Review: The Body Institute by Carol Riggs

From Goodreads:
Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.
Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl's body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body--leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches...
For one, Morgan won't remember what happens in her "Loaner" body. Once she's done, she won't recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she's been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it's all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start...
Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan's mind. She's feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti-Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she'll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul... 


My Thoughts:
I do have a weak spot for Dystopian, and this premise definitely interested me as well. Being someone who has a chronic condition that makes weight loss hard, especially after having babies, I was like "give me one of those!" Ha ha ha! But seriously, the prospect of someone else, one of those gym junkies, doing all the work, intrigued me.
At first, I was kind of disgruntled by the hypocrisy of the system. The divide of socioeconomic groups, enforced health protocols, but mostly the dreaded "fat shaming." But this is a dystopian society, it's supposed to be off at first. But even later on, there were things that bugged me, like when the weight is mentioned and made sound so grossly overweight, when it really wasn't.
The big "turn of events" I will call it so as not to give spoilers, upset me so much I had to set the book aside for several days. That shows how enthralled I was by the story.
The insulting fat implications aside, the plot was interesting and held my interest. I felt for the characters, and their concerns.
All in all, an interesting read, and clean.

Tarnished (Perfected #2) by Kate Jarvik Birch

Tarnished (Perfected #2)

by Kate Jarvik Birch

Release Date: 2015

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Freedom comes at a cost...

Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet—graceful, demure...and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape started a revolution, but she’s trapped, unable to get back to Penn—the boy she loves—or help the girls who need her.

Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she's lucky, she'll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she's tried to save...

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Book One (Perfected):

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Praise for Perfected:

“Compelling, imaginative, and unique. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!”

— Mary Lindsey, author of Shattered Souls

About the Author:

Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids. To learn more visit www.katejarvikbirch.com

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Blog Tour: The Body Institute by Carol Riggs

Release Date: 09/01/15

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Meet Morgan Dey, one of the top teen Reducers at The Body Institute.

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, Morgan can temporarily take over another girl’s body, get her in shape, and then return to her own body—leaving her client slimmer, more toned, and feeling great. Only there are a few catches…

For one, Morgan won’t remember what happens in her “Loaner” body. Once she’s done, she won’t recall walks with her new friend Matt, conversations with the super-cute Reducer she’s been text-flirting with, or the uneasy feeling she has that the director of The Body Institute is hiding something. Still, it’s all worth it in the name of science. Until the glitches start…

Suddenly, residual memories from her Loaner are cropping up in Morgan’s mind. She’s feeling less like herself and more like someone else. And when protests from an anti–Body Institute organization threaten her safety, she’ll have to decide if being a Reducer is worth the cost of her body and soul…

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THE BODY INSTITUTE Character Profile

Full Character Name: Jodine Nora Kowalczyk

Age: 17 years old, almost 18

Birthday: February 7—2016!

Appearance: freckled, waist-long light brown hair with tight curls. Wide and curvy mouth, hazel eyes. 100 pounds overweight.

Likes:

·         Playing Masters of the Cyberverse with her holographic liegerdeen avatar

·         Listening to music and hanging with her best friend, Helena

·         Playing holo-chess with her live-in chef and former nanny, Nettie

·         Painting, especially using the color RED!

·         The Body Institute, since it’ll help her shed the weight everyone is pressuring her to lose

·         Singing in voice class or singing with her custom karaoke machine at home

·         Helping cook in chef Nettie’s bright, cheery kitchen

Dislikes:

·         Being 100 pounds overweight

·         How busy her mother and father are, because she doesn’t see them much

·         Her ex-friend Noni, who constantly torments her about her weight

·         All the government fines that keep piling up because of her weight

·         Boring tech and science stuff like her father does as a research physicist

Basics:

Jodine, like many teens in the year 2033, is an only child due to population control. She lives with her parents in a wealthy private home in the metropolis of Los Angeles, California. She’s intelligent, musical, and has an air-filtering robot called an airbot that doubles as a pet. Her grandmother, Caroline Mahoney, invented the PlasmaWave oven. Jodine spends more face time with her live-in chef, Nettie, than she does her parents. She becomes a Loaner client at The Body Institute, where Morgan Dey becomes her Reducer to lose the weight she finds difficult to shed on her own.

