Giveaway: And the Trees Crept In & The Dead House

Happy Friday Everyone!

Yesterday I reviewed And The Trees Crept In, Dawn Kurtagich's newest YA horror/thriller novel, and to celebrate the release of that book I'm offering up a giveaway of both And the Trees Crept In and her previous novel, The Dead House. Dawn's writing style and the format of these books is super unusual and makes for quick reading, so I'm excited for more readers to give her a try!

Before we get to the giveaway though, the team at Little, Brown has put together a few teaser quotes from And the Trees Crept In so I wanted to share those to get you in the perfect creepy mood:) Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt's home, it's immediately clear that the "blood manor" is cursed. The creaking of the house and the stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too--the questions that Silla can't ignore: Who is the beautiful boy that's appeared from the woods? Who is the man that her little sister sees, but no one else? And why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer?

Over two decades have passed since the fire at Elmbridge High, an inferno that took the lives of three teenagers. Not much was known about the events leading up to the tragedy - only that one student, Carly Johnson, vanished without a trace...

...until a diary is found hidden in the ruins.

But the diary, badly scorched, does not belong to Carly Johnson. It belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, a girl who shouldn't exist Who was Kaitlyn? Why did she come out only at night? What is her connection to Carly?

The case has been reopened. Police records are being reexamined: psychiatric reports, video footage, text messages, e-mails. And the diary.

The diary that paints a much more sinister version of events than was ever made publicly known.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the team at NOVL/Little, Brown, I have a copy of The Dead House to give away to one lucky winner! I'll be adding a copy of And the Trees Crept In as well, so the winner will receive copies of both books. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.



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Review: And The Trees Crept In

AND THE TREES CREPT IN
Dawn Kurtagich
Paranormal Young Adult
352 pages
Little, Brown
Available September 6th
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When Silla and Nori arrive at their aunt's home, it's immediately clear that the "blood manor" is cursed. The creaking of the house and the stillness of the woods surrounding them would be enough of a sign, but there are secrets too--the questions that Silla can't ignore: Who is the beautiful boy that's appeared from the woods? Who is the man that her little sister sees, but no one else? And why does it seem that, ever since they arrived, the trees have been creeping closer?


Filled with just as many twists and turns as The Dead House, and with achingly beautiful, chilling language that delivers haunting scenes, AND THE TREES CREPT IN is the perfect follow-up novel for master horror writer Dawn Kurtagich.

MY THOUGHTS
And the Trees Crept In is organized chaos, a seeming jumble of formats from journal entries to narrative to flashbacks combining to purposely disorient us as we read so that we are every bit as on edge as Silla when her world starts to crumble. Though the way both the story and the book itself are structured may not be for everyone, the intriguing confusion and tension that stem from the unusual formatting shows a great deal of forethought on Ms. Kurtagich's part, and she leads us on a merry tale of terror until everything makes sense in the end.

Silla's story draws us in quickly, a brief flashback to a time when her mom and two sisters were young and invented a story about a Creeper Man preconditioning us to believe in the paranormal aspect of this tale, but as with The Dead House, Ms. Kurtagich excels at making us question whether we can trust anything our characters are showing us. Are we watching the actual physical deterioration of home, family and ultimately body thanks to supernatural happenings, or are we instead locked inside a fracturing mind believing what it needs to believe in order to cope?

Though we get easily swept up in the wrongness of the "blood manor" and the secrets of Aunt Cath's past, the middle section of this tale does drag just a bit – lots of wood creaking and trees creeping ever closer as Ms. Kurtagich prepares to step up her game in the final third. That being said however, the end is a blur of skimmed and flipped pages (not due to boredom, but rather our hurry to work our way through the final moves in the epic mind game Ms. Kurtagich is playing), until we reach the final chapters and get all the answers we've been craving.

Overall, And the Trees Crept In shows yet again what a unique storyteller Ms. Kurtagich is, preying on our curious minds as she ties her story into a gorgeous Gordion Knot and dares us to try and untie it.

Rating: 4/5

Find Dawn:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Giveaway: Sneak Peek of STRANGE THE DREAMER

Happy Friday Everyone!

