It's time for the last awesome Guest Blogger of the month! Megan @ THE BOOK BABE! Thanks so much for joining me! Let's meet her shall we?

WHO IS MEGAN?

Megan is the teenage darling behind the book babe. She frolicks in bookstores and gives books longing gazes. She loves all things contemporary and will read them to great amounts. She's been blogging for nearly a year and loves everything about it. She even hosts her own blog tours! She has a horrible sense of humor, loves Fruity Pebbles and would eat it any time of the day. Not to mention her inhuman obsession with Heath Ledger and geeky fangirling of Star Wars, let alone the fact that she has to be MADE to watch superhero movies! She's so much fun and would love to say hi if you visit her! Check her out here:



GUYS. I HAVE COME FROM ANOTHER PLANET. No, not really! I just came over from where I blog, because the lovely Inky invited me to participate in the The Best of 2012! I'm honored, and I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE. I'm so excited! Yay! Anywho, I've had the freaking-awesome fortune to "quickie" interview several authors, and tell you about my fave 2012 contemps! (And maybe some other genres. Maybe. Excuse my geekiness.) So, without further ado, I give you the feature! :)

MY LIFE NEXT DOOR

Heavenly. Just heavenly. I loved all the character interaction, and the big sloppy family that the Garrett's had. Good times, swoon-worthy romance. What more could a girl ask for?

Quickie with Huntley Fitzpatrick:

You write contemporary--pretty dang well, I might add. Do you read it? If so, give us an idea about your favorite YA contemp!
Oh yes, I read YA contemp....all the time. I am a complete fangirl of Sarah Dessen and  Deb Caletti and Jennifer Echols. I also snatch up every new author I hear about. I love Stephanie Perkins, Nina LaCour and Gayle Foreman. And John Green John Green John Green (I think I head out of fan and into just awestruck with him). I try not to read my fellow writers when I am writing myself because I a) am a mimic and don't want to imitate and b) get intimidated. So my reward for meeting a deadline is always to read and read and read.

Do you consider yourself overly romantic, or do you consider yourself a pessimist?
Hmm. I have tried and failed at being a pessimist. In my head, the happy ending is always just postponed, not impossible.

And so we can end on a fun question, M&M's or Skittles?
Twizzlers. My children mock my habit of turning to chewy candy when I'm stressed out. That said, I'm not a chocolate person. So, skittles.

Amelia Anne Is Dead And Gone

A lot darker than what we usually see in YA contemporary, but one of my favorites. I loved all the word building, and the character's trust issues. Awesomazing.

Quickie questions with Kat Rosenfield:

You wrote a very dark contemporary--what influenced you? Why did you write about Amelia Anne being dead and gone?
Amelia Anne being dead and gone just made her that much more interesting to me. I love a happy ending as much as the next girl, but the stories I've always gravitated to — and the ones I find myself wanting to write — are the dark ones, where everyone has awful secrets and everything falls apart.

Ooh, the tractor. We have a story about that where I'm from to--an old quarry flooded, and every bit of heavy equipment is buried at the bottom of it. Surprising how things like that just get accepted all the time. Why didn't you ever investigate? Is it better not to know--to keep that piece of your childhood intact?
I will always choose to believe in the tractor. The straightforward acceptance of this totally out-there idea is part of the fun, I think; it's like it exists because we all think it does. And the story is still out there, too — I was at my old high school talking about the book, and when I brought up the tractor, a few kids told me they'd jumped from the same bridge and heard the same story.

Fun question! Do you Facebook, or do you Tweet? 
I'm on both! I think there's a lot of pressure out there for authors to be present in All The Places online. But I like Twitter better... mostly because everyone on it is funnier than me.

CATCHING JORDAN

I love all of the sports references the great character relationships, and just the overall rockin-awesome concept. 'Nuff said, I think.

Quickie questions with Miranda Kenneally:

Were you friends with any football players in high school, or did you just want the world to know that not all football players are meathead jocks?
I mostly hung around guys from the soccer team, but I had some friends on the football team. My guy friends were all girl crazy and had lots of feelings they had to deal with. Some of them were way dramatic. :) That being said, they definitely looked at some things differently than girls do, so I wanted to show that "Inside the guys' locker room" view in CATCHING JORDAN.

