Winners!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway and my giveaway of Savita Kalhan's The Long Weekend! I had a fabulous number of entries for both giveaways which was really exciting. Winners are below, both of you have been emailed!

LUCKY LEPRECHAUN WINNER:
Zoe


THE LONG WEEKEND WINNER:
Small Review

Interview + Giveaway: Savita Kalhan and The Long Weekend

This afternoon I'm thrilled to welcome author Savita Kalhan to the blog! Her young adult novel, The Long Weekend, was extremely surprising to me (in a good way) and left a very memorable impression, so I hope all of you get a chance to read it! Savita has been kind enough to offer up a copy of the book to one lucky commenter, so be sure and check out the bottom of the interview for entry details. If you'd like to read my full review, you can do that HERE.

Hi Jenny, thanks for inviting me here today! I’m looking forward to answering your questions.

So much of the intensity of this story is psychological–the villain isn’t always present but we feel him throughout the entire book. When reading, do you find yourself more anxious with books that are mentally taxing or books that are full of a lot of action and violence?

Oh definitely those that are mentally taxing – especially if they’re psychological thrillers! Books full of action and violence are like films that are full of action and violence – I can watch or read them without really having to do much thinking or engaging with them on a complex level. They’re raw entertainment – fun and absorbing at the time, but pretty forgettable once they’re finished.

What do you feel is the most unnerving or tense scene in the book?

For me it was the scene when Sam goes into the bedroom looking for Lloyd. He’s not sure what he’s going to find – and when I wrote it neither was I! Writing those few chapters was a very tense time because I wasn’t sure myself how far I would go until I started writing them.

Sam’s mind works brilliantly in a very stressful situation, do you think you work well under pressure?

I’d love to say yes! But honestly I’m not sure. I have worked well under pressure in the past, but this kind of pressure isn’t the kind that most people come across in their lives. This is a very different kind of pressure.

The morning The Long Weekend released, do you remember the first thought that went through your head?

Yes – “Oh my god, I’m a real writer!”

Which do you find more terrifying: the disfigured, axe-wielding, slasher movie type, or the more quiet, “normal” person-who-could-be-your-neighbor type?

Both! I’m a real chicken when it comes to horror films! Slasher films give me nightmares and I can’t watch things like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th anymore. The more quiet, “normal” person-who-could-be-your-neighbor type movies are equally as terrifying, but in a very different way. I do love watching things like CSI Vegas, and Law and Order, and thrillers, but I draw the line at horrors!

If Sam and Lloyd were to interview you and they asked why you wrote certain events as happening to Lloyd and not Sam, how would you explain your decision to them?

I don’t think I could. I would have to hang my head in shame and apologize profusely to Lloyd.

Is there a reason you chose to write this story with two young male characters as opposed to female?

No, it just happened that way. When I got the idea for the story, Sam’s character and voice arrived and Lloyd followed shortly after. But I’m so glad they did. It would have been a very different story if the characters were female, and actually there are lots of teen and YA books out there where it’s girls who are kidnapped.

Last book that kept you up all night reading? Why?

This book has been out for a long time, but somehow I only got around to reading it recently – Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The voice of the character came through so strongly, despite the fact for much of the book the character has no voice. It’s a very poignant, moving story and I absolutely loved it.

I know with just writing simple reviews, every time I re-read my work I find something to edit or change, do you find this as well with your writing? If so, at what point do you decide the book is done and you won’t change another thing?

That’s such a hard call to make! I think you get a gut feeling when it’s there. Having it read by other people who are good readers, and who are able to be perfectly honest about your work is very important. You don’t have to take any advice offered, but I find it is important to hear a few different points of view. It helps you see your work more clearly.

If The Long Weekend were made into a movie, what would the poster or voice-over tagline be?

“Sam and Lloyd, two kids who get in the wrong car.

They’re locked up in dark secluded mansion…where the monster is real.

Will either of them get out alive…?”


I’d love your followers to come over to my website, www.savitakalhan.com and have a look around, leave me a message on my message board and tell me what they think of The Long Weekend!

They can also find me on twitter http://twitter.com/savitakalhan

And on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Long-Weekend-Savita-Kalhan/117223691628538

For the international GIVEAWAY competition, I’d like your followers to answer this question in the comments section – What was the last book that kept them up all night reading? I’m looking forward to reading their responses!

Thanks so much for inviting me here, Jenny!


GIVEAWAY:

Thanks so much for stopping by and providing readers with a chance to win your book Savita! If you haven't had a chance to read this book yet, please add it to your list, it's an amazing story! To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment answering Savita's question as well as a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway will run through midnight on March 25th after which time a winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced on the blog. This giveaway is international. Good luck everyone!

