Book Review: The Windfall App by Teresa Richards + Giveaway!

I love me a good contemporary young adult romance. Throw in some mystery and music and you've got me hooked! I'm so excited I got to read this book by Teresa Richards.

So here's the low-down:

Title: The Windfall App
Author: Teresa Richards
Date: August 2018
Publisher: Evernight Teen
Summary: Marina Berghman is a classical piano prodigy, with parents who’ve had her life mapped out since she was in diapers. But their plan leaves no room for her secret love of alternative rock, or Sean, the edgy guitarist who recently moved to town. 

When Marina buys a lottery ticket on her eighteenth birthday via the new Windfall app, she expects it to be nothing more than a rite of passage. But she wins—the grand prize of five thousand dollars a day for life. Suddenly given the means to break free from a life she never felt in control of, she’s quick to cut her family ties and turn her back on everything she knows.
But her lottery win was no lucky break. Her prize comes with strings attached, and Marina soon finds herself at the center of someone else’s life or death game. When she discovers evidence linking her dad to the intrigue, she turns to Sean for help. But he’s harboring secrets of his own.
Now Marina must sort out who to trust and who’s pulling the strings, before her prize turns into a noose.

Maybe because I love music or maybe because I love her writing, Teresa's book was the perfect summer read for me. I think that teens will LOVE it and adults will want to read it in one sitting (which is basically what I did!).

You can get the ebook on Amazon right now and the print version should be available soon (I'll add a link once it's up). But don't forget to signup for this awesome giveaway:

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Also, if you're looking for some other fast and fun young adult reads by Teresa Richards, check out my post on her other books, Emerald Bound and Topaz Reign.

Book Review: Topaz Reign by Teresa Richards

I love fairy tales but I'm always on the search for something slightly different. If a book can pull me in like a classic fairy tale and yet still leave me guessing, then I love it even more. Topaz Reign in one of those books. When I found out it takes the classic story of Thumbelina, but gives it a twist, I knew it was going to be something unique and fun.

Before you jump in to Topaz Reign, you should probably read Emerald Bound first (check out my review here). Both books are in the Altered Stones series by Teresa Richards. Emerald Bound follows the story of The Princess and the Pea.

Topaz Reign continues the story of Maggie and Lindy, but with new problems, more romance, and a bit of time travel. I was sad at the end of Emerald Bound when present-day Maggie stays in our world and Lindy returns to her tiny Scandinavian country over 400 years before because I wanted them to stay friends! But, in Topaz Reign, they meet up again because during some of Maggie's research on Lindy's country, she discovers that history is changing. That leads her to realize that the curse she broke of the Emerald Necklace had consequences. Now she must find a way to get things back to where they are supposed to be, all while Lindy has to deal with her country being overtaken by an imposter. 

My favorite part about these books is how they take Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales and turn them into something a little darker (like all the original Grimm stories), but then they still give you that happily-ever-after feeling too. I think the combination of our contemporary world and the historical fantasy part put together give these novels a uniqueness I haven't seen in any young adult books. They are definitely worth the read for teens and adults who love to keep their youth alive.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win a copy of the books and more!

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Book Review: From Grandma to You - Childcare Wisdom for a New Generation

You know how there are things you read or advice you're given that you wished you'd read or been told years ago? That's exactly how I felt after I read From Grandma to You: Childcare Wisdom for a New Generation. 

This quaint little book written by Joan D. Hellstrom, Susan D. Findlay, Connie E. Ray, and Dr. Homer R. Rich is filled with knowledge, advice, and quotes pertaining to child rearing, being a grandparent and much more. It's like having your mom or grandma give you all the advice you need all in one place. Filled with old black and white photos of babies, children, and family, this book of wisdom leaves you feeling a little bit nostalgic, even if you didn't live in the same time period as many of the authors. 

I found myself laughing at some of the old remedies for ailments (many of which still work today!) or smiling at the advice given by Dr. Rich. 

Here are some of my favorite little bits:

• "I would encourage parents to allow their special youngsters to explore and experience - and even fail - right along with their peers." (This was advice given to parents with physically or mentally challenged children.)
• "Choose which feeding method is best for you, not which method is more politically correct at the moment." 
• "Most babies give up thumbsucking by the time they get married." -Homer Rich, MD-
• "Wouldn't it be better if all babies received the emotional warmth and trust they need without demanding it?"
• "Learn to gratefully accept help from others; there are no prizes for the mother who does it all."

If you're looking for a great gift for the mom or grandma in your life for birthdays, Christmas, or Mother's Day, From Grandma to You is it!

If you want to snag your own copy, you can find it on Amazon here.

