March's Reader Interview -- Beighley T. from The Sarcastic Palm Tree

Welcome to Reader Interviews, a monthly feature here at Let Me Tell You a Story.

This month's reader is Beighley from The Sarcastic Palm Tree! 

Hi, Beighley! You co-blog with your mom at The Sarcastic Palm Tree. How long have you been actively blogging about books, and what got you started doing it?

Well… I think I’ve only reviewed one or two books/authors total.  She handles more of that side of the blog.  I got started because author extraordinaire Tiffany King kept on telling us we should do a blog so when my mom asked I said okay.  I really wanted to do it to try to help out the lesser known authors get their name out there because some of their books are better than published ones.

Most readers have that *one* book (or perhaps that *one* series) they can attribute to pulling them into the love they have for reading today. Do you have one? If so, what is it, how old were you, and what are a few things that you appreciated about it?

For me, I’ve been reading the Harry Potter series since I was six or seven, but that was really the only thing I was interested in reading.  I probably owe a lot to Twilight only because of two reasons:

1.    It was what pulled my mom in to reading, and that automatically will help influence the family into doing it as well

2.    If it wasn’t for Stephenie Meyer recommending The Hunger Games, which is MY official series that got me into reading, I probably wouldn’t have liked it the same because I would’ve joined in on it when the movie came out.

Name a favorite male character. What made him stand out?

As far as I can remember, Dobby from Harry Potter was always one of my most favorite characters!  He is almost so indescribable.  I guess I love how he is so innocent all the time and he will do everything in his power to protect the people he loves (i.e. Harry).

How about female? What made her so special?

One of my many favorites would be Emery from American Girl On Saturn.  She reminds me so much of my younger sister who’s about the same age.  She is a huge Directioner and I know that if One Direction came to live at my house she would be all over them like Emery.  When I read anything with her in it I felt like my sister jumped right out of the pages. 

Name the most recent book that made you laugh:

American Girl On Saturn by Nikki Godwin

What merits a book making its way onto your personal favorites list?

1.    It must have me on the edge of my seat

2.    I have to force myself to put the book down (or close my kindle)

3.    The style of writing has a great effect on whether or not it makes it

Favorite series, and why: 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is the series that got me into reading.  I had to wait for EACH BOOK to be released and that was PAINFUL (if you’ve seen Catching Fire, you’d know that).  For some twisted reason, I always found it interesting and I liked the fact I was always on the edge of my seat page after page.  I could go on and on about why I love this series so much!

What is the first thing you read when you get a book? (Blurb, acks, et cetera.)

If it’s a hardcover, I’ll normally read the little blurb on the sleeve inside, but otherwise I’ll normally just start reading the book.

Name a character you'd hate to be stranded with on a deserted island.

Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games Trilogy.  This probably doesn’t need an explanation for those who read the book.  I wouldn’t like to be stranded with her because she would be dead weight on an island.  She has no knowledge on survival even though she’s watched lots of Hunger Games.  All she’d probably do is complain and there’s no way she would do anything to help contribute to survival, she’d probably rather die anyway.  As much as I’d be saying “I can’t believe I’m on an island with EFFIE TRINKET!!!” that feeling would go away after a few minutes because of all the stuff I just said. 

Share a couple of books you're looking forward to reading in 2014.

Rough Waters by Nikki Godwin

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Favorite #amreading snack?

I don’t eat while reading actual books, but I will eat fruit loops, apple slices, or some pretzels.  

Name one character you would never in a million years want to trade places with.

I would pick pretty much anyone from The Hunger Games for obvious reasons.  All the victors, for example, are taken out of their lives and forced into this horrible setting.  This causes them to live with the horror of the arena for the rest of their life.  I don’t think I would want to live with the PTSD.

If someone borrowed your books, what's the first thing they would notice?

That they are in PERFECT condition… it’s as if I haven’t even read them…

(There are some exceptions from when I was younger though…)

Aside from being a major Friends fan, name something else you enjoy besides reading.

I LOVE MUSIC!  If I’m not watching friends or reading a book, I’ll be listening to music or playing either the guitar or piano.  I have more piano books than I can even count now and my favorite song to play on the guitar, of course, is “Smelly Cat” by Phoebe Buffay.

Thanks so much for being here today, Beighley! :)

Yaaaaa Welcome!  Thanks for having me! ;)

This week's writerly news -- By Sun and Candlelight (Flora 1.5), Divergent, & more

Me at the end of a writing week. Yes, I realize I'm not *that* cute.

IT IS FRIDAY! WOOT! Here's this week's news:

News/Noteworthy

This is not the cover. But part of it is.
I'm totally teasing you guys with this. Ha ha ha ha.

