Thursday, August 30, 2018

Sadie by Courtney Summers Blog Tour!

Hello, my friends! I'm excited about Courtney Summers' new book, Sadie, and thrilled to be part of the blog tour! 

Courtney Summers has done a very cool thing here! The book is written from Sadie's POV and also from West McCray's in the form of a podcast. West, a radio personality, starts the podcast as he tries to figure out what happened to Sadie. The cool thing is they have actually produced a podcast that you can listen to! Read on to learn more about that, and I'll include links so you can find everything! 






“A riveting tour de force.”
 —Kirkus, STARRED Review

"Summers’ novel is filled with her trademark biting commentary on sexual assault and the mistreatment of girls and women at the hands of predatory men...her hunt for Mattie’s killer is captivating, and Summers excels at slowly unspooling both Sadie’s and West’s investigations at a measured, tantalizing pace." 
—Booklist, STARRED Review


“A taut, suspenseful book about abuse and power that feels personal, as if Summers, like May Beth and West, can’t take one more dead or abused girl.” 

—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review

"The fresh, nuanced, and fast-moving narrative will appeal to a range of YA and new adult readers, and serves as a larger examination on the way society interacts with true crime...It's impossible to not be drawn into this haunting thriller of a book. A heartrending must-have."
—School Library Journal, STARRED Review


An electrifying thriller, taut as a bowstring. A coming-of-age tale, both gritty and sensitive. A poignant drama of love and loss. This -- all this -- is SADIE: a novel for readers of any age, and a character as indelible as a scar. Flat-out dazzling." —AJ Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window




SADIE
By Courtney Summers


Courtney Summers is already known for her well written and dark young adult novels, earning rave starred trade reviews on every book. With a fierce and independent female lead, SADIE (September 4, 2018; Wednesday Books) continues in this vein told in part as a podcast, similar to Serial, about a missing girl determined to avenge her sister’s death. A propulsive and harrowing read that will keep you riveted until the last page, Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. 




Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. 

But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. 

When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late. 

As the pages turn, your heart will be in your throat the whole way. SADIE is darkly delicious and addictive, the perfect fall read. As a major Editor's Buzz Book Pick at BEA, Summers’ thriller will be the book to read this season, and in a creative twist, the first YA thriller podcast. THE GIRLS released the first episode on August 1st bringing SADIE to life in a new way by picking up the script content from the book and using the under-explored content area in the podcast area of teen listeners. Combining a haunting novel and additional material through the podcast, Summers has changed the way readers experienced books.


Buy: Amazon
Add to Goodreads.

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 


Excerpt (which has also been made into a podcast): 


THE GIRLS
EPISODE 1

[THE GIRLS THEME]

WEST McCRAY:
Welcome to Cold Creek, Colorado. Population: eight hundred.

Do a Google Image search and you’ll see its main street, the barely beating heart of that tiny world, and find every other building vacant or boarded up. Cold Creek’s luckiest—the gainfully employed—work at the local grocery store, the gas station and a few other staple businesses along the strip. The rest have to look a town or two over for opportunity for themselves and for their children; the closest schools are in Park- dale, forty minutes away. They take in students from three other towns.

Beyond its main street, Cold Creek arteries out into worn and chipped Monopoly houses that no longer have a place upon the board. From there lies a rural sort of wilderness. The highway out is interrupted by veins of dirt roads leading to nowhere as often as they lead to pockets of dilapidated houses or trailer parks in even worse shape. In the summertime, a food bus comes with free lunches for the kids until the school year resumes, guaranteeing at least two subsidized meals a day.

There’s a quiet to it that’s startling if you’ve lived your whole life in the city, like I have. Cold Creek is surrounded by a beautiful, uninterrupted expanse of land and sky that seem to go on forever. Its sunsets are spectacular; electric golds and oranges, pinks and purples, natural beauty unspoiled by the insult of skyscrapers. The sheer amount of space is humbling, almost divine. It’s hard to imagine feeling trapped here.

But most people here do.

COLD CREEK RESIDENT [FEMALE]:
You live in Cold Creek because you were born here and if you’re born here, you’re probably never getting out.

