Excerpt & Giveaway with Estelle Maskame (Did I Mention I Need You Blog Tour)

Today we have Estelle Maskame here for an excerpt and a giveaway! This post is part of the spotlight tour for Did I Mention I Need You.

Did I Mention I Need You was released on March 1st. Here's what it's all about:

Did I Mention I Need You by Estelle Maskame
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Love has no rules.

It's been a year since Eden Munro last saw Tyler Bruce: her stepbrother...and secret love. Although they swore to ignore their feelings and put their family first, Eden can't help but feel excited when Tyler invites her to join him in New York City for the summer.

But it's not like anything is going to happen. Eden is happy with her boyfriend Dean, and she knows gorgeous, green-eyed Tyler must have moved on as well. But as they spend the long, hot summer in the city that never sleeps, it becomes obvious that those old feelings are still there...simmering beneath the surface. Will Tyler and Eden be able to resist temptation?

Did I Mention I Need You? is book two in Wattpad sensation Estelle Maskame's DIMILY trilogy: three unforgettable summers of secrets, heartbreak and forbidden romance.

Here's the excerpt from Did I Mention I Need You:

My heart skips a beat as my eyes scan the information signs above me. I should stop and figure out where I’m supposed to go, but there’s no way I can delay this any longer. I just want to see him already, so I sling my backpack over my shoulder and follow the people who have gotten off the same flight as me. But with each step, the more nauseous I feel. The more I realize I shouldn’t have come here. The more I believe this is a bad idea.
Of course it’s a bad idea, I think.
As if I’ll get over him by spending time alone with him. If anything, this is going to make it worse, harder. It’s easy for him. He’s probably long over me, and he’s most likely dating some cute girl with a New York accent. And then there’s me, the idiot who’s spent an entire year still thinking about him. I know that when I see him, everything I felt will come rushing back at once. I can feel it already. I can feel that same nervous feeling in my stomach that I always did whenever he smiled at me, and I can feel my pulse racing at the same speed it always did whenever his eyes met mine.
I wonder if it’s too late to turn around.
The group I’ve been following heads down an escalator, but I hesitate at the top and step to the side, lingering for a moment. Maybe this won’t be so bad. I am excited to see him, even if my nerves are outweighing my excitement, and I’ve been waiting so long for this that it’s stupid to be having second thoughts.
I’m just confused and my head’s a mess, but I’m here now. It’s time to see him for the first time in a year.
My grip tightens around the strap of my backpack as I step onto the escalator, and my heart is quite literally thumping against my rib cage. I wonder if the people around me can hear it. It feels like I’m having a heart attack, like I’ll collapse any moment now from an anxiety overload. My legs feel stiff, but somehow I manage to keep moving, somehow manage to get off the escalator and advance across the arrivals level.
I’m half looking for the baggage carousels and half looking for a pair of green eyes. Around me, I can see people hesitating, looking. People in suits holding signs. Families searching the crowds flowing off the escalator. I know exactly who I’m looking for. For a moment, I think I see him. Black hair, tall. But just as my heart’s about to stop, he draws a woman into his arms and I realize that it isn’t him at all.
My eyes return to roaming the concourse as I make my way toward baggage claim, still forcing my feet to move, however numb my legs feel. I’m stealing glances at the line of placards as I pass, taking in the last names and wondering why all those people are traveling to New York. My thoughts don’t last long though, because suddenly one placard in particular catches my eye. It draws my attention, of course, because I see my name scrawled on it in black Sharpie, each letter slightly out of alignment with the next one.
And that’s when I see him.
Tyler.
He’s slowly lowered the placard to reveal his face, and his grin and his jaw and the color of his eyes and the way one eyebrow slowly arches reminds me of some of the many things I used to adore about him. Perhaps I still do love these things, because now my feet are moving again. And fast. I make my way straight over to him, gaining speed with each step, my eyes locked on him and nothing else. My beeline forces the people around me to move out of my way, and now I’m running. The moment I reach him, I throw myself into his arms.

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Excerpt & Giveaway with Cori McCarthy (You Were Here Spotlight)

Today we have Cori McCarthy here for an excerpt and a giveaway! This post is part of the spotlight tour for You Were Here.

You Were Here was released on March 1st. Here's what it's all about:

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
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On the anniversary of her daredevil brother's death, Jaycee attempts to break into Jake's favorite hideout—the petrifying ruins of an insane asylum. Joined by four classmates, each with their own brand of dysfunction, Jaycee discovers a map detailing her brother's exploration and the unfinished dares he left behind.