I hope you guys have fun weekend plans, or not-plans as the case may be. Usually there's nothing I like better than parking myself on the couch and not moving for 48 hours ;-)

To help you get in the weekend spirit, I have a very special giveaway to share today! One of my all-tine favorite books is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, so when I heard earlier in the year that we'd be getting a new Laini series, I may or may not have done a spastic excited flail the likes of which you've never seen before. Which is for the best really, since it probably would have scarred you guys for life if you'd witnessed it ;-)

The first book, Strange the Dreamer, releases in September from Little, Brown, but today you can enter to win a sneak peak! I have a chapter sampler of the book as well as some fun buttons for one lucky winner, all put together in a pretty metallic gold bag thanks to the awesome team at the NOVL. Before we get to the actual giveaway though, here's a little more about the book!

Strange the Dreamer is the story of:

the aftermath of a war between gods and men.
a mysterious city stripped of its name.
a mythic hero with blood on his hands.
a young librarian with a singular dream.
a girl every bit as dangerous as she is in danger.
alchemy and blood candy, nightmares and godspawn, moths and monsters, friendship and treachery, love and carnage.

Welcome to Weep.

Goodreads • Amazon

Who's excited? THIS GIRL! To enter the sampler giveaway, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

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Waiting on Wednesday: Frostblood

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

FROSTBLOOD

Frostblood Saga #1

Elly Blake

Young Adult/Fantasy

Releases January 2017 from Little, Brown

From Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby's powers are unpredictable, and she's not sure she's willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon. All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king's tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Fast-paced and compelling, Frostblood is the first in a page-turning new young adult three-book series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.

You guys already know how much I love YA fantasy, so desperately wanting this one is pretty much a given. I really like how this has a paranormal gladiator-type quality to it, I'm always a sucker for stories that pit one supernatural gift against another. It makes me think long and hard about which gift I would want if I lived in that world. Right now I'm leaning toward ice because I feel like I would do less damage day to day with that ability, but I'd still be plenty badass when necessary. Definitely looking forward to seeing how Ruby handles her fire though!

Goodreads • Amazon   

Review: The Dead House

THE DEAD HOUSE
Dawn Kurtagich
Young Adult/Paranormal Thriller
432 pages
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available September 15th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Over two decades have passed since the fire at Elmbridge High, an inferno that took the lives of three teenagers. Not much was known about the events leading up to the tragedy - only that one student, Carly Johnson, vanished without a trace...

...until a diary is found hidden in the ruins.

But the diary, badly scorched, does not belong to Carly Johnson. It belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, a girl who shouldn't exist Who was Kaitlyn? Why did she come out only at night? What is her connection to Carly?

The case has been reopened. Police records are being reexamined: psychiatric reports, video footage, text messages, e-mails. And the diary.

The diary that paints a much more sinister version of events than was ever made publicly known.

MY THOUGHTS
The Dead House is a beautifully creepy read, uniquely formatted as a case file detailing the events leading up to the deaths of at least five people and the burning of Elmbridge High. Guiding us through this tale is the diary of Kaitlyn Johnson, a young woman at the center of everything that goes horrifyingly wrong, but interspersed with her diary entries are the case notes from her therapist as well as police interviews and descriptions of recovered camera footage, all pieced together in a way that has us on the edge of our seats from first page to last. There's something extra unnerving about knowing where we're going to end up before we even crack the spine, that knowledge haunting us throughout as we frantically try and make each piece of the puzzle fit the bare bones of what we know to be true.

Kaitlyn is a girl who's therapist would have us believe doesn't exist (not a spoiler!), insisting instead that she is a creation of the traumatized mind of Carly Johnson who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder thanks to the accident that killed her parents. What Kaitlyn tells us is a very different story however, letting us know that she didn't suddenly appear after the accident, but has instead been with Carly all her life, two separate souls inhabiting a single body. What's exceptionally fascinating about this story is how easy it is to believe any number of truths, our desire to put faith in Kaitlyn's word tested at every turn as we watch her diary entries slowly devolve from a seemingly lucid recounting of her and Carly's lives to much more paranoid and desperate ramblings.

On top of the larger mystery of exactly how Kaitlyn's return to school eventually resulted in blood and fire, we also have a smaller mystery surrounding the deaths of Kaitlyn and Carly's parents. Neither mystery is fully illuminated, instead we're given the facts as they're known, complete with blank spaces thanks to our unreliable narrator. What Kaitlyn would have us believe could be exactly what happened in the months leading up to the “incident” as it's referred to in the file, but the tiniest of intimations toward the end about the accident that killed Mr. and Mrs. Johnson calls Kaitlyn's believability even further into question, and we're left to wonder if what we just experienced was a paranormal phenomena that resulted in tragedy or a disturbed mind finally reaching its breaking point.

