by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Anne Ursu's The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "If no one notices Marya Lupu, is likely because of her brother, Luka. And that’s because of what everyone knows: that Luka is destined to become a sorcerer. "The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city of Illyria, but that doesn’t matter. Every young boy

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Kwame Mbalia's Tristan Strong Keeps Punching (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents the finale of Kwame Mbalia's trilogy, in which Tristan Strong faces off with his archenemy, King Cotton, once and for all. "'Imagine if you combined Anansi the Spider, John Henry, and Marvel into, like, one book.'--New York T

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) I don't know the last time that I was drawn into a book the way Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious (Amazon | Bookshop.org) drew me in. I quickly got through the rest of my "have-to" reads to devour the next two books in the trilogy (Amazon | Bookshop.org). Truly Devious runs through two timelines. In the historical timeline, it's 1936, and we're with millionaire Albert Ellingham whose wife and daughter have been kidnapped from their home on the c

In this Unabridged Book Club episode, Sara, Jen, and Ashley discuss Darcie Little Badger's young adult lit book Elatsoe (Amazon | Bookshop.org). This fascinating book combines several genres including fantasy and paranormal fiction. We also share our pairings, including Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter, Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys, and Dhonielle Clayton’s The Belles. We had a great discussion about this outstanding book and hope that you enjoy it! Bookish Check-in As

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Ryka Aoki's Light from Uncommon Stars (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts. "Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) This Wednesday, we'll release our Book Club episode focusing on Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe (Amazon | Bookshop.org). This amazing YA novel focuses on Elatsoe, a member of the Lipan Apache tribe, and blends fantastic world building with a compelling mystery, along with some great paranormal touches. Reading Elatsoe made me reflect on my reading year and some other amazing books I've read. (Be sure to read through the end for some additional

October Book In October, we're so excited to be discussing Aiden Thomas's YA novel Cemetery Boys (Amazon | Bookshop.org) as both our Book Club and Buddy Read pick. We'll have two IG chats in the middle of the month, and then the episode will release on October 27th. Stay tuned to @unabridgedpod for details! Here's the synopsis: "A trans boy determined to prove his gender to his traditional Latinx family summons a ghost who refuses to leave in Aiden Thomas's paranormal YA debu

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) On Wednesday, we'll be sharing authors who write either for multiple age groups, genres, or both. We discussed several of our favorite authors on the episode. Here are some other authors who we love who write broadly! Jason Reynolds: It is no secret that here at the podcast, we adore Jason Reynolds. He has a myriad of books written for both upper elementary/middle grade readers and young adult readers. Some of our favorites include The Track

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Alexis Daria's A Lot Like Adiós (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "Hi Mich. It’s Gabe. "After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. So what if her love life is nonexistent? She’s perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Ital

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) On Wednesday, we'll be sharing book recommendations for books we've read that surprised us in the best possible ways and turned out to be more than we expected. In keeping with my recent bookish fave posts featuring YA lit and middle-grade recommendations, I wanted to hone in on a few young adult lit and middle-grade books that also brought me unexpected joy because they were more than I anticipated when I started them. B. B.

In this Unabridged Podcast episode, we discuss one of our favorite topics, book-to-screen adaptations. In this one, we focus on young adult books that have been adapted to films or series. We talk about ones we've discussed on the podcast and others we've loved. This episode is perfect for the 2021 Unabridged Reading Challenge because it covers the category for a YA lit book that has been adapted as well as for the bonus "Watch the Adaptation" category! Bookish Check-in Ashle

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Today is such an epic book release day that I'm afraid I can't limit myself to highlighting only three books. So, be sure to scroll to the end to check out the books I can't help shouting out. Bethany C. Morrow's So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "Four young Black sisters come of age during the American Civil War in So Many Beginnings, a warm and powerful YA remix of the classic novel

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books) Last week, we released an episode recommending some favorite fantasy and dystopian reads. (You can check it out here.) So, I thought I'd zoom in on fantasy for this week's bookish fave. Fantasy is one of my go-to genres. It's there when I need a comfort read, when I want to escape, when I want to challenge myself. Often, fantasy authors are taking on real-world issues under the guise of leaving the real world. While the list of fantasy books I

In this Unabridged podcast episode, Ashley, Jen, and Sara talk about one of our favorite topics - we share book series we've loved reading. We're focusing on young adult literature fantasy and dystopian series, and although there are tons of great recommendations in this category, we narrow it down to Marie Lu, Dhonielle Clayton, and S.A. Chakraborty. Check it out, and find us on the socials to share your favorites with us! Bookish Check-in Ashley - Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Befo

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! David Levithan and Jennifer Niven's Take Me With You When You Go (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "Subject: You. Missing. "Ezra Ahern wakes up one day to find his older sister, Bea, gone. No note, no sign, nothing but an email address hidden somewhere only he would find it. Ezra never expected to be left behind with their abusive stepfather and their neglectfu

September Books On September 29, we'll release our Book Club episode focusing on Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe (Amazon | Bookshop.org), but before that releases, we'll have two IG chats on September 13 and 27 (this is also our September Buddy Read pick!). Stay tuned @unabridgedpod for announcements and updates. Here is the synopsis from the publisher: "A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer. "Elatsoe—Ellie for short—lives in an

by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse) This Wednesday, we share our thoughts about our August Book Club pick, Balli Kaur Jaswal's Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. (You can join our discussion on Instagram on August 30th if you'd like to talk about that one! Just DM us or email us!) That book had so many amazing threads woven together, but one of them that really resonated with me was the way that generational and cultural differences can be overcome. One of the

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) Here are three books coming out today that I'm excited to read! Charlotte Nicole Davis's The Sisters of Reckoning (Amazon | Bookshop.org) Description from Publisher: "The Sisters of Reckoning is the blockbuster sequel to Charlotte Nicole Davis’s alternate Old West-set fantasy adventure. "The Good Luck Girls are free. Aster’s sister and friends have new lives across the border in Ferron, while Aster remains in Arketta, helping more girls esca

by Sara Voigt (@meaningfulmadness) I am so excited to talk about some of my favorite reads from my Beyond the Bookends Reading Challenge, the challenge I picked in addition to our Unabridged Reading Challenge. The thing I love about reading challenges is that they challenge (imagine that!) me to read outside of my comfort zone. My 2021 reading has gone SO much better than my 2020 reading. Here are some of my favorites from my reading challenge so far. Holly Whitaker's Quit Li

On today's Unabridged episode, we share about a popular topic - books we cannot stop reading! We share about a fantasy favorite, Sarah J. Maas, with A Court of Silver Flames, and romance favorite Alyssa Cole with her thriller When No One is Watching. We also talk about Laura Hankin’s Happy and You Know It. It's always fun to read a book you can't put down, so we wanted to share some that had that effect on us! Bookish Check-in Ashley - Peter Heller’s The River (Amazon | Books