Book Blitz Excerpt and Giveaway: Camp Boyfriend - J.K. Rock

I am so happy to be one of the hosts for the Camp Boyfriend book blitz! I first found out about this book when i was waiting on line for a signing at Book Expo America and I met one of the authors who was waiting on the adjacent line. Although I have yet to read the book, Camp Boyfriend sounds absolutely delightful and I can not wait. - Kiersten

Camp Boyfriend
J.K. Rock
Release Date: 07/02/2013
Publishter: Spencer Hill Press
Series: Camp Boyfriend, #1
On Goodreads

Summary from Goodreads:

The summer of her dreams is about to get a reality check.

They said it couldn't be done, but geeky sophomore Lauren Carlson transformed herself into a popular girl after moving to a new school halfway across the country. Amazing what losing her braces and going out for cheerleading will do. Only trouble is, the popular crowd is wearing on Lauren's nerves and she can't wait to return to summer camp where she's valued for her brain instead of her handsprings. She misses her old friends and most of all, her long time camp-only boyfriend, Seth. This year she intends to upgrade their relationship to year-round status once she's broken up with her new, jock boyfriend, Matt. He doesn't even begin to know the real her, a girl fascinated by the night sky who dreams of discovering new planets and galaxies.

But Matt isn't giving her up without a fight. As he makes his case to stay together, Lauren begins to realize his feelings run deeper than she ever would have guessed. What if the guy she thought she was meant to be with forever isn't really The One? Returning to Camp Juniper Point was supposed to ground her uprooted life, but she's more adrift than ever. Everything feels different and soon Lauren's friends are turning on her and both guys question what she really wants. As summer tensions escalate, Lauren wonders if she's changed more than she thought. Will her first big discovery be herself?

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Book Depository

An Excerpt from Camp Boyfriend:

      “Can I ask you a question?” I’d been dying to ask him this for years, but the old me had been too afraid.
      “Shoot.” He wrapped his arms around his knees and locked a hand around his other wrist.
     I gathered my courage. “Why did you want to break up every year after camp?”
     In the quiet that followed, I traced the white stitching on the embroidery that outlined Madison’s initial.
     When Seth finally answered, his voice was low.
      “It’s easier to end things on good terms than risk something going wrong during the school year.”
      “Why assume the worst?” I’d never given him reason to doubt me.
      “I saw what my dad went through after my mom left us.” He reached for a stick to shove the logs around in the dusty fireplace as I marveled that he’d finally admitted what I’d suspected. When Seth’s mom abandoned him, she’d left a huge hole. No wonder he had trust issues. Still, we could have worked through that if he’d given me a chance. Opened up to me like this before.
      “I always figured I’d wait to get serious with anyone until I was… really sure,” he continued.
      “And you were never sure of me?”
     His crooked grin made a surprise appearance, but his tone was dry. “I was hoping this would be the year we’d be ready to take that step.”
     Something inside me collapsed. My chest felt so tight that for a minute I couldn’t breathe. We’d been so close to developing something amazing.
      “Instead, I showed up with someone else.”
     Outside, the wind rubbed tree limbs against the cabin, making a squeaking scrape.
      “It wasn’t just that.” He put the stick down and looked at me. Really looked me. “You showed up as someone else. Someone I didn’t recognize with a new look, clothes, interests.”
     I opened my mouth to protest but stayed silent when I followed his gaze to my trendy sneakers.
      “I didn’t know who you were anymore,” Seth went on. “Since when did you prefer dancing to stargazing, tanning to pursuing your Aerospace Scholar dreams? That wasn’t the Lauren I knew. Loved.”
      I flinched. Who knew a verb tense could cut as deep as a knife? Seth no longer loved me because I’d changed.
     How ironic that I’d come back to camp to get back to the things I’d loved, especially Seth. But Matt had stopped that chance and, suddenly, I was glad he had. What was so wrong with liking dance and astronomy? Cheering and the science club? The popular and the outsider cliques? The problem was, I hadn’t realized I could do both, be both. If I’d gone back to Seth, I would never have learned that.
     I looked over at my drying wedge sandals by the fireplace. They were awesome, even if they had slowed us down. And yeah, I was the girl who worried about weather-induced hair frizz.
     So maybe I had changed. And Seth had a point about letting my dreams lapse. But why couldn’t he see through the make-up and clothes to the person who still thrilled at the site of a meteor shower and drew constellations on her notebook covers?
     I laid back, tired of justifying myself. “That girl’s gone, Seth. I’m different now.”
     Seth stretched beside me. His amber eyes searched mine in the shadows between us, a wistful smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
      “It’s not a bad thing,” he agreed, his fingers toying with my curls. “I just miss the old you sometimes.”
     I closed my eyes and enjoyed his touch, knowing it wasn’t going any further. After all, he cared about someone else, someone I’d never be again.
      “Sometimes…” I edged a little closer to ease the empty ache inside. “…so do I.”

About the Authors

J. K. Rock is the writing partnership of sisters-in-law Joanne & Karen Rock. Separately, they write adult romance. Together, they dream up Young Adult books like Camp Boyfriend, the first in a three-book series. The summer camp stories continue with Camp Payback (4/14) and Camp Forget-Me-Not (8/14), plus bonus free novellas in between stories. Visit http://campboyfriend.net to learn more about the series and the free prequel novella, Camp Kiss, which you can download here. You can also purchase Camp Kiss for $0.99 on Amazon for Kindle here.

Author Links

Author Website | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads 

Karen's Twitter | Joanne's Twitter | Facebook

The Giveway!

Grand prize - Signed copies Amanda Sun's Ink, Jennifer Armentrout writing as J. Lynn's Frigid and J.K. Rock's Camp Boyfriend. Also included, advance sneak peek copy of Laurie Halse Anderson's The Impossible Knife of Memory and Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian's Fire with Fire, plus "I <3 Camp' temporary tattoos, and a bookmark with the download code for CAMP KISS.

Three other winners will receive $10 Amazon gift cards

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Double Review: Zoo - Tara Elizabeth

Zoo
Tara Elizabeth
Series: The Enclosure Chronicles, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Mediocre at best
On Goodreads

If this book could be summed up in one word, it’d be this: average. The writing style was average, the plot average, and the characters average. Cries. The premise of the novel is actually really enticing: we follow a teenager, Emma, after her “death”-by-car-crash into the future (around three centuries later). She is captured and put into a human zoo, where the inhabitants of the new dystopian society of the future come to the zoo to learn about how their ancestors lived. I was beyond ecstatic as books about the future always have some interesting plot twists and crazy spins, while this was relatively boring. (Well, I’ll be fair, there were a couple plot twists in the later half of the book that made up for the terribly dull first half).

Of course, no YA novel is complete without a little bit of romantic teenage angst filled drama. The first half of the book is complete with a love square between our main character Emma, James (a cowboy), Kale (a beaut surfer), and Victoria (a priss from the ages of petticoats and bloomers). To be clear, I ship Emma and Kale, but ONLY because Kale is awesome.

This book was very Hunger Games, almost so that it was borderline cliché. Not to mention, the sentence structure and word choice were astoundingly poor in that they didn’t draw me further into the story, but instead, pushed me away. It’s quite sad, really. As for the characters, they’re all pretty cliché – Kale is the sweet native Hawaiian boy while Victoria is the modest young woman while the King is as stereotypically French as possible. Not only that, but none of the characters actually grew as people: Kale is perf from the beginning, the Keepers are evil from the beginning, and none of that changes. Victoria seems to make a change, only to be wishy washy and change back and forth from serious to petty which honestly drove me nuts. Elizabeth tried to show Emma as a character that evolved, but sadly, it wasn’t written well so it wasn’t something I could empathize with. Ugh. Nothing drives me crazy more than static characters.

Moreover, the romance in the novel was bleh. It was obvious what I shipped from the beginning but the way it played out was fast and unreasonable and obviously very rushed. The spacing of time, even in a fantasy dystopia, needs to be accurate, because love does not move at light speed, even for Tara Elizabeth’s plots. Not going to lie, the only reason I was interested in the romance at all is because Kale reminds me so very much of Jace from The Mortal Instruments in physical appearance and Fang from books 1-5 of the Maximum Ride series in personality. Two of my favorite male love interests wrapped into one? Delish.

However, let us not forget the positive aspects of this book. The idea is beautiful, and the second half of the story is actually quite well thought out. Despite the fact that Elizabeth did not take into account the fact that so many things cannot happen in one day, the plot twists and turns were pretty interesting. There were many things that I didn’t anticipate and boy, am I glad for it. The ending of the book was unexpected and wonderful (although be forewarned, the epilogue makes me cringe). Not to mention, there’s a shout out to Emma by Jane Austen and Cat, a character who sacrifices his life and love for the greater good.

