Waiting on Wednesday - The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  The book I've chosen this week is by an author that is the coolest author I've ever met.  And that is saying a lot, because I've met a lot of authors, and pretty much every author that I met was cool.  I began following her on Twitter after I read her first book, Spellbound.  And she followed me back.  At the time I was walking at least 3 miles a day, and I would listen to my ipod as I walked, and then tweet the songs that I was listening to.  She often commented on songs that she liked.  Then, when my sister moved to NYC, and I went to visit her for the very first time, I had kind of hinted that it would be really cool if I could meet her somewhere.  This was before BEA, so there wasn't any scheduled book signings or anything going on.  And I will admit I'd tweeted some other authors I followed to see if they'd be around that I might be able to meet them.  Well this author agreed to meet me one night.  So my sister and I went and met her and then we went and had a drink!  We talked for a couple hours, and found so many things we had in common.  Here is the picture of us meeting that night:

So you're probably saying, so she's a really cool person, what about her books?  Well her books are ones that remind me of a picture I saw on Facebook the other day, that talked about a reader's problem, of missing the characters after you finish a book.  I literally was disappointed when her books were over because I wanted to stay in that world, with those characters that felt like people from my own life.  I mean part of what I loved is how the characters were sarcastic and funny with each other, the way I am with people in my life.  So I am now so excited for her 3rd book, a new series called The Dark World.  Here is the blurb about it from Goodreads.com:

Paige Kelly is used to weird--in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.

So it sounds really good to me!  And I'm sure I'll love the characters just as much!  I will have to buy a copy for sure before I go to BEA this coming May, and hopefully I'll get to meet up with her again like I did in 2012 when I went to BEA, and I'll be able to get it signed.  Here's a picture of Cara, her friend Nancy who is a fellow book blogger, and me and my sister who now lives in NYC.

So, what are you eagerly waiting on this week?

Cara Lynn Shultz - One of My Rockstar Authors

When I was planning ahead for my big blogoversary celebration month, I really was wanting to do lots of different types of posts.  One thing I really wanted to do was see if I could get any authors to feature on my blog.  Especially any that I'd actually met in person.  And of course, Cara is the first one I picked, because of how nice she was when I met her last November on my first trip to NYC.  Not only was she really cool online talking through Twitter, but we spent a couple hours hanging out and just talking.  I have to say it was one of the neatest nights ever!

Even cooler, because my sister was with me that night, and she was the one living in NYC, she got to go to the release party Cara had for the next book in the series, Spellcaster.  And she got to try the purple velvet cupcakes that I had heard about on Twitter when the first book came out.  

When I returned to NYC in June for BEA, I got to hang out with her again at the bar that her husband owns.  And I did get to see her at BEA as well!  

I am a huge fan of her books, and will hand sell them at my store, and suggest them to my students at school when they are looking for something to read, and I know that paranormal romance is up their alley.  So I emailed Cara and asked if she wouldn't mind writing a little paragraph for me, and here it is:

I had the very welcome opportunity to meet Lisa when she came to New York last

December to visit her sister. She was as lovely as she seemed on Twitter, and let

me tell you, Lisa’s blog is very aptly named! Lisa truly does love literature. She has

a true passion, love and respect for YA, and it shows in her thoughtful blog. I was

thrilled when we got to hang again at BEA this past year. Congrats on three years,

Lisa — here’s to many, many more!

Thanks Cara for taking the time to write that for me!  Along with my promoting her books, for anyone who hasn't read the first one yet, Spellbound, I am running a giveaway, sign up below!  

                                               

And when you're done signing up for that, be sure to go to my main blogoversary giveaway for a Barnes and Noble gift card, still worth $30, because I still haven't reached the 600 follower mark yet, when I will bump it to $40.  So go sign up for that HERE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

First off, let me say, this book was sooooo good!  Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Children's Books for letting me read an egalley of this.  I read this in April, and as I read it I was just going over and over in my head what I was going to say in the review, and then I was disappointed when I realized no one would get to see this information for about 4 months since it is going to be published in September.  So let the gushing begin!

