Summer Fun HarperTeen Style: SPF9 Epic Giveaway

Who's excited for summer? *raises hand* Though it's not quite as exciting as it was when I was in school and summer meant 3 months off, I still love this time of year, and the people over at HarperTeen are trying to make it even better with some amazing giveaways and opportunities to experience their books. Love it.

Before I get to all the giveaway goodness though, HarperTeen has a few other things made of win I wanted to share with you. First up:

See the art.

Spread the love.

Join the Resistance

Love is not a disease.

Follow the above link to join the Resistance from Lauren Oliver's Pandemonium by sharing some beautiful posters with your friends to help encourage recruitment.

EPIC READS

Have you heard of Epic Reads? No? Well HarperTeen has recently launched EpicReads.com, a central location of awesomeness for all of HarperTeen's books, and now we can all officially join. Yay! The people at Harper can explain it a bit better than I can, so I'll let them give it to you straight from the source:

EpicReads.com is the new hub for all of HarperTeen’s books. We’ve also launched two channels, for readers who prefer particular genres. If you’re a huge fan of paranormal or dystopian fiction, PitchDark.com is the channel for you! Rather read about romance than werewolves? Then you should definitely explore the StoryCrush.com channel! Each channel has its own blog, contests, polls, quizzes and forums – so there are plenty of opportunities to get involved, win free books, & chat with authors!

I just registered this week, I hope to see you guys on there!

YA CRUSH TOURNAMENT

This tournament isn't related specifically to HarperTeen but I wanted to include it because it should be a blast. The YA Sisterhood is hosting their Crush Tournament in which all our favorite book boyfriends go head to head to see who's the hottest crush of the year. It's nomination time again, and now through June 19th you can nominate your top 10 YA crushes and see who's already topping the list.

Topping my personal list this year is The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer's Noah Shaw, followed closely by Kaidan Rowe of Sweet Evil. The fabulous Michelle Hodkin is offering fans extra incentive to add Noah to their lists (as if we need it) by offering up a special scene of our choice should he receive enough nominations. Maybe it will be another scene from his POV! You can find all the details on Michelle's Blog.

SPF9 GIVEAWAY

Last but not least, I have the SPF9 Giveaway (from HarperTeen):

Did you know… books provide excellent shade? HarperTeen is giving you the chance to sample your very own Sun-Proof Fiction with nine of our most fantastic summer reads in paperback. During the month of June, we’ll be tweeting our favorite beach reading photos with #spf9 hashtag, giving away books and more on HarperTeen’s Facebook, and spreading the word that books can be better than sunglasses.

To enter the giveaway, just visit HarperTeen's Facebook Page.

WAIT! Before you run off and enter (because this giveaway is unbelievably awesome), HarperTeen has given me the privilege of hosting a separate giveaway here on the blog. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below and you'll be entered for a chance to win. Giveaway is open to US residents only, good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Grab Bags And Other Things Made of Win

Happy Weekend Everyone!

I just wanted to do a quick post to share some fun things with you in case you've yet to hear about them. First, HarperTeen has put together a series of EPIC grab bags they will be giving away throughout the month. Each Friday in March, one winner will receive five crushable tales from the Story Crush library, so go HERE to check out all the awesomeness.

As you will see if you decide to enter, you need to "like" Epic Reads on Facebook in order to do so. I am not on Facebook because I work from home and the blog and Twitter are big enough distractions that I cannot possibly sign up and be tempted by yet another one, but my husband has an account. And I happen to know his password. So I logged in, "liked" Epic Reads, entered to win and considered it a job well done really. Then I get a phone call from my husband. It went a bit like this:

Hubs: Did you happen to use my Facebook account today?

Me: Um. What makes you ask that?

Hubs: I keep getting updates from something called Epic Reads.

Me: Huh. I can neither confirm nor deny responsibility for that.

Hubs: I'll take that as confirmation. Why did you "like" them on my behalf?

Me: Well, I'll tell you. They have a grab bag full of amazing books and I'm going to win it.

Hubs: You're going to win it?

Me: Yes.

Hubs: So you've simply entered to win is what you're saying, "liking" them didn't actually win you anything.

Me: If you care to interpret it as such. I'm more inclined to think positively and predict an outcome more in my favor.

Hubs: How many people have entered?

Me: Several.

.....

Hundred. Maybe thousand.

Hubs: So your chances of actually winning are....

Me: Slim. To possibly none. But that's not really the point is it?

Hubs: I thought it kind of was.

Me: No. The point is I went out there on a limb and took a chance. You should encourage and support me in all my endeavors, however large or small dammit.

Hubs: Uh huh. Please stop "liking" things for me. This is my account.

Me: I make no promises.

It was a good talk I feel. I think we got some things worked out ;-) Anyway, the grab bags have some really fabulous books in them, so don't forget to check out the Epic Reads Facebook page each week to enter. And hopefully win. *crosses fingers*

Additionally, I have some very cool Lauren Oliver related items to share with you. First up is a Liesl & Po Classroom sweepstakes, all of the details of which can be found HERE.

