Category: Book Stuff

BEA (Book Expo) Update 2

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

GAH.  Sorry I had gone quiet this week.  I have been so tired at night and then we get up and go so early that I just look at the blog and go… “nah.”

I have a few minutes here now though and just left the Book Blogger Convention and apparently… have some stored up bloggy type energy stored up in my fingers I was unaware of.  So let’s catch up shall we?  😀

So…. my last post left off at the Beth Hoffman Dinner Tuesday night…

  1. First ever subway ride.  I am now an honorary New Yorker.

  2. Dinner was so awesome.  We went to dinner at Mercers Kitchen in Soho.  So wonderful.  There were 8 of us bloggers I think, I will list them all and their blogs next week when I write more detailed posts about the events.  Beth Hoffman…. as real in person as she is in her books and on the social networks.

  3. Back in hotel room 1t 11:30 pm.  SO TIRED!

  4. Wednesday…. up at 5 am.  To Javitz by 6:15 am… picked up Rick Riordin tickets for a signed event.

  5. At Javitz until about 3 pm.  Reagan and I are SHOT.  So tired books have lost all meaning (and that is TIRED!)

  6. We go back to our hotel room and crash for about an hour. 

  7. Up and get ready for the Harper Collins Blogger Reception

  8. Reception is a blast… we taxi over, get a chance to connect with many authors and fellow bloggers.  I meet two of the authors I am doing book tours with this fall!  (More on this in post next week)

  9. Go to dinner with a group of bloggers organized by Heather from Age 30+ a Lifetime of Books to a place called Bice.  I had a fettuccine with shrimp…. YUM!

  10. back in hotel by 11:00 pm…. shot again.  😀

  11. Thursday – sleep in a bit day!!!  Up at 7:30 am…. YEAH!!!  Get ready and to Javitz by 8:45 am after stopping at Dunkin Donuts for COFFEE and breakfast. 

  12. Spend morning at Javitz center chatting up with publishing companies and getting a few books along the way. 

  13. 10:15 am meet outside to taxi to the Adrianna Trigiani event with other bloggers (detailed post on this next week).  Taxi to Greenwich Village where we go on the wonderful Adriana Tour of the Village!

  14. Meet up with Adriana at The Standard Grill for lunch.  

  15. Back to Javitz at 3:45 pm.

  16. Back to hotel and get ready for Atria party at Simon and Schuster

  17. Taxi to Atria and meet up with publishers and authors and more bloggers.  (More details on this next week)

  18. Reagan and I go to Empire State Building  – all the way up!  😀

  19. Back in room by 10 pm.  Chill a bit then sleep.

  20. Up at 6:00 to prep for Book Blogger Convention

  21. At convention by 7:05 pm for breakfast

  22. Convention officially starts at 9 a.m. to 4:30 pm.  (details details – next week :D)

Now – currently I am sitting at my hotel room with Reagan (Miss Remmers Reviews) and Cass (Bonjour, Cass! A Book Lovers Blog) preparing to go to a Broadway play… Mary Poppins! 

 

I will break down these events soon in more detail, I just wanted to touch base and let you know I do still exist and I am returning home very early tomorrow morning… 😀

 

Update From The Expo (Book Expo America – BEA)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Hey all!  😀

I fully intended to write a post Tuesday morning before I left for BEA.  BELIEVE me I had plenty to say (gosh… do I ever not have something to say?  :razz:)  BUT – here is why you have not heard from me until now:

Fast pass recap:

