Mundie Moms

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Author Interview& Giveaway with Lauren Kate


I have fallen in love with Lauren's writing, and I wanted to know What Inspired Lauren to Write Her Series:

When Lauren first proposed Fallen to her agent, she said they knew it would be bigger than one book. She said it was impossible to write everything she wanted to and make it fit in one. Making it a series has been very rewarding for her. I was curious if she outlined or not and she said she doesn't outline, but she has a bare-boned one page synopsis for each book. She said each of her characters has changed and grown so much from when she first started writing them. Her husband is her biggest supporter and he's helped her with her characters.

Fallen & Torment's Mythology:

Lauren's mythology has fascinated me. In asking her what inspired her to write her series, she said she was inspired from Genesis, when the Angels are cast out of heaven for falling in love with women. She wondered what type of women it would take for an angel to fall in love with them. Lauren added her own twists by blurring the lines of Good and Evil, as Angels have flaws and in-perplexities like humans.

Torment's Characters & Setting:

I really love the setting in Torment and in asking Lauren what inspired Shoreline, she told me about a cliff in Monticello, CA, where she and her husband were engaged at, inspired the setting.

I asked Lauren if she found it easier or harder to write a sequel. She said it was easier writing Torment, as she already knows where the series is going and what the reader expectation is. She said she's taken some great advice from her readers feedback and reviews.

In talking about the challenges in building the characters in Torment vs Fallen, Lauren said that Luce is not as independent in Fallen as she is in Torment. She grew into the character she wanted her to be in Fallen, but Luce had to find her own way. Cam's character becomes more important, as he's the adversary. He's suppose to be reckless and out of control, like we see him in Fallen. In Torment he becomes one of the most enduring characters. Daniel is still very withdrawn.

I really love how much Luce grows in Torment. I was curious how Lauren wrote the more emotional scenes when Luce discovers her past family. Lauren said she had to go as deep as she could with Luce, in order to write those scenes. There's so much pain with the families Luce has left behind. She had to go there and experience the pain of what her family went through and the pain Luce feels.

In talking about her characters, Lauren said that Arriane was the most fun to write. When I asked her who inspired her characters, she said each of her characters has a little bit of her in them and a little bit of everyone she loves. Luce is physically is based on her oldest friend, though in the beginning her had written her character to be more like her. Luce turned out completely different.

What We Can Except From Passion:

We talked a little about Passion, the 3rd book in the series, which is a prequel to the series. Passion is about Luce and Daniel, and YES Cam will be in there too. Lauren said Passion was a little harder to write, as she's did a lot of historical research for the book. As far as writing about Luce and Daniel, it was easy to write about their story, as she already knows about their relationship. We'll also see Luce's past and current family, which I'm really looking forward to reading about.

What We Can Except from Rapture:

Lauren assured me that all the characters, including the new ones from Torment will be back for her 4th book, Rapture, which will pick up from where Torment left off.

I'm really looking forward to both Passion and Rapture's releases. Really, I can't wait to find out who Luce chooses and where her decision she makes at the end of Torment, takes her to.
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If you haven't already, I highly recommend picking up Torment today. You can read my review here http://tinyurl.com/36xerxf

You can read more about Lauren Kate and her books here http://laurenkatebooks.net/

Thank you so much Lauren for your time and for the interview. Thank you Random House for arranging our interview and for our giveaway. Random House has provided us with a couple copies of Torment to giveaway!

Banned Books Week Guest Author Post by Shannon Delany

Banning Books: Inefficient and Oddly Entertaining

Every time a discussion of censorship or book banning comes up an image of artist Frank Miller’s (Sin City, 300, The Spirit, Batman) jumps to mind. Here’s the image’s link: http://tinyurl.com/27olagh

To me, censorship is as frightening as that image is shocking.

I thought about taking a moral or philosophical stand about banning books for this post. I have plenty of arguments against the banning of books (more since discovering my own debut novel, 13 to Life, and all other paranormals have been banned from one classroom in a particular Texas school).

But I’d like to approach the argument differently.

I want to tell you why I think banning books—or most anything—is an inefficient manner of keeping something out of people’s hands.

