Ontario Teen Book Fest-Author Spotlight on Jessica Brody

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I am so so so incredibly excited to be kicking off the official Ontario Teen Book Fest blog tour! The Ontario Teen Book Fest is SUCH an important event to me, buy and I’m happy to be putting this tour to bring as much attention to the event possible.

Last year’s event brought so many amazing authors into my life. I went to the event, side effects only having been familiar with Morgan Matson, Jessica Brody, Marie Lu, and Stephen Chbosky. I left the Fest with a gigantic bag stuffed full with books and friendships with authors like Ann Stampler and Leigh Bardugo and the duo of Lex Thomas and ANDREW SMITH and Gretchen McNeil and Carrie Arcos and Jennifer Bosworth. It was an incredible experience and I can’t wait to experience that again!

But first, the blog tour!

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When: May 17th, 9 am to 5 pm

Where: Colony High School
3850 E. Riverside Drive
Ontario, CA 91761

This event is a completely free and un-ticketed event! Priority seating WILL be given to teens, but come one, come all! There will also be giveaways and raffles at the Fest, also free!

You can visit the website, to see the full schedule of the day by visiting the official Ontario Teen Book Fest website.

Books WILL be available for purchase at the event, available from Mrs. Nelson’s Book Fair Company :) They are an amazing company so definitely bring your books from home, but try and support Mrs. Nelson’s by purchasing a book!

Its going to be an incredible event and I’m honestly counting down the days! I hope you can come along for the ride, in the days leading up to the event. I’ve got some great bloggers helping me out to profile these amazing authors. Check out the full blog tour here!

May 2nd: Spotlight on Jessica BrodyWhat A Nerd Girl Says
May 3rd: Spotlight on Elana K. ArnoldNite Lite Book Reviews
May 4th: Spotlight on Lauren MillerA Bookish Escape
May 5th: Spotlight on Livia Blackburne The Thousand Lives
May 6th: Spotlight on Lauren KateShe Reads She Blogs
May 7th: Spotlight on Katie AlenderMovies, Shows and Books
May 8th: Spotlight on Catherine LinkaFangirl Feeels
May 9th: Spotlight on Sarah SkiltonRead Now Sleep Later
May 10th: Spotlight on Lissa PriceRecently Acquired Obsessions 
May 11th: Spotlight on Jessi KirbyWhat A Nerd Girl Says
May 12th: Spotlight on Katherine EwelliFandoms Collide
May 13th: Spotlight on Mary PearsonThe Windy Pages
May 14th: Spotlight on John Corey WhaleyRead Now Sleep Later
May 15th: Spotlight on Robin BenwayAdventures of a Book Junkie
May 16th: Spotlight on Ava DellairaFangirl Feeels

So today’s kick off spotlight of the tour is on the one and only:

Jessica Brody! 

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Jessica Brody is the author of several adult and young adult novels including The Fidelity Files, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, My Life Undecided and her young adult science fiction trilogy, Unremembered, Unforgotten and the yet to be released, Unchanged. Unremembered has just recently been optioned for film by Reliance Entertainment and Kintop Pictures. Her books can be found not only here in the U.S. but also in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, China, Russia, Brazil and more! She currently splits her time between Los Angeles and Colorado. You can find her at:

Her Website / Her Facebook / Her GoodReads / Her Twitter / Her Instagram / Her Tumblr / Her YouTube

Her Books

In all honestly, she has kind of a lot of books and you should definitely check her out at the many links above so that you can read them ALL. For this, I’m just going to profile two.

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Being America’s favorite heiress is a dirty job…but someone’s gotta do it.

Lexington Larrabee has never had to work a day in her life. After all, she’s the heiress to the multi-billion-dollar Larrabee Media empire. And heiresses are not supposed to workBut then again, they’re not supposed to crash brand-new Mercedes convertibles into convenience stores on Sunset Boulevard either.

Which is why, on Lexi’s eighteenth birthday, her ever-absent, tycoon father decides to take a more proactive approach to her wayward life. Every week for the next year, she will have to take on a different low-wage job if she ever wants to receive her beloved trust fund. But if there’s anything worse than working as a maid, a dishwasher, and a fast-food restaurant employee, it’s dealing with Luke, the arrogant, albeit moderately attractive, college intern her father has assigned to keep tabs on her.

