Game. Set. Match. Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway! #OBXers

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Game. Set. Match. (Outer Banks Tennis Academy #1) by Jennifer Iacopelli
Source: Received an ebook to participate in the blog tour and give an honest review.
Publisher: Coliloquy, LLC
Release Date: Already Released.

Synopsis:

Nestled along the coastline of North Carolina, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the best elite tennis training facility in the world. Head Coach, Dominic Kingston has assembled some of the finest talent in the sport. From the game's biggest stars to athletes scraping and clawing to achieve their dreams, OBX is full of ego, drama and romance. Only the strong survive in this pressure cooker of competition, on and off the court.

Penny Harrison, the biggest rising star in tennis, is determined to win the French Open and beat her rival, the world’s number one player, Zina Lutrova. There’s just one problem, the only person who’s ever been able to shake her laser-like focus is her new training partner. Alex Russell, tennis’s resident bad boy, is at OBX recovering from a knee injury suffered after he crashed his motorcycle (with an Aussie supermodel on the back). He's hoping to regain his former place at the top of men’s tennis and Penny’s heart, while he’s at it.

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. Her parents have seven Grand Slam championships and she’s desperate to live up to their legacy. Her best friend is Teddy Harrison, Penny’s twin brother, and that’s all they’ve ever been, friends. Then one stupid, alcohol-laced kiss makes everything super awkward just as she as she starts prepping for the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

The Classic is what draws Indiana Gaffney out of the hole she crawled into after her mom’s death. Even though she’s new to OBX, a win at the Classic is definitely possible. She has a big serve and killer forehand, but the rest of her game isn’t quite up to scratch and it doesn’t help that Jasmine Randazzo and her little minions are stuck-up bitches or that Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and oldest brother, is too hot for words, not to mention way too old for her.

Who will rise? Who will fall?

Told from rotating points of view, GAME. SET. MATCH. is a 'new adult' novel about three girls with one goal: to be the best tennis player in the world.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble

About Jennifer Iacopelli:

Jennifer Iacopelli was born in New York and has no plans to leave...ever. Growing up, she read everything she could get her hands on, but her favorite authors were Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett all of whom wrote about kick-ass girls before it was cool for girls to be kick-ass. She got a Bachelor's degree in Adolescence Education and English Literature quickly followed up by a Master's in Library Science, which lets her frolic all day with her books and computers, leaving plenty of time in the evenings to write and yell at the Yankees, Giants and her favorite tennis players through the TV.

Links: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

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I don't play a lot of sports, but I do enjoy watching them sometimes (not always though :P), and I absolutely love sports romances. Game. Set. Match. isn't like the other sports books I've read though. It's a New Adult for one thing, and the girls happen to be athletes themselves...as are their love interests, but really, the tennis is pretty much all about the girls...and I absolutely loved that! So many romances involving sports focus on the male as the athlete, so it's really refreshing to get to have the female leads as athletes! :D

I guess a lot of readers have been declaring their "teams" based on their favourite characters and such in their reviews, but I have a hard time choosing! Game. Set. Match. features three lovely ladies: Indy, Jasmine and Penny...and I loved Indy and Penny right from the start ! Jas took a while to grow on me, but by the end, I loved her, too. :D They're all such vibrant characters, and they're so driven that it's hard not to admire them. I also adored their love interests...and was so relieved that their weren't any love triangles!!! It's really nice to get to see all three girls interested in different guys (I'm not going to name them because I think you'll enjoy getting to meet the girls' love interests more if I don't tell you)....plus, it would've been weird to read both their points of view if they did like the same one. :P

So, I loved the characters, and I loved the tennis, and I really enjoyed how the story was set up. At times you would get multiple characters' points of view on one day, but at others, it focused on just one, and I thought that Jennifer Iacopelli did a fantastic job at balancing out each girl's portion of the story. :D I loved the competition between the girls and the budding friendships. I also adored the developing romances, and the drama involved was definitely fitting to their situations...and left me just as frustrated as the characters themselves were. :P

Overall, I loved Game. Set. Match. and I can't wait to read the next book in this series! :D I'd recommend it to fans of stories with great characters, and I think that even if you aren't into sports, or tennis specifically, that you'll still enjoy this one. The characters are so real, and I think that each girl is appealing in their own way, and together they create one amazing story! I definitely can't wait for the sequel because I NEED more...more Indy, more Jasmine, more Penny, more boys...just more of this story because it was fantastic!! I always wanted to learn how to play tennis when I was younger...and after reading this, I may just have to actually try it out. ;) Seriously though, give this one a shot, I think it's one that a lot of readers will enjoy. :D

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GIVEAWAY!

