ARC Review: That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

Book info:

Title:  That's Not What Happened
Author:  Kody Keplinger
Genre:  YA Contemporary
Release Date:  August 28th, 2018
Publisher:  Scholastic
Source:  ARC received from publisher at ALA 2018 Annual Convention which did not influence my opinion in any way
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
It's been three years since the Virgil County High School Massacre. Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story--that she died proclaiming her faith. 

But it's not true. 

I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did--and didn't--happen that day. 

Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .

My Review:
I don't know what it is, whether it is because I am a school librarian, used to be a teacher, etc., or what, but I am drawn to YA books about school shootings.  I like that the majority of them tend to have something unique about them, something besides just telling what is a horrible story like the news would.  I've read stories where we get to know the shooter.  I've read stories about the siblings of the shooters.  This book had two things that I really liked. First, I like that not once did they actually say the name of the shooter.  One thing the character said they did not want to do was give that person any more attention or recognition.  The other thing that I really liked about this was the whole theme or maybe you'd say its plot.  I like that this book was looking at what really happened.  Not the stories that get passed on to the media, by people who don't know what actually happened, or mistake what happened for something more inspiring or selfless than it may actually have been.  

I always enjoy hearing the "real" story about historical events or people.  You know, the things left out of textbooks, the things that don't sound good, or the things that would mess up everyone's love of a person or event if it was told.  Those are the things that make people or events seem real to me.  And this book does exactly that.  It makes the people who survived real.  Not saints, not SURVIVORS, but just real people, real kids.  Even if one of the stories could possibly ruin another person's epiphany they had that caused them to change their life and be happier ever since the shooting.  Even if one of the stories makes the person who has to tell it worried others won't look at him the same, that they'll see him as a coward instead of the hero that the original story makes him out to be.  

The book makes you think though, in the end, with a girl who has passed away, is it such a good thing to ruin the image that her family and countless others in the community may have now taken as something that can be salvaged from such a horrible event?  I don't know.  That's a hard one.  But you have to also think about if that image, that story, has ruined the life of someone else who tried to tell the truth of that situation.  In that case, it might have been good thing to not let the wrong story take on quite the life that it did.  

Of course there are similarities to the real school shootings that have occurred.  But I don't feel that the author meant in any way to call into question those real people.  I think she was just giving examples that would make the story seem real.  

This was an intense story, a sad story, and even an inspirational story in its own way.  One I recommend and will purchase for my school library.

One last thing, I have to share the picture of me with the author when I met her and got my copy of the book at the ALA convention this summer.

 

Author Interview with Giveaway: The Pros of Cons by Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar, and Michelle Schusterman

Book info:

Title: THE PROS OF CONS

Author: Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar and Michelle Schusterman

Pub. Date: March 27, 2018

Publisher: Scholastic

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 352

Find it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads

Synopsis:

Drummer Phoebe Byrd prides herself on being one of the guys, and she's ready to prove it by kicking all their butts in the snare solo competition at the Indoor Percussion Association Convention. 

Writer Vanessa Montoya-O'Callaghan has been looking forward to the WTFcon for months. Not just because of the panels and fanfiction readings but because WTFcon is where she'll finally meet Soleil, her internet girlfriend, for the first time. 

Taxidermy assistant Callie Buchannan might be good at scooping brains out of deer skulls, but that doesn't mean it's her passion. Since her parents' divorce, her taxidermist father only cares about his work, and assisting him at the World Taxidermy and Fish-Carving Championships is the only way Callie knows to connect with him. 

When a crazy mix-up in the hotel lobby brings the three girls together, they form an unlikely friendship against a chaotic background of cosplay, competition, and carcasses!

Author Interview: 

1.  What does your writing process look like? Do you know the whole story when you start?  Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)?  If you plan it out, how do you do that?  Outline, notecards, post-it-notes, etc.?  Are you part of a writers group that gets together and helps each other with their writing?

Michelle: Alison and I are outliners, and Lindsay is more of a pantser. So we had to adapt a little for this book! And by adapt, I mean force Lindsay to try outlining. :) The day the three of us sat down to actually start writing this book, all we had was the concept of three girls at three conventions. I don’t think we even had character names yet.  

Alison: We definitely didn’t! I distinctly remember how loudly we cackled when we came up with Soleil. First we made a general outline of the full book—it was basically just a list of what happened on each of the five days. From there, we met up and had an in-depth discussion every three to six chapters, nailing down exactly what would happen next. In between, we worked on our own chapters and posted them in the massive Google doc when they were ready to be critiqued.

