Mundie Moms

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Author Interview with David Levithan

This past weekend was AWESOME! The Texas Book Festival weekend kicked off with me having the opportunity to interview Every Day author, David Levithan


David was in town for the festival, and had a signing on Friday night at Book People. I invited my friend Stacy with Girls in the Stacks to interview David with me. You wouldn't be able to tell from this video that she was internally fan girling over this interview. I on the other hand has issues talking. That might have had to do with the fact that along with David, whom I view as a YA power house, Rebecca Stead and Kristin Cashore were also there. Yep, major fangirling happening. I seriously adore David! If you ever get the chance to meet him, do! He's fascinating, and amazing to talk to.Prior to the filming of our interview I said David's last name perfectly, but once the cameras turned on I got so tongue tied..... here's the video (take 3).




Thank you to David for the interview and to his publisher, Random House for making this possible. Also thank you to Stacy (Girls in the Stacks) for coming down and doing the interview with me, and filming it. I'll have a post up soon about the book festival, along with a giveaway! 



About the Book:





In his New York Times bestselling novel, David Levithan introduces readers to what Entertainment Weekly calls a "wise, wildly unique" love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

With his new novel, David Levithan, bestselling co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day -quoted from Goodreads

Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book People (who may still have some signed stock left)

Book Reviews (good Halloween Reads): Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake / I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga / Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Happy Halloween! What's just as as good as a haunted house, a haunted hay ride or watching a scary movie? Reading a scary book! Today I'm featuring a few books that may either make you jump at the sounds that go bump in the night, or leave your feeling a little squeamish. If you're a looking for a few good haunting reads, pick up:




Released on: September 18th, 2012
Source: book from publisher to review
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

SHHHH!
Don't spread the word!
Three-day weekend. House party.
White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do NOT want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine? -quoted from Goodreads

This is one of those creepy, thrilling reads that from the moment you start to read it you know something bad is going to happen. I mean ten teens going out to a remote Pacific Northwest island cut off from the rest of the world with no adult supervision scream creepy horror story. Yes, it's one of those stories that you know things are going to quickly go from the party scene to something horrific, but your not sure how. I'm sure we've all read a book similar to that right or at least watched a movie about a group of teens where things start happening to them, and even though you know bad things are going to happen you can't look away. That movie was Scream for me (I know I just dated myself). Ten was much the same way. 

I knew things were going to happen, just not by whom, why or how. The not knowing, and wanting to know how was staging the murders, and the motive behind it is part of what made me keep reading this book. That and I had to know who got off the island, if anyone. Because someone had to survive right?! Maybe.... I'll admit I wasn't a fan of all the characters in this book, but Meg and T.J. become the two characters that I had hoped would survive the weekend. Even though the over all storyline was predictable, I had no idea who the murder was until the moment they were revealed. Gretchen did an awesome job at keeping me guessing up until that heart pounding moment. This is definitely a read I'd be pick up if you're a fan of thrilling, murder mysteries. There is underage drinking, some mild language, violence and sexual references in this book. 





Published by: Tor Teen
Released on: August 7th, 2012
Source: Book from publisher to review
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Series: Anna #2

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor. -quoted from Goodreads

I can't mention Halloween reads without having a good ghost story on my list. Even though I know ghost stories with some sort of romance or romantic interest involved never end well, I still get suckered into them, because of the "what if". What if something changes and the ghost and their human love find a way to end up together. Without fail, I fall for these well written stories each time. Picking up where Anna Dressed in Blood leaves off, Girl of Nightmares has Cas mourning over the loss of Anna and her sacrifice for him and his friends. Unlike how dark the first book was, this story has a lot more mystery to it. Don't be fooled though, there are still some deliciously dark moments, and a scene or two that might have made me jumpy at every sound I heard around my house the night I stayed up and read this book. 

