Monday, June 29, 2015

[FINISHED] 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger

Dianne in here. Thank you to Random House Kids for the copy!

5 to 1
Title: 5 to 1
Author: Holly Bodger
Publisher: Knopf BFYR
Date of Publication: May 12, 2015

In the year 2054, after decades of gender selection, India now has a ratio of five boys for every girl, making women an incredibly valuable commodity. Tired of marrying off their daughters to the highest bidder and determined to finally make marriage fair, the women who form the country of Koyanagar have instituted a series of tests so that every boy has the chance to win a wife.

Sudasa doesn’t want to be a wife, and Kiran, a boy forced to compete in the test to become her husband, has other plans as well. Sudasa’s family wants nothing more than for their daughter to do the right thing and pick a husband who will keep her comfortable—and caged. Kiran’s family wants him to escape by failing the tests. As the tests advance, Sudasa and Kiran thwart each other at every turn until they slowly realize that they just might want the same thing.

This beautiful, unique novel is told from alternating points of view—Sudasa’s in verse and Kiran’s in prose—allowing readers to experience both characters’ pain and their brave struggle for hope.

Reviews

Michelle of The Twins Read
Kristelle of Amia Book Lover

Monday, June 22, 2015

[FINISHED] We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Dianne in here! Thank you to S&S Children's UK for the copy!

We All Looked Up
Title: We All Looked Up
Author: Tommy Wallach
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Date of Publication: March 26, 2015

Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.

But then we all looked up and everything changed.

They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end.

Two months to really live.

Tour Schedule

June 22

Miguel of The Quirky Reader - Review

June 23

Paula of Her Book Thoughts - Excerpt

June 24

Jayvee of Writer for Misfits - Review

June 25

Michelle of The Escapist - Review

June 26

Nat of Cruising Pages - Excerpt

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

[FINISHED] Duplicity by N.K. Traver

Dianne in here! Thank you to Macmillan International for the copy!

Duplicity
Title: Duplicity
Author: N.K. Traver
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Date of Publication: March 17, 2015

A computer-hacking teen. The girl who wants to save him. And a rogue mirror reflection that might be the death of them both.

In private, seventeen-year-old Brandon hacks bank accounts just for the thrill of it. In public, he looks like any other tattooed bad boy with a fast car and devil-may-care attitude. He should know: he’s worked hard to maintain that façade. With inattentive parents who move constantly from city to city, he’s learned not to get tangled up in things like friends and relationships. So he’ll just keep living like a machine, all gears and wires.

Then two things shatter his carefully-built image: Emma, the kind, stubborn girl who insists on looking beneath the surface – and the small matter of a mirror reflection that starts moving by itself. Not only does Brandon’s reflection have a mind of its own, but it seems to be grooming him for something—washing the dye from his hair, yanking out his piercings, swapping his black shirts for … pastels. Then it tells him: it thinks it can live his life better, and it’s preparing to trade places.

And when it pulls Brandon through the looking-glass, not only will he need all his ill-gotten hacking skills to escape, but he’s going to have to face some hard truths about who he’s become. Otherwise he’ll be stuck in a digital hell until he’s old and gray, and no one will even know he's gone.

Reviews

Kristelle of Amia Book Lover

Monday, June 15, 2015

[FINISHED] Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin

Dianne in here! Thank you to S&S UK for the copy!

Denton Little's Deathdate
Title: Denton Little's Deathdate (Denton Little #1)
Author: Lance Rubin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Date of Publication: March 26, 2015

Fans of John Green and Matthew Quick: Get ready to die laughing.

Denton Little's Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day they will die. For 17-year-old Denton Little, that's tomorrow, the day of his senior prom.

Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's hostile sister. Though he's not totally sure. See: first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters…. Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

Debut author Lance Rubin takes us on a fast, furious, and outrageously funny ride through the last hours of a teenager's life as he searches for love, meaning, answers, and (just maybe) a way to live on.

Tour Schedule

June 15

Paula of Her Book Thoughts - Review

June 16

Jayvee of Writer for Misfits - Review

June 17

Inah of The Bibliophile Confessions - Review

Thursday, June 11, 2015

[FINISHED] Deadly Design by Debra Dockter

Dianne in here! Thank you to Putnam Juvenile for the copy!

Deadly Design
Title: Deadly Design
Author: Debra Dockter
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Date of Publication: June 2, 2015

The emotional power of If I Stay meets the survival story of Maze Runner

Genetically engineered identical twins Kyle and Connor McAdams were born two years apart. Their parents figured it was safer that way, to increase their odds of survival. Connor was born first, paving an impossibly perfect path for Kyle to follow. He was the best at everything—valedictorian, star quarterback etc. Kyle never thought he’d be able to live up, so he didn’t even try.

But when Connor, 18, suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, and Kyle learns of other genetically modified kids who’ve also died on their eighteenth birthdays, he’s suddenly motivated—to save his own life. Like Connor and all the rest, Kyle was conceived at the Genesis Innovations Laboratory, where the mysterious Dr. Mueller conducted experiments on them. The clock’s ticking as Kyle searches for answers: who was Dr. Mueller really, and what did he do to cause their hearts to stop at eighteen? He must unravel the clues quickly, before, he too, becomes another perfect, blue-eyed corpse.

Reviews

Kristelle of Amia Book Lover

Monday, June 1, 2015

[FINISHED] Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

Dianne in here! Thank you to HarperCollins International for the touring copy and to Precious for sharing it!

Made You Up
Title: Made You Up
Author: Francesca Zappia
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Date of Publication: May 19, 2015

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

Tour Schedule

June 1

Precious of Fragments of Life - Review
Kristelle of Amia Book Lover - Review

June 2

Paula of Her Book Thoughts - Review

June 3

Jayvee of Writer for Misfits - Review + Excerpt

June 4

Nat of Cruising Pages - Review + Interview

June 5

Maricar of blackplume - Review

Giveaway