GIVEAWAY: Get Happy by Mary Amato

In this poignant, realistic, contemporary YA by a state master list star, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Gayle Forman, a young songwriter builds a substitute family with her friends in place of the broken family she grew up with. A hip high school girl who loves music, writes songs, and is desperate for a ukelele, learns to her shock that her father did not abandon her years ago and has been trying to keep in touch. She begins to investigate him, only to discover that he has a new life with a new family, including the perfect stepdaughter, a girl who Minerva despises.

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Mary Amato is an award-winning children's book author, songwriter, musician, puppeteer, and poet. She writes for children of all ages, and is beginning to focus on YA. Her first YA novel was Guitar Notes. Mary lives with her family outside Washington, DC, where she also performs regularly, singing and playing her own songs. Mary is a popular speaker and runs numerous workshops for teachers and students, including many on all aspects of creative writing, even songwriting. The author lives in Silver Spring, MD. You can visit her online at www.maryamato.com.




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This giveaway is US only. No purchase necessary. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. Fandom Monthly Magazine is not responsible if the promotion sponsor (Egmont USA) does not fulfill their giveaway prize. Winner(s) will be contacted shortly after the giveaway ends. The winner(s) will then have 4 days most to respond and claim their prizeAny questions? Feel free to email us.

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REVIEW: Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice? What if you never had to fall?
Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results.  Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.
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Review:
I received this book from HarperCollins and Lauren Miller's agency for free in exchange for an honest review and read-along with BookBusters. All opinions are my own. 
  4 of 5 stars. One question still lingers in my head as I'm writing this review. "What if you never had to fall?" (From Free to Fall's synopsis.) Wouldn't I love to live in Free to Fall's world, where everything is somewhat easy, and you have an app to decide everything for you? I interpret "What if you never had to fall? as "What if you never had to think?". I'm asking myself "What if you never had to think?" over and over again because what if I never had to think? I would definitely not be sitting on a couch with my laptop trying to gather enough of my thoughts to write this review. The whole point of a review is about what you think. As I keep on thinking and thinking about Free to Fall's plot, characters, and overall writing, I suddenly realize, that the main focus of this review is definitely not the "basics". Free to Fall made me think about how much of my time is occupied with electronics, and that I need to take a break, and actually look up at the sky, smile at a stranger, admire the sunset, etc. All of these little things are what I'm missing as I'm indoors, on an electronic all the time. (No joke.) The worst part is, is that I know that I should change, but there's nothing that I'm doing about it. I currently am sitting in front pages and pages of notes that are filled with plot and character observations, but none are necessary. Free to Fall is a book that will make you think, pause and realize that you need to get up and take your eyes off of a screen, and it might make you change yourself a bit too (it changed me). I would definitely recommend. (I don't say that a lot.) 

Click here to watch me talk about Free to Fall on my booktube channel! 

  My rating system: (I do use half stars.) 
5 - I do not use the 5 star. Not because a book might not be worthy, but because a book is never perfect. 
4 - I loved it! There weren't too many flaws, and I had no trouble getting through it. (A 4 star rating is the highest rating I've ever given a book.) 
3 - I enjoyed the book, but there we're flaws that made me enjoy it less. 
2 - I finished the book, but there were too many flaws for me to enjoy it. 
1 - I could not finish the book, and I probably did not finish it....


Reviewer:
Grace