Tag Archive | determination

Splintered, by A. G. Howard (book review) – Alyssa in Wonderland, forever?

Jul8

book cover of Splintered by AG Howard published by Amulet Books“Off with her head!”
Red Queen and White Queen,
Wonderland was never as benign as the animated Disney movie version led us to believe!

Even the newer movie of Alice’s return to Wonderland isn’t as life-and-death gritty as what Alyssa finds when she goes down the rabbit hole, trying to break the Liddell family curse of madness.

Texas author A.G. Howard compiled a playlist of songs to keep her in the Splintered  mood – alternative rock, dark, experimental. Wonder what she’s listening to now as she writes book 2, Unhinged…

Got a favorite Wonderland character to share?
**kmm

Book info: Splintered / A.G. Howard. Amulet Books, 2013.   [author blog]   [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: If hearing plants means you’re crazy, then soon Alyssa will be as insane as her mother, unless she can make the treacherous journey to a forbidden place that could save them both or doom her forever.

It was her great-great-great-grandmother whose dreams inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland,  and the Liddell women have been cursed with madness ever since. Dad had to put Alison in a psychiatric home when he found her snipping at little Alyssa’s hands with garden shears. Of course, he couldn’t hear the flowers whispering or know that Alyssa was just trying to protect them. A car wreck is the convenient explanation for her scars, for Mom’s crazy talk at Soul’s Asylum.

Alyssa can ignore the everyday whispers of flowers and bugs, but not the enormous moth in her dreams who promises release from their madness. Too bad her best friend Jeb won’t keep his promise to go with her to England, preferring the company of beautiful, rich Taelor.

Her long-ago memories include dreams of a little boy in a strange land, who has grown up to become that moth in her dreams! Morpheus says that Alyssa can break the curse and save her mother, if she’ll just bring back what Alice Lidell took from Wonderland, things that Alison hid in their house.

If Alyssa can get to England and find the rabbit hole into Wonderland…
If she can let Jeb help her when she’s afraid he’ll be trapped, too…
If they can fix what went wrong when Alice escaped carrying Wonderland objects…
even when nothing is as it appears and not everyone wants the wrongs made right!

A journey into madness to break insanity’s curse, the solid friendship of a good human guy against the enchanting promises of Morpheus, secrets and sacrifices – this is no cutesy fairy tale, but a gritty, dark-angel quest that will take everything Alyssa’s got and perhaps more! Followed by Unhinged.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

SYNC audiobooks – humorous reads!

Jul5

So, hopefully you’ve been downloading the free SYNC audiobook pair each week when I remind you. But are you secretly thinking, “audiobooks aren’t really reading”?

Nay, my friends! Research has shown that ‘reading with your ears’ actively engages your brain in much the same way that reading text does. And of course, we all know that some of us are visual learners and others are auditory learners.

Over on The BookRiot blog, Rachel recently debunked “‘Listening to Books is Cheating’ and 7 More Myths About Audiobooks” so what are you waiting for? You only have until Wednesday to download either or both audiobooks, then you can listen as long as you keep them on your electronic device.

Ready, set, read — with your ears!

CD cover of Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford read by Nick Podehl published by Brilliance AudioCarter Finally Gets It
By Brent Crawford
Read by Nick Podehl
Published by Brilliance Audio

 

 

 

CD cover of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith read by full cast at LA Theatre WorksShe Stoops to Conquer
By Oliver Goldsmith
Read by Rosalind Ayres, Adam Godley, Julian Holloway, James Marsters, Christopher Neame, Paula Jane Newman, Ian Ogilvy, Moira Quirk, Darren Richardson, Joanne Whalley, Matthew Wolf
Published by L.A. Theatre Works
Two different comedies, two different settings, just too funny!
**kmm

Maid of Secrets, by Jennifer McGowan (book review) – spying for the Queen, perilous times

Jul3

book cover of Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan published by Simon and SchusterWorld Wednesday takes us to the early days of Queen Elizabeth I’s court amid intrigue and international turmoil.

