Friday, May 25, 2018

Book Trailer Friday [@GetUnderlined @writerkmc]

The trailer I chose this week is for One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus. The book was released in May but it is one I am interested in so I thought you might also enjoy seeing its book trailer:




The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.


Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose?
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them."




May 30, 2017 // Delacorte Press // 358 pages // Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Waiting On Wednesday [@erin_bowman @harperteen @epicreads]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:



CONTAGION by Erin Bowman
It got in us

After receiving an urgent SOS from a work detail on a distant planet, a skeleton crew is dispatched to perform a standard search-and-rescue mission.

Most are dead.

But when the crew arrives, they find an abandoned site, littered with rotten food, discarded weapons…and dead bodies.

Don't set foot here again.

As they try to piece together who—or what—could have decimated an entire operation, they discover that some things are best left buried—and some monsters are only too ready to awaken.

published July 24th by HarperTeen

add to your Goodreads shelf // pre-order from Book Depo // or Amazon


Why?

I really, really, really loved Erin Bowman's Taken - I loved the mystery and the unknown about what was happening to the characters, what they believed and what was really taking place (whether or not those were the same things).

Minus the dead bodies the crew finds, Contagion is like an outer space Croatoan and I absolutely love the possibilities that presents. And that there ware so many of them I likely won't even consider.

There are 'monsters' - and I really want to know if that's meant literally or figuratively, or both -- and it's outer space and there's a mystery and their lives are under threat and I cannot wait to discover Contagion


That's my pick for this week, what's yours? Tell me in the comments and/or link me to your own post!

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Monday's Not Coming ~ Tiffany D Jackson review [@Writeinbk @epicreads @KatherineTegen] @erinferdinand]

Monday's Not Coming
Katherine Tegen Books
May 22, 2018
448 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon


A gripping, relentless, and timely new novel from critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Tiffany D. Jackson, about the complex mystery of one teenage girl’s disappearance and the traumatic effects of the truth.

Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable—more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t turn up for the first day of school, Claudia’s worried. When she doesn’t show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn’t just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best—and only—friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less help.

As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

The quote on the front cover of Monday's Not Coming, from Laurie Halse Anderson, tells readers the book is, "A mesmerizing, punch-in-the-gut-story," and that could not be more true.

Claudia's best friend is missing. And only she seems to notice, or care.

"I know what you're thinking. How can a whole person, a kid, disappear and no one say a word? Like if the sun just up and left one day, you'd think someone would sound an alarm, right?" (pg 1)

When we're told on page one of the book that Monday's disappeared and no one, save for Claudia, seems aware, it seems impossible. A girl cannot just disappear with no outcry, no concern. Yet, as the story progresses, we see just how possible it is for that to happen. It is scary how easily someone can be written off - usually because they were written off even while still right there in front of people.

The way the story is told ('The Before,' 'The After,' and some in the present) not only allows readers to gradually learn about Claudia and Monday's friendship, what happens once Monday's missing, but definitely ups the mystery and raises even more questions that you want to figure out.

I really loved that there was an added, unexpected element to Claudia wanting to find Monday. The secret Monday had been helping her keep added a level of immediacy to her need to find her best friend. Paired with the added stress it caused Claudia, it really made the story (and her) about more than Monday.

There are a lot of secrets, a lot of concealment and fear of the truth being found out in Monday's Not Coming. Author Tiffany D Jackson does an absolutely superb job making some things not nearly as bad as a character fears and some things so, so much worse.

This book will grab you from the beginning, yanking you up, down, and around as you experience Claudia's quest to find Monday, to find her best friend; and as you witness people's indifference, learn of the girls' pain, secrets and struggles to not let things be noticed, it truly is that, "punch-in-the-gut story."

("If Monday were a color, she'd be red. Crisp, striking, vivid, you couldn't miss her -- a bully's eyere in the room, a crackling flame." [pg 41].  The designer of the book jacket, Erin Fitzsimmons should be recognized for her awesomeness with this cover. With the way Claudia sees/thinks about/notices colors, the red, red, red cover is such a perfect fit.

