Blog Tour: Dive Smack by Demetra Brodsky...Mood Board & Giveaway!

Today is my stop on the Dive Smack Blog Tour...keep reading to learn more about this book & its author and to enter a fantastic giveaway!

Dive Smack

by Demetra Brodsky

Publisher: TorTeen

Release Date: June 19, 2018

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Theo Mackey only remembers one thing for certain about the fire that destroyed his home: he lit the match.

Sure, it was an accident. But the blaze killed his mom and set his dad on a path to self-destruction. Everything else about that fateful night is full of gaping holes in Theo’s mind, for good reason. Maybe it’s better that way. As captain of the Ellis Hollow Diving Team, with straight A's and solid friends, he's only one semester away from securing a scholarship, and leaving his past behind.

But when a family history project gets assigned at school, new memories come rushing to the surface, memories that make him question what he really knows about his family, the night of the fire, and if he can trust anyone—including himself.

To Purchase:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo | IndieBound | iBooks 

Demetra Brodsky is an award-winning graphic designer & art director turned writer. She has a B.F.A from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and lives in Southern California with her family of four and two lovable rescue dogs. Dive Smack, her debut novel, is dedicated to Pumpkin, the monarch butterfly she once saved from the brink of death. Once you read the book, you’ll understand why. She is a first generation Greek-American and a member of International Thriller Writers. Dive Smack is a 2018 Junior Library Guild Selection.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | tumblr.

Author Demetra Brodsky has created a wonderful Mood Board for Dive Smack that I am thrilled to be able to share with you today. It’s absolutely perfect for this story and the images she chose are gorgeous! I particularly love the center message.

To see more, be sure to check out Demetria’s Pinterest Board for Dive Smack by clicking here.

Prize: 

Hardcover copy of DIVE SMACK by Demetra Brodsky & Prize pack of necklace, bracelet, signed bookmark, & signed book plate

US Only

Starts: 6/13

Ends: 6/26

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Check out the rest of the tour stops to learn more about Dive Smack!

Just click here for the Blog tour schedule! 

Book Spotlight and Guest Blogger...Behind the Song edited by K.M. Dalton plus giveaway!

Today I have a fun anthology to share with you...Behind the Song.

Title: Behind the Song

Author: Various; K.M. Walton, editor

Pub Date: September 1, 2017

ISBN: 9781492638810

Music takes a moment and makes it a memory. It’s a universal language that can capture love, heartbreak, loss, soul-searching, and wings spreading—all in the span of a few notes. In Behind the Song, fourteen acclaimed young adult authors and musicians share short stories and personal essays inspired by the songs, the albums, and the musicians who move them.

So turn up the volume and cue up the playlist. This is an anthology you’ll want to experience on repeat.

Buy Links:

Amazon | Books-A-Million  | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Goodreads

***

Here’s more from the editor of this music-themed anthology, K.M. Walton…

How music inspires my writing

I need absolute quiet while writing. It’s the only way I can write my first draft. Luckily, it’s just me and our cat Danny all day. However, music is a part of my process, it just happens after my first draft is complete. Spending so much time with my characters over the weeks and months of first-drafting allows me to deeply connect with them. Once I hit that point, I listen to songs differently, searching for connections to my characters, and I create playlists. My brain hyper-focuses on making those connections and I end up having tons of scribbled on post-its with song titles, artists, and which character the song is for. 

I’ve listed out a playlist for each of my books on my website, complete with which character the song is for and links to the songs’ music videos. I don’t know about you, but watching a music video for a song I love is quite a powerful experience, one that embeds the music into my cells.

In BEHIND THE SONG each contributor chose one of their favorite songs and used it as inspiration to write a short story or personal essay. Ideally, I recommend reading a piece in the anthology and then either listening to the accompanying song or watching the music video (the book’s website has playlists and music videos). That’s the process I followed while editing every contribution in BEHIND THE SONG. The genius and honesty in this book will blow your mind, and then add in the layer of music for an experience like no other. 

Link to BEHIND THE SONG’s website: https://www.behindthesongbook.com/ 

***

About K.M. Walton…

K.M. Walton is the author of Cracked, Empty, and Ultimatum. She’s editing and contributing to her music-focused YA anthology, Behind the Song. K.M. co-authored Teaching Numeracy: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking for mathematics teachers K - 8. She graduated from West Chester University with a degree in elementary education and spent most her teaching career in middle school teaching language arts. Mean people baffle her – she’s so passionate about acceptance that she gives school presentations—middle school through university level—titled: "The Power of Human Kindness.” K.M. lives in PA with Team Walton, which includes her husband, two sons, and cat. 

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

1 winner will receive a print copy of Behind the Song (US/CAN only)

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Blog Tour: Love is Both Wave and Particle by Paul Cody...Guest Post & Giveaway!

My guest today is Paul Cody, author of Love is Both Wave and Particle!

Keep reading to learn more about this book and its author and to see what Paul Cody has to share with us today...

Love is Both Wave and Particle

by Paul Cody

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Release Date: August 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

This achingly beautiful novel considers how to measure love when it has the power to both save and destroy.

