The winner of The End of Everything is:
ludy2288
Congratulations!
ludy2288
Congratulations!
Please email me your full name and address at stephanieelliot@gmail.com so I can send you your book!
The End of Everything
By Megan Abbott
The End of Everything is another one of those books that I read about and I KNEW in my gut I just had to read ASAP. There are very few books like this that I just feel in my soul when I read about it that I just KNOW I have to get my hands on it or I
Needing to get my hands on a book like this is like a force beyond control. So, here’s what I did. I found Megan Abbott online and I asked her if I could review her book. Without knowing anything else but what a beautiful cover the book had and what I had heard about the book.
And I loved it.
Oh my gosh. Just wow.
Thank you so much Megan, for sharing your book with me, and for allowing me to share it with everyone here.
The End of Everything is about two 13-year-old best friends, Evie and Lizzie, who live next door to one another, and just before summer, Evie is kidnapped. It’s been a while since I read it, but after I read a book, I try to get to the computer and write down what I felt immediately, while it’s still fresh in my mind, so I don’t lose the thoughts that I have when I’ve been affected by such a book.
Here’s what I wrote then about The End of Everything:
I could see 13-year-old girls feel the way Evie and Lizzie might feel... to imagine and dream of knights in shining armor, and a love so powerful and strong, and the girls having power over men who cannot control themselves they would do anything for them.
The End of Everything is so real and raw -- it's about two young teen best friends and one of them suddenly is gone. Her best friend is left behind and doesn't know what has happened. Or does she? Had Evie left clues? Evie's older sister, Dusty, is lost and rampant it seems, in her own world, and is she mourning the fact that her sister is gone, or mourning secrets she has hidden from her family as to why her sister has disappeared?
And Lizzie is suddenly the center of attention, where before, was she nothing? Just Evie's best friend. Lizzie's got no father figure, and now Evie's father is paying her loads of attention, doting on her almost to the point of obsession in Lizzie's mind, and she's eating it up. She's giving away secrets, but only enough to keep the attention where she wants it, so they have to ask for more. Will these secrets be enough to find Evie, and does Evie want to be found, or did Evie go away to find a love so strong that it couldn't be contained?
The End of Everything is the story told in the mind of a 13-year old, and how a young girl might hold thoughts of a massive love, how she might think that a man might believe a girl could have the power to love, when really, the only power a 13 year old girl has is to dream and imagine, and often those dreams could turn into nightmares.
So wow. RIGHT? Reading what I wrote back then after I read The End of Everything makes me want to read it all over again. Such a powerful book. It makes me think back to when I was thirteen. Because when you’re thirteen, and you’re suddenly maybe discovering you can be a sexual person, or maybe you can learn to flirt, don’t you discover you might have some sort of magical power over the opposite sex? Either way, at thirteen, you are definitely learning about many things in life. And this scares me because my own daughter will soon be thirteen. And really, at thirteen, you don’t know squat, even though you think you own the world, and you think you KNOW the world.
What did you learn or discover about yourself when you were thirteen? Here’s something about me when I was about thirteen years old:
When I was twelve or thirteen, and now this is becoming hazy and vague as I try to remember, we were visiting my grandparents in Ohio and I wore this Adidas t-shirt the whole summer. So all the boys called me Adidas. And I loved having that nickname. Can you say major tomboy?
There was this boy named Scott Lupi (Am pretty sure that was his name). Everyone told me he liked me. I wanted him to kiss me but I was scared to be kissed. So I avoided him. My younger sister was a big flirt so she would hang out with the boys. I think I was moody. OF COURSE I was moody. One of the star-filled nights I was sitting on a fold-up chair, and my sister was hanging with the boys, NOT being shy at all. She came over to me and planted a kiss right smack on my lips and said, “That’s from Scott.”
I missed out on what could have been my first perfect kiss because I had been to shy and scared.
Tell me something about YOU from when you were thirteen years old and you will be entered to win The End of Everything!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check previous book features to see who the winner is -- that's how you'll find out if you've won or not, and you can still enter if there's not a winner's name posted on the top and highlighted! I usually choose a winner for each book anywhere from 3-7 days after I post a feature!