Despite some plot holes that I expect the next book in the chronicles to cover, this book was all in all, decent. Tara Elizabeth has talent in terms of her ideas, and I hope I can read something else of hers that is perhaps a bit more refined in its writing style. I will be keeping my eye out for Rebel, the next book in this series, because I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

- Amrutha

Kiersten's Zoo Review

Rating: 5 stars

Word Rating: Unforgettable

When I first read the concept of Zoo I was instantly intrigued, and the book did not disappoint. The idea of a human zoo is something I never could have imagined until reading this book and experiencing being enclosed with Emma. Unlike Amrutha, I really loved Emma's voice throughout the book. She's so sassy and sarcastic, but sensitive as well - the perfect balance between the hard-headed heroine and a scared teenage girl. I found myself often laughing or agreeing with her throughout her adventures in the enclosure. Tara Elizabeth was able to perfectly capture a teenage girl thrown from an easy existence into this strange society where humans are kept in captivity (and I would know since I'm Emma's age and I definitely would have reacted the way she did). I'd also disagree in saying that Emma is a static character. Emma's view on life completely changes after her experiences in the zoo and while I was reading, I felt like I grew with her.

I also disagree about the romance. While Amrutha saw it as a sort of insta-love, I saw it completely differently. Emma's opinions of her love interests go through many ups and downs throughout the book, even if it does seem quick. She often gets stuck in her headstrong-ness, but she later learns that her first impression may not always be reliable. I do agree about Kale though. He is absolutely perfect and wonderful. He was so sweet throughout the entire book. Even when he was angry he was sweet!

What I really enjoyed about Zoo, besides the romance, the concept, and the main characters, were the vast array of minor and supporting characters. All the other characters are so different! Coming from such different times and different lives adds to the chaos of the zoo and how Emma evolves. I really can't wait to find out more about Kansas in the next book of The Enclosure Chronicles, Rebel. Kansas is barely part of Zoo, but she's from a time when the human zoos are already around. I'm looking forward to seeing more into how the society was when the zoos came to be.

Overall, I completely loved Zoo! From the voice to the characters to the concept, I thought everything was great. The beginning may be a little slow, but I found it helped show Emma's beginning state and how she starts to change as well as acquaint me with the concept of a human zoo. For me, this book was 5 stars.

- Kiersten

How would you feel if you woke up in a zoo?

Let us know in the comments!

Review: The Boy on the Bridge - Natalie Standiford

The Boy on the Bridge
Natalie Standiford
Series: N/A
Genre: Young/New Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Not bad
On Goodreads

The Boy on the Bridge follows a college girl named Laura, who is visiting Communist Russia as part of a study abroad program. Laura was fascinated by Russian history when she was young, but once she’s studying there, she’s disenchanted by all the government restrictions and how little the dramatic history of the country came through.

Until she meets Alyosha (aka the boy on the bridge). When Alyosha saves her from a gypsy attack, Laura gradually grows closer to him. At first they just meet up for coffee so Alyosha can show Laura around Leningrad, the city she’s staying in, and so she can practice her Russian, but as the story progresses, their love story unravels.

I received an uncorrected proof of The Boy on the Bridge at Book Expo America this past June, and I didn’t really know what to expect from it. I thought the cover was pretty (Russia, cool!) and the blurb seemed sort of interesting, although quite clichéd. When I started reading this book, I wasn’t especially pulled into the story. Sure, it wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t eager to read it either. Through most of the book I was in this state of apathy. Only at the end did I get really into it and eager to see the fate of the characters.

Laura, for one, was very bland. She was this American girl here to study Russian and ended up dating some handsome Russian stranger, which was predictable at best. Of course, this was in the premise of the story, so it’s fine – there’s nothing wrong with that. It was just the way that she immediately saw him as this savior who embodied the spirit of Russia. It was so… ugh. She didn’t even think it was strange that a perfect stranger came up to her, saved her, and gave her his number. It was baffling, especially given that, as Laura herself acknowledges throughout the story, the KGB often arrested citizens for fraternizing with foreigners. Then Laura starts skipping classes and breaking rules to see Alyosha more, jeopardizing her studies. That, I just couldn’t stand. Maybe it’s just me, but I would never give up on my education or risk expulsion just to see some random guy I won’t see when I go back home. It was just absurd.

Then there was Alyosha, who I didn’t particularly care for either. It was sweet how he spent all his time showing Laura around and teaching her about the culture, but he was too… nice. He was always like, “Yay, Laura! I’m so happy to see you!” and his life just revolved around her. It seemed so fake. Probably the biggest downfall of The Boy and the Bridge, for me, is that the romance could have been so much more. I like a romance that makes me feel like I’m in love along with the couple, but this one just didn’t do anything for me. The relationship was so abrupt – they never argued or had encounters that tested their relationship, they were just all lovey dovey for no apparent reason.

