Blog Tour: Stay With Me by J. Lynn

Rating: 4 stars

Pub Date: September 23, 2014

Publisher: William Morrow (Harper Collins)

Genre: new adult contemporary romance

Format/Source: DRC, from the publisher

Status: Book 3 of the Wait For You companion series
Links: Wait For You review (also 4 stars)
Be With Me review (also 4 stars)

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour, which was organized & hosted by Ink Slinger PR. 

Summary:

At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.

But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.

Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom.

Waiting on Wednesday: All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

All Fall Down
Embassy Row #1

by Ally Carter

Coming January 27, 2015

Scholastic

Summary:

Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her–so there’s no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door who is keeping an eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can’t control Grace–no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do.

Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn’t stop it, Grace isn’t the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world all stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.

Since I first picked up a copy of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, Ally Carter has been one of my favorite authors. She's an automatic must-buy author for me, as evidenced by her presence in my hoarder's edition Top Ten Tuesday. Heck, Ally's books are a TTT staple here at Mary Had a Little Book Blog from best books about friendship to favorite setting (I chose favorite boarding school books) to my movie wish list and everything in between. 

 

I want All Fall Down because I know Ally is going to deliver a thrilling, imaginative, and unique story with an amazing flawed and relatable cast of characters, fantastic friends, and swoony romance. Rather than my typical WoW format of listing why I want this book and why you should too, I'll simply direct you to my review of United We Spy, the final book in the Gallagher Girls series, which is basically a nine-paragraph love letter to Ally and her books. 

 

I can not WAIT until this book is in my hands, AND I'm super excited because Ally is coming to Dallas for her All Fall Down tour! She'll be one of the guests for Irving Public Library's North Texas Teen Book Festival, which, as it happens, occurs days after my birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE!

What are you waiting on today? Feel free to share your picks and links in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday #54: Fall 2014 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR

So a couple of these are from my Summer TBR. *hangs head* Yeah...

 

         

    

 

I decided to go with a mix of books that are already out that I MUST READ, soon-to-be-released titles, and a couple arcs that are a bit further out, but I just can't wait any longer to read them! What's on your list this week?

Stay With Me Release Day Blitz

I'm so excited to help with Ink Slinger PR's release day launch for Jennifer L. Armentrout's newest new adult novel as J. Lynn, Stay With Me! I read Stay With Me a couple weeks ago for the blog tour (my post is coming this Thursday!), and it's SO GOOD!

Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: new adult contemporary romance, realistic fiction
Status: book 3 of the Wait for You companion series

Summary:

At 21, Calla hasn’t done a lot of things. She’s never been kissed, never seen the ocean, never gone to an amusement park. But growing up, she witnessed some things no child ever should. She still carries the physical and emotional scars of living with a strung-out mother, Mona—secrets she keeps from everyone, including her close circle of college friends.

But the safe cocoon Calla has carefully built is shattered when she discovers her mom has stolen her college money and run up a huge credit card debt in her name. Now, Calla has to go back to the small town she thought she'd left behind and clean up her mom’s mess again. Of course, when she arrives at her mother’s bar, Mona is nowhere to be found. Instead, six feet of hotness named Jackson James is pouring drinks and keeping the place humming.

Sexy and intense, Jax is in Calla’s business from the moment they meet, giving her a job and helping her search for Mona. And the way he looks at her makes it clear he wants to get horizontal . . . and maybe something more. Before Calla can let him get close, though, she’s got to deal with the pain of the past—and some very bad guys out to mess her up if she doesn’t give them her mom.

Available from:

   

Trailer:

Excerpt:

As I lay there, trying to swallow a loud, obnoxious yawn, I remembered something he’d said when we first met, about life being too short. I imagined he had firsthand experience with shortened lives while he was serving. That mentality came from experience. I got that now. Could even understand it, but there was something I didn’t understand.

“Why?” I asked.

There was a beat. “Why what?”

Jax sounded tired, and I should shut up or point out that I was now tired and could sleep, so he could leave. But I didn’t. “Why are you here? You don’t know me and . . .” I trailed off, because there really wasn’t anything left to say.

A minute went by, and he hadn’t answered my question, and then I think another minute ticked on, and I was okay with him not answering because maybe he didn’t even know. Or maybe he was just bored and that was why he was here.

But then he moved.

Jax pressed against my back, and the next breath I took got stuck in my throat. My eyes shot open. The sheet and blanket were between us, but they felt like nothing.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Getting comfortable.” He dropped an arm over my waist, and my entire body jerked against his. “It’s time to sleep I think.”

“But—”

“You can’t sleep when you talk,” he remarked.

