Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein - Review

Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein

May 8, 2012 
by Entangled Publishing

Amy is fine living in the shadows of beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, because at least she’s somewhat beautiful and uber-cool by association. But when their dates stand them up for prom, and the girls take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail outfitted in satin, stilettos, and Spanx—Amy discovers even a prom spent in handcuffs might be better than the humiliating “rehabilitation techniques” now filling up her summer. Worse, with Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing.

Navigating unlikely alliances with her new coworker, two very different boys, and possibly even her parents, Amy struggles to decide if it’s worth being a best friend when it makes you a public enemy. Bringing readers along on an often hilarious and heartwarming journey, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.

My Review:
Amy and her friends get stood up for their prom. So now that they are all dressed up with no place to go, what are they going to do? Her friend, Lila, breaks into the house of her boyfriend to see if their dates are in there and steals a huge bag of pot. The girls drive around, getting high, and then decide to go to the prom on their own. Only the two students taking tickets won't let them in because they don't have their tickets with them. After they leave the school, they get pulled over and arrested for having the pot. Amy is now suspended from school, has to get a job to pay for her lawyer, and is banned from seeing Lila and Cassie. But they define who Amy is, and without them, she has to find herself again. 

Pretty Amy is a step away from the majority of YA books. Many YA books have teens who are doing drugs, but you don't usually read about them having any repercussions from doing it, except maybe being grounded. Lisa Burstein has given us a realistic look into the life of a teenager who has to face the consequences of being caught. Amy's entire life is turned upside down and changed in one night. Now Amy has to try to put her life back in order, do things she doesn't want to do, and figure out who she is.

You can easily relate to Amy and understand her because Lisa Burstein has perfectly described the feelings of an insecure teenager who only defines herself by her friends. She has also captured the emotions of anyone, regardless of age, who has found themselves at the worst point in their life. Pretty Amy is easy to read and engaging. I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to others. (I would recommend this to older YA readers due to drug use and language.)  

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:
Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University and is glad to finally have it be worth more than the paper it was printed on. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Pretty Amy is her first novel. She never went to her senior prom.

She wrote her first story when she was in second grade. It was a Thanksgiving tale from the point of view of the turkey from freezer to oven to plate. It was scandalous.

She was a lot like Amy when she was in high school.

She is still a lot like Amy.

Find out more about Lisa Burstein.     

Veiled Virtues by Jan Fischer Wade - Review

Veiled Virtues by Jan Fischer Wade
Published: February 2012 
by MuseItUp Publishing

When Paige Stewart left America to house-sit in England, her only thoughts were to get away from her controlling mother and to have fun. Little did she know that her working holiday would find her hearing eerie voices, experiencing alarming dreams and bleeding from old scars. Although Paige's differences confuse and disgust her, she opens up to the shopkeeper of a strange metaphysical store in town, where she finds much more than tarot cards and crystals. Soon, Paige is stalked like prized game. Relentlessly pursued, her holiday takes a turn for the eerie and dangerous. Her only saving grace may be a modern-day English knight who sweeps her off her feet and recognizes the true virtues the American teen unknowingly possesses. 

My Review:
Paige has just graduated from high school. She goes to England to house-sit for old friends of her mother's during the summer before planning to head to college. Paige has a secret. She experiences visions of things that later end up happening. Paige also has long-healed scars on her hands and forehead that start bleeding for no reason after she is in England. Little does she know that the visions and the scars are related to each other. Things soon get crazy, and Paige starts uncovering secrets about her family and herself.

Veiled Virtues has a unique twist. Not only does it involve real-life modern day knights, but the reason behind Paige's scars ended up being something that I haven't seen in YA. Veiled Virtues seemed to move along a little slow for me in the middle of it, but that may have been because I couldn't really connect with Nathaniel when we are reading from his POV. Paige's flowed much better, and she was a character that was easy to like.

I would recommend Veiled Virtues if you are looking for something different. If you enjoy a fast-paced novel, this may not be the one for you. Overall, I think Jan Fischer Wade has done a great job with her debut novel, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

A copy was provided by the author for review.

About the author:
Jan Fischer-Wade is an attorney and artist from the Lincoln, Nebraska vicinity.  Her latest endeavor is a young adult novel titled Veiled Virtues that was released February 10th by MuseItUp Publishing.  Jan is an alumni of Beatrice High School in Nebraska and received her Bachelor’s of Science, cum laude, from Ball State University. She also attended the University of Nebraska College of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctorate with distinction in 1999. During law school, Jan was the winner of the Nebraska Law Review Writing Competition and was the Research Editor of that publication from 1998 to 1999.  Although she is a full time in-house counsel for an insurance company, her passion for writing, music and art play an important role in her life. Jan is married and has two children.  She is currently hard at work on the sequel to Veiled Virtues, entitled Latent Legacy.  As if she’s not busy enough, Jan also owns and runs KidStock Consignment, a seasonal consignment sale in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Find out more about Jan Fischer Wade.    

Torn by Stephanie Guerra - Review

Torn by Stephanie Guerra

Published: May 15, 2012 by Marshall Cavendish 

Stella Chavez is your classic good girl: straight As, clean-cut boyfriends, and soccer trophies . You’d never guess that Stella’s dad was a drug addict who walked out when she was a kid. Or that inside, Stella wishes for something more.