Review: The Long Weekend

THE LONG WEEKEND
Savita Kalhan
Young Adult
180 Pages
Andersen Press (London)
Available Now
Received from I Swim For Oceans and Savita Kalhan for review

THE STORY
Sam couldn't be more excited that he has found a best friend in Lloyd his first week at a new school and is looking forward to hanging out with him over the weekend. However, when both boys mistake the man offering them a ride home for the other boy's father, they find themselves in for a very different weekend than the one they had planned.

While Lloyd remains oblivious to their current situation thinking his wealthy father has planned some extravagant fun event for the two of them, Sam becomes increasingly aware of the danger they're in. Forced to separate upon arriving at a sprawling mansion, neither Sam nor Lloyd realize the full extent of the separate terrors both will have to endure before the weekend is over.

MY THOUGHTS
A spectacularly eerie and suspenseful tale, The Long Weekend wastes little time drawing us into the action and putting us on edge as the gravity of Sam and Lloyd's mistake settles over us with a tangible weight we carry with us to the very end. We want so badly to join in the boys' initial denial of their situation, hoping and wishing events will not unravel as we secretly know they will, the incessant tingling of our pebbled skin and the sick twist in our guts evidence we cannot ignore or rationalize away as we are forced to come to the same horrifying conclusion as Sam–that his situation is dire, his life is at risk, and his options are limited. For a story short in length it lacks for nothing, the tension and fear so thick we can almost taste it, our mouths shockingly dry while we repeatedly try to swallow past the lump in our throats and cling to vain hope we might be able to save Sam and Lloyd with the safety of our reality. Though our wish to rescue them is a futile one, Ms. Kalhan ensures we are with the boys every step of the way, pulses pounding so loudly we're convinced the villain will sense us and our fear ratcheting up with every echoing thump as we know we can do nothing but read on, invisible but involved companions to Sam and Lloyd through an experience that will profoundly change their lives.

Sam is a character of infinite loyalty and ingenuity, making up in mental strength what he lacks in physical as an eleven year old boy, assessing his situation with admirable calm and refusing to meekly accept his status as a victim. He thinks clearly and soundly, makes difficult decisions, and attempts to thwart a man bigger, stronger, and disgustingly unhinged. His patience with a very traumatized Lloyd is painful to witness, our hearts aching with every quiet reassurance uttered as we know even if both boys make it home, their lives will be irrevocably changed. Every time Lloyd freezes in fear we stop breathing, wondering if the time has come where he or Sam will accept defeat and resign themselves to a fate no child should have to endure, the anxiety pulsing in these quiet moments of indecision so potent our bodies tremble in anticipation, waiting, watching, and willing them to fight just a little longer.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this story is Ms. Kalhan's ability to elicit extreme emotional reactions with her delicate handling of a difficult subject matter. Though it's clear to us what happens to Lloyd, the details are sparse, thereby augmenting an already suffocatingly tense atmosphere with the added uneasiness of the unknown. She works a similar magic on our villain, the description of him brief and succinct yet we feel the weight of his presence as though we have seen him clearly, knowing we will forever remember the feel of him–the chill and disgust he calls forth from us markers we will always recognize and associate with a monster. Though he never touches us physically as he does Lloyd, we do not walk away from this story unscathed, the remnants of his sickness remaining permanently with us as brands so deeply embedded in our skin they will never fully fade.

Overall, The Long Weekend is a story that both shocks and unnerves us, the depth of terror and fear punching us in the gut with a force we are grossly unprepared for, doubling us over as we choke and sputter and try to regain our equilibrium so we can walk side by side with Sam and Lloyd with the hope they will share in our recovery. Quick, fast, and unleashing a deluge of overwhelming emotions, this is a story that should occupy a spot at the top of everyone's to be read pile.

Rating: 4.5/5

Stop back in this afternoon for my interview with Ms. Kalhan as well as a giveaway of The Long Weekend!

In My Mailbox #19

In My Mailbox was created by Kristi over at The Story Siren and is a great way to see what other bloggers are reading and reviewing. I always love seeing what everyone else got for their week!




For Review:
Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin #4) by Jennifer Estep
Mieradome by Kate O'Hegarty
The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan
Seduced by Shadows (Marked Souls #1) by Jessa Slade
Forged of Shadows (Marked Souls #2) by Jessa Slade
Vowed in Shadows (Marked Souls #3) by Jessa Slade

A huge thank you to Jennifer Estep, Kate O'Hegarty, Savita Kalhan and Melissa of I Swim For Oceans, and Jessa Slade for sending me such fabulous books this week!