Book Review: LIE TO ME

Welcome to my leg of the The Fantastic Flying Book Club’s LIE TO ME Blog Tour!

Lie to Me

by Kaitlin Ward

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: January 7, 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Blurb:

Ever since Amelia woke up in the hospital, recovering from a near-death fall she has no memory of, she's been suspicious. Her friends, family, and doctors insist it was an accident, but Amelia is sure she remembers being pushed. Then another girl is found nearby -- one who fell, but didn't survive. Amelia's fears suddenly feel very real, and with the help of her new boyfriend, Liam, she tries to investigate her own horrific ordeal. But what is she looking for, exactly? And how can she tell who's trustworthy, and who might be -- must be -- lying to her?

The closer Amelia gets to the truth, the more terrifying her once orderly, safe world becomes. She's determined to know what happened, but if she doesn't act fast, her next accident might be her last. 

BOOK LINKS

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42898364-lie-to-me

• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1338538101/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

• Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Kaitlin%20Ward

• Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Lie-Me-Point-Paperbacks-Kaitlin-Ward/9781338538106?ref=grid-view&qid=1576855701366&sr=1-2

• Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/lie-to-me-point

• iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/lie-to-me-point/id1455300328

• IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781338538106

Review:

Who doesn’t love a good thriller, especially when a main character survives an attack she shouldn’t have with no memory of what occurred. Amelia’s search for answers will put her directly in the crosshairs of a killer - and the killer is much closer than she wishes to believe.

Amelia was supposed to meet her best friend that day. Her best friend had something important to tell her... but now she’s acting cagey and refuses to say what she wanted to tell Amelia.

Her doctor insists she’ll never recover the memories of that day - but the glimmer of something - the truth - hovers just out of reach and Amelia is determined to find out what really happened. Aided by her new boyfriend Liam, Amelia soon questions who she can trust and realizes someone among her circle of family and friends is a killer... but who?

Her family insists it was an accident... but her next “accident” may be her last. 

This book is so bingeable. I needed to know what happened and could have read it in one sitting. I suspected who the killer was I just couldn’t figure out their motive right away. The build up to the conclusion makes you suspect everyone as you try to uncover the killer alongside Amelia.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more by this author.

TOUR SCHEDULE

Blog tour schedule link: https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/12/tour-schedule-lie-to-me-by-kaitlin-ward.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kaitlin Ward grew up on a dairy farm in a tiny New Hampshire town, the same town where she lives now with her husband and son. She studied animal science at Cornell University and cofounded the well-known blogYA Highway. She is also the author of Where She Fell, Girl in a Bad Place, and Bleeding Earth. Find her on Twitter at @Kaitlin_Ward.

GIVEAWAY

1 Finished copy US only

a Rafflecopter giveaway Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86445/?

Book Review: REMEMBER ME by Chelsea Bobulski

Remember Me
by Chelsea Bobulski
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release date: August 6, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Horror

Blurb

In this eerie and suspenseful YA, a teen girl discovers what connects her to the hotel she calls home as horrifying visions lead her to the truth.

Nell Martin is moving again, this time to the Winslow Grand Hotel, built in 1878. As Nell is settling in, strange things begin to happen. Doors lock of their own accord, writing appears on bathroom walls--and most horrifying of all--visions of a dead boy permeate her waking life. Thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her, she soon finds the past and the present colliding as she learns horrific details of a murder that happened at the hotel in 1905 involving a girl named Lea.

Nell and a mysterious bellboy must relive that day in hopes of finally breaking a curse that imprisons them both. And Nell discovers what truly links her to the history of the Winslow Grand Hotel.

Get Your Copy Today:

Add to Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Indie Bound

My Review:

Remember Me was everything I wanted and more!

This book hooked me from the first time I saw it, months before I read it. It’s an eerie, haunting, beautiful story of star-crossed lovers, murder, reincarnation, and the ghosts of the past that echo through time. 

Nell and her father move into the Winslow which is this beautiful historic hotel with a tragic past that is more like The Shining. Nell herself is haunted by the past and the loss of her mother and begins to question her own sanity when nightmares begin plaguing her nightly and weird unexplainable things begin to happen. 

There she meets the mysterious Alec Petrov who seems to hate her on sight. But is his hatred masking a century of pain and longing? They’ll need each other if they want to correct the mistakes of the past. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book, it has stuck with me long after I finished the last page, and will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2019!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟

5 of 5 Stars!

About the Author:

Chelsea Bobulski was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised on Disney movies, classic musicals, and Buckeye pride. She’s always had a penchant for the fantastical, the stories that teach us there is more to this world than meets the eye.

