I'm pleased to announce that via a highly scientific method of selection (throwing toy bees at entrants' names), Dee Leone has randomly chosen the winners of autographed copies of Bizz & Buzz Make Honeybuns. BEE-cause Dee is so generous, and BEE-cause folks commented over two different blogs, Dee is awarding TWO books ...

The winners are:

Ellen Leventhal

& Mandy Broughton

Dee will BEE contacting you both shortly via email to arrange delivery of your prizes.
Thanks to everyone who entered the contest.

I'm thrilled to be interviewing A.M. (Alyx) Dellamonica on the Book Birthday of the first book in her new trilogy, Child of a Hidden Sea. Alyx is one of the most innovative and inventive speculative fiction authors on the scene today. I am a huge fan of her work, and have also been a past student of hers so I can attest to what a marvelous writing teacher and editor she is. She is the author of the Indigo Springs/Blue Magic duology, the first book of which was awarded the 2010 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. She is also the author of numerous short stories as well as being a regular reviewer of all things speculative fiction. When I asked her some searching questions about her work, and her advice to new writers attempting to build a career in speculative fiction, here's what she had to say.
====================
KC: Your first two books, Indigo Springs and Blue Magic, are highly unusual speculative fiction in that they involve fantastical elements not often seen in speculative fiction - in effect, magic with an environmental bent shrouded in an almost fairytle/folkloric context. What gave you the idea for these books?

AD: There is a degree to which that idea--magic oozing from a crack in the earth, essentially as a form of toxic waste--just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. That said, I spent fifteen years on the periphery of a dynamic group of environmental scientists. Their work was inspiring on so many levels, and it's because of them, I am sure, that I write ecofantasy.

KC: Indigo Springs and Blue Magic comprise a duology which is an unusual approach in modern writing. So many authors seem to write either standalone books or trilogies (or longer series). Did you always know the story would span two books and was there any pressure from the publishers to make it into a trilogy? 

AD: I had originally written Indigo Springs as a standalone; its story ended when Astrid was arrested. But as soon as I turned it in, my agent said, "There's a second book here" and began urging me to write it. She had ideas about a big Sahara/Astrid smackdown, and... well, you either know how it actually went or don't want to be spoiled.

I would not call that opinion of hers pressure, necessarily. She did want my career to start with a two-book deal, though. It took a lot of thinking to reopen the story, once I thought I'd sewn it shut, and it made Blue Magic tough to write, in some ways. But many authors find their second novel especially difficult.

I'm certainly not sorry I wrote it, or unhappy with where the story ended up. Blue Magic is a much better closing for Astrid's journey, and it gave many of her nearest and dearest, like Ev and Will Forrest, a chance to grow up on the page.

KC: The first book in your new fantasy trilogy, Child of a Hidden Sea, was released TODAY! (Happy Book Birthday again.) What can you tell us about the book?

AD: Because my first two books have a lot of sadness in them, my guiding artistic principle for  this new series, the Hidden Sea Tales, was to have fun. If I enjoyed myself, the rationale went, so would all my readers. So the book is shamelessly packed with things I think are cool: lots of little islands with their own microclimates, a peculiar system of magic derived from that biodiversity, tall ships, and a navy more suited to the Age of Sail than the third millennium. Pirates, old-fashioned notions of heroism and honor, magically tamed volcanoes, an exceptionally gorgeous man and cultural clashes abound. Also, there's the occasional forensic investigation.

KC: When you write a duology or trilogy, do you plan out the entire storyline for all the books upfront or do you let the characters and plot develop as you go along? Have you ever wished you hadn't put something in an earlier book in a series because it limits what you can do in the next?

AD: As mentioned, Blue Magic was not in my initial plans when I set out to write Indigo Springs. I had to outline it more or less from scratch, based on what I'd already done. It's probably as close as I've come to writing by the seat of my pants.

With the Hidden Sea Tales, I proposed a three book story arc. The whole story was roughed out in that proposal... but things have changed in the writing.

Certainly there have been a couple of moments where I wished I could go back and shoehorn one more detail into Child of a Hidden Sea, for the benefit of the books that come later, but it is pretty full. Maybe even groaning. At some point, you have to let go and write on into the future.

KC: You have taught fiction writing for many years at UCLA, with a particular focus on speculative fiction. What do you see as some of the major challenges for new writers in the speculative fiction genre both in terms of writing craft and in terms of career development?

AD: The challenge I see most is impatience. Writing well is a skill that takes a long time to develop. So is neurosurgery, but aspiring doctors don't get to skip their exams and go indy. In a world where you can self-publish your novel tomorrow, it's harder to suck up rejection, gradual improvement and slow career growth.

I'm not saying everyone should go the traditional publishing route I have taken, but as a writing instructor I have, countless times, had students with interesting but flawed manuscripts say: "All these changes you're you're suggesting... wow... maybe I'll just publish it myself."

When that happens, and the work is promising but not just quite ready yet, my heart breaks a little. And yet it's hard to pitch the idea that you're denying yourself the opportunity to be better by taking a little longer.

KC: If you could give one piece of advice to a new writer, what would it be?

AD: To complain, especially about work or the weather, is human. If a bunch of writers are together and you hear them going on and on about how tough publishing is today, oh, woe, so much harder than ever before, OMG! try not to be too discouraged. I've been hearing the same conversation for decades. 

But!

At times those writers will talk about something specific that's happened to them. They haven't made as much money as they hoped, or the career took longer than expected to get off the ground, or they quit their day job and promptly developed some kind of artistic block, or they wish someone, anyone, had told them it's actually nigh-impossible to get a novel written when you have a newborn. If you hear this kind of talk, and find yourself thinking "that will never happen to me?"

Reconsider. 

It's possible it will happen to you.

When you hear someone complaining, it's easy to assume they're unhappy with their lot. But we all got into this because we wanted to, wanted to enough to live with the risks and long hours and poverty and the sacrifices. We complain to our peers for support and advice, but at the end of the day we got into writing because it is a glorious and rewarding thing to be able to do. And we love it. If we don't love it, we don't keep doing it.

The choice is always yours. There are only two people who can force you to write, and Kathy Bates probably charges more than you can afford. Being an artist is all about you. Choose to write your heart out. Choose to love it--not every minute, maybe, because every job has some supremely crappy minutes--but as often and as much and as passionately as you can.

You can find more information about Alyx, her work, and her interests at: http://alyxdellamonica.com

UPDATE: BLOGHOP WINNERS!!!!

Because I didn't do anything special to celebrate my blog's first birthday this month, I decided to do something special and choose THREE winners instead of one for my personal giveaway. The winners can expect to receive an email from me with gift links to their books on Amazon.

The three lucky winners are .... drum roll please ....

Barrie
Kristin
Kathy W

Congrats and thanks to all who entered.

The link to the grand prize winners is available here.
===============

If it's summer, it must be time for a Summer Lovin' Blog Hop with thanks to Jane Wakely for organizing this one.

In addition to the grand prizes offered by the organizers, I will be offering copies of two of my short romance novellas as prizes, Ivory Tower and Dear John. Each of them is a "dark romance" because, even though it's summer, I always like a bit of sinister mystery in my romance.