Her Majesty is protected quite visibly by her trusted royal guards and oh-so-secretly by 5 young maids-in-waiting chosen by her for their very special talents.

Read an excerpt here to meet Meg during her pickpocketing days with the theater troupe, before the Queen’s spymaster makes her an offer she cannot refuse.

Get this first book in the Maids of Honor series today at your local library or independent bookstore, and follow Meg’s journey from sticky-fingered orphan to secret-storing spy.

Jennifer says she’s working on Maid of Deception  now, so we’ll read more about the lovely and cunning Beatrice next.

What royal secret would you most like to know?
**kmm

Book info:  Maid of Secrets / Jennifer McGowan.  Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Arrested by the Queen’s men for pickpocketing, Meg has a choice: die or become a spy! Queen Elizabeth’s most-special Maids of Honor must solve a murder before danger reaches Her Majesty – and must ignore love they can never have.

Her ear for dialogue and quick memorizing served Meg well as she traveled with the theater troupe. Now she’ll become a listener without seeming to listen, approaching her assigned target as a mere lady-in-waiting. But first she must learn a well-bred lady’s manners, plus spycraft skills like silent strangulation and reading.

The young ladies hand-picked as spies by the Queen herself have been training together for several months: Jane, a Welsh girl with masterful knife skills; Sophia, who has visions and reads portents; Beatrice, whose beauty bewitches any man to do her bidding; and Anna, who knows many languages. Meg is replacing Maria, who was brutally murdered because someone in Windsor Castle knew she was a spy.

Now the Spanish ambassador and his courtiers are arriving, and for all their elaborate speeches, they do not wish Her Majesty well. It’s up to Meg to hear their private conversations and report them back verbatim to Sir William – and to report treachery anywhere in the court directly to the Queen alone, at her express command.

Dancing and flirting, listening for conversations in Spanish and storing them perfectly in her memory, trying not to make an obvious social error in the palace (and to resist stealing anything), Meg is on edge during the ball and the days after. She finds handsome Rafe of the Spanish delegation distracting (he’s Beatrice’s assignment), then uncovers messages plotting to overthrow the Queen!

Can Meg and the Queen’s spymaster identify the traitor quickly and quietly?
Can she avoid Maria’s fate as she continues to listen in on Spanish courtiers?
Can she guard her own heart as Rafe begins to woo her?

In the earliest days of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, the safety of her royal person and the fate of the country may rest in the hands of these five Maids of Honor in Her Majesty’s secret service.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

WordCloud Day – I see a theme here…

Jun30

wordcloud of BooksYALove terms in heart shapeWordCount Blogathon 2013 is complete – 30 posts in 30 days, theme days, guest blogger, and all that good stuff.

For our final day is my favorite theme day: Word Cloud Day.

I just love Tagxedo – easy to use, lots of color and font choices, nifty shapes (and free)!

Many thanks to Michelle Rafter for starting Blogathon and to Jan Udlock for assisting this year.

I already have “Blogathon Sign-up” on my May 2014 calendar!

Did you add a favorite from this month’s recommendations on BooksYALove to your To-Be-Read shelf?
*kmm

Raising the dead with free SYNC audiobooks!

Jun29

This week’s free audiobooks from SYNC are deadly delights, as we hear tales of a grave-robber and a mad scientist…

Remember that although each download is only available from Thursday through Wednesday, you have free use of the audiobooks for as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

We have several more weeks of full-length audiobooks to look forward to this summer. Have you bookmarked the SYNC site yet?  http://www.audiobooksync.com/
 
CD audiobook cover of Rotters by Daniel Kraus read by Kirby Heyborne published by Listening LibraryRotters
By Daniel Kraus
Read by Kirby Heyborne
Published by Listening Library

 

 

FrankensteinCD cover of audiobook Frankenstein by Mary Shelley read by Jim Weiss published by Listening Library
By Mary Shelley
Read by Jim Weiss
Published by Listening Library

Do you dare listen to these creepy tales before bedtime?
**kmm

Gorgeous, by Paul Rudnick (book review) – beauty more than skin deep?

