FF Giveaway: Vinyl Record Bookends OR Book of Choice

What better way to celebrate summer and my awesome followers than to have a cool little giveaway!? I wanted to find a way to thank you guys for being all kinds of amaze-balls because it still freakin' boggles my mind that more than one person bothers to listen to me go fangirl over books and music willingly! Anyways, if you're old or new, THANK YOU GUYS! If I could hug every last one of you, I would! However, then we'd probably have some weird awkward moment where you'd be like, "Why is this weird girl hugging me and sobbing uncontrollably?" So let's just forget about that for now.

I was trying to figure out who to feature for my giveaway for a while and was kind of lost. Then my brain started working one day and I didn't know why I didn't think of it sooner! Jessica here comments on AWR a lot since she stopped by here through FF, and I'm always really thankful for it. Follow her, she's awesome!

If you didn't realize it, I'm slightly music obsessed. Since AWR is a book/music review blog, I found these vinyl record bookends from Etsy ridiculously awesome! This giveaway is for either a pair of these bookends OR a book of your choice from The Book Depository. The bookends have no shipping limitations while BD has a few locations where they don't ship to. 

Must follow AWR &  a GREAT read to win!

Please note: AWR will be moving to Wordpress very soon, so GFC will no longer be in use! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Character Interview + Playlist & Giveaway: Casey Barnes Eponymous by E.A Rigg

Last week AWR only gave you guys a small sample of what Casey Barnes is all about. This week she's taking over the blog with her music obsessive hobby of sneaking playlists. I happened to find this stuffed in my mail recently, so I guess she wanted me to share musical treasure! Check out the interview with Casey and enter to win your very own copy of Casey Barnes Eponymous! Contest ends May 20! 


*edit* Moth's Wings by Passion Pit
-If you could only listen to 5 albums the rest of your life, what would they be? 
-That is quite the hardball question, my friend, made all the more tricky because thanks to Internet I rarely buy full-length albums.  I pay for music, but I tend to download singles from iTunes.  Here are 5 songs I could not live without for the next 6 months:

"Civilian" by Wye Oak.  Woodsy rock and roll cool enough to be featured on "Walking Dead" (TV show).   Plus this band is from the great state of Maryland!

"Wolves At The Door" by David Bazan.  Sizzling pop rock.  Good for standing up to nemesii.

"The Cave" by Mumford & Sons.  Tres romantique.

"Carolyn's Fingers" by Cocteau Twins.  Ethereal, good for a pick-me-up any old time 'o day.

"Mushaboom" by Feist.  Cheery with a bit of irreverence.  Feisty, if you will.

-If you could be in someone's music video, which artists would you pick?  

Riz Ahmed.  He's a British Pakistani Actor/Hip Hop singer.  I just saw a film he is in.  So cute.  Such a crush.  

-Boy Bands or Hair Bands? Why?  Hair bands!  
-No question.  There's something noble about refusing to back down from a 20-year-old look.  

-What are future plans for Pop Wire? 
- We plan to take over the world.

-Seriously, what was it about Alex that had you so fascinated?  

-Alex who?  Just kidding.  Ok so he has really beautiful eyes.  And there's something mysterious about him.  He just got me in the solar plexus the way some guys do.  I think all girls can relate.

-Hook-up, marry, kill...Harry Styles, Gavin Rossdale, Deadmau5?  

-Gavin Rossdale has always seemed a bit too pretty for me.  Anyway he's already married.  I had to google Harry Styles.  Is he bigger in Oz than in the states, perhaps?  That leaves Deadmau5.  But he's more my type than the other two...so sure I'll walk down the aisle with that dude.  Do I have to wear some long frilly white thing though?

Thanks to Casey for stopping by! Enter below to win one of two eBook copies of Casey Barnes Eponymous by E.A. Rigg!

Giveaway & Playlist: Narrative Loserdom: From Journal One by Ryan Collins

Justin Taggart doesn’t know anything (about being a loser). He likes girls and plays sports and has some friends. Unfortunately his fear of rejection outweighs his ability to deal with these well. Mostly there’s Sterling, the girl of his dreams who knows how to stop his heart by not knowing he likes her. Another thing is trying to get money with Adam, who’s rich anyway so it’s more about hanging out. As for Justin, he makes ends meet by mowing people’s yards with Adam, and sometimes by breaking into vending machines and selling late-night cable programming to peers (also with Adam). But it’s not like he doesn’t feel bad about it, since Jesus died for his sins. School is pretty terrible with all the work and practice, but there are a few people there worth mentioning. Anyone who picks up his journal will be in for something, if they feel like getting through a lot of grammar and spelling problems. They’ll probably end up seeing that they shouldn’t have looked at it anyway, because this is someone’s private anthem of girls, grass, and loserdom.