I love, love, loved the characters in this book.  The banter between them, etc.  It reminds me a lot of Spellbound by Cara Lynn Schultz.  The way the characters talked to each other is just so much like how I talk with my friends and family.  I love the sense of humor, the snark, the sarcasm.  The story was good too, don't get me wrong, but it was the characters that pulled me in, made me laugh out loud, and keep coming back.  There was a cliffhanger ending, which I guess makes sense because this is going to be a series.  But I think it's okay if sometimes books don't have such huge cliffhangers.  My favorite series, Twilight, ends each book so that it could be the end.  At least I felt like it did.  And I don't know if I'm actually very happy about the way it ended, but because of other somewhat similar situations earlier in the book, I know I have to read on, because hopefully, it will get back to where I want it to be.  Where I loved the characters.

Our main character is Kami Glass who is part Asian, and a bit different from the other people in her small town in England.  Although, a lot of the way the book is, I would forget I was reading about England, that it wasn't just a small town in the USA.  And I think that's good too.  Anyway, there is a mysterious family, called the Lynburns, that have the huge mansion, and used to "run" the town in the way that rich families seem to do in small towns.  Yet they've been gone for a long time.  Kami also has a kind of unique quirk, she seems to hear someone talking in her head.  Someone she says is still her imaginary friend, that she's had forever, she's never outgrown him, Jared.  When the Lynburns come back to town, one of them a boy her age named Jared, it seems her imaginary friend may not be so imaginary.  She soon learns there is magic in this town.  And that there is a sordid history of the people in the town.  And there are people getting hurt, including Kami.  She forms a friendship both with Jared, and his cousin Ash, the other younger Lynburn back in town.  The adults in the Lynburn family aren't quite as friendly.  Kami thinks of herself as quite the Nancy Drew.  And as she starts a school paper with her friend Angela, she sets out to figure out the mysteries of her small town, Sorry in the Vale.

I loved the relationship between Kami and Jared mostly.  Although I don't understand why exactly he didn't want to touch her.  Maybe I missed how bad it was for them to feel each other's emotions that way.  I like Angela, she amused me to no end.  Such a great story, and I can't wait to read part two, but realized with the first book not even actually published yet, it will be awhile.  Maybe I can find book 2 on Netgalley as well next spring.

My only real complaint is the cover of the book.  And after reading the author's note/acknowledgement at the end of the egalley, I'm a bit afraid to say anything.  The cover just seems a bit childish for a teen book.  Off the top of my head I can't think of what more middle grades age book it reminds me of, but it just doesn't seem to fit in with the covers I see in the Teen sections these days.  It's not bad, just seems a bit immature.  Who knows, I could be crazy.  And it's not like I definitely want it to be one of those covers with the girls in the sweeping formal dresses, just doesn't work that great for me.

Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz and Author Interview!

