It's been a hot minute since I've participated in Top Ten Tuesday. After neglecting my favorite weekly blogging event for too long, I'm back for today's fun prompt: Top Ten Authors Who Live in My State or Country. Although I was born and raised in the lush, rainy Pacific Northwest, I have lived in hot, dry Arizona since 2000. The Grand Canyon State has produced some legendary authors like Zane Grey, Erma Bombeck, Edward Abbey, Barbara Park, and more. Today, I'm going to focus on ten Arizona authors who are still living and producing books, whether I've read anything from them or not. 

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Nicole Adair—Nicole's family lived near me for many years in Mesa and attended the same church congregation, so I know them fairly well. I know Nicole herself only slightly, but I'm excited that she's having success with her YA novels. I haven't read any of them yet. Soon, I hope!

2. Dusti Bowling—Bowling is my favorite Arizona author, hands down. She lives in Gilbert and writes wonderful middle-grade novels set in our state. She's best known for Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, but she's penned a number of others as well. I've read most of her books and have her latest, The Beat I Drum out from the library right now.

3. Diana Gabaldon—This hugely popular author of the Outlander series is one of Arizona's most famous writers. She was born in Williams and has lived in Scottsdale for years. I read and enjoyed Outlander awhile ago, but I have never picked up any of her others. Oops. 

4. J.A. Jance—Jance, who grew up in Bisbee and now lives part-time in Tucson, has been publishing mystery novels since the 1980s. Although she has written dozens of books, I've never read any of them. She's on my list of authors to try.

5. Barbara Kingsolver—Kingsolver, who writes in a variety of genres, lives in southern Arizona part-time. I haven't read any of her books. Yet.

6. Isabella Maldonado—A few years ago while my husband and I were at our bank dealing with some issues, a teller and I started talking about our shared love of reading. She mentioned that a relative of hers, a retired police captain, had moved to Phoenix and started writing crime novels. At the time, I hadn't heard of Maldonado, but I see her name frequently these days. I haven't read anything by her yet, but I will!

7. Lisa McMann—McMann, who lives in Tempe, writes sci fi/fantasy books for middle-grade and teen readers. I've read and enjoyed her YA books. My kids liked her Unwanted series.

8. Stephenie Meyer—It's been a few years since Meyer published anything so I don't know if she's technically still writing or not, but I couldn't exclude her from this list since she's one of Arizona's most famous living authors. The creator of the Twilight saga, she lives in Cave Creek. Fun fact: New Moon is one of the first books I reviewed on this blog. I loved Twilight when I read it, but the series got hokey for me so I never finished it. I did enjoy The Host.

9. T.J. Newman—A former flight attendant, Newman lives in Phoenix and writes thrillers set on airplanes. I haven't read any of them yet, but I plan to at some point.

10. Jewell Parker Rhodes—Dr. Rhodes is the Virginia D. Piper Endowed Chair at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. She's also the Founding Director of the Virginia D. Piper Center for Creative Writing and a bestselling author of historical fiction for both kids and adults. I've read and enjoyed several of her children's books.

Well, I clearly haven't done very well at reading local authors! I definitely need to do better. How about you? Have you read any of these Arizona authors? Which are your favorites? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Although Avalyn has severe asthma, the exuberant 12-year-old doesn't let it get in her way. Moving to an Arizona mountain town with clear, dry air has helped immensely. She suffers, but not nearly as much as she once did. She focuses, instead, on hanging out with her band of misfit friends, reading her beloved X-men comics, and ignoring the bullies at school as best she can. When a new boy moves to town, she senses he might be a perfect fit for her friend group of nerdy outcasts. The problem is that Adam constantly rebuffs her attempts. He insists on being a loner—a secretive, moody, intriguing loner. Avalyn longs to crack his shell. Underneath the tough exterior, she sees glimpses of a cool kid who wants to belong as much as she does.

Avalyn's never told anyone, but she's got a superpower of her own. She's always been able to sense people's emotions and Adam's are...intense. Whenever he gets angry or upset, his feelings stir up whirling dust storms, the kind that fill her lungs with grit, making it difficult for her to catch a breath. What is the cause of Adam's distress? Why is he so withdrawn? The more Avalyn learns about Adam, the more concerned she grows. What is he hiding and how can she help her new potential friend if she can't even breathe around him?

