BOOK BLITZ: Shucked by Megg Jensen

Shucked by Megg Jensen 
Publication date: April 14th 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

Suburgatory meets Indiana Jones...on a farm  

Fifteen-year-old Tabitha has had the kind of life that would impress even the greatest adventurers. She's escaped a croc attack in the Amazon, walked the length of the Great Wall of China, and earned a black belt in taekwondo in Korea. She owes her worldly experience to her mother's career in archaeology, but when her mother takes on a dangerous new assignment, Tabitha is devastated to learn she can't tag along.  

Instead, she's forced to live on a midwestern farm with her grandparents where she'll have to attend a full year of public school. It's Tabitha's greatest nightmare, because despite all her adventures, she has no practical experience with the one thing that frightens her the most - other teenagers.  

Her math teacher is her mom's old high school boyfriend, she can't tell the friendly girls from the mean ones, and she develops a major crush on a boy she knows she can't trust. And just when she thinks she'll never get the hang of this normal teenager thing, an attack brings the danger of her previous life right up to her midwestern porch. Who could have ever guessed getting totally shucked would bring her face-to-face with her most exciting adventure yet?

(goodreads) (amazon) (kobo)

EXCERPT

I peered through the overgrown bushes, observing the beasts in their native habitat. My heart pounded, tapping an unfamiliar beat. I’d subdued a croc after an attack in the Amazon, looked a lion in the eye in the African bush, and swam with sharks in the Great Barrier Reef, but nothing compared to the fear ripping through my chest, infecting every bit of my essence with panic. 

“Tabitha,” my grandmother, Mimi, bellowed, “get over here right now!”

I backed away from the evergreens, swinging my backpack over one shoulder. “Coming.” My whole life I’d been surrounded by adults or kids from cultures so far removed from civilization that American teenagers became the epitome of uncivilized behavior. I’d seen their TV shows on the Internet. All I could hope was that reality TV wasn’t real. 

The double doors of the school loomed in front of me. The embedded crosshatching in the windows skewed my vision of the masses of kids opening lockers and chatting in groups. A select few were already swapping spit. I rolled my eyes. Suspicions confirmed. 

“Do I have to go in there?” I turned around, arms folded across my chest. Mimi stood her ground, towering over me at nearly six feet tall, a giant to my mere five foot one inch. I wasn’t afraid. Intimidated yes, afraid no. I’d spent years cuddled on her lap reading stories but as I grew up, I realized that she was the powerhouse in her marriage and nearly everywhere else. No one crossed her except for my mom. I think that’s why Mom hadn’t come back to her hometown in the last sixteen years.

“Of course you have to go in. It wouldn’t do for you to be late on your first day of school.” She had that same look on her face as when I’d first met her. Exasperated, annoyed, and definitely not in the mood to be defied. 

“But Mimi,” I started.

“No buts,” she barked. Her bear-like hand grabbed the door handle, opened it and she pushed me in with the other paw. “Have fun, Tabitha.” 

I stumbled in as the heavy door thudded behind me. How could she leave me here alone? Among some of the most frightening creatures on earth – teenagers. I felt the bile rise in my throat but I swallowed it. Just what I needed, to be the girl who barfed on everyone the first day of school.

REVIEW: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Pub. Date: May 7th 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 480
Readership: Young adult
Genres: sci-fi, post apocalyptic

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one 

.
Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

I'm not a big fan of alien anything. Books, movies, TV... the only alien-y things I watch are Doctor Who and Roswell. It's not that I don't like sci-fi/alien things I just am picky and want it to be done right. The 5th Wave did it right and then some. It took me days after finishing to let everything sink in enough to write the review but my brain is still crying at everything.

The 5th Wave literally pulled me in from page one. I was like owl? Pregnant lady? Sleeping? WHAT!? And quickly turned the page to see what the heck was going on. We first meet Cassie, a teenager all alone in the woods after the first four waves took everything from her. All she has are her two guns, her brother's teddy, a tent, and a few personal belongings that she was able to grab. She's utterly alone, thinks she's lost her mind and willing to do anything to survive. Including kill people who still might be human. That's what this invasion has done: make you doubt your own people. They walk like us. Talk like us. Eat, bleed and feel like us but they are not us. They are the enemy. I adored Cassie. She was such a snarky little spitfire who reminded me of how I might be if I were stuck in a situation like the end of the world because of an alien invasion. She was also very smart and also very stubborn. She is determined to keep a promise she made to her little brother.

There is also other characters we meet: Ben Parish, Evan, Sammy, Ringer as well as others. I honestly loved them all. Well, ok, everyone except Vosch but that guy was an ass. The way the book was told was different from what I've seen, at least in YA. The chapters aren't really chapters, so much as parts. There are chunks, like Cassie's first part, that are 100+ pages. Soem are only 20 pages, some longer than that and each is told from a different character's POV. We get a lot of Cassie, Ben, one of Evan and one of Sammy. It really rounded out the story and showed the reader different views of the apocalypse and everything that was going on from bad to worse.

