Best Books of July 2012

There were some days in July when I had perhaps 15 minutes to pick up a novel and read. But I'm happy to report that I spent some time writing, and plenty of time reading scripts, rehearsing, and doing research. Since I had a low book count this month, I'll just offer up a few highlights:

Burn For Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian, the first volume in a planned trilogy, will be officially released this September. I have enjoyed all of their solo efforts to date, so I was eager to see what happened when they collaborated. Burn for Burn is a compulsive read, a layered story in which three teen girls attempt to bring down three peers who have deeply hurt them. Click here to read my review.

Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones - When the Dog Star, Sirius, is found guilty of a crime, he is sent to Earth to live as a dog and seek out something fantastic. This was, if you can believe it, the first standalone Diana Wynne Jones novel I've ever read; I read The Chronicles of Crestomanci and The Dalemark Quartet years ago. Check out my post that was part of the Diana Wynne Jones blog tour!

At the end of August/beginning of September, I'll post my picks for August. In the meantime, check out my other booklists (organized by topic, age group, time period, etc) and click through the "Best of" tag on my blog.