Something of Substance

Seventeen-year-old Grace Michaels is determined to be thin, even if she dies trying.

Part of the in-crowd at Providence High, she is steps away from being asked out by the most desired guy at school, winning a prom queen nomination, and her parents’ approval. If she can just get skinny enough, be pretty enough, and popular enough.

But Grace is thin on the outside and fat on the inside. No amount of weight-loss ever seems enough. Convinced the melting pounds will solve her problems, every pound lost brings her closer to her goals. But flesh and bone can only hide the weight of her secret for so long.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Something of Substance by Tia Souders is a novel that tells the story of a young girl who suffers from anorexia nervosa. Therefore, let me start off by saying that some people who read this book might be triggered to take up the habits and goals that the main character shares in order to lose weight. If this pertains to you, I would not recommend reading this novel and I would also recommend talking to someone you trust about getting help. However, let me also preface this review by saying that the consequences of Grace's eating disorder are also very clearly spelled out in this book. She faces life-threatening consequences of anorexia which provide a real look at what happens to your body when you're suffering from this disease. 

Grace Michaels used to be (what she considered) fat until she convinced her mom to send her to (what she calls) 'fat camp.' After losing a few pounds at camp, she begins to restrict her food intake until she can reach the "perfect" weight, which to her is 100 pounds. Grace's character is presented as an intelligent and aspiring artist, but this novel is about what happens when popularity, appearance, peer pressure from bullying, and a lack of self-confidence mix together. As Grace fights the high school battle of having a perfect body, perfect friends, and a perfect boyfriend she also deals with heavy resentment towards her twin sister, who Grace sees as the better daughter. Readers will connect with Grace as she explains her feelings, emotional turmoil, and goals. But the story she's telling herself is one that has Grace punishing herself. It wasn't the easiest book to read, though the romantic side plot made it much easier to keep reading by adding a sense of hope to the storyline. 

Jake, the younger brother of Grace's best friend, has a huge crush on Grace and serves as the character who supports and promotes Grace's best interests. Yet, as he's trying to help her, Grace is repeatedly pushing him away as she tries to starve herself into the perfect person. It's only when she realizes that all of her goals are misguided that things begin to change. But it's up to Grace whether she wants to heal as her secret is exposed and the important people in her life step up to help. 

As the plot follows Grace's progress toward what she thinks is perfection, there are other little side stories supporting the main arc, giving gravity to Grace's situation. From the beginning of the book, readers know that Grace is in the hospital, perhaps a coma-like situation, but there is no information as to why. With this situation in the background, Grace shares the spring semester of her Junior year of high school with readers, including love interests, fake friends, and the extremes she goes to in order to achieve her goals. Readers will be emotionally connected and emotionally invested in Grace's character by the end of the book. It's heartbreaking that young girls feel this kind of pressure and it's important for books like this to draw attention to it. But it is also very important to demonstrate the harm that comes with this pressure on females to be pretty and perfect -- and Souders includes that in this book. 

Due to the volatile nature of eating disorders, I would definitely not recommend this book to everyone. However, the book itself serves an important purpose to draw further awareness to the issue of eating disorders. The deadliness of this disease is often ignored and easily avoided, but the conversation on this needs to stay current and writers like Tia Souders are helping to make it happen and keep awareness going. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (93)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to... 

Something of Substance by Tia Souders. The cover reveal of this book was just last week and I'm so ready to dive into actually reading the book. The main character, Grace, has an eating disorder and struggles to be pretty in her own eyes. In a contemporary society that is trying to break away from past definitions of beautiful, I think (and hope) this book will make an important statement about self-image. 

Cover Reveal - Something of Substance

Something of Substance
By: Tia Souders

Releasing March 28th, 2018

Blurb

Seventeen-year-old Grace Michaels is determined to be thin, even if she dies trying.

Part of the in-crowd at Providence High, she is steps away from being asked out by the most desired guy at school, winning a prom queen nomination, and her parents’ approval. If she can just get skinny enough, be pretty enough, and popular enough.

