Summer Reading - 2013 Edition (1)

Among my friends, I'm known as the book person. As a result, whenever someone is looking for a book recommendation they come to me. This time of the year, this happens a lot since summer is fast approaching and a lot of my friends are typically seasonal readers--as in they read when they have time to do so and that time is often summer. Like I did last year, I thought I would post these recommendations--by genre--her on the blog as well. First up, some contemporary recommendations.

- Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally - Last year I recommended Catching Jordan and I would still stand by that recommendation for anyone looking for a great contemporary read. But this year I read Things I Can't Forget and I have to admit I loved it even more. Like Kenneally's other books, Things I Can't Forget is different from other YA contemporaries out there, so if that's what you're looking for then I strongly recommend this one.

- Just One Day by Gayle Forman - Everyone has been raving about Gayle Forman's Just One Day and that is totally warranted. If you're an older YA reader, then I would strongly recommend Just One Day. The story will pull at your heartstrings and take you on a crazy emotional ride. Be prepared to scream at the characters and want to throw your book across the room at certain parts. But it's totally worth it.

- Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach - Once again, if you are looking for a contemporary that is completely different from any other out there, than give Geoff Herbach's Stupid Fast a try. This one can also appeal to male readers as the story is very much boy-centric, with the may character being a slightly socially awkward teenage boy. And if you pick up this book, I can guarantee you will be in for a laugh.

- Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - Second Chance Summer is one of those books that will pull at your heartstrings. There is no way you can read this book and not tear up at least a little. But it's not necessarily a depressing story, just a very emotional one. But be prepared to be greatly surprised by this story, because I was. But it's completely worth your time.

- Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry - Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry took me completely by surprise. This is an incredibly touching and surprisingly deep story that may or may not keep you up reading half the night. This is definitely one of those less happy contemps though, so be warned. But it's still a fantastic one.

This is by far not an extensive list of contemporary recommendations. There are just so many fantastic contemps out there and this list could go on forever. You can always check out last year's post for more contemporary recommendations. And be sure to come back next week for some paranormal recommendations.

Blog Tour - The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Title: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1)

Author: Rick Yancey

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.

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 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.

Before I say anything else, I will say this: this review is going to be different from the way I normally write reviews. With Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave there is so much going on, and the way I normally review books would simply reveal too much of the story. So bear with me.

Here's the thing about The 5th Wave, until I had a copy of the book in my hands all I really knew about the book was that everyone was freaking out about it, saying how amazing it was and how everyone needed to read it. Typically with books like that, I will sort of avoid them like the plague because by the time I get around to reading them, I'm always afraid they won't live up to what everyone has been saying or I've just become sick of hearing everyone gush about them. But with The 5th Wave all that hyping and gushing and screaming on rooftops that this book is amazing is completely warranted. Heck, at this point I'm joining in.

Going in, I knew based on what everyone had been saying that The 5th Wave was good. And it was, there is no doubt about it. What surprised me though, was just how affected I was by the story. Despite it revolving around an alien invasion of sorts, the story felt incredibly real. The different waves of the invasion and attack that are described in the story are completely realistic--who knows when a massive electromagnetic wave is going to shut down all power and networks or when earthquakes are going to cause massive tsunamis world wide? In this sense, the book really resonated with me. I could really believe in the story and in what the characters were going through. I won't lie, a good 90% of the time I was reading, I was thinking about how all of this could just as easily have been happening to me.

Just like the story resonated with me what, what the different characters went through affected me in much the same way. Without saying too much for fear of spoiling it for anyone, all the main characters in the book are put in extremely difficult situations where you almost need to re-evaluate your moral code. It felt to me like any moral code that might have existed before this whole thing started had to be thrown out the window if you wanted to have any chance of surviving. Because of that, I questioned a lot of the characters' actions while at the same time thinking that I probably wouldn't react the same way if I were ever in their position. And once it was revealed what the 5th wave actually was? Well I started questioning everything again, because there was no other way around it.

Just to clear the doubt, Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave is just as amazing as everyone has been saying it is. This is the kind of story that just affects you and resonates with you, and the characters will make you want to question everything you have ever known about the human race. This is not a light book by any stretch of the imagination. But it's a book that will have you thinking for a long time after you finish reading.

