Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Forever Song Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

www.kismetbt.com/the-forever-song-by-julia-kagawa

Today I'm thrilled to be a part of the promotional tour for the final book in Julie Kagawa's spectacular Blood of Eden series, The Forever Song. I've always been a fan of vampire stories, but Julie's vampires are truly something special and I simply couldn't love the dark emotional waters she makes us navigate with heroine Allie more. Julie was nice enough to answer a few questions for me, so I hope you all enjoy the interview! Be sure and check the bottom of the post for all the details on an epic giveaway as well as a full list of the participating blogs.

If Allie could call on any character or creature from one of your other novels for help in taking down Sarren, who (or what) would she think might be of the greatest assistance?

Hm, lessee. Well, either Ash or Puck would be pretty helpful against Sarren; both of them have mad sword/dagger skills, and magic to back them up. But I think, if she could call on anyone from any of my other books, it would be Ember the dragon from the upcoming Talon series. Vampires and fire don't mix well. One poof, and Sarren would be ashes.

Let’s say you have the supernatural ability to write yourself out of any situation and transport yourself somewhere else entirely. If you suddenly found yourself in Allie’s world facing down a group of rabids, how might your exit go? (For the sake of argument, let’s also say you have a pen and paper on you at all times and you can write at superhuman speeds given the rabids aren’t overly patient.)

"Suddenly a big red dragon swoops down, blasts the rabids with fire, and lands close to me so I can leap onto its back. With a few powerful beats of its wings, we lift off the ground and soar rapidly to safety." (Hey, I've always wanted to ride a dragon. Might as well take advantage of this new superpower lol.)

Books have always been important to Allie. If she could visit any library throughout history or in today’s world, which library do you think she’s most like to see?

I think she'd love to visit any library, but the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress are both good choices. The New York Public library is huge, and has an old, almost gothic type feel to it, which Allie would appreciate. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, and I could see her staying there for months, immersing herself in stories and history, occasionally snacking on those people who rip pages out of library books.

Kanin has been there to teach and guide Allie through her transition from human to vampire. What’s one thing he’s taught her that he most hopes will forever stick with her?

That she can always choose what type of monster she is. 

The world of the Blood of Eden series is a terrifyingly fascinating one. What’s one other world from a piece of fiction that’s both scared and mesmerized you?

I might be the odd one out here, but the world of Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass is totally creepy and terrifying to me. I can't even watch the Disney cartoon without getting uncomfortable at certain parts. Just the thought of being stuck in a world where nothing makes sense, ugh. And I might be showing my age here, but there was a short television series in the 80's of Through the Looking Glass, where Alice is trapped on the other side of the mirror and reads a book called The Jabberwocky. And then, of course, the Jabberwocky appears. I can watch it now and laugh at the cheap 80s movie monster, but back then, as a little kid, it scared the bejeezus out of me.

Youtube link to clip in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7dxhbHAGRE

If we were to join Allie in her quest to hunt down Sarren, what are three things (aside from food and water) we better make sure we have with us if we're to have any hope of surviving the journey?

Well, we'd need weapons, obviously. Something sharp and pointy, like a sword, or a stake. Fire wouldn't be a bad idea, either. And definitely a robust first-aid kit, because if we're going to be taking on Sarren, no one is going to come out of it unscathed.

The Forever Song is the final book in the Blood of Eden trilogy; what about Allie’s character will stand out in your memory most even as you move on to new projects?

I've always loved Allie's determination and stubbornness to hold on to her humanity and not become a monster. Also, the way that she refuses to stay down, to always get back up and fight, even if she's very badly hurt. And she's got a bit of a mouth on her, which made her fights with Jackal all the more entertaining. All in all, she was a fierce, flawed, fun character to write about, and I will miss her, even though I know I ended her story in the best place I could.

• • • • • • • • • • • 

THE FOREVER SONG
Blood of Eden #3


Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster?

With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

MONSTER.

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the path is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions—her creator, Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal.

The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost— the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie. In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.


• • • • • • • • • • • 

THE IMMORTAL RULES
Blood of Eden #1


Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city.

By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.


• • • • • • • • • • • •

THE ETERNITY CURE
Blood of Eden #2


How do you face the end of eternity?

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood.

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever-and possibly end human and vampire existence.




• • • • • • • • • • • • • 

JULIE KAGAWA 


Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it  by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all-time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian shepherd who is too smart for his own good and the latest addition, a hyperactive Papillon puppy.


• • • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY


Each tour stop is offering up the winner’s choice of either THE IMMORTAL RULES, THE ETERNITY CURE or THE FOREVER SONG - whichever book in the series you might be missing!

There are also 2 grand prizes:

• 1 winner will get a complete set of Julie Kagawa’s books, including The Iron Fey Saga and The Blood of Eden Saga!

• 1 winner will get a $100 gift card from either iTunes, Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open to US/Canada and ends May 2nd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure and check out the rest of the blogs on the tour for more reviews, interviews and chances to win!

Monday, April 7th – Harlequin Paranormal Romance Blog
Tuesday, April 8th – fiktshun
Wednesday, April 9th – The Page Turners
Thursday, April 10st – Books and Things
Friday, April 11th – Ticket To Anywhere

Monday, April 14th – Two Chicks on Books
Tuesday, April 15th – Parajunkee
Wednesday, April 16th – Refracted Light Reviews
Thursday, April 17st – Bewitched Bookworms
Friday, April 18th – Mundie Moms

Monday, April 21th – A Book Obsession
Tuesday, April 22nd – The Book Cellar
Wednesday, April 23th – Supernatural Snark
Thursday, April 24st – The Busy Bibliophile
Friday, April 25th  – Tyngas Reviews

60 comments:

  1. I'm happy that the final book is coming out but sad the series is ending.

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  2. Thank you for the wonderful interview. I loved all the books and it's really interesting to have some insights like that. Yeah Puck and Ash would be perfect to help. THanks for sharing!

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  3. I'm so excited to read The Forever Song, but I'm also sad this series is ending :D

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  4. This was one fantastic series and one that made me love stories about vampires again!!

    Fantastic interview, Jenny! I love how original and unique your questions are! And damn, all that talk about dragons makes me want to read Talon even more!

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  5. I'm really excited! I loved Julie's books!

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  6. This is such a fun interview Jenny! I loved the way that Kagawa wrote herself escaping from the rabids, that is definitely a cool way to escape! Also I am super excited about Kagawa's upcoming book Talon, so was thrilled to see a little mention of Ember! Thanks for sharing this with us!

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  7. I can not wait to start the series, everybody is crying and admires the books! I NEED to read them, at least because it sounds amazing and The Iron Fey absolutely got me and I loved it! :)

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  8. Great interview, Jenny! No lie--yesterday I finally dug out the first book of this series (AND Don't Look Behind You ;) ) from my bookshelves and moved it to the nightstand. Any day now . . .

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  9. All the feels ever for this series. I am so scared to finish it. SCARED, JENNY. But I'm going to trust Julie. *deep breath*

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  10. Jenny! You already know how much I loved this series and how Julie ended it. I loved this interview.
    A dragon would definitely end finish Sarren within the first page of the final book. :D I can't wait to meet Ember. She's probably going to be the most badass Kagawa heroine.
    Also, yes! I'm with Julie. I would totally want to fly on a dragon, but then if ever I came across one in real life, I would be the first to run away and hide in a corner. I might want to do very bold things, but I'm a complete wuss. Heck, I can't even watch Supernatural without someone else by my side. The Bloody Mary episode scarred me for weeks. I refused to go in front of mirrors for an entire week, which was rather hard because my dad had built tons of mirrors over our apartment to make the rooms look bigger. -_-

    "I've always loved Allie's determination and stubbornness to hold on to her humanity and not become a monster. Also, the way that she refuses to stay down, to always get back up and fight, even if she's very badly hurt."

    THIS is exactly why I love Allie too. She's such a strong and resilient girl.

    Thanks for sharing this, Jenny. You can tell that Julie really cares for her characters.

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  11. I'm happy that Allie will finally get an ending to her story.

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  12. Good ole Ash and Puck!
    Fun interview. I need to pick this trilogy up and read it, I already know I love her other work so I am sure I will really enjoy this as well.

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  13. The Jabberwocky O.o That shit is the stuff of nightmares, I say! I haven't started this series because I suck, but I love how very haunting and gripping it sounds. Plus, Allie sounds remarkable! :)

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  14. I cannot wait to read The Forever Song!!! So very eager and nervous at the same time.

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  15. I'm definitely upset that it's ending. :(

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  16. So excited to read The Forever Song, but yes, also terrified! Awesome interview, as always!

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  17. Such an amazing interview, Jenny! I loved the first question and it only makes me want Talon more and more! But yeah vampires and dragons would be pretty uninteresting fight xD Also Allie is a really interesting character and her stubbornness is something I will remember for sure. Great interview, Jenny :)

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  18. I would definitely like to ride a dragon: Fierce and armored, a gorgeous deep purple, breathes fire, can crack a man open like a walnut. And her name would be Buttercup.

