Fins are forever cover reveal!

Hey guys! Today I have the special chance to be one of the bloggers with the chance to reveal the cover for the next book in Tera Lynn Childs' Fins series!

Isn't it gorgeous! Fins Are Forever tentatively comes out on June 28, 2011! Tera has created a countdown widget that you can post on your blog! You can find it here. And while you are at it why don't you let Tera know how much you like it!

 

Anxious Hearts

Title:  Anxious Hearts

Author:  Tucker Shaw

Publisher:  Amulet Books

Release Date:  May 1, 2010

Received From:  ATWT

“Evangeline,” he repeated, calling at a whisper. “Evangeline.” He was not calling that she may hear, he was calling that somehow her soul might know that he was devoted entirely to her, only to her. “Evangeline, I will find you." Eva and Gabe explore the golden forest of their seaside Maine town, unknowingly tracing the footsteps of two teens, Evangeline and Gabriel, who once lived in the idyllic wooded village of Acadia more than one hundred years ago. On the day that Evangeline and Gabriel were be wed, their village was attacked and the two were separated. And now in the present, Gabe has mysteriously disappeared from Eva.
A dreamlike, loose retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous love poem “Evangeline,” Anxious Hearts tells an epic tale of unrequited love and the hope that true love can be reunited.

This was a very interesting story. It was told from two perspectives one, Eva from the present time and two, Gabriel from the poem. It was interesting because the stories were not intertwined but they were similar so it was cool to see two different perspectives on undying love. But it was slightly confusing in the very beginning, but then I got used to the way the book flowed.

Eva and Gabe's story was more relate able I guess because it took place in present time, and had relate able family relationships and cultural understandings. I also liked how Eva dealt with the situations put in front of her, she dealt with the problems in realistic and believable ways.

Evangeline and Gabriel's story was a little harder to follow, and I did not like it as much, but it was still very touching and interesting.

I liked the way that Eva and Gabe's story was told from Eva's side, and how Evangeline and Gabriel's story was told by Gabriel. I liked that contrast between the two stories.

Pros

• 2 different stories
• different narrator for each story
• different premise

Cons

• Format was hard to get into in the beginning
• The middle of the stories were slow
• Somewhat hard to follow at times

Overall I liked the book but I wish it had flowed better at times!

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else

Title:  I Now Pronounce You Someone Else

Author:  Erin McCahan

Publisher:  Arthur A. Levine Books

Release Date:  June 1, 2010

Received From:  ATWT and Publisher in return for an honest review

Here Comes the Bride -- If She Can Pass Chemistry.

Eighteen-year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her image-obsessed mother; a kind but distant stepfather; and a brother with a small personality complex. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good. Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants -- and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do?

I first read I Now Pronounce You Someone Else a couple months ago and I loved it. But I was not entirely sure why so I put off writing my review, but when I got the chance to read it again for a blog tour I jumped at the chance!

I read this book in one day! The plot flowed beautifully and the characters were hilarious! I loved Bronwen because she is very similar to how I see myself. Bronwen and Jared grew a lot in this book which I really appreciated, it was nice to see characters grow in realistic ways and not because some bad guy or thing was coming to get them. It was very refreshing. The characters in this book are very believable because they have real personalities and real problems that many of us deal with ourselves.

Bronwen's relationship with Jared was very realistic in my opinion. While many people don't have a relationship that moves that quickly some people do and I think this book is a good reminder to cherish and move slow with your relationships. This book was not only about Bronwen's relationship with Jared but also with her mother, her stepfather, and her brother (who she calls Jesus) I enjoyed reading about a character with a real family dynamic that was not unnaturally shaped.

PROS

• Great family dynamic
• Good Lesson
• Good Plot
• Realistic problems
• Great Characters

CONS

• Needs another book!!!!!

So I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it to girls of all ages!

See what Jennie of Random Chalk Talk thought of the book!

BlogFest2010 Contest

Win ARC's of 

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto, The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni, and The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli, plus a swag pack!

Rules

Must have a US mailing address

must fill out this form before Sept. 13 at 12:00 A.M. EST 

and must be 13 or older!

