A Season For Fireflies Blog Tour: Playlist + Giveaway!

Welcome to Day #5 of the A Season for Fireflies Blog Tour!

To celebrate the release of A Season for Fireflies by Rebecca Maizel (6/28/16), blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content from Rebecca and 10 chances to win a copy of A Season for Fireflies, as well as a chance to win a Summer Reading Prize Pack in the Grand Prize Giveaway!

A Season for Fireflies Playlist by Rebecca Maizel

These are the songs I listened to while writing Fireflies:

Stop by A Dream Within A Dream on Monday for Day #6 of the tour!

Blog Tour Schedule:

June 20th – The Fandom

June 21st — Bookhounds

June 22nd — Daisy Chain Book Reviews

June 23rd  — Mundie Moms

June 24th — Supernatural Snark  
June 27th — A Dream Within A Dream

June 28th — The Book Cellar

June 29th — PageTurners

June 30th — Bookish

July 1st — Parajunkee

A SEASON FOR FIREFLIES

A captivating contemporary novel about first love, second chances, and the power of memory, by the author of Between Us and the Moon, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Katie Cotugno.

One year ago, Penny Berne was the star of her high school’s theater department, surrounded by a group of misfits and falling in love with her best friend, Wes.

Now her old friends won’t talk to her, her first love, Wes, ignores her, and her best friend is the most popular girl in school. Penny is revered—and hated.

But when a near-fatal lightning strike leaves Penny with no memory of the past year, or how she went from drama nerd to queen bee, Penny realizes she may have the second chance she never expected.… 

Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Indiebound • Goodreads

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REBECCA MAIZEL 

Rebecca Maizel hails from Rhode Island, where she teaches high school literature at her alma mater the Wheeler School. She tries not to force her students to read her books, though. Rebecca is the author of several published novels for young adults, and recently achieved an MFA in Writing for Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also enjoys Indian food, her dog Georgie, and running moderately long distances.

 Website • Twitter • Facebook

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GIVEAWAYS

There are two separate giveaways for this tour (WOO HOO!), so be sure and enter for a chance to win both! First up is a copy of A Season For Fireflies. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below, and then skip down to all the details on the Grand Prize Giveaway! Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

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Grand Prize Giveaway!

 

• One (1) winner will receive a Summer Reading Prize Pack featuring a beach bag stuffed with A Season for Fireflies, flip flops, sunglasses, a beach blanket, and a waterproof Bluetooth speaker (total value $96) — everything readers need to hit the beach in style!
• Enter via the rafflecopter below
• US Only
• Ends 7/3 at midnight ET

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Super Six Sunday: Killer Endings

Inspired by Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish, Super Six Sunday, a new feature from the fabulous ladies at Bewitched Bookworms, has different book-related topics each week and asks participants to address each one in the form of a list of six. Obviously.

This week's topic is killer endings, an aspect of various book series with which I have a love/hate relationship. I understand the purpose of cliffhangers and don't deny they do their job in making me chomp at the bit for the next book, but I die a little each time I come across one because my poor heart gets so invested in the stories and characters that I give myself a stress-induced ulcer when they're left hurt or in trouble and I'm forced wait to find out if they're okay. *sobs*

Below are some of the endings tore my heart out and stomped on it, or otherwise had me screaming and swearing at the top of my lungs when I reached the last page, and though I admit to disliking endings where my beloved characters are in mortal peril, I loved each of these books!

DREAMFEVER (Fever Series #4)

This book has quite possibly the most brutal ending I've ever come across. I cried. I yelled obscenities. I stared blankly at the last sentence for an absurd length of time willing more chapters to magically appear and fix everything that just happened. What made this ending even more soul-scarring you ask? The fact that the next book, Shadowfever, didn't come out for 17 months after this book released. 17 MONTHS! *falls down dead* The wait was excruciating, but Shadowfever blew me away and entirely made up for it, so I almost forgive KMM for what she put me through with Dreamfever. Almost ;-)

DEITY (Covenant Series #3)

Deity doesn't end in quite as cruel a fashion as Dreamfever, but it's one of those endings that forced a "please, no" past my lips as the far-reaching implications and ramifications of what takes place settled like a lead weight in my gut. While I was of course dying to read Apollyon as soon as I could get my hands on it, the ending of this book also had me dreading cracking the spine of the next one, knowing my bubble of delusion wherein Alex and Aiden are happy and together and in love was going to be heart-breakingly popped. I do so love this series though, and cannot wait for Sentinel to finally bring Alex's story full circle.

