Friday, June 29, 2018

Book Trailer Friday [@FoxHomeEnt @EpicReads @acthomasbooks @@TheHateUGive @BalzerandBray] #TheHateUGive

The film version of Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give will be in theatres October 19th. You can find out more about the movie on the FoxMovies site, here.

Now for the trailer:




about The Hate U Give:


Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.




Balzer + Bray // February 28, 2017 // 453 pages // Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier ~ Tatiana de Rosnay review [@tatianaderosnay @StMartinsPress]

Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier
Sam Taylor, translator
St Martin's Press
April 18, 2017
340 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

The nonfiction debut from beloved international sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay: her bestselling biography of novelist Daphne du Maurier.

“It's impressive how Tatiana was able to recreate the personality of my mother, including her sense of humor. It is very well written and very moving. I’m sure my mother would have loved this book.” ― Tessa Montgomery d’Alamein, daughter of Daphné du Maurier, as told to Pauline Sommelet in Point de Vue

As a bilingual bestselling novelist with a mixed Franco-British bloodline and a host of eminent forebears, Tatiana de Rosnay is the perfect candidate to write a biography of Daphne du Maurier. As an eleven-year-old de Rosnay read and reread Rebecca, becoming a lifelong devotee of Du Maurier’s fiction. Now de Rosnay pays homage to the writer who influenced her so deeply, following Du Maurier from a shy seven-year-old, a rebellious sixteen-year-old, a twenty-something newlywed, and finally a cantankerous old lady. With a rhythm and intimacy to its prose characteristic of all de Rosnay’s works, Manderley Forever is a vividly compelling portrait and celebration of an intriguing, hugely popular and (at the time) critically underrated writer.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."So beings Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca. It is probably one of the best known first lines of a book ever but I did ot know very much, at all, about the author. Written by Tatiana de Rosnay, the author of Sarah's Key and other novels, Manderley Forever is the first (at least according to the text) French biography of du Maurier.

This biography tells Daphne du Maurier's life story using the houses she lived in and loved. A fitting method considering Manderley has to be one of the best known hones, fictional or otherwise.

I loved finding out about Dapne's famous grandfather, her famous actor father, their family's relationship with J.M. Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies. It's always interesting to be able to fit pieces - and people - of history that you knew of separately, together. From her childhood relationships with her parents and sisters their governess and friends/society Daphne is expected to behave a certain way around, we learn a lot about the little girl, her love of storytelling, and distaste for conventional gender roles. It is especially interesting and thought provoking when we see how those same relationships transform (or sometimes, don't) as du Maurier ages.

Possibly in part because this book was originally published in French, likely just because its fact, there is a lot of focus on the du Maruier's connections and visits to France. Whether it's because of where the book was first published or not, I really appreciated those parts of the story, what it said about Daphne, her family's past and then their present/future.

It works surprisingly well that de Rosnay does not try to provide a modern context or interpretation to many occurrences, statements, writings, etc that readers are shown in the novel. Things are written in such a way that they speak for themselves and readers are able to draw their own inferences, have their own interpretations.

There is quite a bit of description of the plot of du Maurier's (and her grandfather's, as well) writings so if you are someone who has not read them (and wishes to) you may want to skim those passages.

Manderley Forever gives readers a very real, truly human look at the life of Daphne du Maurier, from her childhood playing Peter Pan with her sisters, to her walks along the beach in Cornwall with her dogs, from her marriage and children to her publishing successes and failures. Tatiana de Rosnay has written a biography that is both compelling and complete.





Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Waiting On Wednesday [@GretchenMcNeil @DisneyHyperion @FreeformTV]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:



#MURDERTRENDING by Gretchen McNeil

WELCOME TO THE NEAR FUTURE, where good and honest citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society’s most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0.

When eighteen-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, lying on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse, she realizes she’s about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn’t commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse, the Death Row Breakfast Club, prove she’s innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman’s cast of executioners kill them off one by one?


published August 07th by Freeform

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


Why?

There is a lot that the #Murdertrending description left me wondering, but all in a very good way. I want to know when the book is set, if we get to find out how The Postman app came to be - and how Dee came to be there. Not to mention, if she can survive and how.

Plus, the Death Row Breakfast Club is basically enough, all on its own, to make me want to read this book. Adding in that it's written by Gretchen McNeil and I am incredibly curious to discover this story. It's a dystopian, near future thriller, that seems like there will be some snark, too - what more could you want?



