New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {188}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

Here's what goodies landed on my doorstep this week!

The Dastardly Miss Lizzie by Viola Carr
Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
North of Happy by Adi Alsaid
Because You Love to Hate Me sampler
Some interesting stuff this week! I'm curious about North of Happy as I haven't heard much about it. So many awesome names on that sampler!! Plus I'm curious about the author/blogger-youtuber pairings for these stories! Including one by Whitney of Whitty Novels (who, incidentally, is also the one who traded with me for Ramona Blue! Thanks, Whitney!).

Thanks to HarperCollins, Harlequin, and Bloomsbury for the review copies!

The Weekly Nutshell
First off, Happy Easter to my bloggy friends who celebrate the holiday! I hope everyone is having a good weekend dying eggs and eating good food---or maybe just have a lovely day of reading and Netflix binging. ;D  Either sounds wonderful.  This week on the blog I posted my weekly WoW pick, Girl Made of Snow and Glass and it's icy gorgeous cover. Then two awesome blog tours stopped here: First We Were Four on Thursday with some author insight on that mysterious title, and on Friday, Lucy Keating's Literally made a delicious appearance that featured one of my favorite things---ice cream!! On the reading front, I'm nearly done with Umberland and it's quite a crazy ride!

But the biggest news I want to share with everyone has to do with the little project I've mentioned a few times before...I opened an etsy shop!! I mentioned a while back that I'd tried my hand at making a few book covers/sleeves/whatever you want to call them lol, and after playing with a few designs and constructions, and getting as creative as I could with them, I've finally ended up with a product that I love!  If it's something that interests you, please click over and check out my new shop! :D

Story Hero on Etsy

I just did a sort of soft opening this weekend, but if you follow me on Instagram, keep an eye out for a Grand Opening giveaway happening this coming week!

In other news, thank you all for the well wishes last week.  I am feeling much better, have one more test at the hospital coming up this week. BUT how's this for crappy luck: I just started feeling better from this "other thing" and suddenly I get slammed with allergies. And on my nice little 9-day staycation from work, too!! Booooo.
Ah, well.  Gotta roll with the punches, I guess.

Have a great week, everyone!

Literally by Lucy Keating: It's All About the Ice Cream! {guest post & recipe}

Today I've got a delicious little post for you that's all about 

Literally 

by Lucy Keating

*AND* 

it's about something that Lucy Keating and main character, Annabelle, and ME all have in common.  A particular love of ice cream.  So read on...Lucy's gonna share what ice cream means to her, what part it plays in the story, and then I'm gonna show you how to make a particularly significant-to-the-story flavor of the yummy stuff! Let's begin! :D

Literally

by Lucy Keating

♦publisher: HarperTeen

♦release date: April 11th, 2017

♦hardcover, 256 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

♦stand-alone

A girl realizes her life is being written for her in this unique, smart love story that is Stranger Than Fiction for fans of Stephanie Perkins.

Annabelle’s life has always been Perfect with a capital P. Then bestselling young adult author Lucy Keating announces that she’s writing a new novel—and Annabelle is the heroine. 

It turns out, Annabelle is a character that Lucy Keating created. And Lucy has a plan for her. 

But Annabelle doesn’t want to live a life where everything she does is already plotted out. Will she find a way to write her own story—or will Lucy Keating have the last word? 

The real Lucy Keating’s delightful contemporary romance blurs the line between reality and fiction, and is the perfect follow-up for readers who loved her debut Dreamology, which SLJ called, “a sweet, quirky romance with appealing characters.” 

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Guest post with Lucy Keating:

ICE CREAM!!

Anyone who knows me, even at a great distance, could tell you that choosing a “favorite dessert” is akin to asking me what my favorite book is. Or my favorite band. It’s like putting me in a pen filled with puppies and telling me to choose the cutest. Yeah, right. The point is: sugar is my kryptonite. I don’t get too worked up over food, freak out about fancy restaurants, or watch a ton of cooking shows…but if you take me to a bakery I will want to try everything single morsel they have, and The Great British Bakeoff was the most riveting television experience of my life (and it also makes an appearance in LITERALLY!). Ice cream is truly my jam, though. It’s the only cooking class I’ve ever taken, I own a pretty fancy ice cream maker (even though I do not own a microwave or toaster at present…priorities). My sister in law once said that ice cream doesn’t survive a night in the fridge at the Keating’s. And it’s true! We all love it, and are all sneaky late night culprits.

