Blog Tour: The Bad Decisions Playlist by Michael Rubens | Excerpt | Giveaway

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The Bad Decisions Playlist
Author: Michael Rubens
Publisher: Clarion Books
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: July 17, 2016

Sixteen-year-old Austin is always messing up and then joking his way out of tough spots. The sudden appearance of his allegedly dead father, who happens to be the very-much-alive rock star Shane Tyler, stops him cold. Austin—a talented musician himself—is sucked into his newfound father’s alluring music-biz orbit, pulling his true love, Josephine, along with him. None of Austin’s previous bad decisions, resulting in broken instruments, broken hearts, and broken dreams, can top this one. Witty, audacious, and taking adolescence to the max, Austin is dragged kicking and screaming toward adulthood in this hilarious, heart-wrenching YA novel.

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Michael Rubens is the author of The Sheriff of Yrnameer andSons of the 613. He was a producer for several years for the Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and has written and produced for CNN, Oxygen, the Travel Channel and other networks. It’s theoretically possible that you saw him as the host of Eclipse Chasers: Ghana on the Travel Channel. He was also, for a very brief period, the World’s Least Effective Bouncer. He lives with his wife and daughter in Brooklyn, New York, and feels that the practice of writing one’s bio in the third person is somewhat questionable. He is represented by John Silbersack at Trident Media Group.

 

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EXCERPT

I pretty much completely rewrote the second half of The Bad Decisions Playlist and have mostly forgotten those vanished chapters, so it was weird to revisit earlier drafts and say, “oh, right, that scene...” Most of them deserved to go, but I sort of like this one, a scene where Shane, distracted by his own problem, takes a mystified Austin to an art museum. 

We ate lunch at an uptown place that’s hipster vintage restaurant in front and hipster vintage bowling alley in the back, everything wood and straight out of the 1950s. The tattooed waitress and a few others recognized Shane and he chatted with them, open and amiable, introduced me as his son. We bowled some sets, drinking PBR out of a pitcher, neither of us able to break 100. We laughed a lot, and he was still amiable, but I could feel a brittleness to it, a restless tension underneath. I was thinking about what Ed said, the warning in his tone, but I didn’t bring it up.   

We polished off the pitcher – well, Shane did, really -- and he says “Alright, let’s go,” already walking toward the exit before he finished with the words.

We wandered in and out of some stores, Shane distracted, not really focusing on anything, then went to a book shop where I watched him pull books of shelves, glance at them, put them back. Once in a while he’d freeze in place, mouthing words silently to himself.

“You okay?” I said at one point.

“What? Yeah, fine. Let’s go.”

Next we went to the Walker Art Museum and I tagged after him as he meandered aimlessly through the collection, pausing briefly before most of the paintings and sculptures before shaking his head and moving on. It’s all very strange, but right now I appreciate the diversion.

“You looking for something?” I asked.

He didn’t answer for a bit, moving on to the next paint. Then he murmured, “A way out.”

“Of what?”

“My own head.”

He seemed to know all the artists: “You see what Rothko’s doing here with the color? The purity of it?” or, “You think Pollock is crap? Maybe it is crap. But it was new crap when he did it. The Ramones weren’t exactly Bach. They weren’t even, I don’t know, Bachman Turner Overdrive. But they stepped out with those three chords...What they did was important for the era.”

Many times he said, this guy, he went crazy. Rothko killed himself. Pollock went nuts. This guy Nussbaum....

“Crazy?”

“No, the Nazis got him. You bored?” 

I shrug. “I don’t know. This isn’t really my jam.”

He was quiet. Then, “Will you promise me something?”

“Okay.”

“Don’t be dumb on purpose. Okay? Know stuff. It’s important. Not for any person, or for a test, but know stuff. For you. Know as much as you can, whatever it is, and it can be poetry, or art, or, hell, I don’t know, accounting. I don’t care. Absorb everything you can, because then you can give it back to the world, give yourself back to the world.”

I was going to make a joke about it, ask him if this was the sharing of the parental wisdom, but he had that look of quiet intensity, so I just said, “Okay.”

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Giveaway

3 winners will receive a hardcover of THE BAD DECISIONS PLAYLIST! 

US Only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tour Schedule

Week One:

7/25/2016- The Cover Contessa- Guest Post

7/26/2016- Owl Always Be Reading- Review

7/27/2016- Once Upon a Twilight- Excerpt

7/28/2016- James and the Giant Book- Review

7/29/2016- Fall Into Books- Guest Post

Book Review: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

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Tell the Wind and Fire
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: April 5th 2016
Review Source: Clarion Books

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets.

Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows the young men’s deadly connection, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth.

Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself?

This is my first book by Sarah Rees Brennan.  Tell the Wind and Fire is a futuristic story based in New York City. The city is split into two magical halves, the light side and the dark side. The light side is considered the good/superior side and the dark side is considered evil. Both sides need the other to live/have power.

The main character Lucie Manette was born in the dark city but was able to get a ticket for herself and her caged father to the light city due to some theatrics and deceit on her part. She became a "celebrity" in the light city and a girl friend to the most powerful family's son.  The son, Ethan, ends up having a doppelgänger, Carywn, which is very taboo.  Ethan was a loving sweet boyfriend but I didn't feel a real connection with him and Lucie as a couple. I connected with Carywn the most in this story because of his sarcastic wit and due to the whole "dark, bad boy" persona.

I did not like the way the story jumped around. I feel it started out strong and exciting and then got kind of boring for quite a while. I felt that at times the author gave too much information all at once.  I had to take many breaks to get through this story because of the information overload.

I liked the emotions this book evoked in me. It was such a roller coaster ride. Also a very powerful story. Very few books have gutted me and made me shed actual tears but this story did just that.  My family was a little bit scared briefly because I am not a crying person lol.  I liked the dystopian/futuristic picture that was painted of NY by the author.

I do recommend sticking with this story because I think it is worth the read. Once you push past the "slower" chapters, it ends up being a really interesting and unique book.

Waiting on Wednesday: Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan

Waiting on Wednesday

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

Tell the Wind and Fire

Author: Sarah Rees Brennan

Release Date: April 5th 2016

Publisher: Clarion Books

Tell the Wind & Fire is about a young girl called Lucie who lives in a New York very different from the New York we know: the city is torn between two very different kinds of magic, and Lucie’s own family was torn apart years ago by that conflict. Lucie wears magic rings and carries a burden of guilt she can’t share with anyone.

The light in her life is her sweetheart boyfriend Ethan, but it turns out Ethan has a secret too: a soulless doppelganger created by dark magic, who has to conceal the face identical to Ethan’s with a hood fastened by a collar nobody but a Light magician with magical rings can take off… and who introduces himself to both of them by, for reasons nobody can understand, saving Ethan’s life…na isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

Book Review: The Rosemary Spell by Virginia Zimmerman

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The Rosemary Spell
Author: Virginia Zimmerman
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genres: Fantasy
Release Date: December 1st 2015
Publisher: Clarion Books
 

Part mystery, part literary puzzle, part life-and-death quest, and chillingly magical, this novel has plenty of suspense for adventure fans and is a treat for readers who love books, words, and clues. Best friends Rosie and Adam find an old book with blank pages that fill with handwriting before their eyes. Something about this magical book has the power to make people vanish, even from memory. The power lies in a poem—a spell. When Adam's older sister, Shelby, disappears, they struggle to retain their memories of her as they race against time to bring her back from the void, risking their own lives in the process.

When I got my hands on the advanced copy of The Rosemary Spell, I had no idea how difficult of a time I was going to have reviewing it. Before you assume the worst, what I mean by this is, it’s such a great book, I was actually stumped for a few days in trying to figure out how to best recap this book as well as how to convey the excitement I felt over this book.

This book falls within the YA category, and it is a great book that every young adult who has a passion for reading should read at least once! It’s part mystery, part puzzle and definitely thrilling. I could not put this book down once I got started. Being a book lover myself, I was captivated by this story of Rosie and her best friend Adam (and his sister Shelby) who loved books as much as I do. They have all sorts of books they’ve read and re-read together, books they keep closest to their nightstand in case they need a specific one for ‘emergency reading’ (raise your hand if you currently have at least three books within arms reach! I know I do!), as well as books organized in different but specific orders.

There is one quote that stuck with me from the moment I read it, and that I kept in mind the entire time I read this book, “In a way, you are what you read, so abandoning books is the same thing as abandoning a part of yourself.” Even typing this gives me chills because it resonates so deep within me; this quote is so true. Think about it (and this doesn’t include the books we are told to read for class, I’m talking about the books we select and read on our own time) – how many times have you re-read that battered copy in your library, and why do you keep going back to that book? Also, the books we choose say so much about us, whether we realize it or not. Seriously, think about this for a minute and make your own conclusions about yourself.