“You don’t need to be all up on me,” I pointed out.

His answering chuckle stirred the hair along the back of my neck. “Honey, I’m not all up on you.”

I freaking begged to differ on that point. I started to wiggle away, but the arm around my waist tightened, holding me in place.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he announced casually, as if he wasn’t holding me prisoner in the bed.

Okay. The whole prisoner thing might be melodramatic, but he wasn’t letting me up. Not when he was getting all kinds of comfy behind me.

Oh my God, this was spooning. Total spooning. I was spooning with an honorary member of the Hot Guy Brigade. Did I wake up in a parallel universe?

“Sleep,” he demanded, as if the one word carried that much power. “Go to sleep, Calla.” This time his voice was softer, quieter.

“Yeah, it doesn’t work that way, Jax. You have a nice voice, but it doesn’t hold the power to make me sleep on your command.”

He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, but the most ridiculous thing ever was the fact that after a couple of minutes, my eyes stayed shut. I . . . I actually settled in against him. With his front pressed to my back, his long legs cradling mine, and his arm snug around my waist, I actually did feel safe. More than that, I felt something else—something I hadn’t felt in years.

I felt cared for . . . cherished.

Which was the epitome of dumb, because I barely knew him, but feeling that, recognizing what the warm, buzzing feeling was, I fell right asleep.

About the Author:

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Author Links:

  

Giveaway:

$25 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekly wrap-up: September 14-20

I didn't do a ton of reading this week for various and sundry reasons, one of which being seeing an early screening of The Maze Runner, but I really enjoyed what I did read. Also, I managed to contain my book buying, which is always a bit shocking when I manage it. What are you reading?

Completed:

Wild (Ivy Chronicles #3) - Sophie Jordan: 5 stars. I first read one of Sophie's books back in February and loved it. It led me to more of her books and sparked what has become a great friendship. The Ivy Chronicles is an amazing realistic series that is equal amounts fun and serious, sweet and sexy, jaded and innocent. I love these characters and their stories, and honestly, I want more (SOPHIE WRITE HUNTER'S FULL STORY PLZ!!!), but this is also a perfect ending for the series. The good thing about series finales is...the authors we love are then free to write more beautiful and perfect stories, and honestly, I'm already excited for what Sophie has next.
Remember Me (Find Me #2) - Romily Bernard: 4 stars. This middle book does a great job of being its own book, containing its own individual story, while building the overall series arc. Also, I LOVE one of the new characters. Like, seriously, I love him. Full review here.

Reread:

Fire (Graceling Realm #2) audiobook - Kristin Cashore & Xanthe Elbrick: 5 stars. I know plenty of people prefer Graceling and Bitterblue over Fire, but I really loved this novel, and the audiobook only made me love it more. I love how an audiobook brings out subtleties that I don't notice when actually reading a novel!

Currently Reading:

Let's Get Lost - Adi Alsaid: I'm really liking this!
Ella Enchanted audiobook - Gail Carson Levine: I watched the movie on Netflix and got the BIGGEST craving to reread it.

New to my bookshelf this week:

Library:

After The End - Amy Plum
The Art of Lainey - Paula Stokes
Biggest Flirts - Jennifer Echols
Earthquake - Aprilynne Pike
Silver Shadows - Richelle Mead
On the Fence - Kasie West
Ella Enchanted audiobook - Gail Carson Levine
Leviathan audiobook - Scott Westerfeld
Behemoth audiobook - Scott Westerfeld
Goliath autdiobook - Scott Westerfeld

I know, I know what you're thinking. Just last week I said I was cutting down on my library borrowing. HOWEVER, most of these books I've either already read or I've already got a copy. I do this weird thing where I like to check out books by authors I love, even if I already have a copy. Helping to circulate your library's books is actually a really good way to encourage your library to keep buying those authors' books, which means those authors sell more books which means publishers buy more contracts which means authors write more books. Basically EVERYBODY WINS!

Bought:

Kindle:

Elevated - Elana Johnson

Half Price Books:
My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick

Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop hosted by Valerie of Stuck in Books! If you know the rules of the blog hop, feel free to scroll down to the good part. If you have not heard of or participated in a hop before, a blog hop is a themed giveaway hosted by several blogs at once. Each site hosts its own individual giveaway while simultaneously providing links to all the other blogs participating in the hop. The purpose is that readers can literally hop from one awesome giveaway to the next. Each blog has listed whether their prize is available to US residents only or international entrants, which makes it easier to determine which giveaways are available to your country.

