INTO THE STILL BLUE/THE ENCHANTER HEIR/FROZEN GIVEAWAY AND ASK THE EXPERT INTERVIEW

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you all survived the bitter cold and snow last week. Our company actually closed the office on Monday and told us about it the night before. We’ve never closed for snow in the 25 + years I worked there. It was fantastic!

I’ve got a lot to share with you today.

FOLLOWER NEWS

Nutshell Windsor and her co-editor Alana Garraigues are on a blog tour for their anthology, STORY SPROUTS: CBW-LA WRITING DAY ANTHOLOGY & EXERCISES. It sounds like a great book. Congrats, Nutshell & Alana!

Here’s a blurb:

What happens when linguistic lovers and tale tellers workshop together? Inspiration. Wonder. Discovery. Growth. Magic.
Brave and talented, the writers featured in this anthology took on the challenge of dedicating one day to the raw and creative process of writing.
A rare view into the building blocks of composition, Story Sprouts is made up of nearly 40 works of poetry and prose from 19 published and aspiring children's book authors.
This compilation includes all of the anthology writing exercises and prompts, along with tips, techniques and free online writing resources to help writers improve their craft.

KINDLE & PRINT COPIES AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON:
http://www.amazon.com/Story-Sprouts-CBW--Exercises-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00G2X3E52/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388179768&sr=8-1&keywords=story+sprouts

LINKS:
Learn more about Story Sprouts at http://www.storysproutsanthology.com/
Join the Children’s Book Writers of Los Angeles at www.cbw-la.org

Today I’m excited to have Eleanor here for an ASK THE EXPERT interview. Eleanor is a 10h grader who reads a lot and you’ll see what else she’s up to book-wise too. I interviewed her sister, Magnolia, in December. Her mom was my critique partner until she sadly moved.

Hi Eleanor. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your school, and what you like to read. Does your mom influence what you read?

Hi, my name is Eleanor. I'm fifteen years old (sophomore), and I go to Herron High School, which is really artsy and encourages lots of reading and drawing stuff. I like to read YA novels of many different kinds (I'm a sucker for romance) and two of my favorite authors are Libba Bray and Rainbow Rowell. My mom is one of the primary sources for what I read, because she's even more up to date on what's going on the YA writing community than I am, so it's kind of like having a guide to the good books.

2. Sounds like a great school for you. And I know how well your mom keeps up with YA books. How do you find out about the books you read? What about new books coming out?

I learn a lot about good and/or popular books from my mom (I didn't even know about Twilight or the Hunger Games until she told me about them) but I also get a lot of good info from the Internet. Fan websites like Tumblr or fanfiction.net can sort of introduce you to other teenagers who like the same books as you do, and therefore can give good recommendations. I'm more likely to pick up a book or series if someone who has read something else I like recommends it online.

3. That’s so awesome you check out books on the Internet. I find out about many of mine from book review bloggers. What are you reading now? What books are you waiting to be released?

I'm reading a few different things right now. I'm on the third book in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, and on the side I'm working on Guy Langman: Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk (which is super funny and quirky and awesome). I'm waiting on the conclusion to the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, which should be coming out in March.

4. I just read ALLEGIANT. Not sure why, but I never started reading Cassandra Clare’s books. Do you buy most of your book or get them at the library? How often do go to a bookstore? 

I buy the majority of my books. I don't go to the library often, but when I go on shopping sprees, they're for books, not clothes. My mom takes me to Half-Price books to browse. We even have a monthly budget just for book-shopping.

5. Wow! That’s so cool you pick book shopping over clothes shopping. And a better choice. Do you read any teen book blogs, author blogs, or author or publisher websites? Become a fan of an author on Facebook? Why?

I occasionally visit LJ Smith and Cassandra Clare's blogs, as well the blogs of Daniel Waters (who wrote Generation Dead), Libba Bray, and Julie Halpern; sometimes even John Green's Tumblr blog. I like to keep track of what they're writing so I can watch for new books coming out, and I like to know more about the authors.

6. I’ve heard John Green has a great rapport with his fans. I really want to read one of his books this year. Has your teacher recommended any blogs or websites to your class or to you?

None of my teachers really recommend any blogs to me, and I think it's because not a lot of teachers at my school are very Internet savvy, but my English teacher will recommend books to ready anytime. He's a huge fan of classic literature.

7. Too bad your language arts teacher isn’t more Internet savvy and into the new YA books. It really helps get kids excited to keep reading like you do. Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook?

