#read2019

[mydarlinginej]

You probably guessed as much. But just in case you didn’t.

[illbefinealonereads]

Blog tour day! Keep scrolling to learn more about How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian, and read my spoiler free review.

HOW TO BUILD A HEART by Maria Padian Algonquin Young Readers Ages 12-18 ISBN: 9781616208493 On sale: January 28, 2020 256 pages $25.95

All sixteen-year-old Izzy Crawford wants is to feel like she really belongs somewhere. Her father, a Marine, died in Iraq six years ago, and Izzy’s moved to a new town nearly every year since, far from the help of her extended family in North Carolina and Puerto Rico. When Izzy’s hardworking mom moves their small family to Virginia, all her dreams start clicking into place. She likes her new school—even if Izzy is careful to keep her scholarship-student status hidden from her well-to-do classmates and her new athletic and popular boyfriend. And best of all: Izzy’s family has been selected by Habitat for Humanity to build and move into a brand-new house. Izzy is this close to the community and permanence she’s been searching for, until all the secret pieces of her life begin to collide. 

“Two years ago my mother, who is Latina, attended a Habitat for Humanity fundraising luncheon,” says Maria Padian, freelance writer, essayist, and author of the young adult novels Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress, Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best, Out of Nowhere, and Wrecked. “She and my father, a blond Irish guy, were among the donors, and my mother was unnerved to see the Habitat family, who was of Mexican origin, marched up on a stage for all the nice, wealthy white people to applaud—especially the teenage daughter, who looked like she wanted to disappear. My mother completely empathized with the awkward teen, her teen-angst exacerbated no doubt by her feelings of ‘otherness’ in that company. I realized right then that I needed to write that kid’s story. Unlike my mother, whose first language is Spanish, I barely speak a word, and I didn’t grow up identifying as any sort of racial/ethnic/cultural minority. Writing HOW TO BUILD A HEART has been a way for me to explore my own questions about identity, as well as to step into my mother’s skin. I’ve been able to write these characters because this is my family, from my Spanish mother to my Irish father to my North Carolinian husband. This book is my love letter to all of them and our crazy quilt of a family.”

Advance Praise for How To Build A Heart

“A Pretty In Pink story about grief, family, class, and first love.”

—Bustle

“Padian masterfully portrays the internal struggles Izzy goes through in her Catholic faith… An absolutely enthralling depiction of family and self-discovery.”

—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Padian takes a familiar theme—a girl hiding her background from others—and makes it fresh with her protagonist, Izzy Crawford… The characters around her are well-defined and support Izzy and the plot well. Throughout the novel, Izzy's strength, candor, and humanity shine through.”

—Booklist

“Padian creates a world that the reader can easily dive into. Anyone who’s ever been a self-conscious teen will see themselves in Izzy.”

—Book Riot

“Padian creates a compelling world with relatable characters and deals with serious issues without feeling heavy-handed…An excellent classroom or book discussion starter. Hand this to readers who are ready to tackle these issues with a lighter touch.”

—School Library Journal (Starred Review)

Praise for Maria Padian’s Wrecked

“Revelatory, deeply real, and urgently important.”

—Nova Ren Suma, author of The Walls Around Us

“Outstanding, powerful, and important…This is hands down, one of the best sexual assault reads in YA.”

—Book Riot

“Powerful, suspenseful and illuminating… With intriguing, flawed characters and a gripping storyline, Wrecked by Maria Padian offers readers a view of a college sexual assault case that is as engrossing as it is important.”

—Shelf Awareness for Readers (Starred Review)

“Padian’s latest boasts a swift, excellently crafted plot, exceedingly readable prose, and painfully relatable characters.”

—Booklist (Starred Review)

“In the face of recent college rape trials, readers will be rapt and emotionally spent by the end. An important, devastating new perspective on an all-too-timely subject.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Padian’s characters come beautifully to life in this enthralling and powerful novel. They allow us to step into their shoes and wonder how we would act, what side we would choose and if right and wrong can be defined as sharply as the world wants them to be.”

—The Middlebury Campus (Middlebury College, VT)

“This is an important and, unfortunately, timely novel…This isn’t just a book that all young men and women should read; it’s gripping and human enough that many will want to. Shelve and display alongside Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak and Courtney Summers’s All the Rage.”

—School Library Journal

“Padian excels at showing the messy aftermath of a sexual crime in a college community…This is a novel about truth and the damage done—to a community, to a person, and to relationships—when hard truths are hidden.”

