Blog Tour: Letting Go of Gravity by Meg Leder...Review & Giveaway!

Wonderful new book to share with you today...

Title: LETTING GO OF GRAVITY

Author: Meg Leder

Pub. Date: July 17, 2018

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 432

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

Twins Parker and Charlie are polar opposites.

Where Charlie is fearless, Parker is careful.

Charlie is confident while Parker aims to please.

Charlie is outgoing and outspoken; Parker is introverted and reserved.

And of course, there’s the one other major difference: Charlie got leukemia. Parker didn’t.

But now that Charlie is officially in remission, life couldn’t be going better for Parker. She’s landed a prestigious summer internship at the hospital and is headed to Harvard in the fall to study pediatric oncology—which is why the anxiety she’s felt since her Harvard acceptance is so unsettling. And it doesn’t help that her relationship with Charlie has been on the rocks since his diagnosis.

Enter Finn, a boy who’s been leaving strange graffiti messages all over town. Parker can’t stop thinking about those messages, or about Finn, who makes her feel free for the first time: free to doubt, free to make mistakes, and free to confront the truth that Parker has been hiding from for a long time.

That she keeps trying to save Charlie, when the person who really needs saving is herself. 

A gorgeous, sad, funny, and wise book about letting go and finding your place in the world. Meg Leder has written a story about a brother and sister that will break your heart and have you whispering 'I got you' long after you've closed the book." –Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

“For readers who love and appreciate a good coming-of-age story, a realistic romance, and a novel where every character gets to be a hero.” –Kirkus

“A poignant and carefully crafted story….  A compelling coming-of-age novel sure to appeal to those who love realistic fiction.” –School Library Journal

“Effectively shows how illness affects families and how a person can get stuck acting out a persona and end up knowing very little about herself.” –Publishers Weekly

About Meg:

Meg Leder is the author of Letting Go of Gravity and The Museum of Heartbreak, and the coauthor of books including The Happy Book and The Book of Me. A former bookseller and teacher, she currently works as a book editor in New York City. She spends her free time reading, looking for street art, and people watching. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat Tim Riggins.

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Title: Letting Go of Gravity

Author: Meg Leder

Format: Digital ARC

Source: Blog Tour

Letting Go of Gravity was an unexpected surprise...I mean that in a good way, I promise. I was a little worried I’d be a sobbing mess by the end of the story after reading the blurb and considering the subject matter, but surprisingly I smiled as much as I cried reading this one, if not more.

The main focus of the story are fraternal twins Parker and Charlie, individuals who couldn’t be more different. A recent high school graduate, Parker is an introverted, people-pleaser who has her life planned out...a summer internship at the local Children’s Hospital and then on to Harvard where she hopes to study to become a pediatric oncologist. On the other hand, her twin brother Charlie is extroverted, outspoken and has no clue what the future holds as he has fallen a year behind in school thanks to a recent reoccurrence of leukemia. Parker’s carefully planned out summer doesn’t quite go as planned thanks to her changed relationship with Charlie and to renewed acquaintance Finn, a street artist who has been leaving cryptic graffiti messages all over town as well as a few discoveries she makes about herself.

This could have easily been a super heavy and emotional read, but there was still a lightness to it, if that makes sense. The characters of this story help with that as does Meg Leder’s way of telling us the story.

As for that story, it is told from the POV of Parker and Letting Go of Gravity is definitely Parker’s story so I understand why we only get her perspective, but to be honest I wouldn’t have minded getting Charlie’s perspective on a few things. There are occasions and interactions between the two early on where I could sense Charlie’s frustration at the situation and how people treat him, yet Parker seems oblivious to it. But I wonder if that is how it is in real life sometimes...that we are sometimes too close to a situation to actually see what is really happening or what we are doing or saying, but a third party can easily see it. I admit this made me frustrated with Parker, but it also added a realness to the story.

Parker definitely grows as the story progresses and she begins to learn more about herself, what she truly wants out of life, and what makes her happy. She begins to see past events and current situations in a new light. It’s a fascinating journey of self-discovery and I enjoyed how real it felt. It doesn’t happen overnight, but is more gradual lending a believability to the whole situation and to everything that occurs. It’s the little things that lead Parker to see the bigger picture. Leder does a fantastic job at showing how a character can grow and change as a result of self-discovery and reflection.

There are several other relationships and characters in the story that also help shape and affect Parker and her choices. From Finn to Ruby to Carla to Alice and many more, Meg Leder has done a fabulous job with each of these characters and relationships as each has an important role to play in Parker’s story even if it’s not apparent to Parker or the readers at first. I liked how each made her see things and question things in a way no one else had before. She was already on her way, but each gave her that extra nudge by providing an outsider’s perspective. Parker’s interactions and relationships with other characters were wonderful additions to an already enjoyable story. Oh, and I really loved Finn, by the way...even little Finn, who we meet in a flashback/memory.

