Tag Archive | determination

Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn (book review) – transfer student is really different

May17

book cover of Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn, published by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books | recommended on BooksYALove.com A dramatic arrival,
disrupting school and community,
this wild transfer student!

Yep, her carefully orchestrated high school plan gets derailed by the arrival of a pterodactyl, a teenaged pterodactyl named Pyke. The Autumn Whirl dance and football playoffs will never be the same at Vista View… and neither will Shiels!

Visit the publisher’s page here and scroll down to read chapter 1 for free.

Soar into your local library or favorite indie bookstore to snag this offbeat love story.

Share your most unusual transfer student experience in the comments, please.
**kmm

Book info: Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend / Alan Cumyn. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016. [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When a pterodactyl transfers to her high school, Shiels’ organized plan for maximum college application impact dissolves as flyer Pyke inspires vivid freedom-filled dreams in his classmates, amplifies everyone’s hormones, and disrupts her calmly solid relationship with Sheldon – before the aggression at the football playoff game, that is.

Why did Pyke pick cross-country runner Jocelyne as his girlfriend?
And what about all the crows that accompany him?
Beast? Boy? Both?

Not your average love story and not your average transfer student either!

Live? Die? Choose audiobooks with impact!

May12

Life-changing choices highlight this week’s pair of free audiobooks from SYNC!

Click each title for your free download – just needs your name and email address.

Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.

CD cover of Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury | Read by Amy Shiels Published by Scholastic | recommended on BooksYALove.comThe Sin Eater’s Daughter

by Melinda Salisbury
Read by Amy Shiels
Published by Scholastic

Twylla’s touch kills, so the royal family uses her as executioner. Now the 16 year old must decide whether to be a deadly tool in the Queen’s audacious plan or to follow the possibility of love that can only end in death.

 

CD cover of DIVINE COLLISION: An African Boy, an American Lawyer, and Their Remarkable Battle for Freedom by Jim Gash Read by Brandon Batchelar Published by Oasis Audio | recommended on BooksYALove.com Divine Collision: An African Boy, an American Lawyer, and Their Remarkable Battle for Freedom

by Jim Gash
Read by Brandon Batchelar
Published by Oasis Audio

True story of an American lawyer and a Ugandan teen whose fight for the young man’s freedom changes an entire nation’s legal system.

How would you choose which way to go?
**kmm

How did we get here, humanity? Read more… with your ears!

May6

It’s finally time! Time to download this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

Each pair of complete audiobooks will be available from Thursday through Wednesday during their download week this summer. Then you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.

Bookmark the SYNC site now so you can download great free audiobooks all summer long: http://www.audiobooksync.com/

CD cover of Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild published by LA Theater Works | recommended on BooksYALove.comThe Great Tennessee Monkey Trial

Did schools have the right to teach evolution? The Scopes Trial of 1925 is recreated in this full-cast docu-drama.

by Peter Goodchild

Read by Edward Asner, Bill Brochtrup, Matthew Patrick Davis, John de Lancie, James Gleason, Harry Groener, Jerry Hardin, Marnie Mosiman, Kenneth Alan Williams, Geoffrey Lower, Kyle Colerider-Krugh

CD cover of audiobook Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle, Published by Dreamscape Media | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Vivian Apple at the End of the World

Looking for the truth when her parents vanish after the Rapture moment predicted by their evangelical church, Vivian and friends begin a desperate road trip.

by Katie Coyle

Read by Julia Whelan

So how did we get here, and how might we depart?
**kmm

Unexpected Everything, by Morgan Matson (book review) – summer plans? poof, woof & wow!

May5

book cover of The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson published by Simon Schuster | recommended on BooksYALove.comShe’s got it all planned:
internship, great college, med school…
until step one is revoked!

Andie loves her checklists, her plans to become a doctor, her best friends – and sticks to short-term boyfriends.

