Jessie Harrell's Blog, page 27

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

Tuesday = Release Party!! If you're a dance lover, this week's releases will have you tapping your toes. Let's celebrate with these debut YA authors:
Oct. 10th - 
Bunheads by Sophie Flack
On-stage beauty. Backstage drama.
As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet. 

But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah's universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other "bunheads" in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?


Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe


When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she's deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem's muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she's chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.
Ashfall by Mike Mullin





Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park don't realize that the boiling hot springs and spraying geysers are caused by an underlying supervolcano. It has erupted three times in the last 2.1 million years, and it will erupt again, changing the Earth forever.

Fifteen-year-old Alex is home alone when the supervolcano erupts. His town collapses into a nightmare of darkness, ash, and violence, forcing him to flee. He begins a harrowing trek in search of his parents and sister, who were visiting relatives 140 miles away.Along the way, Alex struggles through a landscape transformed by more than a foot of ash. The disaster brings out the best and worst in people desperate for food, clean water, and shelter.  When an escaped convict injures Alex, he searches for a sheltered place where he can wait--to heal or to die. Instead, he finds Darla. Together, they fight to achieve a nearly impossible goal: surviving the supervolcano.


(Sorry for the wonky fonts and spacing -- blogger and I are not getting along so well today.  Grrr!)

Kick A** 2011 Debut Author Spotlight

Today, several of us in the blog-o-sphere are giving a great, big, gratuitous shout out to a 2011 debut that made us swoon. Thank you, Christina Lee, for parenting this brain-child and organizing us all!  Be sure to swing by her blog so you can check out some of the other spotlight debuts.
Now, there are some obvious choices, but I wanted to give my shout outs to some fantastic books that you might not know about: one mainstream, one indie.
My mainstream shout-out goes to Cara Lynn Shultz for Spellbound.  Why should you read it?
* Past lives meets an
* An unending curse meets
* Fantastic and relatable characters


My indie should out goes to Willow Cross for The Dark Gifts: Birthright.  Why should you read it?
* Because vampires are awesome
* Especially when they're warring with each other
* And a girl is the one who is kicking butt & taking names.

Blog Tour Stop & Giveaway - The Willows: Haven by Hope Collier

Today I have the great honor of being the next-to-last stop on Hope Collier's blog tour for her debut YA novel The Willows: Haven.  The cover alone is awesome, but toss in a cross-country road trip and some mythological heritage and you've got the makings of a great novel!
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When tragedy strikes, seventeen year-old Ashton Blake sets out on a cross-country road trip, leaving the comforts of Malibu for the mountains of Kentucky. Along the way, she encounters Gabe Willoughby—the mysterious drifter with eyes like the sea and a knowing smile. Getting to know Gabe raises questions about her past. But no secret can be buried forever, and Ashton soon finders herself in a world where water is air and myth becomes reality. 

Just as Ashton comes to accept her newfound heritage, she's summoned to fulfill a treaty laid down centuries before — a treaty that will divide her love and test her loyalty. In the end, her future isn't her biggest concern, her humanity is. To run may mean war, but is she strong enough to stay?

Hope is a gifted author.  A great part of the story is spent on the road trip, with Ashton really finding herself and truly falling in love for the first time.  While a spoiled rich girl may not be the first character most of us would naturally connect with, Hope makes Ashton instantly lovable. And Gabe is just plain dreamy -- although post-Twilight I'm more sensitive to the fact that it's weird that he's actually far older than he looks (but NO - he's NOT a vampire).  Putting that aside though, I was rooting for the two of them to connect.

And when they do, some of the scenes are downright steamy. Like toe-curling, put me in a cold shower steamy.  But no worries parents, the intensity between the characters may be HOT, but they never get too far -- classic YA frustration!