  1. Sunday evening I met Reagan (Miss Remmers Reviews) in Minneapolis at our hotel for the night.
  2. Ordered pizza at 9:30 pm because we were hungry…. hour and a half later we get what can only be described as “pizza from days gone by”.  Didn’t matter…. HUNGRY!
  3. We talked WAY TOO LONG and were up until almost 1:00 a.m.
  4. We got up at 3:00 a.m. on Monday morning to catch the 4:00 a.m. shuttle for our 5:45 am flight to New York
  5. Uhhh…. can you say tired?  😉
  6. Arrived in New York around 11:10 a.m.
  7. Booked to our hotel and dropped off our luggage by noon
  8. Ran (it’s true… we did) to the Simon Schuster event that started at 11:00 am that we were invited to.  About a mile away.
  9. Sent to the 14th floor… not there… sent to the 4th floor not there… sent to the 11th floor – not there….. could not find the group.  😯
  10. Being tired we decided to start walking our way to the next event – the YA Teen Carnival.  Destination 3 miles.
  11. Stopped half way in to grab a quick-lunch and get out of the rain that suddenly came crashing down….. pouring.  Really.  POURING.
  12. Went back out and continued our walk to the event… struggled finding the right road.
  13. 5 miles later, found it.  We high-fived and danced around the entryway.  (Not really…. but we could have…. and we SHOULD have.  😛
  14. Event is awesome – many YA authors (more on this on a later post) stayed until 6:30 pm.
  15. Took a taxi back to our hotel (I know right?  A TAXI!  :razz:)
  16. Walked to Subway and grabbed subs to eat in our hotel room – we were super SUPER tired.  (Oh.. we were SO tired).
  17. Bed at 10 pm
  18. Alarm set for 5 am…. woo hoo… here we go!!!
  19. 6:15 am left for the Javits Center – BEA here we come!
  20. Get our badges and go check things out….

Ok… this part is fun and full story worthy, so I have broken in to this timeline of awesomeness and need to share.  Reagan and I are leaning up against the tall table at the Javitz.  I was reading the Daily BEA magazine they put out when a lady walks up to us and asks us where to register.  It is then that we realize we are standing in front of the Information table.  We laugh, help the lady and continue to hang out.  Moments later another question.

The sign above us says :BEA info booth


I tell Reagan we should get behind the counter and sit in the chairs (I am a bad influence sometimes…. :razz:)  No one is there and so we do.  Pretty soon we have people steadily coming and asking questions:

Where do I pick up my badge?

Where is the children’s author breakfast?

What time does the main arena open?

Where is the Starbucks?

Can I go to the authors breakfast without my badge?

Where is the Blog World entrance?

Can I get a map?

Where is the line to get in?

The only one we couldn’t answer is “where is the silent auction”, which later we found when we walking around again.  😛

We seriously had a blast and actually helped a lot of people while we sat and it really passed the time as we had an hour and a half to kill.  When the dude who was scheduled to run the booth showed up, we graciously stepped aside, he asked us what people were asking about and we helped him get his start.

Dang…. that was fun.  😛

Ok… back to list…

20.  Hung out at expo from 6:30 – 4…. chatting with authors and publishers, getting books.  Highlight book of the day:  Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.  Yup.  It’s true… in my hot little hand.  😀

21.  Back to hotel room at 4 where within 20 seconds from hitting the door, Reagan and I both have our feet up… ow ow ow ow!!!

22.  I gather my reserve energy get cleaned up and ready to write this post and go out to dinner with some awesome bloggers AND Beth Hoffman, author of Cee Cee Honeycutt.  (post on this event later)

Me and Beth Hoffman (uhhh.... SSSQQQQUUUUEEEEE!!!)O


😛

23.  back to the hotel at 11:30 pm.  Wrote this post and went to bed at 12:14 a.m.  (Alarm set for 5:00 am so we can get in line for Rick Riordin tickets…. and maybe…. maybe run the info booth.  😆

More soon… just wanted you to know where I have been and what I have been doing.  Today was gorgeous in New York!

Who Do You Write Your Book Reviews For?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)39 Comments

I remember when I first started book reviewing, just about two years ago.  Shortly after that day, just as I was getting into my groove, someone on another blog mentioned that really book bloggers write their reviews for other book bloggers. 

At the time I heartily disagreed.  In fact I was a little put off about the statement – it sounded so self-serving and made me visualize a circle of people reviewing books, posting about books, and then reading books they seen that other book bloggers reviewed and then reading those books… starting the circle over again. 

No, I thought.  I write about books for the masses… for the book lovers everywhere that want an honest opinion on a book. 

*Pause here for dramatic effect.*

I write reviews for anyone looking on-line for thoughts about a particular book or a particular genre….


Ok… ok.  Now… here I am thinking these last few days is that still true?  What I set out to do (books for the masses, honest reviews, book talk genre talk for everyone….) is it still true that I am writing for everyone, and not just chatting it up with other book reviewers?

