ARC AUGUST - TO BE READ PILE!

So after ALA, I have a lot of ARCs to get through!  I've made a plan for them, but I figured a kick in the butt wouldn't go amiss.  So when I learned about the ladies over at Read.Sleep.Repeat's ARC August event I thought, this is perfect!

So I went through the ARCs I have and picked some choice ones that I was/am really excited to read!

My goal is to finish 10 ARCs this month!  Hopefully, that'll happen, but I'm not going to stress out about it too much!

THE BOOKS

     

        

I know some of these are already published, but I still haven't read them so might as well add them on!  Illuminae must be read in time for Gemina in October so there is a method behind this madness!

 If you have an ARC shelf just staring you down, today is the LAST day to sign-up to participate!  Of course, if you miss the sign up, still go read those ARCs!  I know how overwhelming a ton of books can be, and you always want to get the newest one, but take the time to give love to all those older ARCs too!

I'm feeling excited and trepidatious about my goal, but I think I can do it!  I'll be posting reviews for the books as well, so look for those!  Perhaps there may even be some giveaways for the books I really enjoy!  WHO KNOWS?!

HAPPY READING!

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BLOG TOUR -- WAX BY GINA DAMICO [Review + Giveaway]

Title: Wax
Author(s): Gina Damico
Edition: Hardcover, eBook, 368 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: August 2, 2016
Source: Rockstar Book Tours
Buy: Amazon - Barnes & Noble - iBooks - Book Depository

Tour Schedule

Week One:

7/25/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

7/26/2016- Eli to the nth- Review (ME!)

7/27/2016- BookHounds YA- Guest Post

7/28/2016- Lisa Loves Literature- Review

7/29/2016- The Cover Contessa- Interview

Week Two:

8/1/2016- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

8/2/2016- Ohana Reads- Guest Post

8/3/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

8/4/2016- YA Book Madness- Interview

8/5/2016- A Gingerly Review- Review

The Summary

Paraffin, Vermont, is known the world over as home to the Grosholtz Candle Factory. But behind the sunny retail space bursting with overwhelming scents and homemade fudge, seventeen-year-old Poppy Palladino discovers something dark and unsettling: a back room filled with dozens of startlingly life-like wax sculptures, crafted by one very strange old lady. Poppy hightails it home, only to be shocked when one of the figures—a teenage boy who doesn’t seem to know what he is—jumps naked and screaming out of the trunk of her car. She tries to return him to the candle factory, but before she can, a fire destroys the mysterious workshop—and the old woman is nowhere to be seen.

With the help of the wax boy, who answers to the name Dud, Poppy resolves to find out who was behind the fire. But in the course of her investigation, she discovers that things in Paraffin aren’t always as they seem, that the Grosholtz Candle Factory isn’t as pure as its reputation—and that some of the townspeople she’s known her entire life may not be as human as they once were. In fact, they’re starting to look a little . . . waxy. Can Poppy and Dud extinguish the evil that's taking hold of their town before it’s too late?

(Goodreads)

My Opinion

If you're looking for a laugh-out-loud, twisty, crazy, murdery romp, well by golly, look no further!  Wax by Gina Damico delivers all of the above and more.  A weird contemporary/supernatural story, Wax is sure to have you guessing until the last wick burns out!

The thing that Damico does the best, and I mean the absolute best, is take a really strange premise and make it actually plausible.  The characters are so dynamic, the setting is so detailed, and the series of events happen in such a natural way, you find yourself thinking, "This could've really happened!".  This is the trend through all of her books, but I think that Wax really exemplifies this.

Poppy is an excellent protagonist.  She's funny, smart, a little bossy, and really cares about her town.  A good candidate for a hero.  Plus her cast of weirdos, also known as the Giddy Committee (her school's Drama club), lend a helping hand by being their true weirdo selves.  There's a whole thing with a flamethrower that had me crying I was laughing so hard.  Poppy, even in the midst of her seemingly unending crap storm of a year, has a sense of optimism--which may just be a coping mechanism, but hey we all gotta get through life somehow.  Of course to off-set this beaming optimism, is Poppy's partner-in-crime, Jill, who is just over the line of too snarky and I absolutely adore her.

There are so many shenanigans during this book, and plot twists I didn't see coming.  Super fun, going a mile a minute at all times, I was very sad when it was all over.  I don't dare give away plot points because half the fun of Damico's books is going "Holy sh*t!  Did that just happen?".  And trust me, there are a ton of those.  But I will say, if you hear the insult gutbag, you'll be instantly on guard!  