She has a soft spot for characters with broken pasts, strange talents, and a dash of destiny in their bones. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a degree in history, she promptly married her high school sweetheart and settled down in Northwest Ohio with her notebooks and daydreams and copious amounts of chocolate. THE WOOD is her debut novel.

Connect with Chelsea Bobulski Online:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

Follow the Tour

GIVEAWAY 
Prize: Win (1) copy of REMEMBER ME by Chelsea Bobulski (US Only) 
Starts: 06 August 2019
 Ends: 20 August 2019
  a Rafflecopter giveaway 
 http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86389/?

BLINK SUMMER READING TOUR - No Place Like Here Review

No Place Like Here by Christina June
Publisher: BLINK
Release date: May 21, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Retelling

Blurb

Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She’s just spent a year at boarding school and can’t wait to get home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for “exhaustion,” a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down.

The cherry on top? Ashlyn’s father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes—inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere—can help her cope.

With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.

Get Your Copy Today:

Add to Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Indie Bound

My Review:

Summer's nearly over but you can hang onto it a bit longer with this cute, fast-paced summer read that will give you all the feels.

While I found the pace of the storyline of Ashlyn's father's tax troubles a little unrealistic, I liked how strong Ashlyn was as a character. I love books in which the main characters are sent away to camp for the summer and this book was perfect, making you feel like you were right alongside Ashlyn. 

The part of this book I liked the most was Ashlyn's complicated, complex relationships with her family - not only with her parents but with her aunt, uncle, and cousin that she's getting to know for the first time. I don't have any cousins my age but reading this book made me wish I did. 

Overall this is a great sort of coming of age read about standing up for yourself, families, and a summer that changes everything. 

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟

3 of 5 Stars!

About the Author:

Christina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become – whether it’s her students or her characters. Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband and daughter.

She is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and the forthcoming NO PLACE LIKE HERE.

Connect with Christina June Online:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

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BLINK SUMMER READING TOUR - A Touch of Gold Review

A Touch Of Gold

by Annie Sullivan

YA Mythology, Retelling
August 14, 2019 by BLINK

Blurb:

            King Midas once had the ability to turn all he touched intogold. But after his gift—or curse—almost killed his daughter, Midas relinquished The Touch forever. Ten years later, Princess Kora still bears the consequences of her father’s wish: her skin shines golden, rumors follow her everywhere she goes, and she harbors secret powers that are getting harder to hide.

            Kora spends her days locked in the palace, concealed behind gloves and veils, trying to ignore the stares and gossip of courtiers. It isn’t until a charming young duke arrives that Kora realizes there may be someone out there who doesn’t fear her or her curse. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals precious items from the kingdom, leaving the treasury depleted and King Midas vulnerable. Thanks to her unique ability to sense gold, Kora is the only one who can track the thief down. As she sails off on her quest, Kora learns that not everything is what it seems—not thieves, not pirates, and not even curses. She quickly discovers that gold—and the power it brings—is more dangerous than she’d ever believed.

               Midas learned his lesson at a price. What will Kora’s journey cost?

My Review:

COVER: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This cover definitely lives up to it's title! It's gold and sparkly and even prettier in real life than the pictures give justice. It's perfect for the contents of the book and I love the title font!
Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟 “Midas learned his lesson at a price. What will Kora's journey cost?" - This line of the blurb promises the reader an adventure... with a cost. As far as taglines go, it does tease the reader and make them want to know more, but is it enough?

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 We have a not uncommon group of characters types in this book: the Main Character (Kora) who is cursed thanks to her father's greed and is seen as a monster by her people, a father who was driven mad with his greed and his guilt over what he did to his only daughter, a villain hiding in plain sight who uses smoke and mirrors to convince the MC that someone else is the true villain, several cute guys - one open, adventurous, and flirty; another broody and closed off but secretly caring, and a side character, in this case Kora's cousin, who throws a wrench in the story from time to time. I enjoyed the various characters, especially Kora who went from the cloistered princess to a girl ready to seize the adventure she's always dreamed of to save her father. 

Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Overall, I do like the world the author has created for her Midas retelling. 

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 I wasn't sure what to expect from this book other than the obvious, that this was a reimagining of the King Midas myth. The story pulled me in right away and I thought Midas's origins was a nice spin on the story as well as the backstory for Kora and the path to Midas's obsession and madness over his gold. As far as the plotting it was equal parts unique and familiar to other fairytale retellings I've read before with some of my favorite story elements: adventure, pirates, hate-to-love romance, and curses. If you're looking for a new retelling to add to your shelf A Touch of Gold is definitely worth checking out!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟

4 of 5 Stars!

