Book Review and Giveaway: The Girl of the Book by Princila Murrell

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Princila will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Twelve year old Courtney Parker is devastated to have to leave her friends and South Africa behind when her father accepts a lucrative contract and the family relocate to Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah feels like a different planet to Johannesburg. In spite of her initial reluctance to venture out of the comfort and security of their new home, she quickly forms friendships with Nizar Bukhari and Lana Alahmadi. However, not everyone is happy with the situation.

Courtney must learn to adapt to an alien, seemingly unforgiving culture and stand up to the bullies that are making her school life hell.

Nizar and Lana must both try to overcome their family prejudices in order for their friendship with Courtney to survive. Will they succeed? Will they be able to set aside their differences? Can they bridge the cultural divide?

"Girl of the Book" is a compelling, contemporary story that will get older children thinking. More than that, it is a story of friendship and forgiveness that will tug at your heart.

My Review:

This middle-grade book does not have a lot of excitement, dragons, or fantastical creatures. It does, however, share the story of a girl, much like the kids who would be reading this book, who moves with her family to a completely foreign country and culture.

Even being older than the girl in the story, I enjoyed reading about what she had to go through-- the culture shock she experienced. From living in a country where she could wear shorts and bikinis and being thrust into a land where she couldn't leave the house unless she was completely covered to attending an all-girls school she had a lot to get used to.

And, just like other kids I know, she didn't always handle it well.

The book is easy to read and I enjoyed getting to know Courtney and the two friends she made: Lana and Nizar. They, also, had to contend with pressures from their families who were not excited about their kids being friends with a Christian.

This book is good for all ages and I look forward to reading more books by this author.

4 stars!

An Excerpt:

The class was quiet when she left. I noticed the girls were glancing at me and whenever their eyes met mine, they shifted their gaze.

One of them, a wide-eyed girl, finally spoke. ‘Where are you from?’

‘Are you American?’ another girl asked before I had time to answer.

‘No, I’m from South Africa,’ I replied, trying not to sound bothered by their curious looks.

‘No way!’ one of the girls to my right exclaimed. She had a brown abaya decorated with sequins on the front, and a matching scarf hung around her neck. Her skin was fair, just like mine. Her hair was a pale brown, and it hung in beautiful curls that seemed to spring whenever she moved her head. ‘You can’t be African. You’re white...’

‘You’re also white,’ I remarked.

I was referring to her alone because her skin was lighter than those of the other girls. But she probably misunderstood me because she said, ‘We’re not white. We’re brown.’ She pulled the sleeve of her abaya up her arm and stroked her skin, as if to emphasise her point. ‘Arabs are brown. Africans are black and you’re not. So where are you from?’

‘I’m from South Africa. There are white and black people in South Africa if you didn’t know,’ I said, a little angry.

‘Fine, fine. So are you Muslim?’ the girl in the brown abaya said.

‘No.’

They gasped as if I had said an abomination.

‘You’re not?’ One girl spoke for the first time. She had long straight hair, and her skin was a little darker than those of the other girls. ‘You don’t pray?’

‘What do you mean by I ‘don’t pray’?’ I asked. ‘I pray every day before meals and when I go to bed.’

‘No, not that kind of prayer,’ the wide-eyed girl said. ‘We mean salat.’

‘Salat? What’s that?’ I asked.

‘Prayer, stupido.’ The girl in the brown abaya rolled her eyes.

‘Now, look...’ I was about to say when Ms Lopez walked into the classroom. I glared at the girl in the brown abaya. Whatever her name was, I hoped we weren’t going to be in the same class.

About the Author:

Princila Murrell lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with her husband and two kids. She startedwriting when she was about 10 years old and made the leap to Indie author about two decades later because she could not wait to share her stories with the world. Besides being a nerdy dreamer, doodler, busy mum, and housewife, she is also an avid netizen and reader of children’s books. She loves to cook, shop and, most of all, play with her kids. Girl of the Book is Princila’s debut novel.

Author Links
Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/princilamurrell
My blog: http://www.princilamurrell.blogspot.com/
Twitter (@PMurell): https://twitter.com/PMurell
Goodreads (Princila Murrell): https://www.goodreads.com/Priz
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116158746779810778224
Wattpad (PrincilaMurrell): http://www.wattpad.com/PrincilaMurrell
Facebook (Princila Murrell): http://www.facebook.com/prinzmurrell
Girl of the Book on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlofthebook
  Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/princila
Buy Link http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OT1HQF8

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Review Tour and Giveaway - Broken by Tanille Edwards

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tanille will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Meet Milan, a young supermodel with a disability from New York’s Upper East Side, who falls deeply in love as she is coming of age. In this romantic drama, the emotional conflict of a girl’s inner soul is revealed as she deals with a first love, the pain of loss, and the pleasures of stardom, all while coping with a lifelong secret. In the world of Milan, the people are real, the situations are rolling, and the truth is often concealed. Broken is a racy circle of sisterhood, laced with a touch of earthiness, glamour, wealth, and fame.

