Mundie Moms

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Books News & Our Upcoming Author Chats

There's a lot of exciting things going on in the book world this month, on top of all the fabulous releases (which we'll post soon). We're SO excited about this month's upcoming LIVE author chats! Be sure to mark your calendars, as we have details below for our chats with Shannon Delany, Ally Carter and Julie Kagawa!


Don't forget about tonight's Twitter party with Elizabeth Eulberg!! & be sure to enter our Prom & Prejudice giveaway here


Congratulations to Julie Kagawa as The Iron Queen is #6 on the NY Times Best Sellers List!! Mark your calendars, as we'll be chatting with Julie on Thursday, Feb. 24th @ 9 pm EST. Don't forget to enter our The Iron Queen Blog Tour giveaway-


Ally Carter shared the cover Uncommon Criminals, which is out in June!! I totally love the cover! We can't wait to read it. Be sure to join us on Tuesday, Feb. 22nd at 9 pm EST when we chat LIVE with Ally!


We're SO excited to announce that we're having Shannon, Max AND Pietr on our site on Feb. 17th for a LIVE chat at 9 pm EST! We're looking forward to being apart of the Secrets and Shadows/Maximum Exposure blog tour, which you can find out more about here- http://tinyurl.com/4sjnfjs

Chat information will be posted closer to the chat dates, and all chats happen here on our blog.

Book Review- The Body Finder

By Kimberly Derting
Published by Harper Teen
Released on March 16th, 2010
Source- Bought
5 stars- This is a must read!

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself (quoted from Goodreads).

The Body Finder is such a fantastic book! I'm ashamed to admit it had been sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read for a few months now, but when I read it was on Cassandra Clare's 12 Favorite Books list (released on Barnes and Noble the other day), I finally pick it up and read it. It took me one sitting to finish this beautifully written story. I'm completely blown away that it's Kimberly's debut book. The plot, the setting, the love story and the fascinating point of view from the killer completely captured my attention and took me on a fabulous, emotional ride.

Jay and Violet have quickly become two of my all time favorite characters, and I finally understand why Jay made it on so many top 10 all time favorite male character lists. Let me talk about Violet first, as her voice is one of the best I've read. She's so honest, real, snarky, completely relatable and someone I would love to hang out with. While I don't know what it's like to sense the echos of those who have died, it was really easy for me to sympathize with her and what she deals with. She's a strong character, with a fascinating ability who tries to be normal, and is able to do so (for the most part) with the support of her family and Jay. I love the supportive role her family plays, which is absent in so many YA books.

Jay is brilliant! He's loyal, protective and all around great guy. I liked that his good looks don't go to his head, making him even more likable. I really enjoyed the history that Jay and Violet have from growing up together and being best friends. He's the one person that knows about her secret outside of her family and he is completely supportive of her. Kimberly did a great job with Jay and Violet's transition from best friends to being in a relationship. It was spot on as once you cross that boundary, often times there is no turning back and it does change things. I understood Violet's worry of crossing this boundary. I loved these two together, as they made me laugh out loud and had me sighing more than once. I really appreciated that while they have a few hot scenes, they don't go all the way. I think it adds a little something more to their relationship and who they are.

The setting is beautiful and as I've said before, I'm a sucker for a beautiful North West setting. It played a huge role in The Body Finder as Jay and Violet spent a lot time in the woods behind her house when they were younger, but it's also where she makes a lot of her grizzly discoveries. Kimberly delivers a fantastic plot that is one part suspense and one part romance. I was both fascinated and mortified with the killer's point of view. It's disturbing being in his head, but it also adds an element of fear which is strategically place into the story at just the right times. One moment I would be laughing out loud at Jay and Violet's bantering or sighing from their scenes together and the next my adrenaline would be racing from the killer's scenes.

This is one engaging, romantic and thrilling book that I would recommend to older YA readers. It's one of those books that will leave you thinking about days after you're read it. There is very mild language, and some underage drinking at a party that may not be suitable for all readers. I think it's a fantastic debut book as it's suspenseful, beautiful and breathtaking, and one I highly recommend reading it.

Author Interview & Giveaway with Sarwat Chadda
















If you haven't yet picked up Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss & Dark Goddess, we highly recommend them. They are fabulous books full of lore, adventure and who doesn't love a book that has the Knights Templar in it.