New girl Ruby Caroline seems like Stella’s polar opposite: cursing, smoking, and teetering in sky-high heels . But with Ruby, Stella gets a taste of another world—a world in which parents act like roommates, college men are way more interesting than high school boys, and there is nothing that shouldn’t be tried once.

It’s not long before Stella finds herself torn: between the best friend she’s ever had and the friends she’s known forever, between her family and her own independence, between who she was and who she wants to be.

But Ruby has a darker side, a side she doesn’t show anyone—not even Stella. As Stella watches her friend slowly unravel, she will have to search deep inside herself for the strength to be a true friend, even if it means committing the ultimate betrayal.

My Review:
Stella has always been a good girl. She gets good grades, is a great soccer player, and takes care of her younger sister while her mom is at work. Then Ruby comes along. Ruby is the cliche "bad girl" who has no rules at home, does drugs, and goes too far with boys because of her family situation. Stella suddenly gets a look at a lifestyle that is far different from her, and she is caught between the life she has always had and a life she didn't even know existed. Her friendship with Ruby soon starts having negative consequences with her long time friends, her grades, and her position on the soccer team.

Torn is a look into teenage dynamics when you are caught in the middle of friends who don't like each other and the decisions you make simply because another friend is doing it. The "exciting life" soon starts spiraling down, and Stella has to figure out how much is her choice and how much is just her following along with Ruby. She has to decide what path she wants her life to take. Then she also has to decide how far she will go to try to help a friend. Will she let it slide to keep her friend from being mad at her, or will she confront her and possibly lose the friendship?

I thought this story was a very realistic look into the decisions that teenagers face more often than we sometimes want to admit. Stephanie Guerra has done a great job with her first novel. The pacing throughout was consistent and enough to keep you interested. I would recommend this to older YA readers because of the drugs, alcohol, and the discussions of sex. 

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:
Stephanie Guerra has an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame. She teaches children’s literature and a seminar in writing instruction at Seattle University.  She also teaches creative writing at King County Jail, and researches and speaks about literacy instruction for at-risk and incarcerated young adults.  She would like to encourage her readers to donate used books to juvenile correctional facilities.  Stephanie lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and children.  TORN is her first novel.    

Find out more about Stephanie Guerra.

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt - Review & Giveaway

One for the Murphys 
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

May 10, 2012 by Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Group for Young Readers)

A moving debut novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family's love

Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She's not really a Murphy, but the gifts they've given her have opened up a new future.

My Review:

Carley has just been released from the hospital and has to go stay with a foster family because her mother is still there. At first, we are not sure of the circumstances that put Carley and her mother in the hospital. However, it is obvious that Carley has not had the easiest childhood. For most of it, she had been raised by a single mom who isn't the most stable, caring person. Carley is expecting a foster family that is going to mistreat her, and she is caught by surprise when she meets the Murphys. Okay, so maybe not all of the Murphys are so excited that she is there at first. Carley is closed off emotionally and has a hard time trusting others, but she soon knows what it is like to be a part of a family who actually cares about each other. Just when Carley starts to feel as if she belongs, she learns that her mother is being released from the hospital and wants her back.

I loved One for the Murphys. Yes, it is sad. I cried throughout the entire ending of the book. However, it is so much more than just a sad story. It is a touching story of belonging, acceptance, love, hope, and what really defines a "family." Lynda Mullaly Hunt has done an outstanding job of portraying emotions and easily pulls you in. Carley was the perfect character. Even if she is a rude kid with a hard outer shell, she has a reason to be that way. You can easily understand her, relate to her, and feel for her. This kind of story could have easily felt like an "after school special" kind of thing, but it didn't. This isn't a fast-paced book either, but it doesn't matter because you are still engaged to the end. This is an amazing debut, and I look forward to reading future novels from Lynda. While it is geared toward middle grade/young adult, I think anyone from about 12 and up would enjoy One for the Murphys.

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:

Lynda Mullaly Hunt is a former teacher and Scenario Writing coach. She is active in SCBWI-NE, where she is the Director of the annual Whispering Pines Writers' Retreat in Rhode Island. Besides reading and writing, Lynda enjoys juggling and watercolor painting--but not at the same time. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two kids, impetuous beagle, and beagle-loathing cat. She is now working on her next middle-grade novel.

You can find out more about Lynda on her website. 


Giveaway:
One winner will receive a *signed* copy of One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.

How to enter:
Be a follower of Krazy Book Lady in whatever way you choose. Then fill out the form below. 

Additional optional entries:
+1 Follow Lynda Mullaly Hunt on Twitter.
+1 "Fan" Lynda Mullaly Hunt on Goodreads.
+1 Like One for the Murphys on Facebook.

Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open US only. This giveaway will run until midnight EST on May 30th. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winner will be emailed, and this blog post will be updated to include the name of the winner. Winner has 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be selected.

Sorry! This giveaway is now over.

Winner: Heather P.