—Portland Press Herald

“A fast-paced read…With down-to-earth characters and a relatable setting, Wrecked hits close to home.”

—The Bowdoin Orient (Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME)

About the Author

Maria Padian has a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia. She is a freelance writer, essayist, and author of young adult novels, including Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress, Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best, and Out of Nowhere. Maria lives with her family in Brunswick, Maine. Visit her online at mariapadian.com and find her on Twitter: @mpadian.

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating: 4/5 stars

Review: How to Build a Heart is an absolutely beautiful story about finding your place. The writing seemed so sincere, and it flowed really well. I really enjoyed how it was paced, it kept the story entertaining and dynamic. The dialogue was amazingly written as well, it had really good back and forth between the characters and it wasn’t dull as it sometimes can be. On the subject of the characters, they were well-developed and brought to the page in such a convincing fashion. They were really easy to connect to, especially Izzy. Feeling like an outsider is a common thing teenage girls deal with, and I feel like that was exactly why she resonated with me. She brought me right back to my high school days. All in all, How to Build a Heart is wonderful read that had me hooked from the beginning. I recommend it.

[mfcommand]

So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture by Seren Sensei Let me get one more quick short read in before the end of the year. #READ #READS #READING #NONFICTION #ESSAYS #ESSAY #RACE #POPCULTURE #NOWREADING #CURRENTLYREADING #LETSREAD #BOOKWORM #BOOKSTAGRAM #BOOKSONIG #EXPERIENCE #READ2019 #2019 https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ltyq0h8SO/?igshid=69dk0m1bbot

[twoclaws]

Consciousness can be modeled as having a fractal nature. Certainly much of our learning arises in our minds in the same way that a fractal is modeled on a computer screen. The processes of creative thinking constitute one example. We have isolated ideas, and gradually the relationships between ideas and concepts grow, until we suddenly perceive the 'shape' of a new idea. The ways in which we look into something affects the possibilities of what we will find. If one's learning or attention is broad, rather than narrowly focused and specialised, then one will see the similarity of ideas across different disciplines and specialisations.

“Fractal Thinking,” from Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine

[tiffanycoffman]

Currently listening to #imaginaryfriend by #stephenchobsky on @audible It’s super creepy! #audiobooks #horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #read2019 #booknerd #spookystories https://www.instagram.com/p/B550B5wAIWA/?igshid=1y0ydyhvl32hh

[achilleius]

Whiskey and flame. Sleepless nights. Tattooed skin, white t-shirts, and rough hands. Love and lust and happiness. He was everything.

read in 2019 — the sweetest oblivion, danielle lori.

[mathematicianadda]

#read2019: My year in books

Wonder in Mathematics https://ift.tt/2u166sz

from Blogger https://ift.tt/2FaWXQD

[mydarlinginej]

only tell me the way, and I will do it, no matter the danger, no matter the hardship, no matter the cost.

[mydarlinginej]

No one can kill the sky. No one can shrink it back down to the earth. I need to believe there are some things in this world which can’t be stolen from it. Some wild and breathless realms, too high to touch, even by war, and you are one of them — always.

[mydarlinginej]

What you don’t get to do is remain neutral. When you have the power that you do, your life is not your own.

[mydarlinginej]

THERE ARE NO BARGAINS BETWEEN LION AND MEN. I WILL KILL YOU AND EAT YOU RAW.

[mydarlinginej]

I AM THE QUEEN OF FAERIE.

[mydarlinginej]

The gods could affect the universe only through humans like her. Her destiny had not been written in the stars, or in the registers of the Pantheon. She had made her choices fully and autonomously. And though she called upon the gods to aid her in battle, they were her tools from beginning to end. She was no victim of destiny. She was the last Speerly, commander of the Cike, and a shaman who called the gods to do her bidding. And she would call the gods to do such terrible things.

[mydarlinginej]

and as she turned, it was revealed by her tread that she was fireborne.

[mydarlinginej]

Both precious to our people, both beautiful enough to adorn the necks of queens. But whereas a pearl is prized for its luster, its shape, its lack of imperfections, coral is different. It grows twisted. In its natural form, it can hardly be considered beautiful at all.

[mydarlinginej]

You are a child of flesh and blood, and I am a being of fire and bone. Were I merciful, I would bid you run and end this tale here. But I am Ifrit and my stories are eternal even thought I am not. In return for the kindness I have shown you, will you become the ink that writes my tale?