GUEST POST: Rachel Renee Russell + Giveaway

Today I'm pleased to have a very special guest post in the form of an original piece of artwork from Rachel Renee Russell the author of Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life! Dork Diaries was released on June 2nd! Thanks to Rachel for this awesome piece of artwork and also for allowing me to host a contest for Nikki's Purse and Diary!

Seriously how funny is that! I love her drawings of my drawings from my blog header and profile icon! Thanks so much Rachel! Now onto the giveaway.

Here's the synopsis of Dork Diaries if you need a refresher (from borders.com):

This hilarious novel follows eighth-grader Nikki Maxwell as she chronicles through text and sketches her thoughts on friendships, crushes, popularity, and family.

Onto the rules! 

 To win a copy of Dork Diaries and also Nikki's purse leave a comment sharing why or why not you would consider yourself a "dork".

For 1 additional entry post/blog about this giveaway and leave a separate comment telling me you have done so.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S.

Please leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner!

The giveaway will end June 25th at 11:59 pm Central Time.

Here's a picture similar to what the winner will receive!

"Waiting On" Wednesday! 34

Soulless by Gail Carriger

From Amazon.com

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Released September 29th 2009

Ok so I heard about this at BEA and grabbed a postcard to remind myself to go back and meet the author. I completely forgot to do so :/ Anyhow I can't get this book or it's cover out of my mind. It just sounds too good to be true. Count me IN!

What can't you wait for to be released?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

BLOG TOUR: Beach Trip by Cathy Holton

Amazon.com:

A reunion of four friends becomes a cathartic journey into the past in Cathy Holton’s luminous new novel.

Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled distinct and diverse paths since their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college during the early 1980s. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, is grappling with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with guilt over her son’s illness and her own slowly unraveling marriage. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave behind the regrets of her youth. And Lola, sweet-tempered and absentminded, whiles away her hours–and her husband’s money–on little pills that keep her happy.

Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past: a failed love affair, a discarded suitor, a betrayal, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.

Darkly comic and deeply poignant, Beach Trip is an unforgettable tale of lifelong friendship, heartbreak, and happiness.

I loved this book! I expected to like it but hadn't realized how much I would love it! Wow! Being able to relate age-wise to someone in college easier than a 40something, I loved all the flashbacks to college probably more than anything. I hadn't realized the book would literally take us back to when these 4 girls lived together, figured we would just hear about it in passing, so I was very happy we got to be there for some of the important times that shaped their lives in college.

For some reason I always prefer stories with more than one main character, I love stories of friends that come in and out of each others lives. All 4 of the characters were interesting but I like I liked Sara and Annie the most, probably because I saw a bit of myself in both of them, compared to Lola and Mel. I also saw myself being able to hang around someone like Sara or Annie more than Lola and Mel. I found myself fearing for Lola's safety, she kept wandering away the second her friends looked away. And Mel was definitely a button pusher, I think it would be hard to be around her. I did really like reading about her writing career and life in New York though.

There were a few twists and turns towards the end of the book but since in my mind I had already figured them out I was reading compulsively to see if in fact I was right in my predictions, and I was! It didn't hurt the story at all for me, it was actually nice being able to pick up on all the clues instead of having to think back later on and piece it all together. I really liked both of the plot twists, that's totally what I had wanted to happen! Actually at one point I set the book down and stuck my fist into the air and softly shouted YES!

All in all I definitely loved this book and can see myself going back to read it from time to time and reflect on this group of friends and their lives and families.

Beach Trip was released on May 12th!

4.5/5 Stars
ARC provided by author, i think

Visit author Cathy Holton's website here her blog here. Read an excerpt here and see the rest of the tour dates here!

SATURDAY: BEA Day 2 + Geektastic Party

Today I got to sleep a bit later (thank god) Oh shoot I waited to long and my memory is started to get fuzzy! I'm pretty sure I met up with Gail and we looked around. Oh yes, we went to the Bloomsbury booth and also stopped by the Hachette booth, where the large chained up bin of "banned books" was finally open. It turns out the banned book was a new YA book by James Patterson called Witch and Wizard, great marketing I say! After roaming around for a bit we headed over to the Firebrand/Netgalley booth for my 10am Blogger "Signing" slot. Here are a few pictures.

