Saturday, May 18, 2019

Review of No Place Like Here by Christina June #NPLHBT #BlinkYABooks


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Welcome to another stop on the tour for No Place Like Here by Christina June. I posted an excerpt earlier this tour over at Andi's Book Reviews. After you read my review here, download the book and enter the giveaway below, be sure to check that out, as well as all of the other stops on the tour. Thanks for stopping by!


No Place Like Here
By Christina June
Young Adult Contemporary
Paperback, Audiobook & ebook, 288 Pages
May 21st 2019 by Blink

From Christina June, author of It Started with Goodbye and Everywhere You Want to Be, comes No Place Like Here, a modern twist on Hansel and Gretel.

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.

Fans looking for stories with elements of drama, romance, friendship, and an unflinching look into navigating and improving even the most difficult parent-teen relationships need look no further.

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**My thoughts**
I do love to read coming-of-age YA novels, so I was intrigued by the blurb to this book. I was also intrigued by the idea of it being related to the tale of Hansel and Gretel. I have to admit that I had a hard time following that parallel, but it has been years since I last read that. But I didn't need the connection to appreciate this book and inhale it in one sitting.

Ashlyn made a mistake in her past choices. She has spent the last year repenting in a way, and I dislike her father a lot for being so hard on her. The more that she reveals about her father's demands for perfection out of her and her mother, the less I like him and the more I feel sorry for her. She's had an easy life, relatively speaking in a financial sense, but has to carry around this burden of that omnipresent voice in her head telling her that her thoughts and actions are inappropriate. She doesn't know how to be true to herself, but you can tell that she wants to discover how to do this. 

She also wants to reconnect with her family and her home live after having been sent away to school for the past year. But of course, her father has now been arrested and is going away to prison for a while. Her mother is completely unable to cope and sinks into a deep depression, so she is going away to a rehab facility of sorts to help her through this. Meanwhile, Ashlyn is being shoved off onto her aunt and uncle briefly until she has to start work at a resort that specializes in helping people to learn how to trust and to empower themselves. 

As expected, Ashlyn goes through incredible growth and discovers so much about herself and her strengths. She develops incredible leadership skills and forges relationships with some people she may not have otherwise. I love watching her journey and how she grows. 

I also love how much she loves words. She memorizes quotations, which she keeps in a quote journal. She has a tendency to write them down all over the place, thus leaving little breadcrumbs of inspiration for others to discover. I found myself even taking note of some of them.

I would also like to give kudos to the author for addressing mental health via Ashlyn's mom and how too often we like to sweep it under the rug and not acknowledge what is really going on.

I need to know where Ashlyn goes from here. And I am going to have to check out the rest of the series to find out more about her and her friends. (But fear not, this book definitely stands on its own.)

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.



Other Books by the Author


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 in Virginia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and NO PLACE LIKE HERE.

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1 winner will receive a print copy of NO PLACE LIKE HERE, a poster, and a book plate
US only
Ends June 5, 2019

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Thursday, May 16, 2019

Win $150 Amazon Cash in the Giveaway from @homejobsbymom Ends 6/6

WIN $150 AMAZON CASH

Are your teens reading? Want to entice them to keep reading? Perhaps if you let them do a little shopping blast, they would be able to find a lot they like? There are so many great YA books out there! Even we adults love to read them! What would you buy if you won this giveaway?


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Rules: Use the Giveaway Tools form to enter daily. Giveaway ends 06/06 and is open worldwide. Entrants must be 18 years old to enter. Winner will be notified via email.




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Monday, May 6, 2019

A Curse of the Lucky by Nathan Wrann


Fans of YA paranormal will want to check out A Curse of the Lucky by Nathan Wrann. It's the first book in the Mr. Lucky Trilogy. I have an excerpt for you to check out today. Plus you can follow the tour for even more of them. Make sure you leave your comments and questions as well, and be sure to enter the great giveaway at the end!


A Curse of the Lucky

Two things that Jack Smith has always had: bad legs and bad luck. With a violent attack at the Tarrytown Independence Day Carnival, that bad luck has caught up to him with deadly consequences. Going on the run with Jaelle–the mysterious girl of his dreams–he descends into a world of curses, blessings, and fortunetelling Gypsies. The deeper he gets, the more he realizes she might just be the one to save his life... or end it.

The Mr. Lucky Trilogy begins with A Curse of the Lucky.


Read an excerpt:
The microwave dinged, I slid the pizza onto a plate, and escaped back downstairs.

I didn’t see her at first, but with a cautious check behind the bookshelves, I found Jaelle sprawled out on my bed—A beautiful girl was in my bed—asleep.

I covered her with a blanket from the laundry room.

Emptying my pockets, I put my phone, wallet, and the crumpled up, blood stained hundred-dollar bill on top of the dresser. I stripped down to my boxers and tossed my wet cargo pants and shirt in the corner. Removing my leg braces would have taken some time and if Jaelle woke up to see me in my underwear it could be kind of weird. Instead, I slipped on a pair of dry sweatpants over them and threw on a T-shirt.

The recliner welcomed me. The pizza, the first thing I’d eaten all day, tasted amazing—like the best cardboard ever. I figured we’d have time to talk the next day before bringing her back to the carnival. By then, hopefully, her uncle would have cleared up the robbery thing and they would get out of town before the cops come to charge her with assaulting a police officer.

I took another bite of the “pizza” (which was quickly losing its appeal) and grinned, reflecting on the day that I’d had.

I had met a beautiful girl, and got her back to my room. She happened to be a Gypsy with a traveling carnival. And she was probably wanted by the police.

Just my luck.

Available on Amazon
Yes, this is my affiliate link. That means should you make a purchase through it, I may earn a few pennies at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my websites!


About Nathan Wrann

Nathan Wrann was born in Florida and moved around a lot as a child, growing up in New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, California and finally back to Florida. No matter where he lived you would likely find Marvel Comics or a book in his hand with genres ranging from fantasy (The Black Cauldron), to SE Hinton's teen dramas (The Outsiders), to Stephen King's entire catalogue from Carrie through Tommyknockers. At the age of seventeen he joined the U.S. Army as a Military Policeman, and following that, graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a degree in video production and theater.

Currently Mr. Wrann is a writer, publisher and (formerly) independent filmmaker living in West Haven, Connecticut with his rescued Chihuahuas Napoleon and Gatsby, pain-in-the-butt cat Konstantine, and wife Kimberly. Nowadays, in between books, you'll find him enjoying horror films, YA Paranormal TV series (Vampire Diaries, Sabrina, etc), and the Marvel and Star Wars Cinematic Universes.

Links:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005165L8O

Twitter: @nathanwrann https://twitter.com/nathanwrann 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNathanWrann/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nwrann/


Author’s Note RE: the Mr. Lucky Trilogy & Dark Matter Heart:

The Mr. Lucky Trilogy is a Dark Matter Heart World Expander. The events in this series take place in the same world, with the same paranormal concepts and rules as Dark Matter Heart, but with all new characters and adventures. Opportunity abounds for crossover stories bringing all the characters together.

It is not necessary to read Dark Matter Heart to enjoy the Mr. Lucky Trilogy, but I think you’ll like it.

Get Book One: Dark Matter Heart FREE here: http://amzn.to/DMHKindle

Get Book Two: From Out of Chaos FREE here

https://mailchi.mp/f5ce21a5921c/freedmh2

Thank you Dear Reader, we have much fun ahead of us.

-Nathan Wrann


Nathan Wrann will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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