Now, I feel I can’t let this review end without commenting on Charlie’s cancer as it is a big part of the book. As someone whose family has been affected by leukemia as well as other types of cancer, I feel that Meg Leder did a lovely job of showing how it affects an entire family in ways that aren’t always obvious. I’m paraphrasing (and badly at that), but there’s a beautiful passage in the book that likens cancer to a river moving through a family. You don’t notice it at the time, but your family is forever changed. Just like a river changes the terrain as it flows, wearing away at its banks and forever changing them, cancer changes a family and there’s no going back to who you were before. This is so true and now I must stop or I will be a sobbing mess, but this passage just stuck with me and I wanted to point it out.

Overall, I found Letting Go of Gravity to be a wonderful and touching story about relationships, growing up, and discovering yourself.

*I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of LETTING GO OF GRAVITY, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

7/23/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt

7/24/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

7/25/2018- The Pages In-Between- Review

7/26/2018- 100 Pages A Day- Review

7/27/2018- Never Too Many To Read- Review

Week Two:

7/30/2018- Book Princess Reviews- Review

7/31/2018- Nicole's Novel Reads- Interview

8/1/2018- The Reading Corner for All- Review

8/2/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review

8/3/2018- BookHounds YA- Interview

Book Spotlight: Copycat by Hannah Jayne...Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hannah Jayne is one of my go-to authors when I’m in the mood for a good thriller and I am so pleased to be able to tell you about her latest release from Sourcebooks Fire, Copycat!

Title: Copycat

Author: Hannah Jayne

ISBN: 9781492647393

Release Date: July 3, 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Praise for Copycat:

“A twisty rollercoaster ride that mixes fiction with reality and truth with misconceptions...lovers of mysteries will certainly enjoy this fast-paced page turner.” —Library Media Connection

Summary:

From the author of The Escape, Twisted, and Truly, Madly, Deadly comes a chilling new thriller that asks: what happens if your real life became stranger and deadlier than fiction?

Everyone is dying to read the latest book in the popular Gap Lake mystery series, and Addison is no exception. As the novels biggest fan, she’s thrilled when the infamously reclusive author, R.J. Rosen, contacts her, giving her inside information others would kill for.

Addison’s always dreamed of what it would be like if the books were real…. But then she finds the most popular girl in school dead. Murdered. And realizes that life imitating fiction is more dangerous that she could have imagined. As other terrifying events from the books start happening around her, Addison has to figure out how to write her own ending—and survive the story.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksAMillion | !ndigo | Indiebound

Hannah Jayne decided to be an author in the second grade. She couldn’t spell and had terrible ideas, but she kept at it. Many (many) years—and nearly twenty books—later, she gets to live her dream and mainly does it in her pajamas. She lives with her rock-star husband, baby daughter, and their three overweight cats in the San Francisco Bay area. She is always on the lookout for a juicy mystery, an exciting story, or a great adventure.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

One

There was something inordinately creepy about being at school after dark. The place was deserted—­the benches and picnic tables in the quad looked ominous and foreboding under the flickering yellow lights. Crystal Lanier shivered and pulled her jacket tighter against an imaginary chill. The weather was mild at Gap Lake in September; the days still sunbaked, the nights, like this one, a gentle mix of fading summer and impending fall. But the bare bones of the deserted campus had put a chill in the air, and shot a blast of cold right through Crystal.

“I’m creeping myself out,” she muttered shifting her books from one arm to the other.

A wisp of wind cut through the quad. Crystal was almost sure she heard someone laughing—­a weak, choked giggle, like someone was trying to swallow it down.

“Hello?”

She spun, her long black hair fanning over her shoulders. “Is someone there?” She knew she sounded like every horror movie victim ever, and her heart hammered in her throat as her skin prickled with beads of sweat.

This was Gap Lake, she reminded herself. It was a tiny town where everyone knew everyone else, and nothing bad ever happened. She was thinking that when the shadow approached. When he reached out for her long black hair. She was thinking what a nice, safe place Gap Lake was when he clamped a hand over her mouth. When he strangled her scream and drove the needle straight into her throat.

***

“Addison!”

Addison glanced up and blinked, feeling redness stain her cheeks and ears. She closed the book slowly, looking around at the two dozen sets of eyes staring back at her.

“I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Lea took two steps forward and held out her hand. Addison cleared her throat and shifted in her seat.

“The book, Addison.”

Reluctantly, Addison handed over the dog-­eared book.

“Can I get it back after class, please?” she asked, her voice meek.

***

Maya Garcia hiked her backpack over her shoulders and stepped into the junior hallway. “Okay, how many times has Mrs. Lea taken that thing from you?”

Addison shrugged, falling into step with her best friend. “Let’s see, I’ve read it about fifty-­seven times so…fifty-­six?”

“You are the biggest, nerdiest R. J. Rosen fan ever.”

“Hey, I’m president of his fan club. It’s mainly research.”

Maya shook her head sadly. “It’s borderline obsessive.”

