LOVE AND VANDALISM by Laurie Boyle Crompton - Guest Post and Giveaway

LOVE AND VANDALISM is the new YA contemporary by Laurie Boyle Crompton and you can get your hands on it tomorrow - May 2nd! 

Today I am hosting Laurie as part of the LOVE AND VANDALISM blog tour. Check out which books made her fall in love with reading and then enter for a chance to win a copy of LOVE AND VANDALISM. 

Love and Vandalism by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Published by Sourcebooks Fire

Publication Date: May 2, 2017

Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound

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He calls it fate. She calls it blackmail.

Rory has a secret: she's the vandal who paints graffiti lions all over her small town. If her policeman dad knew, he'd probably disown her. So when Hayes, a former screw-up on the path to recovery, catches her in the act, Rory's sure she's busted. Instead, he makes her a deal. If Rory shows him around town, he won't turn her in. It might be coercion, but at least the boy is hot.

As they spend more time together, Rory worries she made the wrong choice. Hayes has a way of making her want things she shouldn't want and feel emotions she's tried to bury. Rory's going to have to distance herself from Hayes or confront a secret she can't bring herself to face...

Welcome Laurie!!

What books that made you fall in love with reading and writing. What book do you love to reread and why?

I was probably about ten or eleven the first time I read the book LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott. I still remember identifying so strongly with Jo March that I wanted to be just like her. It’s probably a large part of the reason I became a writer! Not just because I loved the book, but because the character spoke to me so strongly. Thankfully, beyond just wanting to be like Jo, it turned out I truly do love to write. And reading is a huge part of any writer’s job which is awesome! If I wasn’t an author, I’d probably be an editor or agent because no matter what I need reading to be part of my job description! I read all the fiction I can find time for, and on top of that I really enjoy reading books about the craft of writing. I’ve learned so much from authors like Stephen King and Anne Lamott who are generous enough to give us a peek behind their own creative curtains. In fact, Rory’s dreadlocks are a tribute to Anne Lamott and there is a dark and twisted secret backstory in one of my books that serves as a nod to my love of Stephen King. I’ll never tell what that is because it might ruin those characters for some people, but it is so much fun to put in little private homages to my author heroes. 

In LOVE AND VANDALISM Hayes talks a lot about THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis, who is another one of my favorite all time authors. I particularly love THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS which really impacted me when I was younger. I love books that don’t shy away from hard truths and particularly ones that really make me think. Lewis’ prose is so dense I love rereading it because new things seem to jump out at me every time! Other books I love to reread are Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD every year or so, just to recalibrate my focus and inspire me to continue to grow as a writer. 

Like you, I like books that look at truths and make me think about or rethink about my views of the world around me. Thanks for sharing.

About the Author: When she was 17, LAURIE BOYLE CROMPTON painted her first car hot pink using 40 cans of spray paint. This turned her into an overnight icon in Butler, PA. She now lives near NYC in Queens, but maintains a secret identity in New Paltz, NY where she and her family can often be found tromping through the forest. Visit www.lboylecrompton.com

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Waiting on Wednesday: Adrenaline Crush by Laurie Boyle Crompton

Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
 
This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Adrenaline Crush
by Laurie Boyle Crompton
Publication Date: September 23, 2014
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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from Goodreads


When a daredevil teen pushes herself too far, she must choose between two boys: the one who wants to keep her safe, and the one who dares her to return to her old self.

Seventeen-year-old Dyna comes from a long line of risk-takers and is an avid thrill-seeker in her own right, until she takes a terrible fall and splinters her ankle. Her life used to be about bike racing and rock climbing; now it’s about staying home, except for attending physical and group therapy sessions at the bizarre alternative healing center her mom has chosen. Dyna's boyfriend saw her accident and supports her newfound desire for safety, but a young Iraq war veteran she meets at rehab challenges her to think about what she’s really avoiding in her old life and to take chances again—even with her heart.

Why I'm Waiting 

•  I'm a huge fan of Laurie's! I loved Blaze and The Real Prom Queen's and she's quickly become an auto-read author. 
• I like the idea of a teenage daredevil - risk-taker, thrill seeker and how she deals with her life changing due to a serious injury.
• Laurie's humor. She always gets her point across without being preachy. She makes you laugh and makes you think at the same time.  

Review: The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High by Laurie Boyle Crompton

The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High

byLaurie Boyle Crompton

Publication Date: February 1, 2014

Published by Sourcebooks Fire

Pages:309

Source: Publisher vie Netgalley

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Shannon’s ‘clique’ is just her and her best friend and she has a super-embarrassing nickname that won’t go away. It is no huge shock when her classmates vote her least likely to be crowned Prom Queen. What is shocking is the new hidden camera reality show she finds herself starring in, titled The Prom Queen Wannabes! Shannon and two other Wannabes must battle to be elected Prom Queen and snag the One! Million! Dollar! prize. After a summer of makeovers and training at Prom Queen Camp, the hidden cameras watch the three of them enter their senior year equipped with secret skills to help wage war on the popular set. Things at Westfield High are about to get ugly, and Shannon must decide how much she's willing to give up for a shot at winning that tiara.

My Thoughts

As a fan of reality TV and competition shows and a fan of Laurie's debut novel, Blaze, I knew that her new book was going to be one fun ride. I expected many laughs while reading The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High and that is exactly what I got. Laurie had me hooked from the very beginning, when Shannon unwittingly and naively agrees to participate in the hidden-camera reality TV show.

In The Real Prom Queens, Laurie takes bits and pieces of reality shows to create this outlandish reality show: The Prom Queen Wannabes! As I continued to read, it was one laughable disaster after another and build-up after build-up knowing that it wasn't going to end well. But for every moment that is meant to make the reader laugh, we also get to find out about the behind the scenes manipulations that all but destroy the participants of the reality show competition.

The wannabe characters Shannon, Amy, and Kelly were fun to read. They weren't so different from everyone that you would want to be friends with. They just weren't high on the Prom Queen social ladder. What I really liked about their interactions was that there was a level of comraderie in their status. They were competition with each-other for the title of Prom Queen and the "One! Million! Dollar!" prize, but real friendships were built out of their common experience. 

I loved the "supporting" cast/characters too. Josie, Shannon's popular younger sister, Marnie, the corporation and label-hating BFF, and the nerdy and cute, love interest, Rick, kept it interesting. Even the mean-girl competition, Grace, was run to read. She kept me guessing in how she was going to ruin Shannon next.

The Real Prom Queens of Westfield High was very entertaining and fun. It was easy to see that there isn't any reality in reality-tv. Even though this story isn't about a real person's experience with reality-tv competition, it still shows how easy it is to get swept up in the supposed glamour of being on television and the lengths a show's creator will go to create a story or create chaos for ratings and something that "makes good television."

Fans of Libba Bray's Beauty Queens should check this out.

Disclaimer:  I received this e-ARC from Sourcebooks Fire via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any way other than the e-ARC provided. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

My Reality TV Guilty Pleasure

Back in the day, I never missed an episode of The Real World - "when people stopped being polite . . . and start(ed) getting real." I watched Season 1 (New York) - Season 12 (Las Vegas) - and I never missed an episode. I prided myself that I could name every person who starred in all of these episodes. I am proud to say that I finally outgrew my obsession with that show (and I can hardly remember the cast members names). I stopped watching The Real World, because it became all about the hook-ups and the fighting and so beyond any reality that I could identify with, but I still love watching The Real World/Road Rules Challenges. It the competitions that keep me entertained and, I can't lie, it is the drama, and the hopes that some of the old-school cast members will show up!