Endless Blog Tour: Interview with Jessica Shirvington

I'm beyond pleased to welcome author Jessica Shirvington back to the blog today to answer a few questions about the newest installment of the Embrace series, Endless (releasing October 1st from Sourcebooks Fire). I absolutely LOVE this series, it's dark and emotionally challenging, and each book is better than the one that came before it. I can't recommend this series enough and I hope you all enjoy the interview!

If Lincoln and Violet could recruit one character from any other young adult book to fight with them against Lilith, who would they most like to join their team?

Valek from Maria V Snyder's Magic Study Series! He'd kick some serious exile butt! (and look good doing it!)

Now that Violet’s been putting all her physical training and fighting skills to use as she battles exiles, what would she say has been the best tip/trick/piece of advice she’s gotten on facing down an opponent?

Win at all costs even if you have to fight a little dirty. Exiles have no morals, no ethics when it comes to the fight. It is kill or be killed and Lincoln made sure Violet understood that getting caught up in code conduct fighting would be a fast way to get dead!

Let’s say Josephine requires Violet and Lincoln to take a class or two of their choice while at the Grigori academy in New York. Which ones might interest each of them most?

Violet definitely errs on the side of anything artistic or combat focused. In the Academy I imagine she would choose the more physical classes above any history studies etc. For Lincoln, though he is very physical I actually think he would thoroughly enjoy the academic side of studies so I would throw him into the history of mythology! Although, if Violet is next door sparring, I can't imagine Lincoln would miss his opportunity to be her partner. ;-)

Violet’s dad has been largely absent for most of her life, but he finally has his eyes opened and gets to see the young woman his daughter has become in this book. If he were given 5 minutes alone with her, what’s the first thing he would say?

I think he'd say something along the lines of: I'm sorry it took me so long to open my eyes and I hate that I let you, even for one minute, believe you weren't enough.

If you were in Violet’s shoes during testing in front of the assembly and were faced with the same three choices of weapon with which to demonstrate your skill, which one would you choose?

Tough choice considering one of the weapons isn't a ticket the hell out of there! Ah, so I guess I would go with the katanas like Violet. Not for the reasons she did of course, more because they would give the most distance between me and my opponent!

There are some dark and painful moments in this book, is there anything specific (listen to music, take a walk, etc.) you do to gear up to write those scenes?

I listened to a lot of music while writing ENDLESS. Music like Florence and the Machine, Sia, Land Del Rey, Muse... And not just while writing it, but also while writing the other books in preparation for it. I always knew this storyline was coming and my mind would often travel to it. It is safe to say a lot of emotion went into writing ENDLESS. I cried. A lot!

*Ummmmm. ME TOO. My heart hurts just thinking about this book, but it's a must read for fans of the series!*

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JESSICA SHIRVINGTON

One day, instead of picking up a new book, I started to write. The first name that came to mind was Violet. From there the rest naturally followed. I can honestly say, once Violet was discovered – she really did write the rest of the book!

Writing this book has drawn on my life experience – in my travels around the world and the different people I have met. It draws on love and loss and the overall confusion that comes with growing up. It also looks to many of my friends and their experiences.

I have always loved ancient history – tales and stories of the best kind.

Website • Blog • Embrace Website • Facebook 

 

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ENDLESS

 

 

LOVE WILL KILL US ALL
 

Violet Eden thought she was getting things under control. Then all hell breaks loose-literally. In the war between angels and exiles, she's about to face the biggest baddie of all time. Except she's not nearly ready.
 

The dark exile Phoenix is still messing with her head-not to mention her heart. And her undeniable attraction to Lincoln has gotten downright dangerous. When Hell unleashes its worst, Violet must embrace every facet of her angel self to save the people she cares about and the world as she knows it. But death is not the worst thing she will face...

 

Goodreads • Amazon

Review: Through the Zombie Glass

THROUGH THE ZOMBIE GLASS
The White Rabbit Chronicles #2
Gena Showalter
Paranormal Young Adult
480 pages
HarlequinTEEN
Available September 24th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home. 

After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things. 