THE RAVEN BOYS

Okay. So the ending of The Raven Boys isn't exactly on par with the other books on this list in terms of the emotional flaying it inflicts, but it has one of the most bizarre and befuddling parting lines I've read, and I therefore felt it earned itself a spot. Confession: I flip to the back of a book and read the ending first probably 75% of the time. I need to know what's going to happen alright? I CAN'T HELP IT! I flipped straight to the back of this one, read the last line and thought to myself "Self, I can't wait to figure out what that means" before returning to the front and reading straight through. Well, as it turns out, the line I'd read initially didn't make any more sense to me after reading the story in its entirety than it had when I read it out of context, and I need to hurry up and get a hold of Dream Thieves so it can hopefully explain things to me.

INFINITE DAYS

I absolutely LOVED this book. It turns the typical vampire story on its head a bit as the protagonist turns from vampire to human rather than human to vampire. I have to be pretty invested in a story to cry (obviously), and typically crying takes place later in a book after I've had time to really get attached to the characters. With this book though? I was crying inside of the first 30 pages as my beloved Rhode wrapped himself around my heart and refused to let go. My emotions evened out after that until the very end when former vampire Lenah saw fit to slice me into emotional confetti once more. So good.

UNTIL I DIE (Revenants #2)

While this second installment was a bit rockier for me than the first, the ending took me completely by surprise and left me feeling stripped bare as I sprinted to the computer to see when the third and final book would be coming out. Logically, I knew what happened would likely be remedied in the next book, but my heart didn't seem to understand logic at all and promptly stopped working for a beat or two. Emotional stability fail.

THE EVOLUTION OF MARA DYER (Mara Dyer #2)

Oh, Michelle Hodkin. What a brilliant dispenser of pain you are. This series is strange and twisted and a confusing jumble of "what the hell is going on?" that works so beautifully well that I will be able to read these books over and over again and learn something new each time. The ending of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a jaw-dropper, but the ending of Evolution is more of a punch to the gut, one that sent me reeling and raving and looking around for anyone who might listen, willingly or otherwise, as I tried to get all my thoughts in order by speaking them aloud. Can it be time for Retribution already?

Review: Stolen Nights

STOLEN NIGHTS
Vampire Queen #2
Rebecca Maizel
Paranormal Young Adult
303 pages
St. Martin's Griffin
Available January 29th
Received for blog tour through The Readiacs

Warning: Review contains spoilers from Infinite Days, but no spoilers from Stolen Nights.

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Lenah Beaudonte should be dead. But having sacrificed herself to save another, she finds herself awakening with strange powers that are neither vampire nor human—and a new enemy on her trail. In her vampire life, Lenah had thought that being human was all she ever wanted; but the human heart suffers pain, heartbreak and loss.

With her new powers growing and the dark force of the Nex after her soul, Lenah faces a choice: between the mortal love of gorgeous Justin, whose passion fed her human soul, and taking a different path to become the mistress of her own destiny, wherever that may lead...

MY THOUGHTS
Stolen Nights is a complicated read; not necessarily so in terms of plot, but rather as a result of an emotional attachment that formed quickly and with surprising strength in the opening chapters of Infinite Days before quieting as Lenah’s human journey continued, only to return and be played upon with deft fingers in this second installment. Rhode’s sacrifice for Lenah in the first book had a profound impact, the utter love and devotion he felt for her creating a specter that continually raised the fine hairs on our arms as memories of him danced through Lenah’s mind, and while our affection for Justin grew as the story progressed, the indelible marks left by Rhode’s fingers around our hearts remained. Now in Stolen Nights, those marks return with a painful vengeance, Justin’s ability to staunch some of the emotional bleeding rendered completely ineffective in the face of Rhode’s presence as a flesh and blood mortal.

