Waiting On Wednesdsay #113: FINDING PARIS by Joy Preble (YA)

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This is where we get to 'spotlight' books that we are anxiously waiting to be released!!!

The ones that we are dying to get our hands on and read into the wee hours of the night!!!

And, quite possibly, to make our shelves look pretty too :) 

What I'm currently waiting for... 

FINDING PARIS

by Joy Preble 

Expected release date: April 21st, 2015

Published by: Balzer + Bray (Harper Collins)

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Format: Hardcover, eBook

SUMMARY

A page-turning, evocative novel for fans of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and SPEAK, about a girl who must follow a trail of mysterious clues to discover what happened to her sister.

Sisters Leo and Paris Hollings have only ever had each other to rely on. They can’t trust their mother, who hops from city to city and from guy to guy, or their gambler stepfather, who’s moved them all to Las Vegas. It’s just the two of them: Paris, who’s always been the dreamer, and Leo, who has a real future in mind — going to Stanford, becoming a doctor, falling in love.

But Leo isn’t going anywhere yet… 
until Paris ditches her at the Heartbreak Hotel Diner, where moments before they had been talking with physics student Max Sullivan. Outside, Leo finds a cryptic note from Paris — a clue. 

Is it some kind of game? Where is Paris, and why has she disappeared?

When Leo reluctantly accepts Max’s offer of help, the two find themselves following a string of clues through Vegas and beyond. But the search for the truth is a not a straight line. And neither is the path to secrets Leo and Max hold tightly.

Why I'm waiting on FINDING PARIS...

First... let's all take a moment to gaze at this awesome bookcover!

Next... sounds like a good Vegas scavenger hunt is going to happen!
Leo the responsible sister has to go find Paris, the seemingly partier, and then what?

Lastly... I really, really enjoyed Joy Preble's SWEET DEAD LIFE books!
A new twist to angel lore, family life, relationships and heartbreak - if you haven't read them yet, you should get them first!!!

SO!!! What are your waiting for?!?!?!

Blog Tour (Review): THE A-WORD (A Sweet Dead Life #2) by Joy Preble (YA)

http://sohopress.com/the-a-word-blog-tour/

THE A-WORD

A Sweet Dead Life Novel, #2

by Joy Preble

Release date: May 13th, 2014

Published by: Soho Teen

Genre: Young Adult - Supernatural/Angels

Format: Hardcover, (Pre-order Paperback), eBook

Format read: ARC received by publisher for an honest review.

SUMMARY

Jenna Samuels is about to turn fifteen. It's been almost a year since her stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust. Almost a year since he returned as her guardian angel, along with his "angel boss," Amber Velasco, the hot twenty-something former EMT. Almost a year since Casey and Amber used up their one-time-only angel power of flight to save Jenna from the evil Dr. Renfroe, swooping down to catch her as she tumbled off the balcony at the Houston Galleria. In short, a lot of A-word shenanigans and a mostly happy ending.

Except now Casey's begun to wonder why he's still hanging around—not that he minds protecting Jenna. She's a handful, but there's got to be a bigger picture, right? Something to distract him from his on again/off again, doomed relationship with cheerleader Lanie Phelps, who has no idea her boyfriend is, well, dead. After all, he can't use his angel wings anymore. Neither can Amber. 

Enter Bo Shivers, Amber's "angel boss"—a mysterious A-word guy Jenna and Casey didn't even know existed. Whiskey-guzzling. Handsome in a grizzled way. Unpredictable. Okay, make that crazy. Bo lost his angel wings in an earthly flight a long, long, long time back—and he's been a thorn in Angel Management's side ever since. But Bo knows something is coming. Something big. Something that was worth forfeiting wings for Jenna... something that might just change everything for everyone.

MY REVIEW

Joy Preble has done it again! The A-Word is amazingly touching, funny, heartbreaking and realistic follow up to A Sweet Dead Life! Great writing, plot, mystery and intriguing characters! I need more books from this author asap!

It's been a year now, Jenna is turning fifteen, wants to get her permit and has her eye on a cute boy. Things have been better, she's got her health, her mother is better and working, her dad is kind of in the picture, but at least that mystery was solved. And her brother, Casey, well... he's still an A-Word for sure. And as much as Jenna tries to live a normal life, having the A-Word hanging around all the time is really hard. Having no one to talk about it, having to lie and hide everything that has happened to everyone, her mother, father, best friend Maggie and boyfriend Ryan, is not easy. She's been through so much already, having a couple of guardian angels around should make life a bit easier.
Now Casey is wondering why he's still hanging around. He's done his job, is there something more for him? The mystery continues when we learn more about Amber, the EMT that help pull Jenna and Casey out of their car wreck who, in the first book, we learn she's an A-Word too.. and now Amber's "angel boss", Bo Shivers, is in the picture. Bo is unpredictable, loud and acts like he knows it all. But he's so vague with everything that he says. Is it possible that he doesn't know as much as he says he does?
Something big is about to happen! And all we can do is wait and see...

I am really enjoying watching Jenna grow into a mature and responsible teen. She thinks things through, she is overly thoughtful and caring and is now more confident being her own person and dealing with what life has given her. It's impossible not to want to grab her up, feed her and hug her to death!
Again, I cannot emphasize enough that the relationship between Jenna and her brother, Casey is spot on! The love/hate between them is endearing and realistic. Their one-liner banters had me laughing out loud. I adore them! It is the best written sibling relationship I have ever seen in YA.

Fast-paced, well-written and out-of-this-world!
I cannot wait until book 3 is announced!!!

See my review of book 1, THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, right here!!!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Joy Preble

Joy Preble is the author of the DREAMING ANASTASIA series (Sourcebooks) and the SWEET DEAD LIFE series (Soho Press), a YA Texas makeover of the angel book. 