Back to the story, Rosie’s father just disappeared from her life, and they moved into a house that is two centuries old that belonged to one of their favorite poets. Rosie and Adam end up finding this old, leather bound book that is unbelievably made from parchment! If we recall from our history books, books or anything written on parchment for that matter, dates pretty far back so it’s technically valuable. As they try to figure out what is in the book that looks like a diary, they use it to write down some of their own things and it seems like some of the stuff within the book has disappeared, which makes them wonder what is really going on.

One day, when the three of them decide to row to an island for a day of fun, Rosie brings the book with her and is showing Shelby as well as trying to let her know they think the book is magic. Next thing they know, Shelby disappears and they cant remember why she disappears then that turns into not knowing who disappeared which turns into them feeling like they should remember someone or something but for the life of them, they cant remember!
The Rosemary Spell was written exceptionally and it draws you into their world; a world where magic exists and a world where you feel like you are right alongside the characters trying to figure out what is going on. Then, when you take a second to look away from the book, you realize that no, YOU still have your memory and that it’s just a book but…what if…what if what happened to Rosie and Adam can in fact happen to you in your life? How exciting would that be? Nothing is impossible!

This book brings your inner child back, where anything is possible and books are more than just words on paper – they are the vessels into another world, a ship with endless destinations.

Blog Tour: An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet | Interview | Giveaway

Welcome to our stop on An Inheritance of Ashes tour for Leah Bobet. This tour is hosted by Rockstar Book Tour.

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An Inheritance of Ashes
Author: Leah Bobet
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Released: October 6th 2015
Publisher: Clarion Books

The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.

When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself.

Interview

Tell us about An Inheritance of Ashes in 20 words or less.
An Inheritance of Ashes is dustbowl epic fantasy thrown into a YA thrown into weird fiction at very high speeds.

What was the most challenging, and the most enjoyable aspect of writing An Inheritance of Ashes, and why?
Ashes was a challenging book overall, but the part that needed the most attention was probably the voice.  Hallie has a very plain-spoken voice, but there's a lot of emotion behind it, and balancing her tendencies—making sure readers could tell that this is where she is emotionally now, not where she's always been or will always be—with my own love of more poetic sentences made writing her a struggle for a long time.  I threw out a lot of words trying to find this book's identity, and I won't pretend that wasn't a frustrating learning curve.

The most enjoyable, though?  The sheer amount of absolutely weird stuff I got to throw in.  Giant walking tree made out of deer horns?  Yup.  Lizards with fox ears?  Go for it.  An army trying to figure out how to fight a god that's basically a giant whirling sandstorm?  Sure!

I like creatures.  I love that I got to run wild a little with the Twisted Things and just make them flat-out messed up.  And the part of me that's a China Mieville and Jeffrey Ford reader—and an occasional horror writer—really likes the kind of weird stuff that makes everything in a story feel a little tilted and uncanny.  Going absolutely all-out on building a sense of the strange kept me in joy all the way through writing An Inheritance of Ashes.

Do you have a deleted scene from An Inheritance of Ashes that you could share with us? If not maybe you could share your favorite short teaser from An Inheritance of Ashes?
Here's a bit that ended up, unfortunately, on the cutting room floor:
"What do you need me to do?"
I rubbed my eyes.  No one had milked the goats, or gathered the eggs.  Chores, I thought.  I was so tired, and there was still no time to sleep.  "You don't have to do anything."
"I know," he said patiently.  "The thing is, I want to."
"You should talk to your sister about that," I said.
His chin firmed up.  "I did.  We spent a few good hours on it this morning."
I stopped in the snow.  Coolly, baldly, incredulously.  "Then how can you be offering that?  How can you be okay with what I did?"
Tyler planted the rake and wheeled on me.  "I'm not okay.  I'm terrified, and I'm furious," he said, clipped and short.  "But I saw a god die once before, not six months back.  I saw the desert drain into a hole, and the world un-end.  This isn't over.  I will not act like it's over until I'm dead on the ground."
I reached out for him, instinctively; he twined a hand through my cold-pruned fingers.  "Keep walking for another day, huh?"
"That," he said, "yeah.  And other things."
I felt, like a memory, the tingle of his mouth on mine.  "Why?" I asked, stark.
"I told you—" he started.
"No," I said.  "Me.  This.  Why?"
He paused—thinking, not stalling, I realized.  "Because I don't think you'd hate me if I pushed you in the lake, and you don't tell my secrets.  We respect each other.  Because you're not okay, but you're smart enough to know that, and you're trying to be.  Because you hold me up to my own standards," he said, with starkly vulnerable eyes.  "Because you're gross.  Because you're you."
My eyes blurred with sudden tears.  He reached down and stroked my hair, soothing as a long sleep.  "I really have to milk the goats now."
"Okay," he said quietly.  "You should do that, then."
"How about a cup of tea?" I asked, unsteadily.  "I could use a cup of tea."
He looked down at me, eyes steady and broken and careworn.  "Then a cup of tea's what I'll make you."
The distance between people, I thought, is farther than the distance between stars.  But there is such thing as a constellation.