WEST McCRAY:
That’s not entirely true. There have been some success stories, college graduates who moved on and found well-paying jobs in distant cities, but they tend to be the exception and not the rule. Cold Creek is home to a quality of life we’re raised to aspire beyond, if we’re born privileged enough to have the choice.

Here, everyone’s working so hard to care for their families and keep their heads above water that, if they wasted time on the petty dramas, scandals and personal grudges that seem to define small towns in our nation’s imagination, they would not survive. That’s not to say there’s no drama, scandal, or grudge—just that those things are usually more than residents of Cold Creek can afford to care about.

Until it happened.

The husk of an abandoned, turn-of-the-century one-room schoolhouse sits three miles outside of town, taken by fire. The roof is caved in and what’s left of the walls are charred. It sits next to an apple orchard that’s slowly being reclaimed by the nature that surrounds it: young overgrowth, new trees, wildflowers.

There’s almost something romantic about it, something that feels like respite from the rest of the world. It’s the perfect place to be alone with your thoughts. At least it was, before.

May Beth Foster—who you’ll come to know as this series goes on—took me there herself. I asked to see it. She’s a plump, white, sixty-eight-year-old woman with salt-and-pepper hair. She has a grandmotherly way about her, right down to a voice that’s so invitingly familiar it warms you from the inside out. May Beth is manager of Sparkling River Estates trailer park, a lifelong resident of Cold Creek, and when she talks, people listen. More often than not, they accept whatever she says as the truth.

MAY BETH FOSTER:
Just about . . . here.

This is where they found the body.

911 DISPATCHER [PHONE]:

911 dispatch. What’s your emergency?





More about THE GIRLS podcast:


THE GIRLS: Find Sadie is the first-ever YA thriller podcast. The Serial-like show is based off the novel Sadie by Courtney Summers. In a brilliant move, Summers scripted periodic chapters of the novel like a podcast script, hosted by fictional radio personality West McCray. The six-part podcast series brings these chapters to life with a 30+ person cast, music, and sound effects and was a collaboration between Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Podcasts, and Wednesday Books. Episode 1 launches on August 1st, and the show will air seven weekly episodes available on all the major podcast platforms. The final episode will feature a bonus interview with Courtney Summers and her editor Sara Goodman.


Links to the podcast: 






About the Author




COURTNEY SUMMERS lives and writes in Canada. She is the author of What Goes Around, This is Not a Test, Fall for Anything, Some Girls Are, Cracked Up to Be, Please Remain Calm, and All the Rage.






Connect with Courtney
Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for inviting me on this tour!


I love the podcast idea and have already listened to a couple of episodes! Plus, I'm currently reading the book! I hope to have a review up soon!

What are your thoughts? 

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

What Are You Reading? ~ Aug. 29, 2018

* * Post contains affiliate links. * *


What are you Reading?  Let me know what your current read is, what you recently finish reading, and what you plan on reading next! 

Here's my list: 

I'm currently reading Sadie by Courtney Summers. I'm not too far into it, but I'm enjoying it! Tomorrow, as part of the blog tour, I have a post going up about this book. The book will be available Sept. 4, but there is a podcast that goes along with the story that's already out. You can find it on Apple or Stitcher.

I recently finished Solar Plexus by Victor Zugg. It was pretty good! Lots of action with a lot of military encounters. 4 stars.





What's next? I just joined a reading group, and the first book we're reading is Persuasion by Jane Austen. I'm looking for to the discussion! It's a re-read for all of us, I think. 







Disclaimer: Links to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 



I'm linking up with This Week In Books hosted by Lipsyy Lost & Found.


And with Sam @ Taking on a World of Words


So, tell me, what are you reading? 

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

What Are You Reading? ~ Aug. 22, 2018

* * Post contains affiliate links. * *


What are you Reading?  Let me know what your current read is, what you recently finish reading, and what you plan on reading next! 

Here's my list: 

I'm currently reading Solar Plexus (A Dystopian EMP Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Novel) by Victor Zugg. What can I say... I just love a good Post-Apocalyptic story. So far, I'm enjoying this one!




I recently finished reading Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer. It was entertaining! I loved Abigail and Miles! Their conversations had me chuckling at times. 4 stars.




