Book Review: Dreamwalk by Sarah MacManus

Dreamwalk by Sarah MacManus
Chloe has it rough. Her mom has died and she has moved to a new city and school. She also has a hard time getting a good night's sleep due to some vivid terrifying dreams where she is falling to her death. 
A friend introduces her to a band's website and she becomes a bit obsessed with the lead singer. She begins to dream about him and takes solace in the friendship and love that grows between them. The dreams, however, turn out to be her actually traveling in her sleep into this boy's life while he is in a treatment facility for heroin addiction. 
The premise is interesting and the conclusion was surprising, but I had a couple issues. First, this book is considered YA and yet the sex scene was more explicit than in most YA books. A little too much description for a book geared toward young readers, in my opinion. I don't mind sex scenes in books usually, but they don't belong in a Young Adult book. 
The drug use and expletives I had no problems with when it concerned Shane. He was depicted very realistically as a drug addict in treatment and it would have rang false without them. Again, though, since this is geared to teens, I don't think Chloe's experimentation with heroin and need of it to Dreamwalk was necessary. 
The last thing is just me being a bit picky. There were some editing issues, such as grammar, and sometimes I felt like one paragraph didn't relate to the next, losing the flow of the narrative due to me completely getting lost and feeling as though I missed something. 
However, when it got going it was very entertaining and full of great imagery. I liked Dreamwalk, and do look forward to seeing and reading more by Sarah MacManus.
2.75/5
Source: ebook for review from author
For more info about the author and the book visit sarahmacmanus.com

_________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Grab Bag Winners Announced!

The lucky recipients are:
Vicky-Tinky
gets the YA Grab Bag
Donna of Girl Who Reads
gets the Adult Fiction Grab Bag
Congrats! 
If you would like to see what they have won, check out the books here.
Winners chosen by Random Number Generator._________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Malibox Monday's home for the month of May! 

For those of you not familiar with it,

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

It was started by Marcia of the Printed Page (now A Girl and Her Books) and is now being hosted monthly by different bloggers. Go here to find the schedule. But first, be sure to leave a link to your MM post below using the handy-dandy Mister Linky at the bottom of this post. 
This is the end of the road for me. I had a great time hosting. For the month of June you will find Mailbox Monday at The Bluestocking Guide. ______________________________This week I wanted to share with you some books I got from audible.com. I have only listened to a few books on tape before so I am still a bit of a newbie. There was a get two books free for trying it out that I just couldn't pass up. These are a couple books I have wanted to read for awhile so I am excited to get listening.Water for Elephants by Sara GruenOutlander by Diana Gabaldon
What was in your Mailbox this week? Leave a link to your MM post with Mister Linky. Don't have a blog? Leave a comment with the books you received this week. 
Happy Reading!
Sorry about that! Here is Mister Linky. :)

_________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Armchair BEA: Building Relationships

As in real life, I am not all that great when it comes to making new friends online. I can be a little shy, so it takes me awhile to comment on other's blogs and I definitely don't approach publishers for books. Despite this, I have been able to make some blogging friends and have developed a good relationship  with a couple publicists who have approached me for reviews. 
I think it is important that once you make a connection with someone you need to foster that relationship just as you would in real life. Keep in touch, be respectful and give as much as you receive. _________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Armchair BEA: Best of 2011

I haven't read all that many books this year due to the new babe, but here are my faves so far :

And these are the ones I am really excited to get my hands on:



_________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Giveaway: 2 5-book Grab Bags

I have two grab bags of 5 surprise books to give away today, one YA grab bag and one Adult Fiction grab bag. All the books are gently read copies that were sent to me in the past year and all great books. 
If you are interested, just leave me a comment and let me know which grab bag you would like to be entered to win. Open Internationally. Closes Sunday, May 29th at 11:59pm PST. 
Be sure to come back and check this post as I will be revealing 1 book from each bag daily starting tomorrow. :)
YA BOOKS Grab Bag:
HardcoverARCPaperbackHardcoverPaperback
ADULT FICTION BOOKS Grab Bag:
ARCPaperbackHardcoverPaperbackPaperback
Alright, that is all of them. I will announce the winner of the grab bags tomorrow. Good luck to all of you!
_________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Armchair BEA Introduction

Hi! I'm Mari and this is my first time participating in Armchair BEA. I don't think I will ever make it to BEA, so this is great. Living vicariously.
 For these first couple days I will be checking in from the bed in our hotel room. We are in San Diego with the hubby. While he works, Emma and I are tooling around the hotel and wandering around nearby Seaport Village. Not today, though. It is raining. Blegh.
So, some info about me...
-My name is pronounced like Maudie, kind of). If you can roll your r's you can say it correctly. :)-I was a pre-kindergarten teacher for 9 years.-I lived in Texas for 10 years.-I am a first time mom to an 8 month old little girl. -I started my blog as a place to keep track of the books I was reading a few years ago when I was trying to read 100 books in a year. -I love to knit. Started out blogging about knitting but quickly got sucked into book blogging. You can find my old knitting posts from mariknits here. 
When we get home I will be "Armchairing" it from my comfy chair-and-a-half, where I can just see the treetops of Golden Gate Park a couple blocks away. _________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.

Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Malibox Monday's home for the month of May! 

For those of you not familiar with it,

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

It was started by Marcia of the Printed Page (now A Girl and Her Books) and is now being hosted monthly by different bloggers. Go here to find the schedule. But first, be sure to leave a link to your MM post below using the handy-dandy Mister Linky at the bottom of this post. ______________________________Luckily for me, and my TBR pile, the only books that came into my house this week were for the little girl. For those of you who don't know, last year was my final year teaching, having decided to stay home with Emma. I taught PreK for 9 years and had accumulated a lot of points from the Scholastic Book Clubs. So, before they could disappear, I needed to use them. This time it is the little girl's TBR pile that is getting bigger. Two bookshelves worth. :)
Eric Carle's 123 by Eric CarleDiary of a Fly by Doreen CroninChicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr and John ArchambaultChicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin, Jr and Michael SampsonBoom Chicka Rock by John ArchambaultClick, Clack, Quackity-Quack: An Alphabetical Adventure by Doreen Cronin and Betsy LewinIf You Give A Cat A Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
Just making sure the little girl will be a successful student later on. Check out this article. Emma is lucky, she has a classroom sized library all for herself._________________________________
What was in your Mailbox this week? Leave a link to your MM post with Mister Linky. Don't have a blog? Leave a comment with the books you received this week. 
Happy Reading!

_________________________________________

FTC Disclosure: Clicking on title and image links will lead you to my Amazon Affiliate page.