Here's Gail taking a quick breather at the booth, she had a lot to carry!

Over to the right is Dawn one of my buddies for the hour at the booth talking to Fran who we have to thank for setting this all up!

To the left we have Candace of Beth Fish Reads who was my other partner in crime for the hour!

Here's the table with some of the awesome trading cards and also a little sign showcasing my blog!

Directly across from the booth was Sourcebooks!

I had a lovely time at the Blogger "Signing" Booth chatting with fellow bloggers and also a few very sweet people that came over and said Hi to me, it was very nice chatting with you guys!

Here are some more highlights and of course a picture or two!

Meeting Matt de la Pena and also meeting both Rachel Vincent and Gena Showalter at the Harlequin booth, anyone else super excited for the new Harlequin Teen line of books???

Gail getting me a signed copy of Another Faust because I got stuck upstairs. Thank you Gail!


Meeting Melissa Marr who gave me tips on taming curly hair and also Rachel Vincent again! Rachel is in the red, and Melissa was behind the lady in blue lol!

Listening to the Consumer Panel: Teens Sound Off... one of the moderators looked awfully familiar :P

Walking into the extremely crowded (yay!) room for the Book Bloggers panel!

Meeting Leigh Brescia, Sara Zarr, and Justine Larbalestier and talking about their covers of course!

Meeting Laini Taylor and Jim De Bartolo the author and illustrator, respectively, of Lips Touch!

At the end of the day Gail and I really wanted to sit down so we got something from Starbucks and took a seat! Once BEA came to a close that day I headed back to the hotel to lay around. I think I may have taken a nap, can't remember! I know I had Burger King for dinner, how horrible am I! It was around the corner!

Then it was time for the Geektastic Party at Lucky Strike Lanes! I went to meet Amy at her hotel and we headed over! Gail, Bethany, Laura, and Sharon were already there chilling on a couch! And we found Lenore later on! Now here's my problem, for me to talk to a complete or almost complete stranger I have to know something about them to bring up. So a ton of people I didn't know there so I sort of hid on the couch, but it wasn't just me! Some wonderful authors came over and chatted with us including Barry Lyga, Scott Westerfeld, Holly Black, Elizabeth Scott, and Sara Zarr. I bet you wouldn't be surprised to find out I talked to a few of them about their book covers LOL!

I took next to no pictures, I'll blame it on being exhausted! Anyhow it was a lot of fun! Sadly this was the last time I saw Amy and Lenore as they weren't going to be at BEA the next day, they were nice enough to walk me back to my hotel when the cranky cab driver didn't want to take me over there!



Next up Sunday...

Hardcover vs. Paperback 32

Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

Hardcover

Paperback

Borders.com:

When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power -- vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you had to pretend to be honeymooning with your father in order to upgrade to first class. Welcome to Chelsea's world -- a place where absurdity reigns supreme and a quick wit is the best line of defense. In this hilarious, deliciously skewed collection, Chelsea mines her past for stories about her family, relationships, and career that are at once singular and ridiculous. Whether she's convincing her third-grade class that she has been tapped to play Goldie Hawn's daughter in the sequel to Private Benjamin, deciding to be more egalitarian by dating a redhead, or looking out for a foulmouthed, rum-swilling little person who looks just like her...only smaller, Chelsea has a knack for getting herself into the most outrageous situations. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea showcases the candor and irresistible turns of phrase that have made her one of the freshest voices in comedy today.

Paperback, definitely (I think that's actually the back of the hardcover as well, right?). It works so much better with the title and the title of the book it's spoofing. When I first saw it I thought it was hilarious! My one problem, Chelsea looks a bit older on it, she just doesn't look as good, bad lighting or something. I really like how it appears that she's in the same setting in both, so they are different but not polar opposites.

Hardcover or Paperback?

BLOG TOUR: The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

Welcome to the next Traveling to Teens book blog tour! Created by the lovely Yan and lovely Carol! Today I'm excited to welcome Sarah Rees Brennan author of The Demon's Lexicon! Check out the rest of the tour stops here!

Sarah Rees Brennan was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it's not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. The books most often found under her desk were Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, and she still loves them all today.

