Monday, June 30, 2014

June Author in the Spotlight Wrap-Up + Giveaway

June Author in the Spotlight Wrap-Up + Giveaway

The giveaway for Guy In Real Life ends tonight at midnight.  Enter quick.

June has been a crazy month for me.  I have two sprained ankles and my doctor put me in a boot. My left foot is worse than my right.  Then I traveled to National History Day competition in Maryland and my student, Natasha Holtman won FIRST place in the senior division, paper category!!  This was an awesome experience.  Then I turned another year older on June 24th but unfortunately my birthday was marred by the fact that my son, slid into home base at his baseball game and broke his ankle in two places.  We spend the last four hours of my birthday in the emergency room.  Huge Bummer!  So Max and I have big plans to get some Boy Scout Eagle requirements done and rest as much as possible this summer.  Rest = Reading is my new motto.

Please join me in saying goodbye to June's Author in the Spotlight Steve Brezenoff.  Enter to win his recently released YA novel, Guy In Real Life.

Guy In Real Life Giveaway

Check out my book review of Guy In Real Life.  Two very different teens from two different socio economic backgrounds tell their story in alternating chapters.  The gaming world is also represented with chapters interspersed throughout the book.  Guy In Real Life is not your typical love story and it is going to be hard for readers to fit Guy In Real Life into a box or a set category or genre because it is unique and genre bending. There's a little bit of mystery, fantasy, GLBTQ, romance and more.

Guy In Real Life Book Review

Check out my book review of Brooklyn, Burning.  The story is narrated by Kid whose gender is undefined, in fact for both Kid and Scout, you don't know whether they are boy or girl, gay or straight.  Brooklyn, Burning is written without pronouns for the main characters.  It is an interesting way to read a novel and I loved it.  I love how Brezenoff experiments with gender and makes a statement about love and transcendance.  At its heart Brooklyn, Burning is a love story.  Yet this love story makes you think about gender stereotypes and how teens and people define themselves.

Brooklyn, Burning Book Review

Check out the author interview with Steve.  His new Young Adult book, Guy In Real Life was just released this month to rave reviews.  I decided to ask him some questions about his life, his writing, his new book and online gaming.  Read on to find out all the juicy details.

Steve Brezenoff Author Interview

I met Steve at the Loft Literary Center where I was participating in a writing conference for children and young adult authors.  Steve and his publisher were one of the presenters.  I have had a great time working with Steve this month and getting to know him as a writer.  Anyways, I am so glad I was able to feature Steve and his books here on Book Snob.  You need to seriously check out his website and read his creative books. http://www.stevebrezenoff.com/