Blog Tour Review and GIveaway: That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard

That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard
Expected Publication Date: April 1st, 2013
Publisher: Scholastic Point
Page Count: 272 pages
Format: ARC
Source: Blog Tour
Goodreads | Books Inc.

Lexi Ryan just ran away to join the circus, but not on purpose.

A music-obsessed, slightly snarky New York City girl, Lexi is on her own. After making a huge mistake--and facing a terrible tragedy--Lexi has no choice but to track down her long-absent mother. Rumor has it that Lexi's mom is somewhere in Florida with a traveling circus.

When Lexi arrives at her new, three-ring reality, her mom isn't there . . . but her destiny might be. Surrounded by tigers, elephants, and trapeze artists, Lexi finds some surprising friends and an even more surprising chance at true love. She even lucks into a spot as the circus's fortune teller, reading tarot cards and making predictions.

But then Lexi's ex-best friend from home shows up, and suddenly it's Lexi's own future that's thrown into question.

With humor, wisdom, and a dazzlingly fresh voice, this debut reminds us of the magic of circus tents, city lights, first kisses, and the importance of an excellent playlist.

I think everyone can make the claim that at some point, life just gets so hard that all we want to do is run away and join the circus. The flashing lights, clanking rides, jarring music, musty smells, and carnies are both alluring and terrifying in their own ways. When life kicks Lexi while she's down, she makes the decision to take what little possessions she has left and skip town, headed for the Circus Europa. Once she's surrounded by the mystery and intrigue of circus life, things can only go up, right? That Time I Joined the Circus is a heart-warming and musical story about finding yourself in a mixed up world. Quick, witty, and emotionally appealing, J.J. Howard had me from page one.

Lexi is definitely a character that I could easily relate to. Her teenage struggles are universal in the sense that we all experience a time in life when things seem hopeless. Although it seems like she gives up at one point, I really admire Lexi's ambition and fortitude. Her unwillingness to let life bring her down is inspirational. Sometimes all we really need is an adventure to bring us back down to earth. I have to warn you, there's a bit of a love pentagon going on in this story, and I didn't particularly care for any of the love interests. I understand that a bit of romance is somewhat necessary in most stories, but I felt like the romance was just a distraction from Lexi's real motivations. However, I am happy that she didn't let any of them completely control her choices.

The story itself is quirky and fun; I mean, who doesn't love a good circus tale? As someone who has recently gone through some major life changes, I really appreciated Howard's focus on the steps that need to be taken to really find oneself. The message she highlights is incredibly encouraging. I love the sense of adventure that Howard imposes on readers - taking chances is the best way to figure out who you really are and what you crave out of life. Also, the way that the inner workings of the circus are displayed really grabbed me. It was interesting to see how the circus performers interacted with each other, forming one giant family in a place where everyone has lost something. Howard's writing style is great, simplistic and witty, she really captures the teenage voice.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed That Time I Joined the Circus. The story itself is fast-paced and fun, and the characters are all easy to love. If you're looking for something to spark inspiration in your life I'd, without a doubt, recommend this one. Lexi takes her struggles and overcomes them, using her hardships as inspiration to find happiness in other parts of her life. Life can be tumultuous and as someone who has experienced the trials and tribulations that it throws at us, I definitely enjoyed this great novel about simply running away and finding yourself in a completely different world. I think that most of us would choose circus life over high school any day.

About the Author:
J.J. Howard is wearing headphones right now, most likely. She grew up in York, Pennsylvania, obsessed with music, movies, television, and pop culture. You can call her if you ever need to phone a friend for trivia on any of the above topics, but don’t ask about sports, because she is hopeless at those (along with math). J.J. graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in English and Tiffin University with an MH in Humanities. She has been some of her students’ favorite English teacher for a quite a few years (she even has a mug somewhere to prove it). THAT TIME I JOINED THE CIRCUS is her first young adult novel. J.J. would love to hear from her readers and is always ready to trade playlists.
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Check out the rest of the stops on the tour:

3/27: Blog Tour Kick Off – Through the Looking Glass

3/28: Literary Exploration: Book Review

3/29: The Book Cellar: Author Favorites List

3/30: Nick’s Book Blog: Guest Post – Top Five YA’s and Top Five TBR

3/31: The Hollow Cupboards: Guest Post - Authors/Stories that Inspired Me the Most

4/1: Forever 17 Books: Top Ten Guilty Pleasures

4/2: Emilie’s Book World: Favorite Circus Attractions

4/3: Novel Sounds: Author Playlist

4/4: Nawanda Files: Author Interview

4/5: Hobbitsies: Advice for Teen Writers

4/6: Through the Looking Glass: Book Review

4/7: The Book Vortex: Guest Post – Seven Random Facts about JJ Howard

4/8: Stalking the Bookshelves: A Day in the Life of JJ Howard

4/9: Word Spelunking: Author Interview

4/10:The Busy Bibliophile: Top Seven Things I Would Like to Collect

4/11: Through the Looking Glass – Wrap Up Post

NYMBC Event - Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton, & Cynthia Hand!!