After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. She began working on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a Creative Writing MA and library work in Surrey, England. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write and use as a home base for future adventures. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.

The Demon’s Lexicon is her first novel.

From Amazon.com:

Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick's mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again.

Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon's mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is des-perate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long.

Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.

This is the Demon's Lexicon. Turn the page.

WHOA just WHOA! Usually if you were to say demons I would say no thanks, but you know I think that's changed. The Demon's Lexicon was a lot of fun, I personally loved seeing the relationship between these two brothers and seeing how defined their roles were within their family. Alan was sort of the mother of the family, cooking, making sure Nick went to school, and caring for their mother while Nick was definitely the child but also the protector of the family. But it was also cool seeing them fight side by side. I just liked their relationship.

I also really liked the sort of love triangle that forms between Alan, Nick, and Mae, a girl that comes to them for help for her and her brother. I cannot wait to see where it goes in the next book in the series! I also like Jamie, Mae's brother, I can't wait to see what happens with his character in the next book! I know some people are complaining that this book is too much a set up for the next book but I didn't feel like that, I think it works great as is! It does definitely leave me excited for the next book though!

The book had several great twists that I totally didn't see coming. I'm pretty sure my eyes looked like they were popping out of my head when I read them! They were great! This is definitely a book to be shared with friends, it's one I definitely want to talk to others about that have read it! I'm pretty sure I screamed Oh My God at one point in the book!

I loved the balance of family, chemistry, fantasy, and action. For someone that isn't especially into action packed books right now this really worked for me! The book was just downright funny at some parts, I really digged Nick's raw personality. All in all I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series!

The Demon's Lexicon was released June 2nd!

4/5 Stars
Review copy provided by author

And here's an interview with Sarah Rees Brennan!

1. I heard The Demon’s Lexicon is the beginning of a trilogy, where are you in the process of working on the last two books?

I'm currently editing the sequel, The Demon's Covenant. It turned out shockingly long and has a lot of make-out scenes, but I feel that's okay: I've noticed that trilogies often have that structure, so I invented a trilogy rule. Book 1, set up! Book 2, make out! Book 3, defeat evil! If you think about it, a surprising amount of trilogies follow these rules...

That said, it really annoys me when any book is just set up for a series, or just a bridge to a finale. I think every book in a series should be an adventure complete in itself, and I hope mine will be.

2. The idea of Urban Fantasy is interesting, there is fantasy but also real life elements. How do you balance the fantastical with the everyday boring elements?

Urban fantasy is my favourite because of those everyday elements: I think it really helps you believe in the magic. I remember reading Alan Garner's Elidor, which starts out as a normal kids going into a fantasy land book, like Narnia... but then the magic follows them back. I remember being surprised by how much more I believed in unicorns when there was a maddened unicorn chasing the kids through a bad part of town, and dying in a derelict house with sirens flashing outside.

Urban fantasy reminds me of a line in one of my favourite poems, Theodore Roethke's The Waking, which goes 'What falls away is always. And is near.' Some people dismiss fantasy a bit, even though fantasy was the first kind of story human beings started to tell each other: tales about gods throwing thunder and lightning. I love the thought of fantasy as grounded in reality, not something you can dismiss: magic waiting for you on your doorstep, with the milk bottles you left outside the day before. So it really isn't as much of a balancing act as having the two things inextricably intertwined: my hero Nick starts out the book fixing a leaky sink, and being really ticked off because under the sink is where he keeps his favourite demon-slaying sword!

3. What is the most interesting part of the publishing process in your opinion?

I really enjoyed seeing the different covers different countries made for me. The US had a photoshoot to do their cover, and the UK did a drawing of the hero, and Germany did a kind of action-adventure cover that was all foil, and in Japan I have the most gorgeous manga cover. Sometimes I have little cover death matches, but the US one usually wins, because underneath the picture of a boy with a magical talisman, there's a secret cover... a shining sword, lying on some muddy herringbone tiles. Swords always win.

