Mundie Moms

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Clockwork Prince Read Along Day #14: Chapter 13


Only 14 more days till Clockwork Princess is out!!! I'm so sorry today's post is up so late. I didn't realize blogger ate my post until someone mentioned on Twitter it wasn't up. Thank you for your patience!


Welcome to Day 14 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 13
  • I have to say I love that Tessa is STILL thinking of the kiss with Will. That means she does have feelings for him, though I know her feelings for Jem might be a bit stronger. Do you think there's hope for a Tessa and Will relationship?
  • My heart broke for Charlotte a bit in this chapter. I admire her strength and her unwavering love she has for everyone at the Institute, but I can't imagine what she was feeling and thinking upon discovering Jessamine's betrayal. What are your thoughts about Charlotte in dealing with Jessamine?
  • I am seriously still stunned by all we find out from Jessamine in this chapter. That she supposedly married Nate and that Tessa's mother is a Shadowhunter and her father a Demon? Do you think Jessamine was telling the truth?
  • My heart both broke for Magnus and at the same time I couldn't help but laughing over his kiss with Will and Will's reaction to it. What do you make of Magnus and what he's now willing to sacrifice to help Will?
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. 

ENTER to WIN the ENTIRE Delirium Trilogy by Lauren Oliver!


It's an exciting day for DELIRIUM fans, because REQUIEM is now out on bookstore shelves!! To celebrate today's release, and thank you to Harper Teen, I've got the ENTIRE set (a published copy of Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem) I'm giving away to one lucky fan! Since fans don't like to wait to get their hands on long awaited books, I'm making this giveaway only a few hours long. That way no one has to wait to get their hands on the book. In addition to the entire series, I'm also giving away an ARC of REQUIEM. I know, why give it away when the book was released today. Well, because I had meant to do this giveaway a week ago, but I've had a lot going on outside of blogging and it didn't happen (I apologize about that). SO, I'm giving it away today. 

Okay, to enter, please fill out this form below. Remember, this giveaway is only being run until MIDNIGHT C.S.T. Tomorrow I'll be mailing out the books. 

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Have you already read the series? Join myself and The Bumble Girl over on Harper Teen's Delirium Series Forums! We're Harper Teen's official bloggers for the series and we'd love to chat with you about the books! Don't forget to get your series extra HERE. Fans! Don't forget to go grab the Delirium App HERE!

MILA 2.0 Blog Tour: Teaser


Welcome to today's tour stop for MILA 2.0. I'm so excited about this book's upcoming release! This is one of those books that totally took me by surprise, and I really enjoyed it. I'll have my review up later this week. Today I've got a little teaser from the book to share with you:

I slowed to a walk just before I reached the dirt road. Headlights arched in a quarter turn onto our street, and within fifteen seconds, a Jeep rumbled to a stop beside me.

The window slid open, and Hunter's head popped out. "Sneaking out?" He smiled, that amazing, silly, blue-eyed smile that melted away any second thoughts. Now we just needed to get out of here. Before Mom found out. 

About The Book:



By: Debra Driza
Published by: Harper Teen
To Be Released on: March 12th, 2013
Pre-Order from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add It To GoodReads

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past —that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her terminated because she knows too much and from a mysterious group that wants to capture her alive and unlock her advanced technology. However, what Mila’s becoming is beyond anyone’s imagination, including her own, and it just might save her life.

Mila 2.0 is Debra Driza’s bold debut and the first book in a Bourne Identity–style trilogy that combines heart-pounding action with a riveting exploration of what it really means to be human. Fans of I Am Number Four will love Mila for who she is and what she longs to be—and a cliffhanger ending will leave them breathlessly awaiting the sequel


About The Author:




I’m Debra Driza, and I’m a physical-therapist-turned-Young-Adult-author and a stay-at-home mom. Not to be confused with a stay-at-home mistress—those are the ones who eat bon-bons and watch soap operas all day long. The soap operas sort of fall by the wayside when you have a seven-year old, a three-year-old, three dogs (one of them seriously defective), one extremely messy husband, and deadlines to meet.
Seriously, though–my family is great. I wouldn’t change one second of our crazy, messy, unorganized lives. What this house lacks in a paper or dog-free spot on the couch, it makes up for in laughter and hugs.
I’m represented by Taylor Martindale of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.  The first book in my YA sci-fi thriller series debuts in Fall 2012 from Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins.
Feel free to email me at houndrat at yahoo dot com. (quoted from Debra's blog)

Visit Debra via: her Blog | Twitter 

The Giveaway: Thank you to Harper Teen, we are giving away 1 copy of MILA 2.0! You can enter to win here and on any of the blog tour sites.

