FISH WIELDER by J R R R Hardison | Release Blitz + Giveaway!

When I first read about FISH WIELDER, the very first thing that I thought of was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. FISH WIELDER is full of funny characters, a silly story and sometimes outright strange mission. While FISH WIELDER may be an epic fantasy, it's completely different than anything on the market. A talking fish and a depressed brute take on the seemingly hopeless mission of retrieving the lost pudding -- not to eat, but to save their planet!

With that, I'm very happy to share a little bit about the author, the book, and give you a chance to try the book for yourselves! Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of this post!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Jim has worked as a writer, screen writer, animator and director in entertainment and commercials since graduating from Columbia College of Chicago in 1988. He is the author of The Helm, which YALSA praised as one of 2010’s best graphic novels for young readers, and has directed animated commercial and entertainment projects, including spots for M&M's, AT&T, and Kellogg's. He co-founded Character LLC in 2000 and has given story advice to many of the world's largest brands, such as Target, Verizon, Samsung, McDonalds and Walmart, and has even appeared on NBC's "The Apprentice" as an expert adviser on brand characters. Jim lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two kids and two dogs. Fish Wielder is his first novel.

About FISH WIELDER:

Fish Wielder is kind of like Lord of the Rings, set in Narnia, if it was written by the guys who made Monty Python and the Holy Grail while they were listening to the music of They Might Be Giants.

In ancient times, the Dark Lord Mauron cooked the most powerful magic chocolate dessert ever made, the Pudding of Power. One thousand and two years later, the evil leader of the Bad Religion, the Heartless One, is trying to recover the lost pudding in order to enslave the peoples of Grome. Only the depressed barbarian warrior Thoral Might Fist and his best friend, Brad the talking Koi fish, have a chance to save the world of Grome from destruction, but that's going to take a ridiculous amount of magic and mayhem. Thus begins the esepically silly epic fantasy of epic proportions, Fish Wielder—book one of the Fish Wielder Trilogy.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE!  Amazon | Barnes & Noble  

EXCERPT:

GIVEAWAY! 

1 winner will receive a $10 (USD) Amazon Gift Card and a copy of FISH WIELDER
*Gift card is open internationally, but FISH WIELDER can only be mailed to a US mailing address*

Rafflecopter Code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Turn the Pages is not responsible for sending the giveaway prize nor is I Turn the Pages responsible if the prize is lost in the mail, by entering the giveaway, you acknowledge this!

Thank you so much to Hannah from Irish Banana for allowing me to be a part of this release blitz and to J R R R Hardison for letting me share an excerpt from his book AND have a giveaway for all of my lovely readers!

The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy + GIVEAWAY | Blog Tour

I am super excited to be a part of the blog tour for The Telling by Alexandra Sirowy!

The Telling is about a girl named Lana, who finds her life turned upside-down after mysterious murders begin to occur in her small hometown. Everything she knew has disappeared, and Lana is now forced to cope with the fact that her life after is anything but ordinary.

You can read the official synopsis below!

ABOUT THE BOOK

A chilling new novel about a girl who must delve into her past if she wants to live long enough to have a future when a series of murders that are eerily similar to the dark stories her brother used to tell start happening in her hometown.

Lana used to know what was real. That was before, when her life was small and quiet. Her golden stepbrother, Ben was alive. She could only dream about bonfiring with the populars. Their wooded island home was idyllic, she could tell truth from lies, and Ben’s childhood stories were firmly in her imagination.

Then came after.

After has Lana boldly kissing her crush, jumping into the water from too high up, living with nerve and mischief. But after also has horrors, deaths that only make sense in fairy tales, and terrors from a past Lana thought long forgotten. Love, blood, and murder.

Pre-Order The Telling from AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE !

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Alexandra Sirowy is the author of The Creeping and The Telling. She was born and raised in Northern California, where she attended a women’s college as an undergraduate and received her MA at the University of San Francisco. She is a voracious reader, the oldest of three children, an avid traveler, a record-holding high school long jumper, a gourmet cook, a feminist, and forever grateful to her parents for reading to her as a child. Alexandra lives in Northern California with her husband.

Photo Credit: Vivian Sachs


Doesn't this book sound absolutely amazing?! I'm slowly branching my way into reading more YA thrillers, and I knew that The Telling would be a great book to read. I especially love The Telling, because even after reading the synopsis, I'm still not sure what to expect! Everything is a mystery, and I love going into intense books with little to no information about what is occurring in that universe (also known as "going in blind").

I know you want to start reading this book right away! Well, today is your lucky day! I partnered with Irish Banana's Blog Tours to bring you an exclusive excerpt of The Telling, so that you can fall in love with this book right away, or at least see if it is for you!

The blog tour actually has a different excerpts for each tour stop, but in total, the excerpt is about 5 chapters of the book! Start with the first tour stop, then make your way to the last one to read this AMAZING extended excerpt!

Here is my share of the excerpt!


If you loved the excerpt, you're in luck! I'm giving away (1) hardcover copy of The Telling right now on behalf of the publisher & author!

This giveaway is US only! I'm sorry to all of my international readers!

 *Please note that by entering this giveaway, you acknowledge that Sheridan & I Turn the Pages is in no way responsible for damage/loss of the giveaway prize while in transit to you!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me know what you think of The Telling & the excerpt by commenting down below! Does this sound like the book for you? Do you read YA thrillers/mysteries? What did you think of the excerpt? I would love to know all of your responses!

Thank you so much to Irish Banana Blog Tours and Alexandra Sirowy for allowing me to share this excerpt with my readers! I cannot wait until this book is in my hands!

The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler Spotlight, Excerpt and GIVEAWAY!

Hey guys! Today, I am working with Jeff Wheeler and Irish Banana Blog Tours to spotlight The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler. When I read the synopsis, I was instantly intrigued and I wanted to share this book with you!

Jeff and Hannah were nice enough to include an excerpt for me to share with you, and a giveaway at the bottom of this post! Make sure you read the whole post so you know how to enter! :)

About The Queen's Poisoner:

As usurper of the throne, the rule of King Severn Argentine’s is already highly contested. To keep his power, King Argentine rules with an iron fist and destroys any opposition. In a failed coup attempt the Duke of Kiskaddon loses his son as a permanent prisoner to the king to ensure his loyalty.

The Queen's Poisoner follows the Duke’s young son Owen on his journey for redemption and revenge as he figures out how to survive the court of Kingfountain. In order to keep his head and gain the merciless king’s favor, Owen must delve deeper into the world of mystery and secrecy that surrounds him. Readers will be clamoring for the next installment of The Kingfountain Series.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N

About the Author: 

Jeff Wheeler took an early retirement from his career at Intel in 2014 to become a full-time author. He is, most importantly, a husband and father, and a devout member of his church. He is occasionally spotted roaming among the oak trees and granite boulders in the hills of California or in any number of the state’s majestic redwood groves. He is the author of The Covenant of Muirwood Trilogy, The Legends of Muirwood Trilogy, the Whispers from Mirrowen Trilogy, and the Landmoor Series.

To learn more about Jeff Wheeler visit his website:
www.jeff-wheeler.com  and you can follow him @muirwoodwheeler on Twitter

Excerpt: 

A sound whispered from the corridor behind him. It was a footfall. Not the sound of a boot in the corridor beyond the wall. The sound of someone approaching within the tunnel. It was coming from behind him.

The queasiness blossomed inside Owen and a cold sweat started on his brow. Going back was no longer an option. The tunnel was narrow and there was no place to hide, so Owen hurried forward, hoping to find an escape into the main palace corridor. It would be infinitely better to be punished for wandering the hall at night than to be caught in the Espion corridor. His little heart started to hammer wildly in his chest and the blackness in front of him became even darker somehow.

