IMAGE TEXT: Do you love to read? Have you ever wanted a place to put your reviews but didn’t want the hassle of running a blog, or the social media seems out of reach? Or maybe you already have a Bookstagram but want to pair your pretty photos with your thoughts on your books.
Dream Read Repeat is a place for part-time book bloggers. Literally, we have team members who contribute 5+ book reviews a month and others that contribute 3-4 books reviews a year, and both are welcome at DRR.
What does it take to be a Dreamer?
Be willing to write honest, thoughtful reviews of the books you read (no limits on genre, age market, or format)
Be willing to engage with the DRR team on Discord to coordinate
Be willing to provide photos to go along with your reviews
Work through the Google Drive infrastructure
Be 16 years of age or older
Fluent, written English (does not have to be your 1st language)
Go to Join Us! Become a reviewer for Dream Read Repeat in the top menu and fill out the form and maybe you’ll become the newest addition to the DRR team! . For more information regarding the DRR team, visit the About Us page. Stop daydreaming and GO GO GO!
There’s nothing that drives me batty quite like artificial boundaries! Whenever I hear, “I only read YA,” or equally, “I would never read YA,” I stare in complete disbelief. There are so many stories that bring excitement, introspection, or perspective across all the target age brackets. If you yourself find that you never read Adult fiction, maybe you want to give some of these fantastic stories a try.
Here are the Dream Read Repeat picks for Adult fiction with appeal to a YA reader.
The Nightrunner Series
By Lynn Flewelling Picked by: Fox
The first book in the series is Luck in the Shadows.
Why would a YA reader like this book?
Epic adventures, thievery, spies, magic, chosen families + LGBT+ rep (the first few books were written in the 90s).
What YA books or authors are similar?
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, perhaps The Six of Crows (but I have not read it so I can’t confirm for sure), Isle of Blood Stone, Rook by Shannon Cameron
High fantasy, a fantasy novel of manners that reminds me at times a lot of The Three Musketeers (for some reason), LGBT+ rep (also written in the 80s).
What YA books or authors are similar?
The Three Musketeers (Although it’s not YA), Isle of Blood Stone. It is fantasy of manners but few YA fantasy books fit the bill.
An 18 yo, entitled college boy has to grow up in perilous circumstances. Set in 1870’s just as Custer is defeated by the Sioux and when Deadwood was at it’s most violent, this story touches on the violence without diving deep into it. Brings the west alive through the perspective of the young protagonist.
And yes, this is the same author that brought us Jurassic Park, but it’s definitely not Science Fiction.
What YA books or authors are similar?
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman, Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
Several characters that are younger – 17-22 who are coming into their own during a protracted war. Accessible fantasy with strong female characters, characters with disability, and good moral messages.
What YA books or authors are similar?
Fantasy writers like Susan Dennard, Victoria Schwab, and Sanderson, himself, who wrote the Mistborn series and The Rithmatist.
Fans of Laini Taylor and her books Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares will also likely enjoy this slightly more mature character set.
Remember when Susan Dennard released Bloodwitch with it’s dramatic, amazing cover…. remember? You know…
This one….
And the book world exploded!
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
— All of us
“Bae is beautiful!”
—Most of us
“Hey, why is the lettering RED?”
—A couple aesthetic-focus folks
Well, now we have our answer….. BOX SET!!!!!!
It turns out that the Bloodwitch motif was just the start of a brand new series of covers and an actual BOX SET…. (should I scream it again?)
BOX SET!
That’s right, the very much loved Moon-Mother herself. Susan Dennard, will be giving us all a fantastic Witchlands Box Set with each of the three primary books: Truthwitch, Windwitch, and Bloodwitch. Along with these gorgeous covers (see below), will be an exclusive poster featuring the Witchlands map! A real must-have for fans of the series.
