Saturday, October 31, 2015

October 2015 Wrap Up

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Wow! Wow! Wow! I don't even remember the last time that I did a monthly wrap up post, but I know it's been months! I don't even remember why I stopped, but I realized that I missed doing little wrap ups, so I'm bringing them back to The Hardcover Lover.

I cannot believe that October is over! It's really kind of sad. I didn't even really get to do any fall things like pumpkin or apple picking, but I did get to judge my town's Halloween parade this year! I also had a pretty good reading month, and we'll get to all of that in just a minute.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (47)

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Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme created and hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine.

Each week, bloggers shine the spotlight on upcoming book titles that they are waiting on. This is one of my favorite memes, and you've probably noticed it as a frequent feature on my blog.

It's pretty simple to participate in Waiting on Wednesday:
  • Create your own Waiting on Wednesday post that features an upcoming title (or titles) - I usually only go with one book a week because seeing all the titles can be a bit overwhelming for me.
  • Be sure to credit Jill somewhere in your post (see how I credited her above?)
  • Link up to the Linky on Jill's blog so that others can see your post.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Wicked Reads: The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen

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Wicked Reads

Hey, everyone! Today is a pretty cool day on The Hardcover Lover. If you didn't know, Penguin Teen has an awesome Halloween-themed promotion going on this week, and I'm very glad that I'm able to participate in Wicked Reads.

So what exactly is Wicked Reads? In a nutshell, Wicked Reads is fun way to talk about all of those creepy books that bookworms tend to read in October.  There are going to be book reviews all across the blogosphere this week, and many bloggers are sharing some of their favorite Halloween things with their readers.

 But that's not all! There is even a huge giveaway on Twitter! If you're brave enough, feel free to Tweet your #TwitterGhostStory along with #Sweepstakes to be entered to win a pile of Wicked Reads from Penguin Teen.

Friday, October 23, 2015

It's Time to Listen to Carry On!

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Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Audiobook Read by Euan Morton
 Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
11 CDs | 13.5 hours | $39.99
#1 New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell writes books about misfits and nerds, or people who feel like misfits and nerds, and how find their way through life -- cracking each other up and falling in love.

Making her highly-anticipated return to young adult fiction, Rainbow continues to break boundaries with CARRY ON, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl. 

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he'll be safe. Simon can't even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can't stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you're the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

CARRY ON is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story -- but far, far more monsters.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (8)

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Hello, everyone! As some of you may know, I unveiled a new blog feature awhile ago, and so far, people have been enjoying it. Sadly, I think we're coming to a close on these Throwback Thursday posts, so savor them while they last! They won't be around for much longer.
It's called Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin. In these posts, I explore my notes from my undergrad YA class, and I share them with you. I've been organizing them as mini-lessons, so sometimes how they are structured differs. But at the end of all of them, I include a discussion post so that everyone can comment and discuss the week's lesson.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (46)

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Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme created and hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine.

Each week, bloggers shine the spotlight on upcoming book titles that they are waiting on. This is one of my favorite memes, and you've probably noticed it as a frequent feature on my blog.

It's pretty simple to participate in Waiting on Wednesday:
  • Create your own Waiting on Wednesday post that features an upcoming title (or titles) - I usually only go with one book a week because seeing all the titles can be a bit overwhelming for me.
  • Be sure to credit Jill somewhere in your post (see how I credited her above?)
  • Link up to the Linky on Jill's blog so that others can see your post

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Blog Tour: Signs Point to Yes - Review

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http://xpressobooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/07/SignsPointToYesTourBanner.png


http://bit.ly/1WprUm8
Title: Signs Point to Yes
Author: Sandy Hall
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Source: Swoon Reads for Blog Tour
The author of A Little Something Different brings you the most adorkable romance ever.

Jane, a superstitious fangirl, takes an anonymous babysitting job to avoid an unpaid internship with her college-obsessed mom. The only problem? She’s babysitting the siblings of her childhood friend and new crush, Teo.

Teo doesn’t dislike Jane, but his best friend Ravi hates her, and is determined to keep them apart. So Teo’s pretty sure his plans for a peaceful summer are shot. His only hope is that his intermittent search for his birth father will finally pan out and he’ll find a new, less awkward home. Meanwhile, at Jane’s house, her sister Margo wants to come out as bisexual, but she’s terrified of how her parents will react.

In a summer filled with secrets and questions, even Jane’s Magic 8 ball can’t give them clear answers, but Signs Point to Yes.

Monday, October 19, 2015

ARC Review: Red Girl, Blue Boy

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Title: Red Girl, Blue Boy (If Only . . . #5)
Series: If Only . . . 
Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Enjoy Red Girl, Blue Boy and the other standalone titles in Bloomsbury’s contemporary If Only romance line centered around an impossible problem: you always want what you can’t have!