Jun27

book cover of Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick published by Scholastic
Red dress, white dress,
duckling becomes swan!
One day will she awaken
to find the magic gone?

Stepping cautiously out of her trailer park and into Tom Kelly’s heady world of high fashion and celebrity, shy Becky puts on the first dress he creates for her and instantly becomes Rebecca, the most beautiful woman in the world. Of course, such a magical transformation comes at a price…

Paul Rudnick has written essays, plays, movies (Addams Family Values and others), but this is his first young adult book – and he nails it! Read the first two chapters here for free, and you’ll be hooked! Find Gorgeous at your local public library or independent bookstore to see if Rebecca/Becky succeeds.

If you had one year to do something extraordinary, what would you choose to do?
**kmm

Book info: Gorgeous / Paul Rudnick. Scholastic Press, 2013 [author NPR  interview]  [publisher site] [book Facebook page]

My book talk: After her mom dies suddenly, Becky calls the mysterious phone number she left, and designer Tom Kelly swears he can transform the shy teen into the most beautiful woman in the world – how could she say no? If she’d only foreseen the consequences…

What made her sweet, funny mom hide in their trailer house and overeat herself to death, Becky never knew. As she gathers up Mom’s clothes for charity, the 18-year-old finds a ring box containing just a phone number. When she dials it, the lady answering sends her a plane ticket to New York – the world’s most famous designer must see her, right now!

Her first plane trip, first limo ride, first time out of Missouri – suddenly Becky is swept into a sophisticated glass mansion overlooking the New York skyline. Tom Kelly knew her mother (why didn’t Mom ever tell her?) and promises that if Becky will wear the 3 dresses he designs for her then she’ll be the most beautiful woman in the world. There is a catch – she must fall in love and get married within one year.

Agreeing to his idea, she finds herself being measured, fitted, and fabulously attired in the most amazing red dress as Rebecca. When she accompanies Tom into the city, the reporters and bloggers go wild – who is she? The reclusive designer escorts Rebecca to her Vogue cover photo shoot, to the opera where her unearthly beauty upstages the diva. When anyone else is around, Rebecca is stunningly beautiful, but when she’s alone, the mirror shows shy, dumpy Becky is still there.

Whisked away on a motorcycle by her teen idol Jate, Rebecca effortlessly becomes a movie star in his latest action adventure. Her best friend Rocher from home joins her as she tours the world as the face of Tom Kelly Designs. When Rebecca meets and charms Prince Gregory as they open a London children’s hospital, she decides that he’s the one for her.

Will Gregory fall in love with her, too?
Could the British public accept an American as wife of the royal heir?
Can Rebecca slow down time so her year lasts long enough?

More than a Cinderella fashion story, Gorgeous  takes aim at our insatiable appetite for who’s who, beauty,and the latest style in everything, as Becky/Rebecca tries to discover her true self during twelve too-short months. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Anthem for Jackson Dawes, by Celia Grant (book review) – cancer, friendship, music, and love

Jun26

book cover of Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Grant published by Bloomsbury Books for Young ReadersCancer?
Stuck in a pediatric ward?
What 13-year-old wants any of that?

When her friends don’t make the trip into London to visit her in the hospital, when the first clumps of her hair start falling out during chemo, only Jackson’s brilliant smile can start to cheer up Megan.

Grab some tissues when you get this memorable book from your local library or independent bookstore for the happy-sad story.

Is our time together here on Earth ever really long enough?
**kmm

Book info: Anthem for Jackson Dawes / Celia Grant.  Bloomsbury Books for Children, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]

My book talk: Stuck in the children’s ward of a London hospital, teens Megan and Jackson battle cancer, boredom, and their unknown futures as they forge a friendship that could be more.

Megan knew these horrible headaches weren’t normal for 13-year-olds, but she’d never have dreamed that a cancerous brain tumor was causing them. Her doctors are quick to order chemo, quick to hustle her into the first available hospital spot, not so quick to realize that being in a noisy ward with little kids isn’t very healing for teenagers… thank goodness she’ll be there a few weeks, then home for a while before the next round. And her friends will come in from the suburbs to visit her, right?

