Waiting on Wednesday {104}: All the Feels

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: All the Feels.

All the Feels

by Danika Stone

Publication date: June 7th, 2016

From Goodreads:

College freshman Liv is more than just a fangirl: The Starveil movies are her life… So, when her favorite character, Captain Matt Spartan, is killed off at the end of the last movie, Liv Just. Can’t. Deal.

Tired of sitting in her room sobbing, Liv decides to launch an online campaign to bring her beloved hero back to life. With the help of her best friend, Xander, actor and steampunk cosplayer extraordinaire, she creates #SpartanSurvived, a campaign to ignite the fandom. But as her online life succeeds beyond her wildest dreams, Liv is forced to balance that with the pressures of school, her mother’s disapproval, and her (mostly nonexistent and entirely traumatic) romantic life. A trip to DragonCon with Xander might be exactly what she needs to figure out what she really wants.

FALL #YASH (YA Scavenger Hunt) is coming!!!!

Fall #YASH starts this Thursday, October 1st and I AM SO EXCITED! There are 8 teams with 20 YA authors on each team... which means... a total of at least 160 books are up for grabs!!! 

I could go on and on about how awesome this is, but I think I'll share the teams instead. Are you ready?

The PINK team (notice anyone familiar on there? ahem.)

The PURPLE team

         

The RED team

The BLUE team

The TEAL team

The GREEN team

The ORANGE team

The GOLD team

So. Many. Great. BOOKS!!!! 

To learn more about YASH and how it works, go HERE or check out How To Hunt.

See ya'll Thursday!

I've FLIPPED... it's the RUNNING DREAM! Yes, I CONFESS... I'm doing a Wendelin Van Draanen #GIVEAWAY!

So... get this. I'm at the Central Coast Book and Author Fair on Sunday (more about that in a post next week), and guess who is ALSO there with a table FULL o' books? The lovely Wendelin Van Draanen!!!! (WHAT!) Now, I realize she's most known for FLIPPED or her Sammy Keyes series, but the book my teenage daughters recognized immediately is the book this quote above is from: THE RUNNING DREAM. Speaking of...

GUESS WHAT. Wendelin was kind enough to sign THE RUNNING DREAM, FLIPPED, and CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KISSER specifically to give away to one precious Let Me Tell You A Story winner! 

HOORAY!

More about entering in a moment, but first, the blurbs:

TRD blurb: Winner of the 2012 Schneider Family Book Award

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?

As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.

With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.



The blurb for FLIPPED: Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That’s pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn’t as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.














Blurb for CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KISSER: EVANGELINE LOGAN WANTS a kiss. A spectacular, heart-stopping, life changing kiss. Somehow The Crimson Kiss (a romance novel she’s become obsessed with) and Four Steps to Living Your Fantasy (a self-help book she’s reading) have fused in Evangeline’s mind and sent her on a quest for a kiss. But the path to perfection is paved with many bad kisses—the smash mouth, the ear licker, the “misser.” The phrase “I don’t kiss and tell” means nothing to the boys in her school. And worse: someone starts writing her name and number on bathroom walls. And worst of all: the boy she's just kissed turns out to be her best friend’s new crush. Kissing turns out to be way more complicated than the romance novels would have you believe . . .


Due to the cost of shipping, this giveaway is US only (sorry). Ends 10/11 at 11:59 p.m. PST

Make sure to add a few of her books to your Goodreads!

And now... the giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday {103}: It's a Wonderful Death

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: It's a Wonderful Death.

It's a Wonderful Death

by Sarah J. Schmitt

Publication date: October 2015

From Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll. But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an overzealous archangel and Death Himself. The tribunal presents her with two options: she can remain in the lobby, where souls wait to be processed, until her original lifeline expires, or she can replay three moments in her life in an effort to make choices that will result in a future deemed worthy of being saved. It sounds like a no-brainer. She’ll take a walk down memory lane. How hard can changing her future be?

But with each changing moment, RJ’s life begins to unravel, until this self-proclaimed queen bee is a social pariah. She begins to wonder if walking among the living is worth it if she has to spend the next sixty years as an outcast. Too quickly, RJ finds herself back in limbo, her time on Earth once again up for debate.

RJ is a snarky, unapologetic, almost unredeemable, very real girl. Her story is funny and moving, and teens will easily connect with her plight. Prepare to meet the Grim Reaper, who’s cuter than you’d expect; Hawaiian shirt–wearing Death Himself; Saint Peter (who likes to play Cornhole); and Al, the handler for the three-headed hound that guards the gates of Hell. This cast of characters accompanies RJ through her time in the afterlife and will do their best to gently shove her in the right direction.

