Source: Blog Tour

May 23
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos: Excerpt & Giveaway

The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos: Excerpt & Giveaway

Current Giveaways 10

Today I’m sharing an excerpt and giveaway for The Wise and the Wicked. Epic Reads aptly calls it a lush, dark, and unforgettable story of the power of the past to shape our futures—and the courage it takes to change them. I’m reading this one now, and I’m loving the LGBTQ rep in the book. For now, I’m sharing just a little taste of what you can expect with this story … EXCERPT FROM EPIC READS WEBSITE (Click the link to read even more—all the way through chapter 4) In an old house built of bloodred bricks, with a tea shop in the converted front rooms, there lived three sisters and their mother. Solnyshko, the eldest, was willow-tree tall and sweet. Zvyozdochka, the middle child, was beautiful and sharp as a cut diamond. The youngest, Zerkal’tse, was small but hard, like an unshelled nut. Each was different as could be… Read more »

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May 15
Shipwreckers by Scott D. Peterson & Josh Pruett: Review & Giveaway

Shipwreckers by Scott D. Peterson & Josh Pruett: Review & Giveaway

Current Giveaways, Reviews 4 ★★★★½

This book is a hilarious and perilous adventure, filled with action, goofy puns, and a nice helping of heart. When I read the author’s bios and saw that they write for kids’ TV, it all made so much sense–the book reads like an animated movie. It’s full of larger-than-life characters who make you laugh out loud (Captain Kevin Adventureson is incredibly clueless and yet full of himself, but he still manages to be lovable at the same time) and the kind of hold-your-breath swashbuckling adventures that keep you turning the pages. I promise you will never get bored when you read this book. But it doesn’t feature all that action at the expense of character development–I especially loved Mike’s journey toward understanding that it’s okay to take risks sometimes. He’s always been cautious and overprotective of his little sister Dani, especially since she got hurt when he was supposed to be… Read more »

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May 10
Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos: Review & Giveaway

Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos: Review & Giveaway

Current Giveaways, Reviews 17 ★★★★½

Planet Earth Is Blue is a heartwrenching portrayal of a little girl who can’t tell the world who she truly is. The book is set in the 80s and starts ten days before the fateful launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The story centers around Nova, a non-verbal autistic girl. She struggles to show the world that she is more than they think she is—that though she can’t speak well, she is intelligent and curious. It’s a portrayal of profound autism that we don’t typically see, and one that would help any reader to understand someone who is different. Nova doesn’t think like the average 12-year-old; she can’t always respond the way a typical 12-year-old would respond; she can’t do everything her peers can do, but she is still a vibrant and worthy human being. I think anyone could benefit from seeing the world through her eyes. The author is on the… Read more »

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Apr 12
Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton: Review & Giveaway

Smoke and Key by Kelsey Sutton: Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 18 ★★★★

One woman’s choices in life follow her into the afterlife … and she can’t escape the consequences without unraveling the truth of her past. What Fed My Addiction: Creepy and atmospheric. The book takes place Under, which is a creepy afterlife that’s literally under the graveyard. All of the characters show signs of their deaths–often quite gruesome–and the world is made of dirt and devoid of light (aside from light from torches). Sutton does a fantastic job of establishing a memorable setting. Lots of mysteries. Key wakes up in Under with no memory of her life or her death, but it soon becomes apparent that her life held numerous secrets and betrayals. When people in Under start dying (again), Key has reason to believe that it’s somehow because of her. Her memory starts to come back to her in pieces, and we discover the whole sordid history along with her… Read more »

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Feb 09
Between Before and After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry: Review, Giveaway & McQuerry’s Top Ten Addictions

Between Before and After by Maureen Doyle McQuerry: Review, Giveaway & McQuerry’s Top Ten Addictions

Author Top Ten Lists, Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 23 ★★★½

