Meradeth Houston's Blog, page 37

Interview with Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robinson, authors of THE SECRET FILES OF FAIRDAY MORROW

I've been looking forward to The Secret Files since I first heard of it over on Stephanie and Jessica's awesome blog, and this cover is just too perfect! Be sure to say hello to these wonderful authors!

(Oh, and Colors Like Memories is still free, if you want to go grab a copy!)


The Begonia House keeps its secrets. Everyone knows that. Everyone, that is, except for clever eleven-year-old Fairday Morrow, whose family has just moved in. Being the Senior Investigator in the Detective Mystery Squad, more commonly known as the DMS, she’s ready to uncover the mysteries hidden within the strange manor. As the investigation gears up and the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place, the DMS enters into a world where anything is possible, and the danger is most definitely real. Can the members of the Detective Mystery Squad piece together the puzzle before it's too late? Or will whatever's causing trouble find Fairday and her friends first?

Jessica Haight is a true New Englander, with a deep desire to be near the ocean and a love of the four seasons. She enjoys drawing while standing up and cultivating magic in her garden. She easily floats away in the pages of a good story and is still waiting for her owl from Hogwarts. Jessica lives in Connecticut with her charming fiancé, James; dog, Jack; cat, Bill; and a very entitled bunny named Alice. 
Stephanie Robinson lives with her husband in a quiet town, though not as quaint as Ashpot. After teaching fifth grade for almost fifteen years, she is now enjoying her role as a school media specialist. One of the many benefits of her job is that she learns something new every day. When Stephanie isn't working, she spends her time creating stories, getting lost in books, and traveling to new places.
The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow will hit bookstores everywhere in December of 2015! 
If you'd like to learn more about the journey of this story to publication and how the authors were able to collaborate on this new middle grade mystery, click here to stop by the cover reveal post on Fairday's Blog . 
“How did you write a book together?” A question often asked of authors who decide to collaborate on writing a story. The underlying truth of what they are really asking is, “How did you manage to not end up hating each other during the process?” The answer to this is simple, it’s not about the ego; it’s about the book. We decided this first... read more !
From left: Rachael Dugas (Agent, Talcott Notch Literary), Jessica Haight, Stephanie Robinson, Krista Vitola (Editor, Delacorte/ Random House)
Here's a little Q & A with Stephanie and Jess on books...

What do you love about writing stories?
Jess: The chance to explore my creativity and inner imagination. I love matching words with the thoughts in my head, then making a scene come to life. 
Stephanie: It is so much fun getting to know characters and learning the story they have to tell!  Once I know the characters and the basic story I love fleshing out story lines and weaving together all of the pieces, so that they come together like a puzzle. 
What are some of the books that influenced you the most? 
Jess: I love books by Edward Gorey , and I'm also a big fan of The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. There are so many stories that I enjoy, but there's always that extra bit of magic sprinkled in when I'm reading either of these authors. :) 
I would recommend Stardust by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by  Charles Vess . 
Stephanie: I was obsessed with Nancy Drew growing up, so she definitely had a big influence on me. I still enjoy a good mystery and creating my own with Jess is a blast. I also read every Judy Blume book and even had a Judy Blume Diary with quotes from her books throughout it. I could easily connect with her characters, so without a doubt they have had a big impact on me as a reader and writer. 
As an adult I fell in love with the Harry Potter series. The world J.K. Rowling created and the amazing characters continue to inspire me and fuel my imagination, and I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves a great story! 
If you could meet any writer, living or dead, who would it be? What would you want ask them?
Jess: I would want to meet Edward Gorey and just hang out with him for a little while. I imagine he'd want to talk about the New York Ballet or possibly his many spoiled cats, and I'd like to listen!
Stephanie: I would love to meet J.K. Rowling. I am sure I would be tongue-tied, but I would want to ask her about how the Harry Potter books (especially the first one) changed throughout the editing process. I am curious about what her notes looked like from her editors! 