ASIAN covers and characters in YA (#diversebooks)

Ever since, well, okay, I'm going to be real, here--ever since seeing this one guy as I dropped off my girls at the local high school (and having a character pop right into my head) a couple of years ago, I've been much more serious about including Asian characters in my work. The result of that is the presence of Ethan and Mallory in the Flora series, as well as other characters in books I've written that are yet-to-be released. Not that I pretend to know anything about Asian culture or specific Asian ethnicities, because I totally don't (which is why I personally would never try to do an Asian MC), but I think it's become pretty clear that YA books need to imitate life, and life (at least here, where we live) is quite the eclectic group of fishies in the high school sea.

Anyway. Since this lack of Asian YA covers/MCs/secondary characters popped out at me in 2013, I've really been keeping an eye out for Asian characters in YA. Since then, I've been wanting to share the few I've come across, and I finally got around to doing a post! YAY!

 

There are MANY more books, of course, but these are the ones I've recently come across. For a longer list, check out this one on Goodreads. 

How about you? Have read any of these, or seen/read others not mentioned here? I'd love to hear about them in the comments! :)

Waiting on Wednesday {102}: Into the Dim

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Into the Dim.

Into The Dim

by Janet B. Taylor

Publication date: March 1st, 2016

From Goodreads:

“Seventy-two hours, then we have to be back at the clearing. Sunrise on the third day.”

Being “the homeschooled girl,” in a small town, Hope Walton’s crippling phobias and photographic memory don’t help her fit in with her adoptive dad’s perfectly blonde Southern family. But when her mother is killed in a natural disaster thousands of miles from home, Hope’s secluded world crumbles. After an aunt she’s never met invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic. She’s a member of a secret society of time travelers, and is actually trapped in the twelfth century in the age of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Now Hope must conquer her numerous fears and travel back in time to help rescue her mother before she’s lost for good. Along the way, she’ll discover more family secrets, and a mysterious boy who could be vital to setting her mother free… or the key to Hope’s undoing.

Addictive, romantic, and rich with historical detail, Into the Dim is an Outlander for teens.

Books 'n' Bloggers Swap Show Off (or, in other words, LOOKIE AT MY STUFFS)

 

 It's time to show off the stuff I got in the Books 'n' Bloggers Swap hosted by the lovely Chaotic Goddess Swaps. This is the first swap I've ever done, and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! I loved picking out my partner, Amber's (@bookstacksamber), books and wrapping them up. But it wasn't just the gift giving that I loved; part of it was the secretive stuff. Going through lists? Picking out surprises? Deciding what to send? And not letting Amber know what I was doing the whole time I was doing it??? This was me all over the interwebs (except, ah, my shirt wasn't quite that open):

And still, I didn't realize how excited I'd be when my mail came in! Let me tell ya, seeing what she picked out specifically for ME... 

Well, let's just say that this was my reaction as I opened the box:

Amber has THE best taste, and I was totally blown away by her generosity. Thank you SO SO SO much, Amber, for the PERFECT coffee calendar, the lovely highlighters (my senior already stole the yellow one), MAGONIA (which I've been wanting for forever), and EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, which I read an eARC of but totally wanted to hold in my very hands so I could actually see the lovely lovely drawings! And last but certainly not least, THANK YOU for BLOOD RED ROAD (Dust Lands, #1)!!!! I searched and searched for this HC (to match the other two I'd bought at Book Outlet) and had given up on being able to get the right one. And then, what came in the box? THE MATCHING COVER!!! 

 I attempted a photo op:

So colorful. So MINE. hehehe

PERFECT calendar + BRR
with its famery, all happy & waiting to
be read

Here's a better shot of the gorgeous COVER:

 love love love 

I have the BLOOD RED ROAD ebook, but hadn't ever gotten around to reading it, so I'm really looking forward to starting the series now! Here's BRR's blurb:

Saba lives in Silverlake, a wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms where her family scavenge from landfills left by the long-gone Wrecker civilization. After four cloaked horsemen kidnap her beloved twin brother Lugh, she teams up with daredevil Jack and the Free Hawks, a girl gang of Revolutionaries.

Saba learns that she is a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Saba and her new friends stage a showdown that change the course of her civilization.

MAGONIA has been on my radar for a really long time. (Recently, there was a cover gif... have you seen it?) MAGONIA's blurb:

Aza Ray is drowning in thin air.

Since she was a baby, Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease that makes it ever harder for her to breathe, to speak—to live.

So when Aza catches a glimpse of a ship in the sky, her family chalks it up to a cruel side effect of her medication. But Aza doesn't think this is a hallucination. She can hear someone on the ship calling her name.

