The Last Three by Almon Chu

from amazon 

"'Just three more stops,' I thought to myself. I gripped my knife, the handle digging into my flesh. I closed my eyes and tried to think of Eris." A descent down the path of self-destruction, does salvation lie around the corner or is it merely an illusion? 

The Last Three is a captivating story of a lost soul on the streets of a modern dystopia.

review

I'm very picky when it comes to deciding what to read. Most of the books I end up picking up come highly recommended from several sources. And most of them are of the young adult genre. Reading The Last Three by Almon Chu convinced me to try and widen my reading choices. As you may never know where you might find a good book! The Last Three is part dystopian, part frighteningly real and on the whole, extremely engaging. The world of The Last Three is steadily built with the different voices, activities and moods. The secondary characters feed on the main character, Jon's, paranoia.

Jon and Eris's relationship broke my heart. To me, it was Jon's devotion towards Eris that made Eris worth even a second glance. The other secondary characters also startled me with their vibrance. They all have personalities that make them jump out of the page. My heart went out to Rean and Jon's friends were interesting and did much to compliment Jon's sense of foreboding. 

Another thing that stood out was the writing. I loved certain passages in the novella that delivered the urgency and intensity of the moment so well. By simply put words and whispers of the mind, I was easily taken to that moment. There are several times when my heartbeat quickened and I thought, that was brilliantly written right after I felt myself sinking into the sights and smells of the crumbling city.

Jon's psychological and physical health wanes from the beginning as he realises that certain relationships were nothing but a lie. He can feel himself becoming weak, feeling listless and lost and what's beautiful is that you see the city crumbling with him. The city crumbles as it threatens to swallow him whole.

I've read very few novellas and almost nothing comparable to The Last Three. It's gritty and there is usage of strong language making it strictly for adult readers but it is definitely worth reading, even if you usually don't give other genres a chance. It's available at the Amazon Kindle store for just 0.99$ so pick it up. You may never know... you might get sucked in, just like I was!

Publication date: 15th October, 2011

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services

Source: Obtained from the author, Almon Chu, in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Fever by Lauren DeStefano (The Chemical Garden #2)

from goodreads

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

review

I was extremely thrilled to read Fever! If you've read my previous reviews, you'll know how much I loved Wither, the first part of The Chemical Garden series. Thankfully, Fever did not disappoint! Like Wither, Fever was morbidly beautiful. The writing immediately took me to the place where Wither had ended... because that's where Fever begins: with Rhine and Gabriel on the run from Vaughn's mansion.

We run, with water in our shoes and the smell of the ocean clinging to our frozen skin.

Rhine and Gabriel are on their way to Manhattan, where Rhine hopes to be reunited with her twin brother but instead, they find themselves captives of Madame, a mysterious and delusional woman. She is host of an eerie carnival that lights up the place that's in the middle of nowhere. We meet a host of new characters while we are reminded of old ones, like Jenna, throughout. As they are trapped and their plans of escape take most of the strength out of them, Rhine and Gabriel are left battered and bruised by the dangers of the outside world.

Most of the novel feels like a feverish haze as there is the desire to move forward... to get a sense of what is happening out there. Like Rhine, I felt myself longing for Housemaster Vaughn's large mansion, where there was at least the illusion of comfort and safety. Like her, I also got extremely attached to the characters of the previous book. I couldn't help worrying about the fate of two characters who we do not see for the most part of Fever.

I'm so glad Fever was as brilliantly written as Wither and it sucked me in almost as much. There is no book I have rooted for more than Fever. It was also great that there was as much character development. There are still those primary flaws in world building but I stopped caring about what was plausible and what wasn't. The carnival, the tarot cards, the people- they all felt so real. Madame's carnival felt like the saddest place, especially since it was outwardly so bright. Even secondary characters, as in Wither, were so well developed. Some of them broke my heart.

As for Rhine and Gabriel... the events of Fever certainly put to test and at the same time helped cement what they have. I enjoyed learning more about Gabriel. Rhine and Gabriel never get the chance to retreat into a mini-fairytale and in some ways, that brings out the best in both of them. Rhine has to be one of my favourite female protagonists and Gabriel surprised me with his resilience!

Things nearly come together towards the end of the book. Some mysteries are cleared while some of the question marks still linger. Despite feeling drained out and depressed about the fate of the children in the world of Fever (where Rhine realises that the rosy picture she had constructed of the outside world was just that... a picture), the ending took me to a better place. There is a cliffhanger, a reunion and a major breakthrough. When can I read the next book of the trilogy?

Publication date: 21st February, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Source: Bought

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
I liked Wither a tiny bit more but Fever is perfect as a bridge-book. It has hopefully set the stage for a fantabulous book three!

Feature and Follow: Follow Friday #6

 Feature and Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read!

Question of the week: Activity!!! Take a picture or describe where you love to read the most.

I mostly read in bed but sometimes I also read in the couch in front of the TV upstairs or curled up in the sofa downstairs. Anywhere comfy where I can curl up in a comfortable position and get lost in the story will do! I love reading downstairs when it's raining, especially. The sound of the rain hitting against the window is so soothing! I don't have the right pictures but here is one of the window near the sofa.

The Starboard Sea: A Novel by Amber Dermont

blurb from netgalley
Jason Prosper grew up in the elite world of Manhattan penthouses, Maine summer estates, old-boy prep schools, and exclusive sailing clubs.

A smart, athletic teenager, Jason maintains a healthy, humorous disdain for the trappings of affluence, preferring to spend afternoons sailing with Cal, his best friend and boarding-school roommate. When Cal commits suicide during their junior year at Kensington Prep, Jason is devastated by the loss and transfers to Bellingham Academy. There, he meets Aidan, a fellow student with her own troubled past. They embark on a tender, awkward, deeply emotional relationship.

When a major hurricane hits the New England coast, the destruction it causes brings with it another upheaval in Jason’s life, forcing him to make sense of a terrible secret that has been buried by the boys he considers his friends.

Set against the backdrop of the 1987 stock market collapse, The Starboard Sea is an examination of the abuses of class privilege, the mutability of sexual desire, the thrill and risk of competitive sailing, and the adult cost of teenage recklessness. It is a powerful and provocative novel about a young man finding his moral center, trying to forgive himself, and accepting the gift of love.

review

In some ways it was a relief to have fallen. To have fucked up only to land softly, cushioned, as my dad reminded me, “by a goddamn safety net of your parents’ wealth.”

Following his best friend, roommate and sailing partner, Cal’s suicide, Jason is devastated and a series of events leads him to be booted out of Kensington Prep. With the help of his father’s wealth and influence, he transfers to Bellingham Academy, a notorious co-ed prep school for kids who have failed at other more prestigious boarding schools. In a place full of reckless, wealthy kids who have nothing to lose, Jason finds comfort in Aidan, a girl from the West Coast who has skeletons of her own.

But it’s 1987 and all is not well. When a major hurricane hits the coast leading to an unforeseen tragedy, the stock market collapses, the cruelty inherent in Jason’s own classmates and the way class privilege blurs all sorts of ethical lines becomes obvious, Jason tries not to turn the other way like the rest. Dealing with his own bicuriousness, class barriers, race, divorce, suicide and the path to self discovery, The Starboard Sea is a beautifully paced novel with gloomy imagery of sailing and flying boats in the storm.

 I felt myself becoming a cliché. The boy in trouble. The wealthy father. The school in need and willing to offer refuge. 

For me, all of the second chances I’d been given had created opportunities for me to tell another lie about myself.

Jason Prosper felt like just that, a cliché until his earnestness and willingness to face things head on crept up on me. I felt no sympathy for him in the first few chapters of the book but as more of the back story was artfully revealed and the tone of the story grew more urgent, I felt myself listening to him and his quest to deal with everything going on around him the right way. For me, that’s what made the book so well written. The perfect pacing, the incredibly real characters, the back story that was heartbreaking and the attention given to the backdrop, the heart and soul of the story: sailing and the ocean.

“It’s the waves you need to worry about, not the winds,” he’d [Cal] always say, and he was right. Winds could knock a boat around, but a wave could seize the ship and blast her open.

I could go on and on about the characters, how real they felt and how disturbing their actions were. Or the setting, which was perfect and the themes which were dealt with marvelously. Most of the issues were far from resolved towards the end of the story and the weight of all of Jason’s bitter realisations could still be felt. In some ways, The Starboard Sea reminded me of Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld though the sheer breadth of what The Starboard Sea covers outweighs Prep. Comparisons have been made to A Separate Peace, but I’m yet to read A Separate Peace, so I’m not sure how far it lives up to the comparison.

What I know is that despite not knowing that much about sailing or the 1987 stock market collapse, it was easy to get lost in The Starboard Sea. I felt one with the characters, their dilemmas and their life of privilege that seemed both great and terrible in so many ways. I fell in love with Amber Dermont’s writing style and way of storytelling, so much so that I’ll blindly pick up anything she writes after this! If you cannot get enough of coming-of-age boarding school novels that keep your mind reeling, The Starboard Sea is for you.

Publication date: 28th February, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Source: NetGalley

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Why I've been MIA and WoW #2

I'm down with chicken pox, so I'm off college for the next week. There is a bright side... I've been able to catch up with Modern Family and I've been on a book reading binge! It's about time that happened as there are way to many new and old books staring at me from my real and virtual bookshelf, waiting to be read! So far, I've managed to read The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont (Thank you so much, Net-galley and St. Martin's Press for this one! I loved it!), The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (FINALLY) and Good Oil by Laura Buzo (oh my goodness. This was fabulous. There are no words to describe how much I needed to read this book!). 

In some ways, I've never had more fun! I'm looking forward to crossing more books off my TBR list and posting more reviews as soon as I can! Also, it's time for,

Hosted by Breaking The Spine

Wanderlove by Kristen Hubbard

Expected publication: 

March 13th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?  

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.  

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward. 

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

Wanderlove sounds like a lot of fun! And I adore the cover! What are you waiting on?

The Reluctant Detective by Kiran Manral

The Reluctant Detective has an interesting premise: pairing a bored thirty-something housewife with two murders in a suburban neighbourhood. Kanan Mehra, also known as Kay, was the last person to see Sheetal Jaiswal alive before she was brutally murdered in the midst of her morning jog. As was she with Rohit Sharma, whose body was once again discovered by Kay and her husband. Against her will, Kay finds herself intrigued by the mystery of the murders. With the help of her detective friend, Runa, she half heartedly (and the emphasis is on half-hearted) sets out to find the murderers while simultaneously making sure her kid, 'the brat' gets enough to eat and she is regular to his parent-teacher meetings.

As you can see, The Reluctant Detective seems like a quirky formulaic whodunnit with just enough personality to make it stand out! I wanted to fall in love with this book so badly. But, it kills me to say but, this book just wasn't amazing enough. It was breezy, sure. It had its moments of fun. I do not regret picking it up. But it could've toned down on the frivolousness and had more action; more twists and puzzle pieces in the mystery.

I'm going to go ahead and dissect the cover, characters, plot and writing separately.

cover

I've seen way too many stiletto covers in the past two years. Especially when it comes to Lauren Weisberger's books. Still, a huge stiletto in the cover screams chic lit which is great! That, along with the drop of blood under the heel represents the book perfectly!

characters

The characters were engaging enough! The main character, Kanan Mehra or Kay, did not make a good first impression. I was ready to hate her. There are a lot of people in real life like her who you have to learn to love. Just like I did eventually start liking Kay despite and in a way because of her little quirks.

'The spouse' and 'the brat' were even more fun to read about than Kay herself! Kay's husband, despite not possessing a single romantic bone in his body is loyal and caring. That was enough to move me! Kabir or 'the brat', as Kay lovingly refers to her son, won me over instantly with his disdain for certain things and his cute way of saying things! Go Kabir!

plot

The Reluctant Detective's tagline reads: 'how a housewife became a murder investigator between being a school-gate mom and her ladies lunches.' I'm sorry but murder investigator? Really? There were more of the ladies lunches and birthday parties (which were fun to read about! And I discovered so much more about Kay in the process) and less than fifty pages of actual detecting. Kay doesn't even start with the investigation till the second half of the book. Even then, her friend, Runa, is the one who gets started with the work.

There were a lot of fillers and the resolution of the mystery was a bit too simple. It was more chic lit than a murder mystery.

the writing

I love Kiran Manral's writing, especially towards the end. In the beginning, I couldn't stand it as the author made the main character digress a zillion times. Which was not very wise in terms of plot or scene progression. But by the second half, there was less frivolousness and fixation with what exactly the fat cells in Kay's body were up to when she devoured fried food. Instead, other than lengthy ramblings, there were more astute observations and fun dialogue. If only this had been the case throughout!

As you can see, the 'reluctant' in The Reluctant Detective was a bit of an understatement. The murder mystery plot barely picked up over the course of the story and I didn't care for how it was resolved. The narration lacked crispness in the beginning though it picked up and was filled with funny and fresh observations towards the end. One thing I can say for sure is that the author has a lot of potential. If The Reluctant Detective had only been chic lit and did not have the whodunnit element, maybe I would've liked its approach more. But since it wasn't and it didn't have that great a resolution, overall it was not-so-great.

You can read The Reluctant Detective at least once for the funny one-liners and relatable observations this book is filled with. Just lower your expectations and you are sure to be entertained by the true-to-life characters and situations! If the blurb at the back sounds fun enough, I will probably pick up Kiran Manral's next novel when it's out, hoping it contains more of what I liked about The Reluctant Detective.

read it or skip it?

SKIP IT if you're looking for a hardcore whodunnit, prefer crisp story telling and cannot tolerate the main character digressing every two seconds.

READ IT if you're looking for a light read with true-to-life characters and lines that make you smile knowingly and occasionally burst out laughing.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Tell Me Something Tuesday #2 Valentine's Edition

Valentine's Day edition of Tell Me Something Tuesday, an awesome meme hosted by Cambria Hebert!

This week's question:

Who are your favourite book couples?

Where do I even begin? So many amazing book couples have spoiled us for life! 

Jane Eyre and Mr. Edward Rochester

Jane, on Mr. Rochester:

I am sure most people would have thought him an ugly man; yet there was so much unconscious pride in his port; so much case in his demeanour; such a look of complete indifference to his own external appearance; so haughty a reliance on the power of other qualities, intrinsic or adventitious, to atone for the lack of mere personal attractiveness, that in looking at him, one inevitably shared the indifference; and even in a blind, imperfect sense, put faith in the confidence. 

And was Mr. Rochester now ugly in my eyes? No, reader: gratitude, and many associations, all pleasurable and genial, made his face the object I best liked to see; his presence in a room was more cheering than the brightest fire.  

On Jane and Mr. Rochester's relationship:

I have now been married ten years. I know what it is to live entirely for and with what I love best on earth. I hold myself supremely blest—blest beyond what language can express; because I am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine. No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. I know no weariness of my Edward’s society: he knows none of mine, any more than we each do of the pulsation of the heart that beats in our separate bosoms; consequently, we are ever together. To be together is for us to be at once as free as in solitude, as gay as in company. We talk, I believe, all day long: to talk to each other is but a more animated and an audible thinking. All my confidence is bestowed on him, all his confidence is devoted to me; we are precisely suited in character—perfect concord is the result.

These quotes from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte highlight what I LOVE about both of them. For me, love is what Jane and Mr. Rochester have. It's beyond appearances and it's about connecting in the deeper sense. They are the ideal couple as they found in each other something others might still struggle to put to words.

Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler

Erratic and unladylike Scarlett and the infamous Rhett Butler. They were made for each other, weren't they? Only Rhett can handle Scarlett and Scarlett, Rhett! Did they have to play all the mind games? Gone With The Wind broke my heart. I read it in two days and desperately wanted more of Scarlett and Rhett; both of whom could be very unlikable but still won our hearts.

Scarlett O'Hara: Sir, you are no gentleman.
Rhett Butler: And you, Miss, are no lady! 

Rhett: No, I'm not gong to kiss you, although you need it.
You need kissing and often and by someone who knows how.

Anna and Etienne St. Clair

“His eyes lock on mine. "Anna, I promise that I will never leave you." 

My heart pounds in response. And Étienne knows it because he takes my hand and holds it against his chest to show me how hard his heart is pounding too.”

Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephenie Perkins. Because they scream cute couple! They scream Valentine's Day! ANNA BANANA AND ETIENNE ST. CLAIR! Anna is level headed and passionate! Etienne is extremely swoon-worthy and caring! Together they make you warm and fuzzy on the inside and make you believe in happy endings.

But for me, it all started with...

Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley!

Like most of us Harry Potter fans, I grew up with Harry Potter. And post-Goblet of Fire when it was all about who Harry was going to end up with as well I was hardcore Harry/Ginny! Isn't it sweet that Ginny is Harry Potter fan girl turned object of Harry's affection? Isn't it great that Harry saved her life before -fast forward three years- he realises that Ginny is more than Ron's little sister to him? 

             Since we're talking Harry Potter, it's the perfect time to pay homage to the couple that wasn't. As one-sided as the feelings were, it made me swoon and wish things had turned out differently. Though Lily/James is perfection, I cannot help thinking of

Severus Snape and Lily Evans

or more Severus Snape and his undying love for Lily Evans

Sigh. Enough said!

♥ ❤♥ ❤♥ ❤♥ ❤♥ ❤♥ ❤♥ ❤

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Who are your favourite book couples?

The Academie by Amy Joy

from goodreads

When Allie Thompson graduated, she thought she'd put high school behind her. But when a series of violent outbreaks by teens sends panic surging through the nation, high school is right where Allie finds herself again. Now remolded into what the government calls The Academie, what was once the public school system is now the permanent home of everyone 22 and under.

After a year of college and a lifetime as a model student, Allie doesn't take well to The Academie's militaristic nature or its 16 foot perimeter fences. Remembering all she's left behind, including the boyfriend she's now years away from seeing again, Allie plummets into depression. But when strange things begin to happen and her brother disappears, Allie realizes she must unravel the mystery that is The Academie--before it's too late.



Picture this: You’re done with high school. But after a series of violent acts by teens throughout the country, the government decides that boarding school is now for everyone under twenty two. It’s not regular public school but has been restructured and called The Academie. It’s extremely strict; almost militaristic where everything is not what it seems. Can you imagine having to go back to high school, a place you thought you’d got past and were done with?

For me, the concept of The Academie alone had been hooked. It was so unexpectedly scary! It is compulsory for everyone under twenty two to attend, even if they have a kid to look after or just cannot stand going back to school. For Allie, it is a nightmare and she comes determined to hate the place. The Academie turned her younger brother into a super focused and heartless zombie. And she can’t stop thinking about her boyfriend Bryan who she hasn’t heard from in a while.

I LOVED this book. It wasn’t perfect. But it got a lot of crucial aspects right. It’s always nice to read a book with a concept that stands out. The Academie had that! And while the writing wasn’t fantastic, it did suck me in. The Academie felt very real. It didn’t take long for me to get a feel of the place and the atmosphere of dodginess. Allie’s journey was one I felt truly a part of. It was also great that The Academie wasn’t automatically this stereotyped hell house. There were advantages to the system, very minute advantages that got cancelled out by all the horrors, that weren’t left out.

I liked the characters well enough. Allie was a little shallow and whiny at times but aren’t we all? The relationship between Bryan and Allie drew me in. As a whole, they seemed more than the sum of the parts. I could believe that they would be together for a long time! Some parts of the book took my breath away and the twist at the end had me shell shocked.

As for how I felt about the unexpected twist, I’m not sure. I wasn’t sure after reading the book and I’m still not sure. But it definitely left me open mouthed! Could the book have been about more and in general, been so much more than it ended up being about? I think that in a formulaic way, yes. But it wasn’t a total letdown. In its own way, it was a good turnaround of events!

But here’s what I’m sure about: The Academie has an AMAZING concept and it’s a quick read. You will either LOVE the climax or not like it at all. But you will definitely miss out on something if you don’t pick this book up! The book felt like a standalone novel but I just found out that there’s a sequel that will be out soon called The Academie II: The Silent School. I’m not sure which direction the series is headed but I’ll be super psyched to read it!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The World Among Us Blog Tour Stop: Interview with Beth Ann Masarik!

I'm still reading The World Among Us: #1 Prince of Darkness and I have to say I reeally like what I've read so far! It's so not how I expected it to be like. My review should be up soon!

Anyway, I have Beth Ann Masarik, author of The World Among Us: #1 Prince of Darkness with me today!! She's going to talk about her book, what's in store for us in The World Among Us #2 and much much more! Don't forget to check out the giveaway and scavenger hunt at the end of this post!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to write! 

Well, my name is Beth Ann Masarik, and I am obsessed with writing lol. No matter what I am doing, I HAVE to find a moment to write, albeit a text message, facebook post, blog post, or even fiction writing. I’ve always had an over active imagination, and when the time came for high school, I took as many creative writing courses as I could, and even wrote an article for the school paper!

Greek mythology meets the modern world meets vampires and werewolves! I’ve never read anything like it! What inspired you to come up with the premise for The World Among Us? 

Really? I would have thought that it would have been done already! LOL. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve always loved writing, and my over active imagination helped me out there. I was never big into reading, until I started college. Kind of ironic, huh? I remember reading Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, when I decided that I was ambitious enough to write an actual book. I was taking a college level creative writing class, and it gave me an excuse to start it. So, I guess you could say that it was a combination of JK Rowling’s great work, and my English professor.

What made you want to write about Hades, Greek god of the underworld? And how do you see Hades? 

Honestly, his character kind of just came to me. I didn’t “decide” to write about any one particular character. Nope, my Muse makes those decisions…I’m just her dictator lol. Sorry, a bit of lawyer humor there. (I work around lawyers when I’m not writing and they dictate words into a recorder for their secretaries to transcribe what they have to say). Hades is really difficult to describe, because he’s my version of Satan, and people view Satan differently. Long story short, I see him as one evil character who needs to be put in his place!

What about Damien? What made you make him a vampire? 

 My muse and I thought that it would be good for the story, and so far, it seems to be that way. It adds more drama and is what makes the story continue to be so interesting.

What is your dream cast for The World Among Us? 

Ahh, I am actually going to be writing a post on that on Cambria’s blog, so, you will have to wait until March 2nd I think it is to find out the answer to that! Her blog is www.cambriahebert.com

Which character in The World Among Us could you relate to the most? 

You know, I always used to think it was Selene, because she started out as being loosely based off of me, but now that I think about it, I’m more like Damien (in some respects.). I guess you could say that Damien is like my alter ego. We both have fallen for the wrong people, and made some really big mistakes in our lives. Granted, I’ve never murdered anyone, but still. I am human, and not perfect.

Which character did you enjoy writing about? 

 It’s a toss-up to be honest. I enjoyed writing them all, but Damien & DuVessa were the ones that I really got into when it came to writing parts.

What was the hardest part of writing the book? What was the part you really enjoyed writing? 

The hardest part was finding the right words to say, and I constantly had to remind myself to show, not tell, which is very difficult for me to do because of my learning disability. The part that I really enjoyed, was watching my characters come to life on the screen in front of me.

Any hints on what is in store for us in The World Among Us #2? 

Book two, which is tentatively titled Stormy Nights, is the heart of the series, it is the calm before the storm, but at the same time, it’s not. There isn’t a whole lot of violence or death (at least, not yet) unlike in Prince of Darkness. BUT, there are enough issues and drama to keep the character on their toes. I don’t want to give too much away to risk any spoilers

Are you working on any other writing projects other than this series? 

 My primary project is The World Among Us, but I have some other side projects going on when I am not bogged down with work.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors? 

JUST WRITE! Write every day…even if it’s just a blog post, or a letter or even a journal entry and not fiction. WRITE. I find that writing can be very soothing and therapeutic. It’s a non-violent way to relieve stress. Don’t let anyone discourage you from writing and living your dream. Being an author is NOT easy. There is so much competition out there, and it can sometimes get ugly, BUT, if you are dead serious about being an author, then don’t let anything or anyone stand in your way. Look at all that I have had to overcome over the last 28 years of my life…learning disabilities, bullies, health problems galore. You name it, I’ve probably been through it If I can make it, so can you!

DON’T GIVE UP! If you hit a wall, or a road block, back up, and try, try again!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

For more information about me, you can visit my blog at www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com. Thank you for having me on the blog today, Ajoop!

RAPID FIRE

All-time favourite book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire hands down!
Favourite genre: YA/Fantasy
Song you last listened to: Selena Gomez “Intuition.”
Authors who inspired you to write: JK Rowling
Favourite greek god/goddess: It’s a toss-up between the moon deity’s and Gaia.
Favourite film: The King’s Speech. (What? You thought I was going to say Harry Potter and the…again didn’t you? Nope!). The storyline was very powerful, and the acting was just AMAZING. Granted, yes, a lot of the cast from Harry Potter was in it, but I went mostly because it was something different. I honestly recommend you go see it if you haven’t!

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

I am offering up an ebook AND autographed poster of this cover:

All you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter code, and a winner will be selected within 24-48 hours after the contest ends!


NOW, for the fun part: THE SCAVENGER HUNT!

Dress up as your favorite character or have someone dress up as your favorite character, and send the pictures to me at bethmasarik@gmail.com. I will post your pictures on my blog on Friday, February 10th. (You will have until Thursday the 9th to send them to me.)


Awesome, right? Thank you so much, Beth! That was inspirational! Don't forget to check out the other blog tour stops (details can be found here)! The next stop is at http://www.chapter-by-chapter.com/ on the 9th of Feb!

a Rafflecopter giveaway