After Allegedly and Monday's Not Coming, Tiffany D Jackson is up at the top of my list of authors to pay attention to = and to recommend. Monday's Not Coming is an utterly unforgettable tale of two young girls, their secrets, their truths and what it all says about them, their families, those around them, and society. I loved this book even as it absolutely tore me up.










finished copy received thanks to publisher, for review consideration

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Character Names


This week's Ten:
10 Best Character Names



Jus in Dear Martin by Nic Stone
review
Maybe, mainly (?) because it makes me think of Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice - but also for how much it fits his/the novel's story



Genesis in Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin
review


Monday, et al in Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D Jackson
review


Sadie Sparrow in The Lake House by Kate Morton
review

Cloud and Wallfish  in Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet
reveiw


Sunday Night in Two Nights by Kathy Reich
review

and these series.books have collections of names I love/think work well together/do a great job fitting their society:


Karou, Zuzana Nováková in The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Goodreads


Blue, Gansey, Ronan, etc The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
Book 1 reveiw


The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Cinder review


Speth,, et al in All Rights Reserved  (#1) by Gregory Scott Katsoulis
review





Please leave a comment and let me know what character names are your favorite!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Book Trailer Friday [@GetUnderlined @DelacortePress @karatwrites]

The book trailer I chose this week is for Kara Thomas's forthcoming YA, The Cheerleaders. It will be out July 31st:



about The Cheerleaders:
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.



July 31, 2018 // Delacorte Press // 384 pages // Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Dread Nation ~ Justina Ireland review [@justinaireland @epicreads @harperteen @BalzerandBray]

Dread Nation (#1)
Balzer + Bray
April 03, 2018
455 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon


Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

I love alternate history stories . . . butt I get a bit nervous when the thing they make 'alternate' about history is something we can all (or should all) agree was something good/positive/that needed to happen.

In Jane's America, slavery has ended but things are far from equal. The dead have risen, putting a stop to the War Between the Sates and leaving everyone with a whole new danger, a new enemy. TO keep people safe  the Native and Negro Reeducation Act, declares that Jane (and other African American and Native American children) will be trained to kill the dead. To protect white people. As is their place.

Here is the thing about a novel where character think that way (you know, that racial superiority is a thing and that it makes sense): It is a brilliant way of demonstrating the fallacy of that precise way of thinking. It is easy to see the wrongs when a story is set during the time of slavery in the Untied States, but the injustices can be less obvious when set afterwards.

In Dread Nation author Justina Ireland gives readers a time when slavery was gone, but the dichotomy of how whites and blacks (and 'Natives') is nearly as profound. Without technical slavery there as a backdrop, we are able to see (and hear) more of how the characters think, how they justify the inequality (and wow is a lot of it not only horrible, but also out there - which is worse because it wasn't out there to them).

That's not to say, though, that Dread Nation is only about the societal structure of Jane's America and full of sociopolitical lessons on race and equality. (There's also bits about gender, as well.) It is a fresh and unique sort of historical fiction, zombie book. Much as the 'why' was bad, the idea of the combat schools was pretty awesome.  I like that these people were so sure that they were 'superior' that their plan involved training the 'inferior' people in combat. Yeah.

I really loved how thoroughly different, yet still very similar and recognizable this alternate America was to what happened.

The characters are very well written. There are some that you really, really want to get shot or bitten or something, and others that you want to help defend (whether or not they need it). I appreciated how the relationships developed during the book and how we learned more about the characters and their history.

Knowing what I do now of how and where things are in Jane's time and of her past, and being truly invested in the characters, their stories, and their relationships, I very much want to read Book 2 and find out what happens. And how close - or how very far - things may get to real history.




Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Waiting On Wednesday [@McNamaraMiriam @skyponypress]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:


THE UNBINDING OF MARY READE by Miriam McNamara

A clever, romantic novel based on the true story of a girl who disguised herself as a boy to sail with the infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Calico Jack—and fell in love with Anne Bonny.

