I’m super excited to be bringing the awesomeness that is Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver and Linger to one very lucky winner.

Tracee Gleichner

Tracee, you have 48 hours to contact me via email with your shipping information to claim their prize. Should I not hear from you in that time period I will select an alternate. Congratulations, you’re getting your hands on two tremendously awesome books!  I hope you enjoy them.

Remember a couple of days ago when I announced on Twitter that I had a BIG announcement to make?  An announcement that I was barely able to contain because I’m so super excited about it?

Well let me tell you, excited is an understatement!

Let me start by saying that anyone who knows me, or follows this blog or my Twitter, knows that my number one all time favorite series of like *ever* is Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games novels.  Of course, we also alllll know that Mockingjay, the third and final book in the series, is dropping at the end of August.

**sobs**

Thankfully, last week I was given a great little respite of distraction for the sorrow over the finality of it all.  It definitely turned my frown upside down.  Because, I was invited to participate in the Mockingjay Blog Tour!  When asked if I wanted to be a stop I jumped at the opportunity.  Hells yea I want in!

Now before everyone starts freaking out over it I did NOT get a copy of the book.  That was not part of the bargain (understandably so) I entered into.  What I do get is this super awesome badge to display and I get to represent a particular District from the books.

Drum roll please!!

Meet District 1.

**princess wave**

And a princess I am since District 1 is all about the luxury goods.  I’m totally down with the spa treatment.  I’ll be wrapping myself in a politically incorrect fur coat, popping the cork on some Cristal, and dipping my fingers in some expensive cheeses and caviar as I give you all the lowdown on the tour.

So, the deets.  You all already know that I am representing District One in the Official Mockingjay 13 District Blog Tour.  I’ll be making my official post on Monday August 2nd and while I won’t be sharing with you what the subject matter is I’ll say that I’m loving it.  Love, love, loving it!

As part of the tour I’ve been given a fancy schmancy badge.

Represent, y’all!

Now you know, I usually don’t do the whole side bar graphics thing, but, you know…it’s Suzanne Collins and Mockingjay.  Exceptions must be made. So starting this Friday that badge over there will be linked up to the Official Blog Tour Announcement on the brand spankin’ new Official Hunger Games Facebook Page when it goes live.

What fun is there in all this for you?  Well, besides getting to read the awesome post I have in store for you, I’m gonna be giving stuff away.  Cool stuff.  Stuff that I totally want to keep for myself.  Follow me what I’m sayin’?

So there you have it all.  My excitement abounds, Mockingjay’s release is closer with every day and I’m starting to get really really anticipatory.  I’m glad there will be great Hunger Games focused stuff around the blogosphere leading up to it all!  Buckle up and get ready for the ride cause it’s gonna be a doozy!

Title: Secret Saturdays
Author: Torrey Maldonado [Website]
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Source: Provided by Publisher
Parental Warning: references to criminal activity, alcohol, drugs, language, bullying, language

“Out my window I heard the stoop door slam, but nobobdy was there whne I checked.  Sometimes, at four, five in the morning, you didn’t need to watch TV to stay up.  Just watch my stoop.  People argued and fought down there.  Drunks, crackheads, drug dealers.  Right now, I couldn’t tell if stoop door slamming meant drama.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Justin is worried about his best friend, Sean.  He’s been messing up in school — missing assignments, showing up late, and failing tests.  And lately Sean’s hanging with a tougher crowd, acting like a bully.  Justin’s sure these changes hae something to do with the secret Saturday trips Sean’s been taking with his mom, but when he asks him about it, Sean lies.

At first Justin’s sad to think he’s losing his best friend, but then he gets mad at the way Sean’s been treating him, and wonders if the friendship is worth saving at all.  Wehn Sean gets into the worst trouble he’s ever been in and Justin finally discovers what’s really going on with him, he knows he has to find some way to help before things completely spiral out of control.

Opinion:
A realistic view of what life is like in the projects for a teenaged boy, Secret Saturdays explores the father son relationship from a grittier perspective.  The story revolves around Justin, his group of friends, their families, and their classmates.  Each of the main and supporting characters bring with them their individual familial crosses to bear.  Some have moms, some dads, and some are fortunate to have both.  Regardless, all live in the projects of Red Hook — what seems to me to be a location not for the weak of heart.

Knowing that the author has roots in this community made the story he was telling all that more poignant and significant.  While it is not an autobiography I couldn’t help but wonder how much of what was being shown and shared were small snippets of his life.  Snippets that we can all learn from and take with us to make not only our lives better but the lives of those around us.

More of a boy book, I do think that girls can learn from the story of Justin and Sean’s friendship, the significance and influence of family, and how the actions of others directly impact the lives of everyone they know and love.  It actually reminds me a bit of the movie Stand By Me, where all the friends have their individual cross to bear but they stick together through it all to come out on the other side of events with a stronger bond.

Written from the heart with tremendous authenticity, Secret Saturdays is a book middle grade classrooms should consider using to speak to the issues of bullying, gangs and the endurance it takes for a child to make a better life for him or herself.

Title: The Line
Author: Teri Hall [Website] [Twitter]
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: Purchased
Parental Warning: criminal activity, death

“They slunk out the door, Rachel staying as close to her mother a she could.  Once they were on the street, Vivian put her arm around Rachel and turned her toward the endor’s display window.  She watched the crowd in the window’s reflection, waiting for the right moment to move.  When it seemed as though everyone’s attention was fully on the Identification, Vivian hurried Rachel down the street.”

