Gretchen C. Hohmeyer's Blog, page 85

Review: “Legend” by Marie Lu

Legend (Legend #1) by Marie Lu

Goodreads | Amazon

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

Four stars

On my birthday, I walked into my local indie bookstore and magically happened onto signed copies of Marie Lu’s Legend. I took it as a good sign.

And it was.

Legend was one of those books that I’d heard EVERYTHING about but had yet to actually pick up. In my dystopian rush, it found its way onto the back end and then my want to read dystopian vanished because they were FREAKING EVERYWHERE. But when your teeny tiny local indie has SIGNED STOCK, you do not look away.

Thank goodness, too.

I’m not sure what I expected out of this book, but I got the distinct impression from page one that it wasn’t what I thought. No, I still can’t pinpoint what exactly, but perhaps it was the writing of the book that was different then I expected. Let’s hit some of the things that confused me, first, so we can get that out of the way.

The book is written in the first person, switching back and forth from June and Day’s perspectives. From the beginning, I could not for the life of me remember that June and Day were only 15. In places, they were written feeling much older. In others, it felt like they were younger.

I was also expecting far more action than there was. When I think action, I think fight scenes, car chases, etc. There was in fact far more suspense, as June figures out who really killed her brother and Day tries to save his family.

The romance also threw me for a loop. I mean, Day and June are FIFTEEN. But even they are not immune to insta-love and … make out sessions? They are FIFTEEN. Plus, it almost felt like the romance was thrown in to make sense of June’s actions, but quite frankly I found it irrelevant. June and Day have a bond based on a heck of a lot more than liking to kiss each other, and I wish that had been highlighted more.

Curiously, it was the world building that confounded me most. I’m used to dystopians including infodumps after infodumps, or constructing flimsy worlds that need much more information. This world made plenty of sense and was in fact quite interesting, but there was still no explanation. I felt like I missed a whole chapter of explanation about how the US got to the place that it did in its history. Maybe I just read it too fast and missed it, but I would have died for more background then I got.

Now, I know, I’ve picked at EVERYTHING, right? Wrong. There were plenty of things in the book that I liked! I did like the world, as much as I got anyways, and I did like the characters. By themselves, June and Day were fantastically written. June’s commander seemed a little one-dimensional towards the end, but the character of Thomas was by far my favorite “grey” guy (i.e., not good, not bad … maybe ). Lu certainly wasn’t afraid to let the bullets fly to raise the stakes, either, which was exciting. Once I got into the rhythm, I just let the book take me along for the ride.

I cannot wait for the second book in this series. The end of Legend left it open for SO MUCH to happen in SO MANY different ways, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. The end certainly held the action I’d been waiting for, and I think there’s going to be a lot more of it in the next one. I’m very glad I finally got around to starting this series, and now I don’t want to stop!

The second book in the Legend series, Prodigy, is schedule to be released January 29th, 2013.

Waiting on Wednesday #21

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: Starling (Click for Goodreads)

Author: Lesley Livingston

ETA: August 28th, 2012

Summary from Goodreads: “Love is just the beginning… of the end.”

Mason Starling is a champion fencer for Gosforth Academy, but she’s never had to fight for her life. Until now. When a ferocious storm rips through Manhattan and unleashes terrifying creatures onto Gosforth’s campus, Mason barely escapes alive. Without help from the mysterious stranger who appeared in the midst of the storm, she might not have made it at all. But now, in the aftermath, Mason’s life begins to spin dramatically, mystically out of control, and the only one who seems able to help her is the stranger who can remember nothing but his name: Fennrys Wolf.

As Mason and Fenn uncover more about Fenn’s past and the strange events that surround them, they realize that Mason’s family — and its dark allegiance to the ancient Norse gods — is at the center of everything. A predetermined fate seems to be closing in on Mason, but is it possible to change one’s destiny?

Readers who fell in love with Lesley Livingston’s Wondrous Strange trilogy and those who love Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series will be captivated by the sweeping romance and pulse-pounding action of Starling.

Why I’m Waiting: GUYS. GUYS GUYS! I first found out about this book on a Waiting on Wednesday post ages ago and GUYS I’ve been psyched for it ever since. Champion fencer? Norse Gods? A shout out to Mortal Instruments fans? The fact that I haven’t preordered this yet is because I can’t remember the address I’ll be located at when it’s released.