- AMAZING PRIZES! All international!
- Ends May 31st

During Game. Set. Match.'s blog tour, there is an amazing giveaway going on! I've shared it below, but please keep in mind, this giveaway is for the entire blog tour, so if you see it on multiple blogs, just remember, it's the same giveaway. :)

TO ENTER JUST FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can find the schedule for the rest of the tour stops for the Game. Set. Match. blog tour here on Jennifer Iacopelli's blog. You can even find excerpts on some of the stops, so make sure to take a peek!

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What do you think? Does Game. Set. Match. sound like a book you'd enjoy?

And if you've already read it, who was your favourite character? Or what did you think? :)

Review: Post Mortem (Parish Mail #2) by Kira Snyder & GIVEAWAY!

Source: Received a copy from the publisher for an honest review.
Publisher: Coliloquy, LLC
Release Date: Already released.


Description from Goodreads:

Celia Macarty is back in Post Mortem, the second installment in the Parish Mail saga.

Autumn in New Orleans means Homecoming, romance—and murder. When a friend vanishes, Celia believes a desperate letter about an unsolved Civil War-era murder holds the key to unraveling the mystery.

As she searches for answers, Celia enlists the help of quirky witch Tilly, and either all-American boy Donovan or, enigmatic Luc–you get to choose.

As the gang follows the missing girl’s trail, danger turns up on all fronts. A vicious stranger threatens Celia’s family. Celia’s nightmares–about a shadowy, ominous villain–get worse. And a new ghost has appeared: beautiful Angelica, who shares a past with Luc.

It will take all of Celia’s will and wit, and the faith of her friends, to solve an unspeakable crime. And no matter which path Celia takes, she will discover that sometimes the past can come back to haunt you.

What’s Cool from Coliloquy:
Throughout the Parish Mail series, readers decide which clues to follow to help Celia unravel each mystery. You’ll even get to cast a vote for your favorite love interest. But remember: Choose carefully, or else the killer might just get away.

This series is quickly reawakening the mystery fan in me! I love trying to figure everything out and piece it all together as Celia uncovers different clues, and once again, I really enjoyed the interactive aspect that Coliloquy's stories bring to this type of story. I read through all possible variations, and I could see how the choices made differences in the storyline. I'm starting to notice that the version I picked first usually ends up being my favourite though. ;) haha

I loved Post Mortem just as much as I loved Dead Letter Office, and I'm thoroughly enjoying getting to know Celia and her friends. I'm also incredibly fascinated by the paranormal and magical elements that are in this series. I love all the mentions of cadeaus, and just different types of spells. Kira Snyder has made them fit so seamlessly within the story that it honestly doesn't even seem out of the norm in modern day New Orleans, and I think that's the part that I find the most fascinating about the paranormal bits...it's as if it could happen to anyone and that you could move to New Orleans and realize your unknown cadeau, too...and I kinda like that. ;D

Along with the magic, I loved the story. Celia spent a lot of Post Mortem just trying to figure out if there was an actual mystery to solve, and I always had confidence in her instincts, just like her best friend Tilly did. Although the boys were another story. Depending on the version you went with one of the boys, Donovan or Luc, were always a bit more hesitant and the other believed in her the whole time, and that was kind of interesting aspect I saw when reading through both versions because it was like one choice had rivets throughout the story.  Even with her doubts, Celia continued to investigate, and she soon uncovers some pretty crazy and intense stuff! While Dead Letter Office was awesome and exciting, Post Mortem was both of those things and also had some pretty freaky parts that kind of gave me the creeps...in a good way of course. It had even more of the paranormal and magic that I mentioned before and it made for one crazy mystery. :D