Is romance in books easy to write, or hard? It seems like a lot of authors don't give time for real feelings to develop, so is it easier to just say they love each other than to make the reader really believe it? By the way, success! I really believed it. :)
For me, romance is pretty easy to write. You have to make sure you know exactly what each character wants and what is standing in the way of the two characters being together. Then, if the love is true, they will work past those barriers to be with each other. Often times it takes a lot of scenes and character development to get them in the right place for true love to happen!

Fun question! If you could change anything--anything in the world--what would you change? And be honest! We want to know.
I would send all the close minded people to live on the moon! (is that evil of me?)  If that is too evil, I would make Mexican food very low in calories and fat.

THE DUFF

Oh, the DUFF. I loveth it's premise, I loveth it's characters, and I just loveth it. Especially Bianca and Wesley's chemistry. :)

Quickie questions with Kody Keplinger:

You're a very young author--how does it feel knowing that your books are some of the most-read contemporaries on the market?
Oh, I don't know if I'd say it's one of the "most-read" contemporaries. That's probably overstating it. But honestly? I think, even if they were, I'd feel the same as I do now - knowing that teens - whether it's one or two or fifty or a thousand - are reading my books means so much to me. Especially if reading them makes them smile. That's why I write - to entertain other people, to make them laugh or cry or think. If I accomplish that with just one person, I've accomplished my goal.

I generally find myself identifying really well with Bianca--do you see yourself as cynical and mean like Bianca is, or was she a unique personality for you to write?
I tell people that Bianca "is my dark side." I relate to her on my bad days, I think. But usually, I'm a lot more positive than Bianca. I'm generally an upbeat, social, friendly person, unlike B.  But, to be honest, most of my characters are very, very different from me. I feel like it'd be weird to write a character too similar to me. I like writing narrators who challenge me to think in a way I don't usually think, if that makes sense.

Fun question! If you could do anything--anything at all, what would you do?
Time travel! I'm kind of a history buff, and I'd love to be able to experience life in different eras. I want to go chill with Jane Austen, but then return to a world where women have rights. I'd love to see New York in the '20s.  There are so many moments in history I'd love to experience first hand. So time travel would be my dream.

KILL ME SOFTLY

Non-Contemp Spotlight:
Fairy-tales, fairy-tales, oh yeah--fairy-tales! I can't live without them, and a good retelling is worth it's weight in gold!

Sarah Cross could not be reached. :(

ANTICIPATING 2013 READS

Thanks so much darling for stopping by! It was awesome to have you! Make sure to check out the GIVEAWAY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! You'll find that some of Megan's favorites have been added too the list! WOOT! Have a great weekend everybody! Only two days left till 2013!! xoxo,

Hey Loverlies! Welcome to the the blog again! I've got a couple more authors on the blog before January! O.O Today's author is supremely awesome!!! Say hi to Jessica Souders! I'm so excited to have her here today!

ABOUT JESSICA:

J. A. Souders was born in the heartland with an overactive imagination and an over abundance of curiousty that was always getting her into trouble. She first began writing at the age of 13, and not only befriended the monsters under the bed, but created worlds for them to play together. Because she never grew up, she decided she'd put her imaginary friends to work and started writing. She still lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband, and their two children. She is an active member of the RWA, CFRW, YARWA and SCBWI. Her debut book RENEGADE, surfaced November 13th, 2012 from Tor Teen.

Jessica's Book:

Renegade by J. A. Souders
Published: 11. 13. 12 by TorTeen
Pages: 364
GOODREADS / PURCHASE

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

Her book is seriously insane awesome. I loved it! Make sure to check out my review!


Your book is a dystopia, like so many are, but yours is set apart in an interesting way. It's underwater. What made you decide to set it there?
I don't think I really decided to set it there. It's just what fit for the story. But, long story short, I've always been interested in underwater cities and had hoped (when I was a child) to someday live in one. As you see, that didn't quite work out. So I just made one up. : )

Was there any research you had to undergo to set up Elysium?
 I did a lot of research for Elysium. Months and months of research. I wanted to build the most realistic world I could. So, while some of the technology of the world doesn't exist now days, it's entirely possible for Elysium to exist in the future. I was actually quite surprised to find that a lot of the technology I needed already exists.  For instance, desalination (to separate salt from the water, so they could have fresh water), glass (it's actually clear aluminum) strong enough to withstand the pressure of being so far down, etc.

