Blog Tour: REWIND

Rewind Blog Tour Stops

Win a FREE copy of REWIND. Post a comment here on my blog. Include first name, city, state and email. I do not share your emails anywhere. One winner will be picked on April 23 at noon MST. Please check your email on that date. The winner has 24 hours to respond to my email. The book will ship from the publisher. Thank you and be sure and read my review and interview with the author below.

 REWIND

by Carolyn O'Doherty

Boyds Mills Press 

2018

256  pages 

ISBN: 9781629798141

Thrilling edge of your seat action, killer high stakes, a series of events that lead the main character into desperation, Rewind is one YA debut you cannot afford to miss! Sixteen year old Alex is a spinner and works with the Portland police department using her unique ability to stop and rewind time as a tool to solve crimes. The police, with her help, are able to solve cases that come up, including murder cases. When Alex stops time, she can rewind and watch events in a "rewind." She sees people doing everything backwards: walking backwards, driving backwards, just as if you were to rewind a video or VDR program. When Alex gets to the point in time that the crime occurs, she and her police partner, Mr. Ross, can see events happen and see the criminal commit the crime. When Alex agrees to partner with Ross to stop a dangerous criminal she has no idea what she is getting into and worse, who to trust.

Alex lives in a group setting called the Center with others who share her ability. Spinners are kept there since birth as the populace fears them and their powers. Many people hate or distrust them. Alex is allowed "outside" only on a tether (a leash) so that normal people can control her. All the kids are on meds. They think what they are taking is helping them, but as Alex begins a new secret treatment, she realizes the drugs are killing them. The government wants them to die in their teens. Alex puts her trust in best friend KJ and they escape the center and go on the run.

Readers will be unable to put this one down. A page-turner with high stakes and a kick-butt female protagonist is always a win. Add fighting crime and a HUGE double cross, and you have magic in those pages! /Time travel is always a win, but with the police and crime solving aspect, this is a unique twist. Reluctant readers will find themselves LOVING this one. 

HIGHLY, highly recommended for all YA readers. Grades 7 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

                                               Meet Carolyn--My Interview with Carolyn 

Q:  In REWIND, Alex is the main character and hero. In Books 2 and 3, will other spinners become more important, or will Alex continue as the main?

Alex remains the point of view character in all three books, though Jack and Shannon both become more prominent characters in book two.

Q: Rewind is book one in a planned trilogy, where are you as a writer right now? Are you finished with all three and editing? Are you currently still writing? When can readers expect publication of next two books?

Book 2 is almost finished (at least I hope so!). I have one more round of changes to work through but the book is complete so the edits are around tightening the pacing rather than working through the plot. Book 2 is scheduled to come out in the spring of 2019. Book 3 right now only exists as a really terrible early draft. I sketched out what I wanted to have happen in 3 before I finished book 2 to make sure that I wasn’t going to write myself into a corner but the manuscript is otherwise a complete mess. I don’t have a contract yet for book 3, but I hope we’ll have it out a year after book 2 (spring of 2020).

Q: The Portland area seems to be a hotbed of YA writers right now. Does living in the area help a YA writer? If so, why?

I don’t know if living in Portland helps YA writers specifically, but it’s a great place to live for a writer in general. There are wonderful resources here and lots of supportive peers to lean on. I’ve been part of a number of different writing groups, both formal and informal, and all of them have added to my sense of being part of a community. I find writing groups, and individual writing friends, so important, both because it’s hard to critique your own work and because most of my writing time is spent all by myself. It’s endlessly reassuring to have someone to talk to about the difficulties of good plotting, finding inspiration, uncooperative characters, and the challenges of the publishing industry.

Q: How many edits or changes did your manuscript go through from querying and landing your agent to editor? How many edits did it go through at editor stage?

