Win Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & The Struggle!

Brizmus, from Brizmus Blogs Books, is giving away The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening & The Struggle by L.J. Smith. She is super excited about The Vampire Diaries: The Return & Shadow Souls which comes out on February 2010, so that's why she decided to host this contest. Brizmus is new to blogging and this is her first contest, so let's go and support her, I already became a follower - join her contest here.

E. Van Lowe + Robin Wasserman News!

E. Van Lowe Twitter Contest!

-E. Van Lowe, author of Never Slow Dance With A Zombie, is having a Twitter Contest on October 2nd, 2009...this contest is being hosted by The Park Avenue Princess, so go here if you're interested. These are the prizes: Each day a winner gets their choice of one of six YA zombie book titles. Included in the mix is an autographed copy of E. Van Lowe’s Never Slow Dance With A Zombie. And if you win on day three, and want the same book chosen on day two. No problem. Winners can choose from any of the six books on the list. No restrictions.

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Robin Wasserman News!

-Robin Wasserman, author of Skinned & Crashed, wrote the Seven Deadly Sins series a few years go. Well the series is going to be a LIFETIME Movie! It's filming right now in Canada, and it stars Rachel Melvin (Days of Our Lives), Dreama Walker (Gossip Girl), Eric Close (Without a Trace) and a bunch of other very cool people whose names you can find here. The TV movie won't come out until next year, but keep out an eye out for more details on Robin's blog.

-Robin is also going on tour with Scott Westerfeld! Yay! She'll be in New York! Below are all the locations:

Saturday, October 10, 12 pm

(Just Robin)
Haverstraw King’s Daughter Library
85 Main Street
Haverstraw, NY 10927

Friday, October 16, 4:00PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at Books & Greetings
Location: 271 Livingston Street
Northvale, NJ 07647

Saturday, October 17, 2:00PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at Borders
Location: 110 Federal Road
Danbury, CT 06811

Sunday, October 18, 4:00PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at RJ Julia
Location: 768 Boston Post Road
Madison, CT 06443

Monday, October 19, 6:00PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at Wellesley Booksmith
Location: 82 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02482

Wednesday, October 21 7:00PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at Borders
Location: 21031 Triple 7 Road
Sterling, VA 20165

Thursday, October 22 4:30PM
(With Scott Westerfeld)
In-store signing at Politics and Prose
Location: 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008

Teen Author Reading Night
Wednesday, November 4, 6 pm
Jefferson Market Brancy of NYPL
425 6th Ave, at 10th st
New York, NY
(Appearing with: Barry Lyga, Marianne Mancusi, Tom Dolby, Matt de la Pena, Matthew Cody, Courtney Sheinmel, Maryrose Wood, and David Levithan — yes, ALL of them!)

Book Review: The Everafter + Author Interview w/ Amy Huntley

Sorry I'm double posting today, tomorrow I'm going to be really busy, so I posted tomorrow's review today :)

The Everafter by Amy Huntley
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 256
From: Store Bought
Available Now

Summary: Madison Stanton doesn't know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this—she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can re-experience—and sometimes even change—moments from her life. Her first kiss. A trip to Disney World. Her sister's wedding. A disastrous sleepover. In reliving these moments, Maddy learns illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life—and death. This is a haunting and ultimately hopeful novel about the beauty of even the most insignificant moments—and the strength of true love even beyond death.

My Review: The Everafter is a fluid, easy-paced read. I was intrigued by this "after life" image from the first page. After Madison's death, instead of going straight to heaven she ends up in a dark, empty place which she calls "is." She doesn't necessarily know how she passed away but she has numerous objects there that can transport her to different stages in her life. In her visits she slowly starts to realize what great moments she had experienced when she was alive. However, she does feel other spirits present and eventually learns to communicate with them which lead her to answers of her death. I don't want to tell you too much about the spirits because I don't want to spoil anything. But, I did enjoy Madison's character and journey into finding how she passed. I was extremely shocked when her cause of death was revealed, I would of never guessed it! Overall, a great, inspirational book, it made me recognize that life is short and we should savor every moment.
My Rating: 4.7 out of 5
Author's Info:

Amy Huntley is the author of The Everafter and a high school English teacher. She loves working with teenagers, both as a writer and a teacher. She is grateful for their enthusiasm and fresh approach to life. She loves music, writing, reading, attending theater productions and talking about books with people. She lives in Michigan with her husband and daughter.