Overall, The Dead House is nearly unputdownable, making us as readers work to put all the pieces we're given together and then question (and question again) the resulting conclusion. While being left with unanswered questions can be frustrating, in this case it works exceedingly well, the haunting quality of Kaitlyn's journey taken to an entirely new level through the denial of one hundred percent certainty, guaranteeing we think of this story long after we've finished.

Rating: 4.5/5
 

Find Dawn:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

 

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

 

Court of Fives Blog Tour: Interview with Kate Elliott

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming author Kate Elliott to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her first foray into YA fiction, Court of Fives. Kate was nice enough to answer a few questions for me about Jes, Kal, and all things competitive sports, and I was even able to pry from her a 5 word sneak peek at what's in store for us in the next installment. *pats self on back* I hope you guys enjoy the interview, and be sure to check the bottom of the post for the full list of participating blogs!

If Jes was helping you train to compete in The Fives, what would the first words out of her mouth be on day one when she evaluated your fitness and strategy?

“I have so much respect that you have come to train, Honored Lady, but at your age I have to suggest that you might think twice about setting your sights on the highest levels of competition.”

What was Kal’s first thought when he saw Jes first compete in The Fives?

How does she DO that???

If Jes lived in our modern world, what are the top three Olympic sports she’d be dying to compete in?

Jes would be dying to compete in American Ninja Warrior, of course! As for the Olympics, she would leap at the chance to try out the snowboard halfpipe with its twists and tricks, as well as the one sport the Olympics finally just last year allowed women to compete in: the ski jump. Nothing like the adrenalin rush of flying!

The social and gender divide in this world was enough to make me want to throttle a few select characters for their treatment of another human being. What’s the last book you read that made you spitting mad (the good, “I’m so involved in this story” kind of mad)?

Can I change the medium? I adore the television show Nashville, and probably the last time I got spitting mad with a narrative in the “I am so incredibly involved in this story and in these people’s lives that I have lost all perspective given they aren’t even real” has been with Nashville. Whether it’s Jeff, or Juliet, or Deacon, or even stubborn Rayna (why did you dump Luke???), I love this show exactly because I get exasperated with the characters in the same way I might with people I know in real life. That’s the magic of narrative!

If Jes could ask an Oracle what she’ll have to face in the next book, what are a few of the words she might hear in the Oracle’s answer?

poet

desert

cheat

murder

heart

Cheat and murder do not sound good. *bites nails* Thanks so much for answering my questions Kate!

• • • • • • • • • • •

COURT OF FIVES

The greatest danger is that she might win.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best contenders. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between two Fives competitors--one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy--causes heads to turn. When Kal's powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test her new friend's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

Amazon • B&N • IndieBound • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • •

KATE ELLIOTT

Kate Elliott has been writing stories since she was nine years old, which has led her to believe that writing, like breathing, keeps her alive. As a child in rural Oregon, she made up stories because she longed to escape to a world of lurid adventure fiction.  She now writes fantasy, steampunk, science fiction, and YA.

It should come as no surprise that she met her future husband in a sword fight. When he gave up police work to study archaeology, they and their three children fell into an entirely new set of adventures amid dusty Mexican ruins and mouthwatering European pastry shops.  Eventually her spouse's work forced them to move to Hawaii, where she took up outrigger canoe paddling. With the three children out of the house, they now spoil the schnauzer.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Tumblr • Goodreads

 

• • • • • • • • • • •

 

BLOG TOUR

 

8/18 - Two Chicks on Books & The Book Smugglers
8/19 - Once Upon a Twilight
8/21 - Eater of Books
8/22 - Adventures in YA Publishing
8/24 - Brittany’s Book Rambles & Flying Through Fiction
8/25 - Supernatural Snark
8/26 - Read. Breathe. Relax.
8/28 - A Reader of Fictions
9/3 - Dark Faerie Tales
9/8 - The Book Smugglers
9/14 - Diversity in YA