Vivian Ellenshaw knows she's overweight. She also knows it doesn't matter. The teen is comfortable with who she is—a smart, funny, athletic soccer star—and with how she looks (even if her plus-size body bothers her mother and her new stepdad). Vee is not exactly thrilled, then, when her parents decide she needs to spend her winter break at a weight-loss camp. She's even less enthusiastic when she realizes who's going to be accompanying her on the van ride to Flagstaff: Allison DuMonde, her former BFF. Although the camp van driver is a hot college student, a definite plus, Vee is not happy about the situation, which seems to be getting worse by the second.

Things get sketchier the closer they get to Camp Featherlite. Not only is a severe storm warning in place for northern Arizona, but also the campers are forced to give up their phones and computers. Then, they're pushed to eat disgusting diet bars that are supposed to be a miracle cure for obesity and they're put into lockdown immediately upon arrival because someone got lost in the forest. Speaking of the woods, there's something out there and it is most certainly not a bear. When Vee realizes what it is—thin, athletic camper-zombies—she's horrified. Suddenly, fat camp survival has taken on a whole new meaning. Can Vee, Allison, and their motley crew of new friends take on a horde of skinny, slavering zombies, despite their weighty limitations? Chances of getting out of Camp Featherlite alive may be slim, but Vee knows she and her squad are much more—stronger, smarter, abler—than they seem. It will take all that and more to defeat the monsters that prey on them, both inside and outside of camp.

Aven Green was born with no arms.  The 12-year-old is used to getting stares when she's in unfamiliar places, but she's lived in the same town for so long that no one at school or in her community gives her a second glance anymore.  Her classmates see her use her feet to do all kinds of ordinary tasks—eat, turn pages in her textbooks, write, even play the guitar.  No big deal.  They know she can do pretty much anything they can do, even without arms.  

When her dad announces that he's taken a new job as the manager of an amusement park in Arizona, Aven is not thrilled.  She doesn't want to move to the desert, leave her friends behind, and start over at a new school.  Doing so is just as awful as she thinks it will be.  Stagecoach Pass is a grungy, derelict old place; her family's new apartment is teensy; her classmates gape at her torso and make rude comments; and Aven's taken to hiding out in the school bathroom to avoid their stares.  Things start to improve when she meets two boys who feel just as outcast as Aven—Connor has Tourette Syndrome and Zion is overweight.  With her friends by her side, she sets out to prove anew that challenges or no, they can do anything, even solve the mystery of Stagecoach Pass's missing owners!

It may not sound like it, but Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling is a funny, upbeat book.  Really!  Our heroine, who likes to make up fantastical stories about how she lost her arms and play practical jokes on gullible, unsuspecting folks, is downright hilarious.  Although she's well aware of the limitations imposed on her because of her disability, she's determined not to let them stand in her way.  Which isn't to say she doesn't sometimes feel humiliated and angry or engage in self-pity.  She does, but she also shows that she's just as capable, determined, and clever as anyone else.  While the novel is humorous, it also offers a poignant, intimate portrayal of what it's like for a child to be different.  The story is empathy-inducing and moving without being saccharine or preachy.  It's easy to see where the book's plot is going, but even still, the tale is fun and engaging.  For all these reasons and more, I very much enjoyed this appealing, entertaining novel.  

A note:  I listened to Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus on audio.  The book is read by Karissa Vacker, whose performance I didn't love.  She tended toward a Valley Girl/mean girl accent when voicing Aven and other young females, while employing a mopey/dopey tone for Aven's male pals.  Thus, the girls all sounded like snots while the boys just sounded dumb.  I'm an audiobook novice, so perhaps I'm way too picky about narrators, but Vacker drove me a little nuts.  I got used to her after awhile, but I came close to abandoning the audio version because her voice grated on my ears, especially at first.  Just sayin'.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  You?)

