Book Review: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin

AUTHOR: Adele Griffin
PUBLISHER: SoHoTeen

SERIES/STANDALONE: Stand alone
PAGES: 256

SOURCE: Arc from publishers

Outline:
National Book Award-finalist Adele Griffin tells the fully illustrated story of a brilliant young artist, her mysterious death, and the fandom that won't let her go.

From the moment she stepped foot in NYC, Addison Stone’s subversive street art made her someone to watch, and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more. I conducted interviews with those who knew her best—including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics—and retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life. I hope I can shed new light on what really happened the night of July 28.

Quick Thought (or not)

This review is not in the same format as my others mainly because the book was so different. When I say different it's totally a good thing. I will say at first when the opportunity came in my email for me to read this and be on the blog tour I looked past it because  I honestly thought it was a book about this real girls life. I'm not a fan of reading biographies and what have you, but when I went back and looked at the book, and did a little digging I realized that this was just a novel written as a biography, and then I jumped at the chance because it was something so different then anything I've tried. Sometimes I got so caught up in the story that I forgot it wasn't a  real story about this young artist who died mysteriously.

I Loved the way it was done in interviews with the people that Addison knew best. Then we get to see Addisons art, and pictures of her throughout her life.

I know this is a short review sorry!

Quotes:

So if I don't win, I guess I'll turn out the lights. p79

My brain is like a big echoing train station filled with announcements I can't hear, and I'm trying to decide which trains I should board, but I can't make any decisions because i's too noisy.

Blog Tour: The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin

 This is my stop on the blog tour for Adele Griffin's book The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone.
Unlike other book tours this one is a bit different.

 Official Addison Stone Tumblr 

I always try and give a little more so instead of just writing something, which by the way, I didn't realize until I had finished my tribute that I should have written in a characters voice. I did it in my voice as though I knew her. I also drew my version of the cover. :)

I met Addison, or Addy as most of us call her, when I moved to New York. I moved there not long after she did, and met her through school. She was definitely a force to be wreck-end with in the art world here. I think Zach, his mother, Berger, Lincoln, and all them knew that too. Everyone seemed to want a piece of her, and as far as Addy was concerned each of them had that piece. Sometimes, I think maybe they each took a little too much of her, and that's why things spiraled out of control. It wasn't that she stopped the "Z" although it could have played a small part, but it was those around her that kept wanting and pushing and poking until she flipped. One girl, one woman can only take so much.

I hope that if Addy is up in Heaven that she's still drawing, and being the awesome artist I know her to be.
Addy, We miss you and <3 you!

National Book Award-finalist Adele Griffin tells the fully illustrated story of a brilliant young artist, her mysterious death, and the fandom that won't let her go.

From the moment she stepped foot in NYC, Addison Stone’s subversive street art made her someone to watch, and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more. I conducted interviews with those who knew her best—including close friends, family, teachers, mentors, art dealers, boyfriends, and critics—and retraced the tumultuous path of Addison's life. I hope I can shed new light on what really happened the night of July 28.                                                                                                                                            | Amazon | SoHo Teen | B & N | Indiebound |

Adele Griffin is a two-time National Book Award Finalist and highly acclaimed author of numerous books for Young Adult and middle grade readers. Her works include Sons of Liberty and Where I Want to Be, as well as the popular Witch Twins and Vampire Island series. Her most recent thriller Loud Awake and Lost will be out this fall from Knopf. Adele lives with her husband, Erich, their two young children, and their dog, Edith, in Brooklyn, New York.

                                                                                                   | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr

Blog Tour: The A-Word with a Guest Post from Joy Preble

Tour Schedule

GUEST POST WITH JOY PREBLE

One of the things I’ve most appreciated from the various review of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE and now THE A-WORD is not only the appreciation of Jenna’s sassy voice but also the acknowledgment that although there angels and mystery and romance and blackmail and poisoning, at the core, I have written a sibling story. And while sibling stories abound in MG lit, there are fewer of them in YA. And the truth is, everyone loves a sibling story! As Harper Collins editor Jocelyn Davies observed at a recent conference I attended, one of the reasons Frozen resonates with everyone (besides that we all love bellowing Let It Go!), is that it too, is a sibling story. And to quote Davies, “No relationship is as rich and emotionally complex as a sibling relationship.”

For me, the fact that underneath, they really love each other, is one of the most appealing aspects of writing Jenna and Casey. No matter how rough things get or how obnoxious they may act, these two have each other’s backs. Often I don’t show this too overtly. 

For example in THE A-WORD, Casey has bought Jenna a make up kit for her birthday. And trust me, angel or not, this boy does not know jack about make up. But he’s made the effort and Jenna knows it. All well and good. But I knew I could use this to express something deeper. So rather than have her tell him that she loves him for doing this, I wrote this, the first voice being Jenna:

I hugged him hard. “I love it,” I said.”

