Invisible by Jeanne Bannon - Pump Up Your Books Tour - Review

About Invisible

Lola’s not pretty. Lola’s not popular. Lola wishes she could disappear … and then one day she does just that…
For seventeen-year-old Lola Savullo, life is a struggle. Born to funky parents who are more in than she could ever be, Lola’s dream of becoming a writer makes her an outsider even in her own home. Bullied and despised, Lola still has the support of her best pal Charlie and Grandma Rose.
Not only is she freakishly tall, Lola’s a big girl and when forced to wear a bathing suit at her summer job as a camp counselor, Lola’s only escape from deep embarrassment seems to be to literally vanish. Soon after, she discovers the roots of her new “ability”.
Slowly, with Charlie’s help, Lola learns to control the new super power. The possibilities are endless. Yet power can be abused, too…
Then, when tragedy strikes, Lola must summon her inner strength, both at home and at school. She has to stand up for herself, despite the temptations and possibilities of her newfound super power.
A coming-of-age story that will warm the heart.

About Jeanne Bannon

Jeanne Bannon has worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years. She began her career as a freelance journalist, then worked as an in-house editor for LexisNexis Canada. Jeanne currently works as a freelance editor and writer.
Jeanne’s had several short stories published and won first place in the Writes of Caledon Short Story Contest. Her novels, The Barely Boy and Dark Angel were finalists in the 2010 and 2011 Strongest Start Contests. Another of her short stories “Thom’s Journey” is part of an Anthology entitled A Visitor to Sandahl and is available at Amazon.com.
Invisible, Jeanne’s debut novel, is about a teenage girl who isn’t happy with herself and wishes she could disappear. And one day she does. Invisible is available on Amazon, Smashwords, and the Solstice Publishing website.
When not reading or writing, Jeanne enjoy being with her daughters, Nina and Sara and her husband, David. She’s also the proud mother of two fur babies, a sweet Miniature Schnauzer named Emily and Spencer, a rambunctious tabby, who can be a very bad boy.
To learn more about Jeanne, visit her at her website www.jeannebannon.com
You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter

My Thoughts:
Pros: I fell in love with the characters from page one.  Lola and her friend Charlie have bonded throughout the years and have become best friends.  They have helped each other survive school through bullying and poor family situations.  Lola is large - very tall and slightly overweight, making her a prime target for bullies at her high school.  Her family doesn't understand her and the only people she feels comfortable around are Charlie and her Grandma Rose.  The relationships between all the characters may sound simple, but they are very complicated and beautifully written.  As Lola and Charlie find a way to deal with bullies at school using her ability to disappear, I was a bit disappointed but the after a couple twists and turns it was much better.

Cons:  Too short.  There were some places that seemed to get glossed over that I wanted to know more about.  I wanted to seemore involving Grandma Rose and and definitely more about Charlie.  While Charlie seemed to play such a large part in Lola's life, I felt like I never really got to know her.

Overall:  It needed a little filling in, but a great story about growing up and learning to love yourself for who you are.

Giveaways, Contests & Prizes!

In celebration of Jeanne Bannon’s new release, she will be appearing at Pump Up Your Book’s 1st Annual Holiday Extravaganza Facebook Party on December 16. More than 50 books, gifts and cash awards will be given away including an one paperback and one e- copy of Invisible! Visit the official party page here!

 

Invisible Tour Schedule

 

Monday, December 5th
Spotlight at The Plot

Tuesday, December 6th
Character Interview at The Plot

Wednesday, December 7th
Review at Reviews From the Heart

Thursday, December 8th
Guest Post at InkyBlots

Friday, December 9th
Review at In-Interest
Review at Live to Read

Monday, December 12th
Review at WV Stitcher

Tuesday, December 13th
Interview at Pump Up Your Book

Wednesday, December 14th
Review at Review From Here

Thursday, December 15th
Review at Jasmyn’s Reviews

Friday, December 16th
Review at Mad Moose Mama

The 58th Keeper by R. G. Bullet - Pump Up Your Book Tour - Review



The 58th Keeper is the story of a boy called Archy Bass, who stumbles upon a mysterious and powerful relic. The moment he touches it, two warring forces race to find his whereabouts. One side thinks he’s simply too young and too inexperienced to keep it, and the other just want him dead. The 58th Keeper is a roaring trip that takes the reader on the most wonderful and hair-raising scenes imaginable. R. G. Bullet pulls out all stops in hisdebut novel to deliver an incredible journey with unforgettable characters. This book will resonate with you for ages past the last line.

About R.G. Bullet

R. G. Bullet was born in Berkshire, UK. After living in nine different countries he has finally settled in Miami Beach, USA. He is addicted to tea, reading, writing, motorbikes and shamefully, Call of Duty. His middle grade debut novel: The 58th Keeper has just been released.
To learn more go to: http://www.rgbullet.com/
Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RGBullet58
and join the fan page for the latest updates and fun competitions
https://www.facebook.com/rgbullet#!/profile.php?id=100002401835900




My Review:
Archy Bass has found himself in an unusual situation.  On a trip with a friend from school, he thinks he's just buying a souvenir, but ends up becoming the 58th Keeper of the Shroud.  Now the shroud has quite a few very special abilities, including making the user invisible and flying.  At first Archy doesn't realize what he has, and when the Kurul, the bad guys, send their best after him he wonders if it's all worth it.  He finds out that in order to keep the shroud and the title of Keeper, he must pass a series of tests, none of which will be very easy.  But he just might be able to do it with the help of a couple friends.

