The Boy Next Door Blog Tour | Guest Post + Giveaway

The Boy Next Door


 

Book Cover The Boy Next Door Katie Van Ark

 

Maddy Spier has been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls.

Gabe can’t imagine skating with anyone but Maddy, and together they have a real chance at winning some serious gold medals. So, he’s determined to keep thinking of her like a sister. After all, he’s never had a romantic relationship that lasted for more than two weeks.

But when their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big breakup that Gabe has always feared?


 

Guys, I’m really excited for today’s post, from Katie Van Ark, the debut author of THE BOY NEXT DOOR. Everyone say hi! *waves to Katie*

When I heard that THE BOY NEXT DOOR was basically a YA The Cutting Edge, I got VERY excited, so I obviously couldn’t say no to a stop on the blog tour! (Thanks, Swoon Reads for including me!) I really wanted to know if all of the figure skating in the book was based on Katie’s own experience or if she had to do research on it. So I asked her! Here’s what she said:

 

I’ve spent over ten years now competing in figure skating and I drew heavily from my own training and competition experiences to create Maddy and Gabe’s story. I gave Maddy my absolute love of everything ice. I gave Gabe my own fear of jumping. I even took a pair test to help accurately convey the experience of skating as a pair.

The coolest thing about my own figure skating story, though, is that I didn’t start skating until I was an adult. Growing up, I always wanted to skate but my hometown didn’t have a rink. My father helped me build an outdoor rink one year in our backyard but with fickle lakeshore temperatures, it was a labor of love and we weren’t able to skate much on it. It was also pretty small – about ten steps and you were at the end of it.

After college, an old friend and I were at her New Year’s Eve party lamenting how out of shape we’d gotten since our swim team days and we made a New Year’s resolution to try a new sport together. We signed up for a skating class. I thought maybe I’d finally learn to do crossovers and stop without crashing into the boards. When our instructor taught us how to do a little two foot spin at the end of our first eight week session, we were hooked. When she told us that U.S. Figure Skating had an adult competition track with its own national competition, we had yet another resolution.

Like Maddy, my friend had a lot more natural talent – she kicked my butt at every jumping contest we ever had. But I was determined and dedicated and we both made it to several national competitions. Now that I have two little girls at home, I don’t get to train the way that I used to but I have a great group of ladies that I skate together with on a synchronized skating team.

January is National Skating Month and a lot of rinks celebrate with free skating sessions and sometimes even free lessons, so if you’ve ever wanted to experience Maddy and Gabe’s world in real life, check it out!

Thanks, Katie! 

Because the lovely folks at Swoon Reads are fabulous, and because THE BOY NEXT DOOR is really cute, they’re giving away a copy to one lucky winner! HUZZAH! Few rules: Must live in the US/Canada, be 13 or older, and respond to my “YAY, YOU WON!” email within 24 hours.

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Katie Van Ark (c) Jennifer HefkoAuthor Links/Info

  • Learn more about The Boy Next Door.
  • Learn more about Swoon Reads.
  • Join in on social media with #BoyNextDoor (bonus points if you also tag @SwoonReads!)
  • Add The Boy Next Door to your to-read list on Goodreads.

Visit Katie’s website, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

 

Blog Tour Guest Post + Review | Broken | C.J. Lyons

Book cover for Broken by CJ Lyons

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound | Book Depository

CJ Lyons: Web | Twitter

Summary: The only thing fifteen-year-old Scarlet Killian has ever wanted is a chance at a normal life. Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, she has never taken the school bus. Or giggled with friends during lunch. Or spied on a crush out of the corner of her eye. So when her parents offer her three days to prove she can survive high school, Scarlet knows her time is now… or never. Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with every slammed locker and every sideways glance in the hallway. But this high school is far from normal. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does.

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Blog Tour Review | Blackmoore | Julianne Donaldson

Book cover for Blackmoore by Julianne DonaldsonTitle: Blackmoore
Author: Julianne Donaldson
Genre: Historical Romance
Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release date: September 9, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher via NetGalley

Summary: Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.

Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist.

