Thanks to E.C. Myers for alerting me to this glow-inducing Blackwood shout-out from extraordinary writer and bookseller extraordinaire Kate Milford in the latest YA for Grownups column at the Atlantic. (Read her work, seriously.)
The list is "Teen Reads Better Than 'Fifty Shades' " (which, yes, some cheeky people have pointed out is probably most of them…), described thus:
"With a nod to the "sexy" books that got us started down this road—especially the Judy Blume canon, and especially Forever—this time, we offer up some contemporary books in which Y.A. authors are broaching adult-ish topics in ways that are not just sexy but also are just plain good writing, doing it, we dare say, better than the hyper-popular E.L. James. "Some do have actual love scenes like Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Shiver, and Graceling," explains Angulo Chen, "but others are all about the emotional connection of being in love for the first time and giving in to those feelings of passion for a really breathtaking kiss, or an old-fashioned snogging session." With the help of her and some of our favorite Y.A. experts, we came up with a few recent and upcoming teen books to consider post-Fifty Shades. We're calling them the steamies."
Or "swoonies," which is probably more applicable to Blackwood, since the romance is more of the emotional connection, awkward moments, and nerdy conversation variety. Still, it makes me so happy to have it included. Anyway, go check out the whole thing! Seriously fine company. Friday made.