#MMBBR #Review Camp Rolling Hills by @StacyDavidowitz @CampRHbooks @abramskids #summercamp

A hilarious and heartfelt series about the particular magic of summer camp—a place where reinvention is possible and friends are like family—from a sparkling debut talent.

Finally, it's summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. And this year she's especially happy to be back—she'll have eight blissful weeks away from home, where life has been decidedly rocky.

         New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he's in for the worst summer of his life. He doesnot understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all!
         But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. Bunks are raided! Boxer shorts are stolen! And it's up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.

"Camp Rolling Hills is funny and sweet. It brought me back to those amazing summer camp summers and my very first taste of young adulthood." --Michael Showalter, co-writer of Wet Hot American Summer

"Stacy Davidowitz gets the magic of camp and the wonder of being twelve just right. Camp Rolling Hills is both heartwarming and laugh-out-loud hilarious." --Elissa Brent Weissman, author of Nerd Camp

MY REVIEW:

I want to head to camp and meet these kids. This an amazing book!  Filled with heart, fun, sun and camp shenanigans.  Davidowitz has brilliantly captured the emotions that arise and interpersonal relationships that develop while at camp.   Any kid would love to open this book and head to Camp Rolling Hills.  Whether they have attended camp or not they will laugh, feel and maybe learn a few new ways to interact with other kids. This is the first book in a series that will surly become a favorite for you and your kids... 5 stars 

A hilarious and heartfelt series about the particular magic of summer camp—a place where reinvention is possible and friends are like family—from a sparkling debut talent.

There's only one thing Melman loves more than soccer: her summers at Camp Rolling Hills. So she's pumped to be back—until she realizes her bunkmates have gone totally boy-crazy over the school year and plastered their cabin in pink. Pink posters, pink t-shirts...it seems that the only not-pink thing in the cabin is Melman herself. That is, until she's given a dare in front of the entire camp: wear a pink princess dress. For Three. Whole. Days.
         Steinberg's summer gets off to a rough start, too, when his robot (usually his area of expertise) blows up during a camp-wide robotics contest. Steinberg might feel like a loser at home, but camp's supposed to be his place to shine.
         Steinberg without robots? Melman in pink? This whole summer feels turned upside down! To set things right, Steinberg and Melman team up and hatch a fail-proof plan. The plan's secret ingredient? Hamburgers.

"Camp Rolling Hills is funny and sweet. It brought me back to those amazing summer camp summers and my very first taste of young adulthood." --Michael Showalter, co-writer of Wet Hot American Summer

"Stacy Davidowitz gets the magic of camp and the wonder of being twelve just right. Camp Rolling Hills is both heartwarming and laugh-out-loud hilarious." --Elissa Brent Weissman, author of Nerd Camp

MY REVIEW:

All the brilliance of the the first book in the series, Camp Rollings Hills, with new issues, new shenanigans and plenty of laughs.  A wonderful story about dealing with friendship as people change and trying to find common ground with those friends.  It is about solving problems and embracing who you are.  There is heart, friendship and love wrapped up in a story that will capture your attention, as well as your kids.  You will wish you went to camp or you will reminisce about your time at camp.  If nothing else you will have a great time visiting Camp Rolling Hills.  5 huge stars



Stacy is an author, playwright, and screenwriter. AUTHOR: Stacy's middle grade novel series Camp Rolling Hills is launching with Camp Rolling Hills and Crossing Over, published by Abrams Books - Amulet. Her children's book Here Goes Everything: A play! A novel! A plovel! with co-author Elissa Brent Weissman was announced a Katherine Paterson Prize Finalist. PLAYWRIGHT: Stacy has had work developed and produced in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Portland, Los Angeles, and London. PINK!, published by Broadway Play Publishing and Indie Theater Now, was a 2009 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights' Week Finalist and received seven New York Innovative Theatre Nominations, including Outstanding Full Length Script, for its production by Down Payment Productions at the WorkShop Theater, NYC. PINK! received a second production through Portland Theater Collaborative, Maine in June 2012, and her screenplay version was under option as an independent feature film. Stacy's full-length play THE RUBBER ROOM, published by Indie Theater Now and workshopped at Soho Repertory (Down Payment Productions), was showcased through the Old Vic New Voices TS Eliot US/UK Exchange at The Old Vic in London, July 2012. It was also developed by Naked Angels as part of their 1st Mondays. Her full-length SACRED WATER was produced by Rag and Bone Theater Company at Alchemical Theater Lab, Spring 2013 and is also published by Indie Theater Now. Her most recent full-length MIRACLE VILLAGE is in development with Naked Angels, Roving Roots, Indie Theater Now @ Stage Left, and Rag and Bone. It was a 2014 Shakespeare's Sister Semifinalist and a 2015 Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers Finalist. Her piece Run. Run. Stop. was produced as part of the 36th Annual Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival in July 2011 as well as at Williamstown Theater Festival in July 2013 and is now published by Indie Theater Now in JOIN THE CIRCUS, a collection of her short plays. Stacy's NYC musicals include HANK & GRETCHEN (children's musical published by YouthPLAYS and produced nation-wide), CAMP ROLLING HILLS (published by Steele Spring Stage Rights, NYMF's Next Link Finalist), and Stage 4: Jeopardy! (NYMF's 8Minute Musicals). Stacy was the "Writer-at-Large" for the Columbia University MFA Actors Thesis, JOAN: VOICES IN THE FIRE, directed by Kristin Linklater which was next seen at The Guthrie. She is a resident playwright for The Flea Theater's #serials (Talk to Moi, Amer-i-cah!, Real Housewives of Sector Seven), New York Madness, and Amios Theater Company's monthly Shotz play series. SCREENWRITER: Stacy's indie feature IN THE RUBBER ROOM is in production with All The Way Around Productions. Stacy is a graduate of British American Drama Academy; BS, Tufts University; MFA in Acting, Columbia University. www.StacyDavidowitz.com - www.camprollinghills.com

