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Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Freebie Friday: This Is How It Happened
Happy Friday!
First, an announcement. This will be the last "real" post on this blog.
As of Monday, I will be moving to Wordpress!
The new site will (if all goes smoothly!) go up over the weekend, and I'll post here with a link to the new site. All my social media sites will stay the same, so I'm sure you will be able to find me!
So this is my last Freebie Friday on this site. And, now you know my weekend plans :) Let me know yours in comments!
This Freebie Friday is open to US/Canada.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Just Finished Reading ... Geekarella
by Ashley Poston
Published on April 4, 2017
by Quirk Books
Synopsis from Goodreads: When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle’s been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her stepmother’s back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all—not to mention a fangirl’s dream come true. Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year’s ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they’re nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.My take: Do you ever take a pass on a book and then, after the reviews come out, reconsider? I do. And I had this book on my "maybe" TBR.
Why? I'm kind of burned out on fairy tale retellings. There have been a LOT in YA. Most retellings are inherently predictable. And a lot of fairy tales have tired gender stereotypes (wicked stepmothers and stepsisters, girl saved by a prince) that are more than ready to be re-thought. But I saw the rave reviews for this and thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did. Geekerella was possibly the most charming Cinderella retelling I've read in a while. Or ever.
The funny thing it, the book also broke some of my other rules. Fandom books? Not really a fan. Don't get me wrong: I love fandoms, but imaginary fandoms always make me feel a little tired and a lot left out. Another thing I'm not a fan of? YA books that have too much pop culture in them. I always feel like books like that are destined to be laughed at a few years down the line. Don't believe me? Watch some episodes of a 2000s-era TV show, where characters are so enthralled by their super-cool Sidekick phones, and try not to laugh.
Geekerella broke ALL my retelling and pop culture and fandom rules and was so completely charming and adorable that I smiled all the way through.
The retelling choices were so clever -- AND so of-the-moment -- that a decade from now, I think this book can be one of those cultural relics that seems charming, not stale. Food trucks. Vlogging. Cons. One day, they'll be looked at as cultural relics. But I loved the way that Geekerella embraced them. I thought using ExcelsiCon for the ball was creative and hilarious ... and poignant, because that was the legacy Elle had from her parents. I loved that the prince, who in most fairy tales is only a prop, got his own POV and his own storyline. And he had a rags-to-riches tale of his own.
All in all, this was a rom-com on a page, a feel-good retelling that put a smile on my face.
Have you read this? Tell me what you thought in comments.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Hot Off the Presses: New YA Releasing July 11
Welcome to Hot Off the Presses, my weekly post about new YA releases. Below is a list of all the books I'm aware of that are releasing in the U. S. on July 11. Some titles may have different release dates outside the US.
Is this a summery group of covers or what? Click on the title to check the books out on Goodreads!
If I missed anything, please let me know!
And please enter my giveaway for an ARC of Lucky in Love, below!
All the Ways the World Can End by Abigail Sher (FSG)
Ash and Quill (The Great Library #3) by Rachel Caine (Berkley)
The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller (Harper)
Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie (Bloomsbury)
Colorblind by Leah Harper Bowron (Sparkpress)
Contribute (Holo #2) by Kristy Acevedo (Jolly Fish)
Dark Goddess (Alpha Goddess #2) by Amalie Howard (Sky Pony)
Forever in Love (City Love #3) by Susane Colisanti (Katherine Tegen)
Haunt Me by Liz Kessler (Candlewick)
Hello, Sunshine by Leila Howland (Disney-Hyperion)
I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski (Harper)
The Lake Effect by Erin McCahan (Dial)
Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey (Feiwel and Friends)
Merciless III: Origins of Evil by Danielle Vega (Razorbill)
Rosie Girl by Julie Shepard (Putnam)
The Savage Dawn (Girl at Midnight #3) by Melissa Grey (Delacorte)
Somebody's Baby by Lurlene McDaniel (Delacorte)
This Is How It Happened by Paula Stokes (Harper)
United Continuums by Jennifer Brody (Turner)
Unraveling (Unblemished #2) by Sara Ella (Thomas Nelson)
Vindicated (Emancipated #3) by M. G. Reyes (Katherine Tegen)
Waste of Space by Gina Damico (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum
Who's That Girl by Blair Thornburgh
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Monday, July 10, 2017
Just Finished Reading: This Is How It Happened
by Paula Stokes
To be published on July 11, 2017
by Harper Teen
Source: eARC from publisher
PC: My Instagram - follow me!
