What I Lost: Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway!

Rockstar Book Tours

 

About the Book:

Title: WHAT I LOST
Author: Alexandra Ballard
Pub. Date: June 6, 2017
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 304
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Links: Amazon, B&N. TBD, iBooks, Goodreads

What sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has lost so far: forty pounds, four jean sizes, a boyfriend, and her peace of mind. As a result, she’s finally a size zero. She’s also the newest resident at Wallingfield, a treatment center for girls like her—girls with eating disorders. Elizabeth is determined to endure the program so she can go back home, where she plans to start restricting her food intake again.She’s pretty sure her mom, who has her own size-zero obsession, needs treatment as much as she does. Maybe even more. Then Elizabeth begins receiving mysterious packages. Are they from her ex-boyfriend, a secret admirer, or someone playing a cruel trick?

This eloquent debut novel rings with authenticity as it follows Elizabeth’s journey to taking an active role in her recovery, hoping to get back all that she lost.

 

Review:

I was not prepared for this book to hit me as hard as it did. This was such a compelling and complex journey for a high school female dealing with anorexia. The stigma on today’s teens to look a certain way is overpowering. I’m surprised there aren’t more stories like this on the market.

Elizabeth dropped 4 sizes in a few short months after a painfully traumatic experience with her now ex-boyfriend. She realized the one thing that she could control in her life was food. Soon it became easier and easier to just not eat, or lie to herself that she was full. This was fueled by her mom’s own silent battle with food restriction. Her mom pushed Elizabeth into “losing just a few pounds to look better”. So who cared if Elizabeth considered dinner six small bites of a banana? Certainly nobody in her household. But things became serious when Elizabeth weighed 90 pounds. She was admitted to a health care facility for treatment.

A very, very little known fact about me is that I have a mild form of anorexia. Mine is nowhere as severe as those talked about in this book but it is real nonetheless. That caused me to connect with Elizabeth on a level I wasn’t ready for. I felt I could completely understand her thoughts and feelings. Her struggle was painful, understandable, and it just felt horribly real. Thankfully Elizabeth was not alone in her treatments. A cast of characters are along for the ride, each with their own demons to slay. They all play a bigger part in Elizabeth realizing what she has done to herself and giving her a glimpse of just how bad she could get if she didn’t do something to try to get better. Please know this story is not just about someone battling anorexia, it is also a bit of a love story. There is some romance that happens and it is super sweet. Elizabeth starts to receive mysterious packages while at the facility and she believes it is her ex-boyfriend sending them. How can her ex-boyfriend send her such loving packages when he is the one that sent her into such a downward spiral? Is it even him sending the packages?

So many questions! Will Elizabeth be able to make enough progress to leave the facility? Will she be able to make the tough food decisions on her own outside? What about her friends at school? This was such an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. I could not put this book down once I started. It was such a powerful read and I hope everyone gives it a chance.

About Alexandra:

Alexandra Ballard has worked as a magazine editor, middle-school English teacher, freelance writer, and cake maker. She holds master’s from both Columbia (journalism) and Fordham (education) and spent ten years in the classroom, beginning in the Bronx and ending up in the hills of California. Today she writes full time and lives in the Bay Area with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs. What I Lost is Alexandra’s first novel.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

 

 

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of WHAT I LOST, US Only.

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

5/29/2017-YA and Wine– Interview

5/30/2017- Take Me Away To A Great Read– Review

5/31/2017- BookHounds YA– Guest Post

6/1/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

6/2/2017- Eli to the nth– Excerpt

Week Two:

6/5/2017- Lisa Loves Literature– Review

6/6/2017- YA Book Madness– Guest Post

6/7/2017- The Cover Contessa– Interview

6/8/2017- Book Briefs– Review

6/9/2017- A Gingerly Review– Review

 

 

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott

 

 

Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott

Publication Date:  May 2, 2017

Publisher:  Entangled Teen

DOMINO: A girl with blue hair and a demon in her mind.

CAIN: A stone giant on the brink of exploding.

MADAM KARINA: A woman who demands obedience.

WILSON: The one who will destroy them all.

When Madam Karina discovers Domino in an alleyway, she offers her a position inside her home for entertainers in secluded West Texas. Left with few alternatives and an agenda of her own, Domino accepts. It isn’t long before she is fighting her way up the ranks to gain the madam’s approval. But after suffering weeks of bullying and unearthing the madam’s secrets, Domino decides to leave. It’ll be harder than she thinks, though, because the madam doesn’t like to lose inventory. But then, Madam Karina doesn’t know about the person living inside Domino’s mind. Madam Karina doesn’t know about Wilson.

