Hi guys! I know I don't normally do blog tours, but this book was really personal to me and so I had to do the tour. I hope you enjoy my post as well as Amy's!
BOOK DETAILS
A Matter of Heart
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: May 2015
Synopsis:
Readers will happily sink into this emotionally grounded, contemporary young adult novel about the sudden end of one girl's Olympic swimming dreams and the struggles she endures before realizing there are many things that define who we are.
Sixteen-year-old Abby Lipman is on track to win the state swim championships and qualify for the Olympic trials when a fainting incident at a swim meet leads to the diagnosis of a deadly heart condition. Now Abby is forced to discover who she is without the one thing that's defined her entire life.
Excerpt
Swimming
is who I am.
Winning
is what I live for.
No
one is going to stop me from becoming the fastest swimmer in the world.
Not
my dad.
Not
my boyfriend.
Not
even my own heart.
My least favorite sport to play in PE
I am horribly uncoordinated, so I really wasn't a big fan of playing sports in PE class. Anything that required me to run, was something that I didn't enjoy. Plus I have balance issues along with some other health issues. So I struggled a lot. So I would definitely say anything that required me to run was my least favorite PE sport. Cross country running was hell on me and on my body. Yet I am so insanely competitive that I didn't "go easy" on myself. I pushed myself.
When it came time to play baseball or soccer or basketball, I hated it too, although it wasn't as bad as running for me. At least I got to stand, shoot baskets and kick soccer balls. That was actual relief for me and my body.
Believe me, I wish I was more coordinated and had better balance. Thankfully my teen brother has all the athleticism in the world.
Guest Post
I’m not the
most athletic person in the world. My marching band director once yelled at me
for being so uncoordinated that he told me to stop playing my Clarinet and just
focus on moving my feet. Ouch! But, like most things I’m told I can’t do, I
get stubborn. And I work harder. I ended up being able to march and play my
instrument through four years of high school and three years of college. So
there, Mr. Band Director!
Anyway, I’ve always loved sports and
I’ve always wished I were more talented. I think that’s one of the reasons I
really liked writing about Abby. It was one of my dreams to be the best of the
best at something. Abby is that. She’s a top swimmer and blue ribbons are the
only kind she collects. So while I wrote this book, at least in my imagination,
I got to experience what it would be like to swim like a fish.
So, with no further ado, here’s the scoop on me and sports:
TOP FIVE SPORTS LIST
FAVORITE
SPORT TO PLAY: Doubles tennis. It’s a lot fun and you get to play with a
friend.
FAVORITE
SPORT TO WATCH: Men’s tennis. It’s not all about gawking at a bunch of very
handsome men, but, um, that might be part of it.
FAVORITE
SPORTS TEAM: Oberlin College baseball team. What can I say…my son is one of the
starting pitchers. J Go Yeomen!!
FAVORITE
SPORT FOR CURSING: Golf. I play every week with my hubby and there’s just
something about that retched sport that brings out the potty mouth in me. But,
I do love the challenge of golf—one day I’m going to figure the darn thing out.
MY GREATEST
SPORTS VICTORY: Abby might beat my pants off in swimming, but there’s one sport
where I was once crowned CHAMPION:
Hula
hooping.
Yep—I was
pretty darn good with a Hula hoop and thank heavens there’s no video of it
now! Though it’s not an Olympic sport
yet, I really think it should be, don’t you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Amy Fellner Dominy worked as a copywriter in the advertising business before leaving to earn her MFA in playwriting. Her plays for adults and children have been staged in various cities around the country. Amy's novels for teens include OyMG (Walker, 2011) and AUDITION & SUBTRACTION (Walker, 2012.) Amy's next book is a contemporary YA coming Spring, 2015 from Random House. It's called A MATTER OF HEART.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Haven't heard of this one but it sounds really good! I'll have to add it to my list!
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