Girl of Nightmares gave me more of a history and a better understanding of Anthame, which was fueled by Cas's quest to uncover the mystery of what happened to Anna. At first I was a little surprised this book wasn't as dark as Anna Dressed in Blood, but once I got more into the story I completely let that go, and found myself wrapped up into Cas's anguish and determination to help Anna. I adore Cas, and Anna, and I wanted nothing more than for Cas to figure out what was happening to Anna and who was making her suffer. I totally forgot about how vivid and detailed this series's world is. Kendare does an amazing job at the world she's created and bringing it to life within the pages of her books. One of the other things I like about this book is the way it's written. Mixed into the darker undertones are moments of humor, and those two elements worked hand in hand to create a read that was hard to put down. I totally forgot this is the last book in this series, and wow, what very bitter sweet ending. I don't think Kendare could have given it a more fitting ending, and I'll just leave it at that. If you enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood, I'd recommend picking this one up. There are darker scenes, and some language in this book making it suitable for mature readers.





Published by: Little Brown
Released on: April 3rd, 2012
Source: book from publisher to review
4 stars: I Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows? -quoted from Goodreads

I am a complete wuss when it comes to horror movies/books or books that have a lot of violence in them. As you can imagine this is one book that's intrigued me based on all the things I've heard about from friends of mine, but not enough for me to pick up it. With it being Halloween I for some unknown reason decided to put my big girl pants on and sit down and read this book. WOW, not at all what I was excepting, and yet it was. Horror fans, and fans of thrillers will enjoy this one. There's gore, violence, and there's a slight undertone of humor in this book due to the story's main character Jazz. After all, when your dear or dad is a notorious serial killer who's murdered way more people than you can count on both hands, you'd have to have some sort of warped sense of humor to cope with all of it.

The thing that surprised me about this book was Barry's writing. It's dark, it's humor filled and his character is not at all what I was excepting. Jazz is a teener who's grown up in the shadow of his father, who's now behind bars. Jazz surprisingly is a character I immediately liked and wanted to get to know more. He's a charmer, he's smart, and a little broken in the sense that thanks to his dad, he's forever on the police radar. Jazz is nothing like his father. His struggle with trying to over come the automatic assumptions, and accusations that come his way because of his dad, and his quest to prove he's good by working the police to solve the mystery behind the latest serial killer, in many ways make him a character that broke my heart, and had me cheering for him all at the same time. 

The humor part of the story is what hooked me as a reader. Jazz's inner voice is at times laugh out loud funny. While the humor kept me reading, the darker, violent scenes almost had me putting this book down. I give huge kudos to Barry though for not shying away from taking readers into the mind of this story's killer. These scenes are violent and disturbing, and Barry doesn't sugar coat what's going on. Barry's writing is one that balances both the humor and dark side of this story well. A word of caution, this is NOT a book I'd recommend to younger readers. It's graphic, there's a lot of violence, language, and contains things I don't think are suitable for young readers. I feel the content in this book is one older readers have been more exposed to via the news, tv shows, and movies, and might have an easier time reading about vs those who haven't. If this were a movie I'd definitely be to much of a wuss to watch it. haha.

Waiting on Wednesday: CRASH by Lisa McMann

Happy Halloween! Welcome to this week's edition of Waiting on Wednesday, featuring Lisa McMann's upcoming release, CRASH, which will be out on 1/8/13 from Simon Teen. 




If what you see is what you get, Jules is in serious trouble. The suspenseful first of four books from the New York Times bestselling author of the Wake trilogy.Jules lives with her family above their restaurant, which means she smells like pizza most of the time and drives their double-meatball-shaped food truck to school. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that.

What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Over and over, Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode...and nine body bags in the snow.

The vision is everywhere—on billboards, television screens, windows—and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more she sees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember.

In this riveting start to a gripping series from New York Times bestselling author Lisa McMann, Jules has to act—and act fast—to keep her vision from becoming reality - quoted from Goodreads

I'm a huge fan of Lisa's writing and I can't wait to see what's done with Jules's story. Plus, look at this cover! It's stunning! This is a galley that's currently sitting on my bookshelf and I am itching to pick it up right now and read it. I can't wait to share my thoughts on this book with you guys. 

You can pre-order this book from Amazon | Barnes & Noble

What book are you currently waiting on? I'd love to come check out your WOW. Please leave me your link to your wow, so I can stop by and check out your pick. 

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