Guest Post: Leigh Bardugo Book Signing in Los Altos,Ca

Leigh Bardugo Book Signing in Los Altos

Before Ashley had invited me to the book signing in Los Altos I had never even heard of Leigh Bardugo.  As a reader who tends to stay more to the Sci-fi side of Sci-fi/fantasy it may be understandable why.  I can assure you that after personally viewing her interview at the event I was completely convinced to read her work.  Leigh has a very intellectually witty personality filled with enthusiasm and an incredible devotion to her fans.  

I remember standing in line just to enter the event thinking how similar it was to line at most theme parks.  Which quickly made me realize how important of an author Leigh must be,  especially considering Los Altos was a small town.  My favorite part of her interview consisted of her being asked what would be her personal weapon of choosing since her characters each had a select weapon that related to their respective personalities.  She responded by telling a short tale about her hearing two girls screaming outside of her home in the night.  Fearing the worst she grabbed her baseball bat to see if she could save the day only to find the girls were drunk and upset after a night of partying .  She said that after that experience a baseball bat would be her personal weapon of choice and she would name the bat Gandalf.  Somehow picturing Leigh wielding Gandalf the Bat in an angry rage brings me utter joy. In all honestly Leigh quickly gained a warm part of my heart with all of her humor.  

Leigh seemed incredibly happy to show off her dark humor and that led me to believe that she was simply being herself.  It’s funny how everyone burst out laughing when she brought up a gruesome scene from her book Six of Crows.  It sounds awful I know but when she revealed her thought process while writing that section of the book it made everyone snicker and cheer.  Her bubbly personality kept me quite entranced and entertained the entire duration of her interview.  I’d say I only wish it had lasted longer so I could have heard more fun insights into her work such as this.

I could tell during the questioning period that Leigh Bardugo truly cared about each and every one of her fans.  Giving the best possible answer and supporting new writers in the crowd.  She took every moment of time she possibly could to give any details in her answers she could possibly think of.  One thing she insisted on is that she didn’t write her amazing stories in one go but simply wrote them out and revised them many times until they felt perfect.  Questions relating to how she wrote such incredible and unique work came up often so I heard this answer in various forms many times.  Leigh certainly was humble and even modest about her success as an author which in many ways only drew me to appreciate her success that much more.

Talking to Leigh Bardugo face to face while getting one of Ashley’s books signed felt like having a conversation with a long lost friend.  I was greeted with a warm smile and out of curiousity I questioned her about what movie trailers she had written for.  She happily responded and made me chuckle.  I greatly desired to know how she got her start in writing so it was interesting to hear.  Along with the book signing we selected a free card of a random Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom character.  Which only added to the fun and made for a pleasant surprise to see which characters everyone received.  

Overall I would give this book signing a 5/5 and it will be an experience I will remember for a long time.  Also on a side note Leigh gained a new fan and I’ve actually begun reading some of her books.  Hopefully she will release another work of fiction soon so I can get the opportunity to hear more of her wonderful insight into her work at one of her future book signings.  I would also like to personally thank Ashley for inviting me to this event because I wouldn’t have known what I was missing unless I had gone.

~Joshua

* Sidenote Ashley, Walt and Will are traveling to Seattle to the Fierce Reads Tour stop this Monday 10/10*

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Brian's Review: Jerkbait by Mia Siegert

Jerkbait

Author: Mia Siegert

Published On: 5/10/2016

Page Count: 244

Synopsis: (Found on Goodreads)

Even though they're identical, Tristan isn't close to his twin Robbie at all—until Robbie tries to kill himself.

Forced to share a room to prevent Robbie from hurting himself, the brothers begin to feel the weight of each other's lives on the ice, and off.

 

Overall Rating: 4/5

This was a great story, but can be difficult to read. There is a lot of controversial subject matter and tough situations, and you should intend to read it with an open mind. One big gripe I did have was that I think too much of the plot was spoiled in the synopsis, and luckily I was able to avoid that and go in blind. I have only included a small portion of it in this review, and would highly recommend reading it with as little information as possible to get the full effect.

Cover: 3.5 / 5

The cover is interesting, and simplistic. I do like the color scheme as well, however I don’t get much of a tie in to what the book is about. I like my covers to give me a sneak peek into what I’m getting into, and the cover just didn’t do that for me.