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

After witnessing the shooting that killed her mom and left her dad with a hole in his leg, Nora's life has changed irrevocably.  Suffering from acute PTSD, her dad has become obsessed with safety, barely letting his only child out of his sight.  On the first anniversary of the shooting, Nora and her dad decide to spend the difficult day doing what they love best—hiking and rock climbing in their beloved Sonoran Desert.  When a flash flood sweeps in out of nowhere, however, what started out as a typical excursion soon turns into a desperate fight for survival.  Separated from her dad in the chaos, Nora is on her own to battle the desert's unrelenting heat, deadly wildlife, and barren landscape.  With little food and water, she has to find her dad and get them both to safety before it's too late.  They survived one tragedy, will either of them make it through this one?

As a Sonoran Desert dweller myself, I'm very well aware of the dangers posed by our unique climate and landscape.  Our local news is always full of warnings about excessive heat, staying hydrated, hiking alone, flash flooding, etc.  Many people have been hurt, even killed, by these dangers.  In fact, Dusti Bowling—who lives here in Arizona—wrote The Canyon's Edge partially in response to the tragic 2017 deaths of nine family members who were caught in a flash flood outside of nearby Payson.  These very real stories make Bowling's fictional one feel all the more harrowing and real.  The Canyon's Edge is a tense, exciting page-turner that's so compelling it's impossible to put down.  It's written in verse, using text art to create a story that is as visually interesting as it is engrossing.  I raced through the book in one sitting because it truly is that immersive and unputdownable.  The book teaches some invaluable lessons about outdoor survival while also examining intriguing themes like grief, resilience, the struggle to move on after tragedy, and rebirth.  It's an impactful novel that should appeal to even reluctant readers.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of other survival novels like Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis, When We Were Lost by Kevin Wignall, etc.)

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Dr. Doomsday knew the apocalypse was coming. Until the massive cyberterrorism attacks actually happened, though, his obsession with the end of the world just looked like paranoid delusion.  His constant prepping and drilling, not to mention the ranting and raving, led to the soiling of his reputation, the end of his marriage, and estrangement from his children.  Now that the country is in chaos, the world as she's known it crumbling to dust, his 17-year-old daughter, Susan "Jinx" Marshall, is asking (along with the rest of the nation), "Did Dr. Doomsday want the apocalypse to happen so badly that he caused it himself?"

The authorities seem to think the man behind the attacks is not Jinx's father, Dr. Max Marshall (aka Dr. Doomsday), but her stepdad, Jay Novac, who works in security at one of the banks that was targeted.  When a particularly menacing cop takes both Jay and Jinx's mother into custody, Jinx's mom urges her to run and find her father.  This isn't an easy task on a normal day.  It's even tougher with the police hot on her trail and two siblings—one a young diabetic, the other a know-it-all stepsister—in tow.  Channeling all the prepper rules her father drilled into her, Jinx must use every skill in her arsenal, no matter how desperate, to ensure the survival of herself, her family, and the world at large.

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder expletives), violence, and blood/gore

To the FTC, with love:  I received an e-ARC of Day Zero from the generous folks at Inkyard Press (an imprint of Harlequin) in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Even though Sicily has been occupied by German forces for several years, life remains fairly simple for 18-year-old Marianna De'Angelis.  She helps her mother with household chores, keeps the family's animals fed, and loves to accompany her father on fishing trips.  Whatever food remains unsold after market day, Marianna distributes to homeless families displaced by the war.  Although she worries about her soldier brother, she refuses to give up hope that he will return home safe and sound.  Soon, she prays, Italy will be free from strife and life in the countryside will once again be peaceful and happy.

Marianna's prosaic life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Massimo Scalvone, a 21-year-old soldier from Foggia.  On leave in order to care for his elderly grandparents, he will be living on a neighboring farm for the summer.  Marianna can't deny her attraction to the handsome stranger, even when she discovers that their growing love for each other could get them both killed.  With Massimo taking ever greater risks and Marianna engaged in her own daring activities, it's only a matter of time before the Nazis find them out.  Will their newfound love survive the great conflict that threatens to tear them—as well as everyone and everything they care for—apart?  Or will their tender young romance become just another casualty of a brutal, deadly war?

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of By the Stars by Lindsay B. Ferguson)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language (one instance); violence; blood/gore; and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of The Fisherman's Daughter from the generous folks at Covenant.  Thank you!

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Readalikes:  Um, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of Death Below Stairs from the generous folks at Berkley (an imprint of Penguin Random House).  Thank you!

 

 

for sexual innuendo