Some Updates!

loving this kitty! ^.^

Hey guys! Today I've decided to give you all a little explanation as to why I've not been posting as much lately, and why I may be a little absent for the next few weeks as well. I usually just put these sort-of updates at the end of posts but since I've got quite a bit to say, I've decided to dedicate a whole post to it. After all, you deserve a full explanation. :)

 

First off, some of you may know I started my new school year this week. I am no longer a 4th year now, but a 5th year. Or a Junior to those of you in America. Anyway. I've got two weeks left until the summer holidays and for those of you wondering why I'm in my new year already, it's because my school likes us to get settled in to our new classes so we all know what we're doing and where we've to be when we return to school in August. Right, going off topic...

 

Since I am now a Senior (in Scotland both 5th and 6th years are classed as Seniors :P) I've now got double periods - take it from me, an hour and forty minutes of Math isn't fun! - and quite a lot of homework. Since I've only just started getting double periods, my system isn't quite used to it yet and so that's why there have been no blog posts up this week. After coming home from school already tired enough and then having to sit down and do more homework for the next day, I've just had no energy to write up a post. I do apologize for that! :( I'm sure I'll get used to this new schedule soon enough and be able to have my usual amount of motivation to write up book reviews, discussion posts etc. :P

 

As much as I'd like to say as soon as the summer holidays start I'll instantly be able to post loads, I just won't be able to. I'll be going on holiday for the first two weeks to Spain. So, basically, what I'm trying to say here is that it's most likely I'll be posting only a few times over the next two weeks followed by nothing for the following two weeks after that - if I manage to schedule any posts for the time I'll be in Spain, I'll make sure to tell you, but chances are I probably won't have the time. :3 However, after these four weeks are over, I'll be making sure to post hundreds! :D

 

So, there you go. Admittedly, a rather boring post, but I thought you should all know what is going on. :P

 

Happy Reading,

Rachel xoxo

 

PS: I'll most likely also be a little absent from comment boxes, twitter, goodreads and the like. :(

Interview with Authors, Kirby Howell!

Hey all! Today I have an interview with authors Kirby Howell to share with you all! And, no, it's not a typo, Kirby Howell is a writing partnership. ;) So, without further-a-do, here's the interview! :D

First off, can you tell us a little about yourselves and your book, Autumn in The City of Angels?

We’re actually a writing partnership. Our real names are Dana Melton and Jessica Alexander, but we write under the name Kirby Howell (an amalgamation of both of our maiden names). We’ve been writing together since 2000 when we met as freshman in our first scriptwriting class in college. We got paired together to write a feature script, and enjoyed the process so much that we’ve just kept doing it! We both moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to pursue careers in the entertainment industry, and have continued writing together through all that time.

The books are YA, but they cross over a lot of genres, because, honestly, we write what we love, and we love a lot of different types of books! Whenever we have to classify it, though, we give this basic answer to help narrow it down (some):  Dystopian/Paranormal Romance. Anyone who read The Hunger Games Trilogy, Delirium, Matched, and even Twilight would find these in the same vein.  There are no vampires, werewolves, or wizards in our books, but we do consider them to be 'SciFi Lite' (Science Fiction grounded in reality), as there's a twist in the first novel that heavily determines the direction of the sequels.  Here's a short synopsis of the first book, Autumn in the City of Angels:

A plague of epic proportion sweeps the globe, leaving less than one percent of the world’s population immune. Among the living is Autumn Winters, the teenage daughter of a famous actress. When Autumn’s parents don’t come home and the city is overtaken by a dangerous faction, she goes into hiding with a small group of underground survivors. They’re led by a mysterious young man who harbors an unearthly secret, and with whom Autumn feels a deep connection.

Did you always want to write in the dystopian genre? Or was it more of a spontaneous decision?

Dystopian has always been one of our very favorite genres, and we’ve written a lot of things in this genre for ourselves, and occasionally for pay. One of the things we love most about the dystopian genre applied to YA books is that you get to thrust teenaged characters into roles where they have to make very adult and often world-changing decisions. Most teens feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, even without those kinds of stakes, so in a lot of ways they can relate to these characters and the pressures they face, even if they are somewhat magnified.

The dystopian genre also lets us break a lot of rules. Where these stories are either set off into the future, or in modern day around extraordinary circumstances, you get to let your brain run wild without silly things like “reality” and “rules” confining the stories that you want to tell... and that’s a lot of fun for both of us.

Are either of you like one of your characters? If so, who and why?

It’s funny you ask this, because our main character, Autumn, is pretty much a version of both of us combined. Friends and family will read the books and tell either one of us how much Autumn reminds them of one of us.

