Meet Liza from Prisoners in the Palace - Day #4

In Michaela MacColl's debut, Prisoners in the Palace, Liza's luxurious life came to a halt when her parents were killed in a carriage accident, leaving her an orphan. Now homeless and with debts to pay, she acquires a job as a maid to Pricess Victoria - but with a catch, she must also act as a spy! I hope you enjoy this interview with Liza!






Your luxurious lifestyle and expecting to join society must have made becoming a maid hard to swallow. What was the toughest part?

The sleeping arrangements were definitely my most difficult obstacle! I was used to feather beds and sheets of silk. My bed at Kensington Palace was lumpy and I was always cold. You never realize how much you take for granted just being warm! I wrapped myself in my mother’s Kashmir shawl just to keep the chills away. Even the lack of a private bath pales in comparison to my nightly struggle to find a comfortable spot to sleep.

Do you think you and the Princess would have become friends had you met up different circumstances (assuming she was allowed out of course!)

What an amusing question, as Victoria might say. I do think we would easily have been friends if our ranks were equal. We had very much in common. We both love fashion, music and the theater. We could dance the night away at balls and fall madly in love with tenors at the opera. So long as we did not discuss matters of social policy or anything too intellectual, we could be close confidantes. And as a lady should never be too political or intellectual, Victoria’s company would be excellent discipline for me not to get unladylike ideas!

Why do you think it took so long for Elizabeth to stand up for herself?

Many young women from my background never learn to stand up for themselves. It is actively discouraged by the adults who try to safeguard us. If my life had gone according to plan, I would have been handed from my father’s care into my husband’s. It was fate’s intervention that gave me the opportunity to learn what inner strength I might draw upon. It helped that I first learned to stand up for others before myself.

Do you plan to visit, the now Queen Victoria, in the future?

Of course I do! After all we went through together, how could I resist seeing her in all her royal glory? I hear that she will leave Kensington Palace, so I’ll have to visit her in the new palace at Buckminister. I must also confess to being wildly curious as to how Victoria will handle all that power! She’s not accustomed to making her own decisions. I hope she makes good ones, not just for her own sake but for the nation’s.

If you could say one thing to Simon now, what would be it be?

Hmmm. I think perhaps I would tell him to think twice before he is seduced again by the promise of wealth and rank. Just because the aristocrats seem to have everything in life they could ever want, the truth may be very different. It doesn’t pay to envy your betters.

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Today is the last day to enter the giveaway...Click here to enter!

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 28 October 2010.

An Interview With Michaela MacColl

I hope you are enjoying learning more about Prisoners in the Palace! Today on the blog is an interview with the author, Michaela MacColl. If you haven't already, don't forget to click on the giveaway link at the end of this post.

You have a background in history. Was being an author something you always dreamed of?

I fell into history accidentally through literature. I was reading a fabulous edition of Russian fairy tales when I needed to declare a major. I ended up designing an independent program that looked at the end of the Russian Empire and the beginning of the Soviet one from many different disciplines. To the extent that I thought about the future, I saw myself as a professor. However, two years of graduate school killed that dream! I found that to get a PhD, you had to take all the fun out of the history. Happily, I found a way to put it back in!

One of the surprises I found in your author's note was the existence of Inside Boy Jones (although portrayed differently in your book). What fascinates you the most about Inside Boy?

The 1830’s in pre-industrial England were a grim time for the poor. The very limited social safety net, poor houses, had been dismantled by a thrifty government. Instead, they put the burden on the local parishes. If you were born in Surrey, it was Surrey’s job to take care of you if you were indigent. (Sound familiar?) Of course the parishes weren’t equipped to do this and a lot of people ended up desperate.

Inside Boy is a quintessential London Cockney, who lives by his wits, both in real life and in Prisoners in the Palace. He’s found an ingenious way to let the monarchy pick up his bed and board. I found the idea of a clever character who was intimately familiar with both the streets of London and the drawing rooms of the Royal family fascinating. He has a unique perspective and specialized skills that my heroine, Liza, is quick to make use of.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

It’s a tough question, because I like my creature comforts! However, if I had to choose, I would probably pick Elizabethan England. To see Shakespeare performed as it originally was or to see the Spanish Armada sink – that would be a blast! And if I could fast forward, I think I would love to visit Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Crystal Palace.