AUTHOR INFO:

Victoria Scott is the acclaimed author of eight books for young adults. Her novels are sold in fourteen different countries, and she loves receiving fan mail from across the world. Victoria loves high fashion, big cities, and pink cotton candy. You can find her online at VictoriaScott.com.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instragram |  Goodreads

Tour Date:

May 15-June 9, 2017

Link to Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28226839-violet-grenade

Purchase Links:

Google Play | BAM | Chapters | Indies | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | TBD | iBooks

Link to Tour Schedule:

http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/tour-schedule-violet-grenade-by-victoria-scott-presented-by-entangled-teen/

Giveaway Details:

• Signed paperback of The Collector, a signed paperback of Titans, and a signed galley of Hear the Wolves.

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Rockstar Book Tours: Blood Road Release Celebration! (Excerpt & Giveaway)

 

 

I am so excited that BLOOD ROAD by Amanda McCrina is available now and that I get to share the news!

 

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Amanda McCrina, be sure to check out all the details below. 

 

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a 1 month subscription to Owl Crate courtesy of  Month9Books and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

About The Book:

Title: BLOOD ROAD

Author: Amanda McCrina

Pub. Date: April 25, 2017

Publisher: Month9Books

Format: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 329

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD

Nineteen-year-old Torien Risto has seen dissidents dealt with before. He knows the young local girl who just knifed him will hang for assaulting an Imperial officer, unless he can stop it.

Someone inside the provincial government is kidnapping Imperial citizens and selling them across the desert to the salt mines, silencing anyone who tries to intervene. The girl’s brother is one of those who has been taken. Rejected by the corrupt courts, she’s waging a personal war against the Empire.

Determined to save her life, Torien sets out in search of answers on the Salt Road, the ancient trade route running deep into the heart of a desert—territory claimed by the hostile Mayaso tribe.

Now, Torien is no longer sure where his own loyalty lies, or how far he will go to break the cycle of tyranny, political bullying, and social injustice in an empire that seals its borders in blood.

Exclusive Excerpt

He touched her arm. She tensed but did not move away. He took off his
glove and traced her cheekbone with two fingers, brushing the tears from her
cheek. She drew a shivering breath. He turned her head and held it between his
hands and brushed the tears from her eyelashes with his thumbs. She stood very
still and silently while he did it, her eyes closed, her lips tight. He bent
his head and buried his face in her black hair—and she slipped in suddenly
under his arms, looping her arms around his neck, resting her cheek on his
chest. Then she twisted against him, tilting her head back to look up in his
face. “It’s no good,” she said. “I can’t feel your heart beat.”

“It’s the plums. I think I’ve suffocated.”

She laughed. He felt it echo through her body. He felt her muscles
loosen. Her breath was warm on his neck. “If that’s all,” she said.

They sat below the boundary wall. She unbuckled his helmet and cuirass
and held the cuirass for him while he shrugged it off. She sat against him with
her knees folded up on his lap, her shoulders under the curve of his arm. She
unlaced his jerkin and bent her ear to his chest. “Better,” she said. “And
this—just to be sure.” She leaned into him and pressed her lips gently to the
pulse in his

He kissed her. He sat up from the wall, cupping her head in his hands,
and he bent his face to hers and kissed her lips, her eyelids, her forehead; he
lifted her chin with his fingers and kissed the hollow at the base of her
throat. Her arms were around his neck and her cheek against his and her tears
running on his face. He tried to lift her to look at her. She shook her head.
Her lips brushed his ear. “Don’t,” she said. Her voice was thick. So he put his
arms around her waist and held her, his head and shoulders braced against the
sun-warmed stones of the boundary wall, his chin on her shoulder, and he
listened with his eyes closed while she cried.

He opened his eyes at the smell of wood smoke. They were smoking the
hives over in the bee field. Over Ceno’s shoulder, he watched the smoke trail
away southward toward the city. He could see the Hill just visible above the pines
in the hazy distance, the Palace and Senate buildings in delicate white-marble
miniature—and the moment shattered against it, and there was nothing but Tasso,
and the orders in his saddlebag, and the cavalry column mustered and awaiting
his command on the parade ground at Vione.

 

 

About Amanda: 

Amanda McCrina has studied in Italy, taught English in Japan, and currently tutors Latin in Atlanta, Georgia. She received her BA in History from the University of West Georgia, and is now pursuing her MA. She writes stories that incorporate her love of history, languages, and world travel. She drinks far too much coffee and dreams of one day having a winning fantasy-hockey
season.

