New Author Challenge Update

Holy crap….there are a ton of reviews over at the New Author challenge!  As of today, there are 90 participants in my challenge (wow!) and between all of us, we’ve submitted 164 different reviews that were of authors new to us.  That’s amazing and I can’t even begin to image where that number will be on Dec. 31st.  To everyone who is participating in this challenge with me, you are blowing me away.  I never thought that this challenge would generate such a response.

Here’s just a taste of some of the authors that were tried over the past 27 days…

Kay’s Bookshelf has enjoyed Gregory Maguire’s Wicked.  Well, she’s enjoyed it, but it sounds like she did get a little creeped out by the Wizard.  I’ve read the first novel in the Wicked Years series and it definitely paints the Wicked Witch of the West in a whole new light.  Although, one of my favorite quotes does come from this novel:

“People always did like to talk, didn’t they? That’s why I call myself a witch now: the Wicked Witch of the West, if you want the full glory of it. As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefit of it? It liberates you from convention.”

Alessandra over at Out of the Blue has reviewed Jenny Downham’s first novel Before I Die, which is narrated by 16 year old Tessa who is losing her battle with leukemia.  After creating a “top 10 things to do before I die” list, Tessa endeavors to do everything on her list and finds some unexpected results.

All About {n} has tackled an author that is on my new author list – LJ Smith and her novel Secret Vampire.  This is actually the first novel in Smith’s Night World series and I’ve been told it is really good and Nely seems to agree with that sentiment.

Natasha over at Maw Books checks out The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman, which won the Newbery Medal in 1987.  This rather short novel tells the story of how a 15th century prince learns a few life lessons through his connection with his whipping boy.

Mary Beth over at Cats…Books…Life is Good shares one of my all time favorite authors – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  I could rave about this book (which I have done), but Mary Beth sums it up pretty well and I’m glad she didn’t let the one scene prevent her from continuing on with this series.

Alison Kent shares with us Defenseless by Celeste Marsella.  I’m not one for the murder mysteries, but Alison caught my attention with her review.

Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty gives us her opinion on Who By Fire by Diana Spechler.  Delving into the issues surrounding a family dealing with the loss of a young child, it sounds like Who by Fire is a roller coaster of emotion.

Serendipity reviews a novel that has gotten a lot of attention lately – Neil Gaiman’s American Gods.  This is a book I’ve heard a lot of good things about (and I’ve been told I really need to read Gaiman) and this reviews continues to add to my curioustiy for this  novel.

Cheryl over at Cheryl’s Book Nook has intrigued me with her review of Flirting with Temptation by Kelley St. John.  The line that caught my attention: “I mean who wouldn’t laugh at two senior citizens fighting in wheelchairs to the denture stealing grandma.”  Yup, sounds like a good read when I need something light.

And to end us out, Samantha from Sam’s Book Blog gives us her virgin view of Keri Arthur’s Full Moon Rising.  This is another one of my automatic buys, so I’m glad that another reader was hooked.