Since I mentioned the boys before I have to bring them up. Celia's got quite the dramatic love life right now. She doesn't have a boyfriend, but there are a few prospective love interests in her life. You have Donovan--the detective's son, Luc--the attractive ghost from another era, and even Sloan is kind of romantically linked a bit...he and Celia have a very strange relationship. Sloan's the resident rich boy with a bad attitude, and he has a tendency to insult her almost every time he sees her...although not always. I have to say that Donovan is my favourite though. He's just such a good guy, plus that roguish smile he has gets me every time. *sigh* I like Luc, but I'm not really digging the whole ghost relationship thing. :P Well, now that I've had a one-sided gush fest about the boys with you all, I'll just say that you'll have to read the series to find out which one you like and feel free to gush with me about them. ;)

Overall, I loved Post Mortem. :D It's a fantastic story and definitely a worth follow-up to Dead Letter Office. I loved everything about it from the truly spooky mystery, to the budding romance (or rather romances) and finally to Celia herself. She is quickly becoming a favourite of mine and really reminds me of one of my absolute favourite characters, Veronica Mars. Celia's not as snarky, but she definitely has the guts to go into some crazy situations and will follow any lead to uncover the truth just as Veronica does. I definitely cannot wait to see what happens to Celia and her friends next. :D

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GIVEAWAY!
- US/Canada Only!
- 1 Winner will receive a set of Dead Letter Office and Post Mortem in the Parish Mail series in the ebook format of their choice
- Giveaway ends May 17th at 11;59 PM (MST)
- Winner will be chosen with Rafflecopter, contacted via email and will have 48 hours to claim their prize

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Good luck if you enter the giveaway! :D
So, what do you think of Post Mortem and the Parish Mail series?

Review: Dead Letter Office (Parish Mail #1) by Kira Synder

Source: Received an ebook from the publisher for an honest review.
Publisher:Colliloquy, LLC
Release Date: Already Released.
Number of Pages: 212 (Paperback)


Description from Goodreads:

When Celia’s father is killed in Afghanistan, she moves with her mother to New Orleans, the city where her father grew up. Struggling to adjust and haunted by troubling dreams, Celia finds comfort in new friends like Tilly, a practicing witch, and Donovan, the son of police detective. On Halloween, bizarre supernatural occurrences rock the city. Celia meets the mysterious Luc and finds a letter, over a hundred years old, addressed to her.

The paranormal repercussions continue when Celia learns that Luc is the restless spirit of a young man murdered in 1854, only able to assume solid form at night. And then, to her shock, Celia finds that the letter, which describes the suspected murder of a man in 1870, contains uncanny parallels to the present-day death of Abel Sims, a homeless veteran.

With help from Luc, Tilly, and Donovan, Celia races to solve the murder—and the mystery of the letter—using both magical and forensic clues.

This is an Active Fiction title
"Active fiction" is a new type of e-reading experience that allows the reader and the author to interact with each other and the text in new and different ways.

Kira has written Parish Mail like a TV series–there are over-arching mystery and romantic story arcs that extend between the episodes, while each episode has a smaller case that is presented and solved. Along the way, she asks you, the reader, to make several small decisions as you read. These choices do not impact the overarching storyline, but certain combinations “unlock” clues to the series’ mystery, which are embedded in the text. Kira also asks you to cast a vote at the end of the episode, to get additional feedback from her fans about their preferred love interests in future episodes.

I don't actually read very many mysteries, but whenever I do, I remember just how awesome they are. It's kind of neat to have everything slowly unveil before you as the main character figures everything out. :D Dead Letter Office definitely did the whole mystery element well, and the fact that it is an active fiction title made it even better! Instead of being a passive reader experiencing everything as the character makes choices, you get to make the choices for them and that was fantastic!