What's next? I'm not sure! I think I'll read Sadie by Courtney Summers. I just got a copy of this from NetGalley. 







Disclaimer: Links to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 




I'm linking up with This Week In Books hosted by Lipsyy Lost & Found.


And with Sam @ Taking on a World of Words


So, tell me, what are you reading? 

Monday, August 20, 2018

Giveaway Winners!

Hello, my friends! It's my pleasure to announce the winners of Victoria Kincaid's guest post! 





I want to thank Victoria again for visiting us here and offering to have a giveaway with me! Thank you, Victoria!! :) 


Without further ado, the randomly picked winners are:


The Unforgettable Mr. Darcy 
(eBook or Paperback)

Luthien84


Buy: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

The Secrets of Darcy and Elizabeth
(Audible copy)

KateB


Buy: Amazon
Add to Goodreads

FTC Disclaimer: Links to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks!


Congratulations to the winners!

Thanks to all who entered! I love reading your comments!

BTW, I read The Unforgettable Mr. Darcy and LOVED it! 5 stars! 

Luthien84, please send me an email! Thanks! 

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

What Are You Reading? ~ Aug. 15, 2018

* * Post contains affiliate links. * *


What are you Reading?  Let me know what your current read is, what you recently finish reading, and what you plan on reading next! 

I skipped last week's What Are You Reading post because nothing had changed. I'm happy to report that's not the case this week! :) 

Here's my list: 


I'm currently reading Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer. I'm joining Meredith @ Austenesque Reviews in reading this. She will be posting discussion questions today and her review on Thursday! Join us if you want! 




I recently finished reading The Unforgettable Mr. Darcy by Victoria Kincaid. I loved it! I practically read it in one sitting! I'm crazy about stories where Darcy and Elizabeth are in a situation where they have to depend on each other to get through it, or in this case, survive! - 5 stars! 



I also finished The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. I really enjoyed this! I adored Ruby, Liam, Chubbs, and Zu! Wasn't too fond of some of Ruby's decisions, but I want to read the next in the series, Never Fade. Plus, I'm ready to see the movie! Anyone else? - 4.5 stars



What's next? Maybe, Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken. We'll see! 









Disclaimer: Links to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 



I'm linking up with This Week In Books hosted by Lipsyy Lost & Found.


And with Sam @ Taking on a World of Words


So, tell me, what are you reading? 

Monday, August 13, 2018

What's Past is Prologue Blog Tour! ~ Guest Post & Giveaway

Hello, my friends! It's my pleasure to be part of the What's Past is Prologue Blog Tour! Ann Galvia is here to close out the tour with thoughts about Lady Catherine. I hope you enjoy! 

Be sure to enter the giveaway! Details are at the bottom of the page! 





I want to thank Candy for hosting this final guest post in the What’s Past is Prologue blog tour!

We began with a pop quiz about Elizabeth. Then, we looked at Fitzwilliam Darcy’s patented approach to interpersonal conflict. And now, we end it all by taking a peek at the woman you are all so eager to know more about…

Lady Catherine!

(No joke, Lady Catherine was my mother’s favorite “Pride and Prejudice” character. She never read the book, only saw the 1940 film where Lady Catherine was played by veteran character actress Edna May Oliver. There was to be no criticising anyone played by Edna May Oliver in her house! Mom liked that Lady Catherine was ultimately a good guy in the film, much as that led to wild flailing from me.)

As for “What’s Past is Prologue,” Lady Catherine presented something of a conundrum from the start. I wanted the Darcys to have a compelling reason to stay despite the tension, but I was hesitant to present a woman as incapable of running an estate. Eventually, I capitulated. After all, “Pride and Prejudice” does not exactly paint her ladyship as a skilled landlord.

Elizabeth soon perceived that, though this great lady was not in the commission of the peace for the county, she was a most active magistrate in her own parish, the minutest concerns of which were carried to her by Mr. Collins; and whenever any of the cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty.

She’s also a being made pretty much entirely of ego, not that there’s much to brag about.

"Of music! Then pray speak aloud. It is of all subjects my delight. I must have my share in the conversation if you are speaking of music. There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste. If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.” 