Today we're thrilled to Sarwat Chadda on our blog. Recently we were able to ask him a few questions about his books.

I am a huge fan of Devil's Kiss & Dark Goddess, as I really enjoy the way in which you intertwine your story with a rich lore and history. What inspired you to add the lore of Baba Yaga to Dark Goddess?
I’ve grown up reading myths. Be they Greek, Norse, Indian or Russian. I just love them. When I first wrote Devil’s Kiss I knew I wanted to ground it in as much authentic detail as possible. So I wanted to use a real organization like the Templars, not make one up. I wanted to use establish fairy tale and mythic characters with their own histories.

Baba Yaga is an important prehistoric goddess figure. I read about her in Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ book, Women who run with the Wolves. She’s both wise and terrifying. She’s the old crone who delivers the baby into life and wraps the dead in their burial shrouds. She’s the keeper of the mysteries of the other world. She is the first witch.
Devil’s Kiss had a powerful male energy, I wanted Dark Goddess to have an equally powerful female one. Nothing defines that better than Baba Yaga.

I have really enjoyed getting to know Billi's character. She's gone through so much and yet she continues to be a character of strength. What is something you've come to admire most about Billi?
Her refusal to quit. Billi’s not superhuman, she bleeds and suffers and has to carry her wounds, physical and emotional, from one story to the next.

For me, one of the key attributes of any hero is their stubbornness. When all others have given up, fled the battlefield, the hero remains. I love the idea of the last man standing. There are times in everyone’s life when you don’t have backup from friends or relatives and you must dig way down deep into your own heart to find the courage to carry on. Even when you’re staring failure full in the face. To carry on under those circumstances is what defines Billi.
I’d like to point out my life’s pretty cosy in comparison to most. Billi’s far tougher than I am!

I love that you wrote a story with the Knights Templar. Did you find it easy or a daunting task in incorporating them into Billi's story?
It took about six months of solid reading to get into the Templar mindset. I needed to know their history and it’s pretty complex. After six months I was able to recall the key characters and events out of their history without needing to double-check. Then I got on with the story. What’s great is events from the real past helped the plot immensely. The story’s far richer by basing it on a real organization. It is daunting but gives the tales a greater depth than they’d otherwise have.

You have a cast of fabulous characters. Which of your characters did you enjoy getting to know the most?
Elaine was the easiest to write. For some reason she was clear and perfectly defined from the first draft. But, apart from Billi, I love Arthur. In the first draft he was quite a nice, caring bloke. But with each revision he became harder, more brutal and colder. Arthur has a massive wound in his heart and he’s never allowed it to heal. Plus the father daughter relationship is very personal to me, having two daughters of my own. I thought having a warrior dad training his daughter to be the next Templar Master would be a cool twist.

I was really blown away with Dark Goddess. Do you have plans to continue the series?
I’d love to! I’ve plans in place for Billi 3# and have dropped hints about it in both books. I’d really like to take her to Jerusalem, to the original home of the Templars. But book 3 totally depends on the success of the first two.

Meanwhile I’ll be announcing my new project soon. It’s of epic proportions and set in the same world as Billi. I guarantee it will kick ass to the highest degree.

What author has been a huge influence on you?
Phillip Pullman was the biggest reason I went into writing. I read the Northern Lights trilogy about ten years ago. It totally blew me away. I’d avoided the entire Harry Potter frenzy. I thought adults reading children’s books was rather sad. A friend forced the first Pullman book into my hands and eventually I decided to give it a try. I’ve never been the same since.

When it comes to writing styles, Clive Cussler and Bernard Cornwell are two other big action authors who’ve helped immensely. Both write epic adventure stories and Cussler’s always have a strong historical back-story. Since mine are also grounded in past events I studied his method and adapted it to suit me.

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Thank you so much Sarwat for being with us today and we're eagerly awaiting to hear what your next project is!

You can find out more about Sarwat's work by visiting his site here http://www.sarwatchadda.com/ and on Disney Hyperion here http://tinyurl.com/4sepubo
Go here DEVIL'S KISS & here DARK GODDESS to read more about each book.

You can read my reviews for each book here http://tinyurl.com/6gbvygn

Thank you to Disney Hyperion, we have two copies of Dark Goddess we're giving away to two lucky followers. Please be sure to read the guidelines for entering and fill out the form below.

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