Mundie Moms

Friday, January 27, 2012

Flashback Friday: Dust City by Robert Paul Westin

Flashback Friday is a meme I started last year here on the blog for the sole purpose of spotlighting books that have been sitting on my shelf to read for awhile. This will include titles released the previous year and ones that have been out for a few years. Today's feature is for a book that's been on list to read since 2010 and thank you HD from Reading Writing & Breathing I recently received Dust City in a trade with him.


Published by: Razorbill
Released on: September 30th, 2010
Source: trade
3.5 stars: It's A Good Read
Purchase from: Penguin | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

His son, that's who.

Ever since his father's arrest for the murder of Little Red Riding Hood, teen wolf Henry Whelp has kept a low profile in a Home for Wayward Wolves . . . until a murder at the Home leads Henry to believe his father may have been framed.

Now, with the help of his kleptomaniac roommate, Jack, and a daring she-wolf named Fiona, Henry will have to venture deep into the heart of Dust City: a rundown, gritty metropolis where fairydust is craved by everyone-and controlled by a dangerous mob of Water Nixies and their crime boss leader, Skinner.

Can Henry solve the mystery of his family's sinister past? Or, like his father before him, is he destined for life as a big bad wolf? - quoted from Goodreads

It's not often I've come across a YA read that captures the same feeling that the Grimm's Brother's do in their fairy tales for children, but Robert Paul Weston does just that with Dust City. This enticing story is not at all what I had expected it to be, and I loved that Robert's fairy tale characters are the same ones I knew from my children's fairy tale books. The difference is the characters are older and they live in a darker, more sinister world. If you wanted to know about the "Big Bad Wolf", well now you get to. This story is told from his son's point of view that pieces together what went wrong at Little Red's Grandma's house and is mixed in with a thrilling murder mystery that's embedded with all sorts of danger and a major crime spree.

Robert Paul Westin has done a fabulous job at creating a fairy tale story for YA readers. The story line is brilliant, the feel of the book is a perfect match for the story, and the characters are just as you would except them to be. This book definitely kept me on my toes. There's plenty of mystery, action and betrayal, and it didn't take me long to get wrapped up into everything that was happening. Henry, the main character has a voice that's so fitting for the way the story is told. He's real, he's snarky and he's on a mission to find out who framed his father, where all the fairies went and what's in the tainted fairy dust that's destroying the city and it's residents.

This is definitely unlike any other YA book I've read and it's one I'd definitely recommend to fans of the Grimm Brother's fairytales, wolf fans and fans who love a thrilling paranormal crime story. This story does have a few darker moments that may not be for everyone. I think this is a read that older YA readers may enjoy more.

ALA Mid Winter 2012 Re-Cap

Warning, this post will be a little long, but there's so much to talk about from ALA! This past weekend was such a blast! This was my first time attending ALA, and I hope I'll be able to attend a few more. ALA weekend involved a lot of laughs, tons of book talk, getting to meet some awesome people and really just a lot of fun.

My weekend was complete when I FINALLY got to meet two of my favorite people that I've talked with for the past couple of years- Chrissy Noh and Carolyn with Simon & Schuster!!!! I won't even mention all the fan girliness (I'm not sure if that's even a word) that took place at the S&S booth. I seriously love these two and it was so wonderful to finally talk to them and meet them in person.


I might have also gone a little fan girly on Katherine Tegen, from Katherine Tegen Books. It was such a pleasure to meet her. The sign I'm holding is a joke that author Bettina Restrepo made, because a group of us where totally blown away that we got to meet the person behind Katherine Tegen books, which is an imprint of Harper Teen. She is so lovely.


Another highlight from this weekend was having lunch and meeting Kellie with Walden Pond Press. I adore her and it was so wonderful to finally meet her in person and have lunch together!


Aside from my high lights above, it was so much fun being able to meet and hang out with fellow bloggers.

The weekend kicked off with a big dinner with over 70 bloggers, authors and publishers getting together. Jen w/ I Read Banned Books did an awesome job with putting this together.

Below is: YA Bliss, Stacy w/ Girls in the Stacks, Jen w/ Book & A Latte , Amy & Andye with Reading Teen, Nancy w/ Girls in the Stacks, myself, Yara w/ Once Upon a Twilight.


I had so much fun! It was the best of both worlds getting to hang out with friends all weekend and doing book related stuff.


The best part of the whole night involves my EMBARRASSING moment! So... I thought I was standing behind a friend of mine (this is someone I've known for a few years), keep in mind the place is dimly lit and extremely crowded. I hadn't seen her in awhile so I jokingly hit her on the butt, um yeah, that was NOT my said friend. *go ahead and I laugh, because I about died*. Luckily Megan, my new friend (pictured above) has a great sense of humor, because we're both still laughing about it. The best part of my embarrassing moment, I now have a new friend. I'm still mortified I even did that....

Left to Right: Myself, Amy & Andye from Reading Teen, Yara from Once Upon a Twilight & Nancy from Girls in the Stacks. No, we weren't just acting like 12 yr old girls right before the picture was taken....

Pictured below: Includes the same group of girls, along with Stacy from Girls in the Stacks & Jen from.
I seriously LOVE these girls! It was so much fun being able to finally hang out together. They made the weekend unforgettable!


There's a quite a few bloggers I loved getting to meet whom I've talked with a lot on twitter, blogger and facebook. My only regret is I didn't get a picture with all of them. *waves to you guys* Some of my fav were meeting Melina from Reading Vacation & HD from Reading, Writing & Breathing, Hafash from IceyBooks, and Katie (the other Katieb) from Katie's Book Blog. Stacy & I got a picture w/ HD-


You are NEVER TOO OLD for the Muppets! Girls in the Stacks, Jen w/ Book & A Latte, myself & Ginger w/ GReads


This weekend ended with a fun girls night w/ Girls in the Stacks, Reading Teen, Book & A Latte & Kelsey w/ Reading or Breathing. THANK YOU to Stacy for a great weekend!!

Me w/ Amy & Andye from Reading Teen @ Stacy's house

Honestly, this weekend was such a blast! It was like a never ending girls night complete with meeting new friends, talking with publisher friends, attending publisher events and getting to talk about books. Thank you to everyone who made this an unforgettable weekend!

** I do have some things to giveaway from ALA, some things I've donated to a book drive I'm c0-hosting and the others will be featured in Mundie Moms Birthday Bash next month! I'll give you a teaser, there will be an ARC of Destined by Aprilynne Pike, an ARC of Fracture, and an ARC of BLACK HEART by Holly Black!!

Recent TMI Movie News & Other Things


If you follow TMI movie screenwriter, Marlene King on Twitter, you may be jumping around with excitement like we are over her recent tweets: “I'm sorry. I've said as much as I can. More news soon I promise.” Followed by, “I think I have done you proud. TMI is "The Mortal Instruments". Amazing book series by @Cassieclare I have adapted as a movie. So excited for you all to see!”

See what I mean about excitement. I for one would rather wait to have this movie come out if they did it right. Getting the movie right is far more important than pushing to get the movie filmed and released.

In other news:

City of Fallen Angels was the most quoted book on Good Reads in 2011!! Cassie recently joked on tumblr that, that was do to Love Explosions.” We think it has to do with her awesome writing!

What's one of your favorite lines from City of Fallen Angels?

What do you think of the recent movie tweets? Would you rather have the script be spot on with the book, or do you want a rushed movie? I know we're all anxious to see it on the big screen.

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