Website | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

 

 

 

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a 1 month subscription to Owl Crate, US Only. 

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Audiobook Review & Giveaway: Meeting Lydia

Author: Linda MacDonald

Narrator: Harriet Carmichael

Length: 8h 43m

Publisher: Essential Music⎮2016

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Release date: Nov. 17, 2016

Edward Harvey. Even thinking his name made her tingle with half-remembered childlike giddiness. Edward Harvey, the only one from Brocklebank to whom she might write if she found him.”

Marianne Hayward, teacher of psychology and compulsive analyser of the human condition, is hormonally unhinged. The first seven years of her education were spent at a boys’ prep school, Brocklebank Hall, where she was relentlessly bullied. From the start, she was weak and frightened and easy prey for Barnaby Sproat and his gang. Only one boy was never horrible to her: the clever and enigmatic Edward Harvey, on whom she developed her first crush.

Now 46, when Marianne finds her charming husband in the kitchen talking to the glamorous Charmaine, her childhood insecurities resurface and their once-happy marriage begins to slide. Teenage daughter Holly persuades her to join Friends Reunited, which results in both fearful and nostalgic memories of prep school as Marianne wonders what has become of the bullies and of Edward Harvey. Frantic to repair her marriage, yet rendered snappy and temperamental by her plummeting hormones, her attempts towards reconciliation fail. The answer to all her problems could lie in finding Edward again… But what would happen if she found what she seeks?

Buy on Audible⎮Amazon

Born and brought up in the town of Cockermouth in the Lake District in England, Linda MacDonald has a degree in psychology from Goldsmiths’, London University, and a PGCE in biology and science. She retired in 2012 from teaching psychology in a 6^th Form College in order to focus on writing, and has now published three print novels, the first of which is now an audiobook. She lives in Beckenham in Greater London, and travels to speak to various groups about the inspiration behind the ‘Lydia’ series and the psychology of internet relationships.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮LinkedIn

I’ve always loved doing voices. I grew up with Radio 4 being on constantly in the background. Somehow the voices and accents broadcast over the years soaked in. And now I do voices. Or if you ask my agent, I’m a “voice artist”.

For the last seven years I’ve spent most of my days in front of a microphone: as myself; as seven-year-old boys; talkingbaboons; angsty teenagers (usually American); androgynous talking cats; Glaswegian Grannies; the cast of The Archers…

After university I trained at The Oxford School of Drama and then acted mainly with touring theatre companies – some brilliant, some not so… I had a lot of fun, but once I started doing voiceovers in warm studios with good coffee, being on the road lost some of its appeal.
And the voice can do much more than people think. Tone, timing, pitch and accent can all vary depending on the job. From commercials and corporates to cartoons, computer games and audiobooks, it’s a brilliant job and, really, I owe it all to Radio 4.

Website

This is the story of Meeting Lydia focuses on Marianne Hayward and her friendships. Marianne has not had a good time at school since she has been bullied for years. This has caused great insecurities in her life and she isn’t quick to forget. She often wonders how her life might have been different if that stuff didn’t happen. But as she gets older and has a family of her own, her daughter pushes her to join a website that would force Marianne to dive into her past. It would cause Marianne to remember things she didn’t want to remember, but it could also talk to Edward Harvey, the one boy who was nice to her.

What a sweet story! I did not feel it was over the top amazing but it was sweet and enjoyable. I was surprised the theme of this story wasn’t more romance, it was friendships and the lasting effect they have on us. It was interesting to see how social media played a huge role in this story. It is so readily available nowadays so why not use it to help find an old friend or long lost love? That’s what the protagonist did it was very well done. After connecting with the boy she had a crush on, the protagonist was forced to also face the demons of her past. That is never easy for anyone, no matter what age they are.

I think this could be an important story for others as it reminds the reader that they need to be true to themselves. It also talks about some more serious topics of bullying, friendships and how important they are, romance, family, and more. I would highly recommend this to others as I really enjoyed this story.

