Things I Know About Love

Livia's experience of love has been disappointing to say the least. But all that is about to change. After years of illness, she's off to spend the summer with her brother in America. She's making up for lost time, and she's writing it all down in her private blog. America is everything she ever dreamed of - and then she meets Adam. Can Livia put the past behind her and risk falling in love again?

Oh gosh, where to start. I picked up this book thinking it was just some light hearted chick-lit. The description sounded nice and I thought that the blog thing would be interesting to read about, considering I run one or two...

And this novel is relatively short. I mean, it's definitely the thinnest book I've read in a long time. But there is so much substance and depth to it!

Kat Le Vann has a beautiful was of describing things, almost Dessen-like. The plot was well rounded, but still had room for plenty of surprises.

I love the British-ness of this book! There were so many things that Livia was shocked or surprised about that just seemed normal to me. So it was really cool to be able to feel how being in America seemed to someone else. I also really enjoyed her blog posts and her list that just kept going!

I won't go too far as to spoil the ending, but it really is a shocker. If I wasn't in a public place reading, I would have been crying.

But it was really phenomenal, unlike anything I've gotten my hands on in a LONG time!

In a rage...

I am completely against book banning.
No one is forcing your child to pick up a book that might be a bit too mature. It's not the author's fault if you want to keep your child living such a sheltered life as well.

Do they ban TV shows? Movies? No. There is a limit on censorship there, but twenty years ago, the things we see on primetime networks were unheard of. So what happend there?

And what about the INTERNET?? There is so much in this crazy place that your child is smart enough to find. And locking certain sites just isn't going to do it. There's no escaping the fact that people will write, publish, post, create whatever they want! The more people it reaches by its tender contents, the better.

Indie anyone?

Okay, so I am alll about little publishing companies and indie bookstores.

BUT

I don't live anywhere near indie bookstores, or even used bookstores, so unless I go to the city, which is pretty far... the local chain bookstore it is for me. Which is okay.

Sadly, I hardly ever hear of any indie books, unless I read about them on other blogs (which I LOVE to see!).
So when I heard about INJANE by Douglas K. Pearson, I was pretty pumped. Especially when I heard what it was about. At first, it reminded me of Wake by Lisa Mcmann. Until I read the first chapter and realized that this was something different from anything I'd read before. That kind of stuff just doesn't appear too much in the kind of literature that goes around popularly. And sometimes, it's a nice change.

To read the first chapter of INJANE, click here. And if you have any great indie book recommendations, let me know in the comments!

The hunt!

Awesome news! Okay, so there's this new book coming out by Gena Showalter, Unraveled. I haven't read any of her stuff yet, but I do have copies of Oh My Goth and Blacklisted.
But there is an amazing contest that I want to tell you guys about.


Gena Showalter’s YA series, Intertwined, about sixteen-year-old Aden Stone, a paranormal magnet who has, well had, four souls trapped in his head, continues this fall with the release of UNRAVELED (Harlequin, September 2010). Now, Aden is down to three souls bossing him around, but along the way he’s picked up the title of Vampire King to add to his ever-growing list of worries (which includes a prophecy that says he’ll bite the dust after a knife through the heart). To celebrate UNRAVELED’s release, Gena and her YA buds are hosting a scavenger hunt on their blogs.



The all-star lineup of hunt participants includes authors Rachel Caine, PC Cast, Marley Gibson, Rosemary Clement-Moore and Tina Ferraro, as well as Gena, natch, and The Knight Agency blog. Three grand prize winners will each win a $100 Visa gift card, plus Gena's giving away signed copies of UNRAVELED to five lucky runner-ups. All you have to do is find all eight letters, unscramble them and email the word to Contests(AT)KnightAgency.net. To find out where the letters are hiding in the great internet universe, click here for a contest road map and rules.



This contest runs from Monday, August 30th to Thursday, September 2nd. All entries must be received by Monday, September 6th at midnight ET.


P.S. Sorry I'm telling you guys about this so late! I really meant to put it up earlier in the week, but school and life and... you know. ;)