YALit Giveaway Event!

A bunch of authors who got together to bring you a YOUNG ADULT Big Box of Paperbacks Giveaway! One lucky winner is going to win FIFTY (50) Young Adult Paperback Books! How’s that for an epic Book-Lover’s Prize?!

THIS BOX OF BOOKS IS VALUED AT OVER $500! And this giveaway is open worldwide! Our first giveaway went to a winner in ROMANIA–and yes, we’re willing to pay the insane shipping on this oversized, overweight package to get the prize to WHOEVER wins!

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Here's a sneak peek from a couple of the sponsors:

Adrenaline Rush by Cindy M. Hogan

As I hurtled toward my destination at 500 miles an hour, I pulled out a notebook, placed it on the shiny mahogany table in front of me, and scribbled a quick to-do list.

Pick out an outfit.

Get folders and notebooks.

Switch into fourth period drama.

I chewed on the end of my pen. Oh yeah—just one more thing.

Get kidnapped.

According to my pre-mission briefing, kidnappings were up in the States by five percent over the last five years. The significance of which didn’t hit me until I found that the statistics for kidnappings had remained static for a good thirty years. The spike caught the attention of the FBI, and they put their best men on it. The problem? Right when they thought they’d discovered the pattern of the kidnappers, it seemed to change.

We hit some turbulence, and the force of it pulled me out of my reverie. I sucked in a deep breath, my hands resting on the soft leather side arms of my big comfortable seat as the Gulfstream jet jumped. I let the rollercoaster feeling wash over me like a wave, forcing myself to enjoy every last tingle. I only had this flight and a few hours tonight to assume my new thrill-seeking alias—the one that would lure the kidnappers and save the day before the pattern changed again. I might as well make the most of it.

Chosen Wolf (Curse of the Moon #2) Excerpt

The full moon inched higher in the night sky, growing bigger and brighter by the moment. One by one, the members of the pack ran behind the Moonhaven mansion to remove their clothes before they tore to shreds as their bodies turned from men to wolves. Howls sounded in the distance.

Toby squeezed my hand, holding my gaze. “Maybe this will be the month you can finally shift again, Victoria.”

Sharp pains ran through my body. My right hip cracked. I bit my tongue, trying not to cry out in pain. My skin felt on fire as fur tried to poke through, but couldn’t.

His face tensed, a pained look in his eyes. “Are you shifting?”

I shook my head. There was nothing normal about this, and it was proving to be more difficult and painful than my other months of un-shifts. Each one grew worse than the last.

Toby scooped me up, carried me inside, and helped me onto my bed. “I can’t keep my wolf inside any longer. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I fought to keep my voice steady. Tears threatened.

He brushed hair from my face and kissed my forehead. “Ziamara’s upstairs sleeping. She said to wake her if you need anything.”

“I’ll be fine.” I grimaced, the pain nearly choking me.

Toby cried out and the sound of ripping fabric tore through the room. He spun around and dashed out the door. The back of his shirt had ripped, and fur poked through the split material.

I gripped a pillow, squeezing it as hard as I could to distract myself from the pain. It didn’t work, and the pillow exploded, filling the air with white feathers.

A loud pop sounded and then a horrific pain shot through my shoulders. I slumped down and screamed, unable to take the pain.

Happy Holidays!

It's hard for me to believe it's almost been two years since I released Sacrificed (The Last Oracle Book 1) on Amazon. And because of you guys and all your support, the book still remains on a couple of Kindle Teen & YA Bestseller lists.

In celebration—and also because it's Christmas—Sacrificed is FREE on Kindle for the FIRST TIME EVER.

Please tell your friends. And your enemies. I mean, come on, it's Christmas!

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming,beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

I have to be honest, when I first head about the Anna and the French Kiss series I wasn't interested at all! I'm definitely not usually the sort of person who gets into a soppy chick lit which is what I assumed this series was, I was totally wrong, this series is so much more than that. Yes, a main part of the story is about falling in love, teenage angst and romance but the way in which Stephanie Perkins wrote this book makes it feel like there are other things going on as well. These books are also incredible coming of age books, it deals with issues such as growing up and being terrified about the future, family problems, friendships and everything else a young person is thinking about in their last couple years of high school. 

The series starts with Anna and the French Kiss where a young girl, Anna is sent to a boarding school in France for American Students, there she has to learn a new language, a new culture and meet new friends to try and fit it. The second and third books: Lola and the boy next door and Isla and the happily ever after, although you do not HAVE to read them in order, I feel like the books work so much better if read in the order of publication as the characters in the first books appear in the later books so you might get some spoilers if read in the opposite/alternative order.

The main thing I loved about these books, especially Anna  and the French Kiss was the Characters. Stephanie Perkins has created the most quirky, lovable characters who are also utterly relatable and I feel like I actually know. I couldn't book this book down due to the fact that I was so connected and invested in the characters lives and I NEEDED to know what happened to them.What I also loved about these books was that the city in which the book was set in, Paris, also felt like a character  to me, the descriptions Perkins uses to describe Paris creates a perfect picture in your mind which is so clear I felt as if I was there. Even weeks after reading this series I still feel nostalgic about Paris even though I haven't actually been there. I also enjoyed the mix of emotions this book gave me, one minute I would be crying with sadness, the next I would be crying with happiness, a few pages later I'd be snorting with laughing, a good book should make you feel and this book definetley did. 

