Around The World ARC Tours Presents Rules for 50/50 Chances by Kate McGovern Early Review

Synopsis:

A heartrending but ultimately uplifting debut novel about learning to accept life's uncertainties; a perfect fit for the current trend in contemporary realistic novels that confront issues about life, death, and love.

Seventeen-year-old Rose Levenson has a decision to make: Does she want to know how she’s going to die? Because when Rose turns eighteen, she can take the test that will tell her if she carries the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease, the degenerative condition that is slowly killing her mother. 

With a fifty-fifty shot at inheriting her family’s genetic curse, Rose is skeptical about pursuing anything that presumes she’ll live to be a healthy adult—including going to ballet school and the possibility of falling in love. But when she meets a boy from a similarly flawed genetic pool, and gets an audition for a dance scholarship in California, Rose begins to question her carefully-laid rules.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23296348-rules-for-50-50-chances?ac=1

Pre-Order From Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-50-Chances-Kate-McGovern/dp/0374301581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432346622&sr=8-1&keywords=rules+for+50%2F50+chances

Review:

Rules for 50/50 Chances is one of the most heart wrenching books I have read this year. I have read some real heart wrenches but this book hit home because of what the book was about. I am not sure if you have ever heard of the Disease Huntington's but here is the definition a hereditary disease marked by degeneration of the brain cells and causing chorea and progressive dementia. In essence your body starts to shut down and you lose your mind. So when I was reading this book I cried because it brought up memories of a friend of mine who died from this disease.

Rose knows that she may have a disease that will kill her. She has a 50/50 chance because her mother has it and she is slowly dying. When she turns 18 years old she can take the test to learn if she will have the disease or not. All Rose wants is to go to Ballet school and have love but at the same time she knows that she could have a killer gene slowly killing her.

What should she do? Take the test and find out if she is a walking dead girl? or should she not take the test and go to Ballet school and live a normal life until she gets sick and finds out she has the disease? What would you do in her shoes?

About The Author:

Hello. I’m Kate. 

I love stories, real and imagined. Over the years, I’ve written plays, essays, and articles about education, relationships, race...and cab drivers, grandmothers, teenagers, homeless women and others. You can read some of those things here. I’ve also taught theatre and language arts in Boston, New York and London. I didn’t love middle school but I do love middle schoolers. 

I got my BA in American Studies from Yale in 2003. In 2008, I went across the pond to Oxford, where I was a recipient of the super-cool Weidenfeld Scholarship and got a master's degree in social anthropology. After some stopovers in New York, London and the English countryside, I now live back in Cambridge, MA, where I was born and raised.

Some random, interesting facts:

I love trains. I really, really love trains.

My name's not short for anything...I'm just plain Kate.

Three of my four front teeth are fake.

My first word was "book." And so it began...

Around The World ARC Tours Presents Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales Early Review

Synopsis:

From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.

Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom. 

Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.

During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23310761-tonight-the-streets-are-ours?ac=1

Review:

Okay I first have to say that I was very surprised by this book. You go into reading this book thinking one thing and at the end you get something different.

You have Arden Huntley who is a loyal girl to her family and friends. She does everything for them and she is tired of being a stepping stool. All she wants is to be loved and cared for. Instead what she gets is a load of worries and learning how to fake it to make it. Then a bright side comes for her in the form of a blog named Tonight the Streets Are Ours written by a boy named Peter.

Peter created this blog Tonight the Streets Are Ours to blog about things going on in New York where he lives. Then he gets dumped by his girlfriend and he starts to blog about the break-up. Arden being the care taker she is decides she is going to drive down to New York and help Peter get over his ex-girlfriend.

When Arden gets to New York she and Peter have a night of fun. They do everything and anything they want to do and soon Arden sees that Peter is not the person she thought he was. She's starting to see that everything is not always as it seems and could be looked at in a different way. Arden learns that love can sometimes hurt. 

About The Author:

I was born in 1984, and I grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts, with my parents and our cat. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a writer, actress, or singer. The writing part turned out to be easiest to accomplish, since it turns out I can’t really carry a tune, though I can do a pretty compelling karaoke rendition of “Hey Mickey.”

I wrote and illustrated approximately one million picture books when I was in elementary school, all of them about unicorns or cats or princesses, or princess unicorns who were best friends with princess cats. When I was seven, I wrote a longer story about quintuplets named Marissa, Larissa, Clarissa, Melissa, and Alyssa. The quintuplets were not princesses, but they did get invited to a royal ball.