A character with whom a deep and poignant emotional connection is formed despite limited page time is rare, but so is one such as Rhode Lewin, therefore his effect on us should come as no surprise. Our time with him in Stolen Nights is granted in brief snippets, but just as was the case with Infinite Days, so much feeling is communicated by his very presence, and we feel the full weight of his love, his frustration and his pain as he struggles in this new life settle heavily into our bones. Our previous affection for Justin seems to disintegrate almost immediately once we realize Rhode’s survived the ritual as Lenah has, shocking us a bit with our own fickleness until we realize Rhode has owned our love and loyalty from his first appearance, making the emotional entanglements between the three of them all the more complex.

Lenah is as stripped bare by Rhode’s return as we are, her months-long relationship with Justin no match for her centuries-long relationship with him, but a cruel decree rubs salt in an already open and raw wound, creating chaos from the order Lenah had created with her selfless act to save Vicken at the end of book one. Though it’s clear to us that if circumstances were different Lenah would move heaven and earth to be with Rhode again, some of the selfishness so inherent in a vampire’s makeup seems to rise to the surface despite her current mortality as she repeatedly turns to Justin as a balm to soothe the pain of Rhode’s proximity. Her actions are something we understand logically, knowing the wounds Rhode tears open his with unexpected arrival are not ones she can simply close on her own, but she does at times test the boundaries of our tolerance, continually thinking only of her own pain without once acknowledging either Rhode’s or Justin’s.

Though Lenah’s thoughts are self-centered for majority of the book, the conclusion sees the expansion of her previous tunnel vision, her mistakes with Rhode, Justin, Vicken and so many of those she’s met in her extraordinarily long life made clear and accepted, complete with a gut-wrenching remedy that leaves us numb save for a throbbing ache in our chests. An epilogue from Rhode himself thankfully leaves us with a spark of hope that perhaps things for Lenah and company will not be left as they are, and we may all be given one more chance to see Lenah and Rhode as we so desperately wish them to be.

Rating: 4/5

Interview: Rebecca Maizel

I want to start by giving a warm welcome to Rebecca Maizel, author of Infinite Days. I absolutely adored this book and immediately wrote Rebecca to ask for this interview, and to my absolute delight, she agreed!

What’s your favorite quote from Infinite Days?

In response to Lenah seeing Justin and Tracy laughing in the library:

“At Wickham, Tony was my only companion. His friendship kept me company as well as all the memories of my vampire life, piling on and on in my mind like a stack of books, each memory a leather binding, reaching higher and higher toward an endless ceiling.”

Rhode’s love for Lenah is overwhelming and gut-wrenching, and he places her above and before any other. Did you worry how readers might react to Lenah having love interests other than Rhode?

I didn’t worry. You can’t worry when you’re writing how your readers will react. You have to write for yourself, for the characters and for the story they need to tell. And yes, Rhode rules.

Were there any scenes that were cut in the editing process you wish had made it into the book?

I had a different opening – Lenah wakes up in a library in the first version of Infinite Days and debates whether or not she should murder the librarian.

Can you give us one fun fact we might not know about Infinite Days? Something about the story itself or the writing process?

The way Justin looks is based off of the hottest roommate I ever had in my life. Not entirely but the height and the “glowing” sort of aura. SO CUTE.

(This is me shaking my head that none of my roommates ever looked like that!)

If you were Lenah, would you have made the same choice to become human knowing the price that needs to be paid?

Well, Lenah doesn’t know Rhode will die. She knows it’s a possibility but she doesn’t know it will happen for sure. I think if I was Lenah and I was reaching the edge of insanity as she was at the end of her vampire life, yes, I probably would. I imagine her existence would have been nearly unbearable.

If you could interview any literary character, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Jo March from Little Women and I would say: WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU. WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY YES WHEN LAURIE ASKED YOU TO MARRY HIM!!!!

