Mundie Moms

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

LET THE WIND RISE by Shannon Messenger / Blog Tour: Author Interview / Giveaway


Hello and welcome to today's blog tour stop for LET THE WIND RISE by Shannon Messenger. I'm so thrilled to host today's stop because it's also LET THE WIND RISE's release day!! To celebrate, I've got Shannon on the blog to talk a little bit about her new release! Don't forget to enter 1 of 3 sets of Shannon's Let The Sky Fall series, below! First, here's all little bit about the book. 

ABOUT THE BOOK



By: Shannon Messenger
Published by: Simon Pulse
Releasing on: April 26th, 2016
Series: Sky Fall Book #3
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | iTunes
Add it to Goodreads

Vane Weston is ready for battle. Against Raiden’s army. Against the slowly corrupting Gale Force. Even against his own peaceful nature as a Westerly. He’ll do whatever it takes, including storming Raiden’s icy fortress with the three people he trusts the least. Anything to bring Audra home safely.


But Audra won’t wait for someone to rescue her. She has Gus—the guardian she was captured with. And she has a strange “guide” left behind by the one prisoner who managed to escape Raiden. The wind is also rising to her side, rallying against their common enemy. When the forces align, Audra makes her play—but Raiden is ready.

Freedom has never held such an impossible price, and both groups know the sacrifices will be great. But Vane and Audra started this fight together. They’ll end it the same way.



AUTHOR INTERVIEW




* I can't believe this series is over. It feels like we were just introduced to Vane and Audra. Looking back through out the series, what is one of your favorite Vane and Audra moments? 

I know—I can’t believe it’s over either! I’m probably going to get all sniffley on release day! And hmm, this is tricky because I’m terrible at picking favorites. So I’m going to go with the first scene that popped into my head: the moment in LET THE SKY FALL when Vane thinks he’s being equal parts flirty and Mr. I-Am-Taking-Control-Of-This-Situation, and Audra responds by slamming him into the wall with a gust of wind and threatening his life a few dozen ways. If anything sums up their relationship dynamic, it’s that. ☺

* Is the ending something you always had in mind, or did it change a little bit based on character's actions?


It’s funny—the ending itself is exactly how I knew it would be. But the journey getting there was very different. Some of the final climactic scenes weren’t at all like the original battles I’d planned, but when all was said and done, it brought me to the same place. And bonus—the new battles are way cooler than the ones I’d first imagined, so it’s proof that trusting the story is always the better way to go.  


* Out of the series, which book was the most challenging to write, and which was the most fun to write?


Book three was definitely the biggest challenge, mosty because I’d never written the end of a series before so it felt like, AHHH—I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS! But it was also a story that lived in my head for years, so that made it tricky to find the right balance between trusting the story and staying true to the original “vision.” Book one was definitely the most fun to write, since it started out as a secret pet project just for me. There was no pressure. No plan. Just the characters taking me on a journey. There’s something so magical about that.


* Let's talk cover love! Normally I'm not a big fan of cover changes in a series, but I really love your new covers. I think this cover might be my favorite. What were your thoughts when your first saw the new covers, and do you have a favorite one?


You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you love the new covers! I was sooooooo nervous when I found out there would be a change, especially since my other covers were incredibly beautiful. I kept thinking, how will they come up with something as amazing as the first ones? And then they sent me the new comps and I fell in LOVE. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I’d probably say the cover for LET THE SKY FALL, since—strangely enough—that was the kind of cover I’d originally pictured for the book. I always thought of the series as “the story of a wind war, where two of the characters happen to fall in love,” not “a love story that happens to have some windy battles in it.” So to see Audra holding her windslicer and floating over the wind farm, ready to take on the world felt perfect. Especially since the artist did such an amazing job.


* Best piece of writing advice you received as an aspiring writer?

I’ve touched on this a bit in my other answers, but the best advice I was given is to “trust the story.” Of course as the author you need to maintain some control, but honestly, the best scenes in all of my books—the scenes I get the most readers talking about—are always the scenes I never quite plan, that happen as the story unfolds.


ABOUT THE SERIES


Find out more about THE SKY FALL series, Let The Sky Fall (book #1) and Let The Storm Break (book #2), here



Praise for LET THE WIND RISE

"The conclusion to this very original fantasy trilogy is stronger than the first two installments, with nonstop action and believable teenage sarcasm, which takes the edge off the brutal reality of Audra and Vane’s highly emotional romance and quest. A good match for fans of Claudia Gray’s Firebird series." ~ RT Book Reviews


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's studied art, screenwriting, and film production, but realized her real passion was writing stories for children. She's the bestselling author of the middle grade series, KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, and the SKY FALL series for young adults. Her books have been featured on multiple state reading lists, published in numerous countries, and translated into many different languages. She lives in Southern California with her husband and an embarrassing number of cats. Find her online at shannonmessenger.com.

Find Shannon:  WebsiteTwitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tumblr 


SHANNON'S GOING ON TOUR!


Catch Shannon on the road! Find out what cities she's coming to for her LET THE WIND RISE book tour, here.


ENTER TO WIN!


Thank you to Simon Pulse, we have 3 sets of THE SKY FALL series to giveaway! To enter, please fill out the form below. This is open to residents of the US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



FOLLOW THE TOUR


4/19 - YA Bibliophile, Excerpt #1


4/20 - Jenuine Cupcakes, Author Guest post #1

4/21 - Me, My Shelf & I, Excerpt #2

4/22 - Page Turners, Author Interview #1

4/25 - Novel Novice, Guest Post #2

4/26 - Mundie Moms, Author Interview #2 

3 comments:

  1. I mostly liked books one and book two, but the wait for book three has really drained what I remember from the books! I liked Vane a lot more than Audra, that much I remember. I want to read this conclusion novel, to get some closure!

    Fabulous post, Katie. =)

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I absolutely love the Keeper of the Lost Cities series!!! My fav characters are sophie and keefe! I have heard great things about this series, i just haven't pick it up yet, which is weird because i love books that have teens with super powers. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely blog tour post Katie. <3 I aaadore shannon :D And I loved book one and two. Cannot wait to read this final book very soon. <3 Hope I will love it lots. Thank you for sharing sweetie :)

    ReplyDelete

Labels