Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Published: December 2nd, 2010

Publisher: Speak (Penguin Group)

372 pages (paperback)

Genre: Contemporary young adult

Acquired this book: Bought

Warning: may include spoilers

{GoodReads || Buy this book: Amazon || Chapters/Indigo || Book Depository}

Synopsis: Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.

As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna-and readers-have long awaited?

 

There are some books that people rave about, and you have to wonder how good they can actually be. Anna and the French Kiss was one of those books. Every blogger and reviewer I came across gushed about this book. And with good reason. It really is as good as everyone says it is.

I hate to be a gushing, squeeing fangirl, but I really, really loved this book! It was simple but in the most beautiful, brilliant, perfect way. I finished this book almost two weeks ago and I’ve been putting off my review because my thoughts are so personal; it’s like I want to be greedy and keep them all to myself. But this book was too good not to share, so here goes...

I guess I’ll start with Anna. She was so likeable and easy to relate to. She reminded me a lot of myself in some ways - kind of unsure and awkward, wanting to fit in…I saw a lot of myself in her, right down to the gap in her front teeth. There’s this sweetness and innocence about her that I just loved.

As for Etienne…I lost count of the times I swooned over that boy! He’s funny, sweet, smart, protective, easy-going, and wants to make people happy. He seems perfect, but he’s really not, and I loved that about him.

Anna and Etienne’s relationship…I loved how they started out as friends, and I loved watching their relationship blossom. I thought the little observations they made about each other, and the fact that they knew each other so well was adorable. They talked about real things, and genuinely became best friends, even as their feelings for each other developed. I was rooting so hard for them to just get together already, but at the same time, I loved their friendship and the dynamic between them.

Another thing that really drew me in was the setting. I went to Paris when I was 17 (same age as Anna, go figure); it’s so rare for me to read a book set somewhere I’ve actually been. Most books are set in fictional places, or big cities that I’ve never been like New York or London or Dublin or Chicago. But I’ve actually been to Paris, and I got to see a lot of the stuff Anna saw. I came to think of Paris as an extra character in the book, and loved the parts where Anna, Etienne, and their friends were out in the city doing things.

I actually learned a few things too, which is always exciting for me because I love to learn, and I love to know seemingly useless little facts. My head is full of them. For instance, do you know the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? I didn’t before reading Anna. Nor did I know the difference between a gargoyle and a chimera.

This book was just perfection to me. I laughed (and laughed and laughed and laughed some more), cried, swooned, fell in love, and felt like I was losing a best friend when the story ended. Anna was such an incredible character, and I enjoyed following her on her journey as she learned sometimes-painful lessons about life, love, friendship, family, independence, and courage. 

Have you read Anna and the French Kiss? What did you think?

  

2012 Standalone Reading Challenge

I have now lost count of the number of challenges I've signed up to participate in during 2012. I know there were at least a dozen before this one. I'm reminded of the saying 'I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it' LOL. Anyway, the 2012 Standalone Reading Challenge is hosted by Icey Books and I Like These Books. I love this challenge because standalone books seem to be the minority these days...most books are part of a series or trilogy. Nothing wrong with that, but I do enjoy a good standalone book every once in awhile. Annnnd...when I looked at the GoodReads list and saw that Blue Sky Days was listed on it, I kinda did an embarrassing little happy dance I was glad you guys couldn't see! :-D

The challenge is to read 15 standalone YA books between December 27th, 2011 and December 31st, 2012. I'm sure my list will change, but these are some of the YA standalones I want to read in 2012:

1. Dark Companion by Marta Acosta

2. Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale

3. Above by Leah Bobet

4. The Story of Us by Deb Caletti

5. In Honor by Jessi Kirby

6. Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

7. The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

8. Flirting in Italian by Lauren Henderson

9. Ripper by Amy Carol Reeves

10. The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

11. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

12. The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

13. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard

14. Ditched: A Love Story by Robin Mellom

15. Fracture by Megan Miranda

Top 10 Tuesday: Winter TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It was created because of their love of lists and books, and since I love those things too, I thought it'd be a fun meme to participate in!

Top Ten Books On My TBR List for Winter

I have so many books on my TBR list, it's not even funny. I have books I've won, books I've bought, books from the library, books I've been sent for review, and then all the other hundreds of books I want to read. This list is a combination of the above, in no particular order.

1. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

2. The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

5. Supernaturally by Kiersten White

6. Remembrance by Michelle Madow

7. All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin

8. Wander Dust by Michelle Warren

9. There You’ll Find Me by Jenny B Jones

10. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

What are some of the books on your winter TBR list?