Pros: The action in The 58th Keeper was fantastic.  I had a very hard time putting it down without finishing it.  There always seemed to be something just about to happen.  Archy is a fantastic main character with just the right mix of good intentions with adolescent mischief.  Throughout the story he grows and develops into a young man that is willing to take on a great responsibility.  My favorite part of the story was the Time Quest.  I don't want to say to much and give away too many details, but it was the meat and potatoes of Archy's development.

Cons:  There wasn't much about this story that I didn't like.  I wish I had seen a little more development in Archy's friends and learned more about the history and purpose of SOTS, the keeper's helpers.  I would have liked to see a little more descriptive of the places Archy visited.  Now, since this is young adult story, I don't exactly expect to see an abundance of scenery, but it still seemed a little light in that area.

Overall:  A great story that I hope ends up being turned in to a series.  I loved Archy and reading about his adventures with the shroud.  The perfect story to get wrapped up in.

The 58th Keeper Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

Monday, December 5^th
Book spotlighted Broowaha
Book reviewed at D’Ambrosia Arts
Tuesday, December 6^th
Book spotlighted at Books, Products and More!
Wednesday, December 7^th
Book spotlighted American Chronicle
Thursday, December 8^th
Book reviewed at Joel Andre’s Blog
Friday, December 9^th
Interviewed at Blogcritics
Tuesday, December 13^th
Interviewed at The Children’s and Teens’ Book Connection
Wednesday, December 14^th
Book reviewed at Jasmyn’s Reviews
Thursday, December 15^th
Book reviewed at Mad Moose Mama
Book reviewed at The Road to Here
Friday, December 16^th
Book reviewed at Community Bookstop
Guest blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner
Saturday, December 17^th
Book reviewed at Everyday is an Adventure

In My Mailbox (16)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.  I didn't get much to post about last week, so they're all going into this week's instead.

Enchantments: A Novel by Kathryn Harrison - ARC from Librarything.com

St. Petersburg, 1917. After Rasputin’s body is pulled from the icy waters of the Neva River, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Masha, is sent to live at the imperial palace with Tsar Nikolay and his family—including the headstrong Prince Alyosha. Desperately hoping that Masha has inherited Rasputin’s miraculous healing powers, Tsarina Alexandra asks her to tend to Aloysha, who suffers from hemophilia, a blood disease that keeps the boy confined to his sickbed, lest a simple scrape or bump prove fatal.
  Two months after Masha arrives at the palace, the tsar is forced to abdicate, and Bolsheviks place the royal family under house arrest. As Russia descends into civil war, Masha and Alyosha grieve the loss of their former lives, finding solace in each other’s company. To escape the confinement of the palace, they tell stories—some embellished and some entirely imagined—about Nikolay and Alexandra’s courtship, Rasputin’s many exploits, and the wild and wonderful country on the brink of an irrevocable transformation. In the worlds of their imagination, the weak become strong, legend becomes fact, and a future that will never come to pass feels close at hand.
Mesmerizing, haunting, and told in Kathryn Harrison’s signature crystalline prose, Enchantments is a love story about two people who come together as everything around them is falling apart.

Windless Summer by Heather Sharfeddin

A father’s love. A shattering secret. A summer that will change lives forever.

In the town of Rocket, Washington—a summer playground for windsurfers and tourists—a windless summer ignites fear as businesses and residents move away. Rocket’s motel, run by a lonely widower named Tom Jemmet, is hard hit. And Tom has demons of his own: memories of a beautiful wife that still haunt him, and a troubled young daughter whose retreat into a silent world confounds her father and sparks whispers in town.

Swirling around Tom are lives much like his own, townspeople yearning for wind but also for hope, even love. Charlene, a mail clerk, helps care for Tom’s daughter while a secret gnaws at her heart…Lauren, the town vet, has fallen for Tom, who barely notices…and newspaper editor Hap is hatching a foolish plan to save his town.

That’s when a miracle—or something like it—strikes Tom’s run-down motel. Guests who stay in Room 6 begin experiencing sudden acts of fate, both terrible and great. But while tourists descend on Rocket and the the town shows new signs of life, the truth about Tom’s motel and the death of his wife—as well as the secret hopes and fears of everyone around him—are exposed in ways that are both surprising and inevitable….

Original Sin by Lisa Desrochers

Luc Cain was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Frannie Cavanaugh and the unique power she never realized she had. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences, and suddenly Frannie and Luc find themselves targeted by the same demons who used to be Luc’s allies.

Left with few options, Frannie and Luc accept the protection of Heaven and one of its most powerful angels, Gabe. Unfortunately, Luc isn’t the only one affected by Frannie, and it isn’t long before Gabe realizes that being around her is too…tempting. Rather than risk losing his wings, he leaves Frannie and Luc under the protection of her recently-acquired guardian angel.

Which would be fine, but Gabe is barely out the door before an assortment of demons appears—and they’re not leaving without dragging Luc back to Hell with them. Hell won’t give up and Heaven won’t give in. Frannie’s guardian exercises all the power he has to keep them away, but the demons are willing to hurt anyone close to Frannie in order to get what they want. It will take everything she has and then some to stay out of Hell’s grasp.

And not everyone will get out of it alive.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.

But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

2012 Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge

 

I absolutely LOVE urban fantasy so I just had to sign up for this one.  The official sign up page can be found HERE.  I'll be shooting for 24 this year.

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