Review: Until Beth (Life and Beth #1) by Lisa Amowitz

 

I was fortunate enough to win ebooks of all of Lisa Amowitz's books, from the author herself, and decided to start this one just recently.  It was the reason I entered the giveaway, because it sounded so good, and of course the cover is so awesome!  And it really ended up being very good!  Now I'm very eager for a sequel!

The main character is Beth.  She's in a band, but recently her boyfriend, also in the band, disappeared.  But he isn't the first person to have disappeared in their town. There have been many kids disappearing with no trace.  One night a guy named Vincent shows up at a concert, and says he's there to see about her attending a special school for people with her talent.  Later that night, her brother is in an almost fatal accident.  She goes to see him in the hospital, and sees a dark shadow, she begs it to go away and it does.  And then her brother seems to at least come back to life, even though he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life.  A big blow to him, as he was a major athlete.  With things being so crazy, she goes ahead and goes to audition at the school that Vincent invited her to after she finds out one of the guys in her band recommended her.  She gets in, but that's when things start getting weird.

While everyone at the school is very talented, the school isn't quite the music school that she was led to believe.  Vincent, who of course is very cute, seems to have a connection with her, and she feels it with him, even though she's not sure if she trusts him.  There's another boy at the school, one she hears sing the first night she's there, named Xavier.  There's something about Xavier that calls to her as well.  His voice for one thing, and then when Vincent warns Beth to stay away from him, it seems that she gets thrown into situations with him more, often she does seek him out though.  Xavier seems to know what is going on, and tries to give her tips on how to survive in the school.  Cryptic hints at what might be going on.  And then Xavier disappears, and Beth needs to find him and find out what happened to him.

I can't say much more without giving the story away.  Just know that the school of talents aren't the talents you'd think.  And there is something major going on.  It wasn't something that I could kind of figure out as I went along, it just kept surprising me and going in directions I didn't see all the way through till the end.  Great surprises, an intense, can't put it down read.

Book Tour and Author Interview (Giveaway): The Concealed (The Lakewood Series) by Sarah Kleck

Book Details:

The Concealed by Sarah Kleck
Publication date: November 1st 2015
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:
“Can you be happy when what you desire most means your doom?”

Evelyn Lakewood, an orphan, is crushed after the death of her beloved sister Zara. But the nineteen-year old enrolls in Psychology at Oxford in honor of Zara.

There, Evelyn first becomes friends with vivacious Sally and seemingly charming Felix. But the encounter with Jared Calmburry, whose incredibly blue eyes immediately captivate her, fundamentally changes her life. She is instantly drawn to this mysterious stranger around whom unusual things happen and who simply disappears every time Evelyn tries to confront him about his puzzling behavior. After finding a mysterious book with a unique symbol on its leather cover in the university library, her curiosity is perked. She doesn’t know what to make of it but Jared’s best friend Colin Sullivan encourages her with cryptic hints to continue her search for evidence. When she discovers the same medieval symbol is worn by hostile professor Karen Mayflower and engraved on another faculty member’s seal ring, she realizes that an ancient secret surrounds Jared.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26585966-the-concealed

Purchase:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Concealed-Lakewood-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00VVWB0AU/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1442468554&sr=1-2
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-concealed-sarah-kleck/1122583107?ean=9781503947801

Author Bio:

Sarah Kleck, born in 1984, studied Education, Psychology and Sociology at the University of Augsburg.
Currently, she’s working as a human resources officer and lives with her husband and a newborn in Germany near Lake Constance.
The Concealed is her first novel

Author links:
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9805473.Sarah_Kleck
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sarah.kleck.1


Interview:

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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, note cards, post-it notes, etc.?

 With my first novel, The Concealed, I simply started to write.  I never intended to write a book, so I had no idea where I was going when I began.  The whole writing process was disorganized and chaotic.  It's really different now with my second book.  When you have a deadline, everything's different than when you're just typing away and looking at the end what you got.  Now I take notes as soon as I think of something - I've even got a special notebook for that.  I figure out my daily quota and try to stick to it.  But I also discovered that setting too strict requirements gets in the way of creativity.