Between Before and After is a touching story of believing in the miracles of everyday life and forgiving yourself for the mistakes of your past. The story alternates between 1955 and 1918 to the early 20’s. When Molly discovers that her mother has a secret in her past that might ruin their family’s happiness, she’s determined to find out what it is. In the meantime, her uncle is being investigated by the church because he performed a miracle, and the turmoil and disbelief that this sparks turns their life even more upside down. The book follows Molly in her quest to learn the truth and flashes back to Molly’s mother’s life as a struggling orphan after the Spanish flu of 1918. I’ll confess that I’d unraveled the mystery of her mother’s past pretty much right from the start, but I still enjoyed reading Molly’s discoveries and finding out how it… Read more »

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Jan 29
One-Third Nerd by Gennifer Choldenko: Review & Giveaway

One-Third Nerd by Gennifer Choldenko: Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 16 ★★★½

One-Third Nerd is a heartwarming middle grade story about a typically atypical family just trying to get by. I say typically atypical because, let’s face it, in today’s world very few families fit the standard nuclear family mold. Liam’s parents are divorced and they struggle financially. His youngest sister has Down’s Syndrome and his other little sis is brilliant (but maybe a bit of a handful). I think that Chodenko captured the family dynamic well. None of them are perfect, but they love each other and they’re doing their best. Liam is sometimes self-conscious about his apartment and his brainy sister’s antics (she’s 100% nerd—perfect for her, but not great as far as Liam’s concerned). He’s especially concerned about how he looks to the new kid, Moses, who he thinks has it all together (especially since Moses is a superstar at tennis, Liam’s sport). To top everything off, the family… Read more »

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Jan 27
Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry: Review & $50 Giveaway

Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry: Review & $50 Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 12 ★★★★½

Oh, how I love Katie McGarry. In anyone else’s hands, I think this book would have been overdramatic and overwrought—a teenage boy with a tragic past who has always loved the girl next door, who’s dealing with abuse in her family. There’s a lot of angst here. But McGarry draws me in to her characters and makes me relate to them in such intimate ways. She makes sure that the pain in these two lives feels real, and doesn’t just feel like drama. Anyway, on to my more specific review… What Fed My Addiction: Abuse depicted realistically. The relationship between Scarlett and her father is complicated. While Scarlett hates her father’s actions and she fears him, she also has good memories of him, and those sometimes cloud her thinking. Plus, everyone else in her family seems to forgive him, so she wonders why she can’t seem to do the same—and if… Read more »

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Dec 14
Navigating the Stars by Maria V. Snyder: Review & Giveaway

Navigating the Stars by Maria V. Snyder: Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 18 ★★★★½

KINDLE VERSION Navigating the Stars is about Terra Cotta Warriors in space. Sound weird? It is a little, but it’s also really enjoyable. What Fed My Addiction: Sci-fi that’s in-depth without being confusing. There’s a decent amount of science in this fiction, but I never felt overwhelmed or bombarded with facts. There are some basic things about the world that you have to understand—for instance, the fact that space travel essentially causes time travel and the fact that they’re universe is run by something called Q-Net, which Lyra hacks into in a very specific way called worming—but I don’t feel like you have to understand the details of how it all works in order to enjoy and appreciate the way it works. I never felt lost. The mystery of the Warriors. Usually the mystery aspect of a book like this is my least favorite part, but in this case, I was intrigued and wanted… Read more »

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Nov 19
The Camelot Code: The Once and Future Geek by Mari Mancusi – Review & Giveaway

The Camelot Code: The Once and Future Geek by Mari Mancusi – Review & Giveaway

Giveaways (Ended), Reviews 6 ★★★★

This series is a fun middle grade romp through Camelot! What Fed My Addiction: King Arthur! I love all things Camelot, so the concept of this book had me hooked right from the start. Kids can get a little lesson on these epic characters in a fun format! (This makes me want to reread A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.) The story gives us a lot of the original Arthurian legends and then puts them in a spin cycle. Video games. Sophie and Stu love RPG-style video games, and I could see how this one would be lots of fun. They also sounded like realistic kids—I’ve had some of these same arguments with my teenagers over the value of video games vs. “real life” and their arguments mirror Sophie and Stu’s pretty nicely. (I was glad that there was a balance between the idea that video games can be a worthwhile… Read more »

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