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: This is What Happy Looks Like

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Publisher: Poppy

Release Date: April 2, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

I absolutely adored Jennifer E. Smith's The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight when I read it last year so I was very much looking forward to reading This is What Happy Looks Like. I just knew that it would be the perfect blend of serious lighthearted and serious contemporary and I absolutely loved every single page of it.

Ellie has always been perfectly happy leading a quiet life in her small hometown in Maine. But when trailers and Hollywood crowd shows up in town for a movie shoot, Ellie isn't so sure she's going to have that quiet summer she was hoping for. His recent rise to fame was never anything Graham expected. He never thought he had any talent as an actor until he kind of fell into it. Now he has the perfect reason to show up in Maine, in the town where the girl he has been emailing with lives. The only flaw in his plan is that he doesn't know the girl's name…and Ellie doesn't know it's Graham she's been emailing back and forth all this time. But when she finds out, how will Ellie deal with all the potential media attention that can come from spending so much time with Graham?

I don't think there was any way I could have not enjoyed Jennifer E. Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like. I picked it up one Saturday morning, and the next thing I new I just spent the whole day reading the book. It was simply that good. And adorable. And fun. But there were also these moments that were deeper and made me enjoy the story that much more. For the most part though, I just had this dumb smile on my face the majority of the time I was reading. I wanted the story to have a happy ending, but I wasn't always sure that would happen. And that's what kept me reading. I wanted to know what would happen to the characters I had grown surprisingly attached to. I wanted to know why Ellie's mother was so scared of her daughter being in the spotlight. At the end, it was just an adorable and perfect story, exactly what I was looking for when I picked up the book.

The relationship between Ellie and Graham was interesting. It was the kind of relationship that develops without really knowing who the other person is--and in this case it was particularly true since neither one knew the other's name. Seeing how they got to know each other through their emails was a great addition to the story in this way. But I also liked seeing them getting to know each other once they found out who the other person was. While reading, I could tell that despite all her feelings, Ellie was still hesitant when it came to Graham, she didn't know if she could handle being in the spotlight as the latest teenage heartthrob's girlfriend. And Graham, he just wanted to be able to be normal for Ellie and I loved him for it. Just seeing these two characters come together, even when it wasn't alway easy going, is what truly made this story for me.

Jennifer E. Smith's This is What Happy Looks LIke was exactly what I had hoped it would be. For an afternoon, I was transported to a small town in Maine, getting to see this relationship between Ellie and Graham evolve in ways I didn't necessarily think it would. If you are looking for a fun, quick and adorable read, then this is the book for you.

Stacking the Shelves (28)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. It's a weekly post where book bloggers showcase the book they received throughout the week.

Being (practically) done with school and only having work is doing wonders for my reading. I've read a decent amount of books in the last week and they were all fantastic so look for my reviews coming up soon. And since I actually have time to buy books again, I may have gone a little crazy at the bookstore and on Amazon. But hey, I've been really good this year, at least until this point. So here's what I got!

Borrowed:

- The Program by Suzanne Young - I haven't really heard too much about it, but the synopsis makes it sound really interesting. But from what Ciara from Lost at Midnight (who kindly lent this to me) said, it sounds like it should be pretty good.

Purchased:

- The Reece Malcom List by Amy Spalding - I have heard so many fantastic things about this book so I'm really looking forward to finally being able to read it. Plus we all know how much I love a good contemporary read.

- Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins - Over the past year, I have heard so many fantastic things about this book that I can't believe I still haven't read it. But since certain people (*cough* Ciara *cough*) are freaking out over the sequel coming out soon, I figured I should probably get myself a copy to read.

- Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger - I've wanted to read this book ever since I first heard about it so I was happy to snag a copy at the bookstore. Now I just hope it won't disappoint me.

- Entice & Emblaze by Jessica Shirvington - I have already read both of these books and loved them so I wanted so gorgeous hardcovers to match my copy of Embrace and look pretty on my shelf.

- Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout - You may have seen my gushing review of this book earlier this week so I just wanted a copy to go with the rest of my Covenant series. 

So that's it for me this week. Expect lots of reviews coming up in the next few weeks and even a discussion post or two. And as usual, let me know what you got and I'll come check it out!

