A Step Toward Falling Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

Hey everyone! Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for A Step Toward Falling! I have a great excerpt from the book to share with you today - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above!

A Step Toward Falling

Author: Cammie McGovern

Genre: YA Contemporary

Release Date: October 6, 2015

Publisher: HarperTeen

Description:

Cammie McGovern follows up her breakout young adult debut, Say What You Will, with this powerful and unforgettable novel about learning from your mistakes, and learning to forgive. Told in alternating points of view, A Step Toward Falling is a poignant, hopeful, and altogether stunning work that will appeal to fans of Jennifer Nevin, Robyn Schneider, and Jandy Nelson.

Emily has always been the kind of girl who tries to do the right thing—until one night when she does the worst thing possible. She sees Belinda, a classmate with developmental disabilities, being attacked. Inexplicably, she does nothing at all.

Belinda, however, manages to save herself. When their high school finds out what happened, Emily and Lucas, a football player who was also there that night, are required to perform community service at a center for disabled people. Soon, Lucas and Emily begin to feel like maybe they're starting to make a real difference. Like they would be able to do the right thing if they could do that night all over again. But can they do anything that will actually help the one person they hurt the most? 

 

p. 3-4

The following Wednesday, we come in an hour before class starts to meet with Mary, who teaches the class, and go over what she expects from us. Apparently not too much, at least in the beginning. She says we’ll mostly do the activities along with the group. “We do a few role-plays every class and I may ask you to join some of those. Do either one of you have acting experience?”

I glance at Lucas, who still refuses to look at me. “No,” he says.

“Some,” I say. “When I was younger. Not for a while.”

Mary smiles at me like she can tell that I’ll probably be better at this than Lucas. Lucas plays football at our school, meaning he’s huge and—not to be mean—a little scary-looking.

“Wonderful, Emily,” Mary says now. “Do you have any improv experience?”

“A little,” I say. “I was in a comedy troupe once, except we weren’t very funny.” In middle school, the drama club tried to start an improv group. We lasted one semester and then gave up.

Mary laughs. “Oh, I know all about that. Don’t worry, we’re not playing for laughs here, thank heavens.”

We finish up with twenty minutes before class starts, so Mary tells us to wait in the lobby until the other students arrive. It’s awkward, of course, as sitting in every waiting room with Lucas has been for the last two weeks. He pulls out his phone as he always does. I pull out a book as I always do. After five minutes, I can’t stand it anymore and lean toward him.

“I’m Emily, by the way. I know you’re Lucas, but maybe you don’t know my name, so there you have it. Emily.”

He looks up. “I know your name.”

Richard always warns me not to get too sarcastic with people who have no visible sense of humor. “They don’t take it well,” he tells me. “They think you’re making fun of them. Because usually you are.” But I can’t help it.

“Oh, okay. Well, as long as we’re doing this together for the rest of the semester, I just thought I’d make sure. We don’t need to be friends or anything, but maybe the odd hello wouldn’t kill us.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lucas says, twisting around in his chair. “This may kill us. We’ll have to see.”

I can hear Richard’s voice in the back of my head: You shouldn’t go around telling stupid people what you think all the time. First of all, they won’t understand what you’re saying because they’re stupid. Secondly, they’ll hate you.

I want to, though. I want to say, Look, Lucas, why don’t we try and do this thing right? Why don’t we acknowledge the guilt we both feel about Belinda by doing a decent job here? Maybe for Lucas I should say it differently: Why don’t you stop being such a jerk about this?

Cammie McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, but moved to Los Angeles when she was seven years old. She is the author of three adult novels, The Art of Seeing, Eye Contact, and Neighborhood Watch. Say What You Will will be published by HarperTeen in June, 2014. She currently lives in Amherst, MA, with her husband and three sons, the oldest of whom is autistic. 

http://cammiemcgovern.com/

Buy Links:
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One winner will get (2) copies of A STEP TOWARD FALLING by Cammie McGovern, one for themselves and one to give to a friend. 

Must be 13+ To Enter |Ships in US only | Winner will be asked to provide contact info for friend so we can gather their shipping info and mail directly.

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Say What You Will Blog Tour: Review, Guest Post + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the official blog tour for Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern! Today I have lots of fun stuff for you - my review of the book, a guest post by Cammie, and an awesome tour-wide giveaway!! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.

Say What You Will

Author: Cammie McGovern

Genre: YA Contemporary

Release Date: June 3, 2014

Publisher: HarperTeen

Description:

John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern’s insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can’t walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other’s lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

What’s Inside My… by Cammie McGovern

My purse is too messy to take a picture or talk about and my desk isn’t too much better. (I mostly write upstairs in my bedroom, anyway, so my desk is repository of “papers we’re trying not to lose, misplace, bills, etc.” Which means everything is a little bit lost there.) So no need to go into that one either.

But I will tell you what’s on my phone! Books for summer listening! We’re in the car a lot in the summer, usually driving to our cabin on a lake in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont where there’s no internet, no electricity and no plumbing (yes—this means going outside to get to the outhouse!) The only entertainment we have on a rainy days is board games and books on tapes. I love it! Our favorites have been the whole Hunger Games series, Divergent, and then some lesser known ones: The True Meaning of Smekday is a fantastic audio book. So is The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch. Not every book is a perfect winner, but it’s such magic when all five of us (I have a husband and three boys) are gathered around a battery operated player all leaning forward, listening carefully. I imagine that’s what radio used to be like…

On the phone for this summer: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, The Fault in Our Stars (my kids haven’t read it) and Legend. 

Thanks for stopping by the blog and sharing what's on your phone with us Cammie!

Say What You Will is a heartbreakingly honest look at the life of two teens who are disabled in their own ways - and how they come to realize how much they needed one another without knowing it. The two main characters in the story - Amy, who has cerebral palsy - and Matthew, who has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are both incredibly realistic in all their aspects - both good and bad. We get to see these two teens for who they are - their personalities, likes and dislikes, fears, frustrations, and how they live with their respective illnesses. I loved the honesty that the author wrote with - with both the characters, the illnesses and how it effects those with the disease and those around them, and basically teenage life in general. She shows us that just because these two are diagnosed with illnesses, they aren't very different at all from the regular teenager. 

The writing was beautifully done - especially the characters and their growing relationship with each other. I loved how we got to know both Amy and Matthew for their true selves and then we got to watch how their lives become entwined. This book is a definite emotional roller coaster - there were points that were funny, some that were sobering, and some that had me crying hysterically. I found it easy to slip into the world the author created within the first few paragraphs, and I didn't stop reading until I was finished - and then even after that, because it kept me thinking and feeling for quite some time afterwords. I thought the plot was original, if not completely unique, and written with a natural flow and easy pace. It seems that more and more YA contemporary books are revolving around characters who are sick in some way, but the the depth of the characters and the interesting story line made this one original and fresh. I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so I'll just say that you should prepare yourself before reading this one. As I mentioned, it took me on a ride - from laughing to crying and everything in between. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre as well as those looking for an honest and emotional young adult novel.

Cammie McGovern was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and received the Nelson Algren Award in short fiction. Her work has been published in Redbook, Seventeen, Glimmer Train, TriQuarterly, and other publications.

VISIT CAMMIE’S WEBSITE

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 (2) Winners will each get a copy of SAY WHAT YOU WILL

Ships in US only | Must be 13+ to enter

 To enter the giveaway, click HERE.