Book Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Published: October 18th, 2011

Publisher: Simon Pulse

292 pages (hardcover)

Genre: Young adult contemporary

Acquired this book: From the library

Challenge: The Keeping it Real Reading Challenge

Warning: may include spoilers

{GoodReads || Buy this book}

Synopsis: Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot...what if Jeremy is better? 

Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can't end well, but she just can't stay away. Nobody else understands her--and riles her up--like he does. Still, she can't trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what's expected.

Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall....

 

 

First of all, hooray for Canadian authors! Okay, I had to do it…and now that that’s out of the way…

I’m not really sure where to begin with this review. I didn’t love this book, but I didn’t hate it either. At times, I had a lot of trouble relating to Carmen. I think unless you’ve lived the life of a child prodigy or celebrity, it’s hard to truly relate. However, the story was very well written and gave the reader an interesting inside look at what Carmen’s life was like, and how all-consuming her music was.

Despite the fact that I couldn’t relate to Carmen in many ways, she was a very well-developed character, and by the end I felt like I knew her intimately. The author’s writing style was interesting because there seemed to be more internal dialogue than external. Carmen struggled a lot - she worried about her mother, about performing and competitions, about the drugs she was taking - and her mind was always going. 

I liked that Carmen wasn’t your typical teenager. She didn’t go to school, and she didn’t have many friends - her life was completely about the violin. As much as she loved the violin, she wanted something more, and struggled for independence. That part was relatable and realistic because most teenagers, no matter what their lives are like, struggle for independence.

As for the romance between Carmen and Jeremy…it didn’t do much for me. I liked Jeremy well enough, and I think that despite the issues they had, he was good for Carmen. It was his presence in her life that finally made Carmen realize she wanted something more in her life, which in turn set a whole chain of events into motion. Their relationship was awkward and stilted at first as they tried to find things in common other than the violin, but it was interesting watching the romance progress.

One of the things I appreciated about this book was that there was very little filler. So many books these days seem to be at least 1/4 filler, if not more. Virtuosity jumped right into the story and there wasn’t much that didn’t relate to the actual story, which made it a quick read. As a slow reader, I like books that are straightforward so I don’t have time to forget things that have happened.

I still can’t decide if I loved the ending or hated it. ***Possible spoiler alert*** On the one hand, I thought it was kind of romantic, and I was happy that Carmen was finally exerting her independence, but on the other hand, I wanted more. It’s great that she finally had a choice, but we follow her life so closely, get invested in her story, and then bam - it’s over. I’m not against open-ended conclusions, but it just felt a bit too abrupt.

All that being said, Virtuosity was a beautifully written, unique story with well-developed characters and an interesting plot line. I enjoyed the author’s distinctive writing style, and the fact that the story was fresh and fast-paced. 

 

 

Blue Sky Days Teaser #3

Hello my darlings! It's Thursday, and you know what that means...it's Blue Sky Days excerpt time! Today's snippet from the book is somewhere between a teaser and an excerpt. It's longer than a normal teaser, but kind of short for an excerpt. A teaserpt? I dunno lol. Anyway, this is from the scene where Nicholas finally tells Emma that he's been diagnosed with cancer. I hope you enjoy it!

Teaser #1

Excerpt #1 ~ First Kiss

Teaser #2

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry

Teaser #3

     He closed his eyes for a moment and when they reopened, they seemed clearer, brighter. “The doctors don’t know how bad it is yet. They’re still running tests. I’m supposed to hear back tomorrow.” 

     “It might not be that bad then, right? You never know. People recover from cancer all the time,” I said, unsure of whether I was trying to convince him or myself.

     “Emma…” he said slowly, his gaze steady on mine, his expression pained. “My mother had leukemia. My mother died from leukemia.”

     I swallowed audibly, my suddenly dry throat making a clicking noise that seemed to echo in the room. I had no idea what to say, although a thousand possible responses ran through my mind. That won’t be you, Nicholas…it can’t be you. They’ve made medical advances in the last decade. Everyone’s different. Each person responds differently to treatment. You won’t die…you can’t die.

   

My latest Blue Sky Days artwork ~ Emma's desk

I'm almost done signing people up for the Blue Sky Days blog tour. It looks like it's going to run for 3 to 4 weeks, which is mind boggling to me! It's a lot of work getting it organized, but I'm getting more and more excited. I'm heading out of town for 3 days tomorrow, but when I get back, I'll get the dates finalized and sent out. I'm putting out one final call to bloggers who are interested - if you'd like to be part of the Blue Sky Days Blog Tour, which starts January 17th, 2012, please check this blog post for details. Also, if you'd like to simply review the book and not be part of the tour, my contact info is in the blog post mentioned above. Thank you!