Top Ten Favorite Books I’ve Read During The Lifespan Of My Blog

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

This is a really hard topic for me this week. How do you pick FAVORITES? I mean, I liked this book for this or that book for that… I love so many books. I’ve been doing this for YEARS. However, I guess the simplest way would be to start with the ratings system… (All title links go to the reviews.)

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This was the first five star review I ever gave, and … oooh boy is it embarrassing. There is so much squealing and CAPSing going on. Still, I love it lots, and it would be faster to list the TTTs that I HAVEN’T listed Anna on than haven’t because SO. MUCH. LOVE.

2.

Holy moly guys. Sometimes I give out 5 stars because I just lovey dovey squeal over a book. I did that with this one for sure but … wow, it was something else. This was one of the most powerful books I’ve EVER read. 5 stars doesn’t even begin to cover it.

3. Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

I am a huge fan of historical fiction, but it’s not often that I find it done well. Grave Mercy was not only historical fiction, it was fantasy historical fiction and IT WAS AMAZING! It’s also a huge book AND it can be read as a stand alone, which made it the answer to so many of my prayers it was unreal. 5 stars.

4. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Guys, it’s Insurgent. If I have to explain this, you haven’t been paying attention. 5 stars.

5. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

Though I still haven’t entirely forgiven her for taking a perfect trilogy and making it into 6 books, City of Lost Souls at least redeemed the series for me, if not the idea to turn it into 6 books. 5 stars.

6. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

GUYS. HAVE YOU NOT PICKED THIS UP YET? What’s WRONG with you? This was the PERFECT book. I ADORED IT. It was funny, there was a kick ass heroine, the love triangle WORKED and wasn’t cliche to death, the world was epic and the builiding flawless and– guys. Just read it. 5 stars.

7. What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang

This book actually hasn’t been released yet, but I’m going to tease you anyways. This book was GREAT, guys. It was mysterious, it was exciting, it had great writing and fantastic characters. Zhang somehow managed to ROCK writing two characters inside one body. 5 stars.

8. Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

My feelings about this book can be summed up into what I “retitled” it: a rapid machine gun of awesomeness. Seriously. It NEVER STOPPED MOVING. I knocked it down to 4 1/2 stars for reasons that CAM later dispelled over Twitter, so … I should probably actually file this under 5 stars.

9. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The first major book NetGalley ever got me, with FANTASTIC results. I’d never read Kagawa before, and now I’m DYING for more. This is the best YA vampire book I’d read in terms of the dark side of vampires, hands down. 4 1/2 stars.

10. Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Beautiful cover. Beautiful book. Beautiful author. (Twitter is the best place.) Words cannot describe how awesome this book is. I even themed my prom dress around the cover because YEEEEES!

Cover Reveal: “Perception” by Lee Strauss

You guys know how I love my cover eye candy. Well, boy do I have some gorgeousness to share with you today! But first, check out the synopsis so you can see JUST HOW AWESOME this book sounds and why you should be excited for the cover!

Seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—agenetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on primewater-front property along side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans.

Her brother Liam is missing.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn.  She’s in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

Now that you’re properly excited. LET’S DO THIS!

*****

****

***

**

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Website | Facebook | Goodreads

ARC Review: “The Raven Boys” by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys (Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads | Amazon

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

5 stars

Thank you to Scholastics and NetGalley for this ARC! You can get a copy for yourself on September 18th, 2012.

*Note from Gretchen: Before this review gets started, I would like to take a moment to welcome my first guest reviewer! As this blog gets bigger and bigger, I’ve found I can’t handle to review load on my own. Therefore, I turned to a longtime friend to help with the load, and this is her first review! So give a warm welcome to Marina, who also happens to be a HUGE DIEHARD Maggie Stiefvater fan.

I have a confession to make: I did not agree to guest-post here because I was doing a favor for Gretchen.  I agreed because she said “Raven Boys!” and I said “GIMME.”  Because I am very fond of Maggie Stiefvater’s writing.   I am not Gretchen, but I assure you I’m usually very picky, so all the gushing I’m about to do is completely out of character for me.

But with that out of the way, READ THIS BOOK.

There are complicated, damaged characters who behave like real people.  There’s magic just inaccessible and strange enough to be believed, and there are trees that speak Latin.  There are guns and helicopters and fancy cars that break down.  There’s even a raven named Chainsaw.  What’s not to love?

