Waiting on Wednesday: Me Since You by Laura Wiess

"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:

Me Since You
by Laura Wiess
Published by September 3, 2013
Publication Date: MTV Books











(from Goodreads)

Sixteen-year-old Rowan is still reeling from her father’s suicide four months ago, after he failed to stop a man from leaping off an overpass to his death. The only witness is Eli, a teenaged boy wrapped deep in mourning for his own father, killed in action in Afghanistan. When Rowan and Eli meet, they recognize kindred spirits, and begin to navigate grief and its aftermath together.

Rowan can’t understand how her father could choose to leave her, and acts out, pushing away friends and taking risks with her safety. Rowan’s mother, wracked with her own guilt and sorrow over failing to save her husband, stops going to work and collects stray cats for comfort. Grief, fractured and unpredictable, rules their lives now. Rowan is lost—and sinking. But Eli represents a lifeline for Rowan, and as they struggle to make sense of what’s gone and what is left behind, they begin to fall in love. Me Since You is Laura Wiess at her finest—a beautiful, gripping and painfully honest examination of adolescence.

 Goodreads *Amazon* IndieBound

I have been waiting for this book ever since I finished the last page of Ordinary Beauty published in 2011.  I know that this one,  like all of her others, will take me on an emotional rollercoaster. And I cannot wait!

Cover of Snow Blog Tour: Love My Indie with author Jenny Milchman

JKS Communications

Visiting today is author Jenny Milchman as part of the blog tour for her debut novel 

Cover of Snow. Jenny is a huge fan of and advocate for independent bookstores and agreed to share one of her many favorite independent bookstores for my recurring feature 

Love My Indie.

Welcome Jenny!

A My Favorite Bookstore

I had to alter the title of this blog post because in the past three years, I’ve visited more than 200 independent bookstores, and choosing one of them as favorite would feel a little like selecting between one of my kids.

How have I visited so many? Well, for the past three summers, my husband and I have loaded the aforementioned children into the car and driven cross-country, stopping at bookstores along the way. It’s our approach to vacation.

Last year we drove up I4 in Florida and I called out, “Look, kids, there’s the sign for Disney!” as we headed for a bookstore in Georgia. (If it weren’t for the crossed out words, we would almost be a normal family, but no, our kids did miss Disney for a bookstore.)

Although, in a lot of ways, bookstores are better than Disney. They’re filled with real treasures. Spending time in one truly takes you to other worlds.

I don’t have a favorite, but one proprietor said to me, “We’re so small and in such an out-of-the-way place, it can be hard for people to discover us.” Because I would like everyone to discover this magical place, I am going to write about Looking Glass Books for Actin’ Up.

This bookstore is in a tiny town in eastern Oregon that happens to have the best Chinese food I’ve had outside of New York City. A day spent in La Grande, OR can include a lunch or dinner of hand-rolled dumplings, and a trip through the looking glass.

One of the great things about the bookstore is that it sells both new and used books. My daughter was on a Babysitter’s Club kick last summer and discovered an absolute trove of them in Looking Glass Books. She came up to the register with a stack so high that I groaned. I mean…sixty bookstores in one summer. We can only buy so many books without my having to explain to the kids that they’re never going to college.

The bookseller’s name is Jessica and she got into a conversation with my daughter about how she herself used to read Babysitter’s Club. When it came time for tough decisions, I told my daughter to select five books. (She had twelve).

At that point Jessica said, “You choose five, and then seven are on the house.”

This is something an independent bookseller can do—see a spark in a child’s eye and decide the best way to keep it lit. My daughter remembers Jessica to this day. I think she’ll always remember her—and the bookstore, too.

Looking Glass is in a university town and they do events to create bridges between town and gown. Book clubs that focus on the curricula of various courses were one interesting approach we got to hear about. One of the things we discovered while on the road is that while in some ways independent bookstores are struggling, in others they are thriving. Most of the stores we went into were filled with customers and had lines at the register.

I think this is because an independent bookstore has a role to play as a hub of community life, and in this age of increasingly virtual living, that face-to-face connection is more and more valued—and valuable.

For sure, Looking Glass Books has become such a hub, and I feel privileged that I got to experience its welcome.

There is a Neil Young song I’ve always loved, and I think its lyrics sum up the role booksellers have played through the sea shifts that have assailed us as a society:

Long may you run.
Long may you run.
Although these changes
have come
With your chrome heart shining
in the sun
Long may you run.

Thank you, Jessica, and thanks to all the booksellers. Neil Young is not the only one who rocks.