Author Guest Post ~ Rhiannon Paille, author of Flame of Surrender

I'd like to thank Rhiannon Paille for being here today! She's become an online buddy over the last few months, and I was honoured to get a chance to read an ARC of her new YA book, Flame of Surrender (<---click the link to see my review). Flame of Surrender came out November 1st, so be sure to buy a copy! Today, Rhi's going to talk to us about clairvoyance. Enjoy!

The Truth about Clairvoyance

~Rhiannon Paille~

Most people think that Clairvoyance is just another word for Intuitive, or Psychic, or ESP. The truth is that it isn’t.

Clairvoyance is a term that literally means, clear vision. The term has been around since the 17th Century and has been used to describe a means of seeing without the use of the naked eye.

Clairvoyants have visions, and those visions are usually of people, objects, or places.

I can only speak about my own personal experiences, but Clairvoyance is something that can easily go misinterpreted. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all when I’m reading someone and I’m getting flashes of mismatched images like roses, pots, a kitchen with glowing yellow light coming through the window. Sometimes the things I see doesn’t help answer the questions my clients have.

Most of my clients want to know what people think and feel about them. They don’t care if I know what their significant other looks like. Sure it’s a cool trick and I often get an idea of what someone looks like, but I often bypass the clairvoyance for other abilities that can better help my clients.

In fiction I find that Clairvoyance is used too loosely as a term to describe people who have these brilliantly awesome visions detailing incredible aspects of someone’s life. In truth, it doesn’t work that way. I get bits and pieces of places, people’s faces, and objects. It’s great if someone asks me if their significant other has been around someone else, or if they’ve been going gambling or drinking because then I just check the timeline for a bar or another woman. Having a vision about someone in trouble, or an event that’s about to happen, is something else altogether. Granted it’s usually the superheroes in fiction that are having these types of visions, it still applies.

There are two abilities here that we’re branching off into. The first is Remote Viewing. This covers the person in trouble in the present time frame. The psychic would see what’s going on at that present time with amazing accuracy. They might not only see things, but feel things with the other clair senses. They might hear with clairaudience, smell with clairscent, and taste with clairtangance. Remote Viewing is like an entire sensory onslaught, it’s not just the seeing, but everything, and it’s happening all at once, and it’s very powerful. Usually people who can Remote View, have a tendency to block out the things they are sensing in their immediate vicinity to let in what they can see, feel, hear, smell and taste in an alternate location. The distance doesn’t matter though usually Remote Viewers are limited to events happening on Earth. (Hey you never know when that might come up.)

The other ability is precognition or premonition if the character is dreaming. In this case the character is having the same sensory onslaught, sight, smell, hearing, and feeling, but it’s for an event that’s happening in the future. The 5 basic psychic senses allow a person to perceive, the precognition defines that this is a future event.

Yes it’s hard to decode if you’re just having the sensory onslaught and you have absolutely no idea how to interpret what you’re seeing. By the same token, if you’re having visions and you’re a clairvoyant, you also need to learn how to weed out symbols that serve as metaphors. The mind often associates objects with ideas. So sometimes you’ll see a bridge. To the person the clairvoyant is reading, bridges represent friendships. In some cases it’ll represent an actual bridge, but often times it’ll represent the idea of friendship.

Psychic communication is something that literally takes years to perfect, but I hope in the span of this little article that you’ve been able to pick up some interesting little factoids about what clairvoyance is, and what it isn’t. 

About Rhiannon: Rhi was never a normal girl. She tried, but she couldn’t get rid of the visions, the voices in her head, and the hallucinations. When she was on the edge of crazy someone pulled her back and explained it all. She wasn’t insane. She was psychic, really psychic, too psychic. Her life was an urban fantasy wrapped in a paranormal romance and served with a side of horror. To escape her everyday weirdness she began writing fantasy. She frequents twitter and facebook, but if you really want to get to know her you should visit her site: www.rhiannonpaille.com  

GoodReads || Rhiannon's Website || Rhiannon's Blog || Rhiannon's Twitter || Flame of Surrender fan page

In My Mailbox Week 16 ~ November 20th

This week at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews: 
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs
Dodie Katague Blog Tour - Review of Cloyne Court + giveaway 

