Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Blog Tour + Guest Post + Giveaway - Ashes in the Sky by Jennifer M. Eaton




Find the tour schedule here.






Ashes in the Sky (Fire in the Woods #2) by Jennifer M. Eaton
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Month9Books 


After inadvertently saving the world, eighteen-year-old Jessica Martinez is ready to put adventure behind her and settle back into the familiar routine of high school. 

Though when she’s offered an opportunity to photograph the inside of an alien space ship, Jess jumps at the chance. After all, she’d be crazy to turn something like that down, right? 

Spending time with David on the ship has definite advantages and the two seem to pick up right where they left off. But when Jess discovers a plot to sabotage David’s efforts to establish a new home for his people on another planet, neither David’s advanced tech nor Jess’s smarts will be able to save them. 

ASHES IN THE SKY is an action-packed, romantic Sci Fi adventure that will leave readers screaming for more.










Purchase:






 
 

Inside the Mind of the Author


The mind of an author is a frightening place. Authors look like everyone else. They go about their daily lives, just like you do. 


You may drive by an author on the freeway in the morning. To you, he or she looks like another commuter stuck in traffic, but in reality, that brave author is zigging and zagging in and out of attacking warships far above earth. 


They are formulating a plan to stop the inevitable alien invasion as they lock their car and walk into the office building. 


As they pick up their copies from the printer, they are collecting the secret alliance documents that the author needs to hand-deliver to the princess of the second moon orbiting Neptune. 


When their eyes gloss over during a business meeting, they are teleported to the land of Scemlar, where they stand alongside the emperor’s son battling to save his people from the evil Coaleg clan.


Whew! And you think you had a busy day!


Being an author is a 24 hour a day job. Your brain never turns off. Stories and characters are always spiraling through their heads. It’s enough to drive a normal person insane.


But fear not! The gentle tap of the keyboard has a soothing effect over the traumatized mind of your favorite author. You see, authors don’t write because they want to. We write because we have to.
If we didn’t, we’d be wearing funny white jackets for talking to people who aren’t there. Because, you know, it’s rude not to talk to someone who’s sitting right next to you. 


Isn’t that right, Mr. Orange Dragon?


No, you cannot eat the person in the next cubicle.


Because it’s rude, that’s why!


Oh—He says hi, by the way :)


What do I think about all day long? Aliens, baby. They are everywhere. 


Look over your shoulder. I bet there is one standing there right now.


Made you look!


But there really is one there. Seriously. He’s kinda cute, too.
 





About the Author
 

Jennifer M. Eaton hails from the eastern shore of the North American Continent on planet Earth. Yes, regrettably, she is human, but please don’t hold that against her. While not traipsing through the galaxy looking for specimens for her space moth collection, she lives with her wonderfully supportive husband and three energetic offspring. (And a poodle who runs the spaceport when she’s not around.)

During infrequent excursions to her home planet of Earth, Jennifer enjoys long hikes in the woods, bicycling, swimming, snorkeling, and snuggling up by the fire with a great book; but great adventures are always a short shuttle ride away.
Who knows where we’ll end up next?



Author links:


 




Tour-wide giveaway

Open internationally




http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/

Sunday, 6 March 2016

Showcase Sunday #71 + Giveaway


Showcase Sunday is a feature created and hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where people show what they have been reading etc.





It was back to work for me this week and even though I was off for nearly seven weeks it already feels like I haven't been away.
 
I started a course about the moons of the solar system on FutureLearn and it's been interesting.



Scroll down for a giveaway at the bottom of the page!









 Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys - 3/5 stars - Read my review here.










 Thanks to Pan Macmillan, IDW Publishing and Aurelia Fray!








Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Illustrated Edition) (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling


The illustrations are so pretty!






















I'm giving away two sets of signed bookmarks.

Open internationally!






Saturday, 5 March 2016

Interview - Megan Tayte Author of The Ceruleans Series





Today I'm hosting an interview with Megan Tayte, author of The Ceruleans series.











When did you start writing?
I don’t remember; I was that young. I have diaries and stories dating back to age four or five. Everyone who knew me as a kid thought I’d do something involving writing when I grew up.


What makes you want to write?

When I write, everything makes sense – the world, other people, me. I’m most peaceful and alive when I’m writing.


Do you ever get writer’s block and what do you do to get over it?

I haven’t encountered that problem with my writing. If my pace is slowing, it’s a signal I’m tired, and after a good sleep the words flow again. If anything, I have the opposite problem – a constant desire to write. Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck wrote of: ‘the overpowering necessity to create, create, create – so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, [your] very breath is cut off...’ That’s exactly how I feel.


   
Do you have a special way of going about writing?
   
Once I’ve done my research and plotting and got ‘the feels’ for the story (usually via visiting the settings and immersing myself in culture that inspires me) I like to write quickly and in as interrupted a flow as possible. Then I emerge from my haze, reconnect with reality and start editing.



Do you have any works in progress?

I’ve just started writing a new novel set in the arts scene of London, about the daughter of a prima ballerina who passed away in her infancy. 
   
