You all had the chance to win a copy of Yvonne's debut book, Dead Beautiful. The contest is now closed and it is time to see who won!
Congrats to :
States of Decay!!!
Didn't win this time? Then enter this weeks contest! (see the sidebar or menu above for more information)
Make sure you check out Yvonne's books!
----------------------------------------
How to claim your prize!
Please contact me via email - Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot eu within the next 7 days to claim your prize. Your claim will go quicker if you send me your address. If you won a contest where you can choose your prize, then please make sure you state in your email which book you would like. This will help things go alot quicker! If you won an e-book please make sure you send me the email address you would like the book sent to!
If you email me and don't get a reply within 48 hours please post on the blog letting me know. Some email gets eaten by my spam filter. However please don't send me more than one email unless you really don't get an answer within 3 days. I am not online 24/7 ;) Sometimes it takes a little longer to reply.
If a prize isn't claimed after 7 days I will, if the author agrees, pick another winner.
Please also note that I can not be held responsible for prizes that come direct from authors. I will check with them for you if you haven't received your prize but I can not hunt down your mail! Any prizes that come from myself could come from a 3rd party eg. Amazon or Bookdepository. If I am sending a prize myself please be aware that it could take a few weeks to reach you as it is coming from Europe.
Post about this giveaway somewhere on the internet eg. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. Make sure you post the link here so I can confirm your extra entry.
Email your friends about this giveaway. Make sure you add my email address so I also get a copy and can confirm your entry. Amberkatzes_Book_Blog@gmx.eu
My author guest this week is the lovely Yvonne Woon!
Her debut book 'Dead Beautiful' left me captivated and I am extremely eager to read the sequel, 'Life Eternal'.
I hope you all enjoy getting to know the author and her books via this interview.
Make sure you check out the contest at the end and you could win a copy of Dead Beautiful
---------------------------------------------
Amber - Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here as a guest! Could you start things off by telling us a little about your second book, Life Eternal?
Yvonne – Life Eternal takes Renée and Dante’s story and twists it. Renée has changed—she looks differently, she feels differently, and she has strange visions of people just before they die. Dante has changed, too, though she barely gets a chance to see him before she is sent to a boarding school in Montreal, Canada. There she learns of an ancient sisterhood, and the century-old secret they were trying to protect. She follows the trail, trying to unearth the past, but ends up finding a lot more buried there than she imagined . . .
Amber - How did you come up with the idea for the Dead Beautiful? Was
it a long process or did it just come to you?
Yvonne – I came up with it while I was in grad school. I was in the library, reading a book by Descartes for class when my mind started to drift, and I began to wonder what the world might be like if the theories I was reading about were actually true. What would happen if the body and soul were separate? If the soul lived forever? Dante and Renée came naturally from that, and I slowly filled in the rest.
Amber - Dead Beautiful could have been just a one off story. Was it hard to write a second book and keep things going?
Yvonne – It was hard. I had always planned on writing a second book, so I had the plot in mind, but even though I knew what was going to happen, it was still difficult to make Life Eternal read like a fresh story. I didn’t want the sequel to just pick up where Dead Beautiful left off; I wanted the sequel to have it’s own unique tone and feeling. That was the hardest part—making the characters and the world feel new. I hope I succeeded.
Amber - How do you pick the names for your characters? Do they have any special meanings?
Yvonne – They do! Well, some do. Renée, Dante—they were both named for very specific reasons, which readers of Dead Beautiful will know. For the others, I tried to choose names that would somehow evoke their characteristics. Clementine LaGuerre was one of those, as was Noah Fontaine. Though I have to admit that many of the passing characters I named after my friends!
Amber - What kind of research have you done for your books? Anything interesting or is the research boring?
Yvonne – I’m actually quite lazy when it comes to research; I think that’s why I like fiction—because I can use a bit of fact, and make the rest up. For Dead Beautiful, I read a decent amount of philosophy: Descartes, Plato. I also tried to teach myself Latin, though that lasted about one week before I gave up. For Life Eternal, I went to Montreal and traveled around the city (which is the best kind of research!), and did some *very* light reading on 19th and 20th century French history.
Amber - Did you always wanted to be an author? Why did you pick Young Adult & paranormal?