Short answer: a lot. I got my agent for REWIND in the spring of 2014. The feedback I received from her took me six months to work through – I changed the entire book from past tense to present and rewrote a major section in the middle, which then meant more changes in the end to make it consistent. When Boyds Mills Press picked it up they asked for additional changes. Those were less dramatic, but they still took time. After that, we had maybe a half dozen rounds of back and forth with increasingly pickier changes. Boyds Mills’ editors are awesome – they caught all kinds of problems and inconsistencies from a character holding something one moment and then reaching that same hand out to do something else, to a word I overused, similes that didn’t work, and misplaced commas. The final rounds of edits were crazy specific – like, could I remove a few letters from a particular line so that the sentence didn’t look squished on the page? I did not expect that level of editing at all!

Q:When would freezing time be a blessing? A curse?

I think for the person who had the skills it would generally be a blessing, assuming one did not live in the society Alex does, and one was able to use the skill at will. You could do a lot of good in the world: stopping people from dying in a car crash, for example, or, as Alex does in the first chapter of REWIND, defusing a bomb. For us non-spinners, though, the ability to stop time is pretty troubling. A spinner with bad intentions is almost impossible to protect against. It’s one of the tensions I’m exploring more as the series progresses.

Q: Besides YA time travel, is there another genre you are considering writing? For example: MG or YA fantasy?

The very first novel I wrote, the one that lives in the proverbial drawer, was an epic fantasy aimed at adult readers. It’s unlikely to ever see the light of day, though I do toy with the idea of resurrecting it sometimes. Since then I’ve only written YA with some sort of fantastical element. One started out as an adult book, but it ended up turning into YA, so I think this is where I’m staying. I like YA because the stories can be more complex than MG without having to add the additional angst adult novels tend to have (at least the ones I like to read). YA can be really playful and I enjoy living in that place while I write.

Q: What is the last YA book you've read besides your own?

A friend recently gave me the first of the Raven Cycle books by Maggie Stiefvater (The Raven Boys) and I have to admit to being a bit obsessed. I just finished the third one and can’t wait to start the fourth!

Q: What books would you recommend to every YA reader?

Books are so personal. I don’t think there are any must-read books that work for everyone. People should read whichever stories suck them into a fictional world so deeply they never want to leave. One of my older son’s favorite writers when he was a teen was Walter Dean Myers, who writes gritty, realistic novels about inner city boys and young soldiers. My other son is currently immersed in Game of Thrones. A few books I have been sucked into lately (besides the aforementioned Raven Cycle) are: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, Feed by M.T. Anderson, and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. Everyone in my family adores all seven Harry Potter books. Read a lot, read widely, and discover what you love.

Q: Besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

This doesn’t really count as a hobby, but I have a non-writing job as an affordable housing developer that fills a lot of my time. My position there means building a lot of spreadsheets and I find using such a different part of my brain is a nice balance to the creative/writing side of my life. Outside of work I like reading, cooking, snowboarding, and visiting with friends. My youngest is off to college soon so my husband and I are dreaming up a lot of trips we want to take as empty nesters.

Q: What author (even outside of YA) do you admire most and why?

This is a hard one, there are so many authors I admire for so many different reasons. Of the classics, I’m a big Jane Austen fan because of her precision and beautiful prose (OK, and because I’m a hopeless Anglophile). Toni Morrison’s work always blow me away, especially her novel Beloved, which is one of my all-time favorites. Her writing is poetic and gorgeous and the story is heartbreaking. I also really admire J.K. Rowling’s ability to create such a detailed and immersive world. I’m sure I could go on – there are so many wonderful writers out there.

Q: If you could do anything besides writing for a living, what would it be?

Hah! As I in no way make my living from writing, I’d say developing affordable housing. ☺ That said, I recently visited a gallery of an artist (Chris Roberts-Antieau) who makes really gorgeous textile art. I’d love to be able to create something like that!

Q: Every writer has things that appear in every work. For example mine are: a bookstore or library, a dog, food, magic and snappy dialog. What things appear in all your works?

