Tag: #HoughtonMifflinHarcourt

Review/ Unslut A Diary & A Memoir

Posted on by Cindy
UnSlut by Emily Lindin
Format: ARC
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on December 29th 2015
Pages: 304
Goodreads
Genres: Biography & Autobiography, Bullying, Dating & Sex, Girls & Women, Juvenile Nonfiction, Social Issues, Women

When Emily Lindin was eleven years old, she was branded a “slut” by the rest of her classmates. For the next few years of her life, she was bullied incessantly at school, after school, and online. At the time, Emily didn't feel comfortable confiding in her parents or in the other adults her my life. But she did keep a diary. Slut/UnSlut is adapted from Emily’s much-acclaimed blog “The UnSlut Project” presenting unaltered excerpts from that diary alongside split-page commentary to provide context and perspective.

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

I picked up this book at #BEA15 purely by luck and I thought at first this wasn’t the book for me because I normally don’t read this kind of stuff but I decided to give it a chance and I managed to breeze through this in two sittings. This is a debut novel.

The book is basically told in a diary format that Emily wrote when she was in grade 6.  The story begins with Emily in grade 6 and it follows her through grade 7 and 8.

Emily is your typical girl trying to fit in with her peers and how one little mistake has labelled her a “slut” in her school. I am trying to remember when I was in grade 6 if we were like that and I honestly don’t remember maybe I just wasn’t hanging out with those kinds of kids or not. Then again I can’t really compare my experiences with kids now a days because its completely different and I have to say that I honestly don’t think I could handle being a grade 6 now. What I went through some thrity years ago is different from what kids are going through now.

Kids can be so nice but yet so cruel. Why are they so quick to label kinds with names and titles that just aren’t right and appropriate? Things like this carry over with these kids and they hold on to that stigma for ever and we need to teach our kids that this isn’t right.

We as parents need to make communication between child and parent very important and stress that no matter what good and bad we are there to listen and help them out.

 

Review/ This Is Where It Ends

Posted on by Cindy
by Marieke Nijkamp
Published by Sourcebooks Fire Goodreads
Genres: Action & Adventure, Bullying, Social Issues, Survival Stories, Violence, Young Adult

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

10:00 a.m. The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve. 10:02 a.m. The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class. 10:03 The auditorium doors won’t open. 10:05 Someone starts shooting. Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

I think this has to be one of my favorite books that I picked up at #BEA15 last year. Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. It grabbed a hold of me from the first page and it still sits with me today. Just be prepared if you pick up this book to read you will need a tissue. This is a fantastic debut novel.

This Is Where It Ends is told in the point of view of Claire, Tomas, Autumn and Sylv. A new semester has started at Opportunity and the Principal Trenton is giving her regular speech that the kids all know pretty much by heart.

Claire is not in the school for the assembly because she is part of the track team and she is out running the track with her team mates when the sound of gunshots forces them to stop. They try to get into the school but its locked so she comes up with a plan to find out what is going on so she puts everyone in groups.

Inside the school Tomas and his friend Fareed are also not in the assembly because they are breaking into the principal’s office trying to find out some information on a kid named Tyler who has left the school and is due to come back. They are in the office and when they realize something is up the go and look out in the hall way and that is when they hear gun fire. Quick thinking they decide to call the police. They are told to get out of the school but Tomas can’t leave because his sister Sylv is in the assembly. He will do anything to protect her.

I don’t want to give to much away about the book because you know what its about. Everyone is surprised at how the shooter is and I think had there been a little more to the story before hand you might have had the chance to figure it out.

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

 

 

Book Spotlight/ Sneak Peeks

Posted on by Cindy

sneakpeeksHMH

THIS IS A SAMPLER containing 2-chapter excerpts from 6 books.

From the complex web of a twenty-year friendship, to the chillingly realistic look at the next world war, to the dark world of Fight Club meetsBridget Jones – this sneak peek sampler includes a bit of everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt brings you a compelling ebook sampler containing excerpts of new and diverse fiction.

Sneak Peaks includes a two-chapter excerpt from each of the following ebooks: How to Start a Fire, Dietland, Ghost Fleet, Maud’s Line, Girl Waits With Gun, and The Zig Zag Girl. Click the link at the end of each excerpt to buy the full ebook.

I love when publishers do this because it allows the reader to get a snippet of what new and exciting books are coming out plus it gives you the chance to read a bit to peek your interest. For me this is a great way to discover a new author(s) that I  might normally pass up when I am at the bookstore plus it allows me to perhaps dig into a book that I might not normally pick up otherwise.

I wish more publishers would follow this and put out these kinds of samplers. Do you like samplers?

This was the case with this sampler. I have discovered a few hidden gems that I think I would have missed out on otherwise. Here is the books that were in the sampler:

  1. How To Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz
  2. Ghost Fleet by P.W Singer & August Cole
  3. Maud’s Line by Margaret Verble
  4. Girls Wait With Gun by Amy Stewart
  5. The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths

I believe that most of these books are out now. 

I had so much fun reading this little snippets of the above books and a few of these titles have made it to my wishlist of books. I love how each book is different from the previous one. I think there is a book in this sampler for everyone who loves to read.