Armchair BEA 2015: Giveaway

It is the fourth and final day of Armchair BEA.  The themes are Giveaways and Book-to-Movie Adaptations.  I am choosing to host a giveaway.

One of the major themes of Armchair BEA is experiencing an event and a community online, since we aren't able to do it in person.  That inspired my giveaway.

A few weeks ago, I went to a Fierce Reads Spring Fling tour event at Blue Willow Bookshop.  (You'll note that the second leg of the tour starts tomorrow, at BookCon.)

It was a great event - they had a photo area with a backdrop and lots of props, bingo with custom cards, and the store provided a raffle.  Katie Finn, Lynne Matson, Marie Rutkoski, and Lindsay Smith were all promoting the second books in their series, so they were all a bit handicapped about what they could talk about.  I was familiar with most of their books, but understood that it was likely not everyone in the audience had read them.

My reviews of:
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
Sekret by Lindsay Smith

They could talk odd coincidences, like how Finn and Matson's books both start in a Target.  (Finn did that because she strangely seems to always wear her one red shirt to Target.)  The authors also talked about worldbuilding and how it can drive plot.  Rutkoski first decided that her more martial culture would carry knives and then that they would allow duels.  At that point, she knew that there had to be a duel in THE WINNER'S CURSE.  It seems like most of them were pantsers, which is a big problem when you're writing the second book in a trilogy!

Anyway, part of the fun of an event like this is all the swag.  So I'm giving away a swag pack!  There is a Fierce Reads tour poster signed by Finn, Matson, Rutkoski, and Smith, plus a Fierce Reads pen.  There are two bookmarks and a pin for Nil and Nil Unlocked by Matson.  There is a watermelon soy chapstick for Finn's series.  There are two bookmarks for Rutkoski, plus two bookmarks from Smith - one for her upcoming novel Dreamstrider.

BONUS ROUND!  For every ten entries, I'll add more swag to the swag pack.  And believe me, I have all sorts of cool stuff - including more posters.

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Review: Broken Hearts, Fences and Other Things to Mend

First in the Broken Hearts & Revenge series
By Katie Finn
Available now from Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan)
Review copy
Read my review of Since You've Been Gone

It is hard to believe that Katie Finn and Morgan Matson are the same person.  BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND starts out promising, with a strong narrative voice from a young girl getting over heartbreak.  But things go off the rails with a plot that is way too drawn out and requires the heroine to act like an absolute idiot.

Gemma ruined several lives when she was 11.  I found what she did suitably devastating for a dark past secret, but found it unbelievable that none of the adults in the situation spoke enough to each other to figure out what was actually happening.  Now, Gemma has run in to two figures from that summer: her old best friend, Hallie, and her brother.  Luckily, Gemma is carrying a cup labeled "Sophie" so they don't realize it's her.

Gemma is determined to make amends, and she's also falling for Josh.  Their relationship is really sweet, and their conversations about past relationship traumas make their connection something believable and more than physical.  At the same time, bad things keep happening to Gemma.  It absolutely can't be because of an extremely obvious twist.  Seriously, Gemma may not be the smartest, but she's smart enough to put two and two together, so it's frustrating that she doesn't.

(And I will eat my hat if Hallie and Josh's mother isn't the author of the ersatz Twilight novel.)

Basically, BROKEN HEARTS, FENCES AND OTHER THINGS TO MEND wastes good character work and a terrific summer romance on a glacial, silly plot.  I somewhat want to finish the trilogy to see Gemma grow up, but I doubt I will.  This was a fairly frustrating reading experience.

(However, if you are interested in reading it yourself, Macmillan started a readalong yesterday, so now is a good time.)