If you want to be eligible for copies of these e-books, then leave a comment below with an email address where I can contact you. I will randomly choose a winner at the end of the blog hop and will email the winner copies of the two books. (If you enter your email address in the "email" field when you comment, it will NOT be made publicly available - will not show up with the comment.)

To enter for the grand prizes ($75 Amazon Gift Card, $25 Starbucks Gift Card, and $25 Amazon OR B&N Gift Card), fill out the Rafflecopter box here and press ENTER.

I listened to this entire trilogy on audiobook and loved the narrator. The story also grew on me as I went along so I'm in two minds about the ending - partly, I suppose, because I didn't really want the story to end. Ruins is the final installment of the series as I understand it. Overall, it's a wonderful book in terms of plot, characterization, story development etc. There's a LOT of characters to keep track of and Wells manages to give ALL the key characters a fully resolved story arc which is a masterful feat. He writes in shifting third person point of view but it's never distracting, and the narrator of the audiobooks does a wonderful job in differentiating the voices, including doing a good job with male voices which can be tough for a female reader.

My one criticism of the final book would be that there's a lot of philosophical chin-wagging, probably a little more than necessary for my taste. While the series is obviously largely about the kinds of sacrifices we can, or should be prepared to, make in order to "save the world", some of the issues in this book (I think more so than in the first and second books) are presented in "talking heads" style dialogue between characters, and the conversations become a bit repetitive. There's a lot of conversations about: "How far would you go to save the species/save the world/ensure a future for the planet?"

The book also covers a lot of physical ground with bands of characters traversing the country and the cities in order to achieve their goals. I would get close to saying there's too much going on in this respect, although it's never difficult to follow. But at times I did wonder how the heck we were ever going to get to a resolution of the story with so much going on, including the introduction of several major mysterious new characters.

In fairness, Wells DOES conclude the story in a satisfactory manner and ties up all of the loose ends. He gives a sense of a directed, if shaky, future for the planet which is well in keeping with the story.

Wells is obviously a master of spinning a complex tale and constructing detailed and touching narratives for all of his characters. I grew to really enjoy this series and to feel strongly for all the characters. So I'm a Wells fan now undoubtedly. I highly recommend the audio versions of all of these books in particular because the narration is really top notch.

This week I am thrilled to be presenting an interview (+ exciting giveaway contest) with my good friend and debut author, Dee Leone. Her concept book, Bizz & Buzz Make Honey Buns will be published by Penguin on June 26 and is available for pre-order now. This blog post also marks the FIRST time I am hosting a concept book author on my blog. So double thanks to Dee!!!
When I asked Dee some searching questions about her buzzing bee friends, here's what she had to say. She is also going to give away a copy of the book to a randomly chosen commenter on this blog post (see details following interview).
================



Thanks for asking me to be a guest on your blog, Kaleigh. I feel honored to be the first author you’ve interviewed who’s written a book for such young children.

KC: Bizz and Buzz are hilarious little guys who have some trouble with words. Can you tell us a little about their problems?

DL: The two characters enjoy feasting on honey buns baked by Bear. When the bees want to make some themselves, their friend relays the recipe one step at a time, but Bizz and Buzz interpret the directions in silly ways. Their first mistake is to use a little flower instead of a little flour. In addition to making a few missteps with homophones, the insects misinterpret other concepts as well. The bizzy little bees create a sweet treat that differs greatly from Bear’s, but they end up as happy as can bee anyway. 

KC: How did you come up with the idea of the bees as main characters?

DL: When I wake up in the morning or in the middle of the night, sometimes story ideas just fly into my head. I keep a note pad on my nightstand so I can write down my thoughts before they disappear. There are times when I can’t decipher what I’ve written in the dark. Luckily, Bizz and Buzz were morning critters.

The idea to have the bees use the wrong ingredients was probably due to the fact that I was stressed about having to prepare food for an event. It’s just as easy for me to mess up a recipe as it is for my zany little bee characters. When I’m in charge of the menu, you might get something like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, or worse, plums with a chance of worms... but that’s another story.

KC: What other kinds of messes are we likely to see Bizz and Buzz get into in the future?

DL: There are plans in the works for Bizz and Buzz to bungle their way through several more adventures. If all goes well, look for these characters to misinterpret idioms, misidentify holiday figures, and use their talents to join a band. I love these little buggers! My greatest wish is that they will buzz their way into the hearts of children everywhere and motivate them to bee-come readers for life.

KC:  You have been working on various different kinds of books as an author/developer - educational puzzle books, middle grade, verse, and easy readers. What is your favorite type of book to write, and why?
 
DL: Ha! That’s like asking what kind of ice cream, chocolate, or pasta I like best. I don’t have a favorite type of book to write. When one type of project has me stumped, I set it aside and work on something else. I’m better at letting my manuscripts marinate than my steaks.

When writing picture books or leveled readers, I love the challenge of creating stories with so few words. They’re rewarding to write because there’s always the possibility of helping to foster a child’s love of reading at an early age when life-long habits can be established.

Silly verse is also one of my passions. I have a whole collection of school-related poems that I’m in the process of revising. I love to work with rhyme… anywhere, anytime.

I enjoy penning middle grade novels because they tend to rely heavily on voice, a fun aspect of writing for me. I especially like creating characters with humorous sarcasm. In school, I was the shy kid. Whenever the class clown acted up, I had the desire to be funny, too, but only had the courage to show it through writing.

When I was growing up, my mother kept a box full of surprises we could choose from when we became ill. I loved language arts and math, so I often chose books with word challenges and cryptograms. I didn’t mind getting sick from time to time because I enjoyed solving those brainteasers. No wonder I created hundreds of educational puzzles!

KC:  What are some of your own favorite children's books?

DL: I really don’t have a favorite anything except for a sport… gymnastics. So to answer the question, I guess I’ll tell you some of the books I enjoyed reading to my students and to my daughters.

Picture book favorites included anything illustrated by Tomie dePaola, Jan Brett, Eric Carle, or Dr. Seuss. I also had a fondness for sharing The Rainbow Fish and The Ice Cream Cone Coot. For elementary school children, some of the ones at the top of my list were:  the Ramona and Amelia Bedelia books, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square, Mrs. Frisby and the RATS of NIMH, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

As far as other favorites, my girls had about a half dozen versions of each Disney story. We lived in Orange County and could see the Disneyland fireworks from our house. We were even visited by cute little field mice the first few days after moving in until we found out how they were entering. The girls named every one of the critters “Mickey Mouse” or “Minnie Mouse” and wanted to hear Disney story after Disney story. One of my greatest wishes is to write something for that company, too... someday, somehow!
================

Thanks for the interview, Dee. And now for the contest(s) ....

For a chance to WIN an autographed copy of Dee’s book, please leave a general comment or a suggestion at the end of this blog post about what kind of adventure you’d like Bizz and Buzz to have next. All those commenting by midnight June 26, 2014, are eligible. Make sure you leave an email address when posting your comment so Dee can contact you and arrange to send you the book if you're the winner. Email addresses will not be made available publicly.

FREE funsheets and bookmarks, as well as additional CONTESTS (Rafflecopter and Goodreads) can be seen on http://bizzandbuzz.weebly.com . 

FOLLOW @bizzandbuzz on Twitter for yet another chance to win a book.

UPDATE: CONTEST WINNERS LISTED HERE.