What is your favorite memory from the process of seeing Renegade hit shelves? Best part of it being OUT?
I think my best memory was getting the phone call from my agent saying I'd gotten an offer. It was completely unexpected (well not completely. LOL. ; ]) because I was supposed to be going to the editorial acquisitions board the next day from a different publisher and I was having a hard time not thinking about it, so I took a nap. When I woke up, I saw Natalie had been trying to reach me and for some reason I totally thought it was bad news, so when she told me that Tor had made an offer my mind went blank, then I started crying. It was the best part of the whole process up to publication. 

The best part of it being out, beside people reading it, is I was in a bookstore, looking for copies of RENEGADE to sign when I step into the area where my books should be. Two girls have pulled out a copy and are reading the inside cover for the summary and they're discussing it back and forth between them, finally one goes, "This sounds AWESOME! I have to buy it." Her friend nods and grabs a second copy and they start to walk away. I stepped up to them and said, "Excuse me. I couldn't help but overhear that you're going to buy that book." They both turned to me with that wary, deer-in-the-headlights look, "Y-y-yes." One finally said, and I smiled. "Well, I wrote that, so if you'd like me to sign it for you I could." At first they didn't believe me (hello! Crazy lady in the store), but when I pointed to my author pic, they both squealed and shoved the book in my hands. I signed both copies and left, but as I was walking away, I heard one say, "Can you believe that was the real-life author?!"  I grinned all the way home. 

What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever gotten?
"Just write the flipping book." Don't worry about getting it right in the first draft. All first drafts are crap. Just keep writing and fix it later.

Describe your book in 5 words. 
BioShock meets the Bourne Identity for teens. ; )

Hardest part of the writing process for you?
Just sitting down and writing. I love revising and editing, but getting the words from my head to the paper without letting distractions get in the way is hard for me. I seem to always be able to find distractions.

If Evie hadn't been named Evelyn, what would her name be?
I don't know. I knew her name from almost the beginning. The only thing that came first was the very first line of the book. I can't imagine Evie being named anything else.

Gavin is HOT. Do you swoon just as much as the fandom does?
LOL. No. But I'm glad to hear that people do swoon for him. He's a great character and I'm just sorry that we don't get to see more of the real him in the first book.

Did you ever think about making your book about mermaids instead of an underwater dystopia?
No. That never crossed my mine. There's already so many fantastic mermaid stories, but I've always wanted to see what it would be like to shove humans under the ocean surface and see how they handle all the difficulties that go with it.

Most important thing for you in a strong Love Interest?
Well, that would be dependent on who's the love interest I suppose. I guess the easiest way to answer this would be they have to complement each other. For Evie, she needed someone that could be just as strong as she is, but not be afraid to let someone else (including a girl) to take the lead in a situation.

You're stranded on a desert island with one book. What is it?
Oy! There's so many good books, it's hard to choose just one!  Well, Cinder was my favorite book of this year, so at the moment I'd bring that one.

The ending to your book was pretty insane. Was that the plan from the beginning or did it evolve into that?
There was always a plan to have something horrible happen in the end (had a small, rough, bare outline), but I didn't know what it would be until I got to that point.

Mother is freaking scary. I love that she goes by mother instead of say, Darth Vader. It gives a more intimate and powerful feel in her connection to Evie. How did you choose that name? Did it start as something different?
It was actually a filler name until I could think of something better, but it just worked and I never changed it.  It gave me the chills every time I thought about it and that's what I wanted. 

What is your favorite kind of scene to write?
Which ever one challenges me the most at the time, I suppose. All those types of scenes are hard in their own right to write, and I enjoy writing them all, so it would depend on the story and how it comes out when it's all finished.

What is one of the first things you do to get your know your character a little more? 
I freewrite scenes in their POV. They more than likely will never make it into the book, but all that writing gives me a great sense of exactly who my characters are.