Robin Review's it: Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

Book Title: Carter Beats the Devil
Author: Glen David Gold
Pages: 662
Published: 2001
Publisher: Hyperion
Recommended for: 18+

An engaging story of Carter the Great with fantastic illusions and fun historical tidbits.

4.25 Stars

My Opinion: The backdrop of this story is one of historical events mixed in with possibility. As a master of illusions, Carter grows from a child fascinated with magic to an adult who lives for it.

The details that went into the staging and magic acts were flawless. The descriptions gave me the illusion of being an audience member back when Houdini or Carter took the stage. I Iiked that the magic in the book was possible and still so amazing that you could hardly believe it.

The two love stories, though definitely not the center of the book, carried me from the middle to the end. SPOILER: My heart broke when Carter's first love met with tragic accident as part of one of Carter's magic tricks. I liked that he didn't just get over it and had to go through years of struggle before finding his final love.

I was awestruck at how the author took real events from the 1920s, like the death of President Harding, and turned it into a fantastic story that had me Googling the internet to find out what really happened to the president and what Glen David Gold made up. What was even more fun was that some of the things COULD have happened. SPOILER: How cool would if have been for the real President Harding to escape scandal and find peace with his wife on a remote island? I mean, how did he come up with this stuff?!?

Though it took me a few chapters to get into the book (some of the jumping around from character to character didn't get me emotionally engaged until later), overall the book was well-written and researched with enough surprise to keep me reading until the very end. I'm excited to pick up some more of Gold's books.


My Content Rating: PG-13 
SEXUALITY: Moderate (references to prostitution and homosexuality--the red tie)
LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: Mild
DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: Moderate
INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: Moderate (mostly just intense illusions)
VIOLENCE: Moderate (agents getting beat up, attempted murder, death)

**Robin-approved for 18+ audiences**

Book Review: A Fault in Our Stars by John Green

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”
-from Fault in our Stars-

TITLE OF THE BOOK: The Fault in Our Stars

AUTHOR: John Green

NUMBER OF PAGES: 336

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2012

READING LEVEL: Young Adult (Ages 14 +)

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

Summary: Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 16 year old three-year stage IV–cancer survivor. In an attempt to get her out of her depression, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor. Their witty personalities add to their attraction to each other and they fall in love. Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. Augustus uses his "wish" for them to travel to Amsterdam, where the book's author lives.

My Star Rating: 4 Stars

My Opinion: Despite the quote I used at the top of this post, I don't think everyone needs to read this book, BUT if you are looking for a feel-good book about cancer, I'd put this close to the top of my list.

The characters of Hazel and Augustus have this fun and witty relationship that gives us a different outlook on the heart-wrenching ideas of cancer and death.  I don't always find sarcasm funny, but John Green finds a way to make it true in this book. He also has a way with language that I found myself keeping track of quotable lines (see below).

By the end of the book, I was convinced that the characters were real and "An Imperial Affliction" was a real book. There's something to be said about a book that entertains and teaches us how to deal with hardship.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.”

“Some people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them," I said.

"Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.”

“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”

“I'm in love with you," he said quietly.

"Augustus," I said.

"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There's .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful. 

MY CONTENT RATING: PG-13

LANGUAGE/PROFANITY: Heavy (30+ swear words, sh**, f***, etc.)

SEXUALITY: Moderate/Heavy (Not necessarily explicit, but one sex scene, lots of talk of losing virginity and getting laid)

DRUG/ALCOHOL USE: Moderate (Augustus always has cigarette in mouth, though he never actually smokes it, underage drinking)

INTENSE/SCARY SCENES: Heavy (Not freaky scary, just intense issues with cancer and dying) 

VIOLENCE: Mild

**Robin Approved for 16+**

Book Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Better than Book #1, couldn't put it down, unexpected.

TITLE OF THE BOOK: Hallowed (Unearthly, #2)
AUTHOR: Cynthia Hand
NUMBER OF PAGES: 403
YEAR PUBLISHED: Jan 2012
READING LEVEL: Young Adult
GENRE: Paranormal

SUMMARY: Clara has to face the fact that she didn't fulfill her "purpose" as an angel when she saved Tucker in the fire. Now she's torn between her love for Tucker and her draw to Christian and the complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful.

Clara struggles with a shocking discovery - that someone she loves will die soon. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning.

STAR RATING: 4.25 Stars

MY OPINION: I thought I wouldn't like this book as much as the first because so many questions were already answered. I was wrong. Now there are more compelling questions and suspense, along with a love triangle that I thought would be annoying (Hello?!, who needs another Edward and Jacob saga?). The love story is sweet and questions are still hanging in the balance. I still don't know who I would choose!

The author, Cynthia Hand, does an excellent job at keeping the stakes high and the story bigger and better. I can't wait to read the 3rd book.