I'd like to thank Jenny for sharing just one of the many independent bookstores that she loves. In addition to promoting Cover of Snow through this blog tour, Jenny will be visiting bookstores, libraries and schools in her Let It Snow 2013 book tour. She'll have a reading and signing at one of my favorite independents, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia. I won't be able to make it to the signing, but I'll make sure to pick up a copy the next time I stop by.



Jenny Milchman is a suspense novelist from New Jersey whose short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Adirondack Mysteries II, and in an e-published volume called Lunch Reads. Jenny is the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the chair of International Thriller Writers’ Debut Authors Program. Her first novel, Cover of Snow, is published by Ballantine.

Jenny can be reached at http://jennymilchman.com and she blogs at http://suspenseyourdisbelief.com

Waiting on Wednesday: fml by Shaun David Hutchison

"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:

fml
by Shaun David Hutchison
Published by SimonPulse
Publication Date: June 23 , 2013








(from Goodreads)

Tonight’s the night: Simon’s big chance to finally get with Cassie. Cassie, who he’s loved for ages. Cassie, who is newly boyfriend-free. Cassie, who just happens to be throwing the biggest party of the year. Simon’s plan is simple: he’ll go to the party, she’ll fall in love with him, they’ll make out like crazy, and the night will be a complete success.

But things don’t ever go as planned.

In two alternating plotlines, Simon goes after the girl of his dreams and stumbles toward his destiny. It’s one night, one party, and a thousand ways for things to go wrong . . . but a million ways for them to go right.

Goodreads *Amazon* Barnes & Noble

This one sounds a little like the movie Can't Hardly Wait and I Love You, Beth Cooper (the book, not a fan of the movie) where expectation outweighs reality. And this is what really has me hooked, 

"It’s one night, one party, and a thousand ways for things to go wrong . . . but a million ways for them to go right."

Oh, the possibilities. This is going to be a good one. I just know it!

Guest Post: Twisted Lit authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Welcome Twisted Lit authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes!

Anyone who’s ever read Shakespeare’s Macbeth knows it’s incredibly dark, and, well...basically a complete bloodbath. It’s one of our favorite Shakespeare plays  — (uh...what does that say about us?) — and we knew we wanted to tackle it for our YA Twisted Lit series. But how do you approach characters that are ambitious to the point of being despicable? Rather than being pure evil, we wanted the characters in Exposure to struggle with the morality of their decisions, especially when unforeseen events spiral out of their control. Our book is told from the point of view of the best friend, Skye (who parallels the character of Banquo in The Bard’s play). She’s an outsider looking in at people who are caught in a downward spiral of cover-up and calamity. You’ll undoubtedly develop strong feelings (of love and/or hate) for the high school students in our novel, and we venture to guess you’ve never read a take on "The Scottish Play" quite like this one!

  
Exposure: A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Double, double, toil and trouble. Sometimes, the quest for high school royalty can be deadly! In this emotionally-charged twist on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, a self-conscious shutterbug named Skye Kingston navigates a treacherous school year in Alaska fraught with unspoken secrets and tragic twists of fate. Along the way she encounters three strangely prophetic BFFs; one social-climbing, sociopathic cheerleader; and a heart-stopping hottie named Craig MacKenzie: the man who would be Prom King. Can Skye save the boy she loves — and herself — before they get caught in the crosshairs?

 

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Authors
Authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes have been writing together since 2004, when they launched Romancing the Tome, a blog dedicated to their obsession with book-to-film adaptations. For more information on the books in their Shakespeare-inspired series, visit TwistedLitBooks.com.

Falling for You by Lisa Schroeder: Excerpt and Giveaway

Hosted by The Mod Podge Bookshelf

I am pleased to participate in the Falling for You blog tour for young adult author, Lisa Schroeder. Her verse novels (which you will have a chance to win below) are some of my all-time favorites and are my go-to recommendations for readers who want to read a novel in verse but don't know which one to start with. Falling for You is Lisa's first published non-verse, young adult novel and it's one of my most anticipated books of 2013. It was published January 1, 2013, so you can go ahead and get a copy NOW.

I'd like to thank The Mod Podge Bookshelf for allowing me to participate in the tour which wraps up this weekend.

Remaining stops of the tour

1/19 Guest Blog @ YA Reads

1/20 Promo Post  @ Book Hounds YA

Goodreads * Amazon * Barnes & Noble

And now an excerpt from Falling For You

"Home Away From Home"

     Nina keeps the back door locked, so I walked around the to the front

past Cutting Edge, and through the door of Full Bloom. The sweet-smelling

shop has walls the color of sunshine and shelves filled with potted plants

and flowers. It gave me a warm, fuzzy-feeling when I walked in, like always.

     I could see Nina in the back workroom, through the large picture window

behind the long front counter. She sat with a pile of paperwork in front of her

and her laptop.

    "Hey, Nina. How's it going?" I asked as I walked through the workroom

door.

    "It's been quiet all day," she said, glancing up at me. "So I'm paying bills.

Man, do I hate paying bills. But Uranus is finally leaving my second house,

which rules earned income. Uranus is volatile, so it's a good thing it's leaving.

More money should start coming in, right?"

     I curled my lips in, trying not to giggle. "Nina, I'm sorry, but I'm still back

at 'Uranus is volatile.' " She could talk astrology to me all she wanted,

but as soon as she mentioned Uranus, it was over.

     "All right, all right. I'll keep my thoughts about Uranus to myself."

     "Much appreciated. So, what's my horoscope say? Do I have

anything to look forward to? If not, don't tell me. I don't want to know."

     "Nina regularly checked a bunch of online sites to get her daily,

weekly, and monthly horoscopes. I thought she took it a bit too seriously

sometimes, but I'd never tell her that. Mostly, I joked with her about it, hoping

to remind her it should be for fun, not something to plan her life around.

     "Romance," she said as she typed numbers into her spreadsheet.

"Something big is supposed to happen soon."

     I took my sweater off and hung it on the coatrack. "Since I'm sixteen,

wait, I mean, newly seventeen, and have never been kissed, that's even

funnier than saying Uranus is volatile."

© Lisa Schroeder 2013

Tour-Wide Giveaway:
Win signed copies of I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Far From You,
Chasing Brooklyn, The Day Before, and Falling for You 

 Enter Rafflecopter Giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday: Elegy by Tara Hudson

"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:

Elegy
by Tara Hudson
Published by HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 4 , 2013












(from Goodreads)

 A stalker ghost, misguided Seers, and spellbinding wraiths—Amelia Ashley has faced them all. Now her greatest hope is to spend the rest of her afterlife with her living boyfriend, Joshua. But the demonic forces return to give her an ultimatum: turn herself over to the darkness or watch them murder one living person per week until she does.

Amelia fears she might really be doomed, until the forces of light give her another option. She can join them in their quest to gather souls, with a catch: Once she joins them, she can never see Joshua again.

Faced with impossible choices, Amelia decides to take her afterlife into her own hands—and fight back.

Since there are still a few hours left of this Wednesday, I wanted to share what I am waiting on this week. I had no idea that the cover for Elegy had been revealed and when I went to Goodreads to find out the release date, there it was. Seeing it sparked my interest in finding out how this trilogy ends. I've read Hereafter (read my review) twice and Arise, which I still need to review, and have many questions about how this story is going to end. I hadn't read the synopsis until today, and I have to say, this story can still go in some many directions. 
This will be the another trilogy I'm looking forward to finishing this year (Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, and Hourglass by Myra McEntire are the others). 

 

Bout of Books 6.0 Recap

Man this Bout of Books Read-a-thon flew by. It's funny how that happens when you are reading books that you enjoy. I'm pretty satisfied with the amount of reading (and listening) I did this week. Below are my original goals and what I actually ended up reading. I usually don't list specific books that I will read because, as you can see, I always veer away from the list. No big deal because as I always say, reading is reading (but I do need to get to those review books).  

My Original Goals:

Read and review: The Namesake by Steven Parlato

Read and review: And By the Way . . . by Denise Deegan

Finish Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Audiobook)

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Audiobook)

Read a few chapters of Pride and Prejudice

What I read:
Close Enough to Touch by Victoria Dahl (my book club selection)
Just One Day by Gayle Forman
Read 5 Chapters of Pride and Prejudice
Finished Delirium (audiobook) by Lauren Oliver
Started Pandemonium (audiobook) by Lauren Oliver
Started The Namesake by Steven Parlato (10 pages)

Near the end of the read-a-thon I decided that I had to read Gayle Forman's Just One Day. There was a one day read-a-thon and twitter chat - a not that I planned to participate in it, I couldn't handle any spoilers that I might would read on Twitter, so I decided to read it. I loved it so much and if it is on your shelf or if you even considered reading it, all I can say is You Must and very soon!!

I didn't participate in any challenges this go round, and on Saturday I was sidetracked from reading when I ended up reorganizing my bookshelves. That was pretty spur of the moment - I was trying to make room for some new books - and ended up making a mess, blah blah, blah - you all know how that goes.

I hope to stop by a lot of blogs and see what everyone else read this week. Thanks for your comments. And until next time, happy reading!