Joy grew up in Chicago, where she dreamed of being a back up singer but settles for becoming a writer so she could get paid for making up stuff.

She now lives with her family in Texas, where when she's not writing, you can find her eating guacamole, watching trash TV, and embracing her inner nerd. 

Goodreads / Official Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr

Waiting On Wednesday #66: THE A-WORD (Sweet Dead Life #2) by Joy Preble (YA)

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by  Breaking the Spine. 

This is were we get to 'spotlight' books that we are anxiously waiting to be released! The ones that we are dying to get our hands on and read into the wee hours of the night and, quite possibly, to make our shelves look all pretty too :)

What I'm waiting on... 

THE A-WORD

(A Sweet Dead Life Novel, #2)

by Joy Preble

Expected release date: May 13th, 2014

Published by: Soho Teen

Genre: Young Adult

SUMMARY

Jenna Samuels is about to turn fifteen. It's been almost a year since her stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust. Almost a year since he returned as her guardian angel, along with his "angel boss," Amber Velasco, the hot twenty-something former EMT. Almost a year since Casey and Amber used up their one-time-only angel power of flight to save Jenna from the evil Dr. Renfroe, swooping down to catch her as she tumbled off the balcony at the Houston Galleria. In short, a lot of A-word shenanigans and a mostly happy ending.

Except now Casey's begun to wonder why he's still hanging around—not that he minds protecting Jenna. She's a handful, but there's got to be a bigger picture, right? Something to distract him from his on again/off again, doomed relationship with cheerleader Lanie Phelps, who has no idea her boyfriend is, well, dead. After all, he can't use his angel wings anymore. Neither can Amber. 

Enter Bo Shivers, Amber's "angel boss"—a mysterious A-word guy Jenna and Casey didn't even know existed. Whiskey-guzzling. Handsome in a grizzled way. Unpredictable. Okay, make that crazy. Bo lost his angel wings in an earthly flight a long, long, long time back—and he's been a thorn in Angel Management's side ever since. But Bo knows something is coming. Something big. Something that was worth forfeiting wings for Jenna... something that might just change everything for everyone.

Why I'm waiting on... THE A-WORD...

I absolutely adore the first book, A Sweet Dead Life, I just know that I'm going to enjoy the second book even more! It looks like Joy Preble is going to go in deeper about the who, what, when, how and why's of these angels. Casey as a 'beginner' angel was fun to read about, I am really curious to see how he's dealing with it all. And more importantly, how Jenna is doing and handling everything in her life right now. 

You can see my review of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE right here!!!

What are you waiting for???

Thanks for stopping by today :) 

xoxo

Review: THE SWEET DEAD LIFE by Joy Preble (YA)

THE SWEET DEAD LIFE

by Joy Preble

Release date: May 14th, 2013

Published by: Soho Teen

Genre: Young Adult 
Format: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
Format read: Hardcover I received from publisher for an honest review.

SUMMARY

I found out two things today. One, I think I’m dying. And two, my brother is a perv.

So begins the diary of 14-year-old Jenna Samuels, who is having a very bad eighth-grade year. Her single mother spends all day in bed. Dad vanished when she was eight. Her 16-year-old brother, Casey, tries to hold together what’s left of the family by working two after-school jobs— difficult, as he’s stoned all the time. To make matters worse, Jenna is sick. When she collapses one day, Casey tries to race her to the hospital in their beat-up Prius and crashes instead.

Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her. Beatified. Literally. The flab and zits? Gone. Before long, Jenna figures out that Casey didn’t survive the accident at all. He’s an “A-word.” (She can’t bring herself to utter the truth.) Soon they discover that Jenna isn’t just dying: she’s being poisoned. And Casey has been sent back to help solve the mystery that not only holds the key to her survival, but also to their mother’s mysterious depression and father’s disappearance.

BOOK TRAILER - The Sweet Dead Life

MY REVIEW

Such an original, funny and sad, mysterious story - a take on angels like no other!

 Jenna has a lot going on in her life right now - her father has abandoned the family, her mother seems to be in a depression and hardly ever leaves her bed, and her older brother, Casey, is your typical teenage boy that tries to keep things together the best way that a teenage boy can. Which can be pretty difficult at times since Jenna is always sick with some sort of mystery illness that the doctors can never figure out. When Jenna gets extremely ill, Casey attempts to rush her to the hospital and unfortunately gets into a bad car accident on the way there. Jenna tries to keep alert, but now with a few injuries on top of being so very sick, she can hardly hang on and keep track as to what has happened to her brother.
When she wakes up, things get very, very interesting...

 The book does start with a 'middle grade' sort of feel, but once things start moving along it definitely takes a good 'young adult' turn. We see spunky 13 year old Jenna mature and take responsibility like no other teen should have to. With creativity, humor and sass, Jenna is able to deal with whatever life throws her way - her absence from school, her medical care, having no adult supervision, taking care of her mother and to top it all off - a brother who is now an angel?! And that's not all! With the help of Casey's 'angel-ism', they soon discover that Jenna's illness and their mothers forgetfulness and supposed depression are related and someone is purposefully making them sick, maybe even trying to kill them! And all of this may be the reason why their father has disappeared...

The relationship between Jenna and Casey is so realistic and amazing - every time they are together you get some really great sister and brother moments that leave you chuckling and, if you have a sibling, completely relating to them. They have their ups and downs, but under the circumstances that have come to light, they need each other more than ever. And absolutely nothing can keep these two apart. Not even a pair of angel wings.

A fast-paced novel for ages 12 and up. There is something for everyone in this book. Joy Preble has wowed me with her writing and realistic story. She really knows how to create a realistic family dynamic.
I am really looking forward to reading the next book in the series called THE A-WORD, which is expected to be released in May 2014.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Joy Preble

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