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  19. I enjoyed The Forever Song - I was happy with how everybody's storyline wrapped up - and I'm so excited that Julie made references to Talon, which I'm dying to read! Great interview, Jenny!

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  20. Yes, I am back finally. Fingers crossed. I loved this interview. Ms. Kagawa is just awesome. I have The Forever Song scheduled in two weeks and I am anxious to dig in and see how it all ends. I love to see how Allie comes to terms with her monster.

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  21. I got to read an e-galley and loved the way it ended. Would love to see more stories in this world though!

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  22. Loving these books and can't wait to read Forever Song!

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  23. I love this series and loved the interview. I'm stuck on the first one. Oh what a great mash up of characters it would be. To me Jackal was a bit like Puck and to see those two together would be so fun. Also wouldn't Jackal love to razz Ash? Oh the possibilities! :D

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  24. I'm really looking forward to getting a copy and seeing how it all turns out.

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  25. Ooh now I'm even more excited to meet Ember the dragon from her new series, she sounds badass! :-) Holy lord I had almost forgotten that traumatic Jabberwocky clip. It does look kind of cheesy now (but somehow, still SCARY). Awesome interview! I'm reading the finale now and loving it so far. :-)

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  26. Ooh, I'm really looking forward to Talon, mostly because DRAGONS. I really enjoyed these questions, though, Jenny, so thanks for sharing!(:

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  27. I'm excited to read the final book but I'm a little nervous as to what is going to happen. But I'm mostly excited!!

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  28. I'm just really excited to start this series!

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  29. So I haven't read this series yet, but I've heard a lot of really great things about it. So I'm excited to start it!

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  30. Excitement with a twinge of sadness. I'm excited about Kagawa's new book Talon and the ending of the series, but it's the ending. What isn't sad about endings?

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  31. Freaking love this series! One of the best books I've ever read!

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  32. I agree 100% with the things Julie mentioned on that last question's answer. Allison's flaws, stubbornness, determination, etc are all things that have always stood out to me since book 1. I will miss all of that and more dearly now that the series is over but I can always revisit everyone by rereading the books~

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  33. I haven't read the series yet but I'm sure I will love this series because I loved the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. Thanks for the giveaway!! :)

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  34. I just got book 1 and I'm so excited to gt started :) so I'm not as sad as everyone else that the series is ending. Thanks for sharing!

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  35. I am excited for this book but sad that it is the end too.

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  36. I am excited but I'm also sad its ending.

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  37. I'm excited to find out how the story end and sad that this is the last book of the series.

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  38. I hate when a series ends, so I guess its bitter sweet.

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  39. Great interview! I'm super excited to see this book on my shelf!

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  40. I am sad, but excited with the book.

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  41. Those questions were amazing. I'm a new follower (I admit, I did it for the giveaway), but I'll definitely be following this blog more actively!

    And I can't wait for The Forever Song to get in my hands. The wait is absolutely killing me. (Even though I know I'll be broken by the ending anyway.)

    Thank you for offering this giveaway!

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  42. So excited to actually read it, but sad to not have more to look forward to

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  43. It is exciting because this is the conclusion but terrifying because it is the end and I am nervous about what will happen

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  44. Another series I NEED to start reading! Thanks for sharing.

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  45. I'm happy they're all out so I can read the whole series.

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  46. I know the exact 80s show she is talking about! I loved it at the same time it scared the bajeebus out of me as a kid.

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  47. Just reading this interview is making me miss Allie! It's both thrilling and a little sad saying goodbye to her.

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  48. I haven't read these yet, but I'm super excited to marathon the series!

    **Rachelle**

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  49. I haven't yet read any of the series yet but really excited to find a new series to enjoy

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  50. I have warm fuzzes thinking about this finale, which is CRAZYPANTS because it's a scary book. But it was a wonderful conclusion, and I've found so few of those this year. I love Allie and I've enjoyed her journey so much. I will miss her and Zeke, Kanin and Jackal. But not Sarren. Good riddance. I cannot wait for Talon!!

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  51. I'm so sad about this series ending! But I cannot wait to see what happens!!!

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  52. I just wanted to start reading the series! :(
    Mary G Loki

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  53. I'm sad, nervous, and excited at the same time.

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  54. I haven't read them, but I am looking forward to reading them!

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