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Here’s Shannon Greenland, author of the fun summer book The Summer My Life Began with a word association post! This is my first time doing a word association interview and I had a lot of fun. Check it out!

To view other posts on the tour, click here!

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland

Amazon | Goodreads | Author Website
Author Twitter | My Review
Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is that it’s not what she wants. When she gets the opportunity to get away from it all and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance. While there, Em pursues her secret dream of being a chef, and she also learns that her family has kept some significant secrets from her, too. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn’t. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels she is living on her own terms for the first time. – Goodreads

Word Associations with Shannon Greenland
author of The Summer My Life Began

Stars: Dancing
You’ve got mail!: Meg Ryan
Puppies: Cuuuuuuuute!
Would you like fries with that?: And burn ‘em!
Tell me a story.: Dad.
Jingle bells: Snow.
Marathon: Training.
Toes: Purple
New York: Busy, busy, busy
Airplanes: Unsanitary
Sugar: Espresso

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Filed under 'Blog Tour, Book, Interviews' • One Comment

Fall From Grace by Charles Benoit

Review of Fall From Grace

Fall From Grace by Charles Benoit

Title & Author:
Fall From Grace by Charles Benoit
Publisher:
Balzer + Bray
Publication Date:
May 08, 2012
Pages:
304
Source:
Edelweiss

Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun.

Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.

When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft.

Wait a minute—plans to what? – Goodreads

Fall From Grace by Charles Benoit was totally different than what I expected it to be, but in a really good way. I always love reading books with male protagonists, but Fall From Grace was the first time I really connected with a male protagonist.

I loved Sawyer to bits. He was such a typical guy in certain ways – especially all the comments about his hot girlfriend, Zoe, but he was also really struggling with his own identity and who his parents and Zoe demanded he be. I could definitely identity with his internal struggles and I think a lot of readers will. I also really liked Grace. She was bat-shit-crazy in a lot of ways, but there was something about her that really struck a chord with me. She wasn’t afraid or ashamed of what she wanted, which was so different from Sawyer.

I loved how quick-paced Fall From Grace was. The story moved along at a quick pace that really helped to hold my attention. Even the moments where it was just Sawyer and Grace getting to know each other, which might have been a bit boring for some readers in another book, were very entertaining to read. By the time I finished Fall From Grace, it felt as though I had just sat down to read it only half an hour before.

The ending was completely unexpected, but at the same time, I almost felt like I wasn’t surprised by how Fall From Grace ended. It was easy to suspend my disbelief at Grace’s crazy plans and just go with the flow because of how well Fall From Grace was told. I thought Charles Benoit‘s Fall From Grace is a very honest portrayal of a teenage boy and the various pressures we all faced at that age. Be sure to check out Fall From Grace if you’re a fan of great contemporaries!

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The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland

Review of The Summer My Life Began

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland

Title & Author:
The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland
Publisher:
Speak
Publication Date:
May 10, 2012
Pages:
250
Source:
ARC courtesy of The Teen Book Scene

Elizabeth Margaret—better known as Em—has always known what life would contain: an internship at her father’s firm, a degree from Harvard and a career as a lawyer. The only problem is that it’s not what she wants. When she gets the opportunity to get away from it all and spend a month with the aunt she never knew, she jumps at the chance. While there, Em pursues her secret dream of being a chef, and she also learns that her family has kept some significant secrets from her, too. And then there’s Cade, the laid-back local surfer boy who seems to be everything Em isn’t. Naturally, she can’t resist him, and as their romance blossoms, Em feels she is living on her own terms for the first time. – Goodreads

The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland is a fun, summer read. It combines a moving story of self-discovery with romance and island goodness.

My favourite part of The Summer My Life Began was witnessing the self-discovery the protagonist, Elizabeth Margaret went through. Em at the beginning of The Summer My Life Began and Em at the were almost two totally different people – I loved seeing Em grow a back bone and stand up for what she wanted and what she believed in.

I also really enjoyed the romance in The Summer My Life Began. I liked Cade a lot (he SURFS), and his backstory – there some swoonworthy kisses and moments, and I just thought Em and Cade really worked together.

I admit that some of story elements in The Summer My Life Began were fairly predictable, but nothing major that ruined the story. And I only sort of saw the family secret coming – I imagined it, but just in a different way, perhaps. Also, there was a really cool twist at the end of The Summer My Life Began that I like but can’t really go into too much detail without giving it away!

If you’re looking for a fun, pretty light but also moving read, definitely check out The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland. It sucked me in pretty quickly and it is such a perfect book to start the summer!

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I’ve been super excited to read Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit ever since I first read the description a few months ago. I mean, not only does Fall from Grace involve art theft (one of my favourite things), but it also sounds like it’s going to be full of self-discovery and feelings. Hurrah! Check out a “This or That” post with one of the characters from Fall from Grace.

To view more posts on the tour, check out the list here!

Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit

Amazon | Goodreads | Author Website | Author Twitter
Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun.

Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.

When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft.