As a tribute to Jake, Jaycee vows to complete the dares, no matter how terrifying or dangerous. What she doesn't bargain on is her eccentric band of friends who challenge her to do the unthinkable: reveal the parts of herself that she buried with her brother.

Here's the excerpt from You Were Here:

“What do I see?” I asked, turning back to the halo effect created by Margaret’s splayed hair. “It was a game. She died because she was playing a game.”
“Just like Jake,” Natalie said.
“Right,” I quipped, trying to mask not only my annoyance at Natalie’s psychoanalyst tone but also a flare of grief. My chest grew tight. Why wouldn’t it go away? Why did all this still buckle me to the ground? Tears burned my eyes, and I took my hair out of my ponytail. This never happened when I came here with Mik. Mik didn’t talk or prod. Mik let me be while we walked around Jake’s old haunt, wondering if he was actually haunting it.
“My dad said that OU will raze the TB ward.” Bishop pointed out the window toward the building on the very top of the hill, by far the spookiest and most unkempt in The Ridges compound. “It’s the only fully abandoned building.”
“Raze?” I asked, suddenly angry. “When?”
“End of the summer, I think. My dad said it was going to cost a ton but that leaving the old building there while it was falling in is just asking for lawsuits.”
“Jake loved the TB ward,” I said. “They haven’t stripped it down like this building.”
“TB?” Zach asked.
“Tuberculosis,” Natalie said.
Bishop squinted at his friend. “TB has been one of the leading terminal diseases in society since the dawn of civilization, Zach.”
“But it doesn’t exist anymore,” Zach said. “Like leprosy.”
“It totally exists,” Natalie said. “And so does leprosy. Where do you learn these things?”
“TB is still the leading cause of death for all people with HIV,” Bishop said. “But don’t worry, Zach. You won’t get it.”
I was surprised to find Zach looking at me. “What kind of things are in there?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never been, but I know it’s more dangerous. All the windows and doors are boarded up to keep drunk undergrads out.”
“So there’s no way in?” Bishop asked.
I shook my head. “Didn’t say that. Every building in The Ridges compound is connected by basement tunnels. If we get into the basement, we can get into any building.”
We all shuffled to our feet and stood around the last portrait of Margaret Schilling.
“I’m in,” Bishop said, and I nodded. Bishop was cool; we’d been partners for two semesters straight in woodshop. He said odd, grandiose things sometimes, but I liked him for it. Plus there was a pretty good chance that Mik would show himself with only Bishop around.
“I’ll take you two to the exit,” I told Natalie and Zach.
“Well, hey,” Zach said. “What if I want to come?”
Natalie looked at him, stunned. “You want to go? What about Kolenski’s three kegs?”
“Kolenski gets kegs every couple of weeks.” Zach shoved his hands in his pockets. He had sobered up since they’d entered The Ridges, and now he just looked worn down. Even his hair had flattened. I’d written him off years ago, but the way he’d helped me find Jake’s footprint and waylaid Natalie…maybe he wasn’t such a garden-variety “dude.”
“Who else can say that they did this the night after graduation?” he added with a shrug.
“So Natalie’s the loose end?” I said. “Big surprise.”
“Wait a second. It was my idea to follow you in the first place. And I…I want to see it.”
“Really?” Zach asked her. “Even if it’s dangerous?”
“I’m going to minor in history. It’ll be like walking around inside of history.”
I knew Natalie well enough to know that she was deluding herself, but when I opened my mouth to point it out, I saw something instead. Bishop did too.
“Apple.” He pointed to the ground. “Guys. There’s an apple.”
A shiny, green Granny Smith apple sat in the doorway. I picked it up.
“Where the hell did that come from?” Zach asked, fear trilling his voice. “Is someone else here? That wasn’t there a few minutes ago, right? Right?”
They all looked up and down the hall. Nothing.
“Maybe Jake’s ghost put it there. Or Margaret’s,” I said. A thump of what could only be described as happiness resounded through my chest. It was foreign and weird, and yet welcome.
“You’re smiling,” Natalie said. “Why are you smiling? You never smile.”
I rubbed the apple on my shirt and took a huge crunching bite. Natalie looked like she was going to pass out. I winked. “This way to the basement.”

If you're intrigued, fill out the Rafflecopter form below and enter to win one of two copies of You Were Here! Open to residents of the US and Canada only; giveaway ends on March 31st.





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Excerpt & Giveaway with Jessica Love (In Real Life Blog Tour)

Today we have Jessica Love here for an excerpt and a giveaway! This post is part of the spotlight tour for In Real Life.