I made sure to read all of the possible alternatives so that I could review this title fairly, and I really liked that the differences between paths were subtle, but they also stood out and did take the story in different directions. :D I definitely loved that you get to choose how it all unfolds though because that was a really interesting experience. :)

Along with the mystery element, Dead Letter Office was also shrouded in the paranormal, and since the main character, Celia, was pretty curious, she worked hard to try and figure out everything that's going on. I really enjoyed Celia! She was curious, and I liked the honest relationship she had with her mother. :D Donovan, Tilly, and Luc were also really interesting characters. I'm gonna try to spoil too much, but there is definitely a love triangle going on in this one...and boy is it a strange one. :P haha I loved that each character provided a different element to the story through their relationship with Celia, too. Through Donovan, you get to see the whole Detective side of uncovering the truth, and through Tilly, you get to see magic and all that fun stuff! :D Luc also brings a very interesting perspective, but I'm going to let him remain a mystery until you read Dead Letter Office yourself! ;D

Overall, I loved Dead Letter Office! The active fiction aspect of the story brought a whole new element to the story, and made the mystery even more fascinating. The characters were great, and the writing was descriptive and kept me riveted until the last page...in every version of the story that I tried! I'd recommend this one to mystery fans, and even to those who aren't a fan of mysteries. I think you'd really enjoy this one if you like crime stories on TV, too. All in all, I thought Dead Letter Office was fantastic, and I can't wait to read the sequel, Post Mortem! :D

Are you a fan of mysteries?
Would you enjoy getting to choose what the narrator does in a mystery?
Any other thoughts? :)

Author Interview with Kira Snyder (author of Dead Letter Office)

Hey Kira! Thanks for stopping by my blog! :D

Thank you so much for having me!

Let’s start this interview off nice and easy. Can you share a bit about yourself with us?

I live in Los Angeles with my husband. We just bought a house and consequently are spending way more time at hardware stores than I ever thought possible (who knew one house could have so many light bulbs to replace?). My day job is writing for TV, pretty much the best job ever. I’m grateful every day. Some of the shows I’ve written for are the cult hit vampire detective show “Moonlight” and “Eureka” and “Alphas” for the Syfy Channel. I also worked in computer game design for a number of years – you can see glimpses of this in the Parish Mail interactive ebooks – and enjoy playing Xbox or PS3 when I can find the time.

Could you describe the first book in your Parish Mail series, Dead Letter Office, for those not familiar with the series yet?

In Dead Letter Office we meet the series heroine Celia, a teenager who’s just lost her father. She’s newly arrived in New Orleans with her mom and has a thousand things to adjust to: a family she’s never met, a new city, new school, new friends. On Halloween a massive supernatural disturbance rocks the city, and Celia finds a letter, over a hundred years old, apparently addressed to her and pleading for her help. Celia becomes convinced that the letter holds the key to solving the present-day death of a homeless veteran. Helping her are Tilly, a quirky witch, Donovan, the son of a cop, and the enigmatic Luc, who is much more than he first appears. The mystery deepens in Post Mortem, the second Parish Mail book, when one of Celia’s friends goes missing right before Homecoming.

Dead Letter Office is described as an “active” title. What does that means and how does it influence your writing process?

Dead Letter Office and all the Parish Mail books are interactive, sort of a next generation/2.0 version of Choose Your Own Adventure. At key points you get to make decisions for Celia, and those decisions have consequences. Some of the choices are personal: does Celia accept the popular Peyton’s invitation to attend a swanky Halloween party, or does she hang out with Tilly in the French Quarter? Does Celia choose Donovan or Luc to help her solve the mystery? Other decision points let you play detective along with Celia. Which clue should she follow? Which suspect should she chase? The choices you make determine the story for the rest of the book and also unlock clues to the overarching series mystery. The writing process involves not just a chapter by chapter outline but also a detailed flowchart like I used to make as a game designer, mapping out all the paths, decision points, and clues. Writing an interactive book is creatively very challenging, but a lot of fun.

In the description for Dead Letter Office on Goodreads, it also says that you wrote it like a TV series. What’s that process like and how do you weave all of those over-arching aspects into one story?