Review: Court of Fives

COURT OF FIVES
Court of Fives #1
Kate Elliott
Young Adult/Fantasy
448 pages
Little, Brown BFYR
Available August 18th
Source: ARC from NOVL Newsletter

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott begins a new trilogy with her debut young adult novel, weaving an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

MY THOUGHTS
Court of Fives is one of those stories that needs to be read in small doses, not because it's lacking in elements that hold our interest, but rather because the world and some of the people in it are so appalling we can't bear to be in their presence for long periods of time. Ms. Elliott gives us a society in which women are the lowest of the low, daughters often killed or sent away because they're not everything a son would be, and adult women bricked up alive in tombs with the body of their lord or prince to keep him company in the afterlife. It's a brutal world, one that makes our blood boil at the injustice of the class system, but Ms. Elliott doesn't leave us alone to fume in our anger, providing us with a young heroine who plays the game of life and death so very well.

Jessamy has dreamed of competing in the Fives–a sporting even of sorts in which contestants run an obstacle course and can eventually move up the ranks to achieve fame and fortune–for years, and it's easy to root for her to achieve this one goal when everything else in her life is falling apart. She's strong-willed, smart and unafraid to make her feelings known despite the fact that her voice is viewed as worthless by this society at large, and she proves to be a highlight in an otherwise dark and heavy world.

While Jessamy is a strong character, and one whom by the end has us itching to see how she's going to handle the latest blow she's been dealt, the structure of the story itself seems to fall apart as Jessamy's journey continues. We're led to believe thanks to the first half that after a horrific separation from her family, we're going to follow her as she trains in an official stable for the Fives, but just as she becomes a cog in a political machine she wants no part of, we leave the stable and embark on a completely different and drawn-out adventure. It almost feels as though an entirely separate novella in which Jessamy sets out to bring her family back together exists in the middle of this tale, and we're returned to the world of the Fives with only a few chapters remaining. The details of her training and the complexity of the politics surrounding the Fives are discussed only in short random bursts, depriving of us of the in-depth look at what we previously assumed would be the most dominant aspect of the story.

Additionally, the romance between Jes and well-out-of-her-social-league Lord Kalliarkos is lacking in the same substance as the Fives, their relationship one of hesitant friendship (which is great) before things like holding hands and kissing are casually thrown in without much build-up or aftermath. We remain purely on the surface despite the potential for something painfully spectacular to exist between them, leaving us without some of the obsessive anticipation we'd hoped to feel after the turn of the last page. Ms. Elliott does delight with her villainous character however, a man so righteously loathesome we can feel our lips curl involuntarily whenever he appears on page, and we can't help but long for the moment when Jessamy puts him in his place.

Overall Court of Fives is a bit of a rocky start to this series, but a strong heroine and a political world hateful enough to have us taking short breaks as we read make the sequel something to look forward to.
 
Rating: 3.5/5

Find Kate:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: The Witch Hunter

THE WITCH HUNTER
The Witch Hunter #1
Virginia Boecker
Paranormal Young Adult
368 pages
Little, Brown BFYR
Available Now
Source: ALA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Your greatest enemy isn't what you fight, but what you fear.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king's best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. But when she's accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to burn at the stake.

Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful and dangerous wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can break the deadly curse that's been laid upon him.

But Nicholas and his followers know nothing of Elizabeth's witch hunting past--if they find out, the stake will be the least of her worries. And as she's thrust into the magical world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and one all-too-handsome healer, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Virginia Boecker weaves a riveting tale of magic, betrayal, and sacrifice in this unforgettable fantasy debut.


MY THOUGHTS
The Witch Hunter captivates from beginning to end, a young woman forced to examine her every action past and present through the lens of those she dooms to the pyre, and we can do nothing but watch along with her in horrified fascination as what was so clear before becomes distorted beyond all recognition. While what Elizabeth has faced prior to our meeting her and what she must come to terms with about the part she's played in the persecution of innumerable witches is certainly dark, this story is beautifully laced with both humor and hope, a stellar cast of secondary characters and a surprisingly dry wit from Elizabeth herself making sure our heads stay above a steadily rising tide of shadows and magic.

Elizabeth is a perfect blend of strengths and weaknesses, a bit of a badass with fists and weapons (and quite frankly, absinthe consumption) who has a nearly incapacitating and utterly heart-wrenching fear of being alone. Her fear is more than understandable given the death of her parents at a young age, and we find our hearts completely ripped from our chests in the opening chapters as her best and only friend in the world fails her in every way. From that moment on Elizabeth holds our emotional stability in her hands, poised on the edge with every page turned as we wait to see what's in store for her next.