But Grace is thin on the outside and fat on the inside. No amount of weight-loss ever seems enough. Convinced the melting pounds will solve her problems, every pound lost brings her closer to her goals. But flesh and bone can only hide the weight of her secret for so long before it kills her.

Fans of the emotional and thought-provoking contemporary YA fiction, such as Before I Fall, Tell Me Three Things, and All The Bright Places will fall in love with Souder’s heart-wrenching novel, SOMETHING OF SUBSTANCE.

…Coming March 28th, 2018!

Be notified when SOMETHING OF SUBSTANCE releases – Subscribe to Tia’s mailing list: http://eepurl.com/deIqg5

And now... the cover reveal:

Author Info

Tia Souders is the author of bestselling women’s fiction novel, Waiting On Hope and the upcoming award-winning young adult novel Better Than This (formerly titled Freedom Road). When she isn’t writing, she’s likely renovating their century home. She’s a wine-loving, coffeeholic, with a sweet tooth and resides on a farm in rural Ohio with her husband and children.

Author Links:  Website | Facebook | FB Street Team| Instagram

Website:  http://www.tiasouders.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tiasoudersauthor/

Facebook Group/Street Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/359632431141710/

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/tia.s.writes/

Excerpt #1

For a moment, I want to say to him all the things I’ve never spoken out loud. All the things I think about myself that I’ve never had the guts to voice before. I want to ask him if he ever feels like he’ll never be good enough. Like no matter what he does, how much weight he loses, or how much time he spends on trying to change who he is, he’ll never be the person people want him to be. Even if he does everything he can to be something—someone—in the end, it won’t even matter.

My acceptance will always be teetering on the edge because there will always be someone thinner, prettier, and better than me standing by to take my place.

The girl in the window blinks, staring back at me, and I want to take it one step further. Tell him I’m afraid. Of what people think of me. Of what I think of myself when I look in the mirror. Tell him I want to scream because no matter how popular I become, deep down, I’ll always be fat, unlovable Grace. The girl with the big legs and bad skin.

Excerpt #2

I count the days until prom like I count calories. Ninety-eight days. Thirteen hundred calories.

I almost puke at the number.

Thirteen hundred. Maybe. I’m not even sure, which scares me more than the weight of the number.

How could I not keep track? And how could I go over? Do I really have no self-control? If I keep this up, I’ll be right back where I started—fat and unpopular.

My forehead beads with sweat and my fingers twitch, as I glance at my alarm clock—only three a.m. I turn on my side, then get up, knowing there’s no falling back asleep now. Not with all the numbers running through my head. Not with the fat I must’ve stored throughout the night resettling on my thighs like it found its way back home.

I tip-toe away, out of bed, afraid someone might hear me, which is unrealistic since my mother’s snore rivals a bass drum and my father sleeps like the dead. As for my sister, Kelly, she couldn’t care less what I do.

When I come to a stop in front of the full-length mirror on my bedroom door, I don’t even take the time to assess my silhouette in the moonlight. Instead, I lift the soft cotton of my t-shirt. My eyes home in on my ribs, barely visible under a layer of fat, then move to the paunch above the drawstring of my pajama bottoms. I poke at the skin there and grimace at the cushion I find. All I see are the two cookies I ate at Cara’s house last night and I wonder how many calories were in each bite. Fifty? Twenty-five? I have no idea and my ignorance scares me. I had fun and felt too safe, too included. I let those feelings cloud my judgment and lull me, blanket me into false security, where I allowed myself to lose control.

Stupid.

As I lower my shirt, I silently berate myself, then drop to the floor and lie on my back. With closed eyes, I cross my arms over my chest and start sit-ups. I count as I go. One. Two. Three. I do this until the memory of the cookie fades and my abdomen aches. When I can do no more, I stand back up and bend forward in a deep lunge. I ensure my knee touches the ground each time, my legs at perfect ninety-degree angles. Ten laps around my room, I tell myself, then I’ll try and go back to sleep.