YOU GUYZZ!!! Look at this freakin amazing event!! Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows are all coming to Books Inc. in Mountain View and it is going to be AMAZING!!!! I've been dying to get Jodi Meadows out here, and the last time Brodi Ashton and Cynthia Hand came out to the Bay I was working >_< 

Event Details:

- Saturday, March 16th at 5PM

- Books Inc. Mountain View

- RSVP to the Facebook event! https://www.facebook.com/events/163696933780745/ to see who else is coming and for more information :) 

Featured authors:

Brodi Ashton (Everneath)

Cynthia Hand (Unearthly)

Jodi Meadows (Incarnate)

If you can't make the event but you still want to get signed copies of the author's books, all you need to do is call the store - 650.485.1234 - by at least an hour before the event, and you'll be able to order signed books, personalized to you, and have them shipped! It's that easy!!!

Blog Tour: Dualed by Elsie Chapman - Guest Post and Giveaway!

Welcome to the Dualed blog tour, hosted by Sarah at The Book Life! Dualed is an exciting, fast-paced dystopian and the debut novel for author Elsie Chapman. We're so excited to be promoting Elsie and her book and we are so grateful to you for stopping by to join in on the fun! If you've already read and loved Dualed, feel free to help us spread the love. If you haven't read it yet, then we hope we can get you excited for it!

You or your Alt? Only one will survive.

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Fifteen-year-old West Grayer has trained as a fighter, preparing for the day when her assignment arrives and she will have one month to hunt down and kill her Alt. But then a tragic misstep shakes West’s confidence. Stricken with grief and guilt, she’s no longer certain that she’s the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future. If she is to have any chance of winning, she must stop running not only from her Alt, but also from love . . . though both have the power to destroy her.

Was music a part of your writing process? Do you have DUALED playlist that you can share?

I listened to music constantly while I was writing DUALED, actually, and still do now! Except I tend to listen to the same songs over and over again while writing or editing, simply because I need my music to become white noise. I do this with movies, too, where I’ll watch the same one multiple times a day and just tune it out while I work. It drives my family nuts, to tell you the truth.
It’s been so long since I wrote DUALED that I can’t remember all the songs, and I never did remember to write up a list. But I listened to a lot of Snow Patrol, Eminem, Kings of Leon, Coldplay, The Killers, and Arcade Fire.
Some great songs from Elsie’s DUALED bands:
Snow Patrol – “Set Fire to the Third Bar” (feat. Martha Wainwright)
Arcade Fire – “Rebellion (Lies)”
Coldplay – “The Scientist”
Kings of Leon – “Crawl”

Have you read DUALED yet? What are some songs you thought of while reading??



------------------------------------------------ABOUT THE AUTHOR-------------------------------------------

Elsie grew up in Prince George, BC, before graduating from the University of British Columbia with a BA in English Literature. She currently lives in Vancouver with her husband and two kids, where she writes to either movies on a loop or music turned up way too loud (and sometimes both at the same time).

She's repped by The Chudney Agency, and her debut novel, DUALED, published by Random House is out NOW! The sequel, DIVIDED, will be published February, 2014.

Find Elsie on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

She's also a contributing member of Friday the Thirteeners and The Lucky 13s group author blogs.

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2/25/13 Sarah @ The Book Life – Tour kick-off and Interview w/ Elsie

2/26/13 Jenna @ Making the Grade - Guest Post

2/27/13 Kristan @ Lost Amongst the Shelves - Review

2/28/13 Anna @ Literary Exploration - Guest Post

3/1/13 Inky @ Book Haven Extraordinaire - Review

3/2/13 Joli @ Actin’ Up with Books - Guest Post

3/4/13 Sara @ Forever 17 Books - Review

3/5/13 Tara @ Hobbitsies - Guest Post

3/6/13 Lilian @ A Novel Toybox - Guest Post

3/7/13 Kayla @ Bibliophilia, Please - Review

3/8/13 Emily @ Emily's Crammed Bookshelf - Review

3/9/13 Michelle @ Passionate Bookworm - Review

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Teaser Tuesday - A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
Expected Publication Date: July 2nd, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Page Count: 250 pages
Goodreads | Books Inc.

The master of horror takes on the master of theater!

