Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Armchair BEA: Interview with Carrie from Just One More Chapter (+ Giveaway)

Welcome to Day #3 of Armchair BEA. We've talked about me, my favorite books this year and have had two giveaways.  Today you will get to know another book blogger.  I bring to you today an interview with Carrie from Just One More Chapter.  It was great to get to know Carrie since she only lives about an hour away from me - I didn't even realize there was a book blogger that close by.  Carrie is also pregnant with her first child - a little boy and is due in August.  How fun - I remember the days of being pregnant, so the interview has brought back wonderful memories.  I could probably go on and on (as most of you know), but let's get to know Carrie!




How would you describe your blog in 140 words or less?

Just One More Chapter is a place to explore new worlds through books. Just One More Chapter was started in November 2009 as a way for me to give recommendations of books to the many friends who are always asking. It is a place for you to come read a variety of reviews and explore new books. I also host
giveaways and participate in memes. Just One More Chapter has grown into so much more since I first started it and love that it continues to grow.

The latest post I saw when exploring your blog was The Magnolia League by Katie
Crouch. What made you choose this book to read? (I am dying to read it)


Actually I was just wandering around Barnes and Noble looking for some more books to read like I don't have any here at the house. But I was there before we went on a trip and so I came across it and immediately started reading it. The cover is what drew me in first but I love books dealing with the south so I picked it up!!  I didn’t realize until I got home and started looking for reviews that it hadn’t been
released yet and wasn’t supposed to be out until the following week! Oh well Barnes and Nobles mistake, my gain!!


Crystal: I hear you - I love to wander bookstores to buy a new book even though I don't need any!

What type of books would you say you read the most?


I probably read YA novels the most that seems to be what most of the books on my TBR list are. That being said I love books in general and I don’t try to focus on one genre. I love historical fiction and I have been known to read some non-fiction. I am trying to expand the types of books I read.

What is your favorite book you have read this year?

I honestly couldn’t tell you! I have a hard time picking out favorites in all the books I have read.

What is your favorite book of all time?

This is another hard one! I can’t pick just one but I would have to say Harry Potter is my all time favorite series!

I saw you are expecting your first baby boy in August - have you picked out names yet or are you still working on it?

We are very excited about our baby boy that will be coming into our lives in a few months. Yes we have picked out a name it is Alexander Thomas. My husband came up with Alexander it was just a name he thought of one day when we were driving somewhere. Thomas is after my father who passed away last September. For the most part I think we will just call him Alex in the long run but as of right now he is
Alexander.

How did you end up in Greenvile, NC?

We came to Greenville because of East Carolina University. My husband is in grad school for Industrial/ Organizational Psychology which is a relatively specialized field. East Carolina happens to be one of the top 10 schools with a master’s program.  So when he got accepted we packed up to move. We actually have really enjoyed being in this part of the country but we do know this is just a temporary place.

What is your favorite thing to do on a nice spring day?


I love to just sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. I also love to open the windows and doors and let the breeze come in with the sounds of the birds however I cant do that as much here because we don’t have screens on all of the windows and I hate bugs!! I also loved to go ride around on the golf course with my dad and now my husband but now that I am pregnant it gets too hot for me too fast.

What is your favorite room in your house?

My favorite room in this house is guest bathroom. We just had it redone and put in a soaker tub with air jets. We painted it a light blue and added chocolate accents. It is an absolutely wonderful place to get away from everything and relax!!


Crystal:  That sounds dreamy - I think I'm going to come move in with you just to use the tub ;)

What is your favorite snack?


Since I am pregnant this changes frequently cause it is whatever baby wants!! Right now it happens to be honey buns!! I know these aren’t the best but I am obsessed with them. In the beginning of my pregnancy it was kiwi and grapefruit!!

Crystal: I started my first pregnancy craving salads and finished up craving spicy chicken sandwiches - my oldest won't touch anything spicy!

Where is your favorite place to read?

My favorite place to read is laying in bed. I also love to read in the car while my hubby is driving. The pool is a great place to read too!!

Have you explored more of NC? If so where is the best place you have been?

Yes we have explored NC some. We have gone to Charlotte, Statesville, Winston Salem, Raleigh, New Bern, and Atlantic Beach. We love Atlantic Beach its about an hour away and its very easy to make a day trip to the beach!


Crystal: Since I live near Atlantic Beach - I fully agree that it's a great place!

If you had a chance and the stars aligned just right, would you attend BEA in New York?

Yes absolutely!!! I was actually planning on going and registered and everything. I even got my press badge however then I found out I was pregnant so we decided we were still gonna go but then family and friends started talking about showers, etc so now we are going on a 2 ½ week trip. We will drive from here to Louisville, Ky then to Richmond, Ky for a wedding then to Murray KY to visit my best friend, then to
Vicksburg, MS (my hometown) to visit family and friends. It will be a long trip and I will be exhausted afterwards.