Ryan Collins was awesome enough to compile a playlist for his book! I gotta say, compiling this playlist was amazing because if you're like me and in your mid-20's, it's like reliving all the songs from high school all over again. Seriously, I can't tell you how many times I said " I loved this song!" while watching videos for this post. Amazing. What's even better than awesome playlists for books? That's right, giveaways! Below enter to win an ebook copy of Narrative Loserdom : From Journal One. Contest will end May 3rd at 11: 59 p.m.

1.  She's So High - Tal Bachman
2. Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus
3. When I Come Around - Green Day
4. Everywhere - Michelle Branch
5. I'm Real - Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule
6. Fat Lip - Sum 41
7. Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
8. Whenever, Wherever - Shakira
9. Ironic - Alanis Morissette
10. Warning- Green Day
11. Graduate - Third Eye Blind
12. Losing a Whole Year - Third Eye Blind
13. Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers
14. Colorblind - Counting Crows
15. A Thousand Miles - Vanessa Carlton
16. Don't Let Me Get Me - Pink
17. By The Way - Red Hot Chili Peppers
18. 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) - Gorillaz
19. Caribou - Pixies

Guest Post & Giveaway: Forgiving Trinity by Liz Reinhardt

Holy freakin' begeezus! Liz Reinhardt is guest posting on A.W.R. Seriously, I don't think you guys understand how excited I am. Her stories are awesome, she's awesome--I can probably continue to say "awesome," but I'll stop.  Anyways, without ranting any further and taking up room that could be used for Liz to wow you, here's Liz's post! (Don't forget to check out the giveaways below!)

How My Idea About Career Success Started With Scrooge McDuck and Ended With Trinity

When I was younger, my idea about being successful in my career centered around having a vault like Scrooge McDuck. It would be full of gold coins and have a diving board, and when I dove into it, I’d surface with a big crown on my head and strings of pearls around my neck and gem-stone rings on my fingers. That’s right.

Woohoo! I don’t even know how to ski…but I’m willing to learn if I have some money to ski down!

I assumed whatever job I had would make this money (artist, archeologist, teacher, waitress, professional book reader, poet). And then I got my first job working at the Five Star Diner.

It was dirty, hard work. My bosses had this old-school ‘indentured servant’ approach to my time there. There was no buspan too big or under-the-booth spill too small for me to haul or scrub on my hands and knees…for $43 a shift!

At 14 (I was an under-the-table laborer), $43 was a fortune. Maybe my vault wouldn’t be full of that many dollars (though, if I exchanged for pennies, I’d be able to dip my toes in!), but I could buy so many things. One movie ticket, one CD, one diner meal, AND one book. I’m trying to think of more examples of things I’d want, but, at 14, I had very few desires.

This picture sums up the way I felt about spending money at 14…but I also just ate a Reuben, saw Romeo + Juliet, and am listening to the new Bjork while I peruse my books. LIFE IS GOOD!

By 16 my parents had built a horrible 50’s style restaurant, and I waitressed there. Sometimes people hear that I was the owners’ daughter and assume I had it easy.

Um, not even close. 

My parents expected longer hours, better service, and zero complaints from me. I spent many an unhappy second shift covering for some girl who called in at the last minute because she’d been invited to another prom unexpectedly or won free tickets to see Bon Jovi. The work was degrading and awful, but the money was good.

I didn’t drive, so there were no vehicle expenses. I basically just shoved my money in my sock drawer, then, when I couldn’t take out a pair of socks without a dollar bill shower, I took it to the bank. After a few months, I had enough to blow on a seven-week backpacking adventure through Ireland and England with my little sister.

We were young, we were wild, there were Blarney Stones to kiss, pints of Guinness to taste, museums to avoid, and MTV Euro to watch at hostels all over Ireland. It was money very well spent.

How do you make years of endless shifts waitressing under your parents’ unrelenting thumbs hurt less? Well, this is a start!