Having enjoyed The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, I wasn't sure what to expect from the second book in the series, The Wizard Heir. It's billed as a "companion novel" rather than a sequel. This is an apt description. Although the book takes us back (some years later) to the lives of the characters from the first book, most of this book focuses on new character, Seph McCauley. Much of the action - at least the first half of the book - takes place outside the beloved town of Trinity, Ohio, now a sanctuary for Weirfolk.

My first impression of this book is that it's much darker than The Warrior Heir. The bad guys in this book are REALLY bad and they have the upper hand for much of the story. While this raises the stakes for Seph and his friends, it also shrouds the story in a sense of foreboding and hopelessness. The decisions faced by the good guys in this story carry major consequences. Seph and his comrades often appear to be painted into corners. Even the end of the book isn't as "hopeful" (if that's the right word) as the ending of the first book.

That's all to pave the way for the next book, The Dragon Heir. The pieces are all put in place for a major showdown amongst various factions of the Weir in the third book and, although the characters are given at least a temporary reprieve from conflict at the end of The Wizard Heir, there are obviously major battles brewing on the horizon. In many ways this is a typical "second book" in a series in the sense that there's not a powerful sense of closure because the stage is being set for the big finale. But there is at least enough closure for Seph in his personal journey that the ending feels satisfying and the reader isn't left feeling cheated out of a fully rounded storyline.

So now I have to go read The Dragon Heir.  Still loving Chima's writing.

I read some reviews of Susan Ee's sequel to Angelfall - World After - immediately after reading the first book so I knew what to expect in this one. This second book in the dystopian angel series is very much focused on Penryn and her family, and her attempts to come to terms with what happened to her sister Paige in the first book. Thus, gorgeous angel Raffe has a relatively small part in this book, although at the end of the book he's obviously primed to take on a much more significant role in the next book.

Penryn is as tough and kick-ass as she was in book one, and she still makes the same number/kind of mistakes through letting her heart rule her head and getting herself into sticky situations as she tries to play the hero others expect her to be. Her mother is just as crazy as ever, and her sister is having troubles of her own after the gory surgical experiments in book one.

We learn a bit more about bad-body angel/demon Beliel in this book and wonder if he's as bad as he's cracked up to be - he probably is. And Penryn continues to struggle with her attraction to Raffe and the challenges of being from different worlds, not to mention different species. When they are on the page together, their relationship sparks as much as it did in the first book, and I'm left wanting to see SO much more of Raffe in the next book.

Ee continues with fast-paced action adventure. Again, this book is easy to read quickly - it's short and fast-paced and there's plenty of adventure. As with the first book, I felt it lagged a tiny bit in the middle when Penryn makes several logistical mistakes and keeps ending up taking one step forward and two steps back. But that's not really a criticism because it's an authentic aspect of her character and the reader does need to see this aspect of her character.

I'm looking forward to the next book.

This week I'm delighted to be hosting an exclusive interview with Sharon Cameron, author extraordinaire and SCBWI heroine! She's the author of the critically acclaimed YA duology, The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen, and has a forthcoming book soon to be released which she tells us a bit about in the interview ....

================

Hi Kaleigh! Thanks so much for having me.

KC: I loved both The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen. Steampunk seems an unusual genre for a debut author, particularly in the Y.A. context. What attracted you to the genre? 

SC: Actually, I don’t think I thought about “genre” at all when I was writing the story! At least not when I started. I was following my bliss, writing what spoke to me, and I have always found Victorian-era science super evocative and interesting. I really consider The Dark Unwinding as “steampunk-esque” rather than a full out steampunk novel. Even though Uncle Tully is using scientific concepts that were still many years away, all the machines in The Dark Unwinding –as fantastical as they feel– could have been real.

KC: It’s unusual to see two-book series launched by a debut author. Typically, new authors seem to write either stand-alone books or trilogies. Did you always plan this as a duology?

SC:  No, I didn’t know at all. All the way through the first draft I thought I was writing a standalone book, up until the last chapter. Then the concept for A Spark Unseen leapt right into my head. Surprise! Duology! I had to go back and revise the sequel into the second draft. I was so lucky to have Scholastic buy both stories!

KC: I love the relationships between the characters in these books, particularly the gentle romance between Katherine and Lane. What did you find were the biggest challenges not only in writing a romantic relationship for a younger audience, but also writing a romantic relationship in a manner true to the time period?

SC: Where the romance was concerned, I think being true to the time period and adhering to a certain content (or lack of it!) was actually the easy part. For me, the bigger challenge was creating a relationship based on growing respect rather than instant connection. Unless something amazingly life-changing is happening, a person just doesn’t naturally gain true respect for someone else the first time they see them. A deep relationship takes time, and that’s what I wanted to reflect in the books.

KC: Undoubtedly one of the most fun and original aspects of these books is the character of Uncle Tully and his crazy inventions. What was your inspiration for the character, and how did you come up with some of the inventions? Do you have a favorite invention of Uncle Tully's?

SC:  I am fascinated by people whose brains work differently from my own. I love to try and understand how they think.  Autistic savants are particularly amazing, and in a time like Katharine’s, tragically undervalued. I watched many hours of unedited film, documentaries and studies on savants. And I drew inspiration from inventors like Nikola Tesla and Oliver Heaviside, both geniuses and yet…just a bit different.

But the inventions were pure FUN. Some of them, like the girl playing the pianoforte, are based on real automatons (see examples here), others are my own ideas, then designed by my husband, to make sure they would really work. The schematic drawing of the mechanical fish and the drawing of the lightning machine in the front pages of the books are both by him. You can check out an example of the lightning machine he built here. Hoping someone will decide to build the fish someday!

KC: You set the first book in England and the second book in Paris. Your eye for detail is amazing in creating these settings, particularly within their historical context. How did you go about researching the settings?

SC: You know, I think I could answer this question in one word, or with a ten page essay. I’ll take pity on you and give you the word: Exhaustively!  Especially in A Spark Unseen. The only scene setting that was completely fictionalized in that book was the secret crypt beneath the crypt. Even Katharine’s street was real (though it has since been demolished), the house plans and furnishings based on personal letters and auction lists of the time. This kind of research is fiddly, but addictively fun.

KC: Who are some of your favorite authors? What are you reading now?

SC: Hmmm. Do I really have to choose? I adore Ruta Sepetys, and I just finished Faking Normal by Courtney Stevens, which I thought was great (so cool when your some of your favorites are also your friends!). I’m also a huge fan of Megan Whalen Turner and her Eugenides series.

KC: What are you working on now?

SC:  Right now I’m putting the finishing touches on my new novel Rook, which will publish from Scholastic Press in 2015. It’s a story of repeating history, set in a distant future where society has reformed but making all the same mistakes of the past. But really it’s all about corsets, swords, decapitations and a female spy, and is a huge homage to The Scarlet Pimpernel. Having a ton of fun with it!

Thanks for visiting with us, Sharon, and we'll be awaiting Rook with baited breath!!! 