Then her fancy internship gets yanked away, her politician father is suddenly home from DC, she lands in a summer job far outside her experience or comfort zone, and she meets Clark…

Happy book birthday week to The Unexpected Everything!  This is a great summer read, like Matson’s Since You’ve Been Gone  (my no-spoilers recommendation here) and Second Chance Summer  (more here) with less road trip, but just as much self-reflection and heart.

What do you do when a perfectly crafted plan falls apart?
**kmm

Book info: The Unexpected Everything / Morgan Matson. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016. [author site]  [publisher site]  [author video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: When problems at her congressman father’s office cause her pre-med internship to vanish, Andie is forced out of her structured life of success checklists and into a summer job as a dog-walker (never had a dog), wanting to stay around new guy Clark (never mind her 3-weeks-only rule for boyfriends), and trying to keep her best friends in sync as an outside relationship threatens to dissolve their group.

A world-famous author in their midst?
Dad home in Connecticut all summer instead of away in Washington DC?
A long-time crush keeps his distance, or does he?

An epic scavenger hunt, bridging the father-daughter gap 5 years after Mom’s death, emojis-only text message challenge, a committed relationship (wait! this is Andie we’re talking about…) – such an unexpected summer before senior year!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

That’s a wrap – another April AtoZ Challenge in the books!

May2

logo of April AtoZ blog challenge 2016I did it!

26 posts – A to Z – in April, on schedule.

That’s 22 new, no-spoiler book recommendations, plus 3 library-celebration posts and a look ahead to free audiobooks all summer.

Thanks again to the April AtoZ Challenge organizers! This is all free, a labor of love to help bloggers build up their blogging muscles and gain readership.

Since I signed up so late (#1532 on the list), I didn’t get many new followers or comments, but it was certainly worth it for me to get back in my writing groove – so many great books from debut authors and smaller presses to tell y’all about! (not enough hours in the day for me to consider covering self-published works, as my policies state)

So if you want to find your voice in blogging or just have a super list of blogs to visit and follow, look into the April AtoZ Challenge – I’ll remind you next March!

Got a favorite, unheralded YA title to recommend?
**kmm

Z is zeroing in on summer reading – with your ears!

Apr30
photo of BooksYALove at TxLA conference 2016

BooksYALove at TxLA 2016

When the folks at the Publishers Spotlight booth asked last week at TxLA conference if I’d heard of AudioSYNC free audiobooks all summer, I told them that I’ve been promoting this free download program every summer since it began!

And yes, it’s back this summer – two free complete audiobooks that you can download each week and keep forever! One classic title pairs with a contemporary one thematically, so that’s 30 free audiobooks for you.

Every Thursday from May 5 to August 11, 2016, I will highlight each week’s two free titles with direct links to the SYNC website.

So this is a wrap – AtoZChallenge completed! (Thank you, challenge organizers – over 1,500 participants this year!)

From now on, I plan to recommend a couple of books weekly along with the Thursday AudioSYNC notes, saving this 6-posts-a-week pace for next April.

Which AprilAtoZ title was your favorite?
**kmm

X on the map, any map for Girl From Everywhere, by Heidi Heilig (book review)

Apr28

book cover of The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig published by Greenwillow | recommended on BooksYALove.comTime traveling,
On a pirate ship,
If there’s a map, she can go there!

Just imagine a Gifted young woman navigating the Temptation and her interesting crew to any port present or past, nations long-swallowed by history, mythic lands – all so that her father the captain can find a way to undo her mother’s death… and perhaps undo Nix herself!

I listened to Heidi speak on a debut YA authors’ panel last week at TxLA, and she was just as funny in person as in this offbeat author interview video.

Sail into your local library or independent bookstore for the February 2016-published first adventure in this two-part sea saga (Heidi is indeed working on the second book now, she assured us!).

If you could travel to any place at any time, where would you come ashore?
**kmm

Book info: The Girl From Everywhere / Heidi Heilig. Greenwillow Books, 2016.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [video author interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As her father seeks to undo her mother’s death, 16 year old half-Chinese Nix guides their time-traveling pirate ship to ports real and imagined, encountering mythic creatures and real robber barons, wondering if his quest will undo her as well.

