Blog Tour: A Messy, Beautiful Life

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Hello lovelies and welcome to my stop for the A Messy, Beautiful Life Blog Tour. I’m really excited to be part of this tour. This book is so achingly beautiful and I can’t wait to rave about it! If you’re new to my blog, welcome to Sincerely Karen Jo. Hope you enjoy reading my review and don’t forget leave a comment down below.

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5 ★ – SO ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL
PUBLISHED BY ENTANGLED TEEN OCTOBER  2, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, ROMANCE, PARANORMAL, FANTASY
PAGES: HARDOVER 300 PAGES

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Synopsis

LIFE IS FUNNY SOMETIMES.
AND NOT ALWAYS THE HA, HA KIND. LIKE THAT ONE TIME WHERE A HOT GUY TRIED TO KISS ME AND I FELL. DOWN. HARD. AND THEN FOUND OUT I HAD CANCER.
I’M TRYING TO BE STRONG FOR MY FRIENDS AND MY MOM.
AND I’M TRYING SO HARD TO BE “JUST FRIENDS” WITH THAT HOT GUY, EVEN THOUGH HE SEEMS TO WANT SO MUCH MORE. BUT I WON’T DO THAT TO HIM. HE’S BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE WITH HIS FAMILY, AND I’M NOT GOING TO LET HIM WATCH ME DIE.
SO, I TELL MYSELF: SMILE ELLIE. BE FUNNY ELLIE. DON’T CRY ELLIE, BECAUSE ONCE I START, I MIGHT NOT STOP.

Review 

This book is INCREDIBLY AMAZING. How can something so upsetting and heartbreaking be so full of life and laughter?! Dealing with cancer will never be easy. I knew going into this book that I would get very emotional. I was so ready to bawl my eyes out, but instead of crying till my eyes swelled up, I actually laughed…A LOT. I mean there were plenty of tears involved, but A Messy, Beautiful Life filled my heart with so much hope and joy. By the end, I just wanted to give everyone I love a big hug and never let go.

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It’s actually been a few days since I finished reading this book and I still haven’t stopped thinking about everything that’s happened. I LOVEEEE this book so much…SO MUCH that I know this will be one of my top ten favorite reads in 2017. The cover is ridiculously gorgeous. The title is utterly perfect. The writing is exceptional and the story… it’s so so BEAUTIFUL and I just can’t get over all the FEELS.

I absolutely love Ellie and Jason. Ellie is a fantastic character. She’s loving and caring. She’s extremely talented, hilarious and witty. She’s also very strong, inspiring and full of life that I wanted to be around her. I just love that girl so much and rooted for her the entire time. Jason… this guy will always have a special place in my heart. He’s charming and sweet. He’s the perfect gentleman and I fell so hard for him. Watching these two interact together is really fun! Their chemistry is simply amazing. I love all the cute flirting, playful bantering, sexy kisses, and tender moments between them. Their romance is super adorable, and swoony and will make your heart so full of happy.

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The other characters are wonderful and I adore them to pieces. Ellie’s stepbrother, Craig, is very thoughtful, caring, and awesome. He makes me heart melt into a puddle of goo and I just love him. Ellie’s mom is just the BEST and I want to hug her! The mother-daughter dynamic/bond is definitely goals. Hana and Quinn are totally kick ass and the most amazing best friends ever. The relationships between the characters are just so great! I don’t want to give too much away, but there is seriously so much love in this book. Not to mention the characters are well-developed, genuine, and believable.

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A Messy, Beautiful Life by Sara Jade Alan is a lovely story about learning to find humor in life despite dealing with something really terrible. It’s riveting, deeply affecting, and very inspiring. While some parts are heartbreaking and just really sad, this book is also filled with so many fun, hilarious, and heartwarming moments that will make you smile and laugh out loud. Everything about this book is just so achingly beautiful. I love this story with all my heart and can’t recommend it enough. Alan’s writing is phenomenal and I’m absolutely excited to read whatever she writes next!

P.S. – Ranma ½ is the BEST and one of my favorites! I used to watch that anime with my brother when we were young. Definitely got nostalgic and made me miss those days.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

sara_jade_alanAbout the Author

Sara Jade Alan wrote her first comedy sketch during second grade recess, then cast it, directed it, and made costumes out of garbage bags. Since then, she has performed in over a thousand improvised and scripted shows all over the country. When she lived in New York City with her college improv group, she worked as an assistant to a best-selling author of young adult novels featuring strong female heroes and was completely inspired by her books and the awesomeness of her teen fans. Spending a year on crutches, Sara turned to writing her own young adult stories and was hooked. Currently, she is one-half of the comedy duo, The Novelistas, who perform about writing and teach performance to writers. Hailing from a suburb of Chicago, Sara now lives in Colorado with her husband—who she met in that college improv group—and daughter, who they waited a bunch of years to make. She is a member of and guest instructor at Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

Follow and Connect with Sara Jade Alan 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Tour Schedule

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A Messy, Beautiful Life prize package

A Messy, Beautiful Life Prize Pack, which includes A Messy, Beautiful Life tote bag, DVD of the anime rom-com Ranma 1/2, Disco ball keychain, Bag of Marshmallow Mateys cereal.

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Thanks for reading lovelies! I hope you add this amazing book to your TBR and fall in love with Ellie’s story.

