So… I’m Barely Staying Afloat

Item: Rebound
Rating: 4.5
Author: Jana

Posted March 12, 2015 by Jana in About Me / 26 Comments

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, things have been a little sparse over here at That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s not for lack of trying, I assure you! I am unbelievably busy this semester, plus I’ve had some health issues so things are really stressful right now. Many of you probably remember my post with all the titles for my YA literature class this semester. I’m a really slow reader, so all my non-paper-writing time is spent frantically reading as fast as I can. I’m seriously drowning!

So, I’m making my official “things will be a little slow for a little while” announcement. The Debut Author Challenge is not changing at all. The link-ups, Debut Dish posts, and giveaways will go on as scheduled. You just might see fewer reviews, discussions, and Top Ten Tuesday posts until May when the semester ends. I’m all over Twitter, so come see me there if you’re just not getting enough Jana in your life. :)

Wish me luck!

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee Book Trailer Reveal + Giveaway

Posted March 10, 2015 by Jana in Giveaway / 0 Comments

Hi! I’m pleased to participate in the book trailer reveal for debut author Fonda Lee’s upcoming book, Zeroboxer. Check back next month to see her on the Debut Dish!

This isn’t your usual book trailer. Instead, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite parts of writing Zeroboxer: envisioning and depicting the sport of zeroboxing. How would a combat sport work in the absence of gravity? Check out what these martial artists and fighters have to say about it.

Then enter the giveaway for a chance to win a prize pack of six science fiction and fantasy books from Flux / Llewellyn, including an ARC of Zeroboxer, which releases on April 8!

– Fonda

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee
April 8, 2015 from Flux
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A Sci-Fi Thrill Ride Set in the Action-Packed Sports Arena of the Future

A rising star in the weightless combat sport of zeroboxing, Carr “the Raptor” Luka dreams of winning the championship title. Recognizing his talent, the Zero Gravity Fighting Association assigns Risha, an ambitious and beautiful Martian colonist, to be his brandhelm––a personal marketing strategist. It isn’t long before she’s made Carr into a popular celebrity and stolen his heart along the way.

As his fame grows, Carr becomes an inspirational hero on Earth, a once-great planet that’s fallen into the shadow of its more prosperous colonies. But when Carr discovers a far-reaching criminal scheme, he becomes the keeper of a devastating secret. Not only will his choices place everything he cares about in jeopardy, but they may also spill the violence from the sports arena into the solar system.

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Dove Arising Blog Tour | Q&A with Karen Bao

Posted March 3, 2015 by Jana in Author Interview, Blog Tour / 5 Comments

Welcome to my spot along the blog tour for Dove Arising by Karen Bao, hosted by Penguin Teen! Karen is a 2015 debut author of a pretty exciting book about a girl living on the moon (and a whole lot more). I know you’ve already seen here on The Debut Dish, but today we get to learn even more about her!

When did you first come up with the idea for Dove Arising, and how old were you? Did it come out of a particular experience?

I came up with the idea for Dove Arising when I was seventeen and a senior in high school. I’d just submitted college applications and had many doubts about my future: where would I be next year? What direction would my career take me? Was I ready to leave home?

When Phaet joins Militia, she faces these same questions, but she also deals with many more restrictions on her freedom. Many of these were inspired by my mom’s childhood. At the time, she started telling me about her own experiences in Communist China. Food rationing was a part of life for most people, but Party members still got everything they needed. (Spoiler alert: my mom’s parents weren’t Party members.)

The government banned classical Chinese texts, denied much of recent history, and closed China off from outside influences. My mother’s father, a university professor, was sent to labor camp in the countryside for a decade, and he was absent for most of her childhood. The government needed more scientists for “progress’s sake,” and essentially forced my mom, a straight-A student, to major in chemistry. In many ways, Phaet’s life resembles my mother’s: she also has a missing father and she studies science like crazy, knowing that academic success is the only way out of poverty.

I guess I wrote Dove Arising as an “escape” from real life, but it made me realize how lucky I was to live in a liberal democracy. I could choose which college I wanted to attend, and I could choose what I wanted to study. Also, I could write a book portraying government oppression without fearing for my life.