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. I’m inspired by every day stuff. A lot of my friends laugh when they read my books and plays because pieces of our lives, conversations, jokes, etc. seem to make it in. I am also inspired by my students who are so brilliant and passionate!

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

A. Having a blast with my characters! Every day it’s a party in my head.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer?

A. Getting rejections or anticipating rejections or waiting for rejections. Just. Rejections. Also, getting notes for a revision is really scary. My knees literally buckle and it takes me a few hours to think/digest/breathe! Once I start to tackle the revisions, it’s not so bad. It’s great actually, because the work gets so much stronger.

Q.  If you could not be a writer, what would you do/be?

A. I already wear so many hats (everything from a teaching artist to a Bat Mitzvah MC)! But if I had to throw myself whole-heartedly into something other than writing it would be acting again. I actually got my MFA in Acting and do miss it—but there are just so many hours in a day!

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. I think it would be called Join the Circus, which is actually the title of my compilation of short plays published by Indie Theater Now. That, or it would just be a series of exclamation points.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. Wonder by RJ Palacio. I think I cried reading every single page.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. Oh man! What a question. I polled my students for this one.

Katera said: “Taylor from the Michael Vey series. She’s fun and uplifting and fights crime pretty good, like you, Miss Stacy!”

Haidee said: “Lydia Small from Bad Girls Don’t Die. Because she’s an actress. Actually nevermind.”

Zola said: “Colette from Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer because she’s smart and sees visions.”

So, there you go.

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. Melman! (With a little bit of Slimey and a little bit of Play Dough.)

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. The Summertime Girls by Laura Hankin. So much friendship and all the feels.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Summer, baby! But fall is a close second.

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. I actually had no part in designing the book covers, but designer Pamela Notarantonio and illustrator Melissa Manwill did such an awesome job! I don’t think I can choose favorites between the two of them—they’re both so pretty! Be sure to check out the back covers too where Smelly and Steinberg live. Also so adorable.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. In an interview for Summer 365, I mentioned my favorite camp tradition: The Watermelon Sacrifice. After that, the director of Tyler Hill Camp up until 2005 got in touch. He wanted to let me experience the tradition as an adult. He mailed me a series of photos of the ceremony and a watermelon rind to wear on my head. The whole thing was so amazing and funny. You can read the full story on my Camp Rolling Hills blog here: http://www.camprollinghills.com/book-news

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. Always! I’m working on a dark young adult novel titled Leper. Also, I’m co-writing a musical called One Day that’s produced by Big Block Entertainment, the producers of Rock of Ages. It’s inspired by teenage diary entries.

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Hello! Keep doing you. Thanks for reading and for loving books! They love you back, as I’m sure you know.

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PRESS RELEASE: INTRODUCING PARK ROW BOOKS @HarlequinBooks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

INTRODUCING PARK ROW BOOKSA New Literary Fiction Imprint from MIRA Books

New York, NY, July 1, 2016—MIRA Books announced today the official launch of Park Row Books, an exclusive line of thought-provoking and voice-driven novels by both celebrated and new authors. Park Row Books will be led by Margaret Marbury, Vice President, General Fiction Editorial, and Erika Imranyi, Executive Editor. Park Row Books will publish unique voices and powerful stories that inspire discussion. Inaugural titles are slated for release in summer 2017.

