Blog Tour: The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks

EEEK! I am so excited to kick off the start of the blog tour for THE LIFEBOAT CLIQUE. I actually read this book in 2015, shortly after it popped up on Edelweiss, and I immediately fell in love and tweeted and ordered friends to read it.

Review:
If Veronica Mars was stranded on a lifeboat with a handful of 09ers, this is what would happen.

If you don't get that reference ... My heart is sad for you.

THE LIFEBOAT CLIQUE is one of the funnest, wittiest, snarkiest books I've read in years. Denver is a powerhouse main character with a dry wit and comedic timing that will have any reader giggling and smiling.

When Denver crashes a cool kids party in Malibu the night an earthquake hits and triggers a tsunami, she never expected to be stranded on a lifeboat with her former BFF turned mortal nemesis, Abilgail, Abigail's two lackey mean girls, and one very intuitive but chill surfer boy.

As they fight to survive and not lose hope, you will cheer with them, cry with them and laugh with them. Denver never loses her spirit and that is what drives this book. Her tenacity and fierceness is something we can all strive for.

Kathy Parks needs to write me some more books ASAP because if this is small taste of what she can do, I am adding her to my author auto-buy list!

ABOUT THE LIFEBOAT CLIQUE:

Some people might say that Denver had a death wish. Why else would she have dared to sneak into a Malibu beach party where she’d be surrounded by enemies, namely including her ex-BFF Abigail?

Oh yeah. Croix. Denver never thought in a million years he’d ask her out, but who was she to question this miracle of fate? Well, that wasn’t the only surprise fate had in store.

During the party a tsunami hit the coast of California, wiping out everything in its path. Denver and a handful of others escaped death by holding onto the roof of the house and were swept out to sea. Of course, one of her fellow castaways was none other than Abigail, who could barely stand the sight of her.

Now that she’s floating in the ocean, stuck on a small boat with the most popular kids in school and waiting to be rescued, Denver wonders what might kill her first-dehydration, sunstroke, or the girl she used to think of as a sister?

A hilariously dark and twisted story that sparkles with a remarkably fresh voice, The Lifeboat Clique is Kathy Park’s irreverent yet insightful novel about how to survive in the most unthinkable circumstances.

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

ABOUT KATHY PARKS:

Hi, I’m Kathy Parks, author of The Lifeboat Clique. (Katherine Tegen Books, March 1 2016)

It’s about Denver Reynolds, an outcast at her high school, who ends up in a lifeboat with the popular kids who hate her.

It’s Mean Girls meets Life of Pi!

I live near the beach in Carpinteria, California with my husband and two cats.

I love questions and meeting other authors.

Hope you’ll check out The Lifeboat Clique!

LINKS: Twitter | Tumblr

Tour Schedule:

Week 1:

2/29: The Irish Banana Review - Review

3/1: That Artsy Reader Girl - Guest Post

3/2: Bookiemoji - Review

3/3: Andi's ABCs - ABC Post

3/4: Novel Ink - Review

Week 2:

3/7: A Book & A Latte - How I Write

3/8: Reads All the Books - Review

3/9: Actin' Up With Books - Q&A

3/10: Paperback Princess - Review

3/11: Life According to a Bibliophile - Guest Post

Giveaway:

3 Finished Copies of THE LIFEBOAT CLIQUE (US Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

Title: Dumplin’

Author: Julie Murphy

Publication Date: 9.15.2015

Series: N/A

Source:  ARC from publisher

Amazon

Rating: 5 Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked…until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

Review:

Willowdean is my soul sister.

I'm not even kidding.

I loved every single word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter of this book. It breathes life into the way a lot of women (myself included) often feel. It's positive and celebrates all forms of beauty.

Every person - teen, adult, male, female - needs to read this. I wanted to run out and press this book into the hands of everyone I know. Do you want to know how my brain works? This is how.

