Mundie Moms

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Blog Tour/Interview- Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready

We're the next stop in Jeri Smith-Ready's Shift blog tour and we're so excited to have Jeri on Mundie Moms today. There's a lot of fun things going on with this blog tour. Please be sure to read all the information at the end of the post to learn more about our giveaways today and the grand prize giveaway!! Be sure to mark your calendars, on June 7th we'll be CHATTING with Jeri LIVE here on MM's, at our normal chat time, 8 pm CST/ 9 pm EST.

Published by Simon & Schuster
Released on May 3rd, 2011

Aura's life is anything but easy. Her boyfriend Logan died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows that he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can't deny her connection to the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she's not sure that she wants to. Logan and Zachary will fight to be the one by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past—the mystery of the Shift. As Aura's search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets...and her heart (quoted from Jeri's site here).



In Shade you introduced us to the pre- and post shifters. What was your inspiration for your mythology?

Hmm, my imagination? As far as I know, I made it up. When I first conceived the world, I liked the idea of ghosts being acknowledged as real because a large portion of the population could see them. The real breakthrough was deciding that it would be a matter of age. The ultimate generation gap!

Every teenager thinks that adults don’t understand them. Here, it’s literally true—younger people have an entirely different experience of the world, because only they can see and talk to ghosts. Pre-Shifters just don’t get it.

Which of your characters do you feel is most like you?

Definitely Logan. We share a lot of the same hopes and fears and passions. We live for music. We’re afraid of being forgotten. We want everyone to be happy and to like us, even if it means going along with things we don’t want to do, or know we shouldn’t do.

Luckily, I have much better self-control and have never accidentally killed myself to keep someone from being mad at me.

We are really looking forward to Shift's release, what would Aura, Logan and Zachary tell us readers about Shift?

They would say, pick up a box of tissues on your way home from the bookstore! Everyone gets their share of torture in this one. But in the end, I think they’re all pretty happy.

For now.

What advice would you give to writers who are interested in writing both YA and adult books? Do you find it challenging switching between a YA voice and an adult voice in writing?

It’s not a matter of writing “YA vs. adult voice” as it is simply writing different characters’ voices.

That would be my advice—don’t write YA characters. Write YOUR characters—who happen to be teens—and the rest will follow. Don’t transcribe what you overhear in the carpool or the food court. Your kids are not your characters, and your characters are not your kids. Teens aren’t aliens or exotic species to be observed, dissected, and replicated on the page. They’re individual people with individual minds and voices and desires.

Honestly, the biggest challenge I have in writing both adult and YA books is keeping up with the reading in both genres. It’s impossible, because there are so many great books coming out every week. My TBR pile will never reach zero before I die, and I’m okay with that.

If you could have a paranormal power, what power would you want and why?

I’d want the power to pick a new paranormal power every day. What can I say? I love variety!

We love hearing book recommendations from authors. What have you read lately that you could recommend to us?

I just read HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire. Her characters are so complex and real, especially the heroine Emerson. I also get the sense that there’s a huge world to explore there that we’re only seeing a small part of in this book. I love that zeroing-in-on-a-tapestry feeling, because it not only makes me salivate for the next book, it’s also more realistic. No one character is going to understand everything. It makes me feel like I’m IN the world, rather than observing it from outside and knowing all.

Thank you so much Jeri for being with us today! We are really looking forward to reading Shift. We agree about Hourglass, we love that book too.

Thanks for your fun questions!


Tomorrow's stop will be at Jackie Morse Kessler. You can find the rest of the tour schedule HERE.

Give us a comment or ask Jeri your own question below to enter today’s drawing. There will be two winners.

The Prizes:

Winner # 1 gets a signed copy of SHIFT, plus a Van Gogh Starry Night magnet (to match the poster Zachary gave Aura), courtesy of Jeri.
Winner #2 gets an unsigned copy of SHIFT, courtesy of Jeri’s publisher.

