Rule 3: Hit the beach

All I Need features summers down the shore. Skye is a summer girl at heart. She lives for summer, always hoping to meet the boy who will change her life forever. When she meets Seth at the last beach party of the summer, they both know they’ve found something real. That first summer at the beach is magical. So are all the others.

Summer just wouldn’t be summer without the beach. If you don’t live near an ocean, a lake or river beach will totally do. Backup plan: turn your backyard into a beach. Lounge chairs, beach towels, a kiddie pool, and a fresh stack of glossy magazines can make any day beach day. Slip ‘n Slide optional.

You can find Susane on Twitter and her website.

Plus, check out this video from Penguin Teen for All I Need!

All I Need synopsis:
The last night of summer is only the beginning.

Skye wants to meet the boy who will change her life forever. Seth feels their instant connection the second he sees her. When Seth starts talking to Skye at the last beach party of the summer, it’s obvious to both of them that this is something real. But when Seth leaves for college before they exchange contact info, Skye wonders if he felt the same way she did–and if she will ever see him again. Even if they find their way back to each other, can they make a long-distance relationship work despite trust issues, ex drama, and some serious background differences?

Teen favorite Susane Colasanti returns to the alternating-voice style of her beloved debut When It Happens in this Serendipity-inspired story about summer, soul mates, and the moments that change our lives forever.

About Susane Colasanti:
Susane Colasanti is the bestselling author of When It Happens, Take Me There, Waiting for You, Something Like Fate, So Much Closer, and Keep Holding On. Before becoming a full-time author in 2007, she was a high school science teacher for ten years. Susane has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University. She lives in New York City.
Susane’s seventh teen novel, All I Need, will be released on May 21, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

It’s Top 10 Tuesday (hosted at The Broke and the Bookish) and the topic is:

Top 10 Covers of Books I’ve Read

You know, I just realized I haven’t written much about book covers on the blog! As you can see from the choices below, I like more simplistic designs and interesting fonts. I REALLY don’t like covers with big poofy dresses, girls faces and/or random body parts on them. And, frankly, that covers most of YA. I assume the publishers have tested it and that sells…but I just don’t get the appeal.

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

You Look Different in Real Life
By Jennifer Castle
Publication date: June 4, 2013
HarperTeen, 368 pages
Source: Publisher

For the rest of the world, the movies are entertainment. For Justine, they’re real life.

The premise was simple: five kids, just living their lives. There’d be a new movie about them every five years, starting in kindergarten. But no one could have predicted what the cameras would capture. And no one could have predicted that Justine would be the star.

Now sixteen, Justine doesn’t feel like a star anymore. In fact, when she hears the crew has gotten the green light to film Five at Sixteen, all she feels is dread. The kids who shared the same table in kindergarten have become teenagers who hardly know one another. And Justine, who was so funny and edgy in the first two movies, feels like a disappointment.

But these teens have a bond that goes deeper than what’s on film. They’ve all shared the painful details of their lives with countless viewers. They all know how it feels to have fans as well as friends. So when this latest movie gives them the chance to reunite, Justine and her costars are going to take it. Because sometimes, the only way to see yourself is through someone else’s eyes.

Smart, fresh, and frequently funny, You Look Different in Real Life is a piercing novel about life in an age where the lines between what’s personal and what’s public aren’t always clear.

— Goodreads.com description

Ooooh I definitely enjoyed You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle.

First of all: The concept. Just imagine how hard it would be to have your whole life displayed for the world to see. Hard as a kid, but even harder as a teen. Blech! No, thank you. So it was really interesting to see how Justine coped (or didn’t cope, as the case may be).

Plus: The dynamics between the kids were so spot-on. Okay, sure, the reality movie thing isn’t an everyday situation, but the way Castle depicted the drifting friendships was something we can all relate to. It’s a natural part of growing up, and I love how well it was addressed here. I’ve been thinking I’d like to see move of that in books lately — especially in New Adult books because it gets even worse when everyone splits up for college — so I really loved that aspect of the book.

Otherwise, was it a little predictable? Yes. But I was still entertained.

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

Sign up to get future newsletters.

And click here to check out this month’s, which includes an interview with yours truly.

And let’s be friends on Goodreads while you’re at it, pretty please!

How fun is this?!

