[Guest Post] Dualed Blog Tour, Interview with Elsie Chapman + GIVEAWAY!

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2013, author, book, books, dystopian, fighting, giveaway, interview, sci-fi, writing, young adult, young adult fiction

Dualed (2013)
by Elsie Chapman
Publication Date: February 26, 2013
Goodreads.
Amazon.
Barnes and Noble.
IndieBound.

I’m very excited to be featuring Elsie Chapman today as part of the Dualed Blog Tour!

Two of you exist.
Only one will survive.

The city of Kersh is a safe haven, but the price of safety is high. Everyone has a genetic Alternate—a twin raised by another family—and citizens must prove their worth by eliminating their Alts before their twentieth birthday. Survival means advanced schooling, a good job, marriage—life.

Q: Share with us some of the inspiration behind DUALED! How long did it take you to write and sell DUALED? And now that you are a 2013 debut author, how does that effect your writing schedule??

The first draft of DUALED took me five weeks, but revisions and took me much longer. In the end, almost everything evens out, it seems. And I think it took me about three months to sell DUALED.

I couldn’t be happier with how it all worked out! But I’m definitely feeling more of a time crunch now that there’s one book already in the works. Because with follow-up books that you might be drafting or editing, you’re still having to edit or promote your first book at the same time. I’m still struggling with better time management, and I’ve learned it is wholly possible to survive on four hours of sleep a night.

Q: You or your Alt? If you lived in Kersh, who do you think would win the dual? What would you use to fight your Alt (weapons, strategy, fighting skills)?

I hate to say it but I think my Alt would probably kick my butt. Not only do I know my own tendencies and weaknesses, I also couldn’t imagine she’d be any worse. But of course it would still have to come down to a battle, so I think if I stood any chance at all, I’d probably have to rely on doing something sneaky.

Don’t forget to check out the other blog tour stops and enter the tour-wide giveaway for a finished copy of Dualed (open internationally, as long as The Book Depository ships to your country.)

Click here to go to Rafflecopter giveaway!

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[Guest Post] Harken Blog Tour, Interview with Kaleb Nation + TWO GIVEAWAYS!

Tags

2013, author, book, books, conspiracy theory, giveaway, interview, writing, young adult, young adult fiction

 Harken (2013)
by Kaleb Nation (twitter.)
Publication Date: January 13th, 2013
Read a 3 Chapter Preview.
Goodreads.
Amazon.

I’m very excited to be featuring Kaleb Nation today as part of the Harken Blog Tour!

After surviving an assassination attempt, teenager Michael Asher discovers that he is at the center of a worldwide conspiracy reaching higher than any earthly power. A supernatural organization desperately wants him dead. He doesn’t know why. Everyone who might have the answers has already been killed.

Q: Will Harken be translated into other languages? What language would you most like to see Harken translated into?

HARKEN is in English right now, but hopefully we’ll see some other translations soon. I’d love to see it translated into Japanese! I haven’t had any of my books in that language yet.

Q: What was the cover choosing process like?

The first cover designs looked nice but didn’t really capture the feel of HARKEN. You can see some of the rejected covers here.
I wanted a cover that captures something iconic from the book. What sets HARKEN apart from everything else out there?
Meanwhile, my readers were anxiously waiting to read HARKEN, which at that time was known as the #SecretKalebBook on Twitter. Some of them started to write #SecretKalebBook on their hands to show their support as I wrote. That got me thinking. How could we design a cover that shows something special from the book but also gives a nod to the people who’ve been waiting for years to read it? That’s where the idea of using Michael’s scale-covered hand came from… and as an added bonus, the word HARKEN is over his hand, just like my readers had been doing! 

Q: Do you think you will have the urge to “fix” or tweak some things in Harken the more you read it?

YES! I am a perfectionist. I was altering tiny details all the way to my deadline. Books are such massive projects that it’s impossible to get everything entirely perfect, and yet I still find it hard to let it go. Because of this, I’ve never fully read any of my books after they were published – I know if I open it, I’ll want to change things!

Don’t forget to check out the other Harken blog tour stops and enter the tour-wide giveaway for a Harken themed Kindle Paperwhite and a Harken prize pack! I know I want it!