Uproariously fun, Wax by Gina Damico is one of those books you don't want to miss!  If you want a chance to win your own copy, check out the giveaway below!  And be sure to pick up Wax when it comes out, August 2, 2016!  You want to miss this one!

Final Rating

About the Author

Gina Damico is the author of Croak, Scorch, and Rogue, the grim-reapers-gone-wild books of the Croak trilogy. She has also dabbled as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats, and one dog, and while she has never visited hell in person, she has spent countless waking hours at the Albany Regional Bus Terminal, which is pretty darn close. Visit her website at www.ginadami.co.

Website | Tumblr | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Goodreads

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COVER REVEAL -- OPPOSITION & SHADOWS BY JENNIFER ARMENTROUT [LUX SERIES #5 & #0.5]

Let us know what you think of the NEW covers for Opposition and Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout!

Opposition (Lux, #5) and Shadows (Lux, #0.5) release on November 1, 2016

This cover reveal is brought to you by Entangled TEEN and YA Books Central!

About Opposition:

Don't miss Opposition, the fifth and final book in Jennifer L. Armentrout's bestselling Lux series, now available as a standalone in print for the first time!

"An unmissable series!" –Samantha Young, New York Times bestselling author of On Dublin Street

“This is the stuff swoons are made of.” —Wendy Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Evil

Katy knows the world changed the night the Luxen came. She can't believe Daemon stood by as his kind threatened to obliterate every last human and hybrid on Earth. But the lines between good and bad have blurred.

Daemon will do anything to save those he loves, even if it means betrayal. But when it quickly becomes impossible to tell friend from foe, and the world is crumbling around them, they may lose everything to ensure the survival of their friends…and mankind.

Want to read the LUX series on your ereader? Each book is sold individually in e-format:
#1: Obsidian
#2: Onyx
#3: Opal
#4: Origin
#5: Opposition
Dawson’s story: Shadows

Want to Read More? Pre-order Opposition Today!

Amazon--B&N--Amazon.co.uk--Amazon.ca

About Shadows:

Don't miss Shadows, Dawson Black’s story in Jennifer L. Armentrout's bestselling Lux series, now available as a standalone in print for the first time!

"An unmissable series!" –Samantha Young, New York Times bestselling author of On Dublin Street

“This is the stuff swoons are made of.” —Wendy Higgins, New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Evil

The last thing Dawson Black expected was Bethany Williams. As a Luxen, an alien life-form on Earth, human girls are…well, fun. But since the Luxen have to keep their true identities a secret, falling for one would be insane. Dangerous. Tempting. Undeniable.

Bethany can't deny the immediate connection between her and Dawson. And even though boys aren't a complication she wants, she can't stay away from him. Still, whenever they lock eyes, she's drawn in. Captivated. Lured. Loved.

Dawson is keeping a secret that will change her existence…and put her life in jeopardy. But even he can't stop risking everything for one human girl. Or from a fate that is as unavoidable as love itself.

Want to read the LUX series on your ereader? Each book is sold individually in e-format:

#1: Obsidian
#2: Onyx
#3: Opal
#4: Origin
#5: Opposition
Dawson’s story: Shadows

Want to Read More? Pre-order Shadows Today!

Amazon--B&N--Amazon.co.uk--Amazon.ca

About the Author:

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Find Jennifer L. Armentrout Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads’ Author Page

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BOOKTUBE-A-THON 2016 WRAP UP

BookTube-A-thon 2016 is officially over!  July 24th was the last full day of the event, and boy was this a looooong 7 days.  I have never read that many books in such a short amount of time.  Especially as it doesn't really work out to 1 book a day in practice; so books take longer than others do (I'm looking at you Wax, I'm looking at you).

Just to refresh your memory from last time (check out my update post) here are the challenges:
1. Read a book with yellow on the cover
2. Read a book only after sunset
3. Read a book you discovered through BookTube
4. Read a book by one of your favorite authors
5. Read a book that is older than you
6. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation
7. Read seven books

(books correspond to the challenges from left to right)

I officially finished ALL the challenges!  Wooh!  I read every single book listed above!  Smashed it for sure.  Of course I'm sure some people read waaaaay more books, but with the fact that I have a full-time, 40 hour a week job, I am very pleased with my accomplishment!  

