Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So. It has obviously been quite a while since anything has gone up here. I have a good reason for that, but unfortunately it comes with the news that not a lot will be changing on that front, at least for a while.

I've been working for months now on a big life change that has been and will continue to affect other things in my life, including my ability to blog.

*drumroll*..........
I'm moving to Spain.

Not permanently, but for the next year I'll be living in Madrid. This is a huge change for me (having lived in the same city in Canada all my life) and it'll mean I'll be incredibly busy soaking up as much of Spain and everything that goes along with that as I can, plus with my new position that allows me to make this move.

This means that for the time being, the blog will remain inactive. I'll still be reading (my Goodreads) and tweeting (my Twitter) and Instagramming the heck out of that beautiful country, but not blogging. Hopefully when I get back I can jump right back in!

Venomous Kiss Re-Launch

Surprise Update!

I'm sure most of you know that I'm a big fan of Paula Stokes aka Fiona Paul and especially of her Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. It all started with VENOM, which is now relaunching, along with the rest of the series, through Paper Lantern Lit.

VENOM (which I reviewed here) is now rebranded as VENOMOUS KISS, BELLADONNA  (reviewed here) as POISONOUS TOUCH, and STARLING, a fabulous finale to the series, so no worries about being let down at the end (reviewed here), as DANGEROUS HEART. Plus they're re-releasing the free short story that goes along with the series, DISASTROUS DESIRE. Now you can get them all with their sexy new covers in convenient ebook format so you can sit down and go to town on the whole romantic, exciting historical series!

VENOMOUS KISS is out today, with the other two books in the series following in the next two months.

Want to get in on all the Fiona Paul goodness with some extra Paula Stokes worked in? Check out the giveaway she's running on her Twitter page! And if you're not in the US, or you don't win, trust me when I say that these books are totally worth the money, especially when these new ebook releases are so cheap! Good luck and ENJOY! (I sure did!)

About the Author:

Fiona Paul lives in St. Louis, MO where she managed to persuade fancy universities to award her degrees in psychology and nursing. Between her studies, she traveled around five continents and spent time living in Thailand and South Korea (which is probably why she finds the idea of wearing shoes in the house a little weird).

In addition to writing, Fiona is somewhat obsessive about coffee, music, and adventure sports. Her future goals include swimming with great white sharks and writing a whole slew of novels, not necessarily in that order. For updates about Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, follow Fiona on Twitter @fionawritesYA.

Guest Post: Dahlia Adler on What She Learned For "Just Visiting"

I'm a big fan of Dahlia Adler, both as a person and as an author. When she offered me a chance to run a post about her newest release, Just Visiting, I was very excited to jump on it. So Dahlia is "on the blog" today sharing some of the most interesting things she learned while writing Just Visiting.

In case you haven't yet heard of Just Visiting, here's a bit about the book.

Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler.

Published November 17, 2015.
Published by Spencer Hill Contemporary.

Synopsis:
Reagan Forrester wants out—out of her trailer park, out of reach of her freeloading mother, and out of the shadow of the relationship that made her the pariah of Charytan, Kansas. 

Victoria Reyes wants in—in to a fashion design program, in to the arms of a cute guy who doesn't go to Charytan High, and in to a city where she won't stand out for being Mexican. 

One thing the polar-opposite best friends do agree on is that wherever they go, they’re staying together. But when they set off on a series of college visits at the start of their senior year, they quickly see that the future doesn’t look quite like they expected. After two years of near-solitude following the betrayal of the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, Reagan falls hard and fast for a Battlestar Galactica-loving, brilliant smile-sporting pre-med prospective... only to learn she's set herself up for heartbreak all over again. Meanwhile, Victoria runs full-speed toward all the things she thinks she wants… only to realize everything she’s looking for might be in the very place they've sworn to leave. 

As both Reagan and Victoria struggle to learn who they are and what they want in the present, they discover just how much they don't know about each other's pasts. And when each learns what the other’s been hiding, they'll have to decide whether their friendship has a future.


And now, take it away, Dahlia!