So far the common denominator seems to be Portland. That and weird, science fiction-y elements because I love playing with what-ifs. The book I’m working on now has a character who wakes up looking a different age every morning. I’ve also sketched out a story that involves body swapping – my whole family pitched in on the initial plotting for that one while we were out hiking one day!

Q: What food speaks to your SOUL?

Homemade macaroni and cheese? It’s not very exciting but it’s definitely my go-to comfort food and also the first non-dessert thing I learned how to cook. Sushi is one of my favorite flavors, though. And dark chocolate. I am also very fond of red wine (is that bad to admit in a YA blog?).

Q: What smells or scents bring back childhood memories for you?

The beach – warm tropical beaches, not those chilly coastal places. I lived in Hawaii from ages 7 to 14 and we used to go to the beach every Sunday. The smell of sea-salt and hot sand always take me back.

Q: What was your greatest vacation of all time and why?

When we first got married, my husband and I spent four months traveling around SE Asia. We spent time in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. We saw beautiful places, learned history I never would have absorbed in a classroom, and talked to so many interesting people. It’s easy to think of foreign countries as “different” or scary, but when you’re there you realize we’re all just everyday people living out our lives. Well, “everyday” in some ways, but with exotic-to-me food and scenery and things to explore. I wish everyone had the opportunity to travel because I think then we would live in a kinder and more peaceful world.

YA Giveaway: The Last Magician

Read my review here

I have FIVE FREE copies of this fantastic, magical YA book. This is the best YA I've read all year, so I'm super stoked to offer this giveaway! For your chance to win, post a comment here. Include your first name, city, state and email. Winners are chosen randomly using Randomizer. Deadline for entry is noon MST on Dec. 13. I will notify winners Dec. 13 shortly after noon MST. Please check your email on that date. Winners have 24 hours to respond to my email. Books will ship from New York courtesy of Simon & Schuster! Thank you and good luck. Start posting! Pamela

Magical Pick: The Last Magician

The Last Magician
by Lisa Maxwell
Simon Pulse
2017
512 pages
ISBN: 9781481432078

Magical, captivating, entertaining, and a delightful romp from present day to 1902 New York where thieves and thievery are celebrated and men in charge become powerful through tricks of magic and tomfoolery (sounds like modern day politics!). The Last Magician is the best book of this year!

Few people have an affinity (magic) in present day New York and those who do are afraid to show it. The Mageus have been underground for decades, prisoners in Manhatten. They dare not leave the island as they will die on the Brink, a dark force placed there to hold them prisoner by the Order. Esta is a practiced thief. She can steal anything and escape before anyone knows she's even been there. Her affinity allows her to move and travel through time. The Professor is counting on her to travel to 1902 and find the ancient book, steal it from the Order, bring it to the present and outsmart the Magician.

Most of the tale takes place in 1902 where Esta meets politicians, bosses, mobsters, second story men, thieves, brutes, policemen and magicians. She will have to find her way into the heart of the Order's fortress and steal the book. Her future depends upon it. Trouble is, the Magician is quite taken by her. One chance meeting and he is smitten. Esta is taken aback by the Magician. He is charming and witty. Surely this is not the man who destroys the future!

Esta is one moxie heroine! Readers will want to be her and travel with her. She is gritty, savvy and perfect in every situation.

At 512 pages, this read may frighten some readers. Please hold their hand and tell them it will be okay. This is by far the best 512 pages I've read this year!!!! Readers will feel all the feels and embrace 1902 New York like a native. Maxwell manages to take readers on a journey into brothels, dark streets, cramped tenements, high stakes poker games, dens of iniquity and mansions of New York mobsters and bosses.

If you haven't read The Last Magician, RUN to the book store, click the ICON, ORDER this book into your HANDS and ENJOY. You're welcome.