I once read sleep burns more calories than lying awake, something about your body recalibrating your metabolism. I don’t buy it. Regardless, there’s no way sleep burns more than lunging, so as my thighs begin to burn and catch fire, I allow the sensation to ease the fluttering in my chest and the rise of bile in my throat.

Right lunge. It will be okay. Left lunge. I’ll be okay.

I won’t gain ten pounds from two cookies.

But I could gain one.

When I finish, slightly sweat-damp and out of breath, but feeling a tiny bit better, I get back under the covers of my bed. Though I’m too hot with the thick comforter pulled up tight under my chin, I leave it there because it will make me sweat. And while perspiring won’t burn excess fat, it might help me lose water weight, giving me the tiniest bit of peace to help me relax into the mattress and slip off into a light slumber.

Note: This book is about an eating disorder so I feel I should include a note that this may be triggering to some who struggle with this. For help or support, you can visit: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline

Aaru (The Aaru Cycle #1)

Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal. She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is an agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.

She is sixteen years old.

Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure. A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive supercomputer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and the righteous might live forever in an arcadian world free from pain, illness, and death. Elysian Industries is set to begin offering the service to those who can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.

Within a matter of weeks, the sisters’ faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of life everlasting for sale.
What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession, and danger. Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love, and death and everything they thought they really believed.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Aaru by David Meredith explores a possibility in the ever-expanding technological world that could eradicate the idea of death from the world. Yet, the way that people will view this advancement, good or evil, is up for debate. 

Koren and Rose Johnson are sisters and the main characters of this book. Rose is dying of leukemia, but she's been selected to participate as one of the first minds to be uploaded to Aaru, a new virtual world where the dead can go on living.  While Rose is still in the hospital, she's very weak and can hardly speak. Readers will form a sympathetic connection with her as her suffering continues. When she's relocated to Aaru, readers will come to see a new version of Rose: a strong and healthy young girl who lets her imagination run wild. After Rose's death, Koren falls into a deep depression. At thirteen years old, her older sister is the first family member she's lost to death. Koren goes through an appropriate and intense mourning period, but then when she learns that Rose is still 'alive' in the world of Aaru, her emotional turmoil ends. However, when Koren becomes a spokesperson for Elysian Industries, she becomes incredibly busy and famous as she works nonstop to promote Aaru.

Both Rose and Koren are relatively likeable characters. The fact that both of these main characters are teenagers brings out the caring nature of the reader. And when both of them are threatened by a tech-savvy stalker, readers start to worry if Rose and Koren are going to survive this book. 

The plot of the book revolves all around Aaru and the Johnson sisters. It gives the reader flashes of the world inside Aaru and Koren's job working as a spokesperson for the company. Though, to add a little controversy to the mix there is also a character (government official) who objects to the program of Aaru and the previously mentioned stalker. The Magic Man, as the stalker like to call himself, believes that Koren is meant to be his, as he becomes more and more obsessed with her. He even devises a plan that involves Rose to bring Koren closer to him. This really ups the ante of the novel and echoes the fear that many people have about computer privacy. 

I enjoyed reading this book as it was unlike anything I have ever read before. Though at times I struggled to really get into it. The last four chapters were definitely entertaining as everything came to a climax, but the discussion of Aaru and the tech jargon that appeared sometimes threw me off. I would recommend this novel to lovers of science fiction who enjoy a little danger. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Strange the Dreamer

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

*May Contain Spoilers*

This new novel is everything I want from each Laini Taylor book I read. It's full of rapt descriptions, amazing imaginative details, and deep, complicated meaning. Strange the Dreamer excels in creating a whole new world of fantasy that allows love to blossom, magic to bloom, and leaves fear to rule. 

