summer

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything Inbetween

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Hello, Goodbye, and Everything Inbetween is classic Jennifer E. Smith, which means I loved it just because. Great character building (as always), spot-on dialogue, interesting and relatable premise… I laughed and I ugly cried and I fell in love a little.

Check out the official blurb, then click here to see it on Amazon or get it from your favorite bookseller!

On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan have only one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night leads them to family and friends, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

Charming, bittersweet, and full of wisdom and heart, this irresistible novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that arise when life and love lead in different directions.

The Sound of Us by Julie Hammerle

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The Sound of Us is one of those books that does a great job of encouraging readers to stick with their dreams and stay true to who they are. That’s enough to make me love it – I just don’t think that message can be given to teenagers (or adults, frankly) too much. 

Kiki Nichols is a fun, introverted fan of a popular geeky sic-fi show who also happens to be an aspiring opera singer. She heads off to an exclusive summer camp at a college known for its music program. She has two main goals for the summer: one, be cool and make friends, and two, be one of the top students at the end of camp, which would earn her a scholarship to study opera at the university. But, of course, stuff happens and Kiki’s derailed from her goals a few times… and one big distraction comes in the form of a hot drummer (and fellow sic-fi show fan) she’d like to spend more time with. 

Kiki is a great character, and I love her growth throughout the story. The supporting characters are all really well written and they definitely make the book richer, with the exception of Kiki’s parents and brother who seem sort of one dimensional and annoying (until one conversation at the very end, I guess). A little bit of language and some content would make me uncomfortable with having this in my middle school classroom, but it’s fine for high school. Overall, there are some great messages here for teenage girls (and guys) about being happy with who you are and going after your dreams instead of settling, and I enjoyed reading this one. 

Find The Sound of Us here on Amazon or order it through your favorite bookseller!

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

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As summer winds down and back to school sales take over the stores, I find myself wanting to cling to summer for as long as possible.

One great YA title that might help us all hold fast to summer days is Morgan Matson’s The Unexpected Everything, a seriously cute and heartwarming novel that showcases everything there is to love about YA literature.

In it, Andie is a teenage girl with a very clear plan for her summer, for college, and for life in general. She’s the daughter of a politician, so her childhood has been lived under public scrutiny, and she strives for perfection. She hardly sees her dad, and since her mom passed away when she was young, she has basically raised herself. She’s fiercely independent and has very little relationship with her father, but somehow she’s satisfied with the way things are. She has her plans for the future, she has her friends, and she knows where she’s going.

But what will Andie do when a very public political scandal sends those plans sailing out the window? How will she deal with her lost summer internship? What will her unexpected summer be like when she had so many clear expectations that just won’t happen?

After she answers a help wanted ad that turns out to be for a dog walking service, all kinds of unexpected things pop up: a dad who’s suddenly in town a whole lot more than usual, a part time job without the prestige of a medical internship, a seriously great group of friends, a cute boy who keeps popping up, and so much more. What I love about The Unexpected Everything is that it’s fun and authentic (the text conversations, complete with emojis, are fantastic), but it still has strong themes of family and friendship and the power of change. We, along with Andie, get to see that sometimes beautiful things happen when life veers off the path we’ve decided it should stay on.

This novel is perfect for teenage girls and grown up women alike, and it’s especially fitting for these days when we’re still sort of in our summer state of mind but also making plans and looking ahead to the fresh opportunities that a new school year brings. Check it out, and enjoy!

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A Little Harry Potter Fun

Just because the whole world seems to be reading this new Harry Potter story and I’m curious to know what people think…

Have you read the Cursed Child yet? What did you think?

What Hogwarts House would you be sorted into?

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2016 Debut Authors Bash: K.C. Held and HOLDING COURT!

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I should start out by telling you all that, when I read the blurb for HOLDING COURT, I e-mailed the publisher immediately and begged for a review copy because it sounded just that perfect. When I got the review copy in the mail, it came with one of the coolest swag packs I’ve gotten, and you get a chance to win one! You can see what it looked like, and why I love this book SO MUCH, here. Also, here’s the link to purchase HOLDING COURT on Amazon.

Now, I’m happy to turn this post over to K.C. as she tells us about her favorite mystery influences and how they helped shape HOLDING COURT!

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Hi Melissa! Thanks so much for hosting me!

