Vlog: Ontario Teen Book Fest Authors!

May 21, 2014Leave a comment

So as some of you may have known, view this past weekend was the Ontario Teen Book Fest. You probably know because I promoted it like crazy and it was an event that I was SO highly looking forward to!

Sylvia from Fangirl Feeels and I were the official bloggers for the event which meant that we did a lot of promotion and really got to spend some awesome time with the authors.

We asked all fifteen awesome YA authors two questions and got it all on video for you guys. The answers were all super awesome, generic and we are so glad to share this vlog with you!

A recap video of the actual event is coming VERY soon, but for now, enjoy learning about all the authors from the Fest!

Book Review: Summer State of Mind by Jen Calonita

May 20, 2014May 19, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, medical Contemporary

Part of a Series?:

Technically, it is a sequel/companion novel to Sleepaway Girls but they can be read independently of each other.

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

Summer has finally arrived and fifteen-year-old Harper McCallister intends to spend her days at the mall shopping or by the pool at her country club. But after receiving her latest heart-stopping credit card bill, Harper’s parents makes other plans, and ship her off to camp.

Suddenly, the clueless yet ever-popular Harper is the new girl at the bottom of a social ladder she can’t climb in wedge sandals and expensive clothes. She seems to be winning over super-cute camp “Lifer” Ethan, though, and if she can manage to make a few friends–and stay out of trouble–she just might find a whole new summer state of mind.

My Review:

I’m just going to say this out, first and foremost: I ADORE Jen Calonita. Her books are more geared toward a younger YA audience but I think that’s why I love her so much. I love that her books are lighthearted and that they make me laugh and they make me feel…carefree. The sort of problems that her characters go through are all important but they aren’t ginormous in nature and I appreciate that.

This is a sequel/companion novel to her standalone, Sleepaway Girls. Brand new characters but there is a lot of throw back to the characters that you grew to love in SG. I would recommend reading Sleepaway Girls first, I think, but its totally not necessary at all. The two stories coincide but exist independently of each other.

That being said, I loved returning to camp Whispering Pines. All these characters in the first book kept talking about waiting all year to get back to camp and I honestly couldn’t understand that. I was never able to go to camp as a kid because camp is SUPER expensive and there are six of us and there’s just no way. But as soon as I started reading Summer State of Mind, when Harper arrives at camp, I was SO stoked. I was so happy to be back at that camp! I had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs when I read Sleepaway Girls and I was really looking forward to doing that again.

The thing that really makes this different from Sleepaway Girls is that you’re rooting for Sam from the very beginning. I loved Sam right away. She reminded me of myself in some way so it was easy to be caught up in her story and to love her. Harper, on the other hand, drives me insane and it took me awhile to get on her side. But I liked that about the book. Harper isn’t an easier character to love, but once you love her, that’s easy.

And its just a quintessential Jen Calonita book. Its lighthearted and fun and it made me laugh. I read it super quickly and that’s what I love about Jen’s books. I don’t always have to read these books with war and epic tragedies and questions about the big morals of life and stuff like that. I love those, obviously, but its fun to just read a book that makes you laugh and Jen has always managed to do that.

So if you’re looking for something fun, with a cute romance, a few pranks and just a down right good time, then this is a book for you. And with summer just around the corner (or you live in California, where its been in the 100s in MAY!), its the perfect book to bring to the beach with you.

Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: The One by Kiera Cass

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, order Dystopian, cialis 40mg Romance

Pages:

323

Part of a Series?:

The final book in The Selection Trilogy

Release Date:

May 6th, 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

The Selection changed the lives of thirty-five girls forever. And now, the time has come for one winner to be chosen.

America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the competition approaches its end and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

From the very first page of The Selection, this #1 New York Times bestselling series has captured readers’ hearts and swept them away on a captivating journey… Now, in The One, Kiera Cass delivers a satisfying and unforgettable conclusion that will keep readers sighing over this electrifying fairy-tale long after the final page is turned.

My Review:

Please be aware that while there will be no spoilers in this review for The One, there will be spoilers for The Selection and The Elite. You can read their respective reviews by clicking on their titles.

Two books came out on May 6th that I needed to read: Morgan Matson’s Since You’ve Been Gone and this novel. I picked them both up that day, but got caught up in going to Jamie Campbell Bower’s acoustic show in Venice Beach and a book event at Barnes and Noble to meet Tammara Webber and Abbi Glines. I wasn’t able to start until the next day.

As soon as I finished Morgan’s book, I immediately had to read The One. What is really powerful about this is that I barely read The Selection back in early January and immediately read The Elite after. The fact that I was dying to dive into this book on release day, merely four months after getting into the series is incredible.