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

About Golden:

Published by: Simon & Schuster
To be released on: May 14th, 2013
Purchase it from: Simon & Schuster | IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Love, tragedy, and mystery converge in this compelling novel from “an author to watch” (Booklist).

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

Excerpt:

I haven’t completely made up my mind not to tell her about the journal yet, but I’m not sure she’ll understand at this point. I couldn’t fall asleep last night until I’d decided to go find Shane and Julianna’s tree. It doesn’t totally make sense to me, why I need to see it so much, but I can’t ignore it. Especially now that I need to see it so much, but I can’t ignore it Especially now that I know the story behind the carving. It’s more evidence that love like theirs actually happens beyond books and movies, in real life. Life that’s close to home.

As silly as it seems, it makes me feel like I somehow have a connection to it. To them. I want to see their tree the same way people want to see things that once were connected to famous people[especially once they’re gone. Little slivers of their personal pasts, like photos no one has ever seen, or letters that surface years after their deaths. Or journals. Maybe because they are the things that somehow make them more real to us. Or maybe because all of them add to the myth of the person. It’s hard to say which, but I need to find that tree. even if it takes me all week.

When I round the corner to Senior Hall, it’s empty except for one person. Trevor Collins. Of course. My newfound boldness wavers the tiniest bit when I pass him and catch the mix of laundry detergent and the cologne he always wears thatI always want to ask about so I can buy if for my future boyfriend. It’s clean and sexy with a little bit of spice to it, which is how I imagine him to be. The future boyfriend, not Trevor. I know him well enough to know better than to imagine him that way. I don’t say anything when I pass, but go straight to my locker, set the box of journals down, and spin the dial like I don’t notice him there. That’s when I feel him turn and look me over.

“Morning, Frost.” He says it like he knows I’m pretending not to see him, which I’m sure he does.

About Jessi:

Jessi Kirby is the author of Golden, which will be released in May of 2013, Moonglass, In Honor. She is also a former English teacher and librarian, wife, mom, beach lover, runner, and lover of Contemporary YA, strong coffee, and dark chocolate. In that order.

The giveaway:

Win a Jessi Kirby prize pack featuring Golden and each of her books!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

The Beautiful and the Cursed
By Page Morgan
Publication date: May 14, 2013
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 352 pages
Source: Blog tour

After a bizarre accident, Ingrid Waverly is forced to leave London with her mother and younger sister, Gabby, trading a world full of fancy dresses and society events for the unfamiliar city of Paris.

In Paris there are no grand balls or glittering parties, and, disturbingly, the house Ingrid’s twin brother, Grayson, found for them isn’t a house at all. It’s an abandoned abbey, its roof lined with stone gargoyles that could almost be mistaken for living, breathing creatures.

And Grayson has gone missing.

No one seems to know of his whereabouts but Luc, a devastatingly handsome servant at their new home.

Ingrid is sure her twin isn’t dead—she can feel it deep in her soul—but she knows he’s in grave danger. It will be up to her and Gabby to navigate the twisted path to Grayson, a path that will lead Ingrid on a discovery of dark secrets and otherworldly truths. And she’ll learn that once they are uncovered, they can never again be buried.

— Publisher description

Just when you think we’ve seen it all when it comes to teen supernatural books — vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons, demon killers, angels and more — we have a book about gargoyles. Which, I have to say, is pretty cool.

As someone who is leaning a bit more contemporary and a bit less supernatural/paranormal these days, I was pretty pumped to try out something different. Yay for different! I really applaud Page Morgan for her creativity here.

Where this book really worked for me was in terms of it’s creepy factor: I loved the gothic vibe and the grotesque bits (I think that was actually the original name of this book if I’m not mistaken) and the London setting.

Bonus factor: I really enjoyed the two sisters’ point of view on this one. Generally, I don’t love the bouncing back and forth, but I found both sisters to be tough and interesting in their own rights and was happy to keep checking in with them both.

A few things didn’t work for me: Instalove, slow start, some love triangle action.

Ultimately, I was hoping it would be a bit more City of Bones and it ended up more along the lines of Die for Me by Amy Plum or Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins. Now, that being said, fans of those books will likely want to check it out. For me, though, it wasn’t a favorite.

