YOUNG ADULT GIVEAWAY HOP: SIGNED COPY OF THE GIVER

For this giveaway I happy to tell you that I am giving away a SIGNED copy of The Giver. Do you want it? I waited in line a long time for it...;)

Lois Lowry was in Provo, Utah this past fall promoting the next book in The Giver series. She shared that the books became a series because people kept asking questions about certain characters in the books and the stories just came to her.

One thing that she mentioned that I was glad to have cleared up is that The Giver is not meant to be sharing a particular message or agenda. Lowry said that your own personal belief system will mold this book to what YOU as a reader sees in it, not what she as an author was trying to say. I really loved that since I feel like too many books are about an author's agenda and aren't about just telling a story and letting you decide what it means. That is so very opposite to how we were taught to read literature in school isn't it? We were always so busy having to dissect what an author was trying to say that we couldn't just enjoy the darn books. Because of this, I didn't read until I was 15 years out of school, it is a shame really.

Anyway Lois Lowry is an icon, and I am happy to give away a book she touched with her very own hands.

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ONE PERFECT SUMMER: PAIGE TOON

Paige Toon has done it again, she has delighted me from front cover to back in her newest book. Our MCs are in college for most of this book. It used to be very had to find books with characters of this age, now there is the growing genre of New Adult and you can now find college age characters in abundance. However, so many of those books aren't really very polished and just seem to me to be drawing readers in with scandalous sex scenes. (That is my opinion anyway...) 

Toon's One Perfect Summer isn't like that at all. Since I am always on the hunt for great college reads this book is a perfect little gem of a find for me. It is probably my favorite of her books (and I have read them all now), and it is one amazing story of first love. The book spans almost a decade and it is a wonderfully absorbing journey just like all of this author's books. (Can you tell I am a fan?) 

BOOK BLURB:

'And you still love him?'
'Every second of every minute of every hour of every day…'

While on holiday in Dorset one summer, Alice meets Joe, a guy working at the local pub. She's eighteen and on the brink of starting university, while Joe's life is seemingly going nowhere. But despite their differences, the pair fall hopelessly and desperately in love. And then summer comes to an end and they are dramatically torn apart.

Alice heads off to university in Cambridge where she gets a part-time job punting on the River Cam and slowly picks up the pieces of her broken heart. One day Lukas - a gorgeous golden boy from Cambridge University - spies her and it's not long before Alice falls for his charms.

Months turns into years, but then Joe comes back into Alice's life again in a way that she could never have imagined. While Alice lives her ordinary life with Lukas, she has to watch from the sidelines as Joe's life becomes evermore extraordinary. She never stopped loving him, but he's out of her reach now, surely? And what about Lukas?

One thing that is consistent in all of Toon's writing is her talk of sex, and great swoony scenes without graphic sex scenes. She always has a little bad language skittered throughout, but never anything distracting. If you haven't ever read one of her books, I obviously highly encourage you to do so.

There is a short story called One Perfect Christmas available on Amazon that adds a bit more to the original book, I bought it even though it took me no time at all to read it. I think it was too much money for what I got, however I love Toon so much, I don't mind throwing $3.99 her way. 

Read more about it HERE.

TWO OF MY FAV BOOKS FREE WITH AMAZON PRIME!

Great news! I was just shopping on Amazon and saw that two of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors are kindle books you can borrow with your Amazon Prime account. (BTW, if you aren't a Prime member, and you love books what are you waiting for?) I know that both of these books aren't often carried at the libraries in the US, so this is a great chance to borrow them for free!

YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME

UNSTICKY

DANCE ACADEMY LOVE AFFAIR

I know this is a book blog, but I can't help sharing my love for this show! 

I can't say enough great things about Dance Academy. I just loved it. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but pretty soon watching my nightly episodes was all I thought about throughout the day. It was like falling in love, because with each episode I was more impressed with the layered characters, the perfect level of realistic drama, and the dancing...oh my the dancing!!!! The choreography alone is another character in the story it is so well done and danced by the actors. I loved how the ballet dancing cliches like boys being gay, eating disorders by the girls, and falling in love with your dance partner were all touched on but not in a way that made me feel anything but what it would really be like to be a dancer.

Also Sydney, Australia shines in the show too...Just watch it already! I can't wait for season 3!

This is currently availible on Amazon and is free for Prime members which is how I found it. It also might be on netflix too, but I am not sure since I don't do netflix, but many of the reviews mention finding this show on netflix. 

Check it out on Amazon HERE!

BAD BOY HOP: FREEFALL BY MINDI SCOTT

 

I freaking love bad boys (in books only, in real life? no thanks), so of course I had to be a part of the Bad Boy Hop! Freefall by Mindi Scott is one of my favorite bad boy books. First of all, the best bad boys aren't bad boys at heart. They are good deep down inside they just need a little nudge in the right direction. Our hero in Freefall is just that. Scott's writing is really wonderful, in this book she captures the male voice so well I completely forgot I was reading a book by a girl. Plus the utterly swoony moments don't hurt this book one bit.

BOOK BLURB:

How do you come back from the point of no return?

Seth McCoy was the last person to see his best friend Isaac alive, and the first to find him dead. It was just another night, just another party, just another time where Isaac drank too much and passed out on the lawn. Only this time, Isaac didn’t wake up.

Convinced that his own actions led to his friend’s death, Seth is torn between turning his life around . . . or losing himself completely.

Then he meets Rosetta: so beautiful and so different from everything and everyone he’s ever known. But Rosetta has secrets of her own, and Seth will soon realize he isn’t the only one who needs saving . . .

Read more about this book HERE. 

I'm going to send one winner a copy! Yippee Skippee!

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DELLA SAYS: OMG!

The cover and title for this book are all wrong. You think you are going to find yourself reading a bunch of texts or emails telling the story, but there is hardly any of that. Despite some references to facebook and email this is just a basic coming of age story. And it is kind of delightful. It is light and funny and just overall cute. I love British teens, why does their life seem way more posh than American teen life? :) 

BOOK BLURB:

Della’s over the moon when she kisses her long-standing crush at a party – but then she discovers her diary has disappeared...

When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della’s distraught – how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?

This is kind of a mature YA read. Very open talk of sex and other such activities.

Read more about it HERE.

THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY: KATJA MILLAY

Ok, so normally I wouldn't have given this book the chance I did. I was about 30% into it before I started to really like it. The main characters are really angry and hateful and there is little to no dialogue in the beginning. However, I kept reading on because of the amazing reviews I had read. Dialogue between all of the characters shines in this book so as the characters started interacting this was really freaking hard to put down. In the end, I loved it!

BOOK BLURB:

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

This book is currently available for your Kindle, and will be published in the summer if you want the paperback. Either way, keep your eye on it. Read more about it HERE.