Lifestyle Of Me

Friday, May 10, 2019

BLOG TOUR: What We Do For Love by Anne Pfeffer

Ending week 1 of a 2 week long blog tour that is being hosted by Rockstar Book Tours.

Title: WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE

Author: Anne Pfeffer

Pub. Date: May 21, 2019

Publisher: Bold Print Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 208

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon

"If Lorelai Gilmore of Gilmore Girls was dropped into a thriller, it might resemble this appealing novel." --Kirkus Reviews

Summary: Thirty-eight-year-old Nicole Adams has given up on finding love. The single mother focuses on the two things she cherishes most—her sixteen-year-old son Justin and her art—while relying on the support of her friends Mike and Jamie and her loyal sister Caroline.

When she convinces a prominent Los Angeles museum to feature a large-scale installation of her ceramics work, she thinks her life has finally turned a corner.

Then Justin brings a girl, Daniela, home to spend the night. Daniela’s angry parents have thrown her out of the house because she’s pregnant with Justin’s child. Shattered, Nicole takes Daniela in and by doing so is drawn into the inner circle of Daniela’s family and a frightening world of deceit and violence.

Nicole struggles to keep life going as normal. Forced to deal with people she doesn’t trust or like, fearful for the future of both her son and the grandchild they’re expecting, Nicole wonders if she can do what she tells Justin to do: always have faith in yourself and do the right thing.

What We Do for Love: A Novel is a standalone story written by award-winning author Anne Pfeffer.

Review: This was a fast paced quick read about a single mom who is trying to become an artist and have her name known in the artist world when one day her whole life gets flipped upside down. Her 16 year old son who has his eyes on Ivy League schools, drops a bomb that he got a girl pregnant and that her parents have kicked her out.

Nicole opens her home to this girl and there is more going on that the word's I got a girl pregnant. Nicole is nurturing and caring and has the weight of the world on her shoulders. She has her older sister who has recently separated from her husband. She has a best friend named Mike who they are both shitty at announcing their feelings for each other. Nicole has her own ceramics business and she has been commissioned to do an art piece for a local art museum for a big opening.

There is a lot of drama and there was a time when I was cursing Justin out because he was freaking out about becoming a young dad and he didn't want any part in it. Then the ending, I was in rage at Daniela and her mother. This small book packed a punch and had me going through emotion after emotion.

WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE will be free on Amazon on May 22-24! Bloggers on these dates can you please share that also a banner is attached for you.

Award-winning novelist Anne Pfeffer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona reading prodigiously, riding horses, and avoiding rattlesnakes and scorpions. After living in Chicago and New York, she escaped back to the land of sunshine in Los Angeles. She has worked in banking and as a pro bono attorney, representing abandoned children in adoption and guardianship proceedings. Anne has a daughter living in New York and is the author of four books in the YA/New Adult genres.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $25 Amazon GC, International.

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2931/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

5/6/2019- Jena Brown Writes- Review

5/6/2019- Lone Tree Reviews- Review

5/7/2019- BookHounds- Excerpt

5/7/2019- Rainy Day Reviews- Excerpt

5/8/2019- Life With No Plot- Review

5/8/2019- Lisa-Queen of Random- Spotlight

5/9/2019- KayBee's Bookshelf, A Literary Blog- Review

5/9/2019- Novel Novice- Excerpt

5/10/2019- Lifestyle Of Me- Review

5/10/2019- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt

Week Two:

5/13/2019- the suburban lifestyle- Review

5/13/2019- Wonder Struck- Review

5/14/2019- Tyto Forest- Spotlight

5/14/2019- Colorimetry- Excerpt

5/15/2019- Lisa Loves Literature- Spotlight

5/15/2019- Daily Waffle - Spotlight

5/16/2019- Books A-Brewin'- Excerpt

5/16/2019- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt

5/17/2019- Jaime's World- Excerpt

5/17/2019- Parajunkee- Spotlight

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

April 2019 Wrap Up

It was a month filled with purple books. It was not planned, but I didn't mind a little color theme. The shades of purple used were very beautiful. I read 10 books and 3 of the books were on my Catch- Up April TBR.

1. The Center of the Universe by Ria Voros

2. The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle

3. Sphinx's Queen by Esther Friesner

4. The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

5. The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga

6. Lost Crow Conspiracy by Rosalyn Eves

7. The Legend of Greg by Chris Rylander

8. Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas

9. Unicorn on a Roll by Dana Simpson

10. Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers by Shauna Holyoak

Monday, May 6, 2019

BLOG TOUR: Planet Earth Is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos

Rockstar Book Tours is hosting a 2 week long blog tour for a new middle grade novel all about Autism and Space.

Title: PLANET EARTH IS BLUE

Author: Nicole Panteleakos

Pub. Date: May 14, 2019

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 240

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

"Tender and illuminating. A beautiful debut." --Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medal-winning author of When You Reach Me

Summary: A heartrending and hopeful debut novel about a nonverbal girl and her passion for space exploration, for fans of See You in the Cosmos, Mockingbird, and The Thing About Jellyfish.