I must preface this review by saying I'm a big fan of Gail Carriger's Soulless series, so I came to the Finishing School series in two minds. While I know it's becoming more and more popular for authors to set both grown-up stories and YA stories in the same fictional universe, I tend to prefer an author to make a decision one way or the other. I don't have a good reason for that other than sometimes I think a story better fits a particular genre/setting or the author is "milking it" by trying to get so many stories out of one setting. I can't raise either of those objections to Etiquette and Espionage. It's an extremely fun and enjoyable read. However, it didn't have the novelty value it would have had if I hadn't already read the Soulless series. Many of the situations and jokes feel a little recycled, although they play out differently in the finishing school context.

One thing I enjoyed very much about the Soulless series is how romance is handled in the steampunk world with wild and crazy inventions and schemes alongside Victorian manners. That's missing in the YA series because it's for younger readers and, in the first book at least, there isn't much in the way of romance. So that felt like a missing piece, although it may be developed in later books in the series. In both series I like the way Carriger balances the mannered society against the need for werewolves to be naked and for vampires to drink blood. And the fact that fashion sense seems to top everything else in terms of priorities.

Overall this is a highly enjoyable read, particularly for lovers of steampunk and those who are new to Carriger's work. If you like the genre and don't like YA, though, perhaps turn to Soulless first.

I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to get around to reading this book. But I was spurred on by the imminent release of the film version of The Fault in Our Stars and also by seeing a discount copy of Katherines at Half Price Books. Sad, I know. I think one reason I didn't prioritize this book was that I didn't really like the title - so how shallow am I? For some reason, any reference to "Katherines" (particularly in the plural) suggests a history text to me, so I kept blowing past it on the bookshelves without picking it up.

I'm glad that I did read it. I enjoyed this book so much more than the last John Green book I read, Paper Towns, although I have to admit that Fault in Our Stars is still my favorite. Katherines deals with a young man (Colin) who is struggling to break - or at least mathematically explain - his penchant for falling in love with girls called Katherine (must be spelled this way) and their ultimate dumping of him. It's happened 19 times for him and it's killing him. He goes on a road trip with his best friend to try and get over the latest breakup, and as they settle in a small rural town and pick up a kind of weird and cool summer job, Colin tries to create a theorem to explain his past romantic failures. In the process, he makes new friends and new enemies and comes to terms with who he truly is (and importantly who he isn't). A gifted child from a very young age, Colin is troubled by the fact that he hasn't made a significant mark on the world and he may never do so. He's hoping his theorem about his Katherine-failures may be the breakthrough he needs.

The story is written in Green's own tongue-in-cheek inimitable style. This one, however, makes use of footnotes, graphs and other things academic which are hysterical, particularly for those of us coming from an academic tradition generally - although, like Green, my strongsuit is definitely NOT math. It's a fun and easy read. I flew through it in an evening. But that doesn't mean it's a lightweight story. Even though the ending is kinda predictable, it's the themes and characters that make it unique and memorable. So I must berate myself for not wanting to read a book with "Katherines" in the title. Note to self - don't judge a book by its title!

The winners of the Geoffrey Girard autographed book giveaway contest are:

PROJECT CAIN: Judy D.
CAIN'S BLOOD: Monica Shaughnessy

Thanks to everyone for joining in. Stay tuned for the next giveaway ....
Coming up in June ....
Details to follow ...

Nobody who likes Y.A. time travel books with a penchant for sweet romance could fail to enjoy Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red, the first in a trilogy originally published in Germany, but set predominantly in London (at least the first book is - I haven't read the others yet). It's kind of a cross between The Time Traveler's Wife and Doctor Who, or something like that, but without the aliens. That isn't to say there isn't plenty of paranormal stuff (ghosts and gargoyles) going on in the background.

Our heroine, Gwyneth, comes from a family that carries a rare time travel gene. They are part of a mission to complete a puzzle that will potentially unlock the key to immortality. She has grown up believing that her cousin Charlotte will be the latest to manifest the gene and is surprised and shocked when it isn't Charlotte, but Gwyneth herself, destined to fulfill the family's genetic legacy.

Paired with apparently obnoxious, but oh-so-hunky Gideon de Villiers, Gwyneth is thrown into a series of adventures which, by the end of the book, appear to be only the beginning of her quest. Her BFF, Lesley, helps her with Google searching about time travel, but also spends a lot of time getting her in trouble with a mysterious teacher at their school who also seems to be involved in the historical mess.

I really didn't want to commit myself to reading any more trilogies right now, but I don't think I'll be able to resist the next book in this series ... aaarrrgghh!

I finally got around to reading the third and final book in Tahereh Mafi's "Shatter Me" series, Ignite Me. When I first read Shatter Me, I felt it had one of the most unique voices in dystopian YA fiction that I've read in recent years. The same is true for the final installment in the series. In fact, I would suggest that Ignite Me is somewhat of a return to Juliette's more distinctive voice from the first book, because her unique-ness became a little lost in the action in the second book.

Ignite Me was not exactly what I was expecting for the end of the trilogy in terms of plotting. After the big battle and action at the end of Shatter Me, I was expecting Ignite Me to be a very action-packed political book, focusing on battle tactics for the resistance to regroup. Instead, it was more of a character drama with heroine Juliette attempting to figure out who she really is, and with which of her potential beaus (Warner or Adam) she truly belongs. Because of this focus, the book gets a little soapy at times, and one of my favorite characters (Kenji) who has a very big role in this book, even remarks on the soap-like drama of Juliette's life in the middle of all the political turmoil. The book is around 400 pages overall. At least least 200 pages, if not closer to 300 pages, is devoted to relationship issues. While these issues parallel the political issues, they also distract from them to some extent. So readers have to come to the book prepared for this focus. It does mean that the actual action sequences are relegated to a pretty fast-paced ending. This is not necessarily a criticism, just not what I was expecting.

I did feel that some of the characters got short shrift here, particularly Adam and Castle. I would have liked to have seen more development in their respective characters. We see a lot more growth and introspection from Warner, Juliette and Kenji (and some of the other allies) than we do with Adam and Castle, who were two of my faves from previous books.

The ending is also intriguing. I won't give away any spoilers here, but it does leave some really big questions open, including what we might see in Juliette's future and who she's going to become in the future. I'll say no more for fear of spoiling the end for those who haven't read it yet.

Mafi's writing is as engaging and intriguing as ever. It's easy to fly through this book in one or two sittings. And even though there's plenty of relationship turmoil, there's nothing too graphic on the page for teen readers.

I think I might have enjoyed Fragments by Dan Wells even more than the first book in the series, Partials. But I'm not sure that I know why. I suspect it's because Wells is more familiar/comfortable with his characters and also we seem to get inside more characters' heads in this book, and there's a lot of action too. While the first book was setting up the world and the political and military problems, this book starts looking for real solutions and the characters get themselves into more and more hot water (and acid rain) in the process.

Kira is seeking a solution to RM and the expiration date, and Sam is supporting her in her endeavors even though she seems to be making lots of mistakes. Marcus is desperately trying to keep the peace back at East Meadow while the partials close in on what's left of the humans. There's a lot of tension as well as intricate plot and character development here. We also get to see a lot more of the post-apocalyptic world, and we start to find out what caused the "break" and who's left alive who might have some of the answers. Of course, the answers so far are all morally ambiguous so the book raises some very interesting questions about when it's justified to sacrifice some lives to save many.

