Happy Release Day! #Giveaway #Review How I Fall by Anne Eliot @YARomance

 *Throws confetti in the air! Cheers! Claps!*

So I haven't been around much on my blog lately. Life has been a bully these days and has taken up way too much of the time I'd rather spend on my blog & talking to all of my fabulous bookish friends (Like you! Yes, You! The one reading this right now!)

Although I haven't had much of a presence, I've still been actively reading & doing other fun bookish things! One of those things has been talking to this fabulous lady who's releasing this ah-mazing new novel!  Hopefully, work and dr visits will slow down so I can get back to blogging!

I really hope you pick up this novel. I highly recommend it! It's a sweet, first kiss, honest-to-the-love-of-all-things-adorable novel with so many emotional highs and lows that it leaves you wanting more! More! More! I can't wait for the next book to come out.

Now, before I start giving you all of the specs on the novel and the author, I want to make sure you read the backstory for this one. It's heart pinching and ohhhh so beautiful.You can read about this in the back of How You Fall & see another picture of this young lady who is an inspiration to so many! I did make sure Anne was okay with me sharing Allison's story below & she even sent me the photos to use. The more we can share the details of this wonderful program, the more lives might be impacted!

An adorable young lady by the name of Allison suffers from symptoms similar to those of Cerebral Palsy, hemiparesis/balance issues brought about after a childhood brain tumor was removed. The character Ellen is a fictional character, but her  hemiparesis/balance issues are loosely matched to Allison. This amazing young lady, with the help of family and the inspiration from her cute little rescued fluffball Coco, decided to begin baking dog biscuits and hand-selling them in the hopes that she could help other kids who were sick be able to afford full trained dogs from a very special program. When she was 9 (NINE!!) years old, her goal was to raise enough money so that one dog could join the family of a child with a life-threatening illness. She met that goal PLUS 9 more dogs! 10 in Total! What an Ah-Mazing inspiration Allison is! <3 It brings tears to my eyes to think about how she's played a role in helping so many families with sick boys and girls. I look at my little man (5 years old now) and it warms my heart to know that in a time of such heartbreaking sadness, there are individuals and programs like Allison's out there to help bring a little light and cheer to both the family's and the children's hearts.

Allison is now 14 years old and cancer free (Take that Cancer!) but she still continues to bake and sell dog biscuits for her now thriving community charity effort! Her program, called the Stink-Bug Project, is now linked with the Rocky Mountain Children's Health Foundation. They handle the adoptions & applications for the dogs. You really should go check out their site so you can read more about the project! I would love to hear that some of you read this and made a donation! Anne plans on making a donation every single year to this project and also take donations at book signings!

So if you see Anne, remember to help out the Stink-Bug Project! <3 

You'll be helping to change a child & family's life. <3 <3 <3

Click on the Stink Bug Logo above to hop over to the site so you can learn more about it! 

How I Fall

(Bk 1)

by Anne Eliot

YA Sweet Romance 

(first kisses, butterflies! <3)

Self-Published June 15, 2014

*ARC obtained in exchange for an honest review*

Synopsis via Goodreads:

CAM LIKES ELLEN * ELLEN LIKES CAM * CAM LIKES ELLEN* ELLEN LIKES CAM
What if on one fall day, everything goes terribly wrong at school but somehow turns out right? Suddenly you're forced into friendship with your secret crush—thanks to a glitter crazed new-girl who turns your life upside down. Literally. But you know your crush needs to stay how it's always been—distant, impossible, in your head—because you have problems and hide things this crush would never understand.

ELLEN LIKES CAM...
But what if you all end up in the same group photography project? Suddenly talking and making friends is easy, more than easy. It's almost perfect. What if high school felt normal for once, and what if your crush wasn't who you thought they were at all, and what if they liked you as much as you like them?

CAM LIKES ELLEN...
And what if when you kiss…it’s so amazing. You tell each other secrets and you make the kind of promises that are impossible to keep when you’re only sixteen and have no control over your own life. Which is why, long before things fall apart you kind of already knew nothing this beautiful could have really been yours for long…

Grab Your Copy:
Amazon

Anne Eliot writes sweet, first-love stories. She was raised in the mountains of Colorado, but says she really learned about life, love and friendships from summers spent with her large, Italian immigrant family in Ontario, Canada.

