Blog Tour: Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend by Alan Cumyn Playlist + Giveaway

Title: Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend

Author: Alan Cumyn
Publisher: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date: March 22, 2016
Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary
Source: From publisher

Pages: 304

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Prepare to be blown away—or rather, carried away on huge muscular wings—by this blissfully outlandish, bracingly-smart, tour de force about a teen who has to come to terms with relinquishing control for the first time as she falls for the hot new…pterodactyl…at school. After all, everybody wants him! Sheils is very pleased with her perfectly controlled life (controlling others while she’s at it). She’s smart, powerful, the Student Body Chair, and she even has a loving boyfriend. What more could a girl ask for? But everything changes when the first-ever interspecies transfer student, a pterodactyl named Pyke, enrolls at her school. There’s something about him—something primal—that causes the students to lose control whenever he’s around. Even Sheils, the seemingly perfect self-confident girl that she is, can’t keep her mind off of him, despite her doting boyfriend and despite the fact that Pyke immediately starts dating Jocelyn, the school’s fastest runner who Sheils has always discounted as a nobody. Pyke, hugely popular in a school whose motto is to embrace differences, is asked to join a band, and when his band plays at the Autumn Whirl dance, his preternatural shrieking music sends everyone into a literal frenzy. No one can remember what happened the next day, but Shiels learns that she danced far too long with Pyke, her nose has turned purple, and she may have done something with her boyfriend that she shouldn’t have. Who’s in control now? Hilarious and relatable (despite the dinosaur), Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend is about a teen who must come to terms with not being in control of all things at all times, break free of her mundane life, discover who her true self is, and, oh, finding out that going primal isn’t always a bad thing

How insane does this book sound? I need a playlist to go with that story and today we have Alan Cumyn, the author of Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend here to help set the musical mood. These are the five songs Alan chose to represent Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend!

1. "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie – Pyke, the pterodactyl, gets everybody in a whirl

2. "Extraordinary Machine" by Fiona Apple – what's playing in the subconscious of Vista View High's Student Body Chair Shiels Krane

3. "Wild Thing" as performed by Animal, of the Muppets – the drumbeat to the whole book 

4. "Love Hurts", the Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris version – for the breakup of Shiels and her near-perfect boyfriend, Sheldon Myers 

5. "I'm Alive" by the Screaming Iguanas of Love -- gotta love the band name

Thank you, Alan! It was so much fun to have you on the blog today.

ABOUT ALAN CUMYN:

Alan Cumyn is the author of twelve wide-ranging and often wildly different novels. A two-time winner of the Ottawa Book Award, he has also had work shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, the Giller Prize, and the Trillium Award. He teaches through the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a past Chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada. He lives in Ontario, Canada.

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Blog Tour Review + Playlist: Unchosen by Michele Vail

Title: Unchosen (The Reaper Diaries #2)
Author: Michele Vail
Publisher: A Freeman Publication
Release Date: October 29, 2013
Source: eARC provided for tour

Goodreads Summary:

I thought the worst of my reaper training was behind me… turns out I was wrong. Dead wrong. 

Molly Bartolucci has done a lot of growing up but after being accused of using illegal magic at her school for necromancers, reaper-in-training Molly is treading lightly. As the destined leader of Anubis’s Chosen, she needs to study hard, train harder, and stay out of trouble. 

Uh, right. 

It doesn’t help that she’s feeling more than academic about her melt-your-bones hot reaping instructor, Rath. And if her relationship drama isn’t enough to drive her over the edge, she has to deal with mother issues, nosy little sisters, suspicious friends, and an unnamed force stalking her at school. 

Then her family is attacked, and her bio-dad ends up comatose in the hospital. Now, Molly has to uncover who’s trying to hurt her loved ones—and all without the help of Anubis.

This is the second book in the Reaper Diaries but Michele did a great job recapping the first book in the first few pages and then dropped some reminders throughout the novel. Since the book is told with some parts being journal entries, it's easy to figure out what happened in the first of the series. We kind of jump right in from where the first one left off and things start going wrong for Molly right away.

