Giveaway - Swimsuit by James Patterson

Syd, a breathtakingly beautiful supermodel on a photo shoot in Hawaii, disappears. Fearing the worst, her parents travel to Hawaii to investigate for themselves, never expecting the horror that awaits them.

LA Times reporter Ben Hawkins is conducting his own research into the case, hoping to help the victim and get an idea for his next bestseller. With no leads and no closer to uncovering the kidnapper's identity than when he stepped off the plane, Ben gets a shocking visit that pushes him into an impossible-to-resist deal with the devil.

A heart-pounding story of fear and desire, SWIMSUIT transports readers to a chilling new territory where the collision of beauty and murder transforms paradise into a hell of unspeakable horrors.

So this is the newest James Patterson, due out on June 29th and guess what, I have two copies in hand. I haven't read this yet, but I will for review, but since I got an extra copy, I thought it would be a great time to offer this up as a giveaway.

The contest will go through Tuesday June 29th (release day) at midnight. I will draw one winner on Wednesday or Thursday.

You can enter by:

1. Commenting on my blog, make sure I have a way to contact you. (+1)
   
2. Become a blog follower or let me know if you are already a follower (+1)
3. Tell me the first James Patterson book you read (+1)
4. Tweet about this review and giveaway, use @cfulcher in the tweet so I can find it (you can get one additional entry for each retweet - one a day max, but that gives you quite a few days, just come back and comment here) (+1)
5. Follow me on Twitter (or let me know if you are a current follower) (+1)
6. Blog about this contest and let me know the link (sidebar or post is fine) (+1)

So there you go - 6 ways to get an entry into this contest. You can leave them in separate posts or one post, it doesn't matter, I will make sure you get your entries, just make sure to let me know what you do.

Review: Avalon High by Meg Cabot

Avalon High by Meg Cabot




Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

From goodreads.com:

Avalon High seems like a typical high school, attended by typical students: There's Lance, the jock. Jennifer, the cheerleader. And Will, senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good guy.
But not everybody at Avalon High is who they appear to be ... not even, as new student Ellie is about to discover, herself. What part does she play in the drama that is unfolding? What if the bizarre chain of events and coincidences she has pieced together means -- as with the court of King Arthur -- tragedy is fast approaching Avalon High?
Worst of all, what if there's nothing she can do about it?

I was looking through my stacks of books yesterday for just a quick, fun read and I found it in my library stack. Avalon High is a young adult novel featuring Ellie, a high school junior who finds herself in a new school and in a new town while her parents are on sabbatical in Annapolis, Maryland. What she didn't expect was to be thrown into a story she was more than familiar with in the current time.

Meg Cabot writes a really good young adult story in this one, it's clean and fun. Ellie is one of those ordinary girls who doesn't expect to stick out in a new school. She figures she will join the track team and just be an ordinary girl. But that isn't what happens. Within days of starting at Avalon High she is thrust in with the most popular boy in school, his best friend and his girlfriend. But things aren't always what they seem in this popular crowd.

As Ellie tries to navigate her newfound somewhat popular status, the book develops and other questions begin to form. And all of this moves the book to it's conclusion.

Characterization isn't deep - this is more plot driven, but you do learn about Ellie. The other characters are also enjoyable, Will, Lance, Jennifer, Marco and Mr. Morton all make great characters.

All-in-all, it's a great fast-paced quick young adult read. I enjoyed it and will read more of Ms. Cabot's young adult titles (I believe I have read a lot of her adult titles). In fact I have The Princess Diaries in my library stack also. Read this one afternoon that you just want to read something quick and easy - no death, destruction or deep teenage thinking involved. And sometimes you need a book that is just that.

This book satisfies requirements for the 2009 100+ book challenge and also the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

There are actually more books in this series in the Manga format. I'll have to see about those, I haven't read any Manga, but I'm pretty open to any type of book and I really would like to learn more about Ellie, Will, Jennifer and Lance.

Meg Cabot's website
Avalon High available on IndieBound
Avalon High at amazon.com

Binding: Hardcover
Genre: Young Adult
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 288