Yvonne – I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child, though I never imagined I would write Young Adult books. I always grew up wanting to write comedy or science fiction—all for adults. It wasn’t until I was graduate school for fiction that the idea even crossed my mind to write YA. It was over winter vacation, and I was bored with my short stories for school, and decided to write a horror-romance, just for fun. A few weeks later, I had the first few chapters of a book that would later become Dead Beautiful. I sent it to my friend, who was working at literary agency at the time, and by the time I was back in school, he had sold it. So I sort of just fell into it, and have been writing for YA ever since.
Amber - How much say do you have in the book publishing process? Eg. Do you get to pick the cover, title?
Yvonne – I have the last say on everything, and I suppose I could give more input if I wanted to, though so far, I haven’t been very involved. I vetoed a few covers before Hyperion designed the final Dead Beautiful cover. I wasn’t involved at all in designing the Life Eternal cover, other than approving it at the end. I don’t know much about art and design, so I try to leave that to the art directors, who have done a great job so far. As for the titles, I brainstormed with my agent to come up with Dead Beautiful, and then with my editor to come up with Life Eternal. Everything else I try not to micromanage, as the thing I’m best at is putting words together.
Amber - I am sure that being an author has its ups and downs. What experiences have you had so far?
Yvonne – For me, there are far more ups than downs. Most days, I feel so lucky that I can just roll out of bed, go to my desk with a cup of tea, and start working. And the work is to make up stories, which is (I think) the best job in the world. The hardest part about it is being alone all day. It’s a very solitary profession.
Amber - There has been quite a wait between the first and second books. Will there be more books in the series and will we have such a long wait again?
Yvonne – I know . . . I’m sorry! I’m a slow writer. It takes me a long time to piece the plots together, and then an equally long time to write the novel. I’ve always envied writers who can get words on the page quickly, without feeling too much anxiety. Speaking of which, I’m in the middle of writing the third and final book of the series now. I don’t have a working title yet, or a release date but I’m guessing it will be released in fall/winter of 2013. This is all to say that I apologize in advance for another long wait, though I think the final book will not disappoint.
Amber - What are you listening and watching lately? Is there any music or other media that influences your writing?
Yvonne – I think the main media influence on my writing is music. I always listen to classical music while I write. It helps me set the mood. Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of Stravinsky and Philip Glass, though I also have Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Bach on rotation. I also love watching dramatic television series—I think they’re really good lessons in how to plot and how to build characters and a storyline. Some of my all time favorites are The Wire and Friday Night Lights.
Amber - What books do you enjoy reading? Do you have any favourite authors/series?
Yvonne – Oh gosh. I think I’m going to have to be boring and admit that Harry Potter is probably my favorite series of all time. I also love the Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami, Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, and anything by Junot Diaz or Kurt Vonnegut.
Amber - If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be and why?
Yvonne – I wish I could say I’d be a fierce lady centaur or something, but I think I’m a lot closer to a witch, especially one that’s a bit crafty and evil. The thing about writing is that it isn’t that different from witchcraft. You always have to have tricks up your sleeve. Casting spells, spinning plots of deception, cursing people into tragedy and trying to control the future—these are things I spend a lot of time doing (in my books!) already.
Amber - Thank you so much for being on the blog! I hope you will stop by again sometime!
There are loads of YA series out there at the moment. Which ones can you recommend?
No Answer = No Entry
'Please enter me' posts will NOT be counted as an entry
Earn more entries for each link you place about this contest on the net. You can post on Facebook, Twitter & MySpace but make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries! However please do not make individual postings for each entry. Please post all your entries in one post.
Advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog on your site and get an extra entry for this and every other contest!
Have you 'Liked' Amberkatze's Book Blog on Facebook?
You can also earn extra entries by emailing your friends about the contest. Just make sure you send a copy of your email or receipt to me at Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot net.
Make sure you post your links here so I can confirm your entries.
Keep the contests going by using the Bookdepository.com and Amazon.com links/Banners below and around the site.
The contest will stay open until 4pm on Sunday 24th June (Central European Time) and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.
Her debut novel, Dead Beautiful, was a lovely read and I hope you all enjoyed the interview and added the book to your wishlists or baskets! Also keep an eye out for the sequel, Life Eternal.
Please contact me via email - Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot eu within the next 7 days to claim your prize. Your claim will go quicker if you send me your address. If you won a contest where you can choose your prize, then please make sure you state in your email which book you would like. This will help things go alot quicker! If you won an e-book please make sure you send me the email address you would like the book sent to!
If you email me and don't get a reply within 48 hours please post on the blog letting me know. Some email gets eaten by my spam filter. However please don't send me more than one email unless you really don't get an answer within 3 days. I am not online 24/7 ;) Sometimes it takes a little longer to reply.
