"Slide" by Jill Hathaway~ A Great New YA Thriller For the Summer!

Narcolepsy is the perfect cover for being a "slider," but is it the most socially acceptable when you're in high school and no longer a cheerleader? I don't think so... Vee has a hard time with her life in general; her mother recently died, her little sister has hit puberty with a vengeance and her father's a famously, oft-needed doctor. She has no friends except a

strangely different sort of guy who seems to understand her; but with whom she can't share her "sliding."

And, then there's a murder that she just happens to know about when everyone else thinks it's a suicide, because she accidently slid into the murder's body when it happened!

This suspenseful novel by Jill Hathaway is a young adult winner by any standards.

It has the quintessentially beautiful, pink haired misfit girl, the hunky jock, cheerleaders, goth-edged gorgeous guy, the dark stranger guy and the slightly attractive male teacher...along with the tragic teen aged angst of suicide and parents missing by death and choice.

  It's all a winning soup.

The plot is thick and good.

I loved this book for many reasons. It's well written, it's absorbing, and

it's a cliff hanger of the old school sort.

Jill Hathaway has my attention, and I'll be looking forward to more of her books.

4 stars from me!

This is a great YA fiction/thriller which I think adult readers would also enjoy.

Particulars of the Book:

Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harper Collins

Pages: 187something

Genre: YA Fiction/Thriller

Author: Jill Hathaway

Author's website: http://jillhathaway.com

Author's blog: http://jillscribbles.blogspot.com/

Summary :
Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

All About the Very Stylish Ms Hathaway!

Jill was born and raised in Iowa. As a child, she loved paper dolls, Archie comics, and writing. In her adolescent years, she wrote emo poetry and produced paper zines that she sold for $1 in local comic book and record stores.

Having earned her BA in English from the University of Northern Iowa and her MA in Literature from Iowa State University, she now teaches high school and community college courses in the Des Moines area. She lives with her husband and young daughter.

Jill spends her free time collecting cool gear for her blood elf paladin, watching Veronica Mars, and listening to angry grrl music.

SLIDE, her debut novel, will be released from Balzer & Bray/HarperCollins in 2012.

Here's a picture of Jill on tour!

You can buy Slide at: Barnes & Noble

or Amazon
or at your favorite local independent book seller!

March 23, 2012

Seventeen.com/Cosmogirl reviews SLIDE, suggesting it to fans of Pretty Little Liars. They say their "jaws literally dropped" at one of the twists.

The Future of Mother's~ Hadley, My Granddaughter, Honored on Mother's Day

This is my sweet granddaughter, Hadley. She's the hope of the future Mother's Days.

Hadley is my only granddaughter.

Her dad, here, is my eldest son, Jason, and they live in Massachusetts near Cape Cod. Here, they are taking the ferry to Martha's Vineyard for a visit with friends for the week last year.

Hadley is an All American Girl. She loves pink and purple...she won't wear anything that doesn't have a predominance of one of those two colors. She loves dresses. fancy shoes and girly jewelry (compliments of her Grammie Debi).

She's very interested in "Fancy Nancy" and has all of her books from the earliest to the newest!

She actually loves the word, "actually."

Hadley has her mom and dad read to her quite often; that is, every night and day.

Grammie also sends her fancy books about little girls with cute shoes and dress up things, and such.

This June it's her birthday, just like her gram's, and she will graduate to Fancy Nancy's new chapter book series.

Hadley loves her new American Doll which she waited a long time to get. Her mom and dad wanted her to be old enough to appreciate the significance of an American Doll. I think they were right. They've taught Hadley

that sometimes you have to wait for good things, but the waiting is worth it.

And, Hadley is an out-doorsey girl who took her first steps in Florida holding Grammie's hands, wanting to go outside

to touch flowers!

She's in love with flowers and the outside. She has a veggie garden. She takes wilderness walks with her dad and mom. Her mom runs marathons and her daddy recently told her,

"See that, Hadley. Watch your mother. She's just run a 20 mile race. She can do anything, and so can you!"

Which just goes to show Hadley has awesome parents to model her parenting!

Her daddy runs marathons for charity, too.

And, Hadley collects her toys and gives lots to children who need them every year.

She also has a baby brother, Gardner, whom she has never shown a moments jealousy about. She's been loving, patient and nurturing toward him, even though he's a happy-go-lucky and rambunctious little guy!