What are your thoughts on being a female writing science-fiction/fantasy in an often male-dominated genre or category with male main characters?

I feel like I’m writing in a great genre with great company. Authors like Tamora Pierce, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler sort of paved the way for later female writers in sci-fi/fantasy – and there are a lot of us! Moreover, there’s a growing interest in portraying women, as well as diversity in general. I know male authors who are writing female main characters, and they say it’s easy, just like writing any other person. POC and LGBT characters are also gaining ground. All in all, 2015 is a great time to be a writer!

What’s one of the funniest things that has happened to you during the publication process?

It’s a real challenge to pick the funniest thing that has happened to me in the publication process. I have seen hilarious costumes at Comic Con, had my name spelled “BOA” (like the constrictor) by travel companies, bonded with booksellers about the advantages of wearing leggings instead of real pants, and modeled Dove Arising T-shirts by waving them around like a bullfighter. But perhaps the most laughable incident was when I found out that my book would really take off. Picture this: I’d just taken a shower, so my hair was a wet beehive, and I lunged to pick up my phone (my ringtone sounds like a singing robot). After hearing that Penguin wanted to publish Dove Arising, I was silent. Then I said, “Nawww.” Another pause. Then I squealed and rolled around on the carpet like a happy puppy. I’m glad no one videotaped the scene and shared the footage; I’d lose all professional credibility.

Find Karen at her website, Twitter, and Facebook.
Add Dove Arising to Goodreads.

So, how does Dove Arising sound to you? What do you think about Karen’s discussion on how she came up with the idea?

Q&A with Marie Rutkoski | The Winner’s Crime Blog Tour (+ giveaway)

Posted February 28, 2015 by Jana in Author Interview, Blog Tour, Giveaway / 14 Comments

Welcome to my stop along the The Winner’s Crime blog tour! I love this trilogy, and am so excited to have Marie on the blog today for a little Q&A! Make sure you enter the giveaway for a hardcover copy of The Winner’s Crime as well!

TARG: If you wrote yourself into the Winner’s trilogy, what kind of character would you be?

MR: I’d probably be Sarsine. I’d be the one telling Arin, “Get your head on straight, will you? I love you, but you’re a mess.”

But I also feel close to Kestrel in several ways—or at least closer than I’ve felt with any of my other main characters.

TARG: If you were to give The Winner’s Crime a theme song, what would it be?

MR: U2’s “With or Without You.”

TARG: What already released book do you wish you had written? (Not because it was badly written or anything like that… but because you loved it so much!)

MR: I’m going to choose my favorite recent release: I’ll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson.

TARG: Tell us about your most relaxing day ever.

MR: I wake up to the sound of the ocean somewhere warm, preferably in Positano, and lay in bed reading while someone brings me tea and a French apricot pastry. I know that my parents or in-laws are taking great care of my children and they are having a blast. I go down to the beach, swim, read and lie in the sun. When the day gets too hot, I go into the cool interior to write. I take the longest shower ever. I practice the violin for a bit. I go out to dinner with my family and then for drinks down by the dark sea with my best friends. The stars are bright. I can see the Milky Way.

There should be a massage scheduled in there, too.

TARG: Tell us the most unique and/or random thing about yourself.

MR: My spine is slightly crooked. I like to drink plain hot water in winter (I call it “silver tea”). I sometimes have incredibly detailed dreams.

Don’t you just love Marie? Her perfect day sounds AMAZING, and what great taste in music she has!

So. Time to get excited about The Winner’s Crime! If you’re brand new to the series, read about the first book, The Winner’s Curse. If you feel like tweeting about how excited you are, or how much you love Marie, use #TheWinnersCrime so everyone knows! (Oh, and tweet @marierutkoski and let her know, too!)

The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Series: The Winner’s Trilogy #2
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Buy the Book • Add to Goodreads

Book two of the dazzling Winner’s Trilogy is a fight to the death as Kestrel risks betrayal of country for love.

The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement…if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.

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Rebound by Noelle August | Book Review + Giveaway

Posted February 26, 2015 by Jana in Blog Tour, Book Review, Giveaway, New Adult / 2 Comments

Rebound by Noelle August
Series: Boomerang #2
Also in this series: Boomerang
Published by William Morrow on February 10, 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Edelweiss)
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Buy on Amazon • Buy on B&N • Buy on Audible

Hooking up is only the beginning of the fun in this sexy and irresistible second installment of the thrilling New Adult series, Boomerang.

Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-two, he’s fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot and at the top of the heap in the business world. His life is perfect, until a scandal from his past resurfaces and knocks the tech wunderkind down, throwing his company, Boomerang, a hook-up site for millennials, into chaos.

Three years ago, Adam married his high school love—and then lost her in a tragic accident. Now, the heartbreak and guilt he’s tried to bury with work and women begins to take over his life.

Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon—and the very ex-girlfriend of Boomerang’s former intern, Ethan—has a problem of her own. She’s got one chance to prove to her father that she deserves a place in his empire by grabbing control of Boomerang and taking Adam down.

But as Alison moves in on him, armed with a cadre of lawyers and accountants, she discovers there’s much more to Adam and Boomerang than meets the eye. Will earning her father’s approval come at the price of losing her first real love? It appears so, unless Adam can forgive her for wrecking his life and trying to steal his livelihood. But Alison hopes that old adage is right. Maybe love can conquer all.

I love Boomerang so much (see my review), and so I was very excited when I was approached to be a part of the blog tour for Rebound, the second book in the series. I’m pretty leery of new adult books because they tend to be all angsty, dramatic, and full of bad decisions and one-night stands. I absolutely love this series, though, so if you’re like me and avoid new adult as often as possible, give this series a shot! As always, my main points are bolded. :)

1. I know everyone knows this already, but Noelle August is a pen name for an author duo including VERONICA ROSSI. I love her! And I am seriously so happy that she was the one who made me decide to read these books and give new adult a chance.

2. Rebound is FUN. It’s all about being sexy and exciting without the focus falling on sex and lust. There’s a pretty adorable scuba diving scene that had me swooning. Rebound is steam, tension, humor, and serious issues. These people are real and flawed, which is what I want in my characters!

3. Adam. Blackwood. BOY does he have a story. He’s the creator of Boomerang, and I loved learning more about him and his secrets. He’s got a hard exterior, not letting anyone in since his ex died. He has his friends, and that’s that. Alison makes him want to change and let someone new in, but it’s hard. However, it’s fun for us! I love watching him trust Alison more and more, connecting with her in ways he’s scared to with anyone else. MAN is he swoony. And sexy. LOVE Adam.

4. Alison is given a chance to redeem herself in this book, as many people are unhappy with her for what she did to Ethan. And she does! I really liked Alison. She’s tender (she saves and rehabilitates horses!), caring, and trying to fit in to her jerky father’s huge shoes. She has her flaws and insecurities as well. She’s made mistakes and she owns them.

5. I loved seeing the rest of the gang at Boomerang again! Mia makes an unfortunate return to us, but I still adore her. I was even happy to see Cookie again, and I’m not her biggest fan. It was like catching up with old friends.

6. The story is told in alternating viewpoints, going back and forth between Alison and Adam. I love it when an author (or in this case, authors) does this, but is has to be done right or things feel redundant. This was done RIGHT, and added so much to the dynamism of the story.

All in all, I loved Rebound. I’m not sure I loved it as much as I did Boomerang because, as we all know, our first loves hit us the hardest. But I loved returning to Boomerang and these characters, I loved seeing Adam and Alison figure things out, and I can’t wait for the next book, Bounce, which is all about Adam’s hilarious younger brother.

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Find Noelle August on Facebook and Twitter!

And be sure to follow the rest of the Rebound blog tour!

Gone Pecan 2/26/2015
Travels n Reads 2/26/2015
GenGen’s Book Blog 2/26/2015
Lustful Literature 2/26/2015
That Artsy Reader Girl 2/26/2015
Hiver & Cafe 2/26/2015
Reese’s Reviews 2/26/2015
Seeing Night Book Reviews 2/26/2015
Curling Up With a Good Book 2/26/2015
Avid Reader Musings 2/26/2015
Making it Happen 2/26/2015
FicWishes 2/26/2015
Book Angel Booktopia 2/27/2015
Cere’s Books World 2/27/2015
Chaotic Reader 2/27/2015
Milky Way of Books 2/28/2015