If a prize isn't claimed after 7 days I will, if the author agrees, pick another winner.
Please also note that I can not be held responsible for prizes that come direct from authors. I will check with them for you if you haven't received your prize but I can not hunt down your mail! Any prizes that come from myself could come from a 3rd party eg. Amazon or Bookdepository. If I am sending a prize myself please be aware that it could take a few weeks to reach you as it is coming from Europe.
Her debut book, Dead Beautiful, was an amazing read and I am looking forward to trying the second book, Life Eternal, as soon as I get hold of a copy.
Please take the time to read through the interview with Yvonne and get to know her and her books. If they sound good then add them to your basket or at least to your wishlist!
Want to win a copy of Dead Beautiful? Enter this weeks contest and you could be the lucky one ;)
The contest is open till Sunday so make sure you enter asap!
Post about this giveaway somewhere on the internet eg. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. Make sure you post the link here so I can confirm your extra entry.
Email your friends about this giveaway. Make sure you add my email address so I also get a copy and can confirm your entry. Amberkatzes_Book_Blog@gmx.eu
Yvonne Woon's debut novel, Dead Beautiful, was a wonderful story that took me by surprise. Now the second book in the series, Life Eternal, is out and even though I haven't read it yet (no Kindle version available...at least to me) I am eagerly awaiting it appearing on Audible.de or somewhere else so I can snatch it up.
The author was kind enough to answer some questions about the series and the second book. I hope you enjoy getting to know a little bit about the books and the author.
Make sure you read till the end and enter the contest to win a copy of Dead Beautiful.
------------------------------------
Amber - Amber - Welcome back to Amberkatze's Book Blog! How did you come up with the idea for the Dead Beautiful? Was it a long process or did it just come to you?
Yvonne – The initial idea came to me over the span of about three months. I was sitting in the library at my university, reading a text of Descartes for class when my mind started to drift, and I began to wonder what the world would be like if Descartes’s theories about the body and soul were true. I began to piece a loose story together in the months that followed, and then refined it over the next two years while writing.
Amber - Dead Beautiful could have been just a one off story. Was it hard to write a second book and keep things going?
Yvonne – It was difficult! I think the most challenging part of writing the sequel was making it different enough from Dead Beautiful to be an interesting story on its own. I hope I succeeded? It did take a lot of plotting and planning before I felt like I would be able to continue Renée and Dante’s story in a way that would make it feel like they were growing together.
Amber - How do you pick the names for your characters? Do they have any special meanings?
Yvonne – Renée and Dante have very purposeful names that hold significance in the plot. I won’t say exactly what they mean, so as not to spoil the end for readers, but I guess I partly named them after the writers who inspired this book.
Other than the two main characters, most of the names in Dead Beautiful are actually borrowed from my friends (I used either their first or last names). When you’re writing a school novel, there are just so many passing characters that I could have spent weeks just thinking up perfect names for all of them, so borrowing names was a lot easier. For Life Eternal, I chose all of the names, as it takes place in Montreal, in a different kind of school, so many of the names had to have a French origin. For those, I tried to choose words or portmanteaus that would somehow indicate the character’s innate personality.
Amber - What kind of research have you done for your books? Anything interesting or is the research boring?
Yvonne – Oh gosh, now I have to divulge my embarrassing secret… I don’t do a lot of research! That’s the beauty of fiction…if you know a little, you can make the rest up. I did do some research for Dead Beautiful. I reread a lot of philosophical texts by Descartes and Plato, and tried to teach myself a bit about Latin (which did not work) (I eventually ended up hiring a Latinist to help me with the language bits). For Life Eternal, my research was a lot more fun, as it mostly comprised going to Montreal and wandering around.
Amber - Did you always wanted to be an author? Why did you pick Young Adult & paranormal?
Yvonne – I’ve wanted to be a novelist since I was in elementary school, though I never thought I would write a young adult novel (or a paranormal one!). I ended up studying creative writing in college and grad school, though I focused on writing short stories and adult literary fiction. During one of my winter vacations, I started toying with the idea of Dead Beautiful, and decided to write it for fun in between classes. I didn’t think it would go very far, until suddenly I had a book deal and all of these deadlines. That was four years ago, and I’m still working on the series, and have plans to write other YA novels in the near future. So I guess I’m lucky. I turned down the right corner.
Amber - How much say do you have in the book publishing process? Eg. Do you get to pick the cover, title?
