Review: Carry Me Home by Jessica Therrien

Release date: August 15th 2017
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Lucy and Ruth are country girls from a broken home. When they move to the city with their mother, leaving behind their family ranch and dead-beat father, Lucy unravels. 

They run to their grandparents’ place, a trailer park mobile home in the barrio of San Jose. Lucy’s barrio friends have changed since her last visit. They’ve joined a gang called VC. They teach her to fight, to shank, to beat a person unconscious and play with guns. When things get too heavy, and lives are at stake, the three girls head for LA seeking a better life. 

But trouble always follows Lucy. She befriends the wrong people, members of another gang, and every bad choice she makes drags the family into her dangerous world. 

Told from three points of view, the story follows Lucy down the rabbit hole, along with her mother and sister as they sacrifice dreams and happiness, friendships and futures. Love is waiting for all of them in LA, but pursuing a life without Lucy could mean losing her forever. 

Ultimately it’s their bond with each other that holds them together, in a true test of love, loss and survival.

*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an intense story. I must admit I was frustrated with Lucy's character. It pissed me off that she would constantly place herself into gangs and live a dangerous lifestyle. I mean, I know teens can be rebellious and that in real life many fall into the wrong crowd after growing up in a bad neighborhood or having gone through terrible situations. But in Lucy's case, I felt like she was just a spoiled, attention-seeking brat that constantly put her sister and mother through hell. Then again, the mother was a whole other situation. 

This woman wasn't the best, and her lack of self-worth kept her from her true potential as well as hindered her ability to parent. Lucy overpowered her all the time. There was just no structure, no rules. Nothing. In fact, the mother would just lean on Ruth for everything, which wasn't fair because Ruth deserved to live her own life without doing her mother's job and always being the one that had to keep it all together. I really liked her character and wanted her to succeed, especially after she found such a good relationship. But that all got damaged because of Lucy's destructive ways.

Anyway, all that being said, it was an interesting story with nice writing, and I like how things ended up for each of the women. It shows that no matter what you go through in life, you could always turn your life around. Yes, even though Lucy got on my nerves and my emotions were all over the place from beginning to end, I liked the story.

About the Author

Jessica Therrien is the author of the young adult series Children of the Gods. Book one in the series, Oppression, became a Barnes & Noble best-seller shortly after its release. Her trilogy has been translated and sold through major publishers around the world, such as Editions AdA (Canada), EditionsMilan (France), and SharpPoint Press (China).

Aside from her Children of the Gods series, Jessica is the author of Carry Me Home, a YA contemporary fiction novel, and a kid’s picture book called, The Loneliest Whale. Her award-winning stories can also be found in a published anthology of flash fiction.

Jessica currently lives in Irvine with her husband and two young sons. She is working on an adult novel and a middle grade fantasy series.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

Guest Post: Author Cyndy Etler on 'We Can't Be Friends'

Release date: October 3rd 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository{Affiliate Link}

Synopsis via Goodreads:

High school sucks for a lot of people. High school extra sucks when you believe, deep in your soul, that every kid in the school is out to get you. I wasn't popular before I got locked up in Straight Inc., the notorious "tough love" program for troubled teens. So it's not like I was walking around thinking everyone liked me.

But when you're psychologically beaten for sixteen months, you start to absorb the lessons. The lessons in Straight were: You are evil. Your peers are evil. Everything is evil except Straight, Inc.

Before long, you're a true believer.

And when you're finally released, sent back into the world, you crave safety. Crave being back in the warehouse. And if you can't be there, you'd rather be dead.

~GUEST POST~

Why Do I Write Provocative Memoir? Because I Have No Choice

There’s a writing maxim out there that strikes me as heavy-handed. It goes, “You know you’re a writer if you have to write, to live.” So maybe I’m not a real writer, because I can exist, you know? With just food and water. I don’t die if I’m not writing. Same way I don’t die if I don’t eat desert.

Actually, I write for the same reason I eat desert: because I really frigging love it. Because writing, like sugar, makes me feel extra-alive.