Check out Reading Without Restraint for another giveaway! And to see a list of all the giveaways and for a chance to win a huge prize pack go to http://ajourneyofbooks.com/blogfest

 More info about BlogFest2010



Don't forget about the massive BlogFest 2010 grand giveaway!  Head on over to http://ajourneyofbooks.halfzero.net and click on the Tracking Site link to head to our own exclusive tracking site.  Once there you can register with a valid email address (to be used solely for the purpose of contacting the winner).  This site will allow you to track your progress through BlogFest 2010!  You can log on from anywhere at any time and continue where you left off.  The best part is that every blog that you visit and mark off through this tracking site will give you one entry into the massive giveaway!  We have a great collection of books, goodies and other swag that is looking for a new home!
Good luck!

Guest Post: Chelsea Campbell

Today I have with me the author of The Rise of Renegade X which I raved about here. Chelsea Campbell! Here is some background:

Chelsea Campbell grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where it rains a lot. And then rains some more. She finished her first novel when she was twelve, sent it out, and promptly got rejected. Since then she’s written many more novels, earned a degree in Latin and Ancient Greek, become an obsessive knitter and fiber artist, and started a collection of glass grapes. As a kid, Chelsea read lots of adult books, but now that she’s an adult herself (at least according to her driver’s license), she loves books for kids and teens. Besides writing, studying ancient languages, and collecting useless objects, Chelsea is a pop culture fangirl at heart and can often be found rewatching episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leveling up in World of Warcraft, or spending way too much time on Livejournal and Facebook. (from her website)
What inspired you to write YA?

--I've always written YA, even when I thought I was writing books for grown ups full of teh seriousness.  They were, um, not at all full of seriousness, teh or otherwise, and despite me thinking they were aimed at adults, they were always about teenagers and had YA voice to them.  So basically YA is just what comes out—even if it took me a while to realize it.

But boy do I love YA!  When I was a teen, I went straight from MG to adult books and totally missed out on the teen books.  But now that I'm an adult (I have a shower curtain that matches my hand towels to prove it) I can't get enough of books for teens.  YA and MG are great ages to both read and write for—they incorporate a lot of genres and you can have a lot of fun with them, and the audience is great.  Teen book bloggers have been super supportive of me and my book, and I've enjoyed getting to talk to and meet with them.  The YA section at the store or the library is the section with the most books I'm going to actually want to read, that have fun voices and aren't trying to prove anything.

And even if I missed out on the YA section when I was a teen, I did a lot of writing back then.  It's really cool now to be able to talk to aspiring teen writers and tell them it's important and that they can succeed.  I guess it's a pet peeve of mine to hear someone talk about how they're “going” to write a novel someday, after college or after they backpack across Europe or whatever.  And there's nothing wrong with those things, but people make excuses or think there's some stereotypical time to start writing novels.  There's not, but writing does take a LOT of practice, and it's good to start building those butt in chair, fingers on keyboard discipline skills as soon as possible.  Seeing the world might give you more experiences, which is good, but it's not going to magically turn you into a good writer.  So my point is basically, if you want to write, do it now, even though it's scary.  It will never not be scary to get started, but it will get easier with practice.

Thanks Chelsea!

So now that you have read my review, and heard from Chelsea how would you like to win a copy of The Rise of Renegade X?

Rules:

Must be 13 or older

Must have a US mailing address or be willing to pay shipping. 

Must fill out this form before 9/22 at 3:00 EST

Good Luck!

The Rise of Renegade X

Title: The Rise of Renegade X

Author:  Chelsea Campbell

Publisher:  Egmont USA

Release Date:  May 11, 2010

Received From:  Publisher via Teen {Book} Scene

Sixteen-year-old Damien Locke has a plan: major in messing with people at the local supervillain university and become a professional evil genius, just like his supervillain mom. But when he discovers the shameful secret she's been hiding all these years, that the one-night stand that spawned him was actually with a superhero, everything gets messed up. His father's too moral for his own good, so when he finds out Damien exists, he actually wants him to come live with him and his goody-goody superhero family. Damien gets shipped off to stay with them in their suburban hellhole, and he has only six weeks to prove he's not a hero in any way, or else he's stuck living with them for the rest of his life, or until he turns eighteen, whichever comes first.