She can guide the Temptation to any port on any map, fictional or factual, so onward goes the ship, seeking every possible cure that could keep Nix’s mother from dying in childbirth – if Slate could only find the map for the exact 1886 Honolulu where they lived.

A crowded 1774 Calcutta market where just-a-friend Kashmir rescues her, sugar barons who want to depose the king of Hawaii, today’s Coast Guard with questions for the grand wooden sailing ship in New York harbor – Nix, Slate, Kash, Rotgut, Bee and her ghost-wife Ayen travel through time and oceans on the captain’s quest.

If her mother survives childbirth in her timeline, what happens to Nix?
Is there room for love when a pirate ship can’t put down roots?
What treacherous waters must Nix cross to fulfill her own dreams?

First of a two-part adventure that spans time, tides, and every human emotion, The Girl From Everywhere wants to remain in existence, despite her father’s longing to undo her past. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

V is Vengeance Road, by Erin Bowman (book review) – revenge is a dangerous path

Apr26

book cover of Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers | recommended on BooksYALove.comJust her and Pa on the homestead,
till the Rose Gang came a-killin’ –
now it’s time for revenge…

Kate will track down the killers in the unforgiving Arizona deserts and mountains to avenge her father’s death, but when the 18 year old discovers that the gang is after the gold that her father hid, look out!

Read chapter one here (courtesy of the publisher), then hunt down this wild Western tale at your local library or independent bookstore!

We need girls with grit in westerns and all kinds of books – Kate is as gritty and tenacious as they come.

Family secrets… shared any lately?
**kmm

Book info: Vengeance Road / Erin Bowman. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Kate’s riding hell-bent for leather on the Arizona frontier to avenge her father’s murder, as she follows the treasure map that he hid for her, ready to kill every member of the Rose Gang… as long as they don’t get her first!

Apaches and dust storms, the Superstition Mountains and a secretive old miner, Pa’s mysterious and cryptic map… Kate’s trail is perilous and bloody.

If Kate’s heart is consumed by vengeance, will there ever be room for anything else?

U is uncertainty & Rules for 50/50 Chances, by Kate McGovern (book review)

Apr25

book cover of Rules for 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern published by Farrar Straus Giroux | recommended on BooksYALove.com Hereditary disease.
Test to find out
or live till it grabs you?

Rose’s mother has Huntington’s Disease and is losing control of herself and her abilities bit by bit.  At 18, Rose can take the genetic test that tells whether she inherited the fatal disease or not. Then she meets Caleb…

Would you want to know how you’re going to die?
**kmm

p.s. May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month, so look for a Team Hope HD Walk near you.

Book info: Rules for 50/50 Chances / Kate McGovern. Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers , 2015 [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As her mother’s condition worsens, 18-year-old Rose wonders whether taking the genetic test to see if she also has Huntington’s Disease would stop her from dancing ballet or planning for college or letting new friend Caleb have her heart.

Q is quantum Bounders, teens in space, as weapons? by Monica Tesler (book review)

Apr20

book cover of Bounders by Monica Tesler published by Aladdin | recommended on BooksYALove.comFinally heading for Earth Force Academy,
in space at age 12!
Away from the bullies, at last…

Bred especially to be Bounders, Jasper and other 12-year-olds find themselves grudgingly assisted at Earth Force Academy and challenged to master the alien-shared tech needed to bound, but why exactly the military Earth Force decided that young teens with ‘unusual neurodiversity‘ were the best pilots for this alien world-jumping is rather… suspect.

In future America,

**kmm

Book info: Bounders / Monica Tesler. Aladdin, 2016. [author site] [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Genetically specialized for interstellar ship bounding, 12-year-old Jasper is glad to escape earth-school bullies and learn to use alien quantum tech at the Academy in space, but he and his pod-mates start wondering why they were bred to become quantum pilots for the military….

(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)