Tag: young adult

Zodiac Recommendations #1 Aquarius Books

Olivia Chanel5 Comments

Hi everyone, and welcome to my Zodiac Book Recommendations. Every week I’m recommending books for one of the zodiac signs, starting with Aquarius and ending with Capricorn, after chronological order. This first week I have three book recommendations for Aquarius.

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Since we are talking about Aquarius this week, I hope you’re embracing the air around you so that you can take in the element of the sign. Like every other zodiac sign, the Aquarius have their strengths and weaknesses, and with these qualities in mind I have tried to find suitable book recommendations. I hope that whoever you are, whether you are an Aquarius yourself or someone who knows an Aquarius, you’ll enjoy these book recommendations. May at least one of these books help you channel your inner Aquarius.

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The books I’m recommending this week, in the name of Aquarius, are the following,

The books I’ve chosen are ones that I think celebrate Aquarius qualities in one way or another. I hope you’ll love these books, and maybe even find a new favorite. Check out my book recommendations for the other zodiac signs too. Next week I’m doing Pisces.

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My Very Best Reads of 2016

Olivia Chanel4 Comments

Hi everyone! My blogging game has been really off lately, but I’m back, and I’m going to try to keep it that way since I want to become more organized 2017. Even though this might be considered late, I wanted to share my favorite reads of 2016 because these books mean so much to me and I want everyone to read them. I thought about ranking the books, but honestly, it’s impossible. My love for these books is great, and it can’t be compared book to book. Here are my favorite eight books of 2016, in the order of when I read them, first to last.

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Cover Reveal for Crawdad by Lisa Cresswell

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

Hi everyone, today I have a really exciting cover reveal for you. I’m here to show you the cover of Crawdad by Lisa Cresswell. The book sounds amazing, and the cover is great. See the cover below and read the synopsis.

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You can read the book synopsis for Crawdad here:

Seventeen-year-old Jamil Ramos grew up on Alabama’s Gulf Coast believing his mom, Loretta, was his only living relative. She put a trumpet in his hands as a toddler and sparked his love of jazz. But when Loretta drops a bomb on Jamil from her deathbed- she’s not his mama and his daddy is still alive, living in Charleston, S.C. – his world is turned upside down.

Now, with the only mama he’s ever known gone and the Loyola University trumpet audition less than a week away, Jamil has trouble feeling his music. When his band teacher tells him to get it together, Jamil decides to hitchhike to South Carolina over to find his father and get his questions answered. All he has is a name –Leon Ramos.

Jamil relies on the kindness of the strangers he meets-a gay teen kicked out of his home, a runaway prostitute, and a street musician-as he makes his way across Florida and Georgia trying to avoid the cops along the way. But when Jamil is robbed of his most prized possession, his trumpet, his plans go anywhere but where he’d hoped. That trumpet was supposed to be his ticket for a scholarship, the only way to college his mama could give him. Lost and alone without it, Jamil wonders if finding his father is worth risking his future.

What do you think about the cover? Do you want to read this book as much as I do when it comes out?

The Cover Reveal is hosted by Rich in Variety Tours.

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Top Ten Tuesday #6 Eight Books I’m Thankful For

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. If you want to read more about their blog feature and join the fun, you can do it here.

This week the theme for Top Ten Tuesday is Thanksgiving freebie, which means we should list things or books we’re thankful for. I thought that this week I’d list eight books I’m thankful for in one way or the other. We all know how important books are, what they say, what they represent, as well as main and side characters can mean so much to someone. Down below are eight books I’m thankful exist, I haven’t read them all yet (two are unread) but they already mean more to me than anything else.

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  1. Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Breslaw
  2. My Year of Epic Rock by Andrea Pyros
  3. Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul
  4. The Melody of You and Me by Maria Hollis
  5. Hothouse Flower by Krista & Becca Ritchie
  6. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
  7. Far From You by Tess Sharpe
  8. Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

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What books are you thankful for? What did you make your Top Ten Tuesday post about this week?

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Welcome To The Ballet World (+Book Recs)

Olivia Chanel4 Comments

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Welcome to the ballet world, filled with beautiful dancers, pink shoes, and lots and lots of secrets. Being a ballerina can be both the most wonderful and most rewarding thing, but it’s a vicious world and comes with a lot of darkness as well. If this is something that interests you, let me present to you my first book recommendations for ballet themed books.