Lindsay: Outlining is exhausting, by the way. But it was also super helpful!

2.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?

Alison: I had the idea for this story when Lindsay and I went to LeakyCon—a Harry Potter fan con—in 2014. In the same convention center at the same time, there was a church con, a chess con, and Miss America. It was just too ridiculous and great NOT to turn into a book. And I love writing about the weirdest possible subjects, so of course I picked the strangest convention I could think of for my part: the World Taxidermy Championships. I was so excited the day I learned that existed.

Lindsay: Yeah, Alison literally stood there, in the lobby of the hotel adjacent to the convention center, and went, “This is a book. There’s a book here.” And almost immediately, I was like, “OH GOD CAN I WRITE IT WITH YOU.”

Michelle: I think Alison told me about the idea, and that she and Lindsay were going to try collaborating. I don’t know if she saw the longing in my eyes or what, but she asked if I wanted in and I immediately said yes.

3.  How long have you been writing?

Michelle: For fun, since childhood! For publication, since my late twenties.

Alison: Same! Though I didn’t write much fiction in high school or college—I was more of a journaler at that point.

Lindsay: Same but different! I only started writing original fiction, with an eye toward publication, when I was in my mid-twenties. Before that, it was all fanfiction, all the time.

4.  What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

Alison: Don’t be afraid to write terrible first drafts—just get something down on paper. You can’t fix something that doesn’t exist. Every book you’ve ever loved started off as a huge, messy pile of words. There’s no shame in producing one yourself!

Michelle: 100% agreed with Alison. I’ll add to it by saying that once you’ve got that huge, messy pile...revise it. And then get beta readers. And then LISTEN TO THEM. And then revise it again.

Lindsay: Also, read. The best writers all started off as good readers. Read the classics. Read  the latest award-winners and bestsellers in your genre. Read outside your genre. Read eeeeeeeeeverything.

5.  Since your story is about conventions, what is one convention you have gone to or would love to go to at some point in the future?

Alison: Before writing this book, I had no particular desire to go to the World Taxidermy Championships… but now I really do.

Michelle: (Same, actually.) I based Phoebe’s con on the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, which I attended seven times in high school/college. I’d LOVE to go again. It’s huge and noisy and just so awe-inspiring.

Lindsay: I’ve been to a handful of fan conventions at this point, and I’ve discovered that my favorites are almost always the smaller, more focused conventions. Like, ComicCon is great, but it’s also super overwhelming. I’m more into conventions like Ascendio or Leviosa, which happened in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Both were just big enough that you had plenty of options when it came to super fun things to do, and just small enough that you could find a way to see pretty much everything you wanted to see.  

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About the Authors:

 

About Allison:

I grew up in Evanston, IL, then went to Harvard and got a degree in photography. (Yes, that is possible. Although they like to call the visual arts “Visual and Environmental Studies,” for some unknown reason.) Then I spent the next three years as a freelance lighting designer for various theaters throughout the Northeast. Eventually, I got tired of hanging out on ladders and wrestling with faulty electrical equipment for 80 hours a week while getting paid almost nothing, so I spent the next four years working as a photographer for the Metropolitan Opera. Now I live in Brooklyn with my two kitties, Vivian and Sophia, and write full-time. I’m represented by Holly Root at Root Literary.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

About Lindsay:

Lindsay Ribar lives in New York City, where she works in book publishing by day and writes YA novels by night. She attends far too many concerts, watches far too much nerdy TV, and consumes fanfiction like it's made out of chocolate. She is fond of wine, cheese, and countries where they speak English but with really cool accents. Oh, and she has a Harry Potter tattoo.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

About Michelle:

Michelle Schusterman is the alleged author of less than one hundred books for kids and teens, most of which are not published under a secret pseudonym, and all of which include various characters. She lives on a steamboat with her pet crawfish, unless she's lying, in which case she lives among the spiders beneath the stage at the Metropolitan Opera, unless that's another lie, in which case she lives in an apartment in Queens with her chocolate lab, who can talk.

Website | Instagram | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE PROS OF CONS, US Only.