Highly, highly recommended grade 9-up. Some adult situations and seedy (but AWESOME) characters. Honestly, this book is a crossover into adult. It is less YA than adult but the heroine is a teen. Adults will love this book even more than YA readers.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

YA Pick: Midwinter Blood

Midwinterblood
by Marcus Sedgewick
Roaring Brook Press
2013
262 pages

Magical, mysterious, macabre, and mesmerizing, Midwinterblood tells seven stories that are intertwined with the quiet island of Blessed and its strange curse. Powerful and commanding storytelling by Marcus Sedgewick will have readers completely enraptured by his captivating spell.

Journalist Eric Seven travels to a remote Scandinavian island for a story. The islanders, it is said, live forever and never age, but there are not children anywhere. Eric falls for the enigmatic Merle, a woman who seems so familiar, yet he knows he has never seen her before...or has he? Tor, the island's leader, allows Eric to stay and finds a cottage for his use. As Eric explores the island, he is sure he has been there before. Everything is new and strange, yet feels old and familiar. Eric is bone tired and soon dreams haunt his sleep, and a painting hides the secret of the island.

Other stories revolve around the painting and the island. The story of a plane wreck and a pilot. The story of an archeologist who discovers ancient bones from the Viking era. The story of a painter, the story of a vampire, the story of brothers who both loved the same woman, the story of children sired by another, and the story of the island's curse.

Midwinterblood is a beautifully crafted novel that showcases Sedgewick's talent as a storyteller and a magician--he is able to weave separate stories of each individual into the larger story of the island and of lives relived. Love is stronger than the bonds of time and stronger still than the evil curse. The island cannot hold true love prisoner and eventually the right individual will arrive and change the island forever.

Highly, highly recommended grade 7-up. Average readers may struggle with the concept of the seven stories, but good readers will love this novel. Midwinterblood will surely be on everyone's must reads and favorites lists and is likely to be nominated for many state's awards.

Some violence.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Book Giveaway: Infinityglass

Infinity Glass
by Myra McEntire
Egmont
2013
Available August 6, 2013

For the Hourglass fan site and more stuff

I have FIVE free copies of this great new YA title and the third book of the Hourglass series.

From the publisher's website:

"No time like the present.




No time in the present.



No time left.



From the moment the Hourglass group violated the rules of the space time continuum to rescue a murdered loved one, time has been in flux. People from other centuries slide into our time, intruding into our space, threatening our world.



Frantically seeking a way to turn back this tide, the Hourglass begins a search for the legendary Infinityglass, tracking it to the city of New Orleans, a place where the past rests easily with the present."

Dune is selected and sent to New Orleans, but he soon finds out that the Infinityglass isn't an object, it's a person!

For your chance to win, simply post a comment to the blog and include your first name, city, state and email. I need your email address in order to contact you should you win! Deadline for posts is August 15, 2013 at noon MST. Winners will be notified shortly after on that date. Please check your email. Winners are selected randomly by Randomizer. Books will ship to winners courtesy of Egmont.

Good luck and start posting! Pamela

Time Travel Pick: Plague in the Mirror

Plague in the Mirror

By Deborah Noyes

Candlewick Press

2013

306 pages



What if someone is your exact twin but living centuries away? And what if that person has evil intentions? And what if time allows that stranger to catch up with you? And what if that stranger is not nice…not nice at all.



Dark, deceptive, seductive, and haunting, Plague in the Mirror is a novel rich in history, its setting in present day Florence and in the Florence of the past: 1348 Florence.



May is on a vacation with childhood friend Liam and his mother Gwen. They visit the famous tourist sites in Florence living and breathing the city’s rich history and past. May is visited by a ghostly girl who is her exact twin. Cristofana has been searching for a look-alike for a long time, and she’s not about to let May walk away.



May travels with her ghostly twin to Florence in 1348. She thinks she may be dreaming or quite possibly out of her mind. The plague kills with a vengeance, and May is frightened. She searches for a way out and meets a beautiful stranger. May finds the portal and returns to her friends, but she’s troubled by the chance meeting with the dark stranger who is now always in her thoughts.



