Book Review: The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

Expected Publication: May 14, 2013

Publisher: Soho Teen

Age Demographic: YA Paranormal

Pages: 244

“I found out two things today. One, I think I’m dying. And two, my brother is a perv.”

So begins the diary of 14-year-old Jenna Samuels, who is having a very bad eighth-grade year. Her single mother spends all day in bed. Dad vanished when she was eight. Her 16-year-old brother, Casey, tries to hold together what’s left of the family by working two after-school jobs— difficult, as he’s stoned all the time. To make matters worse, Jenna is sick. When she collapses one day, Casey tries to race her to the hospital in their beat-up Prius and crashes instead.

Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her. Beatified. Literally. The flab and zits? Gone. Before long, Jenna figures out that Casey didn’t survive the accident at all. He’s an “A-word.” (She can’t bring herself to utter the truth.) Soon they discover that Jenna isn’t just dying: she’s being poisoned. And Casey has been sent back to help solve the mystery that not only holds the key to her survival, but also to their mother’s mysterious depression and father’s disappearance.

To Purchase The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble: Amazon & B&N

Joy Preble has done it again! She's managed to write such a wonderfully entertaining and intriguing young adult novel, full of mystery and wonder. It's full of fascination and wickedy delicious dialouge, catapulting readers into such a fun story. The characters are quirky and interesting, with their own complexities that make them stand out and shine on the pages. The style and sense of humor is also another great element about this book.

Preble manages to give it such incredible pinache. The great thing about The Sweet Dead Life is that it's a book that is easily relatable to MG and even slightly older young adults, as well. It's fast paced, full of fantastic wit and humor, that doesn't feature a lot of questionable content for younger readers. The fact that the characters come across so real and relatable, makes them even more extremely likable. The voice Joy Preble brings to this book is fresh and wonderfully captivating.

It's simply unputdownable and such a fun book to read. It takes the basic "angel book" genre in the young adult market and gives it a clever spin, full of mystery and suspense. The Sweet Dead Life will simply not disappoint! It's a delightful and amazing read that's super fast and will have reader's glued to the pages. Definitely one of my favorite reads this year.

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Joy Preble lives in Texas. She is currently writing YA novels (with crazy witches and malevolent Russian mermaids and stoner guardian angels) and loves to eat guacamole. DREAMING ANASTASIA and HAUNTED are out now from Sourcebooks. Book 3 of the trilogy, ANASTASIA FOREVER is slated for Fall 2012. THE SWEET DEAD LIFE will be out in Spring 2013 from Soho Press.

Guest Post and Giveaway for Dreaming Anastasia Series by Joy Preble

You guys! I am so excited to be a part of the exclusive ANASTASIA FOREVER BLOG TOUR!

Today, I have a special GUEST POST ON THE ETHAN/ANNE ROMANCE to share with you!!! I promise, you don't want to miss out on the insight this has to offer. As always, I am super appreciative to Joy Preble for being so kind and generous enough to give us the "scoop" on these two love birds.

What's Love Got to Do with It?

The Anne/Ethan Romance

By Joy Preble

The guiding force of the DREAMING ANASTASIA series is the relationship between Anne and Ethan. Anne knows from the second she catches blue-eyed Ethan stalking her at the ballet that there is just something about him. And in fact, he proceeds to turn her life upside and sideways because it is Ethan who peels back Anne’s normal world and reveals a world of Russian fairy tales brought to life, of a hidden princess and an illegitimate royal son driven by vengeance. When they touch – and I always knew that their story would begin with a physical touch setting things in motion—everything changes.

Anne is no longer just the girl who dances ballet and goes to school and mourns the death of her brother to cancer. She is a girl with power to save a princess, power to right ancient wrongs and ultimately, the power to break a curse that is holding her birth grandmother captive. But power comes with a steep price. And when Anne accepts Baba Yaga’s bargain so she can save Ethan in book 2, she steps into the witch’s forest in a way she has up until then refused to do. Of course, I wanted her to do this for love, even if she has trouble admitting that’s what it is.

This is problem for Anne and Ethan: they do not come easily to loving each other. Or rather, Ethan comes easily to loving Anne, even if he feels that he does not deserve her or a second chance at life. Which is exactly what she gives him when she rides out of the witch’s forest with Anastasia, allowing Ethan to regain his mortality. While Viktor yearns to live forever, Ethan wants only to have what he lost for a cause that was never what he believed it to be: to live and die in the proper time. That he has found the love of his life makes him both deliriously happy as well as guilty as hell.

And Anne, well, she’s a smart girl. Even when she’s not, she has Tess watching her back, making sure she sees things as they are. Anne sees loving Ethan as an impossibility. He is too old even if he looks young. He has secrets and a long, long past. She is only sixteen. And yet I think she loves him from the moment he tells her his story. But she holds back; she is indecisive. In fact, these traits hurt her in all aspects of her life. She has trouble committing. Ethan, on the other hand, is an all-in kind of guy.