I was lucky enough to get this as an egalley from Harlequin Teen through Netgalley.  I got to read the first book, Spellbound, this same way.  Although I got denied the first time I requested it.  So glad that whole bit is over, I love Harlequin Teen, and hope they will always grant me access to their egalleys. 
So, I went back and re-read my review of Spellbound.  It's so funny that one of the things I said after I finished reading the first one, was how much I wanted back into that world.  And that the bonus material at the end said there was going to be a book from Angelique's point of view next, and I decided I'd have to just settle for that.  Well, you can guess just how pleased I was when I met the author herself this past November, and got to read the prologue to the new book, and found out I was getting to go back into Emma and Brendan's world!  And I was not disappointed by the sequel at all!
Some of what I really loved about the first book was the whole cursed love thing.  And that carries through to Spellcaster, only the curse has been broken as we saw in the first book.  Now, Emma and Brendan are "happily ever after".  But of course, the fact that Emma is a witch, and that Brendan used to be quite the player, that does have to come back around and mess up their happiness.  This something from the past is something that wants to use their blood, with the true love, to make itself powerful and invincible, if the stories in the books her friend Angelique has are true. 
Again I call to mind my connections with Twilight and my love of that book.  It makes me feel the same way.  I love the dynamic between Brendan and Emma.  I love when Emma makes a joke, Brendan says something about getting a milkshake because she puts so much milk and sugar in her cappuccino, and Emma says "You're a milkshake!"  That is so the kind of thing I say all the time when I'm wanting to say something back to someone who has said something like that to me.  I did kind of figure out who the person doing all this was as soon as I heard a hint about someone in the past, or Angelique's past I should say.  And I think that was a great way to get this going.  The only thing I wonder, if there was the evil spirit that she was appeasing, I wonder if there could be another book, because we still have the true love, and surely other witches out there would want the power from their blood.  Especially if this evil spirit/god wants this tribute.  So does that mean good news could be around some day, for fans of Emma and Brendan like me?  Or maybe we do get a book that is told from Angelique's point of view, I'm still up for one of those as well! 

Final thoughts.  I really love all the pointing out and remarking about the real locations in New York City where this takes place.  On my very first trip ever to NYC last November, I made sure to go to the Belvedere castle in Central Park.  I plan to go back to NYC this summer for BEA and so I am going to try to go to the Cloisters as they played a part in this book.

This also counts as the "S" in my A-Z Reading Challenge.







And now, my very first author interview!  Not only did I make sure to go to the castle when I was in NYC, I also got to meet Cara Lynn Shultz!  And let me tell you, she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met!  I asked her at the time if she would possibly be my first author interview, and she agreed.  So, without further ado, here are the questions I asked her, using my own ideas, as well as getting some ideas from other author interviews of blogs I follow, and her answers:

How long have you been writing?

I used to write plays with a friend when I was a little kid, and we would act them out on my grandparents' porch. And I wrote short stories, plays, all the time.

Do you have a certain routine for writing, like outlining ahead, or do you just write as you go?

I don't really work with concrete outline. I have a rough idea of what I want to happen, but then when I write, I let the characters drive the action—particularly with dialogue. I love writing dialogue, especially Emma's banter with Ashley and Angelique. I do have a place though—I write on the couch, with my cat by my side (I call him my "mews"), a giant glass of iced tea (Wawa lemonade iced tea if I can get it—when I'm in Jersey or Philly I buy it by the gallon. Seriously, that stuff is fantastic.), my headphones and music on, and I write into the night. I'm a better night writer than day writer.

What tips do you have for someone who is an aspiring writer?

Just keep writing. Even if you're feeling blocked—write about being blocked. The worst thing you can do is start over. And save everything, because you never know what your stories could someday become. After all, Spellbound started out as little stories I wrote my friend Vanessa to keep her entertained while she was commuting from Manhattan to The Bronx, back when we both graduated from college.

How much of your book is based on real life experiences or is it all purely made up?

A lot of it is based on real-life experiences. For example, when I was in high school, we really did hang out on the rocks at Belvedere Castle—only back then, there wasn't a fence, so you could stroll all the way to the edge of the cliff. Vince A is based slightly on my high school, which was a prep school on the Upper East Side. I grew up in Hell's Kitchen, so that's why Angelique lives there. And we did, indeed, hang out at the Met and use fake ID to get into shows/bars. But the more tragic parts of Emma's story are (thankfully) pure fiction—although one time in college, a bunch of streetlights went out over my head as I walked, and it truly freaked me out.

What is your favorite movie or TV show?

Warning: this is a long list. I'll list my current favorite shows: The Walking Dead, Dexter, Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Up All Night, The Secret Circle, Family Guy, Tosh. 0, South Park, RuPaul's Drag Race, The Daily Show, Modern Family, Suburgatory. If it wasn't for DVR I'd be in a lot of trouble.