Cristofana wants to live in May’s world. She wants to live and be free of a time where so many have died. If she stays in 1348, chances are that she, too, will die. May plays with fire and returns again and again to 1348. It’s dangerous and it’s romantic. How much is she willing to risk for love at first sight? Two girls who are carbon copies. Two girls who long to be somewhere else—in another century.

Will May fight for her life? Or will she give in to passion?



Fantastic cover art will draw readers to pick this novel up. The premise of a ghost story, time travel and a beautiful Italian setting has strong appeal as well. Noyes develops modern day Florence and Florence of the past in fantastic detail.

Recommended grade 9-up. Language, mature situations.



FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.



This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Sci-Fi Thriller Pick: Unremembered

Unremembered
by Jessica Brody
Farrar Straus Giroux
2013
320 pages

Available March 5, 2013


Visit the author's website to see the U.S. and U.K. covers and download the first five chapters here

Author Jessica Brody just keeps getting better. Her earlier novels 52 Reasons to Hate My Father and My Life Undecided were funny and spunky, but Unremembered is taut, thrilling, complex and supercool. The pages practically turn themselves. Don’t sit down with this book if you have anything planned. You’ll be cancelling your plans in order to finish this exciting sci-fi thriller in one sitting.

Waking up in the water seems crazy. The only thing she remembers is “1609.” Is it a year? Or a code? Is it an address? They tell her she’s been in a horrible plane crash and that she’s the only survivor. The doctors and nurses try to help her remember, but she doesn’t remember anything: not her name, not her address, nothing of her past; she doesn’t even know what common items are: a television or a computer, for example. The media covering her story makes her the darling of network television, but no family members step forward to claim her.

She seems to remember a boy visiting her bedside and claiming to know her. He tells her he’s going to get her out of there, but then he vanishes. The nurses begin calling the Jane Doe “Violet” since that’s the color of her eyes. And another thing, Violet is drop-dead--runway model--gorgeous.
Soon, she is well enough to leave the hospital and the state finds a foster home with a family who has one younger son Cody. Violet leaves the hospital with her only belonging: a mysterious locket with the inscription: S + Z = 1609—that’s the number she remembered when they pulled her from the water! What could it mean?

Soon, Violet discovers her real name is Seraphina and that she can do difficult math problems in her head and that she speaks Russian fluently. Is she Russian? Seraphina discovers that not only is she blessed with model good looks she also has super-human strength and speed. She begins to notice her body can do incredible things. Cody tries to help Seraphina discover who and what she really is.

When she visits the airport where her plane took off, she discovers that she was never even on that plane? How did she get in the water? And who are the people who seem to be following her? And where is the mysterious boy who appeared in her hospital room? And why can’t she remember anything in her past?

Don’t miss this exciting new YA thriller. It’s going to be HUGE! And it has already been optioned for film by the producer and screenwriter responsible for the movies The Departed and The Ring.

I can’t say enough about how much I LOVED this book. It pulled me in from the very first page and raced me along at a breakneck pace through the pages. I was only sorry when the thrill ride came to an end. Readers won’t have to wait long though; this is book 1 in a planned trilogy. Fans will be clamoring for more.

Highly, highly recommended for all paranormal romance junkies grade 7-up. Some romance, some sci-fi.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.
This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Crossover Appeal: Stephen King's 11/22/63

11/22/63
by Stephen King
Scribner
2011
849 pages

This is an open letter to Stephen King:

Dear Stephen (I use your first name since you have been in my head for at least 25 years. I hope you don't mind):

I now forgive you for The Tommyknockers. I devoted three days of my time back in 1988 devouring The Tommyknockers--during my ten year devotion to all things Stephen King--only to be so disappointed by the ending, I threw the book against the wall! I swore I would NEVER read Stephen King again, and I was true to my word until I picked up The Mist and Cell years later. I have to admit I was becoming a King fan again. I was intrigued by the idea of 11/22/63; that through time travel one man could change a watershed moment in history and prevent the death of a beloved president. I couldn't put this novel down and kept thinking about many questions it answered and many more questions it brought up.

