Interview with Julianna Baggott, author of PURE + Giveaway

Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Julianna Baggott is the author of eighteen books, most notably her recent novel PURE, the first in a dystopian trilogy, a New York Times Book Review's Editor's Choice and a People magazine pick for books to read after the Hunger Games, on a list with Orson Scott Card and Philip Pullman. There are over fifty overseas editions of her books.

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*Interview*
THIS OR THAT!
Chocolate or vanilla? 
Chocolate -- absolutely.
Paperback, hardcover or ebook?
Paperback -- I like to get messy with them
Skittles or M&Ms?
M&Ms -- see above: chocolate
Twitter or Facebook?
Facebook -- restraining myself in 140 characters isn't easy

 1. Which character from your Pure trilogy do you relate to most, and why?

Some weary days, I feel like I'm hauling others on my back so El Capitan -- or, at least, today that's who I relate to -- maybe because I'm the sole breadwinner for the family, four kids, two dogs...

 2. Where did you get the idea for the Pure trilogy? From what I hear, it's a very unique idea!

It took a million small little flickering ideas. But, for one, our house is filled with toys and dolls, and I can confess that to clean up, I like to shoot for the toy basket and I have held the heads of a lot of dolls -- sometimes you can't tell where their skin starts and yours ends. So the idea of a girl with a doll-head fused to her fist wasn't a stretch.

 3. When you're not writing, what do you like to do?

Honestly, I like to dance. Almost any kind of dance.

4. I've heard a lot of authors say that they'd actually love to live in the worlds that they've created. Would you like to live in the world of PURE? How do you think you'd do in their society?

Hell no! I prefer PRE-apocalyptic life. I'd die. Flat out in a world of dusts and beasts and groupies. I wouldn't make it to sun down.

5. What's your favorite book, and why?

I have a lot of different favorite books for different reasons at different times in my life. It's why I keep writing, too. If I felt one book -- as reader or writer -- was completely satisfying, I'd stop there.

6. What kind of research did you do while writing Pure?


Lots of stuff, but much of it was about the atomic bombs Americans dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the stories of survivors. Turns out, we, as human beings, have already created the apocalypse at different times in history.

*Giveaway*
The publisher has kindly offered to give away 3 copies of Burn, the most recent book in the PURE series! This contest is only open to USA/CAN entries. Enter up!

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Blogoversary Giveaway + I'm Going on Hiatus

So, if you guys didn't know this - my blogoversary is in two days! Yay! But since I'm being featured today, the giveaway will be starting a couple of days early! And that is SUPER good news for y'all. This year, in just two days... I've been blogging for two years. Let me say that again:

Two years.

I don't know about you, but to me that's a long time to stick with something. It's had it's ups and downs, but ultimately.... this blog is my baby. Which brings me to the next subject - I'll be taking a break until March 1st. I've been encouraged to take a break by lots of fabulous people, and really... I think it'll be the best thing for me. You remember that post about managing reading and blogging? Yeah, I don't really have time for that. So maybe, by taking a break... I'll get a head start on it. Maybe it'll help to straighten things out, and maybe then it'll be easy again.

SO. STOP BEING DEPRESSING, MEGAN.

It's time to PAAARRRTTTAAAAAYYY!

Just kidding. But there is a giveaway.

Most of this is going to be my sad and nostalgic rambling.

This was the first year - the first year that I really felt like I could call myself an "average" blogger. I'm sure I'll never be a big blogger or anything (and yes, that's kind of sad), but I finally feel like I can call this little space in the internet mine. IT'S ALL MINE. FOREVER.

This is also the first year that I've had my design professionally done. It's gorgeous, y'all! And thankfully, I'm still in love with it - I love my truck, and my stars... and I can honestly say that I don't think there's another blog out there that looks like mine. And I'm proud of this little design. Thanks goes to Katie from [KD Designs] for making it!

And it's also the first year that I've participated in a buddy read with a hashtag. That may seem like a small thing, but really, it was so much fun! The #PercyPowWow changes lives, yo. I'm so happy that Becca @ Pivot Book Review took some time to do it with me!

AGAIN, it was the first year for something else new - Sarah @ Book-A-Holic and I tried to host our own reading challenge, via The Raven Readers. Needless to say, we were the only participators. But we had fun!

I've joined two blogs as a collaborator this past year, and I've made lots of new friends - like Nitzan from Drugs Called Books, Mishma from As The Page Turns, and Stephanie from Bookfever, who's blogs are all amazing - and I seriously wish I commented more often. I've been bad about comments lately.

Last, but not least - this is the year of 100, 000 page views. That is no small number... and seriously? Woot, woot!

BUT WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR... THE GIVEAWAY!

*Giveaway*
This giveaway is international, and is for TWO PREORDERS - each winner will win one! DID YOU HEAR THAT? TWO WINNERS! Enter up, y'all!

Oh... you maybe want to look at some choices? Okay...

YOU ASKED FOR IT.



That's just SOME of the books that are coming out soon! I mean... look at their beauties! (Obviously, if you don't *GASP* want one of these, you can pick any other book under $20 from the Book Depository. Enter up, beauties!)

And here's a little about The Pearl, which I personally think sounds amazing!

How do gods come to be? Why are dragons good for some and menacing for others? Where do the different races of men come from? Why does evil even exist? The Pearl introduces us to the fascinating world of Elearah Chronicles, a place where ancient myths are alive, where these questions find answers in their own way. Travel with Balian the bard, Elearah the Pearl bearer, and Mika their guide, as they move through Huo, the land of the fire race. Witness with them the return of the Golden Dragon, and follow them as they clash with the servants of the Snake. And who is Pearl? Ah, that´s a good question, a very good question indeed...

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So, that's that! I'll be seeing you again on March the 1st!

Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell + Giveaway

Etched on Me by Jenn Crowell
Series: N/A
Source: Publisher for Review
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publication Date: February 4, 2014

In the surface, sixteen-year-old Lesley Holloway is just another bright new student at Hawthorn Hill, a posh all-girls prep school north of London. Little do her classmates know that she recently ran away from home, where her father had spent years sexually abusing her. Nor does anyone know that she's secretly cutting herself as a coping mechanism . . . until the day she goes too far and ends up in the hospital.

Lesley spends the next two years in and out of psychiatric facilities, where she overcomes her traumatic memories and finds the support of a surrogate family. Eventually completing university and earning her degree, she is a social services success story - until she becomes unexpectedly pregnant in her early twenties. Despite the overwhelming odds she has overcome, the same team that saved her as an adolescent will now question whether Lesley is fit to be a mother. And so she embarks upon her biggest battle yet: the fight for her unborn daughter.

I'll be the first to say that the premise of Etched on Me appealed to me - I love the dark, gritty stories that I read, but this one didn't really work for me. It's not that it wasn't dark or gritty (it was!), the problem was that I couldn't connect with the main character, Lesley. She's a girl with a lot of problems, and although I understand that... I don't think that she was fleshed out enough.

I liked the inside look at mental institutions, and the people that are in them. It was interesting to see the things that they experience, and how Lesley reacted to them. I also liked the mystery of Lesley and her baby - it's said that they ended up on TV, and that there was a big battle between social services and such... but I didn't know why. I liked that these strings were tied up in the end.

I have to say, though... there were some parts throughout this book - well, they made me cringe, and I didn't exactly want to read them. But I did anyway - and I think I came through it with one thought - "I don't think I get this book".

I really don't think that I did. There were so many... plot twists. There was just so much going on, and I couldn't really get into it. My disconnection with Lesley didn't help either, because not only could I not connect with the story, the character just escaped me.

The message of this book is good - it lets people that are in Lesley's situation know that there is hope, and that they will get through it... but that message just isn't for me. All in all, Etched on Me just wasn't my thing, but I'm not going to try and dissuade you from reading it.

About the Author:

Jenn Crowell’s debut, Necessary Madness, was released when she was just 19; her second novel, Letting the Body Lead, when she was only 24. Both were critically acclaimed and reviewers marveled at the wisdom, maturity, and depth of feeling expressed by so young a writer. Over the next ten years, Jenn earned her MFA, but also underwent treatment for depression and self-harm—issues that she writes about so vividly in her latest novel, ETCHED ON ME (Atria/Washington Square Press, February 4, 2014).

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*Giveaway*
The publisher has been kind enough to offer up a copy of Etched on Me to give away! It will be a signed paperback copy. US/CAN ONLY! Remember, even if I didn't really get this book... that doesn't mean that you won't love love love it! I hope that you enter! :)

(Pssstt... Etched on Me releases on February 4, 2014!)

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