Booksparks #PopUpBlogTour: WHEN THE BEAT DROPS by Anna Hecker

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Booksparks is at it again with another....

#PopUpBlogTour!

That's right!

It's time for another FABULOUS #PopUpBlogTour thanks to the wonderful folks at Booksparks who are eager to put YOU right there with the best of the best of recently released titles. Take today's for example...it's a Young Adult release that just hit bookstore and virtual shelves May 15th, 2018 via Sky Pony Press.  For a title that I can't even say without the accompanying sound effects (come on....you KNOW you did it too!), it hits some pretty heavy chords amid all the mixing, raves, and out and out partying.  Don't believe me?  Well then, grab your glow sticks and your best neon edged gear because we're hitting the floor and entering the DJ booth with today's book of choice...

When the Beat Drops

by

Anna Hecker

9781510733336

Sky Pony Press

About the book...

Seventeen-year-old Mira has always danced to her own beat. A music prodigy in a family of athletes, she'd rather play trumpet than party -- and with her audition to a prestigious jazz conservatory just around the corner (and her two best friends at music camp without her), she plans to spend the summer focused on jazz and nothing else.

She only goes to the warehouse party in a last-ditch effort to bond with her older sister. Instead, she falls in love with dance music, DJing... and Derek, a gorgeous promoter who thinks he can make her a star. Suddenly trumpet practice and old friendships are taking a backseat to the packed dance floors, sun-soaked music festivals, outsized personalities, and endless beats of the EDM scene.

But when a devastating tragedy plunges her golden summer into darkness, Mira discovers just how little she knows about her new boyfriend, her old friends, and even her own sister. Music is what brought them together... but will it also tear them apart?

AMAZON  |  B&N  |  INDIEBOUND

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like I said, every time I say the title, it morphs in my head from simply words to an announcement, an anthem if you will, backed by DJ "footwork" and beats that vibrate in your chest. As powerful as that image may be, the story itself is just as hard hitting.

What I loved about this one was how the story married all types of music together, how the author took us behind the turntable into the hearts and souls of those who make or mix the music, and how much deeper the story ran than at first may be perceived. We've got sibling rivalry, artistic competition, family breakdown, those who've unknowingly lost their way, those just finding it, musical expression/appreciation, friendship lost and grown anew, first love/lust, drug use and repercussions of such...shall I continue? The elements of the story run as varied a circle as the notes that make up its virtual tracks, and are as colorful as the outfits sported by the attendees.  Seriously, Google search "rave outfits" and you'll get an eyeful of multi-colored, eye searing, barely there "uniforms" as it were that would fit right in with what the gals wear in the book...though I'd be sticking more with Mira's cat's with laser eyes dress.  🙂

Outside of the musical expressions and adventures, or perhaps it's better to say intertwined with it, is the story of two sisters finding their way after loss, anger, and the bitterness of the world has had its way.  Each character introduced has something to share, to learn, or simply to endure, but it enriches the story that much more.  I adored Mira's character...honestly, she felt REAL.  From her changing passion to her falling fast and hard for a sexy pair of eyes (Derek...grr), her love for her sister to her openness and acceptance of others (hello fellow DJ gal!)...even when she falls on her face (like with her jazz friends), she does it with such aplomb that you can't help but root for her all over again.  Her sister, though completely lost for the time being, is another remarkable soul...hurting oh so much, but no less lovely than the glitter that adorns their faces when its party prep time.  Her sister's best friend was equally splitting her self down the middle from who she was to who she wanted to be in the moment, yet still maintained a quality of innocence despite her extracurricular activities (though yeah, the baby doll bag...no thank you!). As for our love interest/manager...placing hottie status aside, if I may borrow a phrase from Taylor Swift. .."I knew you were trouble when you walked in...trouble, trouble, trouble..."...and TIME AFTER TIME your TRUE COLORS came shining through (Cyndi Lauper, anyone? 😉 ).  Sorry, I simply couldn't help myself!  

In the end, it was a musically charged tale that I simply did NOT want to end, but end it did and really WOW...just WOW.  It'll take you on a ride you weren't expecting, to places you never dreamed to visit, and leave you with a new appreciation for music, life, family, and friends.  Along with the entertainment factor, you've got a great reminder to follow your dreams, wherever they may lead, and even though they may change along the way, that's okay...it's YOUR beat, your mix to make.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the author...

Anna Hecker grew up at the dead end of a dirt road in Vermont. She holds an MFA from The New School and spent a decade writing ad copy and chasing beats before returning to fiction, her first love. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son, and fluffy bundle of glamour, Cat Benatar.