And secondly, the fantastic Dark Days tour is continuing this weekend in Los Angeles with Lauren Oliver, Claudia Gray, and Dan Wells all in attendance. Wish I could be in LA right now. For those of you who are like me and are nowhere near sunny California, you can catch the event as it's livestreamed tomorrow (March 11th) HERE courtesy of Tiffany at About To Read.

If you just can't wait that long to hear Lauren Oliver talk about the unbelievable Delirium trilogy, you can check out her stop in Raleigh, North Carolina in a video HERE.

Phew. That was a lot of links. Enjoy all the Epic Reads fun everyone!

Review: Pandemonium

PANDEMONIUM (Delirium #2)
Lauren Oliver
Young Adult/Dystopian
375 pages
HarperTeen
Available February 28th
Received from publisher for review

Warning: review contains spoilers from Delirium, but no spoilers from Pandemonium.

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
The old Lena is dead. The old Lena remains with Alex in Portland, Maine, behind a wall of smoke and flame, but the new Lena was born in the Wilds, transformed by hardship, deprivation, and loss.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena fights for a world in which love will no longer be considered a dangerous disease. Her inner life is as turbulent as the world around her. . . . Although consumed with grief for Alex, might she be falling in love with someone else?

MY THOUGHTS
While Delirium introduced us to a world where the pursuit of perfection resulted in the elimination of the very emotions that make life worth living, Pandemonium takes us back to a place where the rawness of pain, love and loss is a tangible thing–the memory of what was within Lena's grasp and then ripped away a companion dogging our every step as we follow her through her life after Alex. Delirium gave us shells of human beings, individuals bottled up tight and sealed with a cure lest a modicum of independent thought or feeling slip through, but with Pandemonium we get a new cast of characters not hindered by the regulations governing those inside the fences. More interestingly however, we get a new Lena. A Lena who used to subscribe to the deceptively appealing poison spouted by proponents of the cure but who now survives with memories of the boy she loved piercing her skin every time her mind drifts back to him, turning her into a sieve through which pour all the tragically beautiful droplets of Alex and his sacrifice.

Ms. Oliver does a stunning job of crafting an Alex-free story, showing us just how strong-willed Lena is without him there to help her navigate a world where touch is encouraged instead of forbidden, and where love leaves scars that are not to be feared but cherished instead. While we may have physically cringed upon reading the synopsis and learning of a possible new love interest for Lena, we quickly realize there is going to be no quick fix for the destruction left in the wake of Alex’s demise, and we take a sort of comfort in her obvious pain knowing she’s clearly no more ready to move on than we are. Chapters split into two time periods in Lena’s life—the time immediately following Lena’s escape over the fence and a few months into the future as she’s on assignment for the resistance—give us action-packed glimpses of a transformed young woman, and it’s easy to find ourselves supporting her in her mourning, her resolve to take advantage of Alex’s gift, and her attempts to build a new life from the literal ashes of her previous one.

New potential love interest Julian is in much the same place Lena was in Delirium, a parrot repeating the ideals and doctrines of a grossly confused society while harboring secret thoughts of what life might be like if things were different. He’s perfectly likeable and his relationship with Lena builds at a slow enough pace to give us time to adjust to him, allowing our damaged and love-shy hearts to warm at an acceptable speed so we don’t feel like our fledgling attraction to Julian is a betrayal of Alex. Though he doesn’t completely win us over in this second installment, he does a multitude of small things that go a long way to helping Lena heal, and for that alone we begin to let him through our Alex-plated defenses.

Though Pandemonium definitely has the feel of a book building us up for what are sure to be epic events in the next installment, Ms. Oliver gives us plenty of new information and creates enough new strong and intriguing relationships to ensure this story isn’t simply filler. We do end with yet another emotional cliffhanger, one we sense coming but one that still hits us like a fist to the gut nonetheless. The final three words spoken are a painful mockery of the words "I love you" that were such a vital part of Delirium, each word tumbling from the speaker’s lips in a way that causes us to erupt in a full body shudder as the venom in them leaves us cold and broken with no other course of action but to wait and see what kind of response they will receive in book three.

Rating: 4.5/5

In My Mailbox #39

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren and is a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and reviewing. I always love seeing what everyone else got for their week!


FOR REVIEW
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Thank you HarperTeen)
Arcadia Awakens by Kai Meyer (Thank you HarperTeen)
What Boys Really Want by Pete Hautman (Thank you Scholastic)
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen (Thank you Bloomsbury and NetGalley)
Watched by Sharde Richardson (Thank you Sharde)
Bad Blood by Kristen Painter (Thank you Hachette and Kristen)
Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig (Thank you HarperTeen and NetGalley)
Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (Thank you Lauren)
Within the Flames by Marjorie M. Liu (Thank you HarperCollins)

Also, hardcore slacker that I am, it took me a long time to pick a winner for the Paranormals trilogy giveaway, but I finally did and she has been emailed. Thanks to everyone who entered and I apologize profusely for the delay in announcing this one!

Winner:
Na