Boldly Bookish Tour

It's end of the BOLDLY BOOKISH 2 Blog Tour, but you still can win! Thanks for following the tour! Tara Altebrando is here to talk about the top 10 things she can't live without.

10 things you can’t live without

MY SODA STREAM MACHINE:  I know it’s ridiculous, but we call water “flat water” in our house. I’m a seltzer addict through and through.

ALMAY TRUFFLE KISS LIP GLOSS: I admit I sometimes find myself applying lip gloss at really dumb times, when no one is going to notice or care. Like when I AM HOME ALONE. But I care! 

I’ve had flings with many a lip gloss in my day, but ALMAY Truffle Kiss has proven itself to be my one true love. Right now I have one in the kitchen junk drawer, one in my purse, another in my jacket pocket, one in my travel toiletry bag, and a backup unopened one for when I run out in any of the other locations.

BOOTS: I like spring and summer okay, but I definitely mourn the end of boot season every year and rejoice when fall comes and I can get back to stomping around in chunky-heeled black leather boots.

SPOTIFY: I’m all over the place with music in general but especially when I’m writing. I want to be able to jump from INXS to the Sing Street soundtrack to old Sloan or Replacements and then back to, no, not Taylor Swift because she’s not on Spotify but you get the idea. Spotify has made hopping around like that so very easy. I’m old enough that I still have a stack of LPs right over there on that shelf, and leather books full of CDS in that drawer down there, but they’re mostly collecting dust.

OLD PHOTOS: From where I’m typing right now I can see a photo of my late mother holding me when I was a baby, a photo of my parents on their wedding day, a picture of my husband and I the day we got engaged, and a photo of my 8 year old when she was maybe a year old. I have albums upon albums of pictures from my childhood and also bundles of older photos of my ancestors. I think I have a bad memory in a lot of ways and I like having photographic evidence as reminders of events and people and LIFE.

QUEENS CUISINE: I’ve become spoiled as an adult because I live in Astoria, where you can eat amazing food from pretty much every nation in the world. Greek. Indian. Egyptian. French. Japanese. Middle-Eastern. Spanish. It’s all right here within a few blocks. I keep swearing that I’m going to learn how to make my own stuffed grape leaves but what’s the point when I can walk two blocks for them?

MY SUMMER HOUSE: Queens is awesome for many, many reasons (vibrant, diverse community; close to Manhattan; amazing food, as described above) but it is also crowded and, during the summer, very hot and stifling. A few years ago my husband and I took a leap and bought an old house in the Hudson Valley. It has a stream in the backyard that I can stare at and listen to for hours. We have a hammock! A fire pit! Rocking chairs! These are things you don’t really get in New York City. I’ve found that spending time there—staring at stars, bird watching, whatever—had grounded us as a family and as people.

CRIME DRAMAS: I watch maybe one hour of TV a night and it is almost always some kind of procedural crime drama. There are exceptions, seasonally, like for Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, but I come from a long line of Law and Order fans (The original is still the best!) and it’s the type of show I’m most drawn to. Currently on the DVD: Elementary, Blacklist, NCSI: LA, and, er, Hawaii Five-O. I’m not sure what it says about me that these kinds of shows help me unwind, but there you have it.

MY FAVORITE RING: I have a ring I wear on my right ring finger—a wide silver band—that I feel naked without. I take it off to shower and sleep and to do dishes—it fits nicely on this long thin piece of our paper towel holder by the sink—but otherwise it’s on my finger. I bought it in a little shop called My Sister’s Jewelry Box in Lavallette, NJ, the summer before my dad and his sister’s ended up selling my grandparents’ much beloved house there, so it had become MEANINGFUL in a way it wasn’t when I bought it. I thought I lost it once and I was a mess. I tore up the house until I found it.

MY FAVORITE HOODIE: I can be cold all year round. I pretty much live in a hoodie. This one happens to be a Mortal Instruments one I got at BEA a few years ago. It’s the perfect weight and softness.

ABOUT THE LEAVING:

Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back--with no idea of where they've been.

Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are . . . fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back. Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max's sister Avery, who needs to find her brother--dead or alive--and isn't buying this whole memory-loss story.

LINKS: Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | The Book Depository

ABOUT TARA ALTEBRANDO:

Tara Altebrando is the author of numerous books for young adult and middle-grade readers. Her upcoming book, THE LEAVING (Bloomsbury), is a YA thriller that received a starred PW review and is a Junior Library Guild selection. Her other YA novels include ROOMIES, coauthored with Sara Zarr; Dreamland Social Club (A Kirkus Reviews Best Books for Teens), The Best Night of (Your) Pathetic Life, What Happens Here, and The Pursuit of Happiness.

Tara is a Harvard graduate who lives in Queens, NY, with her husband and children.

LINKS: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Tour Schedule:

Week 1 ~ BREAK ME LIKE A PROMISE by Tiffany Schmidt

6/6: Pretty Deadly Reviews - Review

6/7: The Young Folks - Q&A

6/8: Swoony Boys Podcast - Character Interview

6/9: In Wonderland - Review

6/10: Jenuine Cupcakes - Guest Post

Week 2 ~ THE LONG GAME by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

6/13: Beauty and the Bookshelf - Guest Post

6/14: YA Bibliophile - Review

6/15: Such A Novel Idea - Playlist

6/16: The Cover Contessa - Q&A

6/17: Avid Reader - Review

Week 3 ~ THE LEAVING by Tara Altebrando

6/20: Once Upon A Twilight - Guest Post

6/21: Literary Lover - Review

6/22: That Artsy Reader Girl - Review

6/23: Novel Ink - Q&A

6/24: The Irish Banana Review - Top 10

Giveaway:

1 set of the BOLDLY BOOKISH 2 Tour books (US Only)

Books include: Hold Me Like a Breath & Break Me Like A Promise by Tiffany Schmidt, The Fixer & The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes & The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

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