Read this book because it will surprise you.  I’m used to knowing vaguely what’s going to happen, because I read way too much and after a while there are patterns, but this one surprised me no less than three times (and possibly more, I wasn’t counting.)   It’s been a long time since I’ve been genuinely astonished, and it was immensely satisfying, even though I was left staring in horror at the words and saying “MAGGIE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE.”

Read this book because Blue is not a boring only-there-for-the-romance female protagonist.  She’s an actual, interesting character who is unusual and awesome in her own right.  When Gansey gets condescending, she doesn’t just get offended; she shames him and then shames him again and again until he behaves.   Love at first sight is not on Blue’s agenda.  Actually, relationships as a whole are not on Blue’s agenda, and when she does get into one it’s sweet and quiet and cautious—just like first relationships should be, particularly with the addition of Blue’s “If you kiss your true love he will die” curse.  Unlike a lot of the insta-love relationships that Gretchen’s always complaining about, this one felt real.  Because the characters are shy and careful, the relationship was too, and to me, at least, that made it all the sweeter.

Speaking of relationships, the relationship between the raven boys—Adam, Ronan, Noah, and Gansey—was brilliant.  They’re all damaged, they’re all struggling, and the group quietly makes adjustments for whoever needs it at the time.   When Ronan, who is definitely the most outwardly damaged, is discovered to be missing, the seamless way his friends come together to search for him is heartbreaking, because it’s so clear they’ve done this before.  They know where to look and how to look.   They’re not demonstrative; sometimes—often—they’re not even that much alike.  But they’re unflaggingly, ferociously loyal to each other, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.

My only objection: this is the first book in a four-book series.  While it is a self-contained story, there are plot threads that I am dying to have resolved that just really aren’t.  The part of me that is a writer (I write stuff, by the way) accepts this and understands why it works.  The part of me that is a reader is dying to read more.  The last line is…not a cliffhanger, since cliffhangers imply unresolved action, but suffice to say that several of the raven boys are hiding things, and not all of them explain those things before the book is through.   Now I have to wait another year to find out and it’s KILLING ME.

This is a book about people who desperately want something—not always the same things—and the reasons why they want it, and what they’re willing to do to get it.  It’s a book about people who are trying very hard, despite a number of different things making life difficult, from abusive parents to prophecies to awesome sad things I can’t say due to spoilers (I’M LOOKING AT YOU, NOAH AND RONAN).  The characters are gorgeous, the relationships are delightfully, painfully real, and the plot…will definitely keep you on your toes.  I’m giving this four and a half stars because as a guest reviewer I don’t feel right giving five.  I assure you I’m normally quite picky, and if this was my blog it would be five, so don’t let the missing half star fool you; read this book! [Note from Gretchen: Don't be silly, Marina. I finally got around to reading this, and we're totally going with five stars. And that is my endorsement of this review.]

* P.S.   Gretchen has given me permission to translate the untranslated Latin in Chapter 12 (as a Classics major, I can do useless things like Latin but not useful things like cooking), so here goes: Ostendes tuum et ostendam meus means I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.  That seems out of the blue now, but it will all make sense when you meet Ronan Lynch.  And his Latin teacher.  You’re welcome.

Stacking the Shelves #6

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews!

Hey guys! Let’s hear it for another edition of Stacking the Shelves here at My Life is a Notebook. I missed last week, but it was NOT for lack of books. I’ve got some gooood stuff this week. (Plus, two of them were bought because of bloggers! BLOGGERS SELL BOOKS!)

I apologize for the attempt at humor. And for the buzz at the beginning – it goes away after a while, please bear with it. >.<

If you don’t watch the vlog, don’t forget to vote for which book series you want to win from my 1000 followers giveaway AND enter to win Flicker by Kaye Thornbrugh PLUS a CD and a bookmark! Both links are right there on the sidebar!

Blog Tour:

My Boyfriend Merlin by Priya Ardis – Goodreads

Nerve by Jeanne Ryan – Goodreads

For Review:

Katya’s World by Jonathan L. Howard – Goodreads

Bought:

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber – Goodreads

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins – Goodreads

The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter – Goodreads

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton – Goodreads

The Other Countess by Eve Edwards – Goodreads

Cover Reveal: “Beyond the Veil” (The Grey Wolves #5) by Quinn Loftis

Hey guys! It is TIME FOR ANOTHER COVER REVEAL! Get excited! This one is for a really awesome series, The Grey Wolves, and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. But first, of course, I’m going to share the synopsis, just in case you’ve missed it. (For those of you who haven’t read the series, this may contain mild spoilers.)