Summary (from the publisher):
Rachel lives with her mother on The Porperty.  The good thing about living there is that it’s far from the city, where the oppressive government is most active.  The bad thing, at least to most people, is that it’s close to the Line — an uncrossable section of the National Border Defense System, an invisible barrier that encloses the entire country.

She can see the Line from the greenhouse windows, but she is forbidden to go near it.  Across the Line is Away, and though Rachel has heard many whispers about the dnagers there, she’s never really believed the stories.  Until the day she hears a recoreding that could only have come from across the Line.

It’s a voice asking for help.

Who sent the message?  What is her mother hiding?  And to what lengths will Rachel go in order to do what she thinks is right?

Opinion:
The Line has all the hallmarks of great dystopian fare — oppressive government, a population that goes without many creature comforts, a far away unreachable place, and characters filled with motivation and longing for a better life.

What it doesn’t have is speed.  I totally trudged through the first three fourths of this book.

Don’t get me wrong.  In a dystopian story it’s important, no essential, to provide the reader with historical perspective.  It allows us to see how the population got where they are when we are clued into their lives.  But in the case of The Line there was so much focus on the past lives of the characters that their present is almost entirely pushed aside.  I understand that the reader needs that information, it definitely informs who the characters are how they navigate situations they’re put in.  But, for some reason it kind of falls flat for a good portion of the time.

That is until the end.  In about the last fourth of the book we finally start to see more present day machinations and thoughts to the future.  We finally got some action and movement in relation to the hallmark of any dystiopian, that being overcoming adverstity.  Without giving too much away, all I’ll say is that there are an interesting series of revelations and actions that culminate towards the end that will lead into the next book.

But back to historical perspective.  Where would I have liked to have seen a bit more background?  Anything that had to do with Away.  The characters, the culture, just about anything.  Again, we did get a bit of information towards the end of the book, and I suspect we’ll get even more in the second of the series, but it could have come much sooner for my liking.

So, what is the biggest strength of this book?  What might keep me on board for reading book two?  Two things, actually, family dynamics and the cliffhanger ending.

Hall has written the families of the story as showing great strength and endurance.  Whether living on The Property or perhaps as far as Away the threads between parents and children are tightly woven.  All have dealt with so much and through it all remained true to each other.  They protect themselves and those close to them, being sure to keep each others secrets thus avoiding further and more deeply torturous persecution.

I’d hesitate saying I loved this book, in fact I have to grudgingly admit I feel somewhat ambivalent about it.  However, given where The Line ended book two is not short on potential.  I’m certainly interested in seeing where the story progresses and will likely pick it up to give it a secnd chance.

Title: After
Author: Kristin Harmel [Website] [Twitter] [Facebook]
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Purchased
Parental Warning: death of a parent, alcohol

“Once I’d had the idea of getting us all together, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I thought about it at school.  I thought about it at home.  I lay in bed at night thinking about how I just might be able to help everyone who hurt the same way I did/  I imagined scenarios in which the program was such asuccess, I would be asked to travel all around the country to talk to grown-ups about how to help kids who’d lost a parent.”

Summary (from the publisher):
What if you didn’t get a chance to say good-bye?

Lacey’s world shattes when her dad is killed in a car accident.  And secretly?  She feels like it’s her fault.  If she hadn’t taken her own sweet time getting ready that morning….well, it never would have happened.  Her mom wouldn’t be a basket case.  Her brother Logan wouldn’t drink.  And her little hbtother would still have two parents.

But life goes on even if you don’t want it to.  And when Lacey gets the chance to make a difference in the lives of some people at school, she jumps at it.  Making lemonade out of lemos is her specialty.  Except she didn’t count on meeting a guy like Sam.  Or that sometimes?  Lemonade can be a pretty bitter drink to swallow.

Opinion:
A sweetly told story of a teenaged girl’s struggle to survive the unexpected death of her father, After, was a quick subtle read.

There was a fair share of angst, as one would expect from a story based on the loss of a parent, but it wasn’t of the hang-wringing, over wrought into hysterical depression variety.  It was understated and for a book of short length paced very well.  Surprisingly, Harmel was able to deep dive into the subject matter with ease and tremendous focus despite the book’s brevity.  Kudos to her skill as a writer.

To do so she created a unique plotline with the invention of Lacey’s community service type endevor.  I don’t want to spoil what that endeavor was here, but it seemed to me to be a productive and healthy way to work through the emotion and loss she was feeling.  A further advantage was the addition of a cadre of support characters.  None of which felt unecessary or took on too much focus.

That is, except Sam.  As the object of Lacey’s affection the new boy in town was a kindred spirit directly upon his arrival in her life.  Bonding with Lacey over a shared sense of loss the two became fast friends that blossomed into more.  But wait, there may be a bit more to it than the typical boy meets girl, boy and girl fall for each other, and boy and girl live happily every after.  Again, I’m not going to spoil the finer and most intriguing points of the story, but I will say that as the relationship develops and you get invested in it, there is a pretty powerful punch waiting along the way.  It was good too!

I’ve made not qualms about being a fan of Kristin Harmel’s.  I’ve read all but one of her books and loved each.  After is no exception, it is a fantastic read and one that may help a child who has lost a parent deal with the aftermath in a positive and constructive way.