In Real Life was released on March 1st. Here's what it's all about:

In Real Life by Jessica Love
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Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper have been best friends since 8th grade. They talk for hours on the phone, regularly shower each other with presents, and know everything there is to know about one another.

There's just one problem: Hannah and Nick have never actually met.

Hannah has spent her entire life doing what she's supposed to, but when her senior year spring break plans get ruined by a rule-breaker, she decides to break a rule or two herself. She impulsively decides to road trip to Las Vegas, her older sister and BFF in tow, to surprise Nick and finally declare her more-than-friend feelings for him.

Hannah's surprise romantic gesture backfires when she gets to Vegas and finds out that Nick has been keeping some major secrets. Hannah knows the real Nick can't be that different from the online Nick she knows and loves, but now she only has night in Sin City to figure out what her feelings for Nick really are, all while discovering how life can change when you break the rules every now and then.

Here's the excerpt from In Real Life:

My best friend and I have never met.
We talk every day, on the phone or online, and he knows more about me than anyone. Like, deep into my soul. But we’ve never actually seen each other in real life.
Sometimes, when I’m talking to Nick, I wonder how we man- aged to get ourselves into such a bizarre, complicated friendship. At first glance, our relationship probably doesn’t seem all that odd. Like right now, it’s the Friday afternoon that kicks off the spring break of my senior year. I’m lying out next to my pool with my feet dangling in the chilly water, my back flat on concrete, and I’m talking to him on the phone. This is how I spend pretty much every Friday from 3:30 to 4:25-ish, before he goes off to band practice and I have one of my various school or family obligations. Sounds pretty normal.
But the thing is, Nick lives in a different state, 274 miles away. Yes, I looked it up.
“Ghost,” he says, because he never calls me Hannah, “you know I will do anything for my best friend, and this is no exception. I’ll have this girl killed for you without a second thought. Just give me twenty-four hours.”
I laugh as I swish my feet back and forth in the pool. “There’s no need to resort to murder. It’s just a stupid student government trip. I’ll be over it by the end of the week.”
As tempting as it is to plot Aditi Singh’s violent end, the only reason she applied to go to the national leadership conference when it should have been a given that the senior class president (aka me) was going was because I got into UCLA and she didn’t, so a big ol’ middle finger to her. But she can’t see my middle finger, because she’s in Washington, D.C., for spring break and I’m at home with no plans like a big loser.
“Well, if you change your mind,” Nick says, “just let me know. That’s how much our friendship means to me. The code word is ‘Platypus.’ Just say it, and—poof!—I’ll make her disappear.”
I sit up and pull my feet from the pool, crossing them in front of me. “And how can you do that?”
“Hey, I live in Vegas. I have connections to the mob. Everyone here does.”
“You’re a senior in high school, and you live in a tract home in Henderson. You’re not exactly Al Pacino.”
“You don’t know. Everything I’ve told you for the past four years could be a front. I need to have a cover. No one suspects the quiet, nondescript white boy.”
“You’re right. There is a lot I don’t know about you. I mean, there are any number of huge secrets you could be keeping from me.” I say it just because I’m playing along, but it’s not true at all. I’m pretty sure I know everything there is to know about Nick Cooper.
I know when my sister met his brother at a concert four years ago and they told us we should start talking online, he thought I was one of his brother’s friends playing a joke on him until I e-mailed him a picture. I know in the middle of junior year, he shaved his head when his favorite English teacher started chemo. I know the gravelly scratch of his voice when he wakes up in the middle of the night to answer one of my random “I’m bored, talk to me” phone calls. I know the hole in the sleeve seam of the lucky Rage Against the Machine T-shirt he inherited from his brother, Alex, since I’ve seen so many pictures of it. I know his middle name (Anthony), the date and time he was born (September 24 at 3:58 A.M.), and his favorite color (gray). And he knows more about me than absolutely anyone else, even the über-embarrassing stuff. We’ve IM’d, texted, sent a million pictures, mailed each other packages, video-chatted, and talked on the phone.
We’ve just never been in the same place at the same time.
I don’t think it’s strange to be so close to someone I’ve never met. Yeah, he’s in Nevada and I’m in Southern California, but I talk to him more than to people I’ve been in classes with since kindergarten. I do wish we could go to the movies together or something normal like that, but we watch the same movies at the same time and mock them over video chat, which is pretty much the same thing.
On the other end of the phone, his laugh stops abruptly and his voice changes. “Secrets? What kind of secrets could I have?”
“Who knows!” I try to sound shocked and serious, but I can’t keep a laugh from creeping in. “For all I know, you do have a secret mob life. Do you have some sort of gangster name I’m supposed to call you?”
His voice lightens again when he realizes I’m joking. “Oh yeah. Knuckles Nick. Or, no. Wait. Nick the Click.”
“What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know. It rhymed. Don’t those names always rhyme?”
“I know nothing about mob names, Nick the Click. But rhyming names do make mobsters seem a bit less murder-y.”
There’s a shuffle, a thump, and a squeak on his end of the phone, and I imagine him collapsing backwards onto his twin bed. “I just hate that you’re still bummed over missing out on the trip.”
“It’s not that I’m bummed, it’s just . . . I followed all the rules, Nick. I did exactly what I was supposed to do. Serving four years as class president means I go on that trip, not Aditi Singh. Onetime vice-presidents don’t get to go! It’s supposed to be my year. She broke the rules, but she got picked. How do you break all the rules and get what you want like that? It isn’t fair.”
“Well, you know what they say. . . .” “Life’s not fair?”
“Well, that, too. But I was thinking rules are made to be broken.”