With Autumn, we wanted to craft a strong, young female who has to start making a lot of big decisions. We can see how hard that is for her at first, and then, as her character matures, how well she shoulders the decisions she’s making. We like to think that this was the journey we both took, but it’s possible we’re still aspiring to be more like Autumn every day. 

What was it like writing a book together? Did you have a schedule? Any fall outs? Or did everything run smoothly?

We get asked this a lot, just by virtue of being a writing partnership. We like to joke that we’re two women with one shared brain! But the truth is, it’s more like Dana is a left foot, and Jessica is a right foot. When we work together, we can stand up and walk straight. But without the other, we just end up walking in circles, directionless.

We’ve developed our schedule and process over the course of 13 years of writing together, and because of this, we give advice to a lot of other folks out here, working and writing in LA, to tell them how we manage to do it. The short answer is, we keep the channels of communication completely open, at all times. We also meet in person twice a week, Wednesdays after work and all day Sunday, and we keep to our writing schedules (or whatever phase we’re in) during the week and hold each other accountable.

There’s obviously a lot more to it than just that, and we once broke down the process in one of our blogs in much greater detail for other burgeoning writing partnerships to refer to. If you want to know more details on how we work in our own writing partnership click HERE.

Quick, there's a meteor shower! You need to jump into one of your favourite books! Which ones do you pick and why?

For Dana, that’s a no-brainer. She’d open her Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy omnibus and dive in head over heels to seek refuge on the spaceship, Heart of Gold, during the meteor shower... and she’d remember to take her trusty towel with her!

For Jessica, her hand would hesitate over her well-worn, faded yellow box set of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Little House Series. Worried that she might end up in the middle of The Long Winter, (no improvement over a meteor shower!) she’d pick up Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World instead, because Danny’s father is amazing and can fix anything.

Finally, are you working on any other books that you can tell us a little about?

We are! Thank you for asking! We’re actually working on the third book in the Autumn Series right now, Autumn in the City of Lights. We’ve got a full outline and a rough draft of the first few chapters, and we’re plugging away at getting more words down on paper. Though, if you ask any of our beta readers, we’re not moving nearly fast enough!

We also have a draft of a first book in a new YA series called The Wayfarer. It’s a fantasy series dealing with the foster care system, runaways, and an adventure in a new world. We’re very excited to eventually have that available.

Quick-Fire Questions:

Dana: Favourite Animal? Dogs (of all sizes and fluffiness)

Jessica: Favourite Colour? Green! It’s so calming and it reminds me of my favorite place in the world – Oregon!

Dana: Favourite City? Paris... or Tuscaloosa, AL. Tough call. One has The Louvre, and one has really good southern food & American football.

Jessica: Favourite Activity? I just love a good book – one that stays with you even when you’re not reading it, one that makes you crazy when you have to put it down, one that is easy to slip inside of and feel part of.  A good book is even better when it’s raining. I also enjoy eating what my husband cooks for me and a good long road trip.

Dana: Favourite Book?  It’s a tie between Pride & Prejudice and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo

PS: On a sidenote, I've now finished my exams! xD So I'm officially done with 4th year and will be starting 5th next week! *laughs nervously* :3

Review: The Testing

Author: Joelle Charbonneau
Edition: Templar Proof/ARC
Release: August 1st 2013
Series: The Testing #1
Pages: 384 approx.
Links: Goodreads | Author's Website | Buy the book!

Sixteen-year-old Cia Vale is honoured to be chosen for The Testing – a series of exams set by the United Commonwealth that selects the brightest young adults to become leaders of their war- stricken world. But when candidates start disappearing and Cia witnesses unimaginable horrors done in the United Commonwealth’s name it becomes clear that these are no ordinary exams, and Cia is forced to realise the truth: this is no longer about winning, but surviving.

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether or not I'd like this book. I'd read quite a few reviews where bloggers had said it was like a mash rip-off of The Hunger Games and Divergent, and since they are two of my most favourite books, I wasn't sure whether or not this book would be worth my time. But the premise of this book refused to let me pass it up - my curiosity always gets the better of me sooner or later! - and so I opened it up, deciding that I should see, for myself, what to think of it. And I am so glad I did. I adored it!