One of my favorite things about writing is how much you learn along the way. With all the worldbuilding that goes into fantasy and sci-fi, people often forget how much research goes into contemporary, but when you’re representing people in the real world, it’s even more imperative you get the details right. Just Visiting required more research than any other book I’ve ever written, for two reasons: 1) it’s the most grounded in the real world, because it’s all wrapped up in the college admissions process, and 2) every single thing in this book was out of my lane, and I mean everything.

As a result, I learned a lot while writing this book, thanks to the power of the Internet, and also amazing and brilliant friends willing to share their knowledge. Some of the stuff was cool, some was funny, some was eye-opening, and all of it makes me feel richer for knowing it!

In case you’re as in the dark about some of these things as I was, here are five things I learned while writing Just Visiting that you can now know too:

1. ASL isn’t only spoken differently from English; it’s written differently as well. I knew English and ASL were different languages, but I really didn’t know the extent. Obviously they’re spoken differently, with English being verbal and ASL being manual, but I didn’t realize they actually possess completely different grammatical structures, and ASL really isn’t a direct translation. For a period of revisions, I tried to gloss ASL for all its dialogue, but as I ended up relating in an author’s note, it really just didn’t work for the book, and I wouldn’t have done it nearly well enough. (I also learned the word “gloss,” which is the word for transliterating ASL.)

2. Countries can “graduate” out of the Peace Corps. Palau did in 2013. In Just Visiting, Vic’s brother Javi is in the Peace Corps in Fiji, but he wasn’t always; when I wrote the book in 2012-13, Javi was in Palau. I read up on the country, learned how to say hello in Palauan (“Alii!”), and learned a whole bunch of details about the Peace Corps, but there’s one key thing I didn’t learn until I went to double-check my info during revisions: if a country is deemed not to require Peace Corps assistance any longer, they graduate out, and that happened with Palau in April 2013; the final volunteers left the country in August 2014.

3. The legal drinking age is 21 in only twelve countries, two of them being the US and Palau. In a conversation between Vic and Javi, he makes a joke about being happy he’s 21 because it’s the legal drinking age in Palau. Unfortunately, this is the one error I know is in the finished version of Just Visiting—when I moved him from Palau to Fiji, I neglected to update this line, and Fiji is one of the over a hundred countries with a legal drinking age of 18-19.

4. You can get financial assistance for more of the college application process than just scholarships for tuition. God bless knowledgeable literary agents, because if Lana Popovic hadn’t mentioned waivers for applications in her editorial letter for this book, I wouldn’t have gone down the rabbit hole of learning how many fee waivers exist for students in need. Reagan’s family’s income made her eligible for AP Exam fee reductions and an ACT fee waiver, as well as up to four college application fee waivers.

5. Marvel and DC do not mix. Hands-down, the hardest part of this book was dealing with Dev’s nerdery; apparently I made some unspeakable faux pas (plural) in mixing and matching his fandoms. I made so many errors in this, round after round, even with ten different people yelling at me each time. Hopefully by the finished version of the book, I’ve got this all straight so it’s established Dev is all Marvel, all the time, but God, who even knows. All I can do is hold my breath and pray.

Thank you, Dahlia! I also had no idea that ASL was written differently - I'm definitely interested in learning more about that now. And while I knew that you poor Americans were in the minority having to wait 'til 21 to drink legally, I didn't know that it was only 12 countries making up that minority - quite the exclusive club. Too bad it's a liquorless one. And I've totally been on the receiving end of a Marvel vs. DC lecture before, so you're not alone in that one, Dahlia. Thanks again for sharing!

About the Author:

Dahlia Adler is an Associate Editor of Mathematics by day, a blogger for B&N Teens by night, and writes Contemporary YA and NA at every spare moment in between. She’s the author of the Daylight Falls duology, Just Visiting, and Last Will and Testament, as well as over five billion tweets as @MissDahlELama. She lives in New York City with her husband and their overstuffed bookshelves.
(Photo credit: Maggie Hall)

Buy Just Visiting: B & N | Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound 
(You know you want to)

Blog Tour Review: Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey

Welcome to the kick-off of the blog tour for Kerry Winfrey's Love and Other Alien Experiences! I'm very excited that Paper Lantern Lit asked me to take part in this tour, so let's get to it!

To start, here's a bit about the book:

Love and Other Alien Experiences by Kerry Winfrey.

