Blog Tour: Drawn to You by Janel Rodriguez Ferrer

Welcome to my stop on the Drawn to You Blog Tour

hosted by Goddess Fish Promotions.

Click HERE to see the rest of the tour schedule.

 Blurb: 

Rock Your Destiny! 

Gina Santiago is a thirteen-year-old "Nuyorican" with rock star dreams, so when she's accepted into the prestigious New York Academy of Arts and Talents for art instead of music, she's crushed. To make matters worse, the student body at the Upper East Side school is divided into "schollies" (students on scholarship, like her) and "dollies" (rich kids with "dollars"). But Gina discovers that there is one thing that brings schollies and dollies-and dancers, singers, actors, artists, and musicians-together: music! Maybe she can make her dreams come true after all....

Cindy's Review: 

This book was a simple juvenile fiction read that inspires kids to follow their dreams. I'm so glad I decided to do this blog tour. I've been reading young adult so much nowadays, I forgot how fun it is to read middle school books. Middle school books are entertaining and captivating, just like the young-adult books, except without all the romance drama. Even if there is romance, the authors keep it light and at ease.

Drawn to You was such a good book! The ending almost killed me! I know this book just came out, but I really can't wait for the next book! And even though, I say romance is gone, whew! A nice rest, I still maybe want just a little romance. Just a little. Because there' s this one character I want Gina to be with. ;)

I love how Gina forms a band at her new school. I love how she follows her dream even though her mother discourages her. I just love the ending of this story. Reminds me a bit of


Janel will be awarding Winner's Choice of a $25 gift card to iTunes (music) or, Capezio (dance), or Utrecht (art supplies) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.


Author Bio:
    Like her main character, Gina Santiago, Janel is a Nuyorican who attended a Manhattan high school of the arts as an art major. Unlike Gina, she isn’t very good at guitar and doesn’t have a rock band to call her own. Truth be told, she never dreamed of becoming a guitarist. Instead, from the time she was a tween she dreamed of becoming a published author of a book series. And since you're reading this, you can see that her dream has come true!
   Her first hint of an idea for the Arts-Angels series began way back when she received a pendant of St. Michael the Archangel for her sixteenth birthday.
   She lives with her twin sister, Jennifer (who got a pendant of St. Joan of Arc that same birthday but hasn’t written any books about it), in New York City.

Links: 

Website: www.theartsangels.com

Blog: http://janelrodriguezferrer.wordpress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JanelRodriguezFerrer.

E-mail: janelrodriguezferrer (at) theartsangels (dot) com.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Arts-Angels-Track-Drawn-You/dp/1936214911/ref=sr_1_1?
s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355357021&sr=1-1&keywords=janel+rodriguez+ferrer

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Arts-Angels-Track-Drawn-You/dp/1936214911

Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-arts-angels-track-1-janel-rodriguez-ferrer/1113051508?
ean=9781936214914

Alibris: http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=23571060

Australia: https://www.betweenreads.com.au/book/the-arts-angels-track-1-drawn-to-you.do

India: http://books.indiangiftsportal.com/book/artsangels-track-1-janel-rodriguez/
9781936214914

Happy Touring~

Book Review: Invisible Lines by Mary Amato

Invisible Lines 
by Mary Amato 
Release Date: November 24th, 2009
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Format: Paperback, 299 pages
Source: John Muir Middle School Library
ISBN: 978-16068-40108
Get a Copy: 
      Barnes and Nobles
      Amazon

Goodreads Summary: If there’s one thing I’m good at it’s making people laugh because when I’m standing up I’m what you call a stand-up comedian, and when I’m sitting down, I’m just plain funny.  
 
Trevor is just plain funny, and he’s lucky he is. Because this year he needs a sense of humor. Moving to a new home is hard enough—the sign reads hedley gardens, but everyone calls these projects deadly gardens. And the move to a fancy new school is even harder—all the kids from Deadly Gardens seem to be in the same classes and keep to themselves, but somehow Trevor’s ended up in an advanced science class with kids who seem to have everything, and know everything, including how to please their strange new teacher.

Someone else might just give up, but Trevor has plans. This is going to be his year.  And he is going to use whatever he has, do whatever it takes, to make it at this new school. He may not have what these other kids have, but Trevor knows he’s got some stuff to show. No one is better at juggling in soccer, and he knows he can draw—he calls himself the Graffiti Guy. 

But Xander, a star in the classroom and on the soccer field, has other plans for Trevor. He doesn’t like anyone trespassing on his turf and begins to sabotage Trevor at every opportunity. Who is going to believe Trevor over the school star? Is there any way that Trevor can achieve his goals against a guy who is as good at bullying as he is at everything else he does?

Book Review:  This is another one of the CYRM nominees. This book is going against Wild Things and Out of My Mind. I'm having a hard time choosing between Out of My Mind and this book. Both is very well-written. And both is very written very deeply. But I think I would choose this book despite everything. It connects to me the most. Even though Out of My Mind connects to me a lot too, I didn't cry as much in that book. Yeah. I grade how connected I am to a book by my crying. LOL. Jk. 

The Cover:

I think this book cover is really bright an eye-catchy. And I totally get how it connects to the story.

The Characters/Plot: 

The main character is named Trevor Musgrove. He is an awesome artist and plays soccer really well. He's pretty cool as a person. But the only thing that holds him back is that his family is poor. His mother is a single mother who also have two more kids. Trevor has one little brother whose five and a little sister whose two.

Trevor had just moved to another new place even worse than the last place he lived in. This new apartment is called Deadly Gardens where all the poor kids in his school lived. Trying to have a new start, Trevor tries to blend in with the popular, rich kids. He fits in all right. He;s pretty funny, he's cool, and he's talented. But he has to hide how poor he is. 

Immediately, Trevor begins to hang out with the most popular boys in the school, Xander and Langley. Langley pretty cool and awesome despite how rich he is. If I was in the book, I"ll probably start liking Langley. 

Everything was cool when Trevor begins to show others his skills. Of course other people were like "Cool You're better than Xander!" And Xander who is the conceited, soccer star got jealous of Trevor and does his best to bring Trevor down.

In the end, Xander almost succeeded, but with his wits, Trevor outwits Xander without making Xander more mad at him. 

And you're probably wondering what the heck there is to cry about in this book. Well, I was crying because of Trevor's argument with his mom. It's just sad. Okay. Or maybe I cry too easily. 

The Extras: 

So yeah. I'm choosing this book for the Middle School section!

And just in case you want to see the CYRM list, here it is: http://californiayoungreadermedal.org/Nominees2012-2013.pdf

The Rating: (1-10): 9

Happy Reading~