* The cover and blurb for By Sun and Candlelight (Flora 1.5 -- Rowan's novella), will be officially revealed Monday, April 7th, at Hafsah's blog (IceyBooks). Woot! If you feel like it, you can totally add it to your Goodreads, HERE. 

* Divergent. Have you seen it yet? Did you see Veronica's cameo? Did Shailene make you cry? I've seen it twice, and yes, Miles is still my man (even though he's a meanie pants... a.k.a. Peter) but he best redeem himself soon, or we're going to have to have a talk.

          ** Movie poster courtesy of Entertainment Weekly... There are character posters for the Dauntless crew, too.

          ** Did you know that you can read the first ten chapters of Divergent free on the official movie Tumbler page? Check it out!

* Speaking of Divergent, both Beating Heart and Hanging On (I See Monstas Remix) by Ellie Goulding rock. (Anyone else love Miss Goulding?) I also love Find You, Stranger, and I Need You. Check out a soundtrack sampler HERE.


* This week's WoW was Always Emily. 

* This week's snack is Darrell Lea liquorice. Currently... on sale at Target. :D (Strawberry is our favorite.) Be careful, though. You can easily eat the entire bag in one sitting.

* FYI, I'm all caught up on Arrow now. In case you were wondering. :p

* Did I mention that betas ROCK? No? Well they do. (Ya'll know who you are. *smooosh*)

Around the interwebs

* Yesterday, I tweeted my heart's desire about all of my lovely internet pals... and some of you responded, and it made me so HAPPY. One day, we will find a way to make this happen, guys. One. Day.


* Writing: Breaking out of the white mold: I was over at Operation Awesome on Wednesday discussing diversity when it comes to race and how I wish we saw more of this on covers and in the content of YA books. Feel free to check it out/share your thoughts, HERE.


Giveaways


*You're probably getting real sick of hearing about The Man in the Iron Mask giveaway, but guess what? In a week I'll be giving a new one away! Can't tell you what it is yet, but here's a clue ;D --- >




Also, you know how I said I was going to have alllll these fun features now? I've only done about half of them. O.0 Mainly because the writing has been going full force with the novella and book two/Open Thy Heart; and blogging, though lovely and fun, is VERY time consuming. One of the features that I have been able to stick with, however (along with the giveaway one because I loves yous), is Reader Interviews. And next Monday Beighley (@Mockingjay31) will be on! Yay!

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Waiting on Wednesday -- Always Emily

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  

  This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is Always Emily. 

Always Emily

by Machaela MacColl
Publication date: April 8th, 2014

From Goodreads:

Emily and Charlotte Brontë are about as opposite as two sisters can be. Charlotte is practical and cautious; Emily is headstrong and imaginative. But they do have one thing in common: a love of writing. This shared passion will lead them to be two of the first published female novelists and authors of several enduring works of classic literature. But they’re not there yet. First, they have to figure out if there is a connection between a string of local burglaries, rumors that a neighbor’s death may not have been accidental, and the appearance on the moors of a mysterious and handsome stranger. The girls have a lot of knots to untangle—before someone else gets killed.

This week's writerly news + music love + Ode to #Arrow

Pssst. Come here. Let me tell you a story.




There once was a girl who constantly read and wrote
She stayed away from the TV because her #booklove was no joke
Then Twitter brought her a show 
Featuring a whiskery guy named Arrow
And now her writerly/readerly stuff 
Has suffered greatly. (She blames Amell.)

Ode to Arrow
By Jessica L. Brooks

That should really be the end of my writerly news, 'cause it's basically all I've got. Seriously haven't read a lick since last week because Lovemuffin and I have watched almost 40 episodes of Arrow since last Saturday. I mean, talk about a marathon. (But us fanperson-ing together *has* been fun, so there's that.) Now that I've caught up (not counting the last episode, DO NOT GO THERE), feel free to squee with me on the interwebs, because I'm totally down.

Quick recap on what I actually have done this week...

News/Noteworthy

* After a Hellogoodbye hiatus, I am back full-force in love with them and they are fueling the writing I am getting done (because, you know, some *is* getting done, as Lovemuffin does work and I'm not allowed to watch an episode without him). 

Their most recent release

** Songs to check out: Just Don't Let Go Just Don't, The Magic Hour is Now, Die Young, Die Dumb; Not Soon  

There is a VINYL of this and I am totally freaking out.

** Songs to check out: Coppertone, Getting Old, The Thoughts That Give Me the Creeps, When We First Met

* I have something exciting (for me, anyway) that I get to announce soon (coming out in enewsletter next week) and I can't wait to share it here in a week or so! *woot*

* If you haven't purchased Ghiradelli brownies, you're missing out. They are the best thing since sliced bread (and pizza. And brownies that are plain, because, yes... these HAVE chocolate IN them. TRIPLE the chocolate. THIS IS IMPORTANT). If you have a Costco, they'll hook you up with six (yes, six) batches in one box. I can't even.

