LOVE IS IN BLOOM GIVEAWAY HOP: SIGNED COPY OF ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS

For this hop I am thrilled to giveaway one SIGNED copy of my all time favorite YA romance Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. She is in Utah this week and I am getting my books signed tonight and I'll be getting another one to give a way to one lucky reader.

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THE LUCY VARIATIONS: SARA ZARR

Oh Sara Zarr how you take ordinary words and make each one feel important and needed. Words should throw you a freaking parade!

I was lucky enough to attend the launch party of The Lucy Variations and was able to hear Sara share the very personal story of how this book came into being. She is an exceptional speaker because she speaks like she writes. Open, honest, and with heart.

The first time I met Sara, she was in the process of writing this book. She shared how she chose to write in third person and how she was already deciding that this might be the big flop of her career. I don't normally like third person but had just read and loved The Probability of Miracles which is a very well done third person YA book, so I knew it could be done well and I kind of assumed Sara Zarr could do it.

This book is so stinking beautiful and it makes you ask so many questions about your own life. My favorite question asked in the book is: What do you love? Because what we really truly love is life itself. One thing I love? Sara Zarr's simple, perfect prose. And how she seems to makes her stories seem effortless even though you know her whole heart and soul went into the pages...the very opposite of effortless.

BOOK BLURB:

Lucy Beck-Moreau once had a promising future as a concert pianist. The right people knew her name, her performances were booked months in advance, and her future seemed certain.

That was all before she turned fourteen.

Now, at sixteen, it's over. A death, and a betrayal, led her to walk away. That leaves her talented ten-year-old brother, Gus, to shoulder the full weight of the Beck-Moreau family expectations. Then Gus gets a new piano teacher who is young, kind, and interested in helping Lucy rekindle her love of piano -- on her own terms. But when you're used to performing for sold-out audiences and world-famous critics, can you ever learn to play just for yourself?

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr takes readers inside the exclusive world of privileged San Francisco families, top junior music competitions, and intense mentorships. The Lucy Variations is a story of one girl's struggle to reclaim her love of music and herself. It's about finding joy again, even when things don't go according to plan. Because life isn't a performance, and everyone deserves the chance to make a few mistakes along the way.

Read more about it HERE. Has a teeny tiny bit of swearing, but is noticeably clean.

DIVING IN, THE ART & COLL SERIES: KATE CANN

I haven't posted in ages, because I haven't read anything worth posting in ages. It has been a real reading slump. I have had these little gems to keep me afloat these last weeks as they arrived in the mail. This was such a great series and I was surprised as I started reading them that they were written in 1999! I would have loved reading about Art & Coll's romance if I had read it then (although of course I still loved it now).

Some reasons you might love it too? You love British teens, you love great well rounded secondary characters, and you love to read a voice that tells it to you straight. 

Kate Cann has also published an eBook that ties up the series and gives Art's side of the story. It is short, but I found I just had to read it and it is a free lend if you are an Amazon Prime member. Search for Art's Story.

BOOK BLURB: (BOOK ONE)

Coll thinks the boy she sees swimming every Thursday night is completely gorgeous - long and lean, powerful and strong. He becomes the fantasy that takes her out of her ordinary day-to-day existence. And then he asks her out, and the dream becomes reality. Art is strong and powerful, and he's also quite pushy. Just what is Coll getting into? 

There is drinking, sex (not overly graphic but some detail), and mild swearing.

LOVE AND OTHER PERISHABLE ITEMS: LAURA BUZO

I debated back and forth on whether or not to share this book on the blog. I had been looking forward to reading it for a long time and knew it under it's previous title Good Oil. This book isn't for everyone, but here are some reasons that it might be your thing. Do you find that you love Aussie books? Do you like reading something totally different? Do you hate it when an author gives you an unrealistic ending? Then you might enjoy this book as much as I did.

You've got two perspectives in this one, and it might be the first time that I really felt like I was reading two completely different voices. The second male voice backtracks each time his section begins and that kind of ruined the flow for me, and is why this was a four star instead of five. Still enjoyed this very much though.

BOOK BLURB:

Love is awkward, Amelia should know.

From the moment she sets eyes on Chris, she is a goner. Lost. Sunk. Head over heels infatuated with him. It's problematic, since Chris, 21, is a sophisticated university student, while Amelia, is 15.