4. What is one thing everything should know about Ireland?

We speak Irish, not Gaelic. It's a common misconception that our language is called Gaelic: actually Scotland got there first, and they speak Scots Gaelic. And here's a sample of Irish for you: go raibh maith agat! (Which means thank you - which I do, for having me on your blog. ;))

5. What is one upcoming young adult release you are looking forward to?

Oh, dear, it's so hard to pick just one! I'm really looking forward to Ash by Malinda Lo, a Cinderella retelling where Prince Charming is a girl. And Catching Fire, the sequel to the Hunger Games, because how brilliant was The Hunger Games? And Holly Black's The White Cat, which is about magical con men, a sort of YA fantasy Ocean's Eleven.

... So that picking just one business, that worked out well for me...

FRIDAY: BEA Day 1 + Tiger Beat + Jim Hanley's Universe

Got up at oh 4:30, met Bethany and Gail in my hotel lobby and we walked down the street to the Javits Center. It was raining which was a bummer but it was only about a 15 minute walk down the street. We got there and there was like no one in sight, eventually we got into the building and were sent on a wild goose chase trying to find the ticket line. At least we got to see part of the building before it was really crowded! Eventually we found the right place and got in line with some other fellow bloggers. It was nice having a bit of time to chat with them!

Afterwards I headed back to the hotel and dried off a bit and did some final planning before heading back. Once I got there I took a seat in the lobby and waited for Sharon to arrive and for Gail and Bethany to finish at their author breakfast. It was funny seeing all the people come in, sit down and take off their sneakers and put on their fancy shoes. There was no way I could have survived in anything but sneakers. Here's what the lobby of the Javits Center looks like, love all the glass!




Friday we got to know how BEA was set up, found where everything was and also quickly discovered there was time to do a lot more than we had originally thought! We did a lot on Friday so here are a few highlights and a picture!


Got Sharon and myself lost looking for the autograph area and ended up at a back loading dock or something! She thought I was going to take her down! :P

Met Janicu at the Blogger Meetup at 9:30 while at the same time losing Sharon and finding her again! LOL! Janicu is so sweet, she got me a signed copy of Rachel Vincent's Pride! Thank you!

Finding an ARC of School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari which was a recent Waiting on Wednesday pick!

Talking to Sarah MacLean after her time slot in the autograph area.

Meeting Adriana Trigiani! While waiting for the line to open up she came up to us and said "Are You Waiting For Me?!" I almost died, what a sweet lady!!!!!!!

Meeting James Dasher, Shannon Hale, and Elizabeth Noble!

Sitting down on the ground, to eat. The pizza wasn't very good but OMG did I need to sit down right about then and I didn't care where!

Being 1 of 5 people to get a signed copy of Tara McPherson's Lost Constellations. I had no idea how long her line would be so I went early and turns out I was the second person there! She was going to be signing these "signing card" postcard things and then right before she arrived the lady at the booth said the first 5 people would get signed copies of the actual book OMG!

Meeting Tom Dolby and Trenton Lee Stewart!

Getting to sit for awhile while waiting in the Catching Fire line, this is what it looked like before the line started moving! That white stuff up there is where the actual line starts!


And to end our day at BEA Gail and I got to meet Natalie Standiford who was signing her new book, How to Say Goodbye in Robot. I think her book is one that I am most excited about and it's definitely one of my new favorite covers!

Once I got back to the hotel I changed quickly and headed back out the door to Books of Wonder. Lots going on over there, a bunch of authors hanging out and wouldn't you know it, some of them were there to rock!

Here's Rachel Cohn and David Levinthan also known as The Infinite Playlist? That's what they call themselves right? And they opened for the band Tiger Beat!

Tiger Beat is made up by authors Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Barnaby Miller, and Natalie Standiford! What an awesome show they put on! Here is a video of one of their songs if you are interested!

After that we went to the hotel so I could sit down some more and stop whining, after having some Subway (I know I know, not what I should be eating- it was across the street!) We headed to one final comic book store, Jim Hanley's Universe. It was within walking distance from our hotel and also right near the Empire State Building. This was definitely my favorite comic book store there. They had a lot of interesting stuff which I just couldn't help but buy! Here's what I got:

The coolest thing I found there was this little box of comics called Carnival Comics, I'm all about cute stuff and how cute is that! It had all those comics just to the right of it in it. Can't wait to read these.

After that we headed back to the hotel and I crashed! Up next Saturday...