The brightest spot in the whole whirlwind of noise, nausea and IVs is Jackson, another teen like her, stuck in the kiddie ward as he fights off a rare cancer with more and more experimental treatments. But Jackson isn’t like anyone else. Tall, thin, blackest skin, brightest smile, he roams the hospital at all hours, especially where he shouldn’t be going. When Meg is at her lowest, he’ll tell her stories in his late Jamaican grandfather’s accent, sing the songs the two Jacksons shared, for music is his greatest passion.

When she’s home between treatments, Megan is so tired from the chemo that she can’t even go back to school half-days – and forget about playing soccer on the school team as she used to do. Her friends come over, but no one knows what to talk about – cancer will do that, Jackson says. If only Dad wasn’t working so far away, if Granddad could travel to the hospital to cheer everyone up…

Every time Jackson or Megan goes home from the hospital, they miss one another terribly and worry that they won’t be in for treatment at the same time next round. As Megan’s tumor shrinks and her surgery approaches, the pair escapes the ward nightly to wander through the hospital… in search of what?

How many of the kids in their ward will beat their cancer?
Why can’t Megan’s friends understand that it’s still her under the wig?
Are their days and nights in hospital all the time that Megan and Jackson will ever have together?

Full of heart and feeling, but never sentimental, Anthem for Jackson Dawes  pays tribute to all the youngsters who fight full-force against cancer, their caregivers and parents, and their schoolmates and siblings who watch bewildered from the sidelines.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Nobody’s Secret, by Michaela MacColl (book review) – Emily Dickinson, death, and a mystery

Jun25

book cover of Nobodys Secret by Michaela MacColl published by Chroncicle BooksSmall-town secrets, small-town minds,
Can’t be bothered  too much about a dead stranger,
But young Emily can’t forget meeting him… Mr. Nobody.

Yes, teenaged Emily Dickinson can’t ignore the obvious clues left at Mr. Nobody’s purported death scene, even when warned away by her fastidious mother and local law officials.

A mystery threaded through with first drafts of her poems, from those earlier days when she would venture out of her house alone – and perhaps a mystery that solves the mystery of why her older self kept so much to herself.

Do you like novels which “star” real people?
**kmm

Book info: Nobody’s Secret / Michaela MacColl. Chronicle Books, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My book talk: When Emily meets a young man who charmingly declines to tell her his name, she’s intrigued. When he’s found dead in her family’s pond, she’s aghast. When she decides to discover who he is and why he died, she’s in danger from more than just society’s disapproval.

Of course, she knows that Mama wants her to stay indoors with sister Vinnie, doing their chores while not in school. But the meadows and clouds call to Emily’s poetic soul, which is why the young man from elsewhere finds her out among the flowers. As they don’t properly exchange names, they call one another “Nobody” with laughter. A chance meeting in town shows Mr. Nobody less than cheerful about family business which brought him to the law office of Emily’s father in Amherst.

Imagine the shock of finding him drowned in the Dickinson family pond later! But he’s clad in rough workman’s wear instead of the city clothes Emily remembered, and no one in town knows his name, so his body is being kept in the church basement until he can be identified.

Emily takes it upon herself to unravel the mystery surrounding him so that the young man may at least be buried under his own name. But Amherst is a small town, and everyone knows what everyone else is doing, so it may be more difficult than she first thought.

Why did Mr. Nobody say he’d leave as soon as he cleared up this family business?
If he has family nearby, why haven’t they claimed his body?
Why don’t the stories that Emily uncovers add up to the truth?

As the fifteen-year-old tries to understand what happened to the young man she wanted to know better, she jots down impressions which become the unique poetry seen later by the larger world, as Mr. Nobody predicted, in this original and clever mystery featuring Emily Dickinson.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.

SYNC audiobooks – yes, listening IS reading!

Jun23

It’s  time for my weekly reminder about this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!