Yvonne – Good questions. I think it really varies from author to author, and from publisher to publisher. For Dead Beautiful, I had a lot of veto power over the cover (I think I rejected 2 before they showed me the cover on DB today), though I left the design itself to my editor and the designer at Hyperion. I chose the title of DB, and had control over final edits and the flap copy, though I would describe the entire process as a long conversation with my editor and the sales team. If we disagreed, we would both make an argument for why our way was better, and sometime I ended up agreeing with them, and sometimes they agreed with me.
For Life Eternal, Because it was a sequel, we had a lot more constraints. The cover and title had to echo those of Dead Beautiful, so I had almost no input in the cover other than approving it, and I ended up choosing the title with my editor.
Amber - I am sure that being an author has its ups and downs. What experiences have you had so far?
Yvonne – For me, the pros of being author are that I have control over the work I do every day. I get to do said work in your apartment, in my pajamas (Full disclosure: I am wearing pajamas at this very moment). I can work on any idea that tickles my fancy, as long as I can make it interesting to others, too.
The cons are that it can get a bit lonely. Even if I write in a café, the work itself is solitary, and requires sitting very quietly with my own thoughts for a long periods of time. For the most part I like that, though sometimes I miss having coworkers. It was also hard in the beginning to make myself stick to a schedule, especially when the writing was particularly hard. It’s also hard when you hear from a reader who doesn’t like your book. It just makes me feel awful to think that my story disappointed them. Though that can also a motivator to do better next time.
Amber - There has been quite a wait between the first and second books. Will there be more books in the series and will we have such a long wait again?
Yvonne – Sigh. This is where I hang my head in shame. There will be a third (and final) novel, though I’m currently working on it now, which means that it won’t be out in the US until summer/fall 2013…so yes…another long wait. I’m sorry. I’m a slow writer.
Amber - What are you listening and watching lately? Is there any music or other media that influences your writing?
Yvonne – I always listen to music when I write, though it changes depending on the mood of the scene. My default is Philip Glass, or any classical music. I’ve been getting really into Andrew Bird recently, and I always love listening to Adele when I’m writing a love scene. And—though I never really write to her—I listen to a lot of Taylor Swift.
I actually don’t have a TV so I don’t watch much other than what I can find online. Though I did just watch the Wire in a 2-week binge, and I LOVE it.
Amber - What books do you enjoy reading? Do you have any favourite authors/series?
Yvonne – Harry Potter! Those are by far my favorite books. I also love Jonathan Lethem, Sarah Waters, Kurt Vonnegut, Haruki Murakami, Kazuo Ishiguro. . . And for readers who really loved Dead Beautiful, I would highly recommended “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt.
Amber - If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be and why?
Yvonne – Ooo. This is hard. I think I would be a witch. Preferably one who started off good, but then turned evil after a mysterious happening in her past.
Amber - Thank you so much for being on the blog! I hope you will stop by again sometime!
Win a copy of Dead Beautiful the first book in series and Yvonne's debut novel.
How To Enter
What are you watching and listening to lately?
No Answer = No Entry
'Please enter me' posts will NOT be counted as an entry
Earn more entries for each link you place about this contest on the net. You can post on Facebook, Twitter & MySpace but make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries! However please do not make individual postings for each entry. Please post all your entries in one post.
Advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog on your site and get an extra entry for this and every other contest!
Have you 'Liked' Amberkatze's Book Blog on Facebook?
You can also earn extra entries by emailing your friends about the contest. Just make sure you send a copy of your email or receipt to me at Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot net.
Make sure you post your links here so I can confirm your entries.
Keep the contests going by using the Bookdepository.com and Amazon.com links/Banners below and around the site.
The contest will stay open until 4pm on Sunday 25th March (Central European Time) and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.
The November Monthly Giveaway is now over! It is time to see which book got the most votes and which lucky newsletter subscriber gets a copy of the winning book! Lets have a look at the poll results!
Night Of The Living Deed By E.J. Copperman came in last with a measly 4.49%! I loved this book but it was up against some big authors and completely understand why it didn't do better. Hopefully it was added to some wishlists though!
Past Midnight By Mara Purnhagen only got 14.61% of the votes. I really liked this one and hope some of you will give it a try!
Dead Beautiful By Yvonne Woon did very well and got 24.72% of the votes! If you haven't added this on to your wishlist yet then I recommend you do!
Hungry For You By Lynsay Sands came in at second place with 26.97% of the votes. I really thought this one would win but it was a close contest for first place this month.