Hadley isn't. She's quiet and artistic. She'd rather Gardner would leave her dolls and art supplies alone, but she never

is unkind to him about it.

Hadley knows how to play kindly and nicely with her friends. She's also a sweet-hearted and thoughtful child to a grammie who lives very far away.

When she gets sad or upset she runs to her daddy, who knows just how to comfort her. She tells him she needs a moment to download, and she's off and running again!

I know someday she's going to be a wonderful, loving mother.

So, this day I dedicate to Hadley Davenport Duncan...the best future mother I think I'll know...

Happy Pre-Mother's Day, Hadley!

Love, Grammie Debi

Mother's Day Week~Honoring My Only Daughter, Jessica, The Best Mother Ever

The very best mother I've ever known is my only daughter, Jessica Layne Duncan Magill. She is the mom we all wish we had. Devoted to her son, Kellan, she spends endless hours making sure he has all the best in everything. Jessica wasn't supposed to have children. Through prayer and a tremendous effort on her part, she was able to complete an IVF and have a little boy.

When she was 34 years old, Jessica was told she couldn't have children. Her physical problems had overwhelmed her body, rendering it impossible to carry a child to term,

 let alone allow her to get pregnant in the first place.

Since being a mother was her life's and heart's desire, Jessica refused to accept that diagnosis.

She asked for a miracle from God, and asked all of us to pray for one.

She insisted her doctor perform surgery on her to prep her for the possibility of a pregnancy even if it wasn't going to happen. The kindly old doctor from South Florida relented, though he kept counselling her that it didn't mean things would change since she had multiple issues. He did encourage and support her, though, and told her anything was possible, and that

 he would do his best to insure she had a wonderful ground to "grow on."

Once that was prepped, she began a series of hormone treatments to stabilize her system which was completely out of balance and malfunctioning. It had been for years, which was unbeknownst to us.

Then, after several months, she and her Coastie (Coast Guard) husband got permission for funding from the Guard, rallied support from her family, and sought a fertility clinic.

Jess and Kev named themselves: The Magill In It To Win It Team!

At the clinic, the doctor and nurse assistant looked over her chart and were skeptical. They considered all she'd been through and all she'd done to set the stage for her conception. However, the doctor said he had a 95% success rate and he would do all he could to make a baby happen for Jessica and Kevin. They were fully committed to the Magill Team "In It To Win It" goal.

The nurse practitioner, Lynn, was Jessica's biggest supporter at the fertility clinic. Encouraging her when the shots and medications hurt Jessica tremendously, leaving her body battered, black and blue...welted and sore. Lynn would call, taking a personal interest in her, telling her she would make it and not to worry.

Jessica never lost hope or faith. She endured all with a warrior woman's strength.

She would have her baby at all costs, and she wouldn't be denied.

Even after the loss of her first IVF fetuses, she kept up the battle.

The second try worked! And, though Kellan was a preemie, he came through with flying colors. A C-section baby...he had surgery on his lungs and was in the NICU for 3 weeks, but he was the strongest child there and came home perfectly well and happy.

While still on the table, directly after the C-section, the doctors operated removing a benign tumor they had though was cancer all during her pregnancy. One which she had refused to let them take when her Kellan was 4 months in utero because it would jeopardize his life. She said she would take her

chances that it wasn't cancer for the sake of having her baby. Her courage got her Kellan home safely, and her own good report.

She insisted they save her uterus in the surgery, as well, so she could have more children, if possible.

Amazing girl, amazing mother.

Now, Kellan is nearly 4 years old. His intelligence has been tested at a 7-9 year old level. He's a kind and thoughtful child who loves to read and play with his iPad daily. Read with his mother, I mean. She reads him about 10 books per night! He insists...and this doesn't mean baby picture books. He wants to hear chapter books, and has since he was about 2 1/2. He's a brilliant child in every subject. And he's very strong willed just like his mother! :]

 Those plethora of vitamins and supplements she took to insure a strong and brainy child must have worked their own miracles!

Jessica believes in her heart that Kellan will not be an only child. And though her body fights against her on every avenue, she will not be beaten. And, of course, there are other ways to have a child.

She's a brave heart. She's the one who will not take "no" for an answer.

I think she's gotten this from the Scottish side of her heritage.

She's a mother of real strength and compassion.

Jessica is also a trained professional in the work of teaching developmentally delayed children, and those with autism and asbergers. From the time she was 12 years old she's volunteered and worked with disadvantaged and institutionalized children.

She has a heart for children, and I believe she has been a mother to many.

Jessica Duncan Magill is the finest of any mother I know.

I'm very proud to call her my only daughter on this Mother's Day. 

Deborah/TheBookishDame

"Brave" New Disney/Pixar Movie~ Feminist or Not??

Gorgeous artwork, as always! I'm so excited to see this latest in the Disney/Pixar family of pictures for children (and their adult children).

Telling the story of a daring and beautiful Scottish princess, this one reminds me of the old legend of Atalanta whose

father wanted her to marry the strongest fighter

in the land, but who bested them at archery and refused to marry!

The question has been brought up about whether this time

Disney has missed or made its mark...

Has it done the wonderful by creating a film, finally, about strong, independent young girls; or, has it only made them

partial heroines who want to be "just like Dad," and

eventually come home to a handsome prince,

home and hearth in the end?

Well, let me pose the question...what's wrong with having it all?

Early feminists wanted it all. I still want it all. And, I suspect most of my friends do, too. What's not to love about being able to best a boy/man at a sport or a game of business? What's not to be proud of when you rank at the top of the class...or pass the bar #1 ?

What's not to be proud of when you're able to give birth

to the most beautiful babies on earth, run a household, and be a famous writer like Nina Benneton?

I see no big problem with "Brave" if that's how the story is going to be told.

I also see no problem if it's told from the perspective of a young girl-woman who is brave and strong and who meets a young boy-man who is also brave and strong. And who both tackle a villain or foe together. (I'm not sure this is what happens at all...)

Don't we, most of us, ban together in some way to fight significant battles?

Even in Disney/Pixar movies with male central figures, often female counterparts help win the day.

As a modern-day feminist who isn't a hard-shell one, I have to say that I'm delighted that Disney/Pixar has chosen to give us this little heroine. Feisty, fiery, independent and strong...she just might show little girls it's okay in every way to be themselves if "themselves" is to step out of the

traditional princess role. We don't all have to faint at the feet of

the handsome prince to win his love. We can also fight beside him.

And, if this little Scottish firebrand was cursed by a witch for her streak of independence and defiance, she certainly met the challenge! Young women for ages have been similarly "cursed" and look how far we've come.

"Can't touch this..." LOL

I'm looking forward to seeing and cheering for "Brave."

Thanks for stopping by!

Deborah/TheBookishDame

Mother's Day Week Tribute #2: The Scratchy Mother in Our Lives

This is my grandmother, Charlotte Flowers Triplett Riggs. She was a scratchy lady. You'd think a Southern lady from Lenoir, NC, would be warm and welcoming, sweet, soft, huggie and loving to children, grandchildren, friends and all family close and far. She wasn't. My darling grandmother was a reclusive, distant, very standoffish woman. She didn't emote. :]

She didn't like to hug, and she didn't say, "I love you." She was a Victorian.

What she did do is serve. She gave of herself. She baked delicious meals, cakes, pies, cookies and canned goods which she made sure found their way into the hearths and hands of everyone she did love, and whom she found with a need both physical and emotional. What she did was pray. She was a prayer warrior...those who understand what that means will be in awe of that. And what she also did was take in a child like me who had lost a daddy and mother at the age of 5. Even though she had already raised 9 children of her own, and I'm sure she was desperately tired of having young children around, she took me in as a full time "child of her own" for nearly 3 years.

When she was dying at a relatively early age of 70 years old, she called for me and told me she loved me. Told me she loved me and hugged me, tightly.

Here's what she taught me, too:

*The Bible~scriptures by the day in our daily walk. She would quote scripture as she did housework...

*Songs. She sang all the time. She loved to sing. I love to sing, too.

*She taught me to pray and how God would always hear our prayers.

*She taught me The Lord's Prayer.

*She taught me The 23rd Psalm...."The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." When I was afraid or couldn't sleep at night, she told me this would always help me.

*She took me (along with my Uncle Dude) to church every single Sunday, placed me in my Sunday School class--took me to Wednesday night prayer meetings and made sure I knew that

Jesus loved me.

*She taught me to be kind to others no matter what, and to always "turn the other cheek."