And I definitely think that this book delivered. Finales to a series can be sort of nerve wracking and you want it to end well, but you also know that the right ending might not always be the ending that you want it to be. What is so great about The One, at least in this reader/blogger’s opinion is that it had both. I felt like the ending was incredibly right and it was the ending that I was so hoping for.

What I think really jumped out at me with this book was that it was a love story, more than anything. The book starts with the idea of the prince trying to choose a wife out of a pool of a couple dozen girls. America goes reluctantly, torn between her love for Aspen and her desire to help out her family. Meeting Maxon only makes her that much more confused, and its not too much of a surprise that a love triangle ensues.

BUT this is what makes me love this story so much. Kiera approaches a love triangle in the most real and beautiful way possible. I can’t really say much more than that because its sort of spoiler-ish and I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone who has yet to read it. But I really think that she approaches the idea of loving two people very well and I love the way it turns out.

In the end, Kiera Cass has told a fantastic love story and it made me incredibly happy, the way it ended. There were doubts, times where I wanted to cry and shout and throw my book across the room and there were times where I was jumping up for joy and laughing and loving it all. I’ve been in a very romantic kind of mood and this book was absolutely perfect for that.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5 Stars

I Read YA Week: Book Recommendations!

May 19, 2014April 3, 20201 Comment

I LOVE I Read YA Week! I love showing my support for the week and showing the world how many of us read YA, and how different we all are. I think people tend to think of the same group of people reading YA but that is so very different from the truth. So I love that this week is a great way to spread the word about YA in general and to show your pride in reading it!

This is Teen is behind the awesome of I Read YA week. You can grab yourself a fancy little button like the one above (though I modified it a bit) and learn about all the awesome happening this week by visiting this link.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014Leave a comment

Genre:

Young Adult, this site Contemporary

Part of a Series?:

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads Summary:

The Pre-Sloane Emily didn’t go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn’t do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just… disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try… unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait… what?

Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find?

Go Skinny Dipping? Um..

My Review:

Putting aside the fact that I would read anything Morgan Matson writes, even a takeout menu, I immediately felt a connection to Emily just by reading the synopsis alone. For most of my life, I’ve attached myself to best friends who have been so…out there, so unique and outgoing and wild and memorable. Everyone always knew my best friend, everyone always loved her, no matter who she was at the time and I followed in the adventures that were her life, and got used to being “Amanda’s best friend” or “Vanessa’s best friend” or “Allison’s best friend”. It was something I sort of got used to until none of them were there anymore. They didn’t disappear in the way that Sloane does with Emily, but the feelings were incredibly familiar to me and this was a huge part of my desire to read the book.

And the fact that Morgan had written it. Did I mention that part? I would read anything and everything by her.

Moving on though, I fell in love with this book. It’s not short, just about 450 pages and yet I managed to stay up until about 2 am, reading it. I tweeted about it, because I was so overwhelmed with how fast I read it and the emotions that I was so full of, and she had the perfect solution to it all.

Everything about this books feel so real and that’s why its so easy to get caught up in them. She’s such a beautiful writer, and an incredible storyteller but she’s also such a familiar writer too. All of her characters are memorable and real and genuine and they feel like they could be your best friend. That’s the way Amy felt in Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour and Taylor in Second Chance Summer and Emily felt such the same way. Whether you’re an Emily or a Sloane or just a you, you can feel so connected with Emily. Its fantastic to go on this journey with her, from where she starts as this incredibly shy and unsure girl and transforms into someone very different.

What really gets me about this book is the connections and the friendships. It starts off with just the friendship between Emily and Frank as they work their way through Sloane’s list but you also get Dawn and Matthew and Emily’s family and its all incredibly beautiful. I love that Emily is able to find friendships in the most unexpected places and I love that summer brings them all together. I love the possibility of summer and how its this vast empty space to fill with adventures and its perfect for Emily’s changes and the friendships she makes. I love the weird way she meets Dawn and how they become friends. I love that the friendship with Frank is incredibly unexpected to Emily but her friendship with Frank’s friend Matthew is even weirder. The story is about friendship and you get so many examples of different friendships and its beautiful.

Plus, I mean, come on. Frank. Frank Porter. One, the name Frank? Not sexy, but totally manages to be so in this book. Also, I knew a boy named Frank Porter in…middle school? Maybe high school? Also, not a very sexy guy. But Morgan manages to get past the name thing and the boy I knew in middle school thing to make another boy that I’m falling ridiculously in love with.