So who is the lucky newsletter subscriber? Who gets a copy of Magic At the Gate by Devon Monk?
The winner is...the email beginning with -
chaarmedone1512!!!!
Congrats!!! Make sure you keep reading and find out how to claim your prize!
If you didn't win then maybe next month? If you are signed up for the newsletter then your name could be picked out any month without you even voting for a book. So make sure you check the winners name!
Please contact me via email - Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot eu within the next 7 days to claim your prize. Your claim will go quicker if you send me your address.
If you won a contest where you can choose your prize, then please make sure you state in your email which book you would like. This will help things go alot quicker!
If you email me and don't get a reply within 48 hours please post on the blog letting me know. Some email gets eaten by my spam filter. If a prize isn't claimed after 7 days I will, if the author agrees, pick another winner.
Please also note that I can not be held responsible for prizes that come direct from authors. I will check with them for you if you haven't received your prize but I can not hunt down your mail! Any prizes that come from myself could come from a 3rd party eg. Amazon or Bookdepository. If I am sending a prize myself please be aware that it could take a few weeks to reach you as it is coming from Europe.
Never miss out on a new Author Event, Contest or Book Review! Subscribe Now!
Use the Bookdepository or Amazon links/banners to keep the prizes coming! Oh and advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog wherever you can ;)
Can you believe it is December already and November is over? I nearly forgot about the monthly giveaway! So apologies for not getting the Monthly Giveaway up as early as I usually do but things just got in the way. Here it is and I hope you all like the books I have chosen from my November reads.
What is the Monthly Giveaway?
I pick five of my favourite reads from the last month (sorry no ARCs are included!) then you guys go to the poll and vote for the book you want to win or the one you think deserves to win! Remember! You may not actually win the book.
Here is a little info about each book on offer this month. Just click on the book title and author to see my review -
Well in the sidebar <--- there is this poll. You vote for the book you would most like to win. I pick a name from the subscibers list and that person wins the book with the most votes. So you may not even win the book you voted for!
To subscribe to Amberkatze's Book Blog all you have to do is use the box in the sidebar <--- or at the bottom of this post. Everyone who is already subscribed will be entered in the contest as well as new subscribers. If you have not confirmed your email address then you will not be added to the draw!!! The poll will stay open for votes until Monday 13th of November 4pm (all times are in Central European Time). The winner will be announced later than day.
For more chances to win -
Post about this giveaway somewhere on the internet eg. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. Make sure you post the link here so I can confirm your extra entry.
Email your friends about this giveaway. Make sure you add my email address so I also get a copy and can confirm your entry. Amberkatzes_Book_Blog@gmx.eu
Use the Bookdepository or Amazon links/banners to keep the prizes coming! Oh and advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog wherever you can ;)
After Renee Winters discovers her parents lying dead in California’s Redwood Forest in what appears to be a strange double murder, her grandfather sends her off to Gottfried Academy in Maine, a remote and mysterious high school dedicated to philosophy, “crude sciences,” and Latin: the Language of the Dead. It’s here she meets Dante, a dark and elusive student to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they get to know each other better, Dante can’t seem to control his attraction either, and their desires gradually deepen into a complex and dangerous romance. Dangerous because Dante is hiding a frightening secret. A secret so terrible, it has him fearing for Renee’s life.
Dante’s not the only one with secrets, though. Turns out Gottfried Academy has a few of its own… Like, how come students keep disappearing? Why are the prefect-like Monitors creeping around campus during the night? And what exactly are the Headmistress and Professors really up to? Renee is determined to find out why.
My Thoughts -
The blurb for this book had me intrigued and when I saw this up on Audible.com I decided to give it a go. The mysterious element and the unknown aspects of this book had me very curious. What are we talking about here? Vampires? Werewolves? What? It took most of the book to actually find out but it the story leading up to it was interesting enough to keep me going.
Actually the suspense was killing me. I wanted to know what it all meant. Was there even a paranormal angle to this or not? Strange and unexplained things kept happening and there seemed to be more questions than answers. It was worth the wait though and the story turned out to be quite a little gem.
A little bit Twilight like and a hint of Vampire Academy, this was a good read and well put together story. I am sure it was a one off but if there was to be a series then I would be pre-ordering the sequel now. This is an author I am going to be keeping a look out for. Beautiful Dead is one of those books that stays with you forever. Compelling, romantic and deadly. Worth checking out!
My author guest last week was Yvonne Woon.
