Is there ever such a thing as too many books? I don’t think there are too many books to read, but there can definitely be too many to review. Often I’m sent books and, with an already sagging review shelf, these unsolicited books often often don’t fit in to my schedule. Other times, I am unable to finish a book I intended to review (for various reasons), or I don’t have time for a full review. Sunday Shout-Out aims to acknowledge these books and the publishers who have sent them to me.
Sunday Shout Out is a bookish meme hosted by Monique of Write Note Reviews. If you’re a book blogger and you want to join in, just:
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Pen Pal by Francesca Forrest, self-published eBook RRP $4.12, paperback $13.50. Available from Amazon.
Pen Pal starts with a message in a bottle and ends with revolution.Em, a child from a floating community off the Gulf Coast, drops a message into the sea. It ends up in the hands of Kaya, an activist on the other side of the world, imprisoned above the molten lava of the Ruby Lake. Em and Kaya are both living precarious lives, at the mercy of societal, natural, and perhaps supernatural forces beyond their control. Kaya’s letters inspire Em, and Em’s comfort Kaya—but soon their correspondence becomes more than personal. Individual lives, communities, and the fate of an entire nation will be changed by this exchange of letters. Pen Pal is a story of friendship and bravery across age, distance, and culture, at the intersection of the natural and supernatural world.
I generally reserve Shout Outs for books sent by publishers, but I’ve made an exception for this one because the author wrote a particularly good pitch letter. I was in a generous mood and appreciated the effort she’d put into seeing if there were similar books on my blog; her enthusiasm and love for her story also shone through. It does sound like a pleasant read – one about an unlikely but moving friendship – but as I explained to the author, it’s simply not going to fit into my schedule.
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What do you think? Do this sound like something you’d read?
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