Giveaway: The Cherry Valley Chronicles

We are thrilled to giveaway a copy of Acire's The Cherry Valley Chronicles.
In order to qualify for this book you will need to:

Be a resident of the US.

Enter the contest by midnight EST on January 25, 2011.

Fill out the form below.


A special thanks to author Acire for providing us with her novel for giveaway.

Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to produce the winner.

Alice's Review: The Cherry Valley Chronicles

Summary:  Erin is living the fabulous life but when the death of a loved one occurs, it turns her world upside down. She goes to the last place on earth for support. In her search for healing a family secret begins to unravel and sends her life into a tailspin. Now Erin is forced to choose between her destiny with a man she doesn't love or break tradition to be with her soul mate.

Review:  When I first read the summary for this novel, I was excited and couldn’t wait to dive in. It sounded like a classic boy meets girl novel with a family secret twist. After my last two reads of typical romance I was looking forward to the drama of family secrets. I will admit, when I got the novel, the author included a note saying to be kind, she didn't have the best editor. I was a little scared, wondering what I got myself into. Turns out I didn't have a lot to worry about.

The first part of the novel reads a lot like a conversation. I really felt that I was sitting on a nice comfy couch with a cup of coffee and across from me was Erin telling me about her life. I loved hearing about her friendship with Chloe and the girls. I loved A.C. and the fact that he didn’t talk. At all. I loved how Erin had a nice normal life.

There were a few things I didn't expect in this novel. The fantasy aspect was one. Although there are not officially two parts to the novel, I felt that the there is a clear divide between worlds. The first part was set in this world, the second takes place in an alternate world. (You’ll have to forgive my lack of proper terminology, I don’t normally read fantasy- type books.)

The other thing I didn’t expect was that overall I think this was a good story. My biggest critique is that it reads more like a first draft. I think Acire was right, her editor didn't do her and her story justice. With a decent editor, I think this novel could have been improved.

What irked me about the story itself is I couldn't understand why Erin wasn't prepared for what was to come. It seemed that everyone knew about Valley Cherry, knew the role Erin was to play. As the reader, I knew Erin was loved. She had great life-long friends, the boyfriend of her dreams and protective parents. She was smart and popular. If everyone cared about her this much, especially her parents, why wasn’t she told about Valley Cherry and her family’s secret? Especially since it impacted her so much. It definitely left me shaking my head.

My favorite part of the novel came at the very end. Erin’s decision totally surprised me. I love that in a novel. I love when the character does something you don’t expect, when she forsakes all sense and stays true to herself.

Overall as a first novel, this was a good effort. I think it’s worth a read but be warned, you will come across grammatical and punctuation errors. Don’t let that deter you, the ending is worth it.

Final Take: 3/5

Please check back with tomorrow, when we'll have a special guest post with Acire.

Jenn's Review: Eighth Grade Bites

Summary: Vlad has to keep his vampire urges under control while dealing with the pressures of middle school.

Thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod really hates junior high. Bullies harass him, the principal is dogging him, and the girl he likes prefers his best friend. Oh, and Vlad has a secret: His mother was human, but his father was a vampire. With no idea of the extent of his powers, Vlad struggles daily with his blood cravings and his enlarged fangs. When a substitute teacher begins to question him a little too closely, Vlad worries that his cover is about to be blown. But then he faces a much bigger problem: He’s being hunted by a vampire killer who is closing in . . . fast!

Review: This is a series that I've wanted to read for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to, and I'm sorry that it took me so long.  There is much to love in this witty, original vampiric creation from author Heather Brewer.

The character of Vlad is empathetic to the core. Not only does he have to deal with all the struggles of being an adolescent in eighth grade, but Vlad also has to deal with being an adolescent vampire.  Forbidden child of a vampire and a human, he's one of a kind. His hunger is growing, and so are his questions and though his secret is shared with his best friend and guardian, they can only help him so much. In search for answers, he digs into his father's journal, but the answers may not come soon enough to save his friends, or himself.

I adored the characters and the writing. A good YA read for guys as well as girls, Brewer approaches middle school with a sense of humor (which is really the only way you can approach it, isn't it?!?). Her mythology is her own, which is refreshing and a bit of an accomplishment in a vampire book. It has all the dark humor of Whedon and the thrill of Stine or Pike. My only complaint is that it was over way too quickly. It felt like things were just getting rolling, not that the story wasn't sufficiently resolved, but it certainly left me wanting more.

I am looking forward to the rest of the series and watching the books mature with the characters. Ninth grade, here I come! --Did I really just say that? Pretty big compliment because I wouldn't return to freshman year of high school for anything but Ninth Grade Slays.