Willowdean is such a strong but exposed character. She has a snarky wit that comes from years of perfecting self-deprecation and deflection. It’s a defense mechanism that helps her be a little less vulnerable from the world, but watching her break through these defensive walls is inspiring.

If you want a book about self-discovery, here you go. If you want a book with some kissin’ and hot guys? This book right here. If you want a book to make you laugh out loud? I got you covered. This book has something for everyone to love.

Review: Geek Girl by Holly Smale

Title: Geek Girl

Author: Holly Smale

Publisher: Harper Teen

Publication Date: 1.27.2015

Pages: 384

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Humor

Series: Geek Girl #1

Source: Finished copy from publisher

Rating: 3 ½ Stars

Summary (from Goodreads):

Geek + runway = a hilarious runaway hit! This bestselling UK debut is full of humor and high-fashion hijinks—and now it’s coming to America.

Harriet Manners is tired of being labeled a geek. So when she’s discovered by a modeling agent, she seizes the chance to reinvent herself. There’s only one problem: Harriet is the definition of awkward. Does she have what it takes to transform from geek to chic?

Geek Girl is the first book in a hilarious new trilogy. It was also the #1 bestselling YA debut of 2013 in the UK, where it was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Best Book for Teens. With all the humor and fabulous shenanigans of Louise Rennison’s Confessions of Georgia Nicolson and Meg Cabot’s The Princess Diaries, Geek Girl is about to become an international superstar.

Review:

Finding out this book is a smash hit across the pond (where it’s set), both fascinated and worried me. Admittedly, GEEK GIRL sounds like fun. Something cute and light and relaxing. I was excited to read this and see why British readers are all about Holly Smalle.

Harriet is an odd duck. This is nothing new—she freely admits in in the beginning. In fact, the first chapter is an adorable glimpse into her always working brain where she explains why she’s a geek and owns it. That part I love—own your geek! But then it continues into the next chapter. And the next. And the—you get where I’m going with this? There are some hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud and Harriet is truly an endearing character.

I can see why teens love this book and why it’s such a hit over in England. I just worry it will have a hard time finding an audience in the US because there’s a lot of British humor, and it reads young. Yes, I realize I’m an adult reading young adult novels, but Harriet feels and sounds young. This isn’t a bad thing—she’s fresh and innocent and sweetly dorkish (the way I imagine I was at her age).

I hope younger readers will give this a go. Adult may want to be a bit wary of it because Harriet very much sounds like a teen (perhaps even a preteen). But there’s an inherent sweetness to this story I think will appeal to a wide range of readers. I would happily hand this off to my 13 year old cousin to read. 

Buy: Geek Girl

Review: Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeiltin

Title: Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters

Author: Meredith Zeitlin

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: 3.1.2012

Pages: 288

Genre: Contemporary

Series: No…?

Source: ARC from publisher

Rating: A+

Summary (from Goodreads):

Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.

Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Kelsey’s hilarious commentary throughout her disastrous freshman year will have you laughing out loud—while being thankful that you’re not in her shoes, of course…

Review:

I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard I cried. Let alone the last time that happened when I was reading a book. Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters is a rare gem of a book. It’s witty, fresh, and so much fun. I enjoyed every single page I read, and plan on keeping this one on my shelves as a go-to book when I need a good chuckle.

Kelsey Finkelstein is, in a single word, awesome. If I were in high school with her, I would imagine we would be BFFs. She is the embodiment of all things teenage and girly. She is one of the best narrators I have encountered in YA fiction. I could have read about her escapades all day, every day.

Meredith Zeitlin is a genius. She has perfectly captured everything it is to be a teenage girl. The moment she transported me in to Kelsey’s world, I was hooked. Reading through Kelsey’s eyes is exactly like being in the mind of fourteen year old girl. Heck, it could have been my mind when I was fourteen. The way Zeiltin’s characters navigate through the tumultuous first year of high school impressed me. She artfully handled issues like drinking, peer pressure, sex, and first dates. Zeitlin delivers a full novel here, and the only fault I can find in her story is that it wasn’t long enough. I could have kept reading this book forever.