In Jessica Brody’s hilarious “comedy of heiress” about family, forgiveness, good intentions, and best of all, second chances, Lexi learns that love can be unconditional, money can be immaterial, and regardless of age, everyone needs a little saving. And although she might have fifty-two reasons to hate her father, she only needs one reason to love him.

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When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new sci-fi series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

Interview!

Nerd Girl: Okay, first off: tell us, how absolutely excited are you for the Unremembered movie, and what do you hope they capture from the book to the screen: 

Jessica: GAH! I’m SO super excited for this movie! My books always feel like movies when I’m writing them and when they’re developing in my head so this is a huge dream come true for me! I have full faith in these producers to adapt the book to the big screen. But one thing I really hope they’re able to capture is the waging war between nature and science that runs through all three books of the trilogy. What really makes us human? And when science starts messing with human nature (as it often does even today!), what are the consequences? Does it make us any less human? These are the questions I sought to answer in the book and I hope they translate to the screen as well.

Nerd Girl: Sera is an extraordinary main character and, because of that, sometimes it might be hard to remember that she is a teenager. However, she goes through very “teenage” things like first love and discovery. Was it important to you to make sure she experienced that to make her familiar to the reader?

Jessica: Well, thank you so much for saying so!

At first, I thought it would be difficult to make Seraphina relatable. Being that she’s a genetically modified super human with no memories (not your every day teen to say the least!) But as I started to write the book, it became apparent that Seraphina went through the same struggles as all my other teen contemporary characters. Like most young people, she’s trying to figure out who she is, how she fits into her world, who to trust, what she wants her legacy to be. These similarities surprised me as I wrote but now that I look back, it makes me so much sense. Being a teen is being a teen. Regardless of how beautiful you are, how fast you can run, how much you remember. It’s a transitional period in your life. A time of discovery. And it was a discovery process for me to realize this but in the end, I’m happy with the message that’s portrayed in the book.

Nerd Girl: Both Unremembered and Unforgotten have cliffhangers that make any reader want to throw their book across the room. What is the trick to creating a really good cliffhanger? 

Jessica: I think the trick to ending any book with a cliffhanger is making sure you wrap up all the BIG loose ends of the current story. There’s a difference between making the reader want to know what happens next and completely frustrating the reader because you, the author, didn’t do your job and finish the story. In both Unremembered and Unforgotten, I was very careful to make sure the major conflicts and storylines were resolved. THEN and only then, did I introduce the next major conflict to come in the form of a cliffhanger.

Nerd Girl: You can switch places with one person for a day: who would you pick and why?

Jessica: Taylor Swift. I’m such a nerd fan of hers! I just think she’s so dang adorable and talented. I would love to be in her shoes for a day. I’m sure it’s not all it’s cracked up to be (a theme I plan to explore in a future book one day), but it’s still something I’d love to experience.

Nerd Girl: In Unforgotten, the characters bounce back and forth between various time periods. What is the hardest part about writing a book in different time periods? 

Jessica: Probably the research. In Unforgotten, the book takes place in three time periods: 1609, 2032, and 2115. These are all very different settings. And two of them haven’t even happened yet. So after I finished researching life in the 17th century, I would then have to crack open a book about what we can expect in the future. It was like changing college majors in the middle of the semester, from a history major to some kind of speculative technology major!

Nerd Girl: Have you ever had a ‘fangirl moment’ and who was it with? 

Jessica: I had a  major fangirl moment the first time I read Rainbow Rowell. I had just read Eleanor and Park and I went to one of her signings in LA. I waited until her long line of fans had died down before getting my book signed and introducing myself. We spoke for a little while and she asked what I had written. Then she asked if they carried it in the store. They did. And she actually BOUGHT Unremembered while I stood there and watched. And she asked me to sign it. I was so speechless and beside myself. To this day, I can’t believe Rainbow bought my book! GAH!

Nerd Girl: Because this is for the Ontario Teen Book Fest, all about the teens, what is your favorite memories from when you were a teen? 

Jessica: Okay, this is super JUVENILE, but one of my favorite moments was when I was thirteen and the guy I’d been crushing on for weeks asked my best friend if she thought I would go out with him, if he asked me. I still remember the giddiness I felt when she passed on the message. The whole delivery was SO middle school but I don’t care. I was ecstatic!