But I didn’t write my memoirs—first The Dead Inside, then We Can’t Be Friends—because I wanted to eat desert. I was compelled to write them, for the same reason you were compelled to puke up that shellfish that gave you food poisoning: I had a plague inside me, and I had to get it out.

The abuse I endured at home as a child is describable. People know what to visualize when you say the words “chased,” “hit,” and “molested.” The abuse I endured at Straight Inc.—the notorious “troubled teen” facility where I was locked up at age 14—is not so describable. Because the things they did to me in there, and the things they made me do, aren’t done.

Try this. Ready? In your mind’s eye, picture what I’m talking about when I say these words:

Motivating.

Beltlooping.

Spit Therapy.

Attack Therapy.

You know what I’m saying? Nope. You don’t. Unless you were in a Straight-related program, or you’ve read about them, you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Now, let’s try this: think of the phrase “drug rehab.”

Now we’re on the same page, right? Brown cushioned chairs, lots of talking, lots of…I don’t know, coffee and cigarette breaks and shuffling around the program’s grounds, I guess?

Yeah, no. Not at Straight Inc. I mean, Straight called itself a drug rehab. But there was no coffee. There were no walks. And I was no drug addict. Not unless you can call a barely-teen kid who’s barely smoked weed an “addict.”

No, Straight was a—was a—was an abuse factory. A cult. A “concentration camp for throwaway teens,” according to the ACLU. Straight was a warehouse packed with broken children, a brilliant money-making scheme where parents, for a fee, could disappear the kid they didn’t want to deal with.

When I finally woke up to my memories of Straight, 15 years after the fact, I had to get them out. I had to tell people about it. I had to have it validated that, “Holy crap, you got messed up!” Like that skanky shellfish, I had to purge it from my system.

But there was no way to describe it to people. If I say to you, “I was sent to rehab, and it made me want to kill myself,” what’re you gonna think? Take your pick:

A) Oh, you were a bad kid, an addict. You deserved it.

B) Rehab? Made you want to kill yourself? What kind of baby are you?

C) Poor little priv-kid thinks “rehab” is hard times. Ha! Hahahahaha….

So I had to write my experience. I had to take you in there. I had to have you live it, this “rehab.” This psych abuse. This brainwashing, this torture. I didn’t have the words for it, but I had the emotions. The setting. The dialogue. The spit therapy.

I can’t tell you about Straight Inc, or what it was like trying to reintegrate to the world when I finally got out. But by writing a book so hot you can’t put it down, I can make you experience it.

Maybe that’s what that smug writing maxim is actually trying to say. Here, let me fix it.

“If the story inside you feels like a sickness, kid? You better write, that, book.”

Right. Much better.

About the Author

A modern-day Cinderella, Cyndy Etler was homeless at fourteen, summa cum laude at thirty. Currently a young adult author and teen life coach, Etler spent sixteen years teaching troubled teens in schools across America.

Before she was paid for teaching Etler did it for free, volunteering at public schools and facilities for runaway teens. Today she speaks at fundraisers, schools and libraries, convincing teens that books work better than drugs.

After years of hopscotching, Etler now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and dogs.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: The Closest I've Come by Fred Aceves

Release date: November 7th 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

The Closest I’ve Come is a must-read from talented first-time author Fred Aceves, in the tradition of Walter Dean Myers.

Marcos Rivas wants to find love.

He’s sure as hell not getting it at home, where his mom’s racist boyfriend beats him up. Or from his boys, who aren’t exactly the “hug it out” type. Marcos yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren’t falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood—which seems impossible.

When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program for troubled teens with potential, he meets Zach, a theater geek whose life seems great on the surface, and Amy, a punk girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. These new friendships inspire Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and along the way, Marcos starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for. Marcos ultimately learns that bravery isn’t about acting tough and being macho; it’s about being true to yourself.

About the Author

Fred Aceves is a Latino author who grew up in a community like the one described in The Closest I’ve Come, a tough, working-class neighborhood filled with single moms. He attended five high schools and worked two jobs before eventually dropping out of school. He later earned his GED and traveled around the world. He was born in the United States and currently lives in Mexico with his wife. The Closest I’ve Come is his debut novel.

FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Review: Walking with Miss Millie by Tamara Bundy

Release date: July 4th 2017
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

A poignant middle grade debut about the friendship between a white girl and an elderly black woman in the 1960s South

Alice is angry at having to move to Rainbow, Georgia—a too small, too hot, dried-up place she’s sure will never feel like home. Then she gets put in charge of walking her elderly neighbor’s dog. But Clarence won’t budge without Miss Millie, so Alice and Miss Millie walk him together. Strolling with Miss Millie quickly becomes the highlight of Alice’s day, as she learns about the town’s past and meets a mix of its catty and kind residents. As the two become confidantes, Alice is finally able to express her heartache over her father’s desertion; and when Miss Millie tells her family story, Alice begins to understand the shameful history of Segregation, and recognize the racism they need to fight against. Navigating the neighborhood with Miss Millie gives Alice new perspective, the wisdom to move on from her anger, and even enables her to laugh again.

Tamara Bundy’s beautifully written story reminds readers that there is nothing like friendship to lighten one’s load, and make anyplace a home.

*I received a finished hardcopy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've been trying to read more middle grade books this year because I do like the genre and sometimes I just want to re-experience seeing things through the eyes of a child. Walking with Miss Millie is the debut novel of Tamara Bundy and I'm glad that I got the chance to read it because I ended up liking the story.

Ten-year-old Alice is angry that her mother has uprooted her and Eddie, her little brother, and is moving them to the small town of Rainbow to better take care of Alice's grandmother. It's easy for readers to say Alice is selfish and should understand the situation, but you have to keep her age in mind and realize that this is a child leaving behind friends, the only home she's known, and a life she was used to and felt safe in. Not only that, but her parents were going through something and her father had pretty much turned his back on them. But for most of the story, Alice remains hopeful that he will come for his family, swoop up everybody and take them back to their home. So in the meantime, she works on collecting items that will remind her parents, specifically her father, of their love for each other, all while walking with Miss Millie and her dog. 

It was so funny how Alice came to walking with her neighbor. The thing with the phone is actually new to me and I'm glad they don't do that anymore. My gosh, I can't even imagine having a conversation that might not be for anyone else's ears and my neighbor is listening in on the call. Yikes. Anyway, it was an innocent mistake on Alice's part but her mom insisted that she find a way to make it up to Miss Millie, and so the young girl is asked to walk the old dog, Clarence. However, Clarence refuses to be taken by Alice alone, understandable because trust needs to be built, so in turn, Miss Millie starts walking with them just until her dog becomes comfortable with Alice. 

Their walks turned out to be rather informative, not only for little Alice but also for me. The things Miss Millie had endured were just heartbreaking. She'd lost so much, and every time she shared a painful story it made me even more upset that racism still exists today! I looked forward to the next walk like Alice and loved the bond these two characters had established, a black woman of old age and a white girl at only ten, in a time and community that still wasn't all accepting of them being friends.

While Alice is growing fond of Miss Millie and Clarence, she fights to hold on to the belief that their current situation is temporary and she's still waiting for her father, no matter how life proved otherwise. She didn't want to allow herself to start liking this new town and its few nice people like her neighbor, the interesting character Pam and her brother that wasn't as mean as other members of their family. But as her father started to disappoint her more and more and the truth became too obvious to ignore, Alice finally came to the realization that she was at home with her grandmother and mother, and even with Miss Millie. In fact, I think her old neighbor played a big part in helping Alice see things clearly and learning to understand that life is tough and sometimes you just have to make the best of the situation. I thought it was amazing that such a young girl could grow so much mentally and at times turned out to be way more mature than some of the people in Rainbow. 

Aside from the friendship between Miss Millie and Alice, I also liked Pam's character and the way she connected with Eddie. She tried her best to communicate with him and even went as far as to learn sign language. Not many people would make such a nice attempt and it's sad that Alice tried to push her away earlier, but I got why she did that and was happy when she started to let Pam in. In regards to the mom, I would have loved for her to be in the story more. It's really sad what's happening to the grandmother but Alice's mom is a great daughter and she did a good job with Alice and her brother. 