Sixteen-year-old Katie and Drew really shouldn’t get along. After all, her father is the Republican nominee for President of the United States while his mother is at the top of the Democratic ticket. But when Katie and Drew are thrown together in a joint interview on a morning talk show, they can’t ignore the chemistry between them. With an entire nation tuned into and taking sides in your parents’ fight, and the knowledge that—ultimately—someone has to lose, how can you fall in love with the one person you’re supposed to hate?

This title in the If Only line is a frank and funny romance that shows how sparks fly when opposites attract.
 

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (7)

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Hello, everyone! As you know, I unveiled a new blog feature about two months ago, and so far, people have been enjoying it. I've also enjoyed creating these posts and exploring my teacher side.

It's called Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin. In these posts, I explore my notes from my undergrad YA class, and I share them with you. I've been organizing them as mini-lessons, so sometimes how they are structured differs. But at the end of all of them, I include a discussion post so that everyone can comment and discuss the week's lesson.
 

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Waiting on Wednesday (45)

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Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme created and hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine. Each week, bloggers share some of the upcoming titles they are interesting in reading with their followers.

This is one of my favorite memes because I'm kind of an oversharer. So you've probably that Waiting on Wednesday is a frequent feature on my blog.

It's pretty simple to participate in Waiting on Wednesday:
  • Create your own Waiting on Wednesday post that features an upcoming title (or titles) - I usually only go with one book a week because seeing all the titles can be a bit overwhelming for me.
  • Be sure to credit Jill somewhere in your post (see how I credited her above?)
  • Link up to the Linky on Jill's blog so that others can see your post

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Book Review: Carry On

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Title: Carry On
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with Carry On, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl.

Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Book Review: Persepolis 2

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Title: Persepolis 2
Series: Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Publisher: Pantheon
Publication Date: August 2, 2005
In Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day," Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

Persepolis 2 is the continuation of her fascinating story. In 1984, Marjane flees fundamentalism and the war with Iraq to begin a new life in Vienna. Once there, she faces the trials of adolescence far from her friends and family, and while she soon carves out a place for herself among a group of fellow outsiders, she continues to struggle for a sense of belonging.

Finding that she misses her home more than she can stand, Marjane returns to Iran after graduation. Her difficult homecoming forces her to confront the changes both she and her country have undergone in her absence and her shame at what she perceives as her failure in Austria. Marjane allows her past to weigh heavily on her until she finds some like-minded friends, falls in love, and begins studying art at a university. However, the repression and state-sanctioned chauvinism eventually lead her to question whether she can have a future in Iran.

As funny and poignant as its predecessor, Persepolis 2 is another clear-eyed and searing condemnation of the human cost of fundamentalism. In its depiction of the struggles of growing up--here compounded by Marjane's status as an outsider both abroad and at home--it is raw, honest, and incredibly illuminating.
 

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (6)

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Hello, everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful day. It's Thursday, which means it's time for another Throwback Thursday lesson from me!

This feature premiered on The Hardcover Lover almost two months ago, and it's called Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin. As the title suggests, the posts go up on Thursdays, and they involve something that I learned about in my undergrad YA class.

I've also been exploring my teacher side while creating these posts. You've probably noticed that they are set up like mini lessons to either inform you or just to tell you a little bit of what I learned when I was in school. I've also been encouraging everyone to discuss the week's topic in the comments, and I hope that you join in as we explore my notes.


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday (44)

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Waiting on Wednesday is a bookish meme created and hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine.

Each week, bloggers shine the spotlight on upcoming book titles that they are waiting on. This is one of my favorite memes, and you've probably noticed it as a frequent feature on my blog.

It's pretty simple to participate in Waiting on Wednesday:
  • Create your own Waiting on Wednesday post that features an upcoming title (or titles) - I usually only go with one book a week because seeing all the titles can be a bit overwhelming for me.
  • Be sure to credit Jill somewhere in your post (see how I credited her above?)
  • Link up to the Linky on Jill's blog so that others can see your post

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

ARC Review: Truly Madly Famously

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Title: Truly Madly Famously (Famous in Love #2)
Series: Famous in Love 
Author: Rebecca Serle
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Source: Poppy (for Review)
In this romantic sequel to Famous in Love, new Hollywood "It Girl" Paige must navigate love with her co-stars, both on and off screen and all in the public eye.

Lights, camera, love!

After being plucked from obscurity, Hollywood's newest starlet, Paige Townsen, has a hit film to her name and Rainer Devon on her arm. But being half of the world's most famous couple comes with a price, and soon Paige finds herself dodging photographers; hiding her feelings for her other costar, Jordan Wilder; and navigating tabloid scandals that threaten to tear her and Rainer apart-and end her career as quickly as it began.

Rebecca Serle's sequel to Famous in Love is filled with the kind of celebrity drama and swoon-worthy romance fit for the silver screen.