The characters didn't really develop much from the first novel. My favorite character continued to be Henry, Molly's ghoul. He was always there for her, zero questions. Yes, technically that's his job but I have a feeling he'd be there for her even if it wasn't. He's not supposed to show emotions but sometimes you can see a little spark in him. Rath, the love interest, is still as adorable as always. He's less frustrating in this book compared to his character in the first one but he still keeps his bad boy charm and I'm happy Michele kept that in. Plus, every time Rath called Molly, "brown eyes", I melted a little (or A LOT).

I really love the format in which this series takes form. In between each chapter Michele allows for quotes from some of the history books written in this Reaper world and they kept me interested. It was entertaining to learn more about Molly's Reaper history.

The one true problem I had with this book was that the plot seemed to be lacking something. Molly gets into trouble from page one and things quickly happen from there but it seemed like nothing was developing, even though a lot of things were happening. I don't know if this makes sense but I'm not how else to explain it. That said, this book was the type of entertaining, fast book everyone needs once in a while. The last five pages had me glued to the book and the ending makes me think the third book in this series is going to be action packed and amazing.

Also, I'm glad we got to see more of Molly's sister, Ally. Hopefully she makes more of an appearance in the third book because I loved reading about her character and seeing it develop. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

Rating:

★ ★ ★☆☆

I also picked some songs that I think go well with the book and I love each and every one of them.

Playlist:

Glory and Gore by Lorde

Something to Believe In by Parachute

This Moment by Katy Perry

If I Lose Myself by OneRepublic

Something I Need by OneRepublic

I Lived by OneRepublic

Let me know what you think of the playlist. These songs all have a certain vibe to them that reminded me of the book.

Blog Tour: Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor Review + Playlist and Giveaway

In this breathtaking debut that reads like Gossip Girl crossed with Twin Peaks, a Queen Bee at a blue-blooded New England prep school stumbles into a murder mystery.
Anne Dowling practically runs her exclusive academy on New York’s Upper East Side—that is, until she accidentally burns part of it down and gets sent to a prestigious boarding school outside of Boston. Determined to make it back to New York, Anne could care less about making friends at the preppy Wheatley School. That is, until her roommate Isabella’s body is found in the woods behind the school.
When everyone else is oddly silent, Anne becomes determined to uncover the truth no matter how many rules she has to break to do it. With the help of Isabella’s twin brother Anthony, and a cute classmate named Brent, Anne discovers that Isabella wasn’t quite the innocent nerdy girl she pretended to be. But someone will do anything to stop Anne’s snooping in this fast-paced, unputdownable read—even if it means framing her for Isabella’s murder.

Expected Publication: July 30th 2013

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Purchase: Amazon

A lot of covers lately have the girl with the plaid skirt and high socks. You know, the usual boarding school outfit, and by that I mean this book, Also Known As, the Hex Hall books and the Gallagher Girls series. I'm a little skeptical when it comes to these covers but the books themselves are some of my favorite books and this one continued the trend.

Prep School Confidential was really fast paced to the point where there was never a lull. Either I was laughing out loud, or I was in the middle of a really intense page turning scene the entire time. The main character, Anne, can come off as a little snotty when you first start the books so, fair warning, but I liked her character. Is it wrong? Kara Taylor just did her cattiness so well. Anne didn't necessarily say rude things out loud but I found myself thinking the same thing she was thinking so I definitely related to her. As I said before, she can come off as too snobby and annoying in the first chapters, but as you read on and get to know Anne, you find out that she isn't like that at all. In reality she's the only one who actually cares enough to find out what really happened to her Isabella after she's found dead. 

There were two love interests, as there usually happen to be in young adult books. There's Anthony, Isabella's twin and Brent. I will tell you that I was super suspicious about one of them up until the very end of the book. And even now I still don't fully trust him. We'll see what happens in the next book (OH YEAH, THERE'S A SEQUEL).

There was no way I could have guessed who was behind the murder. I had some ideas and then started narrowing it down but Kara Taylor did a fabulous job with the mystery. The only problem I had was that there was an overload of information. So many things were going on at the same time in this school that I found it a bit overwhelming. There were some things that were left with an open ending but hopefully the next book develops more on them.

