Overboard Blog Tour: Review + Excerpt + Giveaway

I'm so thrilled to be a part of the blog tour for Overboard by Elizabeth Fama :D Thank you Dianne for letting me take part in it. And biggest thank yous to Elizabeth for sending me a finished copy of Overboard for me to own and to read. <3 You are the bestest. My signed copy is all kinds of precious to me. Anyway. I'm so glad I read this book. I enjoyed it a lot too. See below for my full review and after that an excerpt from the book. I hope you will all consider buying this precious, because it is a book you should all read :D I'm adding the buy links below, but the way I see it, it might only be possible to buy this book via Amazon. Which you should all do. Anyway. Also just wanted to say that I very, very much love Elizabeth. She's such a kind person and an amazing author. <3 International giveaway at the end :)

My Review.

When Elizabeth contacted me about this book of hers, I was thrilled. Because I adore Beth. She's amazing. And the two books I have read by her so far, Monstrous Beauty and Plus One, have both been amazing. I said yes right away to be able to read this book too. And I'm so glad I did. Because I enjoyed this one a whole lot. Overboard was written about thirteen years ago, so it is a bit old, but still amazing. I'm so glad that I read it. And I simply cannot wait to read even more books by the amazing Elizabeth.

I'm not sure how to talk about this book, though. Because it is very short. Less than two hundred pages. Yet still long enough, too. I do wish it had been even longer. Felt like it ended too soon, in a mean place, lol. Yet it was also the perfect way to end a book, so I liked it a whole lot as well. I thought the writing was pretty amazing, not perfect, but I enjoyed it at all times. The story is written so well. And I did adore reading about Emily. She was pretty amazing. Well, much more amazing than I would have been.

Overboard is a story about survival. About how a fourteen year old girl tries to survive after the ferry she was on sinks. And it is amazing. I loved reading about it. I loved how mean this book was. It is a bit young, yes, so no romance or anything like that. It is all about survival. About Emily being stranded in the ocean without a life vest in the middle of the night. I loved reading about it. Some things were a bit horrible. Yet not described too much to make it horrifying. But it was scary to read about, either way.

This book is set in Indonesia. Which I thought was pretty interesting. I must admit that I could never live there myself. And I loved reading about how Emily have been living there for almost two years with her parents; how she still don't like it there. How much she stands out. How she hasn't been able to make friends with anyone. I loved her view on things. Like her, I would not enjoy living there, hah. But it was so interesting to read about. Sounded so awful. Yet it was interesting and exciting in a way too.

Emily is just fourteen years old. So she felt a bit young, yet grown up too. I'm not sure I liked her parents at all. They aren't in this book a lot, since it is so short, but they are there a little bit. I felt like they shouldn't have made Emily live there, when she didn't want to. But at the same time I understand them. They both work at the hospital there, and they help a lot of people. Though it was heartbreaking in the beginning of the book to read about that one person they could not save. It was a bit depressing.

While this book is short, a lot of things happen. Emily sort of runs away, to go visit another island close by. She takes the ferry. And reading about that was pretty interesting. Reading about the religion in this book, and how often they pray. I do find it interesting. But I also know that I could never live like that, sigh. It is not for me. I don't believe in a god. And I'm good with that. Don't have anything against those who do, though. Anyway. It was interesting to see the different religion in this book. It was well written.

Then the ferry sinks. And so much awful stuff happens. Emily is alone. She almost drowns so many times. And it was scary to read about. I liked it a whole lot. There were a lot of people on this ferry. And they are all ending up in the water. And there is so much panic. And people trying to drown each other to survive. And it was so creepy. And awesome. I liked reading about the older couple that Emily talked to a bit. They were interesting to get to know. Oh, how I wish she could have stayed with them more. Ack.

I loved reading about how Emily was surviving in the water. How she kept swimming. For so many hours. How tired she became. And how hurt she got too. I very much loved that the water was warm. I miss swimming in hot water, hmph. But yeah. Then there is the boy that Emily finds. Isman. Whom is just nine years old. I must admit that I would not have been able to take him with me, to try to have him survive too. I'm not sure I'm such a good person. But Emily was. And I did like reading about this boy.