Click here to go to Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win your very own HARKEN KINDLE PAPERWHITE!

And to thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far here’s a SECOND giveaway for a Harken prize pack right here on the blog!

• – a giant HARKEN poster (signed)
• – a HARKEN glow-in-the-dark wristband
• – a Kaleb Nation postcard (signed)
• – a HARKEN glow-in-the-dark silver ring

HOW TO ENTER:
Want to win a Harken Prize Pack? Leave a comment telling me if you’ve read Harken yet. (mandatory entry)
1 Winner, INTERNATIONAL, giveaway ends on February 26th, 2013 midnight EST, Good luck!

OPTIONAL Extra Entries (please list them in the same comment, don’t worry–I can do math):
+1 Like the Harken fanpage (leave Facebook name)
+1 Follow Kaleb Nation on Twitter (@KalebNation) (leave Twitter username)
+1 Follow me on Twitter (@noveltoybox) (leave Twitter username)
+1 Follow by email/Wordpress (leave the email/username you used in your subscriptionn)
+1 Share giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Blog Post (one entry per share, leave me a link)

[review] Insurgent by Veronica Roth (2012)

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book, book review, dystopia, dystopian, literature, young adult, young adult fiction

Insurgent (2012)
by Veronica Roth
Audiobook Edition
Publication Date: May 1st, 2012
Publisher: HarperTEEN; Katherine Tegen Books
Buy a copy via Amazon.
Synopsis from Goodreads.

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has conse­quences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

My Thoughts:
Since I don’t have time to read anything but college textbooks lately, I decided to listen to the audiobook of Insurgent during my three hour commute. I wasn’t a big fan of Divergent, but with all the gushing reviews for its sequel, Insurgent, I wanted to join the party. I’m convinced everyone who gave Insurgent a glowing, perfect review is either bribed with brownies or under simulation. I just had to take myself out of blogging hiatus to rant about this mess of a book.

Tris, The Girl Who Got Possessed by Bella:
I was ambivalent towards her in Divergent, but I loathed her in Insurgent. For a chick that has aptitude for Erudite, she seems to be missing a few brain cells. The most frustrating thing is everyone around her fuels her superiority delusion by saying things like “Oh, you are part Erudite! You must be smarter than all of us! I would’ve never thought of that! We are all such dum-dums!” I’m going to shoot myself if my fate rested upon a mean, suicidal, and emotionally unstable sixteen year old, even if her IQ happens to be higher than mine. Girl doesn’t even have common sense, no wonder the simulation tests don’t work on her.

After witnessing her parents’ and best friend’s death, she goes into emo, suicidal mode. Bella style. But maybe slightly better than Bella because Tris is also obsessed with being a hero, which means plunging herself into dangerous situations as a sacrifice without thinking. And it always backfires. Which leads me to this:

A Brief Summary of Tris from The First Two Thirds of the Book:

Four: I LOVE YOU. Please don’t throw away your life and do stupid things, Tris!
Everyone Else: Please don’t do stupid things, Tris!
Tris: What stupid thing?
*rinse and repeat*

[Guest Post] K. Reed, Author of Dark Inheritance + GIVEAWAY

Tags

apocalypse, ebook, free, free book, giveaway, post-apocalyptic, regency romance, romance, zombie apocalypse, zombies

Today I’m lucky to feature K. Reed for a guest post on surviving a zombie apocalypse. Obviously I had to call in an expert since my zombie-surviving plan is to die my hair platinum blonde. So after you finish packing those AK-47s and building a bomb shelter, be sure to check out K. Reed‘s new post-apocalyptic regency romance, Dark Inheritance and enter the GIVEAWAY for an e-book copy.
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How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse. Or why I’d either be the first to die or that person you seek out for refuge.
by K.Reed

Let’s face it. Surviving an apocalypse (environmental, zombie, vampire, Cylon, whatever) isn’t exactly easy. No one is ever ready for The End. We go through our lives expecting tomorrow to be much the same as today. The recent power outage on the East Coast USA is a prime example. I was one of the many without power, people I work with still don’t have power.

We don’t like surviving without our comforts. Sure, we can say how prepared we are, but give people a weekend without TV, Internet, or lights, and see what happens! Let’s not even go to showers, hot water, flushing toilets, and coffee.