Crystal: Wow - I'm exhausted just reading that!

What would you say your main reason for blogging is?

The reason I started blogging was to keep up with what I thought of the books I read and for my family and friends to go to instead of asking me all the time. It has since grown. Now I do it cause it helps other people decide what books to pick and choose. I also still do it to keep a track of what books I have read but I do enjoy that it helps other people as well.

What is one piece of advice you would give to new bloggers?

To get as much material up as you can, don’t focus on followers or receiving ARCs focus on your material for your blog the others will come. Also meet other bloggers and participate in MeMes. The followers will come. Kind of like Build it and they will come from Field of Dreams.


Crystal:  I think that is great advice!

Where is your dream vacation destination?

My dream vacation destination is the Maldives. I have always dreamed about going there. It is so remote that the beaches are virtually untouched and it is absolutely beautiful. We are currently planning on going for our 5 year anniversary. Only 3 more years to go. However I love to travel and we will be going lots of new places before that!!

Have you decorated your nursery yet or picked out how you want to decorate it? If so, what does it look like? (I love nurseries!)
 
Yes we have been working on the nursery since we found out everything was good to go and what we were having at 18 weeks. We knew before hand whether it was a boy or girl we would be doing some type of jungle theme but once we found out it was a boy we made it into much more of a boyish room. We went and picked out the nursery furniture and went with an espresso finish that I absolutely love. After that we picked out the bedding I originally wanted it to be all neutrals and accent with the jungle animals but my husband found the bedding we choose in a book and we had to have it. It is tan with blue accents. We took the bedding to Lowe’s and they color matched the blue for the walls. We then bought a chocolate glider and ottoman. Our friend is painting artwork for the walls with the various jungle animals on it. We also bought a blue and chocolate zebra rug that goes perfect with the room.  We added a espresso book shelf for decorations and more storage.

Crystal:  Sounds like a dream nursery. 


Thank you so much Carrie for being with us today!  Please head to her blog if you haven't visited before and say hi.

Giveaway #3:

Give Carrie a piece of parenting advice, it can be serious, funny, or an anecdote of what your kids have done to make her laugh or terrify her (in a good way) - I could do those ;), or a favorite parenting book  and you will be entered to win 2 books from my book selection page (which I am adding more to later today).  Open to US/Canada only, ends 5/30.

.


Book Review: Popular by Alissa Grosso



PopularPopular by Alissa Grosso
Publisher:Flux
Publish Date: May 8, 2011
Paperback, 336 pages 
Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
 ISBN: 978-0738727998


My Review:
Why I read this: I'm a sucker at a look at the popular girls from their point of view, especially when things aren't so perfect.  And this really sounds like a good book, secrets, a girl who is looking for identity and facing the end of high school.



My thoughts:  One thing that jumps out at me about this book is it rings true.  I've been a high school girl, though not one of the popular girls, but it doesn't matter where you are in the clique hierarchy, girls are girls.  Popular shows this.  It also shows how even girls that seem to have it all together have their doubts and I really liked this.  What I got from this book wasn't what I expected, but I raced right through it all the same.  It's not a Gossip Girl or The Clique book, this isn't about the glamor of being a popular girl.  This is more about what it's like to blindly follow in a popular girls' footstep or to be that popular girl and have people following you.  It's about the fears that go into the Senior year of how it will never be the same.  It's about real life as a high school girl.

That's not to say the book is without drama.  There cannot be a story of high school girls that doesn't involve some sort of drama and there is plenty of drama in this book, but I also thought there was a lot to think about.  There is jealousy and boyfriend issues and then the biggest surprise of all is what Hamilton's secret is.  I have to say I was blown away.  I can't say anymore because I don't want to ruin the book for anyone.

So if you enjoy contemporary young adult books, give this 2011 debut author, Alissa Grosso a try and let me know what you think.  I don't think you will be disappointed.  I think Popular has something to appeal to everyone.

My Rating: 4.5/5.0

About the Book:
For reigning popularity queen Hamilton Best, the very idea of graduation is filled with fear. She's always been the star of Fidelity High's most exclusive clique, idolized for her perfection and her fabulous parties—you know you're "in" when you make Hamilton's guest list. As high school draws to a close, Hamilton is about to lose everything that makes her who she is.

To make matters worse, the clique is slowly coming apart at the seams. Although the hand-picked members—Olivia, Zelda, Nordica, and Shelly—all have their own agendas, desires, and secrets, they do have one thing in common: they're desperate to break away from Hamilton. Yet Hamilton has the biggest and most shocking secret of all, one that only her devoted boyfriend Alex knows. If the truth got out, it would completely destroy her fragile world.

