{Blog Tour} Game of Fear - Gledé Browne Kabongo (Reivew & Giveaway)

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for:  Game of Fear by Gledé Browne Kabongo. This tour will run from May 23rd to June 3rd.   Check out the tour schedule.

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Game of Fear
by Gledé Browne Kabongo
Genre: YA Thriller
Pages: 251
Release Date: February 24th 2016

Summary from Goodreads:

A desperate act, an explosive secret, and a diabolical enemy—all part of a treacherous game, with no limits.

Overachieving good girl Abbie Cooper has her future all planned out. As senior year at her elite private school kicks off, she has one simple goal: get into the Ivy League. But at St. Matthews Academy, nothing is ever simple. The pressure is overwhelming, the secrets are dirty, and the games are wicked. Abbie has a dirty secret—one that could destroy her chances of getting admitted into Princeton, and the lives of those closest to her. 

One morning, she discovers a note in her locker with the warning, “I know what you did”. Then a photo arrives in the mail. It captures her most shameful deed—the shocking blunder she can never erase, in glorious detail. Someone is out to ruin her, but who and why? The answer lies with the sender of the photo, a mysterious girl known only as The Avenger. For a price, she assures Abbie her secret will remain safe. There’s only one problem: The Avenger may not exist at all. If Abbie doesn’t uncover her true identity before acceptance decisions are made, it’s game over…

 

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Review

This books follows Abbie as she is a high school senior who is getting ready to apply to college.  She comes off as the good girl who works hard at school and tries to stay put together.  She has a very strong group of friends containing Callie and Francis.   Abbie also has a new love interest in the school bad boy Christian who has dated everyone.  Abbie has a very strong personality and is very opinionated. 

I love Abbie as a character.  The first chapter shows one side of Abbie and then we get dropped into a whole different Abbie.  When a tragic life event occurs people start to spiral out of the control and sometimes even the best people can pickup a bad habit.  Abbie needs to lean on her friends during difficult times and it really shows she can always count on them when a crisis hits.  I love the friendship the girls have and the author did a great job with these friends.  They were each a little bit different, but their personalities blended perfectly together.  They also each had their individual goals, which is important not to get stuck in group thought.

The author did an amazing job with the suspense in the book, which made me want to keep reading and not put it down.   The author leaves us breadcrumbs that we need to follow to get the bigger picture.  She does a great job with leading the reader on, but you really need to be questioning everything at the same time.  I love a book where you don't 100% know what is going on and where the book is going.  Also, I really enjoyed when Abbie would be reexplaining something that previously in the book the author did a great job not repeating herself and just alluding to what was explained.  I felt like this helped keep the book moving in the right direction. 

The ending of this book is AMAZING! I would have never put it all together, but once it comes out it makes complete sense! I think there are a few parts towards the end of the book though that could be cut down to make it read a little faster.  

I would suggest this as a weekend read or vacation read.  I felt it was difficult to pick up and put down because it was so fast paced and you wanted to piece everything together and figure out what was really going on. 
 

I received a copy of this book from YA Bound Book Tours for an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating 4/5 

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About the Author

Gledé Browne Kabongo writes intense psychological thrillers—unflinching tales of deception, secrecy, danger and family. She is the Amazon Bestselling Author of Game of Fear, Mark of Deceit (Eye of Fear Anthology), Swan Deception, and Conspiracy of Silence. Her love affair with books began as a young girl growing up in the Caribbean, where her town library overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. She was trading books and discussing them with neighbors before Book Clubs became popular. 

She holds both an M.S. and B.A. in communications, and worked as a freelance news reporter right out of college. After she abandoned the dream of winning the Pulitzer Prize as a reporter for the Boston Globe, she jumped into marketing management for over a decade. Gledé lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Author Links:

   

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Anything You Want - Geoff Herbach (Review)

Anything You Want
by Geoff Herbach
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: May 3rd 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Expect a bundle of joy—er, trouble—in this hilarious, heartwarming story from the award-winning author of Stupid Fast Geoff Herbach

Taco's mom always said, "Today is the best day of your life, and tomorrow will be even better." That was hard to believe the day she died of cancer and when Taco's dad had to move up north for work, but he sure did believe it when Maggie Corrigan agreed to go with him to junior prom. Taco loves Maggie- even more than the tacos that earned him his nickname. And she loves him right back.

Except all that love? It gets Maggie pregnant. Everyone else may be freaking out, but Taco can't wait to have a real family again. He just has to figure out what it means to be a dad and how to pass calculus. And then there's getting Maggie's parents to like him. Because it would be so much easier for them to be together if he didn't have to climb the side of the Corrigans' house to see her...

REVIEW 

This book follows Taco whose mother has passed away and his father left for a job up north.  Taco has a brother Darius who is taking care of him, but Darius is not much older and has an alcohol problem.  So Taco doesn't really have adult supervision and is basically making it up as he goes along.

I love Taco as a character.   The author did a great job developing his personality.  As a reader we get to see the hardships that he is dealing with regarding his family as well as girlfriend.  Taco always tries to maintain a positive outlook because that is what his mother had taught him.  Even when things get crazy Taco never gives up.  I love the attitude that he has it is very inspirational.  Also, I really enjoyed how the author had Taco grow as a character.  From the beginning of the book to the end it was like a whole different person had developed.  Taco began to make adult decisions and he also learned about consequences to your actions.