So what did I do to these two? I made them inhabit a reverse fairy tale. It is Anne who ends up saving Ethan over and over. It is Anne who is the hero. And ultimately, it is Ethan (no spoilers for book 3 quite yet) who needs redemption and forgiveness before he and Anne can be together. A happily ever after, but hard won. And not without suffering and sacrifice. This is after all, a Russian fairy tale. No one knows endurance like the Russians.

And so it goes: Ethan and Anne, circling and circling love, each running from the other, each doing the hero’s job. The question becomes, will they figure out that they belong together before it’s too late?

Of course they will!

But with these two, love isn’t simple. I think that makes them equal parts of smart and stupid. Not forbidden love. Not crazy love where the passion burns out everything else—and I think we all need some of that in our lives.

When Anne and Ethan finally figure out that they belong together, it will be a love that entwines them like two puzzle pieces, marveling at how perfectly and easily they fit. And how foolish they were not to know it.

Here’s the scoop on the DREAMING ANASTASIA Series!

There is so much to love about this series as Joy brilliantly blends Russian history, romance, magic and mythology into an enticing adventure.

In DREAMING ANASTASIA, Anne Michaelson begins to have unusual dreams and discovers that she is the only one who can save the daughter of the last tsar of Russia, Anastasia Romanov. Believed to be dead by the world, Anastasia has been kept captive all these years by the Russian witch Baba Yaga, and only Ethan, a handsome and mysterious 18-year-old, can help Anne free Anastasia.


Anne once again leaves behind her ordinary life in HAUNTED to join forces with the mysterious and gorgeous Ethan as the journey with the Romanov continues. This time she is haunted by classic figures from Russian mythology, a rusalka, , a Russian folklore mermaid with a malevolent streak – and a particular interest in Anne, who tells her that Anastasia is still alive. As she and Ethan team up, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets - including the true source of Anne’s powers.

Now in ANASTASIA FOREVER, having survived Baba Yaga and the Rusalka, Anne finds herself bound by the witch to undertake a journey into past, present, and future that will determine her destiny - and that of everyone she loves.


Catch a preview of the danger, romance, and magic await Anne in this exciting glimpse ahead of ANASTASIA FOREVER by taking a look at a special sneak peak with the first three chapters here!

ANASTASIA FOREVER comes out this August, be sure to look out for all things Anastasia at Joy’s website joysnovelidea.blogspot.com.

One lucky winner will get the chance to experience this totally ah-mazing series for sure! Thanks to Joy Preble and Soucebooks, I have a whole entire set of this series up for grabs to anyone who lives in US/Canada.

And, just because I'm nice like that - I'll be throwing in my own "random mystery swag" pack so there will actually be TWO winners!!!

Dude, what are you waiting for?! Fill out the Rafflecopter already and Good Luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABOUT JOY PREBLE

Blog || Twitter || Goodreads

Joy Preble lives in Texas. She is currently writing YA novels (with crazy witches and malevolent Russian mermaids and stoner guardian angels) and loves to eat guacamole. DREAMING ANASTASIA and HAUNTED are out now from Sourcebooks. Book 3 of the trilogy, ANASTASIA FOREVER is slated for Fall 2012. THE SWEET DEAD LIFE will be out in Spring 2013 from Soho Press.

Author information taken from her her blog.

Well, what are you waiting for?! Check this series out NOW!!!

Giveaway Graphic provided by the amazingly talented Parajunkee

Book Review: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble

Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Publisher: Soucebooks Jabberwocky
Published: September 1, 2009
Age Demographic YA Paranormal

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college--until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams.

Amazon || Barnes&Noble

Review for Dreaming Anastasia
by Joy Preble

Joy Preble pens an intriguing novel that is daring, original, and emotionally powerful. Dreaming Anastasia is hauntingly beautiful, dark and rich, and filled with secrets and mysteriously conflicting dreams that haunt Anastasia's nights. Beautifully written, both Anastasia and Anne possess a strong bond that will alter their lives forever. Written in a dreamstate quality, Joy Preble explores an old Russian fairytale into her own modernized story with compelling characters and beguiling imagery filled with vivid life and spark that ignites the pages. Dreaming Anastasia is an unpredictable book of wonder filled with many unexpected suspenseful twists and turns.

The challenge of trusting one another seems to be an occurring theme, throughout the book. The secrecy of bloodlines, pacts made with an ancient evil witch, illegitimate relatives, and magic gives so much depth, layers, and intrigue to this dark fantasy being told. Ethan and Anne are at the heart of this book, as they save one another over and over. The awkward tension that occurrs between these two at the beginning of their relationship is beautifully written and full of sweeping intense emotion. It makes falling in love with them and the relationship as it develops, that much more enjoyable.

