Suzanne Schultz Pick's Blog: bookblogarama, page 33
July 3, 2014
Author Spotlight Elena Dillon
~*~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~*~
Elena lives and writes in a suburb North of Los Angeles. She has never lived anywhere besides California which is probably a good thing since she hates being cold and is terrified to drive in the snow. She loves being a wife and a mother to her three kids and three dogs, although really the bulldog is the fourth child who has never matured beyond the toddler stage.
A self-proclaimed nerd, she has been writing since she was a child. She has only recently, however, come out of the closet about this to her family and friends. They now understand better, but not completely, why she talks about characters in stories as if they are real people.
~*~BOOK LIST~*~
~*~SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS~*~
http://www.twitter.com/ElenaDillon
http://www.facebook.com/ElenaDillonAuthor
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153090-breathe
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6581148.Elena_Dillon
July 2, 2014
WWW Wednesday 2 Jul 2014 (Find out what I am reading this week)
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
What are you currently reading?
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
What did you recently finish reading?
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
What do you think you’ll read next?
Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Happy Reading and Happy Wednesday!
June 23, 2014
Monday Mashups for 23 Jun 2014
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
My Musing:
I know I’ve said this before, but I am so tired of the same basic start for young adult books. A lot of the books I’ve picked up lately have one or more of the following:
unrequited crush
dead relative
high school clique of mean and popular students
some big “Wow” factor at the very start of the book
some “oh, bother – why me” kind of attitude in the main character
Granted, I’m guilty of some of these in my writing too, but I really don’t want to have something that is a copy of a copy of a copy (to quote Trent Reznor.) I don’t even care if there’s a ton of action in it with no room for reflection. (Some books I’ve read can’t handle subtlety or being in the moments, it’s all go-go-go and it gets kind of exhausting.)
Aside from that, I just reminded myself to buy Linger because Shiver was the book that first gave me the idea of having first person POV from both main characters.
Happy Reading and Happy Monday!
June 18, 2014
WWW Wednesday 18 Jun 2014 (Find out what I am reading this week)
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
What are you currently reading?
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
What did you recently finish reading?
Crane by Stacey Rourke
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Happy Reading and Happy Wednesday!
June 17, 2014
Dream Ending by S.M. Knowles Release Day
Release Day!
Dream Ending
The Rylee Everley Series Book #3
Young Adult Fantasy
Starting their senior year at a new school, Rylee, Lyla, Brock, Garrett, and Cole soon realize that Pothercrest isn’t any ordinary school. After speaking with her parents for the first time since arriving at Pothercrest, Lyla mysteriously disappears without a trace, but will they ever find her again? While searching for their friend, an unexpected visitor arrives with information Rylee never sees coming.
Adysin has managed to get into the school undetected and is on a mission to regain Brock as hers. Will Rylee and her friends ever rid themselves of Adysin and her obsession with controlling others? Something even darker than Adysin and her evil ways is stirring though, something no one is prepared for.
Catch up on the Other Books In the series!
Unusual Awakening ( Book #1 )
With tears and a tight hug, Rylee Everley’s dad left for Afghanistan with the Army Reserve. Since his deployment, her mom has been distant, her sisters are constantly fighting, and Rylee, at only thirteen years old, has to be the glue to keep them together. While her mother stays locked in her room, Rylee has been forced into the role of parent.
Now, two years later, a freak accident involving a bus at school promises to restore some normality to her family. In spite of not knowing how their father is, her mother is happy and her sisters don’t seem to fight as much as they used to. Rylee herself is seeing more of her friends and is even trying to sort out her own feelings about Brock Parker. However, something dark threatens to disrupt that normality for personal gain, and that darkness is willing to break every rule to get what it wants.
Add To Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/p58yfza
Purchase from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/p96xlsp
Awakening Dream ( Book #2 )
Since her father disappeared while in Afghanistan, Rylee Everley has been taking things one day at a time. After burying their friend over the summer, she and her friends returned to school for their junior year. While her friends are worried about career choices and the future, she hangs on to a secret. Witches exist, and they live here among us. She has been asked to help vanquish a half witch who has caused some problems with only a wisp trapped in a necklace to help her, her own manifesting gifts, and cryptic dreams to guide her.
To top it all off, her childhood friend, and crush, has been acting really strange ever since he started dating Adysin. He ditched the football team, and he acts like a totally different person. They were once so close, and now she finds herself missing him and feeling guilty for pushing him away. Is this just concern for a friend she’s feeling or could it be love? Can Rylee save her childhood friend from a witch who’s willing to go to any length and pay any price to keep him?