Slide by Jill Hathaway - Review

Slide by Jill Hathaway

Published: March 27, 2012

Publisher: Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

My review:

Sylvia (Vee) slides into other people. It happens unexpectedly and without warning. She slides into the body of someone who has left an emotional imprint on something she is touching. (Therefore, Vee tries to always be very careful about touching things that belong to others.) While in that person's body, she experiences the world through their eyes. Vee has no control; no control over when or where she slides and no control over what happens while she is in the other person's body. After she slides into a killer, Vee has to figure out who she can trust. She decides she must start gaining control over her sliding so that she can figure out who is the killer and what is going on.

I found Slide to be an enjoyable read. The concept of sliding into the body and mind of someone else is an interesting one. Jill Hathaway is certainly an imaginative writer and has created strong, nicely developed characters. Slide captured my attention and kept me interested throughout, with some surprising twists and turns along the way. I did wish we could have found out more about why Vee could slide, but I suppose this is part of the mystery. I also was not overly impressed with the ending because it seemed that it wrapped up too nice, neat, and abruptly for me. However, overall, I think Slide is an attention-grabber that I would recommend, and I am excited to read the next book in this series when it is available.

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:

Jill Hathaway lives in the Des Moines area with her husband and young daughter. Having earned her BA in English Education from the University of Northern Iowa and her MA in Literature from Iowa State University, she teaches high school English and dual credit courses for Des Moines Area Community College.

SLIDE is her debut novel.

You can find out more about Jill Hathaway and how to connect with her on her blog.

Croak by Gina Damico - Review

Croak by Gina Damico

Published: March 20, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

My Review:

Lexington "Lex" Bartleby is getting into a lot of trouble at school for hitting other students. She has turned into the complete opposite of her twin sister, Concord ("Cordy"), and no one understands why her behavior has changed so much. Her parents decide to send her to spend the summer with her Uncle Mort because they think working on a farm will be good for her attitude. But Uncle Mort doesn't really have a farm. He has suggested her parents send her to live with him because he thinks she will make an excellent grim reaper, and he wants her to come to Croak for training. Soon after Lex begins her training, they start finding people who weren't supposed to die, and they soon suspect that another grim reaper is breaking the rules.

You just have to enjoy a book where Edgar Allen Poe provides a big clue for them to solve the mystery during one of their visits to the afterlife. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked Croak. Gina Damico has created a fresh spin on grim reapers and the afterlife, and big events come at appropriate intervals to maintain just the right amount of suspense. Lex is a strong female main character, and there was no "instant love" between Lex and her teenage housemate and work partner, Driggs. However, when the love connection did begin to develop, I really wasn't too fond of it or the references to it, such as how they wanted to "make wild, passionate, messy adolescent love under the radiant glow of the full moon."

Thankfully, even though this is the first book in the series, it has an ending for the main plot of this book while still leaving some of the story line open for the next book. Overall, I think Gina Damico has an engaging writing style and has created an intriguing world that I am interested in learning more about in the upcoming books.

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:

Gina Damico grew up under four feet of snow in Syracuse, New York. She received a degree in theater and sociology from Boston College, where she was active with the Committee for Creative Enactments, a murder mystery improv comedy troupe that may or may not have sparked her interest in wildly improbably bloodshed. She has since worked as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker, and breadmonger. She lives in Boston with her husband, two cats, and a closet full of black hoodies.   

You can find out more about Gina Damico and how to connect with her on her website. 

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti - Review

Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

Published: March 6, 2012

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

My Review:

Haven Terra was found abandoned in a ditch when she was a child. She is taken in and raised by one of the nurses at the hospital. Haven is very smart but worries she won't have the money to attend college. When she is accepted as an intern at a prestigious hotel in Chicago, she is very excited for the opportunity, even though she didn't apply for it, because she knows this will help to open doors for her. Her best friend, Dante, and another student from her school, a boy she barely knows, is also chosen. They will be living and working at the hotel, effectively cutting off most communication with their families. Not long after arriving, Haven starts realizing that something just isn't right with the other people running and working at the hotel.

Illuminate started off very slowly. Everything was explained in great detail, from the hotel itself, to the nightclub, to the way everyone looked and what they wore. About halfway through the book, I was still wondering when the action was going to begin. There really isn't much action until almost the very end of the book. Until then, it is basically just reading about Haven going about her day, following orders she is given from reading cryptic messages that mysteriously appear in a book she found with her name on it, and eavesdropping to find out bits of pieces of the puzzle. 

I found a large portion of this book to just not be believable. I enjoy books of this genre, but they must be set up in such a way that it feels believable to me. At 16 years old, she goes to this hotel, her adoptive mother simply drops Haven off out front without going in to meet the people herself and then is obviously fine with almost almost no communication with her. I also never could understand why she would just do everything she was told to do in the mysterious book she found. She was putting herself in physical danger and she knew she was, but she crawled through secret passages and ran along corridors every night simply because she was told to by the book. Furthermore, I wasn't too fond of the cliched best friend, Dante. He is the quintessential gay guy who loves to gossip, is able to cook gourmet meals, fix hair, and whip up a fabulous outfit in the blink of an eye.