Honestly, most of you who comment here are book reviewers as well.  And honestly – I have grown to really love that because we truly are an incredible community of people and together we have a voice that can make a difference – and has made a difference.  I like knowing my frequent  commenters, even if it is virtually.  I know from reading your own blogs the type of books you enjoy, injuries, sicknesses, trips, exciting news, and sometimes hardships too.  I like being able to comment something to the effect that is more personal like, “glad to see you made it back from _______________”.  or , “I know you will love this book as it reminded me a lot of the other book you read and loved.”  And of course with the addition of BEA where I actually was able to meet many of you – well that just is too awesome for words.  😀

I have noticed that my original “for the masses” *let masses echo in your head* plan of attack, is not always accurate when I write posts like this, or about BEA (do the masses care that I am going?), or about meme’s (although I honestly wish none book bloggers would partake too as I honestly do really want to know what everyone is reading.  :razz:)


I turn this question back to you….

  1. as a book reviewer/blogger, who do you write your posts for?

  1. Do you have a targeted audience in mind?

If you are not a book reviewer/blogger… do posts that seem to only be written for other book reviewers bug you, or (hopefully) make you feel part of the circle of books lovers?

Word Shakers On Line Book Club Invites You To Our Next Group Read

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments


Word Shakers is an on-line book club hosted here at Book Journey.  When a group read is announced, anyone who wishes to join in (book bloggers and readers of any type) are encouraged to fill out the form (below) and join the group.  At a given date a survey will be sent to those participating with questions about the book.  On a later date, a group post will go up at the Book Journey site as well as a place for participants to link their reviews as well.  (*Participants who do not book blog are encourages to put their thoughts on the book on the survey when it is sent as well as in the comments once the review is posted. 

Our current read being offered is:

Lisa Shannon had a good life – a successful business, a fiancé, a home, and security. Then one day in 2005, an episode of Oprah changed her life. The show focused on women in the Congo, a place known as the worst place on earth to be a woman.

The subject of a recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof, Shannon details how she left her comfortable life in Portland, Ore., to aid women in the Democratic Republic of Congo suffering abuse and death in what has been termed “Africa’s First World War.” Running a successful business with her fiancée (who would leave her), Shannon is still “hungry for something all [her] own” and after seeing a show on Oprah about Congolese women, she establishes the Run for Congo Women to raise money to help those suffering. From meeting Congolese women she’s sponsored to learning that 90% of the women in one village have been raped, Shannon is exposed to a world remote from her own affluent life. Her painful firsthand accounts of the violence inflicted upon Congolese women by Hutu militants will most interest readers, but the book lacks a detailed overview of the political circumstances surrounding this long war. Shannon provides a much-needed view of how one inspired American can act with hope, drive, and courage to aid women in a part of the world too often overlooked.

How to participate:

  1. Fill out the form below
  2. read the book or listen to audio before June 22 (questions regarding the book will be emailed to you at this time)
  3. Respond to the questions and submit our answers
  4. Reviews will go live on the blogs on June 30th
  5. Grad the Word Shaker widget from this post and feel free to put it on your blog and on your review.
  6. Have fun and thanks for participating! 😀

Morning Meanderings… Occasionally… this happens

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)57 Comments

Good morning.  *stretch.  Yawn*

Ok…let’s try that again.

Good morning.  😀

Check this out:
Updated: 6:59 AM CDT on May 17, 2011

clear

67° | 38°

clear

67° | 43°

partlycloudy

70° | 49°

I know right?  SUN.  And SUN.  And SUN.  Did I mention SUN?  Sorry it seems like it has been forever since we have had sunny days and I am grinning ear to ear. 

I listen to three audio books at once.  I have one going in my bathroom bedroom (Their Eyes Are Watching God…. currently they are running from the floods…), one in my kitchen (The Zookeeper’s Wife (a man just parachuted out of the sky…), and one in my car (Change Of Altitude (Margaret is with a small group of friends hiking up a dangerous mountain)…

I don’t know how they all stay straight in my head – but they do and I listen to all three at least a little bit each day.  When I get up I flip the one on in the bathroom and while I get read y for my day I get in a good 20+ minutes… then when I am in the kitchen making COFFEE, cleaning up or working on dinner, that audio can get in around 20-30 minutes a day… the one in my car is on whenever I am driving alone which is most of the time so about 10-30 minutes car time a day as well.

And like I said – that works for me and I look forward to each story line….

