Teaser Tuesday: The Next Forever by Lisa Burstein

Here is a little peek at a novella I recently read. (Review coming soon.) I really liked this line, so I wanted to share it here for Teaser Tuesday.

"I was pausing him, pausing myself. Trying to keep us in the perfect place we had been in before we got to college.

When he was my hero and I was a girl who needed one."

From The Next Forever by Lisa Burstein. 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein: Review

Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein
Expected publication: March 5, 2013
Entangled Teen

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

Add on Goodreads.

My Review:
We first met Cassie in Pretty Amy as part of the trio of friends that broke into a guy's house after they were stood up for prom night, stole his pot, and managed to get themselves arrested with it. Cassie was the "tough guy" of the group, never showing emotion and never really letting anyone in. In Dear Cassie, we find out why she is so closed off from relationships and so guarded with her emotions. Besides Cassie's tough childhood and getting arrested with a crap load of pot on prom night, she is also trying to figure out how to deal with a life altering decision she was forced to make after the arrest. Now Cassie is being sent to rehab to try to keep herself out of jail, but she wonders if this will be enough? Will it really help her?
 
I have developed a love/hate relationship with Lisa Burstein. And I use the word "hate" in a very loose sense because I don't really mean hate. This is the third book I've read by this author. (Well, two books and one novella. Review on the novella coming soon.) I must say that I have been pleasantly surprised that I have enjoyed them so much. On the surface, Dear Cassie may look like a typical YA book with a whiny "oh poor me" main character where everything pretty much turns out perfectly even though they complain about their hard life the whole time, but you get so much more than that. Lisa Burstein manages to capture the raw emotions and effectively portray them so that the reader can relate to the character and the situation. Both Pretty Amy and Dear Cassie take real situations and show how hard it can be to deal with the consequences. I enjoy this type of YA/NA book and wish that I had been able to find these when I was that age. Now for the "hate" part. I rarely find myself so drawn into a character's world that I am disappointed at the end of the book. Not disappointed in the story but disappointed that it was over because I was so drawn into Cassie's world that I want to know what happens next. What is Cassie's next step? I am really hoping we find out in a follow up. Is Lila's story up next? I hope so.

A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Read my review of Pretty Amy.

About the author:
Lisa Burstein received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel.

According to her twitter profile: "I write to help girls like me turn into girls not like me."

Find out more at LisaBurstein.com, on Twitter, and Facebook.     

Blog Tours by Krazy Book Lady?

So, I have found that I do indeed miss the blog and very much miss the interaction with all of the authors and book bloggers. I would love to revive Krazy Book Lady (especially since it is getting so many hits still, even when there is no new material), but I still do not have the huge amount of time to invest that I once had. Therefore, I am considering posting the occasional review, guest post, or interview but also offering blog tours and book blasts.

I am well aware there are lots of sites already offering blog tours, so I was wondering if there is any interest if these services are provided by Krazy Book Lady.

What is in it for the authors?
I would set up blog tours or book blasts for you on established blogs with a good following. Once things got going, I could be more specific about what that means, but each blog would need to already have a certain number of followers and/or be blogging for a certain amount of time before being included on your blog tour. Your book and tour would be advertised on Krazy Book Lady and promoted through all of Krazy Book Lady's social media.

What is in it for bloggers?
Each month I would hold a giveaway, for perhaps a $20 gift card, and each time you hosted a blog tour would equal one entry. So if you hosted two, you would have two entries and so on. I would also hope to have a tour wide giveaway attached to each blog tour. Your post on your tour day would be heavily promoted through all of Krazy Book Lady's social media.

Before I get everything set up, I was wondering if I could see if there was some initial interest from authors who would be interested in having a blog tour set up by me and bloggers who would be interested in hosting by putting up a review, guest post, or interview.

Please fill out the form below and let me know what you think. 

Romance Scavenger Hunt Giveaway - Win Your Choice of Books

I know I haven't posted anything in awhile, but I am amazed that Krazy Book Lady still has so many loyal followers. Even with no new posts, this blog is still getting hundreds of hits per day. 

So, since this month is Valentine's Day, almost everyone at my house has a birthday this month, and I'm so thankful for so many great readers, I'm in the mood for a giveaway!

What's up for grabs? One winner will receive $20 in romance books! (These can be in print form from The Book Depository since they offer free shipping or can be ebooks from Amazon.)

How to enter:
Scavenger Hunt!
For each one of the questions you answer correctly you will get one entry into the giveaway. So answer all 10 questions and you receive 10 entries!

All of these questions relate to books reviewed on Krazy Book Lady. You can see a list of all reviews posted here by hitting the Reviews link above.

(Note: Please write down your answers so that you can enter them all at once. You will not be able to go back to enter more answers once you hit submit.)

Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open internationally (as long as The Book Depository ships to your area or you can receive ebooks from Amazon). Giveaway ends at midnight on February 28, 2013. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be decided using random.org. Winner will be emailed and must respond within 2 days or new winner will be selected. 

Sorry! Giveaway is now over.

Winner: Delilah

What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton - Review

What Happens Next
by Colleen Clayton
October 9, 2012
Poppy (Little Brown Books for Young Readers)

How can you talk about something you can’t remember?

Before the ski trip, sixteen-year-old Cassidy “Sid” Murphy was a cheerleader (at the bottom of the pyramid, but still...), a straight-A student, and a member of a solid trio of best friends. When she ends up on a ski lift next to handsome local college boy, Dax Windsor, she’s thrilled; but Dax takes everything from Sid—including a lock of her perfect red curls—and she can’t remember any of it.

Back home and unable to relate to her old friends, Sid drops her college prep classes and takes up residence in the A/V room with only Corey “The Living Stoner” Livingston for company. But as she gets to know Corey (slacker, baker, total dreamboat), Sid finds someone who truly makes her happy. Now, if she can just shake the nightmares and those few extra pounds, everything will be perfect... or so she thinks.

Witty and poignant, Colleen Clayton’s stunning debut is a story about moving on after the unthinkable happens.

My Review:
From reading the blurb of this book, I really didn't realize what happened to Sid. Call me slow or whatever, but I simply didn't make the connection. During the first chapters of this book, I was enjoying it but wasn't really invested yet. Then suddenly, bam. I was hooked. For some readers, this is a controversial event that may make you not want to read this book, but Colleen Clayton handles it delicately and with no actual details of what happened. This is simply about Sid "before" and Sid "after."

What Happens Next portrays very powerful emotions, and Sid is a character who tugs at your heart and makes you empathize with her. This may be centered around an event that people don't like to read about and don't want to think about, but unfortunately, it does happen. This is the story of how someone goes on with their life when everything suddenly changes. What do you do when the people you thought were your friends aren't there for you but someone you didn't expect is? What do you do when your entire life changes in an instant? Don't be turned away by the controversial event that this book is based on because it would really be a shame if you didn't read this.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the author and the publisher for review.

About the author:

Colleen Clayton grew up in a small, suburban town just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from Kent State University, she worked as a social worker in residential treatment centers for troubled teens and as Program Supervisor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mahoning Valley. She currently lives in Ohio with her family and recently received her MFA in fiction writing from the Northeast Ohio Consortium (NEOMFA). She teaches fiction writing and composition at Youngstown State University.

Find out more at ColleenClayton.com and on Twitter.