Mundie Moms

Thursday, February 21, 2013

How To Lead A Life of Crime: "Class in Session" Blog Tour

Hello and welcome to Penguin Teen's How To Lead a Life of Crime Blog Tour. Today I'm excited to share an excerpt from Kirsten Miller's newest release. You can read my review for it here
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Class is now in session at the Mandel Academy, the school for criminals in Kirsten Miller’s new book, How to Lead a Life of Crime! To help you solidify your schedule for the semester, we’re highlighting different class options each day along the tour. Choose your favorites, pick up a copy of How to Lead a Life of Crime, and enroll in the Mandel Academy today!

How to Lead a Life of Crime synopsis: 
A Meth Dealer. A Prostitute. A Serial Killer.

Anywhere else, they’d be vermin. At the Mandel Academy, they’re called prodigies. The most exclusive school in New York City has been training young criminals for over a century. Only the most ruthless students are allowed to graduate. The rest disappear.

Flick, a teenage pickpocket, has risen to the top of his class. But then Mandel recruits a fierce new competitor who also happens to be Flick’s old flame. They’ve been told only one of them will make it out of the Mandel Academy. Will they find a way to save each other—or will the school destroy them both?

 
Excerpt from the Mandel Academy course catalog:


International Politics 

Wherever war rages, there are fortunes to be made. In this class, Mandel’s Politics and Business majors will learn how to work hand-in-hand to profit from the sale of weapons, medicines, and black-market goods in war-torn areas around the globe. Politics majors will focus on promoting conflicts and awarding lucrative war contracts to Mandel-associated companies. Business majors will identify new opportunities and explore novel tactics—from the sale of fissionable material to the use of child soldiers.
 

About The Author:



I'm the author of theKiki Strike book series (All Ages) and the Eternal Ones book series (Ages 13+). My latest novels areHow to Lead a Life of Crime (Razorbill, 2/2013) and Kiki #3 The Darkness Dwellers (Bloomsbury, 1/2013).

Visit Kirsten on her Website | BlogTwitter | Facebook

Where to find more Mandel Academy course highlights:

Thursday, 2/21: ME
Friday, 2/22: Books With Bite
Monday, 2/25: Parajunkee's View 
Tuesday, 2/26: GreenBeanTeenQueen
Wednesday, 2/27: Cuddlebuggery Book Blog
Thursday, 2/28: The Young Folks
Friday, 3/1: Alice Marvels 
Monday, 3/4: Fiktshun
Tuesday, 3/5: Ticket to Anywhere
Wednesday, 3/6: Birth of a New Witch 


The Clockwork Princess Book Trailer is Now LIVE


It's FINALLY HERE!!! The Clockwork Princess book trailer went live this morning on EW.Com You guys, holy shadowhunters! This trailer is awesome, but that ending with what Tessa says and the way she looks..... o.O #TeamTessa. I need this book like now.

VIEW THE TRAILER and tell us what you think.

Triple Threat Blog Tour: Also Known As by Robin Benway


Welcome to another exciting author interview with today's Bloomsbury Teens's Triple Threat Blog Tour. I'm thrilled to have Robin Benway author of Also Known As, on the blog today! Robin's newest book will be hitting book store shelves this upcoming Tuesday!



By: Robin Benway
Published by: Bloomsbury Teen
To Be Released on: 2/26/13
Pre-Order from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to Goodreads

Being a 16-year-old safecracker and active-duty daughter of international spies has its moments, good and bad. Pros: Seeing the world one crime-solving adventure at a time. Having parents with super cool jobs. Cons: Never staying in one place long enough to have friends or a boyfriend. But for Maggie Silver, the biggest perk of all has been avoiding high school and the accompanying cliques, bad lunches, and frustratingly simple locker combinations.

Then Maggie and her parents are sent to New York for her first solo assignment, and all of that changes. She'll need to attend a private school, avoid the temptation to hack the school's security system, and befriend one aggravatingly cute Jesse Oliver to gain the essential information she needs to crack the case . . . all while trying not to blow her cover




Hi Robin! Welcome to Mundie Moms! We love spy books. What kind of research did you do prior to writing Also Known As?
Thank you for having me! As for "AKA," I researched different kinds of safes, ways to open them, which drills are effective on which safes, that sort of thing. I really wanted to talk to a professional safecracker, but no one would return my emails! I didn't want to know their lock-picking secrets (it's their bread & butter, after all), just how it feels to crack a difficult safe, so I ended up watching a lot of YouTube videos and reading online tutorials. I'm pretty good at opening a MasterLock now, but I still can't break into my house. (Please don't ask how I discovered that.)