Until…

Yesterday I am coming home from work listening to Change in Altitude by Anita Shreve.  I have commented that there was A LOT of pre story before it seemed like it was ever going to get into the heart of the story and then as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot… it happened.  I could tell the book was getting to the point  and I reluctantly shut my car off ran and picked up the things I needed and hurried back to my car…. driving home my ears were glued to what was happening….  once home…

I sat in the car in my garage, listening to the audio.

After 20 minutes of that …. I decided I looked ridiculous and popped the audio out of the car, went into the house… plucked out The Zoo Keepers Wife from the kitchen CD player and put in Change Of Altitude to listen to while I prepped my salad for the potluck I attended last night. 

Change of Altitude… trumped Zoo Keepers Daughter.

It happens. 

Certainly those of you who read more than one book at once can relate…. if one takes off in the story line, it gets more attention at least for a time while you dive in. 

Yes… I will go back to Zookeepers Daughter, in fact this morning I had.  Change of Altitude followed me from the house to the potluck and home again and while the story line still is holding my captive… I am back to listening to the three again in harmony…

😛

Hope your day is super fab! I work… I hope to play a bit on my bike… I will probably start on the front lawn again tonight as yup…. with all the rain I could mow again.  😀

I put the question to you…. do you read multiple books at the same time (different genres…) and or audio – or a mix of both?

How Do You Choose What To Read Next?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)81 Comments

Out of the TBR’s (To Be Read) in your home…. what is the method to your madness?  (Well… maybe your is not madness… but oofta (yes I said oofta – and yes I put parentheses inside parentheses) mine sure is).

I am curious as to how you choose that next read –

Are you:

AIO – All In Order – as they come in they are read – check off the list go the next… check check check (If so YOU are SO ORGANIZED!  WOW!)

TBR and LL – Library Loot – a bit of the TBR mixed in for variety

ATSL – As The Spirit Leads (and honestly this is my personal favorite… I read what I want to read when I want to read it, with  the exception of Book Tours)

I have heard some of you talk about your systems of organization when it comes to the TBR and seriously that impresses me… I wish I could stick to that but I tend to read as I am called to a book (at least as much as possible, unless it is a tour book or a book club read with a commitment date)


For those of you who are book reviewers, do you think we easily over commit ourselves to read books offered to us as books are so much our passion it is hard to say no? 

How much is too much?

Thank you in advance for your insight.  Every Sunday I go through this…. choosing what I plan to read for the It’s Monday, What Are You Reading meme.  I take into account book tours and audio choices and then try to mix in one that I have no commitment to other than the fact I want to read it.  I am curious how you choose your books.  😀

What Is With Me And All The Berg Books?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)40 Comments

If you have hung around here any amount of time you have more than likely seen the Elizabeth Berg books popping into my “To Be Read” pile.  I read my first Elizabeth Berg book in January of this year, We Are All Welcome Here.  The book touched and impressed me and I made a commitment that I have never done before – to read all of this authors works in 2011.

Here we are in May – and here is a list of Elizabeth Berg’s books and the ones I have read have reviews attached:

Durable Good

Talk Before Sleep

Range of Motion

The Pull of The Moon

Joy School

What We Keep

Until The Real Thing Comes Along

The Art Of Writing True

Open House

Never Change

Ordinary Life

True To Form

Say When

The Art Of Mending

The Year Of Pleasures

We Are All Welcome Here

The Handmaid and The Carpenter

Dream When You Are Feeling Blue

The Day I Ate Anything I Wanted (returned to library – ran out of time, need to check out again)

Home Safe

The Last Time I Saw You (Currently reading)

Once Upon A Time There Was You

Elizabeth Berg is a Minnesota author.  She was born in 1948, and that would make her the same age as my mom.  🙂 She submitted her first poem to American Girl Magazine when she was 9 and when it was rejected, it took her 25 years before she ever submitted anything again.

FuN To KnOw

Berg hasn’t managed to get her way when it comes to titling her books, usually getting overruled by her agent and editor. She wanted to call Durable Goods The King of Wands, after a tarot card; Range of Motion would have been Telling Songs; and Open House would have been The Hotel Meatloaf. Perhaps Berg should be thankful for her handlers?

Have you ever read everything be an author?  If so who?  If not, which author would you like to read everything by?

