Sunday, April 26, 2015

Sunday Street Team Alice in Wonderland High by Rachel Shane

ISBN: 978-1440584664
April 18, 2015
Amazon Link
 Goodreads Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Alice just can’t find a way to be free. Her parents are environmental activists, whose cringe-worthy public protests might involve chaining themselves to a fence and pleading  with passersby to “Save the World. Save Alice!” It’s not that Alice doesn’t believe there’s work to be done. But after a petition to start a farmer's market meets with more snickers than signatures, she figures she should shut up instead of speaking out. At least, that is, until she can find something that feels real. Then along comes Whitney Lapin, a girl who speaks in cryptic riddles and spends her free time turning abandoned warehouses into beautiful gardens. Charismatic Whitney leads Alice on a rabbit trail into the underground--aka secret society--of Wonderland High. Curiouser and curiouser.  

Alice is in wonderland! Even though Whitney's group of teenage environmental vigilantes operates on the wrong side of the law, with them, Alice is finally free to be herself. She stomps on her good girl image by completing a series of environmental pranks to impress the new group: flooding the school and disguising a pig as a baby in order to smuggle it out of a testing facility. She wants to trust them, and she especially wants to trust (or maybe kiss) Chester Katz, a boy with a killer smile, a penchant for disappearing, and a secret that will turn Alice's world backwards. But then, one of the young vigilantes tries to frame Alice for all the pranks, and she must figure out their secret before she ends up in front of a jury screaming, "Off with her head!"


My Review:

Alice in Wonderland is one of my all time favorite retellings. That being said, Alice in Wonderland High is my second retelling that I have read. Splintered was the first retelling and I really enjoyed. But if I am being honest, the two books are completely different and do not compare to one another. The setting is completely different but still has the Wonderland atmsophere that I love. Rather than falling into a hole, all the secondary characters were brought to Alice in a High School setting. It's definitely a unique retelling.

The first sentence grabbed me and I was throughly invested up into about half way. If there isnt an enticing mystery and/or plot after 100 pages or so I get really bored. The worldbuilding was very cool and was the most exciting to read about but not much happened in th middle and I found myself skimming just a bit. This book is very character driven and had a lot of dialogue. Sometimes, it was overwhelming but I understood the need for it.

Alice was very quirky and though I didnt agree with some of her actions, I loved her sarcasm and loved her crush on Chester. Chester was definitely dreamy and mysterious. I wanted to know his secrets. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of retellings!






AUTHOR BIO:

Rachel Shane studied Creative Writing at Syracuse University and now works in digital publishing at in New York City. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, young daughter, and a basement full of books. This is her first novel.


An ARC was loaned from Nori @Readwritelove28 for the Sunday Street Team


Giveaway:


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Kissing Frogs Blitz #ReadSwoonRepeat

Kissing Frogs by Alisha Sevigny Book Blitz with Giveaway #ReadSwoonRepeat

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Welcome to this week’s
Swoon Romance YA Wednesdays!
This week features
Kissing Frogs by Alisha Sevigny
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!


Kissing-Frogs-Cover
Popular party girl and high school senior Jessica Scott has a secret: she used to be a nerd — a big one; a goody two-shoes, grade-skipping, all-state spelling bee champ. But she lost the braces, put on some contacts, and applied all her academic genius to studying and imitating the social elite. Now she rules the school from the upper echelon of the high school realm. With her cool new friends and hottest-guy-in-school boyfriend, life’s a beach — and that’s where she’s headed for Spring Break. That is, until her teacher breaks the bad news that she’s failing Biology — and her only chance to make up the grade is to throw away the culminating trip of her hard-earned popularity and join the Conservation Club in Panama to save the Golden Frog.
Unable to let go of her faded college dreams, Jess finds herself in a foreign country with a new social crew, and one handsome face that stands out as a blast from the past, threatening to ruin her queen bee reputation. Travis Henley may have grown up, but he still likes to play childish games and as payment for retrieving Jess’ lost ring from the bottom of a jungle pool, he wants three dates. While Jess does battle with spiders, snakes, wildfires and smart mean girls, she desperately tries to hang on to the last vestiges of her popular existence like the Golden Frog from its webbed toe. But as she starts to care about something more than tanning and texting – a species on the verge of disappearing forever – she may realize the worth of her inner nerd, and the one frog in particular that could be her prince in disguise.
Set in the lush and tropical El Valle de Anton, this modern fairytale re-imagining of “The Frog Prince” is toe-curling contemporary romance with an environmentalist heartbeat, in the tradition of Stephanie Perkins.
add to goodreadsKissing Frogs by Alisha Sevigny
Publication Date: November 18, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance
Available for Purchase:
amazon B&N
About-the-Author
Alisha Sevigny
Alisha Sevigny holds a degree in Sociology and Professional Writing from the University of Victoria, is a film school graduate, former literary agent and current Social Media and Communications Director for an award-winning English school. A shameless romantic, Alisha and her husband have travelled the world together. On a recent trip to Panama with their new daughter, Alisha fell in love with the country, culture, and their national emblem, the Golden Frog. She was inspired to write her first Young Adult novel, Kissing Frogs. Born and raised in Kitimat, British Columbia, Alisha has always had a strong connection to the environment and conservationist spirit. She now lives in Toronto with her family.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway
Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

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