Additionally all commenters will be entered into a draw to win the Grand Prize - annotated copies of SHADE and SHIFT, an early copy of SHIFT (book three of the series, of which there will be no other ARCS) and an iPod Shuffle! Go HERE for the Grand Prize rules. Grand Prize winners will be announced on May 11th.

Open to international entries! Winners will be drawn after 24 hours. Please fill out the FORM below to enter:


Author Bio: Jeri Smith-Ready’s latest release is SHIFT (May 3), the second in the YA ghost trilogy that began last year with SHADE (which is now out in paperback). She loves to hear from readers, so please visit her at www.jerismithready.com, or better yet, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jerismithready) or Twitter (@jsmithready), where she spends far too much time.

51 comments:

  1. Great Interview!

    The paranormal power I would most like to have is reading other people's minds. Just like Ai Ling from Cindy Pon's Fury of the Phoenix.

    lostnthestacks(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  2. Great interview! This sounds like such a cool series--can't believe I'm just now discovering it. :)

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  3. I love the choice of paranormal power! I'm indecisive, so this one would work wonders for me as well! Thanks for the great interview :)

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  4. I absolutely loved Shade, and cannot wait to get my hands on Shift. Thanks!!!

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  5. Fantastic interview! Thank you for the giveaway!

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  6. Great interview!The power to pick a new paranormal power every day is fantastic.

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  7. Love the interview, I'm looking forward to reading Shift, hopefully I'll be getting it this weekend. =)

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  8. Great interview! And congrats Jeri on SHIFT's release yesterday.

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  9. Thanks for the chance!


    spamscape [at] gmail [dot] com

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  10. I love Van Gogh's Starry Night. Great interview!

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  11. Love the interview! But aw man, we're going to need a box of tissues? Now she has me scared! I'm so excited to have a copy of Shift in my hands, I can't wait to find out what's going to happen next!

    And she seriously has me lusting after Hourglass more than I was five minutes ago!

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  12. Great interview. I love this series. I've had such a hard time. I thought I was team Logan, and though I LOVE him, I just see something in Zachary too that makes me love him as well. It's not often I'm conflicted with the boys in a love triangle and its such torturous fun when I am!

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  13. Thanks for the contest!!!

    How did you come up with the book covers?

    ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

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  14. Such a good interview. I really like your choice of "power", too. HEEHEE :) Especially for those of us who tend to be indecisive.

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  15. Thanks for sharing the interview. Shift is near the top of my "Want to read soon" list!! :) I loved Shade.

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  16. Hi everyone! Thanks to the Mundie Moms for hosting me on the blog tour today, and thanks to all of you for coming.

    I was thinking about the paranormal power choice thing, and I decided that I'd be willing to have it limited somewhat, like maybe a menu to choose from. Or a different one designated for each day of the week. Which for some reason makes me think of those day-of-the-week underpants some of us had when we were little girls (and mentioned in the diner scene in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY).

    Ashley, good question! I don't actually have anything to do with the creation of my incredibly awesome YA covers, so I can't take any credit. My only role is to squee. :-)

    With my adult covers, I was able to offer my ideas for the last two books, and they did an amazing job with them!

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  17. I loved Hourglass too! Great interview, I can't wait to read the book.

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  18. I wanted to ask about your part in the covers so I was glad to see it was already answered :)

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  19. witty answer to the paranormal power question! Like asking a genie three more wishes! Hahaha. Thanks for the international giveaway!

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  20. Loved the interview! Can't wait to read Shift! :)

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  21. Awesome giveaway, I loved the interview

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  22. That was fantastic. I can say that I loved Shade and cannot wait to see what develops in Shift.

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  23. The interview left me pining for Shift. I read Shade recently and fell in love with the boys. Shift should be fantastic in their development.