The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

MY THOUGHTS
Through the Zombie Glass is a pulse-pounding sequel, the heat and action dialed up to an extraordinary degree so that the cadence of our rapidly beating hearts turns into a repetitive soundtrack that accompanies the dark and light, the highs and lows, and the love and pain on the page. Though there are some familiar second book elements–such as the dissolution of the main romantic pairing–they never stay confined to their neatly labeled boxes, instead spilling out in grand fashion to fit this story specifically, forcing us to evaluate what happens within in the context of this narrative and leave all comparisons to other books at the door. This second installment is a challenging read in many ways, a darkly foreboding prologue from Ali letting us know that the coming pages will leave marks, shaping and changing our emotional topography until we emerge from the concluding chapters different than we were when we went into the beginning ones.

The catalyst for our change in this book is Cole himself, a young man who has fully embraced his bad boy status and driven it to new heights, but in this story the pleasant sheen of fiction that grants us the freedom to crush on someone dangerous is startlingly removed, leaving behind the rough surface of reality we didn’t quite see in book one, too distracted were we by the heat and intensity of his presence. Where he was seemingly infallible he is now humanly flawed, where he was previously invincible he is now vulnerable, and where he was before a protector he is now the hand that delivers a staggering emotional blow, the force of which not only hits us where it hurts but also temporarily knocks him right off the pedestal of swoon-worthiness on which we had previously placed him.

While his fall from grace, so to speak, is a bitter pill to swallow, it’s also one of the highlights of the book for the effect it has on Ali, allowing her to step fully into the shoes she was testing out in book one and become the badass of this series we had mistakenly thought Cole to be. When Cole seems intent on pushing her away, blowing hot and cold, Ali remains even keel, refusing to stoop to his level and instead waiting patiently for him to find the strength and courage to meet her on the high road she’s currently walking. She has a few understandable rough patches in which she allows herself to feel the sting of his rejection, but she always pulls herself back from the edge, turning her focus to the other not-insignificant problems with which she’s currently dealing. She never wavers in her feelings for him, even when a new temptation presents himself, and she admirably continues to protect her heart even as Cole begins to realize his mistake, respecting herself enough to say no to him when it would be so very easy to just say yes.

The romance is certainly a prominent element, as it is in any of Ms. Showalter’s fabulous books, but there are also some significant developments with both the enemy and within the team of slayers, relationships changing and strengthening as Anima lays a few of their more terrifying cards on the table. The only thing keeping this book from a higher rating is the speed with which the issues of Ali’s darker half are resolved at the end, and though we’re certainly grateful it’s not an aspect that’s going to be drawn out unnecessarily, for all the problems it caused throughout the resolution seems a touch easy. That being said however, this second installment will likely delight and torture fans of the series at the same time, causing as much pain as it does pleasure as Ali and Cole battle for life and love.

*It should be noted that Ms. Showalter’s books are always on the sexy side. Sex is spoken of easily and casually, with lots of banter and innuendo amidst the teenage group of slayers, and while it’s in my opinion handled well and realistically, this series is recommended for older YA readers.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Gena:

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Harlequin Website 

If you didn't get a chance yesterday, be sure and check out my 5 reasons why Cole is worthy of swooning over (even if he made me want to smack him while simultaneously drooling over him in this book), plus enter to win a copy of either Alice in Zombieland or Through the Zombie Glass!

This book was sent to me free of charge by the publisher for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Through the Zombie Glass Blog Tour: Why You Will Swoon Over Cole

Today I'm absurdly excited to be a part of the promotional blog tour for the second installment of Gena Showalter's White Rabbit Chronicles, Through the Zombie Glass. I read Alice in Zombieland last year and absolutely adored it, and I may or may not have fallen madly in love with romantic lead Cole. Okay, there's really no "may not" about it, I love him. Utterly. Completely. My job here today is to list 5 reasons why I harbor such intense feelings for him and, in doing so, hopefully show those of you who have yet to meet him the error of your ways ;-)

Before I thoroughly embarrass myself with my lovesick ramblings and general fangirling over Cole though, I want to mention that the girls of Kismet Book Touring have put together a phenomenal tour for this book with AMAZING grand prize and daily giveaways, so be sure and check the bottom of this post for full blog tour schedule as well as all the details on the giveaways.