It would have been easy for Elizabeth's fear of abandonment to lead to a romance where the desire to belong and the need for companionship are mistaken for love, intense feelings developing quickly in someone who's never been allowed control over her life. Instead though, we're given a gorgeously subtle romance between Elizabeth and a certain healer, with time taken to examine how she's feeling and the way it differs from everything she's experienced up until that point. While a declaration of love from John at the end does test the boundaries of believability slightly given her previous profession, a return declaration from Elizabeth is withheld, and it's clear she has every intention of exploring how she feels in the next installment.

The romance is secondary to the action however, and Ms. Boecker ensures we're taken on a thrill ride that starts on page one and doesn't give us a moment's rest until we close the back cover. We're left at a logical place, this first installment wrapping up in satisfying fashion so we don't feel as though we've been forced to pause in the middle of the action, but we also have a clear path forward and a dark storm on the waiting for us on the horizon of book two. Overall, The Witch Hunter is not to be missed.

Rating: 4/5

Find Virginia:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure and check out my interview with Virginia and enter for a chance to win!

Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest

THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST
Holly Black
Paranormal Young Adult
336 pages
Little, Brown
Available January 13th
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does…

As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

MY THOUGHTS
The Darkest Part of the Forest is an odd sort of tale, one of those stories with a combination of elements that leaves us not entirely certain of how we feel when we reach the last page. There’s a lot to like about the world and characters Ms. Black has created, but there’s a certain unusualness–an otherness, for lack of a better word–that is both a highlight and a drawback as events unfold. There are layers upon layers to both Hazel and Ben, their relationship with one another, as well as with their parents and their respective love interests, dotted with sore spots we can’t help but want to–a little sadistically–poke to see if the resulting pain produces answers to questions we didn’t even realize we’d asked.

Hazel and her brother Ben are intriguingly protective of one another, but at the same time highly competitive in a quiet, passive way, often hiding selfish motivations inside words or actions that otherwise appear supportive. It’s not as though they’re unlikable or vindictive however, it’s more that they have a gritty and darkly beautiful relationship with more facets to it than we have time to admire in three hundred pages. While a connection to either of them isn’t overly strong, there’s still something captivating about each of them individually as well as a brother/sister pair, and even long after we’ve finished reading we’re not entirely sure how to put our feelings for them into words.

The two separate romances for Hazel and Ben aren’t quite as fully developed as lovers of romance like myself might wish, but as with Hazel and Ben themselves, there are layers to their loves we know are there but can’t quite see. Overall, The Darkest Part of the Forest is captivating in that it takes us to a place we’re not all that sure we’re comfortable being but don’t necessarily want to escape before doing a little digging to see what we can find. This is the first story I’ve read by Ms. Black, and I look forward to reading much, much more.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Holly:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon 

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: We Should Hang Out Sometime

WE SHOULD HANG OUT SOMETIME
Josh Sundquist
Non-Fiction/Humor
336 pages
Little, Brown BFYR
Available Now
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh's semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love--or at least a girlfriend--in all the wrong places.

MY THOUGHTS
We Should Hang Out Sometime is a fun foray into the dating history of Josh Sundquist, a man who lost his leg to cancer at the age of nine and has since gone on to be a paralympic ski racer, motivational speaker and more. The setup of this book is analytical in nature, an experiment Josh sets up wherein he methodically reviews his encounters with girls from his young teens through early twenties in order to better understand why he's never had a girlfriend. His recounting of these interactions is charmingly self-deprecating, and his writing style is so beautifully smooth and flowing that we suddenly find ourselves two hundred pages in before we even realize we’ve read a chapter.

In addition to the endearing conversational-style quality to his writing, Mr. Sundquist excels at bringing choice moments to vivid life, perfectly capturing they type of social ineptitude we’ve all experienced time and again as we’ve attempted to navigate the emotionally treacherous labyrinth that is interacting with the object of our affection. His younger self obsesses over every small gesture or word spoken by the girl he’s interested in, constantly questioning the meaning behind them and then running through every possible response to those various meanings in his head before deciding to move forward with one. His fear of rejection with the young women detailed in the book is palpable and more than understandable, memories of our own experiences causing us to stress on his behalf and then smile in knowing sympathy when his courage fails him and he puts self-preservation ahead of open communication.

