Blog Tour: Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy | Interview | Giveaway

We are thrilled to be part of Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy tour! Today, we are sharing an Q&A with Author Andrew Smith, check it out below.

This tour also includes a giveaway courtesy of Bloomsbury Children’s.

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Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: July 11th 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
 

Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Interview

1. What makes BYLTHM stand out from other books you've written or read before?

I think BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO HATE ME is unique in its unabashed admiration for villainy and evil. Everyone loves a great bad guy, and now we finally have a chance to express that love openly. Also, we in the YA business recognize the significant contribution that has been made to the genre by bloggers and BookTubers who love our stories--so what a fantastic way to bring together some of the driving forces in the evolution of YA literature!

2. Is there something you hope your readers take away from BYLTHM?

Nothing more than an insatiable drive to buy copies for every human being they know.

3. Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

There are countless authors and books that have influenced me and continue to influence me. I have read some remarkable books that are coming out in 2017, and this gives me faith that literature is continuing to evolve in remarkably impressive ways. The main authors who've influenced me as a kid and as an adult: Kurt Vonnegut, William Faulkner, Salman Rushdie, A.S. King.

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Andrew Smith is the award-winning author of several Young Adult novels, including the critically acclaimed Winger (Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Shelf Awareness—an Amazon “Best of the Year”) and The Marbury Lens (A YALSA BFYA, and Starred reviews and Best of the Year in both Publishers Weekly and Booklist).

He is a native-born Californian who spent most of his formative years traveling the world. His university studies focused on Political Science, Journalism, and Literature. He has published numerous short stories and articles. Grasshopper Jungle, coming February 11, 2014, is his seventh novel. He lives in Southern California.

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Follow the tour, tomorrow check out:  Bumbles and Fairy-Tales

Book Review: Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

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Stealing Snow
Stealing Snow #1
Author: Danielle Paige
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: September 20th 2016
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she's not crazy and doesn't belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.

Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn't what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid--her true home--with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she's sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she's destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything...including Snow's return to the world she once knew.

This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.

Stealing Snow is a retelling of Snow Queen; I've never read the tale of Snow Queen so I don't know how much is the same or not but I will let you in on a little secret . . . I loved Stealing Snow; it was fast paced read full of magic and mystery.

Snow has been in institute ward for almost 11 years due to an incident that happened; she and her friend tried to walk through a mirror and ever since then Snow has had this anger that causes her to lash out. 

One night while she's half asleep a guy enters her room and calls her princess and tells her to find the tree. Immediately I'm thinking what tree and why does she need it find it. Well my questions are answered when Snow goes to the tree and crosses over to another world . . . Snow is a princess and it's up to her save their world. 

If you're expecting Snow to be like Elsa you are off-base, Snow faces many challenges and will do WHATEVER it takes to survive; she may trust the wrong people in Algid but it only makes her that much more stronger for it.

Throughout the story many secrets are revealed and by the end of the book my jaw was on the floor. It was a twist I did not see coming, I'm still recovering from said twist. 

Danielle Paige's has done an excellent job in making me wish I had the sequel in my hands right now. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Furthermore & Stealing Snow

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Furthermore

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: August 30th 2016

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers

There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it’s been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she’s about to embark on one to find the other.

But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she’ll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit—and with a liar by her side in land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father Alice must first find herself—and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

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Stealing Snow

Stealing Snow #1

Author: Danielle Paige

Release Date: September 20th 2016

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she's not crazy and doesn't belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.

Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn't what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid--her true home--with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she's sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she's destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything...including Snow's return to the world she once knew.

This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.

BOLDLY BOOKISH Blog Tour: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando | Guest Post | Giveaway

Welcome tour our stop on THE LEAVING for author Tara Altebrando. This tour is hosted by The Irish Banana Tour!

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The Leaving
Author: Tara Altebrando
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: June 7th 2016
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back--with no idea of where they've been.

Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back. Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max's sister Avery, who needs to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story.

10 Totally Random Things About Me

I collect spoons.
I’m actually a third generation spoon collector and have spoons from the many places I’ve travelled (Paris! Switzerland! Italy! Ireland! More!) and also spoons that friends have brought me back from places I’ve get to visit (China, Brazil…). I have more than 150 spoons at this point, with the most recent addition being Niagara Falls.