And now, let's talk about Cole.

MY 5 REASONS WHY COLE IS SO SWOON-WORTHY

• The Hotness Factor - I'm starting with this one because it's the most obvious. Who doesn't enjoy crushing on someone who makes forming coherent sentences in their presence nearly impossible? Though I've of course never been in Cole's presence, I imagine if he were real my mouth would betray me by failing to form words at the most opportune of moments. Maybe he's attracted to drooling, sputtering women though? There's been no evidence of that in the books since Ali is strong and stunning and a fighter through and through, but I'm not giving up hope that he finds reduced mental faculties and severe social impediments to be turn-ons.

• Ink - Not everyone finds tattoos sexy, but I'm 100% in favor of them. Especially on someone like Cole who has an edge to him that lets you know in no uncertain terms that his life is an extremely rocky road, and the woman who wants to partner with him to walk it will have to be in possession of some serious skills and mental fortitude. *straps on hiking boots, packs bag and compass, and sets off to find Cole*

• Fighting Prowess - There's something inherently attractive about a man with the skill set to protect those who aren't able to do so themselves. Cole is more than proficient in hand to hand combat and is adept with numerous weapons, and though he can certainly be aggressive when the situation calls for it, he's not the type who seeks out a fight just for the sake of fighting. He trains to battle a very specific and terrifying enemy, never picking fights out of a need to stroke his ego or prove himself to be better than someone else.

• Intensity - Cole might be someone to whom many attach the label "bad boy", and while in many ways it's a fitting label as he can be dark and dangerous, I think intense is a better way to describe him. He's utterly focused on taking down his enemy and keeping those around him alive, and while he does have a history of being with girls and then abruptly moving on with little to no warning, he's not the type to play games of the heart.

• Loneliness - This probably seems like a weird attribute to put on this list, but there's something about a man who seems a bit apart from the rest of the world that I find appealing. I often suffer from the delusion of thinking I'll be the unique person who becomes the touchstone that grounds an alpha male like Cole or fills the void no one else before me has been able to fill,  and like a moth to the flame that loneliness and tiny hint of vulnerability sucks me in every time. Cole, despite being surrounded by people, is still so very separate, making me want to do nothing more than wrap him up in my arms and not let go. Lucky Ali that she gets to do so. *stares daggers at Ali*  ;-)

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THROUGH THE ZOMBIE GLASS

Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home.
 
After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things.
 
The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

Releases September 24th from HarlequinTEEN

Be sure and check out the White Rabbit Chronicles page for more details and Team Badges!

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N • IndieBound • Book Depository

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GENA SHOWALTER

GENA SHOWALTER is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Intertwined novels and several other popular YA and adult series. Her stories have been featured on MTV and in Seventeen magazine and have been praised as unputdownable.” Growing up, she always had her nose buried in a book. When it came time to buckle down and get a job, she knew writing was it for her. Gena lives in Oklahoma with her family and three slobbery bulldogs. Become a fan on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @GenaShowalter and visit her at genashowalter.com/young-adult/ and at HarlequinTEEN.com.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Harlequin Website

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LOOK FOR THE WHITE RABBIT CONTEST

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the white Rabbit will appear on a different blog and stays there for 48hrs. Once you have found the Rabbit, click on it and you will be directed to a Rafflecopter entry form for the Grand Prize Giveaway! To enter, you must answer the daily question found at the Tour Stop!!!

Where could the Rabbit appear?  On all Book Blogger Tour Hosts and The Harlequin Paranomal Blog, so now go and hunt the Rabbit. Will you find it?

Here's the awesomeness you'll have a chance to win if you track that rabbit down:

Go and see a scary movie, buy your favorite scary series or movie on DVD and make these days perfect with a pizza and some coffee to calm your nerves!

Today's Question: Let’s take a moment to swoon over Cole! Done? Jenny gave us tons of reasons why she loves Cole, now tell us what you think is most swoon worthy about him?