We Should Hang Out Sometime is perfect for those looking for a little something different, something that will make them laugh and relate completely to a young man in search of acceptance from others when the acceptance he really needs is from himself. Josh’s story imparts a beautiful message when our time wandering through his embarrassingly cute and sometimes-sour experiences comes to an end, leaving us with a strong desire to see where his motivational speaking career will take him next so we can enjoy what he has to say in person.

Rating: 4/5

Find Josh:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was given to me by the publisher at BEA free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Salt and Storm Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Kendall Kulper to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her YA historical fantasy novel, Salt & Storm. Kendall was nice enough to answer a few questions for me about all sorts of interesting things like whaling, tattoos, dreams and magic, so I hope you enjoy the interview! Be sure and check the bottom of the post as well for the full list of participating blogs and all the details on a fantastic giveaway. 

Many of the inhabitants of Prince Island make their living as whalers. Can you give us one or two interesting tidbits or factoids you learned about whaling that you didn’t know prior to writing this book?

Oh man, I learned so much about whaling, but probably my favorite was how whale men would take out these personal ads in the back of the whaling newspapers and basically badmouth sailors and captains who they thought slacked on the job. They are so catty—it’s fantastic. One crew took out an ad against their officers and called the second officer “an excellent DO-NOTHING… Too ignorant to catch a bow-head, and afraid as death of a right whale. Would make a good deck walloper.” They’re like whaling burn books. Love them.

If you were to live in a paranormal world rich with magic, what gift or magical ability would you most want to possess?

I would love to be able to instantly transport myself somewhere. I’m not a fan of traveling, and my friends and family are increasingly far-flung. It would be amazing to just be able to wink away to see them whenever I wanted. And on a lazier note, it would also be amazing to skip the muggy subway ride home after a long day working in the library…

Avery dreams of her own murder, something that would be absolutely terrifying to experience. Aside from your death or the death/injury of anyone you love, what’s one other thing that would turn a dream of yours into a nightmare?

Well, I once had a dream where a book I wrote was named something like the worst debut novel ever written, and I had to stand up at a podium while the judges talked about all the things they hated. That was not a fun one. It’s just the reality of creative life that you pour your heart into something and then it has to go out in the world, and there’s always that crazy-terrifying moment of wondering if people will like it(!).

There’s just something inexplicably attractive to me about a guy with tattoos, and I personally am a big fan of Celtic designs or knot work. What might a tattoo design you’d find absurdly attractive on the right guy look like?

Haha! Well, I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of tattoos, mostly because I’m so indecisive about things when it comes to style and change my mind all the time—I think about the things I thought were sooooo cool when I was a teenager, and I am so grateful I didn’t have access to a tattoo parlor. The idea of having something on your body forever kind of freaks me out.

Plus, the guy I find absurdly attractive is my husband, and I can’t even imagine him ever getting a tattoo (he did say once, in what I think was an attempt to be sweet, that if I died he would get my name tattooed somewhere. Ooookay…).

I did once see a graphic designer who got a ruler tattooed to the inside of his arm. That’s just the kind of boring practicality that I can appreciate.

The world of Salt & Storm seems like a darkly fascinating one in which to live. If you could spend a few days in the world of any other fantasy novel, which one would you choose and what’s the first thing you’d do when you got there?

I think I’d want to go to the Shire, from the Lord of the Rings books, and eat some really good food, take some really good naps, stroll through the countryside, and finish it up with a night dancing and singing at the neighborhood tavern. Why no one has made a real-life Shire resort is one of life’s great mysteries.

If Avery was aware she was the heroine of a book detailing her journey to prevent her own murder and change her future, what’s one thing she would most want readers of that story to remember about her after they set her book aside? 

I think (without giving too much of the book away) she would want people to understand that things like fate and destiny are far more fragile and changeable than they might seem. Choice counts for a lot.

Thanks so much for stopping by Kendall!

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SALT & STORM

A sweeping historical romance about a witch who foresees her own murder--and the one boy who can help change her future.

Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island's whalers safe at sea, but her mother has forced her into a magic-free world of proper manners and respectability. When Avery dreams she's to be murdered, she knows time is running out to unlock her magic and save herself.