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Books That Shouldn’t Have to Stand Alone

Olivia Chanel2 Comments

Standalone books are great for when you want to read something quickly and don’t want to commit to anything more than that. However, sometimes we stumble upon a book, a book we love, and it just happens to be a standalone book. You just happen to read a book so good that you just wish that there was more. You crave it like you crave water, but there is not a sequel out there. Nor will it probably ever be. That is often the case with contemporary YA books. The moment is sad, because you, you just feel that these characters and their lives, they deserve to be told in vigorous detail. You personally deserve to know more. I think we have all felt it, one time or the other.

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The first book Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel is probably one of my favorite books ever. I would love it if we got to know more of Leila and Lisa’s story perhaps from a sequel with Lisa’s POV. I would honestly love to get to know more about her, she’s one of my favorite characters ever, and I’m dying to know how Leila and Lisa deal with high school, college, and just life. We deserve to see more of our love nuggets.

The Host is a book I think most people know about it. It made me bawl several times, and I have a soft spot for Melanie, Jared, Wanda, and Ian. After that ending, damn that open ending, we deserve to know more about these characters and this world. I know Stephenie told the world she’s making this book into a series, but so far we have gotten nothing. Please, give us, give us more.

Another book I really would have loved to get a sequel to is Dreaming of Antigone. Andria uncovers so much about her dead twin sister, her family and what she thought she knew about her life. In this cocktail, there’s also Alex, who has dealt with his fair share of hurt as well. The ending to this one is great, but I would have loved to see the next step in their lives after everything that happens.

Dirty London is a short book about London Noble, about how tough high school and life can be. The amazing part about this book is that there is a strong sense of family and sisterhood, and the ship is just the best. The only thing I would change is that we get more. This book is only about 170 pages and ends on a very happy note but I would have loved to see more of the Noble family and the love story.

A fifth standalone book that I would have loved to get a sequel to is Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here. Scarlett is Jewish, a fanfiction writer and throughout the book, we get to know her and see her grow so much. Her personality is so lovely and amazing, and most of all unique, we deserve to see more of it. I want to see Scarlett fall in love, apply for college and I want to read more of her fanfiction.

Keeping Her Secret is another book I crave a sequel for. It’s about Riya and Courtney. This book takes place during a summer camp, and they meet again after several years. I love the ending, but as the greedy person I am, I want to know more about their lives after summer camp. I mean am I the only one who just wants more? Just give me endless books about my OTP and them doing day-to-day things.

What standalone books do you think deserve sequels or spinoffs? Have you read any of the ones I mentioned?

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Waiting on Wednesday #5 How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Olivia Chanel1 Comment

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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. This week I’m anticipating How To Make a Wish. The synopsis sounds amazing and the cover is the cutest. I can totally see this book being one of my favorites 2017. I’m grabby hands all over it.

download.jpegHow to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Expected publication: May 2, 2017

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

Add to your To Be Read shelf on Goodreads.

Pre-order on Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn’t have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace’s mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

What books are you currently anticipating? What was your pick for Waiting on Wednesday this week?

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Forget Me Always by Sara Wolf Blog Tour

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Welcome to the blog tour for Forget Me Always by Sara Wolf, the second book in the Lovely Vicious series. This a book spotlight where you can read more about the book and the series, and there’s also a giveaway at the end.

forget-me-always-coverForget Me Always (Lovely Vicious #2) by Sara Wolf
Date Released: November 1, 2016
Publisher: Entangled Teen

It’s been three years, twenty-five weeks, and five days since Isis Blake fell in love, and if she has it her way, it’ll stretch into infinity. Since then, she’s punched Jack Hunter — her nemesis-turned-maybe-something-more—in the face, survived a brutal attack by her mom’s abusive ex thanks to Jack’s heroics, and then promptly forgotten all about him.

The one bright spot for Isis is Sophia, the ephemeral girl who shares Isis’s hospital stay as well as a murky past with Jack. But as Isis’s memories return, she finds it harder and harder to resist what she felt for Jack, and Jack finds it impossible to stay away from the only girl who’s ever melted the ice around his heart.

As the dark secrets surrounding Sophia emerge, Isis realizes Jack isn’t who she thought he was. He’s dangerous. But when Isis starts receiving terrifying emails from an anonymous source, that danger might be the only thing protecting her from something far more threatening.