Published: November 10, 2015.
Published by: The Studio by Paper Lantern Lit.
Source: Received an e-ARC from the publisher for the tour. Thank you, PLL!

Goodreads Synopsis:
In this heartwarming debut by HelloGiggles blogger Kerry Winfrey, a young agoraphobe begins a journey of first love that leads her to the true meaning of home—just by taking one small step outside of her house. 

My name is Mallory Sullivan.

My therapist says I have an anxiety disorder.

My brother says I’m an “optimistic recluse.”

Everybody else says I'm a freak.

And they kind of have a point, because I haven't left the house in 67 days and only attend class via the webcam on my laptop. The person I talk to the most other than my mom and brother is the completely obnoxious BeamMeUp, and all we do is argue on New Mexico’s premiere alien message board.

But after yesterday, I have something: a chance. If I can win the homecoming crown by convincing resident hot popular guy and Friday Night Lights spawn Brad Kirkpatrick to go as my date, then maybe #stayathome will never appear next to the name @Mallory_Sullivan ever again. 

First, I have to leave my room.

My Review:

Love and Other Alien Experiences is a well crafted combination of a cute high school drama and an exploration of dealing with and overcoming mental illness. Mallory suffers from severe anxiety and agoraphobia, triggered by her dad leaving their family one day without explanation. She doesn't leave her house, attending school through Skype and socializing largely on an online forum about aliens. But when she is nominated for homecoming queen - as a joke, she's sure - she begins to realize that she might actually want to win. At first just for the prize money - $500, which would help her achieve her desire to find her father on a trip she believes he'll be on. But the more she does to try to present herself as a viable homecoming queen candidate, the more she enjoys it - and the more progress she makes working through her anxiety.

I can't really speak to the handling of agoraphobia except to say that Winfrey wrote it in a way that made me understand and sympathize with Mallory, but I do think that some of the other anxiety manifestations described were conveyed well. I did find that it felt like Mallory moved forward in her progress quite quickly for the severity of the illness, but that was noted in a way by Mallory within the text, and I do understand that it couldn't be drawn out excessively for the purposes of the story. I appreciated the normalization of her seeing a therapist for her anxiety -- it was presented as a positive relationship and the fact that she saw one was never questioned or ridiculed. I think that's an important stance to take in YA, so I was glad to see it here.

One thing Winfrey does very well in LaOAE is Mallory's relationships with her peers. Despite Mallory confining herself to her house, she still has a great relationship with her best friend, Jenni. Jenni is supportive and considerate of Mallory and her struggle, but she also tries gently to help Mallory challenge her comfort zone in a very respectful way. I also appreciated that she has her own interests outside of the main character -- in her beauty vlogging, for example -- as that makes her feel more real as a character. Mallory also has a close relationship with her brother, Lincoln, the dynamics of which have changed since she became housebound. Watching them sort through these changes and work to maintain the strong relationship they have was a wonderful, if easily resolved, exploration of sibling bonds, something I don't find there's enough of in YA.

I found that the storyline surrounding the online alien forum and the mysterious user BeamMeUp was a nice addition to Mallory's story, and of course it plays into the plot more than it initially appears, which was fun. Despite figuring out the big reveal early on, I still enjoyed watching it unfold. I thought it was interesting the way Mallory relied on the forum and BeamMeUp as a comfort zone in dealing with her anxiety, and it only made the way the that plot line resolved even better.

All in all, I really have mostly positive thoughts about Love and Other Alien Experiences. It was fun when it needed to be, and it was serious and fairly realistic, in my opinion at least, when handling Mallory's mental illness. It's an enjoyable, empowering, and ultimately triumphant tale of a young woman facing a difficult struggle and learning that her life doesn't have to end where her mental illness begins.

About the Author:

Kerry Winfrey grew up in Bellville, Ohio, where she spent most of her time reading inappropriate books at the library. Not much has changed. Kerry writes for HelloGiggles and blogs at welcometoladyville.com. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and their dog, Merlin. You can find her on Twitter @KerryAnn.

photo copyright Alex Winfrey 

Buy the book: Amazon // Barnes & Noble // iBooks

Blog Tour Review: Frosh: First Blush by Monica B. Wagner

Today I'm excited to be on the Paper Lantern Lit blog tour for Monica B. Wagner's FROSH: FIRST BLUSH! I've been working on reading more NA lately because, with the college setting especially, it's closer to my own personal experience right now. So I was definitely looking forward to reading this one, and it didn't let me down!

