Waiting on Wednesday: ALL THESE THINGS I'VE DONE

The lovely Jill (a fellow Alabamian!) over at Breaking the Spine created the Waiting on Wednesday meme for us bloggers to showcase books we're waiting on.

I hadn't even heard of this week's selection until the lovely Savannah (@BookswithBite) tweeted about her giveaway (check it out here), but once I read the description I knew I had to feature it. If you've never heard of it either, then you're in for a treat! My WoW pick this week is...



All The Things I've Done
By Gabrielle Zevin
Pub date Yesterday!

product description from goodreads.com



In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend.

That is until her ex is accidentally poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame.

Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.




Come on...Forbidden chocolate and the mafia? I am so there.

And the best part? It came out yesterday, so hurry and snag a copy now!

Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!(make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

He didn't answer; his eyebrows were pulled down close to his eyes in an expression of such deep thought that I suspected he hadn't even heard me. I sort of liked seeing him like that, not performing, just...being Cole, as hard as he could. He didn't resist as I took his hand and swabbed off the blood.

~pg. 258, Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Happy Labor Day...and a winner!

First let me start by apologizing for taking so long to get this post up. I had actually forgotten that today was Monday!

So to start, I wish all of you who celebrate it a very Happy Labor Day!

And for my giveaway of an ARC of ASHES by Ilsa J. Bick, random.org has spoken, and the winner is...

Lisa B!

Congratulations Lisa! Please email me your mailing address and I will get your book out to you ASAP! And thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway, and I do hope that even though you didn't win, you will come back and visit often (and enter other giveaways I have in the future)!

TGIF over at GReads!

The awesomeness that is Ginger (or G, as I like to call her) over at GReads! has created a great meme that is tons of fun. Each Friday, she poses a question for anyone to answer. Go check her out and join in!

This Friday's Question:

Making a Difference:

Which book(s) would you put
in the hands of today's teenagers
in hopes of making a difference
in their lives?

This question is a difficult one for me to answer, because I don't like pushing any sort of thought system or ideology onto anyone else. But, I do feel that there are certain books everyone should read, just for the sake of reading a good book. So, I'm going to round-about answer today's question, by showcasing a couple of books everyone (teens included) should read at least once.

And of course, if you know me, you know what my first choice is going to be. That's right, only my favorite book ever.

To Kill A Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

This book is pure genius. Superbly written with a timeless message, To Kill A Mockingbird transcends race, religion, moral ethics and every other social epitaph we are labeled with. It is, quite simply put, a literary masterpiece that I think every person should read.










A Child Called It
By Dave Pelzer

I have to start by saying that this book is disturbing, and definitely isn't for everyone...though I honestly think every person alive should read it.

A Child Called It is a recount of one man's journey through a morbidly sadistic life of child abuse. I won't go into details as to what abuse he suffered--just know it was worse than you think. But the book opens your eyes to what truly goes on when a child is abused--both physically and psychologically--and forces you to look at the epidemic of child abuse differently. After reading it, I felt both sick and outraged, and it stuck with me for a long time after.




Of course there are countless other books that I could recommend to anyone to read, but these two stand out in my mind as having such powerful messages. If you've never read either of these, then please run out and get a copy now! lol

It's Giveaway Time!

So I thought to myself, what better to do on a Thursday than hold a giveaway? Right? Yeah, I thought so, too!

Today I'm giving away a signed ARC of a really great YA dystopian that is scheduled to release on Tuesday, so maybe you'll be lucky enough to win a copy! And what, you ask, is this elusive ARC? Why, it's none other than...



ASHES
By Ilsa J. Bick
pub date Tuesday!!

product description from goodreads.com


It could happen tomorrow...

A cataclysmic event. An army of "The Changed."
Can one teen really survive on her own?

An electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky, destroying every electronic device and killing billions. For those spared, it's a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human...

Desperate to find out what happened and to avoid the Changed, Alex meets up with Tom---a young army veteran---and Ellie, a young girl whose grandfather was killed by the electromagnetic pulse.

This improvised family will have to use every ounce of courage they have just to survive.




I absolutely loved this book! Such amazing writing and a really cool premise that I urge you all to read (my review of Ashes is here, in case you wanna read it). And what better time to read it than when you can read it for FREE!

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the ALA Convention in New Orleans this year (you know, since N'awlins is a mere 3 hours from home. Yeah, I know you're jealous) and got to meet Ilsa and pick up a signed copy of Ashes (I actually got 2 copies...hence the giveaway. Also, I use the term "meet" loosely, since I did nothing more than smile and snag the book and walk away because I was too nervous to speak to her!). So you, dear blogging buds, get to reap the benefits of my labor (and yes, walking around the extremely long convention hall all day was labor!)...in the form of a signed copy of Ashes!

To enter? Super-simple, as always. Simply comment on this post and tell me a great YA dystopian you've read (but please avoid The Hunger Games, Delirium and Divergent. I've read those and they're awesome!) and you're entered! And unfortunately, this is US only (since I'm covering shipping costs and it can get pricey out of the country!)...sorry my international peeps!

Be sure to comment on this post by Sunday at 12:00 noon CST, and I will announce the winner on Monday. I don't do the whole extra points thing, but feel free to Tweet or spread the word! And even though you don't have to be a follower, it's greatly appreciated!

So, comment away and tell me all those awesome YA dystopians that I just have to read!!