Thanks for checking out the Fall Fab Giveaway – we’ve got more books coming your way through October. I'll be featuring 2-3 each week. At the end of ALL the individual books featured and given away, one or two lucky winners will win the WHOLE batch of the books.
If you’ve got particular questions on how the Giveaway works, check the ORIGINAL POST HERE, or feel free to email me! Thanks!
Good luck everyone! And I really enjoy your comments too!
Thanks for reading and being a part of this promotion! To find out all the details on how to participate throughout the whole promotion click the previous link!
I also blog at Real Moms Guide if you'd like to read some of my other work.
If you're new here, check out the rules and all the books at in the promotion HERE.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer it in the thread, or email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. It is always at my discretion to change things up, and because of some regulations, I guess I must say that the books I review are given to me by either the authors or publishers or publicists, and I am never paid for my reviews, and they are my own personal reviews, and you know what, because I'm here telling you this anyway, I will also tell you that I never review a book I don't like, because you know what, why waste my time, life is too short to read a crappy book! There.
99 comments:
I thought I was going to marry a Hanson brother when I was 13. Ha!
When I was thirteen I begged my mom for an electric typewriter, the cool fancy ones with the correct type in them :) I spent hours typing short stories.
Laura Kay
I remember the summer when I was 13. I discovered a lot about myself. I made some new friends and all of a sudden had more confidence then I did at 12. Maybe being an official teen had something to do with it?
Margaret(singitm)
singitm@hotmail.com
When I was 13, all I wanted was to be one of the "pretty, cool girls", so I used to wear all of my sister's clothes because she was in college and cool. In the end, I was voted Best Dressed in my middle school yearbook!
Sorry, I removed my last comment because I forgot to include my email address.
I'm only 22 but I can still barely remember anything from when I was 13, haha. I think I used to love the Spice Girls.
-Jessica M
walkingcorpse11@hotmail.com
I got my first real kiss when i was 13 by an older boy two doors down. I wouldn't say it was magic but it wasn't gross.
Carie
My favorite thing to do as a 13 year old girl during the summer was walk over to my best friend's house (I felt so big being able to walk about a mile to where she lived :) ) and watch soap operas and swim in her pool. We loved drooling over the cute boys!
Colleen Turner
When I was 13, I had my first kiss. I was so nervous, it made my lips tingle!
-tmd636
When I was 13 I knew everything. I also noticed my body felt a little strange when I ran into a certain older boy. I flirted a lot too. jillfay
When I was thirteen I got my hair straightened for the first time (after years of begging). I felt so grown up. I stood in front of a mirror, tossing my hair for easily an hour.
-Bee H.
I remember the summer when all the neighborhood kids would play outside all day until dark. I had my first "real" kiss from my "boyfriend" who lived across the street. We were all such kids pretending we were more grown up than we really were.
Amy Goddard
Hmm it was a rough year. It was the first time I decided to really rebel, I remember smoking my first cigarette and hanging out with some kids I probably shouldn't have.
Ally N
When I was 13 ---- I was very self conscious. All my friends had bras and their periods. Everyone except me!!!! I was still wearing clothes from the little girls department and continued to do so for 2 more years!!!! I was a LATE bloomer. I still played with my dolls in secret of course. In retrospect I am glad I was late in the game of puberty.
I had a huge crush on my PE teachers. haha
When I was 13, it was all about talking about boys, talking about what high school was going to be like, seventeen magazine, and a ton of sleepovers!
During the summer of one of my junior high years, can't remember exactly, but I was 12 or 13, the neighborhood kids would get together and play "truth or dare" in the woods. Of course, that was where I received my first "real" kiss. :)
I started my first job at Dog N Suds.I was technically tooo young to work, but my parents knew the owners so I got to sling burgers, coney dogs, and root beers! I had some major crushes on some HS kids!! fun fun fun!
When I was 13 the only thing I wanted was to be a cheerleader!