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Blog Tour & Book Review: House of Secrets by Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini

Book cover for House of Secrets by Chris Columbus and Ned VizziniTitle: House of Secrets
Authors: Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini
Series: House of Secrets #1
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Amazon | Goodreads
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release date: April 23, 2013
Source: ARC from the publisher for blog tour

Summary: The Walker kids had it all: loving parents, a big house in San Francisco, all the latest video games . . . but everything changed when their father lost his job as a result of an inexplicable transgression. Now the family is moving into Kristoff House, a mysterious place built nearly a century earlier by Denver Kristoff, a troubled writer with a penchant for the occult.

Suddenly the siblings find themselves launched on an epic journey into a mash-up world born of Kristoff’s dangerous imagination, to retrieve a dark book of untold power, uncover the Walker family’s secret history and save their parents . . . and maybe even the world.

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Blog Tour: Poison by Bridget Zinn

Poison by Bridget Zinn

book cover for poison by bridget zinn

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Powells | iTunes | IndieBound 

Add POISON on Goodreads!

Check out more about Bridget and her awesome book and life on the web

Friends, I am so happy to be participating in this blog tour for POISON by Bridget Zinn. It’s so special that so many people are joining up to spread the word about this really sweet, fun fantasy (I’m typing up my review as soon as I’m done posting this). It gives me the warm-fuzzies, even while it makes me a little bit sad: I’d love for the chance to read more of Bridget’s books, but if this is the one we get, I’m more than happy with that, too.

About Bridget Zinn

Bridget Zinn

Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the “summer of love” and the two celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died. Her last tweet was “Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect.”

Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers’ copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads.

Lots of other super people are participating–or have already participated–in this tour. You can check out out the whole list here.

Book Review | The Unfailing Light | Robin Bridges

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Book Review | The Unfailing Light | Robin BridgesThe Unfailing Light by Robin Bridges
Series: The Katarina Trilogy #2
Published by Delacorte on October 9, 2012
Genres: Fantasy YA, Historical Fiction, Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Also by this author: The Gathering Storm
Source: the publisher via NetGalley
AmazonBarnes & NobleGoodreads
four-stars

Having had no choice but to use her power has a necromancer to save Russia from dark forces, Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, now wants to forget that she ever used her special powers. She’s about to set off to pursue her lifelong dream of attending medical school when she discovers that Russia’s arch nemesis–who she thought she’d destroyed–is still alive. So on imperial orders, Katerina remains at her old finishing school. She’ll be safe there, because the empress has cast a potent spell to protect it against the vampires and revenants who are bent on toppling the tsar and using Katerina for their own gains. But to Katerina’s horror, the spell unleashes a vengeful ghost within the school, a ghost more dangerous than any creature trying to get in.

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Book Review + Giveaway: The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Book cover for The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini

Title: The Other Normals

Author: Ned Vizzini

Genre: Fantasy YA, Contemporary YA, gaming

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Release date: September 25, 2012

Amazon | Goodreads

Source: ARC from the publisher

Summary: The Other Normals centers on 15-year-old Peregrine “Perry” Eckert, who’s seriously obsessed with an uber-dorky role-playing game called Creatures & Caverns. Concerned about his stunted social skills and need for fresh air, Perry’s parents decide to ship him off to summer camp to become a man. He anticipates the worst summer of his life until he arrives at camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals, a place where his nerdy childhood may serve him well — but not without connecting with the real world first.

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Guest Post: Ned Vizzini

Aka, the most awesome guest post ever because NED CODED IT FOR ME. I mean, honestly. Anyway, Ned’s about to give us all a rundown of his experiences with Dungeons & Dragons. Preview: It’s kind of awesome.

◊ ◊ ◊

How Dungeons & Dragons is Supposed to Be Played — With Friendship

The most important part of the Dungeons & Dragons manual, which has been sold with the game for almost 40 years, is the part that gives an example of how to play:


DM: You’ve been following this tunnel for about 120 yards. The water on the floor is ankle deep and very cold. Now and then you feel something brush against your foot. The smell of decay is getting stronger. The tunnel is gradually filling with a cold mist.
Fighter 1: I don’t like this at all. Can we see anything up ahead that looks like a doorway,or a branch in the tunnel?
DM: Within the range of your torchlight, the tunnel is more or less straight. You don’t see any branches or doorways.
Cleric: The wererat we hit had to come this way. There’s nowhere else to go.
Fighter 1: Unless we missed a hidden door along the way. I hate this place; it gives me the creeps.
Fighter 2: We have to track down that wererat. I say we keep going.

