And the Winners of the HUNGER and Mystery Swag Giveaway is....

I know I said there would be two winners, but I've decided to make it three! They are...

Jennie Smith
Jill the Owl and
April X

Enjoy girls! Please send me your address so I can get the goodies out to you. Thanks so much for dropping in. Until the next time....

Toodles!

Release Day! Book Review, Swag Giveaway and Author Interview: HUNGER by Jackie Morse Kessler. Two winners for this!

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Publisher: Graphia/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: ARC
ISBN: 978-0-547-34124-8
Price: $8.99; Pages: 180
Release Date: October 18, 2010

Perhaps one can decipher what this book is about from its title: Hunger.  Indeed it does touch on that—the experience of hunger on a personal level, but it also takes the reader on an exploration of hunger on a wider scale—in an interesting and very original way.  Let me explain.

When you’re anorexic, you’re hungry—very. And at its core, that is what this book is about, but it is so much more. Seventeen-year-old Lisabeth Lewis is anorexic. Each day she struggles to hide her eating disorder and fake out her family and friends that nothing is wrong, even as the evidence is clear: she continues to disappear as she gets thinner. She’s acting very weird around food and everyone is afraid of what is happening to her. They reach out, hoping she’ll respond to their concern, their offers of help, but Lisabeth is only interested in listening to one voice: the Thin voice. It’s a constant reminder of what she’s eating, what she shouldn’t be eating and how much work she’s going to have to do to burn of those “excess” calories. That is until she meets Death…and War, and let’s not forget Pestilence. You see, Lisabeth becomes Famine, one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse—literally.

Since she’s starving herself and contemplating suicide, Death (quite a sexy version, I might add) decides to make use of her natural inclinations and put her to good use. Combining Lisabeth’s most salient features: hunger, starvation and ultimately death, being appointed Famine is an ideal job for her—whether she likes it or not.

My Selection for Waiting on Wednesday: Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler

Waiting on Wednesday is a terrific meme started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn what other bloggers are looking forward to reading as well as spreading a little book love of your own. This week, I can't wait to read RAGE by Jackie Morse Kessler. She's writing these connecting, issue-driven books that utilize magical realism. The protagonists in each of the stories become one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Lisabeth in Hunger, releasing 10/18/10 is anorexic and she becomes the Horseman known as Famine. In the next installment,  RAGE, Missy self-mutilates via cutting and becomes one of the other Horseman, War. Check out the amazon description...

She brought the razor to her inner thighs again and again and again, but with each sting came no release, no comforting numbness that dulled the horror of her life.
It wasn’t enough. So she cut again—swiftly, mercilessly.

Missy didn’t mean to cut so deep. But after the party where she was humiliated in front of practically everyone in school, who could blame her for wanting some comfort? Sure, most people don’t find comfort in the touch of a razor blade, but Missy always was . . . different. That’s why she was chosen to become one of the Four Horsemen Apocalypse: War. Now Missy wields a different kind of blade--a big, brutal sword that can cut down anyone and anything in her path. But it’s with this weapon in her hand that Missy learns something that could help her triumph over her own pain: control. A unique approach to the topic of self-mutilation, RAGE is the story of a young woman who discovers her own power, and refuses to be defeated by the world.

I read the arc of Hunger and found it to be a very unique and thought-provoking book. I'll be posting my interview with the author on release day as well as giving away some swag. Jackie Morse Kessler is amazingly accessible and a joy to communicate with.  I can't wait to see what she has next with RAGE.

Releases April 18, 2011.


Toodles!

My Selection for Waiting on Wednesday: Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

Waiting on Wednesday is a terrific meme started by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It gives all of us a chance to see what each other are anxiously awaiting to read.

The premise of Hunger, a YA book, sounds so weird and quirky, I'm really looking forward to checking it out. It's about seventeen year-old Lisa who is anorexic. She has been appointed one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (which is discussed in the book of Revelation in the bible, btw). Can you guess which one? *Hint* She's anorexic so...come on...I'll give a few more minutes for those of you who don't know the name of the four horseman...ready? Okay. Lisa is appointed to be... Famine.

I can't wait to see how the author combines the issue of eating disorders with the spiritual element that the bible prophesies is a real event, yet to come.

Hunger releases October 18th.

They Came in the Mail! What I'm reading, what I'm going to read and some of what I'll be giving away *smile*

There are so many great books coming down the pike, honestly, I wish I had a job in which I got paid to do nothing, but read books--then write about them! I've received some really great novels over the last few weeks.

With the exception of MINDER, which I'm in the midst of reading and is available now, the other books you see here will be releasing in August, September and October. I'll be posting reviews on all, and giveaways of some of the books.

I'm enjoying MINDER so far and I couldn't resist starting HALO. Oh my goodness, can you say awesome?! This teen author is going places! Anyway, I've got tons of books to read and review as well as continuing to revise my own novel and do some more traveling, whew! It's a busy summer. Hope you all are enjoying yours.

Toodles!