Friday, August 31, 2012

Book Giveaway: Hope Rising


Author Amy Spade recently contacted me about reading her new young adult novel Hope Rising. I happen to (sometimes sheepishly) be a fan of YA literature, and I'm always looking for something to read. So how could I turn down an opportunity when it came knocking at my door? I mean ... e-mail inbox? I couldn't. Duh.

Amy graciously sent a digital copy of Hope Rising to my Kindle Fire (super-nifty, I might add) and I began reading straight away. I quickly discovered the novel is about a high school senior named Reggie whose parents tragically passed away. She ends up moving to a different town and has to figure out where she fits in at her new school and really, her new life. There's a little romance, a little heartache, a little "Mean Girls" and a lot of family love. It pretty much covers everything so I rather enjoyed it.

I'm one of those philosophy geeks who's always trying to find the meaning in everything that passes through my brain, so of course I was eager to discover the message contained within Hope Rising. After reading it and pondering on the story, I decided that the moral is "everybody hurts." Just like that R.E.M. song. Cheesy but true. Reggie has every reason to shut the world out in her state of grief and pain, but she comes to realize that everyone around her has their own story of hurt as well -- even the boy she has come to adore.

I sometimes get caught up in my problems and forget that all the other people in my life have problems, too. Maybe even the same problems. And even though I'm 25 and far out of high school, I sometimes act like an immature 17-year-old and forget. Hope Rising serves as a reminder to be aware of others' pain as well as your own and realize that they are trying to heal from life's battle wounds, too.

Since I enjoyed this book (clearly -- I breezed through it in less than a week!) I'd like to give a copy away to one of my readers! YES, YOU! Just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Oh and one more cool thing. You can read the first chapter of Hope Rising here. So go!

27 comments:

  1. I graduated from highschool in 1999. I'm old yo'.

    DaNelle recently posted...Copycat PF Changs Lettuce Wraps Recipe

    ReplyDelete
  2. 2007- Class of 007. Ya, we went with the James Bond theme.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Feeling alive in 2005! (I think that's what our slogan was?)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm going to have to read this book. This year my husband and I have been put through the ringer and I was just working on a post on this exact subject..."everybody hurts"

    ReplyDelete
  5. 2008... so young, so young... :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. 2001. And my son is named Reggie.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 2001 baby! Seems like forever ago...oh because maybe it was.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Graduated in 2005- it was a good year to graduate ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. 1998 - wow I'm old! The book sounds good!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was class of 2004, but I graduated early- December 2003...

    ReplyDelete

I like feedback almost as much as I like food.