And she'll do anything to keep that from happening.

About the Author: 

Early Days and Education
Alissa was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1975. She grew up in the Garden State living in Hackensack, Ramsey and later Byram Township, NJ.

She graduated from Lenape Valley Regional High School in Stanhope, NJ where she ran on the cross country and track teams. She earned a B.A. in English from Rutgers University graduating with highest honors and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Professional Life
Alissa worked for Waterloo Foundation for the Arts while attending college as well as after graduating from college in a number of different capacities. She later worked for the Eastern Monroe Public Library in Stroudsburg, PA where she worked in both the circulation and youth services departments, and was the Children's Coordinator for Norway Memorial Library in Norway, ME. She also worked as an editor and writer for Journal Newspapers in White Haven, PA. She presently works as an independent library sales representative for Unique Books, Inc. and is the author of the forthcoming YA novel Popular.

What She's Doing Now

After living for several years in Pennsylvania and briefly in Maine, Alissa has returened to New Jersey and presently lives in Clinton.  When she isn't visiting libraries or busy playing outdoors, she is hard at work on her next novel. 

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Blog

Giveaway:
Teen Book Scene is hosting a giveaway of one copy of Popular, and it's open internationally.  Just comment on this post and for more entries to win, go to other posts during the tour and comment on them.  Giveaway will end a few days after the end of the tour and will be announced on A Good Addiction.  Be sure and come back on June 7th when I have my character interview with Nordica, for another chance to enter.

FTC Information: I bought this book for my Kindle for the Teen Book Scene tour and my honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.




Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Splash Into Summer Giveaway Hop


It's Armchair BEA week and in addition it's time for the Splash Into Summer Giveaway Hop sponsored by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Page Turners.  So what is up for grabs today?  A book of your choice valued under $10 from the Book Depository.  If Book Depository ships to your country then this giveaway is open to you!  Runs from 5/25-5/31.  I will announce the winner on 6/1!  Simply fill out the form below.






Armchair BEA Day #2: Best of and Giveaway #2 (international)

Welcome to Day #2 of Armchair BEA and I am already having a blast.  I loved all the comments yesterday and getting to know all of you a little bit.  I also enjoyed the blogs I visited and plan on visiting more today - so many great blogs that I did not know about. 

Day #2 is about Giveaways and Best of 2011.  First let's talk about some of my favorite books in 2011, this was very hard to narrow down, I have read 72 books so far this year, but I made myself do the best 9 books I have read this year (not necessarily published this year):
  • Night Road by Kristin Hannah - general fiction
  • Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd (one of my husband's favorites as well) - literary suspense
  • Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon - romantic suspense
  • Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan - nonfiction
  • These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf - suspense, general fiction
  • Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys  - young adult, historical
  • Love You More by Lisa Gardner - suspense
  • Exposure by Therese Fowler - general fiction
  • Secret Daughter by Shilipi Somaya Gowda - general fiction, foreign locale
So my giveaway is simple and open internationally (if you live where the Book Depository ships).  To enter comment and tell me your favorite book you have read this year.  The winner will receive the book of their choice $15 or less value from the Book Depository!  Giveaway ends 5/30/11.

Check out this link for other giveaways.
Check out this link for other Best of posts.



Guest Post: This or That with C. Lee McKenzie (The Princess of Las Pulgas)




Today I welcome C. Lee Mckenzie, author of The Princess of Las Pulgas to My Reading Room. She'll be answering my This or That questions.  Stay tuned on June 8th for my review of the The Princess of Las Pulgas.

Pop tarts or cereal?
Bad choices. Neither. 

Vampires or Werewolves?
Werewolves. They're warm. 

Flats or Heels?
Flats 

Skirts or Jeans?

Jeans 

Shopping or Reading?
Reading. . . hands down. 

English or Math?
Ah! 1+1=3. I'll stick with English. 

Dogs or Cats?
Cats. They always look like they've just invested their money wisely. 

Tragedies or Comedies?
Comedies 

Twitter or Facebook?
Twitter 

Paperback/Hardback or Ebook?

Hardback 

Bracelets or Necklaces?
Bracelets 

Middle School teacher or High School teacher?

High School teacher 

Movie in theater or in your own home?
Home 

Sports Car or Sedan?
Sports Car

About The Princess of Las Pulgas
The Princess of Las Pulgas After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or "the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas. 

Monday, May 23, 2011

Armchair BEA Introduction and Giveaway #1

Since my health and my finances prevent me from attending BEA (though one day I hope to go), I am staying home and enjoying Armchair BEA this week with lots of other great bloggers.  Today's post is simple:

Who are you, and how do you Armchair?
 
