Weekly Wrap-Up – March 19, 2016

 

Welcome to my weekly wrap-up! Here is where you can see my books read during the past week, books to be read next week, books I have added to my shelves, any bookish happenings and the like. I have linked to Stacking the Shelves, the Saturday Situation, the Saturday Review of Books, Talk of the Town, Bought, Borrowed & Bagged, The Sunday Salon, Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Wrap-Up,  It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday. So check out what I’ve been up to this past week.

 

 

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Books Added This Week

 

From NetGalley

Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema. The summer 2016 crop of YA debuts sounds so strong. – I am Lou Brown: Social outcast, precocious failure, 5’10” and still growing. I was on the fast track to the Olympic superstardom. Now, I’m training boys too cool to talk to me. In a sport I just made up. In a fish tank. My life has quickly become very weird.

Nice Girls Endure by Chris Struyk-Bonn. I already heart Chelsea. – Chelsea Duvay is so many things. She’s an avid musical lover, she’s a gifted singer, and she has the most perfect, beautiful feet. But no one ever notices that. All they notice is Chelsea’s weight. Daily, Chelsea endures endless comments about her appearance from well-meaning adults and cruel classmates. So she keeps to herself and just tries to make it through. Don’t make waves. Don’t draw attention. That’s how life is for Chelsea until a special class project pushes the energetic and incessantly social Melody into Chelsea’s world. As their unlikely friendship grows, Chelsea emerges from her isolated existence, and she begins to find the confidence to enjoy life. But bullies are bullies, and they remain as vicious as ever. One terrible encounter threatens to destroy everything Chelsea has worked so hard to achieve.

Party of One by Dave Holmes. I remember the golden days of MTV and the VJ’s. – Dave Holmes has spent his life on the periphery, nose pressed hopefully against the glass, wanting just one thing: to get inside. Growing up, he was the artsy son in the sporty family. At his all-boys high school and Catholic college, he was the closeted gay kid surrounded by crush-worthy straight guys. And in his twenties, in the middle of a disastrous career in advertising, he accidentally became an MTV VJ overnight when he finished second, naturally, in the Wanna Be a VJ contest, opening the door to fame, fortune, and celebrity—you know, almost.

The Wedding Sisters by Jamie Brenner. ‘Cause a triple wedding can’t go wrong! – Meryl Becker is living a mother’s dream. The oldest of her three beautiful daughters, Meg, is engaged to a wonderful man from one of the country’s most prominent families. Of course, Meryl wants to give Meg the perfect wedding. Who wouldn’t? But when her two younger daughters, Amy and Jo, also become engaged to celebrated bachelors, Meryl has to admit that three weddings is more than she and her husband, Hugh, can realistically afford. The solution? A triple wedding!

 

From Edelweiss

The Last True Love Story by Brendan Kiely. Everyone loves a road trip. – Hendrix, he’s cool. Kind of a poet. But also kind of lost. His dad is dead and his mom is married to her job. Gpa is his only real family, but he’s fading fast from Alzheimer’s. Looking for any way to help the man who raised him, Hendrix has made Gpa an impossible promise—that he’ll get him back east to the hill where he first kissed his wife, before his illness wipes away all memory of her. One hot July night, Hendrix and Corrina decide to risk everything. They steal a car, spring Gpa from his assisted living facility, stuff Old Humper the dog into the back seat, and take off on a cross-country odyssey from LA to NY.

For This Life Only by Stacey Kade. I think I should beat it to the punch and just start crying now. – Three minutes. Jacob Palmer died for three life-changing minutes. And when he woke up, nothing was the same. Elijah, his twin brother, is dead, and his family is broken. Jace’s planned future is crushed, along with his pitching arm. Everyone keeps telling him that Eli’s in a better place, but Jace isn’t so sure. Because in those three minutes, there was nothing.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, Maureen Johnson and Robin Wasserman. A Simon centered book! Yay! – Simon Lewis has been a human and a vampire, and now he is becoming a Shadowhunter. The events of City of Heavenly Fire left him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. Whomever this new Simon might be. But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. At least Simon’s trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D. Join Simon on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way.

Purchased

Descent by Tim Johnston. I really liked hearing Tim speak at TFOB about how he wrote this. –  The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, who are taking a family vacation before their daughter leaves for college. But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic. Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion.

The Status of All Things by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke. Liz and Lisa were so nice and I just loved the sound of this one.- Kate is a thirty-five-year-old woman who is obsessed with social media. So when her fiancé, Max, breaks things off at their rehearsal dinner—to be with Kate’s close friend and coworker, no less—she goes straight to Facebook to share it with the world. But something’s changed. Suddenly, Kate’s real life starts to mirror whatever she writes in her Facebook status. With all the power at her fingertips, and heartbroken and confused over why Max left her, Kate goes back in time to rewrite their history.