I didn't know there was going to be a sequel but I'm so excited for the next book now! There are still a plethora of things unresolved and I'm so curious. In my opinion, there aren't enough good mystery books in YA and that's my favorite genre. I highly suggest you fellow mystery lovers pick this one up.

4.5/5

Playlist:

I Love It by Icona Pop

-The main character doesn't care what anyone does or says and I think this really empowering song fits her character. Plus, she burned down part of her school..."and watched it, let it burn"...anyone?

Change My Mind by One Direction

Beautiful People by Cher Lloyd

Your Biggest Mistake by Ellie Goulding

This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) by Ellie Goulding

-Reminds me of Isabella's character and the way she thinks and sees things.

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Blog Tour: The Forgotten Ones by Laura Howard Review + Playlist + Giveaway

Allison O'Malley's plan is to go to grad school so she can get a good job and take care of her schizophrenic mother. She has carefully closed herself off from everything else, including a relationship with Ethan, who she's been in love with for as long as she can remember. What is definitely not part of the plan is the return of her long-lost father, who claims he can bring Allison's mother back from the dark place her mind has gone. Allison doesn't trust her father, so why would she believe his stories about a long forgotten Irish people, the Tuatha de Danaan? But truths have a way of revealing themselves. Secrets will eventually surface. And Allison must learn to set aside her plan and work with her father if there is even a small chance it could restore her mother's sanity.

When I first read the synopsis for The Forgotten ones, I could have sworn it was a contemporary, coming of age/ finding yourself story. The last thing I expected was the paranormal twist that was thrown in there.

Alison's mom suffers from schizophrenia and she has spent most of her life thinking it was her fault that this happened since her mom was normal before she became pregnant with her. The reality is completely off base. Strange things begin to happen, like black birds camping out in her front yard and then her long lost father that she's never met suddenly shows up on her door step. From there things get even weirder.

I really fell in love with some of the characters. Especially the main love interest, Ethan. Ethan is a contagious character and I spent most of the first half of the book laughing right along with him. He's fun, sweet, goofy, adorable and smoking hot all at the same time. I hope we see more of him in the second book. Alison's best friend is also her cousin and neighbor, Nicole. They're inseparable but at the same time so different. Nicole is popular and outgoing while Alison is more focused on taking care of her mother and grandparents. Alison is 21 and instead of going out with her friends, she has a life plan revolving her mother. She's dedicated her entire life to helping her, which means she isolates herself from others. The infuriating thing about her is how she pushes Ethan away when he clearly just wants to help her anyway he can. It's understandable and frustrating at the same time. I understand that she doesn't need distractions because she has enough going on in her life, but if she just trusted Ethan a bit her life would be simpler. wouldn't let him get close to her even though she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

As I mentioned earlier the first half of the story has a very contemporary feel to it but the second half delves into irish folklore. Alison's father Liam is irish and she quickly learns that there's more to her backstory. There are many more characters introduced and while their names are a bit complicated, they add more to the story. Laura Howard does a great job with the world of the fey. I hardly read fairy books but this one was well done. I had a little bit of a difficult time getting into the story. My attention wasn't completely captured at first but by the end I was intruiged. The ending was filled with action and I'll be reading the second book in this trilogy. I can't wait to see where Laura Howard takes this story. If you're looking for a fairy book, start this one because it's well done and quick to get through.

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My "The Forgotten Ones" Playlist:

1. Heart Attack - Demi Lovato

This shows the side of Alison that's scared to let Ethan into her life.

2. Dark Side - Kelly Clarkson

Reminded me of Allison and the problems she has and how even though she pushes Ethan away she still wants him there with her. She has the dark secret of the fey world.

3. We Come Running - Youngblood Hawke
It makes me feel how she must have felt seeing all the beauty in the fey world.

4. All Alone - Fun.

Makes me think of her relationship with her mom and how she feels alone. Having to take care of her mom.

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Giveaway:

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