high school

One to preorder… like, NOW! Crazy by Linda Vigen Phillips

crazy

Crazy is a beautifully written account of how mental illness affected one family in the 1960’s, and of the hope that comes from art, open communication, and the road to healing. Written in verse, Crazy is a collection of thoughts, snippets of conversations, observations, and artwork from Laura, the book’s protagonist, over the course of a year. Her mother suffers from a mental illness that Laura tries to hide from her friends, both because she’s ashamed to have a mom who’s not normal and because she’s afraid she’ll turn out just like her. Laura’s journey from fear and not-knowing to hope and understanding is a pretty one to watch, and I absolutely LOVED how the author incorporated Laura’s artwork throughout the novel.

The Geography of You and Me by Jen. E. Smith

geography of you and me

I’ve been a big fan of Jen E. Smith’s previous books, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight and This is What Happy Looks Like, so when I saw the cover (LOVE) and the blurb for this one, I couldn’t wait.

In The Geography of You and Me, Lucy and Owen meet when they’re stuck together in an elevator during the New York City blackout a few years ago. The story, told in the alternating points of view that Smith is an absolute master of, follows Lucy and Owen on that blackout day and then throughout the next few years as they both end up all over the world but still manage to keep in touch.

Now, I liked this – I really did – but I have to say up front that it didn’t grab me quite the same way that her previous books did. Actually, it’s much more like Statistical Probability in feeling, with a lot of emotional depth and sadness to the characters’ lives, but my absolute favorite of hers is Happy which is, well, happy. For me, while I enjoyed Lucy and Owen as characters and liked the way their stories ultimately played out, there just wasn’t enough at the end to fully lift my spirits and leave me feeling upbeat. I’m still recommending it, of course, or else I wouldn’t post it here, but be prepared for an emotional journey rather than a light, summery fling of a read!

You can find The Geography of You and Me at your favorite local bookseller, or here on Amazon.

Blog Tour: Don’t Fall by Rachel Schieffelbein & a GIVEAWAY!!!

 

Don't-Fall tour banner

I fell in love with this cover first.

Then I heard it was a Rapunzel story, and I fell harder for it.

It’s a pretty little romance with some magical moments to match the cover… I wish it had been longer! Find Don’t Fall
on Amazon!

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Summary from Goodreads:

In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of RAPUNZEL

Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn’t go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn’t even have a best friend.

But Anya doesn’t seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she’s allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she’s lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she’s ever cared about.

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***GIVEAWAY***

1 ebook of Don’t Fall + $10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Blog Tour Organized by:

YA Bound Book Tours

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Cassie Mae’s Newest Book in her “How to” series!

I’ve been in contact with Cassie since last summer when I read Friday Night Alibi. She’s a great young author who has grown quickly in the publishing industry. She’s super sweet and writes great YA romances featuring smart girls and swoon-worthy, geeky guys. It’s an honor to turn this post over to her now to celebrate the release of her newest, How to Seduce a Band Geek!

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Big THANK YOU to Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists for letting me crash for the HOW TO SEDUCE A BAND GEEK tour!

I’m lucky to have had several people make some adorable teasers for this book, so I’m just going to display some of the awesome art that was made. Details, links, etc. below!

By Lenore
By Lisa

 

By Lenore

 

By Lenore

 

By Tiffany
By Lenore

 

By Lisa

 

By Tiffany

 

By Tiffany

 

By Tiffany

 

Sierra Livingston’s got it bad for her sister’s best friend, Levi Mason—the boy who carries his drumsticks in his pocket, marches with the school’s band, and taps his feet to whatever beat runs through his head. Sierra racks her brain for ways to impress the sexy drummer, but the short skirts and bursting cleavage don’t seem to cut it.

When Sierra gets paired with Levi’s sister, Brea, for a mentorship program, they strike a deal. In exchange for Sierra keeping her mouth shut about Brea ditching the program, Brea lets Sierra dig for more info on Levi to help get the guy of her dreams.

But when Sierra discovers Levi no longer plays the drums, his family has moved into a trailer, and he’s traded in his Range Rover for a baby blue moped, Sierra’s not sure if she can go through with violating his privacy. She’ll have to find the courage to ask him straight out—if he’s willing to let her in—and explore other ways to seduce the school’s band geek.

Cassie Mae is a nerd to the core from Utah, who likes to write about other nerds who find love. She’s the author of the Amazon Bestsellers REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND and HOW TO DATE A NERD, and is the debut author for the Random House FLIRT line with her New Adult novels FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI and SWITCHED. She spends time with her angel children and perfect husband who fan her and feed her grapes while she clacks away on the keyboard. Then she wakes up from that dream world and manages to get a few words on the computer while the house explodes around her. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with the youth in her community as a volleyball and basketball coach, or searching the house desperately for chocolate.