You only have until Wednesday June 26 to download this pair of complete audiobooks. However, you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device

And in case you’re worried that listening to audiobooks isn’t considered “real reading,” check out this recent Forbes  article on the question. (sorry for the “Forbes quote” screen you must click through to get to the article)

CD audiobook cover of Once by Morris Gleitzman read by the author published by Bolinda AudioOnce
By Morris Gleitzman
Read by the author
Published by Bolinda Audio

 

 

Letter From Birmingham JailCD audiobook cover of Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr read by Dion Graham published by Christianaudio
By Martin Luther King Jr.
Read by Dion Graham
Published by ChristianAudio

 

 

What do you think of this audiobook pairing – a Jewish boy escaping across Nazi-occupied Poland and Dr. King’s famous letter about injustice ?
**kmm

The Immortal Von B., by M. Scott Carter (book review) – music, cloning, love, and villainy!

Jun21

book cover of The Immortal Von B. by M Scott Carter published by RoadRunner PressLudwig von Beethoven, here,
in the flesh, young and healthy!
Impossible… except it’s true!

Of course, Josie showed someone else Dad’s super-secure genetics lab when he told her not to. Of course, her routine button-pushing on the DNA sequencer started it up.

Who could have expected that the hair which floated unseen into the sequencer belonged to Beethoven, or that his clone would be so amazing on electric guitar?? (Romance between Ludwig and Josie…that’s something else entirely)

Check out the June 2013 contest on Carter’s website – you could win your own autographed copy of The Immortal Von B.  and a gift card to your favorite bookstore! Yes, this is the same M. Scott Carter who wrote Stealing Kevin’s Heart,  featured yesterday on BooksYALove, but this is such a different story. I wonder what his third book will be about….

If you could clone anyone from history, would you?? (and who?)
**kmm

Book info: The Immortal Von B. / M. Scott Carter. RoadRunner Press, 2013. [author site]  [publisher site]

My book talk: Moving from Oklahoma to Vienna for Dad’s research is quite a change for Josie, but losing her mother, discovering a dreadful secret, and unleashing a chain of musical impossibilities puts the teen and her friends in mortal peril.

It was a bit strange when Mom suddenly stopped playing concerts with symphonies all over the world; her piano genius came down to Josie as a love for guitar. Then Dad being chosen to head up the largest private genetics research center in Europe made quite a switch from being a university professor. So away they go, from the Oklahoma town she’s always known to a huge estate near Vienna.

When Mom suddenly falls ill and dies, Josie is left to raise herself as her grieving father throws himself into his work. He shows her the new genetic sequencer in his lab once, but is usually gone to meetings and conferences. She has just one friend at school, purposely going grunge-rocker to distance herself from the kids of diplomats and duchesses.

The only bright spot in her whole senior year is visiting the Vienna Haus der Musik as a new Beethoven exhibit is being unveiled. The museum director knew Anna and is delighted to show Beethoven’s own clothing and fortepiano to her daughter.

Somehow Josie’s friend Fa8 talks her into hosting a party at the estate where a diplomat’s son starts criticizing her dad’s work. Eager to shut him up, she disobeys Dad’s instructions and shows him the lab and sequencer.  Days later, Dad calls to ask her to check on the lab computer; it says it’s running a human DNA sequence when nothing should be on. Just a glitch probably…

Except when Josie goes down to the lab, she discovers footprints leading from the sequencer to the yard! What got cloned in there? Yes, a strand of Beethoven’s hair from the museum fell from Josie’s sweater into the sequencer when she was showing how harmless it all was, and now a 17-year-old Ludwig is alive in the 21st century!

Suddenly, not only Dad is wondering which human DNA sequence was completed, but thugs with automatic weapons are after Josie, Fa8 and Ludwig – with orders to kill all but the clone! Racing through Vienna while trying to help Ludwig adjust to modern life and all the music that his older self will/did write sends Josie from fear to joy to terror.

Can the three teens escape the bad guys?
What is the DNA sequencer really supposed to do?
Is Josie falling in love with Ludwig, or is he falling in love with her?

Classical music, cutting-edge research, timeless values, and Beethoven learning to play the electric guitar… adventure and romance in Vienna – if they can just live long enough to enjoy it!  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.