I will never forget being 13. (My soon to be niece is 12 and oh gosh am I warning her what it's like to be 13. LOL) I got my first kiss at the ripe ol' age of 13. I swear we barely even held hands, but one day in our IPC class (integrated physics and chemistry? I think) when we had a sub and talked him into letting us watch Rush Hour 2 my then BF planted a big wet one on me. I'm not even entirely sure we held hands before that, so imagine my surprise when his tongue was suddenly swirling around my mouth.
Romantic, huh?
I wasn't sure I ever wanted a kiss after that. LOL!!
crystal717
the summer i turned 13 my parents
agreed to let me fly to new york (alone) to spend a week with my grandparents. the week turned into two, then three...i didn't want to leave and my grandparents wanted me to stay! it was awesome.
When I was 13, all I wanted to do was wear a bra and not be flat chested, I also learn to flirt and it was fun!!!
I chopped off my hair which finally got rid of the perm from hell that my mom gave me when I was 12. Melissa Rem
When I was 13, I got my first catcall from a boy. I was both embarrassed and flattered by the attention, which I had never had before. That was my first realization that boys might look at me that way, and that I had to be careful how I used that "power."
julia_maranan at hotmail dot com
I was kindy dorky...chubby, glasses :(
When I was 13 I remember saying to my mother, "When can I shave my legs?!" She was taken aback - I had been thinking she should make the first move and tell me when to start, and she was thinking I'd come to her when I was ready. And to think, my legs could have been hair-free months/years earlier!
Emily116
I already had boobs at the age of 13, but it didn't do me any good because I was shy. In fact, that would have been 8th grade, my toughest year. All my friends had the other lunch, so I ate by myself every day. But guess what? I survived!
Terri M.
when I was 13 I was in love with Kirk Cameron
When I was 13, I thought I would grow up to marry George Michael from Wham! (yeah, yeah, I didn't realize THEN he was gay).
When I was 13 I avoided kissing boys like the plague. I played spin the bottle until the bottle landed on me or it was my turn...then I would just leave. LOL :)
I had my bat mitzvah when i was 13...and my best friend was asked out by the guy i had a crush on at the party. AWESOME.
When I was 13, it was 1995 and all I wanted for my birthday was a flannel shirt! Hahaha!
I was really awkward at 13..dark hair dyed what I pretended to be a gorgeous blond but was really an icky orange, thick dark eyebrows I had not yet learned how to tweeze, and just wanted to copy my 'cool' bff, which resulted in many mean spirited notes back and forth.
I remember I was really shy and studious at 13.
I was extremely innocent when I was 13- guess I was a late bloomer. Don't remember anything specific. I do know that on my 13th birthday that was the day the little girl fell in the well down in Texas. And if anyone remembers when that was I just aged myself!! :)
Thirteen was a terrible year for me. That was 8th grade and I was very short, nerdy, and didn't have many friends. Finally made some friends in high school when I grew the confidence to ditch the bitchy, overly competitive, and extremely negative girl who had been my only friend. (Who was probably the reason I didn't have many other friends until that point!)
I hated everyone.
The only things I remember about 13 are being boy crazy and getting my period. I think I blocked out the rest cuz it was horrible (not really but you know what I mean). :) Nan
When I was thirteen, I was a junior staff member at a summer camp. So I lived away from home for the summer months and had my first kiss from a much older guy...
I hated being 13; first boyfriend, first broken heart; my dad remarried, so first step-parent & step-sibling.
jcsites2002 at hotmail dot com
When I was 13 I was in love with the beatles. To be different I loved George. Still do lol!
I was 13 when I went on an airplane for the first time. I was just as excited for that as I was for my NC vacation! :)
kndyer
When I was 13 I traveled internationally without my parents and in charge of my 12 year old brother for the first time. We went to Argentina to meet up with family. But we flew from San Francisco to Buenos Aires by ourselves and I was "in charge". I remember it being the first time I felt "grown up".
-Philly5
At 13, I was obsessed with Beverly Hills, 90210. In fact, I still am.