While this is a post-apocalyptic action sci-fi series, the writing style is more quiet and thoughtful than some other series in a similar vein and I do enjoy it, although sometimes I feel that the pace lags or that the information being conveyed by the characters is a little repetitive. I have listened to this series so far on audiobook and the narrator (Julia Whelan) is wonderful, really getting the sense of the different characters' voices across extremely effectively. This is no mean feat considering it's not always easy for a woman to make her voice come across in the character of a bunch of military men. So I highly recommend the audio version to those who like audiobooks. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment of this series.

This week I am thrilled to present my first interview with a real live (or possibly cloned) horror/sci-fi author, Geoffrey Girard. Not only does Geoffrey write in this highly emotionally charged genre, but he also engaged in the unusual publishing experiment of releasing two companion books on the same day telling the tale of a government experiment to clone serial killers from different points of view. Project Cain is a YA first person account of the story from the perspective of a teen boy (Jeff Jacobson) who is one of the clones, while Cain's Blood is an adult-focused story told in multiple third person points of view. Along with the interview, Geoffrey offered to give away an autographed copy of each of the books. (Contest details at the end of the interview.)

When I asked Geoffrey to share his experiences writing the duology, here's what he had to say ...

KC: My first question has to be how you came up with the idea of writing companion books aimed at different market sectors – Project Cain aimed at the YA audience and Cain’s Blood aimed at a more adult audience. Many authors have written companion books from different characters’ perspectives, but I’m not aware of any other authors who have aimed the companion books at different market segments.

GG: I sent a book written for teens about cloned serial killers to my future agents who liked the writing/story but thought it would work better as a traditional adult thriller. I rewrote as that and they then took me on as a client. In the same call, my agents asked if I was still interested in writing something for young-adult readers (which I was) and specifically would I (could I) do a first-person telling from the POV of Jeff Jacobson, the teenage clone of Jeffrey Dahmer. I agreed and they started approaching publishers big enough to handle both markets. Ultimately, two houses in Simon & Schuster signed on. There are many authors writing for both markets, but to have both books come out on the exact same day based on the exact same story was quite new. If a big name author had done it, it would have been a bigger deal. But no complaints. It, for sure, got some extra attention for a first-time novelist. At the end of the day, “adult” and “young-adult” just help booksellers know where to place the merchandise. There are teens who loved CAIN’S BLOOD and adults who loved PROJECT CAIN. It all depends on the kind of book you’re in the mood for that week.

 KC: Project Cain is written in the first person from teen narrator Jeff Jacobson’s perspective, while Cain’s Blood is written in a shifting third person voice so that the reader can get a much broader sense of the world around the characters. What were the challenges of writing in the first person versus the shifting third person? 

GG: Third person was easy. I’ve written and sold sixty-plus short stories in the last ten years and almost all have been third person. So, I was pretty comfortable with the various options there. Plus, I was just finishing up an MA in Creative Writing, and so had even more confidence to tackle different POVs. For each scene, I just had to decide which character (third-person limited) would provide the most interesting take of that scene. I saw a recent review where the happy reviewer commented on (and listed!) all the viewpoints I’d used. I actually hadn’t even thought of it until seeing that review. CAIN’S BLOOD (the “adult” one) really does cover everyone. 

PROJECT CAIN, told entirely from the POV of Jeff Jacobson (the teen clone of Jeffrey Dahmer) was new for me. I’ve done some first-person POV but nothing longer than a few thousand words. This book is 90k. My agents and I agreed we’d only try this additional teen novel IF I could bring a new voice to the table; do something different. It was a great chance to try something really distinctive with this second book, and that was exciting as a writer. Fortunately, Simon & Schuster was feeling equally creative.

Jeff Jacobson is NOT me or any form of me, so it took some time to get into his head for the telling. I spent a lot of time re-researching Jeffrey Dahmer to imagine/feel what Dahmer might have been like in a different environment/time. I spent months listening to actual Dahmer interviews, and reading what others said about how he acted and spoke. (I’ve since met several people who knew Dahmer personally and confirmed my take on his “voice.”) I wanted the Jeff in PROJECT CAIN to sound like that, as he has the physiological mind of a sociopath. He reacts to and sees the world differently than most of us. The result: there are readers who love the voice and Jeff, and readers who hate it and me. But it’s Jeff’s true voice, so that’s a chance I was willing to take.

An easy example: the no-quotation-marks thing. That’s not how most fiction is presented and about 50 pages into the manuscript, I was like: “Oh, God… Am I gonna have to do this the whole damn book? This is so annoying!” But, PROJECT CAIN is meant as a journal written by Jeff a couple months after the incidents of the story. I simply don’t believe he’d use quotation marks in such a journal and this was “his” book, not mine. My book is CAIN’S BLOOD. I’d often send my teen editor emails saying, “Sorry. I know this is a weird book.”

KC:  The books center on horrific government experiments involving the cloning of subjects from the DNA of infamous serial killers. What gave you the idea to focus your books on this topic? What were the challenges in writing what is largely a horror story from the YA perspective when you tackled Project Cain? Was it difficult to make such a gruesome story accessible to younger readers?

GG: I teach high school English and one day my students somehow got on the topic of serial killers. Next thing I knew, we were looking up various facts online and having an interesting discussion about Who, and How and Why. They were super interested but still had a lot to learn. Perfect! It made me want to write a sort of  “Intro to Serial Killers” novel, one that would pull together all the essential facts, lore and real-life infamous characters; something my own students could read. I went home that same day and dusted off an old novella about cloned serial killers I’d written for a magazine years before. I took that story and rewrote it for teens, adding more facts, focus on the teen characters, etc. That eventually became CAIN’S BLOOD. Then I started PROJECT CAIN from scratch based on the conversations with my agents.  

PROJECT CAIN isn’t really that gruesome as the violence is almost entirely “off screen.” The subject matter is terrible and there are certainly enough bread crumbs dropped for those young readers who feel ready to follow. But it was written as an “Intro” to serial killers. If some kid wants to learn more, there are libraries and Google. Have at it. The narrator of PROJECT CAIN, Jeff Jacobson, has no interest in the “gory details.” On the very first page, he warns the reader, I ain’t getting into any of that here; You’ll have to look up that stuff yourself.  As soon as I wrote that line, I knew I was okay with the whole book. My narrator wouldn’t allow me to get gratuitously violent or morbid.

KC: The books also cover a number of other conspiracy theories and paint the government-sponsored scientists in a rather unflattering light. Many of the conspiracy theories (if that’s the right term) appear to be based on detailed research. How did you go about researching the science? How much of it is “real” and how much did you make up for the purposes of the plot?

GG: “Cloned serial killers” is made up. Everything else are legit experiments, history and allegations. These books were supposed to be about cloning and serial killers. Period. All the government conspiracy stuff and criticism of military science only came after I started the research. I had no idea The United States government had done so many terrible things in the name of national defense and weapons research. I knew we spent a lot on weapons, but I didn’t know it was this much. I knew we’d done some questionable experiments in the past, I didn’t know how much damage we’d done and how far the government had gone to cover them up. I’d started down that rabbit hole and soon came to just appalling things America has done to explore various types of weapons. The trillions spent, most in black budgets none of us can ever know about. The apologies for secret testing done for fifty years on everyone from mental patients and prisoners to children and entire U.S. cities. Murders that have been committed, and admitted to, in our name. The U.S. government itself has publicly apologized and made huge payments to express regret for crimes against humanity committed decades ago. There is no reason to suspect that similar discoveries and apologies won’t be made decades from now. The fun for an author is imagining what those discoveries may be. The fear of a citizen is that some of these imaginings prove true. 

