Emily Rachelle Writes

Lately, my friends Cait and Mime over at Notebook Sisters have been posting with the Top Ten Lists prompts. I'm not into blog prompts, but I thought it'd be fun to make my own Top Ten list this month. I've been getting things ready for college this fall -- including the books I plan to take with me -- and a lot of those books are my favorite kids' books (goes with the Elementary Education major, you know). So I thought I'd share them with you! Some of these were my favorites when I was a kid; others are my favorite children's books now. This list was actually a lot harder to make than I expected -- there's just so much genius out there in the kiddie libraries! 10. Cam Jansen They're not the epitome of great literature, and the stories all blur together in my memory. But I loved these books as a kid. Besides, stories about freakishly cool memories never really get old (and generally involve solving totally creepy crimes). Basically this set me u...

The Host  by Stephenie Meyer Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website Amazon Summary: Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.  When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.  Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melani...

Divergent by Veronica Roth One choice can transform you. Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website Amazon Summary: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.  During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating...

All right, so that series I was thinking/talking about doing? Decided against it. Instead, here's a book review that I think is over a month late. Sorry, BookSneeze! I really do like reviewing! Just not so much this book. I don't like writing negative reviews. Firstborn by Lorie Ann Grover Where does a firstborn girl fit in a world dominated by men? Amazon Page GoodReads Page Author Website Amazon Summary: When Tiadone was born, her parents had two choices: leave their daughter outside the community to die in the wilds, or raise her as male and force her to suppress all feminine traits. Now, as the first female living as male in her village, Tiadone must prove her father didn’t make a mistake by letting her live. As her male initiation approaches, Tiadone knows every eye on the community is on her, and desperately wishes to belong and finally be accepted. But at every step, traditional feminine gifts and traits emerge, and the bird she's been twined with is...

Hello, my lovely readers. It's been a while, hasn't it? I took an undecided, unannounced blogging break. I could explain about my real-world health problems, college crisis, schedule craziness, or high school senioritis. But I don't feel like making a laundry list of the issues driving me in circles this past month. Instead, I'll just say I fell off the blogging bandwagon and didn't really care about getting back on. I'm back now, so let's focus on the happy stuff. Like my best friend's birthday on March 29. The best friend I based characters in my book Sixteen about. Speaking of Sixteen , something else very important occurred on March 29... My book is now available for sale! In paper! So, yeah, go buy it if you want. I'd love a review once you've read it, if you're feeling particularly generous. Oh, and a bit of other news: since I've been finding it so hard to stick to blogging, I've decided to scale ba...

You know those Google Plus comments? The Blogger comment feature intended to be more interactive? The setting I've been using for several months now? I hate them. First of all: for the many, many readers out there whose comments I have not responded to: I am so sorry! Apparently, Google+ Comments doesn't send me emails when I get new comments on my blog posts. In fact, I don't get any notice whatsoever. Second: on several occasions, to make up for the whole no-email thing, I would drop by the blog myself to check for comments. Unfortunately, the comment box decided more times than not to just eat my comments and send them, invisible, into the black holes of cyberspace. Multiple times. Eventually I would just give up and leave my blog without commenting. Third: I realize that there are quite a few readers here who don't have Google+ and, therefore, couldn't comment. Considering the second point above, even those of us who do have the right profiles struggl...

SIXTEEN IS GOING TO PRINT GUYS. Sorry for the screaming. But my FIRST BOOK TO EVER BE PUBLISHED IS GOING TO BE IN MY HANDS IN ACTUAL PAPER. With a proper - GORGEOUS - cover. I love it. My writer's group loves it. My mom... doesn't love it. But eh, she's not the target audience. DID I MENTION I LOVE IT?! All credit goes to  http://www.najlaqamberdesigns.com/ And here's the full, with back and spine... Lookie, lookie! I have a logo for my publishing house.