The underlying concept of this book is truly an interesting one. It is a unique twist on the battle of good versus evil, angel versus devil. I just felt like it took too long to get to the point. At over 500 pages, this book could have easily had at least 100 pages cut from it. I also finished it feeling like I still had a lot of unanswered questions. In the end, it just wasn't for me, but I would recommend it to others who enjoy this type of book.

Reviewed as part of a traveling tour.

About the author:

Aimee Agresti was voted “Quietest” of her high school class–probably because she spent too much time with her nose buried in books. Clearly, becoming a writer was the only possible choice. She now happily toggles between the realms of fact and fiction. The author of the young adult novel ILLUMINATE, she’s also a former Us Weekly staff writer and entertainment journalist whose work has appeared in People, Premiere, DC Magazine, Capitol File, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The Washington City Paper, Boston magazine, Women’s Health and the New York Observer to name a few. Aimee has made countless TV and radio appearances dishing about celebrities on the likes of Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, E!, The Insider, Extra, VH1, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Headline News, A&E, and ABC News Now. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and lives with her husband and son in Washington, DC, where she can often be found skulking around the Smithsonian museums on slow writing days waiting for inspiration to strike.

You can find out more about Aimee Agresti and how to connect with her on her website.

Starters by Lissa Price - Review

Starters by Lissa Price

Published: March 13, 2012

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER
Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. 

My Review:

Callie is an orphan who is taking care of her younger brother, who is sick. Her parents, as well as most adults, died during the spore wars. The only ones who didn't die were the very young and the very old because they were the ones seen as being the most vulnerable so they received immunizations. Callie isn't old enough to work because of a law that says anyone under 19 cannot do so, and they have no other family to "claim" them, so they end up surviving on the streets to avoid being placed in one of the terrible institutions where most unclaimed minors end up. The very old are referred to as Enders, and they have all the money and power. Enders go to Prime Destinations (or the "body bank") to rent the body of a teenager so they can experience a day, a week, a month as if they are young again. Callie goes to the body bank as a last resort to try to make things better for her younger brother. She thinks that after she does three rentals, she will be able to walk away and will have enough money to get them a house. On her third rental, something goes wrong with the chip that has been implanted inside her. She is inside her body, not the Ender that has rented her, but she is living the Ender's life. As she unravels what went wrong, she realizes that the body bank's plans are more sinister than she realized, and she must fight to save herself, her brother, and the other young orphans like her.

The cover of Starters is what initially caught my attention, but I was also intrigued by the plot. Unfortunately, it seemed that the plot details were just riddled with problems. If you can get over that and allow yourself to be pulled into the story, it does keep you engaged and moves along rather smoothly with big events happening at appropriate intervals to keep it from dragging. The suspense is the best part, and you will want to keep reading to find out what happens to Callie and what is really going on with the body bank. I was not overly thrilled that Callie so quickly falls in love with a boy she meets in a bar while she is still maintaining the facade of her rental going smoothly, especially since she is obviously in love with her friend, Michael, who helps them survive on the streets. I also was somewhat disappointed by the ending. I felt that everything just wrapped up too quickly and too conveniently with regards to the body bank and the people who ran it. However, the last couple of pages pulled me back in enough to want to read the next one in the series to find out what is going to happen. Ultimately, for me, what I was expecting from this book based on the blurb and tagline just wasn't pulled off; however, if you enjoy dystopian thrillers and can easily lose yourself in the fantasy and suspense, then you may enjoy Starters.

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:

LISSA PRICE has studied photography and writing, but the world has turned out to be her greatest teacher.

She has walked with elephants in Botswana, swum with penguins in the Galapagos, and stood in a field at sunset amid a thousand nomads in Gujarat, India. She has been surrounded by hundreds of snorting Cape buffalo in South Africa and held an almost silent chorus with a hundred wild porpoises off the coast of Oahu. She has danced in mud huts at weddings in India and had tea with the most famous living socialite in Kyoto.

When she sat down to write, she found that the most surprising journeys were still inside her mind.

She lives in the foothills of California with her husband and the occasional deer. 

You can find Lissa on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne - Review

Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne
Published: February 2, 2012
Publisher: Putnam/Penguin

Plagued by waking visions and nightmares, inexplicably drawn to the bones of dead animals, Faye thinks she's going crazy. Fast. Her parents beleive Holbrook Academy might just be the solution. Dr. Mordoch tells her it's the only answer. But Faye knows that something's not quite right about Dr. Mordoch and her creepy, prisonlike school for disturbed teenagers.

What's wrong with Holbrook goes beyond the Takers, sadistic guards who threaten the student body with Tasers and pepper spray; or Nurse, who doles out pills at bedtime and doses of solitary confinement when kids step out of line; or Rita, the strange girl who delivers ominous messages to Faye that never seem to make any sense. What's wrong with Holbrook begins and ends with Faye's red hands; she and her newfound friends--her Holbrook "family"--wake up every morning with their hands stained the terrible brown of dried blood. Faye has no idea what it means but fears she may be the cause.

Because despite the strangeness of Holbrook and the island on which it sits, Faye feels oddly connected to the place; she feels especially linked to the handsome Kel, who helps her unravel the mystery. There's just one problem: Faye's certain Kel's trying to kill her--and maybe the rest of the world, too. 