Dreaming Anastasia is a novel that is incredibly easy to connect with, where all of the characters are likable and the villians are delightfully evil and fun to hate as they should be. Joy Preble did such a wonderful job crossing the two dreamworld's as she works to connect both Anne and Anastasia. Anne is the one who is destined to save her, but at what cost and to whom? There is dangerous peril, life altering moments, romance, and so much crackling chemistry that this book is hard to put down. It practically calls to the reader to finish it, as it leaves a few questions unanswered and takes them on an interesting rollercoaster ride of emotions.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys haunting paranormal historical fairytales, with dark undertones, beautiful dreamscapes, and intriguing mystery.

ABOUT JOY PREBLE

Blog || Twitter || Goodreads

Joy Preble lives in Texas. She is currently writing YA novels (with crazy witches and malevolent Russian mermaids and stoner guardian angels) and loves to eat guacamole. DREAMING ANASTASIA and HAUNTED are out now from Sourcebooks. Book 3 of the trilogy, ANASTASIA FOREVER is slated for Fall 2012. THE SWEET DEAD LIFE will be out in Spring 2013 from Soho Press.

Author information taken from her her blog.

{ This book was provided by Soucebooks, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided here in this post. No money has exchanged hands, as I review books for fun simply because I love to read and share my thoughts on them with other's. I am not interested in receiving any monetary gain at all for my thoughts.}

Guest Post featuring Deleted Scene from Haunted by Joy Preble

You guys! I am so excited to be a part of the exclusive ANASTASIA FOREVER BLOG TOUR!

Today, I have a special DELETED SCENE FROM HAUNTED, BOOK #2 to share with you!

Thursday, 4:30 PM, Ethan

“Are you going to finish that?”

I point to the remains of the enormous pile of onion rings that Anne has consumed along with the cheese and sausage pizza we just split at the little hole in the wall pizza place so close to the El that you can feel the trains rumbling by overhead as you eat. We’re in Evanston where I’ve rented an apartment. But taking Anne there felt like a mistake. A restaurant seemed safer. Pizza seemed safer.

I just had no idea that she ate like this.

“Well, yeah. You need to try some, Ethan.” She plucks one off the plate, shoves it into my hand, then passes me the bowl of ranch dressing.

“And dip them in this. It’s killer.”

I try it. It’s not half bad.

We both chew some more, both pretending that this isn’t awkward and that we don’t both remember being chased by Baba Yaga and Viktor and Dimitri to these very El tracks not that long ago. Or that it was on one of those trains that Anne figured out how to work the magic lacquer box that let us access Baba Yaga’s forest and open the door to her hut so we could save Anastasia. It doesn’t take much for me to remember how Anne looked when Viktor almost killed her that day.

Or how I felt realizing what a fool I’d been to trust him.

It’s easier to eat pizza and onion rings and talk about what I’m going to study now that I’m back. Of course we both know that’s not really why I’m back. But neither of us has worked up to the truth.

“See. I knew you’d like it.” She dips another ring in the bowl of ranch, opens her mouth, pops it in, then closes and chews.

“Remember when you made me tea? You still do that? The whole loose tea, tea pot thing?” she asks me around her mouth of onion ring.

“Yes.”

“Well that’s good to know.”

“We need to talk, Anne.”

“We are talking, Ethan.”

I frown at her.

“I’m being difficult, right? That’s what you’re thinking. Anne’s being difficult.”

“Possibly.”

“That’s what Tess keeps telling me, too. Well, maybe she doesn’t use that specific word. But that’s what she means.”

“Anne.”

“Ethan.”

I signal the waitress for a check. This is going nowhere. I need to find out what’s really been going on with her. I need to tell her what I’ve seen. What I suspect. Everything I’ve kept from her in hopes that maybe I could keep it from coming. I am, it seems, no less foolish than ever.

“You know they make great cannoli here,” Anne says as she stabs her fork into the last onion ring and dunks it in the bowl of dressing.

I fish some bills from my pocket and hand them to the waitress who’s returned with the check.

“You’re all set,” I tell her. I stand, pull Anne from her chair while she’s still chewing and guide her from the restaurant. Another train barrels by overhead.

“Let’s go out by the lake,” I say. “We’ll walk. I’ll talk. You’ll listen. And we’re going to figure this out, okay. Really. We are.”

“Ben loves me, Ethan. Did you know that?”

Her face is suddenly serious. Somewhere all this onion ring eating has been about this.

“Does he?”

“Yeah, he does.”

She pauses, clearly on the verge of saying something more. It occurs to me, certainly not for the first time, how very young she still is.

“I’m sorry that he’s been dragged into this, Anne.”

“He has, hasn’t he?” She swallows. I catch a glimpse of the Anne I really know – as much as I can say I know her. The one who’s smart and funny and brave. The one I kissed a number of times before I left for Europe and who is now seeing a boy named Ben she says loves her.