As the first book in the Parish Mail series, Dead Letter Office is like the pilot (first) episode of a TV show. It sets up the world including the characters and the overarching mystery, while having a specific case for Celia to solve by the end of the book. Post Mortem and the other books to come also have their own single mystery that wraps up by the end, but also further advance both the long-term story and the emotional development of the characters.

Where do you get your inspiration while writing from?

From all over, really. The city of New Orleans and its astonishingly rich history is the primary inspiration for the entire Parish Mail series. Celia herself was inspired by the strong and smart teen heroines of “Veronica Mars” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” two TV shows I’m a big fan of. But I also find creative sparks from music – I listened to Dixieland jazz and blues while writing Dead Letter Office – and books and movies.

And my final question: I’m always curious about authors as readers, so do you have any favourite authors or books that you’d recommend?

My favorite book about writing is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, with Stephen King’s On Writing a close second. For recent YA, I loved Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I’m currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and can hardly can put it down, it’s so compelling and poignant with wonderfully grounded and specific character details. And I’m biased of course, but Coliloquy’s entire catalog of interactive ebooks is terrific.

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About Kira Snyder:

DEAD LETTER OFFICE and POST MORTEM, the first two in the Parish Mail series of interactive ebooks, are now available for Kindle, Nook, Android, and Kindle app (iPad/iPhone):

http://www.coliloquy.com/products/dea...

http://www.coliloquy.com/products/pos...

Kira Snyder is a writer living in Los Angeles. Her television work includes the Syfy Channel shows ALPHAS and EUREKA and the People’s Choice Award-winning vampire drama MOONLIGHT, which aired on CBS. Kira’s plays have been performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Circle in the Square Theatre School, the Burton-Taylor Theatre in Oxford, England, the Bay Area Independent Theatre Fringe Festival, and Stanford University. Also a game designer with a Masters degree from NYU-Tisch’s interactive media program, Kira has produced games for Electronic Arts, Purple Moon, Microsoft, There.com, the MIT Press textbook Rules of Play, and Yahoo, including EA’s seminal alternate reality game MAJESTIC. She is a proud geek and loves sci-fi and videogames, reading and playing when she’s not writing or designing.

Author Description from Goodreads.
Author Links: Twitter | Blog | Goodreads

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So, what do you think?

Does Dead Letter Office sound like something you'd like to read?

Cover Reveal & Giveaway: Game. Set. Match. (Outerbanks Tennis Academy #1) by Jennifer Iacopelli #OBXers

 

Game. Set. Match. Synopsis:
 
Nestled along the coastline of North Carolina, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the best elite tennis training facility in the world. Head Coach, Dominic Kingston has assembled some of the finest talent in the sport. From the game's biggest stars to athletes scraping and clawing to achieve their dreams, OBX is full of ego, drama and romance. Only the strong survive in this pressure cooker of competition, on and off the court.

Penny Harrison, the biggest rising star in tennis, is determined to win the French Open and beat her rival, the world’s number one player, Zina Lutrova. There’s just one problem, the only person who’s ever been able to shake her laser-like focus is her new training partner. Alex Russell, tennis’s resident bad boy, is at OBX recovering from a knee injury suffered after he crashed his motorcycle (with an Aussie supermodel on the back). He's hoping to regain his former place at the top of men’s tennis and Penny’s heart, while he’s at it.

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. Her parents have seven Grand Slam championships between them and she’s desperate to live up to their legacy. Her best friend is Teddy Harrison, Penny’s twin brother, and that’s all they’ve ever been, friends. Then one stupid, alcohol-laced kiss makes everything super awkward just as she as she starts prepping for the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

The Classic is what draws Indiana Gaffney out of the hole she crawled into after her mom’s death. Even though she’s new to OBX, a win at the Classic is definitely possible. She has a big serve and killer forehand, but the rest of her game isn’t quite up to scratch and it doesn’t help that Jasmine Randazzo and her little minions are stuck-up bitches or that Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and oldest brother, is too hot for words, not to mention way too old for her.

Who will rise? Who will fall?

Told from rotating points of view, GAME. SET. MATCH., is a 'new adult' novel about three girls with one goal: to be the best tennis player in the world.