--> 2.  How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?
Everything I see, feel, taste, hear and smell inspires me.  I'm particularly "susceptible" to light and music.  However, the decisive impulse for writing THE CONCEALED was somewhat sadder.

I was at a funeral, it was November and bitterly cold.  The graveyard was on a hill I climbed with many other mourners.  As I looked around and watched the events, I suddenly had the first lines in my head.  I wasn't able to do much with it then - I had never intended to write a book - but the words burned in my thoughts and still held me days later.  So I wrote them down to get them out of my head.

A few words became a page, a page became two, then five, then ten and so on without me knowing where it all would lead to and what would  happen in the story.

A few days later, during the half-hour drive home from work, I put on a CD that my husband had given me not too long before.  It was classical music with piano pieces by different composers.

That day I heard Le Onde by Einaudi for the first of many, many times.  Even after the first few notes, the story began to compose itself before my inner eye.  All I had to do was write it down.  And so I wrote. That whole night and many nights after.


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3.  How long have you been writing?

 
From the end of November 2011 to February 2013, so more than a year.  Looking back, that seems quite long, but if you consider that I have a full-time job of at least 40 hours a week, it puts it into perspective.  I would love to have more time to write.
 
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4.  What tips do you have for aspiring writers?

Don't put yourself under too much pressure.  I found it's best to just let it flow.


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5. How important are names in your books?  Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds, or the meaning?  Do you have any name choosing resources you recommend?

 
A very interesting question.  I'm surprised I've never been asked that before.  I have two younger sisters.  Our  names are Sarah Evelyn, Jessica Franziska and Laura Kathrin.  It's no accident that my protagonist bears the name Evelyn Francis Kathrin Lakewood.  My parents are Ruth and Irvin (Erwin in German) - these names, too, should be familiar to anyone who has read THE CONCEALED.  I've simply always liked the names Jared and Colin though I don't know anyone by those names.  Other characters, like Sally, named themselves in a manner of speaking.  It was sort of that I thought while developing the character "You could be a Sally" or "Felix suits you as a name."


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Some fun questions

Favorites:  

Books/authors/genres:

Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games

Movies/TV Shows

Braveheart, Games of Thrones

Music:

Countless!  Ludovico Einaudi, Silbermond, TOS, Phillip Poisel, Florence and the Machine, London Grammar, 2 Cellos, Coldplay, Anna Nalick, Clueso, Yiruma, Lykke Li, Dropkick Murphys - just to  name a few

Food/writing snack:

Tea is really important.  Food not so much. When I'm in the middle of the flow, I usually forget it.

Social Media Site:

Facebook and a little Instagram

Thank you Sarah for answering my questions and stopping by my blog!

Giveaway:
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL) - ends January 3rd

• $25 Amazon Gift Card          

   a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can check out the rest of the tour schedule by clicking on the button below!

 

Sunday Post #45 and Stacking the Shelves December 13th, 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.  I had a busy week last week!
Last week on the blog:

• Reviews:  Need by Joelle Charbonneau, Nexis by A.L. Davroe (giveaway), Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar (audiobook)
• Debut Author Bash:  Lance Rubin (giveaway)
• Waiting on Wednesday:  A Tyranny of Petticoats 
• Cover Characteristic:  Sharks 
• My first ever year-long Challenge that I sponsor:  It's New to Me Series Starter (giveaway) 

So, I had a lot going on this past week, and there are several giveaways there, I think most of them last till the end of December, so go enter!  Also, I decided to go ahead and start the Challenge that I kept mentioning the last few weeks.  So go check it out from the link above.  Even if it doesn't sound right for you, I'm giving away a $5 Amazon gift card to anyone who at least tweets to promote it!