Can you give us any hints at what we can expect in book two? 
It's still going to be fast-paced and exciting, but there will be more romance. More answers to things from book 1 and new questions. There will also be a whole new set of characters including a new male character. (No worries, it's not a love triangle. :P)

Is there something you want readers to take away from your book?
To not look at things at face value. Just because something seems to be this way doesn't mean it is and sometimes it's the exact opposite. So look below the surface (no pun intended) and make your own decisions.

WHOA. Talk about Epic. 

Thanks so much to this fabulous author for talking the time to talk with me! I hope you all had as much fun learning a bit more about her as I did! For those of you who haven't had the chance to read this fantastic book yet, don't worry! Renegade is now on the list of choices for the GIVEAWAY OF EPIC PROPOTIONS! And stay tuned because before this year ends I've got two more interviews and one guest blogger up! Not to mention a pile of my anticipated 2013 reads adding onto the giveaway! Stay tuned! Happy Saturday! XX,

Today I've got the loverly Janette Rallison with me! Yay!  She's one of my favorite authors! I've read nearly every book she has out, both in her own name and pen name! Welcome Janette!

Who Is Janette?

Janette Rallison has five children who keep her well supplied with plot ideas, sometimes even making cameo appearances in her novels. She likes to write romantic comedy because there is enough angst in real life, but theres a drastic shortage on both humor and romance. 

Janette's Books!

 Janette has so many books I've decided to spotlight one of my favorites and leave it up to you to go show interest in her others. :D And she has some awesome ones so make sure you do!

Slayers by C. J. Hill
Published: 9.27.11

Dragons exist. They’re ferocious. And they’re smart: before they were killed off by slayer-knights, they rendered a select group of eggs dormant so their offspring would survive. Only a handful of people know about this, let alone believe it—these “Slayers” are descended from the original knights and are now a diverse group of teens that includes Tori, a smart but spoiled senator’s daughter who didn’t sign up to save the world. The dragon eggs have fallen into the wrong hands. The Slayers must work together to stop the eggs from hatching. They will fight; they will fall in love. But will they survive?

Check out her other books as Janette HERE!
Where would you say your story ideas come from?
The Story Fairy. She comes if you lay out enough Almond Joys for her. (Okay, not really, but the Almond Joys are good anyway.) Story ideas come from all over the place. News stories, personal experiences, dreams, songs—you name it. Usually a novel is the combination of many ideas. For example, in Slayers, I got the idea for dragon eggs that hibernate from cicadas. Cicadas have a thirteen year underground hibernation cycle. When I learned about that as a kid, I immediately began to worry that dinosaurs weren’t really gone, they just had a really, really long hibernation cycle and would be hatching any moment. It was only a short leap from dinosaurs to dragons.

You have a really interesting premise behind Erasing Time. Anything that triggered it for you?
One of the things that triggered the story idea for Erasing Time was listening to the song Can’t Touch This, by MC Hammer. I understood all of the words and had no idea what the guys was talking about. It made me realize how much slang we use and how hard it can be to understand it. In Erasing Time, twin sisters are taken four hundred years into the future. When they don’t want people to know what they’re saying, they talk in slang.

What is your favorite thing about seeing a new book get published?
It’s an awesome feeling to hold a new book in your hands. It’s really wonderful to know that you can share your story with thousands and thousands of people—when before it was just a story that was going on in your mind.

What is your favorite memory from the writing process from Draft One to your finished novel?
I love it when I write something that’s funny—a line of dialogue or an event that makes me laugh. In some ways, I write to amuse myself.

What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever gotten?
Read a lot. You learn so much about writing by reading. Plus it’s fun.

Describe yourself in 5 words.
Proud mom, busy writer, chocolate.
(I had to throw chocolate in there because—mmm, chocolate.)

You've written in a few different genres, so you've got a pretty good grasp at them. What's your favorite genre to write in?
Romantic comedy. I love writing witty banter. Writing actions scenes is harder for me. In Slayers 2 there’s an action scene that I’ve rewritten five times. It gets tiring. Plus, how many different ways can you make a shoot out or a car chase creative? Haven’t we seen every single shoot out and car chase scenario already?

If Chrysanthemum in MFG had to be renamed what would her name be?
My son has a friend named Dangel. To me, this name seems to be a combination of danger and angel. It would probably be a good fit for Chryanthemum.

