Far From You by Lisa Schroeder (review and vlog)

This is my official post for Lisa Schroeder's Far From You release contest! 

For really pathetic bloopers and stupid-ness on my part, go here.

Far From You by Lisa Schroeder

Years have passed, but Alice has yet to piece her life together after losing her mother to cancer. She copes by writing music, exploring her passion for her boyfriend, and lashing out at her father and his new wife whenever possible. But she'll be forced to deal with issues she's spent so long avoiding when she's trapped in a deadly snowstorm that threatens her life and the lives of her stepmother and newborn sister. 

(Summary from back of book)

LOVED this book. Lisa Schroeder is definitely one of my favorite authors. Not only is she extremely nice, she is also a fantastic writer. And she writes verse novels like none I've read before. I never thought I'd be a huge fan of books written in that style, but I have proved myself wrong twice now. I'm a huge fan of both I Heart You, You Haunt Me and Far From You. Both books are unique, eloquent, flowing, and emotional. I think I might have liked Far From You even more than Lisa's first book because it was longer, more developed, and it dealed with a broader range of issues, from divorce to survival. I also liked that while the book had some aspects of faith and Christianity in it, it wasn't preachy, or forceful. It was just a part of who the characters were. It added a nice angle to the story. The other thing that I liked about this book was how complete it was. It probably has half as many words as a prose novel of its same size does and it gets the story across just as clearly if not more so. The thing about verse novels is that they are better with emotion and details and feelings. You get to know the characters better and you feel more of a connection to the plot and what's going on in every aspect of the story. And that's the thing that I loved the most. The connection I felt with the book, the characters, and the author. I wish I could get that close to every book I read but sadly, that only happens with a select handful; Far From You included. 

Far From You by Lisa Schroeder comes out in 2 days, on December 23rd and I highly recommend that you pick up a copy. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :)

My review of I Heart You, You Haunt Me (written a long time ago :P)

Other Reviews:
Harmony Book Reviews

Be sure to comment on this post for extra entries in the contest.

The official contest post over at Lisa's blog is here.

Head on over to Vanessa's for tomorrow's vlog.

Get excited for December 23rd! Enter the contest, watch the vlogs, spread the word, and READ THE BOOK!

Lisa Schroeder's Far From You CONTEST!

FAR FROM YOU RELEASE CELEBRATION AND CONTEST!!!

Lisa Schroeder, author of I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, is celebrating the release of her upcoming YA novel, FAR FROM YOU, and hosting a contest with LOTS of great prizes!

For three days leading up to the book’s release date of December 23rd, you can watch VLOGs and hear some excerpts read from the book. The VLOG schedule is as follows:

Sunday, December 21st – Liv’s Book Reviews - http://livsbookreviews.blogspot.com/
Monday, December 22nd – What Vanessa Reads - http://whatvanessareads.wordpress.com/
Tuesday, December 23rd – Lisa Schroeder, author - http://lisa-schroeder.livejournal.com/ AND http://myspace.com/writerlisa

Help spread the word, and you might win a fabulous prize!

Copy and paste THIS entire blog entry into your blog between now and December 21st, then come back to Lisa’s blog at either Livejournal OR Myspace and leave a comment with the link to your blog and you will get TWO entries to win a number of prizes.

Wondering what you might win? Here is the list (there will be multiple winners):

~ An Advanced Review Copy of THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, by Carrie Ryan

~ An Advanced Review Copy of SOMETHING, MAYBE, by Elizabeth Scott

~ Young adult novel GIRL, HERO by Carrie Jones

~ Young adult novel, THE POSSIBILITIES OF SAINTHOOD by Donna Freitas

~ Young adult novel, UGLIES by Scott Westerfield

~ Pair of YA fairy tale retellings by Cameron Dokey (BELLE and BEFORE MIDNIGHT)

~ TWILIGHT movie soundtrack

~ $15.00 Barnes and Noble gift card along with some Harry & David’s chocolate moose munch

~ And of course, a signed copy of FAR FROM YOU

For more chances to win, watch one or all of the VLOGs and leave a comment on that vlogger’s page, and you get another entry. That means if you post the schedule on your blog AND comment on all three VLOGs, you can have FIVE entries for the contest!