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Review: Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

Title: Not Otherwise Specified
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: March 3rd 2015
Pages: 425
Genre: Young Adult contemporary
Source: Bought
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Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.

Everywhere she turns, someone feels she's too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I've loved every Hannah Moskowitz book I've read, but I think this one might be my new favorite. Even though it's nowhere close to the saddest or funniest book I've read, Etta's voice immersed me in the story and made me feel everything so intensely. I read this book on a flight, and I kept getting stares from the guy next to me because I would laugh out loud and randomly start crying while reading. Hannah Moskowitz's books, and this one in particular, feel very personal to me and always elicit a lot of emotions because they're such important and powerful stories.

I am so happy to finally read a book with a bisexual main character - isn't it sad that, out of all of the books I've read, Not Otherwise Specified is the first and only one with a main character who calls herself bisexual!? The way the novel demonstrates the struggles of bisexual people, of not being accepted by the straight or the gay community, is so, so important. This book gets all of the feminist points for the ways it explores gender and sexuality; it's so deep within feminism that it questions dominant feminist ideas from within (if that makes any sense), complexifying issues of gender and sexuality in ways that I loved. Etta has a very nuanced perception of these issues (as well as her race), which makes for a very honest and realistic portrayal: for example, when Bianca struggles with reconciling her brother's homosexuality with her religion, Etta steps up to defend her from those who are calling her homophobic. She's a lot more open-minded about closed-mindedness than I am, which makes for a very nuanced discussion and portrayal of these issues.

In addition with struggling to be accepted because of her bisexuality, Etta is also recovering from an eating disorder. I really loved reading about someone who is actually recovering: I've read tons of eating disorder books, but they always end when the character makes the decision to get better, without actually exploring what recovery is like and showing the ups and downs that can happen along the way. The portrayal of Etta's recovery is honest and real, and I also loved reading about Bianca in this context: the dynamics between two girls at different stages of their eating orders were fascinating. 

Then there's the element of dance and musical theatre. I can't judge how realistic this part is - all my knowledge of ballet school and all of that comes from other YA books, and in those books it always seems harder and more competitive to get to the point where Etta is, so I don't know how realistic it is for her to be getting by the way she is. But I didn't really care because I loved this part of the novel, too. Etta's relationship with ballet is complex, but her passion shines through. Her decision at the end is not what I expected, but I loved it.

But none of these elements are really the main focus of the novel; Not Otherwise Specified is just about Etta, and Etta refuses to be defined by any one of these things. Etta's incredible voice is what carries this whole novel. She is such a real person that she just jumps off the page, and I'm convinced Etta exists in the real world somewhere. Hannah Moskowitz's signature stream-of-consciousness writing lets you think and live along with Etta. She makes terrible decisions sometimes, but they make sense when you're inside her head. Her humor always shines through, and I just identified with her voice so much. 

The secondary characters are great, too. I especially loved Etta's relationships with Bianca and Rachel. Based on the back cover, I had assumed this would be more of a romance between Etta and Bianca, but it's more of a complex friendship than anything romantic. The feelings Etta has for Bianca and Rachel are complicated and explored in depth. I also loved James, Mason, and the rest of the cast, but Bianca and Rachel were the ones who intrigued me the most, asides from Etta.