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

Monday, June 25, 2018

Action Presidents: Abraham Lincoln~ Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey [@HarperChildrens @fredvanlente]

Action President #2: Abraham Lincoln
Ryan Dunlavey, illustrator
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
129 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon


Where the history is real and the jokes are fake!

The second Action Presidents book is just as fun—and funny—as the first. Legendary lumberjack and paramount president Abraham Lincoln practically jumps off the page.

Wimpy Kid meets the Who Was… series in these hilarious new graphic novels from New York Times bestselling comic book author Fred Van Lente and award-winning cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.

Did you know that Lincoln never went to college, and that he kept important documents in his famous top hat? Even the most reluctant reader won’t be able to put this graphic novel down, and they’ll learn about an American icon along the way.

U.S. history comes to life like never before! Historically accurate and highly entertaining, Action Presidents is perfect for curious minds. With timelines, maps, charts, and more, readers will keep learning until the last page.

The critics agree that the Action Presidents should not be missed. "A delightful, educational spin on history—and plenty of jokes," said School Library Journal of the first book in the series, George Washington. "Sheer joy," praised Booklist in a starred review.
The second installment of the Action Presidents series tells readers the story of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States. The book does a great job - starting with the back cover - of letting you know, right away, that it includes information you, likely, do not already know.

The blending of things you probably did not already know about Lincoln - even small things like why he grew a beard - with the more known facts of his presidency with his early career really help readers to assemble a full picture of who Abraham Lincoln was. Both the public, political figure and the man he was in private.

There are smart descriptions of the whys, wheres and hows of not only the start of the Civil War, but its battles, strategies, leaders, victories and defeats (both Union and Confederate). The telling does keep the age of its intended readers in mind but doesn't gloss over things or try to sanitize them - something that seems especially important at present.

Readers, beyond the eight to twelve-year-old range, will like being able to learn more about both President Lincoln and the Civil War in a format other than a more in depth, denser nonfiction book.




Action Presidents #3: Theodore Roosevelt! will be released July 24th





finished copy received from publisher, for review consideration

Friday, June 22, 2018

Book Trailer Friday [@CVDalcher @BerkleyPub] #VOX @100Words

It's Friday and time for another book trailer! This week it's the trailer for VoxWhile I dislike how relevant books about the loss of free speech and/or rights/equality for women or any minorities can seem so relevant, I love that authors are tackling the subjects. It's both terrifying and reassuring all at once.

Christina Dalcher's novel Vox will be released on August 21st - here is the book trailer:



about Vox
Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial--this can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.



August 21, 2018 // Berkley // 326 pages // Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Action Presidents: George Washington ~ Fred Van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey [@HarperChildrens @fredvanlente]

Action Presidents #1: George Washington
Ryan Dunlavey, illustrator
HarperCollins
February 06, 2018
128 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon


Where the history is real and the jokes are fake!

The first Action Presidents book will turn even the most reluctant reader into a history buff. George Washington, ultimate founding father and awesome American, practically jumps off the page.

We all know that George Washington was our first president and a hero of the American Revolution, but did you also know that he didn’t want to be president and had teeth so bad that he hated to smile?

Wimpy Kid meets the Who Was … series in these hilarious new graphic novels from New York Times bestselling comic book author Fred Van Lente and award-winning cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey.

U.S. history comes to life like never before! Historically accurate and highly entertaining, Action Presidents is perfect for curious minds. With timelines, maps, charts, and more, readers will keep learning until the last page.
This series has the weirdest narrator: a turkey named Noah the Historkey. There is an explanation for his name and why he's off telling these kids about history and the presidents - but it's still odd. Odd that gets your attention and makes the book a bit different, though.

This first Action Presidents has a logical choice for its subject, the first United States President, George Washington. While 'Presidents' is in the title, the book starts with Washington's early life. I will admit to knowing very little about his childhood (other than the infamous - and fictional - story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree). I liked that the book started there and told readers both that it was untrue and how it came to to be.

The book addresses Washington's adolescence,  his time in the Revolution and then as President. There was a good mix of his military life, accomplishments and setbacks and his personal life - his marriage to Martha, how his career impacted their lives, etc.