Before I get ahead of myself, though, here's more about the book:

Frosh: First Blush by Monica B. Wagner

Frosh #1.
Published: October 20th, 2015.
Published by: The Studio by Paper Lantern Lit.
Source: Received an eARC of the novel for review for the tour. Thanks, PLL!

Goodreads Synopsis:
During welcome week at Hillson University, the FROSH will hit the fan.

Type-A aspiring journalist Ellie plans to take freshman year by storm. But hell-bent on breaking a huge on-campus scandal, she risks becoming one herself—and getting the mysterious, heart-melting QB in serious trouble. 

Grant, star quarterback and charismatic chick-magnet, is hiding a life-altering secret. The last thing he needs is an overeager (absolutely adorable) journalist asking questions. He’s got a reputation to protect.

High-society legacy student Devon is ready to catch the football hottie of her dreams. If the tabloids feature her with the “it” boy on her arm, her tainted past will be buried—or so she thinks.

Charlie, pre-med, is done being the sweet and funny geek that girls like Devon ignore. But if he tries to impress her with a new edgy, spontaneous attitude, will his heart end up in the emergency room?

FROSH intertwines the stories of Ellie, Grant, Devon, and Charlie in Mónica B. Wagner’s sexy NA debut series, about falling in love and falling apart.

My Review:
FROSH: First Blush, the first book in a new series, follows four college students, three of whom are in their first year and just beginning to learn what college life is like. It has its dramatic moments and its sweet ones, and is overall an enjoyable foray into the world of NA.

The four main characters are an interesting bunch, and mostly felt quite realistic. Each had their ups and downs - what college student doesn't? - and each had things about them that I admired, and other things that I wasn't so crazy about (except for Charlie... I think I just really liked nerdy, adorable Charlie). But take Devon, for example. I loved her confidence and her sex-positivity, but I didn't love the way she rejected the idea of female friends and put down other girls without actually knowing them. Of course, everyone's flaws make them human, but that one did kind of put me off a little more than with Ellie and Grant's characters and their flaws.

One thing that I find can be quite tough with multi-POV books is making each voice distinct. Sometimes even authors juggling only two POVs can struggle with this, but Wagner managed to distinguish all four voices enough for me that I never had to flip back and check on whose chapter I was reading. I really have to commend her on that, because that's not an easy task, It helped, of course, with just reading and enjoying the story, but it also made it easier for me to get invested because it enhanced the characters' realness.

I also have to say that while the storyline wasn't constantly pull-me-in exciting, there was enough going on between the four of them that I was kept interested every time I picked the book up, and I became engaged in all that was going on in their lives. I don't want to give much away, because it all really unfolds quite nicely - and I like the way each of them is connected to the others as it does. Plus, Wagner ends on quite the cliffhanger that definitely has me curious to come back for the next installment - there's a lot at stake, and previous evidence shows that it might not play out so well for the characters at first. So while I didn't absolutely love it, there was certainly enough there to get me interested in the characters (and yeah, I'm probably invested in Charlie), and enough plot happening that I need to know what happens next!


Enter the giveaway for a chance at a copy of FROSH:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author:

Mónica was born in a Peruvian city by a snow-capped volcano. Growing up, books were her constant companions as she traveled with her family to places like India (where she became a vegetarian), Thailand (where she *almost* met Leonardo di Caprio), France (where she pretended to learn French), and countless other places that inspired her to write. Now, Mónica lives in Chile with her husband, three boys, eleven hens, and stray dog. Keep up with Monica and follow her on Twitter @Monica_BW or visit her website: http://monibw.blogspot.com.  

Blog Tour Review: Leading Lines by Chantel Guertin

Leading Lines by Chantel Guertin.

Pippa Greene #3.
Published: October 13, 2015.
Published by: ECW Press.
Source: Received from the publisher for review for the blog tour. Thanks, ECW!