 Since I'm trying not to include any spoilers, let me just say that the Treaty referenced in the book description made me so furious.  I was proud of Ashton for seeing that her choices were bigger than she was and had far-reaching implications.  I just wished there was one character in particular that didn't have to get hurt in the process of Ashton's decision-making.  That's as much as I can say without giving anything away -- and yes, I know not everything can work out perfectly in life -- but that was the only part that felt a little off to me.

Otherwise, I really loved this novel and would definitely recommend it.  It was a quick, entertaining read and you'll have no doubt that you're in the hands of a very gifted author as soon as you dive in.  To pick up your copy for only $2.99, head to Amazon.

And to learn more about Hope and her writing, please visit her blog and website or find her on twitter.

BONUS: Everyone who leaves a comment on the blog will be entered to win a free e-copy of The Willows: Haven.  Be sure to include your e-mail addy so we know how to find you. ;)
And swing in to the last tour stop tomorrow at A Tale of Many Reviews to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of the novel and some swag.

To check out the earlier tour stops for other reviews, excerpts, character and author interviews and more, you can visit the following blogs (blogs without an event next to them are reviews):

09/01/11 The Wormhole http://wormyhole.blogspot.com/ Interview09/02/11 Me My Shelf and I http://www.memyshelfandi.com/  09/03/11 Writing Crazy Me http://writingcrazyme.blogspot.com/  09/04/11 Stuck In Books http://www.stuckinbooks.com/ Excerpt09/05/11 Books Over Boys http://booksoverboys.blogspot.com/  09/06/11 Mocha Latte Reads http://www.mochalattereads.blogspot.com/ Character interview with Gabe09/07/11 Live To Read http://livetoread-krystal.blogspot.com/  09/08/11 Two Readers Review http://tworeadersreviews.blogspot.com/  09/09/11 Bookwork Lisa http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com/  09/10/11 We Fancy Books http://wefancybooks.blogspot.com/  09/11/11 A Tale of Many Reviews www.ataleofmanyreviews.com  09/12/11 A Casual Reader's Blog http://ellsey.blogspot.com/  09/13/11 Songs and Stories http://liedermadchen.blogspot.com/  09/14/11 Fantasy Fairy http://1fantasyfairy.blogspot.com/  09/15/11 Booc Looks http://booclooks.blogspot.com/  09/16/11 The Light of Asteria http://www.thelightofasteria.blogspot.com/ Guest Post09/17/11 SpadesHighReads http://www.spadeshighreads.com/  09/18/11 Cicis Theories http://cicistheories.com/  09/19/11 Literature Monsters http://literaturemonsters.blogspot.com/  09/20/11 Letters Inside Out http://www.lettersinsideout.net/ excerpt09/21/11 A Written Rhapsody http://awrittenrhapsody.blogspot.com/  09/22/11 aoBibliophere http://aobibliosphere.blogspot.com/  09/23/11 Book By Book Review http://bookbybookreview.blogspot.com/  09/24/11 Carole http://thelifeoffiction.blogspot.com/  09/25/11 YA Bound http://yabound.blogspot.com/ Character interview with Ash09/26/11 Young Readers http://youngreadersathome.blogspot.com/ Excerpt09/27/11 The Ending Unplanned http://theendingunplanned.blogspot.com/  09/28/11 Meghann Daugherty http://absconditas.com/  09/29/11 Alison Hess http://www.alisononeillhess.com/  09/30/11 Megan Curd http://www.megancurd.com/ Guest Post10/01/11 Cup of Tea Reviews http://cupofteareviews.blogspot.com/  10/02/11 Charissa Weaks http://www.charissaweaks.blogspot.com/  10/03/11 The Awesome Magic Attic http://theawesomemagicattic.blogspot.com/  10/04/11 Tori Scott http://www.toriscottya.com/  10/05/11 Jessie Harrell http://jessie-harrell.blogspot.com  10/06/11 A Tale of Many Reviews http://www.ataleofmanyreviews.com/ Video interview with author

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

I was afraid this week might be anti-climatic given all the releases last week, but there are some great debuts this week too!  Happy debut YA book birthday to:

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon


Their love was meant to be.

