Blog Tour: Sparked

Hey all! Today I'm bringing you a spotlight post for Sparked! Be sure to let me know what you think of the book!

Title: SPARKED
Author: Helena Echlin & Malena Watrous
Pub. Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Geek & Sundry
Pages: 310
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads

Fifteen-year-old Laurel Goodwin wakes up to find her older sister Ivy missing from their Airstream trailer in the Oregon redwoods. A recurring nightmare convinces her that Ivy was abducted, but no one takes her dream seriously, including her mom. Laurel, a loner, has to learn to ask for help, and Jasper Blake, a mysterious new kid who shares her love of old books, quickly becomes her ally. Together they find their quiet town holds a deep secret and is the epicenter of a dark prophecy. 
Laurel soon learns that her worst enemies, mean girls Peyton Andersen and Mei Rosen, are developing powers that she needs to find and save Ivy. With time running out, Laurel realizes that power doesn't always take the form that you expect. And once she learns to look beyond her snap judgments, she develops an unexpected gift of her own.

Read a sneak peak of SPARKED!

About Helena and Malena: 

Hello! We are both novelists, but if you've ever tried to write anything, you know that writing can be a lonely, angst-filled business. So one night over a cocktail or two, we came up with a solution: write our next book together. Malena already had an idea: a girl's sister is kidnapped and she has to rely on mean girls with superpowers to get her sister back. We couldn't resist seeing where that story would take us – a wild ride that includes a loner girl who wants to be a writer and a gorgeous boy who can shoot fire from his eyes but also loves to talk about books. And an ancient Zoroastrian prophecy. And pie shakes. (OK, so maybe we got a little carried away.)
We've both published solo novels (check them out here and here) and had no idea how co-writing would work out, but we pounded out the first draft in a white-hot frenzy of inspiration we called "the Vortex." One of us would write a scene and send it to the other with a note: "My apartment is a pigsty and I haven't eaten all day. #inthevortex." We wrote the book we wanted to read as teenagers: a supernatural thriller with healthy doses of horror and humor. Oh, and of course there's romance. You have to wait a long time for the only kiss in the book, but isn't that the case with all the best kisses in books?
Website | Twitter 



Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of SPARKED, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Tour Schedule:

Week One:
10/2/2017- Literary Meanderings- Interview
10/2/2017- Zach's YA Reviews- Review

10/3/2017- BookHounds- Guest Post
10/3/2017- The Desert Bibliophile- Review

10/4/2017- Two Chicks on Books- Interview
10/4/2017- Rachel's Book Reviews- Review

10/5/2017- Wandering Bark Books- Guest Post
10/5/2017- A Gingerly Review- Review

10/6/2017- Rainy Day Reviews- Excerpt
10/6/2017- Bibliobakes- Review

Week Two:
10/9/2017- Margie's Must Reads- Guest Post
10/9/2017- YA Book Madness- Review

10/10/2017- Bibliobibuli YA- Interview
10/10/2017- The Best Books Ever- Review

10/11/2017- Tales of the Ravenous Reader- Launch Coverage
10/11/2017- the bookdragon- Review

10/12/2017- YA and Wine- Interview

10/13/2017- Owl Always Be Reading- Excerpt
10/13/2017- Nerdophiles- Review

That's all for today!
Happy Reading,
Mari

Blog Tour: The Way to Bea

Hey all, I'm bringing you a fantastic blog tour stop for The Way To Bea! Let me know what you think!

Title: THE WAY TO BEA
Author: Kat Yeh
Pub. Date: September 19, 2017
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 352
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook
Find it: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads

 With a charming voice, winning characters, and a perfectly-woven plot, Kat Yeh delivers a powerful story of friendship and finding a path towards embracing yourself.

Everything in Bea's world has changed. She's starting seventh grade newly friendless and facing big changes at home, where she is about to go from only child to big sister. Feeling alone and adrift, and like her words don't deserve to be seen, Bea takes solace in writing haiku in invisible ink and hiding them in a secret spot.

