Dark Days of Summer Tour

Greetings!

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend the Portland stop of Dark Days of Summer Tour sponsored by HarperTeen. YA Authors featured (in above photo left to right) Amy Plum author of Die for Me, Tara Hudson author of Hereafter, Aprilynne Pike author of Illusions, Veronica Roth author of Divergent,  and Ellen Schreiber author of the Vampire Kisses series.

The main reason I attended was Aprilynne Pike. I love her Wings series and she is such a delight to speak with, listen to, and all round great person. She is funny and very down to earth. I first met her two years ago when I attended this event to meet Kim Harrison, my favorite urban fantasy author EVER. Aprilynne was the debut author that year and I took note of her book for future reading. Three months later I checked Wings out from the library, read it in one day, and fell in love with the faerie world Aprilynne had created. This year, I had books for her to sign and even got my picture with her.

This year the there were three debut authors: Amy Plum, Veronica Roth, and Tara Hudson. All three debut novels captured my attention. I wanted to buy them all and have them signed, BUT I only allowed myself one this time. Which book did I buy?

The winner was Die for Me by Amy Plum. What about the book attracted me? 1. The author lives in France. That factoid triggered all sorts of romantic ideas about writing and inspiration. 2. The story takes place in Paris. PARIS! The perfect place for a supernatural setting. 3. The immortal creatures in her story are a cross between zombies and gods. I want to know what kind of mythology she has developed. 4. The cover is absolutely gorgeous. Me being a total dork, I didn't hold up the book when I got my picture taken with Amy.

I haven't read the book yet, but once I do I'll post a review and cover. Till then, Click here to view cover.

Speaking of reviews, stay tune next week for a review on Jessa Slade's Seduced by Shadows. Now that I've finished my first draft of The Vampire Novelist, I've been reading again which means book review posts the next couple of weeks just in time for Summer.

Writing Progress: First editing phase 70% complete. So far so good. :)

Cheers!