Category: events

SURPRISE: I’m doing #ARCAugust ✯ Featuring My Entire August TBR

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

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Hi, galaxy travelers and readers! As the title of this post suggests, I made a last minute decision to, for the second year in a row, join ARC August hosted by Read.Sleep.Repeat. Last year I thought it went so-so for me since I didn’t read the books I wanted to go through during the month. However, I’m excited to give it another shot this year. Especially since I’m actually reading a lot more this summer. I’m very excited to share my August TBR with you all.

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The ARCs I want to get through during August are the following,

 

I have a few ARC requests pending so I might also add a few more books to my TBR before the month is over. I’m really hoping I’ll be accepted for them, but we’ll see how it goes.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #10 with Sharon Roat

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Sharon Roat. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Sharon, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

About Me: I grew up in Lancaster County, Pa., and now live in northern Delaware with my husband and two kids. I started writing young adult novels after spending 20+ years working in public relations, and I feel so fortunate to be constantly learning (about the world, the lives of others, myself) from the writing process and the YA community. I grow vegetables. I take naps. I read a lot. I also co-chair the Delaware Festival of Words which is an annual event for teens, teachers, and librarians that features diverse authors and ideas.

About My Books: My contemporary YA novels feature characters who are faced with difficult changes in their lives:

  • In Between the Notes, Ivy’s family loses their home and her beloved piano (due in part to medical costs for her disabled little brother). She tries to keep it a secret from her friends and a new boy she likes, so they won’t treat her differently. But a bad-boy-next-door threatens to ruin everything, and Ivy’s lies start to unravel.
  • In How to Disappear, Vicky’s best friend moves away, leaving her isolated due to severe social anxiety. Her mother pressures her to make new friends, but even the prospect of saying “hi” to people in the hall at school is terrifying. So, she creates a new identity on Instagram, and lives vicariously by Photoshopping herself into other people’s pictures.

How I feel about 70s music: I was alive in the 70s, and my first album was the Bee Gees’ Stayin Alive and OMG I just watched the music video and it is epic. (I still believe my crush on Barry Gibb was warranted, because he was pretty freaking cute, even with those tight, high-waisted, white pants!)

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Saturday Night Author Fever #9 with Maria Hollis

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Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Maria Hollis. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Maria, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I’m Maria Hollis and I write F/F stories, usually romance and paranormal. My contemporary New Adult series is called Lillac Town and has two novellas published so far. The Melody of You and Me is about a girl who dropped out of school, is feeling a little bit lost in life and suddenly finds herself falling for her new coworker. And The Paths We Choose is about two girls who have a one night stand and need to figure out if they want something beyond that. It also touches in the subject of homophobic families and how the main girl had to leave her home because she wasn’t accepted there. All of them have happy endings and hopeful stories for women who love other women.

I love 70’s music! I grew up listening to this kind of sound because it’s the music from when my parents were young. So, I was used to it since I was a kid and until today they are still listening to it and influencing my taste.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #8 with Jay E. Tria

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Jay E. Tria. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Jay, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

Hi, my name is Jay E. Tria. I’m an author born and bred and living in the Philippines. I like walking and flying (via plane, no wings), so I try to do those as often as I can. I am a proud and grateful member of #romanceclass, a community of Filipino authors and readers. I write contemporary romance, these days mostly about Pinoy indie rock boys and girls and a Japanese idol. I’ve written YA too, a Japanese high school romance where I poured out all my J-dorama/manga dork feels. Also YA urban fantasy, about a beautiful ghost haunting the best friend she left behind.

I think 70s music is funky and bright and edgy and is the perfect soundtrack to get people up and dancing. My parents are fans of this music era, so I have fond memories of waking up every Sunday hating that the radio is so loud and that the songs are so big but eventually getting into the vibe and learning all the lyrics.

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Cover Reveal for Ripped Pages by Maria Hollis

Olivia Chanel6 Comments

Hi everyone, welcome to another fun post I have for you today. I have a cover reveal for Maria Hollis’ next book Ripped Pages and both this cover and the synopsis just blows me away. An f/f Rapunzel retelling? This sounds too damn amazing. I cannot wait to get to read this thing. I know you’re waiting so without further ado here is the cover for Ripped Pages.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #7 with Stefani Deoul

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Stefani Deoul. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Stefani, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

My name is Stefani Deoul. I am an author, a television producer and a really off-key singer with a never-ending fantasy that I will wake up one day and find not only do I sing perfectly on key, but I have been “discovered’. Should that happen, please feel free to come on tour with me.

And since you just read the above, I would think the answer to your second question is a “gimme”. I love seventies music….Stef and the Pips…coming to you ‘Live! From My Shower!”

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BLOG TOUR Why I Loathe Sterling Lane (Review, Giveaway + Guest Post)

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WhyILoatheSterlingLaneTour

Hi, readers and welcome to my blog post for the Why I Loathe Sterling Lane blog tour. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait to share my review with you guys. Also, don’t miss a guest post by the author Ingrid Paulson in which she shares five rules to create the perfect prank. There’s also a giveaway, don’t miss it.

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Why I Loathe Sterling Lane by Ingrid Paulson

Publication Date: June 6, 2017.

