Mundie Moms

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Happy Birthday, Katie B!

Will Herondale by Ms. Eragon
Hi there, Mundie Mamas. Will and I wanted to sneak in and do a quick post before midnight wipes this day away because -

IT'S KATIE B's BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yes, it's our Mundie Moms' Founder, Katie B's birthday, and by now I think of it as tradition that I sneak a post on this blog just so we can take the time out to wish her a happy birthday.

As for me, what can I say about my partner-in-crime and my bestie. We live in different states and in fact, different time zones, but that's never stopped us from calling each other and fangirl-ing about the latest fictional character we just met. It's never stopped us from shopping together ("Girl, go to Target right NOW! You've got to get this!") It's never stopped us from sharing our highest and lowest moments. Katie has buoyed my spirit through so many of life's disappointments, rough patches and all out difficult times. Together, we have watched our families grow and our kids become older while our lives became busier.

If you know Katie, you already know that she is the friend who will drop everything to return your call. She is the friend who will listen to you on your whiniest days and not judge. She is the friend who will comfort you when you think no words of kindness and understanding could ever reach you. And let me tell you, those words will reach you and they will help heal you or at least help you frame the dilemma in better light.

I know Cassie defined the term "parabatai". Two warriors bound together by an oath to fight and protect each other until death parts them. Let me tell you, if Katie was your parabatai, she would let NOTHING get in the way of protecting you. She is that fierce and formidable.

So today, her birthday, please join me (and Will -- see I placed him up there so Katie would just stare at him and not think that I'm writing all this until it's posted and she can't remove it as easily. What can I say, I'm the sneaky Mundie Mom) in wishing her the best year ever. A year filled with happy adventures, many fangirl moments and most of all one filled with family, friends and love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Katie!!!!
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HEARTLESS by Marissa Meyer / COUNTDOWN TO HEARTLESS Blog Tour: Author Q&A #HeartlessCountdown

7 days till Heartless is out! 


Hello and welcome to the next stop in THE COUNTDOWN TO HEARTLESS blog tour. I am so thrilled to celebrate next week's release of Marissa Meyer's newest book. Today's stop features an Q&A with the queen of YA, Marissa Meyer! First, here's a little bit about the book: 



By: Marissa Meyer
Published by: Feiwel & Friends
To Be Released on: November 8th, 2016
Pre-Order from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland — the infamous Queen of Hearts — she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.

At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.

Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.


AUTHOR INTERVIEW




What were your favorite elements of Carroll's Wonderland to fold into your Wonderland?
Definitely the characters, who I believe remain some of the most fun, interesting, and unique characters in literary history. I loved taking a new look at his iconic characters and seeing them through new eyes… not just Alice’s eyes, but through the lens of Wonderland itself, if that makes sense. Alice is an outsider, so everything is strange and bizarre to her (though she handles it with marvelous composure). Yet to people born into this world, this is just how people are, how they behave. It was a treat to write them that way, as if they are “the norm.”
And of course, there is the overall sense that anything goes, which Lewis Carroll used to his advantage and I tried to do the same. It was a ton of fun to play in this world because there were so few rules. The quirkier, the more nonsensical, the better. Carroll really set up a grand playground for us to explore, and I did my best to keep that wide-eyed whimsicality to it wherever possible, no explanations required.

What are the rules of your Wonderland? Who can use magic? Who can't? 
I have no idea! That was actually one of the biggest challenges of writing this book—I intentionally avoided making too many rules. Which might sound easy, but it’s very counterintuitive. As a writer, it’s my natural inclination to want to start putting a box around things, because you don’t want things to be easy for the characters, and you don’t want the whole thing to feel so chaotic that the readers get lost or frustrated. But at the same time, I really wanted it to feel as though anything is possible in this world—which is the same feeling we get from the Alice books. (I mean, in Alice through the Looking Glass, the White Queen goes from being a queen, to a sheep—no, like literally, a sheep, who knits and who appears to be running a shop, and then later she turns back into a queen again. Huh??)
My tactic for using magic throughout the story was to think of it not so much as a tool to be wielded, one that some characters have access to and others don’t, but rather as a force outside of the characters that can show up and have an impact at any time, almost as if it has a will of its own. Of course, there are some consistencies—such as the manner in which Hatta is able to craft magical hats, or how some foods make a person larger or smaller—but I also think there is a lot of magic in this world that even the people of Hearts don’t understand, or care to explain.

If you had to impress Hatta at one of his tea parties, what would your special talent be?
Uh…. I would hand him a copy of Winter? (It’s about a mad girl, Hatta, you’ll love it!) Or maybe I would offer that he take the night off and let me host the shindig this time around. I throw a mean party.

It was so much fun to see the Cheshire Cat in younger days! Is he loyal to Cath?
Cheshire is loyal to nobody but Cheshire. :D
We see this when Alice meets him, too. He is referred to as the Duchess’s cat, but it’s pretty clear that he’s his own person and doesn’t really belong to anybody. And he must be well-connected, as he seems to know everybody in Wonderland, and has a number of opinions to offer. It was a natural jump for me to turn him into the town gossip-mongerer, and he may just have been my favorite character to write.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Marissa Meyer is the USA Today– and New York Times-bestselling author of the Lunar Chronicles: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Fairest: Levana’s Story,and Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection.



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TODAY'S #HEARTLESSCOUNTDOWN CHALLENGE IS:

  • Sharing the challengeCover Twitter in Heartless! Change your profile pic to the book for today's #HeartlessCountdown challenge!
  • Completing the challenge: 7 DAYS TILL HEARTLESS! #HeartlessCountdown #sweepstakes [change your profile picture]

HEARTLESS Pre-Order OFFER



Don't miss Fierce Reads's pre-order offer HERE!

Out Today! - New YA Releases for November 1st, 2016


Happy Book Birthday to today's new YA releases! Check out the list of new releases hitting bookstore shelves TODAY:


Which new releases will you be picking up today?

November 2016 YA Releases



Happy November 1st! I can't believe we're almost to the end of 2016. This year has flown up way too fast. This year month is another great month for YA readers. Check out this list of this month's new YA releases: 

November 1st



November 8th



November 15th



November 22nd



November 29th



What new releases are you looking forward to picking up this month?
If you don't see a YA new release listed, please leave me a comment and include the title and author, so I can add it to the list. 

Happy Reading!

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