I've been waiting for a good moment to post this particular giveaway, and I think this is the moment. I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of authors this year, and one that I was suuuuper excited to finally meet was Kiera Cass on the summer Dark Days tour. I got to sit down and chat with Kiera about The One and the entire Selection series. At the time, Kiera danced around my questions if she'd write any more stories set in Illéa, but as you guys probably know now, Kiera recently announced not one but TWO more books set in the world of The Selection as well as a prequel novella titled "The Queen" featuring Maxon's mother, Queen Amberly, and another titled "The Favorite" about Marlee. I'm THRILLED about this news, and I know a lot of readers are as well. I think this is a good opportunity to share a series I enjoy and get readers ready for books 4 and 5!

So, one person will win SIGNED COPIES of The Selection, The Elite, The One, and Selection Stories. My giveaway is open to US entrants only, but don't worry, international friends: there are many blogs on the hop with giveaways for you to enter! All entries will be verified. For full giveaway policies, please check the Site Policies tab at the top of the page. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered my giveaway, feel free to visit as many blogs on the linky as you like! If for any reason the Linky isn't working, feel free to check out Valerie's post HERE to find all the blogs participating in this hop!

Update & some changes

Hello, friends!

It's been a while since I've really touched base with you guys about my life and the blog so I figured I'd go ahead and do that today. I have not been shy about sharing how difficult work was for me over the summer. I was promoted to camp coordinator at my museum, which was supposed to be a more-or-less 9-5, 40 hour-a-week kind of position. What no one told me when I was given this temporary promotion is that I'd actually work at least 50 hours a week and then get yelled at for working too much and getting overtime, but then when I cut back on hours, things weren't getting done. 

The end result is that I was an exhausted, emotional mess who wildly fluctuated between frustrated to furious to apathetic and back again. I also felt extremely guilty over my lack of attention to the blog, but working 50+ hours in addition to my 10+ hours commuting every week left me so weary that when I got home every night, it was all I could do to not immediately crawl into my bed and sleep before it was time to get up in the morning. And so I tried to let myself off the hook by stepping back from daily blogging so I could concentrate on my paying job. I was miserable in so many ways, but sometimes you really do just have to shut up and soldier on.

Finally, in late August, my position was over. Things went back to as normal as they ever are at a small children's science museum. Or so I thought. We're still going through a major transitional period at work. That, combined with my need for a good, long mental break has made it difficult for me to transition back into my former more frequent blogging habits. As such, I have decided that I need to decrease my commitments to outside sources and focus on my own content.

I was reading through some old posts of mind, and I was cracking up. I remembered how much fun I had creating some of my old posts and how much joy I took from both reading and writing. I'm barely on track to keep my Goodreads goal this year, which is actually far less than I'd like to be reading. The only way my blog is going to be successful by any measure is if I'm enjoying it. So I'm going back to basics, which is reading what I want to read and reviewing which books I want to share with you. I have some blog tours scheduled, but I'm going to slow down on signing up for them. Too often I've dropped the ball or faced the horror of not liking a tour book, it makes me sad. I don't want that. I want to be excited about books , and I want to be able to share that with you!

Speaking of exciting, there are a couple things that have me really excited right now. Again, back in February, I announced two new features, Audio Adventures and Mary's Minute, which are audio reviews and a discussion feature. I went through a bit of a reading slump in March and April and the summer was the summer so I kept putting off starting these features. Well, I love these features, and I have a handful of posts already typed up so I'm going to roll them out. 

Secondly, when I started the blog, I intended it to be primarily young adult with some middle grade thrown in because I was thinking of some of my beloved mg titles like Artemis Fowl and Gregor the Overlander. However, I haven't really done any mg work on the blog, and it's time for me to acknowledge that although I do love a few mg titles, it's not an age level I want to focus on. But what I AM excited about genre-wise is new adult. I know most people have been a bit down on NA since its creation, but I have found that I highly identify and empathize with the characters of new adult since that's actually the age bracket I belong to. Therefore, Mary Had a Little Book Blog will now be a primarily young adult blog with the addition of the occasional new adult. Don't worry! It's not going to be all smexy all the time. All NA reviews, like the rest, will be hidden under a cut in addition to being clearly labeled as new adult so you don't have to read those if you don't want to.

Finally, one of my 2014 resolutions was to get a new design for MHALBB. I was waiting to save up for a great design by one of my favorite designers, but they just significantly increased their prices, and it's now completely beyond my budget. I still want an updated look for the blog so if you have any suggestions for designers with unique and reasonably priced blog designs, I would be glad for your recommendations! 

I just want to thank you guys for your patience and your understanding these past few months.

Love and happy endings,

Mary