(Blog Tour) Guest Post: Author Jason Ancona (THE SEXT CRIME)

AUTHOR BIO:
Jason Ancona grew up geeky in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, sporting braces, spouting gigahertz, and painting figurines. He turned frat boy in college, spending time with humans, speaking with said beings, and dancing like a dork--even with some females.

Jason Ancona snuck out of Bradley University with a marketing degree and fled to Los Angeles, where he donated a lot of dough to UCLA, writing screenplays for nearly a decade.

Author bio and author photo courtesy of www.jasonancona.com

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Great to have you on An Avid Reader's Musings again, Jason! Today Jason will be sharing his favorite books with us when he was ages 5, 11, 16 and 20. He's put together a great collage of his choices.

AGE 5: OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO by Dr. Seuss, THE GIVING TREE by Shel Silverstein and THE JUNGLE BOOK by Rudyard Kipling

AGE 11: THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien, THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton and THE BLACK STALLION by Walter Farley

AGE 16: CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger, SHERLOCK HOLMES by Arthur Conan Doyle and WISE GUY by Nicholas Pileggi

AGE 20: A TIME TO KILL and THE FIRM John Grisham and PATRIOT GAMES by Tom Clancy

BOOKS I WISH WERE AROUND IN MY YOUTH: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE by J.K. Rowling and THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

Thanks for sharing with my readers, Jason!

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For more information on THE SEXT CRIME and Jason Ancona, visit

WEBSITE
FACEBOOK

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Read my review of THE SEXT CRIME HERE.

I received an electronic copy of THE SEXT CRIME as part of a blog tour arranged by TEEN BOOK SCENE.

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(Blog Tour) Book Review: THE SEXT CRIME

TITLE: THE SEXT CRIME (COVERT YOUTH AGENCY #2)

AUTHOR: Jason Ancona

IMPRINT: CreateSpace

PUBLICATION DATE: 1 March 2011

PREVIOUS TITLES IN SERIES: THE CASE OF TANGLED LOVE

SNAP--a girl sexts racy pics of herself.
She thought the fun shots would stay between her and her boyfriend.

SNAP--an anonymous hacker hijacks her photos.
If she doesn't obey, she'll be exposed.

SNAP--the Covert Youth Agency takes the girl's case.
The agents jump headfirst into Operation: Sext Crime. Their new client has less than a week to surrender to the hacker's ultimatum. Or else the naughty photos go "wide."

SEND--a squad of goons are closing in on C.Y.A. members.
Agent identities may be unmasked.

REPLY ALL--end communication.
It's not safe.

WARNING--this book contains NO explicit sexual content.
Material suitable for ages 12 and above. May contain some humor.

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THE SEXT CRIME description and cover art courtesy of GOODREADS.

I received an electronic copy of THE SEXT CRIME as part of a blog tour arranged by TEEN BOOK SCENE.

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THE TWEET
The CYA gang is at it again in THE SEXT CRIME, a witty and hilarious novel that explores the serious phenomenon of "sexting" and blackmail.

WHAT WORKED
THE SEXT CRIME is such a great book because of it's rich character development and the interaction between said characters. Pi (Peter), the math nerd, Tollhouse, the field agent, and Lightman (do not call her Delilah!), the extraordinary computer hacker, are a great team because they fit so well together, despite their differences. The constant bickering between Lightman and Tollhouse create laugh out loud scenes. And Lightman has a way of using her intelligence to get adults to do whatever she wants, even with her sarcastic banter and attitude.

And dare I mention the important issue that Ancona has tackled with THE SEXT CRIME? Normally, I dislike books where the main storyline is the "issue" the author is trying to get across to readers. Ancona has done a great job of showing the dangers of "sexting" and the blackmail that can ensue from it, yet he has an actual story that is engaging and hilarious, and not too "Afterschool Special." (Those of you who don't recognize this reference: Ask your parents.)

OVERALL
Jason Ancona has created wonderful characters that draw readers into their story. The characters are realistic, funny and likable. Ancona has written yet another great novel that will appeal to teens and older middle graders. Check out the first book in the series, THE CASE OF TANGLED LOVE, for an introduction to the COVERT YOUTH AGENCY and it's members.


MY RATING IS

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For more information on THE SEXT CRIME and author Jason Ancona, visit:
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK

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(Blog Tour) Book Review: DEBUGGING TORI REDDING

TITLE: DEBUGGING TORI REDDING
AUTHOR: Jason Ancona
IMPRINT: Self Published
PUBLICATION DATE: 20 December 2010
PREVIOUS TITLES IN SERIES: None


Fed up with her peers and their loose morals, Tori starts a new school program, the Not So Fast club, a group dedicated to keeping teens from doing everything they want to do--drink, have sex, and rush to grow up.