I’ve always been a huge mystery fan, and my taste runs the gamut, but in crafting HOLDING COURT I was definitely influenced by Janet Evanovich’s STEPHANIE PLUM series. I wanted to see if I could take this wacky idea I had about a character who blurts out random statements that turn out to be premonitions and mold it into a YA mystery featuring colorful characters involved in potentially ridiculous hijinks.

Rounding out my top five favorite mystery influences are:

Elizabeth Peters and her ability to “mingle intelligent whodunits with sheer lunatic hilarity.” I’m fascinated with art history and have a background in historic costume (which came into play in HOLDING COURT) so her art historian sleuth Vicky Bliss is a particular favorite.

Agatha Christie, the grand dame of mystery fiction. I devoured her books as a kid. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite but I’ll always have a soft spot for Miss Marple, who gets a shout-out in HOLDING COURT.

Meg Cabot and her MEDIATOR series. Much like Suze, Jules has a special ability that leads to unusual challenges and hilarious situations. Meg also wrote a blog post on the anniversary of 9/11 that had a huge impact on me. “Why I Write Funny Books” transformed the way I saw myself as a writer and validated my natural instinct to write things that make people laugh.

Ally Carter for writing funny “clean teen” books like the GALLAGHER GIRLS series that fill a niche for in-between readers and anyone who likes to read funny/and or sweet YA, like me!

Thanks again for letting me visit Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists!

I hope you have a killer summer! ;)

K.C.

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CHECK IT OUT: a Rafflecopter giveaway for a HOLDING COURT swag pack (magnetic prophecy kit, signed bookplate, bookmark, coloring postcard w/multi-colored pencil, and castle pin), open to US & CAN.
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2016 Debut Authors Bash: Jenna Evans Welch and Love & Gelato!

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I have SO MUCH LOVE for Jenna Evans Welch’s debut, Love & Gelato! Go read my previous review if you want, or just trust me that it’s awesome. (And make sure you read through to the bottom of this post for a chance to win a copy!)

One of my very favorite things about this book, though, was the Italian setting, which is downright magical in the way that Jenna brings it to life on the page. I asked her to share a bit about the process of writing a book with an American teen in a foreign setting, and about her inspiration for the setting. So, without further ado, here’s Jenna!

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Hello YA Blog World, and thank you Melissa for spotlighting me on your blog!

On May 3 I had a lifelong dream come true–my first YA novel LOVE & GELATO was released. After working on it for years (I wrote the first draft over seven years ago) it has been thrilling to hear from people who are actually reading it!

Here is a little bit about my book: LOVE & GELATO is a contemporary YA novel about a 16 year old girl named Lina who loses her mother to a fast moving illness. Before she dies, Lina’s mother makes her promise to spend some time with Howard, a man she met on a study abroad in Italy many years before. When Lina arrives in Florence she learns two things about Howard: one, he happens to be the caretaker for an American cemetery, and two, he’s her father. Of course this brings up a whole world of questions for Lina, namely: why didn’t her mom tell her who Howard was? Why did she keep her from him? And perhaps most troubling, why is she with him now? With the help of her mother’s journal, Lina starts exploring the city and piecing together her parents’ love story while (of course) getting entangled in her own.

The inspiration for this story was definitely personal. When I was 15-years old, my adventurous parents packed up me and my four younger siblings (plus about 300 duffel bags) and moved us to Florence for a year. We lived in a little house in Tuscany, and I attended high school in a tiny international school housed in an old villa. During that first year I drove a scooter, ate mass quantities of gelato, and made friends from all over the world. It was absolutely magical. When that first year was up I begged my parents to let me stay for a second year on my own–and amazingly, they did.

Those two years a very big deal to me. Leaving my comfort zone for a place with people from all over the world expanded my world exponentially and I have thought about that experience on a daily basis ever since. So when I decided I was going to go for it–fulfill my lifelong dream of writing a YA novel–it only made sense to write about a teenage girl discovering Italy.

My goal during this whole process was to write the book that I was looking for as a teenager. I wanted adventure, humor, romance and mystery–but most of all I wanted to be transported somewhere magic, and my hope is that LOVE & GELATO does just that.

Thank you for spotlighting my book!

