Gabbie's bookish thoughts

Rating:  ✮✮✮✮✮ Synopsis: I am Renata Convida. I have lived a hundred stolen lives. Now I live my own. Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King's Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata's ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King's Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.  Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.  When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love ma...

(artwork "la gente es colorida" by Allie Rafferty, designed by Fiachra Johnston)) I have been excitedly watching from the sidelines as the wonderful team of Paper Lanterns  turned this very exciting idea into a reality and put together a literary journal dedicated to teen & YA lit and the people celebrating it. From original creative writing pieces to interviews and reviews, Paper Lanterns  promised many things.  I'm delighted to tell you that I was lucky enough to get an early look at their first issue and it achieved all the things it aimed to; reading through it, I couldn't help but be reminded why I love the community built around this type of literature so much, the kind of talent and passion of those part of it. It also reminded me just how smart, talented and interesting the teens that these stories are for are themselves and the kind of fantastic work they can put into the world when given the chance (with the addition of equally fantastic words comi...