What’s the most interesting question you’ve been asked as an author?

I did an interview with http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/ and the interview there was really fun. She also wrote a fantastic review, well thought out.

I have thought about Lenah, Rhode and their entire story almost every day since I finished the book a week ago. What’s the last book you read that had a story and characters you just couldn’t stop thinking about?

Wow, thank you so much. Their history is a really long one and their love has literally spanned centuries. So, thank you.

I read AM Jenkins’ novel Beating Heart and I am OBSESSED with Ethan. The author does such an incredible job setting up the relationship between Ethan and the Ghost that haunts his house. AWESOME.



Thanks so much for stopping by Rebecca! If you haven't had a chance to pick up Infinite Days, you are missing out on a truly imaginative and breathtaking story. Run to the bookstore! If you want to learn more about Infinite Days, upcoming Vampire Queen novels, and Rebecca, you can check out these sites:

http://rebeccamaizel.com
Vampire Queen Novels
Rebecca's Blog

Review: Infinite Days

INFINITE DAYS (Vampire Queen #1)
Rebecca Maizel
Young Adult
308 pages
St. Martin's Press
Available Now

THE STORY
Lenah Beaudonte has filled her centuries of existence with pain, suffering, blood, and death. Her heart does not beat. Her eyes shed no tears. And her body is merely an empty shell where a soul no longer resides. It's been this way for over 500 years, and in that time she has become the most powerful female vampire in existence. But that time is over.

Lenah has become human thanks to lover, confindante, and eternal companion Rhode. He has given her the dream of all vampires: to be able to feel something other than a constant, insatiable ache. Now she is enrolled in a private boarding school where she must a adapt to a human lifestyle and protect her reprehensible secret so that she may begin anew.

Some say, however, that history always repeats itself. For Lenah, a repeat performance of her former life is the worse scenario she can imagine. For the first time in hundreds of years she wants more than the anguish of others; she wants to live. But the pain and betrayal she left behind will not be ignored, and a hunt begins to reclaim the most vicious vampire of them all.

MY THOUGHTS
This story is instantly addicting. The characters' desperation and conflict combined with the story's promise of a life worth living draw you in with deep, drugging pulls that leave the reader the latest victim of the vampire's dark, blissful appeal. This is not the tale of a human girl turned vampire and forced to adapt to supernatural abilities, but rather the tale of a brutal creature given the chance at atonement, and we as readers have the pleasure of watching as the moral depravity disappears and a selflessness and passion take its place.

Lenah is a glorious character. Through her we see that hope can exist in the darkest of places, and life can hold joy in the simplest of moments. It's fascinating to watch as she encounters the world with newly innocent eyes, yet retains a vampiric sight tainted by the basest of instincts. She revels in the brush of her skin against a textured wall, yet can't help but evaluate the movements of her peers and locate those that would make the easiest prey. She is flummoxed and enchanted by CD's and modern technology, yet always looks at the veins on the inside of people's wrists to determine the purity of their blood. The juxtaposition of her completely pristine human nature with the remnants of her unfathomable barbarity is brilliantly executed and absolutely enthralling.

Rhode, though lacking a heartbeat, seems to pulsate with life in his all-too brief appearances. His bond with Lenah is unbreakable, seemingly completely at odds with the cruelty of the vampire way of life, and his love for her shines from the pages with blinding light. Because of my instant attraction and unwavering loyalty to him as a character, I couldn't help but feel a pinch of betrayal as Lenah's focus seems to so easily shift to main love interest Justin. He is a likeable character, but Rhode has a depth that is unmatched despite his significantly reduced page time.

Though the story isn't extremely fast-paced until the last few pages, there is something inherently satisfying in watching Lenah try to reclaim the soul she had ripped from her all those years ago, thereby ensuring that Rhode's gift will not have been for naught. The ending leaves the reader salivating, and were I to be in possession of a pair of fangs, they would have descended in breathless anticipation of sinking them into the next installment.

Rating: 4.5/5

Stay tuned tomorrow for my interview with Rebecca Maizel!