About the Author

I'm a YA writer represented by Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary. My sci-fi novel THE BODY INSTITUTE explores the themes of society, identity, and body image. I live in the beautiful, green state of Oregon and have a Studio Arts degree; I'm an SCBWI member. 

You'll usually find me in my writing cave, surrounded by my dragon collection and the characters in my head. I also enjoy reading--mostly young adult novels--as well as drawing, painting, and quilting. I also attend writing conferences, walk with my husband, and enjoy music and dance of all kinds. 

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Cover Reveal: Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn

Forget Tomorrow

by Pintip Dunn

Release Date: 11/03/15

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided...by your future self.

It's Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she's eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they're meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.

Or in Callie's case, a criminal.

In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes the hellish prison.

But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all—Callie, herself. 

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About the Author
When my first-grade teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied, “An author.” Although I have pursued other interests over the years, this dream has never wavered.

I graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. I received my J.D. at Yale Law School, where I was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. I published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,” and received the Barry S. Kaplan Prize for best paper in Law and Literature.

I am represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. I'm a 2012 Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. I'm a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, YARWA, and The Golden Network.

I live with my husband and children in Maryland.

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Cover Reveal: Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles #1) by Chloe Jacobs

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles #1)

by Chloe Jacobs

Release Date: 12/11/12

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
While trying to save her brother from a witch’s fire four years ago, Greta was thrown in herself, falling through a portal to Mylena, a dangerous world where humans are the enemy and every ogre, ghoul, and goblin has a dark side that comes out with the eclipse.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young goblin king, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her will to escape.

But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. An ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal, and with the next eclipse mere days away, every bloodthirsty creature in the realm is after her—including Isaac. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back...

Greta and the Glass Kingdom (Mylena Chronicles #2)

by Chloe Jacobs 

Release Date: February 2015

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:
The sequel to the Hansel & Gretel retelling Greta and the Goblin King ups the stakes of danger and romance. As conflict surges across Mylena, the tough Greta struggles to save those she loves.

Against all odds, Greta and the Goblin King miraculously survived the battle against the evil Agramon. Greta should be happy to be alive and ready to claim her place in Mylena by Isaac's side. Yet nothing is the way she thought it would be. The battle against Agramon left a dark magick inside Greta that will eventually kill her. Isaac hasn't been the same since he almost went Lost. And there are whispers of a rebellion brewing throughout Mylena...

Determined to save Mylena from a bitter civil war, they travel to the mysterious Glass Kingdom to form an uneasy alliance with the deadly Faerie race. But when an unexpected disaster tears Greta and Isaac apart, she must make the journey on her own. Along the way, she discovers a conspiracy stretching back to events she never thought she would have to revisit, betrayal from allies whose loyalty she never questioned, and an enemy vying to control all of Mylena.

Follow Greta into unexpected romance, explosive secrets, and shocking betrayals that will leave her and all of Mylena forever changed in the stunning second installment of The Mylena Chronicles.

About the Author

Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

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Cover Reveal: Paper or Plastic by Vivi Barnes

Paper or Plastic

by Vivi Barnes 

Release Date: 2015

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Welcome to SmartMart, where crime pays minimum wage...

Busted. Alexis Dubois just got caught shoplifting a cheap tube of lipstick at the local SmartMart. She doesn’t know what’s worse—disappointing her overbearing beauty-pageant-obsessed mother for the zillionth time…or her punishment. Because Lex is forced to spend her summer working at the store, where the only things stranger than the staff are the customers.

Now Lex is stuck in the bizarro world of big-box retail. Coupon cutters, jerk customers, and learning exactly what a “Code B” really is (ew). And for added awkwardness, her new supervisor is the totally cute—and adorably geeky—Noah Grayson. Trying to balance her out-of-control mother, her pitching position on the softball team, and her secret crush on the school geek makes for one crazy summer. But ultimately, could the worst job in the world be the best thing that ever happened to her?