I can't find more to say about this book. Just a few more words. I found Overboard to be an amazing book. It is about surviving a disaster. About keeping hope in the darkest time. And I liked it oh so much. Emily was so brave and strong. I probably would have given up after all those hours of swimming, sigh. I get so tired, so fast. But Emily was awesome. Anyway. This book was exciting. And I very much liked reading about Emily trying to survive in the ocean for so long. I like reading about that sort of thing :)

I had some issues with the writing, but nothing big, so I'm giving this book four stars. I just felt like Emily did some weird thinking while out there swimming, lol. Yet I did like it too. Anyway. Mostly I enjoyed Overboard a whole lot. And I'm so glad that I read it. I think you should all read this book. It was so exciting and interesting to read about. And so much about survival. And I liked it a whole lot. And I feel like you would all like it too. Buy this book. Read this book. Then read more books by Elizabeth. <3

She swam up for what seemed like an eternity, with her chest so achingly empty it felt as if it had collapsed, seeing only white bubbles in front of her face until she broke the surface.

One moment of rashness, and fourteen-year-old Emily Slake finds herself amid hundreds of panicked and drowning people in the dark ocean waters off Sumatra. Miles from shore without a life vest, she resolves to survive. But in facing the dangers of the ocean, the desperation of her fellow survivors, and her own growing exhaustion, Emily must summon wits and endurance she's not sure she has.

Striking out on her own, Emily encounters Isman, a frightened young Muslim boy, floating in a life vest. Together they swim for their lives, relying on Emily's physical strength and Isman's quiet faith.

Based on a true story, Overboard is both a riveting tale of survival and a sensitive portrayal of cross-cultural understanding in a time of crisis.

Buy Overboard: Amazon - Kindle - B&N - The Book Depository - Indiebound

Excerpt.

“You’re very strong,” Yaso said in his own language.

“Strong, like a bull.” She wrinkled her nose at him and made a snorting noise.

Yaso laughed and tried to snort like a bull himself.

“You are good.” She smiled.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I am one hundred years old,” she said, sitting in the chair with a sigh. Emily had found that Indonesians often asked personal questions, and it wasn’t rude to give nonsensical, evasive answers.

“You speak Bahasa Indonesia well,” the boy said.

“That is because I have lived here for too long.”

“I know you. You’re the doctor’s daughter. You help in the clinic, like that boy, Madjid.”

Plus One was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in April, 2014. A 2015 RITA award finalist, Plus One was also a highlighted book in VOYA magazine, and was listed among the "Top 12 Young Adult Books of 2014" in the Huffington Post. 

Monstrous Beauty, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in September, 2012. It won won the 2013 Odyssey Honor Award, and was included on the 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list and the 2013 YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults list.

My first novel, Overboard (Cricket Books, 2002), was named a 2003 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association (one of only eleven books selected unanimously by the committee that year). It received the 2002-2003 honor award from the Society of Midland Authors, and it was nominated for five state readers' choice awards (New Hampshire, Texas, Illinois, Utah, and Florida).

Where to find Elizabeth Fama:
Twitter. Website. Facebook. Goodreads. Tumblr.

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Tour Schedule.

August 3

Miguel @ The Quirky Reader - Review  
Lisa @ Fic Talk - Review  
Paula @ Her Book Thoughts! - Review  
Jaime @ Fiction Fare - Excerpt
 
August 4
 
Jen @ The Starry-Eyed Revue - Review
Jayvee @ Writer for Misfits - Review
Beatrice @ Beatrice Learns to Read - Review
Debra @ 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too! - Excerpt  
Vicky @ deal sharing aunt - Excerpt
 
August 5
 
Lauren @ Love is not a triangle - Review
Laura @ The Voluptuous Book Diva - Review  
Carina @ Carina's Books - Review + Excerpt
Biena @ Library Mistress - Excerpt
 
August 6
 
Ailla @ Le Bibliophile~ - Review + Excerpt
Kristelle @ Amiabooklover - Review  
Raffy @ Eccentric Everything - Review  
Dianne @ Oops! I Read A Book Again - Review
 
August 7
 
Shae @ Shae Has Left The Room - Review  
Angelica @ The Bookish Angel - Review  
Luigi @ Reading with Luigi - Review + Excerpt  
Alicia @ Addicted Readers - Excerpt

Overboard. Monstrous Beauty. Plus One. Noma Girl. Men Who Wish to Drown. 

My old review of Monstrous Beauty. My old review of Plus One.
Monstrous Beauty Blog Tour. Plus One Blog Tour.