SITE  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK  |  INSTAGRAM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to the Booksparks team for the chance to bring this title to you and the copy for review.  (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now in "e" and "tree" formats via Sky Pony Press, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!

GUEST POST: Jill MacKenzie, author of Spin the Sky

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're tantalizing your bookish minds with a recent Young Adult release via Sky Pony Press. Got room on your wish list?  Well good because it just might be the perfect pick for your own shelf or the dancer in your life.  That's right, I said DANCER!  It's a case of "writing what you know" with potentially awesome results.  The story centers around a young lady who LOVES to dance, but instead of being simply a pursuit of happiness, it might just be her ticket to getting both her and her sister out of their current sitch.  Ready or not, here comes today's spotlight title...

Spin the Sky

by

Jill MacKenzie

Sky Pony Press

About the book...

Magnolia Woodson wants nothing more than to get her and her sister, Rose, out of the pitifully small, clamming-obsessed Oregon town that hates them—she just doesn’t know how. Forced to put up with the snide comments and hateful looks the townspeople throw at them, Mags thinks she’s destined to pay for the horrible, awful thing her mom did—and that she’s left her and Rose to deal with—until the day she dies.

But when a nationwide televised dance competition posts tryouts in nearby Portland, Mags’s best friend, George, says they have to go and audition. Not only have they spent the past fourteen years of their lives dancing side-by-side, dreaming of a day just like this, but also it could be Mags’s chance of a lifetime—a chance to win the grand-prize money and get her and Rose out of Summerland, a chance to do the thing she loves most with everyone watching, a chance to show the town that she’s not—and has never been—a “no-good Woodson girl,” like her mother. But will the competition prove too steep? And will Mags be able to retain her friendship with George as they go head-to-head in tryouts? Mags will have to learn that following her dreams may mean changing her life forever.

AMAZON

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sound good?
Great!
Now, let's get to know the author a bit.
Please welcome...JILL MACKENZIE!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


GUEST POST:  Author Jill MacKenzie

Curious minds want to know about your journey from student to dancer to writer...what prompted the change in role, which was/is your favorite, and why?

It's funny the way we view others, isn't it? We see a person building something and so, to us, they become a builder. We see another person painting and so they're a painter. So much of what we do embodies who we are. Right?

In Spin the Sky, George grapples with the discrepancy between what he does, who he is, and how others see him. He feels stuffed into one box though he's not sure if it's the right box--if any box is the right box for him.  

Growing up, I was a dancer. That meant I had really long hair that was often swirled on top my head into a tight, cinnamon roll shape and secured with countless bobby pins and hair spray. That meant I was small in stature and smiled a lot and liked being on stage and always had strong calves and bruised toes. That meant I hung out with other dance types. It was my art. It was what most people knew of me. It was who I was.

But what most people didn't know was that I was also a storyteller. In the little free time I had back then, I was always stapling large groups of pages together, constructing worlds that didn't exist until I gave them physical details, names, shapes, colors. I was a builder, but instead of building buildings I was building characters. Characters who, for me, grew into real people with real problems and real ideas on how to solve those problems. Though I was still creating, those creations earned me little more than the occasional smile from an elderly aunt, a pat on the head from either of my parents, neither of whom had any artistic inclinations whatsoever. The fact was, the inside writer me didn't exactly match up to the outside dancer me. 

But the thing is, only later, as I was moving from my teen years to my adult years did I realize that I didn't have to be a dancer or a writer; I could be both. And in turn, I could be neither. And as soon as I realized that it didn't matter what others saw in me, it mattered what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be. And as soon as I realized that—that I was in control of my insides and how others viewed my outsides didn't matter—I knew that I could be a dancer and a writer, not just one over the other.

Magnolia's journey in Spin the Sky revolves around her transcendence, her need to rise above what the town thinks of her and, instead, focus on what she thinks of herself. But George has his own journey, too, and I think I identify with his path even more than I do Magnolia's. George is the golden boy, the son/friend/town member who everyone expects perfection from. I felt these same expectations of perfection growing up. That if the people who surrounded me didn't think I was perfect, well, then I must not have been. Sometimes I wish I could go back and shake my seventeen-year-old self and say, "what do you think of you?" It's such an important question. 

Come senior year of high school, I was still dancing in public, but I was spending far more hours writing in private than I was on stage. The thing is, I never made a conscious choice to swap dancing out for writing. On the contrary, I feel like my life in dance helped produce my desire for self-expression in other mediums as well—other mediums that were far less visible, far less under a microscope than dancing ever was for me. Yet I still believe that writing is so much like dancing. Dancing requires a dedication and study from great teachers; so does writing. Dancing requires strength and stamina and the ability to shake off everything negative you've ever heard about your movement and do it all again the next day; so does writing. Neither art—and I suspect this is true for all arts—is easy. There is a substantial amount of rejection involved and I do believe the rejection I faced in dance prepared me for the rejection I'd later endure in writing. 