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About the Author

Originally from East Texas (the accent comes out more often than not), I now live in the magic and sunshine of Orlando, FL with my very understanding husband and three kids. I’m an extrovert with awkward blogging tendencies. My debut novel, OLIVIA TWISTED, comes out November 5, 2013 from Entangled Teen!

You can connect with me on Facebook,Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest. Or visit the official Olivia Twisted site atwww.oliviatwisted.com.

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Cover Reveal: Atlantis Rising by Gloria Craw

Atlantis Rising

by Gloria Craw

Release Date: 01/06/15

Entangled Teen

352 pages

Summary from Goodreads:

I am different. I have always been different, but no one can know or my life will be in danger. So I hide in plain sight, wearing drab clothes and thick glasses and trying to be invisible. I’m so good at hiding, no one has ever noticed me. Until Ian…the mysterious and oh-so-cute boy I know I need to avoid.

Now I have been seen. And more terrifying still, I am wanted—by those who would protect me and those who would destroy everything and everyone I love. But if they’re all terrified about who I am, wait until they see what I can do…

About the Author
Gloria Craw grew up in the desert southwest, inspired every day by the wide skies and rich colors around her. After high school, she attended the University of Utah where she majored and got a degree in anthropology. These days, she lives in the ‘burbs’ just outside of Seattle, Washington where she is the shepherd of a husband, four daughters and a very hairy dog. 

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Blog Tour: Storm by @danielleewrites @entangledteen

5 Interesting Facts about Witches

When I was writing Salt and Storm I took my childhood love of witches and did some research. Here are some fun facts about witches that I found, and how I used them in my books!

-      Contrary to popular belief, a male witch is not a called a wizard or a warlock. A male witch is simply called a witch. Warlock is actually a negative term that means traitor.

 I used this because in my world, witches are good and demons are evil. I didn’t want any confusion about the roles, so I called men witches too.

 -      Witches are not otherworldly beings who can fly, change form or brew potions from the eyes of newts. They are just people.

 I liked this for the same reason I like Batman (and yes, Sam & Dean): just a normal person who does extraordinary things. Of course, my witches have magic or don’t, but I like that they live with Nons and are mostly the same

-      Witches do not claim to have "supernatural" powers. They work with natural earth energies and involves the manipulation of natural energy to create a change in the world.  

Which is why I made witch magic (essence) created, controlled and pull from nature. (vs. demon magic (void) which creates from nothing.

-      In 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, a great number of witch trials were held. 24 people died as a result of these trials. Of the 24; 19 were hanged, 1 pressed to death, and 4 died in prison awaiting their trial.

I used some real cases from the Salem Witch Trials in Storm.

-      The craft practiced by witches is generally for the good of the world. 

I loved this because if there’s going to be magic then there needs to be a reason, so witches working to save humanity (ie. themselves since they are human) felt like a good choice.

Storm (Salt #2)

by Danielle Ellison 

Release Date: 09/29/14

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Up until recently, Penelope was a witch with no magic. After having it stolen by a demon when she was just a child, Penelope had been forced to rely on sharing others’ powers as she went through the grueling training required to become an elite demon hunter. Now Penelope has more magic than she’s ever known. And when you’re this powerful, who needs salt to keep the demons away?

But power has a dark side.

Carter Prescott just wants to hunt demons and be with Penelope. But suddenly, witches who formerly had no magic are developing terrible, out-of-control powers. Now the world Carter swore to protect isn’t just endangered by malicious demons―it’s threatened by the same witches who once defended it. And Carter is horrified to see his girlfriend starting to change. Stronger. More powerful. Unrecognizable. It’s just a matter of time before Penelope changes into something far beyond his worst fears...

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About the Author

Danielle Ellison is from a small town in West Virginia. She spent her childhood pretending to fly, talking to imaginary friends, and telling stories. She hasn’t changed much since then. You can still find her pretending to work, talking to imaginary characters, and writing stories.

When she’s not writing, Danielle is probably drinking coffee, fighting her nomadic urges, watching too much TV, or dreaming of the day when she can be British. She is the author of five upcoming novels and you can find her on twitter @DanielleEWrites.

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