Thirteen was a very dark period in my life, but was a turning point in my life. I am who I am today because of that time.
I believe I was 13 when I discovered my best friend I were going to take very different paths in our lives. We are still besties but complete opposites.
Carly H
At around 13 I got my first boyfriend. It was one of those that began with the note that says, "will you go with me? Check yes or no" I checked yes, we held hands at school and broke up about a week later. It was more out of curiosi ty and the thoughts of having a boyfriend than actually liking the guy.
I had my first kiss at 13 and it was with the preacher's 16 year old son.
When I was 13, my mom finally allowed me to shave my legs. I was so happy.
-Donna W.
I was 13 when I distanced myself from one of my best friends for no good reason. I still wonder how she is and how life would've been different if we had remained friends.
I was a total geek at age 13. Still am. Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the book. It sounds great.
When I was 13 I loved the boy that sat next to me in school more then anything...he was actually one of my best friends. Going to school was the highlight of my day because I knew I would be sitting next to him all day. We would flirt the way a 13 year old flirts and I remember just always being happy...then he started "dating" another girl in out class and he came up with a plan so the teacher would move his seat next to her....it worked...and I got stuck with a bully. :(
kathygold9778
Hmm, this is hard. I'm not sure I can think back that far. But I do remember a little like your story Manic being afraid to be kissed and I was left alone in the hall with a boy and he went in for the kiss but I ducked and hit my head on the lockers. I was so embarassed.
When I was 13 I was fighting my mom for my own phone line and spent most of my time at my best friends house jumping on her trampoline. Ohhh to be thirteen again!
At 13 I remember my first kiss. He was a little older and very nice. He wasn't a guy that told all his friends. It was actually very innocent.
Nicole
I had my first "true love" when I was 13. He actually was the boyfriend of my bestie at the time. She and I were walking down the road by our houses that summer and he stopped and picked us up...he had just gotten his license! I just remember him turning the rearview mirror to look at me in the back seat. A week later, he broke up with her and asked me to be his girlfriend! Too funny!!
When I was 13 I begged my mom to take me to see GREASE in the movie theatre! I was the ONLY seventh grader in my school NOT allowed to see the movie! Mom insisted the movie was inappropriate and would NOT let me see it... I was probably 17 by the time I actually saw the movie!...
Love this book! I read it after your first recommendation! I borrowed from library - so would still enjoy winning a copy!
Christine
13 was a rough year, it was the year I found out about loss and death. Really found out, since we had 3 deaths in the family that year, including my beloved grandfather. That's all I can see when I think back to being 13. Sorry to be such a downer oh this one.
when i was 13 my "boyfriend" wore more makeup than i did. gotta love the early 80s!
13, that was probably one of the last years that who my friends were didn't really matter. I also remember being terrified of being kissed.
When I was 13, I spent my time flirting with boys =)!
I don't remember much from 13, but, I know I was in 8th grade, which was a great year.
I was a cheerleader with braces.
I was completely in love with Prince William when I was 13. Not so much anymore!
qweska8402
Ah, 13, junior high years. I went to a small school and when it came time for cheerleader tryouts, the adviser MADE my tryout because 'everyone else was' and she just knew that I really wanted to. Nope, I didn't, really, no, I don't! She made me anyway - I sucked - and I didn't make the squad. I knew I wouldn't, I knew I didn't want it but she made me anyway. Why couldn't she have just left me alone?
I learned (or I think I learned) at 13 to stand up for myself and don't let anyone talk me into something I don't want to do, even a teacher!
Sure.... you want me to what? OK, I'll do it.
When I was thirteen I was completely, utterly, head-over-heels in love with C. Thomas Howell and the movie The Outsiders.
cabest@yahoo.com
That was the summer between 7th and 8th grade (right?). I remember being very confident going into 8th grade and being "on top". I was too cool to hang out with my younger sister and couldn't wait to grow up. LOL
When I was 13 I was in love with the Bay City Rollers ...
kayswederski@yahoo.com
At 13 I learned that kissing is REALLY fun...and that heartbreak hurts.