Lazlo Strange is a dreamer. A dreamer is what he is at heart, at the very core of his being. He's interested in magic and myths and especially stories. He likes to know them all, in particular the ones that no one else knows. So he studies Weep, in the dark and forgotten rooms of the library. Weep was a magical land that no stranger ever set eyes on and Lazlo wants to one day see it for himself now that it's empty and forgotten, though it isn't either of those things. Lazlo's character is open minded, helpful, persistent, honorable, and has an unbelievable, limitless imagination. When he gets the chance to go to Weep, Lazlo agrees to be the great Eril-Fane's secretary, doing any odd jobs that will get him to the lost city. But there's something strange about Lazlo Strange and I think readers will catch on to it early. Throughout the whole book, it seems like he is meant for something greater. He is the main character after all. With this sense, readers will connect with Lazlo, wanting him to be something more because he wants to be something more. He wants to be the hero of his own story and the readers will want that too. And when he meets Sarai... that path opens to him. 

Sarai is half-human, half-god. To the citizens of Weep, she's known as godspawn, which is a negative moniker. She lives in a statue that floats above the city of Weep with four others like her, and no one in the city knows they're there. The gods that came before these five were harsh, selfish, controlling, and committed unspeakable acts. That's why the great Eril-Fane killed them all. Now the five that survived live in fear that one day the people of Weep will learn of their existence. And that time has come. Sarai knows that she should want revenge and feel hate for what the people of Weep did, but she doesn't. Sarai wants peace and she wants to be able to live her life, not just try to stay alive. Readers will connect with Sarai through her dreams, regrets, and hopes for the future. Taylor's writing style is so descriptive that readers will get a three-dimensional view of these main characters. Readers will knows what is in their heads, hearts, and dreams, which makes for very understandable and relatable characters. 

Strange the Dreamer is a book about stories, myths, and dreams. The main plot line follows Lazlo as he is recruited with a group of other foreigners to solve the problem of Weep. The problem being that there is an enormous angel statue floating above the city, blocking out the sky, the sun, and the moon. Yet, the city doesn't know that there are survivors living in the statue. And, surprisingly, Lazlo is the first to learn of this as Sarai visits him in his dreams. And with that, the legend that will be is beginning. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the ending. Even though there will be a sequel, and I'm sure an answer will surface, the ending was not a happy one. But, as I said, this is only the beginning and I trust Taylor to craft an amazing series that will resonate with all her readers. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

Everything, Everything

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

*Contains Spoilers*

Eighty percent of Nicola Yoon's young adult novel, Everything, Everything, was exactly what I expected from this book. The other twenty percent threw me for a roller coaster sized loop that, to me, pushed the book to the next level. It's one thing to write a contemporary romance for young adults; it's quite another to include a twist the size of a tornado. Though, I don't think I can fully review this book without including the twist. Therefore, if you haven't read the book and don't want me to spoil it for you: I give you complete permission to not read the rest of this review. However, I can say that I'll try to keep the twist as vague as possible, if you'd like to read it anyway. 

Madeline Whittier is a teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood who suffers from SCID, also known as bubble boy disease. Maddy has been shut away from the world for eighteen years, living in a perfectly clean house that protects her from the outside triggers that could kill her. The only two people she ever sees are her mother and her nurse. Maddy is an intelligent girl who was mostly okay with her situation. Yet, when Olly moves in next door, he shows her that there's a difference between living and being alive. And thank God he did. With Olly, Madeline gets to be an almost-normal teenage girl complete with a crush, late night chatting, and secret keeping. As she experiences all of this for the first time, readers will sympathize with her situation and hope for an outcome that doesn't kill her. The whole novel is told from Maddy's point of view almost in journal format. It's like a collection of glimpses into her world that combine to tell the story. There are also drawings included to illustrate Maddy's thoughts and feelings, which work to emphasize her imagination and hopeful outlook. 

Readers learn about Olly from Maddy's observations and they'll come to feel very strongly about his situation. His life at home involves an abusive father that often ends in a physical confrontation. The way that Maddy describes it brings readers into the action and they'll fear for Olly just as Maddy does. For a teenager in a very difficult situation, Olly's outlook on life is fairly bright. As Maddy describes him, Olly is full of energy and light though he's often cast in shadow. As a reader, I appreciated Olly's loyalty to Maddy from the beginning, as well as his protective and caring nature. As the two teens grow closer, Maddy begins to realize her feelings for Olly as more than a friend. He becomes someone she can trust and decides that he can help her feel alive by escaping her life for just a couple of days, even if it means she'll die. 

