Tag Archives: new release

Sing Like No One’s Listening by Vanessa Jones: Nerd Book Blast

I can’t wait to read Sing Like No One’s Listening. As soon I read the synopsis (see below) I thought of so many of my students. This will be a book I put in my classroom as soon as we are back in the building! Want a chance at a free copy? See below.

A moving story of grief and healing – sure to be a pure joy for any musical theater aficionado.

SYNOPSIS

Nettie Delaney has just been accepted into a prestigious performing arts school–the very same school her superstar mother attended. With her mother’s shadow hanging over her, Nettie has her work cut out for her–and everyone is watching. To make matters worse, Nettie hasn’t been able to sing a single note since her mother died. Whenever she tries, she just clams up. But if Nettie’s going to survive a demanding first year and keep her place in a highly coveted program, she’ll have to work through her grief and deliver a showstopper or face expulsion.

All may not be lost, however, when Nettie stumbles upon a mysterious piano player in an empty studio after class. Masked behind a curtain, can Nettie summon the courage to find her voice? Or will the pressure and anxiety of performing come crashing down?

All about finding and raising your voice, and not throwing away your shot, Vanessa Jones’s well-crafted journey of grief and healing will pull readers along with its strong narrative voice and satisfying sense of mystery.  

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Praise for SING LIKE NO ONE’S LISTENING

““Anglophiles, music and theater nerds, and those looking for some classic will-they-won’t-they romance will all find something to enjoy here. Jones writes her subject matter authentically, with obvious passion to balance the professional arts’ not-so-pretty struggles…. A touching portrait of healing after loss.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“Jones’ novel has the expected Fame vibes that will delight any reader who loves stories of aspiring young stars learning their craft, but its exploration of Nettie’s complexities makes the story unique…. Jones offsets the narrative’s weightier moments with light and quirky ones, making it a fast read with staying power.” ―Booklist


ABOUT THE AUTHOR



VANESSA JONES
 trained at Laine Theatre Arts in Surrey, England and went on to be a musical theater actor on West End, performing in shows including Sister Act, Grease, Guys and Dolls, Annie Get Your Gun, and Mary Poppins. She began her writing career with a stage play for a fringe theater and works as a freelance copywriter and editor. She lives in England with her fellow chimney sweep.  

TWITTER: @NessJonesWrites
GOODREADS: 
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1128153.Vanessa_Jones
FACEBOOK: 
https://www.facebook.com/Vanessa-Jones-2205623043021474
INSTAGRAM: 
https://www.instagram.com/vanessajoneswrites/

GIVEAWAY


5 Winners will receive a Copy of SING LIKE NO ONE’S LISTENING by Vanessa Jones.

Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter– ENDS September 28, 2020

For more Check out the NERD BLAST!

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It’s Finally Here: Requiem by Lauren Oliver

Requiem is available today!

I’m secretly happy that I jumped on the Oliver train late since I won’t have to wait so long for Requiem. However, I’m pretty sure I won’t get to read it right away since there are several students have laid claim to it already.

RequiemSummary (from Goodreads): 

They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.
But we are still here.
And there are more of us every day.
Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.
After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.
Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.
Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.
But we have chosen a different road.
And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.
We are even free to choose the wrong thing.
Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge

SINCE I WON’T GET TO READ IT RIGHT AWAY, I’M LOOKING FORWARD  TO THESE THREE BOOKS IN THE DELIRIUM SERIES:

Title: Annabel

Published: December 2012

AnnabelSummary (from Goodreads): Lena’s mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery—a ghost in Lena’s past. Until now.
Discover her secrets in Lauren Oliver’s brilliant original digital story set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Delirium and Pandemonium.
Lena Halloway’s mother, Annabel, supposedly committed suicide when Lena was only six years old. That’s the lie that Lena grew up believing, but the truth is very different. As a rebellious teenager, Annabel ran away from home and straight into the man she knew she was destined to marry. The world was different then—the regulations not as stringent, the cure only a decade old. Fast forward to the present, and Annabel is consigned to a dirty prison cell, where she nurtures her hope of escape and scratches one word over and over into the walls: Love.
But Annabel, like Lena, is a fighter. Through chapters that alternate between her past and present, Annabel reveals the story behind her failed cures, her marriage, the births of her children, her imprisonment, and, ultimately, her daring escape.

Title: Hana

Published: February 2011

HanaSummary (from Goodreads): The summer before they’re supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss.
But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line.
In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will come to understand scenes from Delirium through Hana’s perspective. Hana is a touching and revealing look at a life-changing and tumultuous summer

Title: Raven

Published: March 5, 2013

RavenSummary (from Goodreads): This captivating 50-page digital-original story set in the world of Lauren Oliver’s New York Times bestselling Delirium series focuses on Raven, the fiery leader of a rebel group in the Wilds.
As a teenager, Raven made the split-second decision to flee across the border to the Wilds, compelled to save an abandoned newborn—a baby girl left for dead and already blue from the cold. When she and the baby are taken in by a band of rebels, Raven finds herself an outsider within a tight-knit group. The only other newcomer is an untrustworthy boy known as the Thief until he finally earns himself a new name: Tack.
Now she and Tack are inseparable, committed to each other, the fledgling rebellion, and a future together. But as they both take center stage in the fight, Raven must decide whether the dangers of the revolution are worth risking her dreams of a peaceful life with Tack.
As her story hurtles back and forth between past and present, Raven transforms from a scared girl newly arrived in the Wilds to the tough leader who helps Lena save former Deliria-Free poster boy Julian Fineman from a death sentence. Whatever the original mission may have been, Raven abides by a conviction that she believes to her core: You always return for the people you love.
By turns surprising, revelatory, and poignant, Raven’s story enriches the Delirium world and resonates with a voice that is as vulnerable as it is strong.

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