Goodreads Synopsis:

“You’ll fall in love with this genuine young heroine.” -- Best Health

After two drama-filled weeks in Manhattan, Pippa Greene is back. Despite a romantic reunion with boyfriend Dylan, she can’t seem to shake the emotional aftermath of New York. As she navigates parental drama at home and her charged dynamic with Ben Baxter at school, Pippa finds that Dylan is more wrapped up in his post-high-school life of bands, shows, and new friends than in their relationship. Will it survive?

Written with the same humour and heart that made Chantel Guertin’s first two Pippa Greene novels instant favourites, Leading Lines offers a fresh and charming perspective on friendships, family, and first love.

My Review:

Pippa Greene is back, indeed, and bringing some new struggles with her.

Leading Lines is the third installment in Guertin's series about young photographer Pippa Greene and is full of the same kind of realistic moments and, as the synopsis claims, humour and heart that the first two books did so well.

One thing that Guertin really shines at is the way she writes relationships -- both familial and romantic -- and both of those came through strongly and were very well crafted in this story. As of the beginning of Leading Lines, Pippa has discovered a lot about the previously unknown dynamics of her family. Following that, Pippa has to further deal with her grief over losing her father as she takes on some photography assignments rooted in the past, as well as having to confront her feelings towards the surprise addition to her family circle and those towards her mother for having kept such a big secret. As before, these family relationships are thoughtful and touching while still maintaining enough drama to keep them interesting enough to be worthy of a novel.

The romantic ups and downs that Pippa goes through with her boyfriend Dylan upon their post-winter break reunion, after all the time spent rooting for them to get together in the past books, actually got a little hard for me to read at times because of how true to young relationships it felt. I saw so much of the personal conflicts and questions as well as the interpersonal issues that came up in my own young relationships come up between Pippa and Dylan as they try to figure out if they can grow together as they each grow on their own as individuals. I really appreciated the way Guertin not only made these issues feel so genuine but also that she gave them the weight they deserve in the story because these are things that really do hold significant weight in a young woman's life. Pippa and Dylan's relationship struggles were never depicted as juvenile in a negative way, even while Guertin maintained the true "teenager feel" of the characters, which was a great balance. One thing I also thought was interesting was that Guertin didn't take the romance where I thought she would, which was great in that it was a surprise, but was still a bit of a bummer for me because I was interested in where I thought it was going (and yes, I'm trying to remain spoiler-free here).

Other than that, as seems to be consistently the case with these novels, my only real complaint is that there isn't a great deal of excitement that goes on over the course of the story. This isn't a flaw in the books, because it isn't that there's a lack of story here. I think it's more that this is a more "domestic," if you will, storyline than what I normally choose to read and so it doesn't live up to some of the larger scale novels I spend more time with. But family dynamics are something that readers have been loud about asking for, and this series is very strong when it comes to that. It absolutely has its audience, and though I don't fit into that audience 100%, I still definitely enjoy the novels.

In all, Leading Lines is a great follow-up to the previous two Pippa Greene novels and takes her story deeper into her personal life and into her genuine love for her family, her friends, and her photography. As usual, I also of course appreciate the photographic reference in the title and the weaving into the narrative of the photography terms and techniques. These novels remain relatable and sweet and are a great read for anyone looking for dynamic and honest relationships in their YA fiction.


Follow the blog tour:

September 5: Tour kickoff, Review, and Giveaway, Booking it with Hayley G

September 6: Giveaway, Chapter by Chapter

September 7: Review, Books Etc

September 8: Review, Read My Breath Away

September 9: Review, One More Page Reviews

September 10: Review, Sukasa Reads

September 11: Guest Post, Dear Teen Me

September 12: Review and Excerpt, Brains, Books, and Brawn

September 13: Review, Musings of a Writer

September 14: Review, Ramblings of a Daydreamer

September 15: Review and Giveaway, The Book Bratz

Author Interview: Taryn Scarlett, of the Sin & Honey Series

Today I'm interviewing an author who takes us away a little from the kind of story that's usually featured on this blog. Through my blogging partnership with Paper Lantern Lit I learned about a series of novellas they're releasing that is their first adult work and I have some info on the series straight from the author.

First, here's a bit about the newest novella in the series:

For the Love of the Enemy by Taryn Scarlett

Sin & Honey #3
Published: September 1, 2015.
Published by: The Studio by Paper Lantern Lit.

