"Waiting On" Wednesday is an event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. The purpose of this weekly event is to spotlight a soon-to-be-released book that you are very much anticipating. "Waiting On" Wednesday will also give bloggers an opportunity to share ideas for our TBR lists.

 Title: A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1)
Author: Lauren DeStefano
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 240 Pages (September 1st, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Pram Bellamy is special—she can talk to ghosts. She doesn’t have too many friends amongst the living, but that’s all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix.

Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram’s power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Lauren DeStefano is beloved by critics and readers alike, and her middle grade debut is lyrical, evocative and not to be missed.

Title: Cut Both Ways
Author: Carrie Mesrobian
Publisher: HarperCollins, 352 Pages (September 1st, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Will Caynes never has been good with girls. At seventeen, he’s still waiting for his first kiss. He’s certainly not expecting it to happen in a drunken make-out session with his best friend, Angus. But it does and now Will’s conflicted—he knows he likes girls, but he didn’t exactly hate kissing a guy.

Then Will meets Brandy, a cute and easy-to-talk-to sophomore. He’s totally into her too—which proves, for sure, that he’s not gay. So why does he keep hooking up with Angus on the sly?

Will knows he can’t keep seeing both of them, but besides his new job in a diner, being with Brandy and Angus are the best parts of his whole messed-up life. His divorced parents just complicate everything. His father, after many half-baked business ventures and endless house renovations, has started drinking again. And his mom is no help—unless loading him up with a bunch of stuff he doesn’t need plus sticking him with his twin half-sisters counts as parenting. He’s been bouncing between both of them for years, and neither one feels like home.

Deciding who to love, who to choose, where to live. Whichever way Will goes, someone will get hurt. Himself, probably the most.

Title: The Next Together (The Next Together #1)
Author: Lauren James
Publisher: Walker, 356 Pages (September 3rd, 2015)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: How many times can you lose the person you love?

A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about reincarnation and the timelessness of first love from a talented young writer.

Teenagers Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.

But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?
Maybe the next together will be different...

*covers are always subject to change.

Title: The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)
Author: Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Doubleday Children’s Books, 295 Pages (September 9th 2014)
From: Review copy from a blogger event.
Format: Bound paperback
Add to: Goodreads
Order a copy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst – and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It’s a place that’s both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come ….

Review: 3.5-4 stars - I have heard various opinions about The Iron Trial. Some good, some bad, a lot of people have been “sitting on the fence” about it. So when I initially started reading it, these thoughts were on my mind.

Callum Hunt has just turned 12, due to a leg injury he has been bullied and never really accepted by his peers.

Callum invited to the Magisterium to take part in a test to see if he has what it takes to become a student under one of the great Masters at the school and further his magical education. Callum’s current magical knowledge is non-existent; apart from the fact he knows he has magic. His Father has always taught him that magic is dangerous- it is what caused his Mother’s death and he should avoid it at all costs. So Callum is determined to fail the test, however things don’t always go to plan.

If left untrained, Callum could cause a problem for the magical community and put lives at risk. When he is asked to stay at the school, Callum is sure that if he doesn’t put in enough effort the school will kick him out.

What unfolds is a story of magic, friendship and the realisation that all things aren’t always what they seem.

It would be difficult not to draw comparisons to Harry Potter due to the age of the characters and the setting. However, it does have its differences.

Without spoilers it’s hard to say much, but Callum’s character is different from Harry in respect of something that is revealed in the book (you must read to find out what!!) and although the Magisterium is a school, it isn’t your typical traditional looking school building, it’s miles of underground tunnels, caves and the occasional river, deep within a mountain.

From two accomplished authors such as Holly Black and Cassandra Clare you can only expect great things.

I was not disappointed in this book. It was an easy to follow read, aimed at Middle grade readers. I’ll say honestly that I didn’t appreciate the full story until I’d finished reading it.

I will say that the series has lots of potential and I look forward to reading the next book.

Recommended if you are a fan of Holly Black or Cassandra Clare and dare I say it J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Title: Zero Tolerance
Author: Claudia Mills
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 240 Pages (June 18th, 2013)
Add to: Goodreads
Order Online here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK

Synopsis: Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that he's not the person she assumed he would be--and that the lines between good and bad aren't as clear as she once thought. Claudia Mills brings another compelling school story to life with Zero Tolerance.

Guest Post: A Childhood Bound by Books

An invitation to be a guest blogger on a blog that celebrates lives bound by—and boundlessly enriched by—books gave me cause to reflect on how much my own childhood was built around books.

When I was growing up in central New Jersey in the 1960s, we had no organized sports, certainly none for girls (this was pre-Title 9), and few organized after-school or summer activities of any kind. My family didn’t have a TV for much of my childhood: I remember going over to a neighbor’s house to watch the space launch that sent John Glenn to orbit the earth. So my sister and I engaged in imaginative play with dolls and stuffed animals, created a neighborhood of little “houses” in the nearby woods, sharpened our skills at Monopoly and Clue, and read. And read. And read.

The library at that time allowed patrons to check out only four books at a time, so Cheryl and I would walk to the library, check out four books, walk back home, spend the next two days reading our four books, and then walk back for four more. Among our favorite titles: the Betsy-Tacy books of Maud Hart Lovelace, the “Shoes” books of British author Noel Streatfeild, Half Magic and The Time Garden by Edward Eager, and the “Adventure” books of Enid Blyton.

