Feed Your Reader Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Feed Your Reader Giveaway Hop!

 

(And yes, I know Isabelle has been largely absent from the web. Thank you to Kaede and Sarah for taking over. I've been dealing with some losses.)

ANNNNNYWAY.

I usually buy e-books for big books that I don't feel like carrying around. So the theme of the e-books you can choose are Young Adult books close to or over 400 pages long.

Here are yo options:



Yes, I realize this is a random list. If you have any suggesstions, feel free to reply with them when you win.

This is international, duh. It's e-books.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(Also- a reminder to NOT email Isabelle about anything, as she WILL NOT answer at this time. If you need something urgently, contact Kaede and Sarah.) 

Check out the other blogs on this hop!

Review of My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Info:

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Pages: 395 pages (hardcover)

Series: No

My Format: bought e-book

Time it Took me to Read: Four Days

Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

A gorgeous debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another
“One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time.”

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A dreamy summer read, full of characters who stay with you long after the story is over.

I'm not exactly sure what perpetuates the idea of "The Boy Next Door". All of my neighbors are meth addicts or kids. Well, respectively. I haven't seen a lot of bleary eyed babies around here of late.

Anyway, seeing as that I'm not attracted to the concept of being high, nor am I a pedophile, you can see why I wouldn't relate to Samantha's problems.

Samantha is the daughter of a state senator, whose next door neighbors are a family of ten, AKA the Garretts. Jase Garrett is the love interest of this story,and they have an epic, and rather fluffy love story. And that's basically it. Nothing particularly radical happens in this story. As I said before, it's rather fluffy.

The big "thing" at the end didn't surprise me at all. That's because, you know the copyright page at the beginning of books? You know how there's a summary on it? Well that summary give the BIG FRUGGING THING AWAY. However, I do have to admit, though I knew what happened, it gave me some chills reading Samantha's narration during it. If Fitzpatrick had written the whole book like that moment, I'd have given this book eight million stars.

I wasn't particularly happy with the romance in this either, though this is mostly a romance book. It was very rushed at the beginning. Let me give you an example. (Minor spoilers from first 100 pages, highlight to see)

Samantha asks Jase if he is a serial killer, because it's only, like, their third time talking. He says he's not. Guess what happens after this exchange.

Guess.

Guess.

NO.

They KISS.

(End spoilers)I wanted to slam my head into a bed of nails, it was just too painful. I considered dropping the book, but I kept going. All of the characters were archetypes, as there were just too many of them. None of them were layered or that interesting, and all of them have the luxury of being white. True, Samantha didn't much drama. But that just isn't interesting to read about.

In short, they were too goody-goody for my tastes. Which is okay, some people like that and I respect that.

However, this book did redeem one star because of Nan, Samantha's friend. I could identify with her because, I, too had a blonde, perfect, friend that I wanted to stab in jealousy and I always thought I was competing with. She was such a memorable character. From this, I can easily tell that Fitzpatrick knows how to write secondary characters- now can she do it for the main ones?

It redeemed another star because it became more readable as it eased off the romance, which I was rolling my eyes at.

All in all, you should give it a try, as I see everyone else has given this five stars, and I can't deny it is a good book. Everything's good, the characters are good, the plot is good, all is good in shangri-la. However, there just wasn't that factor that pushed me over the edge. It was too safe in my opinion. So give it a shot, you won't be disappointed, and I shall be reading Fitzpatrick's novels in the future.

3 STARS!

State of the Book Web this Week

Lots of stuff was going on this week! Normally I just read Buzz Worthy News at Cuddlebuggery, but today, I felt like I had to update you guys in short snippets. Most of this will be links, so click away!

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Finnick Odair was cast. Sam Clafin is signing on to Catching Fire, the next movie in the Hunger Games series.

This is his profile picture.

Yeaahhhh.

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The other day, author Terry Goodkind posted personal information about someone who pirated his books. You can read the full story here.


(Sidenote: Author Stephanie Lawton wrote an article detailing how to deal with Pirates.)


Later, this actually incited a few twitter comments from the EVER AWESOME Chuck Wendig. See below:

We totally agree! Have you actually read Kat (the Aussie Zombie)'s post about nice authors? Authors CAN respectfully comment on reviews! As another author weighed in:

Have you been reading Stephanie's Cuddlebuggery article on that?

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Now, on the other side of legal things, author Elizabeth Fama wants you to KILL HER ARC.

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chicklitgirls.com is apparently charging $95 dollars for reviews. Further detail by Dear Author.