Get ready for laughter to turn into screams in R.L. Stine's re-imagining of Shakespeare's classic romantic comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Everyone knows that Mayhem Manor is cursed. After production on the horror film was stopped due to a series of mysterious deaths, it became a Hollywood legend--which makes it perfect for Claire and her family. If they can successfully finish the film, it should be enough to save their ailing movie studio.

Sure, the old haunted house is creepy, and strange stuff has been happening, but this is Claire's chance. Her chance to become the movie star she's always dreamed and her chance to finally convince her friend Jake that she is girlfriend material. Of course, the fact that Jake thinks he's in love with her best friend, Delia, who is crushing hard on Jake's friend Shawn, who insists on following Claire around, could be a problem, but Claire is sure she can figure it out. After all, the course of true love never did run smooth.

But once shooting starts, "creepy and strange" morph into "bloody and deadly," as the lines between film and reality begin to blur...

My Teaser

"One hand on the wheel, one hand around Darlene's shoulders, Tony pounded the gas pedal, and the van roared over the bumps and pits of the narrow dirt road. Leaning against the window on Darlene's right, Sue gritted her teeth and absorbed every jolt and jerk in silence. Tony was driving too fast, trying to impress Darlene, and Sue had to fight down her fear." - ARC page 3

Is anyone else super excited for R.L. Stine's new book?!?! Me too :)

Blog Tour - Keeper of the Black Stones: Author Guest Post

Keeper of the Black Stones by PT McHugh
Expected Publication Date:
Publisher:
Page Count:
Goodreads | Books Inc.

Awkward in his own skin, shy around girls and worried about anything and everything, Jason Evans is just like a million other teenage boys in high school, with one very large exception: he has been given a gift that allows him to jump through time. A set of stones has fallen into his lap that gives him access to any place - and any time - that he chooses. But along with that gift comes the responsibility of stopping the man who is using those very stones to travel through time and change history for his own purposes. A man who is now holding Jason's grandfather hostage, and threatening the world's very existence. Jumping through time with his best friend and body guard, Jason must enter the world of Medieval England, learn its customs, navigate unimaginable danger, and help Henry VII win the Battle of Bosworth, in the name of finding his grandfather, rescuing a beautiful girl from the clutches of a corrupt church, and destroying the one man who pledges to turn history inside out.

 Why did I choose to write YA, and what are my inspirations?

“Dad, don’t embarrass us!” Those words are uttered quite frequently by my two daughters, who are both my inspiration and my test subjects in regard to how the younger generation thinks and acts

To be honest, my girls aren’t quite teenagers. Although my twelve year old believes she is in fact going on eighteen, and should have her own apartment and car by now. Thanks to her, music, movies, texting etiquette, and a refreshed vocabulary for a modern 21^st-century teenager are at my fingertips 24/7, providing me with an excellent reference. I just have to look across the table at her to see how a young adult lives and thinks.

Even with all the differences, though – technology, the world, the quicker aging of young people – I’ve come to realize that teenagers now are a lot like they were twenty, thirty, and even forty years ago. They certainly have more now than I ever did … computers, iPhones, Twitter, Facebook, instant information at your fingertips (remember when you actually had to go to the library to do your research?). But in the end, everybody’s teenage years contain a lot of the same problems and challenges – relationships, fitting in, questioning authority (parents), wondering what they’ll be when the grow up, wondering whether they even want to grow up (I don’t believe I ever did). And many of us never grow out of those questions. In that way, we’re all still teenagers at heart.

That’s why I chose to YA. I can still identify with so many of those questions, which makes it easier to write. What’s more, I know that those years – the years when you’re so lonely and doubtful about who you are – are also the years when you form yourself. It’s when you have your first love, first heartbreak, dreams, anxiety, fear, euphoria … and all those feelings are compounded by a boatload of testosterone and estrogen. It’s a roller coaster on crack, and we’ve all ridden it. All those ups and downs make for amazing, realistic characters and stories, and I can’t imagine writing about anything else.

Now, I realize that I’m forty years old and a lot of people won’t believe that I can remember those years in my own life. But guess what, I do. In fact, some of the characters, the town, and many of the day-to-day situations in my books come from my own experiences. That means I get to relive my childhood through my characters, and – even better – put them into situations I never had to deal with.

About the Author:
PT McHugh didn’t start out as a storyteller. He was, however, born into a family that encouraged imagination. He became a fan of history in school and then went to college to become a construction engineer, to build a world of straight lines, angles, and equations.

He was just as surprised as everyone else when he realized that he believed in magic, and might just know the secret of how to jump through time. Since then, he’s been researching the possibility and learning everything he can about history. Just in case the opportunity arises.

PT was born and raised in New Hampshire and currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, two daughters, and a dog named Bob, daring to dream of alternate worlds and cheering for his beloved New England Patriots.
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Check out the rest of the tour stops

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