*She taught me to "Judge not, that you be not judged."

*She taught me about plants, and about crocheting and books.

*and she kept a journal!

I loved my Grandmother Riggs above anyone on earth when I was a little girl, and I still hold her in a very special place in my heart today. I look forward to the day I'll be rejoined with her in Heaven.

\So, on this day of Mother's Day week,

I want to honor my very scratchy

Grandmother Riggs~ Charlotte Flowers Triplett Riggs

one of the great loves of my life.

"Unbreak My Heart" by Melissa Walker~The Perfect Summer Reading

Summary:

Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’ heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and she heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart? Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.

Particulars of the Book:

Published by: Bloomsbury

Pages: 231

Genre: YA Fiction

Author: Melissa Walker's website: http://www.melissacwalker.com

About Melissa!

First of all, isn't she darling?! She's so awesome!

Secondly, look at this resume!

Melissa Walker is a writer who has worked as ELLEgirl Features Editor and Seventeen Prom Editor. All in the name of journalism, she has spent 24 hours with male models and attended an elite finishing school for girls in New Zealand, among other hardships.

She co-founded I Heart Daily with fellow ex-ELLEgirl Anne Ichikawa in 2009. It’s a daily newsletter about likable stuff.
Melissa lives in Brooklyn and has a BA in English from Vassar College. She would tell you her SAT scores too, but, you know, the math part was hard.

 She loves meeting teenagers, and is game to speak at your library or school about writing, books, fashion, magazines or pop culture (but, you know, in a smart way). Get in touch to discuss.
Violet on the Runway, Violet by Design and Violet in Private (Penguin), are the books in a trilogy about a small-town girl who is scouted to become a model and finds herself in the middle of the crazy fashion world. Lovestruck Summer (HarperTeen) is a beach read full of indie rock and cowboys. Small Town Sinners (Bloomsbury) is the story of a girl who wants to star in her Evangelical community’s Hell House production.



The Dame's Take :
This is a book about friendship, first love, real love and a summer that brought all those relationships into perspective. It's a " summer love" book with a twist. We see, from the perspective of the main character, Clem, her story of a troubled infatuation with her best friend's boyfriend; and, at the same time, we get to spy on her as she comes to know and develop a healing and loving relationship with a new boy throughout the summer.

The success in this novel comes from the fact that it's not a sappy rendering of the sort it could have been given the somewhat well-travelled story of summer love. The reason for that lies in the very capable hands of Melissa Walker, who gives the book a resonance, and a solid bank of truth to anchor it. I found this little book well worth the read, and a great book to recommend to YAs for the summer.

Without giving away all the particulars, I want to talk about the name of Clem's parent's sail boat, The Possibility, and how this really is the primary focus or key to Walker's story. It is this "possibility" of change; of being taken away from her town and the source of her heartbreak, the possibility of meeting someone new, the possibility of helping others and the possibility of growing in understanding of herself and others, that is the heart of this wonderful novel. This is a girl's coming of age novel, full of wisdom and full of winds of change. It's because of the experiences; the "possibilities" afforded her during the summer that Clem comes to understand what really matters in life and love.

Melissa Walker is a fine writer who has a good deal to say to young adults experiencing complicated relationships. If my daughter were still a teen ager, I would absolutely purchase this book for her for summer reading. It's a treasure of wisdom in a story that's contemporary and hip. While I wouldn't recommend it for older YAs, particularly, I do think children 12-17 would really enjoy and benefit from the story. It's great to read a book that is meant for ordinary, normal teens, too!

Ms Walker writes beautifully, however, this is not particularly a cross over novel. I couldn't recommend it for that. I'm giving the book a

3.5 rating with a strong nod for YA fiction

Deborah/TheBookishDame

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

The Author is giving away a copy of

"Unbreak My Heart !!!"

To win, please:

Follow me on Twitter and Connect with me on the side bar on Google Friends Connect....

Then, leave your email so I can contact you if you win.

US entrants only, please.

Giveaway ends May 31st !!! :]

A Little French Vacation...

I need to share this blog with all of you. 

 I get so heartsick wishing I were in Paris sometimes. 

 Vicki makes me feel like I've taken a trip there every time I visit her.

Go see her and see what  you think.  I'm anxious to hear what you find out!

Vicki Archer

Have a great time....

and thanks for stopping in to see me.

Deborah