When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRÍs.

But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.
Variant by Robinson Wells


Benson Fisher thought that a scholarship to Maxfield Academy would be the ticket out of his dead-end life.
He was wrong.
Now he's trapped in a school that's surrounded by a razor-wire fence. A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.
Where breaking the rules equals death.
But when Benson stumbles upon the school's real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.

October 8th
Mercy Lily by Lisa Albert


I take the bees outside, unscrew the lid of the bee jar, and listen to their angry buzzing.
"I hate you," I whisper.

Lily's mother has slowly been losing herself to multiple sclerosis. After traditional treatment fails, she uses bee sting therapy, administered by Lily, to alleviate her pain. Lily is trained as a veterinary assistant, so she can easily handle the treatments. What she can't handle is what happens when the bee sting therapy fails and it becomes clear that her mom wants to die.
One beautiful spring day, Lily's mother asks her for the most impossible thing of all—mercy. While navigating first love, friendship, and other normal worries faced by high school sophomores, Lily also has to choose: help her mom go, or cling to her fading life for all it's worth.

Friday Inspiration

Over at Oasis for YA, we've been playing some writing prompt games these past couple of Thursdays and I think they're a blast.  We've either had a picture or a sentence to use as a jumping off point for 250 words.

For me, it's been very freeing not to have to think about things like plot and character arcs.  This is just 250 to tell a story - whatever story - that first pops into your brain.  It's fun, and so I thought we'd give it a try over here.

Who wants to play?  I'll give you a sentence and a picture.  Feel free to use either or both -- and leave me your creative writing in the comments.  I love to see how the Muse can strike everyone so differently.

Photo Credit
Sentence ~ Use this quote from Jean-Paul Sarte:"Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal."
Here's mine:
The baked and barren earth beneath my feet didn't feel half as dry as my heart.  There used to be a time when my life was like Spring. My eyes unfurled to the morning sunlight like blossoming petals. My senses were crisp and alive and warm in a subtly cool way. My blood raged like a cresting river, fat and over-full on music.
Our music.
Where once our violins had sung together, fevered and entranced, now mine whispered alone.  Since you left, doing anything more than caressing the strings has shredded me. I want to play again. I want my music to light me up again like a Spring afternoon and fill me with the warmth of tulips and cherry blossoms.  But everything now is darkness.
Dark in my soul. Dark when I close my eyes. Dark filling my ears. 
Perhaps it's because I know there's no coming back from where you've gone. My only consolation is that one day I will join you there.  Funny how life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

You know the drill. Tuesday = debut YA book birthday party.  Break out your cake and piñata to celebrate with these debut YA novelists:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkins (finally!)


Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.                                                                                                                                                  She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.                                                                                                       She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies


On the night of Skye's seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye's life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. 
Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can't help falling for, and Devin, who she can't stay away from, the consequences of Skye's choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.
A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton


Debut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger. 
The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki's blood.
Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen's son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.
Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty…

The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegan


Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—she is an Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx's biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God's promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he's finally found the girl he's been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over.  But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?
Shifting by Bethany Wiggins


After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.
Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.


When Ollie's daddy, the Reverend Everlasting Love, pulls their travel trailer into Binder to lead a three-day revival, Ollie knows that this town will be like all the others they visit— it is exactly the kind of nothing Ollie has come to expect. But on their first day in town, Ollie meets Jimmy Koppel, whose mother is in jail for murdering his father. Jimmy insists that his mother is innocent, and Ollie believes him. Still, even if Ollie convinces her daddy to stay in town, how can two kids free a grown woman who has signed a confession?  Ollie's longing for a friend and her daddy's penchant for searching out lost souls prove to be a formidable force in this tiny town where everyone seems bent on judging and jailing without a trial. 