College jobs included waitressing (I’m serious…it never ended!), tutoring, and being a guard at an art museum. I carried a huge course load, studied until my eyes bled, and lost any pigment in my skin from never seeing the light of day. My money went to things like textbooks, tuition payments, and food. Which was usually a box of Bisquick and a large container of Ramen, so I could alternate sweet pancakes and salty soup. It was a dark time where I scraped by on a fairly meager existence.

My sole comfort in life. Thank you, pancake.

But I graduated! And with a newly minted degree in my hands, I was definitely going to do better, make more, and live the good life! I got a job teaching at an all girls Catholic High School. I still remember the starting salary: $22,900. I’m positive my eyes went wide and shiny as a kitten’s. The principal said, “Sorry. It’s the best we can do if you have no experience.” My reply? “WHEEEE!!! I’ll never have to work again!!”

Okay, sidenote: I totally love Hillary! But she and I were getting really, really excited about dreams that…um…just didn’t come true. Sigh.

$22,900 seems like SO MUCH MONEY if you are a young college grad who’s never paid real bills. And, by ‘real bills,’ I do NOT mean putting money in the IHOP pancake jar (mmm, how did they manage to make them so much better than mine?). I soon found that little things cost a lot. Like a roof over your head that your parents are not providing. Or heat. Or eating every day. Or water. Yep. You have to pay for your own water!

But I was bound and determined. I kept going to school to get my official teaching license, all the while working at Home Depot and living with my parents. And I finally got a real teaching job that made my first job look like small potatoes!

Happiness! Success! 

RIGHT?! RIGHT?!

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the Scroooge McDuck vault, but I had things like dental insurance and a 401K. I should have been SO HAPPY!

And there were many happy aspects to teaching. BUT…part of me felt like Katniss when Prim’s name got selected for the Hunger Games. Every day.

It was a lot of survival. Which is fine. New teachers have to do that. They have to survive. But being Katniss for four years wound up making me feel tired. And I didn’t have Peeta on my side.

District 12 is totally fun to read about…but I like things like pancakes and sleeping in and romance too much to actually live there!

I was writing. Sneaky writing. Sneaking my laptop into the livingroom late at night so I wouldn’t bother my husband with my ‘hammer fingers.’ And I knew, I knew right to the bottom of my soul that I wanted to be a writer. It was the first time I wanted a job without having any idea what kind of money I’d make.

My husband and I talked and talked…and talked about it. We came up with a budget and a bottom line number. If I could make that number writing for a certain amount of time, I could probably BE a writer.

Like, writing would be my job.

Full time.

So I put my books out there and held my breath. Readers, bloggers, the writing community was amazing. I hit my number. I even crept a little past it. It wasn’t a Scrooge McDuck number! I’m not sure if there will be any vaults full of gold in my future.

But I get to be a writer.

And even if I can’t afford IHOP pancakes, my husband makes the lightest, fluffiest ones in the world. And his pancakes make me want to write more, better, longer, more amazing!! I want to BE A WRITER!! So thank you if you bought one of my books! Thank you if you liked it and told a friend! Thank you for taking a chance on one kid’s dream. 

Which started with a vault of money, and ended with this:

SQUEEE! I WROTE THAT!! I’M A WRITER!!! WHEEE!!!

Links:

Liz's Blog

Facebook 

Twitter

Goodreads

Don't forget about the goodies! In addition to A.W.R. having a giveaway for a copy of Forgiving Trinity, this tour is also having it's own giveaway. That's SEVEN chances to win! All you have to do is fill out the form below. One entry per person! Both giveaways end April 20th (In the event Rafflecopter hates me, you can leave your email for the A.W.R giveaway below).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway: Choice of Book and $10 I-Tunes Giftcard Birthday Giveaway

Who doesn't like free books and music? In honor of my 21st*cough*okay,26th*cough* birthday this month and having awesome followers, I wanted to do a little giveaway as a thank you! Giveaway is INTERNATIONAL. Fill out the form below for your chance to win your choice of ANY book(No more than $15...I'm not made of money) AND A $10 I-Tunes giftcard. 

CONTEST ENDED:

Winner: Aubrey Laine Fick

Giveaway & Book Notes: Between the Land and the Sea by Derrolyn Anderson

"Something extraordinary is lurking in the deep ocean waters off the coast of Aptos, California. Just a few weeks after moving to the beach town, sixteen year-old Marina has nearly drowned twice, enchanted the hottest guy in high school, and discovered a supernatural creature. If she can manage to survive her increasingly dangerous encounters with unpredictable mermaids, she might just be able to unlock the mystery of her past and learn how to appease the mysterious forces that seem to want something from her... and maybe even find true love along the way."