I’ve never had a full-time job. 
Even when I worked full time for a music magazine in Dublin, we had a week off between issues. So I’ve never worked full time, 9-5. I’ve always cobbled together part time and freelance gigs and then switched to writing full time about eight years ago.

I can’t sing.
It’s surprising to me every night that my younger daughter still wants me to sing to her, because I’m really bad at it. My older daughter has a lovely singing voice and I’m sort of in awe of it.

I don’t really like babies. 
I mean, they’re cute and all, but they’re exhausting. Now that my kids are “kids,” I enjoy their company more. Does that make me sound awful?

I’ll talk to anybody.
My husband once described me as “conversationally gifted,” which I thought was a sly dig—like a funny way of saying that I talk too much. But what he meant was that I’m able to have a conversation with pretty much anyone I encounter. Sometimes to the mortification of my children. My friends that went to high school with me (an all girls catholic school) are very much the same way so it must have something to do with the nuns.

I’m afraid of bees/wasps.
Like I will run screaming from a room, flailing in such a way that I am likely to injure myself and thus inflict more pain on myself than any bee or wasp could if they stung me.

My daughter gave me the idea for The Leaving
She fully expects a royalty check, all because she said a bunch of creepy things when she was five.

I was captain of my high school math team.
I was not thought to be an especially good writer back then.

I haven’t gotten my hair cut in almost a year.
Many months ago, the woman who had been cutting my hair quit the salon, so I let a long time pass without getting a haircut and then decided that it would be fun, even funny, to have long hair since I’d had short hair for like ten years. Turns out my hair grows painfully slowly, though. No one will mistake me for Rapunzel, that is for sure.

I cry during things.
Like Matilda the Musical and Sing Street.

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Tara Altebrando is the author of numerous books for young adult and middle-grade readers. Her upcoming book, THE LEAVING (Bloomsbury), is a YA thriller that received a starred PW review and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Her other YA novels include ROOMIES, coauthored with Sara Zarr; Dreamland Social Club (A Kirkus Reviews Best Books for Teens), The Best Night of (Your) Pathetic Life, What Happens Here, and The Pursuit of Happiness.

Tara is a Harvard graduate who lives in Queens, NY, with her husband and children.

FOLLOW THE TOUR!

6/21: Literary Lover - Review

6/22: That Artsy Reader Girl - Review

6/23: Novel Ink - Q&A

6/24: The Irish Banana Review - Top 10

1 set of the BOLDLY BOOKISH 2 Tour books (US Only)
Books include: Hold Me Like a Breath & Break Me Like A Promise by Tiffany Schmidt, The Fixer & The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes & The Leaving by Tara Altebrando


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Book Review: The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

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The Leaving
Author: Tara Altebrando
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Mystery, Contemporary
Released: June 7, 2016
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back--with no idea of where they've been.

Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back. Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max's sister Avery, who needs to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story.

Six kindergartners go missing on the first day of school and are never seen or heard from for years. Then, one day, five return. Teenagers. All with their memories wiped. Neither of them with any trace to the sixth missing kid, Max, or with where they've been or what has happened to them for the past eleven years.

Ok, let's be real  here, who doesn't love a mystery? Any mystery. I think we all do. We all want to play detective and solve a question. That's why I think this book is for everyone! A part from it's selling point (being a mystery) The Leaving is a good read with a great set of characters and a solid plot.

The book doesn't follow all six of the kids it only follows Scarlett, Lucas, and Avery. Avery wasn't one of the missing, she is Max's sister. Max is the kid that doesn't return and no one knows why, no one has any answers for Avery. Throughout the story they try to solve the big mystery. Of course they want to know what's happened to them in the past eleven years.  Tara Altebrando does an amazing job at keeping you guessing until the very end. I could not figure it out myself and I loved it! Now, I will be honest that when the mystery was solved it was very anticlimactic for me. BUT that is only because I had my hopes set on something else entirely and once I knew what happened I was a tiny bit disappointed. So, I will say go into this book open minded and don't try to guess the ending.

Overall The Leaving keeps you glued to it's pages and you'll finish it in one sitting. And, shout out to that amazing cover! The title and the image had me sold before I'd even read the description. If you read The Leaving let me know your thoughts! I'm dying to talk to someone about this amazing book!

Book Review: When We Collided by Emery Lord

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When We Collided
Author: Emery Lord
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Released: April 5th 2016
Review Source: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Meet Vivi and Jonah: A girl and a boy whose love has the power save or destroy them.

