The "Don't Let Your Dream Fade Vlog" Sweepstakes!

Lisa McMann and Simon & Schuster are teaming up again to do another sweepstakes in honor of Lisa's newest Wake book, Gone, coming out next month! Read below for the details!

Are you dreaming big like Janie? Prove it!

If you're between the ages of 14-18, Lisa McMann and Simon & Schuster want to hear from you:

How are your dreams and goals like Janie’s?

Answer this question via vlog in less than two minutes and visit the contest page to learn how to enter your vlog in the “Don’t let your dreams Fade” vlog contest!

Lisa McMann will choose a winner, who will receive $1000 toward furthering his or her life goals! So please enter this contest!

In My Mailbox- Week of January 4 + Retrospective

No vlog this week as I have a visitor this weekend (who, btw, is extremely cute) though I did get some EXCITING BOOKS!! Here they are:


The Less Dead by April Lurie
Noah Nordstrom has been dissing the religious beliefs of his father, who hosts a popular Christian radio show and whom Noah accuses of spreading hate. When two local gay teens are murdered, Noah’s anti-evangelism intensifies—he’s convinced that the killer is a caller on his dad’s program.

Then Noah meets Will Reed, a cool guy. But when he learns that Will is gay, Noah gets a little weirded out. Especially since Will seems really into him. Noah gives Will the brush-off. Meanwhile, the killer is still at large . . . and soon Noah finds the next victim. It’s Will.

Racked with guilt, Noah decides to investigate. He knows the serial killer is targeting gay teens, but only those who live in foster homes, whose deaths are not that important to society; they are the less-dead. Noah, however, is determined to prove that someone cares. With the help of Will’s journal, which he pocketed at the scene of the crime and in which the killer has written clues, Noah closes in on an opponent more dangerous than he can guess.


All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab
Carly: She was sweet. Smart. Self-destructive. She knew the secrets of Brighton Day School’s most privileged students. Secrets that got her killed.

Neily: Dumped by Carly for a notorious bad boy, Neily didn’t answer the phone call she made before she died. If he had, maybe he could have helped her. Now he can’t get the image of her lifeless body out of his mind.

Audrey: She’s the reason Carly got tangled up with Brighton’s fast crowd in the first place, and now she regrets it—especially since she’s convinced the police have put the wrong person in jail. Audrey thinks the murderer is someone at Brighton, and she wants Neily to help her find out who it is.

As reluctant allies Neily and Audrey dig into their shared past with Carly, her involvement with Brighton’s dark goings-on comes to light. But figuring out how Carly and her killer fit into the twisted drama will force Audrey and Neily to face hard truths about themselves and the girl they couldn’t save.


They Never Came Back by Caroline B Cooney
In a busy school cafeteria, a teenage girl is confronted by a classmate who questions her identity. He explains to the students who have crowded around that the girl bears an uncanny resemblance to his cousin, who was taken away by social services five years ago. Her parents abandoned her, fleeing the country after being accused of embezzling millions of dollars. The students are intrigued, but the girl shrugs off the attention as a case of mistaken identity.

As the days pass, however, the boy refuses to relent and even brings his parents in to back him up. But they are not the only adults involved. An FBI agent who has been working the case these past five years believes that whoever this girl is, she can serve as bait to help the FBI capture the fugitives. In this powerful novel that explores the possibility of mistaken identity, the evils of money and greed, and the heartfelt obligations of family and loyalty, Caroline B. Cooney has once again crafted a page-turner that will resonate with readers.


Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder
Restless souls and empty hearts
Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.


And the most coveted and treasured this week:


Runaway by Meg Cabot
Emerson Watts is on the run: from school, from work, from her family, from her friends, from herself.

With everyone she loves furious with her for something she can't explain, and nothing but the live Stark Angel fashion show on New Year's Eve to look forward to, Em's reached the end of her rope. . .what's the point of even going on? But when she discovers the truth about Nikki's secret, she knows there's only one person she can turn to.

Will Christopher be able to put aside his personal feelings and help her expose her employer to the world? Is it even fair to get Christopher involved--since if he agrees, there's every chance that Stark Enterprises will try to have them both killed--this time, permanently?

Maybe it would be better for Em to just keep on running.



Retrospective
Monday- I posted an interview with Jennifer Hubbard and also guest posted over at Harmony's blog to celebrate her 2 year blogoversary. Go show me some love!
Tuesday- I uploaded my excerpt vlog, where I read an excerpt from Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves.
Wednesday- I put up my thoughts on The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard, out in stores now.
Thursday- I posted an interview with Dia Reeves.
Friday- I uploaded the second excerpt vlog, where I read an excerpt from The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard
Saturday- I put up my thoughts on Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves, out in stores now.