Nerd Girl: Last question: who is your fictional crush?

Jessica: Gosh, it changes by the day. Today, I’ll go with Sky from LOVE LETTERS TO THE DEAD. I just read it and it was amazing! I’m excited to meet the author, Ava Dellaira, at the festival this month!

Giveaway!

Oh yes! There is a giveaway! With three prizes. It starts today, and ends May 20th, three days after the actual fest.

The prizes include: 

Grand Prize: Ontario Teen Book Fest Poster Signed by All Attending Authors and a Swag Pack!

Of course, its not signed yet but it will be!

Of course, its not signed yet but it will be!

First Prize: Ontario Teen Book Fest Signed by All Attending Authors!

Second Prize: Ontario Teen Book Fest Shirt Signed by All Attending Authors!

The shirt will also be signed at the Fest as well!

The shirt will also be signed at the Fest as well!

And its easy to enter, in the rafflecopter below! Sorry, no international this time around!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Bookish Survey: Cast a Harry Potter Spell

So one of my new blogger friends, pill Kayla from The Thousand Lives (who I met a couple weeks ago, visit this and who Im happy to report, help is SO awesome), just posted this on her blog, and she got it from Flip that Page. I read it and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I mean, mixing up Harry Potter spells with books? I call that an epic win.

So let’s dive in!

Cast a Spell! 

Reparo

fixes damaged objects

A book that needs some serious fixing: Requiem by Lauren Oliver. The series started off pretty good; it had an interesting concept but it just fell so flat as it went along.

Lumos

creates a narrow beam of light

A book that deserves more attention: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Now here is a lady that just SO rocks the YA fantasy genre and doesn’t get enough credit for it.

Nox

counters the effects of Lumos

An overhyped book: Catcher in the Rye. I do not understand the appeal of this book. I do not understand why its so highly acclaimed and why people just love it. I do not understand why people name their kid after Holden Caufield. He’s annoying as all heck, and he spends the entire novel whining up a storm.

Accio

summons an object from a significant distance

A book you’re anticipating: So many. But my answer at the moment would be Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. The guy is a genius. I am so happy I discovered him and his amazing writing this year.

Alohomora

opens unlocked doors, unless bewitched

A book you want to be more open about: I don’t know. I’m a book blogger. I don’t really have a problem talking openly about books. I have no probably saying if i love or hate a book.

Expecto Patronum

conjures an incarnation of positive feelings

A book that made you cry, or at least want to: There are just too many for me to even begin to say. I’ve cried over a lot of books. I sobbed at Clockwork Princess, and Allegiant, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and way more than that.

Morsmordre

conjures the Dark Mark

A book you wish to mark as one of your favorites: Either Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling or Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce

Petrificus Totalus

petrifies victim

A book you wish to keep forever: Harry Potter. What other books do I really need.

Protego

shield charm

An intimidating book you keep putting off: The entire Song of Ice and Fire series. I’ve read the first 1.5 books but I haven’t continued because of the sheer magnitude of them.

Riddikulus

used against a boggart

A book with a deceiving synopsis: I can’t think of anything in particular BUT I hate when I pick up a book and it has SUCH a vague synopsis that you literally have NO Idea what its about. OH god, that’s so annoying. Like, you don’t create mystery and intrigue, you create annoyance.

Lacarnum Inflamarae

shoots fireballs

A book you wish to burn out of your mind completely: Fifty Shades of Grey. I only got 50 pages in, but that was enough. I just…no. I just can’t.

Wingardium Leviosa

levitates objects

A book you wish to reread: I’ve been wanting to re-read Harry Potter lately, and City of Ashes and City of Glass. I want to re-read The Hobbit again before the movie. I also really want to re-read Watchmen too.

Avada Kedavra

causes instant death

Worst book EVER: I hesitate to do this because I really hate to show disrespect to someone’s work, whether I liked it or not. But I do have a disrespect for some authors and books. I disrespect Fifty Shades of Grey. I also disrespect authors who use ghost writers. That’s a whole ‘nother story though.

Spells Cast on You!

Stupefy

puts victim in unconscious state

A book with a chapter you couldn’t seem to get over: Chapter 35: Veritaserum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I still believe its one of the best written chapters ever. The mystery that is unfolded, the smallest things that all build up together to reveal the true identity of Mad-Eye Moody. I remember being 13 and reading it, and having to read it again to understand the brilliance of it.