Characters: 4/5

Tristan: The younger twin, who always feels like he’s living in the shadow of his brother. Tristan is the antagonist, and a very interesting character. He has a quiet strength about him that allows him to keep going through incredibly difficult situations with his family. His parents are very focused on his twin’s success and aren’t very subtle about putting Robbie before Tristan most of the time. He helps his brother with hockey and with his emotional problems every step of the way, without complaint (mostly). Tristan has to endure a lot of his own hardships in this book and still manages to put others before himself, which is a quality not many people possess.

Robbie: The star of the hockey team weighted down by the hopes and dreams of his father, the expectations of his coach and team, and the pressure of his peers at school. Robbie really just wants to live his own life, though he does love hockey. He cares for his brother, and hates when Tristan gets wrapped up in taking care of him or catches the collateral damage when his father gets angry at him and spills over to include Tristan. He doesn’t seem to know why he is trying to hurt himself, and just passes it off as something he was trying. You can feel that there is a deep seeded pain there, but he can’t even bring himself to talk about it with his twin.

Mom & Dad: A rarity in the YA novels I’ve read, this story actually has parents in it. Unfortunately the parents in this story barely qualify. The father is extremely focused on living out his dream of playing professional hockey through his son, and all else is secondary. He makes sure Robbie is focused on the goal of being drafted highly out of school, and is completely single minded toward this goal, including not taking his son to therapy because it would hurt his chances if word got out. Mom isn’t much better, she backs up Dad at every turn, and seems to have her own issues and prejudices throughout the story. It was very difficult to read about someone going through such a difficult time and the people they should be able to count on the most completely failing them.

Plot: 4.5 / 5

This story is not for the faint of heart. It deals with real issues - peer pressure, sexual orientation, and suicide. You can root for the underdog but, chances are he might just keep getting kicked while he’s down. This story isn’t completely without hope, however. The characters felt real, and you get to understand just how difficult it can be for anyone, whether you’re the guy everyone loves and looks up to, or the social outcast. No matter how many terrible things happened, I still found myself turning the page, waiting to find out what happened next.

Quotes:

“No one ever let things go until someone died. Then the bullies were magically the recently deceased’s best friends. I’m going to miss him so much. He was like a brother to me. We were just joking, you know?

  Because everyone always joked when it was all over. No one wanted to accept responsibility, accept the blame when things became permanent, irreversible.  

  Suicide.

- Mia Siegert - Jerkbait

Until next time,

Brian

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TL;DR Reviews: Adding to the Conversation

TL;DR Reviews

Jaimie from Fiction Fare does a post called Quickie Reviews. I know she isn't the only one but this segment on the blog is influenced by her.
     The idea is that there are so many books to read and sometimes writing longer reviews takes too much time even if you adored the books.

So yes I Adored these books I just don't have a lot to add to the inter web collection of reviews already out there.

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Synopsis:  Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. 

Cover: Simple yet fits Willowdean to a tee.

Overall Thoughts:
I'm currently reading this out loud to my mom and my reread (something I don't normally do) Willowdean The MC is a strong person and no matter your size you can relate to her. I loved this way more than "Side Effects May Vary." This book isn't just about acceptance of body types it also teaches about confidence and independence.




Walk on Earth A Stranger by Rae Carson

Synopsis:   Lee Westfall has a strong, loving family. She has a home she loves and a loyal steed. She has a best friend—who might want to be something more.

She also has a secret.

Lee can sense gold in the world around her. Veins deep in the earth. Small nuggets in a stream. Even gold dust caught underneath a fingernail. She has kept her family safe and able to buy provisions, even through the harshest winters

Cover: A river flowing with gold fits the dream of the Gold Rush.

Overall Thoughts:
The story starts off with a Mulan feel of girl pretending to be a boy. Carson writes a female character who actually deals with girl problems. I.e. Accidental periods and having to hide it since she is pretending to be a boy. I truly loved this story for the adventure aspect plus it's destination in a place near and dear to me Sacramento at Sutters Fort






A Thousand Nights by E.K.Johnston

Synopsis:  Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. 

Cover: Love the fancy script and colors. The smoke tendrils add a nice touch to a geniesque  story.

Overall Thoughts: I adored Arabian Nights as a kid. After reading this I went and rewatched it. The flow of the plot was great. I also liked the story inside a story. It was crisp and kept you wanting to listen till the end.

Have you read any of these? Any chance you want to talk about them? 