From the moment I began I was enthralled. Stephen, you have outdone even yourself! 11/22/63 is a watershed novel. It has everything a reader could want: mystery, suspense, intrigue, romance, seduction, murder, suicide, evil, magic, and time travel. This is a real page-turner that will make readers think long after finishing the novel.

Jake Epping is a normal high school English teacher who picks up extra money teaching an adult GED class in the evening. He is a divorced guy with a typical bachelor life. He just gets by day after day. He happens to read an essay by the high school custodian that shatters him. The custodian's mother and siblings were murdered right in front of him and he was left semi-crippled by a madman: his own father. Jake takes Harry to grab a burger at a little dive nearby. Later, Al the diner's owner, takes Jake to a back room and tells him a little secret; the rear of the pantry is actually a portal (a rabbithole) that leads back to the past, in fact the same day every time in 1958. A few days later, Jake visits Al and he's shocked by his appearance. Al has lost tons of weight and seemingly aged 20-30 years overnight.

Al explains that he has been gone five years (only two minutes in real time) and that he has cancer and won't last but a few more days. He enlists Jake's help and he begins relating his strange story. Al has been using the rabbithole for a long time. He'll go back and buy groceries for the diner at 1958 prices; sometimes he'll stay a few minutes or a few days, but when he comes back, it's always only two minutes later in real time. Al gives Jake a notebook; it is his notes on Lee Harvey Oswald. Al has the idea that if you could travel back to 1958 and live there a few years, you could find Lee Harvey Oswald and stop him from killing President John F. Kennedy in 1963. This is a watershed moment in history that can be prevented. Al and Jake wonder if Kennedy lives, will the future be better or worse? Will Robert Kennedy live or die, will the race riots occur, will Martin Luther King, Jr., be assassinated, will Vietnam be stopped and millions of young American lives saved?

To prove their theory, Jake travels back in time and tries to stop Harry's father from murdering the whole family. When he comes back to the present, Harry doesn't have a limp and he's not a custodian. Jake is able to save the family and Harry's future. What you put right in the past will affect everything around it--the Butterfly Effect. Will Jake ruin things in the future if he changes the past? Al brings up the principle of Occam's Razor--a philosophy that states if you have two ideas about how something happened, the simplest idea is probably the true one. Al provides Jake 1958 money, a driver's license, his notebook on Oswald and advice to "blend in." Al warns Jake about the Yellow Card man who sits by the opening of the rabbithole and yells at Al each time he travels to the past. After a couple of trips, Jake realizes that the Yellow Card man knows about the time travel and is trying to warn him.

Jake loves 1958 America at first. Although it's stinkier--everyone smokes cigarettes and factories belch out black smoke--food tastes better. A root beer tastes "rootier"--it's before preservatives and artificial coloring. Ladies wear dresses with hats and gloves every day! Children jump rope in front of their homes, women stay home and cook and clean. Husbands work and commute. The seedier side of 1958 is that some men beat their wives and kids and neighbors look the other way. Violence is a part of everyday life in the past. Jake lives in Derry, Maine, for awhile and then moves to Texas so he'll be in place to spy on Lee Harvey Oswald.

He buys a degree from a college and takes a job as a high school teacher making friends and romancing the school's librarian. Sadie and Jake fall in love but they can't marry because Sadie is still legally married to her first husband who beat her. Jake is happy and he thinks of staying in 1958 and marrying Sadie, but he knows he must save the President and complete his promise to Al.

Jake gambles on prize fights and ball games--losing a few times to make it look like he's a bad gambler, but winning when the payoff is huge. After all, he knows who will win and bets accordingly. This doesn't sit well with bookies and soon Jake is beaten by some goons who work for the local bookie. He loses his memory but finally comes clean with Sadie telling her his strange story that he's from the future and has a job to do. Sadie's husband shows up with his own vendetta.

Will Jake and Sadie save the President? If they do, what repercussions will there be? Will Jake stay in the past? What happens if he does? If he returns to present day, will Sadie ever forgive him? How many things can be changed in the past without changing reality itself? The ending was just as weepy as "The Notebook," so have tissues ready.