Twelve-year-old Nova is eagerly awaiting the launch of the space shuttle Challenger--it's the first time a teacher is going into space, and kids across America will watch the event on live TV in their classrooms. Nova and her big sister, Bridget, share a love of astronomy and the space program. They planned to watch the launch together. But Bridget has disappeared, and Nova is in a new foster home.

While foster families and teachers dismiss Nova as severely autistic and nonverbal, Bridget understands how intelligent and special Nova is, and all that she can't express. As the liftoff draws closer, Nova's new foster family and teachers begin to see her potential, and for the first time, she is making friends without Bridget. But every day, she's counting down to the launch, and to the moment when she'll see Bridget again. Because Bridget said, "No matter what, I'll be there. I promise."

Review: Set is the 80's we follow a pre-teen autistic girl named Nova. She is a nonverbal girl who is dubbed not a talker but a thinker by her big sister Bridget. I fell in love with this little girl who loved space and was fascinated with the upcoming Challenger launch. She is definitely a thinker, she is super smart about all things space, the only thing is, is that the people around her think she doesn't know anything and she wants so badly to tell them.. "YES I DO!!"

She and her older sister Bridget are in and out of multiple foster care families after they were taken from their mother. Bridget is only present in the past pats of the story where Nova is remembering all the things that Bridget taught her about space and how foster families are sometimes forever families and sometimes not.

My middle child is obsessed with space and learning about people. I think that this book would be perfect for anybody, kid or adult. I also appreciated that this was written by a person on the Autism spectrum. It was very eye opening to how each person with autism has similarities and differences. I loved this story, most of all Nova. She is a definite Super Nova.

Nicole Panteleakos is an author, playwright, thespian, and Ravenclaw. Her debut novel PLANET EARTH IS BLUE (Wendy Lamb Books, Penguin Random House) will be out in bookstores nationwide on May 14, 2019, with a second middle grade novel to follow in 2020. She is represented by agent Katie Grimm at Don Congdon Associates and belongs to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators: Metro NY. She is also a Lifetime Member of the VFW Auxiliary and National Home for Children, a godmother of three, and a regular contributor to Nanny Magazine. When not writing, she can usually be found reading fanfiction, playing board games, doing community theatre, or adding to her Alice in Wonderland coffee cup collection.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of PLANET EARTH IS BLUE, US Only.

Rafflecopter Link:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2930/?

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

5/6/2019- Lifestyle Of Me- Review

5/7/2019- Lone Tree Reviews- Review

5/8/2019- Beagles & Books- Review

5/9/2019- Book-Keeping- Review

5/10/2019- Feed Your Fiction Addiction- Review

Week Two:

5/13/2019- BookHounds YA- Review

5/14/2019- Bri's Book Nook- Review

5/15/2019- The Layaway Dragon- Review

5/16/2019- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

5/17/2019- Novel Novice- Excerpt

Friday, May 3, 2019

BLOG TOUR: Hope and Other Punch Lines

Rockstar Book Tours is hosting a month long event for a new young adult contemporary set around two teens who were babies during the September 11th attacks.

Title: HOPE & OTHER PUNCHLINES

Author: Julie Buxbaum

Pub. Date: May 7, 2019

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 320

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

SUMMARY: The New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things and What to Say Next delivers a poignant and hopeful novel about resilience and reinvention, first love and lifelong friendship, the legacies of loss, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Sometimes looking to the past helps you find your future.

Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka "Baby Hope") wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing.

Now, fifteen years later, Abbi is desperate for anonymity and decides to spend the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp two towns away. She's psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope.

Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was irrevocably shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. Noah believes his meeting Baby Hope is fate. Abbi is sure it's a disaster. Soon, though, the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo. But is either of them ready to hear the answers?

REVIEW: The main reason that I wanted to review this book is because I have never read a fiction book centered around the 9/11 attacks. I love reading fiction about WW1 and WW2 and other major historical events, but I guess the reason that I have never read anything about 9/11 is because it is still so new and I feel that it would be offensive or tacky to make anything fictional around that day.

I gave it a chance and I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't distasteful and it didn't undermine the lives that were ruined, the people who lost their lives or those who live with survivor's guilt. This book did have me searching the web for the Baby Hope picture that the author did indeed make up. It kind of reminded me of the Lana picture from the first season of Smallville. I had to throw in this pop culture reference because this book had a ton of recent pop culture references.

I was also taken down memory lane back to September 11th. I was 10 years old and in 5th Grade. My teachers were in a panic all day and were very distracted. We weren't told what had happened until it was time for us to go home and they said that our parents would be having a major discussion with us that night. All they told us was that there was an attack on New York.

I went home and watched the news and started crying because they showed people jumping out of the buildings and the towers collapsing. Also because my mom told me that our annual trip to Turner Field to watch the Atlanta Braves play was cancelled and I was devastated. When I said it still feels new, it is because it is hard to believe that it is 18 years this year and I can remember vividly that day in my 5th grade classroom.