Mundie Moms

Saturday, June 14, 2014

RUIN & RISING by Leigh Bardugo; Blog Tour: Author Interview & Giveaway




Hello & Welcome to the next stop in the international RUIN & RISING blog tour
I'm so thrilled to have author Leigh Bardugo on the blog today to talk about the men of her series!! It took a lot of restraint on my part not to bombard her with questions about a certain someone from the series *coughs*
Before I share my interview & tell you how you can enter to win the ENTIRE Grisha Series, here's a little bit about Ruin & Rising, which is out TUESDAY!! 


By: Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Henry Holt
To Be Released on: June 17th, 2014
Purchase it from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to: Goodreads

The capital has fallen. The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.
Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.

Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.

Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

Learn more about Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm




Hi Leigh! I'm so thrilled to have you on Mundie Moms. Congratulations to your release of Ruin & Rising. Let's talk about your fabulously, delicious, I mean your awesome, well written guys. Let's cut right to the chase. What secret of The Darkling's can you tell us? I promise I won't tell anyone else. haha
Hey! So glad to be here and thank you for having me. As for the Darkling, hmmm, he has a sweet tooth?
As you know, I absolutely LOVE your writing.You created such richly developed characters with each of the guys. Did you ever find yourself fighting with any of them over a scene in terms of what you wanted them to do vs what they wanted to do?
Aw, thank you. The only person I ever fight with is Nikolai because that boy just wants to talk and talk. But really I'm just warring with my desire to write banter all day long. I guess I also sometimes have trouble with Mal. When he speaks his heart, he does so reluctantly and that can be challenging. Just spit it out, dude! Give in to the feels!



The Darkling to me is your series's more fascinating character. He continues to surprise me. I feel there's so much to him we've yet to discover. What is one redeeming quality you admire in The Darkling? 
People always want to talk about redemption where the Darkling is concerned. Is he kind to animals? Yes. Does he have a viable plan for Ravka as a world power? Yes. Is he a man willing to sacrifice for his goals? Yes. But whether or not those qualities are redemptive is for the reader to decide. I just tell the story.

Mal is someone you've made me go back and forth with feeling wise. There were times I loved him, and other times I was a little torn about him. Through out the series, what have you been the most surprised with in terms of Mal's character?
"Torn," huh? I think you're being a little diplomatic. A lot of readers were very angry with Mal after Siege and Storm. I think I've always been surprised that people seem to hold both Alina and Mal to a much higher moral standard than the Darkling. But it's been important to me to keep Mal as real as possible. He's very much a guy, a teenage boy without the benefit of the Darkling's long life or Nikolai's education and resources. He's got his own journey to go on in this story and he's made some big mistakes along the way.

Haha Yes I was being diplomatic. I'm hoping to give Mal the benefit of the doubt *coughs* So, Sturmhond..... He definitely knows how to liven things up in this series. What's your favorite characteristic of his?
His confidence! So many of my characters are beset by doubt, worried about doing the right thing, afraid they won't measure up. Not my cocky privateer. He has infinite faith in himself and his ability to find the solution to a problem. I love that optimism and I wouldn't mind bottling a little of it for myself.
What's one of your favorite moments or lines (or you know kiss scene) between Alina and either The Darkling or Mal? 
Hmmm, I think they all happen in Ruin and Rising! *waggles brows* But okay, if I have to pick from the first two books...
1. "I don't care if you danced naked on the roof of the Little Palace. I love you, Alina. Even the part of you that loved him." It's not that I think the line is so great, but when I wrote it I didn't realize how important it would be for some readers who cared about seeing a love interest who embraced a heroine regardless of her past or any idea of "purity."
2. "I'll make sure you hear it when I make her scream." Okay, so I'm going to get in trouble for mentioning this one, but I love how readers are always like, "I'm so dirty! You won't believe where my mind went when I read this." Damn right! You think the Darkling wasn't messing with Mal? All my entendres be double.
Great, if you're favorite moments are in Ruin & Rising I have a feeling you're going to kill me. Or make me swoon the entire time. Either one will be fine by me if the Darkling is involved.

The guys of your trilogy are seriously awesome. Really. You've created such memorable characters that were so easy to fall in love with. If you could tell fans something about them, that we don't get to see from the series, but you did, what would that be? 
Dang it, woman, I already told you the Darkling has a sweet tooth! I wrote the trilogy from Alina's POV for a reason and it's important to me that the readers see the other characters through her eyes. But because of that, there are also a lot of stories that didn't get told: Mal's time away from Alina at Keramzin, Sturmhond's adventures with the rogues aboard the Volkvolny, and the Darkling's many, many lives. Maybe one day I'll get to tell them all.
Just because inquiring minds want to know, what kind of chocolate would The Darkling, Mal and Sturmhond be? My guess is The Darkling would be a smooth dark chocolate. *snickers* 
Hmmm, well, I think the Darkling might be an acquired taste. Like some people might find him a little bitter and hard to take. I think Mal would be some type of almond bark or something with lots of nuts and fruit and maybe a pine bough or something. Rugged chocolate. Sturmhond would be an outrageously rich and decadent truffle—something imported of course. Thanks a lot. Now I'm hungry.
Next time I won't ask the chocolate question. Now I'm hungry!
Thank you Leigh for stopping by today!



About Leigh
Leigh Bardugo is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Shadow and Boneand Siege and Storm. She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University, and has worked in advertising, journalism, and most recently, makeup and special effects. These days, she’s lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band.

Find Leigh: Visit Leigh Bardugo’s website, like Shadow and Bone on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, and follow her on Tumblr

The Giveaway
Thank you to Fierce Reads / Henry Holt, I have the entire Grisha Trilogy to giveaway to 1 lucky reader!! To enter to win, please fill out the form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!
Check out tomorrow's stop on Winged Reviews

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