Anne is grateful to have had schools with inspiring teachers and librarians who directed her to worlds she would not have found on her own. To this day, she adores school visits, teaching writing to teens, and is dedicated to making sure kids in need have access to books that will fuel their hopes and dreams.

While growing up, Anne hid her own anxieties by hiding and reading book after book. She developed an addiction to first love, first kisses and her favorite: the happy-ever-after story. This is what she writes today. Now she's a mom of two and happily married to her own first love. Anne works hard to juggle being a wife and parent while writing, but fails at cooking because she is still trying to read book, after book of love stories on the side.

Anne Eliot’s first book, Almost, became a top 100 best selling Kindle book, and was a Readers Choice, Top 12 of 2012 book for Amazon.com at #11, and will be translated and released in Germany and Turkey fall 2013. Her second book, Unmaking Hunter Kennedy, is a also a Kindle, top 100 best selling book in Teen Romance for 2013. She's hard at work on her third novel, another sweet teen romance releasing fall/winter, 2013. She loves to hear from readers. Please look for her on Facebook or tweet her @yaromance.

Representation: Anne Eliot’s foreign translations, audio and film rights are represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel and Goderich Literary management.

Connect with Anne:  

Facebook   Goodreads  Twitter   Website   Amazon Page

How I Fall is a beautiful tale of the heart-fluttering first kisses of a boy who thought he wasn’t good enough for her and a girl who thought she wasn’t good enough for him. Yay for group school projects bringing people together!

The story truly melted my heart! Ellen & Cam will stick with you long after you’ve finished the last page because they’re both beautiful individuals despite the struggles they deal with every day. It’s so easy to love their characters. And I loved Ellen's internal monologue! I can't forget the fabulous Irish gal & Patrick! They're both the best supporting characters! Oh my gosh! Loved them both! They cracked me up!

It’s a griping tale that pulls at every one of your emotions: Love, humor, excitement, anger, sadness, betrayal… Cam loves Ellen. Ellen loves Cam. But is that enough? She has her mountains, he has his own. They’re pretty big mountains… Ellen has CP but it's not the main focal point in the novel. You go through her struggle of not falling, keeping her balance, and trying to be the person who just blends into the background so no one notices her grabbing the wall/car/etc. so she doesn't fall. But she's so strong! Gosh! I just loved her character! I'm not an expert on CP by any means, but I feel like I understand how someone with similar symptoms to Ellen's would feel. How they struggle. How she has to work double/triple to just do things that I take for granted. Then you have Cam.. Poor Cam has an overbearing jerk for a dad who is determined to ensure Cam's future is football. Not to mention his mom who just stands back with her nose up in the air. Grrrrrr.... But Cam, gosh. Even living in a house like his, he's a gem. He has his own goals and dreams. But is he strong enough to stand up for what he wants & make them come true? 

As the reader, you stand in Cam & Ellen's corner and cheer them on through it all. I wanted to jump through the novel quite a few times when it came to Cam's parents! Grrr!

The plot, for me, flowed effortlessly. It was like I was a fly on the wall, or on Ellen & Cam's shoulders, Ha. Just when you think things are going to be perfect, something happens or someone makes a comment that knocks you back to growling at the rest of the world for not letting them be THEM! 

The photography project was absolutely brilliant. That little piece of the story was perfect! Loved, loved, loved it! 

And Ahhh! The ending! I cannot wait for book 2 because I seriously am having heart palpitations over here because of the ending! Must.Know.What.Happens!

Overall, I loved every emotional second of this novel. I highly recommend it to those of us who love a sweet, emotional novel with butterflies & first kisses. <3

Overall Rating: 5 Huge Stars 
Cover Rating: 5 Stars <- I love this! I love the significance of the leaves and how they're woven throughout the pages! 
Characters: 5 Stars!
Plot: 5 Stars
Climax: 5 Huge Stars! Ack! Omg! 
And then you have the ending: 5 Stars of course but totally torture! 

I can't wait to see how their journey continues! 

I truly hope you love them as much as I did! 

Use the first Rafflecopter below to enter for your chance to win 1 of 2 Kindle copies of How I Fall! Use the second Rafflecopter below to enter for your chance to win a $10.00 Amazon Giftcard! Both of these are international giveaways, void where prohibited!

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