“With the success of MIRA’s rapidly expanding literary fiction program, we decided to establish a dedicated imprint that focuses on the incredible novels we are publishing,” said Marbury. “Park Row Books allows us to create new opportunities for talented literary writers who want a boutique publishing experience with the support of a powerhouse commercial publisher.”

“We are aggressively growing our imprints that publish hardcover and trade paper original fiction,” said Loriana Sacilotto, Executive Vice-President, Global Publishing and Strategy at Harlequin. “Park Row Books is acquiring powerful and compelling novels by talented writers who are looking for a house that will shine a spotlight on their titles.”

The name Park Row Books was inspired by the landmark street that runs through downtown Manhattan and ends at the Woolworth Building, the former home of Harlequin’s New York office for many years. Once known as “Printing House Square” and the location of many of New York’s major newspapers, Park Row has a rich heritage of fostering free expression, creative ideas and important voices.

“MIRA Books has a long history as an industry leader when it comes to publishing commercial fiction,” said Imranyi. “The passion and innovation of the MIRA team is second to none and we have seamlessly parlayed our strengths as a commercial publisher into our literary fiction program. It is a great privilege to be spearheading the expansion of MIRA’s powerful list with the launch of Park Row Books, which will be an exciting destination for talented literary voices whose books have broad mainstream appeal.”

The launch title for Park Row Books is the blockbuster debut novel The Improbable Flight of Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig, which Park Row acquired in a significant preemptive deal. The highly anticipated novel follows a recently adopted teenager with autism who is desperately plotting to get herself kidnapped by her birth mother. Told in an extraordinarily fresh and wholly unique voice, The Improbable Flight of Ginny Moon is a compulsively readable and unforgettable story about finding a place to belong in a world that doesn’t always add up. It will be published around the world in 11 territories and counting.

Park Row Books will also be home to the much-buzzed-about new novels by New York Times bestselling authors Mary Kubica and Heather Gudenkauf. Kubica’s book, a psychological thriller about a young widow’s pursuit of the truth in the wake of the devastating crash that took the life of her husband, takes readers inside the dark, twisted corners of a psyche plagued by grief. Her first novel, The Good Girl, has sold over half a million copies and has been published in two dozen territories worldwide. Gudenkauf’s next book, a high-concept crime thriller about a protagonist with profound hearing loss, features the bestselling author’s most compelling heroine to date. Gudenkauf’s first novel, The Weight of Silence, was an instant New York Timesbestseller, spending 22 weeks on the list.

Other exciting titles forthcoming from Park Row Books include When I Think of You, from award-winning journalist and bestselling author Karma Brown, exploring how a woman’s life falls apart over a random act of courtesy; Hanna Who Fell from the Sky, a breakout literary novel set in the fascinating and unknown world of a polygamist society from award-winning Canadian author Christopher Meades; Undertow, by British journalist Elizabeth Heathcote, the much-buzzed-about debut domestic thriller in the vein of The Widow; and a new novel from Phaedra Patrick, the author of wildly acclaimed The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper,that follows a down-on-his-luck jeweler whose life is changed when his estranged teenage niece makes a surprise visit to his quiet village.

Agents with manuscripts that feature strong, unique voices and groundbreaking content with mainstream appeal may send material to Erika Imranyi or Park Row Books editor Liz Stein.

About MIRA Books

MIRA Books is an imprint of Harlequin and features a lineup of some of the bestselling authors across North America as well as industry-anticipated debut authors. MIRA Books is committed to publishing the very best in commercial fiction, including women’s fiction, suspense and psychological thrillers, literary bestsellers, and historical. In 2015, 24 MIRA Books titles placed on bestseller lists (New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly) for a total of 194 weeks. MIRA publishes approximately 100 books per year in hardcover, mass-market and trade paperback formats. 

About Harlequin

Harlequin (Harlequin.com) is one of the world’s leading publishers of books for women, with titles issued worldwide in as many as 34 languages and sold in up to 102 international markets. The company publishes more than 110 titles monthly and more than 1,300 authors from around the world. Harlequin is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second-largest consumer book publisher in the world, and has operations in 11 countries. For more information, please visit Harlequin.com and Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks. Follow Harlequin on Twitter: @HarlequinBooks.

#MMBBR #Review I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around by @AnnGarvin_ @TallPoppyWriter

 Everything is falling apart in psychologist Tig Monahan's life. Her mother's dementia is wearing her out; her boyfriend takes off for Hawaii without her; and her sister inexplicably disappears, leaving her newborn behind.
When a therapy session goes horribly wrong, Tig finds herself unemployed and part of the sandwich generation trying to take care of everyone and failing miserably. Just when she thinks she can redefine herself on the radio as an arbiter of fairness, she discovers a family secret that nobody saw coming.