Synopsis:
Since the first day he saw her, he had been waiting for an opportunity to seduce her. –Judith 12:17


Judith fought for justice.

Bagoas reasoned for peace.

Holofernes thirsted for blood.


In this third Sin & Honey novella, Taryn Scarlett explores the provocative story of Judith, a woman tormented by the war in her country—and the war in her heart.


A young widow living in devastated country, Judith is forced to watch as the ferocious Assyrian general Holofernes slaughters her people. Desperate to save her family, she decides to take matters into her own hands: she will seduce the general and get into his bed—where she can kill him, and end the war.


But once Judith steals into enemy territory masquerading as an Israeli defector, she meets Bagoas, a soldier on a mission for peace. Aroused by his honor, Judith has a terrifying choice to make: let her people suffer and die, or sacrifice true love for the greater good.


Now, welcome Taryn Scarlett to the blog!

Jess: Hi Taryn, thanks for joining me! 
First off, I must admit to being curious: what draws you to writing erotic romance?

Taryn: I've always been drawn to the romantic aspects of books and movies, even from a very young age. I remember watching Phantom of the Opera, the musical, when I was only 4 years-old, and being utterly captivated by the passion and drama of that dark romance. I grew up reading Little Women, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice—some of my first 'ships' were couples from those books! (Jo and Professor Bhaer 4ever.) Writing romance has always made sense to me, and romance READERS are some of the most supportive and passionate in the industry. It's a community I'm proud to be a part of!

J: What prompted the use of the bible stories as inspiration for this series?
T: I read The Red Tent when I was very young and I've spoken before about how that book influenced my life—I even went on to write my thesis in college on Biblical women, using Lillith (Adam's oft-forgotten first wife) and Leah (one of the characters in the first SIN AND HONEY novella!) as my primary examples for the two ways we categorize women in literature: as lovers, or mothers. I've always been fascinated by Biblical depictions of women: they get these fascinating stories, bring down nations, save entire civilizations, fall in love, fall in lust, get betrayed and abused...but their stories are all told via a male perspective. I wanted to bring some humanity to their stories, as well as some passion. 

The first novella in the series, Seven Years of Longing

J: Is there a certain bible story you're especially looking forward to reimagining? Why that one in particular?
T: It's so hard to pick just one! I will say that the first 3 novellas take place in uber-ancient times and in mostly rural areas; I'm talking they only had wool, oil lanterns, and lots of goats. The latter 3 novellas (coming Spring-Summer 2016!) take place later in history AND are all royal-themed so there's been some evolution in what we have to work with: fine silks, gold jewelry, beautiful marble columns and candlelight, lavish feasts...I'm excited to have some freedom to describe the luxuriousness and sensuality of the later time periods. :) 

J: What was the experience like working with the Paper Lantern Lit team on these books?
T: Amazing. I love the team at PLL so much. It's a great place to come into your own as a writer while also allowing yourself to be challenged: from nuanced Editorial letters from Lexa Hillyer and the sharp and tactful notes from Lauren Oliver to my own editor Rhoda Belleza's compassion when dealing with a story that obviously means so much to me–I really couldn't have asked for a better team to shepherd this series into the world. (Also shout-outs to Alexa Wejko and Kamilla Benko, who have done so much behind-the-scenes for SIN AND HONEY!)

J: Can you give us a sneak peek at what else is coming from you for this series?
T: The next novella, FOR LOVE OF THE ENEMY, is one I am extremely proud of. It's the story of a widow, Judith, who goes to great lengths to save her people from a violent war: seducing and killing the enemy general. But, of course, she falls in love with a soldier behind enemy lines and has to choose between the fate of her entire people or true love. It's got Game of Thrones levels of drama, the romance is suspenseful and high-stakes, and I can't wait for you all to read it!

Wow, sounds really intriguing! Thanks so much for chatting with me, Taryn!

The second novella in the series, The Touch of Betrayal

Make sure you go check out the Sin & Honey series if some erotic novellas sound like a nice little break from the usual YA fare!

About Taryn

Taryn Scarlett holds a B.A. in Theater and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Her weaknesses are chocolate, floral sundresses, soapy TV dramas, and anything purple. SIN AND HONEY is her first series. You can visit Taryn at www.TarynScarlett.com.