The Sin Eater's Daughter: Guest Post + Giveaway

I'm crazy excited to be a part of the promotional tour for The Sin Eater's Daughter, releasing today from Scholastic. I think you guys are all well aware now that YA fantasy jumped to the top of my preferred genre list last year, and as soon as I saw the stunning cover for this one (and of course later read the synopsis, but really, that cover!) I knew it needed to find its way into my grabby little hands.

For the tour, I had the pleasure of asking author Melinda Salisbury what 3 supernatural gifts protagonist Twylla would gladly take in place of her fatal touch (definitely NOT a "gift" I would want), so I hope you enjoy reading her picks as much as I did. Be sure and check out the bottom of the post for all the details on a fantastic giveaway as well as the full list of participating blogs. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Melinda!

TOP 3 SUPERNATURAL GIFTS TWYLLA WOULD GLADLY SUBSTITUTE FOR HER FATAL TOUCH

Flying:
I think this one is obvious, given Twylla’s absolute longing for freedom! She’s spent her entire life under the curse of one destiny or another - none of them very pleasant - and she craves escape from the life she leads. Of course, The Sin Eater’s Daughter is set in a kind of AU, pseudo-European medieval era, and - as with medieval life across Europe at that time - girls had little choice about most things in their lives, instead guided, instructed and sometimes even bartered by their parents and guardians.  

So Twylla is dutiful and obedient outwardly, as she has been raised and conditioned to be. But inside we know that she despises her life, and those who keep her in it and she’s longing for freedom, which is why when Lief strolls into her life, unburdened by Lormerian politics and unafraid of the queen, she’s easily transfixed. The two of them actually have a conversation at one point, where Lief likens freedom to flying:

I tell him I don’t know what people do when they’re free. 

“What do you mean by free?” he asks. 

“Like you. You can go where you please and do as you wish. I don’t know what that’s like.” 

“I’m not free, my lady,” he says slowly. “I can no more wander off and do as I will than you can. You think of having choices like people think of flying. They see a hawk soaring and hovering and they tell themselves how nice it would be to fly. But pigeons can fly, and sparrows too. No one imagines being a sparrow though. No one wants that.”

I think despite Lief’s words, Twylla would absolutely choose flying. She’d relish the idea of soaring away from Lormere, and the castle, and her duties. I think she would rather be a sparrow than what she is. And that’s something Lief will find very difficult to understand.

Healing:
I think she’d choose to heal, rather than kill, if she could. She’s not the feisty warrior type, whilst I think powers like pyromancy or a Medusa glare would be verrrrrrrry tempting for her at times, she’s not especially aggressive or vindictive, and I think she’d end up feeling horribly guilty if she ever did use them. I think healing is a good fit for her, to counteract all the death she’s seen in her life. And to undermine her mother’s attitude to it. I think she’d get quite the kick out of going around, healing the very sick and watching her mother puzzle out why the Goddess had saved them.

Pyromancy:
I’ve changed my mind, I think she would want pyromancy. Though it’s unlikely she’d use it aggressively, I think she’d certainly feel a lot more confident knowing that she could defend herself in that way if she needed to – more importantly if she chose to. Her poisonous ability isn’t something she can control, she just is poisonous, all the time. So I think having a power that could be used to defend herself, but that she could ultimately chose whether to use or not, would make a big difference to her life. I think she’d be able to draw strength and confidence from it, and I also think she’d wield it well, because she has such a sense of duty, she wouldn’t become like the queen and be mad with power. I think she’d mostly use it to light candles, except for the times when she’d go outside and shoot fire into the sky to let off steam.

And who wouldn’t want to do that?

Thanks so much for stopping by Melinda!

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THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.

She’s the executioner.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month she’s taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla’s fatal touch, avoids her company.

But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he’s able to look past Twylla’s executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla’s been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla’s problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love?

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads

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MELINDA SALISBURY

Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian. The Sin Eater’s Daughter is her first novel, and will be published by Scholastic in 2015. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.

She tweets. A lot.

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Tumblr • Instagram • Pinterest

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GIVEAWAY

Five lucky winners will each receive a copy of The Sin Eater's Daughter! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.


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WEEK ONE
2/16/2015- Fiktshun- Interview  
2/17/2015- Katie's Book Blog- Review  
2/18/2015- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Guest Post  
2/19/2015- Beauty and the Bookshelf- Review  
2/20/2015- Novel Novice- Interview     

WEEK TWO
2/23/2015- Fiction Fare- Review

2/24/2015- Supernatural Snark- Guest Post

2/25/201- YA Bibliophile- Review

2/26/2015- Dark Faerie Tales- Interview

2/27/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post