To get out of this mess, Damien has to survive his dad's "flying lessons" that involve throwing him off the tallest building in the city--despite his nearly debilitating fear of heights--thwarting the eccentric teen scientist who insists she's his sidekick, and keeping his supervillain girlfriend from finding out the truth. But when Damien uncovers a dastardly plot to turn all the superheroes into mindless zombie slaves, a plan hatched by his own mom, he discovers he cares about his new family more than he thought. Now he has to choose: go back to his life of villainy and let his family become zombies, or stand up to his mom and become a real hero.

Super books are awesome! There are so many different ways you could go, and Campbell has chosen a really cool way to present the struggle between good and evil.

First off, Damien is a kick a** main character. He has his way and unless you follow it, you will be in a world of pain and or embarrassment. He was funny, sarcastic (something I like) and overall hilarious. Reading his dialogue made me want to know his even if at times he acted like a jerk. The internal struggle he faces in this book is illustrated by his schemes, but also his willingness to help those in need. I don't read many books with male main characters but Damian makes me want to read more! He seems hard and rugged on the outside but he does actually care what others think of him. He also sounds really hot!

Campbell does not illusion you into thinking that Damian wants anything to do with being a superhero, or with even being a non-arrogant human being. I mean the book starts with him selling tickets to his 16th birthday party, where his fate of being either a villain or a hero is sealed.

PROS
* Damian
*The premise
*The secondary characters
*The dialogue
*Open ended ending
*Hilarious

CONS
*Wordy at times 
*Slightly confusing at times
*Open ended ending

  Definitely check out this book. I recommend it especially for reluctant older guy readers!

Be sure to check out my guest post with Chelsea as well as a giveaway tomorrow!

IMM 12

Sorry guys I've been kind of AWOL lately because of school but I am back! 

This is my In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie! 

I got a lot of great books this week that I am really excited to read!

 Bought:
The Hunger Games Trilogy Box Set by Suzanne Collins 

Won:
A Jennifer Sturman Pize Pack from The Bookologist 

From Around The World Tours:
The Duff by Kody Keplinger
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

For Book Tours:
I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan
Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner

For Review
Halo by Alexandra Adornetto


What did you get in your mailbox this week?

 

CSN Giveaway!

Hey guys! You have probably noticed quite a few giveaways and reviews for CSN Stores! And for good reason. CSN has a great variety of different things, do you need a bedroom vanity? Or possibly a new bookshelf? Well then CSN has what you are looking for! So today I have up for grabs a $80 gift code to CSN stores.

Rules

U.S. only

13 and older only

must fill out the form by Sept 1 at 9:00 PM central time

Fill out this form to enter! Good luck!

The Body at the Tower

Title:  The Body at the Tower (The Agency, # 2)

Author: Y.S. Lee

Publisher:  Candlewick

Release Date:  August 10, 2010

Received From:  Publisher via Traveling 2 Teens

This is another colourful, action-packed Victorian detective novel about the exploits of agent Mary Quinn. At a young age, Mary Quinn is rescued from ...more This is another colourful, action-packed Victorian detective novel about the exploits of agent Mary Quinn. At a young age, Mary Quinn is rescued from the gallows and taken to Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls. The school turns out to be a front for a private detective agency. At age 17, Mary takes on her first case (A Spy in the House). In this, the second book of the series, Mary Quinn sets out to uncover the truth behind a suspicious death at St. Stephen's Tower, better known as the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament. The accident occurred after hours in a highly public part of town and despite the presence of night watchmen. Mary, disguised as Mark Quinn, becomes a builder's assistant to find out the truth about the body at the tower.

Warning slight spoilers for the first book. And possibly some fangirling.

I love historical fiction. I like to go back in time and see an event or place through different eyes. Mary Quinn is a fabulous heroine, she is spunky, fun, strong-willed, and doesn't let anything get in her way. It was cool to see another side of Mary, and to delve deeper into her past. 


I liked the variety of characters in this second installment. I felt that there were more different types of characters that really added to the storyline. Also.... James is back! Yay, I was so excited James was one of my favorite characters from the first book and I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow throughout this novel. 


The plot of this novel was good, it was fact paced and left me guessing. Lee also does a great job of building tension and setting. I found myself completely immersed in the book and completely captivated by the storyline. I really enjoyed how different this book was from the first one, Lee was in no way lazy in creating a new story. 


