Saturday, August 24, 2013

Guest Post by Blogger Lisa Marie Pottgen: What I Would Like to see More of in YA Novels


I suppose first and foremost, I should introduce myself so you all know who I am.  My name is Lisa, or Just Another Rabid Reader, or Destinyisntfree on the Twitters.  Some of you have seen me around.  Some of you may not have.  If you aren't sure, I am that chick whose always talking about landing in Twitter jail.  It is inevitable that it will happen every time I do a group chat.  It is just a fact of life and I have accepted and even embraced it. 

I have begun to notice a trend in young adult novels, or at least in the young adult novels I have read anyway.  And before we even get into the meat of it, I love reading YA, and it is the main genre that I read.  I have loved a majority of the books I have read and this is not meant to be a dig at the genre or the writers.  I also write Young Adult, so I would never in any way try to say anything negative about my brothers and sisters in arms.

But here is the thing.  How often do you see a main character in YA that is a disabled person?  How often is it blatantly obvious that the main character is a minority?  I can tell you, I could count the combined total in the books I have read on one hand.  And that makes me sad.  Let me explain.

I am the parent of a child on the autism spectrum.  I also have another child with ADHD.  Two of my 3 children are mixed-race and favor their father's heritage and so have darker skin.  In a perfect world, race would be irrelevant, but since we do not live in a perfect world, I just think that it would be nice if they had books about characters that they could relate to as they hit their teen years.  Maybe I will have to be the one to write them.  Who knows, it could happen.

But I am going to focus more on the disabilities angle for this post.  As the parent of a young child who has both autism and what is suspected to be a mild cerebral palsy, where are all of the young adult characters that have had to overcome a disability and are thriving?  Where are the heroes and heroines who have to struggle to do things?  Is it that people do not want to read about characters like that?  Does that make it all too real?  I don't know.

It is those facts that have prompted the story I am currently working on.  I have published already a short story that is the prequel, if you will, to the novel.  My main character is a teenage boy who is autistic.  <Gasp> Yep, I am going there.  My main character was nonverbal his entire life, until he was a teenager, and in the course of the story, he finds his voice and finds out that just because he has difficulties, that does not mean he cannot accomplish great things.  These are the kinds of stories I want to see available for my children.  They need to have characters in stories they can relate to.  No one else is writing them, so I will.  And my hope is that, maybe, if I start writing characters like this and people see that there are people who want to read them, then more stories with characters with challenges will start to appear in the stories that we read.  I would read them.  Would any of you?




A Bit About Lisa:

You can find her on:

Followers in any form are always appreciated, and Just Another Rabid Reader is on Bloglovin!  http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/6689049 will take you to the page where you can follow!  


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Saturday, August 17, 2013

Announcement for the #Liberator Twitter Party with me and Victoria Scott, August 27th, 8pm CST and INT giveaway!

Hey, guys! Ensconced in YAugust ends with the #Liberator Twitter party! See the details and help me promote it by entering the giveaway to win an e-copy of The Collector from Amazon!

The Liberator (Dante Walker, #2)Goodreads Book Description: Bad boy, meet bad girl.

Dante has a shiny new cuff wrapped around his ankle, and he doesn't like that mess one bit. His new accessory comes straight from Big Guy himself and marks the former demon as a liberator. Despite his gritty past and bad boy ways, Dante Walker has been granted a second chance.

When Dante is given his first mission as a liberator to save the soul of seventeen-year-old Aspen, he knows he’s got this. But Aspen reminds him of the rebellious life he used to live and is making it difficult to resist sinful temptations. Though Dante is committed to living clean for his girlfriend Charlie, this dude’s been a playboy for far too long…and old demons die hard.

With Charlie becoming the girl she was never able to be pre-makeover and Aspen showing him how delicious it feels to embrace his inner beast, Dante will have to go somewhere he never thought he’d return to in order to accomplish the impossible: save the girl he’s been assigned to, and keep the girl he loves.