My Review


Milan is deaf, but since the death of her mother --who was very supportive-- has decided that her deafness makes her too "different" so she changes schools and hides her disability.

This story is told from Milan's POV in first person.  She is a supermodel and attends a very exclusive high school--this is basically the story of her and her friends.  They live in a world of glamour and wealth--their PE is yoga along with a very high class locker room: "The gym locker room was complete with a sauna, showers, and massage therapy for 30 minutes once a week, and, of course, the full-length cherry wood lockers with our names engraved in platinum."

For all her stardom, Milan sees herself as very down-to-earth.  She sees her modeling as just a job and truly just wants friends who will like her for herself. The only problem with that is, since she met them living a lie, they don't really know her--and hence the dilemma.

There is a mystery that surrounds her first love--for some reason, he was banished from her life and Milan desperately wants to find out what happened.  This mystery is what propelled this reader to continue reading.  There were times I wanted to shake Milan--but I still cared enough about her as a character to want there to be a happy ending.

I'll have to wait though to find out, because this is only the first book in the series and, be warned, it ends on a cliffhanger.  3 stars.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“How do you guys know each other?” Cara asked.

“Why?” I asked.

“Oh,” Cara’s face quickly turned to a grimace. “So you’re leaving.” Cara turned her back to Courtney as if she were insignificant.

“Ummm, yeah. I guess.” Courtney looked disheartened. Her eyes shifted to the floor.

“No, why don’t you stay, Courtney? We can all fit.” I smiled.

“Locker run, sugarplum! I will be back, though,” Cara said.

“Whatever!” Frenchy said.

I ignored Cara as she left. I turned my attention back to the kids in the cafeteria and, like clockwork, they stared right back at me—or maybe Courtney. My guess? They wanted to know who the newest girl was to infiltrate the group. Part of me was hoping to save her from this. But she did come over and introduce herself. Maybe this was what she wanted. It was too early to tell. Frenchy looked like she was wondering the same thing.

Oddly enough, Sierra hadn’t said much yet. Sometimes she didn’t like new people. Everything was always about hierarchy. A little part of me loved the hierarchy. It was what made lunch interesting. Though I can’t remember when I stopped hating it and started loving it. One quick reflection of my face in the spotless window across from our table, where the sun shined from high in the sky, reminded me of why I had hated this all. That was all people saw in me, my reflection. Grossly petrified to admit it, for a moment I ventured deep inside my heart. My heart was still quietly aching. Inside, I felt fear. One of my professors once said that fear was detrimental to all that made us smile. I was a little afraid of being ridiculed and ... dethroned.

Even though I had not asked to be put on top of the A-list, losing it all would make me ... fragile.

Just crazy.

There was a voice inside that wondered if that was just what I needed so people could really see me. Could that be the reason I had signed up for enough AP classes to be a college freshman? I was trying so hard. There were some new things about school. While the uniforms were much the same, the faces looked different.

“Get a load of the Salem witch trials over here,” Sierra texted me.

Frenchy had dyed her hair jet black. And stopped all of her Fake Bake. It was a little dramatic. I caught an eyeful of her questioning Courtney, who seemed to be ready to go.

Meet the Author

Tanille is the co-author and creator of the children's green book series "Jordan & Justine's Weekend Adventures." She is also the author of the new media young adult novel with music "Cameo by Tanille." Th¬e Undercover Starlet Journal is a title Tanille created to inspire young women and has extended Undercover Starlet into brand extensions that appear throughout

her novels. Tanille has been writing since age 16. She earned an MBA at 21 and graduated magna cum laude.

Links:
http://www.Tanille.com
http://www.facebook.com/TanilleMusic http://www.twitter.com/MilanParkAve
http://www.soundcloud.com/TanilleMusic

NEW TANILLE ALBUM INCLUDED Readers get free music downloads of the new Pop R&B hits "All of Me" and "What's a Girl to Do" by Tanille, and more with purchase.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-tanille-edwards/1119705766?ean=9780978730215
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Tanille-3-Part-ebook/dp/B00KXPZMBO/

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Review Tour and Giveaway - Seams in Reality by Alex Siegel

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

SEAMS IN REALITY is the first book in the Seams in Reality Series.

MY REVIEW:

My goodness, what a great new series!  I picked this book up and did not put it down until I was finished... yes, it was THAT good.