* I've been getting bits and pieces of the second Cozenage book popping into my head (which is awesome). Don't want to say much, but it involves something Jonas does that is different (but neat, IMO). So... yeah.

* My author pal Cheyanne (@NormalChey) and I are going to watch the first two (probably... one for sure) episodes of Arrow tonight together on Twitter (I jumped the gun and started watching it before this, so she's the newbie, but it's all good), so if ya'll want to join in, we'll be on at 8 central (for the love of all things, do not tweet spoilers, yo!)! The hashtag will be #Arrowthon. 

Giveaways

The Man in the Iron Mask still has two weeks to go... enter to win it here! (The hashtag for this monthly feature is now officially #JLBgivesawayaDVD.)


And... that is all I've got, because I was up until two a.m. this morning thanks to Baskin Robbins and their super-caffeinated Blasts. (Thank you, Lovemuffin... totally my bad.)

Have a very blessed weekend, everyone! 

Waiting on Wednesday -- Disruption

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  

  This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is Disruption. 

Disruption

by Jessica Shirvington
Publication date: March 24, 2014

From Goodreads:

What if a microchip could identify your perfect match? What if it could be used against you and the ones you love?

Eight years ago, Mercer Corporation’s M-Bands became mandatory. An evolution of the smartphone, the bracelets promised an easier life. Instead, they have come to control it.

Two years ago, Maggie Stevens watched helplessly as one of the people she loves most was taken from her, shattering her world as she knew it.

Now, Maggie is ready. And Quentin Mercer – heir to the M-Corp empire – has become key to Maggie’s plan. But as the pieces of her dangerous design fall into place, could Quentin’s involvement destroy everything she’s fought for?

In a world full of broken promises, the ones Maggie must keep could be the most heartbreaking.

This Week's Writerly News -- limbo, quotes, and interesting CF categories

Yes, these are the categories for Catching Fire on Target.com. Future Barbarians, UNITE!

Hey all. I don't have much to share, because I'm in limbo. The novella (Flora, 1.5 -- Rowan's POV) is out to betas before I can revise it and work on the final draft and send it off to the editor, the novella's cover is in limbo because I'm waiting on that to be created (happening very soon), the title is chosen finally (WOOT) but I don't want to share it because that'll make the cover reveal less exciting, and I'm working on OTH (Flora 2) but can't finish it yet because certain things depend on how the novella goes (man tying things together adds yet another element of crazy!). 

So yeah. But I haven't done a Writerly News post in a couple of weeks, so I thought I oughta! Which means you're getting quite the eclectic list of stuff, but maybe you'll find a some of it entertaining, at least, so here you go:

Around the interwebs: I was on Operation Awesome talking about writing dialogue tags (feel free to weigh in) HERE.

Giveaways: There's only one going on currently on the blog... The Man in the Iron Mask DVD! (And it is a great classic and Leo and so sad and an IRON MASK so feel free to enter!)

Coming Soon: On the last Monday of this month, Beighley (The Sarcastic Palm Tree), will be on the blog for my March Reader Interview. Gathering questions now, so if you would like to ask a guy teen any bookish Qs, let me know! 

News/Noteworthy: 

Tumblr: Not a whole lot gets shared from my Tumblr, but this quote was shared and understandably so (I love it). 

Quote from Rowan's novella:

She breathes me in and I can feel her light entering my lungs, shattering every particle of overwhelming sadness that had made itself at home.

 (I wrote this in and then forgot to include it in the draft that I sent to the betas so *oops* need to fix that--sorry, guys!)

* The lovely Katie who designed the totes for the blog tour is taking custom orders! This is a great gift idea (Mother's Day IS coming up) or you can always splurge a little and get one for yourself! Check it out HERE.

I need to: 

* Start watching Arrow: A couple of ya'll have agreed to live tweet with me when we start it up--YAY! I'm hearing so much about it but being as I don't watch TV I haven't started yet because I know it's going to be a major distraction! :p But... SOON. 

* Watch the Romeo and Juliet movie I bought weeks ago (it's still in the wrapper, unopened)

* Watch the behind-the-scenes/bonus material from the Catching Fire DVD (Am I the only one who wants to check out every YA book adapted into a movie and see what their categories are now? HA HA) 

* Write a review so that I can finally read Understudy and another book I agreed to review and THEN re-check out the books I got from the library because I haven't even read the rest of THEM yet (one being Storm, the first in the Elemental series...  anyone read it?)

* Start moving and stop eating so much chocolate *hangs head*

So that's pretty much where I'm at. The moment the cover is done, I will be sending out a newsletter to reveal it (a few days before it pops up on Goodreads) so if you want to see it first but aren't subscribed to the newsletter yet, sign up over there in the sidebar! :D --->

Hmm... I guess I had more to share than I thought! ;)

Have a blessed, productive (and/or relaxing) weekend!