He heard the footfalls again, coming closer.

The boy was starting to panic. Ankarette had warned him this could happen. She had told him it was dangerous to wander the tunnels alone and that he needed to be very cautious and always listen for sounds that were out of place. Such as the footfalls behind him.

The narrow pinch of the corridor suddenly filled in ahead of Owen, the walls closing like an arrowhead. It ended abruptly and finally. It was a dead-end.

Giveaway

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Thank you all for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed that excerpt and I can't wait to read The Queen's Poisoner with all of you!

FTC Disclaimer: All opinions are honest and my own. Working with Irish Banana Blog tours or with the author did not influence my thoughts/review on the book in any way shape or form.

Harper Summer 2016 Tour: Change Places With Me + MASSIVE GIVEAWAYS

Hi guys! Today I am posting on behalf of the Harper Summer 2016 tour, and I couldn't be more excited!

Wait, what is the Harper Spring 2016 tour? A bunch of book bloggers (including myself) joined together with Irish Banana Blog Tours and Harper to promote some of their books coming out in the summer publishing season this year! If you go through all of our posts (which you should do if you want to enter to win the massive giveaway at the bottom of this post), you will see summaries and other information about all of the books that are soon to come from Harper!

That being said....the book that I am covering for this tour is

CHANGE PLACES WITH ME by LOIS METZGER

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publish Date: June 14 2016

Page Amount: 224 pages

Price: $17.99 Hardback

ISBN: 0062385534 (ISBN13: 9780062385536)

Order Change Places With Me Here!

Learn More About Lois Metzger Here!

Learn more about the book on Goodreads here!

SUMMARY

From Lois Metzger, acclaimed author of A Trick of the Light, comes a work of speculative fiction set in the near future about a teen girl who finds a new, mysterious perspective on her life.

Rose has changed. She still lives in the same neighborhood with her stepmother and goes to the same high school with the same group of kids, but when she woke up today, something was just a little different than it was before. The dogs who live upstairs are no longer a terror. Her hair and her clothes all feel brand-new. She wants to throw a party—this from a girl who hardly ever spoke to her classmates before. There is no more sadness in her life; she is bursting with happiness.

But something still feels wrong to Rose. Because, until very recently, Rose was an entirely different person—a person who is still there inside her, just beneath the thinnest layer of skin.

A bold and original work of speculative fiction set in a familiar future, Lois Metzger’s latest novel is a profoundly authentic and heartbreaking tale of the things we keep locked away inside us, even from ourselves.

 ADVANCE PRAISE

"How I admire Lois Metzger's thoughtful and suspenseful novel—the pacing, the sympathetic characters, the emotional astuteness, the believable near-future setting. It captivated me from the first page to the last." —Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted

"Change Places with Me is a vivid, beautiful novel, a particular evocation of a story many of us have lived and all of us know. Read this to see what I mean." —Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo Award-winning author of Aurora

PRE-ORDER

Are you interested in pre-ordering Change Places With Me after reading that amazing summary! Good news, you can do so at any of the sites below! 

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | The Book Depository

DISCUSSION ON MENTAL ILLNESS

My review for Change Places With Me will be live on the blog a little bit closer to the release date, but I wanted to have a discussion about this book now because I think it is extremely important in terms of the representation for mental illnesses.

That being said, I wanted to bring in the community a little more on my blog. I wanted people with mental illnesses to write about mental illnesses, and I want to make my blog a safe space where people can share their thoughts without being criticized.

So, I asked a few bloggers if they would be willing to write about mental illness, whether it is their own struggle or just some thoughts that they have on mental illness itself or the stigma against it. These posts will be going live in the next few days, but I wanted to give a brief introduction here so that it wasn't too surprising when they started showing up on the blog.

That being said, be on the look out for these posts. I encourage you to participate in the discussion by using the comments. If you have something to say or something you would like to address about mental health, please contact me (iamabookjunkie@gmail.com or @iamabookjunkie on Twitter) and I would be happy to let you guest post on the blog!