Do your write by free-hand or by typing on the computer?
Computer mostly.

You're stranded on a desert island with one book. What is it?
An empty notebook so I can write a story

What is your favorite kind of scene to write?
I would have to say the climax is my favorite. It’s full of tension and I already know how it turns out. I love the romance scenes too, but after writing over 20 books it’s hard to come up with a kissing scene that doesn’t sound like the 20 before it. I mean, how many different ways are there to describe kissing?

What is one of the first things you do to get your know your characters a little more?
I think about their problems and how they deal with those problems. Different personality types handle stress differently so this always tells me a something about my character.

You're in the middle of 3 ongoing series at the moment, is there anything you can tell us about your upcoming books?
In the third Fairy Godmother book, Chrissy is stuck with Clover again. The heroine wants to be a famous singer and goes on an America’s Got Talent sort of show. You can probably guess that it doesn’t turn out well.

In the second book of Slayers, Ryker is found, the dragon lord’s son is outed, and Tori flies around DC. I still haven’t decided whether she’ll end up with Dirk or Jesse in book three.

[Hannah: Please be Jesse, please be Jesse......]

In the second book of Erasing Time the characters go back to Traventon to destroy Reilly’s QGPs and inadvertently change time in ways they hadn’t expected.

What's your ideal place to read a book?
Bed. It’s so cozy.



Thanks so much to Janette for stopping by! As one epic author that she is, she has offered to giveaway a copy (signed, I presume) of My Fair Godmother, her witty, hilarious fairy-tale mash-up to one look reader Extraordinaire! But hurry! It ends in just over a week! So enter away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please read the Terms & Conditions! Have a FABULOUS Thursday! XX,

HELLOOOO Lovely Ladies and Gents of the Blogosphere!  It's time for Another Guest Blogger! Today's post is brought to you by my Epic Big Bloggy Sista, Jessie @ Auntie Spinelli Reads! YAYZ!!! Welcome Jessi!

MEET JESSI

Jessi (Geo) is a stubborn and independent 24-year-old and has no idea what to do with her life. She's very fluent in sarcasm. She loves to read books and listen to music, because it's how she escapes reality. She's a total tomboy and very straightforward about things. That's why her reviews ROCK. She's also an extreme lover of cats...she has five! Plus one frustratingly annoying and cute dog. You can contact her on social media here: 

TWEET  FACEBK  GOODREADS    FORMSPRING

Top ten books read in 2012:

Top 5 Dystopian:

Top 5 Contemporary

Top 5 Fantasy

Top 5 Urban Fantasy

Top 5 Sci-fi

Best werewolf book

Best vampire book

Best mermaid book

Best zombie book

Best mythology

Best debut

Most anticipated 2013 releases:

Spotlight: Geo's favorite author EVARRR

Karen Marie Moning (rhymes with 'awning') is the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of 12 novels, including the Rita-award winning Highlander novels and the internationally bestselling urban fantasy Fever series. Her books have been published in twenty-four languages, and her events draw fans from all over the world.

Moning began her career writing paranormal romance set in Scotland but as she became increasingly fascinated with Celtic mythology, she switched genres to Urban Fantasy and location to Dublin, Ireland, so she could focus on the Tuatha de Danann, or Fae--an ancient race of immortal beings who have lived secretly among humans for millennia.

Moning is currently completing a graphic novel for Del Rey, featuring an original story about MacKayla Lane and Jericho Barrons, and has contracted with Random House Publishing Group for three more books set in the Fever universe. She divides her time between the mountains of Georgia and the beaches of Florida.

 GUYS, I absolutely adore KMM. Seriously, she could write a book about paint drying and I'd totally love it. If you haven't read any of her work, I DEMAND YOU TRY IT. Okay, maybe not demand. Request? Beg shamelessly? *puppy face* Here are her books, starting with my ALL TIME favorite series:



  

Whoa. Isn't She Epic?!!

She has some great taste in books and you all need to visit her blog! And don't forget about the month-long GIVEAWAY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS either! 3 of Jessi's favorites, and her top 3 anticipated release of 2013 are now on the list of epic!