Fresh New Voice of YA- Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
"Love can be a dangerous thing...

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe."- summary from Amazon

Reeves has a fantastic debut on her hands, full of suspense, realism and some original fantasy elements. I do think however that the book probably could have been a bit shorter and some parts didn't seem necessary to the plot. The prose was done really well and had a compelling feel to it, which made it difficult to put down though I had to put it down MANY times due to work and having to do other things.

Hanna was a fun character to read about and the kind of heroine all YA should have- bold, daring, able to take care of herself, weird, smart and quick thinking but also had flaws too. I liked the inclusion of her being manic-depressive and it was definitely interesting to read about, especially considering everything else going on in the book. My only problem is with the summary which I know the author didn't write but it bugs me a bit. It said "Expertly merging real issues like racial identity and mental instability with..." and I was expecting a bit more about those two issues, but neither is explored very deeply, especially the racial identity. Hanna is bi-racial but it's hardly ever mentioned and it's not like anyone in the book seems to have a problem with it. So that was a bit of a letdown for me; I definitely thought it would have been interesting to explore those issues within this urban fantasy realm.

I will say this: The Mayor made me SO PISSED OFF. Like you have no idea- characters sometimes make me angry but this one (and few others) made me want to punch something, preferably the character herself. My goodness, she was such a rhymes-with-witch. She doesn't really show up until the ending, which is amazingly suspenseful and fantastic. I was on the edge of my seat, trying not to look ahead while reading to see what happened next. That was an amazing climax.

All in all, go get this book! You should not be disappointed.

FTC: Recieved ARC from publisher. Amazon link is an Associate link; any profits go toward funding contests.

FNV Excerpt Vlog- The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard

Check out this vlog where I read an excerpt from The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard which I reviewed the other day!



Be sure to check out all the other great posts from this week! Also, hardly anyone has commented on my guest blog for Harmony's 2 year blogoversary! Go comment!! Thanks to those who've already done so! :)

Fresh New Voice of YA- Dia Reeves interview

1) How did you get the idea for Bleeding Violet?

I just brainstormed a list of topics I thought would be fun to write about. "Crazy girls" and "monsters" topped the list.


2) What was The Call like? Tell us all about it!

The Call was actually The Email. I had only just started querying agents for Bleeding Violet when I got an email from one of the agents saying how she was in "mad love" with the story and what would be a good time to call me and talk about representation. So we talked about everything and it was her enthusiasm that really sold me and the fact that she understood the kind of story I wanted to tell. Enthusiasm in an agent is priceless.


3) What book(s) are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about them?

I sent a draft of my second book, Strange Fruit, to my editor. Strange Fruit isn't a sequel to Bleeding Violet, but it takes place in the same town. SF is about the two daughters of a serial killer who have inherited their father's murderous urges, but unlike him, they only kill to help other people. It has a Dexter meets Ginger Snaps vibe.


4) Have you always been a fan of YA, or are you still new to it all?

I've been reading YA since before it was even called YA. I cut my teeth on Norma Klein, Jerry Spinelli, Katherine Patterson, Barthe DeClements, and Madeleine L'Engle. And of course now there are a bunch of newer writers I'm excited about like Suzanne Collins, Rachel Hawkins, L.K. Madigan, and Kristin Cashore.


5) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor?

I actually won a HUGE jar of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans when I was in college. :D The cheesacake flavored ones are my favorite (I'm a cheesecake junkie from way back), but I also like the popcorn flavored ones.


6) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

I'm reading Forest Born by Shannon Hale and Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men by Molly Harper. They're both pretty good so far.


7) In your very short bio that someone else came up with, there's a mention of you manning space missions for NASA. What does this mean?

It means I hate talking about myself, so I am apt to either keep quiet, make up lies, or enlist friends to make up lies for me. Seriously, my life is deadly dull: I go to work, then I come home and either read or write. That's really it. See? Now wouldn't you rather read about my adventures with NASA? Or about that one baboon I mud-wrestled with?


8) You're part of The Tenners. How did you get involved with this group, and how has it helped you in getting ready for the release of your book?

I found out about the Tenners from the blueboards, which is this forum where a lot of writers and aspiring writers hang out. I knew a lot of the people in the Tenners from the blueboards, so it was a comfortable transition for me. Being in the Tenners is great because we all dish about the industry and warn one another about what to expect. We commiserate over disappointments and cheer one another's triumphs, so for me it's been invaluable. Publishing can be stressful and uncertain and lonely, so it's nice to have your buddies around you, especially when they're going through the same things.