Waiting on Wednesday #26

Displacement by Thalia Chaltas
Release Date: June 2011

Home is supposed to be a place you belong. It’s supposed to be parents who are there and siblings who bug you and a life that feels comfortable. It’s not supposed to be an absentee mother or a drowned sister. But that’s Vera’s reality, and she can’t stand it anymore. So she runs.


She ends up in an old mining town in the middle of the California desert. It’s hot, it’s dusty, and it’s as isolated as Vera feels. As she goes about setting up her life, she also unwittingly starts the process of healing and—eventually—figuring out what home might really mean for her.


This has an Amber Read written all over it! I love a good growth story within characters.

♥amber

It's My Blog's Birthday! + Giveaway

I didn't even realize my blog was turning two until I saw that little reminder at the bottom of my page. And even cooler - my blog turns two on 1/11/11. I love dates like that!

Time has really flown. I'm still just amazed this blog made it two years! There were a couple times (okay, more than a couple) where I wondered if I should even keep doing this, and I'm so glad I've stuck with it. Books are my world, and being able to talk to so many bloggers, becoming friends with a lot of them has just been flat out AWESOME!

The writer in me still squeals every single time an author writes me an email or talks to me on twitter.

I thought I would have some big speech to deliver when this baby turned two, but the only thing I can think to say is this:

Thank you! Thank you person reading this post right now. Thank you person who leaves comments. Even though every blogger says they do this for the love of reading - WE LOVE COMMENTS! Comments make us feel special so THANK YOU! Thank you guys for coming back to the blog, reading reviews, reading Rock This! Thursday. For all the feedback, suggestions, and every other little thing. You guys are awesome, and I'm so glad to be apart of this wonderful world of books.

I'm attempting to move at the moment so money is super tight. I still wanted to do something to celebrate the big 2 so I'm going to be giving away a couple of ARCs.

I think most of you may have heard of these two titles.........

• There will be 2 winners! (One person for each book - you can enter for both!)
• Open to EVERYONE!
• Runs until January 31st
• Winner will be contacted via email

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!! 

♥amber

In My Mailbox #41

I'm STILL on the sickly side which is why I haven't been posting many things or commenting. I cannot concentrate while on cold medicine. This funk needs to get out of my system ASAP especially since I have many reviews to write and other stuff to post.

Without further ado, here's what I got this week:



















For Review:
Like Mandarin by Kristin Hubbard (Teen Book Scene)
Trapped by Michael Northrop (Around the World Tours)
Vixen by Jillian Larkin (Star Book Tours)

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz (Publisher)

Paperback Swap:

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

The Mediator by Meg Cabot

Bought:
Fishbowl by Sarah Mlynowski
Milkrun by Sarah Mlynowski
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Something funny...okay, maybe not funny but definitely a WTF?! moment happened to me when Like Mandarin came in the mail. Apparently it survived some sort of weird fire because this is how it showed up at my house:

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea from Pop Culture Junkie.

♥amber

Waiting on Wednesday #25

He's So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott

Release Date: June 7th, 2011

Ally Ryan, come on down to the Jersey Shore and forget your troubles!

Have you recently been humiliated in front of your friends and family at your former best friend's birthday party? Was your almost boyfriend partly responsible for that humiliation by withholding some vital information about where your estranged father is? Did you come home to find said estranged father sitting on your stoop?

If so, then it sounds like you could use a vacation! The Jersey Shore is the place to be. Your mother may be living with her boyfriend of only a few months, but at least the stunt Shannen pulled has put some of your friends back in your court. Even so, you're still angry and what better way to get over Jake than to blow off some steam with local guy, Cooper? People will hardly recognize your new attitude, but the old one wasn't getting you anywhere, so who cares!

Jake Graydon, an exciting opportunity is waiting for you in the service industry!

Are your grades so low your parents have grounded you for the summer? Did you the girl you really like unceremoniously leave you behind? Would you rather eat dirt than see your friends again? Then a job at the local coffee shop is just the ticket! Surprisingly, Ally's father is the new manager so you get to be reminded of her nearly every day. Maybe it's time to start flirting with your best friend's ex or even taking school a bit more seriously. Especially when you finally see Ally and she's hanging around with some loser and it's couldn't be more clear that she is over you.

Have a great summer!


Guys. GUYS! I am so pumped about this book! This is the sequel to She's So Dead To Us - one of my favorite books of 2010. (You can read my review here and an interview I did with Kieran here.) I cannot wait to find out what's been going on in Ally and Jake's life, and more importantly what will happen between the two! I'm really hoping Ally gets some revenge on that snatch Shannen.