But then something incredible happens--someone writes back. And Bea begins to connect with new friends, including a classmate obsessed with a nearby labyrinth and determined to get inside. As she decides where her next path will lead, she just might discover that her words--and herself--have found a new way to belong.


 About Kat:
Kat grew up reading, doodling, and scribbling in Westtown. She worked for many years in advertising and sports marketing, while writing children’s books in the wee hours of the night. She currently lives on Long Island where she can see water every day and explore all the bay and harbor beaches with her family.

Website | Twitter |Instagram| Pinterest | Goodreads 

And now we have an amazing interview with Kat!




Why did you have your main character write haikus and not other forms of poetry?

 Oh, Bea... One of my favorite things about her is that even when she isn't able speak out, she still expresses herself and shows the world how she feels on the inside. And poetry is definitely one of those ways. Bea's poetry gives the reader a window to her heart. And the perfect way for them to experience her shifting emotions. 

 Before 7th grade started, Bea was a joyful and exuberant writer & artist, who would often break into sudden silly dances on the sidewalk. Her whimsical free verse poetry was painted in bright colors and curling letters all over her bedroom walls. 

 Until the heartbreak of losing her best friend.
Her best friend who tells Bea that she is just "too much."

 With this, Bea doesn't know how to be anymore. She is being judged for the way she expresses herself. So, what is a poet supposed to do? 

 Bea turns to haiku. A form of poetry with strict rules and structure: Exactly three lines with five syllables, then seven, then five. Because maybe if she is following rules, she can belong again.

 Five
Seven
Five

 But her worry is  (5)
with seventeen syllables (7)
will she still be too...much        (6)

 So then I guess the question is, who makes the rules anyway...and who gets to decide what and who is too much?



Do you like to write poetry?

 I grew up, believing I would be a poet. I imagined that this job would include sitting by a window each day and dreaming of what to write about. I imagined I would have a wonderful pen – maybe an old-fashioned fountain pen that would make exactly the right thick and thin lines to write my poems with.  I made a vow when I was in third grade that I would write a poem every day for the rest of my life. I made it pretty far. 
The answer is Yes. I love writing poetry. I even snuck some into my first novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE.


What would you want your middle grade readers to take away from this book? What would you hope adult readers to glean from it?

 Hmm. This is an interesting question.
Because if it were middle grade ME reading it, I would hope that this book helped me realize that friendships are complicated. But that does not mean that it's okay for someone to hurt you. And if life is a maze, no matter what unexpected twists and turns you face, YOU are the only one who gets to decide what path to take. And if you hit what seems like a dead end – then YOU get to decide whether you want to turn around, climb over, or forge ahead and create a new path for yourself.

 For my readers, whether they are young or grown, all I can say is that I hope they take from my book whatever it is they need to take from it. 

 There's this saying about how once a book is published, it no longer belongs to the author. And I do really believe this is true. Books belong to the reader. Whoever they are and whatever their backstory. How could it not? They will be reading this story and looking at it through their specific worldview. They will read it and feel as only they can.

 I've had people write to me after they read THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE and thank me for helping them with things that I never dreamed I'd be helping anyone with. They took the book and got what they needed from it. They made it their own. It's a pretty cool thing, isn't it? You put your heart into something and you work and work so hard on it, hoping someone will connect to it. But if and how they do is not up to you. It's up to the reader. After all, it's their book.


Did you have similar experiences within your own friendships as Bea did?

 My main friend group started changing when I was in 9th grade, but it was nowhere near as dramatic as what Bea went through. In my school, the size of my class doubled after 8th grade and even though I still loved my closest friends, we sort of drifted into different groups over time as we grew and changed. I'll add that I'm still super close to these friends and love them dearly even though we had many years (and now decades!) where we didn't hang out. 