Levon Grady and Samantha Vash are both students at an alternative high school for high-achieving but troubled teens. They have been chosen for a year-long project where they write their life stories and collect interviews from people who know them. The only rule is 100% confidentiality—they will share their work only with each other. What happens will transform their lives.

Told from the perspectives of Levon, Sam, and all the people who know them best, this is a love story infused with science and the exploration of identity. Love Is Both Wave and Particle looks at how love behaves in different situations, and how it can shed light on even the darkest heart.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | Kobo

Paul Cody earned an MFA at Cornell University, and has published several novels and a memoir for adults. He lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife, the poet Elizabeth Holmes, and their two sons. Love Is Both Wave and Particle is his first novel for teenagers.

Website | Goodreads

How I Came to Write Love Is Both Wave and Particle

By Paul Cody

When I was growing up in the suburbs of Boston, in the 1960s and 1970s, I was a fairly depressed, anxious kid. Often sad for no particular reason, and nearly always worrying about one thing or another.

By the time I was fifteen or so, I had discovered alcohol and prescription drugs as a way to treat my own uneasy, uncomfortable feelings. A drink or two, a few tranquilizers, and I was suddenly not anxious, nor was I depressed. 

My alcohol and drug use got worse and worse. I barely graduated from high school, and I didn’t go to college when so many of my friends were leaving home for college.

My addictions grew so bad that when I was 22, I was taken to the emergency room of a local hospital by the police, where I foolishly punched a doctor. A few hours later I found myself committed by a court order to a thirty-day stay on the locked ward of Medfield State Hospital, the same hospital where much of the movie Shutter Island was filmed. 

It was a grim time in my life, but while I was on the ward, with heavy iron mesh on windows, and ranting and raving patients pacing the halls, I did a great deal of thinking. I realized that if I didn’t do something, this downward spiral would continue. I’d have to make some big changes.

When I got out of the hospital after thirty days, I began to make big changes. I got off alcohol and drugs. I went to college and did well. Then I worked for three years with deaf-blind, developmentally disabled teenagers. Then I went to graduate school to get a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing.

I became intensely interested in people who struggled with disabilities of any kind. I was deeply curious about the labels we put on people—autistic, Asperger’s, depressed, bipolar, ADD, anxiety disorder, alcoholic, drug addict—and realized that I fit into at least four or five different categories. Each diagnosis, for me, was partly accurate, but only partly so. 

When I came to write Levon and Sam’s story in Love Is Both Wave and Particle, I was moved by their plight. Who were they, beyond the labels, and what had made them the way they were? Were they fated to live out their labels, or could they change their destinies?

Had Levon’s mother, the brain expert, partly created in her son many of the symptoms of Asperger’s, out of her own fear, her lack of perception, and her own good intentions? Did Sam’s mother somehow transfer her own lack of purpose, her own depression, onto her daughter? Did Sam’s father work so much, for the good of the family that he did real harm to his family? 

All people are to me, as a writer, deeply interesting, contradictory, and a wonderful subject for novels. As I wrote about Sam and Levon, I discovered more and more about them as I went deeper into the novel. They surprised me, often on nearly every page.

People, I’ve always thought, are profoundly complex creatures, and I wanted to see if I could show some part of that in a novel. And maybe, after everything is said and done, I write to get a deeper understanding of the messed-up teenager I was. And how, despite everything, things turned out more or less okay for him.

***Thank you so much for sharing such a personal story with us, Paul. Readers, be sure to check out Love is Both Wave and Particle and remember to...***

Just click here to find the Love is Both Wave and Particle Blog Tour Schedule!

1 copy of LOVE IS BOTH WAVE AND PARTICLE by Paul Cody

US/Canada only

No Giveaway accounts

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Blog Tour: When I'm Through With You by Stephanie Kuehn...Guest Post & Giveaway!

Today I am pleased to welcome author Stephanie Kuehn to the blog to tell us a little more about the main character in her new book, When I Am Through With You!

But first, let me tell you a little more about this intriguing new book and its author...

When I Am Through with You

by Stephanie Kuehn

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers

Release Date: August 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery

Synopsis:

“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”

Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | iBooks

I grew up in Berkeley, California, which is a quirky sort of a place with many wonderful bookstores. When I was fifteen, my very first job was working in one of those bookstores. It’s where I would go after school, and I’d read everything that I could. Back then, some of the books that had the greatest impact on my life were young adult novels, and now, as an adult, I’ve found my own passion in writing for teens.

Other passions of mine include mental health advocacy, social justice, and sports of all kinds. When I’m not writing or reading (or studying for graduate school), I’m usually outside running or playing with my family. I currently live in Northern California with my husband, three kids, and our menagerie of pets. Life is loud, joyous, and filled with animal hair.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my last name is pronounced keen. I know! I don’t get it either.

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr

Now, please welcome Stephanie Kuehn as she shares with us the inspiration for Ben Gibson...