There were also parts throughout the story that just didn’t seem tied up in the end, which always bugs me. For non-spoilery example, we never find out what happened with Tanya or how Alyosha has an apartment all to himself. Then there are parts that just seem random. At one point, Laura and her classmates are at a bar and she randomly asks them if they think the soldiers have inner lives and they talk about souls. It was just a weird conversation to have.

On the other hand, Natalie Standiford does a great job immersing the reader into Communist Russia. In all my past history classes, the only touches on communism were to talk about were wars related to communism and attempts to end communism. Getting to see into the everyday life of communism was really interesting. The way Standiford had the characters explain the general dissatisfaction with the state of society and how the government could do whatever it wanted was so shocking. I loved how authentic it all felt – the character’s reactions, the living arrangements, the food, everything.

Overall, I didn’t quite find The Boy on the Bridge spectacular, but it was far from bad. The historical aspect definitely stood out to me as positive, and I feel that I’ve learned a lot about the time period by reading this book. Unfortunately, the plot kind of just fell through for me. I wasn’t gripped by the story or the characters, so it didn’t really leave a huge impression on me – I didn't even care what happened to them until the very end. However, if you’re interested in how life was in Communist Russia, I definitely recommend it. Although the romance is rather, for lack of a better word, lame, the world is so interesting that it’s worth the read.

- Kiersten

Have you ever studied abroad or plan to?

Let us know in the comments!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Bitter Kingdom - Rae Carson & Crown of Midnight - Sarah J. Maas

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, I'm waiting on The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Mass. I just couldn't choose between these two books, which is kind of appropriate considering I can't choose which I'm going to read on release day. Oh, cruel fate. AND that's my first week of classes. Sob.

The Bitter Kingdom
Rae Carson
Series:  Fire and Thorns, #3
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Waited on by: Kiersten
On Goodreads

The epic conclusion to Rae Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy. The seventeen-year-old sorcerer-queen will travel into the unknown realm of the enemy to win back her true love, save her country, and uncover the final secrets of her destiny.

Elisa is a fugitive in her own country. Her enemies have stolen the man she loves in order to lure her to the gate of darkness. As she and her daring companions take one last quest into unknown enemy territory to save Hector, Elisa will face hardships she's never imagined. And she will discover secrets about herself and her world that could change the course of history. She must rise up as champion-a champion to those who have hated her most.


If you've read my review of The Girl of Fire and Thorns (here), then you already know that I absolutely love this series. So much. The ending of The Crown of Embers wasn't quite a cliffhanger, but it definitely left me craving more. I am absolutely dying to find out the fate of Elisa, Hector, and the kingdom. Ugh, I'm just so excited for this. Seriously.

Crown of Midnight
Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass, #2
Release Date: August 27, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Waited on by: Kiersten
On Goodreads

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?


When I read Throne of Glass, I fell in love with the sassiness of Celaena Sardothien. (I wish I was as cool as her). I loved learning about Celaena and how even though she was this ruthless assassin, she had a lot of heart. I can't wait to see what Celaena has in store for us now that she's the royal assassin!

What are you waiting on?

Let us know in the comments!

Release Day Review: Under the Empyrean Sky - Chuck Wendig

Under the Empyrean Sky
Chuck Wendig 
Series: The Heartland Trilogy, #1
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Weird.
On Goodreads

I picked up an uncorrected proof of Under the Empyrean Sky, which I tend to call The Corn Book, at BookExpo America back in June, and finally got around to reading it now. The description on the back cover looked interesting enough, but I didn’t quite know what to expect with this.

If I had to sum up The Corn Book in one word, it would be weird.

Under the Empyrean Sky was undoubtedly weird. It was strange. It was odd. But that does not mean it was bad.

The beginning of the book threw me off a bit, and I definitely didn't think I’d like it judging from the first chunk of the book. The diction and description was rough and he used very odd phrasing. For example, he described the corn stalks as “pregnant with cobs” and the sails of his ship as “pregnant with wind.”

Or, at one point, he writes 

“He’s got vision like a hawk. Or an owl. Or some kind of hawk-owl hybrid that the Empyrean scientists are probably working on for shits and giggles.”

Even the more well-described parts are strange. This one description sounds like the boat is being turned on and the readers are walking in when they aren’t supposed to.

“Cael feels Betty’s belly vibrate . The sound of the hissing corn is lost beneath the grinding of gears as his brand-new hover-panels tilt down and back—
A coruscating ripple of light bursts from beneath Betty, and she suddenly leaps forth like a horse with a nettle screwed hard in its ass”

I’m not sure whether the diction improved or whether I just got used to it, but I see where Chuck Wendig was going with it – even though it’s third person, it is being told from the point of view of a 17 year old boy.