I haven't read too many books about mermaids, but the stories have always been pretty fascinating to me. Marina, our main character, is someone who is strong, smart and has a lot going for her. As she moves to a new area she goes through the normal adjustment issues, but makes the best of her situation.

The overall story moved a bit slow for me, but it never failed to stay interesting. Anderson filled her book  with colorful characters who you couldn't help wanting to know more about. My personal favorite was Meghan. I was attracted to her most because she was shy, but I saw her develop as I got to know her. I will state that I did have an issue with the character of Evie. I know I haven't read the rest of the series, so my opinion on her could change as I continue, but I really don't get why she's there. I felt her character is in the story more for the convenience of having things work well for Marina and people around her.

An aspect I really appreciated was how Anderson didn't focus on the love story so much. Though it's a large plot point, she keeps more focus on the story of mermaids and how Marina is coping with finding out information. I was actually disappointed that there wasn't more mermaid interaction in this book.

Though I had a few minor issues with the storyline, this book is an enjoyable read for new and old mermaid lovers. I look forward to seeing what happens to Marina and all her friends in the following two books in the Marina's Tales series that are out!

Giveaway: 


Derrolyn has been awesome enough to give me two ebook copies to give away! All you have to do is leave a comment below with your name and email! Contest will end on November 27th at 12 a.m. Go!

ENDED!

Anne Frank Keeps Me Thankful

Holy geezers Batman! This contest is massive. In the spirit of the holidays, Beth Revis
has decided to give thanks to those authors who inspire us in different ways. Picking one person is so difficult with so many great authors out there. It's kind of painful to narrow it down to just one person!

After hours of deliberation, I've finally decided to go with Anne Frank.

Since The Diary of Anne Frank, I've had this weird fascination with reading about the Holocaust. This book always made me remember to be grateful for all the things I have in my life. Frank's writing has this way of being somewhat haunting and inspiring all at once for me. She's also taught me to not take life for granted; you never know if you'll have tomorrow.

Overall, I just want to take this opportunity to thank Anne Frank for her life. Though gone, she will always live on through her work and the people she's impacted with her experiences.

Book Notes & Giveaway: Click-An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker

Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with "My buddies and I were out drinking one night," to the egotistical "B" celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC's, FWD's and inadvertent Reply to All's, readers will root for Renee to "click" with the right man.

Okay, I loved this book pretty hardcore. From the moment I received it, I was excited to read it. It's kind of hard to explain why I hearted it so much without giving bits of the story away, but I'll try to be like a ninja and keep it out of this. My love for this story is mainly because of the characterization. Sure, I loved some characters more than others, but I don't think there was a character in the book that felt undeveloped to me. I felt like I knew every one of them. Actually, that's just it, I DO know someone in my life that could fit well for each character. I think that's what's so great about the book. After reading about all the vampires, magicians, Keebler elves, and zombies(Okay, maybe not the Keebler elves), it's nice to go somewhere familiar. Though I related to Renee the most, Shelley was definitely my favorite character. I don't know how many times her made-up names and overall personality made me laugh. Seriously, you'll get a little taste of what I'm talking about later in the post and will then completely understand the amazingness that is Shelley.

Reviewing this book alone, I was disappointed about a few story lines being left somewhat open-ended, but now I know there's a sequel so I'll forgive Lisa for making me feel sad. All in all, this was a really fun read you should all buy RIGHT NOW!

Blog Tour Guest Post & Giveaway: Breathe by Abbi Glines

If you've been keeping up with this blog(yeah, I know you all stalk me regularly), you've seen a review of a book called "Breathe". Well, this week author, Abbi Glines has been awesome enough to share a guest post giving all you lovely people an inside look to the making of her book and how the name "Breathe" came to be! If ya missed it the first time around, we also have a cool e-book and grand prize giveaway at the end of this post.

The Naming of Breathe

Ideas for stories just pop out of nowhere for a writer. Doesn’t seem to matter where I am or what I’m doing, if a story is floating around somewhere it finds me. Kind of like little fairies looking for a place to curl up. A writer’s job is to latch onto that one perfect idea and run with it. We are good at that. It’s just how we roll. 