The Deets:
1. Where: On twitter
2. How to join:
-Follow the hashtag #Liberator and make sure you use this hashtag every time you tweet so that other partygoers can see your comments
-Follow @cka1981 and @VictoriaScottYA so that we can make sure to see you during the chat and that you'll be eligible for the giveaways!
-You can use twubs.com to follow the chat more easily (you can login with your twitter username) and it automatically tacks on the hashtag so you don't have to remember it
-Please change your twitter picture to the cover of The Liberator to help promote Victoria and her awesome book! This is not mandatory to win, but we'll love you forever and you'll get coolness points! :-)
3. When: August 27th, 9pm EST, 8pm CST, 7pm MST, 6pm PST for one hour!
4. Prizes include: a Liberator swag packs and an e-copy of the Liberator (INT)
-Grand Prize of the contest will be a paperback of The Liberator (US only) or if there's an INT winner, a copy of The Collector shipped from the Book Depository
-Winners will be selected randomly and there will be one contest in the last 20 min of the party to win one of the signed copies!
5. Chat: please bring questions to ask Victoria! Otherwise, I'll also be asking questions to the party goers to enhance discussion.

Can't wait!

For my giveaway below, just so you know, the two tweets are DIFFERENT, so you need to tweet the different tweets to get credit every day. But you can get up to 20 entries per day :-)

Giveaway ends the day before the party! :-)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Cover Reveal for Wavecrossed by Andrea Colt and INT giveaway!

Hey gang! So much for my hiatus, right? I guess I can't really call it that anymore :-) Anyway, I'm so excited to do this cover reveal for one of my favorite indie writers, Andrea Colt. She wrote the wonderful Torched, which was in my top favorite indie reads of last year. Now, she comes back with a bang with Wavecrossed, a YA paranormal!



Book Description:

To Cassandra Kelleher, trust is a dirty word. A teenage selkie who grew up on land, all she wants is to free her family from the man who stole their sealskins long ago. With her twin brother Brennan losing hope and her window of opportunity disappearing like the beach at high tide, she’ll try anything.

Before long, however, Cassandra can’t tell whether her biggest threat is the man holding her family captive, a classmate who’s discovered her secret, or her own paranoia. Battling broken friendships and alarming romantic entanglements, Cassandra finds that trust could be the key to winning her family’s freedom … or losing her own.


Andrea Colt grew up reading and squabbling with her identical twin. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, a fridge full of cheese, and two feline muses. Visit andreacolt.com to get to know her better.

And now... thanks to Andrea's generosity, you're going to get a chance to win her book and this LOVELY necklace (sorry gang, cute kitty is NOT included).


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Announcement for the #ATOTC Twitter Party with me and Rachel Harris AND a giveaway!

Hey, guys! Ensconced in YAugust continues with the #ATOTC Twitter party! See the details and help me promote it by entering the giveaway to win a paperback of A Tale of Two Centuries by the awesome Rachel Harris!

A Tale of Two Centuries (My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, #2) Goodreads Book Description: Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?


The Deets:
1. Where: On twitter
2. How to join:
-Follow the hashtag #ATOTC and make sure you use this hashtag every time you tweet so that other partygoers can see your comments
-Follow @cka1981 and @RachelHarrisYA so that we can make sure to see you during the chat  and that you'll be eligible for the giveaways!
-You can use twubs.com to follow the chat more easily (you can login with your twitter username) and it automatically tacks on the hashtag so you don't have to remember it
-Please change your twitter picture to the cover of A Tale of Two Centuries to be eligible for prizes and to help promote Rachel and her awesome book!
3. When: August 20th, 8pm EST, 7pm CST, 6pm MST, 5pm PST for one hour!
4. Prizes are INT- including some great swag, tickets to Less's play,  Austin trading cards, Austin makes me blush buttons, bookmarks, 2 signed copies of A Tale of Two Centuries (if the winner is INT, will receive unsigned book but Rachel will make a signed bookplate)
-Winners will be selected randomly and there will be one contest in the last 20 min of the party to win one of the signed copies!
5. Chat: please bring questions to ask Rachel! Otherwise, I'll also be asking questions to the party goers to enhance discussion.

Can't wait!

For my giveaway below, just so you know, the two tweets are DIFFERENT, so you need to tweet the different tweets to get credit every day. But you can get up to 20 entries per day :-)

Giveaway ends the day before the party! :-)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Happy Book Birthday to A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris and Review!