[taken from the AD&D Player’s Handbook 2nd Edition]

This is how all my Dungeons & Dragons games actually went:


DM: Okay so we’re starting a game and I’m the dungeon master and —
My Friend: Hold on, aren’t we doing the Barrathur campaign?
DM: No, Ned’s here. So we’re starting a new campaign.
My Friend: With a 1st level character?!
Me: Should I buy rope at the store before my character goes on this adventure?
My Friend: Rope! What’s wrong with — BRRRING BRRRING — hold on my mom’s calling!

So I didn’t have a ton of teenaged D&D experience before I wrote my new book The Other Normals:

The Other Normals -- Cover

But I do have an adult D&D story.

It happened at the Park Slope Food Coop, the world-famous cooperative supermarket in Brooklyn, which is a terrible place to be associated with or even to have heard of — but I have an excuse because I grew up near it.

Park Slope Food Coop

The Food Coop works on a membership basis. To be a member (and get access to the coop’s fresh, organic, inexpensive food) you have to do two hours and forty-five minutes of work there every month.

I volunteered one month to be a cashier, which was tough. You may think that the person who bags and rings up your groceries has an easy gig, but do YOU know the difference between mustard greens and chard? And can YOU select one or the other of these items in .05 seconds on a touch screen while dozens of people are waiting to buy their Amy’s microwave meals?

Microwave Amy's Kids Meal

And then there are the lulls… periods when no one is buying anything and you’re bored out of your skull… To get through these times, I brought the Monstrous Manual to the cash register.

Monstrous Manual

A woman came up with some chard and noticed the book.

“Do you play?”

I was confused. No woman had ever asked me about D&D before.

“Uh, not really… I just like the books…”

“My husband runs games. You should come play with him!”

Two weeks later I was at an apartment in Park Slope with five other guys who had been playing for years. Their level of employment ran from the “gigs” section of Craigslist to corporate law. The leader, Bryson, who was our dungeon master, taught preschool and said of his students: “Four-year-olds are just mean. Two-year-olds want to play with poop, three-year-olds are silly… but four-year-olds are treacherous.”

This was the group I should have found when I was younger. Our games were fun and they moved briskly — even though my characters died a lot. I would name characters things like “Bryshnnkim” that were selected by Samuel Stoddard’s Fantasy Name Generator. That annoyed Bryson and he’d drop lizard carcasses on me and kill me.

I’ll never forgot the day I was playing when I got the phone call.

It was Los Angeles. Someone I was working with was asking me, basically: what happened to your novel?

I had been working on this novel that seemed really exciting at the time, but it was becoming unusable. My career was in a lull that put the Food Coop to shame. I was treading water, wasting time… and on top of all that I was playing D&D!

I had to hide these truths on the call, of course. I said everything was fine and the novel was coming along great. But as I put my phone back in my pocket, I noticed that Bryson & company were staring at me. I’d taken the call in the kitchen and spent the entire time pacing in circles, flexing and clenching my fingers.

“Are you okay?”

“I… uh… I should go… I shouldn’t be playing right now. I have things to do.”

I got my coat and went to the door. There were some unappreciative hoots from my fellow players, but as I left, I’ll never forget what Bryson said. He said it to me quietly, just before I left.

“If things are messed up or whatever, you know, you can tell me. I don’t just play D&D with you. You’re my friend.”

◊ ◊ ◊

Thank you, Ned! I do not know the difference between mustard greens and chard, but I DO recognize a sweet guest post when I see one! So glad to have you on the blog today!

Now, everyone go check out my review of Ned’s book, THE OTHER NORMALS, and enter my giveaway!

Blog Tour: Character Interview with Cat Crawford

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble

Visit Rachel: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Check the other stops on the tour!

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Blog Tour Review + Giveaway: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

Amazon | Goodreads | Barnes & Noble

Visit Rachel: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Check the other stops on the tour!

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