THE FARWALKER’S QUEST by Joni Sensel

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I know, I know…all my “reviews” say something along those lines, but that’s because I only write about books I really like here on Need To Read. Anyway, this is a fantastic read. As some of you know, I’m not that into...

Twitter anyone?

My agent said I needed to be on Twitter. I didn’t want to…but he’s one smart so I am. You can find me as joellewrites if you care to follow me.

Betsy & Tacy Need Your Help!

The post below comes from BookClubGirl. The contest she’s referring to at the end is on her site (not mine), so make sure you drop by her site and read even more about the books and the re-issue. From her site: These tough economic times have hit the society...

THE LOSER’S GUIDE TO LIFE AND LOVE by A.E. Cannon

This is another one of those books that someone recommended and I have no idea who. Well, I might have read about it on The Longstockings blog, but I’m not sure. Anyway, I totally LOVED this book. It is such a great read. It’s kind of light and fun (and...

Geek Charming by Robin Palmer

Don’t let the cover fool you. I mean, if you like rich-girl chick lit, then it won’t put you off, but that’s not really my favourite kind of book, so I was doubtful about whether I’d like this or not after seeing the cover. But heck, I had an...

A Rant About Long Titles

I am stating right now that I am not a fan of the new long title trend. Or perhaps I should call it TITLES THAT GO ON AND ON FOR DAYS AND DAYS BUT DON’T REALLY SAY ANYTHING THAT TWO WORDS COULDN’T HAVE SAID BETTER. I blame Louise Rennison for the long...

THE RIVER BETWEEN US by Richard Peck

Someone somewhere recommended this to me. Or maybe they just mentioned they were reading it and liked it. I generally love Richard Peck, but only read recommendations because he scarred me for life when I was a teenager with his book ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE? and so...

It’s All About the Shoes

Yesterday, I was at the Theatre Centre here on the island because my husband and a few others were doing a benefit for the Gaza victims. We were talking to actor/director Antony Holland before it started and he’d given me a script and asked me to read a bit of...

Betsy-Tacy, Meg Cabot & Me

Okay, the truth is, I don’t know if I really had anything to do with this fantastic chain of events, but I like to think I do. Here’s what happened. A couple of months ago, my grandmother said she wanted to buy the Betsy-Tacy books and I told her I’d...

Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne

This was one of the ARCs I was lucky enough to get my hands on, and this month is the release, so now you can get your copy too. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something funny and with a new premise. I know! A new premise? Surely, I jest. But no,...

Author Pic

You can use any of these. Please email me at restoringharmony10 @ yahoo dot com for a larger version if necessary. Thanks! Photo credit for all of them should read (c)Victor Anthony.     This one is the official J. M. Kelly photo, but feel free to use any of...

Very Short Bio

Joëlle Anthony is the author many nonfiction pieces on the craft of writing, and two YA novels, Restoring Harmony and The Right & the Real. Visit her on the web at www.joelleanthony.com Follow her on Twitter @joellewrites

Medium Bio

Joëlle Anthony is a writer and sometimes-actress who currently lives on a tiny island in British Columbia with her musician husband, Victor Anthony, and cat, Marley. Her debut novel, Restoring Harmony, was long listed for the American Library Association’s Best New...

Welcome Eileen Cook to my blog!

  If you read this blog at all, you know that one of my favourite people in the world is Eileen Cook. Writer, hilarious person, and great friend. She holds my hand through all this publishing craziness and I talk her off ledges when it gets to her. She is a true...

Cliche Queen

What with my Red Hair article, and the new piece I wrote for SCBWI about character cliches, I’m afraid I’m going to get a reputation as a Cliche Queen…or maybe the Cliche Police is more like it. One thing that surprised me when the Red Hair article...

WHAT WOULD EMMA DO? by Eileen Cook

When my friend Eileen Cook finished the manuscript for this book she sent me a copy of it to read. That’s why, even though I just finished reading the actual book, I felt proud to be able to give it a plug for the last month or so. Now that I’ve read it in...

Kids with big voices…

I am a fan of the BBC4’s children’s radio show Go4It, which you can listen to here. While this week’s episode is political (and I don’t do much of that here…except for yesterday when I couldn’t help myself!), I’ve listened to...

THIS BOOK ISN’T FAT, IT’S FABULOUS by Nina Beck

This is a really fun book. For the most part, it’s fairly light, but it’s got some deeper stuff too. I think it’s probably categorized under chick-lit YA (as a point of reference). I liked the characters, especially the main one, but also the minor...

Stand-out Cover

Granted, I know (and love) this book SHUG by Jenny Han already, but I was at a bookstore the other day and what struck me about this book was how it jumped off the shelf because of the cover. And get this, I was just looking at the spine. This is a fantastic cover if...

A HEART FOR ANY FATE by Linda Crew

Well, I’m clearly not the only person who loved this book since it won awards! If you like historical fiction, especially stuff about the pioneers, then this is the book for you. Of course, it came out a while ago, so you might’ve read it already. In that...

Let’s hear it for the kids!

If you write for kids or teens, I’m sure you have experienced the knucklehead (sometimes with good intentions) who asks you if you’re “working your way up to writing for adults” or gives you the look that says, “Oh…isn’t that...

The Last Word – or is it the first?

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I’ve been reading Nevil Shute again…my comfort food equivalent in books. I’ve noticed a lot of things, but one that struck me in particular is how good he is at ending chapters. The last sentence or couple of sentences...

TO BE MONA by Kelly Easton

Kelly Easton has written several books, but my library only has one of them, so I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of her new book, TO BE MONA. I didn’t start reading until almost 10:30pm last night or I would’ve read this straight through. As it...