Memes:

11/11/11 – What I’m Reading Week 1 + Weekly Recap

In My Mailbox Week 15 – November 12

Top 10 Tuesday - Dust Collectors on my Shelf
Tune in Tuesday Week 8 - November Rain
What I'm Reading Week 2 - November 12-19

Other: 

Let's Talk About Love: A 2012 Romance Reading Challenge

Showing Gratitude for Books - Harry Potter

Blue Sky Days Blog Tour

SweetMarie83's 400 Follower/Birthday Celebration Giveaway

2 months until Blue Sky Days book launch + another teaser

In My Mailbox is weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren.  The idea is to share books you've acquired during the week, whether you've won them, bought them, picked them up at the library, received them for review, whatever.  It's a great way to bring attention to books and authors and share the love!

Big thank you to:

Rhiannon Paille for the beautiful bookmarks (forgot to mention in the video that my review for Flame of Surrender, along with a guest post from Rhiannon will be up sometime this week)

Molli from Once Upon a Prologue for The Near Witch

Books mentioned:

Won:

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab {GoodReads || Amazon}

Library:

The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson {GoodReads || Amazon}

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez {GoodReads || Amazon}

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor {GoodReads || Amazon}

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern {GoodReads || Amazon}

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

What I'm Reading Week 2 - November 12-19

What I've been reading this week:

Finished reading:

Flame of Surrender by Rhiannon Paille

The Spirit of Nora by Lyle Scott Lee

(Reviews for both to come next week)

Currently reading: 

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions anthology

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

What are you reading this week?

2 months until Blue Sky Days book launch + another teaser

It's teaser time again! This is my third week posting something from Blue Sky Days. Today it's extra exciting for me for two reasons: 1) the book launches two months from today. I seriously almost start to hyperventilate every time I say that. I'm going back and forth between happy dancing and nearly having a panic attack lol. 2) I started organizing the blog tour yesterday and I already have a dozen people signed up, plus another handful or so to work things out with. So yeah, big, exciting day for me, and I owe it all to the amazing people who have supported and encouraged me. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!

Want to be part of the Blue Sky Days blog tour? It's already shaping up to be epic. Looks like I'm going to have to add in some extra incentives for tour hosts! Anyway, if you're interested, check here for details. 

Teaser #1

Excerpt #1 ~ First Kiss

 

Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry

Teaser #2

I had just turned nineteen that spring. The past few weeks had been unseasonably rainy, the sky stained a gloomy gray that seemed to seep into everything and affect the moods of everyone around me. People appeared to be bogged down by the weather, waiting in limbo for the rain to break so life could get back to normal. But I didn’t want normal, or at least what normal had been for me the last nineteen years. As much as I longed for sun and blue skies, I had put my life on hold long enough and I refused to wait on the weather.
 

 

As always, I'd be so grateful to anyone willing to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, a blog, wherever. Thank you! :-)

SweetMarie83's 400 Follower + Birthday Celebration Giveaway!

I can’t believe I’ve reached 400 followers! When I first started this blog, I honestly didn’t know if anyone would even read it. Now I have people who visit regularly, leave the sweetest comments, and share bits of their lives with me. I feel so blessed. :-) ♥

I’m so incredibly grateful for my followers. You guys encourage me to keep reading, keep writing, and keep posting. I’ve also had such overwhelming support from people when it comes to my upcoming debut novel, Blue Sky Days (yeah, ok, that was a little bit of a plug lol), and I wanted to express my gratitude in some small way. Also, my 28th birthday is coming up on December 16th, so I thought I’d celebrate that with you guys, too! What birthday party is complete without favors, right? ;-)

This giveaway will run from today (November 16th) until my birthday on December 16th. I’m letting it run so long because I’m hoping to collect more swag and have an extra winner or two.

What you can win:

A book of your choice from the selection below. I’ve got a really random selection of books here. Some are old favorites, some are newer favorites, some are books on my TBR pile or wish list, and I threw in a couple of new-ish releases for good measure. They’re mostly YA, but I added a few adult books so there would hopefully be something for everyone. 