Then there are, for lack of a better term, the aliens. The invaders that brought on the end of the world as we knew it. Faceless, mysterious creatures that hover in the sky as the humans of earth die. They weren't some green-skinned, big headed, goggly eye little things. They weren't these gigantic monstrous mammoths or tall skinny silver men. They were faceless. They were sleeper agents walking among us looking human. I loved that. I thought that it was fantastic that the author made it so that we didn't know who was on the good side and who was one of the invaders.

I couldn't put The 5th Wave down. The characters were amazing. The plot and subplots were amazing. The writing was amazing. Everything was just so freaking amazing. The 5th Wave is a non-stop thrill ride that will leave you guessing to the very end.

★★★★★ 

I LOVED IT 

PURCHASE 

(amazon hardcover) (amazon kindle) (the book depository)

BLOG TOUR: Awakenings by Hally Willmott (giveaway!)

Welcome to my stop on the Shadow Chaser blog tour hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the full blog tour schedule!

Awakenings (Elemental Series #1) by Hally Willmott 
Release Date: May 2013
From Limitless Publishing

When sixteen-year old Jacey Adison’s parents tell her they must move again, she has never questioned their life style. Until now. When Jacey was two, her parents fled the protection of their birthplace, the mystical dimension of Nemele. Leaving was the only solution her parents believed might allow them to keep their family together and alive.  

The Adisons have been running from a sect of iniquitous beings from Nemele who covet Jacey. Her parents have repressed their adversaries’ relentless tracking efforts by not utilizing their own mystical powers. They have chosen to conceal themselves within the only realm they knew they’d be able to survive. They are living under their self-imposed powerless sanctions on Earth, which constitutes the nineteenth nation of Nemele.  

Her parents have never revealed their true identities to Jacey, consequently keeping her true lineage and unique birthright from her. Jacey’s family has pretended to be non-magical humans as a ploy to prevent an ancient omnipotent entity from killing more innocent beings in its relentless quest to possess Jacey.  

Born as an anomaly, Jacey possesses rare abilities that both virtuous and corrupt entities seek to use as their own. Should either side prevail, Jacey may be the saviour or downfall of every world within Nemele’s domains. Blindly thrust into life and death situations, Jacey learns of her true powers within her dreaming and conscious states.'

(goodreads) (amazon)

Awakenings: Character Spotlight

Character: Daichi
Age: Unknown but appears to be a teen
Home: Charta Zone
Quirk: Onyx eyes filled with sparks
Family: Unknown
Friends: Faith
Powers: Fly, float and brand people
Alliance: Impartial - supposedly

Likes 

Being unseen by others
Having the ability to observe others while they are oblivious to her presence
Having the ability to float – not walk – and fly
Being the conduit for Faith to reach out to family
Jacey

Dislikes 

Having beings see her when she believes she is invisible
Everyone assuming she is corrupt
Having a chaperon every time she leaves the Charta zone
Heathe

Personality 

Daichi is a Seeker – They are beings within the realm of Nemele who are supposed to be observers. They are well known for being deceptive and doing more than just observing. Daichi is unlike most of the other Fundamentalist Seekers. She is curious to a fault. She has the ability to brand beings so she can follow their energy patterns. Her brand is the symbol depicted here. Daichi is considered a double agent in Awakenings. Most of her kind are bound to Yietimpi nations – the corrupt element within Nemele. Daichi is a vessel for a message which is delivered to Jacey from a long lost relative.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author for Limitless Publishing. Wife, mother and Police Officer:)
(website) (goodreads) (twitter) (facebook)


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BLOG TOUR+REVIEW: Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

Pub. Date: May 21st 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 352
Readership: Young adult
Genres: contemporary

Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, and a perfect crush for the girls in his school. He’s even really nice to his little brother, Daniel, a decidedly imperfect ten-year-old. Karen Walker is a beautiful, highly successful criminal lawyer, who works hard to maintain the facade of effortless excellence she has constructed over the years. Now that the boys are getting older, now that she won’t have as much control, she worries that the facade might soon begin to crumble. Steve Walker is also a successful prosecutor, so much so that he is running for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives.  

But the Walkers have a secret. Max was born with forty-six XX chromosomes and forty-six XY chromosomes, which makes him intersex. He identifies as a boy and so has been raised lovingly that way. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of Max’s past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won’t his parents talk about it? Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Who is Max and who will he be in the years ahead?  