“Sucks to be him, huh?” she adds.

Actually, I think, it doesn’t.

Here’s the scoop on the DREAMING ANASTASIA Series!

There is so much to love about this series as Joy brilliantly blends Russian history, romance, magic and mythology into an enticing adventure.

In DREAMING ANASTASIA, Anne Michaelson begins to have unusual dreams and discovers that she is the only one who can save the daughter of the last tsar of Russia, Anastasia Romanov. Believed to be dead by the world, Anastasia has been kept captive all these years by the Russian witch Baba Yaga, and only Ethan, a handsome and mysterious 18-year-old, can help Anne free Anastasia.


Anne once again leaves behind her ordinary life in HAUNTED to join forces with the mysterious and gorgeous Ethan as the journey with the Romanov continues. This time she is haunted by classic figures from Russian mythology, a rusalka, a Russian folklore mermaid with a malevolent streak – and a particular interest in Anne, who tells her that Anastasia is still alive. As she and Ethan team up, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets - including the true source of Anne’s powers.

Now in ANASTASIA FOREVER, having survived Baba Yaga and the Rusalka, Anne finds herself bound by the witch to undertake a journey into past, present, and future that will determine her destiny - and that of everyone she loves.


Catch a preview of the danger, romance, and magic await Anne in this exciting glimpse ahead of ANASTASIA FOREVER by taking a look at a special sneak peak with the first three chapters here!

ANASTASIA FOREVER comes out this August, be sure to look out for all things Anastasia at Joy’s website joysnovelidea.blogspot.com.

ABOUT JOY PREBLE

Blog || Twitter || Goodreads

Joy Preble lives in Texas. She is currently writing YA novels (with crazy witches and malevolent Russian mermaids and stoner guardian angels) and loves to eat guacamole. DREAMING ANASTASIA and HAUNTED are out now from Sourcebooks. Book 3 of the trilogy, ANASTASIA FOREVER is slated for Fall 2012. THE SWEET DEAD LIFE will be out in Spring 2013 from Soho Press.

Author information taken from her her blog.

Well, what are you waiting for?! Check this series out NOW!!!

ANASTASIA FOREVER TRAILER RELEASE TOUR!

You guys! I am so excited to be a part of the exclusive ANASTASIA FOREVER BLOG TOUR! Only a lucky few have the chance to debut this trailer, and I’m beyond thrilled to see where Anne’s dreams lead her in the third and final installment of the DREAMING ANASTASIA Series.

Will she unlock the secrets of the past before they destroy her future?


Soucebooks and Joy Preble are seriously feeding MY paranormal historical thirst like crazy. I am super excited for this book and YOU will be too, once you see the trailer for this epic series conclusion sure to hook YOU instantly!

Here’s the scoop on the DREAMING ANASTASIA Series!

There is so much to love about this series as Joy brilliantly blends Russian history, romance, magic and mythology into an enticing adventure.

In DREAMING ANASTASIA, Anne Michaelson begins to have unusual dreams and discovers that she is the only one who can save the daughter of the last tsar of Russia, Anastasia Romanov. Believed to be dead by the world, Anastasia has been kept captive all these years by the Russian witch Baba Yaga, and only Ethan, a handsome and mysterious 18-year-old, can help Anne free Anastasia.


Anne once again leaves behind her ordinary life in HAUNTED to join forces with the mysterious and gorgeous Ethan as the journey with the Romanov continues. This time she is haunted by classic figures from Russian mythology, a rusalka, , a Russian folklore mermaid with a malevolent streak – and a particular interest in Anne, who tells her that Anastasia is still alive. As she and Ethan team up, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets - including the true source of Anne’s powers.

Now in ANASTASIA FOREVER, having survived Baba Yaga and the Rusalka, Anne finds herself bound by the witch to undertake a journey into past, present, and future that will determine her destiny - and that of everyone she loves.


Catch a preview of the danger, romance, and magic await Anne in this exciting glimpse ahead of ANASTASIA FOREVER by taking a look at a special sneak peak with the first three chapters here!

ANASTASIA FOREVER comes out this August, be sure to look out for all things Anastasia at Joy’s website joysnovelidea.blogspot.com.

Take a look for yourself!

ABOUT JOY PREBLE

Blog || Twitter || Goodreads

Joy Preble lives in Texas. She is currently writing YA novels (with crazy witches and malevolent Russian mermaids and stoner guardian angels) and loves to eat guacamole. DREAMING ANASTASIA and HAUNTED are out now from Sourcebooks. Book 3 of the trilogy, ANASTASIA FOREVER is slated for Fall 2012. THE SWEET DEAD LIFE will be out in Spring 2013 from Soho Press.

Author information taken from her her blog.

Well, what are you waiting for?! Check this series out NOW!!!