This week on the blog:

• Blog tour with author interview:  The Concealed by Sarah Kleck
• Reviews:  Until Beth by Lisa Amowitz, Everneath by Brodi Ashton
• Book Blitz:  Ascendancy by Karri Thompson
• Waiting on Wednesday
• Promo Post:  Half in Love with Death by Emily Ross
• Cover Characteristic:  Snakes
• Possible Reviews:  Hear by Robin Epstein, Audiobook:  The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige
• Possible Challenge Posts

Several reviews to write, and a few promo posts.  On Monday I have to mail out my The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa Gift.  I'm cutting it really close, but it has to do with being broke!  It's the last week of school before my Christmas break.  Should be a mostly easy week, but it will be long!  

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  So I had a pretty good book haul this week.  but it seems like the mail all comes on one day, and then the rest of the week I get none. Sure wish the post office could spread it out!
Physical Books:

The top 5 books I won from Two Chicks on Books Fantastic Fives giveaway last month.  Some great ARCs!  Although one or two may not be ones I will read, so they may show up for trade.  Defiance, The Eternal City, and Nightfall all came from a book trading group on Facebook.  Winter was part of the giveaway I told you about last week from Jessica at A Great Read.  Teardrop and Alive came from booksfortrade on Twitter.
E-galleys:

Very excited to get approved for this on Netgalley!

Free e-books:

The first one was from Amazon, the 2nd from Barnes and Noble, the third I won in a contest.

Those are my hauls for the week!  What did you add to your shelf!

Audiobook Review: Yes, My Accent is Real: and Some Other Things I Haven't Told You by Kunal Nayyar

This was the last audiobook I downloaded from the public library to listen to.  And it was narrated by the author, one of the stars of my favorite tv show, The Big Bang Theory, he plays Raj. 

First off, he is so funny!  I'm sure just reading the book would have been funny, but listening to him read his own words was even funnier.  As the title says, yes, the accent is real.  And one thing that is so funny is thinking about the episode of The Big Bang Theory when all the guys are teasing Raj for how he says mustache.  Because that is how he really says it!  I wonder if it got written in because of something that happened in real life with the cast.

He tells the story basically going through most of his life, how he was born in England, but actually lived most of his life in India.  We learn about his childhood, how he was a top badminton player, as well as other things that he did as a child.  It is fun to hear about all the holidays that Indians celebrate.  That is even funny because of the humorous stories he has to go with each holiday, as well as the fact that each holiday part includes him saying that particular holiday being discussed is his favorite festival.  So, all of them basically.  He talks about his first kiss, and how it was influenced by Winnie Cooper on the tv show The Wonder Years, played by Danica McKellar. Why that is relevant other than telling about that memory, is because there was an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Danica McKellar plays a girl that Raj hooks up with!  So hearing him talk about the experience of actually kissing "Winnie Cooper" is wonderful.

We learn about his time in college, and all the things he dealt with as someone from another country. He talks about when he first started acting really, during college.  We hear about his romantic escapades in college.  All told in such humorous fashion.  I have to say that hearing about his parents, well they seem to be some of the best parents you could ever have.  Nothing at all like his character Raj's parents. 

Then, the end is where we finally get to hear about when he got on the tv show.  And one of my favorite parts was the very end when he meets his wife.  Hearing about the wedding and how all the traditions work was really pretty magical.  There was one thing he said during the part with meeting his wife and falling in love that really struck me as well.  He says whenever people ask him for advice about whoever they're dating, he asks the if this person is kind.  People will always say the person has a good sense of humor, or is attractive, etc.  But if someone is kind, that shows something real about them.  And it makes such sense. 

I enjoyed listening to him talk, and knowing his accent is real, that makes the tv show even better.  I think I might even have fallen in love with him just a bit listening to his story.  He truly seems like such a nice, funny guy.  I definitely recommend this book, and if you like audiobooks, I'd suggest listening to it.  Another fun audiobook.  I'll have to find some more memoir types of books that are read by the author, probably other comedians I'd guess.