Mostly I just go to blogs to check for updates. So if an author keeps me posted on when new books are coming out, or if they plan on writing something new, or continuing a series, I'll be likely to go back often and check for status reports. I also like when I can purchase merchandise from the website (T-shirts or mouse pads or whatever). And I like it when authors post fanart or fan letters for the readers to see.

8. Checking the author’s website is a great way to keep up with what they’re writing. Have any authors visited your school? Who? Is there anything you’d recommend that an author do to make their presentation more interesting to you and other kids at your school?

I don't think I've ever really had an author visit my school or anything -- I wish one would. Something I'd recommend to an author would be to let students ask questions. That way, you can be sure that nobody's bored, because kids are receiving answers they care about. It also involves the audience, which the audience likes.

Thanks for all the advice, Eleanor. I hope you get an author visit at your school one of these days.

Now, onto my giveaways. I’m going to be doing things a little differently this year. I’m getting less print ARCs and more e-ARCs. I want to promote these ARCs too so my giveaways of the e-ARCs will be e-book giveaways to keep my blog costs down. I hope you understand. And I’ll be offering multiple books with one winner winning the book of their choice so I can share more of the books I’m reading without blogging more.

So the blog posts don’t get too long, I’ll just be doing very short reviews telling you a bit about what I liked about these books. And I’ll provide a link to the Goodreads blurb rather than posting it.

The first two books are print books and open to US/Canada for a print book and e-book for International winner. I was so excited when I got THE ENCHANTER’S HEIR because Cinda Williams Chima is one of my favorite authors. Thanks to Disney for sending me this book.

You can read the blurb from Goodreads HERE, This is the fourth book in The Heir Chronicles, but is a total stand alone book. The story line takes a completely different turn with new characters.

I loved that this is an urban fantasy set in the industrial part of Cleveland. And the world building is fantastic with modern day wizards, sorcerers, enchanters, warriors, and sevants, magically damaged people who are the focus of this story and mistreated by the other groups. I always am drawn to underdog stories.

Jonah and Emma are both great characters, damaged and from completely different backgrounds. But they must work together to solve a mystery about a massacre that occurred years ago that could happen again. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Next I have a print ARC of FROZEN. Thanks to Penguin for this. You can read a blurb from Goodreads

HERE.

This was co-written by Melissa and her husband Michael. I really enjoyed the mix of dystopian and magic. Nat basically hires Ryan to take on her on a quest and we get to see different parts of this pretty barren, frozen world. Funny that I read it right before it go so cold. Nat and Ryan are complex characters whose pasts we discover through the story. I found this to be fast paced and am looking forward to book 2 in the series.

Finally, I’m offering an e-book of INTO THE STILL BLUE, the third book in Veronica Rossi’s fantastic series. Or if you are behind in the series, you can win an e-book of wherever you are in the series. Thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for proving me with an e-ARC. You can read the blurb from Goodreads HERE.

OMG, I love this series and this is a fantastic end to the series. Aria and Perry continue to come into their own as leaders. They face plenty of challenges and their worst enemy. It was fascinating watching Aria’s and Perry’s people, who had hated each other, forced to work together. I loved the love relationship between Aria and Perry and that they were a team. I really don’t like couples becoming mad at each other and estranged, in the last book in a serious. This was a total, total page turner that I loved, loved, loved. I can’t wait to read Veronica’s new series.

To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment about Eleanor’s interview and tell me what book you want through January 25th. If you’re from outside the US/Canada, please let me know this too. I’ll announce the winner on January 27th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter.

Here’s what’s coming up:
On Wednesday I’m participating in debut author and friend Stina Lindenblatt’s blog hop to raise awareness about stalking in celebration of the release of her NA contemporary story, TELL ME WHEN. I hope you’ll stop by to read a more personal post than I usually write.

Next Monday, I’m interviewing Rosamund Hodge and giving away an ARC of CRUEL BEAUTY, her fantastic YA fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

And Wednesday next week I’m interviewing Stina Lindenblatt and giving away a copy of TELL ME WHEN, her contemporary NA story. Her characters are rich, complex people that I grew to love and even though I don’t read much contemporary stories, I read her book in two days.

The following Monday I’m interviewing MG debut author Rachel Searles and giving away an THE LOST PLANET. I loved the plot of this one. Chase wakes up on an unknown planet not knowing who he is and goes on an action packed space adventure to discover who he really is.

And don’t forget Casey’s Tip Tuesdays and Agent Spotlights.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!