Hey everyone! I’m so, so excited to be on the blog tour for Tina Connolly’s upcoming release, Seriously Wicked (May 5, 2015, Tor Teen). This book looks seriously, insanely amazing and I’m so excited to have Tina on my blog for an interview! First, here’s more information about the book:

About the Book
Title: SERIOUSLY WICKED
Author: Tina Connolly
Pub. Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Tor Teen
Pages: 384
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

The only thing worse than being a witch is living with one.

Camellia’s adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom’s a seriously wicked witch.

Cam’s used to stopping the witch’s crazy schemes for world domination. But when the witch summons a demon, he gets loose—and into Devon, the cute new boy at school.

Now Cam’s suddenly got bigger problems than passing Algebra. Her friends are getting zombiefied. Their dragon is tired of hiding in the RV garage. For being a shy boy-band boy, Devon is sure kissing a bunch of girls. And a phoenix hidden in the school is going to explode on the night of the Halloween Dance.

To stop the demon before he destroys Devon’s soul, Cam might have to try a spell of her own. But if she’s willing to work spells like the witch…will that mean she’s wicked too?

Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

And now here’s the interview! Enjoy!

Question: Seriously Wicked will be out very soon! How do you feel?
Answer: Seriously Excited! (Hey, someone had to say it!)

Question: Looking back on the last few months, what was the hardest part of the publishing process? The easiest? Most nerve-wracking?
Answer: As far as the publishing process goes, the hardest and most nerve-wracking part on every book is when I finally get it in good enough shape to turn it into my editor and hold my breath that she likes it! The easiest and best part is seeing the cover art. Seriously (I use that word too much!), Tor has an amazing art department, and they have knocked it out of the park with all four of my books. I’ve been blown away every time I get to see a new cover.

Question: What do you think you’ll do when you see your book in bookstores for the first time?
Answer: Take pictures! The thrill never gets old. Plus, this time my book will be in a new section – as a long-time reader of YA and MG I am super stoked to have a book in those aisles.

Question: Describe your book in ten words or less. Go!
Answer: Witch Girl hearts Demon Boy. Seriously Wicked mom. Garage-Dragon.

Question: Seriously Wicked sounds AMAZING. Where’d the idea come from?
Answer: Thank you! I was sitting down to write one day and the idea for this modern Rapunzel-ish story about a high school girl who lives with a *seriously wicked* witch just jumped into my head. The whole thing spilled out very quickly.

Question: Seriously Wicked has an awesome title and cover! Did you come up with the title? Without spoilers, can you explain what part(s) of the story the cover is depicting?
Answer: Yes! I did come up with the title. So far I’ve titled all my four published books… we’ll see how long that trend continues!

Seriously Wicked wasn’t the first title I came up with, though. Looooong ago when I was writing the zeroth draft, the very first working title was How I Stopped The Witch Who Ate Manhattan. (Please note that the witch does not, in fact, eat Manhattan. Or even attempt to eat it. That’s why they call it a working title. ;) Once I reached the end and knew what the book was about, I retitled it Witch Girl Hearts Demon Boy. It stayed that way for quite awhile. Then finally, when I was writing my pitch for the completed book, I wrote the opening hook:

Camellia’s adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom’s a seriously wicked witch.

And “Seriously Wicked” just leaped out at me.

As to the cover – I absolutely LOVE the cover! It is so much fun. It shows Cam in her bedroom studying spellbooks. Spells are written like some horrible combination of math problems, logic puzzles, and bad puns, so Cam will have a lot of work to do if she wants to figure one out.

Question: Since Seriously Wicked features a wicked witch, can you tell us who your favorite wicked witch of all time is? Why? Would you consider writing a retelling that features your favorite wicked witch?
Answer: One of my favorite wicked witches is definitely Elphaba from Wicked – I love what Gregory Maguire did with her in retelling her story. And I do love retellings where you see the other side of the evil person you thought you knew! Even though I love all the Oz books (I was obsessed with both L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson’s stories as a kid) I think Maguire has done a definitively good retelling, so I’m unlikely to visit Oz anytime soon. :)

While we’re on that subject, one of my favorite good witches is cranky Eglantyne Price, as played by Angela Lansbury in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I love that movie to pieces.

Question: According to your bio, you used to do a lot of theatre. How did that influence your writing, if at all?
Answer: Oh, it definitely does! One, in that I like writing dialogue. But two, in that what I love about both theatre and writing is getting into a character’s head. I really feel for all my side characters, and it’s hard putting only a little of what I know about their backstories and hopes and dreams into the story, and making the rest of them stay off stage!