Which of these will you add to your TBR pile?   I've pre-ordered Mara Dyer for my Kindle, so it should be there waiting for me when I get home.  :)  I've been looking forward to The Faerie Ring and The Mephisto Covenant too.

So Close to 600

So I looked this morning, and I'm only 1 follower away from 600.  That's cause for celebration, I think!!
Here's the deal.  Leave a comment below with: (1) your e-mail address and (2) a link to your tweet or FB post about the contest and you'll be entered to win an e-ARC of Destined.  Of course, I have to get to 600 followers before I give away the e-copy AND you must be a follower to enter. 
But that's it... THANK YOU to all of you who listen to my posts and comment back.  I love y'all!

Hype: Help or Hinderance?

Next week, my most highly-anticipated book of the year will be released.  The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.  The description sounds great, and the cover is even better.  You can't help but know this book is coming because its cover image is EVERYWHERE.  There are animated countdown widgets:
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Fan-made Mara Monday banners.
T-shirts. I loved the cover-art so much, I even bought a phone cover from the same line of photographs.
So yeah, there's been some serious marketing clout behind this novel, both from the publisher and on a grass-roots level.  And certainly, the initial sales will probably spike following next week's release (I know I've already got it pre-ordered for my Kindle).

But what I wonder is, after the initial purchasing tsunami, will all the hype help or hurt the book?  And what I mean is, I've built this book up so much in my mind based on the hype and so-far glowing reviews, that if it doesn't absolutely blow me out of the water, I'll be disappointed.

And I know this has happened to me for other books: like how excited I was to get my hands on Meg Cabot's Abandoned and then only felt luke-warm about it.  I wonder if I would've felt differently about it -- and given it a better review -- if I wasn't so convinced going into the book that it was going to be simply amazing.

For now, I'm staying optimistic about Mara Dyer.  There's no going back for me.  But in the back of my mind, I'm still a little worried.  Will my opinion of the novel live up to the impossibly-high expectations that I've built for it?

Does this ever happen to you?  Do you think a book can receive too much hype?  Or is all publicity good publicity?

Happy Debut YA Book Birthday

Special birthday shout-outs this week to:

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey (not her 1st novel, but this is her debut YA):


"It seemed so right. Danny was mine, I was his, and that wasn't going to work if he was dead. So I would make him not dead, not anymore. I didn't think any further than what it would feel like to kiss him again, to wrap my arms around him and bury my head against his shoulder. That was my first mistake. It also turned out to be the biggest." 

When her boyfriend, Danny, is killed in a car accident, Wren can't imagine living without him. Wild with grief, she uses the untamed powers she's inherited to bring him back. But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy she once loved. 

Wren has spent four months keeping Danny hidden, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school and somehow, inexplicably, he can sense her secret. Wren finds herself drawn to Gabriel, who is so much more alive than the ghost of the boy she loved. But Wren can't turn her back on Danny or the choice she made for him—and she realizes she must find a way to make things right, even if it means breaking her own heart. 

Amy Garvey's transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren's unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.Elisa is the chosen one.But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can't see how she ever will.Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn't die young.Most of the chosen do.
I also want to give a special shout-out to a lovely author and friend, Willow Cross, who launched the second book in her The Dark Gifts Series, called Inheritance.  The cover rocks and I remember reading her first pages on #yalitchat and being blown away.  I can't wait to sink my teeth into my own copy!  


When Sarah and Jason Masada received an old house from an aunt they never knew existed, they were grateful for the blessing. Until they discovered the curse that came with being part of the Masada family--a full moon.

Intent on tracing their lineage, they descend into a world of lies, fear, ancient myths, and death. Indian hunters have tracked them to the family compound, Jason is wanted for murders he doesn't remember committing, and their new-found family is on a mission to kill them. It seems their only hope for survival is to combine forces with two unlikely allies and trek across the globe to the place where it all began. Maybe there they can find a way to end it.

In Which I Hold My Own Book

This picture doesn't really need a caption... just a big ol' SQUEEE!!