Apollyon by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Title: Apollyon (Covenant #4)

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

Publisher: Spencer Hill Press

Release Date: April 9, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Fate isn't something to mess with…an now, neither is Alex.

Alex has always feared two things: losing herself in the Awakening and being places on the Elixir. But love has always been stronger than Fate, and Aiden St. Delphi is wiling to make war on the gods--and Alex herself--to bring her back.

The gods have killed thousands and could destroy entire cities in their quest to stop Seth from taking Alex's power and becoming the all-powerful God Killer. But breaking Alex's connection to Seth isn't the only problem. There are a few pesky little loopholes in the whole "an Apollyon can't be killed" theory, and the only person who might know how to stop the destruction has been dead for centuries. 

Finding their way past the barriers that guard the Underworld, searching for one soul among countless millions, and then somehow returning will be hard enough. Alex might be able to stop Seth from becoming the God Killer…or she might become the God Killer herself. 

If you've been following this blog for any period of time, you will probably know by now that I am a huge Jennifer L. Armentrout fan and that I absolutely adore the Covenant series, no matter how many times it's managed to break my heart. After everything that happened in Deity, I was quite apprehensive when I picked up Apollyon but I should have known it wouldn't disappoint me.

Now that she has Awakened, Alex Andros is connected to Seth, the Apollyon who now has the potential to become the God Killer. Alex's friends have to find a way to sever the bond between Alex and Seth, and keep her far enough way that he won't be able to drain her of all her powers. But the newly Awakened Alex isn't as cooperative as could be. And that won't stop Aiden St. Delphi. He's determined to stop Seth and get Alex back, even if that means going against the gods. But at this time, that's the least of their concerns.

After reading Deity, I was majorly terrified of reading Apollyon. I was terrified of what it would do to my poor heart. And then I started reading, and what I was reading seemed to be pointing in that direction. But I shouldn't have worried too much. While it did take me on a crazy emotional ride, it didn't rip my heart to shreds the way I thought it would. The story itself was a little crazy. As if often the case with Jennifer L. Armentrout's books, there was never a dull moment. The story picks up immediately after Deity and from there the action never stopped. And as I've come to expect with any book by Jennifer L. Armentrout, the romance was just how I liked it in Apollyon. But it wasn't just the romance this time around that got to me, it was all the other relationships between the characters. At times it was the incredible friendships, old and new, and even the different relationships between those who were family. There was never a moment when those relationships didn't feel real. And that was true all the way to the end. And the ending, though it wasn't quite as heartbreaking as the ones in the past, it still left me with a lot of questions about what's going to come next.

Oh Alex. How I have come to love you over the course of these four books. Though I have to admit I was kind of worried that Alex would be her ever wonderful Awakened self throughout the whole book. And I mean as delightful (and by delightful I mean an incredible pain) as she was now that was linked to Seth, it would have gotten old fast. But I should have known better, Alex was soon back to being the Alex I love, with her different actions pulling at my heartstrings. And Aiden was better than ever. He was absolutely determined to get Alex back, and I loved seeing that fiercely determined side of him. If I wasn't already in love with him, this would have done it. Seth on the other had, has his scary moments if only because he thought what he was doing was for the greater good. But then he had these moments where he started doubting everything, and in those moments, I saw flashes of that old Seth that I liked once upon a time. And there are some other characters that make appearances that caused me to start tearing up but I will leave it at that.

Jennifer L. Armentrout's Apollyon did not disappoint. Despite how terrified I was when I first started reading, it didn't take long for me to once again become completely hooked to this story. If you haven't already given Armentrout's Covenant series, you really should. Odds are it won't be long before you become just as hooked as I am.

Announcing Starcrossed Week!

In honor of the release of Goddess, the third and final book in Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed trilogy, I will be holding a "Starcrossed Week" here on the blog during the week of May 20th. As some of you may know, I am a huge fan of these books and I absolutely adore the story within them. 

What I need from you is simple. If you have read any of the books in the series and have loved them, I would love to hear your thoughts on the books. If you are interested in participating in this weeklong event celebrating this wonderful trilogy, just send me an email at emiliebookworld@gmail.com and I will be happy to give you more detail about what I would need from you!