The characters are easy to relate to.  The two main characters, Andrew and Charley are college students and discover they have more in common than a love for theater. They both have a special talent--Andrew didn't know about his though until something odd happens during a performance.

Charley has already been working with Tonya as an apprentice and introduces Andrew to her.  Slowly it's revealed that Andrew has been in their sights for a long time and there's a whole family history he never knew about.

The book is well-paced with some great lines--I love Tonya and her dry humor.  There was one line she had that literally made me LOL.  There are adventures, a touch of mystery, and even a touch of romance growing between Andrew and Charley. 

Beware that the book DOES end on a bit of a cliffhanger--- it is the first book of the series after all.  Good news is... Amazon has the second book ready for you!    I give this book a rating of 4 and look forward to the rest of the series.

As a freshman in a suburban college near Chicago, Andrew leads an ordinary life until he meets Tonya, a strange woman with an even stranger secret. She is a master sorcerer, and he becomes one of her apprentices. Tonya's other apprentice is a resourceful young woman named Charley, and they aren't the only sorcerers in the world. The United States government has an entire bureau responsible for controlling them and the special seams which enable magic. Andrew's new life takes a dangerous turn when he meets Blake, a sorcerer who knew his grandfather. Blake's thirst for power leaves a trail of casualties, and in the end, only Andrew can stop him.

"No, you finish first," Andrew said in a loud, clear voice. "Never leave a job 'til you're finished— remember that. Biff, up in Albany I saw a beautiful hammock. I think I'll buy it next trip, and we'll hang it right between those two elms. Wouldn't that be something? Just swingin' there under those branches. Boy, that would be..."

His amplified words boomed through the auditorium. Every seat was filled, and he was the reason, although he never bragged about it. Critics had lauded his acting skills in the strongest possible terms. Andrew remembered one article that had said, "Andrew Kenworthy has the imagination and command of a professional actor twice his age. He would be at home on a Broadway stage." He tried not to let the praise go to his head.

He had no idea where that talent had come from. Neither of his parents were actors or had expressed any interest in the subject. Death of a Salesman was Andrew's first serious production. Something about this particular stage had inspired him to stretch himself in ways he had never attempted before.

He was facing the fake trees on the set. They were just wooden cutouts painted green and brown, and close up, they looked cheap, but the audience didn't care. He was pretending there was a hammock hanging between the trees.

An unexpected movement caught Andrew's attention. Somebody was hiding in the shadows behind the trees, but the play didn't call for an actor to be back there now.

Andrew glanced towards the right wing. Some actors were waiting just offstage, ready to come in on cue. Stagehands in black clothes stood further back with varying levels of interest. Charley had a clipboard in her hand, and she stared at Andrew with a curious expression.

Another movement drew his attention back to the trees. A man in a rumpled gray business suit was standing just out of the light. He was carrying a battered old suitcase in each hand.

Exhaustion made his face sag, and Andrew guessed the man was in his forties. Andrew had never seen him before, but he still recognized him.

Willy Loman, Andrew thought.

He completely forgot an audience was watching. He wandered over and stared at the apparition. Willy just stood there with his sagging shoulders and bent back. He had a blank, mindless expression.

"Hello?" Andrew murmured.

Willy didn't respond.

Andrew glanced at Charley, and her eyes were wide with alarm.

"What are you doing?" she whispered. "Say your line!"

Andrew turned back, but Willy had silently vanished. There was nothing behind the fake trees.

What the hell is going on? Andrew thought.

He remembered the play. He turned to the audience, and even though the auditorium was dark, he could see over a thousand faces. They were watching him expectantly.

He realized he had forgotten his next line.

The actor playing Biff said, "Pop, I just washed the car. Do you see? How's that, Pop? Professional?"

Oh, right, Andrew thought. He looked at the other actor. "Terrific. Good work, Biff."

The performance continued, but Andrew would be the first to admit it was the worst of his short career. He kept glancing behind the trees and blowing his lines. Normally, he had the focus of a laser beam, but not tonight.

Finally, the show ended, and he didn't get his usual standing ovation. When the curtain dropped, the audience was still in their seats.

About the Author:

Alex Siegel grew up a math and computer geek. At the age of twenty-five, he received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell. He continues to make a good living as a software developer in Chicago. In his late twenties, he took up creative writing as a serious pastime with the intention of eventually making it his career. This goal has been elusive, but failure is not an option. In 2001, his wife gave birth to triplet boys. People often ask him how he still finds time to write. In 2009, he began the Gray Spear Society series, and he hopes it will be his key to literary fame.

Website: http://www.grayspearsociety.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraySpearSociety
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraySpear
G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/114008779380457126099/posts
Newsletter: http://ow.ly/CrMTe

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