Grab your own copy of A Touch of Gold:

Goodreads –https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36575823-a-touch-of-gold#

Amazon –https://amzn.to/2KS9xYY

Barnes & Noble –https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-touch-of-gold-annie-sullivan/1127456128#/

Book Depository –https://www.bookdepository.com/Touch-of-Gold-Annie-Sullivan/9780310766353

IndieBound –https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=A+Touch+of+Gold

About the Author:

Annie Sullivan is a Young Adult author from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work has been featured in Curly Red Stories and Punchnels. She loves fairytales, everything Jane Austen, and traveling and exploring new cultures. When she’s not off on her own adventures, she’s teaching classes at the Indiana Writers Center and working as the Copy Specialist at John Wiley and Sons, Inc. publishing company, having also worked there in Editorial and Publicity roles. You can follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram (@annsulliva).

Links:

Twitter -https://twitter.com/annsulliva

Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/annsulliva/?hl=en

TOUR-WIDE GIVEAWAY

Prize:

5 BLINK Summer Reading Tour Book Bundles (A Touch of Gold, Meet the Sky, No Place Like Here, Pretty In Punxsutawney, and Swing by Kwame Alexander)

(USA)

Starts:7/22/19

Ends:8/9/19

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86375/?

The Saturday Review - LAST THINGS Blog Tour

Hey Bookdragons! Today's "The Saturday Review" merges with my stop on the Last Things Blog Tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club!

Last Things

by Jacqueline West

Publisher: Greenwillow

Release Date: May 7th 2019

Genre: Young adult, Fantasy

Blurb

When strange things start happening to local music idol Anders Thorson, everyone blames his number-one-fan, Thea. But is she out to hurt him? Or protect him?

High school senior Anders Thorson is unusually gifted. His band, Last Things, is legendary in their northern Minnesota hometown. With guitar skills that would amaze even if he weren’t only eighteen, Anders is the focus of head-turning admiration. And Thea Malcom, a newcomer to the insular town, is one of his admirers. Thea seems to turn up everywhere Anders goes: gigs at the local coffeehouse, guitar lessons, even in the woods near Anders’s home. When strange things start happening to Anders—including the disappearance of his beloved cat, then his sort-of girlfriend, and, somehow, his musical talent—blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him? Can he trust a girl who doesn’t seem to know the difference between dreams and reality? And how much are they both willing to compromise to get what they want?

GET THE BOOK:

Add to Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | iBooks | Barnes and Noble

Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 This is one catchy cover. As a whole it's pretty awesome, but the longer you look at it the more you notice the finer details you might not have picked up on at first glance. It's creepy and edgy and totally rock and roll. 

Summary/Tagline: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 “Someone is always watching." - This only adds to the eerie mysterious vibe of the cover and begs the question "who is watching? Thea? A more sinister being? As far as taglines on covers go this one definitely makes you want to learn more. 

Characters: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 We're presented with two main characters who tell the story in alternating chapters. We have Anders - the lead singer of an up-and-coming metal band who behind the scenes is kind of insecure about people liking him for him or just his talent and of course there's hints dropped about where this godlike musical talent came from, a darkness in Anders he's afraid everyone else will find out about. Then we have Thea. By all accounts she's the weird new girl who is essentially stalking Anders and lives in the creepy house with her crazy aunt. And her actions, following Anders home after gigs, following him everywhere basically and listening in to band practices from the tree house next door do nothing to dissuade you from thinking of her as a crazy stalker. But what if she's not stalking so much as observing and looking out for Anders? What if she knows something about Anders nobody else knows? Both characters are really well developed. They have insecurities and aspirations, feelings and obsessions. 

Worldbuilding: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Last Things is set in a small Minnesota town, and I definitely felt like I was in some backwater Minnesota town as I read this book. I could see myself walking through the woods, hearing the sounds of the trees and unseen nature, picture myself seated at the coffee shop/bar where Anders and his band play their gigs - a latte warming my hands as ear-drum breaking metal music roars in the background. Perhaps I can see it so well because the setting is not so different from the small Wisconsin town I live in, and I get how life and people are in small towns. 

