Blog Tour Kick- Off for Swell by Julie Rieman Duck & a Giveaway!

Today is the first day of the tour for Swell by Julie Rieman Duck!  If you want to check out my review go HERE, trust me, this is a fabulous YA contemporary book!

 Swell by Julie Rieman Duck

When Christian Rusch plucks Beck Ionesco from the freshman ranks for himself, she’s tempted with parties, popularity, and love. But as the free-flowing booze that soaks his world seeps into her own, Beck begins using liquid courage as a way to ignore Christian’s dark moods… and cover her anxiety about his flirtatious friend Hillman.

However, when Christian breaks up with Beck, and Hillman makes a dangerous move, no amount of alcohol can stop the pain or keep her out of trouble. And just when it seems like she’s lost everything, Beck is partnered with Jesse Leary for an art project. After spending time with him, Beck realizes it’s more than a study date… and Christian’s not happy about it. Then again, Beck’s not sure she’s happy with him, either.

But only after plowing through a bottle of wine, a wild fight, and one guardrail that becomes Christian’s last call, does Beck admit to her problem and ask for help from the one whose life secretly parallels her own.

About Julie Rieman Duck:

Born in Los Angeles and raised in San Clemente, California, Julie Rieman Duck wrote her way through school on an old-fashioned typewriter. Somewhere along the line, she was sidetracked by careers in magazine publishing and copywriting. While Julie honed her skills at writing print ads and articles, the stories that moved her heart and soul were bubbling underneath, waiting to escape.

It took a medical scare and the loss of her job — on the same day and within 30 minutes of each other — to finally allow her stories to free themselves and be put to paper.

Julie looks forward to writing more stories that hit where the heart beats fastest, and the soul reaches out for more.

www.julieduck.com

www.julieduck.wordpress.com

Here is the tour schedule so you can be sure to check out all the fabulous'ness that shall be going on!

11/1- Candace's Book Blog- Tour Kick Off!
11/2- A Diary of a Book Addict- Review and Interview

11/5- Supernatural Snark- Guest Post
11/6- My Parahangover- Top 10 Things To Do When You're Sad, Overwhelmed, Or Need to Escape (Besides Drink)
(Review on 11/5)
11/7- S.I.K. Book Reviews- Review
11/8- For Those About to Read- Interview
11/9- Above Average Below Special- Review

11/12- Ivy Book Bindings- Review and Interview
&
I Read Indie- Top Ten
11/13- LC's Adventures in Libraryland- Review
11/14- Moosubi Reviews - Review
11/15- Love of Books - Excerpt
11/16- Jean Book Nerd- Review and Interview

11/19- My Guilty Obsession - Review
11/20- Winterhaven Books - Review
11/21- Imaginary Reads- Review and Guest Post
11/22- Happy Thanksgiving!
11/23- Falling Books - Review and Interview

11/26- Rainy Day Ramblings - Guest Post
11/27- Book Briefs - Review
11/28- Fighting Dreamer- Top Ten Song That Go Well With Swell
11/29- Alluring Reads - Review and Guest Post
11/30- Pages of Forbidden Love- Review 

12/3- Book Passion for Life- Review
12/4- Books Over Boys - Review and This or That
12/5- Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers - Review
&
 Tsk, Tsk, What to Read- Review
12/6- Xpresso Reads - Review
12/7- Chocolate Coated Reviews- Review

12/10- Maji Bookshelf - Review
12/11- The Readers Den - Review
12/12- Steampunkery and Book Reviews- Review
12/13- Steampunkery and Book Reviews- Quote Teaser Post
&
Coffee, Books and Me- Guest Post
12/14- Woven Myst - Review

This is a tour wide giveaway and ends 12/18/12.
 One person will win:
 (Open to US only)

    - Paperback of Swell by Julie Rieman Duck
    - Paperback of A Place in This Life by Julie Rieman Duck

 One other winner will win:
 (Open Worldwide)

- 1 ebook of Swell by Julie Rieman Duck
- 1 ebook of A Place in This Life by Julie Rieman Duck
- 1 ebook of The Joy and Torture of Joshua James
- 1 ebook of Earrings of Ixtumea by Kim Baccellia
- 1 ebook of Cornerstone by Misty Provencher
- 1 ebook (kindle) of There Comes a Prophet by David Litwack

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Swell by Julie Rieman Duck

Swell by Julie Rieman Duck

Published August 31st, 2012

Source: Author

When Christian Rusch plucks Beck Ionesco from the freshman ranks for himself, she’s tempted with parties, popularity, and love. But as the free-flowing booze that soaks his world seeps into her own, Beck begins using liquid courage as a way to ignore Christian’s dark moods… and cover her anxiety about his flirtatious friend Hillman.However, when Christian breaks up with Beck, and Hillman makes a dangerous move, no amount of alcohol can stop the pain or keep her out of trouble. And just when it seems like she’s lost everything, Beck is partnered with Jesse Leary for an art project. After spending time with him, Beck realizes it’s more than a study date… and Christian’s not happy about it. Then again, Beck’s not sure she’s happy with him, either.But only after plowing through a bottle of wine, a wild fight, and one guardrail that becomes Christian’s last call, does Beck admit to her problem and ask for help from the one whose life secretly parallels her own.