The Pieces We Keep by Kristina McMorris. I heart me some Kristina and I can’t wait to read another of her books. – Two years have done little to ease veterinarian Audra Hughes’s grief over her husband’s untimely death. Eager for a fresh start, Audra plans to leave Portland for a new job in Philadelphia. Her seven-year-old son, Jack, seems apprehensive about flying–but it’s just the beginning of an anxiety that grows to consume him. As Jack’s fears continue to surface in recurring and violent nightmares, Audra hardly recognizes the introverted boy he has become. Desperate, she traces snippets of information unearthed in Jack’s dreams, leading her to Sean Malloy, a struggling US Army veteran wounded in Afghanistan. Together they unravel a mystery dating back to World War II, and uncover old family secrets that still have the strength to wound–and perhaps, at last, to heal.

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Books Read This Week

The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan

Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley

My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul

The Martian by Andy Weir (audiobook 2)

The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

 

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 Books to be Read Next Week

Future Shock by Elizabeth Briggs

Tragedy Girl by Christine Hurley Deriso

Alice & Oliver by Charles Bock

 

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This Week in Review…

Audiobooks, who knew? I have been behind with my book club books, so I decided to try the free Audible month from Amazon and I did enjoy the two books I heard. I still like reading books way better, but I can see adding at least one audiobook book a month, especially for my book club books to keep caught up.

The Tucson Festival of Books was awesome! I don’t do well in crowds so I was very nervous about an event with over 130,000 in attendance. But two days all about books, less than 1/2 an hour from my house, how could I not go? So I planned and decided to just go to author panels on Saturday. The event was free, but certain events had tickets you could request online so I did that to guarantee my spot. I arrived 30 minutes early and went directly to the line for my first panel. Then I did the same for my other two, out of one and straight to the next, so I didn’t have to deal with the crushes of people walking around. I also found that if I sat in the very front row, I didn’t see everyone behind me and I could really focus on the authors.

On day 1 I started at the Psychological Thriller panel featuring Lisa Lutz, Tim Johnston and Chris Pavone. Lisa was very funny and the panel was super interesting. I had a chance to meet Lisa afterwards, and she was very gracious and kind. The next panel was From Book to Screen and Back with Terry Brooks, Chuck Wendig and Diana Gabaldon. I was able to meet Terry and Diana and they were both so nice, I feel bad I have never read their books (although my hubs loves Terry’s books and we all watch the show). My final panel for the day was Lives and Lies panel featuring Kristina McMorris, Amy Sue Nathan, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke. I was bummed I did not get to meet Kristina after, as they hustled her out very quickly, but I love Twitter as we were able to plan to meet Sunday. 

On day 2 I brought the little one and the hubs with me and we spent the afternoon wandering booths and spending at least an hour in Science City (my eleven-year-old wants to be a biologist/zoologist when she grows up, so science stuff is her crack). They had a booth giving free books to kids and then another with $1 kids books. Between those and The HarperCollins Children’s tent she came home with six books. I was able to meet Kristina, Lisa and Liz and Tim Johnston, and all were delightful. I only picked up three books while there as my TBR is already ridiculous and I got them all signed. Lisa and Liz were so nice I had to move their upcoming book up my reading list and I loved it. I am glad I overcame my issues and was able to go to such a fantastic event and meet some great authors. It was nice to hear from them how much they truly like book bloggers and appreciate all that we do.

The #30DayReadingIndie Challenge is now open. You can go check it out at Book Enthusiast Promotions for more info on how to get some great free reads. They also have a Facebook group that you can find here.

I have one giveaway running right now.

Print copy of Copygirl (US Only) — Ends Mar 22nd, 2016

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My weekly discussion post – Why I Read – Part 1. Join the discussion and link to your own.

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United States of Books – This week’s book took us to Maryland with The Accidental Tourist by Ann Tyler.

 

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We are currently featuring Anna Mitchael and Michelle Sassa authors of Copygirl. We are giving away a print copy their book, so check out the interview and enter here (giveaway ends March 22nd US only).

Up Next – March 29, 2016, Gareth P. Jones author of No True Echo will be featured (Kindle copy giveaway).

 

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My Weekly Posts

 

• [13 Mar] Trust No One by Paul Cleave ★★★★
• [14 Mar] Black Widow Forever Red by Margaret Stohl ★★★★
• [14 Mar] United States of Books – The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
• [14 Mar] Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Books On My Spring TBR
• [15 Mar] Author Tuesday Interview and Giveaway – Anna Mitchael and Michelle Sassa
• [15 Mar] Waiting on Wednesday – The Flame Never Dies
• [16 Mar] The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith ★★★★½
• [17 Mar] Only Ever You by Rebecca Drake ★★★★
• [18 Mar] This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang ★★★★½
• [19 Mar] Saturday Soapbox – Why I Read – Part 1
• [19 Mar] Weekly Wrap-Up – March 19, 2016

 

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So how was your bookish week?

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This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

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