My Review:
Faye believes she is going to Holbrook Academy just to look around because she has been experiencing things which others do not see, which of course makes her family start thinking she is crazy. Faye's father really intended to blindside her and leave her there the entire time because he already secretly had her bag packed in the trunk of the car. Holbrook Academy is not what it appears to be from the brochures and the "facade" of the main building that visitors get to see. In reality, the patients at Holbrook Academy are treated very badly. They are provided a limited amount of almost inedible food, given almost no opportunity to practice good hygiene, disciplined harshly when they do not behave, and are drugged at night so they are not a problem to the guards. Despite being drugged at night, Faye and her "family" (the group that she must always eat and attend classes with) wake up every morning finding that they somehow managed to get out of their locked rooms at night and they have stained red hands. While investigating what is really going on at Holbrook Academy, Faye begins to suspect that one of the family is the Harbinger and is going to kill all of them.

I am sorry to say I still don't know how I feel about Harbinger. I was confused while reading it, and now a few weeks later, I'm still confused. Unfortunately, I had this copy as part of traveling tour in which I got to keep it for one week, so I did not have longer to spend with it. Even after thinking on it for a couple of weeks, if I had to describe this book in one word I would say weird. That may not necessarily be a bad thing. It feels disjointed, with lines of thought that are hard to follow. It seems as if you are reading this book from the mind of someone with some serious psychological problems. If that was what Sara was trying to portray, which I think it was, then two thumbs up to her for the huge accomplishment. Harbinger definitely brings something different and unique to the YA genre, and I think that many will enjoy it. In the end, it just wasn't for me.

Reviewed as part of a traveling tour.

About the author:
Sara Wilson Etienne used to dream of being a marine biologist but quickly realized that she loved fantasy more than fact.  Now she enjoys combining both to create stories that ask “What if?” She writes in sunny California alongside her artist husband and her two dogs.

Her favorite days are spent disappearing into different universes, whether it’s traveling with Dr. Who, popping into a parallel world with Diana Wynne Jones, writing her own stories, or just taking a nap.

Harbinger is her first novel.

You can find Sara Wilson Etienne on her website,  Twitter, and Facebook.
 

Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic - Review

Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic
Published: January 17, 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Austin Parker is on a journey to bring truth, beauty, and meaning to his life.

Austin Parker is never going to see his eighteenth birthday. At the rate he’s going, he probably won’t even see the end of the year. The doctors say his chances of surviving are slim to none even with treatment, so he’s decided it’s time to let go.

But before he goes, Austin wants to mend the broken fences in his life. So with the help of his best friend, Kaylee, Austin visits every person in his life who touched him in a special way. He journeys to places he’s loved and those he’s never seen. And what starts as a way to say goodbye turns into a personal journey that brings love, acceptance, and meaning to Austin’s life.

My Review:
What do you do when you know that you are not going to live much longer? Austin visits people who he thinks needs help. He hopes that the things he has to say (that he wouldn't normally say if he wasn't dying) will somehow help them. During this weekend journey, he also does a few things he has always wanted to do but never has.

I have mixed feelings about this book, but I am reviewing it anyway because I signed up to be part of the traveling tour. On the back of the book I read (which was an ARC even though it has now been published), it says what is wrong with Austin, even though it is not on the blurb above. However, when you read the book, you don't know that he is dying until you are probably about 75% through with the book. It makes references to the fact that he is sick, but you don't know what is really going on until almost the end. Overall, Never Eighteen is very sad and makes you think about life and death.  Megan Bostic powerfully portrayed the emotions of many of the characters throughout the book. I found myself wanting to keep reading so I could find out what happened to Austin as well as the people he went to visit. You may not enjoy this book if you do not like emotional reads.

It says this book is recommended for 12 and up; however, I would recommend it only for older YA or adults due to language, references to sex, alcohol and drugs, etc.

Reviewed as part of a traveling tour.

About the author:
Megan (that’s with a long “e”) Bostic is a mere human trying to find her place in the universe and an all-around great girl. Despite the rain and gray (she’s truly solar powered) making her extremely angsty, she’s lived in the Pacific Northwest her whole life, and still does, with her two crazy beautiful girls.

She thrives on the challenges faced in her journey to publication and has documented it vlog style. You can find her Chronicles of an Aspiring Writer on Youtube.

Her writing process she lovingly calls “organized chaos”. She writes on her laptop at the kitchen table next to the sliding glass door so she can absorb as much sun as she can. The “organized” part of the process mostly takes place in her head and involves the beginning and the end of her work in progress. The “chaos” part is pretty much how she sits down and writes with reckless abandon, not stopping to fix, revise, edit, or even breathe until she’s done.

When not writing, Megan is usually chauffeuring her teenage daughters and their friends, watching her girls play soccer, watching movies and TV shows on Netflix, hanging out with friends, spending time at the ocean, or walking the Narrows Bridge.

Megan loves the color black, monkeys, and is a notorious Facebook addict. She’s a proud member of The Class of 2K12 and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. You can also find her on Twitter, Goodreads, and anywhere else cool authors hang out. 

The Boy Project by Kami Kinard - Review, Guest Post, & Giveaway

The Boy Project by Kami Kinard
Published: January 2012
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

For anyone who's ever felt that boys were a different species....