Stephen, you said you tried to write this book back in 1972 but "the wound was too fresh"--only 9 years after Kennedy's assassination-- and that you were glad you waited until now to write it. I am glad, too. In 1972, I would have been too young to read this book, let alone appreciate it. I want to thank you for entertaining all of us--not just entertaining--but giving us a fresh look at history and making us want to know more. This is your masterpiece, and I'm thrilled to have read it and reviewed it.

Highly, highly recommended grades 9-up. This is an adult novel with teen crossover appeal. Anyone who loves King's earlier writing will love 11/22/63. History buffs and Kennedy fans will also want to read King's thrilling opus! Mature content, some sex, rough language.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Book Giveaway: Hourglass

5 copies of the new ya novel Hourglass by debut author Myra McEntire are up for grabs!


Hourglass--a different type of paranormal. When Emerson realizes she's seeing dead people, she tries everything to shake it. Her brother hires a cadre of people to "help" her get "over it," but no one can stop the dead Confederate soldiers from appearing, the swooning Southern belles in hoop skirts who torment Emerson, or any other ghost from the past who happens to pop in.

Enter Michael from Hourglass. Michael is different. He seems to know Emerson on a deeper level. When she realizes he knows her from the future, Emerson begins to learn the truth.

Teens will love this book, and girls will love Michael--way sexier and dreamier than Edward (Twilight).

Simply post a comment here and be sure to include your first name, email contact, and city location( I'm just nosy--I like to know where all of y'all are from) smile.

Deadline for posts is Thursday, July 1, at noon MST (Mountain Standard Time). Books will ship from Egmont Publishing in New York City.

I will notify winners by email. Winners will have 24 hours to respond to my email and send me a street mailing address. If a winner does not give me his/her address withing 24 hours, the book copy will be forfeited and given to the next person who commented. Sorry, time is of the essence. Good luck! Pamela

Best New Series

Oracles of Delphi Keep
Victoria Laurie
Delacorte Press, 2009
549 pages

The first in a series of books by a debut author is a magical story of two orphans, a castle and orphanage, an English earl, and the white cliffs of Dover. But it’s much more than that, part adventure, part magical tale, it reminds readers of A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lightning Thief series (Riordan) with a bit of Harry Potter magic thrown in.
A baby arrives on a dark and stormy night in 1930, carried by a mysterious horseman, and Ian is entrusted to be her older sibling and look after her.

Ian loves adventure and fancies himself a great explorer someday. He dreams of romantic places and amazing discoveries. One day he and Theo are exploring among the cliffs of Dover near the Keep, when Ian discovers a fantastic black box. He unearths it and takes it back to the Keep to try and open it. The box is decorated with strange markings but try as he might, Ian cannot open it.

Ian and Theo uncover a 3,000 year old prophecy and are astonished that their names are written down. They have been called upon to save the world from forces that will be called together to destroy humankind.

Readers who enjoyed Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and the Harry Potter series will love this novel. Rollicking great fun and a real page turner. ‘


Highly, highly recommended. Ages 10 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this copy of the book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. I REALLY loved this book..

YA Pick

House of Dark Shadows

(Dreamhouse Kings, Book One)

by Robert Liparulo

Thomas Nelson, Inc.

286 pages, with reading group guide



Xander King is not happy to be leaving his friends in Pasadena and moving to a small "hicksville" town in the mountains of northern California. His father has taken a new position--principal of Pinedale High School. The King family buys a creepy, abandoned Victorian house in a heavily wooded rural area. Soon, as expected, even creepier things begin to happen. Giant footprints are left in the dust. There are strange voices and creaky noises; things go bump in the night. Victoria, Xander's little sister, sees a huge intruder standing in her room.



Xander and his brother David discover a closet that has a secret portal. They step into the portal and out of a locker--in the hallway of Pinedale High School. Other portals lead to much more dangerous destinations.