(Guys, I only charge in books. One book gets you a review- wait, has someone already done that?)

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We apparently owe publishers/ authors something when we request ARCS.

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We're very sorry for Lucy. Please try to show her some support.

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The Bookish Brunette (aka Zombie Queen) has some well said words about how we can untwist our panties. I think I may be in love with her. (Part 1, Part 2)

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Crushable is calling Beautiful Creatures the next Twilight. *cough*

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Lisa Burstein talks about authorial jealousy.

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Marissa Meyer tells you how to read faster.

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Yet another author uses Twitter as a weapon of stupidity:

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But I used Twitter as a good thing! In non-relevant news, I made somebody laugh:

Review and GIVEAWAY of Want by Stephanie Lawton

This book changed my frickin life.

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: InkSpell Publishing
Pages: 318
Series: Nope
My Format: Received for Blog Tour
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-book/Paperback/Hardcover

Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche to help her. She can't understand why he suddenly gave up Boston's music scene to return to the South. He doesn't know her life depends on escaping it. Julianne must face down madness from without, just as it threatens from within. Isaac must resist an inappropriate attraction, but an indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball-the pinnacle event for Mobile's elite-forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past. Will Julianne accept the help she's offered and get everything she ever wanted, or will she self-destruct and take Isaac down with her?

Let me fill you in on a little secret. Once upon a time, I auditioned for a spot on a junior panel of piano players. It was highly prestigious, and my hands were shaking like crazy. I prepared for this for months now, and I probably played the piece a million times, had nightmares over it, and gained twenty pounds for all the ice cream I ate when I played badly. When I stepped in front of those judges, my life flashed before my eyes.

Guess what happened?

I botched the audition. And then threw up.

I'll let you decide whether that's a true story or not.

I'm pretty sure this was me.
From Parents.com

My point is, I got Julianne as she struggled with her audition to the New England Conservatory, but that wasn't important at all. The story is more than that. It's an edgy coming of age Young Adult novel with characters that made me cry my own pools. (Which was very efficient for the summer season, I might add.)

As she struggled with her crazy mother (and I do mean crazy in the most literal sense), her decade older mentor/ love interest, her decade older hilarious other love interest, and others, my hands were shaking again. What was I doing? I wasn't playing piano or anything. How could a novel make me feel anticipation that I only felt with something important? Why did I feel like I was going to throw up?

No, not because I wanted to throw up on the book. This is, in fact my favorite read of 2012. It was because I was FLAILING all over the place as I read this. Every little thing made me whisper, "Be still, my hairy heart." It was all too much for me.

Well, that, or because I was reading in the car.

The characters are amazing. Dave is perverted, older, and pretty much everything you want in a guy. Issac is akin to Heathcliff literary-wise, and also pretty hot if I do say so myself. And I know you're wary of love triangles, but let me just say, Juli is not some helpless Bella. She doesn't focus on guys. She focuses on her music, with a few sexy excursions here and there.

The writing is stellar- writers, if you want the epitome of show, don't tell, THIS IS IT. There are so many little insinuations and things you have to pick up on yourself. The writing is interactive, which is great.

So why do I refrain from giving it a glorious five stars (other than the fact that I'm afraid of odd numbers?) Well, it's purely personal, but though Juli made the right choice in the end, I DIDN'T LIKE IT. Plus, this novel left me in a literary corner for days, so really, it made me feel four stars emotionally.

Perhaps that's what actually makes WANT such "bejeezus" worthy novel. 

Now, you've probably noticed that I've refrained from saying that "This was a lyrical novel that sang to me" or something like that because I hate praise puns. But, I've got to say it.

WANT was a lyrical novel that hit the notes in all the right places.

HAPPY?


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Oh, hey, there's a giveaway for an ebook copy of WANT, so you can possibly win the awesome.


Duh it's international! Unless your country blocks internet... in which case... how are you reading this?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Great YA Deals on Kindle and iBooks

Here are some great deals I found on the Kindle and iBook store for Young Adult ebooks. (You should disable adblocker if you want the items to show.)

Kindle Books:

$0.99


Under $2



$2.99
 

$3.99


$4.99



Now Under $6.00



That being said, MOST of these deals are also on iBooks. However, there are 3 iBooks exclusive deals under $3...

Variant by Robinson Wells $2.99
Possess by Gretchen Mitchell $2.99 
The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten $2.99




 Tell me in the comments if I missed anything! I hunted for these deals myself, so I can't get everything.

If you want to post this on your blog as well, just email me for the HTML code, and make sure you say that it's from Wake Up at Seven.