Though the Serbian pack has been brought to heel thanks to the downfall of their Alpha, the war is far from over.

Desdemona, a witch of unfathomable power, has escaped the wolves’ wrath, but she will not go quietly into the night.  She takes refuge in a place where even the smallest sliver of light does not dare to enter. Though she had to flee, she has not given up on the treasure she wishes to acquire. Her depravity knows no bounds; she’s even willing to search for the one who can assist her in opening a Veil that has not been opened in millennia – with good reason: the danger is incalculable.

Meanwhile, there are major changes rippling through the Romanian Grey wolves. Decebel has become Alpha to the Serbian pack in an effort to begin to unite the Canis lupis species. Their numbers are dwindling in the wake of the shortage of true mates and lack of offspring. The wolves are beginning to lose faith and darkness seems to be crashing in on them from all sides. But the winds of change are blowing, changes that will alter the future of not only the Canis lupis, but of another ancient race as well.

 Amidst all of this, Sally is continuing to come to terms with her relationship with the playful, charming, flirty, unbelievably handsome bartender – who happens to be a member of the Romanian pack.

If all that weren’t enough, the Fates have decided to pay a little visit to Jen. It’s time to collect. She cheated the Fates of a life, her life. Now they want what they are due. The problem? It’s more than Jen is willing to pay.

Yes, the war is indeed far from over. Bargains will be struck, declarations will be made, sacrifices will be given, love will be tested, and trust will be questioned as evil makes its stand against them all.

AWESOME, right? Of course it is! Now, let’s get onto that COVER! ARE! YOU! READY?

*****

****

***

**

*

This is AMAZING, right? Get excited, guys!

ARC Review: “What’s Left of Me” by Kat Zhang

What’s Left of Me (The Hybrid Chronicles #1) by Kat Zhang

Goodreads | Amazon

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t…

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable–hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet…for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

5 stars

A big thanks to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for this ARC! You can get a copy for yourself on September 18th, 2012.

When I requested this on Edelweiss, I thought I’d make a big mistake. I already had a have-but-need-to-read list of 20 books. At least 7 of those were books I had to review. Some of them I’d had from NetGalley since the previous month and needed to be read YESTERDAY. But I thought “…what the heck?” Then it came through and I thought, “What have I done, I can’t read this fast enough to get the review done in time!”

I finished this in one afternoon. I couldn’t have put it down even when my mother asked me to.

The premise is just as interesting as it sounds. I drank up every little detail about it, and there was lots of that. In places it was a little infodump-ish, but I didn’t mind. Zhang had so many layers built into this world that I never even dreamed of. After all, who would think to go PAST a world where two souls start out in every body? That’s got enough going for it as it is. But Zhang also added a global element to this book. The setting is in a dystopian United States, where the Americas are supposedly cut off from the rest of the world because hybrids are burning up every other continent with their wars. This aspect was only mentioned briefly, but it opens up the other books in this series for literally a world of possibilities that are very intriguing.

The characters of Eva and Addie were also very well done. It was always easy to tell who was talking and thinking, because they did have a slightly different way of talking and acting. I also loved how yet another level of the plot was Eva and Addie’s constant battle and pact with each other. After all, they are two parts of the same whole, yet they are two different people. It would have been so easy to make Addie seem evil for not wanting Eva to take control, but Zhang gives you just enough of each girl so that you are emotionally invested in both their sides of the argument and there is no black and white.

The plot never stopped moving. Eva and Addie had to roll with so many punches that just kept coming and coming and coming. I wasn’t particularly shocked by any of them, but Zhang’s impeccable writing kept my heart rate up the whole time. Even in moment’s where it seems like the plot is slowing down, your nerves aren’t because you just KNOW something is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER.

Somehow, this plot is also devoid of some of my “favorite” clichés. Insta-love? Addie and Eva never had the freaking time, they were too busy trying to survive. Love triangles? I thought it would be way too easy to fall into this, what with two people inhabiting a bunch of bodies and all, but Zhang didn’t lower herself to that, either. Instead, the small fraction of romance in this book was done spectacularly well, yet somehow made me feel so sad for both Addie and Eva at the same time. (No, I won’t tell you which one is in love. Read it and find out!)