My BFF and I plan to one day tour the castles in Europe. Have you ever been so lucky to visit?

I lived in France for almost four years with my husband, first in the south of France and then in Paris. We had just gotten married and we didn’t have kids yet. We traveled every weekend – Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany – we went everywhere and toured as many castles as I could bully my husband into visiting. My favorite isn’t a castle, it’s the Abbey at Mont St. Michel in Normandy – put it on your list! Twice a day, the sea sweeps in and cuts it off from the mainland. Very romantic and spooky!

For Prisoners in the Palace I went to London to visit Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle. It was so important to the final book’s credibility. Of course, I had to rewrite huge chunks that I had already written to reflect what I saw.

Are you working on anything new?

I’m putting the finishing touches to my next novel, tentatively titled “Beryl Above Africa” (I’ m almost certain that this will not be the title!). It’s about Beryl Markham, who was one of the premier female aviators of the 1830’s. She grew up in Colonial Africa when it was just being settled. Beryl was raised by the African tribe who worked for her father and she learned to hunt lion and was mauled once. She grew up to be the first to fly the Atlantic from East to West. Although she crashed, she survived to write a wonderful memoir called West Into the Night.

Thanks so much for stopping by Michaela! Don't forget you have a chance to win a copy of Prisoners in the Palace or one of 5 bookmarks:) Click here to enter!

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 27 October 2010.

Fact vs. Fiction - Day #2 Prisoners in the Palace

I'm excited to have Michaela on the blog today talking about the fact vs. fiction and how her debut, Prisoners in the Palace came to be. Please give a warm welcome to Michaela :)

When I began writing Prisoners in the Palace, I started with biographies. Victoria is one of the most heavily biographed women in the world (!!!) so there are a lot to choose from. But my task is easier because I concentrate on her childhood, usually only a chapter or two in most biographies. Within those chapters, I looked for nuggets to start me thinking… and that’s where the story comes from. The nuggets in this case were the restrictions on her childhood and the dreaded Kensington System which was what her education regimen was called. Since I’m a parent of teenage girls myself, I knew that the life Victoria led would be intolerable to my kids. But the everyday details of her life were fascinating too because they are at once so similar and so different to our lives today. The way I described her schooling, the music she studied, the tutors she had, what she ate, her daily toilette, etc. are all based on fact.

Another nugget was about broadsheets. It turns out in the 1830’s you could print anything you wanted on broad sheets of paper and sell them on the street. They were often used to promote political agendas. When Victoria was Queen, more than one was addressed to her and designed to influence her thinking – much like we might see a full page ad in the New York Times today. I began to think about how dangerous this kind of publicity could be… and my plot emerged.

The challenge writing about a public figure is that you cannot alter the known facts just because it would improve the story. I can’t make Victoria 20 just because I feel like it. Although one of my critique partners insisted it would be amazing if Victoria snuck out of Kensington Palace and had adventures in London, I had to (regretfully) hold my ground. There was no way that someone as protected as she was could ever have slipped away for any length of time. So I created a character, Liza, who could be close to Victoria but who had the freedom to leave the palace. Liza is a ladies’ maid, and I portrayed her life as accurately as I could, based on my research about servants to the aristocracy. The fate of poor Annie, the maid whose place Liza takes, was also based on research about the working poor of London at the time.

It’s ironic that some of the most useful research about this time in London can be found in literature. Dickens and Thackeray were great sources for language and social mores. One of my favorite research tools was a book called What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. Another amazing tool is a website called www.victorianlondon.org run by Lee Jackson (an author of Victorian mysteries). He has assembled a massive full-text indexed amount of literature and commentary about Victorian London.

Thanks so much Michaela! Don't forget you have a chance to win a copy of Prisoners in the Palace or one of 5 bookmarks:) Click here to enter!

About the book:

London, 1836. Sixteen-year-old Liza's dreams of her society debut are dashed when her parents are killed in an accident. Penniless, she accepts the position of lady's maid to young Princess Victoria and steps unwittingly into the gossipy intrigue of the servant's world below-stairs as well as the trickery and treason above. Is it possible that her changing circumstances may offer Liza the chance to determine her own fate, find true love, and secure the throne for her future queen?

Meticulously based on new interpretations of history, this riveting novel is as rich in historical detail as Catherine, Called Birdy, and as sizzling with intrigue as The Luxe.

Interested in reading the first chapter? That's easy, click here!

You can find out more about Michaela on her: website, blog, Facebook, Twitter
Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 26 October 2010.

It's PRISONERS IN THE PALACE week on the blog! (Giveaway)

It is my pleasure to have a week of Prisoners in the Palace on the blog. I really enjoyed Michaela's story of Liza, a maid to Princess Victoria in London, 1838 especially since I have recently been sucked into the world of historical fiction. Each day this week we will have something devoted to the book: character interviews, an author interview and more!

About the book:

London, 1836. Sixteen-year-old Liza's dreams of her society debut are dashed when her parents are killed in an accident. Penniless, she accepts the position of lady's maid to young Princess Victoria and steps unwittingly into the gossipy intrigue of the servant's world below-stairs as well as the trickery and treason above. Is it possible that her changing circumstances may offer Liza the chance to determine her own fate, find true love, and secure the throne for her future queen?

Meticulously based on new interpretations of history, this riveting novel is as rich in historical detail as Catherine, Called Birdy, and as sizzling with intrigue as The Luxe.

Interested in reading the first chapter? That's easy, click here!

About the author:

Michaela attended Vassar College and Yale University. She earned degrees in multi-disciplinary history. Unfortunately, it took her 20 years before she realized she was learning how to write historical fiction. Her favorite stories are the ones she finds about the childhood experiences of famous people. What happened that helped them to be great? Michaela has two daughters so she's hoping to identify those moments firsthand. She and her family live in Connecticut, but she will travel at the drop of hat to do local research. So far her travels have taken her to London and Florence and Amherst, Massachussetts. A trip to Shanghai, China is in the works. Prisoners in the Palace (Chronicle, October 2010) is her first book.

You can find out more about Michaela on her: website, blog, Facebook, Twitter

...and thanks to Michaela & her publisher, Chronicle, you have a chance to win a copy of Prisoners in the Palace or one of 5 bookmarks:) Please leave a comment and fill out the form below!


Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 25 October 2010.

Familiars Throughout History by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson

Let's welcome the authors of The Familiars, Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson for a guest post today! *applause*

Familiars are the animal companions to a wizard or witch. They are mentioned several times in the Bible, from Deuteranomy to Leviticus. Shakespeare's Macbeth had them, too. Familiars were common in Europe during the Middle Ages, and could be seen in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. They existed in popular culture since the 1800s. The earliest and most recognizable of these magical assistants were the black cats of a witch. You’ve seen them on Halloween posters rubbing up against the leg of a woman dressed in black. Surely you are aware of some of the more famous familiars, like Harry Potter’s owl, Hedwig, or Gandalf’s horse, Shadowfax, or Merlin’s owl, Archimedes. Disney’s animated films added many more familiars to the lore, including Jafar’s parrot, Iago, Ursula’s eels, Floatsam and Jetsam, or Maleficant’s crows.

Sam's Support

Hello everyone! Today Change of Heart week continues with an interview with Sam. Sam is an important character to the story as he is Emmi's boyfriend. Sam and Emmi start going out right before she gets sick and so their relationship is really new and they both go through a lot during the course of the book. Please welcome Sam to the blog and I hope you enjoy learning more about him.

Full Name: Samuel Paul Hunter

Nickname: Sam

Age: 16

Favorite food: Hamburgers, except when I’m training, then it’s steamed fish (only kidding—I hate steamed fish).

Favorite color: Navy Blue

Favorite number: 12-my baseball number

Favorite kind of music: Rap

Please tell us a little about you. 

I play baseball for North Village High. Unlike a lot of my buddies, I’m pretty good at school and that’s important to me. I mean, I love sports and hanging out and talking about hot girls, but I also want to do other things, too.

What do you like to do in your free time? 

Emmi's Change of Heart

Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to continue Change of Heart week with an interview with Emmi. Emmi is the main character ofChange of Heart. She's 16 up until she got sick she was an active soccer player and just your typical teen. Please welcome Emmi to the blog and I hope you enjoy learning more about her.

Full Name: Emmi Miller

Nickname: none

Age: 16

Favorite food: sushi

Favorite color: purple

Favorite number: 12-Sam’s baseball number

Favorite kind of music: Popular music. But I’m starting to get into old rock bands with my friend Abe

Please tell us a little about you.

For most of my life, it’s been all about the soccer. I play on an elite travel team, my school team and I even got to play in Europe last summer. I’m working my butt off to try to get a college scholarship. But now I got sick and without a heart transplant I might die. So in order for me to live, some other person must die. How do you wish for that? How do you not? It’s a horrible thing to think about.

Tell me about your parents. How well do/did you get along with them?

My dad’s the best. He totally got me into soccer and he even plays on an over 40 team. My mother is another story. She can be the biggest buzz kill ever—constantly on my case. She just doesn’t get me. She’s gotten a little better since I’ve been sick, but I’m wary.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Now—not much. I sit around my house, make photo collages and wait for someone to text me or IM me. Life is going on all around me and I’m stuck waiting.

Could you share with us a little about your life before you got sick?

It was mostly soccer, soccer and a little more soccer. I have a bunch of close friends: Becca, Lauren and Noelle. They’re all my soccer buds, but we hang out a lot off the field, too. I’ve always been healthy, and I guess I just took that for granted.

How has the need for a heart transplant changed your life?

Author Interview: Shari Maurer

Hello internet! Today I am pleased to welcome Shari Maurer to the blog. Shari is the author of Change of Heart which was released by Westside Books on 23 April 2010. Change of Heart is an endearing story about a teen girl whose life is turned upside down when she learns that she needs a heart transplant. Its a book that will touch your heart and make you think about what is important. I hope that you enjoy learning a little bit more about Shari and her book, Change of Heart, as I had a lot of fun interviewing her.

First off…tell us a little about you?

I live in New City, NY—an NYC suburb where I also grew up. I’ve got 2 ½ teenagers in my house (my daughter is 15, my son is 13 and my other son thinks he’s 13, but he’s only 10). Life is filled with sports, dance, homework, etc. and my house is often overrun with kids. Somewhere in between it all, I try to find time to write.

What is your writing process like?

My best writing happens with a big cup of coffee next to me and my iTunes playing softly in the background. I was finding the internet was easily distracting me, so I bought a netbook, with the firm rule that I can’t do any internet stuff (well, okay, I do allow myself to check e-mail occasionally, but that’s all).

Which line do you find more difficult to write? The first or the last?

Fun Friday...and winners!

I hope you enjoyed your week of Claire de Lune! A big thank you to Christine for making this possible. For the Friday's posts, we discussed making a playlist as I always like to do something fun...

So after much agonizing, I finally did a playlist just of the arc
of Claire's story - a Claire playlist, rather than a CLAIRE DE LUNE
playlist, if that makes sense. Originally, I tried to pick one song for
each character, but I was getting into WAY too many spoilers and getting
all twisted up with it. Instead, I tried to find really great songs that
matched Claire at each point in her journey, both with their lyrics and
also the general feel of the music. This is what I ended up with!

Thanks to everyone who played along.

And the winners are.....

Signed copy of Claire de Lune: Jessica

Bookplates: Katelyn, Jenny N, Grace Gorski, Natasha, Elie N and Okapi

Please check you emails, you have until Sunday to claim your prize :)

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home....Can I Keep Him? on 18 June 2010.

Learning More About Matthew

It wasn't a surprise that when I went to interview Claire, Matthew was close by. Being the main character and all, we know a lot more about Claire so my questions for Matthew (who by the way is a total sweetheart!)were a little more deep. Again, not to worry these are spoiler-free!


What was it about Claire that made you fall head over heels for her?

She’s so *herself.* I was so tired of dating girls that spend all their time playing games, trying to be whatever they thought I wanted them to be. And Claire was so smart and funny and quiet without being shy. I just never thought she’d be interested in dating someone like me - that she’d think I was just another jock. She’s so strong and amazing, and not just because she’s a werewolf. It’s just *her.*

Will your scientist Dad would ever understand if you told him about you and Claire?

My dad is really...focused. He’s spent practically his whole life trying to perfect his cure for lycanthropy. I don’t think he would be able to get over that - to see Claire for the amazing person that she is. I wish he could see past her werewolf side. That he could think of her as something other than a dangerous test subject. But I just don’t think he’d be able to do that. And I’d never, ever want to risk Claire’s life by trying to find out for sure!

Do you think more people could be like you and accept werewolves for who they are as humans and not just see them as animals?

I wouldn’t be surprised - I think if people knew that these nice, normal women that they see everyday are werewolves, maybe they could get past all the stereotypes. I know that everyone’s scared of attacks, but humans kill each other, too, and we’re not terrified of every person we pass on the street. It’s not fair that people like Claire and Marie and Beatrice have to spend their whole lives hiding. Maybe someday, they’ll be able to live in the open. I hope so.

Doesn't the thought of your girlfriend turning into a wolf kinda freak you out?

Yes and no. I mean, the wolf world is really intense and there’s not a lot of room for humans - especially human guys - there. So that’s a little hard sometimes. But Claire’s wolf side is half of who she is - with out that, she wouldn’t be *her.* And I love the person that she is - strong, smart, wild and contained at the same time. So, no, the thought of her transforming doesn’t make me want to run away and hide or anything, but figuring out the wolf part of her world has been kind of hard at times. Worth it though. Hard, but totally worth it.


This week you have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Claire de Lune (CAN/US only), OR one of six signed bookplates (open internationally!) by filling out the form here. Don't forget you get an extra entry for each thoughtful comment :)

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 17 June 2010.

Chatting it up with Claire

At 16, the main character in Claire de Lune finds out that she's...well a little bit different! I had a chance to ask her a few questions, don't worry it's spolier-free :)

Did you ever think, growing up, that your family was a little odd?

Not really. I mean, I knew my family was different than, say, Emily’s family, but it just seemed NORMAL to me. Plus, once Lisbeth came, it actually seemed easier than having my mom around all the time, breathing down my neck about stuff. I was so happy that she wasn’t prying into my secrets that I didn’t really think she might have one of her own!

How long had Matthew been on your radar?

Um, since the first day I walked into school? No, seriously. He was a sophomore when I was a freshman, but we’d gone to different middle schools, so I’d never seen him before. His locker was sort of near mine that year, and he was so gorgeous, I couldn’t NOT notice him. But I never thought he’d actually pay any attention to me...

What is your favorite part of being a were?

I love the hunt. Really. I mean, I love so many parts of it - the heightened senses (even though that took awhile to adjust to!) and the running and the way we can communicate with one another without talking. But hunting rolls all that up together and adds the excitement of chasing something. Of course, at the end of the hunt, there’s always the killing part, which took some time to get used to, but it’s no different than eating a steak you buy in the grocery - and it’s a lot fairer to catch it yourself!

What do you think your BFF Emily would do if she knew the truth?

It’s so hard - I know that she would really, really *want* to keep it a secret, but she’s pretty much the worst secret keeper I know. I mean, it’s like the words just leap out of her mouth. I really want to tell her, but it’s just too big a risk, for everyone. When I can’t stand it anymore, I always remind myself that I can tell her tomorrow. That makes it sort of bearable, knowing that I always *could* tell her. Just not today.

(awww, love this answer!)

This week you have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Claire de Lune (CAN/US only), OR one of six signed bookplates (open internationally!) by filling out the form here. Don't forget you get an extra entry for each thoughtful comment :)

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home..Can I Keep Him? on 16 June 2010.

Interview with Cass

Hi Cass! Nice to have you on the blog today!

First off, could you describe yourself with three words?
Geeky. Sincere. Brave.

Julia and you planned to go on a road trip to California. Have you ever thought about which places you'd visit when you reached Cali? If yes, which three places would you visit?
We wanted to travel the old Route 66, which would have taken us into Los Angeles. I wanted to go up to Berkeley and San Francisco and over to Yosemite to see the redwoods, but we might not have ever had time for that. But we would have gone to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and hung out on the beach, for sure.

I want to go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame too!

What are some songs on your iPod?
Okay, I know that I'm the very last person on earth to not have an iPod, but I don't have an iPod. I don't really have the cash to spare right now, and besides, I get everywhere on my bike. And I refuse to bike with headphones on. You can't hear what's going on around you and it's absolutely suicidal. Having said all that, I'm listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin and Queen right now.

Julia was your best friend for a long time, what was your first impression of her?
She was so friendly and outgoing. She treated it as a foregone conclusion that we were going to be friends now and she didn't want to hear any arguments about it! She always wanted to be the center of attention and she'd drag me right into the center of attention with her.

Emily Horner interviewed

Hi Emily! Congratulations on the release of A LOVE STORY. Happy to have you here at Read This Book this week! Could you please share with us a little bit about yourself? We would love to learn more about you!
I was born in Canada and grew up moving around to Montreal, France, Texas, and North Carolina. I studied linguistics and Japanese in college and spent some time studying classical Japanese literature in Nagasaki. I'd always loved to write, but in Japan I got inspired by the do-it-yourself culture of fan-made comics and decided to get serious about it.

The idea of going on a road trip on a bicycle is really cool! Was it based on/inspired by a real event?
I've never gone bicycle touring personally. I really wanted to, and I still want to, but I'm not naturally athletic. To be honest I'm the opposite of naturally athletic. I was trying to build up my fitness and my endurance so that I could make a serious go of bike touring, but I moved to New York before I managed to do it. My stepfather did some bike touring in Canada in his youth, and I was also really inspired by a guy named Ken Kifer who has done some crazy bicycle trips -- once he did one with kittens in his basket! -- and who documented them on his web page at kenkifer.com.

In a A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend, the main character Cass goes on a road trip on a bike. When was the last time you rode a bike?
In 2007, before I moved to New York. When I was in grad school I went everywhere on my bike, but drivers here are really aggressive, and a colleague of mine was killed commuting to work on his bike. I wish I were braver about cycling, but I don't quite have the skills to hold my own against traffic.

An Interview with Christine Johnson!

I recently had a chance to talk to Christine Johnson about her debut, Claire de Lune. Please give a warm welcome to Christine. This week you have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Claire de Lune (CAN/US only), OR one of six signed bookplates (open internationally!) by filling out the form here. Don't forget you get an extra entry for each thoughful comment (see her answer to my last question today!)

In your own words, tell us about the book

This is a much harder thing to do than it seems like, but here goes: CLAIRE DE LUNE is about a girl who discovers, on her sixteenth birthday, that she’s the latest in a long line of female werewolves. With a rogue wolf on the loose, her boyfriend’s dad leading the werewolf hunt, and her new identity to adjust to, Claire has to overcome huge challenges if she’s going to save her new-found pack . . . and herself.

In Claire de Lune, you have created an interesting take on the werewolf. What was your inspiration?

I thought it would be really interesting to write a book about a girl who was a werewolf, and it really all grew pretty organically from there. I thought it would be *more* interesting if all the werewolves were women - if there *couldn’t* be a male of the species. I spent a long time reading everything I could find about traditional werewolf mythology and then I turned a lot of it on its head, which was really fun. So much of the traditional lore is very male-centric - I wanted to come at it from a different (female) perspective.

My favorite scene to read was when Claire is in the forest, checking out her new skills. What was your favorite to write?

It’s REEEEAaally hard to talk about my favorite scene without being spoiler-y. But there’s a part near the end, when Claire has a big fight with someone who has been very important to her, and that fight has HUGE ramifications for Claire. It was a hard scene to write, because so much hinged on it, but when it finally came together, it was the *most* satisfying.

Did you ever have a boyfriend but kept him a secret from your family/friends?

Not that I can remember . . . but in high school, my serious boyfriends were always older guys who either didn’t go to my school or were in college. Honestly, they were all great guys (not that there was a huge roster of them or anything,) but I remember being sort of jealous of the girls who could slip notes to their boyfriends in between classes, or sit together in the caf at lunch. So I do know that feeling of having a boyfriend who’s sort of absent from one part of your life, even if none of mine were ever a secret.

What are you working on now?

I juuuuust handed in the first draft of the sequel for Claire de Lune, which will be out sometime next summer. It’s untitled . . . I’m working on that. I hate titles. I think they’re HARD. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them!

To learn more about Christine & Claire de Lune, visit www.christinejohnsonbooks.com

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 15 June 2010.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend week!

Hi guys, there won't be reviews this week either because I am hosting the slightly belated release week for Emily Horner's YA debut novel A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend which was released last week!

Here is the schedule:
Monday: Author interview
Tuesday: Character interview with Cass
Wednesday: Emily Horner guest blogs
Thursday: Character interview with Heather
Friday: Giveaway, win your own signed copy of A Love Story!

Synopsis: For months, Cass Meyer has heard her best friend Julia, a wannabe Broadway composer, whispering about a top-secret project. Then Julia is killed in a sudden car accident, and while Cass is still reeling from her death, Julia’s boyfriend and her other drama friends make it their mission to bring to fruition the nearly-completed secret project: a musical about an orphaned ninja princess entitled Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.

Cass isn’t one of the drama people. She doesn’t feel at home with Julia’s drama friends, and she doesn’t see a place for her in the play. Things only get worse when she finds out that Heather Galloway, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school, has been cast as the ninja princess.

Cass can’t take a summer of swallowing her pride and painting sets, so she decides to follow her original plan for a cross-country road trip with Julia. Even if she has a touring bicycle instead of a driver’s license, and even if Julia’s ashes are coming along in Tupperware.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend is a story about friendship. About love. About traveling a thousand miles just to find yourself. About making peace with the past, and making sense of it. And it’s a story about the bloodiest high school musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

Excited for the book? Here's a teaser for you!

And then we were chasing each other around the workshop, not bothering with setting and aiming our weapons, but just throwing the little beanbags at each other, giggling when we could breathe enough to do it. As innocent as two six-year-olds in a water-gun fight. We scrambled over boxes and leaped over bits of props strewn on the floor.
(page 106)

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend releasesd on June 10th! You can buy A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend at Book Depository or Barnes & Noble or Amazon or at the bookstore nearest to you. By the way, did you know that A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend is being published in Australia by Penguin Australia? Kangaroos, meet Cass and friends!

This was cross-posted on Read This Book! 

Claire de Lune week (and giveaway!)

We are excited to share with you a week of Christine Johnson's debut, Claire de Lune. Throughout the week you will find an interview with Christine, the main character Claire and Matthew. I hope you enjoy!

About the book:
Torn between two destinies…

Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success, and her crush keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she’s the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: She’s a werewolf.

As Claire is initiated into the pack of female werewolves, she finds her lupine loyalty at odds with her human heart. Burdened with a dark secret and pushing the boundaries of forbidden love, she will be forced to make a choice that will change her life forever...

Praise:

“Johnson spins out an engaging and provocative riff on the werewolf tradition….Smooth writing and engaging main characters make for an easy read, while a feminist focus offers just a bit more for thoughtful readers….A good summer read for the romantically concerned or and monster-obsessed midteen girl.” - Booklist

"Johnson weaves a page-turning tale of forbidden love, loyalty, friendship, and deception that will leave readers eager for more. Strong characters and major plot twists coupled with a new twist on werewolf mythology make this a fun and entertaining read." - School Library Journal

“Johnson’s debut . . . glimmers with mystery and a budding romance amid Romeo and Juliet-like complications . . . her struggle to adjust and integrate the two sides of her life rounds out a satisfying story.” - Publisher’s Weekly

Book Trailer:


About the author:
I grew up in, moved away from, and finally came home to Indianapolis, Indiana. Now I live in an old house in an old neighborhood with my husband and kids. I have too many books and a weakness for anything sweet. I love yoga and cooking, but I'm not much of a movie person. I like watching soccer, and always look forward to the first sweater-worthy days in the fall. But mostly, I like making things up and writing them down and having people read them. So that's what I do, and I'm very, very lucky to be doing it!

www.christinejohnsonbooks.com


...and a big thanks to Christine for the great giveaways! This week you have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Claire de Lune (CAN/US only), OR one of six signed bookplates (open internationally!) by filling out the form below. For each thoughtful comment you leave during the week, I will also add an extra entry.



Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 14 June 2010.

What would Heidi do if the world ends tomorrow?

What would I do if the world is ending tomorrow?

Well that would depend.

Is it ending due to a) zombie apocalypse? b) 2012? Because on our way to the beach this past weekend we were driving on a windy, coastal mountain road and bicycles kept shooting us strange signals with their hands like "Something is ahead," and since we are a bit of a zany family, we were like, "What if that something is ZOMBIES?" and we imagined them walking slowly up this winding road and were running ideas--like, "We could run them over? We can try and knock their brains out with our bow staffs?" etc., so it turned out to be not zombies, but what were they warning us about? I guessed a tsunami, since there are tsunami warning signs with arrows in Half Moon Bay--like in case of tsunami this is a safe spot--but I figured we'd know about that, and that the bicyclists wouldn't be so calm---so who knows what it was?

We never found out.

This is so ramblingly, but I guess if the world ending tomorrow I'd just do what I was doing. Surround myself with people I loved, and pray. Pray that our world wasn't ending due to slow-walking zombies rambling up a mountain road or a devastating tsunami that washed over the entire earth. o_O

Thanks for having me!

--
Thanks Heidi! Just a gentle reminder, Sea releases tomorrow, June 10th! You can buy Sea at Book Depository or Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

This was cross-posted on Read This Book! Remember, all comments on Read This Book will count as entries towards the giveaway at the end of the week!

Interview with Sienna 'Sea' Jones

Hi Sienna, it's a pleasure to finally meet you! To tell you the truth, I am very curious, why does Spider call you 'Sea'?
Oh, because that was my nickname when I was a kid. I guess because I liked the ocean so much.

Could you share with us about what life was like before your mom's airplane disappeared? What were some of the activities you did together with her?
She was just awesome. We did the usual stuff, hung out. It wasn't so much what we did together, but more like how we were together. Does that make sense? She just got me.

Since going to Indonesia, how has it changed your life?
Oh, man. You'll have to read the story. I can't spoil you like that.

Oops! :P Looks like you, dear reader, will have to buy Sea to find out! ;) As you can see on the image on the right, the coconut drink is one of the exotic food (in this case, drink) Sienna tries while in Indonesia.

The Indonesian culture is very different compared to the American culture. Which ascept do you find the most fascinating?
How it is so different. How the kids were so unified, and treated each other like family even though they weren't always related by blood. They have such a strong sense of faith too, and coming from a pretty non-religious family that was really neat and curious. How much they trusted in something they couldn't see, but could feel. You know?

Interview with Heidi Kling

Hi Heidi! I'm pleased to host your release week for SEA right here at Read This Book! Could you please share with us a little bit about yourself? We would love to learn more about you!
Born and raised in California, I grew up all over the Golden State, changing schools every few years as my parents moved searching for the ‘ideal’ spot to raise their family. From very early on, I discovered a love of writing and creating—whether my words were in the forms of songs or poems or neighborhood plays. Even if I was at a brand new school, I always felt at home putting pen or marker or crayon to paper.

What was the inspiration behind Sea?
SEA was inspired by my husband's real life volunteer work in Indonesia. The story can be found at Heidi's website.

If you were spending the day with Sienna, where and what would you do?
Hanging out on the beach probably.

Have you done any volunteer work? If yes, where and what was it for?
Yes. I was a Candy Striper in high school at a local hospital, I volunteered at a nursing home later on--and a bunch of other things along the way. I've never volunteered abroad but I'd like to once my kids are grown.

If you had a time machine and can travel to Indonesia in any year, which year would you travel to and what will you do there?
I think I'd go now so I could meet the boys I've grown to care about who live there.

Sea week!

Hi everyone, this week Heidi R. Kling will be at Read This Book! for some fun interviews and hilarious guest blog. :) At the end of the week, a signed copy of Sea will be given away together with a Sea tank top! Awesome, no?

Here is the schedule:
Monday: Author interview
Tuesday: Character interview with Sienna 'Sea' Jones
Wednesday: Guest blog on if the world ended tomorrow..
Thursday: Character interview with Deni (Release day!)
Friday: Giveaway!

Right now, the date has not been confirmed but Heidi will be having a chat sometime this month!

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.

She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers.

And Sea’s real adventure begins.

Sea releases on June 10th! You can buy Sea at Book Depository or Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

This was cross-posted on Read This Book!