This Week In Books Or A Non-BEA Related Post!

Monday:

Sprout by Dale Peck

This is my very first Amazon Vine book! It came the week before and I found it when I picked up our mail after being away!

Tuesday:

A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy by Charlotte Greig
How Sweet It Is by Alice J. Wisler
Demon Princess: Reign or Shine by Michelle Rowen
Girl Stays in the Picture by Melissa de la Cruz

Three more Amazon Vine books, gotta start off with a bang right? And also another for review.

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: nothing

Friday:

Touch by Francine Prose
Simply Perfect Mary Balogh
Love You Hate You Miss You Elizabeth Scott
The Coffin Club by Ellen Schreiber
Easy on the Eyes by Jane Porter
Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman
Ms. Taken Identity by Dan Begley
Flirting with Boys by Hailey Abbott
Waking Beauty by Elyse Friedman
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot
Icing on the Cake by Laura Castoro
Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer

After missing library book store day last week and yesterday I stopped over this afternoon (wooo summer hours) and almost passed out after finding all this! Holy crap! And everything was 50% off too... $2 bag week is coming up soon... oooh noooos!

The Big Steal by Emyl Jenkins
Back Creek by Leslie Goetsch

These two came for review.

Amor and Summer Secrets by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Bookmooch book!

Saturday: nothing

UPDATE: Er jumped the gun a bit, forgot the B&N I was going today had the used section... and I actually put several books back! *sigh*

Top Ten Uses for An Unworm Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro
A Little Friendly Advice by Siobhan Vivian
Spring Breakup by Stephanie Hale
Poison Apples by Lily Archer
See Through by Nelly Reifler
Seven Tears Into the Sea by Terri Farley

THURSDAY: Teen Author Carnival + The Strand or OMG OMG OMG!

And thus begins my NYC/BEA series of posts, hope I don't bore you too much...

So got into the city Thursday early afternoon and hit the ground running. Left our bags at our hotel's front desk and then stopped by the Javits Center and got my badge and then headed to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and then stopped for a lovely lunch at Wendy's (what can I say, when pressed for time other things matter more than what I eat!). During the lovely dining experience (with a creepy bathroom) Sharon and I realized we were very near each other in the city. So we met up in the Manga section of Forbidden Planet! I was actually about to skip Forbidden Planet for some other comic shops but the girl working at the MOCCA said it was a great one and see was right!

This is what I got:
I only picked up a few things because I knew I would have to carry around anything I bought for the rest of the day. That cat thing with 3 eyes is a Tara McPherson toy. I knew I would be meeting her tomorrow at her signing so I figured that was just perfect! That little duck thing is apparently a zipper pull but I just think it's cute!

Determined to hit up another comic shop no matter what Sharon or my mom said (:P) we headed into what we thought was St. Marks Comics but turned out to be St. Marks Bookshop, don't even ask, I was like frantically running for stores. We did end up going to St. Marks Comics as well, er, I guess the blurb I read about it made it sound better than it was, but that's ok. After that we stopped for the cupcakes that Sharon blogged about, see them here.

After that it was time to head to the Jefferson Market Branch of the NY Public Library system for the Teen Author Carnival! And holy crap was that the coolest thing ever! Met up with a bunch of bloggers and authors! You all know who you are! Here's a few pictures!

Steph Su and Sharon waiting for the festivities to begin!

Here's Sarah Cross and one of her blogger pals coughstalkerscough Sharon! :P

Here's Sarah signing a copy of Dull Boy, not for me but for one of you! Stay tuned....

Here's Maureen Johnson signing a paperback copy of Suite Scarlett for me!

Here's Michelle Zink signing a copy of her book Prophecy of the Sisters!

Here we have Jessica Burkhart, Sarah MacLean and Micol Ostow!

Me and Melissa Walker!

So the Teen Author Carnival was split up into 3 different sections because there were so many authors! A Q & A section which I forgot to get a picture of, a meet and greet, and a signing area! So the authors were split into 3 groups and rotated around!

I brought a handful of books to be signed and they also had Barnes and Noble there selling copies of the authors books as well, so of course I had to buy some more. That's what you see pictured below along with some other "prize books". They made sure we didn't leave empty handed! All in all this was awesome and a big shout out to everyone involved in making it happen!