There’s no place for a girl in Mary’s world. Not in the home of her mum, desperately drunk and poor. Not in the household of her wealthy granny, where no girl can be named an heir. And certainly not in the arms of Nat, her childhood love who never knew her for who she was. As a sailor aboard a Caribbean merchant ship, Mary’s livelihood—and her safety—depends on her ability to disguise her gender.

At least, that’s what she thinks is true. But then pirates attack the ship, and in the midst of the gang of cutthroats, Mary spots something she never could have imagined: a girl pirate.

The sight of a girl standing unafraid upon the deck, gun and sword in hand, changes everything. In a split-second decision, Mary turns her gun on her own captain, earning herself the chance to join the account and become a pirate alongside Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.

For the first time, Mary has a shot at freedom. But imagining living as her true self is easier, it seems, than actually doing it. And when Mary finds herself falling for the captain’s mistress, she risks everything—her childhood love, her place among the crew, and even her life.

Breathlessly romantic and brilliantly subversive, The Unbinding of Mary Reade is sure to sweep readers off their feet and make their hearts soar.s


published June 19th  by Sky Pony Press

add to your Goodreads shelf // pre-order from Book Depo // or Amazon


Why?

It is not exactly a secret that I love books with pirates, maybe probably especially when those pirates are girls or women or when girls are on a pirate ship in an unexpected or unknown way. I loved Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and really enjoy books that take some of the similar ideas or themes and make it for readers that are a bit older;. It allows for so much more danger and suspense and (sometimes) romance and greatness.

I like that The Unbinding of Mary Reade is about girl who is hiding who she truly is and not only from others, but, possibly, from herself as well. I think that will add a truly intriguing angle to this story.


That's my pick for this week, what's yours? Tell me in the comments and/or link me to your own post!

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Captain Superlative ~ J.S. Puller [@PullerWrites @DisneyHyperion]

Captain Superlative
Disney Hyperion
May 08, 2018
254 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository.or Amazon

"Have no fear, citizens! Captain Superlative is here to make all troubles disappear!"

Red mask, blue wig, silver swimsuit, rubber gloves, torn tights, high top sneakers and . . . a cape? Who would run through the halls of Deerwood Park Middle School dressed like this? And why?

Janey-quick to stay in the shadows-can't resist the urge to uncover the truth behind the mask. The answer pulls invisible Janey into the spotlight and leads her to an unexpected friendship with a superhero like no other. Fearless even in the face of school bully extraordinaire, Dagmar Hagen, no good deed is too small for the incomparable Captain Superlative and her new sidekick, Janey.

But superheroes hold secrets and Captain Superlative is no exception. When Janey unearths what's truly at stake, she's forced to face her own dark secrets and discover what it truly means to be a hero . . . and a friend.

Superlatives always make me think of Latin class (or the current US President), but now I have something new, wonderful, and much better to associate them with: Captain Superlative.


Jane likes to blend in, to not call her attention to herself, to be the same. "...Then again, no one ever really saw me. I was as unimportant as air. And equally invisible." (pg 11) It might not be exciting but it keeps Jane free from being bullied, from being picked on, from being hurt. And it's working just fine . . . until Captain Superlative arrives.

Showing up to Deerwood Park Middle School dressed as a superhero - cape, masks, gloves, the whole bit - on a chilly January day is not normal. It's definitely different. Just like everyone else , Janey finds herself fascinated by the Captain and wanting to unravel the mystery, but never guessing how much the girl who always seems to be there to help will change Janey's life.

The entirety of this novel is just fantastic. Not only does it deal with Jane's life at school and the larger, more general anxieties and pressures that are part of being a seventh grader, but there is also Janey's relationship with her father and how her mother's death affected them. The author does a truly great job with the friendships in this book - both the current ones of different characters and the varying forms they take, but also those from the past . . . and ones that could be.