During middle school and high school, I wrote five unpublished YA novels. I also acted in plays, competed in gymnastics meets and debate tournaments, babysat, and did an awful lot of schoolwork. My favorite school subject was math, and my worst subject was either science or Spanish.

I went to college at the University of Chicago, where I majored in psychology. I also performed in Off-Off Campus (an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe), competed in debate tournaments all over the world, helped judge the world’s largest scavenger hunt, and wrote a humor column for the school paper. And I wrote another unpublished YA novel, for which I was awarded the Olga and Paul Menn Foundation Prize for Fiction Writing.

After graduating, I got a job at a children’s book publishing company in New York City, where I remain to this day. My first novel was published in 2010, and since then, I’ve just kept working on more. During the daytime I read other people’s books, and during the nighttime I write my own. What more could I need?

Learn more about me by following me on Twitter or befriending me on Facebook. Need a photo of me? Here you go.

Around The World ARC Tours Presents This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp Early Review

Synopsis:

10:00 a.m.

The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.

The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03

The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05

Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24529123-this-is-where-it-ends?ac=1

Review:

This Is where It Ends is a book every child should read. School shootings are becoming the norm in today's society. It saddens me that children feel the need to kill someone instead of talking to someone about their problems.

TIWIE is told from four points of view. Claire, Tomas, Sylvia, Autumn. What you get is so much from this story. Someone has been raped, someone is a closest lesbian, and another is scared to be themselves. The shooter you would never believe because they come from a good family and is very brilliant but is bullied and secretly the shooter has anger issues and hidden depression.

As you read from everyone's point of view several stories unfold and what you get is so heart wrenching that it is told just like it is happening minute by minute. Second by second and you can feel the fear the person is feeling right before being shot. This is a must read for all students because you never know when your child's school could be next.

About Author:

Marieke is a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, and diversity advocate. She holds degrees in philosophy, history, and medieval studies, and wants to grow up to be a time traveler.

In the midnight hours of the day, Marieke writes stories full of hope and heartbreak. Her debut YA novel THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS will be out from Sourcebooks Fire in 2016.

NOTE: While I love Goodreads, I don't spend a lot of time here, so I'm dreadfully slow in responding to questions or requests. You're always welcome to tweet or email me though! 

NOTE, PART TWO: I so appreciate everyone taking the time to read and discuss my book! I do not respond to reviews, but whether you love or hate my book, thank you for sharing your thoughts! 

website:

http://www.mariekenijkamp.com/ 

Around The World ARC Tours Presents The Stars Never Rise (Untitled Series #1) by Rachel Vincent Review

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to trust Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her. 

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17788681-the-stars-never-rise?ac=1

Add The Second Book To Your To Be Read List On Goodreads Coming Out 2016

The Flame Never Dies (Untitled Series, #2) 

by Rachel Vincent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17789135-the-flame-never-dies

Purchase Links:

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038574417X/ref=x_gr_w_glide_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_glide_bb-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=038574417X&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Barnes & Nobles:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-stars-never-rise-rachel-vincent/1120347801?ean=9780385744171

Review:

First I have to say I love love love the start to this series. I love the good VS evil and the world that Rachel has set up. It is where Immortal Souls are in grave danger of being taken by soul sucking demons. The world is on lock down contained for their own good but the truth of the matter is that they are being shaped and monitored for another reason. Only the worthy can procreate children. They are the chosen ones. 

Nina and her sister Mellie are in a race of time. Instead of Nina worrying about her soul she is hell bent on saving her sister Mellie. See Meillie has a secret that could kill her and Nina and Nina will do anything to keep them safe from harm even if that means she has to trust the one person she does not trust, Finn. Finn and his rouge of bandits help Nina and Mellie out. Nina and Finn know that souls are in short supply due to the soul suckers taking anyone's soul at will.

Nina knows that at anytime someone can find out Mellie's secret and that would not be good. The demons are ruthless and don't care whose soul they take. Everyone knows to be careful and mind their business but what will happen to Nina and Mellie and Finn and The Rogues?

This is must read and I need to buy it and re-read it because I love me some good VS evil!

The Stars Never Rise Quotes:

“I opened my mouth to tell her that everything would be okay, but the words melted like sugar on my tongue-sweet yet insubstantial.” 

― Rachel Vincent, The Stars Never Rise

“Maddock stabbed his fried egg with his fork, and bright yellow yolk bled all over his plate like a sunshine hemorrhage.” 

― Rachel Vincent, The Stars Never Rise

About Author:

[Note: Though Rachel's blog entries are cross posted here, she does not frequent Goodreads. The best ways to contact her are FB, Twitter, or her Wordpress blog. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HER MESSAGES HERE. SHE DOES NOT CHECK THEM.]