What are your hobbies? 

A busy business, two kids and my writing don’t leave me a lot of time for hobbies, so I tend to do things I can share with my children, like baking and walks in the countryside. Reading is my one pleasure that creates ‘me time’. I like reading late at night, when the house is silent, by lamplight.

 
How did you choose the character names for the Ceruleans series?

I can’t tell you how I agonised over the names of my son and daughter, and yet for some reason I find naming characters easy. Scarlett is a name I’ve always loved, for the passion it suggests; and because the Cerulean light that Scarlett has is blue, I wanted a name that suggested an opposing colour, that suggested she was not a great fit with the Ceruleans. Luke and Jude, the two main guys in the series, have simple names, monosyllabic, and with Biblical associations. The only name I considered changing was Sienna – for a while I tried Elle and for a while Ruby – but for me, once a character is christened it’s very hard to rename him or her. She was born Sienna on the page, and so Sienna she remained.

   
Who is your favourite character in the Ceruleans series? 
   
Cara. Not only is she sassy, confident and hugely brave about disability, but she’s brilliantly blunt. It’s a lot of fun writing a character who skips all the preamble and dancing about delicately and just pokes the elephant in the room.


 
How did you get the idea for the Ceruleans series?

The Ceruleans series began life as several discrete ideas that I planned to make into several discrete books. Then one day as I was walking (something I do when I’m looking for inspiration) the ideas knitted together, and from there the overall story arc of the series took form.
There are many inspirations for the book. The story is quite personal to me, based on a mix of experience and fiction woven from my imaginings and ponderings. The setting – in a part of coastal Devon where I spent every summer as a child – was a key inspiration. But the story is based on my own efforts to make sense of a world in which people close to you can die; in which being true to yourself can be incredibly difficult; and in which love – for people, for places, for a way of being, for a passion and an ethos – is the only reason to hold on.


 
What was your favourite part of writing the Ceruleans series?

Finishing the final chapter of the fifth and final book. I’d been working towards that day for a really long time, through morning sickness and the exhaustion of pregnancy, and it was a great moment to type the words ‘The End’. As I recall, I cried. Which was a little awkward given that I was in a Starbucks, but one great thing about being heavily pregnant is that you can go ahead and tear up in public.  


What are you currently reading? 
   
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (the second book in her Outlander series).






 What is your favourite book? 

I have a ‘favourite books’ shelf at home and it’s stuffed to bursting. If I had to choose just one, I think it would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, because it was my first proper grownup read and it made me want to be a proper grownup writer someday.




 Who is your favourite author? 

  Toni Morrison. Discovering her books, and Alice Walker’s, in my teens was transformational and put me on the path to my degree studies.




What is your favourite film?

Amélie. It’s so quirky and whimsical, and I love the Parisian setting (it reminds me of trips I took there in my teens and twenties).


 
What is your favourite TV show?

I watch a lot of romance/drama, and comedy. Geek that I am, The Big Bang Theory stands out as a favourite.



 
Quick-fire questions:

Chocolate or ice cream? Chocolate.
Paperback or ebook? Paperback.  
Dogs or cats? Dogs.  
Go out or stay in? Stay in.  
Summer or winter? Summer.






Find Book One, Death Wish on:

Goodreads | Amazon








Friday, 4 March 2016

Review - Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys




Title: Salt to the Sea
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Pages: 400
Publisher: Puffin
Release date: 4th February 2016

Blurb from Goodreads: 
 
In the cruel winter of 1945, four very different young people narrate their stories. Joana, Emilia and Florian are part of desperate group of refugees trekking across Germany, bound together only by their desperation to reach the ship that can take them away from the war-ravaged land. Alfred is a German soldier stationed on that ship.

This hugely touching, inspirational novel is based on a true story. When the German ship the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk in port in early 1945 it had over 9000 civilian refugees, including children, on board. It is the biggest maritime disaster in history, killing more people than the Titanic. Ruta Sepetys, acclaimed author of Between Shades of Grey, has brilliantly brought this story to light and created a group of unforgettable characters with unmissable stories.




 





My Review:

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Penguin Random House UK Children's and NetGalley*

3/5 stars


It's 1945 and war is raging in Europe.
Joana, Emilia and Florian are travelling through Germany, each hoping to escape for their own reason.
Fate brings them together and to the Wilhelm Gustloff where they meet Alfred who is stationed on the ship.
Will they make it home and find their families?


Salt to the Sea was an intriguing read about a tough subject.
Joana, Emilia and Florian were all interesting characters. Alfred, however, I didn't like at all. Joana was my favourite as I felt that I connected to her the most. 
The plot was good but not much happened. I liked the writing style and found it easy to follow. I wanted to read on but I wasn't gripped. The chapters were short so it was hard to get to really get to know the characters.
I had never heard about what happened to the Wilhelm Gustloff and it's terrible that the disaster isn't better known. I also never learned much about what happened to the Polish, so that aspect was interesting.


Overall this was an enjoyable read.