For this reason, in LITERALLY, I made ice cream a part of Annabelle’s life too. She and I do not have a lot in common. She is extremely organized, on top of all her schoolwork, loathes her family dog, and doesn’t know how to color outside the lines. I do keep a freakishly organized calendar, like her, but that’s about it. I never know where my keys/phone/wallet are. I am late to most things. The outfit I wear depends mostly on which pair of jeans I arbitrarily pull from my laundry bin. It sounds silly, but Annabelle loving ice cream was a way for me to humanize a very uptight character, and understand her better. And, it’s a big moment in her relationship with Will. But why, I can’t say! You’ll have to read to find out.

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Lucy lives in San Francisco, California. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Williams College in the Berkshires, and still misses the East Coast very much. 

When she's not writing, Lucy can usually be found obsessing over the latest music, inventing new flavors of ice cream, or having what she feels are perfectly acceptable conversations with her dog, Ernie.

You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy.keating, and Ernie The Dog @ernsboberns

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  INSTAGRAM  •  GOODREADS

Purchase LITERALLY: 

 Indiebound  •  Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

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Sea Salt Creamery's 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

(Brace yourselves, people---this is just as delicious as it sounds)

Ingredients:
•5 egg yolks
•1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk 
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup chocolate liqueur 
• 1 tsp vanilla
•6 oz semi-sweet chocolate

•1/2 tsp sea salt

•1 bag of mini reese's peanut butter cups, each one quartered.

In a small bowl, melt the chocolate in a microwave, 30 seconds at a time until melted, stirring between each time.  Separately, lightly beat eggs yolks and then stir together eggs, sugar, milk, cream, liqueur, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Heat mixture over medium heat, stirring often to keep the milk from scorching. When it just starts to boil, remove from heat. Whisk in the chocolate until incorporated and smooth. 

Pour mixture into a shallow pan.  Allow to cool about 10 minutes, until there is no steam coming off of it.  Mixture will have thickened quite a bit already. Cover with plastic wrap, settling the wrap right onto the surface of the mixture to keep a film from forming.  Freeze this for 1 to 2 hours (can be frozen overnight).

Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions for your ice cream maker.  In the last few minutes of churning, when ice cream is almost done, drop in peanut butter cups a handful at a time. Sprinkle sea salt a pinch at a time. Churn the ice cream a bit between each addition. This will evenly swirl the mixtures into the ice cream.

Ice creams with liquor in them generally take a few hours after churning to freeze completely. Or you can serve this right away as soft serve. ;) 

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GIVEAWAY!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One last thing, guys! Don't miss out on any of the previous tour stops!

4/3 - Evie Bookish - Tote Design

4/4 - The Books Buzz - Creative Post

4/5 - YA and Wine - Review

4/6 - The YA Book Traveler - Q&A

4/7 - Book Nerd Addict - Review

4/10 - Little Lillie Reads -Review

4/11 - Brittany's Book Rambles - Fav Quotes

4/12 - A Book and a Cup of Coffee - Review

4/13 - It Starts At Midnight - Guest Post & Review

4/14 - Stories & Sweeties - Recipe & Guest Post

First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy {story behind the title & giveaway}

Hello! Today I'm hosting the blog tour stop for Alexandra Sirowy's 

FIRST WE WERE IV

Read on for a guest post from Alexandra, where she'll tell us all about the conception of the title, and a tour-wide giveaway!

First We Were IV

by Alexandra Sirowy

♦publisher: Simon & Schuster BYR

♦release date: July 25th, 2017

♦hardcover, 448 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

♦stand-alone

It started for pranks, fun, and forever memories.
A secret society – for the four of us. 
The rules: Never lie. Never tell. Love each other.
We made the pledge and danced under the blood moon on the meteorite in the orchard. In the spot we found the dead girl five years earlier. And discovered the ancient drawings way before that. 
Nothing could break the four of us apart – I thought.
But then, others wanted in. Our seaside town had secrets. History.
We wanted revenge.
We broke the rules. We lied. We told. We loved each other too much, not enough, and in ways we weren’t supposed to. 
Our invention ratcheted out of control.
What started as a secret society, ended as justice. Revenge. Death. Rebellion.

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Guest post with Alexandra Sirowy

The Story Behind the Title:

The title for my upcoming book, FIRST WE WERE IV, came to me almost as soon as the first impulse of “I want to write a book about four best friends who start a secret society to play vigilante-pranks, but it ratchets way out of control and twists into a weapon of revenge, costing all of them something, and one of them everything” did. A chaotic impulse, I know.