So...her economic theory is that scolding=financial success and if she HAD learned something, she’d be great at it, but she DIDN’T. Fantastic. 

We also know that despite Anne being the heiress of Sir Lewis’s fortune, Lady Catherine appears to be in charge of it for now. It is she who awarded Collins his living. It is she who is an active leader in the community (however poor.) Lady Catherine needed to have real power. But since the nexus of the story revolved around the Darcys being stuck at Rosings, she also needed to need their help.

When I started doing the research, this was still a Year Without a Summer story. I read accounts of the Parliamentary investigations into farmland, and of the laws that were passed in the hopes of circumventing the worst of the crisis. (The farmers amassing wealth by cheating their migrant laborers out a fair wage is a real thing that went on during the Summer, and so was the expectation that the landowner should cover the difference.) When the timeline changed, so did the disaster.

We know very little about Sir Lewis. In order to create Lady Catherine’s precarious circumstance, I ran as far as I could with every scrap Jane Austen gave us. The man who spent a lot on window glazing became a man who tore down and rebuilt the ancestral home when he inherited. The man who saw no reason to cut females out with an entail became an 18th-century feminist. Sir Lewis’s overspending and inability to coach Lady Catherine from Never Learnt to the next Theodosia Burr Alston exploded into a poorly managed estate plagued by massive debt.

Add a flood, and Elizabeth and Darcy have a compelling reason to stay. They can’t just abandon the farmers.

So what happens now that they are here? What does it mean to be guests, and what does it mean for Lady Catherine to host them? Even now, and even among family, there’s an etiquette for hosts and guests. But what does a Regency-era houseguest situation look like? 

For starters, a good hostess doesn’t ask their guests for their preferences because she already knows them. And if, for some crazy reason, she doesn’t know, then she needs to play it safe. For example, there were no rules when it came to sleeping arrangements. Some couples liked one bedroom. Some couples liked separate rooms. Both are valid and it’s totally up to the individual couple’s preference. If you don’t know the couple’s preference, it is safest to default to separate rooms. That way, the couple has options. If they want to share, they can pick one room and bunk together. If they want to be separate, great, done. If you default to one, they can’t choose to be separate. (And separate means separate. Being apart is the point.)

Some considerations are household specific. There is no gentleman in residence at Rosings Park. So while houses like Longbourn or Pemberley would not need a guest to sit at the bottom of the table and do the male host’s duties, Rosings does. In “Pride and Prejudice,” we are given a scene where Collins gets this honor and it’s probably the happiest moment of his life.

The dinner was exceedingly handsome, and there were all the servants and all the articles of plate which Mr. Collins had promised; and, as he had likewise foretold, he took his seat at the bottom of the table, by her ladyship's desire, and looked as if he felt that life could furnish nothing greater. He carved, and ate, and praised with delighted alacrity; and every dish was commended, first by him and then by Sir William, who was now enough recovered to echo whatever his son in law said, in a manner which Elizabeth wondered Lady Catherine could bear.

Finally, something you can never forget is precedence. Every man, woman and child in Regency England knew precisely where they stood in line in any given room. Rank was first nature in this extraordinarily class-conscious culture, but for us, it’s tough stuff. Fact is, precedence was deeply contradictory. Things that affect where you stand in line include: your father’s rank, a woman’s marital status, your age and even how well the people you are with know you. Among people you are particularly close to, you can be bumped down the line for no other reason than you should feel at home. And much as you need to know where you stand, it is very rude to insist upon your place. Austen illustrates this in "Persuasion."

Again, it was Mary's complaint, that Mrs Musgrove was very apt not to give her the precedence that was her due, when they dined at the Great House with other families; and she did not see any reason why she was to be considered so much at home as to lose her place.  And one day when Anne was walking with only the Musgroves, one of them after talking of rank, people of rank, and jealousy of rank, said, "I have no scruple of observing to you, how nonsensical some persons are about their place, because all the world knows how easy and indifferent you are about it; but I wish anybody could give Mary a hint that it would be a great deal better if she were not so very tenacious, especially if she would not be always putting herself forward to take place of mamma.  Nobody doubts her right to have precedence of mamma, but it would be more becoming in her not to be always insisting on it.  It is not that mamma cares about it the least in the world, but I know it is taken notice of by many persons."

