Blog Tour Stop : The Boy Next Door by Katie Van Ark

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : The Boy Next Door
Author : Katie Van Ark
Publication Date :  January 6th 2015
Publisher : Macmillan
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

Maddy Spier has been in love with the boy next door forever. As his figure skating partner she spends time in his arms every day. But she’s also seen his arms around other girls—lots of other girls.

Gabe can't imagine skating with anyone but Maddy, and together they have a real chance at winning some serious gold medals. So, he’s determined to keep thinking of her like a sister. After all, he’s never had a romantic relationship that lasted for more than two weeks.

But when their coach assigns a new romantic skating program, everything changes. Will this be the big break that Maddy’s been hoping for or the big breakup that Gabe has always feared?

Guest Post
Favorite Skating Movies and Books

When it comes to skating movies, I'm a big fan of the classics and the original Cutting Edge remains one of my favorites. Sure it's a little far fetched but not as far as you might think. Canada has this TV series called Battle of the Blades, a Skating With the Stars type of show except all the stars are hockey stars. One of the teams, Ekaterina Gordeeva and her partner, a Russian hockey player, actually pulled off a throw double jump just in the course of one season. The funniest skating movie I've ever seen is On Edge. It does for skating flicks what Scary Movie did for horror, just a total spoof and so much fun. If I'm watching a movie with my daughters I'll watch Ice Princess. My inner math geek loves her physics project – I actually did a similar one for my geometry class when I was in high school, too bad it didn't get me a double jump!

As far as books, I loved Melissa Lowell's Silver Blades series when I was growing up. When it comes to skating books, I'm really fussy about the author's research. I love Jennifer Comeaux's work because in addition to being a great storyteller, she's very accurate. When authors make mistakes about the jumps or things, it's very jarring – like reading that 2+3 is hard. It just takes me out of the story while I go what? I did enjoy the nonfiction books about the 1961 U.S. World Skating team plane crash, Frozen in Time, and Ekaterina Gordeeva's My Sergei. Generally, though, I like a happily-ever-after for my love stories instead of the death-do-us-part tragic endings. Hence, my book. :-)

I always love finding new books and movies about skating and would love to hear everyone else's favorites in the comments.

Author Biography

Katie Van Ark lives in Michigan with two daughters, two cats, and one very patient husband who was also her high school sweetheart. She is a member of SCBWI and RWA and a student at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She enjoys reading, writing, and of course figure skating.

Author Links/Info

Learn more about The Boy Next Door.
Learn more about Swoon Reads.
Join in on social media with #BoyNextDoor (bonus points if you also tag @SwoonReads!)
Visit Katie’s website, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In My Mailbox (8)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Touch (Denazen #1) by Jus Accorda Summary (from Goodreads) When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home. Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized. Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking dow
Read more

In My Mailbox (3)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer Summary (from Goodreads) Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. The Alchemy Of Forever (Incarnation #1) by Avery Williams Summary (from Goodreads) Seraphina's first love made her immortal...her second might get her
Read more

In My Mailbox (10)

Image
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren . Don't You Wish (Obtained From Net Galley - Big Thanks To Random House Children's Books for the ARC) by Roxanne St Claire Summary (from Goodreads) When plain and unpopular Annie Nutter gets zapped by one of her dad's whacked-out inventions, she lands in a parallel universe where her life becomes picture-perfect. Now she's Ayla Monroe, daughter of the same mother but a different father—and she's the gorgeous, rich queen bee of her high school.  In this universe, Ayla lives in glitzy Miami instead of dreary Pittsburgh and has beaucoup bucks, courtesy of her billionaire—if usually absent—father. Her friends hit the clubs, party backstage at concerts, and take risks that are exhilirating . . . and illegal. Here she's got a date to lose her V-card with the hottest guy she's ever seen. But on the insde, Ayla is still Annie. So when she's offered the chance to leave the dream life a
Read more