When the Teen Author Carnival ended myself, Sharon, and Steph Su headed over to The Strand to meet Gail and Bethany! We went out to eat (I had pizza) then we had to say bye to Steph Su! Next we headed back over to The Strand.


The Strand Master aka Sharon showed us around before she had to take off so she could get to bed at a reasonable time. The stuff I bought at The Strand plus the Teen Author Carnival pretty much filled the duffel bag I brought! Here's what I got:


After checking out we parted ways and hopped into some cabs so Gail, Bethany, and I could meet up at 5am the next morning to head over to the Javits Center to get tickets for Catching Fire!

Next up Friday.....

I'm Such A Tease or The Arrival of the BEA Box!

While I'm working on my 4 BEA/NYC/Teen Author Carnival/Geektastic Party/The Strand etc posts I thought I would give you something to look at! Stay tuned for more!

Lookalikes 52

Thicker Than Water by Carla Jablonski

The Devouring by Simon Holt

I'm really not fond of the bloody eye (eww) or green color in the first cover so definitely the second cover. I kind of like the smudged eye makeup alone. But then again, the fog or smoke or whatever that purple stuff is, looks kind of placed on top, doesn't blend very well.

Which do you prefer?

Thanks to Yan for suggesting this lookalike!

GIVEAWAY: 5 Copies of Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer!

Now that you've read my review of Twenty Boy Summer as part of the Traveling to Teens Blog Tour you can enter to win your own hardcover copy of the book!

If you need a refresher here's a bit of information about Twenty Boy Summer, for more information visit www.lb-teens.com:

"Don't worry, Anna. I'll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won't say anything?"
"Don't worry." I laughed. "It's our secret, right?"

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie---she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

Also here is a great video of Sarah Ockler talking about Twenty Boy Summer!



And finally onto the rules!

To win 1 of 5 hardcovers copies of Twenty Boy Summer leave a comment sharing one of your favorites summer memories.

The giveaway is open to addresses within the U.S.

Please leave a way for me to contact you if you are the winner!

The giveaway will end June 29th at 11:59 pm Central Time.

BLOG TOUR: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Welcome to the next Traveling to Teens book blog tour! Created by the lovely Yan and lovely Carol! Today I'm excited to welcome Sarah Ockler! The author of Twenty Boy Summer! Check out the rest of the tour stops here!

Sarah Ockler wrote and illustrated her first book at age six—an adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Still recovering from her own adolescence, she now writes books for young adults. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of New York at Buffalo and also studied creative writing through Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

While nomadic at heart, Sarah and her husband Alex currently live in Upstate New York with an ever-expanding collection of sea glass (hers) and dinosaurs (his).

TWENTY BOY SUMMER is her first novel.

From Amazon.com:

"Don't worry, Anna. I'll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it."
"Okay."
"Promise me? Promise you won't say anything?"
"Don't worry." I laughed. "It's our secret, right?"

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie---she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago. Beautifully written and emotionally honest, this is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone and what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

Twenty Boy Summer has a lot of things going for it, friendship, family, fun at the beach but also things like death, lost love, and grieving. I think the book balances the range of emotions the characters experience beautifully. It makes reading about these tough emotions easy to handle and not scary. I found it rather believable, everyone is so confused about how they should feel and act around each other, struggling to remember their son/friend/love/brother but also trying to push his memory aside so they themselves can survive.

Immediately I identified with Anna who is more soft spoken and kind of hangs out in the shadow of her best friend Frankie. But as the story went on and Frankie shed part of her protective layer I got to know her better and understand what she was about. I loved the character of Matt as well, he seemed like the perfect guy! And seeing the connection he made with Anna and then seeing his life end in an instance, that was heartbreaking.

Overall Twenty Boy Summer is a layered and emotional book but at the same time fun and easy to read! It provides a great balance!

Twenty Boy Summer was released on June 1st!

4/5 Stars

ARC provided by publisher

And here's an interview with Sarah Ockler!

1. Most of Twenty Boy Summer takes place on the beach, did you do any of your writing on the beach? If not at the beach did you have your sea glass handy?