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Let The Sky Fall Blog Tour: Author Interview & Giveaway


Welcome to the last stop on the Let The Sky Fall blog tour. We're celebrating today's YA debut release of Shannon Messenger's Let The Sky Fall! Today Shannon is on the blog to talk about her book, but first, here's a little bit about Let The Sky Fall.



By: Shannon Messenger
Published by: Simon Pulse
Released on: March 5th, 2013 TODAY
Purchase it from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble  | IndieBound
Add it to GoodReads
Series: Book #1
READ the 1st 4 Chapters

A broken past and a divided future can’t stop the electric connection of two teens in this “charged and romantic” (Becca Fitzpatrick), lush novel.

Seventeen-year-old Vane Weston has no idea how he survived the category five tornado that killed his parents. And he has no idea if the beautiful, dark-haired girl who’s swept through his dreams every night since the storm is real. But he hopes she is.

Seventeen-year-old Audra is a sylph, an air elemental. She walks on the wind, can translate its alluring songs, and can even coax it into a weapon with a simple string of commands. She’s also a guardian—Vane’s guardian—and has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs. Even if it means sacrificing her own life.

When a hasty mistake reveals their location to the enemy who murdered both of their families, Audra’s forced to help Vane remember who he is. He has a power to claim—the secret language of the West Wind, which only he can understand. But unlocking his heritage will also unlock the memory Audra needs him to forget. And their greatest danger is not the warriors coming to destroy them—but the forbidden romance that’s grown between them





Hi Shannon! Welcome back to Mundie Moms! Congratulations on your YA debut. I'm in love with your writing, and I'm thrilled that you have both a YA and MG release this year. Obviously time wise it must have been a challenge to write two books for two different series back to back, but genre wise, what did you find easier/harder in writing a YA book vs a MG one?
Aw, thank you so much Katie. I always feel so honored when I get to be on your blog--I've been a fan of Mundie Moms for YEARS. But right--I'm supposed to be answering your question, not fangirling out. :) It's hard to say that one is more challenging than the other because they're both so different. But something I do find harder with writing LET THE SKY FALL is not slipping into my own voice as I write. That's probably because its told in the first person, and when I'm typing "I" all the time it's hard not to revert to my own way of thinking. But luckily Vane and Audra have such distinct voices that it's really easy to spot when that's happened and go back and revise out "the Shannon" 

Let's talk about your fabulous characters! Audra and Vane are such great characters to read about. Which one of the two surprised you in terms of either the choices they made or how much they changed from the first draft to the published book?
Definitely Vane! I love that he starts out as sort of your basic "lazy teenage boy" and turns into this loyal, brave fighter. Plus, the things that come out of his mouth and go through his head have been known to make me blush. I often go back and reread his chapters and think WHERE DID THAT COME FROM??? 

What's something you can relate to with Audra?
Oh, that's hard, because Audra is WAY tougher and WAY more angsty than me. But I guess I can relate to how focused and driven she is. She's very: I-will-make-this-happen-even-if-it-kills me, which is definitely something I can relate to. I just take the if-it-kills-me part a LOT less literally than she does. 

 I love that you made your characters's parents a part of this book. I feel like often times parents don't always play that huge of a role in YA books. Was this a conscious thing you wanted to make sure was included in Vane and Audra's story or something that just happened?
A little of both. I'll admit, I sometimes feel like parents get a little shafted in some YA books, either being totally oblivious, or just left out of the story all together, and I don't necessarily think it always NEEDS to be that way. I think a big part of growing up can also be learning how to prove to your parents/family that they can trust you. It wasn't that I consciously said, "I want to write a story and explore this." But as I got to know Vane and his family and realized they had that kind of relationship, it was one of the big motivators for me to actually write the story. And the scenes between Vane and his parents--especially the ones with his mom--are some of my favorite in the book.

What authors had or have had an influence on your as both a reader and writer?
Oh my, so so so many. I love the humor in Kiersten White's books and the characterization and attention to detail in Stephanie Perkins' books. I love the way Holly Black creates a mood and I love the way Shannon Hale brings so much lyricism to her prose. I also loved the way Marie Lu handled her dual POV's in LEGEND, and how she plays with reader expectations and dramatic tension.