For more info on Amy, visit site:
http://amyhuntley.com/

1) When did you know you wanted to become an author?

I attempted to write my first book the summer after fifth grade. I don’t think I had any real intention of becoming an author at that point. I just enjoyed writing! That attitude continued for me through middle school. When I was in 9^th grade, though, I got more serious about becoming an author. I wrote all the way to completion my first attempt at a Young Adult Novel, and even asked a local community college professor for help with the process of revision.

2) What inspired you to write The Everafter?

A conversation in the lunchroom one day among teachers gave me the initial idea for the book. Some of my colleagues were complaining about objects that they had lost and how annoying it was. One of the teachers said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if all those things turned up after you were dead when they wouldn’t be of any use anymore?” That got me thinking, and I soon started structuring a plot around the premise of finding lost objects after death. Honestly, though, I noted the conversation and was drawn so strongly to the idea because I’ve always gotten a bit too attached to objects. I can mourn the loss of something as insignificant as a pencil! That’s why I knew that in any story I wrote, the objects in it would be useful to the character—even if they didn’t show up until after she was dead!

3) Are the characters in the book based on someone you know?

I’d have to say that for the most part they aren’t. The good characters in my book are people I wish I could know. The more unstable and “bad” characters in the book are exaggerations of the worst qualities I encounter in a variety of people. They sort of get rolled together into new creations. What I tend to borrow more from my experiences with real people are the situations they find themselves in. Some of these are borrowed from my own life, too. For example, like the novel’s main character, I once dated a guy who’d been with the same girlfriend for two years. Luckily, I, and the ex-girlfriend, reacted to it quite differently than the characters in my book do.

4) What was the hardest part of writing The Everafter?

Wow. This is a tough question. There were a great many difficult parts of writing it. I found it pretty hard to try to think like Maddy at a variety of ages. The lost objects she finds after death take her back to moments in her life ranging in age from 18 weeks to 17 years. While she’s visiting those moments, she gets to actually (re)live the events. Figuring out who she would have been at those ages was tricky as was expressing her thoughts in a way appropriate to the age. The 2-year-old Maddy was the most difficult of all to create. Another tough part of writing the text was dealing with the time travel element. When one of Maddy’s lost objects takes her back to a moment in her life, she sometimes changes events in those moments. Even though the changes are minor, they can have huge significance for what happens to her as a person (and—from a writing standpoint--for what happens to other sections of the text.) My brain got tangled in several places trying to make sure all of those elements worked. My editor, Donna Bray, was very helpful with that. She caught some pretty important inconsistencies in the way I dealt with time.

5) If you had to sum up The Everafter in one word what would it be? Acceptance.

6) Since you're an English teacher, how do you make reading fun in your classroom?

Never successfully enough to suit me! I do a lot of different things, but every year there are still kids who leave my room unhappy about a book they’ve had to read (or even worse, not really liking reading at all). These problems are partly the result of an educational system that expects all kids in the same grade to have the same interests and abilities so they can be taught as a group! I combat this as much as I can within the required curriculum by offering reading choices to kids. When we all have to read the same text, I try to liven it up with acting assignments, role-playing, creative writing assignments, class discussions, guest speakers, and art projects. As far as I’m concerned, a student is never too old to be handed crayons or colored pencils! All the attention my book’s cover has gotten has only reinforced that belief on my part.

7) Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest?