Avery finds an unexpected ally in a tattooed harpoon boy named Tane--a sailor with magic of his own, who moves Avery in ways she never expected. Becoming a witch might stop her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers her magic requires a sacrifice she never prepared for.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

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KENDALL KULPER

Kendall Kulper writes historical fiction with a fantasy twist for teen readers and knows more about nineteenth century whaling than she ever imagined. Her debut YA novel, SALT & STORM will be published by Little, Brown September 23, 2014. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in history and literature in 2008 and spent several years as a journalist before deciding to write full-time. She grew up in the wilds of New Jersey and now lives in Boston with her husband and chronically-anxious Australian Shepherd mix, Abby.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Tumblr

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GIVEAWAY

Up for grabs to 2 lucky winners are hardcover copies of Salt & Storm. Please enter via the Rafflectopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

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WEEK ONE:

9/15/2014- Novel Novice- Interview

9/15/2014- The Infinite To-Read Shelf- Review

9/16/2014- All Things Urban Fantasy- Guest Post

9/16/2014- No BS Book Reviews- Review

9/17/2014- Such a Novel Idea- Interview

9/17/2014- Katie's Book Blog- Review

9/18/2014- IceyBooks- Interview

9/18/2014- Reading YA Rocks- Excerpt

9/19/2014- Wishful Endings- Guest Post

9/19/2014- Casual Readers- Review

WEEK TWO:

9/22/2014- Supernatural Snark- Interview

9/22/2014- About to Read- Review

9/23/2014- The Cover Contessa- Guest Post

9/23/2014- Imaginary Reads- Review

9/24/2014- Fire and Ice- Guest Post

9/24/2014- Once Upon a Twilight- Review

9/25/2014- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Interview

9/25/2014- The Best Books Ever- Review

9/26/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

9/26/2014- Tynga's Reviews- Review

Review: Salt & Storm

SALT & STORM
Kendall Kulper
Young Adult/Historical Fantasy
416 pages
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Available September 23rd
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Avery Roe wants only to take her rightful place as the witch of Prince Island, making the charms that keep the island's whalers safe at sea, but her mother has forced her into a magic-free world of proper manners and respectability. When Avery dreams she's to be murdered, she knows time is running out to unlock her magic and save herself.

Avery finds an unexpected ally in a tattooed harpoon boy named Tane--a sailor with magic of his own, who moves Avery in ways she never expected. Becoming a witch might stop her murder and save her island from ruin, but Avery discovers her magic requires a sacrifice she never prepared for.

MY THOUGHTS
Salt & Storm is a heavier read, death and darkness weighing us down with each chapter as we slowly uncover the price Avery must pay to access the birthright of her magic. The beauty of love exists solely in the shadow of Death’s hooded figure, and no matter how Avery tries to escape it, that shadow dogs her heels from page one to four hundred. While the heaviness of this story can be attributed in large part to the subject matter itself, the writing is another contributing factor, this story favoring both descriptive details and tangential anecdotes, sending us on brief jaunts to the past as Avery recalls specific moments in order to introduce us to particular people or places in the present. This style, though helpful in creating a vivid picture of Avery’s small whaling town, does slow the overall pace of her story down quite a bit, combining with the pain and sacrifice required to become the Roe witch to leave us in need of light and happy reads for the weeks following our closing of the back cover.

From the beginning, Avery erects a number of roadblocks that keep us from settling in beside her as she fights to prevent her death dream from becoming a reality, her behavior that of someone exceedingly selfish whose sole focus is the harm done unto her without once looking outward to see what harm her words or actions causes others. With Tane in particular she is at times extraordinarily argumentative, screaming at him for his inability to help her (despite his best efforts) while refusing to acknowledge that she too has failed in her own promise to help him interpret his dreams. She does at least recognize when her anger gets the better of her, but is almost never able to stop it from spilling past her lips and finding its target in either Tane or her mother, and while we’ve all been there many a time when stress levels get to be more than we can handle, the repetitive nature of her actions keeps our capacity for forgiveness frighteningly low.