Story: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Alright, now picture this. You live in a small town where there isn't much to do and you've gone to school with the same kids your entire life. Everyone knows everyone, everyone frequents the same places, etc. And on Friday night the place to be is where the hottest band in town is playing. Most people would call it a dive. Without the success of the band the joint would probably cater to the same grizzled bikers or whatever that have been regulars since the doors opened. But the band is on fire. Not only that, but the lead singer of the insanely popular band Last Things is your invisible-by-day classmate Anders who transforms into this powerful musician who screams out amazing lyrics every weekend. You know he's going somewhere big fast. (Are you getting creepy Jessica's Body vibes yet because I definitely was initially!) But then weird things begin to happen and all signs point back to the strange new girl. The girl everyone claims is a crazy stalker. But is she really? And is Anders's talent just a gift he was born with, a gift that took him from singing cover songs to writing new songs non-stop seemingly overnight, or does his gift stem back to something more sinister? I actually read this book twice in anticipation of this blog tour and I liked it much more the second time. Overall, this is an interesting read and I definitely recommend it!

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 4.6 of 5 Stars!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

4.6 of 5 Stars!

About the Author

Jacqueline West is the author of the NYT-bestselling middle grade series The Books of Elsewhere, the YA novel Dreamers Often Lie, and the new middle grade fantasy The Collectors.

She is also the author of two poetry collections, Cherma and Candle and Pins: Poems on Superstitions, and her poetry and short fiction appear in a variety of publications.

She lives in Red Wing, Minnesota, with her family.

Connect with Jacqueline online:

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3100027.Jacqueline_West

Website: http://www.jacquelinewest.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacqueline.west.writes/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jacqueline-West-112573782122159/?ref=sgm

Prize: Win (1) of (2) copies of LAST THINGS by Jacqueline West (US Only)

Starts: April 29th 2019 

Ends: May 12th 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway

http://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2019/03/tour-schedule-last-things-by-jacqueline.html

{Blog Tour} Book Review: WEST by Edith Pattou

West (East, #2) by Edith Pattou

West

(East #2)

by Edith Pattou

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Release Date: October 23, 2018

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Blurb:

In the sequel to the beloved high fantasy East, Rose sets off on a perilous journey to find her true love when he goes missing in a thrilling tale of danger, magic, adventure, and revenge.

When Rose first met Charles, he was trapped in the form of a white bear. To rescue him, Rose traveled to the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon to defeat the evil Troll Queen. Now Rose has found her happily-ever-after with Charles—until a sudden storm destroys his ship and he is presumed dead. But Rose doesn’t believe the shipwreck was an act of nature, nor does she believe Charles is truly dead. Something much more sinister is at work. With mysterious and unstoppable forces threatening the lives of the people she loves, Rose must once again set off on a perilous journey. And this time, the fate of the entire world is at stake.

BOOK LINKS 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37570561-west

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/West-Edith-Pattou/dp/1328773930/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539756503&sr=1-1&keywords=west+edith+pattou

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/west-edith-pattou/1127659289?ean=9781328773937

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/West-Edith-Pattou/9781328773937?ref=grid-view&qid=1539756692492&sr=1-1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/west-12

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781328773937

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/mt/book/west/id1325938918?mt=11

My Review:

West is the very long awaited sequel to Edith Pattou's East... like 10+ years awaited. I'll be honest, before I saw the Charlie Bowater's cover for West, I'd never even heard of the author or the first book in the series. But you guys know how much I love East O' The Sun and West  O' The Moon (ahem... CurseBreaker) so when I saw this blog tour I had to sign up.

Luckily I was able to catch up with East before diving into West. At first I found the writing a bit... thick to get into but eventually a wonderful story with well developed characters emerged and I couldn't stop reading. I binged East then started West immediately after, reading way past my bedtime to see how Rose's story would continue. 

Sometimes readers worry when there is such a huge gap between books that it won't have the same flow or it will have been so long since the last book that you've lost all interest in reading the next one but West definitely busts out of that stereotype flowing as seamlessly from East as if they'd been one book all along. 

Overall, if you love fantasy, Scandinavian folklore, romance, and fairytale retellings that will please the young and young-at-heart this book will sweep you off your feet and take you on the journey of a lifetime. 

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟

4 of 5 Stars!

TOUR SCHEDULE 

Blog tour schedule link: https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2018/10/tour-schedule-west-east-2-by-edith.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Edith Pattou is the author of several fantasy novels, including East, an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. She is a graduate of the Francis W. Parker School, Scripps College (B.A., English), Claremont Graduate School (M.A., English) and UCLA (M.L.I.S.). She is married to Charles Emery, a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University. They have one child, a daughter. 

GIVEAWAY 

Prize: 1 finished copy of WEST by Edith Pattou 

US Only 

Starts: 10/16 

Ends: 10/31 

Embed Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86326/?