Angie's a jolly nice girl. It's true. She spends her time being an actual, real life, Editor (so clearly knows ALL the words), enjoying the sight of boiling pasta (fact) and instagramming the hell out of her three blonde and beautiful familiars. However, it would not be unfair to say that her defining characteristic is her devotion to honorary YAcker, Richard Armitage. In fact, it remains her proudest achievement that "Richard Armitage naked" (well, perhaps not the actual word NAKED but when thinking of Richard, it's always a good idea to embellish such details - imagine the improvement to North and South if the director had only taken this bold step) is the second highest search ever on her own (luminously awesome) blog. And to that one can only say: As well it should, Angie - AS WELL IT SHOULD.
As second runner up in the 1996 Miss District of Columbia Pageant, Donna advocated strongly in favor of stricter gun control laws. She proudly lead her women’s bible study class in their infamous picketing of the Alexandria, VA Walmart, demanding the removal of squirt guns from its “Summer Fun!” displays. Over the years Donna has excelled in many roles, including YMCA Summer Camp Counselor, Junior League Recording Secretary and Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. The mother of four boys, Donna has self-published many informative pamphlets on the dangers of mixed-sex education and has unselfishly devoted herself to their home school instruction. Married to her high-school sweetheart, Donna currently resides in an exclusive, restricted, gated-community on the East coast with her family, two Dandie Dinmont Terriers and an elderly Ukrainian great-aunt who the boys affectionately refer to as "the cleaning lady."
Donna’s blog focuses on issues that could have detrimental effects on American families.
Holly, aka the Book Harbinger, rides upon a cloud of paper and showers good books upon the deserving. OK, not really. Holly is a readaholic that enjoys young adult, fantasy, and contemporary romance (or some combo of these), but isn't restricted to those genres. She isn't afraid to DNF a book if she's just not feeling it, creates amazing spreads when she's hosting a book club, and is a purist when it comes to retellings of the classics she loves (think Austen and the Brontës). Like most YAckers (there's the notable holdout), she enjoys a good BBC miniseries and smoldering looks from Richard Armitage. Among her many interests and activities (family, hiking, art, piano, and working part-time at a library), she is crafty and makes a mean cake pop.
The Speculative Fiction Romantic (codename: Janicu) finds the notion of putting limits on her reading a ridiculous one at best. Well known in certain circles as a computer hacker, or cracker, of impressive skill and few morals, she spends her days destabilizing the computer networks of large, multi-national corporations and her nights stalking authors and watching North & South on an endless loop while her husband pats her on the head and passes the popcorn. Her favorite genres include urban fantasy, space opera, sci-fi romance, and—fittingly—cyberpunk. YA fantasy or the occasional contemporary romance will do in a pinch. With a penchant for Austen retellings, she reveals a gooey marshamallowey core underneath that icy black hat exterior. Always up for a readalong or readathon, Janicu can usually be found here ranting or raving about her latest read.
Oh, and a word to the wise: it’s pronounced janis-sue not janick-coo. The last person to make that mistake lost his entire investment portfolio overnight. An anonymous donation in the exact amount of the lost funds was made the following morning to the Armitage Army.
There was a young lass named Laura from Ol’ Miss
And Terrible YA she did diss.
For Armitage’s abs she did pine,
(Though her hubby’s were quite fine)
Her sense of humor made everyone pee...
Melissa has a healthy book diet which consists of mostly middle grade and young adult novels but occasionally bites into some nonfiction, graphic novels and adult books. She is also a bookseller as well as a reviewer so she’s pretty much always surrounded by books (and it’s always awesome). She always strives for honesty in her reviews because there’s nothing worse than sugarcoating something rotten. When she’s not reading for work or fun, she’s spending time with her family or daydreaming about traveling. Sometimes she builds book forts with her kids (using books from her review pile because some piles are tower-like already).
Hailing from New York, the big smoke, Nicole spends her days as a mild-mannered publishing intern in the city but, by night, she is known simply as The Dragon Princess. Choke slamming her way through the wresting circuits of the American north east, she has a reputation for her no-holds-barred fighting style and is the proud creator of the deadly “Dragon’s Lair” submission hold. Her literary background coupled with her unshakable physical prowess have created a formidable critic so be warned, when the glasses come off, the spandex goes on . . .
With her trusty Blue Penguin by her side and a savvy online persona belying her age, Sandy of Pirate Penguin's Reads has been blogging for just over three years. While she mostly reads YA, the occassional adult and middle-grade title sneaks onto her bookshelves as well as the occasional *cough* bellydancing how-to book. Whatever the genre, Sandy is passionate about the books and authors she loves. When she's not studying languages at university, playing her violin like a virtuoso, or dreaming of becoming a bellydancer, Sandy dillgently spends her time spreading her undying and contagious enthusiasm for young adult literature, making her the perfect YAcker.
Steph was born a princess to a wealthy king. Courted by a young working man in the town, she thought her life was destined to be a love story. However, she was unaware of that man's history of enemies and ended up being kidnapped by a large and angry turtle. She now resides at his castle, waiting for her love and his brother to come rescue her on their green dinosaur. She blogs in the meantime.
Sya, professorial YAcker extraordinaire, is our most learned YAck, reading at a 482nd grade level and writing in a language that hasn't even been created yet. Her favorite works include THE FAMBUZZLE OF THE WAPPY NOGGUS, any compendium of history on the bacterial squigglings of the Antarctic and FAMILY CIRCUS.
When she's not being hounded by the proprietors of the OED for obscure additions the suede elbows of Brown could attempt to use in drunken art gallery openings of works painted by the finely-tuned Kegel muscles of various vaginas, she's meticulously combing the earth for the leavings of one Richard Armitage. From naval fuzz to a wayward back hair or, most covetous, a nail clipping from his pinky toe, she searches for these pieces of her one true love in order to manifest them into an anatomically correct likeness. What she plans on doing with this object not even the most advantageous of Hazmat professionals would deign to guess but we all hope she utilizes the sound gynecological advice she's been given and uses it as nothing more than a caulking agent for the most stubborn of bathroom tiles. One cannot deny that, all things considered, and Sya would most likely agree, Richard Armitage would make, without a doubt, excellent caulk and there's much to be said for a sexy toilet. May her quest carry her further onto the truth.
Chachic was found in a reed basket as a baby, washed up along the shores of Manila. Official records say she came from another island in the Philippines, but the underlying rumor is that she's really the daughter of a siren and Sam Quint. Known to devour books at random, Chachic is currently stationed as the YAcker insurgent to Singapore, infusing Asia and the interwebs with an appreciation of the Armitage. Her tastes are wide and varied, but generally run toward the damn good side of things in terms of speculative fiction, romance, contemp, and anything else you'll throw at her. She passes communication in the form of post cards to all four corners of the earth, delighting those of us who have forgotten the art of holding pens. She also wields a mean camera. Thankfully, it's usually aimed at books.
Heidi
Heidi is a shapeshifter, she transforms from her human to puffin self when she finds herself in sticky situations. One example was when she sneakily tried to grab a nectarine off a fruit market stall without paying for it. Unfortunately, she got caught by the owner and a mob came after her. She escaped by changing into her puffin form and flying, as fast as she can, away from her pursuers. Another time was when a troll tried to keep her captive in a stone tower hundreds of feet high. Having heard of Heidi's knitting prowess, the troll wanted her to make sweaters to keep him warm. She switched into her puffin shape and squeezed herself in between the bars of the window so she could fly to freedom. When she’s not busy having adventures, Heidi can be found reading, knitting and bunburying in library stacks.