Her past.

Add to Goodreads.

Purchase Links:

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Link to Tour Schedule.

Other Books in the Series:

Love Me Never Cover (1).pngLove Me Never (Lovely Vicious #1) by Sara Wolf
Date Released: April 5, 2016
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance / Dark Comedy
Previously published as Lovely Vicious, this fully revised and updated edition is full of romance, intrigue, and laugh-out-loud moments.

Don’t love your enemy. Declare war on him.

Seventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she’s lost eighty-five pounds, gotten four streaks of purple in her hair, and moved to Buttcrack-of-Nowhere, Ohio, to help her mom escape a bad relationship.

All the girls in her new school want one thing—Jack Hunter, the Ice Prince of East Summit High. Hot as an Armani ad, smart enough to get into Yale, and colder than the Arctic, Jack Hunter’s never gone out with anyone. Sure, people have seen him downtown with beautiful women, but he’s never given high school girls the time of day. Until Isis punches him in the face.

Jack’s met his match. Suddenly everything is a game.

The goal: Make the other beg for mercy.

The game board: East Summit High.

The reward: Something neither of them expected.

Giveaway:

Contest ends November 18, 2016

  • One (1) winner will receive an audiobook copy of Love Me Never by Sara Wolf

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About The Author:

Sara Wolf is a twenty-something author who adores baking, screaming at her cats, and screaming at herself while she types hilarious things. When she was a kid, she was too busy eating dirt to write her first terrible book. Twenty years later, she picked up a keyboard and started mashing her fists on it and created the monster known as the Lovely Vicious series. She lives in San Diego with two cats, a crippling-yet-refreshing sense of self-doubt, and not enough fruit tarts ever.

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Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Cover Reveal for Plastic Wings by C.T. Callahan

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

Hi everyone! Today I have a cover reveal for you all for C.T. Callahan’s book Plastic Wings. The expected publication date is November 22, 2016 by Three Little Books Co. Without further ado, I now present to you, the cover of Plastic Wings…

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You can read the book synopsis for Plastic Wings by C.T. Callahan here:

When seven-year-old Evie Weiss discovers a strange, sickly boy in her otherwise familiar forest, she has no idea what it holds for her world. He is a dark angel, one of a race of humanoid beings that feed on humanity and tear Evie’s world down around her. Years later, as humanity mounts a counter-attack against the dark angels, Evie remembers the boy in the forest and finds herself torn between her loyalty to her own people and feelings of compassion for these strange creatures that first captivated her as a child. It is the quest of one girl to unite two worlds so separated by war, but how can she close the gap between two races so determined to hate each other?

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Author Bio:

C.T. Callahan is the author of young adult fantasy, sci-fi, and a weird assortment of short stories. Hailing from a mixed-racial background, she’s pledged her writing to contribute to the spread of diversity in fiction and the fight for equality. When away from reading and writing, you’ll most likely find her engaged in art or snuggling cute dogs.

Learn more at CTCallahan.com.

Are you as excited about this book as I am? Have you added the book on Goodreads yet? What do you think of the cover of Plastic Wings?

The Cover Reveal is hosted by Rich in Variety Tours.

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Waiting On Wednesday #4 Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys

Olivia ChanelLeave a comment

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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I’m currently anticipating Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys, it’s a book that looks so amazing and even a little mysterious, which I love.

Krys_9780553508024_jkt_all_r1.inddDead Girls Society by Michelle Krys

Expected publication: November 8, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller

Add to your To Be Read shelf on Goodreads.

Pre-order on Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: You are cordially invited to participate in a game of thrills and dares. Tell no one, and come alone. If you dare.

Hope is sick of everyone treating her like she’s breakable. Sure, she has cystic fibrosis (basically really bad lungs), but she’s tired of being babied by her mom and her overprotective best friend, Ethan, not to mention worrying about paying for her expensive medication and how she’s going to afford college. And she’s bored with life in her run-down New Orleans suburb.

When an invitation arrives from a mysterious group that calls itself the Society, Hope jumps at the chance for some excitement. This could be her ticket out. All she has to do is complete a few dares and she might win some real money.

But the Society isn’t all it seems . . . and soon Hope finds that playing the game isn’t a choice—it’s a requirement.

What book are you waiting for this Wednesday? Are you also waiting for Dead Girls Society?

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