FACEBOOK CHAT WITH AUTHORS

Information on the FB Chat. Over the course of February and March, Hannah from Irish Banana Blog Tours was so kind and put together a Facebook chat with some of the authors featured in the Summer tour! Sadly, these two chats have already passed. But, if you want to see some of the questions that were asked and the responses, you can click on the links below!

February Chat
March Chat

GIVEAWAYS

You read that right, giveaways. Harper has been so nice as to sponsor two AMAZING giveaways for the Harper Summer 2016 tour! Read down below to see some amazing prizes and enter to win them!

Giveaway #1 – A Harper Teen Summer 2016 Catalog prizepack of 45 books*.
*Titles not included: The Crown by Kiera Cass, Escape from Asylum by Madeline Roux, Sing by Vivi Greene, The Countdown by Kimberly Derting, & United As One by Pittacus Lore
In addition to the one massive prize winner, we will also have 4 winners who will be able to select 3 titles they want from the Summer 2016 Catalog. (US Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway #2 – 5 Finished Copies from the Harper Teen Winter 2016 Catalog
5 books are: Front Lines by Michael Grant, Revenge & the Wild by Michelle Modesto, The Lifeboat Clique by Kathy Parks, Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin, & The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig (US Only)

How to enter:
Collect the daily word from each blog stop during the Harper Summer 2016 Tour (a total of 50). Once you’ve collected them all, email the complete saying to: HarperTeenTour@gmail.com (mine was in pink!)

Prize Rules:
Winner must have a valid US mailing address to receive the prize
Winner must be over 13
Only one (1) entry per person for Prize #2 – duplicates will be deleted.
Only a completed phrase will be accepted as an entry – do not email each word/phrase daily. Wait until you have the complete saying and then email in.
All email submissions must be received by 11:59 PM EST 3/31/2016.
Winners will be selected 4/1/2016 and will have 48 hours to claim their prize before another is selected.
Participating blogs and bloggers are not responsible for unsent, damaged, and/or stolen prizes offered by the publisher.

The Door By the Staircase Blog Tour: Q&A + GIVEAWAY

Hi guys! Today, I am happy to be posting on behalf of Irish Banana Blog Tours for The Door by the Staircase tour! When I saw this book and read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to read it right away! Why don't you read what it is about?

Twelve-year-old Mary Hayes can't stand her orphanage for another night. But when an attempted escape through the stove pipe doesn't go quite as well as she'd hoped, Mary fears she'll be stuck in the Buffalo Asylum for Young Ladies forever. 

The very next day, a mysterious woman named Madame Z appears at the orphanage requesting to adopt Mary, and the matron's all too happy to get the girl off her hands. Soon, Mary is fed a hearty meal, dressed in a clean, new nightgown and shown to a soft bed with blankets piled high. She can hardly believe she isn't dreaming!

But when Mary begins to explore the strange nearby town with the help of her new friend, Jacob, she learns a terrifying secret about Madame Z's true identity. If Mary's not careful, her new home might just turn into a nightmare.

Purchase a copy or read more on: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | The Book Depository

See? I told you it was going to be good. If you don't know this about me, I'm actually learning Russian right now and I really appreciate Russian culture, so to find a book that encapsulates a re-telling of Russian folklore was like a dream come true for me!

The stars definitely aligned for me, as I also have another special treat for all of you guys! Katherine Marsh (the author of this book) offered to answer a few questions that I had for her, AND she is sponsoring a giveaway that is at the bottom of this post! Isn't she nice? :)

I'm so happy that I had the opportunity to ask Ms. Marsh a few questions about herself and her story. I feel that it really helps me as a reader and a blogger to get to know the author a little bit better and to feel truly connected and invested in the story that they are writing. This was my first time conducting a Q&A for an author, and I could not have asked for better responses!