Xander's dad has a secret, and when Xander discovers what it is, it threatens the safety of the entire family.



Part scary, spooky thriller, part strange, twister killer mystery, part time travel sci-fi genre, this debut YA novel will appeal to readers of spooky stuff like Mary Downing Hahn and lovers of Anthony Horowitz's Horowitz Horror.



Recommended for reluctant readers, grades 5-9 and anyone who enjoys creepy old houses. Book Two is Watcher in the Woods and now available.

YA Pick

The Red Pyramid ( Kane Chronicles, Book One)

by Rick Riordan.

Disney, Hyperion Books, 2010.

516 pages.

Following on the heels of tremendous success with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Rick Riordan takes on the Egyptian gods. Not quite as fun or popular as their Greek counterparts, the gods from Egypt are darker and meaner. They may become as popular as the Greeks in the capable hands of storyteller Riordan.

The Red Pyramid is a fun, non-stop adventure with tongue-in-cheek humor and puns. Riordan makes fun of many of the foreign sounding names, like Djehuti, whom the main character, Carter, pronounces "Ja-hooty." Titles of chapters are also part of the joke. Chapter 35, for instance, is titled "Men Ask For Directions (& Other Signs of the Apocalypse). There are funny characters like an baboon who plays basketball and wears a Lakers jersey.

Carter and Sadie Kane are siblings whose parents are Egyptologists and who the kids learn later are descended from the original Pharoh families. The Kane children have special abilities like magic and are protected by a cat named Muffin, who turns out to be the ancient goddess Bast. Other gods help Carter and Sadie along the way, too. Hey, it's not easy saving the world!

The novel itself is dedicated "to all my librarian friends, champions of books..." Riordan remembers all the book talks and reviews fellow librarians have done in the past helping his books become best-sellers. For that, he is commended!

The Red Pyramid will excite those who read the Percy Jackson series. It, too, will be several installments--probably six books--and who knows, maybe a movie???

Recommended for YA collections grades 6-h.s. If you liked The Lightning Thief and its sequels, this book is for you!

High Schol/Adult Thriller

Relentless

by Dean Koontz

Bantam Books, 2010

428 pages.

Koontz's latest novel is thrilling, provocative, and shows his finesse as a wordsmith. He is a magician, a wit, a curmudgeon, a surgeon, a master, a poet, a keen observer, a biting satirist. Never has Koontz been this spot-on. He slays literary agents and book reviewers with equal punning intended.

Cubby is a celebrated novelist and makes quite a good living churning out best sellers. His wife writes children's books. Together they parent an eight-year old genius named Milo and a dog Lassie--named by the eight year old, of course. Life is good, until Cubby's latest book gets a bad review from a literary critic. Sherman Waxx can make or break novelists. He is an enigma wrapped up inside a mystery! Koontz is at his comic best when he takes swipes at an on-line encyclopedia--could it be Wikipedia???--and quotes that "Waxx is an enema..." the site meaning "enigma," of course.

This literary critic is not just your average mean-tempered snoot--he is an evil madman who will stop at nothing until Cubby and his family are dead. Relentless is as thrilling as it gets. You won't be able to put down this page-turner. I would say this is Koontz's best novel, by far.

Koontz offers his insight into writing prose as well when Cubby says, "Outlines are a waste of time. If you give your characters free will, they will grow in ways you never anticipated and they will take the stories places your could not have predicted" (p. 79).

Koontz offers his view on fine dining establishments and the kind of foodies they attract. "Such restaurants seek and attract a type of customer whose very existence, in such numbers, proves our civilization is dying: boisterous and free-spending egotists taught since infancy that self-esteem matters more than knowledge..."

Koontz may well become the Will Rogers wit of his generation. He turns a phrase as deftly as a maestro, and he is becoming the voice of the intelligent, although outnumbered by the scores of ignorant boors and wanna-be intellectuals.

Recommended for high school collections, adult collections. Violence, some language.