Only her best friend, Jason, listens. Jason, who’s always been there. Jason, for whom she might have more-than-friendly feelings. But before Aza can consider that thrilling idea, something goes terribly wrong. Aza is lost to our world—and found, by another. Magonia.

Above the clouds, in a land of trading ships, Aza is not the weak and dying thing she was. In Magonia, she can breathe for the first time. Better, she has immense power—and as she navigates her new life, she discovers that war is coming. Magonia and Earth are on the cusp of a reckoning. And in Aza’s hands lies the fate of the whole of humanity—including the boy who loves her. Where do her loyalties lie?

EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING was just announced yesterday as making the NYT Bestsellers List, which is SO COOL! Here's its blurb:

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

And that about sums it up. Thanks again to Chaotic Goddess Swags and Amber for everything. You guys should totally stop by Amber's blog, BookstacksAmber, and say hi and fangirl over her stuff!!! :) 

Waiting on Wednesday {101}: Romancing the Nerd

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Romancing the Nerd.

Romancing the Nerd

by Leah Rae Miller

Publication date: February 2, 2016


Dan Garrett has become exactly what he hates—popular. Until recently, he was just another live-action role-playing (LARP) geek on the lowest run of the social ladder. Cue a massive growth spurt and an uncanny skill at taking three-point shots in basketball and voila...Mr. Popular. It's definitely weird.

And the biggest drawback? Going from high school zero to basketball hero cost Dan the secret girl-of-his-dorky dreams.

A tuba-playing nerd with an eclectic fashion sense, Zelda Potts's “Coolness” stat is about minus forty-two. Dan turning his back on her and the rest of nerd-dom was brutal enough, but when he humiliates her at school, Zelda decides it's time for a little revenge—dork style. Nevermind that she used to have a crush on him. Nevermind that her plan could backfire big time.

It's time to roll the dice...and hope like freakin' hell she doesn't lose her heart in the process.

September's #JLBgivesawayanINDIE (audiobook style): IF I SPEAK TRUE + I CAPTURE THE CASTLE + a FREEBIE!

I'm so excited about this month's #JLBgivesawayanINDIE. I MEAN... how exciting is three audiobooks? 

First up: the recently completed IF I SPEAK TRUE, book one in the Flora series. Angel Clark did a wonderful job narrating her versions of Dahlia and Eva and David and Rowan (and Hawthorne) and Aster and Acacia... and... everyone else (hehe). I'm so happy with how the audiobook turned out, and wanted to share a copy so ya'll could enjoy it (and meet everyone)! 

Check out the deets on IF I SPEAK TRUE (Flora, #1) HERE. Find it on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Then, on a completely unrelated note (or, unrelated until now), it seems I've been talking to quite a few people lately about how lovely Dodie Smith's I CAPTURE THE CASTLE is (if you're read it, you know it's true), especially on Instagram. So I thought, all right, time to share a copy of this audiobook, too. :)

Check out the deets of I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, HERE. Find it on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

ON TOP OF THAT... We're all SUPER BUSY this time of year but also wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS, right, so I figured, why not throw in a freebie? *twirls*

So there you go... THREE audiobooks for one winner: IF I SPEAK TRUE, I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, and a YA audiobook of your choice! Woohoo!

The rules: I have had a heck of a time trying to share audiobooks with listeners not from the US recently, so I'm going to have to stick to the US this time. *sad face* But I promise, next month's #JLBgivesawayanINDIE will be international! 

And now, here's the Rafflecopter! :D (I can't wait to see who wins and what book they choose for the freebie!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Waiting on Wednesday {100}: Return Once More

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Return Once More.

Return Once More

by Trisha Leigh

Publication date: September 29th, 2015

From Goodreads:

If you could learn the identity of your one true love—even though you will never meet— would you?

Years have passed since refugees from a ruined earth took to space, eventually settling a new system of planets. Science has not only made the leaps necessary to allow time travel, but the process engineered a strange side effect—predicting your one true love.

If you could save your one true love from an untimely death, would you be able to resist?

Sixteen-year-old Kaia Vespasian is an apprentice to the Historians—a group charged with using time travel to document the triumphs and failures of the past—and she can’t resist a peek at her long-dead soul mate in Ancient Egypt. Before she knows it, she’s broken every rule in the book, and the consequences of getting caught could destroy more than just her new romance.

Or would you have the strength to watch him die?

But when Kaia notices a fellow classmate snooping around in a time where he doesn’t belong, she suspects he has a secret of his own—and the conspiracy she uncovers could threaten the entire universe. If her experience has taught her anything, to changing history means facing the consequences. The Historians trained her to observe and record the past, but Kaia never guessed she might have to protect it— in a race across time to save her only chance at a future.