from the first page. Maren Partridge is learning from her grandmother how to create dreams, which her family sells in their shop, Typewriters and Dreams. There are lots of other magical products in Rockpool Bay: singing bubbles, edible fireworks, roses that grow back as soon as they're picked. But Maren's family's dream shop is the only one in town.

Then a mysterious woman enters the shop and wants to buy a dozen nightmares. Maren's grandmother will only sell three nightmares at once. 

The other hard and fast rule: dreams cannot be given to someone without their consent. 

Maren's older sister, Hallie, is in a coma after a car accident, and Maren decides to break the rules and give her sister a nice dream, hoping it will awaken her from her coma. But the mysterious new customer happens to witness Maren's transgression and bribes her into stealing nightmares for her from the shop.

As the mysterious woman's true purpose becomes clear, the story becomes so compelling, you won't want to stop reading. Because of my vision issues, I could only read a little at a time, and it was driving me nuts! And the best news of all: there's a sequel!

This book will arrive in one month. You can pre-order it from Bookshop.

Here's Nicole's website