Confundo

causes befuddlement or forgetfulness

A book that generally confused you: Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. Its a sci-fi, sort of dystopian novel and I wanted to understand and like it so much but it just confused me more and more. It might be because I was reading it in my College Reading class, so I couldn’t understand the depths of it. Maybe I’ll go back and try again.

Crucio

inflicts unbearable pain

A book that was a pain to read: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. I had heard SO many good things about it from so many different readers and from all over the blogs, but when I read it, I was just immensely disappointed. It fell so flat to me. I didn’t even finish it. It just felt too close to the Hunger Games to me.

Episkey

heals relatively minor injuries

A feel good book that you enjoyed: Hmmmmm, anything by Jessica Brody or Meg Cabot. These two authors can make me laugh, and make me feel so great

Expelliarmus

temporarily disarms an opponent

A book with a swoon-worthy character: Well….this could go on forever. Jace Wayland (The Mortal Instruments), Jared Lynburn (The Lyburn Legacy), Daniel ‘Day’ Wing (The Legend Trilogy), Sirius Black (HP), Aidan St. Delphi (Covenant series), Peeta Mellark (Hunger Games), Finnick Odair (Hunger Games), Will Herondale (Infernal Devices). I could go on for ages.

Impedimenta

impedes target’s progress

A book that kept you up all night reading: Recently? Clockwork Princess, on release day. The House of Hades, on release day. Champion, on release day. All of these were bought at midnight, on my Kindle and I stayed up reading them. I also stayed up all night reading Unspoken.

Silencio

immediate silencing

A book that left you speechless after you read it: Winger by Andrew Smith and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Both books that just literally blew my mind. I can’t stop recommending them to everyone.

Legilimens

allows you to delve into someone’s mind

A book with well-developed characters: Harry Potter, definitely. Each character is so well thought out, and has a back story and a fully fleshed personality, and they’re all so real. Every single one. Its beautiful.

Levicorpus

a spell that turns you upside down

A book that changed your mind about a character from its prequel: Clockwork Prince, which is my favorite in the Infernal Devices. In Clockwork Angel, I was so aghast at the cruel nature of Will Herondale and I was rooting hard for Jem. But in CP, we learn so much more about Will, and it changed my mind COMPLETELY.

Obliviate

used to hide memories

A book with a story you can’t remember: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. I just didn’t really like it all that much, and now I can’t even really remember the story of it.

Peskipiksi Pesternomi

useless spell

A boring book that had absolutely no effect on you: Paper Towns by John Green. I love him to death but this one just bored me the entire time. I couldn’t get into it at all.

Reducto

breaks through solid objects

A book that convinced you to reconsider a certain genre: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan…it gave me a ton of hope for the YA paranormal genre. I feel its gotten…well, pretty bad lately but I read this book and loved it so I’m hoping its gotten better.

Rictusempra

tickling spell

A book that made you laugh: Winger by Andrew Smith. I haven’t laughed so hard in a book as much as this one.

Sectusempra

offensive spell that violently wounds the target

A book that may have scarred you for life: In a good way, or bad way? Harry Potter scarred me for life, but in all the good ways.

Tarantallegra

makes you dance uncontrollably

A series finale that made you feel giddy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Nothing can explain the feelings I had while reading that book.

Bombarda Maxima

causes an explosion that breaks through obstacles

A book that made you explode with the feels: I could go on for ages. The last HP book, City of Glass, Clockwork Princess, Champion, The Mark of Athena, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. So many.

Finite Incantatem

nullifies other spells

A book you thought you’d dislike, but ended up loving: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. Her Demon’s Lexicon didn’t impress me much so I didn’t have hope for this one. It blew my expectations out of the water. I love it!

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Thanks for reading, and thanks to Kayla for sharing this on her blog, so that I could steal it and share it here too!

Blogger Spotlight-Kayla from The Thousand Lives

One of the best parts about running this blog is having the ability to meet some really cool people, drugs and some of the coolest people that I have met have led me to really cool blogs. I’ve said it before, no one’s blog is 100% original but everyone’s voices are different so there are blogs that I love to read because I love the writer, and I love the passion that they show for what they are writing. They are fun and interesting to read and they inspire me to get better and better in my blog.