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Cover Reveal Giveaway!

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

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Here's the author Jennifer Iacopelli's reaction to the cover:

My cover artist is the INCREDIBLE Erin Fitzsimmons, who also designed (and redesigned) the covers for Lauren Oliver's Delirium series! I love how it focuses on the girl, because the girls are truly the heart of this series, plus the couple really looks like Penny and Alex, one of the three couples featured in the OBX series. That's one of my pet peeves, when the models don't look anything like the characters! And of course, the kiss, because really, who doesn't a love a little kissing?! I adore the title treatment. The yellow brightening to the green brings out a fun tennis color scheme. So yes, lots of love from my end, but I fully admit, I may be a little biased.

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What about you? What do you think of the cover? 

And good luck if you enter the giveaway! :D

Georgetown Academy Guest Post and Giveaway!

In honour of Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration tomorrow, I've got a guest post for you from the authors of the Georgetown Academy, and as I mentioned previously...I've also got a giveaway for you! And if you've been following the series already...Book 3 has just been released so I have some links for you for that one, too! :D

And without further ado...here is the guest post by the lovely ladies who've brought us the Georgetown Academy series! :D

Guest Post By Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz, authors of Georgetown Academy

Michelle Obama wears a J.Crew sweater and it sells out the next day. Her daughter, Malia, is on her way to becoming a style maven in her own right, especially with the plethora of top designers fighting over dressing her for the Inauguration. Being part of a high-profile political family means facing the fashion spotlight, for better or for worse. Today we thought we’d spin that spotlight over to someone that we consider to be one of the most chic political children out there today…Lauren Bush Lauren.

Don't get us wrong. Lauren Bush Lauren was cool when she was just Lauren Bush, granddaughter of George HW Bush and niece of "W". Whether she was turning burlap sacks into the ultimate fashion accessory (all for the good of feeding the hungry) or gracing the cover of Vogue with her trademark buttery locks, she rocked it. But then she had to go and marry Ralph Lauren's son and now she's just in a different stratosphere.

Once you get past the fact that her name is now essentially Lauren Lauren, you can't help but realize she's ratcheted up the style quotient even more. And don't get us started on those wedding pic at the Ralph Lauren ranch out in Wyoming? (Side note: have you noticed a trend of Bush grandchildren getting married at ranches, because we have!) Stunning. Pure rustic gloss.

We can't figure out if we're obsessed with her or insanely jealous, but in any case, if she’d gone to Georgetown Academy we have no doubt she would’ve been crowned Best Dressed.

Follow us on Twitter! @GTownAcademy
Buy our Book! http://www.coliloquy.com/products/georgetown-academy-one/
Get more Info! www.georgetownacademysseries.com

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GIVEAWAY!

- US/Canada Only

- 1 Winner will receive ebooks of all 3 books in the Georgetown Academy series

(in the format of their choice)

- Giveaway ends February 14th 11:59 PM (MST)

- Winner will be chosen using Rafflecopter

and will have 48 hours to claim their prize after being contacted

TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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 Find out more about Georgetown Academy: Book 3!

Coliloquy Website:

Georgetown Academy: Book 3

Goodreads Link:

Georgetown Academy: Book 3

Buys Links:

Amazon | Google Play | Barnes and Noble

So, what did you think of Alyssa and Jessica's guest post?

Any thoughts about the series? Feel free to share! :D

Heidi R. Kling Interview and Giveaway!

I have an awesome guest on my blog today! :D Heidi R. Kling, the author of Sea
and her new interactive series The Spellspinners of Melas County, has answered a few of my questions! And her fabulous publisher, Coliloquy, has generously provided a giveaway that you can find at the end of this post. :)
 
Also, a note, this interview does not contain any spoilers for the series, but it does make mention of characters that you might have never heard of if you haven't started the series yet.

You can find out more about Witch's Brew, and The Gleaning on Coliloquy's website.
And here are their Goodreads pages: Witch's Brew | The Gleaning

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About Heidi R. Kling:

After earning her BA in Literature & Creative Writing Literature from UC Santa Cruz and finding her voice in YA, Heidi went on to earn her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. She has directed and written children's theatre on both coasts and lives with her husband and two children in Palo Alto, CA.

(Photo and Bio from Goodreads)
 Other Links: Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr


And finally, here is my interview with Heidi R. Kling (questions are bolded):

Hi Heidi! :D Thanks for stopping by my blog and chatting with me! 

Thank you for having me!

First, for people who are just hearing about this series, can you tell us a bit about The Spellspinners of Melas County?

The Spellspinners of Melas County is an interactive eBook series akin to those Choose Your Own Adventure books we loved as kids. But this time there’s no falling off cliffs on page 8 and starting over. Throughout you have choice points and you can lead our main character Lily, head of the young witches, on her dangerously romantic adventure with Logan.

Witch’s Brew is the set-up. The Gleaning tests the strength of their relationship.

 

What made you want to write about witches?

It was actually my agent’s suggestion! After I finished my debut novel SEA, she tossed out, “What do you think about witches?” I’d recently had my second child, a daughter, and while in a hormoned-out state created Lily and her fascinating world.

When you’re writing an interactive story does your method for writing change? / What is the process for writing an interactive story like? Is it a lot different from how you write when the book you’re writing doesn’t have choices?

Yes. It’s both challenging and exhilarating! I want to make sure the readers of each path gets all the pertinent information in regards to plot and character development, so if in Path A Lily finds a specific clue, or has a certain feeling toward a character, I try and repeat it in some way in the other path. It gets tricky! 

In Witch’s Brew and The Gleaning you alternate between Lily and Logan as the narrator. How do you decide when to go from a Lily chapter to one about Logan?

That’s a great question! It just sort of flows like that. I write one POV until it has a nice conclusion line, then I switch. I’m writing Spellspinners 3 now and I’m doing something quite different than in Witch’s Brew and The Gleaning in regards to POV. Remember this question when you read it. J

I love the whole prophecy surrounding Lily and Logan. Did the idea come from anything, or is it all from your imagination?

Thanks! It’s all from my imagination. I love the idea of Yin/Yang and the way females/males balance each other out, create a whole. I practice yoga and the theme comes up again and again about balance. So, I played around with the idea of being unbalanced. What that does to us as people, and, in the specific case of witches, how it would alter your magic.

What can we look forward to in the next installment?

The Gleaning pushes the bar as far as Lily being tempted. The theme largely moves around temptation and want. Also betrayal. Spellspinners 3 is largely about loyalty. Who do we love, why do we love them. (Friendship as well as romantic love.) If they betrayed us in the cruellest way imaginable would we still try to save them? Spinners 3 is action packed AND has the perfect ending (in my humble opinion). :D

And finally, what are some of the things that you love about getting to write in such an interesting format?

Unleashing my creativity in a way that is totally acceptable.

My publisher, Lisa Rutherford, is so awesome in so many ways, but what I love best about her is that I will throw out something like, “Invisible ink! Can we do a magic trick in this book?!” and she’s like, “Yes! Let’s try that!” She’s very much a yes person and I’m a yes person, so it works out great.

Thanks for having me! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the series!

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What awesome answers!!! :D I hope you all enjoyed Heidi's interview as much as I did, and....now here's your chance to win a set of the first two books in the Spellspinners of Melas County series, Witch's Brew and The Gleaning! :D

GIVEAWAY!

Details:

- US/Canada Only
- 1 Winner will win a set of Witch's Brew and The Gleaning in the ebook format of their choice.
- Ends Dec.28th
- Winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to claim their prize.

 TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, The Gleaning's official release is today, so if you've read Witch's Brew and can't wait for The Gleaning, you can get yourself a copy at these sites:
Google Play Store  | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.

First, Happy Book Birthday to The Gleaning!!! Second, thank you to Heidi R. Kling for her fabulous answers and Coliloquy for setting up our interview. :)

Now, what did you all think of the interview?
Are you a fan of this series, or is it new to you?
Either way, what do you think? :)

Thanks for reading, and if you've entered, good luck in the giveaway! :D