To conclude, Walking with Miss Millie is a great story with youthful writing and interesting main characters. I loved how it's not only depicting an unlikely friendship in a time where that didn't happen a lot, but I also like that you can learn from the story and possibly use a character like ten-year-old Alice to inspire change in your life and others. 

About the Author

Tamara Bundy is a high school English teacher with a Master’s degree in writing, and is a former columnist for the Cincinnati Post (her regular column on being a mom also appeared on EWTN global Catholic radio). Walking Miss Millie is her debut novel. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Behind the Pages #31: Tamara Bundy talks her debut novel 'Walking with Miss Millie' + Giveaway

Hey, guys! I'm finally back with another Behind the Pages feature, and I'm pleased that it is a debut author this time around, which also happens to be the first interview on the blog since the start of 2017. Tamara Bundy has recently debuted her middle-grade novel, Walking with Miss Millie (a book that I liked by the way), and I'm happy that I had the opportunity to discuss the book and more with her. Not only that, Penguin Random House is contributing a copy of the book to one lucky winner from the U.S. So continue below for the interview and giveaway.

Thanks for taking the time, Tamara. Where are you from and at what point in your life did you realize you wanted to become an author.

I grew up in Hilliard, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus-the same place my main character, Alice, wants to return to). I fell in love with the play of words from Dr. Seuss by the age of seven. I loved rhythm and rhyme and began to write poetry.  The first time someone said I was a good writer, I was hooked and wanted to write ever since. 

Who are some of your biggest influences in literature?

Of course, I loved Dr. Seuss, who taught me words can be both fun and meaningful. As I grew, I enjoyed Judy Blume who could tell a story like she was your best friend, Madeleine L’ Engle whose imagination both scared and entertained me and Shel Silverstein whose poetry made me laugh and cry. But I also won’t underestimate the impact my Archie comic books had on my desire to tell a story. 

How has being an English teacher and former columnist for the Cincinnati Post affected your writing?

Writing a weekly column was great discipline for just writing.  It didn’t matter if you felt inspired or not –if your column was due on Monday, you’d better have it written by Sunday. It was great practice for not choking under deadlines. As a teacher, I get to see the impact good books have on students. I see the light bulb of understanding go off, I hear the big football playing tough guy sniffling at the end of Of Mice and Men. It never gets old. And when I think of students getting my own books in a classroom, it makes me so happy. But I also know how diverse students are, how complicated their lives are. I always want to honor that –to really make it worth their time to read my books. 

Congratulations on your debut, ‘Walking with Miss Millie’. What inspired the story and why set it in the 1960’s? 

When my own daughter was in middle school, and feeling like she had no friends, she began walking the elderly neighbor’s dog. However, the dog refused to walk with just my daughter, so the neighbor lady went along too. It stayed that way and became a unique and lovely friendship. I knew I wanted to tell that story, but seeing what was going on in the world with matters of race, I wanted to write something that might help students understand each other. I wanted people to see how far we’ve come –and how far we need to go. That’s when I decided it would be a richer story if it took place in the 60’s and the two characters were different races.

Were there moments where the story felt challenging for you to write or you felt nervous about creating these characters? 

Maybe I should have been nervous, since I eventually found out that it is tricky to write outside your race, but I felt my character, Miss Millie, whispering in my ear the whole time. The story unfolded so naturally, the only challenge was wanting so hard to do her justice –I needed the world to love her as much as I did.

What are you hoping readers will take from the friendship between Alice and Miss Millie, a young white girl and an elderly black woman? 

For one thing, I hope they realize that friendships come in many shapes, sizes and appearances. For another, I want them to understand that you can’t know what someone is going through until you walk in their shoes (or at least with them for a while).

Once you finished the story, how did you celebrate your debut?