MY CONTENT RATING: PG-13
Language/Profanity: Mild
Sexuality: Moderate (talk of saving oneself for marriage, lots of making out)
Drug/Alcohol Use: Mild (her brother gets drunk)
Intense/Scary Scenes: Mild (more a feel for evil, than a description)
**Robin-approved for 13+**

Book Review: The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

Star Rating: 4/5 Stars

A curl-up-in-your-window-seat-kind-a book.

Summary: Abby thought she was perfectly happy with her normal, scheduled life - good friends, reliable boyfriend, and awaiting to hear from her planned college.  But when Dante shows up at her play rehearsal, Abby is mysteriously drawn to the Italian foreign-exchange student.  Time literally disappears the first time they are alone together and other unsual things begins to happen - like seeing flashes of the future. When she finds out that Dante isn't exactly the person he claims to be, Abby discovers a dangerous secret invention that sent him forward in time - and somehow she is connected to it. 

Review: Cute, sweet, and attention-grabbing until the very end.  I love the character of Abby and how she is willing to give up her seemingly perfect, but average life to "Live without Limits."  Of course, Dante is the dreamy male hero that makes my heart palpitate.  I loved that this novel had romance, but also a mystery that I had to keep reading to find out more clues as to Dante's arrival and past. 

I'll admit, I was a little thrown off by the whole time-travel side of things, but I love that Mangum used Italy and da Vinci in its explanation.  I am definitely reading the next book!

Content Rating: PG
Language/Profanity: Mild if any
Sexuality: Mild (kissing, hand-holding)
Drug/Alcohol Use: None (in fact, Leo at the Dungeon prohibits it)
Intense/Scary Scenes: Mild
**Approved by Robin for teens**  

My New BFF - Veronica Roth

Disclaimer: The blog post below has not been endorsed by Veronica Roth, her agent or publisher☺

Veronica Roth, right, and I during the Dark Days Tour, July 2012

My new best friend and I have done a lot together lately. We've gone running together.  She joined me at the park one day. We worked side-by-side doing laundry and dishes. I went to her Dark Days Tour and she came with me to get my hair done.  She even helped me cut coupons one day. Veronica doesn't know it yet, but we are best friends.

Ok, so we are not really BFF's, but if I could chose an author that I'd like to be best friends with right now, it would be Veronica Roth, author of Divergent and the recently released, Insurgent.   For the past week, I have taken my book with me everywhere or I've been listening to her book in my iPhone. My favorite young adult books are ones that have a little bit of everything: adventure, romance, mystery, friendship, supernatural, coming of age, and action.  When I find one that has those qualities and is clean (no sex, foul language, drug abuse, etc), it is a keeper for me.  Insurgent was one of those books for me.

My Book Review for:

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My Star Rating: 4/5

My Content Rating: PG-13 (Violence, Kissy Moments)

My Summary:  Beatrice Prior (Tris) lives in a society consisting of five factions: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).  Tris is Divergent, meaning she doesn't levitate to just one faction, but three of them.  She left her family's faction, the Abnegation, to join the Dauntless where she found friends to relate with and a boy she cares for.  Unfortunately, the factions who supposedly hold society together are falling apart and war is looming all around.

Tris is haunted by her parents' selfless death to save her and the horrible memory of choosing to kill her friend, Will, whose mind had been overtaken by the simulation serum.  As the old Dauntless and Erudite wage war on the remaining factions, Tris has to chose which side she will join.  She must choose to support her friends and love, Four, to join with the Factionless by overtaking the Erudite OR she must chose to fight against them to save the Erudite information that holds secrets her parents tried to reveal before they died.

My Opinion:  This book really did have it all.  The action kept my attention throughout all 525 pages.  My heart ached and fluttered along with Tris the whole way. The romance was still there, although I missed the sweet, quiet moments from the first book that didn't surface because both Four and Tris had a hard time trusting and confiding in each other.  There were many moments where I wanted to shake both of them and yell, "JUST TELL EACH OTHER YOUR PLANS AND WHAT YOU ARE THINKING!" Unfortunately, since they are real people, ☺, and make mistakes, they kept each other in the dark.

I'm glad that Roth didn't let Tris get over Will's death quickly.  She is a strong and brave character, but like her divergence shows, she has a selfless side that wouldn't let her get past it so easily.  I feel like I understood her need for self-sacrifice as she tried to overcome her hardships and discover more about her true character. 

Throughout the book, I kept wondering if we would find out more about the outside world and how the Five Factioned Society came to be.  I won't ruin it for everyone, but it made me happy to find out more at the end.  I'm a little disappointed that I'm going to have to wait more than a year to get the rest of the story. Darn you, Veronica!  Since we're friends now, maybe she'll give me the inside scoop.