Amelia isn't stupid. She knows it's not gonna happen. So she plays it cool around Chris—at least, as cool as she can. Working checkout together at the local supermarket, they strike up a friendship: swapping life stories, bantering about everything from classic books to B movies, and cataloging the many injustices of growing up. As time goes on, Amelia's crush doesn't seem so one-sided anymore. But if Chris likes her back, what then? Can two people in such different places in life really be together?

Through a year of befuddling firsts—first love, first job, first party, and first hangover—debut author Laura Buzo shows how the things that break your heart can still crack you up.

Read more about it HERE.

SPRING CLEANING GIVEAWAY HOP SIX WINNERS FOR THIS ONE!

For this round of Spring Cleaning I am going to give SIX winners the opportunity to chose one book from my list. Each winner will give me their top three choices and will recive one of those choices. None of the books are ARCs.

Here are the books I am hoping find a good home:

• The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - paperback spine a bit creased
• Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver - paperback a few pages have slight water damage
• Eva Underground - Dandi Mackall - hardback like new
• Jessie <3 NYC - Keris Stainton - paperback very good 
• Jason & Kyra - Dana Davidson - hardback good
• Split by a Kiss - Luisa Plaja - paperback like new
• The Breakup Bible - Melissa Kantor - paperback like new
• The Secret Society of the Pink Crystal Ball - Risa Green - paperback like new
• Slam - Nick Hornby - hardback like new
• Beauty Shop for Rent - Laura Bowers - hardback like new
• How ya Like me Know? - Brenden Halpin - hardback ex library but excellent condition
• Love on the Lifts - Rachel Hawthorne - paperback - like new
• Finding Grace - Alyssa Brugman - paperback very good
• Marshmallows for Breakfast - Dorothy Koomson - paperback good
• Kiss Chase - Fiona Walker - paperback good
• The Dating Detox - Gemma Burgess - paperback very good

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GEEK GIRL: CINDY C. BENNETT

I will tell ya what is the most remarkable thing about this book: Bennett writes about a very rebellious party girl and gives her a pretty realistic voice while at the same time writing an extremely clean read. That can't be easy, but it feels seamless in Geek Girl. Our male love interest in this book is honestly too good to be true, but it didn't bother me here. Sometimes I like to read about characters that I feel could be real even though I know they don't exist in real life (or if they do, they are pretty darn rare). The last chapter seemed unnecessary, but other than that this quite a strong read.

BOOK BLURB:

Jen's life of partying and sneaking out has grown stale. So on a whim, Jen makes a bet to turn Trevor, a goody-two-shoes geek, into a "bad boy." As she hangs out with Trevor, however, she finds it's actually kinda fun being a geek. But when Trevor finds out about the bet, Jen must fight for the things she's discovered matter most: friendship, family, and, above all, love.

  

Read more about it HERE.

CROSS MY HEART: KATIE KLEIN

Of all the self published Amazon books that I've had my eye on for a long time, this has been my favorite so far. Honestly, I can't really pin point why I enjoyed it, I just know I did. I loved the main characters and I found their budding relationship fascinating. It does drag a bit in the end with unnecessary wedding details of an older brother, but even with that I would still give it a very strong recommendation.

BOOK BLURB:

True love can blossom in unexpected places. This is Jaden pretending not to notice. . . .

Jaden McEntyre and Parker Whalen are a wrong fit from the start. Jaden is driven and focused, Harvard Med School within reach. Parker has a past-a reputation-and the rumors about his mysterious habits abound. So there's no reason why, when they're assigned to work together on a project in English, they should discover they have anything in common, or even like each other, and they definitely shouldn't be falling in love.

As they bond over Edith Wharton's tragic novella, Ethan Frome, the "bad boy" vibe Parker plays begins to dissipate. Soon, Jaden finds herself shedding her own "good girl" image: sneaking around to be with him, confiding in him, and ultimately falling hard for this leather-wearing, motorcycle-driving loner who plays into the rebel stereotype.

Still, Jaden can't shake the feeling that there's more to Parker than he's letting on. He's hiding something from her, and discovering the truth means reconciling the Parker she's grown to love with the person he really is. Because it's possible that his life inside the classroom-everything Jaden knows-is one, massive lie.

It is cheap on Amazon, or you can read about it HERE.