Without further adieu, here are her answers!

*********************************************************************************
What made you so interested in Russian folklore? Why did you choose to write about it?
When I was five years old, my parents moved in with my Russian grandmother and I lived with her for the next twelve years. She was a wonderful cook, card player (she taught me a mean game of gin rummy) and storyteller. Most of her stories were from her own life—including her perilous journey to America as a young woman—but she loved to embellish them with magical touches.

When I started reading myself, I naturally became interested in Russian fairytales with their similar landscapes—forests and villages—and magical twists. Writing a story based on Russian folklore seemed like a way to honor my heritage and at the same time introduce a whole new generation of Western readers to these wonderful characters. By setting them in America (the book is set in the fictional town of Iris, NY), I was also able to explore some themes of the immigrant experience—particularly the yearning for acceptance and home.

Where do the names for your characters come from (Why did you name your characters what you did)?

I used the real fairytale names of several of the characters including Baba Yaga and Koshchey the Deathless, although Baba Yaga at first uses a pseudonym, Madame Zolotaya, which means “golden” in Russian and is reputed to be one of her secret nicknames.

Mary, the book’s American heroine, is named after two Russian folktale characters: the orphan Maryushka, who is turned into a Firebird by the evil sorcerer, Koshchey; and the warrior princess, Marya Morevna, who holds Koshchey captive in her castle. You’ll have to decide for yourself which character my Mary resembles more by the book’s end.

Who was the hardest character to write for in this book?

That’s a hard question. All my characters go through a revision process but probably Mary, my heroine, took the most effort. I had to give her just the right combination of neediness and spunk that would make it believable that she would try to share a home with a witch (a child-eating one, no less!).

Quick! Pick your five favorite songs from your iPod or music player! What are they?

Home, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Dreams, The Cranberries

Riptide, Vance Joy

Little Lion Man, Mumford and Sons

I Feel It All, Feist

If you had to give advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?

Find your story, the story you and you alone can tell.

If you had to come up with a superhero identity for yourself, what would your superhero name be, and what powers/magical abilities would you have?

Lingo-Girl. Perhaps because I live outside the United States at the moment and in a trilingual nation (Belgium), I would love to be able to speak every language that ever existed, including ancient ones, perfectly.

Is there a message that you want young readers/adults to take away from this book?

Yes. The greatest power comes from love.

*********************************************************************************

Everyone, give a huge thank you to Katherine Marsh for stopping by the blog today! It was a pleasure to get to "interview" you and to learn more about you and your stories! I can't wait until I have The Door by the Staircase in my hands!

Wait....would you like your very own copy of The Door by the Staircase?! Today just might be your lucky day too, because there is a tour-wide giveaway for 3 finished copies of The Door by the Staircase! Just follow the steps linked below and you will be entered to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, I would like to talk to you guys. I'd like to know - because my blog post is themed around folklore today - do you have a favorite fairy-tale or piece of folklore? If so, tell me the story (or, at least where to find it!).

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today!

Sheridan

PS: Do you want to learn even more about Katherine Marsh? You can visit her website, Twitter page, or Facebook page below!

 Website | Twitter | Facebook

HELLO? by Liza Weimer Sale Blitz + Giveaway!

"One HELLO can change a life. One HELLO can save a life.

Tricia: A girl struggling to find her way after her beloved grandma's death.
Emerson: A guy who lives his life to fulfill promises, real and hypothetical.
Angie: A girl with secrets she can only express through poetry.
Brenda: An actress and screenplay writer afraid to confront her past.
Brian: A potter who sets aside his life for Tricia, to the detriment of both.

Linked and transformed by one phone call, Hello? weaves together these five Wisconsin teens' stories into a compelling narrative of friendship and family, loss and love, heartbreak and healing, serendipity, and ultimately hope.

Told from all five viewpoints: narration (Tricia), narration (Emerson), free verse poetry (Angie), screenplay format (Brenda), narration and drawings (Brian)."