Final Take: 4.0/5.0

Julie's Review: Olive Kitteridge

Summary: Thirteen linked tales from Strout (Abide with Me, etc.) present a heart-wrenching, penetrating portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers living lives of quiet grief intermingled with flashes of human connection. The opening Pharmacy focuses on terse, dry junior high-school teacher Olive Kitteridge and her gregarious pharmacist husband, Henry, both of whom have survived the loss of a psychologically damaged parent, and both of whom suffer painful attractions to co-workers. Their son, Christopher, takes center stage in A Little Burst, which describes his wedding in humorous, somewhat disturbing detail, and in Security, where Olive, in her 70s, visits Christopher and his family in New York. Strout's fiction showcases her ability to reveal through familiar details—the mother-of-the-groom's wedding dress, a grandmother's disapproving observations of how her grandchildren are raised—the seeds of tragedy. Themes of suicide, depression, bad communication, aging and love, run through these stories, none more vivid or touching than Incoming Tide, where Olive chats with former student Kevin Coulson as they watch waitress Patty Howe by the seashore, all three struggling with their own misgivings about life. Like this story, the collection is easy to read and impossible to forget. Its literary craft and emotional power will surprise readers unfamiliar with Strout. ~amazon.com

Review: I read Ms. Strout's first novel Amy and Isabelle years ago and found it to be emotional charged about mothers and daughter relationship and although I don't normally read short stories, I was looking forward to this one.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout is a brilliant read about life as it happens and how real life truly happens. In the day of Facebook where everyone's life seems perfect (really who puts their troubles in their status?!), Ms. Strout offers us a look at the darker side of life in a honest manner. This book tells us about the heartache and truths that happen behind closed doors.

I found that Ms. Strout wrote the stories in such a manner that you felt that they all flowed together. Being in the middle of all these stories is Olive Kitteridge. Is she nice? No. Is she well-meaning? Not particularly. Is she honest and forthright? Yes! And this is what I loved about her. Sure, she's not warm and fuzzy but in the end she's always been honest with everyone but herself. By the last story, Olive faces some truths about herself and seems to be ok with them. Might even be able to learn from them.

There are some fantastic stories in this collection. A couple of my favorites were: Incoming Tide and Starving. Both of these dealt with difficult subjects and how over the years some issues never go away. In both of these stories Olive shows how caring and gentle she is. In Incoming Tide, it seemed to me that she knew just what Kevin needed to hear and without making a big deal of it, she talked him back from his dark place. In Starving, she tries to comfort Nina and give her advice. Albeit the advice isn't going to be the cure but she was caring to someone she didn't know.

All of the stories aren't centered around Olive and all have interesting featured protagonists. In a small town all the people are connected so I understood why Olive showed up in 99% of them. The one where she didn't show up, felt disconnected to the other stories. I'm not sure why that one was included.

The writing is impeccable and this is why I think it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Not that the stories of this little town in Maine aren't human and moving, but it's Ms. Strout's writing that enables you to read through these stories seamlessly.

I will continue to look for and read Ms. Strout's novels/short stories. She is truly a gifted storyteller. I also think that Olive Kitteridge would make for a fascinating movie or tv show. There is so much you could do with it.

If you are looking for a book that shines a light on the darker side of life, then this is the book for you. Although in the end, it shows us that just when we think life has worn us down, we can have new life brought into it.

Final Take: 4.75/5

And The Winner Is...

Congratulations to Cheryl F (The Lucky Ladybug)for winning a copy of Family Affair by Debbie Macomber.

Please email me (Alice) your mailing address so we can send the book off to you as soon as possible. Thanks to all of you for participating.

Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to produce the winner.

Jenn's Review: Glimmerglass

Summary:  It’s all she’s ever wanted to be, but it couldn’t be further from her grasp…

Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble.  When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides she’s had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Soon, Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she’ll never have a chance with… until she does.  Caught between two worlds, Dana isn’t sure where she’ll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again…

Review: It took me a little bit to get into this book because I had to adjust my expectations. When I think faeries, I think more along the lines of Barrie than Lewis & Tolkien. Once I got that straightened away, I found it an agreeable read.

The premise of this story is what sets it apart. The concept of a magical world, openly recognized by a non-magical one, only overlapping in one magical city-state on the top of a mountain is intriguing. It gives way to so many possibilities. I found the Faes culture and society to be thought provoking and rich with characters.

It is Dana, the protagonist, that detracts from the story for me. She is a whiny, self-absorbed, romance-crazed teen. Yes, I know that there are lots of those teens out there. I just don't necessarily want to read about them. There are several times in the story when I wished I could reach through the pages and shake her. She's had a tough life and she's in a sticky situation, but that doesn't excuse her behavior. If it weren't for the spectacular plot and fascinating secondary characters, I might not have continued to read. However, Jenna Black has written such marvelous world, that I couldn't help but be pulled in despite Dana's many flaws.

It is seldom that I feel the desire to read a sequel when I don't care for the main character, but I feel that I have only glimpsed the tip of the 'mountain', as it were, when it comes to Ms. Black's magical world. I am anxious to learn more, and I hope that Dana will gain some sense along the way, because it would be a shame for the books to suffer because the heroine is weak. Shadowspell, book two in the Faeriewalker series, just came out last week and it's definitely going on my TBR wish list.

Final Take: 3.75/5.0