The narrator of PROJECT CAIN constantly invites the reader to do more research, to look into it for yourself. The teacher in me, and the original goal of the teen book, was to encourage more self-driven research and discovery.

KC: Several of your early reviewers compared your work to Michael Crichton and Stephen King. Who are some of your favorite writers in the science fiction/horror/suspense genres? 

GG: Crichton had a gift for making technology and history approachable, and I certainly aim for that. I’m definitely more a typical example of the generation nurtured on King. When The Shining came out, I was too young to see the Kubrick film, and so convinced my mom to let me buy the book at the supermarket. That day certainly was a defining moment for me as King became the cornerstone of my formative reading. The excellent horror notwithstanding, King clearly loved the craft of writing, he loved “being a writer” and that meant a whole lot to a budding English major and writer. I’d read his intros and afterwards as closely as his tales, looking for insight into Who else to read and How to write, etc. King led me directly to folk like Lovecraft, Bradbury, Matheson, Jackson, Beaumont, and Straub. Clive Barker then opened up horror, I think, the way the Beatles opened up pop music. I think Douglas Clegg is a terrific writer; most of those Leisure Books guys took their craft very seriously. Suspense? I’ll go from a PD James or Ross Thomas binge to my beloved Spenser for Hire books. William Goldman (Marathon Man, Magic, Stepford Wives) is a virtuoso novelist; unfortunately also a brilliant screenwriter pulled away too often by Hollywood. SF? Dune was a biggie for me. Everything by Edgar Rice Burroughs as a kid. I don’t particularly like the way William Gibson writes (the cadence/poetry) BUT I have them all and often re-read for his ideas and creativity. Neal Stephenson just makes me wanna give up and quit writing. I was a comic book nut as a kid/teen so an absurd amount of influence from writers/artists like Mike Grell, John Byrne, and Frank Miller.

KC:  What are you reading now? AND/OR What are you working on next?

GG: I’ve been taking a break from fiction. I recently finished a masters in English and had to read, like, 200 classic and modern books of fiction and creative nonfiction during those three years. Mostly all amazing reads but I’m kinda fictioned out right now, and still need a break. I’ve been picking at (re-reading) Koko (Straub) and Giovanni’s Room (Baldwin) to get my fiction fix, but that’s more meditative than anything.  I’m mostly on a non-fiction binge, researching for my next projects. Something for teens related to 9/11 and something for adults connected to eugenics. Like the CAIN books, you can expect a lot of history mixed in with the dark stuff.


Thanks for sharing your insights, Geoffrey. Now, on with the contest ...

Geoffrey will send an autographed copy of one of each of his books (Project Cain or Cain's Blood) to two randomly chosen commenters on this blog post, who answer the following question:

Who would you most (or least) like to see cloned, and why?

And if you have a preference as to which book you would like to receive should you be a contest winner, feel free to state it in your comment.

The winner will be chosen by the following highly scientific method.

I will print out all the comments and toss them into a hat. I will then ask one of my children to randomly pick the two winners. Geoffrey or I will contact each winner to arrange shipment of the relevant book. If the two winners both want the same book, I will leave it to Geoffrey's discretion (and available stocks) to see if he can accommodate both winners with the same book.

The contest will be open until midnight Eastern Time on May 4, 2014. So make sure you comment by then to be in the draw. Please make sure you include an email address when you post your comment so we can contact you to arrange shipping. Email addresses will NOT be made public. Contest is open to readers within and outside the United States, so anyone out there in the wider world, feel free to enter.

Thanks for the interview and for the contest, Geofrrey. Let the comments roll ...

The winners of last week's contests are ....

[imagine a DRUM ROLL here!]

Authors in Bloom Blog Hop winners:

Savannah Miller
Elise-Maria Barton
Nancy Arny Pi-Sunyer

Each of these lovely readers won a copy of one of my e-novellas (of their choice).

"The Tell-Tail Heart" Book Giveaway (winner chosen by author Monica Shaughnessy)

Ellen Leventhal

CONGRATULATIONS to all, and thanks for visiting the blog.

This week I'm launching an exciting new contest: an autographed book giveaway of a copy of each of Geoffrey Girard's books: Cain's Blood and Project Cain. More details to come along with thrilling author interview with Geoffrey Girard.

I suppose if I were pitching Undercurrent by Paul Blackwell, I would say something like Back to the Future meets Sliders (if anyone remembers that old T.V. show). It's Y.A. and it's sci-fi, but there are no vampires, werewolves, angels or love triangles. I hope that's not giving too much away. This is a case of alternate worlds that arises when the main character (Callum) jumps - or falls, he can't remember - over a waterfall in his small town and, after waking from a coma, he finds himself in an alternate reality where he's the same but everything around him is different. Sounds like Sliders, huh? Or am I dating myself too much with that reference?

It's a fast-paced easy book to read and can easily be consumed in one sitting. There's nothing too gory or too racy on the page so it is appropriate for readers of a wide age group. However, it won't appeal to everyone because it pretty much is alternate worlds hard core quantum physics sci-fi stuff and not your typical Y.A. story. It's very well written and it's easy to sympathize with Callum's plight. He finds himself the terror of his local high school and a sports star when in his real life he's something of a nerd. While the story is generally fast-paced, I found the balance of the plot a little "off" in the sense that the story takes a good long while to get going, focusing most of its approximately 300 pages on the differences between the worlds, and only gets to the meat of the problem (i.e. how Callum comes to be where he is) at the very end of the story. So the end was a little unsatisfying for me in terms of balance, although in terms of tying up loose ends, Blackwell does an excellent job.

While the story has a male protagonist and is kinda "boy focused" in terms of fights, sports etc, I'm pretty sure it would appeal to female readers too. Hey I'm a girl and I liked it. So if you're looking for something a little different in the Y.A. sci-fi realm, this isn't a bad option for a change from all those vampires, werewolves and angels ...

Today I'm delighted to bring you an interview with Jan Krause Greene, author of the unusual environmentalist sci-fi novel, I Call Myself Earth Girl. Here's what Jan had to say when I asked her some searching questions about her work ...


KC: I Call Myself Earth Girl has a rather unusual plot in that it combines science fiction with environmentalism and issues relating to war, religion and humanity generally. How did you come up with the plot?  

JKG: I wrote the first Earth Girl segment about 2 years before the rest of the book. After I wrote it, I wasn't sure how to build a whole novel from it. But then one day it occurred to me that the first Earth Girl segment could be a dream that revealed something important to another character. It was a very vague idea, but as soon as I decided that Gloria was pregnant, the rest of it just started coming to me. I didn't really know where I was going with it, but I knew I had a few ideas that I wanted to incorporate and that is where the environment and war come it. 

KC: You deal with some rather brutal issues in the book like violence against women in particular. Was it difficult to write passages about violence and the human capacity for inhumanity in a way that would still be accessible to readers?