 

Author Links:
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Blog Tour organized by:

Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery by Abby Sher

breaking free

First and foremost, let me start with this: This book is important. It should be read by teenage girls and their parents because human trafficking is one of the scariest and least talked about issues facing our girls today, and so many people don’t know what it really is and how easily could happen to those they know and love. Sex slavery is not just something for third world countries and far-off places; it’s everywhere and can happen to anyone.

Breaking Free is well composed and full of power. Sher brings together three stories of incredible women who have survived unspeakable horrors in a way that is raw, jarring, and eye-opening. What makes this book great, though, is her ability to successfully make us aware of the all-out pervasiveness of trafficking while also providing us with hope through the testimonies of strong women and through practical, informative ways to get involved in ending this practice.

As a teacher, I wish I could require all parents (and their children, when they’re ready) to read this. I know it’s making me hold my daughter a little tighter tonight, and I wish parents would educate themselves as to the dangers around their children. Abby Sher has done an amazing job putting together a valuable resource and an answer to the questions of what trafficking is, how it can happen, and why we can’t ignore it.

I strongly urge you to check out Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery!

The Book Thief, the book and the movie

book thief

 

I’m usually fascinated by and really connect with Holocaust literature, but when I tried to read The Book Thief a while back I just couldn’t get into it. I don’t know why, and many people would think that’s insane, but I just didn’t like it.

When the movie came out, though, I was intrigued… and just got around to watching it recently. And, while the book didn’t hold my interest, I found that the movie really did. It was well done, and the casting/acting was superb. If you didn’t get into the book, like me, you should definitely check out this movie!

 

book_thief movie

The Maze Runner Official Trailer

I love Dylan O’Brien as Thomas… What are your casting thoughts for this one?

 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

maze runner

 

With the movie version of The Maze Runner coming out in September, which looks amazing based on all I’ve seen so far, I wanted to get started with actually reading the series.

In The Maze Runner, a teenaged boy named Thomas suddenly wakes up in a sort of elevator. He has amnesia – he doesn’t remember anything about who he is or how he got there, but he remembers basic things about how to live, the names of things, and feels like he recognizes stuff but doesn’t know why. At the end of the lift, the doors open to reveal a group of other teenaged boys stuck in a maze. Just as Thomas starts to figure out how the maze society works, another unexpected thing happens: a girl is delivered in the box the very next day, the first girl ever to be sent to the maze, and she has a scary message to deliver. Throughout the course of the book, Thomas tries to remember anything that would explain why they’re there and how they could possibly make it out of the maze.

I don’t even really know how to classify this book – it’s not dystopian as there’s nothing seemingly “perfect” about the society Thomas suddenly finds himself in, and Dashner doesn’t reveal much to us about life outside of the maze until the very end so I hesitate to call it a post-apocolytic novel, but it’s pretty clear that something big is happening. As the reader tries to figure it out along with Thomas and the other kids trapped in the maze, we’re a part of and adventure that is definitely thrilling.

Fans of books like the Divergent and Hunger Games series’ will find The Maze Runner interesting, though it doesn’t have the romantic element found in those. I’ll definitely be adding this title to my 8th grade summer reading list – it’s a great option for students probably 7th grade and up.

Fall For You by Cecilia Gray – It’s FREE!

fall for you cover

I’ve been a fan of Cecilia Gray’s Jane Austen Academy series for a while now, and the first book in the series is FREE right now on Amazon. Go download it quick!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

 

we were liars

 

Mark my words… this will be the next YA title to take the world by storm, like The Fault In Our Stars did last year. I so hope they make a movie out of this.

All I can really say about this without giving anything away is that it was really, really beautifully written and masterfully crafted. I started this thinking I was getting into a typical summery beach YA title, but what I found was something that consumed my entire Sunday because I just could not put it down. This is the first E. Lockhart title I’ve read, and it has single-handedly turned me into a fan.

The characters are intriguing, and the style with which Lockhart builds this story is effortlessly suspenseful and mysterious.

I can’t even tell you what it reminds me of without getting into spoilers, so I won’t. But you should definitely read it when it comes out next week! Preorder, reserve, send to kindle… whatever. Get it.

With a twist I didn’t see coming, Liars shocked me in the most delightful way… but the best part about that was I could go back and see the clues Lockhart left along the way, and though I never would have seen the end coming, it made perfect sense once I got there.