You have had a crazy busy writing schedule the past few months. What were some of your writing "must haves" that kept you going?
Cupcakes! Pepsi! Pretty much anything with sugar and/or caffeine. I also have been known to have 3am get-up-and-dance-to-cheesy-pop-songs parties to get my heart rate up and keep me awake when I'm pulling one of my many all nighters. 

If you could include any one of your favorite fictional characters into Audra's story who would that be and why?

Wow--this is a tough one. Look at you, making me think! Um... hm... what Audra needs more than anything is a caring mother figure, so I think I'd include Molly Weasley (from Harry Potter) into her story. Not only is Mrs. Weasley an incredibly nurturing mother, but she's also tough and knows how to fight, which Audra would respect.

Speed Round:

Sunsets or sunrises?
Definitely Sunsets. It's the SoCal girl in me. And the NON-morning person.

Dancing in the rain or making snow angels?
Never done either, but snow angels sounds more fun! 

Romantic comedy or Action packed movie?
Definitely romantic comedy. 

Tea house or coffee shop?
Whichever one has the best cakes 

If I could write anywhere in the world I'd want to write _____________
In Paris, sitting on a bench in the Tuileries Gardens

Insta love or a slow burning romance?
Slow burning romance. 

Thank you Shannon for stopping by the blog today! Congratulations on today's book release!

About the Author:
Shannon Messenger graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she learned--among other things--that she liked watching movies much better than making them. She also regularly eats cupcakes for breakfast, sleeps with a bright blue stuffed elephant named Ella, and occasionally gets caught talking to imaginary people. So it was only natural for her to write stories for children. KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is her first novel, with LET THE SKY FALL, a young adult novel, to follow in 2013. She lives in Southern California with her husband and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at shannonmessenger.com.

Visit Shannon: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads






Tour Giveaway:
Thank you to Simon & Schuster, we have 5 copies of Let The Sky Fall to giveaway during the tour. Visit each of the giveaway links above to enter.

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A Little More Info on The Dark Artifices Characters and Setting


Cassie seems to know us all very well. We know we only have THIRTEEN days left until The Clockwork Princess' release, but we're getting antsy for new information on really anything, so why not ask her more questions about The Dark Artifices series? As usual, Cassie understands and answers. Here's the latest TDA information from her tumblr along with those gorgeous tarot cards by cassandrajean

Q.  hi Cassie! Do you mind telling us a little more about TDA or the characters in it? I just love thinking about all the new people and places and what they look like. I am beyond excited :) thank you! — wanderrerr

A. Mmm. You guys are bored I think. :) New book in 16 days! Okay, so. The Dark Artifices are set in Los Angeles. I grew up mainly in Los Angeles, and so I am excited to set my book in my hometown. It also means I get to do a lot of interesting stuff with the beach and water magic.

I also wanted to write The Dark Artifices because I wanted to explore the dynamics of a really big family with a lot of brothers and sisters. This early I don’t want to commit to much, but I can say a little about the characters.

The eldest sister, who we’ve met, is Aline Penhallow’s girlfriend, Helen. After her is her brother Mark.


Mark and Helen have a different mother than the rest of their siblings. They have, as mentioned by Alec in City of Lost Souls, “some faerie blood.” Above, Mark has the Tarot Card of the Chariot, which is for reasons I will not expound on here.

Then comes Julian, who takes care of everyone. Why? Well, you have to wait to find out, but you’ll understand some of it after City of Heavenly Fire. Julian is an artist, and has the Blackthorn coloring like most of his sibs — brown hair and blue-green eyes.

He paints in oils mostly, some watercolor. He’s a “fine artist” which Clary, who sketches and draws comic-style, wouldn’t be considered.

Julian sits on the roof of the Institute and paints the ocean. He paints the things he loves, mainly.
After Julian we have Emma Carstairs. *ears swivel about* No, I can’t say how she’s related to Jem yet. Emma is very proud of being a Shadowhunter. She’s very determined, she’s very good at what she does, she trains a lot. She’s also determined to find out what happened to her parents — something else you’ll hear about in CoHF. Emma owns a very important weapon, and in fact the picture below is purposely missing the sword’s inscription

Julian and Emma are parabatai; they’ve known each other forever. They can communicate almost without talking. They sleep in each other’s beds. They fight together. I tend to think with every pair of parabatai there’s one that grounds the other — Jem grounds Will, Alec grounds Jace, and Julian grounds Emma.

