BookSparks Speaks Out: Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month

BookSparks Speaks Out:
Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month
(details)
Join BookSparks, author Amy Hatvany and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) to #speakout against sexual violence. Sexual violence touches all genders, ages and cultures. One in five women will be raped in their lifetime, and 325,000 children are at risk of commercial sexual exploitation.

How You Can Help:
Author Amy Hatvany's new book, It Happens All the Time, draws from her personal experiences with sexual assault. Purchase her book today, April 19, and send BookSparks your receipt (to alyssa@sparkpointstudio.com). BookSparks will donate 30% of all verified purchases to the KCSARC. Find out more ways you can help (here).

It Happens All the Time
by Amy Hatvany
-Women's Fiction
Amazon | Goodreads
From master storyteller Amy Hatvany—whose writing has been hailed as “gripping and emotionally honest” (Stephanie Evanovich, New York Times betselling author)—comes a provocative and compelling novel about two friends whose lives are changed by a drunken kiss.

I want to rewind the clock, take back the night when the world shattered. I want to erase everything that went wrong.

Amber Bryant and Tyler Hicks have been best friends since they were teenagers—trusting and depending on each other through some of the darkest periods of their young lives. And while Amber has always felt that their relationship is strictly platonic, Tyler has long harbored the secret desire that they might one day become more than friends.

Returning home for the summer after her college graduation, Amber begins spending more time with Tyler than she has in years. Despite the fact that Amber is engaged to her college sweetheart, a flirtation begins to grow between them. One night, fueled by alcohol and concerns about whether she’s getting married too young, Amber kisses Tyler.

What happens next will change them forever.

In alternating points of view, It Happens All the Time examines the complexity of sexual dynamics between men and women and offers an incisive exploration of gender roles, expectations, and the ever-timely issue of consent.

Summer Reading Challenge 2017

Summer Reading Challenge
May to August 2017
sponsored by BookSparks (details)
Facebook | @BookSparks #SRC2017
The 7th annual reading challenge sponsored by BookSparks is starting up next month!

LOTS are listed for this summer!

Into The Water by Paula Hawkins

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki -my review

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion -DNF

Goodnight from London by Jennifer Robson -DNF

It’s Always The Husband by Michele Campbell -my review

In This Moment by Karma Brown

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica -DNF

The Leavers by Lisa Ko - my review

The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor

The Rules of Half by Jenna Patrick

American Family by Catherine Marshall-Smith

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Proof by C.E. Tobisman

Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave

A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly

Eden by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg

A Work of Art by Micayla Lally

The Captain’s Daughter by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Half-Life of Remorse by Grant Jarrett

Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka

Last Seen by J.L. Doucette

Happy Release: The Beast of London by L.D. Goffigan

The Beast of London
by L.D. Goffigan
-Fantasy, Paranormal, Thriller
Released date: April 17, 2017
Amazon | Goodreads
Mina Murray once lived an adventurous life, but after a tragedy in the forests of Transylvania, she left it all behind. Now she has settled into a quiet routine as a schoolteacher in London, engaged to the respectable solicitor Jonathan Harker, attempting to fit into the stuffy upper class London society to which he belongs.

Her dark past comes careening into her present when Jonathan is abducted by a group of vampires from a society ball. Determined to rescue him, she teams up with her former paramour Abraham Van Helsing and his colleague, Scotland Yard Inspector John Seward.

As they pursue Jonathan’s abductors from England to the Low Countries and beyond, Mina realizes that Jonathan’s abduction is tied to a larger threat against humanity…

An electrifying retelling of a classic tale, THE BEAST OF LONDON is the first book of the Mina Murray series. If you love adventure, romance, and mystery with a paranormal twist, then pick up your copy today.

Lust & Wonder by Augusten Burroughs

Lust & Wonder
by Augusten Burroughs

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
Flickr
Pinterest
Twitter

Published: 2016
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Humor, Memoir
Hardback: 304 pages
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
Just when I broke my sobriety and started drinking again in moderate and controlled measure exactly like a normal person, I met this guy who wasn't just a guy but a writer, and not just a writer but the author of one of my favorite books.