Waiting on Wednesday -- Prom and Prejudice

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  
  This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is  Prom and Prejudice (Snark and Circumstance novella, #4). 

Prom and Prejudice

by Stephanie Wardrop
Publication date: May 2014

From Goodreads:

Georgia Barrett is beginning to realize that her arch-preppie lab partner, Michael Endicott, is not at all the snob-hole she once thought. Too bad Georgia doesn’t see him for who he really is until he starts dating a poised and polished senior.

Georgia knows she should settle for his friendship, especially since telling him how she really feels would mean risking losing him altogether. But her heart tells her a chance at love might just be worth dropping her trusty shield of snark. And Georgia’s determined to find out.

Teaser Tuesday #10 -- Love and Muddy Puddles

This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To participate you:

* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page

* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

(Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! 

You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

* Share the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday 

participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teasers are from:

Love and Muddy Puddles by Cecily Anne Paterson

Teaser #1:

But I couldn't imagine living without a shower at least once a day so I went through the whole rigmarole every day for a week before finally giving it up as a joke.

Teaser #2: 

As I told Charlie almost every day, people invented electricity and toasters and hairdryers for a reason -- because life is better with them.

Waiting on Wednesday -- UnDivided

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine.  
  This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is UnDivided. 

UnDivided

by Neal Shusterman
Publication date: October 14, 2014

From Goodreads:

The final book in the Unwind Dystology. Coming Summer 2014.

(Yes. That's all it says!)

Teaser Tuesday #9 -- Prince of Shadows

This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To participate you:

* Grab your current read

* Open to a random page

* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!

(Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! 

You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

* Share the title & author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday 

participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teasers are from:

Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine

Teaser #1:

Before long, we'd quite forgotten that we were expected to be potential mates, dancing politely around each other, and were trading wicked barbs as the pieces fell between us.

Teaser #2: 

She was merciless, the tiny Lady Giuliana.

March DVD #Giveaway at Let Me Tell You a Story (#JLBgivesawayaDVD)

Yes, yes I did just use a She's the Man gif. You are welcome.

It's here! The beginning of March is here, which also means the beginning of yet another new blog feature here at Let Me Tell You A Story! *cue applause* After Kristalyn was gracious enough to host the Ever After DVD giveaway on her blog during If I Speak True's blog tour, I decided it was time to share some of my favorite classic movies. (And by classic I don't mean super-old--all of the movies came out in my lifetime, and I'm only 35, so...) This entire idea came about from 1) a Twitter convo about sharing my favorite movies and 2) the fact that in If I Speak True, Dahlia mentions a couple that she loves... one being The Princess Bride, and another being--yep, you guessed it--Ever After (you can read a bit more about this and the Shakespeare book IIST was loosely based off of, HERE). 

So... even though I've yet to come up with a cool name for this DVD giveaway feature thing (anyone want to throw a few ideas my way?),  that's not going to stop me from throwing the first one! ;) I believe you'll recognize quite a few faces in this movie... one of them being a particularly young Leo who plays more than one character in....

...

...

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK!!!!! DUN DUN DUN... Oh... the angst I had for this one!!! (My poor Leo! Or, one of the Leos...  ahem...) 

Le blurb: The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother who he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?

YES. And, you guys, I am totally shocked right now because, in pulling up a photo for Rafflecopter, I've learned something new! GUESS WHO WROTE THE NOVEL OF THIS???? Alexandre Dumas! (How did I not know this????) Alexandre Dumas wrote... are you ready for this? The Count of Monte Cristo! Which totally and completely comes to play in the second book in the Flora series, OPEN THY HEART! (I had no idea about this and am completely tripping out about it! It's just crazy!) So, as you can see by my exclamation point overload, I am even more excited to share it now! And... here it is:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But WHY am I doing this monthly DVD giveaway, you ask? Well, honestly, the main reason is because I love sharing my favorite stuff with people. Plus, any time I can interact with you, my internet friends (and meet new ones), I call that a WIN. Hence the new schedule including Reader Interviews and this monthly giveaway, and perhaps one or other two things as well (depending on where I am, writing-wise.) Which means... I'm not going to force any entries. There will always be free ones, and perhaps one or two other ways to enter, depending on what's going on. BUT, even if you only do the free entries, I *would* love for you to share by word of mouth so that others might have the opportunity to enter (and I might have the opportunity to meet new friends to share virtual cookies and coffee with! YAY!).

So yeah... I think that's it. Like I said, if you think of a title for this feature, throw it at me. Feel free to come back and enter every day (contest runs through April 4th). :) And now, I'm off to work on Rowan's novella. Have a blessed Monday, everybody! :D