Question: Are you working on anything new?
Answer: I am working on the next two Seriously books AND a Seriously story! It’s going to be all Seriously, all the time around here for the next year. They are all stand-alone adventures (you can’t keep a megalomaniac witch down, you know! Sarmine always has a new plan to take over the world, and Cam always has to stop her…)

And now for the giveaway! 5 winners will receive a finished copy of SERIOUSLY WICKED! US Only. To enter, complete the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author
 
Tina Connolly is the author of the Ironskin trilogy from Tor Books, and the Seriously Wicked series, from Tor Teen. Ironskin, her first fantasy novel, was a Nebula finalist. Her stories have appeared in Women Destroy SF, Lightspeed, Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and many more. Her narrations have appeared in audiobooks and podcasts including Podcastle, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, John Joseph Adams’ The End is Nigh series, and more. She runs the Parsec-winning flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake.

She is originally from Lawrence, Kansas, but she now lives with her family in Portland, Oregon, where it is nice and green and wet. Photo credit Caroline M. Yoachim.

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Tour Schedule

Week One:
4/27/2015 – Pandora’s Books – Interview
4/28/2015 – Bookfever – Review
4/29/2015 – On Starships and Dragonwings – Guest Post
4/30/2015 – GenGen’s Book Blog – Review
5/1/2015 – Bookhounds ya – Interview

Week Two:
5/4/2015 – The Midnight Society – Review
5/5/2015 – Alice Marvels – Guest Post
5/6/2015 – Book Briefs – Review
5/7/2015 – Bittersweet Enchantment – Interview
5/8/2015 – Stories & Sweeties – Review

 
Hey everyone! I’m so, so excited to be on the blog tour for The Fearless by Emma Pass (April 14th 2015, Delacorte Books for Young Readers ). This book looks amazing and I’m so excited to have Emma on my blog for an interview! First, here’s more information about the book:

For fans of The Hunger Games, Matched, Divergent, and The Fifth Wave, this fast-paced futuristic thriller tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cass and her fight to protect her younger brother from an unimaginably terrifying enemy.

The Deadliest Enemy feels no fear.

When the Fearless invaded, they injected everyone in their path with the same serum that stripped them of humanity.

Life became a waking nightmare.

Cass has the invasion seared in her memory. Seven years later, she and her brother, Jori, are living on Hope Island in a community of survivors. No one can enter, and no one can leave.

It’s the only way to stay safe.

But when Hope Island’s security is breeched and Jori is taken by the Fearless, Cass will risk everything to get him back.

Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

And now here’s the interview! Enjoy!

Question: The Fearless will be out in stores very, very soon. How does it feel?
Answer: Amazing! It already came out in the UK last year so to think it’s coming out in the US (in a beautiful hardcover, nonetheless) is very exciting.

Question: Describe your book in your own words. As a challenge, see if you can describe it in ten words or less!
Answer: That’s a hard one! How about… A terrifying enemy invades – the world we know disappears forever.

Question: The Fearless sounds amazing! Where did the idea for it come from?
Answer: Before my first novel, ACID, was bought by a publisher, I attended a writing workshop where the author was talking about getting book ideas from newspaper headlines. She handed some out, and the one I was given was about a drug that could stop people feeling fear. I wondered what would happen if such a drug were to fall into the wrong hands, and it grew from there.

Question: What scene was the hardest to write? The easiest? What scene do you most regret having to cut? What was your favorite scene that got added?
Answer: The hardest scene: when Cass, Myo and the people they’re travelling with meet a strange character called the Ragged Man who has someone with him Cass recognises… it wasn’t a hard to write because I didn’t know what was going to happen, but hard emotionally.

The easiest: when Jori is kidnapped by the Fearless. I could see it all so vividly, it was playing like a film in my head as I wrote.

The scene I regret having to cut: Part of the book is set in an underground bunker. I originally had much more of the book set there, and had included a VERY emotional scene between Cass and Myo, but it had to be cut as the book was getting too long! And no, I can’t say what happened – it would spoil the book!

Favourite scene that got added: Where Cass and Myo are talking about the food they used to eat when they were kids, before the Fearless invaded. It was a very sweet and nostalgic scene to write!