I love the beach! But by the time I started working on Twenty Boy Summer, I was living in Denver, where there are *noooo* beaches (not even close!). But, while I wasn't able to write any of TBS on the beach, I did have lots of beach memories and journals from previous beach trips that I could borrow from. And of course I had my sea glass handy. I collect it in jars and it's never very far from my writing space. It really does bring me back to the ocean, even when I'm completely land-locked!

2. Twenty Boy Summer deals with some heavy issues, how did you get these feelings into words?

That's a really good question. I guess I've always been better at expressing my feelings through writing, so when it came time to write about the heavy emotions and issues in Twenty Boy Summer, it felt pretty natural. I'm the type of person who writes to get my feelings out and to work through issues, so during the novel writing process, I try to put myself in the heads and hearts of my characters and let it flow on to the page as if I was writing about my own pain or elation or confusion or whatever emotion I'm trying to convey in the scene.

3. Your book has recently been released how do you feel, what did/will you do to celebrate?

It's still a pretty surreal feeilng, but I will tell you that whenever I walk into a bookstore and see Twenty Boy Summer on the shelf, my heart jumps a little bit! The book hit the shelves a few weeks early, so Mom and I went book-stalking all around town. Then, for the official release, we had a book dinner and party with close friends and family, for which I stayed up all night making Twenty Boy Summer heart cupcakes from scratch. I may have slightly over-estimated the number of cupcakes I'd need, so now I have about 50 leftover. Hmmm. Maybe that wasn't an accident! :-)

4. What is your least favorite part of the writing process?

I really despise writing a synopsis. I just haven't mastered that whole describe-your-novel-like-a-book-report thing. Ugh. :-)

5. Do you have any advice to help me get over my fear of E.T.?

Well I used to be afraid of spiders, but now I like them. I mean, I don't let them crawl on me or anything, but I don't go around moshing them. So you just have to see E.T. as a living creature who deserves a happy home and love and family, regardless of how creepy/scary/different he seems, and maybe then you'll start to accept him into your heart. No one's saying you have to hug him or anything. But... no E.T. moshing!

This Year In Movies: May

Oh my goodness was this a horrible month of movie watching, only watched 3 movies and 2 tv shows, granted I was gone for like 1/4 of the month but still! I do have a few tv shows in progress right now so we'll see how those turn out.

Secret Diary of A Call Girl Season 1- I really liked this show, A LOT. So if it's age appropriate for you, then check it out. If not pretend like you didn't hear this!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona- I reviewed this one so check it out here.

Milk- Wow this was a moving movie, check my out review here.

10 Items or Less Season 2- I also reviewed this hilarious tv show, check it out here.

Yes Man- Reviewed this yesterday, surprisingly good check it out here!

"Waiting On" Wednesday! 33

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

From Author's Website:

When Addie Downs opens her front door and discovers her long-lost childhood best friend standing there, with terror on her face and blood on her coat, she finds herself on an extraordinary adventure on which she'll learn the truth about her past and forever change her future…

Released July 14th 2009

There isn't a whole lot to go off here with this blurb but so far I've liked all of the author's books I've read. I believe I've read them all except for her latest one which just came out in paperback. I want to know what the situation that Addie's friend is.. it definitely sounds interesting.

What can't you wait for to be released?

"Waiting On" Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine!

Book-Related Awesomeness!

Along for the Ride/Sarah-land

As many of you know Sarah Dessen's Along For the Ride will be coming out in a matter of days (June 16th). Well today this video was brought to my attention and OMG is it the coolest. Being the design snob that I am I'm really into type based videos like this and this one is a home run!


Find more videos like this on Sarah-land


Also until Friday there is an Along for the Ride Challenge going on. The goal is to get 2,000 people to join the Ning community Sarah-land by Friday. If the goal is met the first two chapters of the book will be released for members of Sarah-land to read! Go join here! I for one can't wait to read Along for the Ride!

Giving It Away For Free
(the only time Momma would approve)

Serena Robar is giving it away for free the entire month of June. That’s right. A book a day, every day in honor of her latest book release Giving Up the V. All you have to do to is sign up for her newsletter and you are entered to win. Enter once and you are in the running to win a book every day the entire month of June.

