Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Waiting on Wednesdays: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (Victoria Schwab)

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!


A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (Victoria Schwab)

Publish Date: February 23, 2016
Publisher: Tor

I recently finished the first book in the series, A Darker Shade of Magic. It was great! I can't wait to read more.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Book Riot Quarterly Box #8 Unveiling

Book Riot is a very popular book blog and recently created a quarterly subscription box. For $50, they will send you a box filled with books and book related items every quarter. I've loved them all. If you haven't subscribed yet, I highly recommend it. It's always a lovely surprise.

I always look forward to the arrival of my Quarterly Book Riot box. There are actually two boxes you can subscribe to: an adult oriented box and a YA oriented box. That's not to say that teens wouldn't enjoy the adult box or adults won't enjoy the YA box. The Book Riot people carefully select items for the boxes to hopefully appeal to everyone.

I love the books in this quarter's box. Not quite as thrilled with the "bookish" items. I wouldn't say this is my favorite box, but I still really enjoyed it.

**I copied the previous three sentence from last quarter's box unveiling. I feel exactly the same way about this box. The books make the boxes worth it, even though I often through away most of the extras. Even though that makes the boxes not so worth it financially, I still love the surprise.**

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #272

Welcome to the Feature & Follow


Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and ayou must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.


Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Release Date:
May 5, 2015
Publisher:
Viking Juvenile
Source: Library

Summary

Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Waiting on Wednesdays: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!


Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Publish Date: February 9, 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen

I'm super excited about this one. I loved the first book in the series (even though it wasn't perfect). I'm really excited to read more in this world!

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

GIVEAWAY! The Marvels by Brian Selznick

The Marvels by Brian Selznick

Release Date:
September 15, 2015
Publisher:
Scholastic Press


Summary

Caldecott Award winner and bookmaking trailblazer Brian Selznick once again plays with the form he invented and takes readers on a voyage!

Two seemingly unrelated stories--one in words, the other in pictures--come together. The illustrated story begins in 1766 with Billy Marvel, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, and charts the adventures of his family of actors over five generations. The prose story opens in 1990 and follows Joseph, who has run away from school to an estranged uncle's puzzling house in London, where he, along with the reader, must piece together many mysteries.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #271

Welcome to the Feature & Follow


Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and ayou must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Waiting on Wednesdays: Romancing the Dark in the City of Light by Ann Jacobus

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!


Romancing the Dark in the City of Light by Ann Jacobus

Publish Date: October 6, 2015
Publisher: Thomas Dunne

What a fascinating premise. Boarding school drop-out. Paris. Romance in Paris. What more do you need?

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Blog Tour: The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick



Welcome to Day #7 of The Boy Most Likely To(ur)!
To celebrate the release of The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick (8/18/15), 10 blogs across the web will be featuring exclusive content from Huntley, as well as a chance to win a YA Goodie Basket in the Grand Prize Giveaway! Today, Huntley shares Alice's favorite movies!


Alice Garrett's Top Six Favorite Movies
1. John Tucker Must Die (2006) Three ex-girlfriends of a serial cheater set up their former lover to fall for the new girl in town so they can watch him get his heart broken.
 2. Easy A (2010) A clean-cut high school student relies on the school's rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.
4. Shaun of the Dead (2004) A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex- girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.
5. Dirty Dancing (1987) Spending the summer in a holiday camp with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor Johnny Castle.
6. Remember the Titans (2000)
The true story of a newly appointed African-American coach and his high school team on their first season as a racially integrated unit.
Stop by Book Briefs tomorrow for Day #8 to find out which scenes from MLND and BMLT are Huntley's favorites!
A surprising, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door—great for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han.

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house.

Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To... well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.

For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard.

Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted . . . but maybe should have.

And Alice is caught in the middle.

Told in Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns.
GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY
  • One (1) first prize winner will receive a YA Goodie Basket filled with all three of Huntley's books (The Boy Most Likely To, My Life Next Door, and What I Thought Was True), Pushing the Limits and Crash Into You by Katie McGarry, Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally, and The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
  • Two (2) second prize winners will receive audiobooks of The Boy Most Likely To and What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick plus swag
  • Enter via the rafflecopter below
  • US/Canada Only
  • Ends 9/18 at midnight ET
  • For the blog post comment entry, answer the question: Which of these movies have you seen?
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blog Tour Schedule:
September 7th - Bookhounds YA
September 8th - Novel Novice
September 9th - YA Interrobang
September 10th - A Backwards Story
September 11th - Once Upon a Twilight
September 14th - A Life Bound By Books
September 15th - Alison Can Read
September 16th - Book Briefs
September 18th - Angieville

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #270

Welcome to the Feature & Follow


Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and ayou must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.


In The Unlikely Event by Jude Blume

In The Unlikely Event by Jude Blume

Release Date:
June 2, 2015
Publisher:
Knopf
Source: Library

Summary

In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events.

In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place—Nat King Cole singing “Unforgettable,” Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.

In the Unlikely Event is vintage Judy Blume, with all the hallmarks of Judy Blume’s unparalleled storytelling, and full of memorable characters who cope with loss, remember the good times and, finally, wonder at the joy that keeps them going. (courtesy of Goodreads)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Waiting on Wednesdays: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!


Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Publish Date: October 6, 2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

I'm a bit ambivalent about this one. I've read and loved all of Rainbow's books. Fangirl is by far my favorite of her books. However, I thought all the Simon Snow stuff was rather silly. I'm interested to see if this book will change my mind.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #269

Welcome to the Feature & Follow


Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

What sets this Hop apart from others, is our Feature. Each week we will showcase a Featured Blogger, from all different genres and areas. Who is our Feature today? Find out below. Just remember it is required, if you participate, to follow our Features and ayou must follow the hosts (Parajunkee & Alison Can Read) as a courtesy. How do you follow someone? Well, if you have a preference, state it in your #FF post. A lot of blogs are transitioning to Wordpress in which they do not have the luxury of GFC, so an RSS subscription is appreciated or if you choose an email subscription. If you don't have GFC please state in your post how you would like to be followed.


From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot

From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot

Release Date:
May 19, 2015
Publisher:
Feiwel & Friends
Source: Library

Summary

Olivia Grace Clarisse Harrison has always known she was different. Brought up by her aunt's family in New Jersey, book-and-music-loving Olivia feels out of place in their life of high fashion and fancy cars. But she never could have imagined how out of place she really was until Mia Thermopolis, Princess of Genovia, pops into her school and announces that Olivia is her long-lost sister. Olivia is a princess. A dream come true, right? But princesses have problems too.

In FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF A MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCESS a new middle grade series, readers will see Genovia, this time through the illustrated diaries of a spunky new heroine, 12 year old Olivia Grace, who happens to be the long lost half-sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis.(courtesy of Goodreads)

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Waiting on Wednesdays: Truly, Madly, Famously by Rebecca Serle

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine!


Truly, Madly, Famously by Rebecca Serle

Publish Date: October 13, 2015
Publisher: Poppy

This is the second book in the Famous in Love series. I enjoyed the first one and am excited to read more.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

George by Alex Gino

George by Alex Gino

Release Date:
August 25, 2015
Publisher:
Scholastic Press
Source: BEA

Summary

BE WHO YOU ARE.

When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.

George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.(courtesy of Goodreads)