The only thing I did not like about these books is that from about half way through I knew everything was going to be alright with the characters due to the sort of books that these were, the happily ever after sort of books. This is the reason I don't usually read romance books due to finding them predictable however what I did like about these books was that I couldn't guess how the issues were going to be resolved so I was still gripping the book with anticipation at finding out how things were going to work. 

Overall I LOVED this series, it is my favorite contemporary series of all time and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys young adult romance, emotional books, anyone who enjoys a bit of quirky humour and anyone who wants to get fully invested into a new set of characters. 

WARNING! VERY  MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!!

So, let’s be honest here, sometimes, we all love those books that make us bawl so hard we can’t even breathe. Those books that just hit our emotions so hard and leave us tail-spinning in a storm of feels. They make us so attached to fictional lives that they affect our own emotional health. We love them, and I’m here to share a few of the books that had me crying so hard, I couldn’t even deal with life.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green- Big shocker here! I picked this book up before I knew anything about it. I had just discovered who John Green was, and I saw it at the library and decided to read it without know what it was about. I was in for the most touching roller coaster of my life! If you have read it, or seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about. It was like 2 am when I was finishing this book, and I was crying so hard, I woke my husband up and he literally was afraid for my well-being.  John Green crafted this amazing love story, made you fall in love with his characters, and then brought the world crashing down upon us all. It was hard to read this book, but at the same time, it’s real life. Things like this happen, and you know,  “The world is not a wish granting factory.”

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken- I was not expecting to be so hysterical during this book, but Alexandra Bracken likes to do that to her readers. She pulls us in so deep, we feel the struggles of her characters and we fall so much in love with all of them…When the end came and she dropped that bomb, I was not expecting it at all! I couldn’t even deal with it, it just cried so hard I couldn’t breathe! Ugh, it was sooooo good!

Harry Potter books 5-7 by J.K. Rowling- I’m sorry, but if you didn’t cry reading these books, I don’t know what is wrong with you! Do you even have a heart?? I don’t think I’ve cried as hard for any book as I did with these last three Harry Potter books. Harry loses so much in his life, and it makes us feel so lost with him, he loses all the people he has looked up to and it’s just sooooooooo sad! However, in the end, I suppose everything was alright, but for a while there I wasn’t sure if I could even move on with my life! Especially with book 7, Deathly Hallows, I started bawling after reading the dedication! It was pathetic… I have grown up with Harry and these books in particular really hit and emotional nerve with me, they are so close to my heart <3

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- Oh my goodness, this was so painful to read. It was heartbreaking and I felt like my world had been turned upside down. If you have read this book, you understand what I mean, it was sad, just very sad. However I did really enjoy this book as the last installment in an epic trilogy that I will love for the rest of my life.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clair- This is the first and only Cassy Clair book that made me cry It was the most heartbreaking love triangle in YA book history! But she just ended this series so perfectly and beautifully and it was just all kinds of amazing. And also, William Herondale :)

Allegiant by Veronica Roth- If you haven’t read this book yet, and haven’t been spoiled, props to you! If you had read this book, then you KNOW why this is on my list. That’s all I’m saying….

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer- I have no shame in saying I read these books, I even really enjoyed them. I picked them up long before anyone knew what Twilight was and I think I take a little bit of pride in that. I read Twilight and New Moon during my summer break one year and devoured them. I have no shame when I say I absolutely cried when Edward left in New Moon… it was devastating because we were reading it through Bella’s eyes and it crushed her. Looking back now, I’m not sure if I would have the same reaction ( I was a young teen at them time) but this make my list because I really had the water works going.

That’s all I’m going to mention for this post, I often cry in books, but the one’s that I mentioned above were really by hard-core sobbing fests. Let me know what books made you cry! What books made you feel all the feels??? I would love to hear  from you!

"I realize now that dying is easy. Living is hard."

-If I stay, (pg 175, US Paperback edition)

If I Stay is a story about love and tragedy, that makes your heart hurt, but at the same time brings you to hope.

My Initial Thoughts: To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like this book when I first started. I had no emotional attachment to the characters when the accident happened, and everything seemed so rushed and unemotional at first. However, I have to give miss Forman props for the way she carefully wove in the backstory of the characters and how eventually the reader does start to care for them. Everyone becomes a loveable, real person and the loss and tragedy of what had happened just hits you hard.

The Plot: This book isn’t a thriller, the plot isn’t particularly exciting or fast-paced. This book more so causes the reader to feel and to think. It draws you in and doesn’t let you go. It causes you to step back and look at your own life, at the people you love and cherish and makes you contemplate what you would do if you were put in Mia’s position.

The Writing: This book isn’t filled with breathtaking poetic prose, but it has a simplistic beauty to it. Forman’s writing style is very easy to follow and to get into.  It’s not filled with a bunch of fluff or long descriptors, but it has just enough of everything to build the characters and scenes and make the reader understand and tugs at the emotional heart strings.

Overall Thoughts & Rating: I really like this book for what it was, it’s emotional and thought-provoking and I would recommend it to fans of deeper, thought-provoking contemporary. It’s not all gloom, it does have its lighter, cute moments, but the overall feel is quite heavy. I really loved the way the characters were developed, I loved the part the music played throughout the book. I did think it was a little too short, it ended quite suddenly, but that didn’t take away from the impact of the story. 

I give this book a solid 4 ½ stars out of 5.