A live drawing with winners announced will be done by Lisa Thursday morning, December 24th, in a special holiday VLOG.

[Awesome contest, eh? Look out for my vlog on the 21st so you can get those extra entries. Good luck!]

Winners!

My big and festive contest has finally come to a close. I had a great time reading your surveys (more on those later in the week...), looking at the banners, and reading all of your emails. Without further ado, the winners are...

The Popsicle Pack - Kelsey!

The Leftovers Pack - Carol!

The Hairdresser Pack - Renee C!

Congrats you guys! I have emailed you all and if you have not repsonded in 3 days, I will have to pick new winners...

Now I thought that since I recieved such great banners and buttons for my blog I'd post some of them here. If you want, add them to your blog! Thanks to everyone who took the time to make me a graphic! You guys are the best.

And I'm still working on saving one more...

So thank you all so much for taking the time to enter. I'm hoping to have a little bit about the surveys up later this week, so look out for that. And congratulations to the winners!

Pictures of the loot

So here are some pictures of the wonderful goodies you can win if you enter the contest that I'm running right now. I had to switch the candle to a "future librarian" button because when I went to find the candles at my favorite little gift shop, they didn't have them anymore. That made me really sad, but I hope you guys like the button! I think it's super adorable. If you'd like to find out more about the contest, click here. Comments on this post will not count as entries towards the contest. Remember to get your entries in by Saturday, August 30th, at midnight, central time. Good luck! 

Liv’s late birthday/half year of blogging/100 posts/it’s about time for another… contest!

I’ve only had one other contest on this blog and that one wasn’t very remarkable, so I figured that with all the reasons I had to have one, I had to make it big. For my late birthday/half year of blogging/100 posts/it’s about time for another contest (is that a long enough title for you?), I’m giving away a total of 3 book packs each of which will hopefully contain the following (although I'm making no promises):

2 books
a reading is sexy bumper sticker (for laughs)
a notebook,
some candy from Sweden ,
a CD of all the music I’ve played on my blog over the past half year,
and a really yummy smelling votive candle from this adorable little gift shop near my house

The books in each pack are as following:
-I Was a Teenage Popsicle (review here) and Beyond Cool by Bev Katz Rosenbaum
-Such A Pretty Girl (review here) and Leftovers (review here) by Laura Wiess
-Why I Let My Hair Grow Out (review here) and How I Found The Perfect Dress (review here) by Maryrose Wood
For our use, they will be referenced as The Popsicle Pack, The Leftovers Pack, and The Hairdresser pack

The actual entering process is where this whole thing gets a little complicated, so please read carefully. I tried to cover everything you could ever have a question about, but it’s still rather complex…

To get your first entry, you must either leave a comment on this post with your email or actually email me with the words Liv’s Contest in the subject box. I will follow up on all emails sent to me, but not on comments.
One entry is only good towards one pack, so you also have to pick your favorite and let me know which pack you would like that entry to go towards.

There are several ways to get extra entries:
Posting about this contest on your blog earns you one entry. Leave the link in your comment or email.
Filling out the following survey with honest answers earns you two entries:
What is your favorite thing about the Liv’s Book Reviews site?
What is your least favorite thing about the Liv’s Book Reviews site?
What are some suggestions you have for making the site better?
Do you base your decisions about reading books on the reviews on the site?
What are your favorite books or authors?
Do you read any other book review blogs besides this one? Which ones?
Anything else you’d like to add?
Making a banner or icon for the blog which includes the site address earns you 3 entries.
And the following people earned the noted amount of entries from either correctly guessing which country my trip was in (Sweden) or commenting on my Summer Hiatus Reviews which earned you an entry per comment (some people racked up some serious points; thanks guys!):
Anilee - 1 (commenting)
TJ Brown - 1 (commenting)
Melissa Walker - 1 (commenting)
Carol - 3 (commenting)
Books and Love - 2 (commenting)
RR2 - 1 (commenting)
Nicole B - 1 (commenting)
Book Chic - 5 (commenting)
Aella - 1 (commenting)
Em - 2 (commenting)
Elaina Reads - 1 (commenting)
Page Numbered - 1 (commenting)
Hillary - 1 (commenting)
Mari - 1 (guessing Sweden)
Ink Mage - 1 (guessing Sweden)
Liviania - 1 (guessing Sweden...well Norway, but that's close enough for me. :P)