Add To Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/oube6p4
Purchase from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pbmfhdb
About the Author
While growing up, S.M. would travel the roads around her house while imagining she was somewhere else. Her imagination would take her everywhere, making the long hot summer days seem shorter throughout her fantasies. At the age of twelve, she decided to write her first book. Filled mostly with dialog, she filled up one-hundred pages, front and back. After taking the book downstairs to show her mom, and persuading her to buy her more paper, she excitedly ran back to her room. As she barreled through the door, S.M. tripped over items left on her floor, and her papers came raining down in her room. Discouraged, she stood there in tears, picking up her papers and throwing them in the trash. Her work had no organization, no numbers on her pages, just a child fulfilling a joy that she would put down and not pick up again. When she became older, she joined the military for something different. In that time, she was able to explore many places and even met her husband in Iraq. After coming home, she started her family in Arizona and went back to school, earning a Master’s degree in Adult Education and Training.
Crane Blog Tour Review
Crane by Stacey Rourke
Legends Saga Book 1
The Horseman is unending,
his presence shan’t lessen.
If you break the curse,
you become the legend.
Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle had no choice but to cover up the deadly truth behind Ichabod Crane’s disappearance. Centuries later, a Crane returns to Sleepy Hollow awakening macabre secrets once believed to be buried deep.
What if the monster that spawned the legend lived within you?
Now, Ireland Crane, reeling from a break-up and seeking a fresh start, must rely on the newly awakened Rip Van Winkle to discover the key to channeling the darkness swirling within her. Bodies are piling high and Ireland is the only one that can save Sleepy Hollow by embracing her own damning curse.
But is anyone truly safe when the Horseman rides?
Purchase
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords
iBooks
My Review
I was so excited to read this when I first saw the cover. After watching the TV drama of Sleepy Hallow, it’s really a happening topic, so I was glad to find a book that took the old horror tale and turned it into something juicer and more interesting. For anyone who’s interested in taking the old, tired classics and creating a new twist on the story; this is the perfect book for you.
About Stacy Rourke
There is nothing worse than being put on the spot and asked to talk about yourself. For me it brings back that inevitable moment in a new school when the teacher would ask me to stand up, introduce myself and tell the class something about myself. I was always worried I would blurt out something stupid that I would get teased for. Something like, “My name’s Stacey and I like pickles!” Then for the rest of the school year I’d be known as the Pickle Girl and let’s be honest, no one wants that. So to avoid such a faux pas I will simply say that I love to write. It allows me to get my crazy out just enough that I can function as a normal member of society.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter
June 13, 2014
A French Princess in Versailles Book Blitz
Series: The French Girl #3
Release date: June 30th 2014
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21466802-a-french-princess-in-versailles
Synopsis via Goodreads:
Determined to escape her failed pop career and focus on her classical training, Maude Laurent moves back to France and enrolls at the prestigious National Academy of Arts. Between balls, charity events, concerts, and navigating in the French elite, Maude has to prove she’s cut out to become a professional opera singer in a world where pop music is regarded with disdain. Though she fights it, her past catches up with her when she meets an English teacher who forces her to see a world beyond the safety of the Academy and takes her down an unusual musical journey where the risk is great and the reward uncertain. And when a chain of events bring her and Matt back in the same town, Maude will learn that music can bring people closer or tear them apart forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in France, raised partly in the United States and in France, Anna Adams grew up loving stories in French and English. Anna currently lives in Paris where she studies at la Sorbonne as a Law Student. She’s the author of the French Girl series for which she is writing the the third instalment. When she isn’t writing, Anna likes to travel in Europe and dreams of going to Asia and Africa.
Strolling in Storyland | Anna Adams (ADAMSANNA1) on Twitter
Happy Reading!
June 6, 2014
My Best Friend, Maybe Book Blitz
Release date: June 3rd 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Purchase: Amazon
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18594344-my-best-friend-maybe
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Colette has been bored and lonely ever since her best friend, Sadie, dumped her the summer before they stared high school. She tries to be perfect for everyone left in her life: her parents, her younger brothers, her church youth group, even her boyfriend, Mark. But Colette is restless. And she misses Sadie.
When Sadie tells Colette that she needs her old friend to join her on a family vacation to the Greek Islands, one that leaves in only a few days, Colette is shocked to hear their old magic word: need. And she finds herself agreeing.