"Remember, young lady, you have to think beyond what you know to be real. You have to see with your mind as well as your eyes." The old man pulled his glasses down to the end of his nose and looked at her. "Be careful, Miss Morrow. Please be very careful."(excerpt from The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow) 

Happy Holidays to Everyone (and a little gift from me!)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! I'm with my family and looking forward to a great few days of celebrating (and probably *way* too much food, but that's the holidays for you!). I hope you have a great season and my best wishes to everyone who makes this blog so much fun for me to write!

I did want to mention one more little thing: Colors Like Memories is currently free on Amazon and iBooks! This is just for a short time, so if you're game, go grab a copy!

Thanks for the awesome year everyone, I love reading your blogs and having so much fun around this site!!

Chatting About Book Clubs with Author Marcie Kremer

Book Clubs! I've only belonged to one when I lived back in Cali, but it was a lot of fun. And it's a treat to have my friend Marcie here to talk about her clubbing experience ;)

Book clubs? Fun? Some readers may think those two terms are mutually-exclusive and have nothing to do with each other. Of course, we all know there are “those” kinds of book clubs – where a leader Check out my review of Torch In The Forest
here! :)with a vengeance complex intimidates all the hapless members with a condescending, “you didn’t do your homework?” sort of attitude. That’s not the kind of book club I belong to, and I hope you don’t either.

The book club I belong to is, first of all, very lighthearted. Yes, we all read the same book, but, sometimes (gasp!) we don’t read it! That doesn’t mean we can’t come to the meeting and enjoy fruit (wine) and fiber (popcorn) and listen to everyone’s opinions and chime in when we feel like it. There is no penalty for not reading the book. Imagine how empowering that is. Imagine this – we all have lives to lead, and, sometimes, having the time to read a book just isn’t part of it. But, the camaraderie we share more than makes up for any possibly intellectual comments we might have made.

When we do discuss the book – and, yes, we do – we’ll usually use the questions that either the publisher or author has posted on the internet or that are available inside the book. Do we need to make deep, insightful answers? Um, I don’t think so. Because we are a lighthearted group, we respect each other’s views, no matter what they are. We’ve found that doing this increases our appreciation of each other’s differences. Talk about validation.

With these kinds of principles, it’s probably easy for you to see how we can have so much fun in our book club. We’ll go off-topic sometimes (oh, goodness, you should have heard the comments when we talked about Karen Essex’s Leonardo’s Swans, or Alex Sokoloff’sThe First Mrs. Hemingway.) Being able to gossip and share life adventures that are inspired by books and the discussion are such an important part of the uplifting and enjoyable times we have at our book club. Of course, you can certainly guess how many giggles were provoked by my own historical romance Torch in the Forest: “I can’t believe you wrote THAT, Marcie!” No, it wasn’t a book club pick – my friends read it all on their own! We’ll go home smiling and giggling – and ready to pick up the next book we’ve selected to read and lose ourselves in its pages.

And if we don’t – no worries. It’s all about being with our friends and sharing experiences, which most definitely give us all a lift in life!

About Marcie Kremer: Growing up in Europe and seeing castles on a daily basis made me sure I wanted to live back in the Middle Ages. Since that wasn’t likely to happen, being a child of the 20th century, the next best thing I could try to do was to write about this enthralling period in history. Having studied medieval history in college, I loved doing the research about how people really lived and spoke and dreamed and loved, and so TORCH IN THE FOREST came to be, thanks to my dear husband, who encouraged me to write about Eleanor and Hugh. When I’m not writing, I’m reading, or traveling. I love hearing from readers and am happy to do book club conference calls!

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Book Blast for VITAMINS AND DEATH by Medeia Sharif

Medeia's books are amazing and it's a treat to get to share her latest release here today! Be sure to say hello :)

VITAMINS AND DEATH, Prizm Books/Torquere Press, December 10, 2014
Purchase from Prizm, Amazon – Vendor sites will be updated on the author’s site.