        We loved the Adventure books most of all: Castle of Adventure, River of Adventure, Sea of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure, Ocean of Adventure, Circus of Adventure. When we came home from the library with a new Adventure book, it seemed unfair for either of us to get to read it first. So we would sit side by side reading the book together. Because I was one year older (361 days older, to be exact), I was a slightly faster reader, and so I had to wait at the bottom of each page for a few seconds until Cheryl was ready to turn the page.

         Rereading the books as an adult, I can see how sexist and racist they are. The girls cower behind the boys; the villains are always dark-skinned and/or foreign. I can see how often Enid Blyton recycled the same plots, and in how many books the children are convalescing from measles and so free to engage in adventures rather than attending school. When I was a child, none of that mattered. All that mattered were the adventures, and that Cheryl and I could share the adventures together.

         I now write books that are extremely different from the Blyton books we loved so much. My books are character-driven rather than plot-driven; I care more about the inner life of the protagonist than about the external events that drive the story. I write about strong girl characters (whereas my boy characters tend to be more shy and reactive). My stories have no villains.

         Yet in writing Zero Tolerance I tried to recapture what Cheryl and I loved so much about Blyton’s adventure stories. It’s true that this story of a girl facing mandatory expulsion for the innocent mistake of bringing the wrong lunch to school is character-driven; I cared most about how the events of the story would lead Sierra to grow and change. Sierra becomes a strong character who shapes her own fate. There are no villains, not even the principal who is pressing for Sierra’s expulsion or her over-zealous attorney father who is determined to fight the expulsion by any means necessary. But Sierra is facing the adventure of her life as she sits in suspension, interacting with kids she never would have associated with before; there she does things (good and bad) she never dreamed herself capable of doing; she faces the ticking clock of her expulsion hearing; the stakes are high.

         Adventure, it turns out, comes in many forms and in many places. It usually isn’t as fun when it’s happening to you as when you’re reading about it happening to somebody else. The best thing about it, in the end, is the story it makes. Or so I hoped, in writing this book.

Claudia, thanks for dropping by today and sharing!

About the Author:

Claudia Mills is the author of many chapter and middle-grade books, including 7 x 9=Trouble!; How Oliver Olson Changed the World; and, most recently, Kelsey Green, Reading Queen. She also teaches philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She lives in Boulder, Colorado. To learn more, visit her website: claudiamillsauthor.com

Find Claudia Online:

Website | Blog | Facebook

GIVEAWAY!!!

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• ONE winner will receive a a finished copy of this title

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Check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour:

Wed, Sept 4 - Read Now, Sleep Later AND SLJ Teen giveaway - http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/

Thurs, Sept 5 - proseandkahn - http://proseandkahn.blogspot.com/

Fri, Sept 6 - The Book Monsters - http://www.thebookmonsters.com/

Mon, Sept 9 - Once Upon a Story - http://www.novalibrarymom.com/

Tues, Sept 10 - Pass the Chiclets - http://passthechiclets.blogspot.com/

Wed, Sept 11 - The Late Bloomer's Book Blog - http://thelatebloomersbookblog.blogspot.com/

Thurs, Sept 12 - Mother Daughter Book Club - http://motherdaughterbookclub.com/

Fri, Sept 13 - The Children's Book Review - http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/

Sun, Sept 15 - Nerdy Book Club - http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/

Mon, Sept 16 - Geo Librarian - http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com/

Tues, Sept 17 - A Life Bound by Books

Title: The Unwanteds
Author: Lisa McMann
Publisher: Aladdin, 390 Pages (August 30th 2011)
From: the Publisher & Amazon Vine, Thank You!

Synopsis: Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.

Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret—behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.

In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.

But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

Review: 3 Stars - The Unwanteds by author Lisa McMann is a middle grade book about a society who fears creativity in any way, shape or form. With a controlling government, a drab society and a hidden colorful and magical place where anything is possible, McMann has taken the idea of cutting out all creative programs to new heights.

When the Purge comes, the Unwanteds are cast out and sent to their death. The Wanteds remain behind to learn, follow rules and never step out of line. Alex and his twin Aaron will both face a different fate. One Wanted and one Unwanted.

The story takes place in drab, colorless and more than harsh Quill. Alex and his brother knew the day was coming when they would be separated. Alex, the Unwanted of the two is purged from society and taken away from everything he knows, while Aaron, the Wanted brother stays behind to go to school and learn ways to better Quill and the controlling people in charge. Quill doesn’t sound like a place I’d want to live; I can’t imagine anyone wanting to stay there for long. Barbed wire covering the sky, shared buckets of water for washing… yeah, not fun, no art or being creative in anyway... yeah, no thanks!

So, Alex, on his way to his death gets a shock when he, along with all other Unwanteds from his purge are saved and taken to a colorful, artistic and magical place called Artime. The best part of the story was watching the characters change as they learned that expressing yourself through art isn’t a bad thing and it should be encouraged instead of taken away. Taking a persons creativity away takes away too much of who they are, what they are and what they will become.

The whole idea for the story was great… being punished, taken away and killed because of being creative in any way; I couldn’t wait to read where McMann would take the idea. And yeah, she did run with it. However, I felt it was a tad flat. I didn’t connect with the characters at all. I tried throughout the whole story to find something to grasp onto, but... just couldn’t. And no, I’m not saying this is a bad book in any way, it was a great idea and a pretty entertaining story.

This is my first time reading anything by McMann, and I know it won’t be my last. I have heard nothing but amazing things about her YA series. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.