Cliff Nielsen is best known for his work on projects such as Star Wars, The X-Files, Chronicles of Narnia among many projects including advertising campaigns, designs, and magazines. He studied in both traditional and digital illustration and graduated as valedictorian from Art Center College of Design in CA. His illustrations have been recognized for their excellence by the Society of Illustrators, Print, and Spectrum among others. Feature articles focusing on his work appear in design publications and fanzine magazines alike. Cliff has been an international speaker on digital art and has served as a judge for the Society of Illustrators and a variety of professional illustration award programs. He lives and dreams in Los Angeles, California.
Remember….. Release date: October 8, 2019
More about Jessica Khoury (artist of the new, elaborate map included in the box set as a full-colour poster):
Jessica Khoury wrote her first book at age 4, a fan fic
sequel to Syd Hoff’s Danny and the Dinosaur, which she scribbled on
notebook paper, stapled together, and placed on the bookshelf of her preschool
classroom. Since that day, she’s dreamed of being an author.
In addition to writing, Jess is also a fantasy
cartographer, and spends far too much time scribbling tiny trees and mountains
in fictional worlds. She is very passionate about orcas, Spanish soccer, and
choosing the perfect font.
Jess currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina. She is the author of Origin, Vitro, Kalahari, and The Forbidden Wish.
Don’t forget, Release date: October 8, 2019
More about Susan Dennard (author of The Witchlands, Something Strange and Deadly series, and #TheLuminaries on Twitter)
Susan Dennard has come a long way from
small-town Georgia. Working in marine biology, she got to travel the world—six
out of seven continents, to be exact (she’ll get to you yet, Asia!)—before she
settled down as a full-time novelist and writing instructor.
She is the author of the Something Strange
and Deadly series, as well as the New York Times bestselling Witchlands
series, and she also hosts the popular newsletter for writers, the Misfits & Daydreamers. When not writing,
she is slaying darkspawn (on her PS4) or earning bruises at the dojo.
She lives in the Midwestern US with her French husband, two spoiled dogs, and two grouchy cats. Learn more about her on her twitter, instagram, or newsletter.
There’s no surprise that this team loves YA fiction. We read it. We talk about it. We follow it on social media. And, sometimes, we just don’t see enough attention cast towards our favorites. Or at least we think there should be more.
Here are several books that we here at Dream Read Repeat feel need a little more love.
The Young Elites
Author: Marie Lu Picked by: Marlou
Why should more people read this book?
Simply put? Because it’s awesome!
The villain is the main character but she’s not really a villain but just a girl who’s always been treated awful and decided she didn’t need anyone in her life telling her what to do. She thinks she’s a hero and that she is saving her country from a corrupt ruler. It also has a very interesting magic system that has always stuck with me even if I can’t quite remember the details of the story anymore.
For people who like…
People who like Shatter Me will like this trilogy!
Time travel, a love story (or three), a World’s Fair with a serial killer! This is a great start to an energetic series. Each book in the trilogy advances the overall plot to stop the end of the world. It gets better and better with each book.
For people who like…
People who likes the straight forward and demonstrative writing styles of Marissa Meyer, Brendan Reichs, or Marie Lu or if you like anything time-travel-y will enjoy this series.
Fast paced enemies to lovers story where Rouen, the dark Fae princess, is under a Contract of Blood and Bone to kill all fair Fae sleeper-princesses. The problem? Syl is the last sleeper-princess and they kind of have feelings for each other. Dark Fae and fair Fae are also supposed to be mortal enemies, but they can change that, right?
In the first chapter of the Dream Read Repeat podcast, we give you an introduction to Dream Read Repeat, a project from a collective of book enthusiasts. Then we discuss books we’ve been reading, books that surprised us, and what we’re reading next.
Some books named and discussed in this chapter include:
Gentleman’s Guide to Vise and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee (historical fiction, LGBT, MLM)
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (thriller/horror, LGBT, WLW)
The Dark Wood by Sydney Mann (fantasy, indie)
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas (fantasy, new adult)
One of us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Beartown by Fredrik Backman (contemporary, #MeToo)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirly Jackson (mystery/thriller, gothic)
Soulless by Gail Carriger (steam punk, paranormal)
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (historical, contemporary)
Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (fantasy, middle grade)
Dream Read Repeat 