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DAILY GIVEAWAY

In addition to the fabulous grand prize giveaway featured above for the White Rabbit Contest, I also have either a paperback copy of Alice in Zombieland or hardcover copy of Through the Zombie Glass (winner's choice) to give away on the blog today! To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form, and don't forget to check out all the participating blogs below for more unique content and chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Monday, September 2nd – Harlequin Paranormal Blog - Tour Kick Off
Tuesday, September 3rd – Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, September 4th – Parajunkee
Thursday, September 5th – IB Blogging
Friday, September 6th – Julie Kagawa – Character Spotlight: Cole & Ali

Monday, September 9th – fiktshun
Tuesday, September 10th -Harlequin TEEN Facebook
Wednesday, September 11th – Katie McGarry – Frosty & Kat
Thursday, September 12th – Gena Showalter’s Website
Friday, September 13th – The Irish Banana

Monday, September 16th – Supernatural Snark
Tuesday, September 17th - Gena Showalter Facebook  and  Rachel Caine
Wednesday, September 18th – Reading Lark
Thursday, September 19th - Aimée Carter
Friday, September 20th – Tater’s Tall Tails

Back! With Pictures.

Hey Everyone!

First, I want to say a huge thank you for all the sweet comments left on Monday's post about the blog being slow this week, they made me all warm and fuzzy inside. I also want to thank all of you for reading the blog and responding to posts even when I wasn't around to answer back, this community of book lovers just makes me happy and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you readers, writers and fellow bloggers!

Sorry to be all mushy, clearly being away from the blog for an extended period of time makes me sentimental:) I know my post earlier in the week made it sound like I had exciting news to share, but really I was just on vacation for two weeks (Kevin doesn't like me to announce to the whole internet we're going to be away from home, so I had to be all cagey with my post). It was an EPIC vacation though, definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime type of trips. I spent 14 days with Kevin and my parents on a cruise of the Baltic. So. Much. Win.

The cruise left out of Copenhagen, Denmark, so we flew there two days early to wander around before getting on the boat and traveling to Germany, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden and then back to Denmark. I took 5,000 pictures (I'm not even exaggerating, I went through three 1,000 picture memory cards and one 2,000 picture memory card), but don't worry, I'm only going to share a handful of my favorites with you today lest you all glaze over from boredom:)

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

(click to enlarge pictures)

 (Nyhavn, Copenhagen's famous canal with its colorful strip of shops and restaurants)

(This large ship was docked right outside our hotel; Copenhagen was teeming with gorgeous sailboats)

 (Pretty ivy, and one of the many bikes one can see in Copenhagen. There aren't very many cars, almost everyone rides bikes)

(Copenhagen has a royal guard much like London, complete with a changing of the guard every day mid-morning. On the right is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, perched on a rock in the harbor)

(The lights of Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park, and at night nearly every single inch of it is lit up)

WISMAR, GERMANY

The cruise docked in Warnemunde and majority of the offered excursions involved a 3 hour train ride to Berlin, but Kevin, my parents and I didn't want to spend 6 hours of our day on a train, so we opted to take a shorter hour long trip to the tiny town of Wismar. It was quite possibly the cutest town I've ever seen with stunning architecture around every corner. I would move there immediately if I could.

TALLINN, ESTONIA

Tallinn is a stunning medieval walled city in Estonia. We spent the day wandering the various quaint streets, and Kevin and I both decided it would be fun to climb any and every church tower we came across so I could take panoramic rooftop pictures of the city. The first tower we climbed was a bit of a snug fit and had me wheezing by the time we reached the top, but it wasn't too terrible. The second one though? I nearly died. 300 tiny, winding steps have never felt so long, and while I was bent over sucking in air midway to the top, Kevin was behind me having not even broken a sweat. Damn him for working out on a regular basis. Bastard. I will say the view from the top was worth the climb though - you can see a piece of it third row, right:)

 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Whereas all the other stops on the cruise were quick day-long excursions, we got to spend two full days in St. Petersburg which was completely necessary given how much there was to see. I was a little worried initially because our trip to St. Petersburg just happened to coincide with the G20 Summit and it was anticipated that there would be a huge increase in both road traffic and foot traffic at the various tourist spots. Luckily, Kevin researched extensively before we left and booked us a private tour outside what the cruise offered and we were able to see every single thing we wanted with absolutely no trouble.

