In My Mailbox (11): Post-Apocalyptic Edition

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren (and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie) to showcase any books that I have received for review, bought, borrowed, or won to read.

It just so happens that all the books In My Mailbox this week are post-apocalyptic reads (and three out of four have the word "ash" in their titles). I love post-apocalyptic reads. They're depressing, sure, but I love reading about the characters' tale of survival through epic and disastrous events. I'm excited to read each and every one of these (I'm reading Ashes right now)!

For Review

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick (Goodreads First Reads)

Won

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

 Thanks so much to Julie of "That's Swell!" A Reel Swell Productions Blog for these!

Waterfall Wednesday and Update on Support The Monstrumologist Campaign

This is my announcement post letting everyone know that I'm going to be participating in Waterfall Wednesdays, a Waterfall Read-Along Event every Wednesday from August 31 to September 28! This event is hosted by Tina's Book Reviews, Edgy Inspirational Romance, Irresistible Reads, Supernatural Snark, and The Unread Reader. Interested in participating? You should! All you have to do is get a copy of Waterfall, answer the Read-Along questions posted each week, and then you have a chance to win 1 of 5 giveaways of the complete River of Time Trilogy from the author, Lisa T. Bergren!

I'm super excited to be participating, not only because I've heard nothing but good things about this trilogy from many, many bloggers but also, I love to have book discussions. It's not often that I can find someone in real life who has read the books I've read so that we can discuss them together so this will be a great forum to have a conversation with many bloggers as we read along!

Update on the Support The Monstrumologist Campaign... IT WORKED!!!! Simon & Schuster has decided to give the go ahead on the 4th book in The Monstrumologist Series by Rick Yancey after all! I am beyond shocked by this news. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely wanted this to happen and that's why I decided to post about it to show my support for the author, but I was honestly incredibly doubtful it would actually work. I thought S&S had made up their minds and there was no going back. Wow. I don't think I've ever been so thrilled to be so dead wrong!

According to Rick Yancey, who sent Stephanie of Stephanie Reads, the organizer of this campaign, a note, this is pretty unprecedented. I, myself, can't think of a time when a book publisher has changed their mind after an outpouring of fan support and decided to go ahead with a series after they previously discontinued it. I want to thank everyone who sent S&S a note asking them to reverse their decision and, most of all, Stephanie Reads for organizing everything! YAY!

Interview with Elizabeth Miles (Author of Fury)

Today, I am lucky enough to share with you an interview with Fury author, Elizabeth Miles. If you read my Fury review, then you know I loved it for its realistic characters and chilling storyline!

Author Bio: Elizabeth Miles grew up in Chappaqua, New York, not far from New York City. She graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2004, worked for several years at the Boston Phoenix, and now writes for the Portland Phoenix, an alternative weekly newspaper. She has won several awards from the New England Press Association and was nominated for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award. Elizabeth serves on the board of trustees of Portland Players, a community theater and second home. She loves pizza; she can often be found running around on stage while scantily clad; and a cold winter night in Maine is one of the creepiest and most beautiful things she can think of. Fury is Elizabeth’s first novel.

What was your inspiration for writing Fury?

My inspirations were varied: an interest in mythology, folklore, and fables; a love-hate relationship with horror movies (I love them but I hate how scared they make me!); a long-term devotion to YA literature; and some, ah, personal experience with the concepts of karma and whether “what goes around comes around.”

For those who don't know, who are the Furies?

The Furies are beautiful, mysterious creatures who are hell-bent on revenge. They’re based on creatures in Greek mythology, who, once summoned to mete out their often disproportionate and violent brand of vengeance, would not leave until they felt justice had been served. In my book, the Furies show up in Ascension and wreak havoc in the lives of some flawed (i.e., normal) teenagers.

Fury is told from two different perspectives, Em and Chase. Whose perspective did you enjoy writing from more?

I loved writing both characters. However, I have to admit that it was fun—and, weirdly, a bit liberating!—to write from Chase’s male perspective. Without wanting to get too much into gender roles and stereotypes, I did find that Chase’s thought processes were, on the surface, more rational and somewhat colder. That was a different thing for me, and I enjoyed it.

Your t-shirt design for Fury bears the phrase, "Revenge is Sweet." Em and Chase both do some pretty awful things to be chosen by the Furies, but did you take any pleasure in writing the scenes where the Furies get their revenge?

The revenge scenes are some of my favorites. Not because I necessarily agree with what the Furies are doing, but because they were creatively challenging to write.

Without giving away any major spoilers for anyone who hasn't read Fury yet, what can we expect from the sequel, Envy?

Envy, the second book in the Fury series, will follow some of the same characters and introduce some new ones. (I *love* one of the new characters!) We’ll learn more about the Furies—and find out if anything can be done to get rid of them.

Thank you so much to Elizabeth Miles for answering my questions and to Michelle for setting up this interview!

Interested in winning a copy of Fury and a Revenge is Sweet T-shirt? Check out Paper Lantern Lit's Blog for your chance to win!

Author Links:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Goodreads

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: September 27, 2011

Pages: 450

Source: For Review from Simon and Schuster Canada (Thank you!)

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

In short: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin couples a freaky psychological thriller with realistic characters and relationships to masterful effect.

You know I love me a psychological thriller. The more creepy and messed up and confusing, the better. And The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer delivers as an intense, freaky thriller that messes with your mind right from the beginning. I tore my way through this one, largely thanks to its very short chapters, but also because Michelle Hodkin throws at the you scene after mind-bending scene that leaves you more and more confused with every page turned, so that you need to read on to find out what exactly is wrong with Mara Dyer and her freaky hallucinations.

My favourite part of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was its odd combination of unrealistic hallucinations with realistic characters and relationships. Mara has a whole, complete family (two parents and two brothers), which is unusual and refreshing compared to the non-existant or broken family structure that we're used to seeing in YA. I loved reading about Mara's relationships with every member of her family. But none more than Mara's relationship with her mother - the frustrated daughter and overbearing but caring mother kind of relationship - which wonderfully and accurately represented mother-daughter relationships in real life. Mara's insecurities and awkwardness around her love interest, Noah, also rang true to real life.

I found Mara to be an easy person to like. She's nerdy and awkward and prone to swearing and violence (what's not to like in those qualities?). At various points in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, she feels the urge to punch people in the face for annoying her: the mean girl at school says something rude and she wants to punch her in the face; her brother and her love interest, Noah, team up behind her back and she wants to punch them in the face; on one memorable occasion, the sun blinds her and she wants to punch it in the face; and several times, she says something awkward to Noah and wants to punch herself in the face. I couldn't help but like her for that.

I was not a fan of Noah's, however. I didn't always buy into his character; some of the things he said were cliched. But worse, he was an arrogant jerk, which I know some people who are into bad boys love, but it just isn't my thing. There is a fine line between being confident and smug and just plain douche-y, and unfortunately for me, I found that Noah fell on the wrong side of that line more often than not. That said, I have a feeling I may end up in the minority and most readers will love Noah. At any rate, my love of the plot was able to largely overrule my dislike of Noah, thankfully.

Overall, I loved The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for the way it messed with my head one moment and then brought me back to earth with its realistic depictions of family life the next. Michelle Hodkin is a talented debut author and I highly recommend The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Word of warning though: if you hate cliffhangers and the wait in between books, watch out because The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has one heck of a torturous cliffhanger.

Other Reviews:
i swim for oceans
The Bursting Bookshelf

Author Links:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Goodreads

*Read as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge
*The Letter U in the A-Z Reading Challenge

Help Support The Monstrumologist (and Giveaway)

Over the past month, I've had the immense pleasure of reading and experiencing the first two books in The Monstrumologist Series (see: my review of The Monstrumologist and my review of The Curse of the Wendigo). Over such a short period, this series has quickly become one of my favourites of all time. The Monstrumologist Series is, in a word, brilliant. In more than a word, it is thrillingly terrifying in plot and exquisitely rich in writing.

So it is to my dismay that I have learned that Simon and Schuster have decided to discontinue this series due to poor sales (the final book, The Isle of Blood, will be published September 13, 2011). This is so very, very sad to me, that a book series I love so much and feel like lots of people could love as well if they gave it a chance, is coming to a premature end.

So to show support for this brilliant series, it would be wonderful if I could convince even one person to send Simon and Schuster a note asking them to reverse their decision. Need some motivation beyond just my undying gratitude? How about a giveaway?

Stephanie Reads is holding a Support the Monstrumologist Giveaway in which you can win a complete set of Monstrumologist books, all signed and personalized by the author himself, Rick Yancey! The contest is international and ends August 25. All you have to do is send Simon and Schuster a pre-prepared note written by Stephanie to be considered for the win.

So please don't hesitate: click here to enter to win Stephanie Reads' Support the Monstrumologist Giveaway! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!