Action Presidents #1: George Washington will probably appeal more to boys than girls (at least the dysentery jokes) but is a good way to introduce or refresh American History to readers not likely to read it in other forms. (And as a fun way to get toe information, even if you will read/learn it elsewhere.)

I do wish these books had page numbers. It is easier to keep track of where you are in a book or to remember where in the book a bit of information was that you wanted to remember or share with someone.



Action Presidents #2 focuses on Abraham Lincoln . .






finished copy received from publisher, for review consideration

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Waiting On Wednesday [@epicreads @KatherineTegen @HarperTeen]

Waiting On Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

My pick for this week:



HEART OF THORNS (#1) by Bree Barton
In the ancient river kingdom, touch is a battlefield, bodies the instruments of war. Seventeen-year-old Mia Rose has pledged her life to hunting Gwyrach: women who can manipulate flesh, bones, breath, and blood.

Not women. Demons. The same demons who killed her mother without a single scratch.

But when Mia's father suddenly announces her marriage to the prince, she is forced to trade in her knives and trousers for a sumptuous silk gown. Only after the wedding goes disastrously wrong does she discover she has dark, forbidden magic—the very magic she has sworn to destroy.


published July 31st by Katherine Tegen Books

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


Why?

I love that we have so many stories now where the female character is not waiting around for some big, strong man to come save her from the monsters or other danger. She can save herself - and probably all the guys, too - thank you very much.  It can make for a much more rewarding and satisfying read.

I do still, however, like stories with some princes in them - and I want to know if the prince Mia is supposed to marry is only a literal prince or if he turns out to be more.

Plus, I just like tales of magic, whether it's good or bad, and how it - the discovery of their possession of or ability to use it - can lead to characters having to question things about themselves or their world. (And girls that can use knives are pretty fun, too.)

I look forward to discovering just what Heart of Thorns has to offer.



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

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Dive Smack ~ Demetra Brodsky review [@demetrabrodsky @torteen @StMartinsPress]

Dive Smack
Tor Teen
June 19, 2018
336 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Book Depository/or Amazon

A 2018 JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION

Theo Mackey only remembers one thing for certain about the fire that destroyed his home: he lit the match.

Sure, it was an accident. But the blaze killed his mom and set his dad on a path to self-destruction. Everything else about that fateful night is full of gaping holes in Theo’s mind, for good reason. Maybe it’s better that way. As captain of the Ellis Hollow Diving Team, with straight A's and solid friends, he's only one semester away from securing a scholarship, and leaving his past behind.

But when a family history project gets assigned at school, new memories come rushing to the surface, memories that make him question what he really knows about his family, the night of the fire, and if he can trust anyone—including himself.
A dive - like those one by members of the a dive team - is the perfect reflection of how Dive Smack will make you feel: it is full of twists, turns and sometimes the unexpected, it's fast and can seem confusing from the outside, but can be amazing at the finish.

Not to mention just how wrong you know things can go in an instant.

There were times when I really did not know what was going to happen in the story. I wasn't sure what genre the book fit into, whether things were really happening the way they seemed to be - or if it was a trick on the mid of the character and/or readers.

You don't know why Theo doesn't know what happened the night his house burned and his mother died - and you aren't really sure if you want him (or readers) to discover the truth. Will it be more painful than what he's imagined? Than the not knowing?

I loved that Theo was the captain of his school's Dive Team. Not only were the diving definitions at the top of each chapter great little peeks into what might be to come, it really was the perfect sport/hobby/pastime/skill/talent/passion for both Theo and the story. The notion of control and what that meant for not only his diving but his life away from the pool; the real danger that not being completely present and cognizant could put him in, really amps up the tension and your desire for answers.

The secondary characters in the book were real fun while still playing important roles in the story. I loved Chip (with his lack of a filter), his mother (and the dog she'd so smartly trained), even GP and his less than stellar parenting style. At first I was not sure about Iris (she seemed more what Theo, or a general teenage boy, would want her to be than a real, actual teenage girl) but she definitely grew on me.

Everything, from the losses Theo experienced to his current living situation to his friendship with Chip to his not-stalking of a girl to his not-really-Uncle Phil to why he wants to dive so well to the school project he has to do, all made for this perfect confluence of factors and events for both the character and the story. Dive Smack,, its characters and its story were very original and creative and made for an incredibly entertaining read.








finished copy received from publisher, for review consdieration

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 ...