Publisher: Entangled: Teen.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, and Romance.

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Purchase here: Amazon | Book Depository | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

Synopsis: Per her 537 rules, Harper Campbell keeps her life tidy—academically and socially. But the moment Sterling Lane transfers into her tiny boarding school, her twin brother gets swept up in Sterling’s pranks and schemes and nearly gets expelled. Harper knows it’s Sterling’s fault, and to protect her brother, she vows to take him down. As she exposes his endless school violations, he keeps striking back, framing her for his own infractions. Worst of all, he’s charmed the administration into thinking he’s harmless, and only Harper sees him for the troublemaker he absolutely is.

As she breaks rule after precious rule in her battle of wits against Sterling and tension between them hits a boiling point, she’s horrified to discover that perhaps the two of them aren’t so different. And maybe she doesn’t entirely hate him after all. Teaming up with Sterling to save her brother might be the only way to keep from breaking the most important rule—protecting Cole.

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Thank you, Entangled Teen, for my advanced review copy of Why I Loathe Sterling Lane. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review; this does not affect my opinion. Any quotes mentioned below are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

Why I Loathe Sterling Lane is a book that really surprised me. I did not expect to feel as invested in this book and the main characters as I was. However, it did take me a while to get there. Why I Loathe Sterling Lane is about Harper, her twin brother Cole, and Sterling, the new guy at their boarding school. Harper and Sterling are opposites and quickly become rivals, constantly trying to up one on the other through masterful pranks. Things get pretty wild. However, despite this, they decide to cooperate to help Cole get out of the trouble he’s gotten himself into. I really liked Why I Loathe Sterling Lane a lot because it brought something new. The way the book is structured is unique because the chapters aren’t named chapter 1, chapter 2, etc. but instead, the chapter headings are reasons why Harper loathes Sterling. They really make you anticipate every time a new chapter begins. It was awesome.

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Friendship, Fiction, and Coming Out by Marie Landry {A Pride Month Guest Post}

Olivia Chanel4 Comments

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I started selectively coming out about eleven years ago. I pretty much always knew I wasn’t ‘straight’, but I didn’t know what to call myself, largely because I grew up in a time when calling someone ‘gay’ was considered the funniest/best insult by a lot of people, and I didn’t really know any labels beyond gay and lesbian. For a long time, I figured it would be a part of me I kept mostly to myself, but when I started dating a girl, I knew I needed the people closest to me to know about this side of my life and this important person I loved.

The first person I came out to was my friend Meghan. I don’t remember how I told her. I can’t remember the exact words. I honestly don’t even remember if I did it in person or on MSN Messenger (showing my age here, haha). What I do remember is one of the next times I saw her, she gave me a book: Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall. Meghan was always lending me books – books that often ended up being favourites, like The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. When she gave me Bottle Rocket Hearts, a book about 18-year-old Eve, a French-Canadian lesbian, I was grateful, but I don’t think I got her true intentions. I was excited because the book is set in Canada and there are so few books set in my beloved homeland.

It wasn’t until a few years ago, as I found the LGBTQ+ community on Twitter and heard about people’s experiences with coming out that the significance of Meghan’s gift really hit me. It wasn’t just that she was giving me a book she thought I would like. It was her way of saying ‘I love you, I support you, I’m here for you’. I cried when I realized, and I still get teary at times when I think about it. She was the perfect first person to come out to; I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, or a better friend.

Meghan’s thoughtful gift got me thinking about what book I would give a friend who came out to me, or was newly out. I’ve read a lot of LGBTQ+ books, but there are a specific few that come to mind.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #6 with L.C. Davis

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome L.C. Davis. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

L.C., can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

I write a bit of everything in the GLBTQ world, mostly shifter romance and fantasy. My most recent release is Queer Magick, a fantasy serial featuring a quirky polyamorous cast of monsters and the Whore of Babylon. Strange, I know! I adore seventies music and there’s a lot of it on the Queer Magick playlist. Mostly the BeeGees, Queen, Styx, Blondie, Bonnie Tyler, Donna Summers . . . a bit of everything.

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Saturday Night Author Fever #5 with Aubrie Nixon

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

saturdaynightauthorfever-stars

Hi everyone and welcome to my interview series Saturday Night Author Fever, where I interview authors with a bit of a 70s music and diversity theme. I personally love 70s music, especially disco music, and sometimes on Friday nights when no one is looking you can find me dancing to classic 70s songs such as September, Bennie and the Jets and We Are Family. However, books are my true passion and because of this, I thought it would be a great idea to mix my two loves and start this interview series. The questions will be similar every week, but with a new author every time, and I hope you’ll enjoy the answers as much as I have. Now let’s get this party started!

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This Saturday Night we welcome Aubrie Nixon. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today in my galaxy of books.

Aubrie, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your books? What do you think about 70s music?

My name is Aubrie Nixon, and I am the author of the Age of Endings series. The first book in the series, Secret of Souls is due out this Fall and I am so excited! Its a dark fantasy about an assassin and her journey to bring balance back to her broken world. However she is the type who would rather burn it down. So, it’s definitely an interesting journey she goes on. To answer your question about 70s music, I love it! I often go on road trips with my grandma and we always have it on the 60s and 70s station.

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