Wait a minute—plans to what? – Goodreads

 

 

A “This or That” with Zoe from Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit

Zoe, huh? Okay, let me channel my inner demanding, hot, self-centered teen girl…

Comedies or dramas?

Ugh, this is sooo obvious. Dramas. Duh! My boyfriend, Sawyer? He likes those stupid comedies like Family Guy and The Three Stooges. I mean, a talking dog that wants to sleep with the mother? So gross. And so not funny.

Shorts or pants?

With these legs? Shorts. Very short shorts.

Giraffes or Llamas?

Let’s see, both spit and have long gross tongues. Sawyer thinks that stupid llama song video is hilarious, so the right answer has to be giraffes.

Salty or sweet?

Sweet. Like me! Or salty like a margarita. Can I have both?

Apples or bananas?

Apples. Bananas have that shape. You know what I mean.

New York or London?

Wherever my daddy buys tickets for! (And this year, it’s Aruba!) But if I had to choose, I’d say New York because I like the shopping there better.

Walking or running?

Seriously? I’ll have Sawyer drive us.

Wall flower or life of the party?

There is no party until I show up. I’m not all like, oooh look at me, I’m the star. People just know it.

Anxious or laid back?

Anxious about what? My parents give me everything I need, my boyfriend is so well trained I don’t have to ever worry about him, and I just got accepted to the school I want to go to (the one with THE BEST sorority) so what do I have to be anxious about. I guess I’m laid back.

Early or late?

Fashionably late!

Cakes or cupcakes?

Believe it or not, I’m amazing in the kitchen! (Well, I’m amazing everywhere, but that’s just me). And, despite what people think, I bake from scratch. I’m gonna say cakes since cupcakes are so two years ago.

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The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond sounds like a fun, funny, AND moving contemp. Saving cougar cubs? Teenage heartthrob in disguise? I’m all in! And I’m so thrilled to host Katherine Grace Bond on my blog today! Check back in the coming days for a review and be sure to comment on this wonderful guest post.

The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond

Amazon | Goodreads | Author Website | Author Twitter
The day Brigitta accidentally flings herself into the lap of a guy she’s never met, her friend Natalie is convinced he’s Trent Yves, egotistical heartthrob-in-hiding. When the boy, who calls himself Luke, is nearly eaten by a cougar, Brigitta finds herself saving his life, being swept into his spectacular embrace and wondering if she wants Natalie’s fantasy to be true.

As the two spend the summer together raising orphaned cougar cubs, Brigitta still can’t be sure of his true identity. But then again, since her grandparents’ death, her father’s sudden urge to give away all their possessions and become a shaman, and her own awkward transition from girlhood into a young woman, she isn’t sure of anything. What is the truth? More importantly, can she accept it? – Goodreads

How (and Why) to Be an Outsider by Katherine Grace Bond
Author of The Summer of No Regrets

I like to be indoors. Indoors has my computer and my books and my sofa and Doctor Who. Indoors is dry and temperature-controlled and free of bugs. I haven’t always been this way. When I was growing up in Seattle, I was always on my bike or roller skates or screaming through the yard being chased by a giant mouse (I had a bizarre imagination even then). Or I’d read for hours under a tree. Outdoors was an escape, too from Mom and Dad’s regular Saturday screaming match. Even if I could still hear it (along with the opera music), somehow not being trapped with walls around me felt better.

And then there was my grandparents’ place, “Cherrywood,” in Indiana, where I spent my days among the oaks or on the screened-in porch. I loved it there—the warm, spicy air filled with birdsong. It was my haven.

But, I’m an adult now with task lists and deadlines and Important Things To Do—indoors, of course.

So when I wrote The Summer of No Regrets, whose main character, Brigitta, practically lives outdoors, I was stuck. I stared at the screen, trying to imagine what trees were like.

It was kind of stupid.

Finally, I had no choice but to take the computer into the woods and find a stump to sit on. It was often wet, and I had to commune with the insect world, but I wrote some of my best scenes out there. And the earth began to teach me things:

1) Nature surprises. That “ptchioo” sound I kept hearing was not a bird; it was a squirrel called a chickaree. One morning, I lay on a nurse log watched as two of them conversed from different trees. Their bodies would go rigid with each call. After a while, a third squirrel appeared and then a fourth. They called back and forth in rhythm, perfectly timed, as if they had sheet music. Pretty cool.

2) Nature heals. After learning that someone dear to me had attempted suicide, I couldn’t sleep. Sometime after midnight I took a sleeping bag and went outside, where I lay under the stars. When you are sorrowing, look at the sky! You feel your smallness in the midst of something vast and unfathomable. We are accustomed to thinking we can know everything, given enough study. The sky gives me hope that we can’t—that there will always be things we don’t know and will never understand. I want to live in a universe like that.

3) Nature reconnects us. Because we are made of star stuff and nourished by the atmosphere of this planet, we suffer from the layers that separate us from the earth—roof, walls, foundation, floorboards, carpet, shoes, socks. To step barefoot out the door and into the dirt is to find ourselves once more. Try it!

And when you read The Summer of No Regrets, do so, if you can, under the sky.

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