When I’m contemplating starting a book, I usually have some glimmer of a paradox or conflict that I want to delve into. With When I am Through With You, I was curious about the idea of starting with a character who’s done something unforgivable and seeing if I could get to the end of that story having found empathy for that character and the choices he makes. There are not meant to be big twists in perception or reality in this narrative: Ben does exactly what he says he does at the start of the book. But along the way we come to understand his actions, their context, and what it all means to him. 

I derived Ben’s personality and motivations primarily from attachment theory: that is, the idea that all human children are innately driven to maintain a bond with their primary caregiver in order to survive. This is a theory that predicts that if a caregiver is impaired in some way, or abusive, children in their care may unconsciously alter their beliefs about themselves in order to keep that attachment. So if a parent tells a child that they are worthless—or shows this in their actions—the child’s response might be to believe in their worthlessness because doing so allows them to keep their parental attachment. As the child grows older, these beliefs and patterns of being may get played out in other relationships in ways that are unhealthy. 

The text indicates that Ben’s mother was abused by her father as a child, and later, by other men in her life. Subsequently, her attachment with her own son is damaged. She hates Ben and she needs him and she hates him for being necessary. This push-pull dynamic leaves him with the sense that he alone is responsible for his mother’s happiness, and it’s what he comes to believe love is: Love is something you give to another, no matter how much pain it causes you. Love is something you’ll do anything for because otherwise it might leave you. And for Ben, there’s no greater fear than abandonment. His only value lies in how much the women in his life approve of him. Abandonment, therefore, is the equivalent of worthlessness. 

So this construct: the toxic notion that love is measured by ignoring one’s own needs, by giving oneself completely to another, no matter how much they hurt you, was the foundation for this character and for the story. I wanted readers to understand Ben—how he came to be who he is and how that plays out in his life—before forcing him into a situation where in order to make the one he loves happy, he doesn’t just have to lose her—he has to be the one to make her go. 

Thank you so much, Stephanie! Readers, make sure you check out her book, When I Am Through With You and remember...

Click here for the Tour Schedule!

3 copies of WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU by Stephanie Kuehn will go to 3 winners

1 winner will receive a copy of WHEN I AM THROUGH WITH YOU & THE SMALLER EVIL by Stephanie Kuehn

4 winners total

US Only

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Blog Tour: A Void the Size of the World by Rachele Alpine...Author's Favorite Things & Giveaway!

I have what sounds like an intriguing book to tell you about today...

A Void the Size of the World

by Rachele Alpine
Release Date: June 20th 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Publisher: Simon Pulse

Synopsis:

A haunting novel about a girl who must face the consequences after her actions indirectly lead to her sister’s disappearance.

Rhylee didn’t mean to kiss her sister’s boyfriend. At least, not the first time. But it doesn’t matter, because her sister, Abby, caught them together, ran into the dark woods behind their house…and never came home.

As evidence mounts that something terrible has happened to Abby, no one wants to face the truth. Rhylee can’t bring herself to admit what she’s done: that she is the reason her sister ran away. Now Tommy, Abby’s boyfriend, is the prime suspect in her disappearance, and Rhylee’s world has been turned upside down. Slowly, Rhylee’s family is breaking—their lives center on the hope that Abby will return. Rhylee knows they need to face the truth and begin healing—but how can they, when moving on feels like a betrayal? And how do you face the guilt of wishing a person gone…when they actually disappear?

Rachele Alpine is a lover of binge watching reality TV, dogs, knitting, gummy peaches, and lots and lots of coffee!

One of her first jobs was at a library, but it didn't last long, because all she did was hide in the third-floor stacks and read. Now she's a little more careful about when and where she indulges her reading habit.

By day she's a high school English teacher, by night she's a mom and wife, and she writes during any time she can find in between!

Rachele lives with her husband and son in Cleveland, Ohio, but dreams of moving back to Boston, the city she fell in love with while attending graduate school there.

Rachele Alpine was kind enough to share a few of her favorite things with us today…

FAVORITE BOOKS

Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)

To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

The Great Gatsby (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Prep (Curtis Sittenfeld) 

The God of Animals (Aryn Kyle)

Looking for Alaska (John Green)

Where the Wild Things Art (Maurice Sendak)

Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)

Eleanor & Park (Rainbow Rowell)

The Sky is Everywhere (Jandy Nelson)

FAVORITE WAYS TO RELAX

Knitting (it’s my old-lady hobby!)

Binge watching reality TV

Hiking with my family

Reading anything and everything

Journaling

Trying new coffee shops

Walking and listening to podcasts

FAVORITE SUMMER ACTIVITIES 

Eating as much ice-cream as I can!

Cheering on the Cleveland Indians

Visiting the overnight summer camp I used to work at

Sitting on my porch at dusk and reading

Outdoor fires

Roasting marshmallows and making S’mores

Outdoor concerts (this summer I’m seeing U2 and Billy Joel!)

Sleeping in (since I teach, I have my summers off)

Going to farmer markets

Drinking iced coffee 

Follow the tour for more content and chances to win the giveaway!!

• 1 finished copy of A VOID THE SIZE OF THE WORLD by Rachele Alpine
• US Only
• Please read the Rafflecopter Terms before entering
• Ends 7/14

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