This title was with me from the beginning and I never considered another because FIRST WE WERE IV cuts right to the bone of what the story is. The title helped to shape the book as I wrote. It evokes the books twisty, mysterious atmosphere. It’s also the first thing people ask about the book – what’s up with the title? What does it mean? Why use a Roman numeral?

The title hints at one of the book’s core mysteries. Four best friends – Izzie, Viv, Graham, and Harry – invent a secret society. Only three survive it. FWWIV begins with the end of their story. The aftermath. It begins with broken hearts and broken rules. It begins with a dead body.

I chose to use the Roman numeral IV for the same reason Viv tells the group they should name their secret society the Order of IV rather than the Order of Four – way more badass.

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•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Alexandra Sirowy is the author of the young adult thrillers THE CREEPING, the Bram Stoker Award® Nominated THE TELLING, and the upcoming FIRST WE WERE IV. Alexandra attended a women's college as an undergrad and received her graduate degree in International Studies. When she isn't writing, she loves to travel, read, eat, and get into mischief. She lives with her husband in Northern California.

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  INSTAGRAM  •  PINTEREST

Purchase First We Were IV: 

 Indiebound  •  Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository

*INTERNATIONAL GIVEAWAY*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't miss any of the stops of the tour! 

Week 1

March 27: Brittany's Book Rambles - Intro Post + Excerpt

March 28: YA and Wine - Most Mischievous YA Characters 

March 29: Rattle the Pages - Nail Art

March 30: Book Nerd Addict - Inventing A Secret Society

March 31: Fables Library - YA Books with Secret Societies

Week 2

April 3: Emily Reads Everything - Fancast 

April 4: The Eater of Books - History of Secret Societies

April 5: It Starts At Midnight - Author Guest Post: FIRST WE WERE IV vs. Alexandra's Previous Books

April 6: BookCatPin - Mystery YA List

April 7: A Book and a Cup of Coffee - Moodboard

Week 3

April 10: The Book Buzz - YA Thrillers You Need to Know About

April 11: The Candid Cover - Bookworm Initiation Quiz

April 12: Girl in the Pages - Book Recs for First We Were IV Characters

April 13: Stories and Sweeties - Author Guest Post - Story Behind the Title

April 14: Little Lillie Reads - Playlist

Week 4

April 17: Literary Legionnaire - Favorite Quotes 

April 18: Chapter by Chapter - Author Guest Post: Secret Society Initiation Rituals

April 19: Tales of the Ravenous Reader - Secret Societies You Never Knew Existed

April 20: YA Book Central - Author Guest Post:  3 Favorite Books About Secret Societies

April 21: The Bookish Feels - Author's March Favorites

Week 5

April 24: Waiting For Wentworth - Author Guest Post: Secret Society Rules

April 25: The Reader and the Chef - Book Inspired-Recipe 

April 26: Forever Lost in Literature - Author Guest Post: What We Do For Friendship

April 27: Flying Through Fiction - Favorite YA Friendships

April 28: One Way or an Author - Phone Wallpapers 

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass

by Melissa Bashardoust

hitting shelves September 5th, 2017

from Flatiron Books

At sixteen, Mina's mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

My thoughts:  I've seen this one compared to Frozen, The Bloody Chamber, Snow White, and Wicked---and whether any or all of those are accurate, I am dying to read this story just based on it's own amazing synopsis.  This one's been on my radar for awhile, but I've been dying to see the cover, and it was well worth the wait. Gorgeous. 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {187}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

A nice small hall this week :) So excited for all three of these, tho!

For review:
Edgeland by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski
Shimmer and Burn by Mary Taranta
The Rattled Bones by S.M. Parker
Edgeland looks really interesting and thankfully its a companion, not a sequel to Nightfall (which I haven't read). The other two look amazing and they were recent WoW picks for me, so YAY! :D


The Weekly Nutshell
Well this week I was a slacky blogger LOL. I did manage to get a WoW post up featuring the glorious cover that I've been waiting for for so long, The Dire King. :D So freaking excited for this book. SO sad that this will be the last. This past week I finished up Dream Magic and started Umberland. Next up will be Cold Summer for the blog tour later this month.  This week on the blog there will be bit more action haha...the blog tours for First There Were Four and Literally will both be rolling through! 