Deidra Battle wants nothing more than to be invisible. After her mother, a public school teacher, engages in an embarrassing teacher-student affair at Lincoln High, they relocate to a different neighborhood and school. Being her mother's briefcase, Deidra joins her mother at her new workplace, Hodge High. Since her mother has reverted to her maiden name and changed her appearance, she thinks no one will figure out they're the Battles from recent news and that they're safe. Neither of them is. Hodge brings a fresh set of bullies who discover details about the scandal that changed Deidra's life. Feeling trapped at home with an emotionally abusive, pill-addicted mother and at school with hostile classmates who attempt to assault and blackmail her, Deidra yearns for freedom, even if she has to act out of character and hurt others in the process. Freedom comes at a price.

Find Medeia – YA and MG Author
Blog   |   Twitter   |   Goodreads   |   Instagram   |   Amazon
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Cover Reveal: ALLIANCES by S. Usher Evans

Check out this amazing cover! This series is amazing, so be sure to take a peek!!
Blurb:
Piracy is a Game. Whom do you trust?
Lyssa Peate has found a tenuous balance between her double lives - the planet-discovering scientist and space pirate bounty hunter named Razia. No longer on probation, Razia still struggles to be thought of as more than a chocolate-fetching joke, and Lyssa can’t be truthful to those closest to her. But both lives are turned upside-down when feisty government investigator Lizbeth Carter shows up to capture the same pirate Razia is after.Lizbeth’s not interested in taking Razia’s thunder; rather, she convinces the caustic bounty hunter to help solve a mystery. Somebody’s hiring pirates to target government ships, and there’s a money trail that doesn’t make any sense. From the desert planet of D-882 to the capital city on S-864, the investigation leads them deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the Universal Government - and to one of the most painful chapters in Lyssa’s past.
Pre-orders for Alliances will be available on Amazon Kindle begin January 1, 2015.
Double Life, Book 1 in the Razia Series, is available now on the following stores:Amazon: Barnes and Noble: iTunes
Alliances Chapter One Teaser:
The room was dark, with a single, dingy lamp hanging over a table where three men sat, each holding a hand of cards. They said little, except for the occasional grunt or movement to tap their grungy mini-computers to up their ante. The first sighed and rubbed the scruff around his chin. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. "You hear that Llendo is running for re-election?" he said, cigarette dangling from his mouth."What else is new?" The short, squatty man and whose toes barely brushed the floor, threw a few chips into the virtual pile using his mini-computer. "The guy’s a puppet. There ain’t nothin’ that comes out of his mouth that ain’t been sent through the ringer about a million times."The other two men chuckled and shuffled around their cards. The third man, with a long face and sallow complexion, pulled two more cards for his own hand and shuffled them together and apart again. "But who else is there to vote for?" he asked, counting his cards and stacking them together again. "That general? You know that buffoon Peate works for him. He ain't getting my vote until I know he's gonna play along."The second shrugged and said, "Nobody’d vote for him in a million years.""You and your millions." The third rolled his eyes. "Everything you say has been done a million times.""Bah, can it," the first barked. "And hurry up and make your move.""I'm taking my time. Don't want to get fleeced again," the third said. "You're all a bunch of crooks.""Takes one to know one." The second man peered at his cards through a pair of thick glasses, hunched over. "I am retired," the first man said, sitting back and taking a long drag of his cigarette. "None of that piracy crap for me anymore. Getting too dangerous for me.""Gonna break a nail?" the second snorted. "Bad enough you got that girl. Whatsherface.""I hear she's doing all right," the third said. "Kidnapped Jukin Peate's brother and held him for ransom last year.""And what's she done since then?" the second said. "More than you've done.""I'm just saying, it's unnatural to have a woman out with the men," the first said. He paused for a moment and began to smile. "Although I can't say I hate seeing her scamper around '882.""Shame she doesn't wear tighter pants," the second said. "I seen pictures. She wears these baggy things. I bet if she wore something that made her look like a girl, she wouldn't even have to fight nobody.""She could come capture me any day of the week. I don't care what she looks like," the third said. "I'd lay down and let her do whatever she wanted to me.""Care to test that theory?"The three looked up sharply at the sound of a distinctly female voice in the doorway."Hey, hey," the first man said, standing up. "We don't want no trouble. We're retired here, lady.""You are," Razia said, stepping into the light with a smirk on her face. She turned her eyes on the third man in the room. "He isn't."
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My Grammar Nemesis: the passive voice