The relationships in this story are unique and complex and show us much about the characters - often often more than we, at first, realize. It's not just those eternal relationships that re handled so well: it is also about characters' self identity: their 'thing' and being true to your self, being happy, not being named Bob.

Captain Superlative is all of these great things pulled into a smart  and touching story. It has a good message but never feels like an adult telling middle school aged readers what's right or how to be (even the character of Janey's day, who could do that, lets her figure things out herself). The character are authentic and real and readers both in middle school and not should enjoy this one.

J.S. Puller's debut middle grade novel is funny, it's sweet, it's memorable. Melissa de la Cruz is not exaggerating when she says (as per the quote on the book's back cover), "This beautiful debut novel will make you laugh and cry and want to be a better person."







finished copy received for possible review, from publisher

Top Ten Tuesday: Fav Color Covers


This week's Ten:
10 Books With My Favorite Color On the Cover



Revived by Cat Patrick



Jackaby (#1) by William Ritter
Goodreads // Review



Passenger (#1) by Alexandra Bracken
Goodreads


Hamilton & Peggy!: A Revolutionary Friendship by L.M. Elliott
Goodreads // Review


The Haunting by Alex Bell



The Selection (#1) by Kiera Cass


This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston



The Shadow Society (#1) by Marie Rutkoski



With Malice by Eileen Cook
'


Made for You by Melissa Marr




Please leave a comment and let me know what books feature your favorite color on the cover (or within the title)!

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Waiting On Wednesday [@pengshepherd @WmMorrowBooks]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:


THE BOOK OF M by Peng Shepherd

Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.

One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.

Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.

Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.

As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.


published June 05th by William Morrow

add to your Goodreads shelf // pre-order from Book Depo // or Amazon


Why?

The Book of M was on yesterday's Top Ten Tuesday list of book I most wanted to get early - and here's why: I love near future ; they allow us to enter a world that is so very similar to our own that it's easy to recognize and relate to .. . . which then only makes whatever fantastic/magical/dystopian/scientific thing is happening all the more startling.

I also really enjoy books that deal with memory problems or issues the characters are experiencing - whether for a scientific reason, a medical one, something supernatural, or reasons yet to be discovered.

I am incredibly intrigued by the part of the description that tells us those who lose their shadows, " gain a strange new power." Not only do I want to know what exactly it means, I also am very curious how everything is tied together.

Plus, there's, "an abandoned hotel deep in the woods" and a sinister cult. Definitely count me in for this one!


That's my pick for this week, what's yours? Tell me in the comments and/or link me to your own post!

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want Early [@harperteen @StMartinsPress @PenguinTeen]


This week's Ten:
10 Books I’d Slay a Lion to Get Early


This is a lion-friendly blog, so instead the theme is going to be:

10 Books I Really, Really, Really Want to Get Early



those without covers yet:

Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu
Goodreads
(September 18, 2018 // G.P. Putnam Sons Books for Young Readers)


Shadowglass ((The Bone Witch #3) by Rin Chupeco
(2019)

Whatever Kathleen Glasgow is Publishing Next
(?)

Mikaela Everett's Next Novel
(?)


and with covers:
.

The Books of M by Peng Shepherd
(June 05, 2018 // William Morrow)


Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris
(June 19, 2018 // St Martins Press and HQ)



Eden Conquered (Dividing Eden #2) by Joelle Charbonneau
Goodreads
(June 05, 2018 // HarperTeen)


Crossing the Line by Simone Elkeles
Goodreads
(June 12, 2018 // HarperTeen)


Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
(May 08, 2018 // Razorbill)


On the Come Up by Angie Thoma
(February 05, 2019 // Balzer + Bray)




Please leave a comment and let me know what books you most want to read early!

Book Trailer Friday [@RandomHouse @TransworldBooks]

Beth Dorey-Stein's From the Corner of the Oval  - a tale of being the White House stenographer during the Obama administration will be ...