A resident of Oklahoma, Rachel Vincent has a BA in English and an overactive imagination, and consistently finds the latter to be more practical. She shares her workspace with two black cats (Kaci and Nyx) and her # 1 fan. Rachel is older than she looks-seriously-and younger than she feels, but remains convinced that for every day she spends writing, one more day will be added to her lifespan.

Around The World ARC Tours Presents Awake by Natasha Preston Early Review

Synopsis:

Scarlett doesn’t remember anything before the age of five. Her parents say it’s from the trauma of seeing her house burn down, and she accepts the life they’ve created for her without question—until a car accident causes Scarlett to start remembering pieces of an unfamiliar past.

When a new guy moves into town, Scarlett feels an instant spark. But Noah knows the truth of Scarlett’s past, and he’s determined to shield her from it...because Scarlett grew up in a cult called Eternal Light, controlled by her biological parents.

And they want her back.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22881022-awake?from_search=true&search_version=service

Review:

Okay first I have to say this about this review. You all know I love to read and there are some books that I don't finish but most I try to. This book was very hard for me to read and keep up with. I would confuse characters and this instant love thing was really weird for me. Plus Scarlett's character and her amnesia and then her remembrance really had me confused.

In Awake we meet Scarlett a quiet girl who has no early memories of her childhood. Then one day she meets the new guy in school Noah and he starts asking her questions about her life and she soon realizes she has no memory of her early life. Then it is like fate intervened and she was in another accident and all her memories come back. 

Scarlett finds out she is the daughter of Cult Leaders and she was kidnapped from them in order to save her life. Now she knows all this she is also told her parents want her back and will do anything to get her back. 

What will happen to Scarlett? Will she be kidnapped and brought back to her parents or will she stay with her family and live a normal life......

About Author:

My name is Natasha, but most people call me Tash or Tasha. I don't mind either. I was born in England and have lived in small towns and villages out in the countryside ever since.

My husband, Joseph, is the most supportive person in my life. Without his love, help and patience I wouldn't be where I am today. And this website wouldn't exist! I'm a proud mummy to an amazing little boy who is my whole world.

At school I drifted through, achieving average grades. I fell into administration and receptionist jobs, thinking that I couldn't really do anything else.

In 2010 I stumbled into writing completely by accident. I was searching the 'app store' and came across Wattpad, an amateur writing site. For the first few months I just read, but then decided to type some of the ideas I had floating around my head. I'm so glad I did because I absolutely love writing. 

Writing gave me an escape, and Wattpad gave me the self-confidence I lacked.

Around The World ARC Tours Presents Those Girls by Lauren Saft Review

Synopsis:

Some girls will always have your back, and some girls can't help but stab you in it.

Junior year, the suburbs of Philadelphia. Alex, Mollie and Veronica are those girls: they're the best of friends and the party girls of the school. But how well does everybody know them--and really, how well do they know one another? Alex is secretly in love with the boy next door and has joined a band--without telling anyone. Mollie suffers from a popular (and possibly sociopathic) boyfriend, as well as a serious mean streak. And Veronica just wants to be loved--literally, figuratively, physically....she's not particular. Will this be the year that bonds them forever....or tears them apart for good? 

Lauren Saft masterfully conveys what goes on in the mind of a teenage girl, and her debut novel is raw, honest, hilarious, and thought-provoking, with a healthy dose of heart.

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18249315-those-girls?ac=1

Review:

Those Girls is one of those books that will have you yelling and pissed then crying because there is so much going on. This is such an accurate account of high school girls who are popular but have deep down secrets that not even their best friends know about.

In Those Girls we meet three girls who are so different from one another but they have no idea their friends deep down secrets. We meet Alex who has secretly joined a band and is in love with her next door neighbor. Mollie seems to have it all and that includes having a great boyfriend but secretly he is abusing her and controlling her every move.Then you have Veronica who is called the town slut when all she wants is to be loved and have someone to call her own.

These girls party together, share everything or so they thought. Reading this book made me sad at some points because I could imagine feeling not loved and dejected and abused. The one thing that keep coming back to my mind was that schools and parents really need to be more involved with their children. They need to know what is going on and what there children are doing. The teenage years are the years where kids grow up and learn everything.