Morgan also brings back something that she did in her first novel that I absolutely loved and that was music playlists. In Amy and Roger’s, there were playlists scattered throughout the book because they were on a road trip and it made sense. Playlists were probably harder to integrate into Second Chance Summer so the return of the playlists in this novel made me incredibly happy. The first time I saw the name “Andrew McMahon” on a playlist, I almost cried in happiness. Andrew McMahon (known for Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin and most recently, himself as a solo artist) is my musical spirit animal. I have a Something Corporate tattoo on my ankle and so I found a connection even in just the selection of music.

Lastly, I cried. It was two a.m. and I was overwhelmed with emotions and I just let it all out in sobs. It was not a sad book, not the way that Second Chance Summer was or even Amy and Roger’s but it reaches and grabs your emotions so tightly. I felt so filled up with so many emotions that I can’t even begin to name and I cried. This book makes you feel so much and I absolutely loved it.

I’ve talked enough but the bottom line is this: Morgan Matson is a terrific writer and her third novel does not disappoint. She makes you laugh and cry and want to go skinny dipping on the beach and work in an ice cream parlor and drive a car with a broken sunroof. She writes a memorable, beautiful book and its one that you most DEFINITELY need to go and pick up.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Ontario Teen Book Fest Tomorrow + Giveaway!

May 16, 2014Leave a comment

Well, recipe we’ve reached the end of the Ontario Teen Book Fest blog tour and I am SO happy and excited that it went SO well. Thanks to each and every single blogger that participated and to all the authors that ROCKED their spotlights.

If you’d like to check out all the spotlights and interviews, they are all linked in this schedule so definitely check them out!

May 2nd: Spotlight on Jessica Brody — What A Nerd Girl Says
May 3rd: Spotlight on Elana K. Arnold — Nite Lite Book Reviews
May 4th: Spotlight on Catherine Linka — Fangirl Feeels
May 5th: Spotlight on Livia Blackburne – The Thousand Lives
May 6th: Spotlight on Lauren Kate — She Reads She Blogs
May 7th: Spotlight on Katie Alender — Movies, Shows and Books
May 8th: Spotlight on Lauren Miller — A Bookish Escape
May 9th: Spotlight on Sarah Skilton — Read Now Sleep Later
May 10th: Spotlight on Lissa Price — Recently Acquired Obsessions
May 11th: Spotlight on Jessi Kirby — What A Nerd Girl Says
May 12th: Spotlight on Katherine Ewell — iFandoms Collide
May 13th: Spotlight on Mary Pearson — The Windy Pages
May 14th: Spotlight on John Corey Whaley — Read Now Sleep Later
May 15th: Spotlight on Robin Benway — Adventures of a Book Junkie
May 16th: Spotlight on Ava Dellaira — Fangirl Feeels

Don’t forget as well, to enter the Ontario Teen Book Fest Blog tour giveaway! There will be three winners of three really great prizes. The giveaway is going on until May 20th, so make sure to get your entry in!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But most importantly, is the AMAZING event that is taking place tomorrow! This is what we’ve spent two weeks promoting and I hope to see all of you Southern California readers there to meet these fantastic authors.

Where:

Colony High School
3850 E. Riverside Drive, Ontario CA

What:

15 incredible young adult authors gathering together to talk about their books and sign them as well! There are some keynote speakers, several panels to choose from AND a speed dating game with the authors as well!

For the full schedule of events, please visit the official Ontario Teen Book Fest website here.

Books and Stuff:

Mrs. Nelson’s Bookfair Company will be onsite, selling books for all authors! You most definitely will be able to bring books from home, in fact, we hope that you do!

We also encourage you to purchase a book or two from Mrs. Nelson’s, to show support for them. They are the main sponsor of the event and its because of sponsors like them that events like this can happen! Mrs. Nelson’s will be accepting both cash and cards!

There will also be official posters ($5) and official t-shirts ($10) on sale, through the Ontario Library. The profits from these sales will go towards TBF 2015! Please note that these will only be available for purchase using CASH!

Social Media:

Don’t forget to RSVP “yes” if you’re attending on the official Facebook event here.

Also! If you are there, make sure to tweet and instagram your experience and use the hashtag #OntarioTBF!

* * * * * * * *

I hope to see all of you there!

If you have ANY questions, any at all about the event, feel free to comment below or to tweet me at @anerdgirlsays and I will get back to as soon as possible!

And don’t be afraid to say hello! I’ll be running around all day in an official Ontario Teen Book Fest t-shirt and am looking forward to hanging out with the authors and meeting all of you!

Happy Friday everyone!