Looking at the plot in a deterministic way, Maddy would never have learned the truth about her life if it weren't for Olly and their trip to Hawaii. Maddy learns, from her mother, that her family has been to Hawaii before, a couple of months prior to the death of her father and her brother. She decides that she needs to visit there and applies for a credit card and promptly runs away. Though I do find this a little unbelievable, as I assume that Maddy had never applied for any kind of identification. She doesn't have a driver's license as she isn't allowed to be outside. Therefore, how could she have an ID that she could use to get on a plane? With her mom being so protective, I couldn't imagine her applying for a passport either. Looking past this plot hole, as a reader I'm glad Maddy went to Hawaii as it ends up saving her life, though she does kind of die while she's there. 

This is where the twist comes in, and I'll refer to is as 'the twist' as to not completely spell it out for those who would rather not know exactly what happened. I have a couple huge problems with the twist. First, is that against the law? Maddy's mom is a doctor and therefore had to take an oath to help heal people. What she does goes against this oath and I assume that Maddy's mom has her medical license taken away after the twist is revealed, but this is neither confirmed nor denied in the book. Secondly, I would think that Maddy's mom needs to be institutionalized after this twist is revealed. There's obviously been a very large psychotic break that her mom needs to work through. And after the twist is revealed I would almost expect her mom to be a danger to herself. Though, after the twist comes out, there aren't any signs that Maddy's mom is dangerous. 

The plot of this novel follows Maddy becoming friends with Olly, falling in love, finding out the truth about her life, and attempting to move on. I admit that I had a difficult time putting down this book. The chapters are short and push readers to keep going. It was highly entertaining, frightening at times, and full of hope. The writing style is very concise, not including anything past what is required to know and understand the story. This adds to the journalistic feel of the novel. However, I wasn't completely happy with the ending. I feel like I did get to know Maddy and watch her come of age in a unique and fresh way, but the ending is a little too concise. I think Maddy's evolutionary arc as a character would have been stronger if readers got to witness more of how Maddy reacts to the new potential of her life. An epilogue would have been enough to satisfy this curiosity. However, overall Everything, Everything is everything that a reader would expect from a story like this and I suspect that other novels by Nicola Yoon will be just as entertaining and surprising. As a movie is coming out, based on this book, in a couple of weeks, I'm very interested to know how this story will be represented through film. As a book, I highly recommend this novel to readers who enjoy young adult stories, fresh writing styles, and tornado sized twists. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

 

What's Next, Wednesday (53)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. With the movie for this book coming out in a couple of weeks, I couldn't resist picking this one up. A young girl, who has been medically confined to her house, makes a dramatic decision to explore the outside world even though it could lead to an illness that could kill her. I'm definitely looking forward to reading this and then seeing the movie! 

InHuman

Mira’s mother sizes up bodies at the morgue like she’s rifling through the sales rack: this one’s too big… this one’s too small… ah, here it is. Just right. The perfect vessel for the one they’ll call Adam.

Since Adam’s survival is the key to drawing out the Conduit—a slippery sort bent on evacuating souls from their human bodies—Mira must help him pass for a typical teenage boy. That means showing him how to talk right, walk right, chew with his mouth open... blend in.
​
Ironic, because blending in is has always been a challenge for Mira, especially with hair the color of a Dorito. But at their small, secluded prep school, blending in is a matter of life and death.
​
Because the Conduit is watching.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Kama Falzoi Post brings a race of aliens to Earth in hopes of trying to save their species in her book, InHuman. The beings need a host and become a parasitic race, accidentally evacuating human souls from bodies and taking their place. They realize their mistake and begin searching for deceased bodies to reinvigorate, but it's too late. The damage is done and revenge from one specific soul is underway. 