The Burning Question

Scholastic has this interesting poll where you can vote on the question you most want to see Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire answer. It looks like every month she will answer one and a new one will be put up! Vote here!

Tuesday Thingers: Do You Tweet?

Do you Tweet? If so, what do you like best about Twitter? What do you like the least? Do you have any Twitter applications or extras that you use frequently (TweetDeck, TwitterFeed, etc)? Do you belong to any of the Twitter groups on LT?

YES!!! I do tweet, you can find me @mint910 What do I like best about twitter? Hmm, instant access to information, sometimes if I don't know the answer to something I will tweet a question and usually someone will have the answer! I also love hearing what others are doing, be it what they are reading, watching or having for lunch! I've gotten to know a lot of bloggers better via twitter actually! And also found new blogs to read that way too! What I like least is that twitter is never the whole story, sometimes it's a continuation of another discussion or a joke, and people can sometimes take that the wrong way, I guess it's the same with all Internet communication. I tried out tweetdeck for a few weeks but for some reason I haven't been using it recently! I don't belong to any of the twitter groups on LT!

Do you tweet? What's your handle so I can follow you!

Hardcover vs. Paperback 31

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Hardcover

Paperback

Borders:

Lucy has nine months to break an ancient curse in order to save both herself and her unborn daughter.Inspired by the ballad Scarborough Fair, this riveting novel combines suspense, fantasy, and romance for an intensely page-turning and masterfully original tale.Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women of her family have been cursed through the generations, forced to attempt three seemingly impossible tasks or to fall into madness upon their childs birth. But Lucy is the first girl who wont be alone as she tackles the list. She has her fiercely protective foster parents and her childhood friend Zach beside her. Do they have love and strength enough to overcome an age-old evil?

For some reason I always had a problem with the pose of the girl on the Hardcover, I mean I always liked the colors and the general composition but there was something about the pose of the girl that bothered me, too dramatic. I am in LOVE with the paperback. I love it! Especially the wind whipped hair and the colors used, it begs to be picked up!

Hardcover or Paperback?

Yes Man

RottenTomatoes.com:

Jim Carrey returns to hilarious form with this romantic comedy in the same vein as the Carrey classic LIAR LIAR. After a few stints in more serious features like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and THE NUMBER 23, Carrey seems right at home playing Carl, a divorce who starts out the film depressed and withdrawn, scared of taking a risk. Pressured by his best friend, Peter (Bradley Cooper), to get his act together or be stuck with a lonely life, Carl attends a New Age self-help seminar intended to change "no men" like Carl into "yes men" willing to meet life's challenges with gusto. Carl is reluctant at first, but finds the seminar to be ultimately life-changing when he's coerced into giving the "say yes" attitude a try. As the first opportunity to say yes presents itself, Carl hesitantly utters the three-letter word, setting the stage for a domino effect of good rewards, and giving Carrey a platform to show off his comic chops. But over time Carl realizes that saying yes to everything indiscriminately can reap results as complicated and messy as his life had become when saying "no" was his norm. The always-quirky Zooey Deschanel adds her signature charm as Carl's love interest, Allison. An unlikely match at first glance, the pair actually develop great chemistry as the story progresses, the actors playing off each other's different styles of humor. Rhys Darby also shines as Carl's loveable but clueless boss, and THAT 70s SHOW's Danny Masterson appears as another one of Carl's friends. While YES MAN marks no major departure from Carrey's previous work, the sweet crowd pleaser manages to showcase two sides of its leading man.

I was pretty much over Jim Carrey's crazy over the top funny movies but I liked the idea behind a man that decides to say YES to everything and had to check it out. It was surprisingly good yet not really annoying like I thought it could be. It also didn't hurt that Zooey Deschanel was in it, she can really do no wrong in my mind (well besides The Happening er) and also Rhys Darby from Flight of the Concords!

And this is going to sound weird and probably make no sense, but it was kind of like Slumdog Millionaire in the sense that everything was connected and I liked that. In this case it was a funny thing but it still worked really well.

I also thinks the concept of saying YES to everything can give us something to think about. I'm sure a lot of us, me especially included could take more chances, be more open minded, and say YES more often!

Overall a hilarious but not over the top movie with a interesting concept!

4/5 Stars
Watched via Netflix