Avery is in no way all bad however, once she resigns herself to the fact that she won’t be able to escape her dream’s prediction, she puts all her considerable focus into finally aiding Tane. His needs suddenly outweigh her own desires, and she oh-so slowly in the latter half of this book becomes a young woman we actually want to see find her happiness even though we know the chances of her reaching the last chapter without a body or heart riddled with scars is highly unlikely. Tane, for his part, is infinitely patient with Avery, enduring her impressive mood swings with lopsided smiles and calming assurances, and never once stooping to her level to fire back at her with insults of his own.

Overall, Salt & Storm is not an easy read for a number of reasons, a tricky heroine and a story steeped in tragedy and heartbreak making this a book more easily digested in smaller pieces rather than consumed all at once. Despite those issues however, Ms. Kulper is undeniably a talented writer and storyteller, and most certainly someone I would read again.

Rating: 3.5/5

Find Kendall:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Giveaway: Homeroom Diaries by James Patterson

Today I have a really fun giveaway to share with you all! Hugely prolific and many-times-over bestselling author James Patterson, along with Lisa Papademetriou, is releasing a new book for teens called Homeroom Diaries on July 21st, so be sure and mark your calendars. Thanks to the amazingly generous team at Little, Brown I have a fantastic book bundle to give away to one lucky winner, but before I get to that, here's a bit about Homeroom Diaries!

In James Patterson's first highly illustrated "diary fiction" story for teens, the mega-bestselling author's most endearing and original teen heroine ever proves that everyone can use a helping hand once in a while.

Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her "Happiness Project". She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary. And when life gets really tough, she works through her own moments of uncertainty through imaginary conversations with her favorite literary characters.

Cuckoo's also got a nearly impossible mission: she, along with her misfit band of self-deprecating friends (who call themselves "the Freakshow") decide to bridge the gap between warring cliques and "bring the Nations together". Not everyone is so willing to join hands and get along, but Cuckoo never stops smiling...until one of her closest friends, pushed to desperation by a Hater prank, decides that enough is enough.

Official Website • Instagram

From Instagram:

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JAMES PATTERSON

photo courtesy of David Burnett

In January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having "transformed book publishing." Time magazine named him "The Man Who Can't Miss," and he is a two-time Children's Choice Book Award "Author of the Year" nominee, a designation decided on by more than 15,000 children and teen readers.

In the past three years, James Patterson has sold more books than any other author (according to Bookscan), and in total, James's books have sold an estimated 260 million copies worldwide. Since 2006, one out of every seventeen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title. He is the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on The New York Times adult and children's bestsellers lists and is the only author to have five new hardcover novels debut at #1 on the list in one year—a record-breaking feat he's accomplished every year since 2005. To date, James Patterson has had nineteen consecutive #1 New York Times bestselling novels, and holds The New York Times record for most Hardcover Fiction bestselling titles by a single author (76 total), which is also a Guinness World Record.

From his James Patterson Pageturner Awards (which rewarded groups and individuals for creative and effective ways of spreading the joy of reading) to his website ReadKiddoRead.com (which helps adults find books that kids are sure to love) to his regular donations of thousands of books to troops overseas, Patterson is a lifelong champion of books and reading. His critically acclaimed Maximum Ride series debuted on The New York Times bestsellers list at #1 and remained there for twelve straight weeks. The series has so far made ninety-four cumulative appearances on The New York Times bestsellers lists, proving that kids of all ages love page turners. He captured the attention of boy readers with Daniel X series, and his third series for readers of all ages debuted in December 2009 with Witch & Wizard, which spent five consecutive weeks atop The New York Times bestsellers list.

Patterson is the creator of the top-selling new detective series of the past dozen years, featuring Alex Cross and including the Hollywood-adapted "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls," starring Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. He is also the creator of the #1 new detective series of the past five years, featuring Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club, from which the ABC television drama series was adapted. He has authored books behind six films on the Hollywood fast-track, including the upcoming Maximum Ride movie forthcoming from Avi Arad, the producer of X-Men and Spiderman.

He is the author of novels — from The Thomas Berryman Number (1976) to Honeymoon (2005) — that have won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award. And, he has won a Children's Choice Book Council's Children's Choice Awards "Author of the Year" award (2010).

One of Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100, James made a guest appearance on the popular FOX TV show "The Simpsons" in March, 2007.

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GIVEAWAY

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT prize pack

Let great reads make you smile! Enter for your chance to win a James Patterson collection including copies of Homeroom Diaries, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, Confessions of a Murder Suspect, and First Love. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

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