Synopsis from Goodreads: Somehow I’ve become a liar. A coward. Here’s how it happened. When Genevieve Grace wakes up from a coma, she can’t remember the car crash that injured her and killed her boyfriend Dallas, a YouTube star who had just released his first album. Genevieve knows she was there, and that there was another driver, a man named Brad Freeman, who everyone assumes is guilty. But as she slowly pieces together the night of the accident, Genevieve is hit with a sickening sense of dread—that maybe she had something to do with what happened. As the internet rages against Brad Freeman, condemning him in a brutal trial by social media, Genevieve escapes to her father’s house, where she can hide from reporters and spend the summer volunteering in beautiful Zion National Park. But she quickly realizes that she can’t run away from the accident, or the terrible aftermath of it all.
My take: Genevieve is driving her famous YouTube musician boyfriend home from a party. The next thing she knows, she's lying in the hospital, just out of a coma, and her boyfriend is dead. The internet is going crazy with speculation about the accident and anger at the other driver, who had previous DUIs. Genevieve can't remember anything about the accident, but as her memory slowly returns, she starts to panic, and flees her hometown of St. Louis to visit her dad and stepmom in Southern Utah.
At first I wasn't sure about This Is How It Happened. For the first third of the book, I felt like I could see exactly where this book was going (and was right in every way.) I worried the book would just keep going on a predictable path. Plus, it feels tough to bring anything new to the table with a YA amnesia book.
But as I read, I liked the book more and more. I thought the execution of what I thought was going to be an eye-rollingly predictable story ended up being really very good. Once Genevieve gets to Utah, she meest an interesting cast of characters. She volunteers in Zion National Park, where away from her old life she can begin to come to terms with her role in the accident and figure out what she can do to get her story told.
It was at this point that I thought This Is How It Happened really took off and began to have a lot of heart. This story does a good job of portraying a situation where the masses on the internet make assumptions about something and are relentless in their anger. I felt at a few points the book veered into preachiness, but also think the internet mob mentality is an important issue and that the book did a good case study on what can happen when people start to speculate without facts. Adored the love interest and the great family relationships and the issues.
This Is How It Happened took a while to get going but in the end, this book won me over!
I'll be giving this away on Friday -- stop by if you are interested!
Friday, July 7, 2017
Freebie Friday: Summer Unscripted
Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday!
Today's giveaway is a hardcover of Summer Unscripted, along with a bookmark and stickers sent to me by the author (not pictured) - I will also send the striped bookmark from the photo!
This is a cute YA contemporary with romance - reviewed it yesterday so scroll down if you want to see what I thought!
US/Canada addresses only.
Happy weekend! Hope you are having a great summer. Is your summer scripted or unscripted? Feel free to tell me what you are up to and/or what you're reading in comments!
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Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Just Finished Reading: Summer Unscripted
by Jen Klein
Published by Random House
on June 13, 2017
Source: copy sent by the author for possible review
PC: my Instagram: Click here to follow me on Instagram!
Synopsis from Goodreads: Girl looks for a sign. Enter: boy. Rainie doesn’t have a “passion” like her friends do. She’s more of a dabbler—quick to give up and move on. But as graduation approaches, she wishes she had more direction. So when gorgeous Tuck gives a monologue that literally puts into words exactly how she’s been feeling lately, it’s a sign! Tuck is her passion. How could she not have seen it before? Girl follows boy. Enter: second boy. Rainie convinces her ex-BFF to let her work at the same summer job as Tuck. She’s got a foolproof plan to date him. But when she arrives, Rainie discovers things aren't that simple. And she meets Milo, a super-cute boy who also works with her. A boy with a complicated past. Girl needs to figure stuff out. Enter: drama.
My take: Summer Unscripted was a YA contemporary that had some great features but a few drawbacks.
On the plus side, main character Rainie showed a lot of character growth. At the start of the book, she's a bit ... flaky. She's schemed her way into a summer theater company as a way to get closer to a guy she's suddenly crushing on, and uses a former friend to help her get what she wants. She's pretty much out for herself without considering anyone else's feelings. By the end of the story, she's learned lessons about friendship and love and honesty. I loved that the book looked at the way Rainie and her friend Ella had drifted apart and then found a way to mend their friendship.
On the negative side, I wanted the story to have a much stronger plot. It felt a little meander-y to me. There's the main plot about romance and a subplot about the summer theater, and that wasn't always enough to compel me to keep reading. I also felt that some elements of the story felt young for YA. Even the book synopsis above sounds a little tween-y to me. I thought that the stuff about hobo signs and the comic aspects of the mythology-inspired play they're putting on would have been a better fit for a book targeted for tweens - I actually hope Jen Klein considers trying her hand at that genre, because this book had a funny, quirky vibe that makes me think think she'd be great at it.
If you love fluffy contemporaries but are love triangle averse, don't be scared off by the synopsis. Though one of the book's taglines is "one girl, two boys, all the drama," this was not the angsty kind of triangle. I thought it was pretty clear where things were going to end up - and the guy I was rooting for was adorable!
In sum, if you're looking for a cute summer read that won't cause you undue stress and don't mind a mild triangle situation, check this out!
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