So I decided to do a feature (inspired by Megan at the Nerdy Girlie’s Geek Girls Gab), where I profile the bloggers that I love. Not only do I get to find out more about them, but I also get to share them with you guys! Most of the bloggers that I follow are like me, nerd girls, fan girls and they enjoy the same things as me, and you! Every blogger that I profile is one that is super important to me and I urge you to check them out!

If you are interested in being featured on the Blogger Spotlight, feel free to contact me, please! I would love to hear from you, to feature you on the blog and to help spread the word about it!

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This week’s blogger is Kayla from The Thousand Lives

You Can Find Her At:

Her Twitter

Her Good Reads

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Sara: Tell me a Little Bit About Yourself:

Kayla: Kayla, 18, graduated with a Bachelor’s in English (yes, yes I know it’s a long story but the short answer is online college), currently a high school literature teacher, Algebra II teacher (both at a homeschool program), and a chiropractic assistant. Habitually introverted and hermit-like. My dog is my constant companion in my blogging and reading adventures. I’m fluent in English, Spanglish, sarcasm, and fangirl. I can also read Shakespeare quite easily and most of my friends cheated off my papers.

I’m afraid I’m quite uninteresting after that! I work a lot, and in my spare time I try to recuperate by reading books or catching up on/rewatching my favorite tv shows (Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Avatar: The Last Airbender + Korra, Spongebob, and Criminal Minds). I love teaching, and sometimes (okay, 99% of the time) I’m far more excited for the books we read in class than my students.

Sara: Tell me about your blog: 

Kayla: My blog is to mainly categorize the books that I’ve read, and the thoughts I had about them. Too often I forget everything after I put the book back on my shelf! It’s just an extra bonus that I get to meet so many people and actually talk about my interests with them :) My original feature is called Standing On My Soapbox, and it’s basically my discussion posts, every Thursday, where I talk about what’s been on my mind (bookish or not). I also take part in a few memes like Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, and Stacking the Shelves.

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Sara: What inspired you to start your blog?

Kayla: Originally I was going to have it as a platform for my writing, but then I discovered so many amazing blogs and bloggers that I switched over to book blogging. I have them to thank for my return to reading!

Sara: What is your favorite nerd memory?

Kayla: Definitely the first season finale I watched (Supernatural season 8) while I had a tumblr. Knowing that so many other people were freaking out at the same time as me was just amazing. I’ve never felt a part of something like that before!

Sara: What are you most looking forward to, as far as new books/movies/etc?

Kayla: Sherlock. Series. Three. January 19th. My body is ready. I can’t afford/travel to cons. And as far as book releases, I’m most looking forward Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (June!). I don’t know much else, since I’m still getting into all this. I rely on my friends to get me on the ball as far as releases go! OH wait!!! And then Tuesday October 29th I get to meet Leigh Bardugo with the lovely Sara :)

(I am so excited to meet Kayla at the Fierce Reads stop on Tuesday! Its going to be awesome!)

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Sara: As my blog is mostly about books and reading, what are some of your favorite books or authors to read?

Kayla: I don’t really have a favorite author, to be honest. But some of my favorite books are The Hobbit, Left Drowning by Jessica Park, Backward Glass by David Lomax, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Eragon, Catching Fire, The Raven Boys… and so many more it’s not even funny.

Sara: What are some of your favorite blogs to follow?

Kayla: Flip That Page, Books for  Delicate Eternity, Adrift on Vulcan, Books and Beautiful World, Andi’s ABCs, Respiring Thoughts, Chrissi Reads, Always Lost in Books, In Italics, Talking (Blogging) Bookworm, Effortlessly Reading.

Sara: Who is your fictional crush (what, we’re nerd girls, we all have one!)

Kayla: Are you actually ready for this answer? Because I think we could be here all night. But I’ll keep it to five: Peeta Mellark, Eowyn (girl crush ftw), Dean Winchester, Stormhund, Finnick Odair. I lied. We’ll go for five more: Etienne St. Clair, Tobias Eaton, Raffe (from Angelfall), Fear (from Some Quiet Place), and Ryan (from the Hybrid Chronicles).

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I hope you all enjoyed this week’s Blogger Spotlight and that you are able to check out Kayla and her blog. Her blog is awesome, and way super adorable. I enjoy following.

Don’t forget that you can check out old Blogger Spotlights here.

Happy Blogging Everyone!