If they were going to turn Spellbound into a movie, is there anyone that you think of as a dream cast?

I had a few people in mind for Brendan (Nicholas Hoult, Logan Lerman), but more than a few readers have reached out to me and said Munro Chambers would be an excellent Brendan, so I'd have to say him, due to popular demand. I like Lucy Hale for Emma, and Allison Janney for Aunt Christine.

I know you've had to deal with this issue, but what do you think could be done to prevent people posting your book online for free?

I wish people realized how much book piracy truly hurts authors. It's not the same as getting the book from a library—where there's a record kept of how many people have checked out the book. When you download a book for free, there's no record of it. The sales/library figures won't reflect how many people are interested in that author or in that book. It makes it harder for your favorite books to be made into movies, and makes it tougher for your favorite authors to continue writing. 

I got to talk and kind of meet you through Twitter, where else can your readers stalk you?   

I'm on Twitter (@caralynnshultz), Facebook (Facebook.com/caralshultz), Tumblr (caralynnshultz.tumblr.com) and Instagram. Come chat with me—and thanks, Lisa, for hosting me on your site!

ABOUT CARA:
Cara Lynn Shultz’s love of supernatural writing began when she was 7 and wrote a play about ghosts, which she and her friends acted out on her grandparents’ porch. Since then, her work has appeared in Teen People, Alternative Press, Stuff, InStyle, Us Weekly, The Guardian UK and countless posts on Facebook and Twitter. She is a proud graduate of Fordham University and is currently a senior editor at PEOPLE.com. Cara lives in her native New York City with her husband, tuxedo cat and 8 million other people. Spellbound is her first novel.

2011 Debut Author Challenge 10: Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

I read this as an egalley from Netgalley. At first, they declined my request to view it because my blog didn't have at least 100 followers. So that is something I'm working on, getting more followers. But, I was so interested in getting to read this book that I persevered and emailed them back, pointing out that I was a teacher as well as a blogger and a bookstore employee, and they went ahead and granted me permission to view and download it. And boy am I glad they did! This book sucked me right in, and kept me thinking about when I could get back to reading it as I was working throughout the day.

Our main character is Emma, who has just moved to live with her Aunt in New York. She's lost her brother, and her mother, and was living with her step-father, who was a drunk, until an tragic accident that left Emma with bad scars on her arms. She makes up a back story to tell everyone, to try to avoid questions and ending up with the same lack of friends back home. She makes some friends the first day, Jenn, and Angelique. Jenn is pretty popular, and has a friend named Kirsten, who right off the bat doesn't like Emma. The reason for that is because Kirsten likes this boy named Anthony, in fact, is kind of his girlfriend, but he is a flirt, and even follows through on that with asking girls out. And he's a creepy kind of flirt, and a bully as well. Emma is saved from some tense moments by a boy named Brendan. And Brendan is hot, and Emma can't seem to get him off his mind, partly because he seems to see right through her lies about where she came from, but doesn't bother to call her on it and mess it up for her. He seems to be really interested in her at a get-together one weekend, but then turns cold afterwards. Emma also has had some strange things happening to her, the lights in streetlights going out and the bulbs exploding as she walks under them. Her friend Angelique is a witch, and helps Emma out. Finding out that there is an ancient curse affecting both Emma and Brendan.

The story, the romance anyway, reminds me of Bella and Edward quite a bit, probably one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. With the hot and cold moments between Emma and Brendan, hey, I just noticed their names are kind of a reverse of Bella and Edward if you think about it. :-) Anyway, it sucked me in, had some good new twists that I hadn't seen before with what was going on. And I loved the curse storyline. When I was done reading it, I remember even thinking at work that night that I wanted to get back into that storyline, then having to remind myself that I was done with the book and there was no more to go to. However the end did have a preview for a follow up book with Angelique, so I'll be very excited to read that when it comes out. Great book!