Purchase:

ORDER THOSE GIRLS ON AMAZON.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lauren Saft holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor's degree from Tufts University. She's worked in publishing, TV, education, child care, retail, journalism, and food service, all the while closely studying the habits and compulsions of teenage girls. She currently works as a TV producer in Philadelphia where she lives with her cat and creative inspiration, Desi. Her work has been published in Five Quarterly, Rap Up Magazine, and clubplanet.com. One time, she met the Olsen twins. Those Girls is her debut novel. 

Around The World ARC Tour Presents The Heartbreakers (The Heartbreaker Chronicles #1) by Ali Novak Early Review

Synopsis:

"When I met Oliver Perry, I had no clue he was the lead singer for The Heartbreakers. Unbeknownst to him, I was the only girl in the world who hated his music."

Stella will do anything for her sister—even stand in line for an autographed Heartbreakers CD... for three hours. At least she met a cute boy at the Starbucks beforehand. A blue-eyed boy who looks an awful lot like...

Oliver Perry. Of course Starbucks guy is the lead singer for her least favorite band. Thanks, universe. But there may be more to Oliver than his world-famous charm, because even after she insults his music—to his face—he still gives her his number. Seriously, what is her life?

But how can Stella even think about being with Oliver—dating and laughing and pulling pranks with the band—when her sister could be dying of cancer?

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24862103-the-heartbreakers

Review:

Okay I have to say that at first I did not want to read this book because it sounded cheesy and to high school for me but I have to say that once I started reading it I could not for the life of me put it down. I laughed and I cried and I yelled because there were times when I wanted to jump in the book and shake the hell out of Stella for what she was doing and thinking.

The Heartbreakers starts out in the hospital room of Cara who is Stella and Drew's triplet. Cara has cancer and she is in love with the heartbreakers and Stella has no idea who the group is because she is into photography. On one visit to see Cara Stella has a magazine with the heartbreakers in it and Cara is sad because she had tickets to see them in concert but got sick so she could not go.

Their birthday is coming up and Drew decides to get Stella on board to get The Heartbreakers signatures and show her something special she has been wanting to see for a while. So Stella agrees to go and they take a road trip to see The Heartbreakers and a special surprise for Stella. This is where the story gets going and Stella meets a boy that is gorgeous and smart and funny. She is flirty and having fun with him because she knows she will never see him again or will she see him again?

This is a must read that comes out On my birthday August 04, 2015

Ali Novak is twenty-three-year-old Wisconsin native and recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s creative writing program. She started writing her debut novel My Life with the Walter Boys when she was only fifteen. Since then, her work has received more than 100 million hits online.

When she isn’t writing, Ali enjoys Netflix marathons, traveling with her husband Jared, and reading any type of fantasy novel she can get her hands on. 

You can follow her on Wattpad and Twitter @fallzswimer and on Instagram @alinovak.

Hi. I’m Ali.

I’m quite positive that I’m terrible at writing bios, so I’ll start with the basics. I was born in 1991 in Brookfield, Wisconsin on Memorial Day. I have two younger siblings—my brother Jackie and sister Peyton—and I’m married to my high school sweetheart. I’m of Irish and German descent, which means I can drink most people under the table and sunburn on cloudy days.

My passion for writing started with a love of reading. In grade school, my mother introduced me to the Nancy Drew series, which I loved so much I spent all my allowance purchasing every yellow bound book I could get my hands on. Apart from my newfound obsession with collecting books, reading Nancy Drew inspired me to write my own mysteries, and I started scribbling down story ideas in notebooks when I was supposed to be paying attention in class.

When I was fifteen I wrote my first full-length novel, My Life with the Walter Boys, and I wanted to share it with the world. However, the thought of publishing my book never crossed my mind, because what publishing house would pick up a kid's rough draft manuscript? So I did what any normal teenager would do and googled how to share it. That’s how I discovered Wattpad, an online reading and writing community. After working up the courage, I started posting my book to the website in 2010 and the story became an instant hit. Since then, my collective work has been read more than 100 million times.

I didn’t get my break until 2013 when Wattpad formed a partnership with the publishing company Sourcebooks, and I was offered a chance to publish my story. I will never forget the moment when I officially received my book deal for My Life with the Walter Boys. It happened when I was at work, and after reading the email I started bawling my eyes out. Like snot dripping down my face and everything. Very attractive. All my coworkers thought something terrible had happened when really I was on cloud nine.

Now that My Life with the Walter Boys is published and I’m working on new projects, it’s weird to think that I’ll never edit the story again—especially considering I’ve been fiddling with it for more than seven years. But I can look back on my journey and know that writing the book made me the author I am today. To check out my current writing projects, you can follow me on Wattpad @fallzswimmer.