Speaking of said 17 year old boy, Cael, I should mention that I really didn’t like him. In fact, I didn’t really form a connection with any of the characters. There were Lane and Rigo, his partners, and Gwennie, his lover and first mate. There was Wanda, his Obliged (I’ll get to that in a minute), and Boyland, his arch-nemesis. Anyway, the characters just seemed to fall flat to me. Again, the effort was there, but it just fell short. Cael was the most developed, and even though I strongly disliked him as a person – he was self-absorbed, irrational, and very immature – I was glad that I could form some sort of opinion. I also really liked Gwennie, and how she was so aloof and dynamic. The rest of them just didn’t feel completely there to me. When I read about characters that are developed and in-depth, I forget that they are fictional characters. With these characters, throughout my whole reading of the book, I was reminded of the fact that I was doing just that – reading a book. I knew Lane and Rigo were good at their jobs, but not much about their personalities. I knew Wanda tried being really nice to everyone, but was often irritating. I knew basic facts but nothing about who they really are.

Anyway, so the beginning of this book was filled with odd language and flat characters and I almost did not want to keep reading. But I did, and I finished the book, and here is what I have to say.

It got better.

Once I got into the actual plot and the dynamic of the world that they lived in, this book improved greatly. The general public lives in the Heartland, which is basically a wasteland now. Their jobs are to cultivate corn, but not just any sort of corn. This corn seems to have a mind of its own and it whips and scars those trying to harvest it, and it dominates any other type of crop planted. It’s aggressive and it’s dominant, and had more depth than most of the characters (both literally and figuratively). So what do the Heartlanders do with all this corn? Well, they don’t eat it. It goes straight to the Empyrean, the rich and elite who live above them, up in the sky, and control everything they do.

Cael hates the Empyrean. He hates them with a burning passion. And this hatred is what fuels his need to change something, to go after the Empyrean and improve their lives. (And now we have something called substance. Yay!)

And then he finds the garden. The impossible garden, growing onions and peppers where there should only be wild, savage corn. Oh, this garden is interesting indeed. And it serves as a catalyst for what happens next.

I think now would be an appropriate time to mention one of my favorite parts of the book, and that is Cael’s dream of flying. It was wonderfully constructed, with phrases like

“it drifts and shifts and twitches, leaves whispering against leaves, tassels like reaching hands. The sky above him is a blue so pale it looks as though someone squeezed the color out of it, like a rag sitting too long in the sun, bleached by the light.”

And then the end, which is the best part:

“And it ends with him falling.
Cael falls.
Towards the reaching corn.
The endless corn.
The everything corn.
Cael dies, and with him the dream.”

Cael and flying is a recurring theme throughout this novel and I think this dream accurately portrays a lot of what this book is about.

There were a few more things I thought really made this book interesting. For example, the Obligation ceremony. It happens every year, to all the 17 year olds in the Heartland. They are matched up (I believe randomly) to a member of the opposite gender. The next year is their engagement period in which they get to know one another. The year after that starts their marriage. They have no choice in the matter and are paired with who the Empyrean chooses, whether they like it or not. And with Cael and Gwennie being lovers, they most definitely do not like this system. Cael ends up being Obliged to Wanda, the aforementioned girl who is irritatingly peppy. Gwennie, however, gets Obliged to Boyland, Cael’s competitor and enemy. (This is when things got fun.) I really liked the way Wendig portrayed this ceremony, and the fact that is existed at all. It showed just how controlled their lives are, and shined a little more light on the nature of their government.

The next thing I really liked was the Blight. The Blight was a disease found in the Heartland, and the description of it chilled me to the bone.

“It’s the tumors, in part. Her whole body is covered with them, and they lie against at atop one another like tar paper shingles on an uneven roof. They remind Cael of calves’ livers. A heaping mess of them. They’re heavy – a burden on skin, muscle, and bone. Because of them, her arms and legs and back have all atrophied. She cannot stand; she can’t even sit up.”

I should mention, the she in this passage is Cael’s mother. Yeah.

Again, this disease that is taking over so many of the citizens of the Heartland that it’s commonplace to see, just adds another element of desperation to their situation.

Overall, 3.5 stars for a great plot that definitely got interesting as I went on, but a slow and mediocre beginning, and sub-par characters (except Gwennie, Gwennie is A+) .

- Noor

How would you deal with an all-controlling government?

Let us know in the comments!