This book sounds amazing, right? Would you like to have it on your (virtual) bookshelf?

You are in luck, because this Valentine's Day deal is about to make life a little sweeter for you. 

To make a long story short, you can purchase HELLO? as a e-book on your Kindle, Nook, Apple device or Kobo e-reader! You can do so by clicking the links below!

                                                    Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Goodreads

If you decide to purchase HELLO? (which you should!), you can also enter this giveaway to win 1 of 3 $10 Amazon giftcards to spend on whatever you choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a pretty epic deal, right? :) What are you waiting for!

Also, let me know if you purchased it today by commenting down below, and I will give you a shout-out on my social media! Just leave me your Twitter handle and I will handle the rest! :)

Star Darlings Blog Tour: Create Your Own Star Darling + GIVEAWAY!

OH....MY....STARS!

I have SUCH an exciting post to share today! Thanks to Hannah @ Irish Banana Review/Blog Tours and Ms. Zissimos from Disney for allowing me to be a part of the Star Darlings Blog Tour!

What is Star Darlings?

" Star Darlings encourages girls to be bold about their hopes and dreams. Don’t keep them secret. Shout them from the rooftops! In fact, that’s what Star Darlings is all about: making wishes from the heart and that making them come true is within your power. It’s about making positive choices and learning that you make things possible. It’s about empowering girls, giving them hope, and inspiring them to find their inner star!" (From the Star Darlings Website!)

Have you ever wondered what happens to your birthday wish after you blow out the candle? Where does it go? How does it come true? Starworld is the brightest star in the galaxy, and it takes in all of the magical one-of-a-kind wishes and helps to make them come true! But, there is a problem - the humans aren't wishing anymore! The Star Darlings books, online shorts, dolls and activities follow 12 STAR-MAZING girls who are given an opportunity to save their planet, Starworld, from this devastating problem. With some training and guidance from their Principal, these girls will do anything they can to become wish-granters, along with saving the entire planet! 

But these Star Darlings face some inner problems of their own. They don't really know each other that well either. Will they be able to save their planet, and still get along? 

Today, I will creating my own Star Darlings to go on Wishworld missions with the REAL Star Darlings themselves! Isn't that exciting?!

What I Champion

This post is inspired by The Giving Way to Happiness and Giving Tuesday as part of Irish Banana's Blog Tours.

The holiday season is officially upon us. Whether that means bellies full of Turkey, houses full of tinsel, or anything otherwise, it's a giant giving season for the entire world - regardless of what you celebrate, and if you even celebrate at all. 

With that, as part of one of Irish Banana's Book Blitzes for The Giving Way to Happiness - which I included a synopsis for below  - I wanted to take the time to inform you all of a "cause that I champion", something that I am extremely passionate about. However, I do wish that you take the time to read the summary at the bottom of this post and consider picking up the book for the holiday season!

I work with a local elementary school in my area by the name of Harms Elementary School. To make a long description short, I partner with this elementary school to bring books to their classrooms, speak out about the importance of reading, and encourage students to write their own stories that they can publish.

These students are some of the most enthusiastic students that I have ever met! Their love for reading is SO large, and they would do anything to guarantee that they are able to enjoy stories. Reading and books in general is a way for these kids to escape some of the terrible cards that they have been dealt, and to focus on the positive. Many of these families do not have the money to pay for proper meals every day. A majority of these children are Hispanic and have parents that do not speak English at all (or speak very little of it).

These children fight the odds every day, and I am so proud of them for doing so. These kids take their love for reading and use it to better their lives. These kids fight for books. They fight for literacy. They fight for anything that allows them to see themselves in what they read. These kids fight for what they deserve.

I mean, look at these faces! How can you deny a book to these guys!

In the last year, I worked with the school and my local chapter of Executive Women International to bring a poetry professional into their classrooms, after I challenged these students to write a book of their very own - something that I did at the age of eight - during one of the presentations I attended.