Thirteen and wildly creative, Kara McAllister just had her best idea yet. She's going to take notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend?
But Kara's project turns out to be a lot more complicated than she imagined. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy's bathroom. Plus, Kara has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey BFF, and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if Kara's research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it...

Full of charts and graphs, heart and humor, this hilarious debut will resonate with tweens everywhere.

My review:
Kara is the only one of the girls in her grade who has never had a boyfriend, so she decides to take steps to change that. Kara starts taking notes on the boys in her class and sometimes even the cute guy at the mall. She also starts taking notes on the girls in her class, including "Maybelline" and "The Vine," who always seem to have guys interested in them. Kara's project doesn't quite go as she anticipated, and she ends up getting herself into some embarrassing situations because of it. But along the way, she learns a lot and makes some important realizations.

I found The Boy Project to be hilarious. Several times I would read something funny out loud to my teenage daughter, who then grabbed the book to read as soon as I was done with it. It was truly like taking a trip back to junior high school. I think we all knew a "Maybelline" (the girl who always wore way too much makeup) and "The Vine" (the one who was always hanging all over the guys). Kami Kinard has written characters that are easy to relate to and has really captured the awkwardness of middle school/junior high. The charts and graphs were cute and funny and really enhanced the book. Usually the use of multiple exclamation marks bothers me, but it works here. This is an excellent book. I would recommend it for tweens, teens and adults who enjoy MG fiction (and maybe want to reminisce a little).

This copy was reviewed as part of a traveling tour.

Guest post by Kami Kinard
Where’s the Fact in Fiction?

Everyone who’s read an interview with me already knows that I got the idea for writing THE BOY PROJECT while reading my own middle school diaries. But THE BOY PROJECT is a work of fiction. Nothing in the book happens exactly the way things happened in my own middle school life. Still, authors draw on their own experiences, and there are several scenes in the book that were based on my actual tween experiences. These scenes, however, have been fictionalized. I like to call this “ramping it up.” Because in most cases, fiction needs to be bigger, better, and more interesting than what really happens to us!

I thought it’d be fun to create a fact and fiction list to show how reality morphed into fiction.

FICTION: Kara is in 7^th grade and has never had a boyfriend, but everyone else has.

FACT: I had never had a boyfriend in the 7^th grade, (or the 8^th, or the 9^th) but there were lots of other girls who hadn’t either, so I was not alone. I had to make Kara seem like she was the only one in that category to make her situation seem more desperate.


FICTION: In the drawing of Kara’s family, her dad is wearing bargain shoes made of bright green suede and a bow-tie. Kara’s comment implies that he wears a bow tie all of the time.

FACT: I never saw my dad in a bow tie, unless he was wearing a tuxedo. But he definitely had a pair of bright green suede shoes. My brother and sister got a big kick out of seeing that in the book, because we all remember those shoes. (There are some things you don’t need to ramp up because they’re already pretty funny!)

FICTION: During history class, the boy sitting behind Dianna Leroy puts tiny pieces of paper in her curly hair, so that the back of her head looks as white as snow. This later creates a distraction just when Kara needs it.

FACT: I had very curly hair and this happened to me, but instead of creating a distraction when I needed it, it turned a lot of unwanted attention my way. I recently signed a book for the niece of the boy who put those little pieces of paper in my hair… I asked her to tell him thanks for the scene!


FICTION: Mrs. Hill asks the students to write a descriptive paragraph about someone in the room and then she takes them up and reads them aloud in front of everyone. The problem is, the students didn’t know their work was going to be read aloud! This is how Kara finds out that her crush likes her back!

FACT: My English teacher did this to us. There was a boy in the room who liked one of my friends and he wrote a paragraph about her sexy voice. He also described her hair, so everyone knew who he was talking about. But my friend was very shy, and she wanted to crawl under the desk when she heard this read aloud. The boy was pretty embarrassed too. They did not end up together!


So, I’ve just run through some of the tiny scenes from my book that were grounded in reality. Most of the scenes in THE BOY PROJECT, however, were completely made up. Yet there is one big thing in the novel that was not made up at all: Kara’s feelings. When I was in middle school, I felt the way Kara does about friends and wanting a boyfriend. A lot of middle school girls who have read the book tell me that they identify with Kara and they feel like she understands them. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to hear this, because I know that for these girls, I kept the feelings real.


About the author:
Before she’d finished seventh grade, Kami Kinard had written several books. Most people call these books diaries. Without the details garnered from these early works, The Boy Project might not have been born! A former high school teacher, Kami currently writes from balmy, buggy, and beautiful Beaufort SC where she lives with her husband and two children.

You can find Kami on KamiKinard.com, Nerdy Chicks Rule, Twitter, and Facebook.





Giveaway:
1 winner will receive a copy of The Boy Project by Kami Kinard.

How to enter:
Leave your name and email in the form below.

Optional Additional Entries:
+1 Follow Krazy Book Lady on Twitter and/or like on Facebook.
+1 Follow Kami Kinard on Twitter and/or like on Facebook.
+1 Leave a blog post comment.

Giveaway Details:
Giveaway is U.S. ONLY. This giveaway will run until midnight EST on February 25. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winner will be emailed and this blog post will be updated to include the name of the winner. Winner has 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be selected.