Question: Craziest thing you’ve had to Google for a work in progress? (Can be for The Fearless or for Acid or a current WIP)
Answer: Hmm… well, for the Fearless, it was probably ‘How long does it take for a body dropped in a river to float to the surface?’ (Answer: it depends on the time of year.) I’m probably on several watch lists for the stuff I had to google for that book!

Question: Early reviews have praised The Fearless, calling it “awesome from start to finish.” One reviewer said it was, “quite a fresh take on the whole ‘zombie-apocalypse.’ Another reviewer called it a, “a post-apocalyptic thriller with a scarily plausible premise.” How does it feel to know so many people already love your book?
Answer: You can’t beat that feeling you get when you read a really good book, and it makes me really happy to think that one of my books is making readers feel that way.

Question: According to your bio, you tried to write, “all sorts of stuff, from short stories to crime and everything in between … As soon as I started my first YA novel, I knew this was what I wanted to write.” What was it about YA that pulled you in? Do you ever see yourself writing a Middle Grade novel? What about New Adult or Adult?
Answer: I first discovered YA after attending a weekend course run by a YA author. After that, I started reading more and more of it, and then I decided to try writing the novel I was working on at the time – which was an attempt at adult literary fiction, with a teenage main character – as a YA novel. As soon as I started it, it felt right.

I honestly can’t see myself writing NA or adult novels, but I’d love to try MG. I read a lot of MG and it’s so much fun! So – watch this space…

Question: Your bio also says that you work in a library. Does your job aid in your writing in any way? What’s it like being surrounded by books and eager readers all day long?
Answer: Actually, I don’t work there any more – I left last year to concentrate on writing and running writing workshops in schools, which I do a lot of and really enjoy. But it was the perfect job while I was trying to get published. Being surrounded by books was awesome and I also got to help out at loads of writer and reader events, which were always fun!

Question: What books would you recommend to a reader who loved yours, and wants to read something similar?
Answer: For dystopian fans: the thrilling dystopian romance DARK DAYS by Kate Ormand, and the kick-ass DUALED and DIVIDED by Elsie Chapman.

For post apocalyptic fans: IN THE AFTER by Demitria Lunetta, which is one of my favourite post-apoc novels ever!

Question: Are you working on anything new?
Answer: *Mysterious face* I could be… all I can say, though, is that it involves time travel and rock music. I’d tell you more, but then I’d have to kill you… Mwahahaha.

About the Author:
 
I grew up at an environmental studies centre in South East England, where my sister and I had free range of the centre grounds and the fields and woods surrounding them. It’s probably not surprising, then, that when I was 13, I decided to write my first ever novel (you can read more about it, plus an extract, on my blog here). I wrote most of it in maths lessons with my notebook hidden under my work, and as a result, I still have to count on my fingers if anyone asks me to add anything up.

After I escaped school, I went to university to study art. But I never stopped thinking about my stories, and after I graduated, I decided to pursue writing as a career. I tried all sorts of stuff, from short stories to crime and everything in between, until I eventually decided to have a go at writing for teenagers. As soon as I started my first YA novel (now relegated to the back of a wardrobe), I knew this was what I wanted to write.

Now, I live in the North East Midlands with my husband, the artist and printmaker Duncan Pass. As well as writing books, I work at a library, where I support two writing groups and help out at as many reader and author events as I can. Not a bad day job for a writer! From 2009-12, we were lucky enough to share our lives with The Hound (pictured above), a very special ex-racing greyhound, and although he’s no longer with us, we’ll never forget him. You can read more about him on my blog here.

Now, I’m minion to G-Dog (pictured below), who ‘helps’ me write by snuggling up to me on the sofa and plonking his head on the keyboard. He also has amazing ears!

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THE FEARLESS BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE
4/20 – Addicted Readers – Interview
4/21 – My Book Muse – Review and Signed Giveaway
4/22 – Xpresso Reads – Playlist Post
4/23 – A Dream Within A Dream – Review and Signed Giveaway
4/24 – Chapter by Chapter – Review and Top Favs Interview
4/27 – Pandora’s Books – Interview
4/28 – The Irish Banana – Guest Post
4/29 – SciFi Chick.com – Guest Post
4/30 – Dark Faerie Tales – Review and Dream Character Casting
5/1 – Mundie Moms – Guest Post
5/4 – Supernatural Snark – Guest Post
5/5 – Ex Libris – Guest Post
5/6 – Step Into Fiction – Review and Signed Giveaway
5/7 – IceyBooks – Quote Candy
5/8 – A Life Bound By Books – Interview