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If you could give one book to everyone (other than your own), which would it be?
That's tricky!  I also work as a bookseller—at Bakka-Phoenix Books, which is Canada's oldest independent science fiction and fantasy store—and so it's pretty drummed into me that there's no such thing as one book that's going to be right for everyone.  For me, it's more about finding the right book for that reader, that day—making a good match.

My own favourite book right now, though, is Erin Bow's The Scorpion Rules, which just came out at the end of September.  By page 8 I was already floored: It's brilliant YA science fiction in which peace is enforced on the future world by an AI, Talis, who takes the heir to every nation as a hostage, medieval Europe-style.  It is such a smart book, so clearly written and with so much to say for itself.  It's just a masterpiece, and given the right readers, it's what I'm going to be handselling hard at the store this fall.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
I think that I'm still growing; I'm still a work in progress.  I can look back and see that I'm smarter, braver, kinder, happier, and more generous than I was five years ago, and five years ago I was smarter, braver, kinder, happier, and more generous than I was five years before that.
Growing is hard.  We don't give it credit for being hard: Examining your assumptions, learning your worst tendencies without kicking yourself for them, and just working on becoming more the person you want to be.

So, yes: I think my greatest accomplishment is finding a good direction to walk in, however that happened.  Because the consequences of that aren't something done and put away; they'll keep coming as long as I keep walking.

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Leah Bobet is a bookseller, publisher, and editor as well as a Pushcart-Prize nominated author. She lives in Toronto. www.leahbobet.com

3 winners will receive a finished copy of AN INHERITANCE OF ASHES. US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

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An Inheritance of Ashes
Author: E.K. Johnston
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy 
Released: October 6th 2015
Publisher: Clarion Books
 

The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.

When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself.

I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t even know how to categorize An Inheritance of Ashes. This book has a little of everything and is more of a dystopian story than fantasy yet it has a paranormal feel. Still, what makes this story so special is the relationship between sisters Hallie and Marthe. These two are water and oil. Although they did not have a perfect relationship, from reading, you can tell they love each other. And the ending was such a great ending.

The story begins with Hallie witnessing her father and uncle fight. They are fighting for a land they inherit. Hallie’s father wins and her uncle Matthias decides to leave. Upon leaving he tells her something that will hunt Hallie. As she grows to a young adult, Hallie becomes a hard worker. Her sister, Marthe, is very bossy. She demands many things from Hallie and to avoid disappointments, she works her a$$ off.

In the story, Hallie encounters many challenges. One in which includes crazy monsters from the dark side. Another is a man she meets. She hires this man to help out with the farm… only to find out some truth about him.

The overall story is filled with many elements, slowly built and yet, I found this very consuming. I really enjoy reading about Hallie. Her character held something unique and kept me turning those pages. Some scenes with her sister broke my heart but at at the end, they’re moments were heartwarming. I really loved the 180 twist their relationship turn out to be.

An Inheritance of Ashes is unique and though the pacing is slow, it is a quick read. Overall, I enjoyed reading this story and I hope everyone give it a try because it will bring a smile to your face.

Waiting on Wednesday: An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet

Waiting on Wednesday

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

An Inheritance of Ashes

Author: Leah Bobet

Release Date: October 6th 2015

Publisher: Clarion Books

The strange war down south—with its rumors of gods and monsters—is over. And while sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister wait to see who will return from the distant battlefield, they struggle to maintain their family farm.

When Hallie hires a veteran to help them, the war comes home in ways no one could have imagined, and soon Hallie is taking dangerous risks—and keeping desperate secrets. But even as she slowly learns more about the war and the men who fought it, ugly truths about Hallie’s own family are emerging. And while monsters and armies are converging on the small farm, the greatest threat to her home may be Hallie herself.