Colette tries to relax and enjoy her Grecian surroundings but it’s not easy to go on vacation with the person who hurt you most in the world. When the reason for the trip finally surfaces, Colette finds out this is not only a fun vacation. Sadie has kept an enormous secret from Colette for years…forever. It’s a summer full of surprises, but that might be what Colette needs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caela Carter grew up in Basking Ridge, NJ and Baltimore, MD. She’s been writing since she learned how to pick up a pen but before the writing thing got serious she spent six years teaching English to middle and high school students in Jacksonville, FL and Chicago, IL. Her debut novel, ME, HIM, THEM AND IT was published in 2013 by Bloomsbury. When she’s not writing, Caela is a teacher of some awesome teens in Brooklyn, a Notre Dame football enthusiast, and a happy explorer in New York City.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
Rafflecopter Giveaway Code:
June 5, 2014
Cover Reveal: Dream Ending by S.M. Knowles
COVER REVEAL
Dream Ending
The Rylee Everley Series Book #3
Young Adult Fantasy
Starting their senior year at a new school, Rylee, Lyla, Brock, Garrett, and Cole soon realize that Pothercrest isn’t any ordinary school. After speaking with her parents for the first time since arriving at Pothercrest, Lyla mysteriously disappears without a trace, but will they ever find her again? While searching for their friend, an unexpected visitor arrives with information Rylee never sees coming.
Adysin has managed to get into the school undetected and is on a mission to regain Brock as hers. Will Rylee and her friends ever rid themselves of Adysin and her obsession with controlling others? Something even darker than Adysin and her evil ways is stirring though, something no one is prepared for.
Release Date: June 17th
Giveaway
Catch up on the Other Books In the series!
Unusual Awakening ( Book #1 )
With tears and a tight hug, Rylee Everley’s dad left for Afghanistan with the Army Reserve. Since his deployment, her mom has been distant, her sisters are constantly fighting, and Rylee, at only thirteen years old, has to be the glue to keep them together. While her mother stays locked in her room, Rylee has been forced into the role of parent.
Now, two years later, a freak accident involving a bus at school promises to restore some normality to her family. In spite of not knowing how their father is, her mother is happy and her sisters don’t seem to fight as much as they used to. Rylee herself is seeing more of her friends and is even trying to sort out her own feelings about Brock Parker. However, something dark threatens to disrupt that normality for personal gain, and that darkness is willing to break every rule to get what it wants.
Add To Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/p58yfza
Purchase from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/p96xlsp
Awakening Dream ( Book #2 )
Since her father disappeared while in Afghanistan, Rylee Everley has been taking things one day at a time. After burying their friend over the summer, she and her friends returned to school for their junior year. While her friends are worried about career choices and the future, she hangs on to a secret. Witches exist, and they live here among us. She has been asked to help vanquish a half witch who has caused some problems with only a wisp trapped in a necklace to help her, her own manifesting gifts, and cryptic dreams to guide her.
To top it all off, her childhood friend, and crush, has been acting really strange ever since he started dating Adysin. He ditched the football team, and he acts like a totally different person. They were once so close, and now she finds herself missing him and feeling guilty for pushing him away. Is this just concern for a friend she’s feeling or could it be love? Can Rylee save her childhood friend from a witch who’s willing to go to any length and pay any price to keep him?
Add To Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/oube6p4
Purchase from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pbmfhdb
About the Author
While growing up, S.M. would travel the roads around her house while imagining she was somewhere else. Her imagination would take her everywhere, making the long hot summer days seem shorter throughout her fantasies. At the age of twelve, she decided to write her first book. Filled mostly with dialog, she filled up one-hundred pages, front and back. After taking the book downstairs to show her mom, and persuading her to buy her more paper, she excitedly ran back to her room. As she barreled through the door, S.M. tripped over items left on her floor, and her papers came raining down in her room. Discouraged, she stood there in tears, picking up her papers and throwing them in the trash. Her work had no organization, no numbers on her pages, just a child fulfilling a joy that she would put down and not pick up again. When she became older, she joined the military for something different. In that time, she was able to explore many places and even met her husband in Iraq. After coming home, she started her family in Arizona and went back to school, earning a Master’s degree in Adult Education and Training.
June 4, 2014
WWW Wednesday 4 Jun 2014 (Find out what I am reading this week)
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
What are you currently reading?
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
I’ve been looking at this book for a while, especially since I’ve seen students reading it. I only went through the first chapter, but it seems very cute.
Kiss by Jacqueline Wilson
With as many books as I’ve seen to Wilson’s credit (most of them in classrooms), I figured I should pick up a few. I bought this at a £1 book sale in Asda and have just picked it up recently. This one is for upper middle grade, I’d say. It has a very distinct teenage voice that I really like.
What did you recently finish reading?
Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill by James Patterson
The Martian by Andy Weir
Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Technically, I’m still reading all of these, I’ve just set them aside for the time being.
What do you think you’ll read next?
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
I know we have this book sitting around somewhere, but I currently have the ebook version from the library. After the first page, I was ready to dive in.
The Camelot Code by Mari Mancusi
I’ve been trying to review more indie authors (because it’s so stinking fun) and this one looked really cute. I’ve read the first chapter and it’s such a cool idea. Can’t wait to read it all.
Happy Reading and Happy Wednesday!
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