So aside from being busy with other stuffs, I mostly didn't blog because I was feeling terrible.  I'll be in and out with a few more tests this week while we try to pin down why my body has suddenly gone haywire. So a few good thoughts are always appreciated, if you've got some to spare.♥

Lots of happy reading to everyone! :D

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Dire King
by William Ritter

hitting shelves August 22d, 2017

from Algonquin Young Readers

The fate of the world is in the hands of detective of the supernatural R. F. Jackaby and his intrepid assistant, Abigail Rook. An evil king is turning ancient tensions into modern strife, using a blend of magic and technology to push Earth and the Otherworld into a mortal competition. Jackaby and Abigail are caught in the middle as they continue to solve the daily mysteries of New Fiddleham, New England — like who’s created the rend between the worlds, how to close it, and why zombies are appearing around. At the same time, the romance between Abigail and the shape-shifting police detective Charlie Cane deepens, and Jackaby’s resistance to his feelings for 926 Augur Lane’s ghostly lady, Jenny, begins to give way. Before the four can think about their own futures, they will have to defeat an evil that wants to destroy the future altogether.

The epic conclusion to the New York Times best-selling Jackaby series features sly humor and a quirky cast of unforgettable characters as they face off against their most dangerous, bone-chilling foe ever.

My thoughts:  Eeeee! We have a cover..we have an awesome synopsis...and..."epic conclusion??? Nooooo. I love this fun series and I would easily have welcomed 3 or 4 more. Not ready to reach the end. Still, very much looking forward to this book. Haven't read them yet? You can check out my previous reviews here, here, and here to convince you that YOU MUST. :)

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

New Shelf Goodies & The Weekly Nutshell {186}

For New Shelf Goodies, I'll be showing you what lovely books I acquired this week, whether from publishers, or the library, or from whatever half-crazed book-buying binge I happened to go on. :D (Inspired by Tynga's Stacking the Shelves) The Weekly Nutshell will be just that...my week here at Stories & Sweeties, in a nutshell. (inspired by Ginger @ GReads and her recaps at the end of the TGIF posts)

My mail this week included several of my most highly anticipated books of the year! 

From Trades:
The Gentlemen's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
These two OMG, I've been so eager to get my hands on these. I loved Made You Up by Lee so much and Unhooked by Maxwell was one of my favorites last year. Thank you SO MUCH to my trade partners for these!!

Purchased:
Traitor to the Throne (UK paperback) by Alwyn Hamiltion
Another sequel to one of last year's faves!! I actually really like the cover redesign on these, but when it came time to buy a copy, I went for the cover that matched the gorgeous artistic original cover I have already. Thank the UK for keeping the same design!! SO pretty. 

For review:
The Dragons of Nova by Elise Kova
And yet another sequel to one of my faves of last year!! I am so freaking excited about this one. If you look closely you can get a little sneak peek at the cover on the ARC, but I made sure not to face this one out since the cover hasn't been revealed yet ;) 
Hello, Sunshine by Leila Howland
This one has such a cute cover and I've heard great things about this author, so I couldn't resist accepting this one for review!
We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan & Brian Conaghan
This one came unsolicited, but I think I'll give it a try---everyone once in while I really enjoy a novel in versea and this one sounds interesting. 
Cold Summer by Gwen Cole
I'll be reviewing this one this month for the blog tour--it sounds amazing, time travel between present and WWII. 

Thanks so much to Disney, Bloomsbury, Keymaster Press, and Sky Pony Press for the review books!

The Weekly Nutshell
This week I feel like I hardly had time to read at all because of other projects and things taking up my time. I did start Traitor to the Throne and I'll be starting Umberland, both of which I am super excited about.  My WoW pick for this week was That Inevitable Victorian Thing and it's gorgeous new cover. So pretty.  My lovely bestie Amy reviewed Poison's Kiss and gave it a four-cupcake rating. :)   And yesterday I posted the "What's New" April release list with all the fabulous new releases headed our way this month. 

So it's very late because my daughter and I just finished binge watching the first five episodes of Thirteen Reasons Why. I'm really liking what they've done with it so far. This incredible book has been one of our favorites for years so I'm glad to see it done well. Also binged these past few weeks were Emerald City (which was awesome, can't wait for season 2) and Timeless (I LOVED this show so much. The history, the costumes, the way they all geeked out about meeting such significant historical figures!).  So now what should we watch?? We're at a loss, and I've got two weeks before Doctor Who starts it's new season! Woohooo! :D

Happy reading, all! Have a great week!