It will take everything plus a sense of humor to see her way clear to a better life, but none of that will happen if she can't let go of her past.

Where it may have begun:

Writers are observers and I’m the noisiest observer there ever was. It started when my parents packed-up my bossy, noisy, laugh-out-loud self and moved the family from Wyckoff, NJ to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Once there, I shut up, quit laughing and sat wide-eyeed trying to figure out how to adapt. I watched every peculiar look I got, noticed every speech pattern, new colloquialism, and got a first-hand look at what it was like to be on the outside looking in. That’s the day I began thinking like a writer.

What I did before I started writing the fun stuff:

I exploded from the U.P. like a soft nerf gob from a straw and travelled all the way to exotic Duluth, MN. Once there I yakked (talked not vomited) my way through Nursing school at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN. In fact, I talked so much and slept so little that my lung collapsed, I got mononucleosis and tonsilities followed by a tonsillectomy. Each in a different year I attended. In the summers I worked in the Youth Conservation Corps, was a Nanny in Vail, Colorado, waitressed, waitressed some more, taught aerobics in tight pink and black spandex and, became head tour guide at the college. After graduating I learned ASL and became the camp nurse for the blind, deaf, and handicapped, transitioned to paraplegics at Mayo then Post Traumatic Stress patients at the Veteran’s hospital in Madison, WI. Between calling in sick and being convinced, as the nuns at college predicted, that I would kill someone, I enrolled in graduate school. Never once writing a slice of anything beyond a letter home or to friends.  EXCEPT I did write a letter to Irma Bombeck who wanted to meet for lunch and, that got me thinking. I must have written something she liked. So, I finished my masters in exercise physiology (Go Badgers) and flinchingly signed up for another tour of torture – PhD in exercise psychology.  In between I did theater, backpacked through Europe (twice), swam in Jamaica, Greece, Hawaii, Kuai, and ate my way through Egypt. In between I learned that my mentor found my writing to be among the worst he’d ever tried to edit. In response, I performed in the Vagina Monologues several times and took too long finishing my dissertation.  Instead, I got headshots taken and made commercials, learned hypnosis for research purposes, got married, gave birth to my soul mate, gave birth to my other soul mate, graduated and finally, got a job I could get my head around. Teaching. Let the angels sing. Still, forcing the writing that I had to do for science not for love. By then I had become an adequate writer but each sentence was a struggle, each line a night mare. But I did it. I published, got tenure, became a professor, started wearing a mouth guard during the day lest I grind my teeth to nubs writing science.

read more HERE

Man oh man!!  What a great book!  Garvin has a knack for writing characters that feel so real.  You are instantly feel what they feel and want to take care of them.  Life is a messy thing and Garvin captures the lows and high of life brilliantly.  She has mastered the art of storytelling and this book is quite a treat!  5 stars

#MMBBR #Review Sketchy Stories: The Sketchbook Art of Kerby Rosanes @Kerby_Rosanes

World-renowned artist Kerby Rosanes specializes in black ink doodles and sketches, and at the age of 23, he quit his desk job as a graphic designer to pursue his art full time. With a legion of over a million followers, Kerby has been a source of inspiration to artists, designers, and art-lovers all over the world with his stunning art and inspirational messages like "Never Quit Drawing" and "Be Awesome Today." Now fans can glimpse the personal sketchbook of Kerby Rosanes with Sketchy Stories, a beautiful facsimile reproduction of his original sketchbook, loaded with secret doodles, elaborate sketches, and whimsical lines and detailed patterns. Interspersed with his artwork, Kerby also includes techniques, tips, inspirations, influences, and more. The ideal gift for fans of Kerby Rosanes or anyone who is ready to be creatively inspired.



Philippines-based illustrator Kerby Rosanes works mainly with ordinary black pens to magically illustrate his "doodle" world.

Most of his works are characterized by whimsical lines, patterns, characters and little elements that are spontaneously combined to create massive compositions depicting his everyday experiences or anything that inspires him.

He recently left his job as a graphic designer in a local company to finally pursue his passion: creating more art for personal projects and for various clients and collaborating with other artists and design agencies around the world.

Follow him on Twitter: @Kerby_Rosanes 
Follow him on Instagram: KerbyRosanes
Like him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sketchystoriesblog

This book is soooo cool.  I love that it closes with an elastic closure or it can be used as a bookmark, which is pretty neat.  Then you open the book and you are taken on an adventure through the drawings...they are stunning black and white hand drawings.  There is something new I see each and everything I open the book.  It is just so amazing.  I love all the the little comments along that way that he makes about the drawings.  It is sheer talented and inspirations for those that enjoy drawing.  It is a delight to read and look at.  5 HUGE stars