I can only imagine how much fun it is to write a spy book. What was your favorite element to write about / create for Maggie's story? 
I think my favorite part was watching her react to normal life situations--parties, school, potential curfews. This is a girl who's lived in a grown-up world for her entire life, so to drop her into Teenager Land and watch this incredibly skilled girl flounder was so much fun! (Fun for me, not for her, haha.) I also loved her relationship with Angelo and how well they work together, despite their age difference. She's definitely his protégé.

Maggie sounds like a fun character to get to know. How would you describe her in ten words or less?
An excellent safecracker, a wonderful friend, and a terrible accessorizer.

 Which of your characters surprised you in terms of how big of a roll they ended up playing in Also Known As?
Roux, Maggie's best friend, and Jesse, Maggie's love interest, surprised me not for the size of their roles, but how they ended up changing. Roux ended up being far more tenderhearted than I thought she would be, and Jesse was supposed to be that teenage "bad boy" when he really wasn't. There's a scene where Jesse announces that he doesn't drink, and I don't know who was more surprised--Maggie or me!

As a teen, what books had an impact on you as a young reader?
I remember reading Elizabeth Berg's "Durable Goods" and crying my eyes out, I loved it so much. Deb Caletti's books were my first introduction to YA literature and I also devoured every single "Baby-Sitters Club" book when I was younger. I can still quote whole sections of "Boy Crazy Stacey." (#8 in the series, for those of you who are curious.)

Are you currently working on any new projects you can tell us about? 
I'm currently editing the sequel to "Also Known As," which is so much fun! I've never written a sequel before, so it's been amazing to meet up with my characters and send them on brand-new adventures.

Thank you for stopping by Mundie Moms today Audrey!

About the Author:

I'm the author of "Audrey, Wait!" and "The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June." My new book "Also Known As" will be released on February 26, 2013. I live in Los Angeles with my extremely stubborn shih tzu, Hudson. I've gotten a lot better at cooking. I still love coffee. We should be friends.

Visit Robin via her: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | GoodReads

Clockwork Prince Read Along Day #2: Chapter 1



Welcome to Day 2 of the Clockwork Prince Read Along. You can follow the entire read-a-long and find each of the day's posts here. Remember there's no right or wrong way to participate. Your comments can be as long or a short as you'd like them to be. You can answer one or each of the questions asked, it's totally up to you, BUT, in order to be entered into the CP giveaway (which you also had to sign up to win), you do need to be actively participating in the read-a-long. 

Today's discussion is about: Chapter 1
  • Jem and Tessa's friendship. I love the way this chapter starts with Jem and Tessa together. I've always admire the fact Jem has always seemed to know little details about Tessa without even having to ask her. He pays attention to her, and I adore that about him. What do you make of their friendship?
  • Consul Wayland...... Are you guys making outlines, piecing together the character connections in this series with The Mortal Instruments series? I'm totally fascinated by the family trees Cassie has created.
  • I love Will for the comment to Tessa about her cutting off Benedict's foot during the council meeting. What is your first impression of Benedict Lightwood?

Please DO NOT POST SPOILERS. There's some fans who are joining the read-a-long who are reading Clockwork Prince for the first time. 

Clockwork Princess Teaser / Book Trailer Info


We're less than a month away from the release of Clockwork Princess and yesterday Cassie treated us to another Clockwork Princess snippet.....

Charlotte shook her head. “There is a need here for mercy and pity. Jessamine is not what she once was — as any of you would know if you had visited her in the Silent City.”
“I have no wish to visit with traitors,” said Will.


I have to admit, I'd feel the same way Will does. What do you guys think?

Speaking of Clockwork Princess, the trailer will be revealed TODAY!! This morning at 9 am EST EW.com will give us our first look at Dirty Robber's trailer for Clockwork Princess. I can not wait! 

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