Janice Hardy will be debuting with me on the Balzer and Bray line, and I really enjoyed her mid-grade novel, The Shifter. It has a fascinating concept, and I’m looking forward to the sequels. I also enjoyed R.J. Anderson’s Faery Rebels. I was completely charmed by the romance in Cassandra Clare’s Immortal Instruments series.

8) What book are you currently reading?

I tend to read in threes for some reason. Right now I’m working on The Hunger Games, In the Wake of the Plague and Ghostwalk.

9) Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I appreciate them tremendously! They are the most important piece of the writing equation for me, and I hope I can satisfy as many as possible with my storytelling.

10) Tell us something about yourself that no one knows about.

No one?! That’s hard. Hhhmmm…I guess no one knows that I’ve always had a secret desire to have long, long hair! Mine is thick and wavy, so having it long has always been problematic. Now that I think about it, I usually envision my female characters with long hair (and theirs is more cooperative than mine!) Guess that’s probably as close as I’m going to come to fulfilling my dreams of long hair.

Secret Society Release + Author Interview w/ Tom Dolby!

Secret Society by Tom Dolby
Available Now: B&N
My Book Review here

Secret Society by Tom Dolby came out today so let's support Tom and go out and buy it! If you want to win Secret Society enter my giveaway here. Remember it ends tomorrow at midnight so don't wait too long! :) Also, if you want a Secret Society Ankh tattoo enter here, there are three more spots left! In honor of his release I am posting an interview below. Thanks again for doing this interview Tom, I hope you all enjoy!

Tom Dolby is the author of the novels The Sixth Form, The Trouble Boy, and the Secret Society series, including the novel Secret Society and its upcoming sequel. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tom was born in London and raised in San Francisco. Tom is a graduate of the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, where he received his BA in the history of art. He currently divides his time between Manhattan’s West Village and Wainscott, New York, where he is working on the next book in the Secret Society series, as well as a novel for adults.

For more info on Tom, visit his numerous sites:

Official Website: http://www.tomdolby.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TomDolby / http://www.twitter.com/bradfordtrust
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tomdolby
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SecretSocietySeries?_fb_noscript=1
HarperTeen Feature: http://www.harperteen.com/contests/secretsociety/

Secret Society Book Trailer:


Author Interview:

1) How old were you when you started writing?

I've been writing my whole life, but I really started focusing on it when I was seventeen.

2) What inspired you to write Secret Society?

I love adventure stories, and I love stories about secret societies. I had to combine the two!

3) Are the characters in the books based on someone you know?

No, they aren't -- these characters are solely in my head, but to me, they're very real!

4) What was the hardest part about writing Secret Society?

Figuring out a mystery plot is one of the hardest things a writer can do, I think. I have great admiration for full-time mystery writers.

5) Out of all the books you've written, which one is your favorite and why?

I think my second novel, THE SIXTH FORM, will always be very special to me -- it was really the first book I ever wanted to write, and it took almost ten years to find its voice. There are strains of SECRET SOCIETY in it. While it takes place at a boarding school, it also contains a mystery at its heart.

6) Since Secret Society is a series, what can we expect from the second book and do you have a release date of some kind?

The second book comes out in October 2010. It follows the adventures of the four main characters as they continue to try to get out of the Society -- with some surprising results.

7) Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest?

I read Laurie Halse Anderson recently, and her work blew me away.

8) What book are you currently reading?

I am currently enjoying the TALENTED MR RIPLEY series. It's the continuation of the novel that sparked the movie starring Matt Damon that came out about ten years ago. It's a fun inspiration for SECRET SOCIETY because it's all about impostors and fakes -- a theme that runs through SECRET SOCIETY as well.

9) Do you have anything to say to all your readers?

I love hearing from you guys! It means so much to an author to get that kind of support.

10) Tell us something about yourself that no one knows about.

Hmm, like a secret? Well, we've gone a little bit ankh-crazy around the house recently. I haven't gotten a tattoo, but we did get the dog an ankh charm to go around his neck. It makes him look like a total bad-ass!