A severe toothache interrupts her plan, sending her to the dentist, where she's given an emergency root canal. During the surgery, she's electrocuted and ends up blacking out. When she awakes, her brain has the ability to function like a computer.

Tori uses her new skills and aggressive personality to charge up the club.
Hated by the entire school, she discovers that NSF now stands for: Narcs Suck Farts. Game on. Tori memorizes every school rule, issuing tickets for every little infraction.

After a serious crime occurs, Tori must use her talents to save a life, all while trying to free herself from her mind.


DEBUGGING TORI REDDING description and cover art courtesy of Goodreads.

DEBUGGING TORI REDDING Blog Tour arranged by The Teen {Book} Scene.

THE TWEET
Contemporary meets sci-fi in DEBUGGING TORI REDDING, the story of a young girl who tries to use her special talents to improve her peers.

WHAT WORKED
Tori Redding is one of the most interesting main characters I have encountered recently in my reading. I was all set to find her somewhat annoying and above it all, but I found myself really liking her character despite her judgmental views of her peers. Underneath it all Tori Redding was a young woman trying to find out who she really was and what her place in the world was. Her actions seemed to be more of a coping mechanism to dealing with her mother's death and her loneliness at being the only female in her house.

Although I didn't always agree with her actions, I thought Tori was a brave girl to do what she felt was right and not care what others thought of her. She spoke her mind and I think this is what made me connect to her character the most. She believed in something and stood up for it. I felt that this message was a great thing to convey to readers, especially young adult ones.

OVERALL
Despite it's sci-fi undertones, DEBUGGING TORI REDDING is a good contemporary young adult story. It has funny and humorous scenes, rich interactions between Tori and her family members and great message to bring to a young adult audience.

MY RATING IS

To learn more about Jason Ancona and his writing, visit his website HERE.

(Blog Tour) Guest Post: Author Jason Ancona

I'd like to welcome Jason Ancona to An Avid Reader's Musings! Jason is the author of Debugging Tori Redding.

Fed up with her peers and their loose morals, Tori starts a new school program, the Not So Fast club, a group dedicated to keeping teens from doing everything they want to do--drink, have sex, and rush to grow up.

A severe toothache interrupts her plan, sending her to the dentist, where she's given an emergency root canal. During the surgery, she's electrocuted and ends up blacking out. When she awakes, her brain has the ability to function like a computer.

Tori uses her new skills and aggressive personality to charge up the club.
Hated by the entire school, she discovers that NSF now stands for: Narcs Suck Farts. Game on. Tori memorizes every school rule, issuing tickets for every little infraction.

After a serious crime occurs, Tori must use her talents to save a life, all while trying to free herself from her mind.
(Description courtesy of Goodreads. Picture courtesy of author.)


As my guest today, Jason will be sharing with you about his own teenage years.

What were you like in high school?

When I wasn't playing games on my computer, leveling up my character in Dungeon & Dragons, shooting guns in a Laser Tag arena, or losing money at cards to my nerd crew, I was doing cool stuff. Like singing along to Annie or The Sound of Music with my sisters. Since they loved those movies--I watched those A LOT.

During high school, I embraced my dorkiness, becoming unafraid to laugh at myself. I enjoyed entertaining others by mimicking the voices of characters on Saturday Night Live. There's a fine line between being a goofball and a complete idiot, and I'm sure I squiggled back and forth.

When the braces came off, I had the courage to ask a girl to senior prom. With a friend of course. Who I didn't even try to kiss.

I was innocent. And naive. And sensitive behind closed doors. Yes, I was a crier. Guess I'm just wired that way. Some things never change.

Did you follow the rules or were you a rule bender/breaker? Somewhere in between?

Somewhere in between.

My parents were disciplinarians, so I obeyed the letter of the household law. Never had a curfew. Probably because I never went anywhere. Most of the time I was in front of my computer, or in my basement playing cards with my friends.

Following the rules and respecting authority is how I was raised, so that's how I behaved.

Unfortunately, I had a huge error in judgment, breaking the rules on a fairly large scale. When I was in high school, the F.B.I. came to my house, taking my computer, color printer, and pristinely labeled disks. I'm sure the agents thought I was a freak when they saw all of the non-fiction books about various law enforcement agencies on my shelves.

Since I was a minor, and those records are sealed, I won't go into details. I will say that I was scared straight--been clean for over twenty years.

But I'm still crossing the line of being a goofball and an idiot.


Thanks so much for being here today, Jason! To find out more information on Jason Ancona and Debugging Tori Redding, visit his website and Goodreads page.