I'm so excited because A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris officially comes out today! I was a lucky recipient of an early copy through a twitter giveaway. I loved this book even more than the first one!

A Tale of Two Centuries (My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, #2) Goodreads Book Description: Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?


My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review:  I read and enjoyed the first book in this duet- My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century while back. I knew at that point Rachel Harris was talented, and that I'd better continue to pick up her books as I suspected she'd only get better with time.

Boy, was I right. I was lucky enough to win this copy in a twitter giveaway. A Tale of Two Centuries takes place a bit after the first book-- and what's wonderful about this book (and I'm enjoying this new trend in YA quite a bit) is that it's a companion novel and a stand alone in its own right. So you can easily pick this one up and read it by itself, but if you've read the first one, it only enhances the second.

In this book, instead of getting the perspective of Cat, the fiery protagonist from the first book, we get to see through the eyes of Less. I think I identified a lot more with Less, and absolutely loved her from the first book, so this even made me enjoy the book more. Less has dreamed of the freedom to choose what to do with her life as well as pick who she should love. Fortunately, Reyna, the gypsy, has heard her plea, and Less gets to journey to the modern world to visit her relative, Cat. Although this world is shocking to her in many ways, at the same time, she is able to do so many things she wasn't in her world. She is able to pursue acting and meets a gorgeous guy named Austin, who makes her (and me) blush. Will she be able to leave all of this behind when the time comes?

I can't say how much I loved this book. I felt like Rachel took all of the parts I loved in the first book and totally enhanced it in the second. Less is a wonderful protagonist, and it was a wonder and delight to see her grow and develop into the person she always wanted to be. And deserved to be. I've always enjoyed watching her interaction with Cat, and we got loads more of that in this book. Some of her mistakes in this world were absolutely hilarious and totally made sense. And finally, Austin is a very swoon worthy guy. I don't usually go for the bad guys, but he's one of the very rare exceptions. You can't help but fall head over heels for everyone in this book.

Overall, the perfect frosting (with depth too!) to my night, and I blazed through it from cover to cover. Everyone needs to read this book and will continue smiling after it's finished for a long time.


Go out and buy this book today! It's totally worth it!

And stay tuned for an announcement of the #ATOTC twitter party I'm hosting on August 20th at 7pm CST! There will be tons of prizes and a Q & A with Rachel Harris! :-)

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Winner of the Most Creative Blog in Bloggy Awards 2013

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!

I can't show you my appreciation enough. It's because of my awesome blog/twitter/facebook followers that this was even possible. You guys absolutely rock.

This makes me even MORE excited to start Ensconced in YAugust with the three twitter parties. Because you guys have been so amazing, I will chip my own bonus prize to give away to you all.

Stay tuned for announcements of the other Twitter parties coming up. But for now, get excited about the one on Thursday, August 8th, 9pm EST, 8pm CST, and 6pm PST with Alyssa Susanna and me for her awesome 1000 followers giveaway bash! :-)
http://www.thebloggyawards.blogspot.com/2013/07/most-creative-voting.html

Friday, August 2, 2013

Ensconced in YAugust: Twitter party Number One #1000FollowersGiveaway with Alyssa Susanna

I have to borrow the phrase "Ensconced in YAugust" from the wonderful Samantha Randolph who suggested it in the first place. Loved it!

So apparently, during my so called hiatus, I'm suddenly hosting or helping to host a total of THREE twitter parties in August, so I hope you'll join me for some or all of them!

The first party is with the wonderful blogger, Alyssa Susanna of Eater of Books who has just passed a huge 1000 Twitter follower milestone! She has lots of awesome stuff planned!

Date/Time: August 8th, 9pm EST, 8pm CST, 6pm PST
Prizes: YES several prizes, both US and INT!
How long: 1 hour
How do I join? Use the hashtag #1000followersgiveaway
How can I easily follow the conversation? Use twubs.com and enter the hashtag. You'll have to connect it to your twitter account.
How do I win prizes? Just chat up a storm! And there will be one contest with a grand prize! Retweets don't ever count as entries.
Who's going to be there: YOU and several awesome sauce authors!

Can't wait to see you all there!