When was 13 I though I was going to marry Leonardo Dicaprio!
I had lots of crushes on boys when I was 13, but I was way too shy to try to talk to them.
13 was a tough year for me, my folks had gotten divorced and I lived with my dad...had to go bra shopping with my dad, talk about humiliating!
I was the baby of the family so at Thirteen I still wasn't allowed to do anything my friends did. I got grounded for riding my bike in the street.
When I was 13 my parents got divorced and for me, at that time, that was the end of everything.
When I was 13 I acted like I was 30 yrs old. I was way more mature than I had any right to be. Of course now I'm paying for it with the mothers curse with my daughters .
When I was thirteen I went to my first party, had my first real crush and skipped a lot of gym class to get brunch with my mom! ID: Eloisepeaches
The summer that i was 13 i had my bat mitzvah and then was allowed to drink coffee. I also flew San Francisco to Chicago to visit my grandparents alOne for the first time. I thought I was oh so grown up!
I'd lost some weight when I was 13, but was still very dorky. My dad brought home these little notebooks from work and I'd use them to write novels. I'd spend time during lunch break writing anyway and trying not to let my loneliness bother me (too much).
When I was 13 I can remember trying to fit into my own body as a young woman.
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
When I was 13, I went into 8th grade, got my period, got humiliated by said period (very bad leakage one day), and got my first "grown up" kiss with an older boy...not to be confused with the "first" kiss with another 11 yo. LeslieGC
When I was 13 I had huge bangs & snuck cigarettes out of my best friend's mom's purse. We were hot stuff!
I discovered hair dye....and haven't seen my natural color since. Good bye mousy brown hello every other possible color hahaha
I had a crush on a boy named Brian. And you know what - I saw him 2 yrs ago and I think I still could have a crush on a boy named Brian.
When I was 13 I was the only of my friends who had never kissed a boy! Such a late bloomer I am!
I can remember finally being able to wear make-up. It was huge that I could put on mascara and lipstick. I had to wait until I was 13...not that I did a great job. It was a great year b/c I finally felt pretty.
13 was when I realized that the wrong choice can ruin your life. My "best friend" went another direction, ended up pregnant. It was one of the most mememorabe moments of my life.
I kissed a boy for the first time when I was 13...I remember being soooooo nervous!!!
ChristinaL
When I was thirteen I purposely failed a private school exam to go to public school with my friends. Luckily, I had a persistent mother who insisted I get in.
I learned that I was destined not to be a blonde. Also, hydrogen peroxide lightens your hair!
I had my first "real" boyfriend at 13. And I used to get to wear his football jersey on the Friday before a game and he would always spray it with his cologne - Polo of course (it was the 80's, after all!!)!
When I was 13 all I wanted were boobs! I was a really late bloomer and nothing was more tragic to me. Needless to say, I eventually caught up :)
Kristi Hooke
I was sad to be moving from a small town in the deep south to Michigan, and ended up moving to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!
When I was 13 my mom divorced husband #2 and we move on to what would become husband #3.
I learned how to golf to prove the boys golf coach wrong that girls and women can play sports and can be better than most boys/guys. :)
When I was thirteen, I was very quiet and shy.
I was obsessed with NKOTB. LOL! I did learn around that time that I could talk to guys and be seen as attractive. I went to a lot of bar and bat mitzvah parties around that time and most were for kids from different schools. so their friends didn't know me. it was nice having guys to dance with who didn't know that i was a total nerd at my school.
also...i became interested in v.c. andrews novels. her books saved my sanity!
melissa a from clc
I think I finally gave up Barbie's.
kyfaithw at aol dot com
I had the biggest party I have ever had when I was 13!
When I was 13, I realized that perfection wasn't necessarily outward.
THANK YOU ALL FOR COMMENTING! NO COMMENTS AFTER THIS COMMENT WILL QUALIFY FOR THIS BOOK! THANK YOU! CHECK OUT THE NEXT BOOKS OFFERED FOR THE FALL FAB GIVEAWAY! THANKS, MANIC MOMMY
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