JKG: Yes, that was a challenge because I wanted to show the violence in a way that affected the reader emotionally without making them so upset that they would not want to keep reading. Plus, I really did not want it to be gratuitous violence. I wanted the violent scenes to make a point about how desperate circumstances, including war, can make good people treat others in a way they would not ever imagine. In the sequel, I examine this premise more fully, showing how a person who is good to his/her own family and community can be truly cruel to those perceived as enemy, or perceived as a threat to survival.

KC: The lead character, Gloria, goes through some very difficult challenges throughout the book, including giving birth to a strange "alien" daughter later in life while her older daughter is facing a pregnancy of her own. While she often despairs and wonders how to deal with a situation, she always pulls through with grace and dignity. Was she a difficult character to write? What were some of the main challenges for you as a writer in dealing with her character's journey?

JKG: To be honest, Gloria was the easiest character for me to write. The old cliche about the character taking over and determining what happens was true for Gloria. Whenever I was writing about Gloria it flowed very easily. I was extremely comfortable with her and, although, I may not have made the same choices she makes, I understood her reasons for making them.

KC: Your vision of the future in this story is somewhat bleak, yet tinged with hope that we can do better as a human race. Does this mirror your own feelings about the future? If so, in what ways?

JKG: It absolutely mirrors my feelings. I think the future will be very bleak if we don't transition to a different way of living. I really believe that we need to move away from war as a way to solve conflict between and among countries. Not only does war destroy families, communities, and whole societies, it also harms the earth and the earth has almost reached its breaking point for a variety of complicated reasons, most of which trace back to human activities.  BUT, I also believe that humans can reverse these trends. I believe that those of us who are on earth now were chosen by God, or the universe, or random chance to transition humanity to a new way of living in harmony with nature and with each other. More importantly, I think we are starting to do this. I see very hopeful signs with the global peace movements and the global environmental movements. People from all over the world are collaborating with each other. I think that this is the promise of the future and I am very inspired by it. 

KC: Who are some of your favorite writers? What have been the biggest influences on your own writing so far?

JKG: It is easier for me to name favorite books than favorite writers, but I don't think I have ever read anything by John Steinbeck or Mark Twain that I did not like. My favorite book is still To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The structure of the story is perfect. More recently - The Secret Life of Bees, The Lovely Bones, I Know This Much is True, Turtle Moon, and in the last few years, Flight Behavior, Ten Thousand Saints. Right now I am reading and enjoying Alice Hoffman's new novel, The Museum of Extraordinary Things. 
I think I am more inspired by observing what is going on in the world - the big picture, than I am by any particular writer, but I think that Alice Hoffman has probably influenced me more than any other writer.

Thanks for being with us today and sharing your thoughts on writing, Jan!

I couldn't resist opening up Dreams of Gods and Monsters as soon as I received it -  had pre-ordered it on Amazon. And once I opened it, I couldn't put it down even though it's over 600 pages long. That's over 600 pages of Laini Taylor at her best. This book is a great accomplishment to round out the trilogy. Not only does Taylor keep raising the stakes for Akiva and Karou (as well as the wonderfully well developed cast of supporting characters), but she also amazingly introduces new characters who are equally compelling and bring exponential layers of depth to the plot.

Every time it seems that Akiva and Karou are finally going to get what they want - a simple life together - the world(s) spin(s) out of control again. They struggle with finding the motivation to keep going when the challenges they face grow ever more serious. Akiva faces the future with and without Karou and has to learn what she wants OF him and what she wants FOR him before they can have any hope at any semblance of a future together.

The other thing that Taylor manages so masterfully is interweaving incredibly complex plot threads so they become relatively easy for the reader to follow. This is world-building and plot development at its best. She juggles a set of worlds and a huge cast of characters each with their own foibles and goals and does so with great aplomb. I read a lot of fantasy and often get lost in the plot - literally - but never with Taylor's work. She also occasionally tells aspects of a scene from different characters' perspectives so the reader obtains a great depth of understanding of the fulness of the world and the story.

It's hard to go into more detail without giving away important plot twists. But I continue to love Mik and Zuse and my heart always breaks for the noble and innocent Ziri who gives of his all to save a world gone mad. There is a lengthy epilogue in this book that rounds out the story nicely, but suggests there are more adventures in store for the characters, even though this is the end of the trilogy. I'd be happy if Taylor left it here, but if she wanted to write more short stories and set them in the future of this universe of characters and problems I'd definitely pick them up and read them.

Brava, Laini Taylor, for bringing this series to a magnificent conclusion.

So I'm going out on a limb here with the authors in bloom blog hop because I'm not great at recipes or gardening! Believe it or not, my hubby and kids like all those "spring" things better than I do. I'd rather sit in a cozy chair and read cozies ...

The recipe tip here comes from my six year old daughter and is a bit of a cheat. After buying an "M & Ms" cookbook at the Scholastic book fair recently, she has come to the conclusion that ALL recipes can be improved with M & Ms. And her three year old sister calls them "nummy nums" (think about it folks, or at least say it out loud and you'll see what I mean). So try baking your standard cake or cookie and adding a bunch of M & Ms on top and see if it doesn't improve on the original recipe.

For my own personal giveaway, I'm offering a copy of each of my romance e-novellas: Destiny, Dear John, and Ivory Tower. To be eligible for these books, please leave a comment below including a gardening or cooking tip and make sure you include your email address so if you win a prize I can email the e-book to you. Email addresses will not be made public. I will choose the prize winners by random draw. Contest closes on April 16, 2014.

By leaving a comment with email address you will also be eligible for the Blog Hop Grand Prizes ...

Authors in Bloom Prizes Grand Prize:

A Kindle or Nook e-reader ($200 value) +$25 gift card (US only)

Second Prize: $25 e-reader gift card (international)

Author Prizes will vary. Note that only visitors who leave comments at each and every stop on the tour will be eligible for the Grand Prizes and Second Prize. Winners will be posted on the first (Dianne Venetta) and last (A Cozy Reader’s Corner) stops on the tour.

Good luck to all of you! I hope you discover some fantastic new authors along the way!

Link to list of authors here.

The beginning of spring means it's time for another book giveaway on the blog. This month, I'm delighted to be able to offer readers a free copy of Monica Shaughnessy's The Tell-Tail Heart, the first in a series of cat cozies based on the mysteries of Edgar Allen Poe, and featuring Poe's cat, Catterina. The book is currently available on Amazon, but one lucky blog reader could win a free copy from the author if they answer the contest question below.

Here's a little about the book ...
==================

Philadelphia, 1842: Poe's cat, Cattarina, becomes embroiled in a killer's affairs when she finds a clue to the crime: a glass eye. It's only when her beloved "Eddie" takes an interest, however, that she decides to hunt down the madman. Her dangerous expedition takes her from creepy Eastern State Penitentiary to Rittenhouse Square where she runs into a gang of feral cats intent on stopping her. But new problems arise faster than she can solve them.

As the mystery pulls Cattarina deeper into trouble, even Eddie becomes the target of suspicion. Yet she cannot give up the chase. Both her reputation as a huntress and her friend's happiness are at stake. For if she succeeds in catching the Glass Eye Killer, the missing pieces of Eddie's unfinished story will fall into place, and the Poe household will once again experience peace. At the story's pulse-pounding conclusion, Poe gets the inspiration he needs from his feline muse, enough to finish The Tell-Tale Heart.