What’s Past is Prologue places Lady Catherine in a role she doesn’t like very much: being powerless and dependent upon others. She’s going to want to exert her formidable force of will in any manner left to her. And, well, knowing the rules is the first step to using them to your advantage.




What's Past is Prologue
by Ann Galvia

Book Description:

Elizabeth Darcy has her eye on the future. 

Before her marriage, she saw herself making the best possible choice. Her husband saved her family from ruin. All he asked in return was her hand. Secure in his good opinion, Elizabeth married him. Only with hindsight and his cryptic warnings that passion is not immutable does Elizabeth question her decision. Her solution? Give him a son as soon as possible. Once his lust for her has been slaked, this service she has rendered him will ensure her value. 

The newlyweds are summoned to Rosings Park almost the moment they are married. Though the estate can boast of beautiful grounds, Elizabeth and Darcy arrive to find devastation. A flood has swept away Lady Catherine’s last hopes of hiding debt and years of mismanagement. She expects Darcy to shoulder the recovery efforts. 

The effort to save Rosings strains the already tense relationship between Elizabeth and her husband. To make matters worse, her presence is met with disdain and disinterest from the family. As the days in the besieged estate drag on, Elizabeth slowly untangles the histories and secrets of her new relations. 

Like Elizabeth’s marriage, the crisis at Rosings is the culmination of past events. Disaster need not be the result of only bad choices; good principles have led them astray as well. As for Elizabeth, she barely knows her husband, and loving him might be impossible. Yet, she is determined to save all that she can—her marriage and the estate—and somehow, create the future she longs for.

Buy: Amazon
Add to Goodreads.

FTC Disclaimer: Link to Amazon. I am an Amazon Associate. Should you purchase a copy of the book through the link provided, I will receive a small commission. Thanks! 


About the Author


Ann started writing sometime before she knew how letters functioned. Her first books were drawings of circus poodles heavily annotated with scribbles meant to tell a story. Upon learning how letters were combined to represent words, she started doing that instead. This has proven to be much more successful.

Sometime after that, she decided she wanted to study Anthropology and sometime after that, she decided she liked cats more than dogs. And sometime after that, she decided to become an educator and teach a new generation of kids how to combine letters to represent words, and use those words express ideas.

And sometime after that, she realized all she really wanted to do was write, which probably should have been evident from the beginning.


Connect with Ann


Blog Tour Schedule

August 1 / Savvy Verse & Wit / Guest Post & Giveaway
August 2 / Of Pens & Pages / Book Review & Giveaway
August 3 / Babblings of a Bookworm / Book Review & Giveaway
August 4 / Just Jane 1813 / Book Excerpt & Giveaway
August 5 / Liz’s Reading Life / Author Interview & Giveaway
August 6 / From Pemberley to Milton / Book Review & Giveaway
August 7 / More Agreeably Engaged / Guest Post & Giveaway
August 8 / My Vices and Weaknesses / Book Review & Giveaway
August 9 / Diary of an Eccentric / Book Review & Giveaway
August 10 / Austenesque Reviews / Book Excerpt & Giveaway
August 11 / Margie’s Must Reads / Book Review & Giveaway
August 12 / My Love for Jane Austen / Book Excerpt & Giveaway
August 13 / So Little Time… / Guest Post & Giveaway

* * * GIVEAWAY * * *

It's giveaway time! Meryton Press is offering eight eBooks of What's Past is Prologue to eight lucky winners in conjunction with this tour. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below!



  • One eBook per winner.
  • Eight winners will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter.
  • Readers may enter the drawing by tweeting once each day and by commenting daily on a blog post or review that has a giveaway attached to this tour. Entrants must provide the name of the blog where they commented.
  • Giveaway is open to international readers.

Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



A big THANK YOU to Ann for visiting with us today!  Haha, I can't believe Lady Catherine would be your moms favorite! Congratulations on your newest novel, What's Past is Prologue!

Thanks to Claudine @ JustJane1813 for organizing this tour, and including me! :) 



So, friends, what did you think? Oh, I can certainly see how Lady Catherine wouldn't want to be powerless. That would be a huge problem for her. 
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