Swag! I’ve been very slowly collecting swag over the last couple months. A few highlights include a signed Faerie Ring bookmark from Kiki Hamilton, signed Being Human bookmarks from Patricia Lynne, signed Flame of Surrender bookmarks from Rhiannon Paille, The Rising Moon bookmark and pin from Nilsa Rodriguez, and a few other things. I’m also expecting a bit more swag in the mail, so I’ll update this as I include more goodies, and will hopefully have a picture to post by the end of the week. (If anyone has a bunch of extra swag they’d be interested in donating, or if any authors see this and would like to donate some swag, please let me know, I’d be super grateful! The more swag I have the more winners there will be.) Also, if I can get my bookmarks for Blue Sky Days ordered and delivered before the end of the giveaway, I'll include some of those, too! :-)

<br /><a href="http://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.com/2011/11/sweetmarie83s-400-follower-birthday.html" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/irishstar83/Blog%20Buttons/Giveaways/SweetMarie83-400-Follower-Bday-Giveaway-sm.png" alt="Ramblings of a Daydreamer " alt="Ramblings of a Daydreamer" /></a>

The only mandatory entry is that you must be a public GFC follower of the blog – after all, it is a follower appreciate giveaway! I’m adding in a ton of other things for those people who want a whole bunch of extra chances, but you don’t have to do any of them. I know these giveaways are often self-serving in a way for the hosts because you can gain extra entries by doing stuff for the host (as is the case with this giveaway, as you will see lol), but it gets you extra entries and you don’t have to do them if you don’t want to! If you do, it's win-win! ;-)

This giveaway is open internationally as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.

Thank you again to everyone who has been so wonderful and supportive over the last few months. The friendships I've made through the blogosphere mean more to me than you can imagine. ♥ ♥ ♥

This is my first time using Rafflecopter for a giveaway, so please let me know if there are any issues. If the Rafflecopter form doesn't show up, just refresh the page. ;-)

Blue Sky Days Blog Tour

Blue Sky Days Blog Tour

Later this week, I’m sending out electronic ARCs for Blue Sky Days! I’m so excited (and nervous and kinda terrified)!

I have several pre-release bloggers lined up to read and review the book, and now it’s time to put together the first blog tour. The tour will start January 17th to coincide with the official launch of the book. The length of time for the tour will depend on the number of people participating – I’m hoping it will last at least two weeks.

I know that generally authors approach bloggers about participating in blog tours, and I’m in the process of doing that, but I’m putting out an all-call to bloggers because I’m hoping a few extra people will be interested in joining the tour.  

 

GoodReads

Facebook: Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry

Facebook: Marie Landry, Writer

Twitter

Blog: Ramblings of a Daydreamer

Author site: Marie Landry, Author

Blue Sky Days trailer

Details:

For this very first tour, the ARC will be available in PDF format only. There will be future tours with all formats of the ebook available, and eventually there will be a tour with the paperback as well. I know that will limit the number of people who are able to participate in this tour, but since this won’t be the only tour, hopefully the format won’t prevent too many from signing up.

If you’re interested in participating but don’t have time to read the book before the tour, or you’re not able to read an ebook in PDF format, I’d be grateful for anything you’re willing to do – guest post, interview, author spotlight, excerpt, etc. Also, if you just want to review the book and not participate in the tour, I'm always looking for reviewers, so if you're interested be sure to contact me!

Incentives for hosts:

Each person who signs up to participate in the blog will be entered to win a book of their choice (up to $15 Canadian) from The Book Depository (as long as TBD ships to your country). I’m doing this because I won’t have any physical copies of the book to sign and give away, but I want to show my gratitude somehow. If the number of participants exceeds my expectations, I will add a second winner. I'm also hoping to do some swag giveaways, but I'm still working out the details.

Also, for every person who participates, I will take a screen shot of their blog and create a photo album on both my blogs, as well as my Facebook fan pages, with links leading back to your blog. I know most of us are always looking for more blog readers and traffic, so hopefully this will help generate some extra traffic to your blog! I’ll also Facebook and Tweet each review, guest post, interview, etc.

Giveaways:

If you’re interested in hosting a giveaway, I’ll be offering the book in ebook format. You run the giveaway how you want (as in you decide how people enter, how long to run the giveaway, etc), choose the winner, then forward their email address to me and I’ll send them the ebook in the format of their choice. As I mentioned before, I’m also hoping to do some swag giveaways, but there’ll be more about there later. I’ll handle all costs for the giveaways.

Contact: 

If you’re interested in participating in the tour, or simply reviewing the book, please email me at irishstar_83(at)hotmail(dot)com with the following information:

Your name:

Your blog name and URL:

How you’d like to participate (review, guest post, interview, excerpt, giveaway, original feature of your creation, etc):

Day(s) of the week that work best for you:

If you’re willing to host more than one feature (for instance, a review and an interview) do you want to post them the same day, or separate days? If different days, do you care if they’re consecutive days?