Happy Monday! Okay, maybe not "happy" but it's the start of my winter break and I couldn't be happier about that! I'm doing my best to ignore the loooong list of shopping I need to do, and focusing on just relaxing today. Oh! But, not to forget, I am hanging out with an interview here, and there's a pretty sweet giveaway, too, so swing by and say hello?

Also, today, I'm supposed to be starting in on my next release, Travelers, and tackling my arch-
For some reason blogger and images
are not getting along today.
Does this even show up? Grr!nemesis: passive voice. Can I just say that I kind of hate passive voice? Not in the "ick, it's such bad writing" way, but more in the "I have no flipping clue when I'm using it" way. I am certain that I've read at least a hundred articles/posts/books about how to avoid it (in looking through my bookmarks I have no less than twelve pages noted for just passive voice), and I still can't stop myself. Which always leads to a lot of revising later on. Not so fun times. Really, I just need to get it through my head!

I'd like to say I have an excuse, too. I mean, I didn't go to school in English until Junior High. My written language skills were pretty much non-existent in English when I did. I've managed to get by since then, with a whole lot of work on my part. But yeah, still, passive voice doesn't compute :)

So, that's my confession for this Monday. I'll be neck deep fixing things later on, haha! Do you have a grammar nemesis? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Book sales and Time Travel!

I have been sitting on some news for a few weeks now and I'm stoked to get to share today! Recently BookFish acquired my YA time-travel novel, TRAVELERS! We're looking at a release this summer and I couldn't be more excited. The people at BookFish are awesome and this is going to be a wonderful venture!

A little about the book (this is just from my query and bound to change):

Sienna Crenshaw isn’t sure if she feels more like Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz; she obviously isn’t in Kansas anymore, but she might have droppe
Sienna and her best friend, Joan, belong to a community of time-travelers (Travelers). Their community has banded together to avoid the disastrous changes that can occur by altering the past. To do so, they have a few rules: don’t travel past your natural life time, don’t alter your natural death, and don’t change the past. When Joan breaks all the rules to save her brother, Henry, from an early death, the unexpected outcome leaves the world in a near-utopian state. There is only one big problem: Sienna’s parents have ceased to exist. With Henry’s help, Sienna travels through time to piece together what Joan did in order to save her family. Her plans are complicated when she falls for Henry, because if she succeeds in changing things back, he will die. Nevertheless, Sienna must find a way to fix the changes Joan made, even if it means losing Henry, Joan, and herself in the process.



This is a picture I found over on Pinterest that totally fits
with Sienna and her journey. Nifty, right? :)Good luck with the rest of your holiday shopping and hope everyone is doing well!!!

Wednesday Guest Post Petition

Hi! First off, please come and visit me over on S. Usher Evan's blog and say hello! Lots of fun stuff going on this week, and I'd love to see you there!

Next thing: I'm running a little low on stuff to post right now. Holidays, end of the semester, all that fun stuff, and well, I'm a little dry in the well-o-blog-posts. So, do you have a book you'd like me to feature? An interview you'd like to do? A guest post of amazingness you'd like to share? Or a blog swap you might be up for? Let me know! Email me (link on my website on the Contact Me page), or let me know somehow, m'k? :) I'd love to help people out!