Thank you for entering and good luck!

Sorry! This giveaway is now closed.

Winner: Paige B.

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry - Review, Fun Facts, & Giveaway

*Today is the official release of Blue Sky Days by debut author Marie Landry.* 

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

A year after graduating from high school, nineteen-year-old Emma Ward feels lost. She has spent most of her life trying to please her frigid, miserable mother - studying hard, getting good grades, avoiding the whole teenage rebellion thing - and now she feels she has no identity beyond that. Because she spent so many years working hard and planning every moment of her life, she doesn't have any friends, has never had a boyfriend, and basically doesn't know who she is or what she really wants from life. Working two part-time jobs to save money for college hasn't helped her make decisions about her future, so she decides it's time for a change. She leaves home to live with her free-spirited, slightly eccentric Aunt Daisy in a small town that makes Emma feel like she's stepped back in time.

When Emma meets Nicholas Shaw, everything changes - he's unlike anyone she's ever met before, the kind of man she didn't even know existed in the 21st century. Carefree and spirited like Daisy, Nicholas teaches Emma to appreciate life, the beauty around her, and to just let go and live. Between Daisy and Nicholas, Emma feels like she belongs somewhere for the first time in her life, and realizes that you don't always need a plan - sometimes life steers you where you're meant to be.

Life is wonderful, an endless string of blue sky days, until Nicholas is diagnosed with cancer, and life changes once again for Emma in ways she never thought possible. Now it's time for her to help Nicholas the way he's helped her. Emma will have to use her new-found strength, and discover along the way if love really is enough to get you through.

My review:
Blue Sky Days is a sweet, emotional love story. Emma has spent her life trying to please a controlling, emotionless mother. At 19 years old, she decides she is ready to take charge of her life and make changes, so she leaves home and moves to another town to stay with her Aunt Daisy. Aunt Daisy is much younger than her sister, and Emma has always had a good relationship with her. Emma almost instantly feels at home in Riverview and meets Nicholas the day after she gets there. She has never had friends or a boyfriend, so it is a new experience for you. But she falls in love with Nicholas right away, and they spend almost all of their time together. When Nicholas is diagnosed with cancer, Emma is there to support him with no hesitation.

Emma seems very mature for a 19 year old, and a few times, it seems like she is having too much reflection and self-realization for her age. There are many expressions of love that may be considered to be "cheesy," and this is even pointed out in the story. However, at the same time, it is just sweet that they feel such a connection to each other. This is a story of changing your life, falling in love, and supporting the one you love during the hardest of times. I enjoyed reading this story. You would like this book if you enjoy sweet love stories. You might not like this book if you enjoy fast paced stories.

A copy was provided by the author for review.

Fun Facts about Blue Sky Days - Guest post by Marie Landry

*I wrote the first draft of Blue Sky Days in 2004 when I was 20. It was only about 34,000 words and I knew it needed a lot of work, but I had no idea what to do with it, so I put it away. During the next seven years, I thought about it a lot, even as I wrote other stories and novels. When I finally brought it out again early in 2011, it seemed to take over my life. I thought about the characters night and day; they always seemed like real people to me, but they became even more real during those months of rewriting and revising. I tripled the word count, and came away with a story I was really proud of. But it did totally consume my life—I’d be doing something else and would hear Emma’s voice in my head, or picture Nicholas doing something, and would have to write it down and then work it into the story.

*Riverview, the setting in the book, is a fictional place in Canada.

*Emma has never done any traveling. She’s never been outside the province, let alone the country.

*I don’t like to name main characters after people I know, but I try to work in the names of some of my favorite people for minor characters. Emma’s middle name is Hazel, after my Grama who passed away in 2011 and was one of my best friends; the husband of the widow who owns the general store was named James, after my brother Jamie, who I’m very close to; and Emma’s dad was named Paul because that was my dad’s middle name.

*When I wrote the book in 2004, Emma’s last name was Stone, but when I started working on the book again in 2011, I realized there was an actress named Emma Stone, so I had to change her last name.

*Blue Sky Days was originally an adult contemporary romance, but after becoming a book blogger and falling in love with young adult books, I made a lot of changes and turned it into a YA book.

*Emma had never had a best friend until moving to Riverview.

*I’ve always pictured Sam, Nicholas’s dad, with a southern accent for some reason…even though he’s Canadian.

*Emma’s favorite band is U2.

*The painting I describe in Nicholas’s hospital room is actually a painting I own. When I was 17, I went to France on a school trip and my best friend and I were wandering around Nice one night and saw an artist on the streets painting with spray paint and sponges. It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen—the paintings were gorgeous, and if I hadn’t seen them done with my own eyes, I’d never have believed he did them with spray paint. We each bought a painting, and mine is one of my most prized possessions.

About the author:

Marie Landry has always been a daydreamer. She has created imaginary worlds for as long as she can remember, so it only seemed natural that she would become a writer. With a passion for words that started in early childhood, Marie has written a varied range of works, and has been freelance writing since 2009. She resides in Ontario, Canada, and most days you can find her writing, reading, blogging about writing and reading, listening to U2, or having grand adventures with her two precious nephews.