 But this experience was definitely what inspired me to write THE WAY TO BEA. I kept thinking: what if this had happened to me in 7th grade instead of 9th...and what if it wasn't a gradual shifting of friendship, but a sudden, hurtful dropping of one. I know losing a friend group is something that is all too common at all ages and it was something I wanted to write about.


If you had to choose your favorite quote from the book, what would it be?

 if I act 
the way 
I wish I were
am I still acting
—or becoming?

 It's a line that Bea writes as she's thinking about how to navigate the confusing world that is middle school. And it's something I think about a lot. Does "acting" ever become "being"? I think the answer is different for everyone. For some people, the idea of "acting" feels like putting on a false front. Like acting a part or pretending. But, I like to think of "acting" as deciding to do something. To act upon it. To accomplish something. Sometimes you just need to keep trying and trying something until you look up one day and see that you've actually done it.

 Giveaway Details:

 3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE WAY TO BEA, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Be sure to check out the rest of the tour!

Tour Schedule:

Week One:
9/18/2017- Jennifer Mary G.- Interview
9/19/2017- YAYOMG!- Review
9/20/2017- BookHounds YA- Guest Post
9/21/2017- Word Spelunking- Review
9/22/2017- Little Red Reads- Interview

 Week Two:
9/25/2017- Mrs. Knott's Book Nook- Review
9/26/2017- YA Book Madness- Review
9/27/2017- La La the Library- Review
9/29/2017- Cindy's Love of Books- Review
   
Let me know what y'all think of the book!
Happy Reading,
Mari

Book Review: Crooked Kingdom

 Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

Released: September 20th, 2016

Read: August 2017

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Format: E-Book, 536 pages

Series: Six of Crows #2

Description from GoodReads: When you can't beat the odds, change the game.
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world.


Review: Just like Six of Crows, the ending to this duology hits every note right and kept me at the edge of my seat with every single jaw-dropping twist and turn. The gang returns with a vengeance, reminding at least me why I loved them the first time around. The book delved deeper into the backstories and life-changing moments that shape their decisions until the very end. Comparitively the side characters fall vaguely flat, but their scenes hint at more things that we just didn't have the chance to discover. 
   It was also really fun to read characters so close to each other that you almost learn more about one character from someone else's perspective than you do from their own. The gang is written so tightly-knit that it's almost like I am personally friends with all of them.
   Leigh Bardugo also keeps up the beautiful descriptions and dedicated world-building from the first book. I may be biased because she's one of my favourite authors, but I adore her writing.
   All in all, the book kept the pace, feeling, and excitement going from one end to the other and wrapped the duology up well enough for it to be over. But hopefully, maybe just maybe, there will be a follow-up.

Quoteable Quotes:
- "You like things that you can see. Like piles of snow and benevolent tree gods."
- "Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return."
- "You aren't a flower, you're every blossom in the wood blooming at once. You are a tidal wave. You're a stampede. You are overwhelming."
- "But if you couldn't open a door, you just had to make a new one."
- "It's shame that lines my pockets, shame that keeps the Barrel teeming with fools ready to put on a mask just so they can have what they want with no one the wiser for it. We can endure all kinds of pain. It's shame that eats men whole."
- "That's where you're wrong, I don't hold a grudge. I cradle it. I coddle it. I feed it fine cuts of meat and send it to the best schools. I nurture my grudges, Rollins."
- "When one plan was blown, you made a new one. When they backed you into a corner, you cut a hole into the roof."
- "And that was what destroyed you in the end: the longing for something you could never have."
- "But just as surely as life connected everything, so did death. It was that endless, fast-running river. She'd dipped her fingers into its current, heldthe eddy of its power in her hands. She was the Queen of Mourning, and in its depths, she would never drown."

Rating: 10/10

Read if You like: crime novels, bank heists, the Grisha trilogy, well built worlds.

Optimistically yours, Ola