Monica Shaughnessy, a fan of Poe's work (and cats!), conducted a ton of research into the life and times of Poe and Catterina to add historical accuracy, even though the book is told through the eyes of a cat! Readers who enjoy Poe, mysteries, and cat cozies are bound to love this book.

Monica will send a copy of The Tell-Tail Heart to a randomly chosen commenter on this blog post, who answers the following question:

In the book, Catterina brings home a glass eye. What is the strangest item your pet has ever brought home?

The winner will be chosen by the following highly scientific method.

Monica will print out all the comments and toss them into a hat. She will then pick one at random as the winner. The contest will be open until midnight Eastern Time on April 20, 2014. So make sure you comment before then to be included in the draw. Please make sure you include an email address when you post your comment so Monica can email you the book. Email addresses will NOT be made public. Contest is open to readers within and outside the United States.

If I had to pitch Immortal City, the first in a new(ish) YA angel trilogy by Scott Speer, I'd probably say "City of Angels meets L.A Confidential". The book (and I presume the rest of the trilogy - I haven't read the second book and the third isn't out yet) is very "L.A.". It's a "what if" alternate world where angels openly save humans from death for money. It's kind of an angelic racket. There are unexplained angel deaths and a traditional L.A. gumshoe type has to try and solve them, even though he gets little to no help, trust or support from the angels or the higher-ups in his department.

There's a love story of course between an angel and a human. I believe it becomes a love triangle in book 2, Natural Born Angel. There are actually hints of a love triangle in this book, but it's not powerfully developed. Heroine (human) Maddy isn't particularly interested in angels and the paparazzi that surround them, and her Uncle Kevin (with whom she lives after the deaths of her parents) really dislikes them. But of course she comes across the most famous teen angel in the city - Jackson Godspeed - and sparks fly. Jacks is used to getting everything he wants whenever he wants it, and being the product of universal teen girl adoration. He doesn't know what to make of a girl who sees him for who he is, and isn't blinded by the celebrity haze surrounding him.

The story is funny and original, and a truly unique take on the angel craze that has swamped YA literature in recent years. The love story aspects are a little sterile - it's hard to buy the romance (at least it was for me) because the characters, even the main ones, are kind of superficial and two dimensional, but that's kind of the point of the story and I assume we get a deeper insight into all the characters in the next book. It's a fun engaging read overall and a nice mix of genres - romance, action, detective story etc.

I've recently finished the third and final book in the "Fire and Thorns" trilogy by Rae Carson, The Bitter Kingdom. I loved the book. It was a terrific ending to the series, nicely tying up all the major plotlines from the first books - and that's covering a LOT of ground because the book involves many characters, and weaves in and out of many locations while raising complex political and personal struggles. There are some questions left unanswered, but none of the major questions. Nothing that makes the reader feel cheated. The mysteries left at the end are probably things that should remain mysterious - I won't say anything more because I don't want to give anything away.

This book is told predominantly from heroine Elisa's point of view, although we also get a few chapters told from Hector's perspective which is refreshing. Elisa has grown throughout the trilogy into a very powerful and more self-assured woman than she was in the first book and it's nice to see a YA trilogy with such a complex and engaging character arc for the main character. In some ways this book felt more like a "typical YA read" than the two previous installments in the series, probably because Elisa is a more kick-ass heroine in this book so she feels more like the standard kick-ass heroines in a lot of YA books currently on the market. In a way, I miss the halting, pudgy, self-doubting girl from the first book, but that's not a terrible thing because we need to see Elisa grow. And in Carson's hands, her growth is very authentic. The other nice thing about this series is that there are lots of powerful female characters and they also champion the cause of diversity in a fantasy-oriented context but without hitting the reader over the head with these themes. The relationship between Elisa and Hector comes to a very satisfying resolution in this book, but Elisa never loses sight of her past and we are reminded that it's her past relationships that allow her to forge ahead with Hector.

Overall, I feel that throughout the course of this series, Carson has gone from strength to strength as an author and I'm curious to see what she has planned for her next writing projects.

Despite the fact that The Warrior Heir, first of the Heir Chronicles by Cinda Williams China, is a bulky book, I managed to read it in one day with time to spare. Then, after I read it, I discovered it was the first YA book Chima ever wrote which blew my mind. Having read the Seven Realms series, I was familiar with her style of writing and the excellent standard of her prose, but then to look back to the first book and see it shining as brightly as some of the later books was amazing.

The Heir Chronicles is obviously a boy-focused series, not unlike Harry Potter in terms of intended audience I suspect. And I kind of have a soft spot for YA books for boys. The main character in this book (Jack) is up against some really unenviable odds, but handles it all with grace and good humor. The secondary characters - some adult wizards and some younger school friends - are all fully drawn and terrific complements to Jack. They also all have significant parts to play in the narrative which is wonderful to see in a book with such a comparatively large cast. Too often secondary players are one dimensional, but Chima cares enough for her cast of characters (and her readers) to give everyone a distinct role to play and to give every character his or her moment in the sun - when he or she is faced with a difficult choice that impacts the hero and his journey and they have to do their best in a challenging situation.

I know it can be difficult to get younger male readers to pick up bulky books, but The Warrior Heir should be a strong antidote to reluctant young male readers. I myself (despite not being a young male reader) will be picking up the next book, described as a "companion novel" rather than a sequel (The Wizard Heir) as a matter of urgency!

Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard is part of an interesting concept that I see more and more YA authors experimenting with. This is part of a companion set of books, one told from a YA point of view and one told as an adult book from the perspective of one of the main adult characters in the story. The companion book (which I haven't read yet) is Cain's Blood.

It may, in fact, be unfair of me to review Project Cain before reading the companion novel because I get the feeling that much of what is really key to this series is in the other book. There's a sense in Project Cain that the young protagonist (Jeff), created from the DNA of a long-dead serial killer, has been through so much trauma, he's unable to actually talk about a lot of it. Thus, much of the intrigue and drama happens offstage (off page?). While this is effective and authentic to the character's point of view, it does leave the reader wanting, and I suppose what I'm actually "wanting" is the second book.

While this book has a clear sci-fi structure (bunch of kids are artificially/scientifically created from the DNA of famous serial killers; new take on the nature/nurture debate), it also has its roots in good old-fashioned horror. So if you don't like things that go bump in the night, don't read this book. Although having said that, there's really not too much actual gore on the page. A lot of it is implied but not rendered in detail. So folks who like horror but are nevertheless a bit squeamish, like  me, should be able to cope with this narrative. No promises about the grown-up companion novel though.

The  main character's voice is very authentic and easy to relate to. The book is told from the first person point of view in the voice of a cocky, but extremely anxious and scared (with good reason) young man who, in the first chapter, discovers that his whole life is a lie and he's really a scientific creation born of a horrible  experiment. It's kind of a "buddy drama" in that he soon takes up with a mysterious black ops type agent and they go in search of answers. No girls or romance here. It's drama/action/horror all the way! I enjoyed the book and read it quickly but found portions of it repetitive. Jeff and his black ops bud (Castillo) spend a lot of time on the run and hanging out in seedy hotel rooms staring at computers and looking for answers. But that's the nature of the best in this story. So be prepared for it and you'll sit back and enjoy the narrative. I guess I need to go read Cain's Blood now to get the full picture ...