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What to Read Wednesday – Oops Edition and Giveaway

By Karin Perry on 04/30/2015 • ( 3 )

Apologies for the oddly timed What to Read Wednesday post. I let time get away from me and failed to post last week and then to top that off I forgot to post yesterday. How will I ever make it up to you, dear readers? I know!!! I’ll give stuff away!

First up is an ARC of DUMPLIN’ by Julie Murphy
September 15th 2015 by Balzer + Bray

Publisher Synopsis:
Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Here is a little Dolly Parton to get you in the mindset. This song is an important one for our main character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m_OvYkoyeE

Enter to win an ARC of Dumplin’ by entering the Rafflecopter below. (Click the link if the widget doesn’t show up.) You have until next Tuesday (5-5-15 end of day) to complete your entries.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Next up is an audiobook giveaway. I’ve listened to both of these and really enjoy the story.

THE MEMORY OF AFTER (originally titled LEVEL 2) and CHASING BEFORE by Lenore Appelhans (Book 1 and 2 in the Memory Chronicles)
September 3rd 2013 by Simon & Schuster and August 26th 2014 by Simon & Schuster

My Review of THE MEMORY OF AFTER:

Felicia is dead. She spends her days and nights in her pod linked in to a “mainframe” that contains memories of a lot of other people that are in the same place she is. She lives in a hive filled with pods and has minimal contact with others and only has two girls she could call friends. Everyone else is concerned with reliving memories. She is at Level 2 – a place where you go when you aren’t ready to move on yet. Here you come to terms with your life and death by watching memories of your time on Earth. But, there is a pretty cool system in place. You can go in and catalog your memories, attaching tags and ratings, and making them available to the public. Then, other people can search for subjects they’d like to watch and rent your memories for credits. You, as the memory owner receive payment for each rented memory.

Felicia is lucky. Her mother is a Foreign Service Officer, which allowed her to travel a lot so her memories are sought after. But, besides “reading books” or “watching movies” through other people’s memories, Felicia mainly likes to watch her own – the ones that involve her boyfriend Neil. Time doesn’t have meaning in the hive and things are always the same – until one of her friends disappears after some glitches in the pods. When Julian, a boy Felicia knew when she was alive, appears in her pod and tells her she has to leave, she knows something isn’t right about the hives. Determined to find out what is going on and to locate Neil, Felicia runs with Julian and enters the world of a rebellion between angels and heaven.

Appelhans is so creative in how weaves this story around Felicia. The Memory of After definitely stands out among the other books dealing with the afterlife. I’m excited to see where the author takes the characters next.

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below (Click the link if the widget doesn’t show up.) for a chance to win both of these audiobooks. You have until next Tuesday (5-5-15 end of day) to complete your entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway