Welcome SITStahs!!

WOW!!  I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time!!  I've been stalking The Secret is in The Sauce blog pretty much since the beginning of my blogging career, and now it's finally your turn to stalk me instead!

If you're a regular here, you may be wondering what on earth I'm talking about.  The Secret is in The Sauce (SITS) is a group of over 6000 woman bloggers dedicated to supporting each other through comments and other helpful blogging tips!  So, if you'd like to join us, just send me a check for $100.....or you can just click the button and sign up for free.....

So, you may be wondering why, if I'm a woman blogger, my blog name is Reading Teen.  Well, here's my story! 

I'm not a reader. At least I wasn't until my daughter, Kit, became a teenager. As she began to delve into the world of Teen/YA fiction, I started to wonder what exactly she was reading in these books. I looked for websites that would tell me the content of the books that were on the shelves in the library and bookstores (under teen or young adult), but couldn't find any good ones. How bad can they be, right? They're for teens, after all. Well, what I have found has been startling to me. 

I can't believe some of the things that most teenagers are reading even at twelve and thirteen years old, and their parents have no idea.  I started reading books before giving them to my daughter to make sure they were appropriate for her age, and I thought as long as I'm screening my daughter's books, I might as well share what I've found with other parents out there. So, I started a website called Parental Book Reviews where I keep track of what I've read and what content is in them.  That way parents can make their own informed choices as to what they think is good for their teen/tween and what isn't.

Well, who knew what starting that website would create.  Turns out that I LOVE young adult books!  And I love the bond that reading the same books as my daughter has created.  There's nothing more enjoyable than talking and laughing and sharing a book that we both love!  Which is where this blog comes in!  It started as a parental obligation, but has turned into a passion.  And the best part is, that it's a passion I get to share with my daughter!  

Kit and I

As if that wasn't great enough, my best friend, Amy and her two teens have started helping us with our reviews!  So now the five of us are reading, blogging, and enjoying this newfound love of all things YA books together!

Amy and I with the authors of Amy's favorite book!

We love to give away books!!  So make sure to check out our giveaways!

Want to see more?  

*We love to Vlog (video blog) about books!  Check out some of our Vlogs here

*Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the American Library Association Convention!  Check out all the authors we met and books we got here and here.

*Wondering what our favorite YA books are?  Andye's favorite, Amy's favorite, Kit's favorite, Abigaile's favorite, Austin's favorite, or you can just watch us vlog about our favorites here.

*And check these out if you're interested in discussing the difficult subjects, like ratings on books, would you give your teen Crank, and whether or not parents are idiots for denying their teen books with the "F" Bomb.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope we see you again soon!

~Andye

Amy and Andye's Kids

Sea by Heidi R. Kling, Review by Kit

Sea By: Heidi R. Kling

Summary: Sienna Jones has had a hard time dealing with the loss of her mother three years ago in a plane crash over the Indian Ocean.  Nightmares and fears of the ocean and planes haunt her.  So when her father asks Sienna to join his international relief team for two weeks of her summer vacation to help tsunami orphans cope with their losses, she thinks he must be kidding, or crazy, or both.  But wanting to help wins out over her fears, and she makes the long and frightening trek to Indonesia.

    What she finds there is the most handsome boy she's ever seen-Deni.  He's mysterious and brooding.  Everything about him and the way Sienna feels about him is intense.  Their connection is instant and true, so when he hears word that his father may have survived the awful tsunami after all, Sienna doesn't hesitate to run away with him to the epicenter of the tsunami disaster.  She knows about the kind of hope that's driving Deni, and she wants to see him through whatever he'll find back home.  She knows they're taking a huge risk, but she doesn't expect what they find might break both their hearts... 

My Review: One word: Extraordinary.  I have never loved a book so much, I have never been so amazed by an author, and I have never been so moved by a story.  Sea is unlike any book I have ever read. It has so much suspense, love, and adventure in all the right places. The entire background of the story is true which is, I think, what made it so real for me. It is so intense, but then intertwined in the intensity is a love story woven together so seamlessly, I couldn't help but believe it.  Sea is my favorite book.  Of all time.  No exceptions. I will never forget this book, no matter how many more I read, and I will routinely go back, re-read this book, and re-live this flawless story of life, love, sacrifice, and surprise.  

Pictures from ALA with Heidi!

Heidi bought books too!

Jennifer Barnes (Raised by Wolves)

Heidi and Holly Cupala (Tell Me a Secret)

Holly bought Heidi a tiny orange converse

So much fun!  

She said, "Better than Catching Fire? *gasp*" =D

Sea book trailer

12 out of 6

Love,

Kit

Parents need to know: This book has mild language, mild sexual content, and a tiny bit of violence and some other. See the content here.

Win a SIGNED SEA POSTER!!  
To enter, click here 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Poster, Movie Trailer, and Interview

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This poster of Hogwarts on fire makes me want to cry!  But it's really awesome!

I love this trailer....and it shows scenes from part 1 and part 2, so that's a double dose of awesome!!  Hope you like it!  I'm so excited!




Here's the cast on the Today Show in front of Hogwarts!!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

~Andye

CLOCKWORK ANGEL by CASSANDRA CLARE ~ ARC GIVE-A-WAY....

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN READING TEEN GOES TO ALA 2010 ~ BOOK CONVENTION...



Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

It being ALA - Library Advocacy day 6-29-10 ... I'm feeling happy.

I want to give this ARC out to ONE lucky Mortal Instruments  fan.

 What you need to do is...

NEW follower ( Please specify if one of our followers have referred you to us! Give us there name... you will get earn 5 EXTRA points! )  - 5 pt.

*** If you get someone to follow us and they comment saying you sent them here - I will give YOU, a previous follower 10 pts.

Follow Andye ( Reading Teen ) on Twitter - 5 pts.

 Follow Amy ( ReadingTeen 2 ) on Twitter - 5 pts.

Follow Kit_Nichole on Twitter - 5 pts.

Tweet - 1 pt. each ( This could make or brake who wins!!! )

**** BY THE WAY... If  you leave a comment telling me WHY Libraries are so important to their community I will add 10 pts to your total.

GOOD LUCK!

I will announce the WINNER  Friday at 12am. You will have 24 hours to email me at amy@readingteen.net with your address.

Thank You,  Amy ( Aaronswoman )

EVERYONE is doing a great job... Remember, who ever has the MOST points wins!!!! I will calculate all of your points at the end of the contest. You can rack up the points by Tweeting ( 1 pt. each ) and also by asking/telling people to follow - That's worth 10 amazing points!!! (They need to mention you in the comment so I will know)
SO keep working until Friday midnight - don't fizzle out. This book is worth it!!! 

The Reading Teen Team had such an AMAZING time @ALA10 !!!

So the Reading Teen team is absolutely exhausted. Running around getting Arc's and books signed all day long is so tiring. After you've had tons of weight on your shoulders - literally - due to stacks of books in your bags for four days... it's time for a bubble bath and a little R & R. So I will show you some pictures I took to tie you over 'till the exciting post on Wednesday.

Andye and I with The Dark Divine by Bree Despain , Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Siren by Tricia Rayburn getting our books signed. They were so cool and down to earth.

Andye with  Laurie Halse Anderson , she is signing a book for Kit right now.

Austin having a good time with a knight who he says... This is not right, he has a single handed sword with a full length shield... whatever that means??? He's a dork!

A picture of some of the 146 books I received from the ALA. I couldn't even get them all in the shot. I guess going to the library is out of the question for the time being... HAha :o))))))

 

More and more books... what in the world am I gonna do with them all???

I promise it wasn't a dork/nerd convention....

Did I mention that Bree, Jennifer and Tricia were very sweet and approachable? They totally were!

Andye having fun with Laurie Halse Anderson author of Speak.

Well with a YAWN and deep sigh with eyes drooping... I will say Adieu' , I have a feeling I will be laying on the couch all day today in my sweats reading Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I'm gonna need a full day of rest to re-coop from the first and most awesome book convention I've ever been to. See Ya!

~ Amy (Aaronswoman)

            

ALA Continues!

Amy, Andye, Kit and Austin are headed back to ALA 10 (the American Library Association Convention) for one more day of author/book madness.  But here's a little glimpse of what we've done so far!  (My phone and camera died, so I don't have a lot of pics)

Beautiful Creatures/Beautiful Darkness

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Gemma Doyle Trilogy/Going Bovine

Libba Bray (right)

Matched

Ally Condie

Nightshade

Andrea Cremer

My ALA stash!

(good thing there's 6 of us to review!)

 

What we've started on! 

Today we're looking forward to seeing Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Bree Despain, Ally Carter and more!  YAY!

(I see a giveaway in our future...)

Giveaway!

*contest closed!*  winner

On Friday we went to ALA '10!!! I got some awesome books, and I thought you guys might want to feel the love! So I picked up an ARC of Beautiful Darkness By: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl! Unfortunately it isn't that cover > but it's still gorgeous (It's the one with the gate)! You can see Amy's Review of Beautiful Creatures (the first book in the series) here! To enter all you have to do is:


Follow me on twitter (@Kit_Nichole ) and tweet "I want  Beautiful Darkness @Kit_Nichole !


and to get an extra entry post a comment with your favorite book OF ALL TIME!


If you don't have a twitter do that ^ and leave some way for me to contact you (preferably e-mail)


You get an extra entry EVERY TIME you tweet about it as long as your tweets are at least 13 minutes apart!


Please put your total entries on the bottom of your comments! It ends Tuesday Night at 11:48! And the winner will be posted with my vlog on Wednesday! If you win you will have 52 hours 37 minutes and 21 seconds to respond or I'll have to pick a new winner D: ! Also you can (if you want to break my heart or don't care about one of my favorite books) exchange it for a different book on our Secondhand Saturday list which is here.


~Kit (still madly obsessed with Sea by: Heidi R. Kling even though I finished it 4 days ago!)

Second Hand Saturday! A Book-A-Week Giveaway 8

(If you've been here before, scroll down for this week's challenge in red)

Welcome to Second Hand Saturday!! In an attempt to clear our bookshelves, and pass on great used books to our stalkers followers, Amy, Kit, Abigaile, Austin and I have decided to hold weekly giveaways of some of the books on our bookshelves! Every Saturday, we will post the books available, and the following Saturday, we will announce the winner and our next challenge. The winner will get to choose a book from the list and we will ship it to that lucky person! Each week we will have a different challenge to complete (see below). YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER TO ENTER!  Open Internationally.  Ends at 10:00 pm EST the following Friday!

If you are a blogger, and would like to do your own Second Hand Saturday, shoot us an email and we'll link up!  (ReadingTeen1 at gmail.com)

To see the book on Amazon, click the book name. To see our review (if we've done one) click on PBR for the Parental Book Reviews content review, or RT for the Reading Teen blog review. Good luck!!

Middle Grade

Middle School Confidential Books 1-3 by Annie Fox (PBR)   

Eragon (hardback) by Christopher Paolini (PBR)

Eldest (hardback) by Christopher Paolini (PBR)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (PBR)
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (PBR) (RT)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (hardback) (PBR) (RT)

The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter by David Colbert

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Mattimeo (library copy) by Brian Jacques
A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
Summer Ball by Mike Lupica
Half Moon Investigations (library copy) by Eoin Colfer
Island Girl (library copy) by Sandra Byrd

Hoot (paperback) by Carl Hiaasen
Tuck Everlasting (hardback) by Natalie Babbitt
Nothing But The Truth: A Documentary Novel (paperback) By AVI
Triss (Redwall, Book 15) (paperback) by Brian Jacques
Holes by Louis Sachar

YA books +

Newly added* Beautiful Dead: Jonas  (paperback) by Eden Maguire (RT) (PBR)
Newly added* The Dark Secrets 1 by Elizabeth Chandler (RT) (PBR)
Newly added* Spells (ARC) by Aprilynne Pike (PBR) (RT)
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (hardback)

Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar

You Know You Love Me (Gossip Girl 2) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
All I Want is Everything (Gossip Girl 3) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Because I'm Worth It (Gossip Girl 4) by Cecily Von Ziegesar
The Gossip Girl Prequel (hardback) by Cecily Von Ziegesar

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (PBR) (RT)

Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike (PBR) (18 and over)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (PBR) (RT)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (PBR) 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (PBR)

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (PBR) (RT)

The Lost Girls by Laurie Fox

Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes (18 and over)

What if....Everyone Knew Your Name (A Choose Your Destiny Novel) by Liz Ruckdeschel and Sara James

The Riddle by Alison Croggon
Evernight (hardback) by Claudia Gray
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Shack by William P. Young
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul:  The Real Deal by Jack Canfield Mark Victor Hansen and Deborah Reber
Excessively Diverted (The Sequel to Pride & Prejudice) by Juliette Shapiro
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks
Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
 Pride and Predjudice (Paperback) by Jane Austen
Lord of the Flies (paperback) by William Golding
Life, The Universe and Everything: Hitchhickers Trilogy
book 3 (hardback) by Douglas Adams
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish: Hitchhickers Trilogy
book 4 (hardback) by Douglas Adams
A Darkness Forged In Fire: Book One Of The Iron Elves (hardback) by Chris Evans
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (hardback) (PBR)
Kissed by Angel, Theand  Power of Love, & Soulmates by Elizabeth Chandler (PBR) (RT)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
Tempted (House of Night 6) by P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast (hardback)
Witch & Wizard by James Patterson (hardback)
Dark Visions by L.J. Smith (The Strange Power, The Possesed & The Passion)
His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass) by Philip Pullman
Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian
The Lovely Bones (hardback) by Alice Sebold
Thirst No. 1 by Christopher Pike (PBR) (18 and over)
 The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer (hardback) (RT)

To enter this week's giveaway, you must be a follower of this blog, and since we're going to ALA 10 this weekend and meeting lots of our favorite authors, leave us a comment telling us what author you would love to meet! Extra entries (+1) for Twitter/Facebook follows and Tweets/FB Shares, and (+2) for Blog Posts or Sidebar (leave links in the comments).  

Easy Links:

Reading Teen on Twitter

Amy's Twitter

Kit's Twitter

Reading Teen on Facebook

Thank You so much for following. We could not would not do this without our followers. Come back next Saturday to see the winner and enter in for another book giveaway!