With Augusten's unique and singular observations and his own unabashed way of detailing both the horrific and the humorous, Lust & Wonder is a hilariously frank memoir that his legions of fans have been waiting for. His story began in Running with Scissors, endured through Dry, and continues with this memoir, the capstone to the life of Augusten Burroughs.

Funny, sweet, alarming, and ultimately, moving and tender, Lust & Wonder is an experience of a book that will resonate with anyone who has loved and lost and loved again.

My two-bits:

I love Augusten's take on life. In this memoir he gets into his love relationships with people. And, his fascination and obsession with gems is also revealed.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version - such a treat with the author reading it.

Stacking the Shelves & Sunday Post - 4.15.17

Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
AND
Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer (details)
~*~
I had a good balance of reading and watching (films) this week. Good stuff.

I also visited three different bookstores this week for the Independent Bookstore challenge mentioned below. I usually average 2-3 bookstore visits a month mostly triggered by author events.

~*~
Bought:

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
by Hannah Tinti
-Literary, Mystery
Amazon | Goodreads

For Review:

The Beast of London
by L.D. Goffigan
-Fantasy
courtesy of publisher author -Thanks!
Amazon | Goodreads

Wrong
by Jane Aston
-New Adult, Romance
courtesy of Romance Read-of-the-Month Club -Thanks!
BarnesNoble | Goodreads

OTHER things (kinda book-related):

Independent Bookstore Day
April 29 (details)
CELEBRATING the upcoming Independent Bookstore Day by visiting at least 10 independent bookstores during the month.

#5 Green Apple Books on the Park
San Francisco, CA (here)
with Mollie Makes
Living a Creative Life
issue number seventy seven
comes with a cute mini-loom kit
See the complete list of places I visited (here).


AND watched: in theatre - part of San Francisco International Film Festival (details)

Yourself & Yours (2016)
Dangsinjasingwa dangsinui geot (original title)
Director/Writer: Sang-soo Hong
Starring: Hae-hyo Kwon, Joon-sang Yoo
-Drama, South Korea | imdb | my rating: 4
A foray into the uncanny with a spin on Luis Buñuel's "That Obscure Object of Desire"

THIS weird and unusual, but interesting love story left me sad.

Future Perfect (2016)
El futuro perfecto (original title)
Director: Nele Wohlatz
Writers: Pío Longo, Nele Wohlatz
Starring: Xiaobin Zhang, Saroj Kumar Malik
-Drama, Argentina | imdb | my rating: 5
A smart and innovative look at the possible futures of a young Chinese immigrant to Buenos Aires, told in the stilted language of an elementary Spanish textbook.

WE were treated to a Q&A with the director of this film. Interesting to know that the story is somewhat true to the main character, Xiaobin's experience in Argentina.

The Next Skin (2016)
La propera pell (original title)
Director: Isa Campo, Isaki Lacuesta
Writers: Isa Campo, Isaki Lacuesta, Fran Araújo
Starring: Emma Suárez, Àlex Monner
-Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Spain, Switzerland | imdb | my rating: 5
A teenager who went missing and was presumed dead returns home after eight years to find a family deeply affected by his disappearance. Gradually, doubts arise about whether he really is the missing boy or an impostor.

LOVED how this one pulls you in and keeps you wondering. And, loved the small-town Spanish Pyrenees location.


AND watched: at the library theatre

Chinese Couplets (2015)
Director: Felicia Lowe
-Documentary, Family, History | imdb | my rating: 5
Part memoir, part history, part investigation, Chinese Couplets spans two centuries, three countries and four generations of women in this intimate story that reveals the impact of America's Chinese Exclusion Acts on filmmaker Felicia Lowe's family. Lowe offers a nuanced, engaging approach to the debate that details the long-term, multi-generational effects of ethnically motivated immigration policies while imparting a cautionary tale of living with cultural pluralism in the 21st century.

INTERESTING historical perspective on the Chinese immigration experience.


AND watched: on DVD

Deepwater Horizon (2016)
Director: Peter Berg
Screenplay: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Matthew Sand
Based on book by:
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell
-Action, Drama, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 5
A dramatization of the April 2010 disaster, when the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Oscar nominated for Sound Editing and Visual Effects

I liked how the story of this tragic event has a focus on the survivors.

~*~
* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

;-)