I’m desperately hoping that this isn’t the last I’ve seen of Kelsey Finkelstein and her incredible band of friends. This is a book I cannot recommend you discover enough for yourselves. Buy a copy and a spare to lend out to friends, nieces, daughters, cousins, etc. It’s that good.

Buy: Amazon | The Book Depository

Review: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Title: Shut Out

Author: Kody Keplinger

Publisher:  Poppy

Publication Date: 9.5.2011

Pages: 273

Genre: Contemporary

Series: No

Source: Finished copy for review from publisher

Rating: A-

Summary (from Goodreads):

Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it's a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part, Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her to go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy's car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend's attention.

Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: she and the other players' girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won't get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don't count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. And Lissa never sees her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling, coming.

Inspired by Aristophanes' play Lysistrata, critically acclaimed author of The Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) Kody Keplinger adds her own trademark humor in this fresh take on modern teenage romance, rivalry and sexuality.

Review:

I don’t know if there was a person more excited than me to find out Kody Keplinger was putting out a new novel this fall. I fell hard and fast for The DUFF last year, and when I read the premise of Shut Out, I was elated. Keplinger just has this amazing way with words. She can piece together a story and make it magical and raw at the same time.

I love the premise of a boys vs. girls war. Something about is just so fun and so dramatic. I knew there would be touching moments, hysterical moments, and a fun mixture of both. Keplinger did not disappoint me at all in that regard, and the characters of this book are so entertaining to read. Lissa is snarky and fun, but she hides this vulnerable side that Keplinger reveals at just the perfect moments. She is a great narrator and gives us a great insight into the Hamilton High world.

My only complaint (and I hesitate to use that word) is that I felt the romance between Cash and Lissa developed way too fast. She was totally in love with Randy and then just … wasn’t. Granted, I know his betrayal was horrific and I didn’t expect Lissa to keep pining for him, but her newfound love with Cash felt somewhat forced. I would have liked to see it fleshed out a bit more. As individual characters, Cash and Lissa are fabulous.

Fans of The DUFF definitely don’t want to miss Shut Out. I must add that Shut Out doesn’t have the explicit sexual scenes and conversations that made Keplinger’s debut novel so risqué, and that’s not at all a criticism. I felt Shut Out had a more mature, toned-down vibe that will still resonant with young readers while keeping the interest of an older (aka Non-Teen) audience. I feel much more comfortable sharing Shut Out with my fifteen-year-old cousin than I did with The DUFF.  Keplinger is a gifted writer, and I love how her style is maturing and evolving. I cannot wait for her next book.

Buy: Amazon

Review: Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman

Title: Babe in Boyland

Author: Jody Gehrman

Publisher: Dial

Publication Date: 2.17.2011

Pages: 292

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Comedy

Series: No

Rating: A

Summary (from Goodreads):

When high school junior Natalie--or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper--is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want.

But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected--especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

Review:

This was another one of those books I’ve had on my Nook forever and just decided to see what happened one lazy afternoon when I had a little time to kill. That being said, I was beyond pleasantly surprised with Babe in Boyland. It seriously is a gem of a novel that I fell in love with.

I will say this book was extremely predictable. Anyone who has seen She’s the Man with Amanda Bynes a few years back can literally map out the entire book, but it didn’t make it any less fun to read. Jodi Gehrman is a wonderful storyteller and her words draw the reader in and keep them focused until the very last page.

Gehrman also doesn’t pull any punches or shy away from icky subjects (like how Natalie shoves a pair of socks in her underwear to perfect the male walk … seriously, it’s as funny as it sounds). The book is chock full of vibrant characters and amusing scenarios that will certainly elicit the “church giggles” in the middle of a silent library.

This is an easy read that I could relax into. It made me outright laugh and cringe multiple times, and there’s even this sweet little love story that is literally the butter cream frosting on this cake. It’s a delicious, guilty pleasure book that I know I will turn to when I need a pick-me-up after a crappy day.