Mira is half-human, half-conduit, with no world-saving experience, but she's still tasked with the job. A conduit is part of the alien race who functions as a doorway that souls can travel through. Specifically, souls that have been sent to the Dark Eternal, aka the other side. Mira has been trying to find *The* Conduit for years. The Conduit is the villain of the story, taking souls from the Dark Eternal and giving them bodies that were originally used for the alien species to reside in. This has resulted in many alien souls being trapped in the Dark Eternal, threatening the extinction of the alien species. Mira, since she's half-conduit, has been assigned the job of finding The Conduit in order to bring back all the trapped alien souls. Though Mira has no idea exactly how to do this. It doesn't matter though, because her father is one of the trapped souls, and she'll do anything to get him back. 

Mira is also a teenage girl, which comes with its own set of problems and character traits. She has a bit of trouble making friends and is unsure of herself when it comes to boys. Though she'd give anything to only have those problems. Readers will enjoy learning about this alien race and how exactly their species survives, but they'll also be interested in Mira's life as a half-conduit. I think the teenage aspect of her character creates a fun addition to the story while also adding weight to the search for her father. 

Adam is the newest Initiate from the alien race and his story is a bit sadder. He's been brought to Earth in order to be bait for The Conduit. Mira and her two leaders, Hal and Larry, think that if Mira is with the Initiate then she can catch The Conduit when it comes for Adam. Adam gives the readers a sort of insight when it comes to the aliens invading former deceased bodies. As described in the book, it's like a new foal - a little clumsy and unsure of how to act. I think readers will like Adam's character and offer an understanding of what he's going through. He knows he's bait and it's a difficult position to be in. 

The only real problems I had with the book were the lack of training Mira has when it comes to her capabilities as a half-conduit and her father. Her father is also a conduit, which is why Mira has that ability. However, I'm not sure how The Evil Conduit could force her father out of his body and into the Dark Eternal without him fighting back. It seems like her father could/should have had the power to stop The Evil Conduit from evacuating the alien souls in the first place. There's also a lot of back-stabbing in this book and though there are reasons given, it doesn't seem like loyalty is a well known trait in this cast of characters. 

InHuman is a book that brings aliens to Earth and creates a chaotic mess that could potentially destroy the human race as well as the alien species. I think young adult readers as well as those who enjoy supernatural, alien, or fantasy genres will like this novel. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Mark your Calendars: 

December 13th, Guest Post by Kama Falzoi Post,

 author of InHuman

What's Next, Wednesday (17)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Diary of a Haunting by M. Verano. I picked this up a BAM a couple of weeks ago and can't wait to start it. The cover is eerie and the description promises haunted twists and turns. Paige moves with her mom and brother to Idaho. After renting an old mansion things so a little sideways. Paige discovers that a cult used the house for their unethical experiments. With photos tucked into the story, I feel this book is going to be a mix of Asylum and Miss Peregrine's Children. 

Killer Potential

Seventeen-year-old Yvette doesn’t know what’s worse: being locked up on a high security psych ward for a crime she’s not sure she committed, or having to see the vacant eyes of her fellow patients.

All she wants is her sister back, her parents to get a clue, her brother to quit dealing drugs, the murder trial to be over, and most of all, to be reunited with the pretty little pills that change the gory red on her hands to a much more pleasant hazy blue.

Well that and serious, hard-core, merciless revenge.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Aften Brook Szymanski surprises readers with possibilities in her novel, Killer Potential. Yvette has had an undoubtedly hard time growing up. Her father is always busy, her mother doesn't seem to care, and she has trouble getting along with her foster siblings. Meanwhile her older sister is too absorbed with skipping class and her little brother... that blood isn't thicker than anything. 

But is that the background of a killer? A seventeen year old murderer? Potentially. 

Yvette is depicted in two time frames within this novel: the past and the present. The past tells the story of moving around a lot, her dad trying to keep a paying job. Yvette's mother is depressed, struggling to raise her three children and make money by taking care of foster children. Throughout this, Yvette didn't get a lot of attention. She was the tattle tale, trying to keep everything in order. She didn't like to get in trouble or step out of line. That didn't make her foster siblings too keen to be nice to her. 