You can find Marie on her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

GIVEAWAY:
One winner will receive a Smashwords code to download a copy of Blue Sky Days in the format of choice.

How to enter:
Just fill out the form below. (Please note, if you enter other giveaways on this blog, all giveaways may have different entry requirements.)

Additional optional entries: (For 4 total entries.)
+1 Follow Krazy Book Lady on Twitter or like on Facebook.
+1 Follow Marie Landry on Twitter or like on Facebook.
+1 Leave a blog post comment.

Please do not leave emails or usernames in the blog post comments. Please include usernames, etc, in the comments section provided on the entry form.

Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open internationally. This giveaway will run until midnight EST on January 25. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winner will be emailed and this blog post will be updated to include the name of the winner. Winner has 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be selected.

Thank you for entering and good luck!

Sorry! This giveaway is now closed.

 Winner: Laura M.

Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan - Review & Giveaway

Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan
Expected publication: February 2012
Publisher: Sweetwater Books, an imprint of Cedar Fort, Inc.

I’m dying, I thought. This was unexpected and not at all how I envisioned my death. I was supposed to die gardening in a flowerbed as a hundred-year-old woman, not as a seventeen-year-old trapped in a lake beneath inches of ice.

Llona Reese is used to living on the run. After the Vykens killed her parents, she knew they would eventually come for her too. She can’t take any chances. But when she starts to make friends for the first time in her life, she gets careless and lets her guard down. Big mistake.

As an Aura, Llona can manipulate light and harness its energy. But if she wants to survive, Llona will have to defy the Auran Council and learn to use her power as a weapon against the Vyken whose sole desire is to take her light. Now she’s caught in something even bigger than she can understand, with a power she can’t wield, and no one she can trust, except, just maybe, a mysterious stranger. 

My review:
Llona isn't like other teenagers. She has pale skin, white hair, can manipulate light, and has an excess of energy during a full moon. Llona is an Aura, like her mother was. Her mother was killed by a Vyken several years earlier. After her father also dies, she lives with her uncle, Jake. However, that means she doesn't have anyone who can teach her what it means to be an Aura, except for her aunt, Sophie, who wants Llona to attend a special school for Auras, Lucent Academy. Llona also doesn't have any friends, except for May, who still isn't a close friend. The two girls are drawn together because they are aware there is something different about the other, but they do not talk about their secrets. When Llona finally starts letting herself get close to May and meets Christian, she is finally ready to stop moving from place to place like they have been doing. Llona finds out she has a guardian. All Auras have guardians assigned to them, but usually only when they are older and have left Lucent Academy. However, the danger that they knew was a possibility is closer than she or her guardian realized, and Llona must learn to harness the power of light to protect herself and the ones she has come to care about.

The idea of someone who is going to protect you no matter what does have a strong appeal. On the one hand, it is hard to resist this character and this theme. On the other hand, there is a part of me that doesn't like the type of lead female character who needs someone to protect her. I was very surprised and pleased when Llona ended up being willing and able to protect herself, even though she did have a guardian.

Rachel McClellan did an excellent job writing her characters and spacing big moments in just the right places to keep your attention. There may have been some elements which didn't seem believable. (For example, the girl who wants to be invisible being the star player on the basketball team - during the full moons, of course.) However, to enjoy this type of novel, you have to lose yourself and let yourself believe in the fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Fractured Light. I would recommend this to anyone, and I am looking forward to reading the next book from Rachel.

A copy was provided by the publisher for review.

About the author:

"My mind only knows how to write. Other people perform simple tasks like cleaning their house or using the bathroom without a distracting thought.

I can't.

Yesterday I meant to vacuum, but ended up scrubbing blood out of my carpet instead. The body's still in the freezer. And when I went to take a shower, a little girl in a red dress and pigtails appeared to me in the vanity mirror. Again. I wish she would go away.

See what I mean? My life is a story and the only way to stay sane is write it all down. I only hope others can find joy in my insanity" - Rachel McClellan

Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she's not in her writing lair, she's partying with her husband and four small children. Her love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was…

Fractured Light is her debut novel.

Find out more on Rachel's website, Twitter, Facebook, and the Book Poster page.

View the rest of the tour stops.

Giveaway:

One copy of Fractured Light to one winner, provided by Cedar Fort.

Giveaway is open to international entries. If winner is international, an eBook will be sent. Winners in the US will have the option of a print copy or an eBook.

How to enter:

+1 Follow Krazy Book Lady on Twitter.
+1 Like Krazy Book Lady on Facebook.

+1 Follow Rachel on Twitter.

+1 Like Rachel's page on Facebook.

+1 Follow Cedar Fort on Twitter.
+1 Like Cedar Fort on Facebook.
+1 Leave a blog post comment.

Please do not leave emails or usernames in the blog post comments. Please include usernames, name you used to leave a comment, etc, in the section for comments on the entry form. 

Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open internationally. This giveaway will run until midnight on January 25. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winner will be emailed and this blog post will be updated to include the winner's name. Winner has 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be selected. Cedar Fort will be notified, and the book will be shipped from them.

Thank you for entering and good luck!

Sorry! This giveaway is now closed.

Winner: Rachel V.