Vivi and Jonah couldn't be more different. Vivi craves anything joyful or beautiful that life can offer. Jonah has been burdened by responsibility for his family ever since his father died. As summer begins, Jonah resigns himself to another season of getting by. Then Vivi arrives, and suddenly life seems brighter and better. Jonah is the perfect project for Vivi, and things finally feel right for Jonah. Their love is the answer to everything. But soon Vivi's zest for life falters, as her adventurousness becomes true danger-seeking. Jonah tries to keep her safe, but there's something important Vivi hasn't told him.

When We Collided was suchhhh a hard book for me to read, a lot of it hit real close to home. But with that being said I can say how truthfully honest this book was, which is why it took me over a week to read it. I seriously could only do a little at a time especially when it came closer to ending because I knew there was an inevitable downfall and I was terrified.

We’ve got vivacious Vivi who is spending the summer with her mother in Verona Cove. Vivi is a girl you couldn’t forget you met even if you wanted to, you sense her presence, and miss it even more when it’s not around. She’s bubbly, happy, mysterious, and she is battling some inner darkness.

Jonah Daniels world has changed dramatically since his father's unfortunate death. Not only has he lost his dad but his mother has been so depressed she’s isolated herself in her bedroom, leaving the three oldest kids to take care of the three youngest (the Littles). Jonah expected this summer to be filled with making lunches for the Littles, taking care of the Littles, and working at his dad’s restaurant. Everything changed the day Vivi walked into his life.

When We Collided was heartbreakingly beautiful. While it took me time to read it, I never actually wanted to stop. Sometimes I know when I can only take things in small doses and this was one of them. The two characters when brought together become something magical they help each other out, open each other’s eyes and give hope that not everything has to be so hard, but these are two characters that have been through heavy ordeals in their life, things they’re still figuring out, and refusing to believe.

What I loved most about this book was how real it felt, how raw and invested I became. I felt their growth and I felt the downfall. Plus I this book made me cry and any book that makes me cry is a winner to me.

Book Review: What You Always Wanted by Kristin Rae

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What You Always Wanted
If Only... #8
Author: Kristin Rae
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: March 29th 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

 

If Only . . . he was the boy she's been dreaming of. The If Only line continues in this fun high school theater-themed romance!

Drama girl Maddie Brooks has always had high standards for guys. But she has yet to find one who can live up to the romantic, classic Hollywood heartthrobs, especially the dreamy song-and-dance man Gene Kelly. When Maddie begins to carpool with Jesse Morales, her new neighbor and star pitcher of the baseball team, she's struck by his wit, good looks, and love for his family--but a guy so into sports is definitely not her style. Then Maddie discovers that Jesse was raised as a dancer and still practices in the community theater dance studio to keep in shape. Perhaps her perfect dream guy exists after all! But when it becomes clear that baseball--not dance--is Jessie's passion, can Maddie find a way to let her dream guy go and appreciate the charms of the amazing guy in front of her?

I love when a book makes you smile from beginning to end. Specially, when it's a book that you were not expecting to swoon over. Maddie is a funny character and had me laughing throughout this story. I loved how this story took me by surprise.

I went through a period in which I wanted to watch all 80s movies. It's a great way to expand your knowledge in something that you love. This is what I loved most about Maddie. I love her enthusiasm for movies and her knowledge in great cinema. Although there are titles mentioned that I need to watch. See, reading is fundamental. Not only is she into movies but Maddie is respectful and doesn't whine like teens her age. She's mature at her age in some levels.

Making a move from a big city to a small town, can be difficult for kids, but Maddie took the news like a champ. One of the things I admired is the fact that she was trying to find the perfect boyfriend. Didn't we all go through that phase? We all wanted to be perfect and to have the perfect boyfriend. And once she realized Jesse knows how to dance, she was making the effort to make him the perfect guy. Until she comes in conclusion there is no such thing as being a perfect boyfriend.

What You Always Wanted is an adorable, cute and swoony story. It's a story of a girl finding out that sometimes what you always wanted is not actually what you need. Life is a puzzle and mystery and we are here just to live it and make the best out of it. I liked Jesse and Maddie together. They're a pair that bring each other's best. Maddie learns life is full of mess and "perfection" is overrated. As for Jessie, he learns to follow his heart. This is a story worth learning.