With the past, readers see how lonely Yvette was as a little girl, and how much she wanted to be close with her older sister. The past moves quicker than the present and soon Yvette is teen. She's experienced fear, loss, and confusion. Her mother is too interested in taking medicine to make the pain go away than getting out of bed, while her dad is still constantly gone. But as the past draws closer and closer to the present, the closer the truth is to coming out. The truth behind Yvette's current living situation in a maximum security psych ward. 

In the present, Yvette is suffering. She's in a psych ward for a murder she may or may not have committed. She's completely dependent on pills because they help her escape what happened for a little while. What's interesting is that it seems every time Yvette takes a pill, that's when the past comes back and reveals a little more about what's going on to the reader. Yvette is a terrifying girl in the present. She's manipulative, depressed, and rude. 

The contrast between the past and present is intriguing because the reader has to figure out how Yvette got to this point and Yvette isn't a very reliable narrator. That unreliability causes readers to second guess what they're being told and shown. But that's also what makes this novel so entertaining to read, the reader gets to make assumptions and guesses that may or may not be true by the end of the novel. And readers have no idea what exactly happened until the final few chapters. Also, as a  young adult novel, it traverses dangerous territory. It talks about self-harm, drug use, drug overdose, drug dealing, and rape, among other things. Killer Potential isn't for everyone, but it is an entertaining novel with mystery, intrigue, and a character with the potential to be a killer.

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Tuned Into You - Blog Tour

Tuned Into You by Cindy Dorminy is available NOW! To celebrate, Cindy has put together a very cool swag pack, so stay tuned for more information on that! For now, let's talk Tuned...

Title: Tuned Into You

Author: Cindy Dorminy

Publisher: BookFish Books

Genre: YA Romance

Release Date: June 21, 2016

About Tuned Into You

A summer party is the last place Lydia Flowers wants to be. Beer pong? Stupid, foot-wrecking shoes? Random hookups? No thanks. Lydia would rather be in her cleats practicing her bat handling skills.

Enter Abe Fischer, the Nashville Teen Idol superstar. He’s a lip-syncing party animal with a short fuse; or at least that’s what the tabloids say. Except, Abe turns out to be nothing like the guy Lydia’s read about online. He’s sweet, and the way he talks to his horse…sigh.

Then life throws Lydia and Abe a curveball. They are wrongfully arrested for destruction of property. Their choices? Either work on the Fischer Farm for the summer earning nothing more than blisters and a sunburn, or have the arrest go on their records, which would ruin Lydia’s shot at a softball scholarship. It’s a no-brainer. Lydia picks up a pitchfork, pulls out the SPF 40, and prepares for the worst two months of her life.

When the press gets wind of a big secret Abe’s family has been keeping, things become even more complicated. Now Lydia has another choice to make: stick around for Abe’s messed-up life in the spotlight, or go for the scholarship of her dreams.

Review

*May Contain Spoilers*

Cindy Dorminy introduces young adult readers to her novelly famous musician, Abe Fischer, in her novel Tuned Into You. He's labelled as the new bad boy of country music and is selling records like hot cakes while making the front cover of every tabloid. And he hates it, but has no clue how to change it. Except for, maybe, a summer at home, where he meets Miss Lydia Flowers. 

Abe and Lydia are the two main characters of this book and they take turns telling the story. Each chapter is labelled with one of their names, as readers experience the thoughts and feelings of both of them. This gives the readers a chance to connect with each on different levels all while meeting in the middle. Abe is a pretty typical teenage boy with an atypical job. Being a famous musician at seventeen makes Abe's life pretty hard. He struggles to balance being a kid while maintaining an adult career. He also deeply struggles with his family life. Readers will definitely sympathize with Abe over his father's disapproving attitude and his loneliness. Overall, Abe is a sweet kid, but he does make some stupid mistakes when it comes to his love life. I'm sure a lot of readers will feel whiplash after he breaks up with Lydia before they even start their relationship. 