With lots of love (and gelato), Jenna

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Now, ENTER TO WIN a copy of LOVE & GELATO (US only): Rafflecopter giveaway

AND go buy yourself a copy, because when we’re talking about love and gelato, who wants to wait and see if they win? Go get it!

Check out Jenna’s author page on Goodreads, too, where you can ask her questions and stay connected with her latest news.

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GREAT opportunity for Charlotte area teens!

crazyCharlotte, NC based author, Linda Phillips, is leading a writing workshop for teen and adults with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library system this summer. For any students ages 12 and up who have expressed an interest in poetry and stories told in verse, this is an amazing opportunity! Click here to register (space is limited!), and click here to check out Linda’s beautifully written novel in verse, Crazy. You can purchase Crazy here on Amazon or at your favorite book retailer.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

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Andie’s summer is all planned out – she’s going to avoid her congressman father, throw herself into a prestigious medical internship, and maybe spend some time with her group of friends. But, when a political scandal hits her father’s office, all of her plans go out the window. With her dad taking a leave from his office, he’s around all the time, and that prestigious internship disappears in the wake of the scandal.

On a whim, Andie responds to an employment ad… only to find herself unexpectedly employed as a dog walker for the summer. It’s in this unexpected development that she meets a totally swoon-worthy guy, gets to spend a whole lot of time with her friends, and comes to an understanding with her dad.

The Unexpected Everything is another super cute Morgan Matson story with incredibly well written, believable characters I’d like to hang out with. Plus, there are emojis in the text, and they’re so much fun. Definitely check this one out! ❤️

Holding Court by K.C. Held

After kind of a crazy day at school and a long evening of running errands with two kids in tow, I came home to this amazing package from Entangled Teen:

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In case you can’t tell from the picture, that’s actual magnetic poetry (magnetic “prophecy” for the sake of the book), and I was ridiculously excited by this. I started reading immediately and couldn’t have been happier with what I found within those pages.

Because it’s a unique premise, let’s start with the official blurb:

Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what’s in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty–and completely unavailable–Grayson Chandler. Except that it’s not quite what she imagined.
For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there’s the dead body she finds that just kind of…well, disappears. Oh, and there’s the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls “Psychic Tourette’s Syndrome”–spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies.
The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson’s attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson’s interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it’s starting to look suspicious…

Now, a YA romantic comedy mystery? Count. Me. In.

The protagonist, Jules, is a fascinating, lovable, honest, and quirky character that I just couldn’t get enough of. Her seemingly random psychic blurting made me LOL more than once, and her love of Grayson Chandler’s abs created plenty of adorably awkward teenage crush moments.

I don’t remember reading anything with a premise quite like this before, but it reminded me of a fun, younger version of Psych, which was one of my favorite shows when it was on. The dead body finding and mystery solving kept the story moving at a good pace, along with the hope that Grayson and Jules would actually get together.

Holding Court is pleasantly clean, too – a few little cuss words, but nothing major, and an appreciation of Grayson in Tudor tights and a flowy shirt, but no actual sexual situations. I’m 100% comfortable with putting this in my school library, which is awesome.

I really, really look forward to more from K.C., and I’d love to see Jules (and her family and friends and, of course, Grayson) in a few more books. Definite series potential! Find it here on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore!

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

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I have all the love in the world for well-written YA books involving an American teen travelling to a place I’d love to go, and Love & Gelato absolutely did NOT disappoint.

When Lina’s mom dies as a result of a quick-moving cancer, she feels obligated to fulfill one of her mom’s final wishes: that Lina would go to Italy and spend some time getting to know the country and the man who Lina has been told is her father, though she’s never actually met him. Obviously, because she’s grieving her mom’s death and in a foreign country and surrounded by people she doesn’t really know, there’s a huge adjustment period for Lina.

But, of course, Italy works its magic (the architecture, the pizza, and the gelato) and Lina meets a cute foreign boy, Ren, and his group of friends that she starts to explore the country with. She’s also given a journal that belonged to her mom while she studied abroad in Italy, and as she gets into it she realizes it’s the story of her mom and dad’s romance. With the help of Ren, she tracks down and finds answers for the mysteries contained in her mom’s journal, including the truth about her dad.

Lina finds love and adventure along the way, and the story is really just beautiful. It also left me really, really wanting to go to Italy… But I had to settle for making some Italian food. Love & Gelato comes out next week, so make sure you check it out! Find it here on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore.