Disguised as a lowly worker whose real worth is hidden by strange facial hair or harsh makeup and fake nails, UB toils at various jobs within the company for several days. The hotter and grungier (cleaning port-a-potties, landscaping, snaking drains), the better. During these trials, UB sufferers humiliation, makes friends, and occasionally is horrified by the people who work for the company. Always, he or she comes to appreciate the effort required to do these frontline jobs every day, and the sacrifices workers are making for their families. (To drive home this point, the show's producers are sure to have lined up people with whom the boss can empathize.) 

At the end, UB gets a reverse makeover and is “revealed” to coworkers in some palatial office or ranch or winery or estate, where cash prizes and favors are bestowed on the employees who helped during the previous week. Like Cinderella’s stepsisters, disloyal, rude, or incompetent workers are offered a path to improvement. Implicit is the threat that if they don’t shape up, they will be shown the door of the palace.

And everyone lives happily ever after under UB’s newly empathetic management.

Prayer candles flicker in my bedroom.

In this debut novel, a fat girl finds her own strength and learns to be queen. It’s gotten rave reviews and blurbs, including by Tamora Pierce (“engrossing”), and should appeal to fantasy fans who like their heroines brave and sensitive. Some elements reminded me of Harry’s journey in The Blue Sword, but the setting has a distinctive Spanish flavor. The real draw is a sympathetically flawed protagonist who gradually comes into her own.

According to the author’s blog, sequel The Crown of Embers is due fall 2012. Excellent.

The day Sacha found out he could see witches was the worst day of his life.

I’m really glad that this novel was acquired in a multi-book deal, because 300 pages is just not enough time to spend in Sacha Lassky’s alternate turn-of-the-last-century New York. This book gets the ball rolling nicely, grounding us in Sacha’s particular family, neighborhood, and magical tradition before the plot spirals into the city’s wider world when Sacha gets a job with the NYPD’s most notorious Inquisitor. A fun range of characters and lots of action and magic. Next installment, please!

The grease-slicked hair is a dead giveaway—no pun intended.

Not your average ghost story: teenager Cas “Don’t call me ghostbuster” Lowood dispatches dangerous ghosts on his own, without drama. Then he meets Anna. She’s a special case, and he’ll need backup to cope with her.

While I thought the plot was uneven, requiring some uncharacteristic lapses of attention to detail on Cas’s part to keep the twists coming, I enjoyed the world, atmosphere, and character dynamics very much.

According to the author’s blog, the sequel, Girl of Nightmares, is on the way. (Amazon.com lists a release date of August, 7, 2012. Put it on the calendar!)

It's so satisfying to find the right book at the exact right time.

“It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die.”
 
Loved this book. Way to take an item of faerie lore—dangerous water horses—and build a compelling story and characters around it. Strong writing, characters you care about, and a setting that infuses the whole novel with beauty and menace. Most excellent.
 
(Cabin Boy got to watch several extra episodes of “Ruby and Max” at bedtime, because his mama wasn’t ready to put the book down.)

Shelly Rae Clift, Dennis McKiernan, Devin Poore, Heather Tomlinson, Harry Turtledove (M)

hmm... wonder which part of my bio got me on this panel. Maybe the part about selling the house and moving onto a sailboat five years ago?

• Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen’s Thief series, consisting of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings (Greenwillow Books) *
• Catherine Fisher, Incarceron and Sapphique (Dial)
• Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight (HarperCollins)
• Polly Shulman, The Grimm Legacy (Putnam Juvenile)
• Heather Tomlinson, Toads and Diamonds (Henry Holt)

More info at the Mythopoeic Society site.

“Saints preserve us!”

A delightful sequel to Bewitching Season, set in an alternate Victorian England. This time, it’s Penelope Leland’s turn to shine. She goes to Ireland for additional magical study, and gets herself into and out of a variety of troubles, both of the magical and emotional kind.