Stacking the Shelves (27)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. It's a weekly post where book bloggers showcase the book they received throughout the week.

I am one take-home exam short of being done my undergrad degrees which means I can finally get back into blogging regularly. And to make things even better, I got some new books in the mail this week, the majority of which were complete surprises. So without further ado, here's what I got this week!

Review:

- Letting Ana Go by Anonymous - Though I hadn't heard anything about Letting Ana Go before being offered a copy for review, I just know this is going to be a powerful story. Since it comes out in early June, I should be reading this one quite soon.

- Breath by Jackie Morse Kessler - I now officially have all the books in this series so maybe I should get around to reading them. I've heard some mixed reviews for this series, so I'll have to check them out myself. And hey, if I read them I might actually make progress on my Series Catch Up Challenge.

- Dark Triumph by R.L. LaFevers - Despite the amazing reviews I've read for Grave Mercy, I've still to read it even though I've had a copy sitting on my shelves for a year. Again, good thing I'm hosting a Series Catch Up Challenge, it might force me to read some of these.

- Reaper's Legacy by Tim Lebbon - Though I haven't read the first book in this series I've been meaning to give it a shot after having seen a few reviews floating around for it. Having gotten a copy of the second book might just be the push I need.

So those are the books I got this week. Now that I'm just one take home exam short of being done my undergrad you can expect me to start posting regularly again. I have a whole lot of reviews that need to be written because despite not posting, I've been reading a lot. So be sure to keep checking the blog to see what I've thought of my recent reads. And as usual leave me a comment letting me know what you got and I'll come check it out!

Unremembered by Jessica Brody

Title: Unremembered (Unremembered #1)

Author: Jessica Brody

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Release Date: March 5, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girls discovered floating among the wreckage--alive--is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn't on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can't be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn't know, plagued by abilities she doesn't understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can't remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she's running out of time to answer them. 

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

I remember first hearing about Jessica Brody's Unremembered and being really excited at the prospect of reading it. And somewhere along the way I must have missed the part about this being a sci-fi book, so I was confused. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the book once I realized what it was all about.

When she finds herself amid the remains of a plane crash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Seraphina doesn't know how she got there or even who she is. The only person who seems to know who she is is a mysterious boy who seems to simple appear and then vanish just as easily, only to warn Seraphina that some dangerous people are after her. But when you have no idea who you are, where you're from or even where you are, staying out of danger's way is not as easy as it seems.

Like I mentioned, I had somehow missed the part about Unremembered being a sci-fi book. Don't ask me why or how, but I had somehow missed that tidbit of information. So you can imagine that I was somewhat confused when I first started reading the book. But once I finally clued in, things started making a lot more sense and I started enjoying the story a lot more. The story in Unremembered is an interesting one. There are definitely many aspects of it that I didn't see coming. I don't necessarily read all that much sci-fi but this one was quite different from the others that I've read. It's a little hard talking about this story without giving away the big reveal, but I will say that this story may not be what you expect it to be. 

Sera was an interesting character to read about. For a good chunk of the book, she was completely clueless, but not in the way you might think. She's not intentionally clueless so much as she's lost all her memories and doesn't seem to know anything about the world she lives in. In this sense, having the story told from her point of view was different. It felt like I was discovering everything at the same time as she did. But as interesting as Sera was, the character that I truly enjoyed was Cody. There was something about the boy that made me laugh, and I loved it anytime he was around. He was just one of those quirky kids and the way he acted with Sera just kept putting a smile on my face. As far as Zen is concerned, I'm not entirely sure what I made of him. He was interesting but it felt like I didn't have enough information about him. But I feel like in future books I will get to find out a lot more about him.

Though it wasn't what I thought it was going to be, Unremembered by Jessica Brody turned out to be a different and interesting read. I still have a lot of questions about different aspects of the book, but with the way things ended, I'm hoping to get some of those answers in future book. So if you're looking for a sci-fi read, you may want to consider Unremembered.

Series Catch-Up Challenge Month 4

And another month has already gone by. It's crazy how fast time is going by. But at least this time I can say that I actually reviewed some books that were me catching up on series...admittedly they were recent releases but still, progress!