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  24. The paranormal ability I've often wished for is the power of "instant karmic retribution." I.e. I see someone throw litter out their car window and I make it fly right back into their car and land on their lap, or they go home and find a pile of litter on their bed. That sort of thing. :-)

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  25. I enjoyed Shade and am looking foward to Shift

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  26. THANKS FOR THIS GIVEAWAY! <3

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  27. Loving the blog tour! I also loved Shift :) I'd like to pick a different power daily so it wouldn't get boring.

    arnoldjaime13@yahoo.com

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  28. Thank you for your comments and support of Jeri!! It's been a fabulous blog tour so far and I'm looking forward to the rest of the stops.

    Jeri- THANK YOU!!! I love your answer for the paranormal activity.

    Good luck to everyone entering the SHIFT giveaways!!!

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  29. Shift sounds really good, and I'll have to check out Hourglass.
    marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  30. I love the interview!!
    I'm enjoying the blog tour :)

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  31. While I am looking forward to Shift, I am not looking forward to crying. I am big baby.

    Katie
    bigferret at email dot com

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  32. Terrific interview!! I love this series so far :) Really loving this spotlight!!

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

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  33. Cool interview :) I'll be sure to stock up on tissues once I get time to read Shift :)

    aprilxu2222@gmail.com

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  34. Jeri,

    Of course this was a great interview, but I really appreciated the advice you gave about writing YA and adult. The difference is the characters. I think that's why so many adults like and relate to characters in the YA genre. They're all just people (in a writer's head!), and that's the bottom line. We, the readers, are just people...and that's the bottom line.

    I can't wait to read your series. This new world promises wicked entertainment! =D

    ReneeRearden(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  35. I love those comments about the characters' voices... I think that's such a great way to look at it.

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  36. I loved your answer about writing the characters, Jeri. I was thinking, after finishing the book late last night, how wonderful the characters are. They're fully developed, they're changing and growing (yes, apparently even dead people can grow, lol) and most importantly they're given credit for being intelligent. Something that I think can get lost in the creation of child/teen/young adult characters, in an effort to paint them as children/teens/young adults. You've been able to balance those two elements so perfectly.

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  37. Great interview. Liked the premise.

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  38. Great interview! I am anxiously awaiting Shift in the mail!

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  39. Great interview and love the series.

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  40. Cant wait to get to read it.

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  41. I want to read Shift super bad but my local bookstore didn't get it in! Now I have to wait till I get it in the mail :(

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  42. *pops in!*

    ugh! Jeri!!! You & Logan will NOT be forgotten!!! You both will forever exist on my bookshelf & in my heart! (too creepy?? well it's TRUE! i heart you both!!!)

    but anyway.. now i'm off to bury my head in SHIFT the rest of the night!! EEEEP!! so EXCITED!!!! (and kinda scared!) *gets tissues ready!*

    (p dot s- you don't need to enter me in the daily prize!!)

    *pops out!*

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  43. I haven't read the shift yet because I don't have enough money for it so I hope I will win a copy and be able to read it.

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  44. This is an awesome giveaway! I haven't read SHIFT yet but I'm going to as soon as finals are over! It's driving me crazy I can't read it yet but I made a deal with myself I wouldn't read it until after finals. =(
    kriggenbach95 @ gmail.com

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  45. Thanks for the interview and great giveaway! Please count me in! Would so love to read this :)

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

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  46. Just wanted to pop in and say I'm loving your all's comments. I especially liked Anonymous's wished-for power of karmic retribution--that would make a great superhero! :)

    Thanks again for having me!

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  47. Jeri- You are so welcome! THANK YOU for being with us today!!

    Thank you to everyone for the comments! We'll post tomorrow right before we close the giveaway and announce the winners!!

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  48. I cannot wait for this book, and it's a great interview.

    I would love to be entered into the contest. I'd filled out the form but I'm not sure it registred me...

    forceofstars(at)yahoo(dot)dk

    Mysteriousbooks

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  49. Thank you for the great interview and giveaway!
    I can't wait to read Shift!*_*

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  50. What a great interview can't wait to read Shift I loved Shade! Thank you so much for the great giveaway!

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  51. Thank you so much for all the comments! This portion of the tour's giveaway is now closed. We'll announce our winner's tomorrow. Please be sure to head to the next tour stop. Thank you!

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