Lydia Flowers is the daughter of a pastor and a lawyer and has four siblings. She comes from a family that's full of love. Lydia dreams of playing softball for the University of Georgia and has kept her head on straight for the most part. She knows where she wants to go in life and it's commendable. Readers will like Lydia's feisty attitude and loving personality. Readers will connect with both characters as they witness them falling in love for the first time in their lives. It's cute, a little sappy, but sweet combined with teenage betrayal, scary choices, and uncertainty.  

The plot begins with Lydia and Abe officially meeting and getting arrested together. Lydia was at the wrong place at the wrong time, while Abe was misinformed by his best friend about the size of a "little" get together. As punishment, they have to work together on the Fischer farm everyday for no pay. But for these two teenagers, that punishment becomes paradise as their relationship blooms. However, every summer has storms. Namely, Neil Storm who keeps showing up at random places making rumors surge about Abe and his family. With all the stress, the relationship Lydia and Abe have started building suddenly becomes rocky. 

Tuned Into You is a young adult novel that addresses teenage choices, family lies, and self-definition. Dorminy wraps all the tough topics into her story, reaching and connecting with her audience. The writing style is definitely for young adult readers, full of hope, teenage insults, and some adult language. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

About Cindy Dorminy

Cindy Dorminy grew up on a steady diet of popcorn (the kind you pop in a sauce pan), Tab (pre-Diet Coke), and movies for teenagers. She can’t let a day go by without quoting a line from one of her favorite films, so quirky dialogue is a must in her stories. When she’s not at her research coordinator day job, Cindy is writing funny love stories, walking her dog, or slinging iron the old-fashioned way. She shares her house with her musician husband, her awesome daughter, and a cool, four-footed child that would eat all the cheese ifshe could figure out how to open the refrigerator. Cindy is a member of Romance Writers of America and Music City Romance Writers. She resides in Nashville, TN where live music can be heard everywhere, even at the grocery store.

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A Shot of Bourbon - Cover Reveal

Today, I have the pleasure of revealing the cover for BookFish Books' latest young adult contemporary novel, A Shot of Bourbon by A.C. Land!

Before we get to the goodies, let's take a look at what the story is about!

Back Cover

 

In the little highway town of Bourbon, Missouri, deadly secrets lurk behind Southern charm. 

Seventeen year old Charli Valentine didn’t expect to spend the last few weeks of summer break nursing a broken heart, icing a black eye, and watching her ex kiss another girl. Since being a good girl has gotten her nothing but heartache, Charli decides to give rebellion a try. She pigs out, drinks, and hangs with Luke Parker, the son of the infamous Bourbon Butcher. 

But there’s more to Luke than meets the eye. His tough exterior and terrible dialect hide a good person despite his bad boy reputation. No matter how hard he tries to fight it, Luke is drawn to Charli’s innocence and finds her clumsiness too charming to resist. Though they’re from opposite sides of the tracks, neither can resist the magnetism drawing them together. 

When Charli discovers a box in her mother’s closet, she pieces together the truth about Bourbon’s past and uncovers a deadly secret about her family. And once Luke learns of it, he vows to protect Charli no matter the cost. 

Sounds like an intriguing tale. Love, murder, and a mystery in small town America. 

And who wrote this engaging tale? A.C. Land!

About The Author

Author of the Bourbon series, A. C. Land has been a lover of stories since she first read about Peter Pan giving Wendy an acorn and teaching her to fly. She always dreamed of telling big stories about small towns.


Residing on a cattle farm in Missouri, A. C. loves playing with her rambunctious Jack Russell, Riley, making decorative cakes, taking pictures, drinking pumpkin spice coffee, and hanging out with her nephews.

Find A.C. online: 

Facebook / Twitter /Instagram

And now, for the moment you've been waiting for...the cover!

Cover Reveal

Cover Design: Anita at Racepoint

Be on the lookout for A Shot of Bourbon, 

available March 2016!