Swell is an emotional rollercoaster as we ride with Rebecca on her downworld spiral to alcoholism. We watch as she alienates those who cares about her just to get into the 'in crowd' and Christians arms. We watch as she uses liquid courage to become someone she's not. And we watch as everything starts to fall apart.

In the first half or so of the book the beginning of each chapter has a little bit of foreshadowing of what's going to happen, that's going to be one turning point in her life. Something absolutely horrific. As we read it's pretty clear where things are going, but it's just a teaser because we don't know how far it will go and who may come in to save the day, if anyone. Unfortunately even when horrible things happen it's not enough to break the cycle of drinking. And Rebecca still does incredibly awful things to get her hands on alcohol, any kind she can find.

Once school starts she meets Jesse, who is her art partner. Jesse has this light and funny personality and she finds him to be a person who can help take her mind off of everything else. And in the end it's Jesse who helps her find the pieces of her life that she lost.

A lot of horrible things happen in this book and some of you may think that it's not real, teens don't go THAT far. But they do. And this book is a real look at it. Yes, there's drinking and there's sex, but that's what kids do. And this is not a look at it with all wonderful things. No, this shows us the awful things that can happen without us even realizing it. It's not like people become alcoholics on purpose. They start out partying and drinking on weekends and the next thing you know they are hiding little bottles everywhere. Liquid courage for the smallest things like dinner with the family.

The thing I like is that we see the repercussions of Rebecca's actions. We watch as she finds her way and regains her footing and it shows us that there is hope and there is help.

I suggest this for mature readers because of the content, but honestly I think about any teenager in high school has seen things like this and it won't be anything new to them (the drinking, language and sex).

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Review: A Place In This Life by Julie Rieman Duck

A Place in This Life by Julie Rieman Duck

268 pages

Published: April 17th, 2012 by Julie Rieman Duck

Source: Author

For Natalie Miller, it’s just another family vacation. For someone else, it’s the opportunity he’s been waiting for.

With only a single peck from a guy named Frank, Natalie’s anything but experienced with boys. But when Todd pops out of the water, says hi, and tells Natalie he has leukemia, all of that changes.

She’s never had attention like this from a boy, let alone one who’s a real charmer with sex on the brain and the experience to match. Drawn to Todd like a magnet, Natalie gives him her friendship, her love, and her body. Even when she’s tempted by gorgeous, healthy schoolmate Alex, Natalie’s desire to love and care for Todd pushes her to see how far love can go in spite of the potential for death of the relationship — and death of the one she loves.

This was one of the most emotional books I have read in a long time.  It deals with so much.  First love, cancer, growing up... It was all very well woven together and felt very realistic to me.  It brought me back to my teenage years and going through my first love(s).  And so much of what Natalie goes through with Todd is very similar to what I've gone through, except without the cancer.

First of all, Natalie is a pretty naive 17 year old.  Maybe naive isn't the right word, just inexperienced.  She seems to know what's going on in the world with other teens, she just hasn't experienced much romantically herself.  When Todd pays attention to her she practically basks in it.  She's desperate for something to change and to grow up a bit.  But Todd has cancer, and while this is a concern of course, it's his cavalier attitude about sex and his somewhat obsession with it that has Natalie a bit worried.  She does surprisingly well on her own, holding back his advances, but he's very persistent.  I have to say that I had a lot of mixed feelings with Todd and I actually think that's a very good thing.  I think that's what the author had in mind.  First of all, his persistent and constant sexual innuendo is grating and made me not care for him much, but as we saw that he really does care for Natalie I liked him a bit more.  And on top of that we see him suffer as Natalie brings him to treatments and stays by his side through some rough times.  I guess I could say that I pitied him.  He really had to go through a lot and he really only had Natalie.

Now at the same time Natalie has gotten to know Alex, who is her locker mate and a very cute guy.  She's had some temptations and mixed feelings.  At first I was annoyed with her behavior to sort of string each guy along, but keep reading because you'll see how this gets straightened out.  It's something I didn't love, but with how much I did love the book, that was minor. 

Family ends up being pretty important in the story.  It's not that there's anything big, but her parents are present.  They stand by Natalie as she goes through everything.  They offer encouraging words and advice but never push her too hard to do any certain thing.  They hold her hand when she's down and really losing focus on life and they are the kind of parents that every child should have.  At the same time they weren't perfect, which made them more realistic.

This book wasn't perfect, but when I finished it I realized that this was one that really makes you think, makes you feel.  And all the little things here and there that I didn't love were put on the back burner and were quite minor to me compared to how much I loved it.  

Also, I have to put out a warning that this is for mature YA readers.  There is sex and while it's not romance book sex, it is somewhat descriptive. 

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes.  All opinions are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.