 

Admittedly, I could see slight resemblances between The Testing and THG/Divergent. To begin with, I was near enough analysing every sentence for similarities but after a while, thankfully, I settled into it and started appreciating this book for what it was in itself. If you're scared that you'll react to the similarities stronger than I did then you might be glad to know that the ending of this book is steering this series in a completely different direction than either The Hunger Games or Divergent did. So, overall, I really did like the storyline. I especially liked the 'tests' the main character had to sit - it really showed off Cia's skills. Sidenote: Don't get attached to some of the characters like I did. :(

 

Now, more about Cia. Or should I say, Malencia. What a strange but pretty name, eh? Anyways, I LOVED her. She was just so smart and intuitive. They were probably the qualities I loved most in her. She managed to notice things in the 'tests' which I never would have - which leads me to think I would do extremely badly in those tests *chews lip*. She was also a really brave and strong character and I had such high admiration for her. I really liked Tomas as well. He was also really smart, as well as just plain loveable.

 

To conclude, I really, really enjoyed The Testing. I adored the main character along with some of the other side characters and the romance was a really nice addition. I also loved the amount of action in this book because, as you probably know, I'm an action-junkie! Yes, there are resemblances to other dystopian books but this didn't affect my enjoyment as badly as it did others. The ending has certainly left me wanting more. Unfortunately, there's going to be over a year long wait for me before the sequel will come out! I don't know how I'm going to stand not knowing what happens next. I just can't wait! I also really want to find out more about this government. Overall, a fabby read! :D

FOUR STARS FOR THE TESTING! :D

Huge thanks to Templar for providing me with an ARC of this book to review!

 

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo

Why I Love Faery Books!

So some of you may remember that one of my New Years resolutions was to write more discussion posts, and well... I've not exactly been doing that. Luckily, there's still seven months left in the year for me to start living up to that promise. So today, my friends, will be the first of (hopefully) many more discussion posts!

 

Today's topic, you ask? Well, it's why I love faery books! :)

 

And, yes, you may have gathered I've spelt it faery rather than fairy, and the reason for that is, simply, I prefer spelling it that way - maybe it's because it's spelt that way in quite a few books I've read but I'm honestly not very sure when I started doing it. Anyways. That was just a side note. Now on to the real deal!

 

There's something about faeries that really gets your imagination going. Maybe even makes you feel a little nostalgic. For me, anyway. At one point, I was obsessed - and I mean, obsessed - with faeries. I was given this big, beautiful, almost authentic-looking, lilac book a few couple years back all about faeries and the legends surrounding them and straight away, I got caught up in it all. I loved the idea of there being little people with wings hiding and flying around gardens and forests and, to me, who had - and still has - a wild imagination, it just seemed so possible.

 

I think that's why I enjoy faery books so much. It gives the inner, whimsical child in me what she wants. To believe in the possibility of faeries, even though she spent hours searching for them to no avail. I probably sound bonkers to some people but if you have big, wild imaginations like my own then you will probably understand where I'm coming from. ;)

Of course now that I've given you my reason, I need to give at least one book recommendation! The one that instantly springs to mind is the Wings series by Aprilynne Pike. Now, I know some people didn't enjoy this series but, since I am a faery-enthusiast which you've probably already managed to grasp, I LOVED it! I really do recommend this series to you if you think it's something you'd enjoy! There are also a few supernatural books I have read where faeries have been involved... But that's another thing I just adore about them. Every author has a different take on faeries. It's just perfect for someone like me! :D

 

Do you enjoy faery books? Have any recommendations for a faery-lover like myself? Or, are you the opposite, and don't enjoy faery books at all? Why? As a child, did you also believe in faeries? Were you obsessed - or still are - with any sort of magical/mythical creature? Well comment below and tell me!

 

Happy Reading,

Rachel xoxo

Showcase Sunday #18

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Vicky over at Books, Biscuits & Tea where we showcase all of our recent book grabs.

 

I only received three books this week and were so excited about them, I managed to read two already!

 

Without further-a-do, here are this week's books! :)

 

For Review:

 

Spy for The Queen of Scots by Theresa Breslin:

This one actually came through the mail yesterday as a surprise - I wasn't expecting it at all! So it's safe to say I don't know too much about it. It looks interesting though so I'm excited to see what I think! Huge thanks to Random House for sending me this copy! :)

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau (ARC):

I'd actually read mixed reviews on this one but I came to the decision that I wanted to try it out for myself. I mean, every book deserves a chance, y'know! ;) In the end I really did enjoy it! My full review will be up sometime this week. Huge thanks to Templar for my review copy!

Purchased:

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:

I can't even begin to describe to you my feelings when this book came through the door. I mean, there are such amazing reviews of this book floating around the blogosphere and so I knew I just had to have it! As soon as I had it in my hands, I tore through it and even though, admittedly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked, it was still a great read! :D

So that's all the books I got this week. What about you? Leave links in the comments and I'll stop by as soon as I can! :)

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo