Mini Review: Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Hi everyone, Jenn, here. I just wanted to update you on our Clean Sweep ARC Challenge month. We're in the month of May but I have only one book down and several to go.

Today I finished Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols. As most of you may know, Mary and I adore Echols. We have read all of her published works. I will only post right now that I loved it. It was a short but generous read, about 288 pages. Leave it to Echols to get me interested in Country Music and the technical aspect of the guitar and fiddle. I highlighted countless quotes, song titles and musical references so I could google them later on. This is obviously the mini review as the book does not come out until July 16th, but please, add it to your "TBR" list on goodreads!

Don't forget to come back, we'll have a giveaway challenge up on the blog very soon!

Next on the #arcmonth reading list: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

Ramblings and Book Giveaway Annoucement

Five seconds of intro and the video previews my wonky face. Le sigh.

Romance Writers of America (RWA) invade Anaheim, California

On Wednesday, July 25, we attended the RWA Annual Conference at the Anaheim Convention Center. The RWA is an network and organization of over 10,000 dedicated romance writers.

Author Event - to fangirl or not to fangirl

If you love contemporary YA then you're no stranger to the magical Jennifer Echols and the amazing Simone Elkeles. I've read and loved every book they've published. They're not from the west coast, so when we found out that they were scheduled to be in Anaheim this week, we decided to go! I absolutely can't believe it!

Review: The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

In the violent country of Ludania, the language you speak determines what class you are, and there are harsh punishments if you forget your place—looking a member of a higher class in the eye can result in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina (Charlie for short) can understand all languages, a dangerous ability she’s been hiding her whole life. Her only place of release is the drug-filled underground club scene, where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. There, she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy who speaks a language she’s never heard, and her secret is almost exposed. Through a series of violent upheavals, it becomes clear that Charlie herself is the key to forcing out the oppressive power structure of her kingdom…. (Summary as found on Amazon)

Vegas Valley Book Festival (Tenth Anniversary) Nov. 3-6 2011

This past weekend my husband and I participated in the Vegas Valley Book Festival and it was the first time YA was ever showcased. There were a ton of amazing authors. Sadly, Stephanie Perkins wasn't able to make it, but oh my, I don't even know what I would have said if I saw her. I've said it before, authors are like movie stars and celebrities to me and I can get a tad carried away or star-struck. Imagine, a brunette Sailor Moon with a giant tear drop on the side of my face (yeah, that would be me).

YA Eerie Giveaway

Winners Announced!!

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen’s whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn’t just hot...what if Jeremy is better?

Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can’t end well, but she just can’t stay away. Nobody else understands her—and riles her up—like he does. Still, she can’t trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes antianxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what’s expected.
Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall....

2011 Favorite YA Covers & Drawing Winner

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yabooktwins eerie giveaway #3

Review - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Mara Dyer doesn't believe life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

I received this book courtesy of Simon&Schuster by way of Goodreads.