With the BookTube-A-Thon, there were three other places to do "challenges or activities: Twitter, Instagram, and, of course, YouTube.  I, unfortunately, rarely participated in the YouTube or Instagram challenges--I need to re-vamp my YoueTube Channel and I'm just not a good Bookstagamer yet.  BUT, I totally participated in the Twitter Sprints!  These are blocks of time when hosts for the BookTube-A-Thon issue reading "sprints", designated reading times, and offer challenges/activities to do during the blocks as well.  They were super fun, and while I only really got to do the 10:00PM to 1:00AM ones, I did participate!  

I LOVE this event, and really applaud Ariel Bisset for all the hard work she puts in to, first, create the BookTube-A-Thon, and then second, run it every year!  I also enjoyed the myriad of guest hosts, popular BookTubers from all over the interwebz; super fun to see everyone's different style in Tweet form!

Since I'm so pumped, and I finished all my challenges, I figured I'd do a little wrap-up going over the books I read as a celebratory "I DID IT!"!

FAVORITE BOOK READ!

My favorite book read was Wax by Gina Damico!  I can't say enough good things about this book; it was hilarious and horrifying, and hilariously horrifying all at the same time.  Definitely a book you want to check out (also look for my review and a giveaway coming Tuesday, July 26th)!

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK READ!

My least favorite books read was definitely The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway!  This book was picked for the "read a book that is older than you" challenge, and I regret that decision.  I know that as far as a literary achievement, this is touted as one of Hemingway's best novels, but it has a lot, and I mean a lot, of fishing in it.  Too much fishing.  All the fishing.  I couldn't handle it.  Good for a literary analysis, stinky for reading for fun!

FAVORITE CHALLENGE!

I really enjoyed the "read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation".  For this one I chose How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, which when the movie came out, I did not know it was a book.  So I saw the movie first, which in this case was fine because I didn't find them to be all that similar.  The very base of the plot is there in the movie, but the book and movie have a TON of differences.  Both enjoyable for sure, but I think I like the movie adaptation better, sorry to say!

LEAST FAVORITE CHALLENGE!

This is a toss up between "read a book that is older than you" and "read a book only after sunset".  The former because being 28 makes the genre that I typically like to read, Young Adult, pretty slim pickings to find a book, and one I hadn't read yet.  Hence, looking for those classics, and hence, winding up with "The Old Man Who Fished A Lot".  The later was problematic because right now it doesn't get dark until 8:30PM!!!  And remember that 40 hour a week job?  I'm tired by like 9:00PM!  I had to do some major caffeination in order to read my pick for that challenge, but it was still fun!

FASTEST BOOK TO READ!

That honor would have to go to How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. This is the last book I read, as I wanted to be able to watch the movie right after, so I read it all in one go on Sunday, July 24th.  Super short book too, so that obviously helped! The actual shortest book I read was really, George by Alex Gino, at 195 pages, but I read that over two days due to work.

LONGEST BOOK TO READ!

This honor has to go to Wax by Gina Damico.  This book took 5 days...well nights...to read!  That's only because sleep kept defeating me!  My body was so weak in the face of all this after sunset only reading!  This books was also the longest in page length at 368 pages.  So worth it though!!

MOST GENRES READ!

I read, out of the 7 books, 4 "contemporary" books: You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan, George by Alex Gino, Local Girl Swept Away, and Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh.  Each of them were very different books, but all fell within the contemporary genre.  And it just reinforces the fact that contemporary has a lot of different books within it!

Overall, I had sooooo much fun!  And I'm proof, along with many other participants, that you don't have to have a (active)BookTube channel in order to take part in the BookTube-A-Thon.  So definitely consider participating next year, and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel in order to get all the updates.

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BOOKTUBE-A-THON UPDATE

So the BookTube-A-Thon is chugging away!  We are currently on Day 4 with only 3 days left!!!!  that is NOT a lot of time!  I'm very much feeling the pressure....

But I figured I'd update on my progress so far in order to keep everything in perspective.

Here are the challenges:
1. Read a book with yellow on the cover
2. Read a book only after sunset
3. Read a book you discovered through BookTube
4. Read a book by one of your favorite authors
5. Read a book that is older than you
6. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation
7. Read seven books

(books correspond to the challenges from left to right)

                                

 So far I have completed two of the challenges: #3 read a book you discovered through BookTube (George by Alex Gino, which technically could be used for #1 in a pinch) and #5 read a book that is older than you (The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, which could be used for nothing other than this one...it wasn't good).  Not too shabby considering I also have a full-time job.