Basically, this book is everything I want a book to be, which makes it really hard to write a review about it. It had plenty of action, a fantastic premise, impeccable writing and great characters. It lacked any YA love clichés and wasn’t romance focused, though it did include romance that I actually enjoyed. I have nothing left to say besides READ THIS BOOK ASAP!

“Flicker” by Kaye Thornbrugh – Review + Interview + GIVEAWAY!

Flicker by Kaye Thornbrugh

Goodreads | Amazon

When sixteen-year-old Lee Capren is spirited away to Faerie, she is forced to serve capricious faeries as a prized portrait artist… and live as their prisoner.

A chance encounter with the charming Nasser grants Lee a chance for freedom—but what felt like mere days in Faerie spanned years in the human world, and Lee no longer has a home to return to.

Nasser is a Seer—a human with magical powers—and Lee is quickly plunged into his world: a sprawling city teeming with magic and mystery, where supernatural creatures walk hidden among humans. With the help of a rag-tag group of teenage Seers, Lee must master her newfound magical talent and outwit a cunning faerie determined to destroy her.

4 stars

I will readily admit that Flicker is not the kind of book I would pick up at first glance. For reasons of personal preference, I don’t often read books about fairies. However, when Ms. Thornbrugh contacted me about reading her novel, I was intrigued enough to say yes.

And I’m so very glad for that.

Actually, the book got off to a fairly rocky start with me. It opens up with Lee worrying about very cliché things I see in almost every single teen novel where the MC goes to some form of high school, where the main character is the loner type losing her best friend to the lust for popularity. Lee’s best friend, Kendall, was fairly stock and not overly interesting. I could already see several cliché plotlines coming up.

And then Thornbrugh went and blew them all away.

Anything cliché about this book disappeared after Nasser rescues Lee from Faerie. One of the things that hit me instantly was the quality of all the characters after that fact. Nasser, Lee, Nasser’s brother Jason and their friends Filo and Alice are all interesting, real people with depth and a definite 3D nature. Even the background characters had layers to them. This is hardly a common occurence in teen lit, and it made me practically overjoyed.

However, that transition into all these new characters wasn’t entirely painless. The rest of the novel is told from several points of view, and directly after Lee is rescued from Faerie they are a little squashed together. Four or five POVs literally switch within paragraphs of each other. Though there are clear paragraph breaks, it was almost a little bit too much to handle, especially because we hadn’t been introduced to all these characters yet, or even know why they existed at all.

Still, after that transition evens out at the POVs stop switching so quickly, it settles into being a really enjoyable read. Another thing that struck me was that there wasn’t just one thing going on. Sometimes in teen lit, you have one plot where the characters are trying to get from point A to point B and they go there in a straight line, with everything they do pertaining in some way to that goal. Thornbrugh had legitimate subplots and side adventures, which helped not only give other characters depth, but also keep the story moving without pause while continually being interesting.

I also tip my hat to her for the romance. While Nasser and Lee didn’t exactly have a huge base on which to begin their relationship, they felt real to me. Also, with so much going on, there wasn’t an overly large amount of time dedicated to their relationship, which was nice. I’m all for romance, but I don’t like when it is THE focal point of a story. Nasser and Lee were just two people who ended up falling in love in the midst of several bigger conflicts. My favorite kind.

I did, however, dock a few points for some subplot holes that didn’t make sense, but they weren’t numerous and really don’t matter to the overall plot. They were just me being nitpicky because of Thornbrugh’s excellent writing up until that point.

It should be mentioned that Thornbrugh is a very descriptive writing. Some people like this, some people don’t–in fact, I usually don’t. I prefer the book to move as fast as possible at all times. However, with the emphasis put on magic and art, I found her lyrical and descriptive prose to be the perfect way to tell the story, and it didn’t really bog down anything all that much.

Overall, Flicker was a definite love for me. It had plenty of action, magic and gorgeous description, as well as a FANTASTIC group of characters that made me so happy at every page. There was romance, but not an overly large amount, but it felt real the way that it happened–two pluses for me. I’ve seen this book on a couple of “maybe” lists on Goodreads, but in my personal opinion it should be on some “definitely read” lists! It certainly is going on my “recommended” one!