“Me, too,” he whispered.

And so the moment gets a bit of nuance. We all know what they’re really saying, which is not just about the gift. But it wouldn’t work for Casey to say “I love you,” right out, even though he obviously does. They speak instead through the gift.

Of course, these two really do have only each other. The Samuels family is pretty darn dysfunctional and in the end, it’s Jenna and Casey (whether alive or dead or somewhere in between) who must team up to figure out the overarching mystery and figure out how to hang in there despite mounting circumstances. Plus I love that they ‘get’ each other, even if they won’t admit it.  Two big-mouthed kids using sass and wit to overcome a lot of bad stuff.

With Jenna and Casey, like with a lot of siblings, it’s often not what they say, but how they say it.

  

   Joy Preble is the author of the popular and highly acclaimed Dreaming Anastasia

series as well as The Sweet Dead Life, the prequel to The A-Word. A former English teacher, Joy grew up in Chicago and is a graduate of Northwestern University. Sheis now a full-time writer and lives with her family in Texas, where she has learned to say "y'all" without any hint of irony.  |Website|Tumblr|Twitter|Facebook| 

Blog Tour: Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington

Readers

Today I would like to welcome Amy Talkington to the site.

Here are a few questions that I got to ask her.

If you haven't had the pleasure of reading the story I highly recommend it. It's an adorable story.

My review will be up soon.

QUESTIONS

1. I know this is a question always asked by bloggers, but how did you come up with the story to Liv, Forever?

First, I just had this character I wanted to write: Liv, an artist who has a lot of deep emotion but is pretty hardened on the outside. She wears emotional armor. Then, I thought it might be interesting if that girl actually had to die in order to learn how to love (and live). The story kind of evolved from there.

2. Out of all the back stories for the ghosts whose did you enjoy writing the most?

Great question! I call them the “Ghost Death Statements.” For those who haven’t read LIv yet, let me explain. Throughout the book, in between chapters, there’s a series of first-person statements in which each of the ghosts tells the story of her death. I loved writing them all—assuming these different voices, researching the time period, layering in clues to the mystery—but I can pinpoint two favorites. Lydia is the first one I wrote. She died in 1985 and so I got to use some of my own late ‘80s high school references (hello, Echo and the Bunnyman on the Walkman!). And the other statement I loved writing was Dawn. That was the last one I wrote and I just went full tilt with her passionate, environmentalist voice.

3.Seeing as how you wrote a ghost story do you believe in ghosts and the afterlife?

Yes! I don’t necessarily imagine they’re fully formed like Liv but I really do feel that a spirit might sometimes linger if he/she/it feels the need to. Obviously this is not based on any scientific fact.

4. Do you watch ghost shows like Ghost Adventures or Ghosthunters?

No. I don’t want to give spoilers but I can say I’m less into the idea of scary ghosts (and that will make sense once you’ve read the book, I think).  The ghosts that I “believe in” are mostly kind spirits that need some kind of closure. Not haunting so much. My favorite show that had “ghosts” (at least one, sort of) was Six Feet Under.

5. What would you do if you could see and hear ghosts like Gabe?

Well, as much as I’m going on about how I believe in ghosts, I think I’d completely lose it if I heard one or  felt one. Like Gabe, I’d probably feel very isolated and freaked out. Unless, of course, it was someone I loved. I experienced a ghosty moment related to my grandmother and I found it very comforting, actually.

If you want to know all the latest on Liv, Forever

Twitter @amytalkington 

Tumblr http://amytalkington.tumblr.com

SoHo Press: Liv, Forever

When Liv Bloom lands an art scholarship at Wickham Hall, it’s her ticket out of the foster system. Liv isn’t sure what to make of the school’s weird traditions and rituals, but she couldn’t be happier. For the first time ever, she has her own studio, her own supply of paints. Everything she could want. 

Then she meets Malcolm Astor, a legacy student, a fellow artist, and the one person who’s ever been able to melt her defenses. Liv’s only friend at Wickham, fellow scholarship kid Gabe Nichols, warns her not to get involved, but life is finally going Liv’s way, and all she wants to do is enjoy the ride. 

But Liv’s bliss is doomed. Weeks after arriving, she is viciously murdered and, in death, she discovers that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that has claimed many lives. Cursed with the ability to see the many ghosts on Wickham’s campus, Gabe is now Liv’s only link to the world of the living. To Malcolm.

Together, Liv, Gabe, and Malcolm fight to expose the terrible truth that haunts the halls of Wickham. But Liv must fight alone to come to grips with the ultimate star-crossed love.