Harry Potter – My History (and a new trailer too)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

What a bitter-sweet year this is with the final movie release of the final book of the Harry Potter Series.  I have watched my kids grow up around the Harry Potter books.  I have watched documentaries on J K Rowling which only increased my respect for her as a single mom writing out that first book on napkins and scratch paper in a coffee shop.  She truly is a rags to riches story and has long been one of the authors I really respect.

Harry Potter has been a part of my life since 1997.  As I look back over my collection I have to think what a win for Scholastic, winning the bid for the books in the US.  I remember that first copy coming into our home.  I remember my boys had it – I did not read (and would not read it until after I heard a  movie was coming out and wanted to see what they hype was all about – this was in 2000)

My two sons love this... I did too after I read it in 2001

And really, after that first reading for me… I was a Potter head.  I had catching up to do as of this time the fourth book in the series was coming out and they were getting BIGGER and BETTER.  The first book started over 200 pages and by the fourth they are between 500 – 700 pages. 

Brilliant.  By this time, each book that came out we had to purchase it triplicate (YAY J K!) as two teenage boys and myself…. we could not share.  We would all be in our designated corners – sworn to not tip the others off if anyone was ahead.  Of course I did mention I had two boys…. so that rule didn’t exactly stick…. groans would be heard as they tried to ruin a scene for the other, sometimes it was true… sometimes it was a fake out “Oh no!  I can not believe he died on page 527!”

Many other Potterish things are happening now as well.  We go to the midnight showings of the movies.  We have waited in lines at 12:01 on book release day to be sure we have our copies and can start reading right away.  Release dates (books and movies) are actually put on the calendar so we are sure to keep that day free and not make other commitments. 

The 1st year
Harry,Ron, Hermoine - Now

Somewhere I have pictures of the boys running around the house with blankets tied around their necks and pointing sticks at each other as they cast spells for a couple of hours one evening. 

By the time book 7 came out my oldest boy was out of the house and it was just Justin and I reading the books at home.  I had pre ordered the seventh book as we had planned to be camping release day (I know what timing right?).  I had never pre ordered one of these books before and was nervous about delivery.  When our plans changed and we stayed home that weekend I was a wreck release day… wondering if I should have hit the stores at midnight and picked up a copy, wondering if release day did not necessarily mean delivery day and knowing the whole world was already deep into their books while I in Brainerd Minnesota was waiting on my back deck for the UPS man. 

Finally by late morning as I was wondering if anyone in town had any copies left I discovered that my copy of the book was tucked into the screen door off the front door to our home.  Never mind how long it had been there…. I will never know.  😛 


This time, Justin who was working on release day (again…. who’s kid is this who would work on book release day?  Really….) was behind me on reading.  Yup.  So by the time he got home I was 300+ pages in and while I prepped supper (I know I know… I should have ordered in!) he started reading with my ever watchful eye waiting for his reactions….. finally he banished me from watching him read – which is cruel. 

SO….. being the great mom that I am…. the next day while he was working…. I went through his copy of the book and put post it notes on the page AFTER anything big happened.  So – when someone died, or when Mrs. Wheasley swears for the first time in any of the books, on the next page would be a post it note from me saying something like “Whoa!!!  Can you believe that just happened?”  He laughed when he found the first one…. after the second one he asked if I had done that through his entire book.  I chose not to answer.

Every time I pick up one of these books I find something more that impresses me …. things in first books come up again in later books, hints I did not pick up on the first time catch me the second time around. 

There is so much to this season that is Harry Potter.  The merchandising, the websites, Harry Potter world now in Orlando, and Reagan and I are going to the Harry Potter Exhibit while we are in New York at the end of May. SSQQUUUEEEE!!!!

What an opportunity I have had to be along from the start of this ride…. I chalk these up as future classics…. and I for one feel privileged to be among the ones who were there from Hogwarts to Hallows.

I leave you with this – the new trailer for the last of the Harry Potter movies – Deathly Hallows part II – July 15th:

BEA -“utiful! Check out updates on BEA (Book Expo America)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Oh!

BEA is sitting right at a month away!

SSSQQQUUUEEEEEEEE!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you my thoughts with you on “What I Learned at BEA“.  This was a recap of my adventures last year as a first timer to the Book Expo in New York and what advice I would give those of you who are new to BEA.  (I am paying it forward here as last year there were many posts about BEA and what to bring and not to bring and I devoured all their advice. 