I don't want to give anything away so I will stop now, but the minute I finished this book I ran to my computer to double check that there was a third book! So I totally recommend that you pick up this novel when it comes out tomorrow, especially if you like mystery and historical fiction!


Make sure to check out the rest of the tour as well as my guest post with Y.S. Lee!

Mon. 8/2 - Kristi (The Story Siren)
Tues. 8/3 - Kristen (Bookworming in the 21st Century)
Wed. 8/4 - Sarah GreenBeanTeenQueen
Thurs. 8/5 - Lizzy (Cornucopia of Reviews)
Fri. 8/6 - Ari (Reading in Color)
Mon. 8/9 - Mariah  (A Reader's Adventure)
Tues. 8/10 - Steph Su (Steph Su Reads)
Wed. 8/11 - Cecilia (The Epic Rat)
Thurs. 8/12 - Laura (Laura’s Review Bookshelf)
Fri. 8/13 - The Book Smugglers

Y.S. Lee Guest Post

Hey guys! Today I have a guest post by the awesome Y.S. Lee, author of the Agency trilogy.

Welcome! This is the fifth essay about Notorious Victorians I wrote to celebrate the publication of my second novel, The Body at the Tower. Today and tomorrow, I’ll be looking at different aspects of Victorian celebrity – the way it develops and explodes.

Oscar Wilde’s public persona – languid, extravagant, quippy – often overshadows his body of work. He was a poet, essayist, playwright and novelist, but sometimes it seems that he’s best remembered for having been gay. This, of course, is far from the full picture.

Wilde adored being the centre of attention from a very young age – from his childhood, as a clever student of French and German, to his brilliant undergraduate career at Oxford. At university, he cultivated his persona – the peacock costumes, the drawled witticisms – and proclaimed himself an aesthete, someone highly sensitive to beauty. After graduation, he went on a lecture tour of North America, where enthusiastic cheers and loud sneers followed him across the continent. Perhaps the kind of attention didn’t matter: he was achieving celebrity. (Sound familiar, readers of 2010?)

Wilde returned to London, began writing journalism, married, and had two children. He later turned to fiction, writing short stories, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and satirical plays. At this period, he also began having sex with men – an illegal act in Victorian England. It was a dangerous double life, pitting Wilde the intellectual dandy against Wilde the sexual outlaw. Even so, what tipped him from thrilling spectacle into disgraceful scandal was Wilde’s own inability to understand how perilous this balance was. Wilde was, in many ways, the author of his own downfall.

When accused of being a sodomite (a Victorian term that comes from the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah), Wilde sued his accuser for criminal libel. It’s extraordinary to think that he expected to win. Wilde’s sexual activities were dug up and exposed to pubic scrutiny. The disgrace destroyed his career, his marriage (his family changed their surname and moved to the Continent), and his reputation. After serving his prison sentence, Wilde retreated to France, where he died in relative poverty.

Wilde’s journey from celebrity to exile was fuelled by his lifelong passion for attention, his insistence on flirting with notoriety. It’s a case of pushing a little too far, a little too long, and being surprised to find, instead of an adoring audience, a judging, unsympathetic public. Join me tomorrow when I look at a another Victorian celebrity who created his own public spectacle for entirely different reasons.

Thanks!

I found this guest post awesome for a few reasons, primarily because the day I received this post I had just started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray and was wondering about the author. So imagine my surprise when I got home and saw this in my inbox! Thanks Y.S. Lee!


Find Y.S. Lee

website: http://www.yslee.com

twitter: http://www.twitter.com/yinglee

And be sure to check out the rest of the tour

Mon. 8/2 - Kristi (The Story Siren)
Tues. 8/3 - Kristen (Bookworming in the 21st Century)
Wed. 8/4 - Sarah GreenBeanTeenQueen
Thurs. 8/5 - Lizzy (Cornucopia of Reviews)
Fri. 8/6 - Ari (Reading in Color)
Mon. 8/9 - Mariah  (A Reader's Adventure)
Tues. 8/10 - Steph Su (Steph Su Reads)
Wed. 8/11 - Cecilia (The Epic Rat)
Thurs. 8/12 - Laura (Laura’s Review Bookshelf)
Fri. 8/13 - The Book Smugglers

*All Pictures are from the author's website