So to say that I shifted from dancer to writer would be a little bit of an untruthful statement. But what is true is that, for a time, I danced my heart out and then I was, to others, a dancer. Now, because I'm officially a published author, people look at me and think, "oh, she's an author." But, instead of choosing one box over another, I think I'll always be both a dancer and a writer and a lover and a mother and a wife and a child and a person who, sometimes, doesn't want to be any of those things and on other days wants to be all of them. 

So yes, dance heavily influenced the way I operate today and I do believe that my movement carries through to the kinds of sentences I create on paper. I still enjoy the fluidity of dance and try to recreate that on page. I still want my words to sound pretty in the same way I wanted my lines, my legs, my arms to look pretty every day in dance.

But I do wonder if, one day, I'll use my knowledge and experience in dance and in writing to explore another form of art and maybe even become something else. I hope I do. Because I think I can only grow through this sort of exploration and expression. So instead of feeling stifled by identification, labeled by others as a writer or dancer, I'll use it as a vehicle to shift, grow, move, create in order to gain a greater understanding of both myself and the world. I feel like this understanding is the greatest thing we can offer ourselves right now. Don’t you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the author...

Jill Mackenzie, a Vancouver native, is an ex-ballerina and contemporary dancer. Now working toward her MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Jill chasses between roles as part-time student, full-time mom, and always-writer. Though Jill no longer studies dance, she still tries to dance herself clean whenever she can. Currently she lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she spends her free time beach-bound with her husband and two beautiful daughters.

SITE  |  TWITTER

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to Casey at Media Masters Publicity for the chance to bring this title to the spotlight and to author Jill MacKenzie for sharing indulging my curiosity and sharing her story with us all.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, the author, or those promotions on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title celebrated its BOOK BIRTHDAY the beginning of the month via Sky Pony Press, so be on the lookout for it at on online retailer of your choosing.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!

I Want to Eat Your Books by Karin Lefranc

Hi guys and gals!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Betcha thought I forgot about you, right?  No new bookish news to feed the reader in your soul for a day or two and BAM, I'm down for the count.  Trust me, I'm not down but I have been out seeing as work has been UBER busy and running be ragged.  I'm lucky I've been able to enjoy my favorite pastime let alone find the strength of mind and body to blog.  But, let's let bygones be bygones and today be a new day...err, night.  ^-^

Today on the blog, we're shining the Picture Book Month spotlight on a title from Sky Pony Press.  It stars a paranormal creature many readers love while showcasing the power of books, all in an age appropriate setting so even the littlest among you can indulge.  Ready or not, here comes today's book of choice...

I Want to Eat Your Books

by

Karin Lefranc

Illustrated by

Tyler Parker

9781634501729

Sky Pony Press

As far as target audience appeal, this one has it in the bag.  Little ones will have a blast with the zombie invading school and tearing through the pages of every book it can find.  Okay, well maybe not the tearing through the pages part because frankly that gave me a mini heart attack, but I digress....loads of fun for the munchkins.  Readers will love how instead of EATING the books, he eventually learns that READING the books is much more enjoyable.  Definitely speaks to the adage you've probably heard about how it only takes ONE BOOK to turn a non-reader into a reader.  Basically this zombie gets voracious in the sense of the word we avids love!  The illustrations are great...unique in style, simple in design, but stand out just the same.  I can honestly see young artists out there trying to duplicate their form in order to create their own zombie stories....what fun!  Older readers are where the questions come in...  *raises hand*

Yes, I am in that category because obviously (at least I hope so), I'm not in the "target audience" range.  Does that mean I don't enjoy a good picture/storybook?  Hardly!  I adore my fair share of them, thank you very much, but I also question different things that jump out at me.  Here, I can't help but wonder WHY a zombie.  Grant it, I'm not a huge zombie enthusiast but as I am an avid reader, this book practically SCREAMED at me to take it for a spin.  The "why the zombie" question actually comes in with the title and the zombies favorite refrain.  I want to eat your books... add a Transylvanian accent and some blah blah BLAHs and can't you see this one actually going the way of the vampires?  I get the devouring books aspect, whereas they would satiate the zombie because they are knowledge filled just like BRAINS, but the saying is SO CLOSE to the I want to suck your blood that I can't help looking for fangs.  Also, what was with the mummy inclusion at story's end?  They were in a school library, not a museum.  Where on earth did she come from? 