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Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/26/2018- YA Books Central- Interview

3/27/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

3/28/2018- Pop! Goes The Reader- Guest Post

3/29/2018- Book Princess Reviews- Excerpt

3/30/2018- Nerdophiles- Review

Week Two:

4/2/2018- Novel Novice- Review

4/3/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review

4/4/2018- Lisa Loves Literature- Interview

4/5/2018- Mary Had a Little Book Blog- Review

4/6/2018- BookHounds YA- Review

 

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: Hear the Wolves by Victoria Scott

If you've been a follower of mine for awhile, then you know that I'm a huge fan of Victoria Scott, and also a part of her V Mafia.  So when I got an email on Thursday about a new book from her, I was excited to get to be a part of the cover reveal!  And if you're interested, there's a giveaway below for 10 ARCs. 

Book info:

Title:  Hear the Wolves  
Author: Victoria Scott
Publisher:  Scholastic
Publication Date:  March 28, 2017
Genre:  Middle Grade Contemporary

Blurb:
It's survival of the strongest in a contemporary, girl-versus-wild middle-grade debut from Fire and Flood author Victoria Scott!

Sloan is a hunter.

So she shouldn't be afraid of anything. But ever since her mom left the family and she lost hearing in one ear in a blizzard, it's been hard to talk to people, and near-impossible to go anywhere or do anything without her dad or big sister within eyesight -- it makes her too scared to be on her own.

When they leave her home alone for what should only be two nights, she's already panicked. Then the snow starts falling and doesn't stop. One of her neighbors is hurt in an accident. And the few people still left in Rusic need to make it to the river and the boat that's tied there -- their only way to get to a doctor from their isolated Alaska town.

But the woods are icy cold, and the wolves are hungry. Sloan and her group are running out of food, out of energy, and out of time. That's when the wolves start hunting them . . .

Victoria Scott
www.VictoriaScott.com
____________________________

TITANS (Scholastic)
FIRE AND FLOOD Series (Scholastic)
VIOLET GRENADE (Entangled Teen)

Giveaway:

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Review and Giveaway: Titans by Victoria Scott

Hello everyone, and welcome to my review of the fabulous new book by Victoria Scott.  As a Titan Jockey, I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the book in the mail.  This is the first thing I saw:

When I opened it up, not only was the ARC in there, but a really cool poster as shown below (couldn't find the image anywhere other than my Instagram, so that's what you get!):

Of course I wanted to start reading as soon as I got it. But alas, I had such a list of review books I had to get to.  And that worked okay, just because now I get to share all my love of the book with you closer to the actual publishing date. Which also means there will be a giveaway!  I loved the book so much that even though I wasn't supposed to order any books published after February 16th with my last bit of library budget money this year, I asked for a special exception just so that I could hopefully get this in my school library before the end of the year, to share with my students.

First I will thank the author for picking me to be one of the V-Mafia members that got to be Titan Jockeys.  Then I will thank the publisher, Scholastic, for sending me an ARC to read.  Now I will admit when I first heard a little bit about the story, I thought it sounded exactly like The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (which isn't a bad thing, as I love that book and author).  But then I read the full blurb about it, and saw that other than a "horse" race, it really was nothing like it.

The story takes place in a future time from now.  At a racetrack in Detroit where mechanical horses, more like robots, but very lifelike, will race.  It is kind of a once a year type of event.  Several races that narrow down the field to just a few, who will race for the big pot.  It's not cheap to enter though.  And you have to be able to afford one of the horses, or Titans as they're called, as well.  Astrid is our main character, and she has been obsessed with the horses since she first saw them.  Unfortunately, she comes from a poor family.  Her father has been out of work for a long time, since the factories aren't doing so well these days.  , and even worse, at one time her grandfather gambled away their money and house.  Because of his mindset, he will not allow Astrid's mother to even look for a job to help support the family.  Of course the first time they lost almost everything, when they had to move, Astrid moved close to her best friend, Magnolia.

The track is really not a place for kids, teenager or not, as well as it's not really a place that a lot of women hang out.  But every year, Astrid and Magnolia sneak to the track to see what they can catch of the training and riding of the Titans.  This year at the track they see one jockey riding.  And he's kind of a jerk, telling them to get lost basically.  Then they see an older man who seems to be not doing that well in the heat.  Even though he's kind of a cranky old guy, Astrid helps him out.  Soon there's a big surprise announcement that they will choose one person to enter without the fee.  It's about this time that Astrid is walking down the street and sees the cranky old man working in his garage on what looks to be an old, run-down Titan.  It's not quite the same color and it is just different.

Turns out the old man was one of the people who first worked on the Titans, and the one is his garage is one of the original models.  He asks Astrid to be the jockey.  She agrees, and that's where the training starts. The old man, Rags, takes her and the horse out to a friend's house.  Barney was also one who worked on this original Titan.  When they get it ready and turn it on, it takes off, and they have to catch it.  Seems the autopilot button hadn't been switched off.  Now Astrid has to learn to ride it and how to control it.  The Titans can be dangerous, Astrid has seen at least one death, and there have been many others.  They have to get her good enough, and the horse fast enough, because if they don't do well enough in the qualification race, they won't get a sponsor, and it could all be over.

I won't go into the story too much more.  You know they have to qualify and get a sponsor.  But the sponsor they end up with will add a whole other aspect to the story.  The other jockey they met earlier is young, and still very snotty, but he tries to use Astrid to help his own rankings with the press by kissing her in public and acting as if they are dating.  At home Astrid has so many  other problems with her older sister and her deadbeat boyfriend.  Her father who doesn't seem to care about Astrid at all anymore, and her younger sister who begins to feel left out.

The friendship between Magnolia and Astrid is wonderful.  I love all of the characters.  Hart, the other jockey that is kind of a jerk, I like him, although I don't know that I'm completely happy with where the story went with him.  I'll just say that the one issue I had with the story is that I wanted more romance.  For Astrid.  I get that stories don't always have to have romance, but I like the way this author can add it to stories, (Dante Walker, anyone?) and so I was a little sad to not have that really take place in the story.  However, the story was great, I love the idea behind the Titans, and I fell in love with Astrid's horse, and loved watching her do the same.

And I have to share the picture of when I got to meet the author back in 2013 at the Romantic Times Convention.

A great new standalone story from Victoria Scott.  Sign up below to win your own copy!  Or, just go buy your own copy when it comes out on February 23rd. 


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Sunday Post #26 and Stacking the Shelves May 10th, 2015

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. 

Last week on the blog:

• Review:  A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
• Cover Reveal:  Diamonds are Forever (The Secret Diamond Sisters #3) by Michelle Madow
• Waiting on Wednesday:  Alive by Scott Sigler
• Review:  Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
• Review:  Elena Vanishing by Elena Dunkle and Clare B. Dunkle
• Review:  The Hunted (The Living #2) by Matt de la Pena
• Review:  Lois Lane:  Cloudy with a Chance of Destruction by Gwenda Bond

Wow, four reviews in one week! Double my goal of two a week.  And it was so nice to be back to regular blogging, the A to Z Challenge was a bit exhausting.  There's a few egalleys I should have got to last week, but since they don't expire, I had to move on to those that did.  Hoping to get a lot of reading done this week!

This week on the blog:

• Review:  5 to 1  by Holly Bodger
• Book Blitz:  The Violet Hour by Andrea L. Wells
• Waiting on Wednesday
• Cover Characteristic
• Top 10 Tuesday (maybe)
• Possible Reviews:  Illusionarium by Heather Dixon, The Choosing by Rachelle Decker, and/or Ice Kissed (Kanin Chronicles #2) by Amanda Hocking

This week should be a little less busy outside of blogging.  I only work at the bookstore one weeknight.  I was supposed to be going to see Pitch Perfect Thursday night, but now don't know if I will be.   So I hope to get some time at home to read and try to get caught up on my DVR TV shows.

My fit/walking goals:
I didn't really get any walking done outside this past week thanks to all the rain we've been having.  Hoping to get more done this week. We'll see what happens.  I did do one day of the Run Walk Run program, and I want to keep doing it.  See what it does.

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.   Let's just say that until I went to the Scholastic Book Warehouse sale yesterday, I had a pretty small stack.  

Physical Books:

I had to buy the Barnes and Noble special edition copy of The Heir this week. The other five books are all from the Scholastic Warehouse sale.  

E-galleys:

I'm so excited to see the first one, the sequel to The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff!  The one by Jennifer Donnelly is another exciting one as I love her books.  I normally only really take YA books, but once in a while a memoir grabs me, and Felicia Day has been on some of my favorite shows, so I'm excited to read her book.

Free e-books:

I have read and enjoyed Jemima J, so had to get the first one.  The other two just sounded halfway good and for free I said why not!  

So, what did  you add to your shelves this week?