Use the form below to enter to win one of five signed swag packs for the book. Or head to the blogs Books Complete Me and Once Upon a Twilight to correctly pair up as many Team Dispossessed trivia questions and answers and Team Waverly trivia questions and answers as you can. Two winners will be randomly chosen from those who get the most correct. Mine are below and the rest can be found on the blog tour site!

My trivia:
Team WAVERLY Trivia QUESTION: What is the name of the demon hunting society the Waverly siblings are drawn into?
Team DISPOSSESSED Trivia ANSWER: Gargoyle common grounds

About the author:
Page Morgan has been fascinated with les grotesques ever since she came across an old, black-and-white photograph of a Notre Dame gargoyle keeping watch over the city of Paris. The gargoyle mythologies she went on to research fed her imagination, and she became inspired to piece together her own story and mythology for these remarkably complex stone figures. Page lives in New Hampshire with her husband and their three children.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

It’s Top 10 Tuesday (hosted at The Broke and the Bookish) and the topic is:

Cheating: Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker
Cancer: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Abuse: Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
Teen Pregnancy: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
Weight: Skinny by Donna Cooner
Family: I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Death: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Bullying: Speechless by Hannah Harrington
Suicide: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
War: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

Truly, how do people travel if they don’t read?! Don’t they go crazy from all that WAITING if they don’t have a book to keep them occupied!?!?!?!

I just got 300 pages in to a new book on a flight today — Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave (spoiler alert: IT IS AMAZING). See! Look at all that quality reading! Here’s what I have with me…

…what should I read next?

All physical copies, I know! Usually I’m a Kindle girl when I travel, but here are my thoughts on that:

PROS: Lightweight, plenty of options if you do not like the book you’re reading, only need one
CONS: Cannot read them during takeoff/landing periods, if it busts you’re out of luck

Yeah, the lightweight bit is awesome, but the cons are VERY serious cons. What if you’re at a good part right when the flight attendants tell you to put the book away!? TORTURE!

And the risk of it breaking is not one I’m willing to take anymore. Not after a certain incident in which I started out a long beach vacation to the Bahamas like this…

And one misplaced lean the wrong way later…ended up with a cracked, broken Kindle and NO books for the rest of the trip. NIGHTMARE!

What are you thoughts? How do you like to travel with books?

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

NOTE: I am ridiculous and started a list called “Things I Like in Books.” These are drawings of the things on that list. Truly AWFUL drawings. I am now going to share them with you one at a time. Mostly on Saturdays. Okay, here we go.

I like it when books involve road trips.

Examples: Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson and Don’t Stop Now by Julie Halpern. Now, I don’t actually LIKE road trips. Ugh, I get carsick and phantom leg cramps just thinking about it. BUT I LOVE ROAD TRIP BOOKS! Adventure! Cramped quarters! It’s delightful. Any road trip books you could recommend?

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved

My book club is, for lack of a better word, eclectic. We’ve read everything from Fifty Shades of Grey to a Charles Manson bio. Like I said, eclectic. But also up for anything!

So when we were asked to throw a themed book club for Suzanne Young’s The Program, all 12+ of us jumped at the chance.

My sister from another mister Tara is sharing how the meeting and book club discussion went today on Fiction Folio, and I’m sharing how I handled hostess duties — aka themed food and drinks!

First up: cocktails.

In The Program, a teenage suicide epidemic is sweeping the country. To deal, adults are sending teens to “The Program” to take happy little pills and get their memories wiped. So, of course, we drank “Forget Me Nots.”

Next up: Snacks!

Katie, posing above, was our champion baker of the night! Katie made us cupcakes with candy “medicine” on top, plus Skittles “pills” that match the color-coded, mind-erasing ones from the book. How cute is this?!

Love it! Don’t forget to visit Tara’s site for info on the book itself. Plus, enter below for a chance to win a book club party featuring The Program for your very own club!

About The Program
Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them.

About the author
Suzanne Young currently lives in Tempe, Arizona, where she teaches high school English. When not writing obsessively, Suzanne can be found searching her own tragic memories for inspiration. She is the author of several books for teens, including The Program, A Need So Beautiful, and A Want So Wicked.

Find out more
Learn more about The Program
Visit Suzanne Young’s Official Site
Follow Suzanne Young on Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

© Copyright 2013 – All rights reserved