My roomy again will be the lovely Reagan of Miss Remmers Reviews and she also has created a couple good posts I encourage you to check out…. she is braver than me – she even did a VLOG.  😀

BEA – What To Bring

BEA What To Wear

She also created a BEA Blog Feed you can sign up for

** If you have written a BEA post let me know and I will link you up here

If you have any BEA “utiful” questions – please post them here on the comments – if I do not know the answer myself I will do my best to find out for you.  Oh – keep the questions BEA related…. I know nothing about the earths hemisphere or the volume pitch a killer whale can produce.  😛

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Caitlin has always seemed to sit in her older sister Cass’s shadow.  Even now that Cass has left their home, running away to live with her boyfriend…. leaving… on Caitlin’s sixteenth birthday.

Caitlin tries to move forward in her life while her parents watch her every move wondering if she too will take flight.  Caitlin’s mom starts trying to mold Caitlin who had always been the invisible sister into her everything.  When Caitlin makes the cheer leading squad (ugh…. cheer leading) her mom takes charge with schedules and uniforms and showing up at practices – much as she used to do with Cass.  Could it be that Cass left because she felt smothered by this parental over achieving?

And as Caitlin deals with this new life she finds herself caught up in a whirl of new friends, friends that did not know here as Cass’s sister… friends she can hide herself in and Caitlin begins to become smaller and smaller, flying under the radar as she experiments with drugs and alcohol under the overly watchful eye of her new boyfriend Rogerson.

Strange, sleepy Rogerson, with his long brown dreads and brilliant green eyes, had seemed to Caitlin to be an open door. With him she could be anybody, not just the second-rate shadow of her older sister, Cass. But now she is drowning in the vacuum Cass left behind when she turned her back on her family’s expectations by running off with a boyfriend. Caitlin wanders in a dream land of drugs and a nightmare of Rogerson’s sudden fists, lost in her search for herself.


And this begins my adventures in reading with Sarah Dessen.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book in audio format.  Narrated by Liz Morton, she brought the perfect “bored and uninterested” voice to Caitlin and her friends as well as she brought the concern into her parents.  I found this book to be an important read just like SPEAK is. 

Caitlin’s attempt to lose herself after she loses her sister is one that I believe speaks volumes to our society.  As Cass was the one who always took the spotlight, Caitlin had no idea what to do when Cass left and the spotlight was all too glaring on her.  In times of great tragedy or loss in our lives it is tempting to try to reinvent yourself to cover up the pain.  Cass nearly succeeds but by doing so puts herself in grave danger with an abusive boyfriend and drug loving friends.

SO just for a moment without going “spoilerly”… I can’t stand Rogerson.  He is a horrible teen who is obviously carrying on what he has learned in his own home.  Sad…. very sad.  So saying that – I can also say that I am reading this from a parental perspective and Rogerson is a bug that must be squashed…. from a teen girls perspective he is dreamy.  Mysterious.  Brooding.  Handsome.  Dangerous.  All the things that many young girls are attracted to and really this is where the heart of Dreamland lies within the relationship between Rogerson and Caitlin.

This book as I mentioned above is an important read.  Abuse is never something to be accepted.You can feel bad for the one causing the abuse, you can understand why they may be doing it – but it is wrong and they need help. 

The following is taken from the ACADV Dating Violence:

Teen dating violence often is hidden because teenagers typically:

  • are inexperienced with dating relationships.
  • are pressured by peers to act violently.
  • want independence from parents.
  • have “romantic” views of love.

Teen dating violence is influenced by how teenagers look at themselves and others.

Young men may believe:

  • they have the right to “control” their female partners in any way necessary.
  • “masculinity” is physical aggressiveness
  • they “possess” their partner.
  • they should demand intimacy.
  • they may lose respect if they are attentive and supportive toward their girlfriends.

Young women may believe:

  • they are responsible for solving problems in their relationships
  • their boyfriend’s jealousy, possessiveness and even physical abuse, is “romantic.”
  • abuse is “normal” because their friends are also being abused.
  • there is no one to ask for help.

Sarah Dessens characters are memorable and even beyond the abuse in the book the story line is strong, and witty.  There is more to this book than your typical YA although it will appeal to those who are just looking for a good read as well.

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Dreamland

I borrowed this audio from my local library