I studied Eastern European history in college and the USSR became a fascination of mine. The USSR was known for taking extreme measures in controlling the information (television, radio, newspaper and word of mouth) that reached their citizens. They were big supporters of censorship. And we—in case we forget—were outraged as a nation that there was no freedom of information for that country. It was one of the myriad reasons we claimed superiority over them during the Cold War and one of the reasons I find it bitterly ironic that we still have so many books challenged here.

History teaches us that the censorship that occurred in places like the USSR (and still occurs today in certain countries that we boldly consider to be less than the U.S.) only causes a societal backlash.

You ban something, what inevitably happens? More people find out about it.

Why? Because to ban something you have to first discuss it with some authority. Then you have to list it somewhere and make people aware of it being banned. Some people will (of course) ask for a reason as to why something is banned. So a reason must be produced and also made somewhat public. Frankly, by the time you’ve discussed what needs to be banned, agreed on a list, listed banned items and explained your justification for banning such things you may as well have advertised the banned items to people.

Until Dr. Wesley Scroggins got so much recent press pushing for the banning of the books SPEAK, TWENTY BOY SUMMER and SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE, I hadn’t read any of them (SPEAK was on my TBR list because I’ve seen it used with amazing results in classrooms). Now, thanks to my natural curiosity and Scroggins’ 20+ page document (available online) explaining why they should be banned I’ve read more of each of them than ever before. Thanks, Wes!

And where do we see most book bannings occurring? In schools as questions are raised about what preteens and teens should be reading.

Again, how truly inefficient! Think about it. What’s one truth we universally recognize about teens? They are rebellious—they will do something just to spite authority—just to prove they can do it. And teens and tweens are most frequently mentioned as having the greatest amount of disposable income (so they can actually buy books).

So go ahead. Tell teens they aren’t allowed to read something (ohhh—better yet, threaten to confiscate it if you find it in their possession—they *love* that). You’ll see that book’s numbers on Amazon rise. Doubt it? We all watched SPEAK’s numbers jump last week. Because everyone was talking about it.

Feel free. Sit in long, dull meetings coming up with lists of books to be banned. Don’t dare use books to open conversations with teens about topics you might otherwise try to brush aside. Then wait as word spreads like wildfire. And watch readers speak out about how those very books enlightened them, strengthened them or simply entertained them.

The more you complain, the more buzz you create for books. And advertising money’s always a bit tight in the publishing industry. So do what you feel you have to. There will be plenty of well-read, well-educated people (young and old alike) to try and teach you how truly inefficient your attempt at banning books really is.

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Shannon Delany is the author of 13 To Life. Secrets & Shadow, the second book in the 13 to Life series will be released February 15th, 2010. To learn more about Shannon and her 13 to Life Series, please visit her site here www.ShannonDelany.com.

Thank you Shannon for your awesome post and for being apart of our Banned Books Week. We really appreciate it!

Thoughtful Thursday- Roald Dahl Read A Thon

This is a great reading challenge for kids. I know, why am I posting this on Mundie Moms? Well many of us are parents or have younger siblings or work with kids and I couldn't not share the news about this awesome Read A Thon. Plus, it's Banned Books Week and we were shocked to find out Roald Dahl books have been banned, so what better way to continue in helping promote Banned Books!!

The Challenge- runs from September 2010- December 2010 and is for kids ages 7-13 who live in the United States. All kids need to do is read 3 Roald Dahl books between now and December.

Participants can pick up their Dahlathon Official Reading Journal at any local bookstore or library or they can download a copy (see the link at the bottom of the post). Once you've read your three books, kids will need a parent/teacher/guardian to sign their slip and send it to Penguin Young Readers Group and they'll receive an official Dahlathon Award!

Be sure to visit the site for a complete list of rules, and see what participants can win here http://www.roalddahl.com/Default.aspx?referrer=dahlathon&region=US

Thank you Kathy for making me aware of this & promoting it Mundie Kids for our Banned Books Week, which is found here http://tinyurl.com/29v77nz!