DAY 1

(Top: shots of the exterior of the cathedral at Peter and Paul Fortress where many of royals are buried, including the Romanov family. Bottom: the ceiling of the cathedral, and a shot of Anastasia Romanov's resting place - she's on the right)

(Exterior and interior ceiling shot of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. The church was built over the exact spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, hence the name)

On day one we also saw St. Isaac's Cathedral and the amazing Hermitage Museum, but I took so many photos of those that I couldn't sort through them all in time for this post. Fail.

DAY 2

(Catherine Palace)

(The unbelievable fountains at Peterhof Palace)

After Russia, we stopped in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden, but again, I didn't have time to get to all the pictures from those stops in time for this post. I did grab a couple from our trip through the Stockholm archipelago though, a group of nearly 30,000 islands off the coast of Stockholm. It was a foggy morning when we cruised in, so below are two of my favorites.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

I had an absolute blast on this trip and would go back to any one of these places in a heartbeat, but it is nice to be home:)

A Brief Absence of Snark

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to put up a quick post to let you all know the blog will be a bit slow this week, but fear not, I will be back with a new post on Sunday and then things will continue as normal. I promise this is not a precursor to me going on an extended break or shutting the blog down, I have a fantastic reason for this week's slowness and I will share all when I post this weekend. *massive hugs to all of you*

Wavecrossed Blog Tour: Cover Design Progression

I'm excited to welcome young adult author Andrea Colt to the blog today to share with us the various changes the cover for her newest release, Wavecrossed, went through before it was exactly what she wanted. I think anyone who reads this blog knows there's nothing I love more than a well-designed cover (except for maybe a swoon-worthy fictional boy, but I digress), so seeing the little tweaks made to a cover during the design process is nothing short of fascinating for me. I hope you all enjoy it as well!

COVER PROGRESSION

I am blessed with an extremely talented artist sister. She started out working in clay, progressed to awesome mosaics, and also got into digital art a few years ago. Although I made most of the cover for Torched (my sister did the flame, which was way outside my limited sphere of capability), I knew that what I wanted for Wavecrossed was way more complicated.

The concept started out as a water-evoking background, with hand-lettered text for the title and swooping accents. I also wanted to work in an element from Wavecrossed: a golden starfish pendant. And I wanted a silhouette of a seal, to show that it featured selkies.

This was the rough draft:

That baby seal is SOOO CUTE, right? I loved it, but the very cuteness of the seal made the book feel like a kid’s story. So I asked her to age it up a bit, along with some other changes: making the starfish gold so it popped, darkening the blue, a different font for my name.

Here’s the second draft:

I loved that seal silhouette even more, but though it was awesome, having an animal on the cover still made the book feel like a children’s novel. So we decided to try taking out the seal entirely (picture me very sad about this):

She also simplified some of the swirliness, which had gotten in the way of clarity when people read the title, and moved the whole image down a bit for balance now that the seal was gone, and darkened the blues a bit.

After that, all I had to do was tweak the author name font, add a lovely blurb courtesy of author Lindsay Smith, and I had this lovely cover:

Voila! I think I’m going to order a print of the cover and frame it, I love it so much.

Thanks for reading about Wavecrossed’s cover progression! If you want to find out more about the book behind the awesome cover, here’s the summary:

To Cassandra Kelleher, trust is a dirty word.

A teenage selkie who grew up on land, all she wants is to free her family from the man who stole their sealskins long ago. With her twin brother Brennan losing hope and her window of opportunity disappearing like the beach at high tide, she’ll try anything.

Before long, however, Cassandra can’t tell whether her biggest threat is the man holding her family captive, a classmate who’s discovered her secret, or her own paranoia. Battling broken friendships and alarming romantic entanglements, Cassandra finds that trust could be the key to winning her family’s freedom … or losing her own.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N • CreateSpace • Read Chapter One

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ANDREA COLT

Andrea Colt grew up reading and squabbling with her identical twin. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, a fridge full of cheese, and two feline muses. Visit andreacolt.com to get to know her better.

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