“Who you calling borderline?” Addison flashed a wide grin. “It’s not entirely my fault. Rosen needs to write faster. If he could keep up with the public’s rabid love for the Gap Lake mysteries, I wouldn’t need to constantly reread—­”

“And reread and reread. And write massive amounts of fan fiction.”

Addison rolled her eyes.

“Don’t get me wrong, Adds. I love the books too, but you’re a teenager. You need a more destructive hobby to fit in.”

Addison nodded sagely. “I see where you’re coming from. What do you suggest?”

“Drinking, drugs, reckless driving.”

“First of all, to drive recklessly, I’d have to drive, which I will not. And as for the other stuff, what am I? A stereotype?”

Maya narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I feel like you’re not taking me seriously.”

Addison stopped at locker 221 and spun the lock, pulling open the metal door. “I like to read. So what?”

Maya yanked a handful of books out of Addison’s locker before dumping them back in again. “So, you should shelve a few hundred of these books and live in the here and now with the rest of us who have boyfriends who don’t live only on paper.”

“Number one, have you read the first Gap Lake book? Not only is Crystal’s boyfriend, Declan Levy, not a one-­dimensional paper product, he may or may not be responsible for her murder—­I vote not. But if that doesn’t make a rounded character, I don’t know what does.”

“Character,” Maya enunciated. “That’s the magic word. A character is not a real person.”

“And speaking of not real people, who’s this boyfriend of yours you seem to be referring to?”

A fierce blush crept across Maya’s olive cheeks. “I didn’t say that I had a boyfriend. But there are possibilities. Men in the wings. Plans afoot and so forth and…stuff.”

“‘Plans afoot’? ‘So forth and stuff’? Who are you?”

Maya put her hands on her hips. “I’m your best friend, Addie. Remember me? I’m not a mystery novel, but I’m pretty damn fantastic if I say so myself.”

Addie pulled the book back. She gave it a quick kiss, before stashing the book in her backpack.

Maya gaped. “Did you just kiss a book? Seriously?”

“It’s my lifeblood.”

Maya cocked an eyebrow and Addie shrugged.

“Okay, so it’s research.”

“Tell me you still want to be a writer and haven’t decided on serial killing as a career goal.”

“According to my father, the latter pays better.”

“How is the wolf of Wall Street?”

Addie blew out a sigh. “Buying low, selling high, still wishing his disappointing daughter had a penis or a power tie.”

“Well, I know what to get you for Christmas.” Maya stopped dead in her tracks. “Don’t look, but you’re being ogled. Possibly even being fantasized about in weird and uber-­sexual ways.”

Addie immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Now I feel skeevy.”

“I’d pay a thousand bucks if Spencer Cohen was staring at me that way.”

Addie shrugged, trying to play it off like she didn’t care. “You need a life.”

Maya groaned and shook Addie’s arm. “And you need two feet in reality or you’re going to prom with a cardboard cutout.”

“If it’s a cardboard cutout of Declan Levy, sign me up.”

“So you are into serial killers.”

“Declan didn’t do it!”

Maya rolled her eyes. “Declan totally did it. He killed Crystal, then did Andy and Rhodes. It’s textbook. I know because I am the daughter of cops, times two.” She held up two fingers a half inch from Addie’s nose. “He had motive, opportunity—­all those other CSI words.”

“That’s what the author wants you to think. And you totally fell for it! You are so R. J. Rosen’s target audience!”

“And you’re his secret side chick.”

Addie snorted. “I prefer biggest fan.”

“Well, it seems like Spencer Cohen is your biggest fan, and he’s coming over here.”

“Hey, Addie.” Spencer grinned, one of those three-­point grins that hit his dark-brown eyes, chin dimple, and Crest-­white smile.

I’m not in love with Spencer, she told herself. Infatuation. Puppy love, maybe. He’s just so cute…

“Hey, Spencer.”

Maya stepped forward. “Addie was just telling me how much she loves water polo. And dancing.”

Addie blinked. “I was?”

“I play water polo.” Spencer brightened and Addie gritted her teeth. She had been to nearly every one of his matches. True, she was usually up on the last bleacher with her nose in a book, but she watched whenever Spencer was in the pool. He never even noticed her.

“Yeah,” she said with a slow nod. “I’ve seen. I mean I know. I know because I’ve seen you. Not in a weird way, like in a fan way. Not, like, a weird mega fan or anything but, like, a Hornets fan. You know.” Addie fisted her hand and punched at the air. “Go team!”

Maya threaded her arm though Addie’s and gave it a yank. “We have to go.”

“Why did you do that?” Addie hissed once they were out of earshot. “Spencer and I were having a conversation.”

“Have you ever heard the term dead in the water? Because that’s what you were. ‘Go team’?” She shook her head sadly.

“Did I sound that bad?”

“Yes, yes you did.”

Addie sighed. “See? That’s why I should stick to guys on paper.”

“Oh honey,” Maya slid an arm over Addie’s shoulders. “At this point I don’t even think your book boyfriend would talk to you.”

Prize: 2 Copies of Copycat

Runs July 3rd - 31st  (US & Canada only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway