Author Guest Post & Book Review: Third Lie's A Charm by Lisa and Laura Roecker

New friend into old, the bond of the Sisterhood will never grow cold.

Life at Pemberly Brown is a whirlwind for Kate Lowry. Determined to finally destroy the secret society responsible for her best friend Grace’s death, Kate joins the Sisterhood hoping to go all Trojan Horse on their asses. But the night of her initiation another student at Pemberly Brown dies in what looks like tragic accident.

Kate knows better.

Kate and her faithful ginger, Seth Allen, immediately uncover a connection to the boy’s death and the secret societies that rule Pemberly Brown. But it’s not until Kate begins receiving pages from Grace’s old journal that she begins to piece together what really happened the night she died and how it connects to Pemberly Brown’s most recent tragedy.

Meanwhile, Kate’s ex-boyfriend Liam is following her around like an angry guard dog and she’s falling hard for the mysterious Bradley Farrow. Both boys are tied up in the mystery that surrounds Pemberly Brown, but only one of them can truly be trusted.

In this chilling conclusion to The Liar Society series Kate will fight to save her school from the evil that lurks beneath its hallowed halls. But will her quest destroy her or finally lead her to true love? She can only hope her third lie’s the charm.

Best Bits: What I appreciate most about this series is how consistent it has been. Each book has it's own plot and twists, but the overall goal (Kate taking down the societies) still stands. There's a sense of urgency in this book as well. When members of the now defunct Brotherhood start receiving messages challenging them to impossible and dangerous tasks, Kate has another thing to add to her plate. In this book we get a new perspective on the Sisterhood, because Kate has infiltrated their ranks. This gives the reader some idea why girls would want to be a part of the group. They look out for each other, and in a school where money and boys provide trials, it's nice to have a group to support you. As Kate begins to learn about Grace's motives for joining, I think she's able to begin to process her death (which, let's be real, she hasn't been able to do yet).

I also came to the realization that Seth is the Duckie of this series. He grew on me over the series, so much so that I want him to have his own hacker/conspiracy theory story! He's also the only person who consistently supports Kate. Now, this may not always mean he's supporting her in making good decisions, but he's there for her nevertheless. 

Holy crap! The ending. My brain. What?! How!? I still am processing the big reveals that the Roeckers wrote. I found them to be a completely satisfying way to wrap up Kate's story. 

Nit Picks: Although I really enjoyed the ending, I think it crept up on me really quickly. There were a couple of scenes that were building up to the big reveal that I would have loved to spend more time in. Camp Brown, for example, was a fun way for the the readers to get to see the characters off-campus, but it went by too quickly!

Third Lie's A Charm

By Lisa and Laura Roecker

Published by Sourcebooks Fire

288 Pages

Received for Review

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Thanks to Laura and Lisa for stopping by! You can check them out at their website, or on Twitter! Now, on to the top five books that influenced them:

Before Lisa and I began writing together, I taught sixth grade language arts and would tear through young adult novels during "monitored reading" when I was supposed to be conferencing with students about their books. I always figured that time was better spent finding books they would love! This was when I read SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. I would pass all the best ones along to Lisa who would tear through at an equally fast rate. SPEAK was the first YA book Lisa read as an adult and she couldn't believe what she was missing! Our books are nothing like SPEAK but that book is such an inspiration because it captures a broken, young adult voice so exquisitely.

BEFORE I FALL. We recommend this book to anyone and everyone because it's one we wish we would have read before or during high school. It holds such an important message about the choices we make and the people we impact without even realizing it. Our favorite section by far is when Sam spends the say with her little sister. I will never forget getting to the end of the book on my Kindle and turning on the read aloud feature (which is very digital sounding and sad) to listen to the end while I was driving (possibly more dangerous than texting while driving) because I couldn't wait to finish. I cried despite the computer voice.

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE. This book is achingly beautiful and devastating and hopeful. Jandy Nelson's entire novel is poetic and the journey she takes the reader on is as magical as it is heart-breaking. I read this book with that right-before-you're-going-to-

burst-into-tears-sore-throat  because it's about great love and great loss and how the two dance. We love this book and are inspired by the beautiful writing.

WONDER. I read this book in one sitting. This book has it all. Heart and humor and the absolute perfect middle grade voice. I want to go back to the classroom just so I can read this book aloud and discuss how our differences are what bring us together. I just know my sixth graders would have loved it. I can't wait to share this with my own kids. It's a special, special book.

AHHHH. One more?! This is torture. For me it's a toss up between THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and ELEANOR AND PARK. Both stories capture the young adult voice so incredibly well and are written to perfection. As you can see, we're total suckers for contemporary! By the way, we could name at least 15 more great YAs that have a very special place in our heart.

Fall Festival: L.T. Getty Guest Post and Giveaway #5

L.T. Getty obtained her degree in English from the University of  Winnipeg, and has studied creative writing both there and at the Canadian Mennonite University. She is an open-water scuba diver, has studied kendo, and currently works as a paramedic.

You can check out her website (and Fall Festival post) here! 

Autumn in Myth: The Life and Death Cycles

I’m a linear thinker – I like going from cause to effect in a straight-forward, logical sense. I don’t normally think of the various life cycles that we see all around us in nature – the way water flows, for instance, and the flow of the seasons from one to the next. However, when I study mythology, cycles stand out. For me, these cycles have a much more in-the-hands-of-fate feeling – which is perhaps a blow to my own personal views on fate and freewill.  Regardless, this appeals to me when I’m doing research for my stories. Because my novel dealt with a combination of Norse and Celtic Mythology, I’ll focus on those two, but first, I’ll touch briefly on probably the most famous myth of how we get our seasons in the western classic mythos: The story of Persephone.

Greek - Persephone

Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest, was responsible for making things grow. Her daughter, Persephone, was literally the goddess of spring. At some point in time, Persephone was stolen by Hades, the greek god of the dead, and taken to the underworld to be his wife. Demeter grew cold, and searched for her stolen daughter - nothing grew while her daughter was missing. When Demeter at last found Persephone, Persephone had eaten six seeds of a pomegranate – forcing her to stay in the underworld six months of the year. It was said that Spring was when Persephone returned to Demeter, and autumn was when she left her mother to return to Hades.  While she was with her mother, the world grew and flourished – and grew cold when Persephone returned to her mother’s side.

Autumn has a different significance to the many different cultures around the world – reflective in their mythologies and stories. Usually, the sequence goes in this order, though there is some variation:

Spring: Birth

Summer: Young to Mid Adulthood

Autumn: Twilight Years

Winter: Old age and death

Only to return to Spring – often, with rebirth – many classic mythos tells stories of deities slain and raising from the dead, only to return from the underworld – perhaps autumn represents that struggle before death or the journey to the underworld. One such cycle of death and rebirth can be found in the Norse Tradition.

Norse – Ragnarok

Ragnarok (The Fate of the Gods), or Ragnarøkkr (The Twilight of the Gods)

Rather than an ultimate beginning and ending, the Poetic Edda cited Ragnarok as the literal end of the world – that the subsequent battle between the kingdom of the gods (Valhalla) and the underworld (Hel) would result in the destruction of Earth and the other worlds connected to them – the death of most of the gods and the subsequent occurrence of various natural disasters, and the submersion of the world in water, where the world would resurface, several already slain gods would return, and the world would be repopulated by two humans, formed from a tree and beginning the cycle again and again. The universe in Norse mythology stemmed from a central holy tree, Yggdrasil, and it was said that the first humans came from this tree – the holy tree in which all the worlds were connected. It was said that this cycle had been going on and would go on indefinitely.

Less well-known to most of us today are the stories of the Ulster Cycle – although you might recognize some stories, such as Tristan and Isolde, and Deidre of the Sorrows. I highly recommend you research Cu Chullain and explore Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Mythology. The pre-Christian Celtic peoples had a very ancient set of traditions, which carried on even after the conversion process. While the gods have become heroes in many translations, these early stories went on to influence the western tradition of romanticism and folklore. Rather than a single mythology, we’ll consider an ancient festival that has significance in North-American culture to this day.

Celtic - Samhain

Samhain is a Gaelic Festival marking the end of the harvest season. It was celebrated from sunset October 31 to sunset November 1. The Celts had four other seasonal festivals that marked the seasons and had different significances: Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.

According to Celtic Mythology, Samhain marked the time where the door to the Otherworld opened and for Fae and the dead to communicate with the living. Samhain was effectively the festival for the dead, and according to the Boyhood Deeds of Fionn, it said that the fae doorways were always open at Samhain. We get our origin of Halloween as people would leave ‘treats’ out for the fae and dress up in costumes to befuddle them – if carrying iron or salt wasn’t an option.  These however were not the pleasant faeries many of you were thinking of – the original fair folk were usually seen as tricksters, willing to steal people and bring them back to the fae realm.

These are just three ways autumn was viewed in three very distinct cultures and mythos.  Many mythologies share the notion of life, death, and rebirth – and while not every culture had a significant mythos regarding autumn, these ancient stories can still hold significance to us in this day and age, remembering where we came from and perhaps, if there is anything to be said for the notion of cycles, where we can go as a diverse culture.

A huge thanks to L.T. Getty for taking the time to write this post! As you all know, I love mythology, so I geeked out when reading this. Now, on to the contest :)


Check out Giveaway #1 and my favorite Halloween Movies here!
Check out Giveaway #2 and an author interview with Kim Askew & Amy Helmes Here!
Check out Giveaway #3 and Small-town Fall Activities here!
Check out Giveaway #4 and my anticipated fall releases here!

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: Fae by C.J. Abedi

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Our education was a top priority for our parents and thus we were prohibited from watching a lot of television.  We spent a lot of time playing outdoors and a lot of time entertaining our minds with reading. It was easy to do because our father had a voracious appetite for nonfiction books and would sit in our family room every night often reading 500-600 page books within one or two nights.     

Watching him so engulfed made sitting in a quiet room so easy. We had many favorite books growing up, but our favorites were also so different. Much like our personalities.  One of the shared loves we have is Pride and Prejudice.  We think if you talk to most authors of young adult fiction novels, this book will come up at some point.

William Darcy epitomizes the “ultimate” man.  Even though he was a man of few words, he had a depth to him that has been mimicked throughout many love stories.  Devilyn Reilly shares a great many characteristics in common with Darcy.  His deep sense of loyalty, compassion, chivalry, good looks, deep love etc., we could literally go on and on.  

So this was by far the book that most influenced Fae….some of our other personal favorites are…..

Colet:

In elementary school I loved Scott O’Dell’s, Island of the Blue Dolphins. I literally think I read it ten times and I all I wanted was a Rontu of my own. I think I felt a bit like Karana because I was kind of a loner when I was younger. I preferred reading and escaping to my own magical worlds and there was a deep sense of fulfillment I got from that. I could live on this imaginary island I created and no one could invade my space. I would literally sit for hours on end just reading by myself or playing with my Barbies. I really preferred this to people company. Karana was completely fine being on her own with just Rontu as a companion and I felt so similar to her because I was the same, I just didn't have a dog. Karana just resonated with me and I think that I definitely infused that into Caroline’s character. And of course she has her own Rontu too… his name is Famous and he’s a Pomeranian but he’s her companion. My other favorite when I was younger was Indian in the Cupboard. Yes, I bought a bunch of little doll houses with small plastic Native American Indian dolls hoping that one would magically come to life. Unfortunately that didn’t work but my imagination ran wild. In High School I loved A Separate Peace by John Knowles & Hamlet. In college, Milton’s, Paradise Lost changed my life. It really did. Now, I read whatever I crave at that moment in my life.

Jasmine:

There are many profound books and authors that have influenced my life, but when I analyze my writing I would say that the voice of my writing today comes from the many fiction novels I’ve read.  Starting as a child with books by Judy Blume, Tales of  Fourth Grade Nothing, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Otherwise known as Sheila The Great. Ms. Blume had such a talent for understanding the true emotional experience every child goes through in elementary and junior high school and she does it such a comical way that you really can’t get enough of her writing.  I could so related to the fears and angst associated with puberty that became the catalyst for Margaret Simon’s many conversations with God.  Those daily feelings of inadequacy appear in Fae through the eyes of Carolyn Ellis as she walks the halls of Manteo High School.   How many conversations do we all have in our head, thankfully they mostly stay there where they belong.   I also loved the incredible world of Harry Potter, created by J.K. Rowling, and am also a big fan of Judith McNaught’s Paradise, actually anything written by Judith McNaught sucks me right into a peaceful world making me lost for days and days.  Dan Brown’s (The DaVinci Code) talents are also unparalleled and of course I think I am among the millions who enjoyed Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. 

About the authors: 

C. J. Abedi is made up of the sister writing team Colet and Jasmine Abed who wrote the upcoming series Fae.  They have always had a love of writing and began collaborating on many projects when they were very young.  Their passion for all things creative led them to the world of the entertainment industry where they have worked since completing their education.

Colet Abedi ran development for ITV Studios and is currently Executive Producer on three shows that run in syndication called Unsealed: Conspiracy Files, Unsealed: Alien Files and Now Eat This with Rocco DiSpirito. She was also an Executive Producer on Posh Tots. Prior to that, she was a Head Writer for 20th Television, a division of Fox, for two telenovelas, American Heiress starring Annalyn McCord and Robert Buckley and Fashion House, starring Bo Derek and Taylor Kinney. She alsorecently completed the feature filmFive Souls that will be released next year.

Jasmine Abedi is an entertainment attorney, and has worked with entertainment powerhouses such as Fox, NBC Universal, ABC, MTV and E! for the past 14 years. She has also worn many different hats in the entertainment industry, with Executive Producer credits for the television programs Posh Tots and the pilots Club Bounce (TruTV), Divas(VH-1), and Life With The Clarks (CMT). In addition to writing, she has also partnered with a law school friend to create the natural cosmetic company Generation Klean, Inc. Their products can be found online at www.generationklean.com and at major retailers (Whole Foods, Fred Segal etc.) nationwide. 

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Author Guest Post: Lois Metzger and Five Books that Influenced Her

Lois Metzger, author of A Trick of the Light, was born in Queens and has always written for young adults. She is the author of three previous novels and two nonfiction books about the Holocaust, and she has edited five anthologies. Her short stories have appeared in collections all over the world. Her writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Harper's Bazaar. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and son.

For more information please visit http://www.loismetzger.com, and follow the author on Facebook

Thanks to Lois Metzger for stopping by! If you haven't grabbed her new book, A Trick of the Light, do so ASAP. Here are five books that influenced Lois and her writing (I've included links to each book on Goodreads so you can add them to your shelves):

Downtown by Norma Fox Mazer

When I was 14, I wanted to be a writer and write about people my own age. Years went by -- and I still wanted to write about 14-year-olds. In my 20s, I worked at The New Yorker Magazine, and submitted short stories about 14-year-olds. Which got rejected. I was told that "reminiscences" were the acceptable form of writing about young people: looking back from the standpoint of maturity. Young-adult literature was something I only heard about several years later, when a friend told me about Norma Fox Mazer. I read Downtown, and instantly knew what I wanted to do with my life: write about young people from their points of view -- in the here and now, not in the way back then.

Downtown is the riveting story of a 16-year-old boy who realizes he is living a lie. He tells people his parents are dead (they're in prison). He says his name is Pete Connors (not his real name). I loved the way she wrote about lies and the damage they can do. My new book, A Trick of the Light, is filled with lies -- lies you tell other people, lies you tell yourself.

Since Downtown, I've read hundreds of YAs, and in Norma's case I actually had the privilege of meeting her and getting to know her; she died in 2009. As wonderful as her books are, she was an even more spectacular person.

Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan

I've always been a huge fan of "creepy." The tingle at the back of your neck. The sense that something is wrong, someone is hiding something. Lois Duncan is a master at this kind of thing, and I've devoured all her books.

In Down a Dark Hall, it's the little details that give the story its punch. A girl, Kit, is accepted to an exclusive girls' boarding school, while her best friend, who is smarter, is not. When she gets to the school, Kit realizes there are only three other students. As time goes on, things get very weird and sinister; the students spend more time alone in their rooms and less time in class, and one girl seems to be going insane.

In A Trick of the Light, I tried to create a suspenseful story in the same way, with quiet and unsettling moments instead of loud explosions.

I am the cheese by Robert Cormier

This is my favorite YA novel.

It's a complicated story, starkly told in alternating chapters, first about a boy bicycling to meet his father in Vermont, and then about the boy inside a bare room being questioned by a mysterious man. For much of the book, the reader is definitely confused, but pieces start eventually coming together and it's all chillingly explained at the end. The darkness in the book (and it's very dark) is part of the path that points to the truth.

My new book is dark (though not as dark as Cormier's), and I definitely kept this book in mind anytime I worried whether things might get too rough for a reader. Cormier allowed me to take my story to the limits without censoring it, to let the darkness come before letting in the light.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton

The beauty of this book lies in the voice of its 14-year-old heroine, Tree. She's bright and funny, though her life is hard; her mother is a nurse and lives with her patients, leaving Tree to care for her older brother, Dabney, who has mental retardation. But there are ghosts here, too, and a magic mirror. 

Tree enters the mirror and experiences life as her own mother. Afterward, Tree laments the fact that it's 5:30 and "I been sittin here two hours. Ain't even started supper . . . But Dab, guess where I been?" She looked into his eyes and she knew he wouldn't understand. "Like a dream," she said . . . "It not possible, but it happened."

The idea of a mirror showing you something different than what's really there fascinated me, and is a huge part of A Trick of the Light.

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Among the many things to admire about this book is the handling of a very difficult subject: a girl in Nepal is sold into prostitution. Lakschmi is 13 and narrates her story in a simple, child-like way. But there's nothing simple or child-like about what's happening to her. Her emotions shine through; her loss of innocence unfolds beautifully. This book is a perfect blend of character and story.

I'm very proud that Patricia McCormick, who writes so brilliantly, gave me a blurb for A Trick of the Light.

© 2013 Lois Metzger, author of A Trick of the Light

Author Guest Post: Janeal Falor

Today we have author Jeneal Falor here to talk about five books that influenced her as a teen!

5 Books that Influenced Me as a Teen 

 5. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 

I wasn't a fan of the movie, but I loved the book! Fairy Tales have always attracted my attention, and this one is such a fun and fabulous retelling of Cinderella. The unique take on it was fantastic. After reading it, I remember wanting to be strong like Ella. 

 4. The Princess Bride by William Goldman 

This movie is one I do love, and it makes me want to write 'by S. Morganstern.' When I found out there was no such person, I was quite shocked. This book isn't perfect, Buttercup was never as strong as I wanted her too be, and Westly hitting her--makes me all sorts of grumpy. Despite those two strong dislikes, this book had a really big impact on me. Quotable, funny, quirky, and love. It had kept my imagination going for a long time. 

3. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

I don't usually reread books, but I probably read this 4+ times as a teenager. There's so much tension and emotion in it. The fact that it was based on a true story scared me with it's horrificness, but also touched a place deep inside me. I've never forgotten it. 

 2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 

I remember forever telling people when they talked about how to get somewhere that they need to fold space and step across instead of taking the long way around. Meg and Charles Wallace were such great characters. I loved how smart Meg was. 

1. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi 

Imagining Charlotte, her neat pressed self, slowly growing into a strong woman and sticking up for things she believes in was thrilling. I can still imagine the feel of her gloves going on over her coarse skin. The emotions that grabbed me still have me all over the place even though it's been years since I've read it.

Janeal Falor lives in Utah where she’s finally managed to live in the same house for more than five years without moving. In her spare time she reads books like they’re nuts covered in caramel and chocolate, cooks whatever strikes her fancy, and enjoys the outdoors. Her husband and three children try to keep up with her overactive imagination. Usually they settle for having dinner on the table, even if she’s still going on about the voices in her head (From the author's website)

You can check out Janeal Falor at her website, on Twitter, or on Facebook 

Check back tomorrow to see my review of her book, You Are Mine.

Author Guest Post: Jenny E. Miller and Giveaway

Jenny Miller grew up in Seattle, writing sappy (illustrated!) novels for her obliging parents. She studied creative writing at the University of Washington and holds a Masters in Teaching from Seattle University. She still lives in the Emerald City with her husband, two kids, and a dog who thinks he’s a cat. ASYLUM is her first novel.

You can find her at Jennyemiller.com and her food and humor blog RainyDayGal.com. 

The Decision to Self-Publish

Like every author, I've had my fair share of rejections. It doesn't matter who rejects you or how the letter is written; it still feels like a punch to the gut. You've put in so much time and effort, not only toward your book, but also into each and every query letter you've written. You make it personal. You make it intriguing. You make your book sound so enthralling that no one would ever put it down. You send out each carefully written letter. Then you wait and wait to hear back. And then it's sorry, this just isn't for us. Try someone else. 

I received (what would come to be) my final rejection email at the gym. I was going round and round on the elliptical machine, half-watching the Today show, when an email popped up. It read like all the rest. Sorry, Ms. Miller. Your book sounds great, but not for us. Not at this time. I burst into tears and nearly fell off the machine. I was in a fragile emotional state already (my grandmother had just passed), and this letter was the final blow. I was devastated.

It took me about a month to pick myself up. It was a month spent wallowing, immersing myself in motherhood (those damn cupcakes were perfect), not touching my book and doing anything to distract myself from the 237 pages that might never find a publisher. I was beat down, and tired of putting my fate into someone else's hands. That's when my husband brought up self-publishing again, for the zillionth time. But this time, I didn't brush it off immediately. I thought about it. And that afternoon, instead of folding laundry (over-perfectly), I started shopping for editors.

In the course of two months my book has been edited, polished and formatted. A cover has been designed, and all the channels have been aligned for it to be put up for sale. Compare that with the average of two years a book spends with a publisher before its put on the market. Two years! And in a month on the shelf if it doesn’t sell well, it could be yanked right off.

The downside of self-publishing? I had to pay the editor and cover designer out of pocket. I have to do all the marketing and advertising myself. But with a good launch, the power of social networking, and a 70% kickback from Amazon, I’ll make that money back and (hopefully!) more.

No one gets into writing to be a millionaire. We’re lucky if we can even cover our bills on writing alone. To have your work out there—being able to be read by anyone and everyone—is the ultimate goal. My fate is finally in my hands, and as a writer, that’s the best thing I can ask for. 

About Asylum: 

June Foster’s summer is limping along. Her life on a 1950′s farm in eastern Washington is boring–full of milking cows, picking apricots and tending to the chicken coops. Her only friends are her record player and her books. But when gorgeous, turquoise-eyed Frank falls into her world, her life becomes anything but ordinary.

June falls for Frank hard and fast–he’s beautiful, impossibly strong, and capable of things ordinary humans are not. But she’s wary about his father Jonas, a creepy man with an agenda. She should be. Suddenly June is deathly ill, falling in and out of consciousness. When she recovers, June and Frank discover Jonas’s deadly plans for her–and June takes revenge.

Convicted of murder, declared insane and sentenced to life at Washington Pines Sanitarium, June is stuck. Jonas’s plans are reaching her beyond the grave, and she suspects that there’s a lot more going on in the sanitarium than group therapy and electric shocks. Something evil has followed her here, or maybe it was waiting for her all along. If Frank doesn’t break her out soon, she’ll lose her mind–and her life.

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