This novel was a part of my writing life for so many years, I don’t think I fully understood what “finished” was. But I celebrated every step of it –getting an agent (the amazing Steven Chudney), getting a book deal (the legendary Nancy Paulsen), seeing the first ARC (Advanced Reader Copy), the first hardcover --I celebrated it all!

What’s next now that ‘Walking with Miss Millie’ is out in the world? 

I love the loving feedback I am getting. I swear it never ceases to touch me to read someone’s review who cried and laughed and felt the same love I felt for my characters. And while I am enjoying and celebrating that, I am also working on my second Middle Grade novel that Nancy Paulsen bought for a 2019 release.

Will you stick to Middle Grade or do you have plans on writing Coming of Age or Adult Fiction in the future? 

I loved teaching high school students and I might write YA someday, but I am crazy about the possibilities of Middle Grade historical fiction right now-there’s so many stories to tell. But remember how much I loved Dr. Seuss? You might just see some picture books from me one day…

Thanks again for the interview, Tamara. Any tips for aspiring writers? 

The best advice I have is to write because you love it. If you only write to get a book deal, you will spend so much time frustrated and feeling like a failure. But if you write because you have a story to tell, you will always be a success as long as you tell the story you are meant to tell. Make writer friends, follow writers you admire on social media and read their stories. Follow agents you are interested in. Read, read, read and write, write write. And never, never, never give up.

More About the Author

Tamara Bundy is a high school English teacher with a Master’s degree in writing, and is a former columnist for the Cincinnati Post (her regular column on being a mom also appeared on EWTN global Catholic radio). Walking Miss Millie is her debut novel. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Release date: June 3rd 2014
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it stopped mattering whether it’s true. 

The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. 

Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

*Approved via netgalley

There's always more going on beneath the surface, and this story proves that we should never be too quick to judge or simply take another person's word for it. 

The Truth About Alice was as realistic as society gets, especially when it comes to today's youth. What I liked about the story was how it was written, transitioning from the perspective of the key characters involved, with Alice being last. This was a great decision by the author because it gives readers a better idea of what's going on in that person's head and where all the issues stem from. Some of them will just blow your mind.

In regards to the actual plot, I knew throughout the story that something wasn't right about those rumors. That Alice wasn't as terrible as they made her out to be. Towards the end, not only was I right about the rumors, I had actually predicted her story wrong at the same time. When the first chapter opened up saying she had slept with two guys in one night and in the same hour, I quickly believed she was raped. And my assumption had a lot to do with the person who started the rumor. Brandon. 

Brandon came off to me as the town's football hero. In fact, it seemed like everyone was concerned with how they were going to excel in the sport after he died. That aside, I wasn't as big a fan as they were. The way he treated girls disgusted me, and to be honest, I felt his death to be karma for starting those rumors about Alice. But Brandon wasn't the only despicable character in the story, every single person who lied about Alice and continued spreading nasty rumors on her were just as bad if not worst. Take her supposed-to-be best friend for example, Kelsie. When the reader was given the opportunity to get inside Kelsie's head, I couldn't believe some of the petty things she said and thought of. She justified turning her back on Alice and even adding to the already out of control issue because of some really stupid and rather childish thing from a while back. I couldn't even believe she actually went ahead and blamed Alice for stupid mistake. And you know what, her parents are to blame as well. When you learn about the kind of person Kelsie's mother was and the hypocritical thing she did, it'll make you shake your head.

Not only Kelsie's family had issues though, so did Elaine's. Elaine was as shallow as they come. Wow! She was all about her so-called "power" in the school due to her popularity. There were many times I wanted to smack her for the conceitedness, but to be honest, her character wasn't as hard to fathom as Kelsie or Brandon. She was actually tolerable.

As for Josh, to me he was a coward. But aren't they all? I also felt there was something else going on within him that he needed to work on and even though it wasn't expressed much in the story, I don't think it necessarily had to because I easily figured it out on my own without him ever coming to terms with that. 

The most likable characters in the book were Kurt and in fact, Alice. I was happy with the way Kurt dealt with the situation, even though he probably should have said something sooner, but I liked that he showed her so much respect and really liked the person she was. 