As usual link up your reviews below and good luck catching up on all those series!

Stacking the Shelves (26)

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. It's a weekly post where book bloggers showcase the book they received throughout the week.

A few new and exciting books this week. Lately I've slowly been playing catch-up with my TBR pile since my last semester of school has been quite busy. But in just over a week I will officially be done with school so I'll have more time to read. But until then, here's what I got this week.

Review:

- The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay - I've heard some amazing things about The Sea of Tranquility so I was happy to accept when I got offered a copy for review. Since it's coming out in early June, I should be reading it quite soon and seeing for myself what all the fuss is about.

- I'm With Stupid by Geoff Herbach - If you haven't already checked out the Felton Reinstein books by Geoff Herbach you are seriously missing out. These are some of the best and funniest contemps I've read in the last year so I can't wait to see how it all comes together in this las one.

- The Savage Blue by Zoraida Cordova - I'm a sucker for mermaid stories and I really enjoyed The Vicious Deep last year. When I read it, it felt like the action was just starting when the book ended so I'm really looking forward to reading The Savage Blue to find out what happens next.

- Of Triton by Anna Banks - Again, mermaid books have a tendency to just drag me in. I absolutely loved Of Poseidon when I read it last year and it ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger so I can't wait to see where Anna Banks takes the story next in Of Triton.

So that's it for me this week. I have just one busy school week ahead of me and then lots of reading time. As usual, leave me a comment letting me know what you got and I'll come check it out!

Blog Tour - Prophecy Girl by Cecily White + Giveaway

Title: Prophecy Girl (Angel Academy #1)
Author: Cecily White
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Source: ARC from Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

Amelie Bennett…Ending the world, one prophecy at a time.

I was born to slay Crossworld demons.

Big black flappy ones, little green squirmy ones. Unfortunately, the only thing getting slain these days is my social life. With my high school under attack, combat classes intensifying, and Academy instructors dropping right and left, I can barely get my homework done, let alone score a bondmate before prom. 

Then he shows up.

Jackson Smith-Hailey. Unspeakably hot, hopelessly unattainable, and dangerous in all the right ways. Sure, he's my trainer. And okay, maybe he hates me. Doesn't mean I'll ignore the wicked Guardian chemistry between us. It's crazy! Every time I'm with him, my powers explode. Awesome, right?

Wrong.

Now my teachers think I'm the murderous Graymason destine to bring down our whole race of angelbloods. Everyone in in New Orleans is hunting me. The people I trusted want me dead. Jack and I have five days to solve the murders, prevent a vampire uprising, and thwart the pesky prophecy foretelling his death by my hand. Shouldn't be too difficult.

Getting it done without falling in love…that might take a miracle.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't really know much of anything about Prophecy Girl by Cecily White. The summary made it sound like it would be an interesting enough read and that's all I really knew. Until I started reading. Before long, I was having trouble putting the book down. By the end, I was surprised because I didn't think I would end up loving Prophecy Girl as much as I did.

Amelie knows that she needs to start paying attention. If she doesn't, she has no hope of landing a good bondmate. But Amelia has a knack for finding trouble…or trouble just seems to find her. Now her instructors are being killed and her school is under attack. And if Ami didn't already have enough on her plate, Jackson Smith-Hailey arrives in town. Ami can't deny that she's attracted to Jackson, but he's the one person she can't have. Now with a Graymason on their tail, threatening all angelbloods, Ami and Jackson are forced together the destruction…until Ami learns of the prophecy predicting she would be the one to kill Jackson to end the war. Easy, right?

I did not expect to love this story as much as I did. In all honesty, Cecily White had me with the opening line of the book where she compares death to prom. From there, the story just kept on getting better. The world presented in Prophecy Girl was different from all the others I've read about. I think that alone, could have kept my attention. But add to that a story with great humor, romance and plot twists left, right and center. But Prophecy Girl also had the kind of story managed to make me go from laughter to tears all in one page. And that more than anything is what made me love this story. It had those moments when I was happy not be reading in public. And that could have been because I couldn't stop giggling…or because I was tearing up thanks to Ami and Jackson.