The ending made me so happy I cried. I can't really explain it and it wasn't what I was expecting, but it fits so perfectly with the rest of the novel. I don't even know why, but it was so good that it had me crying for a while after I had finished the novel, for no specific reason other than that this book felt very personal to me and is such a powerfully moving story. If you've liked Hannah Moskowitz's previous books, you'll definitely love Not Otherwise Specified, and if you haven't, you should definitely give her books a try. Her books are always so personal to me and so moving that recommending them to others feels like giving away a piece of myself, but her books are so important that they need to be read.

Review: Boo by Neil Smith

Title: Boo
Author: Neil Smith
Publisher: William Heinemann
Release date: May 12th 2015
Pages: 310
Genre: adult fantasy(?)
Source: Gift from Cornerstone Publicity - thanks!
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When Oliver 'Boo' Dalrymple wakes up in heaven, the eighth-grade science geek thinks he died of a heart defect at his school. But soon after arriving in this hereafter reserved for dead thirteen-year-olds, Boo discovers he’s a 'gommer', a kid who was murdered. What’s more, his killer may also be in heaven. With help from his volatile classmate Johnny, Boo sets out to track down the mysterious Gunboy who cut short both their lives.
In a heart-rending story written to his beloved parents, the odd but endearing Boo relates his astonishing heavenly adventures as he tests the limits of friendship, learns about forgiveness and, finally, makes peace with the boy he once was and the boy he can now be.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book is officially marketed towards adult audiences, but I think it has a lot of YA crossover appeal, so I decided to review it on the blog anyways. And I think Boo would be a great read for adult audiences as well as YA readers. It's been compared a lot to The Lovely Bones, and I can definitely see some similarities, but I actually liked Boo a lot better than The Lovely Bones. Rather than following the story on earth from the perspective of a dead person the way The Lovely Bones does, Boo has an actual plot of what happens up in heaven, intricately tied in with what happened on earth before the main character's death. With a captivating mystery, a unique portrayal of the afterlife, and excellent writing and characters, Boo has everything you could ask for.

I loved reading about Neil Smith's take on heaven or the afterlife. At first, the idea that this heaven is only for American thirteen-year-olds seemed a bit contrived and too convenient, but once you suspend your disbelief, it really works. This heaven is a lot closer to our normal lives than most people would describe heaven to be, which means that our earthly logic applies to many aspects of life in heaven, but not all. Boo is fascinated by this and is constantly conducting experiments and trying to figure out what rules apply to life in heaven, which was fascinating to read about. I especially liked how passing into heaven changes some things about people but leaves others the same, which brings up really interesting questions about what about people needs to be "fixed" and what disabilities are really just social constructs.

Boo is a great narrator for this story. For a thirteen-year-old boy, he is very mature, making his narration very introspective, analytical, and straight-to-the-point. His voice is often sarcastic or just questioning of society, which makes for an entertaining narration even in  dire situations. I really grew to love Boo and his random quirks over the course of the novel. The strong voice manages to convey a wide array of emotions: due to the dark subject matter, of course there are scenes that will make you want to cry about the hopelessness of the situation, but there are also plenty of scenes that will make you crack a smile.

Even though I loved pretty much everything about this book, the mystery is what kept me flipping the pages and made me desperate to find out what would happen next. I guessed the final plot twist early on, but I never would have guessed all the plot twists that got us to that point. The suspense had me on the edge of my seat throughout the novel, and I love how the mystery ties in with the unique setting: it's a murder mystery with the added suspense that these are unprecedented events in heaven and that no one really knows what's going to happen, since the rules on earth don't all apply to life in heaven. That element made for a very psychological thriller where you can never really know who's good and who's evil, or what it even means to be good or evil.

What I loved most about Boo is how it combines such a suspenseful story with a ton of moral questions. I can't go into this too much without spoiling things, but the mystery brings up questions of what it means to be good or evil, about punishment and forgiveness, and about mental illness in relation to committing crimes, and so on. The story back on earth also presents a nuanced perspective on bullying and school shootings. All of these issues are addressed in a very open-minded way, complicating our understanding of things rather than getting preachy about the "right" way to look at these issues.

At the end, I was still confused about some things and wanted more answers to all of the questions the novel poses. But in a way, I didn't mind this confusion, because it mirrors Boo's confusion about what has happened and our own lack of knowing about the afterlife, and even many elements of life on earth. This novel gives no simple answers, which can be frustrating at times but really just makes sense with this type of story.

If you're looking for a thought-provoking read that combines a unique, suspenseful story with a lot of deeper questions, Boo is the book for you. I absolutely loved the writing, the characters, the suspenseful plot, the intriguing perspective on the afterlife, and the nuanced way the novel poses questions about the afterlife as well as life on earth. Definitely recommended!