Book Review & Giveaway- Maybe This Time

By Jennifer Crusie
Published by St. Martin's Press
Released on August 31st, 2010
Source- publisher
2 stars- It's Ok

Andie Miller is ready to move on in life. She wants to marry her fiance and leave behind everything in her past, especially her ex-husband, North Archer. But when Andie tries to gain closure with him, he asks one final favor of her before they go their separate ways forever. A very distant cousin of his has died and left North as the guardian of two orphans who have driven out three nannies already, and things are getting worse. He needs a very special person to take care of the situation and he knows Andie can handle anything…

When Andie meets the two children she quickly realizes things are much worse than she feared. The place is a mess, the children, Carter and Alice, aren’t your average delinquents, and the creepy old house where they live is being run by the worst housekeeper since Mrs. Danvers. What’s worse, Andie’s fiance thinks this is all a plan by North to get Andie back, and he may be right. Andie’s dreams have been haunted by North since she arrived at the old house. And that’s not the only haunting…

What follows is a hilarious adventure in exorcism, including a self-doubting parapsychologist, an annoyed medium, her Tarot-card reading mother, an avenging ex-mother-in-law, and, of course, her jealous fiance. And just when she thinks things couldn’t get more complicated, North shows up on the doorstep making her wonder if maybe this time things could be different between them.

If Andie can just get rid of all the guests and ghosts, she’s pretty sure she can save the kids, and herself, from the past. But fate might just have another thing in mind… (quoted from Goodreads)

I have never read any of Jennifer Crusie's books before and I really didn't know what to except when I read Maybe This Time. When I was asked to review the book, I was drawn to it because of the paranormal twist. I think that sometimes readers think that adult books will have a YA appeal because of the paranormal element in the book, but this is not the case with Maybe This Time. I think adults who like a little bit of romance with a paranormal twist may enjoy it.

Maybe This Time follows the book's main character Andie, as she wants to rid her ex-husband of 10 years, a prominent lawyer, North Archer from her life once and for all. When she goes to his law office to do just that, she finds herself falling for him all over again. Not one to show weakness, Andie fights that feeling and finds herself saying Yes in helping him for a month. She is to go and take care of Alice and Carter, the two kids North is a guardian for. The kids live in an old Victorian style house that was brought over from England about a hundred years ago, and they refuse to leave the house, even though attempts have been made numerous times to move them up with Archer. While they have a caregiver, the nanny's keep running away.

Having never wanted to be a mother, Andie's maternal instincts take over the minute she meets the kids, but she also realizes something is not right in the house. Not only have the children never been properly cared for, but the house is very haunted. After a series of events, North returns to the house to help Andie, both their mothers are there, North's brother, and team of people who are their to investigate the ghosts. As things heat up, the ghosts become stronger, though they'd never harm the children, nothing has stopped them from killing in the past and nothing can stop them now. Andie and North (who doesn't believe in ghosts) will stop at nothing to protect the children and each other.

What I did like- I really loved how Andie came in and took charge over the children. She is one feisty character who came to care for and love two very broken kids and worked to make them better. Where everyone else gave up on them, I should say ran away, because of the ghosts that live in the house, Andie stood her ground to everyone and every ghost in order to protect the kids. I loved seeing her relationship with kids grow and seeing the kids come around and grow to love Andie. I liked the chemistry North and Andie have, as even after being divorced for 10 years neither has gotten over the other one. They both try to deny the feelings they have for each other at first, but in the end their hearts win out. I liked both North and Andie's mothers. Bothof them have some great flaws, but both are fiercely protective of their adult children, but not in that overbearingly bad way. I did like the ghosts/haunting in the book. It was a little creepy and a little predictable, but it was still good.

What I didn't like- I had a hard time getting into the story, until close to the end. There wasn't enough character building or plot depth to really keep me hooked. Over all there wasn't any depth to the story. I had a hard time finding the characters relatable. The story left me feeling a little empty, as I didn't take anything away from it. I didn't care for the language that's spread through out the book. I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of the F word. I over it look it if it's used or twice, but more than that and it totally bugs me and sometimes will completely turn me off of the book. I didn't care for the sex scenes, even if it was hot. But, it's an adult book and that's excepted, it's just something that wasn't for me. I wanted to sit down and get lot in a great love story with a paranormal twist and that didn't happen.

Though Maybe This Time wasn't my cup of tea, but many adult readers & Jennifer Cruise fans may enjoy it.

Thank you to St Martin's Press, we have 1 copy of Maybe This Time to giveaway. This is open to residents in the US and Canada only. The winner will receive the book from St Martin's Press.

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