 

 

Meeting Lydia Giveaway #1

 

Meeting Lydia Giveaway #2

Feb. 13: Jorie Loves A Story (Review)

Feb. 14: A Page to Turn (Review)
Country Girl Bookaholic (Interview, Spotlight & Giveaway)

Feb. 15: A Gingerly Review (Review & Giveaway)

Feb. 16: Ali the Dragon Slayer (Review & Giveaway)

Feb. 17: Jorie Loves A Story (Guest Post)

Feb. 18: Highway YA (Spotlight)

Feb. 19: Haddie’s Haven (Review, Spotlight & Giveaway)
Lynn’s Romance Enthusiasm (Spotlight)

Feb. 20: That Wild Soul (Spotlight & Giveaway)

Feb. 21: Mel’s Shelves (Review)
The Bookworm Lodge (Spotlight)

Feb. 22: Holed Up In A Book (Review)

➜Sign up as a host here

Love and First Sight: Review and Giveaway

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Title: LOVE AND FIRST SIGHT

Author: Josh Sundquist

Pub. Date:January 3, 2017

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 281

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads

 

Love is more than meets the eye.

On his first day at a new school, blind sixteen-year-old Will Porter accidentally groped a girl on the stairs, sat on another student in the cafeteria, and somehow drove a classmate to tears. High school can only go up from here, right?

As Will starts to find his footing, he develops a crush on a sweet but shy girl named Cecily. And despite his fear that having a girlfriend will make him inherently dependent on someone sighted, the two of them grow closer and closer. Then an unprecedented opportunity arises: an experimental surgery that could give Will eyesight for the first time in his life. But learning to see is more difficult than Will ever imagined, and he soon discovers that the sighted world has been keeping secrets. It turns out Cecily doesn’t meet traditional definitions of beauty—in fact, everything he’d heard about her appearance was a lie engineered by their so-called friends to get the two of them together. Does it matter what Cecily looks like? No, not really. But then why does Will feel so betrayed?

 

Review:

I had not ever read a book that dealt with blindness before but Josh Sundquist has such a way with words that I found myself swept away in this story. I rated this story as 4 stars based on my enjoyment after finishing. There were a few things that kept me from giving a higher rating: the pacing was a little off and I personally felt some of the decisions the characters made could have been expanded on to help develop the story more. Yet, overall, I really enjoyed the world Josh created. To read such a heartwarming story about someone with a disability caused me to open my eyes (no pun intended). I now have a new way of thinking about people who are born blind. I would highly encourage this book to others.

About Josh:

Internationally-Known Motivational Speaker

Josh Sundquist is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, and Paralympic ski racer. He has spoken across the world to groups ranging from Fortune 500 companies to inner city public schools to the White House.

Cancer Survivor

At age nine, Josh was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and given a fifty percent chance to live. He spent a year on chemotherapy treatments and his left leg was amputated. Doctors declared Josh cured of the disease at age thirteen and he took up ski racing three years later.

Paralympic Athlete

He trained for the next six years and in 2006 he was named to the US Paralympic Ski Team for the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy. Today, Josh represents the United States in international competition as a member of the U.S. Amputee Soccer Team.

Bestselling Author

Josh’s first memoir, Just Don’t Fall, was a National Bestseller in hardcover and is now available in paperback and audiobook. It was been translated into German and is also available in an Australia/New Zealand edition, for which, as it turns out, no translation was required. His second memoir We Should Hang Out Sometime, which is about his adolescent dating disasters, is under development to become a movie. His debut novel Love and First Sight will be published in 2017.

YouTube personality

Best known for his viral hit “The Amputee Rap,” Josh has built a YouTube channel with over 25 million views and two-hundred-thousand subscribers. In 2010 he was a winner of both the YouTube NextUp and YouTube On The Rise contests.

Service

Josh served a two-year tenure as the National Spokesperson for the Combined Federal Campaign, an effort that raises over $300 million dollars a year for charities. He has been featured on the back of Doritos bags nationwide for his work on behalf of amputees.

Media

Josh has been featured on CNN, USA TODAY, and NPR, and in many other less-famous and important sounding media outlets.

Education

Josh received a degree in business from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s in Communications from the University of Southern California. He lives with his wife near the beach.

Introducing Josh at a speech? Need a photo or bio for your conference program? You’ll find everything you need over at Meeting Planner Resources.

YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Snapchat | Instagram |Goodreads

 

 

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of LOVE AND FIRST SIGHT, US Only.

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

2/6/2017- BookHounds YA– Interview

2/7/2017- A Gingerly Review– Review

2/8/2017- Actin’ Up with Books– Guest Post

2/9/2017- The Hardcover Lover– Review

2/10/2017- A Dream Within A Dream– Guest Post

Week Two:

2/13/2017- Eli to the nth– Review

2/14/2017- Literary Meanderings– Interview

2/15/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

2/16/2017- Wandering Bark Books– Guest Post

2/17/2017- Just Commonly– Review

 

 

RockStar Book Tours: Lifers Review and Giveaway

www.rockstarbooktours.com

 

About the Book:

Title: LIFERS

Author: M.A. Griffin

Pub. Date: January 31, 2017

Publisher: Chicken House (Scholastic)

Pages: 288

Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, Goodreads

 

Fear haunts the streets of Preston’s city: a girl has disappeared. Preston is drawn to investigate, exploring the city in the hunt for his missing friend. And deep in the bowels of a secret scientific institute, he discovers a sinister machine used to banish teenage criminals for their offenses.

Captured and condemned to a cavernous dimension, Preston is determined to escape. But this is no ordinary jail. Friendships will be forged and lives will be lost in a reckless battle for freedom, revenge–and revolution.

Set in a world all too similar to our own, Lifers is thrilling, pulse-pounding storytelling of the highest degree. 

 

REVIEW

I have been drawn to a lot of mysteries and whodunits lately, so this book felt like it was calling to me. The blurb sounded fascinating and I couldn’t wait to dive into this story. Unfortunately, the pace of the novel was quite bothersome. It felt very slow and it took an awfully long time to really get started. It wastes no time explaining that there is a mystery going on, but it did not do a good job of explaining why there was a mystery. There are several other questions asked and the reader is prompted to continue, but there were a lot of bumps along the way.

I did not connect with all of the characters, but I was still prompted to finish the story to find out what happened. I wish there were not so many characters as they sort of became jumbled as the story continued. I was struggling to remember who did what and why everyone was there. The sheer need to find out what happened is what pushed me to finish. This was not the best mystery I have read, as I wish there had been more action and less description, but it was still enjoyable.

 

About M.A:

I’m a writer of children’s fiction, represented by Ben Illis at the B.I.A., available for workshops and school visits when I’m not chained to a laptop cursing my lack of progress and/or poverty of imagination.

 

My debut novel, The Poison Boy, was written as Fletcher Moss. My second novel, Lifers, is my first for teen readers. It arrives April 2016.
Website | Twitter | Goodreads

 

 

Giveaway Details:

 

3 winners will receive a finished copy of LIFERS, US Only.

 

 

Rafflecopter Link:

 

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Tour Schedule:

 

Week One:

1/23/2017- YA Book Madness– Interview

1/24/2017-Here’s to Happy Endings– Review

1/25/2017-Novel Novice– Excerpt

1/26/2017- A Dream Within A Dream– Review

1/27/2017- Fantasy Book Critic– Guest Post

 

Week Two:

1/30/2017- Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile– Review

1/31/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Interview

2/1/2017- Book-Keeping– Review

2/2/2017- Wishful Endings– Interview

2/3/2017- A Gingerly Review– Review

 

THE 100 BOOK/TV SHOW Blitz and Giveaway!

 

I am so excited that THE 100 returns to TV tonight! And to help celebrate the show’s return Little Brown Books For Young Readers and Rockstar Book Tours are giving away 5 Boxed Sets of the Complete series! So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

 

About The Book:

 

Title: THE 100 Box
Set (Books 1-4)

Author: Kass Morgan

Pub.
Date: January 3, 2016

Publisher: Little,
Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 1360

Formats: Paperback

Find it: Amazon, Goodreads

All four thrilling novels in The 100 series, now available in a paperback
boxed set! 

Ever since nuclear war destroyed our planet, humanity has been living on
city-like spaceships hovering above the toxic surface. As far as anyone knows,
no one has stepped foot on Earth in centuries–that is, until one hundred
juvenile delinquents are sentenced to return and recolonize the hostile land.
The future of the human race rests in their hands, but nothing can prepare the
100 for what they find on this strange and savage planet. 

 

 

Read the series that inspired the hit TV show. The 100, Day 21,
Homecoming, and Rebellion are gathered together for the first time in this
striking box set, perfect for fans and series newcomers alike.

 

 

About Kass Morgan

 

Kass Morgan
studied literature at Brown and Oxford, and now resides in Brooklyn, where she
lives in constant fear of her Ikea bookcase collapsing and burying her under a
mound of science fiction and Victorian novels. Kass is currently working on the
sequel to The 100, which she’ll finish as soon as she finds a coffee shop that
allows laptops on the weekend.

 

Twitter | Goodreads

 

Giveaway Details:

 

5 winners will receive the complete boxed set of THE 100 Series, US Only.

 

Ends on February 8th at Midnight EST!

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