Anywho...aside from the random head scratching moments, it wasn't a bad read.  Definitely something little Judy or Johnny might clamor for on a weekend afternoon or for a quick trip through the pages before bed.  It takes the paranormal craze and makes it accessible to the wee ones while driving home (like stake to the heart...okay, I promise, enough with the vampires) the point that BOOKS ARE GOOOOD food for the brain, no matter how you may have acquired them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the author and illustrator...

Karin Lefranc grew up all over the world, living in Sweden, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, before moving to the U.S. to attend Bard College in New York. She now lives in Connecticut with her three girls and one boy, who all love devouring books in all shapes and sizes. Karin is also a certified children’s yoga teacher.

- - - - - - - - -

Tyler Parker received his BFA in illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art and also has an MA in sequential design and illustration from the University of Brighton. He is the illustrator of more than seven children’s books including Monsters Meet on Mondays and The Ice Cream Shuffle. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special thanks to both the author, illustrator, and Bostick Communications for the copy for review.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, future works, or promotions, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title hit store shelves September of this year via Sky Pony Press, so be on the lookout for it near you.

Until next time....happy reading!



BLOG TOUR: Waggers by Stacy Nyikos

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, the site is going to the dogs as we welcome a blog tour from Provato Events that stars a Children's Storybook you have to read to believe.  It stars a four-legged friend that's got a heart of gold....but a tail that doesn't always fall in line.  Ready to meet and greet today's blog tour guest?  Then get ready to SIT and STAY as we focus in on today's book of choice...

Waggers

by

Stacy Nyikos

Illustrated by

Tamara Anegon

9781629146294

Sky Pony Press

About the book....

When Waggers is adopted, he tries to be good; he really does! But it isn’t Waggers’s fault that his tail goes crazy when he gets excited. How much harm can a tail do, anyway? Well, his new family is about to find out. In the kitchen, the cookies smell so good that Waggers’s tail makes the dough hit the ceiling. And when Waggers helps the kids defeat a monster in the living room, there may be a sofa casualty. After his tail accidentally scratches the paint off the car in the garage, Mom and Dad aren’t so sure their home is the right fit for such an excitable pup. Could this be the last straw, or can Waggers and his family find a way to stay together?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What do my eyes land on when I first open this ebook?  Waggers the dog!  What's this?  He's a Razortail Whippet and just so happens to have a REALLY long tail?  This is gonna be good!  ^_^

Okay, well good is definitely what readers are in store for, but poor little Waggers is headed for trouble.  What harm can an extra long tail be?  Oh well, let's see....if you happen to have a happy dog, or a dog that loves treats, or really gets into sneaking up on the "monster" in the house, A LOT of trouble is your answer.  So much in fact that Waggers' forever home is in jeopardy!  *GASP!*  Now that really hit home with this dog lover, but let me put your minds at ease....we do get a happy ending for all.  ^_^

Waggers is an adorable story filled with all the spunkiness and mischief an everyday puppy can get into, multiplied by 3....foot that is.  His extra long tail provides for moments of mayhem not expected nor intended but in the end, it works in his favor in helping him and his family find the PERFECT "job" for him.  Let's just say that his tail gets a real work out leaving not much energy left for wiggling and waggling all over the place at home.  

In short, it's a laugh, it's a riot, and it's a great reminder that adopting a pet is SERIOUS business (in the serious sense and the seriously fun sense).  You have to find the perfect fit for you AND for them.  I am a frequent visitor to our local shelter and rescue societies (several of my own pups have come from them) and I can't tell you how often I see "owner give up" as the reason they were turned in.  Now it's not to say that sometimes these are valid cases of people moving, someone passing away, financial situations changing, and the like, but they aren't ALL that way....some even list additional reasons that I'm hinting at such as "too rambunctious" or "too active".  Okay, let's get this straight....you don't go selecting a Lab puppy, if you want a dog that's simply going to laze about and do nothing all day.  They are active dogs (at least through their teen years for certain) and need exercise to burn off that energy.  Same goes for those wanting an active dog that choose a dog in its golden years or those that want a "purse dog" and select a full size Pomeranian.  You have to make a good match for BOTH parties involved and then...THEN you have a match made in puppy loving heaven.

Recommended read for all ages.  Waggers will entice you from the tip of his tail right to his cute little nose with his antics, his misadventures and most of all his unconditional love.  

Ebook for review received courtesy of Michele at Provato Events.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this promotion as well as those forthcoming, be sure to stop by their official site.  This title is available now, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.  Thanks again to Stacy Nyikos for appearing.  For other stops on the Waggers blog tour please check http://www.stacyanyikos.com/blog.html

Until next time...happy reading!