Not that Emma doesn’t have girl friends. Her best girl friend is Cristina, who came to the LA institute from Mexico City. I gave her the card of the High Priestess and surrounded her with roses because that’s the meaning of her last name — Rosebush.
Q. “Hello, Cassie! Anyway, I don´t think you remember but I asked you some time ago about Cristina, we talked about Mexican families and their faith… so I saw those Tarot cards? And Cristina´s said she was the believer… I was just wondering how´s that? What have you decided about her faith? I´d love to know more about her (being Mexican and all) Lots of love and luck for you, sweetie, we love you! — worldwidenotes

Q. hi cassie, i wanted to say i love you and your books! i have a question about tda though too. i was just wondering if we could know a little bit more about one of the characters, cristina rosales? thanks even if you cant tell us any more! — onehundredvisions

A. I do remember actually talking to quite a lot of my fans about Cristina! Cristina Rosales’ name is taken from the first name and the last name of two different girls who attended a signing I did in Mexico City years ago. Almost everyone who came up to me asked if I would write a Mexican Shadowhunter girl so I said I would, if they would help me — I wanted to know what Mexican girls wanted out of a character who shared their heritage. worldwidenotes gave me the explicit note that Cristina should be “strong in her faith” so I decided to explore some of the intricacies of Shadowhunter faith through her. I haven’t written a character who is strong in their faith before, and it’s been interesting. I like Cristina a lot — she is shyer than Emma, but very strong and unwavering in her loyalty and morals. She wears a medallion above that says Blessed be the Angel my strength which teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight (which is me, as usual, mauling passages from the Bible.)

Cristina is also very dedicated to her family, who are important too. Very important. :)

After Jules in age come the twins, Livia and Tiberius. My best friend had twins a year ago so she’s been telling me about twins nonstop. Sometimes I stare at her twins creepily in the hope that they will yield Important Twinformation.

Ty is the slightly older one, and unlike most of his family, has black hair and gray eyes. He has literally no interest in fighting; he loves mystery books and Sherlock Holmes and wants to be a detective. No one has much patience for a fifteen year old Shadowhunter who wants to dust for fingerprints, so he doesn’t really get along with anyone but

…his sister Livvy. They’re very close; for years they had a made-up twin language only they can understand. Livvy is the “protector” because she protects Ty from everything, since he’s hopeless at fighting and she’s a skilled fencer and swordfighter. She also interprets the world for him when he finds other people’s behavior confusing.

The Blackthorns that require the most caretaking are the youngest: Drusilla and Octavian, or Tavvy.

Aren’t they cute? Dru is just about old enough to have a crush, and have one she does (and an important one) — Tavvy is too young to have runes or be a Shadowhunter yet, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a role to play.

Aaand that’s the Blackthorns for the moment. There are other characters, and other information about the story but this is what I feel comfortable with sharing at the moment.
- - -

That was a lot of sharing and it was perfectly timed. So THIRTEEN more days, MMs. We can do this.

Twitter Tuesday - Lisa T. Bergren's Grave Consequences iPad Mini Giveaway


I was thrilled when I saw that Lisa's next book in The Grand Tour series has been released, Grave Consequences (amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound). I adored the first book, Glamorous Illusions (link to review) Do you guys remember where we left Cora and her fellow travelers? Well, here's the synopsis to help you recall the twisty goodness of the plot:
For Cora Kensington, the journey of a lifetime takes unexpected twists. And her future—her very life—depends on the decisions she’ll make at each crossroad. As her European tour with her newfound family takes her through Austria, France, and Italy, an unseen enemy trails close behind. Meanwhile, a forbidden love continues to claim her heart, putting everyone’s plans in danger. And as Cora stays one step ahead of it all, what might need the most protection is her own heart, torn between the dramatic pursuit of a dashing Frenchman and a man who has been quietly staking claim to her affections all along. Love has dangers all its own. She must escape the bonds of the past and discover the faith to make the right choices, as each one has grave consequences.
Austria, France, Italy! Oh, this story just keeps getting better. Don't forget to add it to your goodreads TBR: Grave Consequences (Grand Tour Series, #2)

And Lisa loves launching her stories, so guess what she's doing? She is giving away a iPad Mini. No, I'm not kidding and you can enter the contest here. Now go and tell your friends about it.

In the mean time if you see me peeking out my front window, it's only because I'm waiting for the UPS delivery of the book. It should be here today. Sometime soon. Not that I'm impatient or anything.

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