Other than that, who has their Holiday shopping done? I've managed to get one gift. And that's only because it was for my BFF and we swapped gifts from the same website, lol! Commiserate or remind me of my shame in the comments ;) (Okay, not really on the latter there, haha!)

Officially how I feel All. The. Time this winter. Blah!

After Reading: INTO THE GREY by Celine Kiernan

Before today's post, I want to point you all to this week's fun feature over on S. Usher Evan's blog #fallfortheindiebook--I'll be there all week, doing some fun stuff, and you should definitely come say hello! And for sure check out Evan's Razia Series while you're at it! :)

A pacy, chilling ghost story from the creator of the internationally acclaimed Moorehawke Trilogy.

I think the fire changed us – me and Dom. I think that’s how the boy was able to see us. Though he’d been there for every summer of our childhood, we’d only been stupid boys until then. Stupid, happy, ignorant boys. And what in hell would he have had in common with two stupid boys? But after the fire we were different. We were maybe a little bit like him. And so he saw us, at last, and he thought he’d found a home… (Goodreads)

Thanks to Candlewick Press and LibraryThing for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, was this a creepy read! Well, the first third or so at least had me kind of wishing I wasn't reading it late at night. After we are shown what was going on a bit more, it wasn't as freaky, but still, it's one heck of a story! I loved the setting and language in this one: the place (Ireland in the 70's) was spot-on for the story, and Kiernan has a way with words that pulls you in and paints such a lovely picture of the setting. Both sets of twins in the book were quite interesting, especially as all that happens unfolds. Personally, my favorite characters were the mom and the grandmother, as I loved their reactions and how inexorably real they felt, but basically the entire book was filled with people I wouldn't be surprised to run into on the street. And the ghosts? What a story! Not to give anything away, but their story will stick with you for sure. Overall, this was a great read, very atmospheric and chilling, but also a story of brotherly love and friendship. I highly recommend it!

Anyone else had the chance to check this one out?

Waiting on Wednesday: UNSPEAKABLE by Michelle K. Pickett

Thanks to Breaking the Spine for this awesome weekly post! I haven't had a chance to participate in a while, so it's a treat to be able to do so.

“Breathe. No one will break me. I’m strong. Breathe. Just breathe.”

On the outside, Willow appears to have it all. She’s beautiful, smart, from an influential family, and she dates the most popular guy in school—Jaden. But she would walk away from it all in a second. Willow is tormented by lies and suffocating guilt, not the hearts and flowers people believe her life is full of.

She carries a dark secret. Plagued by nightmares and pain, the secret dominates her life. If she hadn’t walked away. If she had just…but she didn’t. And now she has to live with her choice. But when someone uncovers her family’s past, they use it against her, crushing her spirit little by little. She tells herself she just has to make it to graduation. Then she can leave Middleton, and her secret, far behind.

When Brody transfers to Cassidy High, he turns Willow’s life upside down. He shows her what it feels like to live again, really live. And suddenly, she isn’t satisfied with just surviving until graduation. She wants a normal life—with Brody—and he wants her. But the closer they become, the more it threatens to unravel the secret she’s worked so hard to hide.
Willow finds true love with Brody. Will she let his love save her, or walk away from him to keep her secret safe? (Goodreads)

I honestly can't wait for Unspeakable to be out in the world for a variety of reasons: first, because Michelle is an awesome friend and I love her writing (especially the red-bull fueled variety, but that's a whole other story...). Second. because I've had the chance to read this (a, er, *few* times actually, lol! And loved it more each time!), as I was a beta for Michelle, and I'm not lying when I say that this is one awesome read. Third is Brody. Holy hotness on a stick, he's all ready to be your next book boyfriend! LOL! I'm not even kidding. Fourth, the book is just all around awesome and deals with issues that are near and dear to me for a variety of reasons, and I think more books need to focus on them. Basically, I know Unspeakable is awesome and I just can't wait for more people to read it! Look for it in February of 2015!

What book are you most looking forward to reading/releasing?