Overall, it was a great story. The only thing is I wish those other three characters aside from Kurt and Alice would have come clean about their parts in the mess, especially Josh. And I would have loved to get more of Alice's POV. I think she's a strong girl, and not many teens could have held on to that strength with everything happening to her. Admittedly, I was afraid suicide would be the end result of the story but thankfully it wasn't. The Truth About Alice is a true testament that verbal bullying is just as cruel as the physical, and I believe that parents should be parents, not friends of their kids, and really teach them to be honest, respectable human beings, and teach them about the importance of not conforming but rather hold on to their morals and do the right thing. 

About the Author

Jennifer Mathieu is an English teacher, wife, and mom who lives in Texas and writes books for and about young adults. THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE is her debut novel. Jennifer is a native of the East Coast and a former journalist. She enjoys writing contemporary young adult fiction that treats teenagers like real people.

www.jennifermathieu.com | facebook.com/writerjennifermathieu

Review: Anything to Have You by Paige Harbison

Release date: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Nothing should come between best friends, not even boys. ESPECIALLY not boys.

Natalie and Brooke have had each other's backs forever. Natalie is the quiet one, college bound and happy to stay home and watch old movies. Brooke is the movie—the life of every party, the girl everyone wants to be.

Then it happens—one crazy night that Natalie can't remember and Brooke's boyfriend, Aiden, can't forget. Suddenly there's a question mark in Natalie and Brooke's friendship that tests everything they thought they knew about each other and has both girls discovering what true friendship really means.

*eBook Approved via netgalley

When I started reading Anything to Have You, I was convinced the story would turn out to be a good read. The characters seemed fun-loving, witty, and appealing. Even though it went downhill for me, with the party and Natalie waking up to realize that she'd gotten so wasted, that she blacked out and couldn't remember who she had sex with, because in fact, she knew she did. There are so many things wrong with that. The main thing being: hello? If you got drunk to the point where all logical thinking and clarity flew out the door, and you don't know who took advantage of you, because obviously someone took advantage of your drunken state, then that is in fact rape. I didn't like that such a serious issue was not brought up. If anything, it made the characters seem like that was a norm, like everything about that was cool. It is not. And I found that very disturbing. Still, it wasn't a bad read.

Let's detour from these teenagers a moment to examine their home life. Natalie's father bugs me. There's no way a parent should be that buddy-buddy with their kid and be so happy about them going to parties, where the opposite sex and plenty of alcohol would be. He was a teenager once so of course he should know the deal. And I felt his reaction to her being hungover a bit casual if not oblivious. The stern parent role should have come into play on many occasions, regardless of how smart and responsible he considered his daughter to be. If Natalie had gone out without his permission, I could have accepted that more than him just simply saying, "go ahead. go to this wild party. drink a lot, lose control, black out, then get taken advantage of." 

Aside from that awful event and the way in which it was handled, or rather not handled, Natalie didn't really win me over. She cracked easily under peer pressure, never truly spoke her mind, and basically appeared as a lapdog for her so-called best friend, Brooke. I would have loved for her to be stronger and not so wimpish. Brooke was more of that and then some.

Speaking of the latter, Brooke rubbed me the wrong way since the party as well. In fact, everyone turned out to be off since the party. Anyway, back to the wild flower. Brooke is your usual spoiled girl who loves attention. She's the kind of girl who doesn't care if every single guy in the world loves her, and she gets pissed if one of these guys likes somebody else. Talk about messed up. When you look into her life outside of this, she had issues with her family, which obviously stemmed her need for attention else where, whether it be in drinking or hooking up for the fun of it. She was portrayed in such a trashy way throughout the book that it overwhelmed me. Not only trashy by her grotesque habits, but also in her selfish tendencies towards her boyfriend, deeming their relationship outdated, and also towards the person that's supposed to be her best friend since how long. It took a long time for her to come back down to earth and tap into her real feelings. However, I felt really let down by her character for the most part. When I found out how it really was from the getgo, with Natalie and Aiden, Brooke turned me off even more. Then again, Aiden wasn't so perfect either. I wanted to slap him so bad for putting Natalie through that. Not only did he come off as a rapist from jump, because once again, that whole event didn't seem right to me, I thought he should have told Natalie the truth from the moment he realized she didn't know what really happened. Jerk. No matter how sweet the book tried to make him out to be, he was in my eyes an idiot.

So, what did I like about the story? The pacing, I flew through in no time, and the writing was good. It kept me interested enough to want to finish the book, in hopes that everything would work out. And you know what, even though it enraged me that their reaction to being wasted and passing out was so normal even if they had sex with someone and didn't remember who it was, I thought that reflected on actual issues in the real world. Truth is, teens do sneak off or go with their parents approval to parties, drink a lot, and do end up in situations like that where they simply brush it off. And while I hated how all the characters did was drink, party, drink, hookup, drink, it was somewhat realistic. Even though I was never like that as a teenager, there are kids who really do that. Watch the news. There are realistic elements within this story, no matter how off it mostly was for me.

BLOG TOUR~Drowning (Tears of Sin #1) by Rachel Firasek

The Rachel Firasek Drowning blog tour has ended. This is the first in her Tears of Sin series and is rated 18+ due to adult situations, language, and some violence.

Series: Tears of Sin #1
Release date: October 19th 2013
Publisher: Naedge Publishing
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

"I dare you." Those words would change adrenaline junkie, Alice Harrison's life forever. She's a party girl that doesn't believe in love until she meets a man that only writes about it. Seth James escaped his overbearing father and moved into one of the James family's vacant condos, hoping to create the music he loves in peace. But the fragile calm he's envisioned shatters when a tiny woman with a world full of energy bounces out of the elevator and nearly takes him out. With the patience of a saint, Seth seeks the dark that keeps Alice from enjoying life. He challenges her to exorcise the demons in her past in order to discover the true meaning of love. But when the walls fall down, the hidden deceptions will bare the ugly truth about a woman drowning in sorrow and a man who may not know how to be her hero.

About the Author

Rachel Firasek spends her days daydreaming of stories and her nights putting the ideas to ink. She has spent a dull life following the rules, meeting deadlines, and toeing the line, but in her made up worlds, she can let the wild side loose. Her wonderful husband and three children support her love of the written word and only ask for the occasional American Idol or Swamp People quality hour.

She has a philosophy about love. It must devastate or it isn’t truly worth loving. She hopes that you all find your devastating love and cling to it with all your heart!

www.rachelfirasek.com/ | twitter.com/RachelFirasek

March 10th -

The Book Town *Review
Fic Central *Review

March 11th -
The Phantom Paragrapher *Review
Simplistic Reviews *Spotlight

March 12th -
Bookworm Brandee *Review & Favorite Quotes
Book Lady's Reviews *Review & Favorite Quotes

March 13th -
Anna Lives and Breathes Books *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)

March 14th -

My Favorite Things *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)

Cocktails and Books *Review
Booky Thoughts and Me *Review

*No posts on weekend.

March 17th -

Rockin' & Reviewing *Review & Excerpt (blogger's choice)

Book Freak *Review & Favorite Quotes

March 18th -

The Hopeless Romantics Book Blog *Spotlight
Paperrdolls *Review

March 19th -

The Anonymous Book Life *Review

Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews *Review

March 20th -

Curling Up With A Good Book *Spotlight
Challenging Reads *Review & Favorite Quotes

March 21st -

Blimey! I Fancy Reading *Review & Dream Cast (blogger's choice)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Release date: October 20th 2014
Self-Published
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore. 

Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

About the Author

Amy Harmon knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Amy Harmon has been a motivational speaker, a grade school teacher, a junior high teacher, a home school mom, and a member of the Grammy Award winning Saints Unified Voices Choir, directed by Gladys Knight. She released a Christian Blues CD in 2007 called "What I Know" - also available on Amazon and wherever digital music is sold.

www.authoramyharmon.com | twitter.com/aharmon_author