Deciding on the “title” of our beloved story is another thing. Titles aren’t floating around us. They tend to play hide and seek and man are they good at hiding! Hair has been pulled, nails have been bitten, and sleep has been lost trying to come up with that one small description that will become the name of a novel. 

I was recently asked how I came up with the name “Breathe”.  I could have named it a bazillion other things. At one point in the decision making process I had a notebook full of possibilities. A few in the top running were: My Summer with a Rock Star, The Summer I fell in love with a Rock Star, The Boy with a Guitar, and Steal Blue. None of those made me completely happy. None of those truly explained Sadie and Jax. I kept editing and tweaking Breathe, 

getting it ready so I could start sending out queries. Knowing, I had to nail down a title. 

One Sunday afternoon, I sat outside on my front porch rereading my still unnamed manuscript and I came to the turning point in Jax and Sadie’s relationship. The moment Jax laid himself bare as to how he really felt... (a small excerpt from Breathe by Abbi Glines)  “girlfriend seems to be too shallow a word for what I feel for you. These past two weeks it’s been as if you control my breathing. When I watched you with 

Marcus, my chest would tighten, and it became hard to breathe. But then I would see you smile or laugh and I could 

take a deep breath again.” 

After reading that passage the title came to me immediately. It summed up their feelings throughout the entire story. That feeling of tightness in your chest when the one person you love more than life walks away. You truly feel as if without them you can’t breathe. Title found! Gotcha ya, you sneaky little sucker =)

Abbi’s Links:

Website

Goodreads

Twitter

Amazon

Want to try and get your hands on your very own copy of "Breathe"? Check out my review and leave a comment with your email! 

Want some more swag? Visit and comment with your email on all the stops on the YA Bound blog tour for your chance to win all this below!

Winners will be announced on August 25th at 8 p.m. EST during a live chat with Abbi! Good luck all!

Book Tour & Giveaway: Breathe by Abbi Glines

Holy crap! My very first blog tour and giveaway! I'm kind of excited if you couldn't tell. The story of Breathe by Abbie Glines is here to take my blog tour cherry.



"Sadie White’s summer job isn’t going to be on the beach life-guarding or working at rental booths like most kids her age. With her single mother’s increasing pregnancy and refusal to work, Sadie has to take over her mother’s job as a domestic servant for one of the wealthy summer families on a nearby island.
When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie hadn’t spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house she might have been normal enough to be excited about working for a rock star.


Even though Sadie isn’t impressed by Jax’s fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax but he fights his attraction. Relationship’s never work in his world and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. By the end of the summer, Jax discovers he can’t breathe without Sadie.
But can their love overcome the disparity in their lifestyles? Or will they have to learn how to without each other breathe again?"


As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew I had to read it. I mean really, who hasn't thought about what it'd be like to be with someone famous? I could probably come up with a list of people(how YOU doin' Matthew Gray Gubler). 


Glines wrote in a very easy to read manner that never made the book tiresome for me. Though I found some of the characters to be not as well-developed as I would've liked, they all seemed to have a lot of heart. Sadie was a lovable character in a naive way. As a reader, her life really pulled at the heartstrings. For someone who went through that many struggles, she seemed to always have a positive outlook on life and it was nice to see people have hope in their lives. Jax, our male hottie in this book, was written in a way that was almost too perfect. Though I could see how Glines was trying to portray two different sides to him, I would've liked to see more of the "normal" Jax side of him that he continuously said Sadie got to. However, an aspect I realized that I did enjoy was having a male character be the one to lay his heart out on the line. There are so many YA books out there always having the girl fall for some guy, where this book took a turn and had a male character speak about his emotions and what he felt for a girl without the girl saying it first. 


Sadie and Jax's relationship overall was pretty adorable from a teen point-of-view,but seemed a bit unrealistic for my taste. Though they were perfectly cute together, I couldn't really see some of their relationship fitting the way it did. The relationship ran a bit quickly for me and I would've enjoyed a little more set-up in them getting to know one another. 


If you're looking for a fun breezy beach read, Breathe could be just what you're looking for. 







Want to win an e-book copy of Breathe by Abbi Glines? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your email so we can contact you!












Just a book not enough for you? Visit and comment with your email on all the stops on the YA Bound blog tour for these awesome prizes!








Winners will be announced on August 25th at 8 p.m. EST during a live chat with author Abbi Glines! Good luck!