Sincerely Karen Jo

Book Birthday

Wishing all these beauties the happiest book release day! Still trying to catch up with my TBR for reviews, but I’m super excited to read these awesome new books! One of them is currently out for delivery and the rest I’ll be buying soon.

All The Crooked Saints

 Maggie Stiefvater

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PUBLISHED BY  SCHOLASTIC PRESS OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, FANTASY, PARANORMAL
PAGES: HARDCOVER 320
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
Here is a thing everyone wants:
A miracle.

Here is a thing everyone fears:
What it takes to get one.

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

(Rise of the Empress)

Julie C. Dao

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PUBLISHED BY  PHILOMEL BOOKS  OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, FANTASY, RETELINGS
PAGES: HARDCOVER 384
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.

Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins–sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

 

All the Wind in the World

Samantha Mabry

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PUBLISHED BY  ALGONQUIN YOUNG READERS OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, CONTEMPORARY, FICTION
PAGES: HARDCOVER 288
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
Sarah Jacqueline Crow and James Holt work in the vast maguey fields that span the bone-dry Southwest, a thirsty, infinite land that is both seductive and fearsome. In this rough, transient landscape, Sarah Jac and James have fallen in love. They’re tough and brave, and they have big dreams. Soon they will save up enough money to go east. But until then, they keep their heads down, their muscles tensed, and above all, their love secret.

When a horrible accident forces Sarah Jac and James to start over on a new, possibly cursed ranch called the Real Marvelous, the delicate balance they’ve found begins to give way. And James and Sarah Jac will have to pay a frighteningly high price for their love.

 

The Nowhere Girls

Amy Reed

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PUBLISHED BY  SIMON PULSE OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, CONTEMPORARY
PAGES: HARDCOVER 416
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.

Who are the Nowhere Girls?

They’re everygirl. But they start with just three:

Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.

Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.

Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android.

When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.

Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.

 

Berserker

(Berserker #1)

Emmy Laybourne

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PUBLISHED BY  FEIWEL AND FRIENDS OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, FANTASY, HISTORICAL FICTION
PAGES: HARDCOVER 288
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
Are Hanne’s powers a gift from the old Norse gods, or a curse?

Her brother Stieg swears their powers are a gift from the old gods, but Hanne Hemstad knows she is truly cursed. It’s not Stieg’s fault that their father is dead, their mother has left, and their brother Knut has been accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

No, the fault lies with Hanne and her inability to control her murderous “gift”–she is a Berserker. When someone she loves is threatened, she flies into a killing state. The siblings must leave Norway for the American frontier or risk being brought to justice.

Aided by a young cowboy who agrees to be their guide, Hanne and her siblings use their powers to survive the perilous trail, where blizzards, wild animals, and vicious bounty hunters await.

Will they be able to reach their uncle, the one man Hanne believes may be able to teach her how to control her drive to kill? With Berserker, Emmy Laybourne, the author of Monument 14, presents her vision of an American west studded with Viking glory.

 

Dare Mighty Things

Heather Kaczynski 

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PUBLISHED BY HARPER TEEN OCTOBER 3, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, FANTASY, SCI-FI, ROMANCE
PAGES: HARDCOVER 288
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her.

As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she’ll never back down . . . even if it costs her everything.

 

Gray Wolf Island

Tracey Neithercott

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PUBLISHED BY  KNOPF BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS OCTOBER 10, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, MYSTERY, FANTASY MAGICAL REALISM
PAGES: HARDCOVER 336
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
Right before Sadie died, she begged her sister, Ruby, to do the one thing she could never do herself: Find the treasure on Gray Wolf Island.

With just a mysterious treasure map as a guide, Ruby reluctantly allows some friends to join her on the hunt, each of whom is touched by magic: a boy allegedly born to a virgin, a girl who never sleeps, a boy who can foresee his own death, and a boy with deep ties to the island. Each of them is also keeping a secret—something they’ll have to reveal in order to reach the treasure.

As the secrets come to light, Ruby will have to decide: Can she make peace with her friends’ troubled pasts and continue to trust them? Can she forgive herself for doing the unspeakable? Deep in the wilderness of Gray Wolf Island, Ruby’s choices will determine if they make it out with the treasure—or merely with their lives.

From debut author Tracey Neithercott comes a darkly compelling tale of profound friendship, adventure, and finding the strength to tell the truth.

The Breathless

Tara Goedjen

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PUBLISHED BY  DELACORTE PRESS OCTOBER 3, 2017
GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, FANTASY, GOTHIC, PARANORMAL
PAGES: HARDCOVER 368
BUY AMAZONBARNES AND NOBLE
No one knows what really happened on the beach where Roxanne Cole’s body was found, but her boyfriend, Cage, took off that night and hasn’t been seen since. Until now. One year—almost to the day—from Ro’s death, when he knocks on the door of Blue Gate Manor and asks where she is.

Cage has no memory of the past twelve months. According to him, Ro was alive only the day before. Ro’s sister Mae wouldn’t believe him, except that something’s not right. Nothing’s been right in the house since Ro died.

And then Mae finds the little green book. The one hidden in Ro’s room. It’s filled with secrets—dangerous secrets—about her family, and about Ro. And if what it says is true, then maybe, just maybe, Ro isn’t lost forever.

And maybe there are secrets better left to the dead.

Have you read any of these? Any of them on your TBR? Leave your comments down below. I’d love to hear what you think.

Sincerely Karen Jo