I am also in the middle of completing two other challenges: #2 read a book only after sunset (Wax by Gina Damico, also could be used for #4--love me some Gina Damico), which is hard over the summer since the sun sets so late, and #7 read seven books (Flying Lessons & Other Stories edited by Ellen Oh in my 7th book).

The other 3 should be finished this weekend--all three of them are relatively short books (very on purpose for this read-a-thon), so I am very hopeful that I will crush this BookTube-A-Thon!  I haven't really had a chance to participate in the YouTube and Instagram challenges that go along with this, but I have been able to do a couple of Twitter pushes!  I just love this community, and I have read more in these last 3 days then I have in a month, so an added bonus there!

If you're also doing the BookTube-A-Thon, or you know of some fun read-a-thons coming up, let me know in the comments!  And as always, HAPPY READING!                              

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Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow - Spotlight & Giveaway

     

     Girl in Pieces has been on my radar for a while.  I've been wanting to read this contemporary from the minute I heard about it, and I had the privilege of meeting Kathleen Glasgow at ALA.  I was able to get an ARC signed by her, and on the last day I was able to pick up an extra ARC because I knew I wanted to give my readers the opportunity to read it as well!

     I was also sent an ARC for review, so now I have TWO ARCs to giveaway to you all!  I'm really excited about this.  Girl in Pieces is a visceral book; you feel what Charlie feels; you go through what Charlie goes through.  It is a difficult story to get through at times, but so beautifully executed.  I think this will be classified by many to be a must read contemporary YA that really examines the aftermath of a life fallen to pieces, and what it takes to build it back up.

Girl in Pieces

Kathleen Glasglow

August 30, 2016

Delacorte Press

For fans of Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why, and All the Bright Places comes Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel about a girl who has lost everything—almost even herself.

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The thick glass of a mason jar cuts deep, and the pain washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.

Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge. 

A deeply moving portrait of a teenage girl on the verge of losing herself and the journey she must take to survive in her own skin, Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

The room is too quiet, so I walk the halls at night.  My lungs hurt.  I move slowly.

     Everything is too quiet.  I trace a finger along the walls.  I do this for hours.  I  know they're thinking about putting me on sleep meds after my wounds heal and I can be taken off antibiotics, but I don't want them to.  I need to be awake and aware.

     He could be anywhere.  He could be here.

(Page 10)

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Terms and Conditions

Open only to US/CA residents!
No entries outside of US or CA! 
Must be 13 years old to enter. 
TWO winners will win an ARC copy of GIRL IN PIECES.
Winner must have a mailing address within the US/CA.

NO PO Boxes allowedPrize will be mailed out by blog owner
Eli to the nth claims no responsibility for lost prizes.
Winner will be contacted by email. 
Winner has 48 hours to respond with mailing address.
Mailing address will be deleted upon delivery of book

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Booktube-A-Thon 2016 - To Be Read List

It's that time of year, the BookTube-A-Thon 2016 is upon us!  Happening July 18th through July 24th, the BookTube-A-Thon is a week long readathon hosted by Ariel Bissett! A time for the BookTube community to all come together and do what we read best: consume books in massive quantities!

While my BookTube channel has been inactive for a little bit (this might be restarted soon), I love to watch other BookTubers and definitely want to support this awesome community!  Also, as Ariel mentioned, you don't have to have a BookTube to participate, so I figured I'd give it a go!

Essentially, the overall challenge of the BookTube-A-Thon is to read seven books over the course of seven days.  That is like one book a day!  Eeep!!  On top of that there are six other challenges:

1. Read a book with yellow on the cover
2. Read a book only after sunset
3. Read a book you discovered through Booktube
4. Read a book by one of your favorite authors
5. Read a book that is older than you
6. Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation
Of course #7 is Read seven books

The books I chose for the challenges are:

                                

Hopefully I get them all read, but I figured if not, that's okay.  It'll still be fun to try!  I'll be updating through Goodreads and Twitter, so sure to be following me both places!  

If you're participating in the 2016 BookTube-A-Thon, leave a link to your TBR video/post in the comments!  Happy reading!

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