TTFN,

Ashley

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TL;DR Reviews. The DNF Edition

TL;DR Reviews

Jaimie from Fiction Fare does a post called Quickie Reviews. I know she isn't the only one but this segment on the blog is influenced by her.

The idea is that there are so many books to read and sometimes writing longer reviews takes too much time even if you adored the books.

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis:Don’t call them heroes.

But these six Californian teens have powers that set them apart. They can do stuff ordinary people can’t.

Take Ethan, a.k.a. Scam. He’s got a voice inside him that’ll say whatever you want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn’t—like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren’t exactly best friends these days.

Cover: Totally reminds me of the Superman S style. 
Overall Thoughts: I was looking forward to reading this however there was too many POVs for my taste and I wasn't invested in any of the characters by 36%. I pushed myself to read 40% but stopped there.

Dreamland by Robert L.Anderson

Synopsis: Odea Donahue has been able to travel through people’s dreams since she was six years old. Her mother taught her the three rules of walking: Never interfere. Never be seen. Never walk the same person’s dream more than once. Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.

Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town and Dea finally starts to feel normal. 

Cover: Depicts the house in the book really well. One of the reasons I wanted to read it was based on the cover.
Overall Thoughts: I set this aside once I realized how close the idea of dream walking was to dream striding. I had just received Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith in the mail and it was for review so decided it was best to read that. I do hope to pick this one back up to see where Anderson was heading with this though.

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Synopsis: In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. 

Cover: The hidden panel design is awesome and again a reason I wanted to pick this one up.
Overall Thoughts: the plan was to buddy read this but the problem was I had just finished A Thousand Nights and it felt weird reading two books based around the same story. I think when book 2 comes out I'll pick it back up then.

What books have you read this month that you want to talk about? 

TTFN,
Ashley

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Dreamstrider Interview Sunday Street Team Tour

Author:

Publish Date:

Page Count:

Goodreads Link: Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith

Cover:

Synopsis (GR):

A high-concept, fantastical espionage novel set in a world where dreams are the ultimate form of political intelligence.

Livia is a dreamstrider. She can inhabit a subject's body while they are sleeping and, for a short time, move around in their skin. She uses her talent to work as a spy for the Barstadt Empire. But her partner, Brandt, has lately become distant, and when Marez comes to join their team from a neighborhing kingdom, he offers Livia the option of a life she had never dared to imagine. Livia knows of no other dreamstriders who have survived the pull of Nightmare. So only she understands the stakes when a plot against the Empire emerges that threatens to consume both the dreaming world and the waking one with misery and rage.

A richly conceived world full of political intrigue and fantastical dream sequences, at its heart Dreamstrider is about a girl who is struggling to live up to the potential before her.

The Interview:

Outside your book who would you “Ship” your MC with?

     Wow, that’s a tough one. I could see Livia getting along with Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab; I think his cockiness would help her find some confidence, too! She likes sweet, clever, charismatic boys, so I think she and Peeta Mellark would work together well, also.

Describe your book using emoticons.

️

Currently who is your favorite author?

      Right now I’m addicted to Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, so I’m going to be delving into her backlist. Fortunately she has a nice, big, multi-book fantasy series for me to chew on.

Did you base some characters on people you knew?

      There are bits and pieces of people I know in every character I write, but I don’t think any one character has been a total copy of anyone else, either. I like to borrow my husband’s wit, my friends’ loyalty, my parents’ names—well, I did, anyway, for Skandal, when I needed a bunch of period-appropriate names. ;)

What is your favorite writing brain food?

       Skinny Pop popcorn is my ultimate weakness. It’s kind of getting to be a problem. I’ll pour myself a cup and munch on popcorn while I puzzle out a plot tangle. When I finish a draft, though, I celebrate with sushi or Italian.

About the Author:

Author of YA historical thrillers SEKRET and SKANDAL and the forthcoming YA fantasy DREAMSTRIDER (all from Macmillan Children's). Russophile, foreign affairs junkie, nerd.

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you enjoyed the Interview, look forward to my review the beginning of November.

Here`s the link for Nori`s Sunday Street Team

TTFN,
Ashley

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Blog Ahead 2015 Sign-Up Post

I have been away from the interwebs for a little while but I just found out about this awesome challenge thing. Here are the details straight from Herding Cats

Build your total number of scheduled posts by 31!

On October 1st take your number of scheduled posts and add 31.