Right from the beginning, I loved Amelie. She struck me as the kind of person trouble always found no matter how hard she tried to stay away from it. And she just took it all in stride. The way she handled everything amazed me while at the same time also causing me to shake my head and laugh because only she could manage to land herself in those situations. But Ami was also a fantastic narrator. Her voice and the way she told her story are a large part of what made me love this story. Even in the most dire of situations she always found a way to put a smile on my face…and even make my cry at the same time. And there was Jackson. And with Jackson and Ami there was definite insta-love…but it was insta-love that though it bugged me at first made perfect sense by the end of the book, to the point that I realized and understood it wasn't insta-love at all. But outside of all this Jackson was quite the character. For a good portion of the book, he frustrated me but he also did things that made me root for him regardless of the frustration. It was quite the dilemma at times…until he made me cry and I was sold. 

Cecily White's Prophecy Girl will surprise you. It surprised me. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I did not to expect to feel so much about this book. It just had everything I love in a good story: adventure, danger, romance and humour. What more could I have asked for?

Giveaway

Sound like something you want to read? Fill out the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win 1 of 3 eBook copies of Prophecy Girl. Open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour - That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard

As part of the blog tour for her book That Time I Joined the Circus, I have the pleasure of having author J.J. Howard here for a circus-themed guest post. Keep reading to find out J.J.'s top five favorite circus attraction and to find out more about the book.

5. Elephants (and monkeys)

I get a little bored at the zoo, not gonna lie. I'm not infinitely fascinated by the endless variety of creatures on earth or anything. There are some animals I am almost completely indifferent to: snakes, for example (unless one is hiding in my pool or upsetting my dog). But there's just something about elephants. Also monkeys. Those are awesome too. The ones who come take coins from you are too cute to exist.

4. Rides

By rides, I mean the tame ones. I want my vertebrae to stay where my neurosurgeon carefully placed them, thank you ;) I love the carousel, the Ferris wheel, and my favorite (like Lexi in CIRCUS) is the swings. I adore swings, and have since I was little, so automated ones are like a dream come true!

3. Flying trapeze

When playing "pick your superpower" I always pick flying. And these people come pretty close. It's an amazing art form that tees talented people make look so easy. I have trouble carrying both the trash and the recyclables to the curb at the same time without mishap, so I'm in awe of people who are so athletic and graceful.

2. Freaky stuff

When we were in like eleventh grade, my friend Becky Blessing and I read this book called Geek Love, which was about a carny family, and we mostly loved it because it reminded us of the cheesy, wonderfully terrible midway attractions that would come to the York Fair (the big fair held every September in my hometown). There's just something cool about paying two dollars to see a "real" "live" mermaid. 

1. Fried dough, etc.

Sadly, I think with my stomach. I am sort of like that cartoon cat Garfield. Or a reverse Gremlin--if you don't feed me, bad things happen. So if I could only do ONE thing at the circus, it's a distinct possibility that I might stand outside the tent and enjoy some French fries or a delicious funnel cake. Otherwise, I might get hungry. And no one would like me when I'm hungry.

Be sure to keep up with the tour by visiting Through the Looking Glass!

About the book:

Lexi Ryan just ran away to join the circus, but not on purpose.

A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake--and facing a terrible tragedy--Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi's mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn't there…but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus's fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.

But then Lexi's ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it's Lexi's own future that's thrown into questions.

With humor, wisdom, and a dazzling fresh voice, this debut reminds us of the magic of circus tents, city lights, first kisses, and the importance of an excellent playlist.

About the author:

J.J. Howard is wearing headphones right now, most likely. She grew up in York, Pennsylvania, obsessed with music, movies, television, and pop culture. You can call her if you ever need to phone a friend for trivia on any of the above topics, but don’t ask about sports, because she is hopeless at those (along with math). J.J. graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in English and Tiffin University with an MH in Humanities. She has been some of her students’ favorite English teacher for a quite a few years (she even has a mug somewhere to prove it). That Time I Joined the Circus is her first young adult novel. J.J. would love to hear from her readers and is always ready to trade playlists: jj@jjhowardbooks.com

You can find JJ…

On her blog: Word Circus

On Twitter: @JJhowardbooks

On Pinterest

On Facebook

On Tumblr