While Max and his family face life-changing questions, revelations, and the ever-present threat that Hunter presents, Max falls in love. He might be flawed, but could he be the perfectly imperfect boyfriend for misfit Sylvie Clark, the oddball loner in his class?  

Told in first person narratives alternating between Max, Daniel, Karen, Sylvie, Steve, and Archie, the physician who attempts to guide Max through this pivotal moment in his life, Golden Boy is at once a riveting novel of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity, and a coming-of-age story like no other.

What a book. No, really. What. A. Book. This book does it's job well. Powerful is a word I would use to describe it. While contemporary isn't generally my cup of tea I'm glad I accepted the offer to review from the publisher.

What I really enjoyed was the different POVs. If it was only told through one I don't think that the book  would be quite the same. It's a really good way of getting into all of their heads; seeing why they do the things they do, understanding why they say the things they say, feel how they feel, etc. and that really helps with such sensitive subject matter. That's another thing I really liked about the novel: how well the author went about the subject. She did it in such a realistic, positive way and I thought that was fantastic. I liked the pace of the book as well. Fast but not too fast. It played like a really good movie in my head.

This is a book that will get people talking. I got so invested in the story I found myself crying and wanting to throw it against a wall when certain things happened. I got very attached to these characters, especially Max, who is such an endearing young man. The topic of this book is something that needs to be talked about more and I think that the more people that read this, and pass it on to friends because they're going to want to talk about it too, the more the issues will be heard. I'm repeating myself but the author did such a fantastic job in doing this. This book is something both adults and teens need to read and to discuss. The book makes you think, and that is the best kind of book.

★★★★

I REALLY LIKED IT 

**thank you to simon&schuster for providing an arc for review!**

PURCHASE 

(amazon hardcover) (amazon kindle) (the book depository)

BOOK BLITZ: Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick

Come Back to Me by Coleen Patrick 
Publication date: March, 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

Whitney Denison can’t wait to start over.  

She thought she had everything under control, that her future would always include her best friend Katie… Until everything changed.  

Now her life in Bloom is one big morning after hangover, filled with regret, grief, and tiny pinpricks of reminders that she was once happy. A happy she ruined. A happy she can’t fix. 

So, she is counting down the days until she leaves home for Colson University, cramming her summer with busywork she didn’t finish her senior year, and taking on new hobbies that involve glue and glitter, and dodging anyone who reminds her of her old life.  

When she runs into the stranger who drove her home on graduation night, after she’d passed out next to a ditch, she feels herself sinking again. The key to surviving the summer in Bloom is unraveling whatever good memories she can from that night.  

But in searching for answers, she’ll have to ask for help and that means turning to Evan, the stranger, and Kyle, Katie’s ex-boyfriend. Suddenly, life flips again, and Whitney finds herself on not only the precipice of happy but love, too, causing her to question whether she can trust her feelings, or if she is falling into her old patterns of extremes.  

As she uncovers the truth about her memories, Whitney sees that life isn’t all or nothing, and that happy isn’t something to wait for, that instead, happy might just be a choice.

(goodreads) (amazon)

BLOG TOUR: Domination by Jon S Lewis

Domination (C.H.A.O.S. #3) by Jon S. Lewis
Release Date: 04/16/13 

THEIR GOAL IS SIMPLE: TOTAL DOMINATION.  

With six arms and jaws that can snap a man in two, the warmongering race of aliens known as the Thule has conquered every planet they’ve attacked.  

And now their invasion of Earth has begun.  

Humanity’s only hope springs from a mysterious Thule legend about a Betrayer, who they believe will rise up and destroy their people. The American government tried to manufacture their own Betrayer by injecting children with Thule blood but time after time the experiment failed . . . until Colt McAlister.  

A decade later, Colt is a 16-year-old cadet at the CHAOS Military Academy where he’s training to defend mankind. But he’s afraid that the alien blood may be turning him into a Thule—and he’s beginning to suspect that fulfilling his role as the Betrayer may cost him everything.  

Experience a cosmic battle filled with high-tech gear, gateways to other planets, and ultimate stakes. Not everyone will survive. But heroes will rise up and step into their destiny in this earth-shaking conclusion to the C.H.A.O.S trilogy.

(goodreads)

Alienation (C.H.A.O.S. #2) 

by Jon S. Lewis 

Earth's last line of defense against the coming alien invasion is 16-year-old surfer Colt McAlister.  

But before he can save the world, he has to survive the day.  

All Colt wants to do is return to his old life . . . where aliens don't exist . . . where mankind hasn't been targeted for destruction . . . and where his parents are still alive. Unfortunately life doesn't work that way.  

The United States government believes Colt holds the key to our survival, so they're sending him to the CHAOS Military Academy along with his best friends Oz and Danielle. There they'll be trained to defend Earth against a swarm of alien shape shifters known as the Thule. But someone is trying to eliminate Colt before he can lead that charge. Shocked to learn about key events in his past and unsure who he can trust, he is alienated and on the run. 