Thanks to the lovely Sab for pointing out that this had a cover now. She knows me so well :)

Contemps Challenge: Post Your January Reviews

Let's try this again! If you submitted your reviews to my last post - please re-submit them on THIS post. I don't know why Mr. Linky wasn't working correctly, but Linky Tools does. Sorry for the short inconvenience!

What is the Contemps Challenge? Click here to find out more details!

Remember: This challenge is ONLY for the 20 books released by The Contemps. Click here for a full list of all 20 books. You can also post any reviews you made in 2010 :)

Prize: 3 surprise books and/or ARCs and swag!

Open to US addresses only! There is no official sign up so no need to worry about that - just link those reviews up!

Please post your Contemps reviews in Mr. Linky like this:

Title of Book (Blog Name) 

Example: Fall For Anything (JYTBB)

The Contemps Challenge - Part Deux!

I am SO excited and honored to be hosting the The Contemps Challenge – Part 2!

What is the Contemps Challenge you ask?  20 young adult contemporary authors put together a challenge of reading 18 of their books. For 2011, they decided not to let the party stop! Why? Because they're awesome!!

From January 2011 through September 2011, Just Your Typical Book Blog (aka ME!) will be hosting monthly roundups where participants can post links to reviews of Contemps novels for the opportunity to win a SUPER AWESOME PRIZE PACK that includes 3 surprise books/ARCs and swag!

In addition to these monthly drawings, those who complete the challenge by reading AND reviewing 18 or more of our 20 titles can also be entered to win a Grand Prize of a hundred dollar gift certificate to the winner's bookstore of choice to be awarded in October 2011!

How it’s all going to work:

1. Your reviews may be published on blogs, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Shelfari, etc, but you may submit only ONE review per book as your entry in the monthly drawing.

2. You may review as many Contemps books as you would like in any given month

3. Contemps novels that you read in 2010 are eligible and reviews that you’ve written for those books may be used as entries for the prize packs in 2011.

4. Prize packs are open to US addresses only, except for the month of August 2011, when we'll open up the monthly drawing to international addresses as well.

5. Contemps titles for this challenge are as follows (please note that one book got bumped to 2012, so we now have 20 books total):

Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
The Duff by Kody Keplinger
Girl, Stolen by April Henry
Freefall by Mindi Scott
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Trapped by Michael Northrop
Rival by Sarah Bennett Wealer
Sean Griswold’s Head by Lindsey Leavitt
Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard
Family by Micol Ostow
Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith
Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder
Pearl by Jo Knowles
Small Town Sinners by Mellisa Walker
Sharks and Boys by Kristen Tracy
Want to Go Private? by Sarah Darer Littman

6. There will be an official post where you will link up your reviews every month. PLEASE DO NOT POST THEM IN THE COMMENT SECTION OF THIS POST. You will find the correct place to post your reviews by looking on the top right of my sidebar. Also, please note that The Contemps is an official site ran by the 20 authors listed above. I cannot add any books to this list.

7. There is no official sign up! Just link up your reviews for your chance to win!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail. Have fun everyone!!

♥amber

My New Years Resolutions

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years! I know there is a superstition that whatever you're doing at midnight or the day of the New Year is how your year will be. I'm glad I'm not a superstitious person because I didn't even make it till midnight due to this lovely chest cold that I think is going to be the death of me. So if it ends up NOT being the death of me, here are some goals I have for JYTBB in 2011.

1. Read 100 books. I know there are some super bloggers out there that surpass this number like crazy. In 2010, I only ready about 60 books, and was MIA from the blogging world a lot.

2. Be more social. I used to love scouting out new blogs and commenting like crazy. We all know comments make us happy! I plan to leave more comments on people's blogs and stop just reading the posts. Everyone enjoys feedback :)

3. Keep up with Rock This! Thursday. I love my music/book feature, but sometimes there are weeks that it doesn't get posted. I'm really going to work on this so every week!

4. Start doing discussions. I love reading discussion posts on other blogs, and in a recent survey I had posted, other people had commented that I should give it a try. I think discussion posts really show off a blogger's personality! I still have that survey up if anyone wants to give me their input: clicky click here!

5. Putting for 'me' in my reviews. I've never been the type of reviewer who attacks an author or their writing. Sometimes I shy away from certain parts of a book because I hate writing a bad review. Other times I try to sound more 'professional', and ya know what? I'd rather just sound like me.

Are you doing any New Years resolutions or goals? Tell me about them in the comments!

♥amber