Another aspect I loved was the major issues that the author was able to talk about in the book and show resolutions for those issues.  One major issue was the pregnancy of Taco and Maggie.  The book focuses on Taco wanting to be a father to the child and creating his own family since he is lacking in the family department.  Everyone is trying to convince Taco that he has no idea what he is getting himself into.   Taco eventually takes a parenting class and learns what he is somewhat in for and then makes and educated decision about the child after that class.   It was a great thing for Taco to learn about birthing and after you have the baby it really helped him make a decision.  

Another major issue was Taco's brother Darius.  Darius was feeding Taco lines about his alcohol being just showing up differently because he has bad blood.  Taco didn't know much more then that because he lacked parental guidance so once he learned what was actually going on his whole attitude on Darius changed.   Taco learned a lot about not only alcoholism, but himself in a way.  Every situation made Taco grow as a character, which made this book so great to read.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read.  It is a great book to take your mind off your own problems and focus on the problems of a teen.   Also, the positive outlook that Taco has makes this a happy read! 

I received a copy of this of this book from The Fantastic Flying Book Club in order to provide an honest review.  This does not effect my opinion of this book. 

My Rating: 4/5

Taco’s mom always said, “Today is the best day of your life, and tomorrow will be even better.” That was hard to believe the day she died of cancer and when Taco’s dad had to move up north for work, but he sure did believe it when Maggie Corrigan agreed to go with him to junior prom. Taco loves Maggie – even more than the tacos that earned him his nickname. And she loves him right back. 

Except all that love? It gets Maggie pregnant. Everyone else may be freaking out, but Taco can’t wait to have a real family again. He just has to figure out what it means to be a dad and how to pass calculus. And then there’s getting Maggie’s parents to like him. Because it would be so much easier for them to be together if he didn’t have to climb the side of the Corrigans’ house to see her…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am the author of the YA title, Stupid Fast (June 2011 from Sourcebooks Fire). I also wrote The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg, a Novel from Three Rivers Press. When I'm not writing books, I'm writing for Radio Happy Hour or developing ridiculous musical bits.

When I'm not writing, I'm teaching writing at Minnesota State, Mankato, which means I write a lot of comments about writing on student writing. 

Writing a lot of writing and reading about writing and writing on reading.

{Blog Tour} Kisses on a Paper Airplane - Sarah Vance-Tompkins (Review & Giveaway)

YA Bound Book Tours is organizing a Blog Tour for: Kisses on a Paper Airplane by Sarah Vance-Tompkins. This tour will run from May 16th to 20th.   Check out the tour schedule.

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Kisses on a Paper Airplane
by Sarah Vance-Tompkins
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 14th 2016
Inkspell Publishing

Summary from Goodreads:

Drama student Hannah Evans isn't kissing any frogs on her path to find Prince Charming. She's determined to share the perfect first kiss -- with the perfect boy -- in the perfect place -- or she's not kissing anyone at all. When Hannah meets a cute ginger-haired boy in first class lounge in the London airport, she knows he's 'The One.'

Pop star Theo Callahan is on the road to get as far away as possible from his back-stabbing best friend, and his supermodel girlfriend who broke his heart. Until one shy smile from Hannah has him rethinking all of his travel plans.

Theo is smitten, but he's worried she's just a groupie in search of the ultimate selfie. Can Theo learn to trust Hannah in time to share one perfect first kiss, or will Hannah be forced to kiss a frog?

 

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Review

Hannah is a student at a drama school in London.  She gets a call from her mother that is getting married to a man that she just met and needs her to fly home.  Hannah hates flying, but her new stepfather upgrades her to first class for her flight from London to New York.   At the airport her flight gets delayed so she goes to the first class lounge to relax and happens upon a strange guy who she finds attractive and then she passes out.

This is a super short story that is told from the perspective of Hannah and Theo.  I love that we get to see both of their perspectives because it shows they both felt love at first sight.  Hannah didn't initially realize that Theo was a famous musician, but eventually realizes who he is.  Theo was just getting out of a long term relationship that ended in a large amount of drama and heartache.  The major detail is that Hannah has never kissed a guy  before she was waiting for her prince charming and she thinks she might have found him in Theo.  Theo isn't really looking for anything at the moment it seems, but once he sees Hannah things change.

The author did a great job developing both Hannah and Theo as characters.  We got just enough back story from them to see where they are at in their lives and also what lead them to be together.  I think the major thing they have in common is that they both are unsure about love.  Hannah has never really met someone she connected with and wanted to experience a kiss with.  Theo on the other had has come out of a broken relationship.  They are able to easily open up and talk to one another, which is great to meet someone and have an instant connection and are able to openly communicate with.

I wish there will be a sequel for these two because I would love to read what happens next with Hannah and Theo.   I felt like I needed more as a reader. 

I would suggest reading this book when you want a cute romance to perk you up.  It is a short read and easy to be able to do in one sitting. 

I received a copy of this book from YA Bound Book Tours for an honest review.  This does not affect my opinion of this book.

My Rating 4/5 

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About the Author

Sarah Vance-Tompkins was born in a small town in northern Michigan. She spent every summer exploring the sugar sand beaches near Sleeping Bear National Park. She left her heart behind when she moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. She received an MFA in Film Production and went on to work in feature film development in Hollywood. She has worked as a reporter for a weekly entertainment trade publication, and been paid to write obituaries, press releases, the directions for use on personal lubricant bottles, and breathless descriptions of engagement rings for an online jewelry store. She lives in a small town north of Los Angeles with her husband and three cats.

Author Links:

   

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