So I Didn't Go to Baltimore...

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Hey, everyone, and Happy Tuesday! I know last week, I told you that I'd be going to Baltimore over the weekend with my friend Anna for a friend's birthday party. Well... that didn't happen!

On Thursday night, Anna and I looked at the weather, and at that point, it looked like Hurricane Joaquin was headed straight up the east coast and for Baltimore. We decided not to risk it as many states were already in a state of emergency. Instead, we stayed home and had a mini staycation with Anna's mom.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Blog Tour: Romancing the Light in the City of Dark - Review

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Title: Romancing the Dark in the City of Light
Author: Ann Jacobus
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publication Date: October 6, 2015
Source: eARC from Thomas Dunne Books
A troubled teen, living in Paris, is torn between two boys, one of whom encourages her to embrace life, while the other—dark, dangerous, and attractive—urges her to embrace her fatal flaws.

Haunting and beautifully written, with a sharp and distinctive voice that could belong only to this character, Romancing the Dark in the City of Light is an unforgettable young adult novel.

Summer Barnes just moved to Paris to repeat her senior year of high school. After being kicked out of four boarding schools, she has to get on the right track or she risks losing her hefty inheritance. Summer is convinced that meeting the right guy will solve everything. She meets two. Moony, a classmate, is recovering against all odds from a serious car accident, and he encourages Summer to embrace life despite how hard it can be to make it through even one day. But when Summer meets Kurt, a hot, mysterious older man who she just can't shake, he leads her through the creepy underbelly of the city-and way out of her depth.

When Summer's behavior manage to alienate everyone, even Moony, she's forced to decide if a life so difficult is worth living. With an ending that'll surprise even the most seasoned reader, Romancing the Dark in the City of Light is an unputdownable and utterly compelling novel.

Friday, October 2, 2015

I Read Banned Books: To Kill a Mockingbird

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Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

The week of September 27 through October 3, 2015 is Banned Books Week. During this week, teachers, librarians, and book advocates from around the country and world are teaching people about banned books and the reasons as to why they were banned. They are also celebrating these great books and encouraging readers to read them.
 
I've always loved Banned Books Week because it's interesting to see what new books were banned or what older ones are causing waves again. The week is also one of my favorite events of the year because I just love reading and learning about everyone's experiences with banned and challenged books. I love catching up on the news on banned books,  but mostly, I love celebrating the fact that I read banned books. 
 
This week, I've been sharing a few of my favorite banned and challenged books with my readers. I hope you're enjoying these posts and getting to learn about some of my favorite banned books.

Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

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Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Artwork: Ellen Forney
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Little, Brown
Paperback Publication Date: April 1, 2009
Add it to Goodreads
Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on by everyone but his best friend. Determined to receive a good education, Junior leaves the rez to attend and all-white school in the neighboring town where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies, Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside himself that he never knew existed.

Inspired by his own experiences growing up, award-winning author Sherman Alexie chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one unlucky boy trying to rise above the life everyone expects him to live.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

I Read Banned Books: Twenty Boy Summer

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Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

The week of September 27 through October 3, 2015 is Banned Books Week. During this week, teachers, librarians, and book advocates from around the country and world are teaching people about banned books and the reasons as to why they were banned. They are also celebrating these great books and encouraging readers to read them.
 
I've always loved Banned Books Week because it's interesting to see what new books were banned or what older ones are causing waves again. The week is also one of my favorite events of the year because I just love reading and learning about everyone's experiences with banned and challenged books. I love catching up on the news on banned books,  but mostly, I love celebrating the fact that I read banned books.
This week, I've been sharing a few of my favorite banned and challenged books with my readers. I hope you're enjoying these posts and getting to learn about some of my favorite banned books.

Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin (5)

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Hey, there, everyone! It's Thursday, which means it's time for another Throwback Thursday lesson from me! This new feature premiered on The Hardcover Lover about a month ago, and it's called Throwback Thursday: Lessons from a Past Erin. I've been setting the posts up like little mini-lessons, and so far, I'm having a blast exploring my past and seeing what you all have to say about what I learned in my YA Literature class. 

In case this is the first Throwback Thursday post you're seeing or if you're a brand new follower, these are notes that I found from my YA lit class that I took way back in the spring semester of 2011. I've set these posts up to work as a different kind of discussion post; they are acting as a lesson and a discussion post in one! I'll be sharing my notes, and reflecting on them. I'll also be asking what you think of each week's topic.

I'll Be Away... (2)

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Hey, everyone! I have some really fun news to share with you, and it involves me going on another trip! Last time I really took time to step away from my blog (and the Internet) was way back in May when I went to Washington D.C.

Well... I'm heading south of the Mason Dixon line again this weekend, and I am really excited about it because it's my first road trip with a friend!