RTW: Best Book of March!

I thought I'd finally jump in on YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesdays ... I've been a lurker for awhile and they just look so fun!

March was actually a surprisingly busy book month for me. I was doing a fair amount of beta-swapping so I was in reading mode not writing mode. Looking back, I'm not entirely sure that was the best approach. I often found myself unable to switch myself out of crit-mode when doing my "fun reading." In some ways this  could be a good thing, but it also meant I was hyper-critical of many books that I might not have had such a problem with otherwise. At first audiobooks helped me a bit, but then I started getting annoyed again. My experience culminated in me complaining, blogstyle in a post entitled: Does your YA paranormal romance have enough clichés?

What do you think? Keep beta-reading and fun-reading separate? Turn off your inner critter when reading published novels or keep it roaring?
Note: I read a great post by someone else AK Fotinos-Hoyer about this awhile back (if it was you, let me know so I can bookmark it!! Thanks AK!). 


My Favorite March Read: TEMPEST - Julie Cross


Now that I've digressed enough, back to the topic! Favorite March Reads. This was a tough one, but I think in the end, I'd have to choose TEMPEST by Julie Cross

I loved Cross' approach to time-travel in this book, and I think my fascination with how she developed this aspect was what kept me hooked. It was a little on the longish side, but so fascinating and the relationships so tangible and real. The voice of the MC was great (it's a male protagonist -- props to Cross for writing it so well!) The believability of the male MC might have been helped along by the fact that I listened to this on audiobook, so heard it read by a male narrator (who did a fantastic job, btw).

March Reads Runners Up


  

I loved the characters of Kate and Matt in AIRBORN, plus airships, cloud cats, pirates and tropical islands? You just can't go wrong! A great MG read.

CINDER was a fascinating cyborg retelling of Cinderella. Sci-fi post-apocalyptic with plagues and lunar intrigue. Loved it!

SAVING JUNE was a great contemporary YA book recommended to me by Sage of Like Fireflies in the Brain for its slow, believable approach to the relationship development. It didn't disappoint. Thanks Sage! It's a great book that weaves road-trip, romance, and dealing with the suicide of a loved-one.