Whatever that number is...that's your goal for the month.

You'll end the day on Oct 31st with that many scheduled posts. Woots!

 So here is my goal seeing as 31 is a little high for me with everything in real life that's going on, but who knows I might be able to get 31 squeezed in. I am starting Oct with 4 scheduled posts.

13- Top Ten Tuesday Meme

      This is where I am starting. I printed out from Oct-Jan 19th topics and hand wrote my answers now to just type and schedule them.

6- Book Reviews

     I have already read the books now I just need to get my skinny but in gear and type the damn thoughts.

4- Author Interviews

      The authors have done their part now its up to me to share their awesome answers.

1- Debut Feature

     So first off I need a better name for this damn idea. My first full feature is actually scheduled for the week of January 3rd. 

What are your goals? Are you joining?

TTFN,

Ashley 

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ArcAugust Participation and Goals

For the month of August Octavia over at Read,Sleep,Repeat is hosting #ArcAugust.  A month long event in which you read all the Arcs. (Advanced reader Copies)

Here are my goals for this month in just Arcs. I do plan on reading other things....I hope.

1) Dumplin` by Julie Murphy
2) Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman
3) The Dead House by Dawn
4) Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
5) Armada by Ernest Cline

So thats it just 5 books this month. I`ve already started The Dead House and I am loving it.

Also friendly reminder I am hosting a Review-a-thon from August 3rd-10th. Use the #WriteThoseReviews to get updates and do writing sprints. Here is the link for more information.

I will post ArcAugust updates on the blog August 15th and August 31st. other than that evrything will be updated on twitter. :)

What books are you reading this month? Are you doing ArcAugust?

TTFN,
Ashley

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#WriteThoseReviews Round 2: Aug 3-10th

#WriteThoseReviews

Who: You

What: #WriteThoseReviews

When: August 3-10

Where: Your blog and tweet your links

How: All you have to do to participate is create a blog post, GR Shelf or any media with a list of the books you need to review. Follow the #WriteThoseReviews

Why: This not only is a great way to get some discussion and traffic to your blog but it also is away for us to encourage each other to get those reviews written.

The idea started with me realizing I need to write 20 reviews to equal the amount of books I`ve read this year. I tweeted out asking if anyone has a reviewathon going on and instead Xander from Forever Bookish suggested we make it a thing ourselves. I have since decided to host review writing sprint using the hashtag during the week to encourage others to write reviews as well.

Let me know what you think via Twitter, FB or in the comments below.

TTFN,

Ashley

@Bookz4Nerdz

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COYER Goals

I am going to try and participate in the COYER event this year.

I joined the Facebook group and this is the schedule for the weeks

Monday Motivation: Tell us your goals for the week!

Teaser Tuesday: We’ll jump on with the Teaser Tuesday meme’s idea, give us a 1 to 2 sentence tease from your current read.

Who Are You? Wednesday: Pick a character from your current book that you’d like to be (or would hate to be).

Tag You’re It Thursday: We’ve moved it, but it’s the same! Take turns asking a question for the whole group!

TGIF!: Tell us how you did on your goals this week!

There will be 5 read-a-thons throughout the event.

Beach Party: Read books that take place on/near a beach or involve vacation. Runs July 18-24.

Campfire Reads: Read books that YOU consider scary. Runs August 1-7.

Happy B-day COYER: Read books whose title includes C, O, Y, E, & R. Runs August 15 – 21.

Dog Days of Summer: Read a book with an animal on the cover. Runs August 29 – September 4.

Red, White, & Blue: Read something with red, white, blue on the cover or the words red, white, or blue in the title. Runs July 4-10.

There will also be Twitter Chats

Twitter parties are being held on: Saturday 6/27, Sunday 7/12, Saturday 7/25, Saturday 8/8, Sunday 8/23. Each one takes place at 4 PM EST.

My Goals:

This is my first time participating so my goals are going to be smaller so when I do accomplish them I will feel better.

         1)    Be active during at least 2 Twitter chats

         2)    Join in on 2 Read-a-thons (RW&B and Campfire)

         3)    Leave feedback for Netgalley books to get my rating to at least 56% (from 22%)

         4)    Listen to 2 audiobooks (Totally doable since I love them so much)

Last but not least….

         5)    COMMENT ON OTHER PEOPLE`S POSTS

Wish me luck

TTFN,

Ashley

@Bookz4Nerdz

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