Now, everybody give a big hand to welcome the author, Kaye Thornbrugh!

What inspired the creation of Flicker?

Flicker was inspired by a love of faeries and folklore, as well as a question that other

faerie novels had left in my mind: Most stories deal with someone rescuing a loved one from Faerie—but what about the person being rescued? How would they cope with their time in Faerie, and how would they change once they returned to the normal world? I wanted to tell a faerie story from that perspective—and that’s where the idea for Flicker’s heroine, Lee, and her journey, came from.

Why, in one sentence, should someone read Flicker?

It’s a different kind of faerie tale.

 Flicker has one of the best character casts I’ve read in a while. How did you go about creating them? Did you base any of the characters off real people or yourself?

Many of my friends ask me if my characters are based off real people—I’m never sure if they’re secretly hoping they turned up in one of my books, or if they’re afraid that a less-than-wonderful character was based on them! Either way, they’re usually surprised when I tell them that all of my characters are completely fictional.

Sometimes characters come to me in a flash, all at once, and I feel like I know them immediately. That’s what happened with Lee. Other characters take a lot more effort to discover. (Nasser and Filo, in particular, took time to flesh out; other character, like Jason and Alice, revealed themselves to me with much less fuss.)

For me, the most important part of creating characters is making sure that I’m choosing the right person for the job—or, rather, the role in the story. Characters have to earn their places in the story by being both the most appropriate person for the role I assign them, and the most inappropriate person. It might seem contrary, but it works for me. I try to make sure my characters are 1) relevant to the situation and have a good reason for being there, and 2) also experience some kind of conflict or struggle—great or small, internal or external—after being pulled into the story. It helps to keep things interesting!

What inspired you to become a writer?

A love of stories—it’s really as simple as that. I’ve loved coming up with my own stories for about as long as I’ve loved reading; I took my first “serious” stab at writing (a kind of ridiculous story about a werewolf hunter) when I was nine. As a storyteller, it’s my responsibility to entertain my readers, and I take that very seriously. To me, few things are more rewarding than writing a story—be it fiction, like Flicker, or an article for my college newspaper—that captures somebody’s attention and imagination, and gives them some enjoyment.

Now, I know you’re a big fan of fairies, but what is your other favorite YA trend: mermaids, vampires or angels? Or do you run away from books containing all three?

Vampires and angels have never been my preferred trends—I’m more of a werewolf and demon fan, to be honest—so right now, I’d have to go with mermaids. I know they’re cropping up more and more in YA, but I’m a bit behind on my reading list, so I don’t feel like they’ve been done to death yet!

I’m also always eager to read something with creatures outside the typical fantasy/paranormal bag of tricks. For example, Patricia Briggs’ most recent Mercy Thompson novel, River Marked (not YA, but one of my favorite books!), includes spirits and monsters from Native American folklore. Excellent stuff!

NOW HERE’S WHAT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR: GIVEAWAY TIME!

Kaye is SO AWESOME she’s offering one SIGNED physical copy of Flicker, one bookmark AND a CD of the Flicker soundtrack. Isn’t that awesome?  Please note this giveaway is US only and ends at 11:59 PM on August 30th. Click HERE to enter!

Waiting on Wednesday #20

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine!

Title: Victoria Rebels

Author: Carolyn Meyer

ETA: January 1, 2013

Synopsis from Goodreads: Queen Victoria’s personal journals inform this captivating first-person account of one of history’s most prominent female leaders.

Queen Victoria most certainly left a legacy—under her rule as the longest reigning female monarch in history, the British Empire was greatly expanded and significant industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military changes occurred within the United Kingdom. To be a young woman in a time when few other females held positions of power was to lead in a remarkable age—and because Queen Victoria kept personal journals, this historical novel from award-winning author Carolyn Meyer shares authentic emotional insight along with accurate information, weaving a true story of intrigue and romance.

Why I’m Waiting: I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVED Carolyn Meyer when I was a kid. All those Royal Diaries books, her Tudor books – I STILL own them all. And I still mean to own her latest, Cleopatra Confesses. I just have such a soft spot for Meyer – plus I LOVE the story of Queen Victoria. I could have watched The Young Victoria over and over again. This one just came up on Edelweiss, so I have my fingers crossed!