My name is Crystal and I am a bookaholic, I know I am and I am not undergoing any 12-steps to get rid of it. You see I could have worse habits, like 300 cats instead of books. Books don't need feeding or have to use the bathroom, they just sit there and look pretty on my shelves and only cause me some pain when trying to decide what to read next.
Okay that was me two years ago, now that number has probably tripled no matter how many books I give away on my blog. I'm pretty sure my husband is eying me and considering whether the insane asylum is a good idea or if I was gone there would he end up there after having to care for the kids by himself for that period of time. I'm pretty sure the books will win out in the end. Plus he has the benefit of me saying "hey honey, I think you would enjoy this book" and I haven't been wrong yet with book or author recommendations for him.

So who am I? I am an obsessed book blogger, who is going through a rough patch in my health at the current moment and that may have me in Duke Hospital within the next month, but it won't be in the mental health ward. With all of that I also get to say this is the last week of little league for my boys and while I have enjoyed watching them play and the camraderie of the other parents, I will be glad to see it end, because I do work as well and this 8-4 work, then 5:30 - 8:30 running the kids around and finally eating at 8:30 gets old pretty darn quick (and it was close to landing me in the insane asylum). I will be happy to catch back up on my reading and to actually see my boys more nights of the week. I hope also to get back to my blog more and visiting other blogs I have missed out on that while socializing at the ball field lately.

So that leads to the personal me. I am a wife of 13 years and my husband and I have actually been together for 19 years (since the end of our senior year of high school) and no you cannot do the math! I have a 10-year-old who is becoming a know-it-all, but he is a sweet boy and a 6-year-old who keeps me on my toes (he was singing California Gurls by Katy Perry while waiting in line at Walmart yesterday - Bikinis, zuchinnis, martinis). We also are owned by a sweet black cat who keeps getting into disagreements with snakes and his name is Buckwheat. And the final member of the family is our pound puppy Chewey (short for Chewbacca - my boys' are Star Wars addicts). Chewey is part lab and has the prettiest coat. He's also the perfect size, about 3/4 the size of a full-blooded lab. Everyone but Chewey and Buckwheat love to read, and Buckwheat loves to pester us when we read, so maybe he loves to read as well.

That's pretty much it - I have to say that blogging for the last two years has really led me to branch out in my reading and I love that. No longer am I waiting on 3-4 of my favorite authors to release new books, now I have a whole world open to me. Oh and I have a Kindle so I have even more books than my husband knows about, but hey a lot of them were free, okay some of them were free, he doesn't have to know about the ones I do the one-click thing with - you know it doesn't even seem like spending money ;)

So what about you? Tell me something about yourself and be entered in to win your choice of two books my read pile. I'll be putting up a page to look at the choices later today (it's here now), but there is something for everyone. I do have to limit this one to the US/Canada because of postage costs. It takes a lot of money for my book habit, ooops I mean to raise two hungry boys. LOL. Giveaway ends the end of this week, 5/27/11.
I'll also be running other giveaways this week because I like to share the wealth (and my husband likes me to remove some books from the house from time-to-time).




Adele Griffin's Teenage Yard Sale & Giveaway (author of Tighter)




My Teenage Garage Sale from 1988, Fall of Senior Year of High School.

Everything Must Go!

1. My Unrelenting Sarcasm (no value): When I was 17, this was my most overused personality trait and I wish I’d sold it off then. Sarcasm is a way of making people feel bad while safeguarding your own emotions. No fun.

2. My Little Brothers, ages 8-16: (Four for $1.00): Even though I love them all dearly, I probably would have sold them back then. The house always smelled like feet, the backyard was a jungle of skateboard ramps, and the TV was only on the Sports Channel. Ugh.

3. My AP Physics Notebook ($5.00): How’d I place into honors physics?  No idea. I did not belong there and I had no idea what I was doing there. Good doodles in the notebook, though.

4. My Paula Abdul mix tape: (no value, but I could be blackmailed with it).

5. My “signature” Benetton body fragrance (no value): for when you want to smell like inside an old lady’s pocketbook.

6. The real scent of my VW Rabbit (priceless). I think if I caught a whiff of that plastic/tanning oil/French fries scent, it would catapult me into a matrix of high school memories from which I might never return.

7. My impulse-purchase M.C. Hammer pants. ($20.00 for the real silk).  I truly thought I rocked this look. Sad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo

8. My freshman-in-college boyfriend’s love letters to me ($200.00): I actually don’t know where these are, but I’d pay a grown-up amount of money to see them again. They were a touch scandalous, as I recall.

Thanks Adele for that fun look into your past!


About the Book
TighterWhen 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Brilliantly plotted, with startling twists, here is a thrilling page-turner from the award-winning Adele Griffin

 
Giveaway
I have one copy of Tighter by Adele Griffin to giveaway.  Open to US/Canada only, simply fill out the form below.  Ends 5/30/2011.

If you can't see the form below, you can find it here.