Mundie Moms

Thursday, November 4, 2010

We're talking about NIGHTSHADE tonight w/ NYT Best Selling Author, Andrea Cremer

There's just something about saying, New York Times Best Selling author- it's catchy and such a huge compliment. We're so excited for Andrea and her new title!!


*Our chat will start at 8 pm CST/ 9 pm EST. To join, hit join and enter a screen name.

*Please know that we will be discussing Nightshade with Andrea Cremer!!

*We do our best to make sure all comments are published, so that Andrea can answer your questions. With the high volume of guests expected tonight, not all the questions may be answered in the hour time frame of the chat.

*In respect to Andrea's time, we will only publish comments that pertain to their current writings, and book.

*We will not post any personal questions or comments.

* Any rude, disrespectful, or spam like comments will not be published.

*Thank you and we look forward to chatting with everyone tonight!

**No part of this chat is allowed to be used with out our permission**

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney Blog Tour

















We are thrilled to be the next stop in Daisy Whitney's The Mockingbirds Blog Tour, hosted by Novel Noise (who's site you can visit HERE).


By Daisy Whitney
Published by Little Brown
Released on November 2nd, 2010
Source- Borrowed ARC from a friend
4 Stars- A Very Empowering Read

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it (quoted from Goodreads).

This past summer I had the chance to borrow an ARC for The Mockingbirds from a friend of mine, and from page 1, Daisy threw me right into what it was like for Alex to wake up in bed with someone she couldn't remember, having done something she couldn't remember. Alex's story is that of DATE RAPE.

Daisy Whitney wrote a very powerful, empowering story of finding one's voice, and finding the courage to move on, to heal, to realize it's not your fault, and finding an inner strength to stand up to the person who took something away from Alex. Daisy wrote The Mockingbirds in such a way that it's not graphic, and I never once felt uncomfortable reading it, horrified? YES. The painful truth is this happens daily.

I can't express in my review the feelings and emotions I felt for Alex. I was horrified at what happened to her and then I felt such a dislike (I can think of much stronger words than that to use) towards Carter, who has such a warped sense of thinking, as he does not think he did anything wrong in giving Alex a date rape drug and doing what he did to her. I felt such strong emotions from reading this book, as this is something that happens every day. I've quoted statics before on our site about rape, when talking about Speak. Unlike Speak, Alex has support, which makes a huge difference in the outcome of this rape survivors story.

Alex has something that some victims don't have, a support group called The Mockingbirds. Being survivors of rape and other crimes, this is a group of college students who support Alex, and each other. They don't judge her or each other, but help Alex heal and help her realize it's not her fault. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the adults to do something, they take action themselves. I was so frustrated with the adults and the college in this story, as they lacked what The Mockingbirds had. They brushed off Alex's cry for help. At that point I wanted to throw the book and scream until they heard me. How can someone do that?!? What infuriated me the most is that this happens a lot. The Mockingbirds gave Alex something no one else did, they listened, the supported her, and they acted. They believe in a school where students shouldn't be allowed to hurt other students. They don't take away from what the law does, but they are the first line of defense to students who are victims in horrible crimes.

The Mockingbirds is a brilliant portrayal of reality. While I have not been through what Alex has experienced, I was still able to feel the emotions she went through on some level, and related to her. I wanted to protect Alex and stand beside her and lend my voice to her. The Mockingbirds is a book that will empower people to think. It will help victims find their voices, and realize they're not alone. I thank Daisy for writing something that was close to her heart and sharing her story, through Alex's story. I recommend this empowering read for young adults and their parents.
_________________________


To learn more about The Mockingbirds, be sure to follow the official Facebook page for the series, and watch some of the videos Daisy has done, as well as The Mockingbirds Diaries, which are found on the Mockingbirds Youtube channel.

You can order a SIGNED copy of Mockingbirds from Books Of Wonder here



Thank you to Daisy Whitney and Little Brown, we have 5 copies of The Mockingbirds to giveaway!


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