In a world of high-tech gear, shape-shifting aliens, simulated reality, and hover boards, Colt must step into his true destiny before our world falls into chaos.

(goodreads)

Invasion (C.H.A.O.S. #1) 

by Jon S. Lewis 

He didn't ask for the job, but now all that stands between us and chaos... is Colt  

Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.  

He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.  

But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public? 

Vowing to uncover the truth, Colt gets drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible gateways. 

The Invasion has begun.

(goodreads)

Is there a secret alien genetic code in our DNA

Conspiracy theories can be a lot of fun, especially when you find intelligent people who believe that outlandish things might actually be true. It makes you pause for a moment to wonder if there truly are extraterrestrial life forms, and whether or not they are living among us today. 

In the CHAOS trilogy, Colt is one of tens of thousands of children who were injected with a special serum that carried alien DNA. The hope is that the genetic material from the aliens would fuse with human genetic material to create a kind of super soldier that would help us defend Earth against an invading army of six-armed reptilian shapeshifters who are as strong as a dozen men.

As outlandish as it sounds, there was a recent article on Discovery.com (http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplanets/could-an-alien-message-be-embedded-in-our-genetic-code-130401.htm) discussing two scientists from Kazakhstan who believe that aliens may have embedded a signal in our genetic code that is ultimately a mathematical and semantic message. 

Sound crazy? There’s just enough truth in there to make it sound real and that’s the stuff of good storytelling.

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BLOG TOUR: The Game by Shane Collins

Welcome to my stop for The Game blog tour hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the full blog tour schedule!

The Game 
by Shane Scollins
Release Date: 03/13/13

No matter where you are, they’ll find you, and put you in “The GAME”. 

Candice Laguna’s life is being systematically dismantled, by an unknown force, for a reason she can’t imagine. But she is about to become the unwilling star of a reality gamecompetition the likes of which has never been broadcast to the world.  

Just when things get darkest, a mysterious man snatches her from the grips of doom. He is a man who is not what he appears, and not who he says. He has no name and his motivation to help Candice is not what it seems to be.  

THE GAME is a mystery/thriller with an unpredictable paranormal twist. It has action and adventure and plays up the everyday exploitation of reality television obsession gone wrong.

(goodreads) (amazon)

Practical Advice for Beginning Fiction Writers  

So you’ve always wanted to write a book. You’ve read a ton of books, you love stories, and you feel like there’s a great story inside you that needs to get out. 

It’s a common misconception that everyone can be a writer, I don’t believe that to be true. Not everyone can be a professional athlete or a brain surgeon. It takes a drive and desire. But believing you can, is more than half the battle. If you’re willing to put forth effort and you have the talent, you can be a writer.

The thing that makes published writers stand out from those who are unpublished, is that the published ones never quit. It’s that simple. I know a great writer who has been at this game for more than thirty years. She’s in her fifties now and she just sold her first book this year. She never quit, and now she’s sold three more books since. 

Persistence really is the key piece of advice that all beginning fiction writers need to hear and understand. You won’t get anywhere with all the talent in the world if you don’t work at it. And if you work at it, the fact you don’t have all the talent in the world won’t matter. Writing is a skill just like any other and with enough practice, you’ll get good at it.

The first thing you need to do before beginning your writing adventure, is read…a lot. Read for fun, of course, but also read with a critical eye. Read all you can, all different genres and learn to recognize what you like and dislike about a particular writer’s style and prose. Learn to recognize what kinds of genres you like the most and what you’d like to write. Picture what you’d like to do differently, or the same as the things you’re reading. 

Once you’ve read a lot, what you need to do is write, write, and write some more. I’d suggest writing at least two or three complete novels before you ever consider shopping a single one of them. Because the truth is, your first attempts are probably going to stink, or be mediocre at best. You can always go back to those early efforts and rewrite them after you learn who you are as a writer. It takes a while to find your voice, and you will hear a lot about the “voice” of your writing. It’s not really something that can easily be explained but you’ll know it after a while. It’s a process. 

Just like anything else you really want in life, writing has to be something you’re committed to. It is very tough to make anything work if the effort is only a half-hearted one. So if you truly want to be a writer, get started and have fun.

Shane Scollins is a freelance writer and author. Originally from New Jersey, he now resides in Upstate New York with his wife, Heather. He has worked as an automotive service manager, a website developer and a computer network engineer. Primarily a science fiction and paranormal novelist, Shane enjoys taking readers on surprising and unexpected journeys that twist reality. He is currently working on his next book. 

Follow Shane at: Website * Twitter * Goodreads * Facebook

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