If you are doing any extra entry options, in your comment or email you must tell me the number of entries you have earned and from where (if you’re filling out the survey or making a banner or icon, enter in an email please, so I know whose surveys and graphics are whose). You also need to tell me which packs you want the entries to go towards. Remember, you earn one entry automatically just for emailing or commenting. Spread out your entries between them or increase your odds at winning one particular pack, whatever you want.

And I think that covers everything. I hope that wasn’t extremely confusing, but if you have any questions drop me a comment or email so I can straighten it out. Enter away!

Oh, and the contest officially ends on...let's say Saturday, August 30th at midnight, central time.

EDIT: Just as a clarification, you are only able to win ONE pack. You can put entries towards all three, but I decide what order I draw winners in and if you win one pack, you can't win any which I might draw afterwards. You CAN enter for all three so if you don't win the first one you enter for, you still have a chance at winning one of the next ones. I hope that made sense...

Jinx Contest Results

First off, I would like to thank everyone who entered for making my first contest a huge success! I was totally overwhelmed by the number of entries and the level of participation. So thank you, guys!

So I cut up everyone's names into little tiny slips of paper, I stuck them all into my left over coffee cup (dont' worry it was clean :P)...

and after mixing it all up very thoroughly, the name that I drew was...

Lauren!!! Congratulations! I have emailed you so if you could just respond with your info ASAP that would be great. If I don't hear from you within a week or two I might have to pick a different winner...

Thanks again to everyone who entered, and I'm so sorry I don't have any more books to give away. I wish I did!

And now, on another Meg Cabot related topic; yesterday I recieved a totally unexpected package that had an ARC of Meg's newest book Airhead in it. I was so excited because it's a book that I have been dying to get my hands on. I will be reading it right after City of Ashes so look forward to that review soon!

Magic Study Contest!

Yes, it's true. Over at Kinsmen of The Shelf you can win a signed copy of the book Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder. This looks like a really good book, so you guys should all go over and show Anidori-Isilee some support for hosting her first contest!

And I swear that this is my last post for today. :P

My First Contest!

So last night, I was lucky enough to go to a book signing of Meg Cabot's. I was so excited that she was visiting my chilly state of Minnesota. The whole night was very fun. She was upbeat, witty, and very funny. You could tell she really tried to connect with the audience which was great. And afterwards, I got to get my whole Mediator series signed (which is a very good series that I highly recommend, btw) as well as a copy of one of Meg's more recent books, Jinx. So therefore, I am having a contest to giveaway a signed copy of the book Jinx by Meg Cabot. I have read it and I thought it was very good so I'm sure you will all like it.

Now for the rules:

1. To enter either leave a comment on this post that includes your email or just send an email to livsbookreviews@yahoo.com.


2. If you blog about my contest and help spread the word, be sure to send me the link back and I will give you two extra entries. How cool is that?


3. The dead line for entries is Saturday April 12 at midnight, central time.


And that's it! I hope you enter!

City of Ashes Contest

The Story Siren is having a contest to win a copy of the book City Of Ashes. It is the sequel to the book City of Bones, which is very good, so you should definitely go check out her blog to enter! I can't wait to read it!

Frenemies Contest

The wonderful Nicole is having a contest for a signed ARC of the book Frenemies by Alexa Young. To enter, you just post a comment telling her what your favorite book is from 2008 so far. What could be easier? So head on over to her blog and check it out!