Mundie Moms

Sunday, September 28, 2014

ATLANTIA by Ally Condie; Blog Tour: Author Interview & Giveaway #AtlantiaBelow





Ally Condie's has a new book coming out, ATLANTIA, which will hit shelves on October 28th, 2014. To celebrate, Penguin Teen has put together an awesome blog tour. There are two teams, #TeamBelow, that's US and #TeamAbove. 


Through out the month of October, follow along by supporting #TeamBelow. My entire team (see the list below) will be posting through out the month. You can join the Team Below fun by following the #TeamBelow hash tag. Posts will be featured on our blog, #TeamBelow team blogs, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram & Facebook. Ally Condie and Penguin Teen will be joining in the reposting fun! Yes, this is a friendly competition that will be going on all month long between Team Below & Team Above. 

I'm so thrilled to be kicking off the tour with an interview with ALLY CONDIE! Before I share my recent interview with Ally, here's a little bit about ATLANTIA:


By: Ally Condie
Published by: Dutton Books
To Be Released on: October 28th, 2014
Add it to Goodreads
Pre-Order it from: Amazon | B&N 

Can you hear Atlantia breathing?

For as long as she can remember, Rio has dreamt of the sand and sky Above—of life beyond her underwater city of Atlantia. But in a single moment, all her plans for the future are thwarted when her twin sister, Bay, makes an unexpected decision, stranding Rio Below. Alone, ripped away from the last person who knew Rio’s true self—and the powerful siren voice she has long hidden—she has nothing left to lose.

Guided by a dangerous and unlikely mentor, Rio formulates a plan that leads to increasingly treacherous questions about her mother’s death, her own destiny, and the complex system constructed to govern the divide between land and sea. Her life and her city depend on Rio to listen to the voices of the past and to speak long-hidden truths. (quoted from Goodreads)

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I have to fan girl for just a moment. I absolutely adore Ally Condie, and beyond thrilled to have her on the blog today. If you ever have the chance to meet her, do so! In fact, you can check out her upcoming tour dates here

Hi, Ally! Welcome back to Mundie Moms! I'm so excited to have you on the blog. Congratulations on Atlantia's release. Since the campaign has kicked off and consists of two teams, Above and Below, I have to ask, if you were a character in your book, would you be a character from Above or Below? 
Katie, it is so great to be back! You’ve been lovely from the very beginning about my books and I very much appreciate all you do for readers and authors. And I’m so glad I’ve been able to meet you in person, too! --I think that I would be a character from the Above (if the choice were up to me). I cannot stand feeling trapped, and even though ATLANTIA is a very big city, I don’t think I could handle being contained inside—especially not underwater. Most of my family is scuba-certified and I can barely handle snorkeling!

How would you describe your character, Rio, in 5 words or less? 

Loyal, strong, smart, open, brave.

Rio has a lot going on over the course of her story. She's an admirable character who has to make some tough choices. What's something you came to admire about Rio? Did she do anything over the course of writing her story that surprised you?  

I’m very, very glad that you liked her! The thing I came to admire most about Rio was that even though the world she lives in doesn’t value her and she feels betrayed by the person she thought knew her best, she keeps going. She simply cannot be stopped, because she is extremely strong in a way that her world (and ours) often does not value. That’s not to say that she doesn’t cry or feel anger or wish she could give up—she’s very human—but she has a lot of inner drive. The thing that surprised me the most about writing her was how she reacted to True. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I thought in the initial writing that she might not allow herself to feel love again after having been hurt before. But, as it turns out, Rio is braver than that. 

I love that Atlantia's world consists of two worlds in one, with Above and Below. Which world within Atlantia's world did you have the most fun creating? I hope that doesn't sound too confusing. 

Not confusing at all! Your question makes perfect sense. In spite of what I said in answering the first question, I had a LOT of fun creating the world of the Below because I could let my imagination run wild and because I didn’t have to actually live there. ;) It was great fun to use the city of Venice—its gondolas, its cathedrals and cafes and plazas and shops—as inspiration, and to give it kind of a sci-fi twist.

What part of Atlantia did you enjoy writing the most and what was the most challenging part of your world-building? 

My favorite part to write was the end (which is often the case, because then the characters finally get to do what I’ve been building toward all the time). The most challenging part of the world building was figuring out how much of the religious and political systems and siren history and mythology needed to be on the page. I wanted everything to feel very real, but I also didn’t want to bog down the story unnecessarily.

If you could write in any one of your favorite fictional characters into Atlantia, who would you choose and why? 

I’m reading the Ramona Quimby books to my kids right now, and I would love to see the kind of havoc that girl could wreak on an underwater city. She would make a great little sister to Rio. Or to Indie from the Matched Trilogy, for that matter, now that I think about it…

Are you working on anything new that you can tell us about? 

I am having a grand time playing with a few ideas right now. One is young adult, one is middle grade, one is set in a foreign country, one in my hometown. I don’t know which one will end up being my next book (or perhaps it will be something else entirely!). This is always a fun part of the process for me…giving myself permission to explore and find out what I want to do next.

Thank you to Ally Condie for taking the time to stop by Mundie Moms! 
If you guys have the chance to meet Ally, I highly recommend that you do. I absolutely adore her. I'm so excited for you guys to read her upcoming release!!! I think I may have to share my excitement by giving away my arc of ATLANTIA!! Keep reading to find out how to enter to win.

About Ally Condie



Ally Condie is the author of the MATCHED Trilogy, a #1 New York Times and international bestseller. MATCHED was chosen as one of YALSA’s 2011 Teens’ Top Ten and named as one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of 2010. The sequels, CROSSED and REACHED, were also critically acclaimed and received starred reviews, and all three books are available in 30+ languages. Disney has optioned the film rights for the series.
A former English teacher, she lives with her husband and four children outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, writing, running, and listening to her husband play guitar. (Source: Ally Condie's website)
You can find Ally via her Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads



Meet my Team aka TEAM BELOW #AtlantiaBelow!
I'm thrilled to be the leader and apart of TEAM BELOW!! I'd to introduce you to the fabulous bloggers who make up the Team Below also known as #AtlantiaBelow on social media. Be sure to visit each of their blogs on the following dates:

TEAM BELOW
September 28 – Katie (Mundie Moms) – Long Q&A
September 30 – Jen (I Read Banned Books) – Guest post
October 2 – Katie (Katie’s Book Blog) – Short Q&A
October 4 – Lea (YA Book Queen) - Review
October 6 – Taschima (Bloody Bookaholic) - Fancasting
October 8 – Jeremy (Novel Thoughts Blog) – Guest post
October 10 – Erin/ Flo (Fangirlish) - Review
October 12 – Nancy (Ravenous Reader) – Review
October 14 – Sara (Novel Novice) - Playlist
October 16 – Jess (Gone with the Words) – Short Q&A
October 18 – Rachel (Paper Cuts) – Guest post
October 20 – Georgia (Eve’s Fan Garden) - Playlist
October 22 – Gabby (Queen Ella Bee Reads) – Long Q&A
October 24 – Andrea (Reading Lark) - Review


ENTER TO WIN
To enter to win my arc of Atlantia, please fill out the form below. Be sure to read the terms & conditions, also listed below, before entering. (Open INTERNATIONALLY)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

*Thank you to Penguin Teen & Ally Condie for the arc & making today's post possible.

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