If you’d like to host a guest post, what topic would you like me to talk about?

If you’d like to host an interview, please send questions with your email.

Updates: 

I will be posting updates regularly on the Blue Sky Days Blog Tour page. Once I have the hosts all lined up, I’ll start arranging dates, and will post final dates and participants for everyone to see. I’ll also be creating buttons and banners once I have the dates figured out, so if you sign up, be sure to keep an eye on that page.


Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive during this crazy rollercoaster journey! Your support means more to me than you can imagine. And thank you in advance to everyone who signs up for the tour. I hope you'll enjoy reading Blue Sky Days as much as I enjoyed writing it. :-)

Showing gratitude for books ~ Harry Potter

Beth Revis, author of the incredible 2011 debut Across the Universe (<--- click the link to read my review) is having an epic giveaway. 19 books, a boatload of swag, one winner. All you have to do is write a post about the book you're most thankful for. 

The book(s) I'm most thankful for are Harry Potter by JK Rowling. If you're a regular on my blog, you'll know that I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. I swear 99% of my Follow Me Friday posts include HP in some way. And there's a reason (or 20) for that. 

Harry Potter was my reintroduction to YA. I had pretty much stopped reading young adult novels because I thought I was 'too old', but I made an exception for Harry Potter, and they became instant favorites. So, really, they're the books that started my love affair with YA - for that alone, I'm extremely grateful.

I love Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I got to watch them grow up, and I've known them so long, I feel like they're real people. They're such fantastically-written, believable, relateable, likable characters. They pop off the pages and grab your heart and never let go. All the secondary characters are incredible, too, and I got attached to them very easily (which made it that much harder when Rowling decided to kill some of them off...I cried through at least half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and during the last movie...well, I hadn't cried that hard in ages).

The books themselves...my god. Just amazing. I've never been able to completely immerse myself into a world the way I have with Hogwarts. It's so real. JK Rowling has such an easy writing style, but there's something about it that is so beautiful and magical it draws you in and you feel like you're really there - on the train, or in the Great Hall, or in Snape's classroom, or strolling through the streets of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley.

Then there's the lessons in Harry Potter - lessons about love, friendship, loyalty, good versus evil, persevering, and so many other things. How many people are lucky enough to have friends like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who would do anything for you and be there for you no matter what? How many of us have had to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles? I would think that no matter what a person's life is like, there's at least one situation in Harry Potter that people can relate to.

Another reason I'm grateful for Harry Potter - it's one more thing that has brought my mum and me closer together. We're best friends as it is, but she's one of my only friends who has read the series, and therefore gets my HP references (and obsession). I was also beyond thrilled when my nephew Noah showed an interest in the movies a few years ago. I didn't think he'd like them, but one night he was sleeping over and asked to watch one, and he watched the entire thing straight through. I couldn't believe it! Since then, it's been a common bond for us and has brought us closer together, too. We even went to the Harry Potter Exhibition last summer, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever. I can't wait until he shows interest in reading the books. 

The world wouldn't be the same without Harry Potter, in my opinion. I know my world wouldn't be, anyway. I've heard so many people say that Harry Potter got them into reading. I've also heard people say they want to be writers because of JK Rowling. To me, that's an incredible thing.

Tune in Tuesday Week 8 ~ November Rain

Tune in Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Ginger at GReads that showcases music.  Music for me is right up there with reading and writing, so even though this particular meme isn't about reading and writing, I thought it would be a fun one to participate in. If you're interested in participating, be sure to check out Ginger's blog so you can spread your love of music!

November Rain has always been one of my favorite songs. When I was in elementary school, we had school dances for the kids in grade 6, 7, and 8. I remember those dances as clearly as if they were yesterday. There were old standbys at those dances...November Rain was one of them...Always by Bon Jovi was another...Waterfalls by TLC was yet another. A school dance was not complete without those songs.

The video for November Rain is epic, although seriously depressing...but the song is one of those songs that I go through phases where I listen to it over and over. This week is one of those times, so I figured it should be my Tune in Tuesday pick.

"And when your fear subsides and shadows still remain

I know that you can love me when there's no one left to blame

So never mind the darkness, we still can find a way

Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain"

~November Rain by Guns N' Roses~

Weekly U2 lyric:

"Love makes strange enemies

Makes love where love may please

Soul and its strip tease

Hate brought to its knees

The sky over our head

We can reach it from our bed

If you let me in your heart and out of my head"

~Window in the Skies by U2, from U218 Singles~