These children blew me out of the park. They had so many amazing stories, and so many unique voices. Some of the stories were very deep in subject matter, but these children had a lot to reflect on about their own lives, and lots of desires and regrets that they can only share through writing.

Honestly, I do feel kind of uncomfortable asking for this, but I would love it if you would be able to donate to this cause. At the moment, I do not have a Kickstarter going, but I am working on creating one so that more people are able to donate to this cause. I will be updating this post once the Kickstarter goes live with the link.

However, right now, my local chapter of Executive Women International is selling some of the storybooks that the children wrote themselves. This book is a collection of poems with a variety of topics and with a variety of different age groups. These books are ten dollars (USD). If you would like to purchase one, please comment down below, or email me at iamabookjunkie@gmail.com, and we can work something out. The money from this sale goes directly to continuing the "Author Under Construction Programme" as we call it at Harms Elementary.

However, if you don't want to do that, I partner with my school to run a book drive every year. Last year alone, we were able to donate over one thousand books! I would love it if we would be able to contribute that many books this year as well! If you are willing to donate any books (or money to purchase them) I would be forever grateful (and this goes for authors as well!) Please email me if you are interested in donating.

We are looking for ANY books as long as they are in good condition (no rips or tears). We can take books for preschool up through adults (as there is also a community center nearby that has a massive need for books)!

Please tweet me (@iamabookjunkie) or email me at iamabookjunkie@gmail.com if you are able and interested to donate.
Even if you cannot donate, I would love it if you spread the word by reblogging this post. It means the world to me! I would love it if I was able to at least get one donation before Giving Tuesday.

In other amazing news, Wunderkind PR is running a giveaway through this blog blitz. They are going to donate $50.00 to the charity of the winner's choice! Isn't that exciting?! Click below to enter the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you curious about the book that sparked this post? Read here! I really hope you decide to pick it up, either for yourselves or for other people!

About THE GIVING WAY TO HAPPINESS:

We often focus on how our gifts can help those in need. But the act of giving actually improves our own lives as well. In The Giving Way to Happiness, Jenny Santi overturns conventional thinking about what it takes to be happy by revealing how giving to others—whether in the form of money, expertise, time, or love—has helped people from all walks of life find purpose and joy. Drawing on the wisdom of great thinkers past and present, as well as cutting-edge scientific research, Santi makes an eloquent and passionate case that oftentimes the answers to the problems that haunt us, and the key to the happiness that eludes us, lie in helping those around us.

This book is filled with inspiring stories told firsthand by Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn, Noble Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, supermodel Christy Turlington Burns, Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp, philanthropist Richard Rockefeller, environmentalist Philippe Cousteau, activist Ric O’Barry, bestselling author Isabel Allende, ALS survivor Augie Nieto, and many others from all over the world. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they have all found unexpected happiness and fulfillment through giving. This book tells us not just how they changed the world but also how their acts changed their very own lives.

In addition, Santi reveals:
- How altruism involves far more than suppressing basic selfish urges. Rather, we are wired to give, as it activates the same pleasure centers of the brain stimulated by food, sex, and drugs
- How helping others—whether by walking a friend through a struggle that you’ve also experienced or by supporting a cause to honor a loved one’s memory—can be a healthy way to deal with adversity and process grief
- The unexpected reasons why those who “gave it all up” to make a difference, and who face the direst situations, are nevertheless some of the happiest, most fulfilled, and least angst-ridden people you’ll ever meet.
- Practical, universally applicable lessons on what kind of giving makes people happy and what doesn’t. How do you discover giving that is unique to you and makes you feel good?

In this inspiring book, Santi turns conventional wisdom upside down about what it takes to be happy and reveals the surprising reasons that have led so many people to live lives full of meaning, purpose and happiness.

Links: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) and I hope you all have an amazing holiday season to come! :)

xoxo,
Sheridan