Interview with Author Margaret Rogerson

Before we get started I wanted to thank Margaret Rogerson for being such an amazing person, and letting me interview her. As well as the publisher Beth Parker from Simon and Schuster for providing me with a copy of the book.

I would also like to add that I really loved and enjoyed this book, and I hope everyone reading loved or will love it just as much. I seriously loved her answer to all questions and that I got to know her just a bit more.

About the Margaret

Margaret writes fantasy for young adult readers. She lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and when she's not reading or writing she enjoys drawing, watching documentaries, making pudding, gaming, and exploring the outdoors in search of toads and mushrooms.

Q. When and why did you begin writing?

A. I grew up with my nose in a book, so I think I loved stories so much that I just started writing them as soon as I could. I remember being so frustrated, so crushingly disappointed by the stories I wrote when I was younger because they weren’t any good compared to the books I was reading. I couldn’t figure out how to put a plot together or come up with original ideas. I always dreamed of being an author, but getting published seemed impossible.

I can’t remember any period in my life during which I didn’t write, so the “why” is elusive to me—writing has always been my favorite hobby. However, I never took it seriously until a year or two after I graduated from college, when I decided that I wanted to write a book with the goal of publication. Getting published still seemed impossible, but I had to try!

Q. When did you consider yourself a writer?

A. That’s a good question. I guess I’ve always considered myself a writer, just by virtue of the fact that I’ve always done a lot of writing. But it’s not something I necessarily told people about or took pride in until I got a publishing deal, at which point I could finally tell myself and others that I was a professional writer! Incredibly, that fact is still sinking in.

Q. What inspired you to write An Enchantment of Ravens?

A. I love folklore, and I love stories about fairies/fair folk that explore the more traditional aspects of their mythology and present them to some extent as sinister, inhuman beings. I really wanted to write a book that incorporated that type of mythology, and which also felt like a Robin McKinley-esque fairy tale featuring a capable female protagonist. My background as a portrait artist played a role, too!

4. Who is your favorite Author and what really strikes you about their work? 

I have so many favorite authors, but if I have to choose one I’ll go with Diana Wynne Jones. I love how character-driven her work is, and how she has such a deep, sensitive, warm insight into the human mind. Oftentimes while reading her books, I have a sense that I’m gazing into the souls of real people whose flaws only make me love them more. Her talent for characterization is just out of this world.

Q. With your background as an artist, did that propel you to create Isobel's character?

A. Absolutely! I chose portrait art for her Craft because I knew it was something I could write about authentically and from the heart. I used dry media for my portraits, but fortunately my mom is an oil painter, so that helped fill in the gaps in my experience.

get a copy
Amazon

ARC REVIEW OF ZERO REPEAT FOREVER BY G.S. PRENDERGAST

Zero Repeat Forever
by G.S. Predergast
Published: August 29th 2017
by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Purchase:
Amazon|Book Depository

Summary

He has no voice, or name, only a rank, Eighth. He doesn’t know the details of the mission, only the directives that hum in his mind.

Dart the humans. Leave them where they fall.

His job is to protect his Offside. Let her do the shooting.

Until a human kills her…

Sixteen year-old Raven is at summer camp when the terrifying armored Nahx invade, annihilating entire cities, taking control of the Earth. Isolated in the wilderness, Raven and her friends have only a fragment of instruction from the human resistance.

Shelter in place.

Which seems like good advice at first. Stay put. Await rescue. Raven doesn’t like feeling helpless but what choice does she have?

Then a Nahx kills her boyfriend.

Thrown together in a violent, unfamiliar world, Eighth and Raven should feel only hate and fear. But when Raven is injured, and Eighth deserts his unit, their survival depends on trusting each other… 

Review
ZERO.REPEAT.FOREVER.

An Alien who feels alien to this world and his world. A girl named Raven trying to survive and save everyone she loves. What will happen if they meet? What will happen when they try to help each other survive in this new world.

ZERO.REPEAT.FOREVER.

So many emotions flowing through me. This book took my every thought as soon as I picked it up. I did not want to put it down. Eighth because my everything, he is such an amazing character. The way he thinks, everything he goes through. It tore me to pieces. I loved Raven too even though sometimes I wanted to tear he to pieces because of the way she treated Eighth. But I'm so happy with how their relationship turned out. I need the next book asap and I don't want to wait at all. 

"The light changes, the air changes, and it begins to snow. Fat, ripe snowflakes drift down, quieting the wind, absorbing the sounds of our footsteps until it feels like we are walking in the silent vacuum of space..
...with stars tumbling around us."

This alien invasion fascinates me, I kind of thought the plot was going there but sometimes it threw me off. But I'm really glad I guessed right because it's what I would have wanted. I love this story and everything about it. The way G.S Prendergast writes is amazing too her words flow beautifully. 

"First when they fall, we make wishes, then more wishes, until we realize its not a meteor storm."

I can't rave enough about how amazing this book is and when you guys find out the the title of this book means I hope it kills you like the way it killed me. Which is why I repeat it so often I'm so in love with the meaning of her book title.

ZERO.REPEAT.FOREVER

The Weaver's Riddle Review

Purchase a copy

Amazon Book Depository

Synopsis

Imagine a world in eternal darkness. A world where skeletal beasts lurk in the forest. Where the women are missing, and the men are in need of salvation... 

In the West-English town of Little Wolf Green, Scott's bookshop is about to close down. Convinced the bookshop holds the key to her mother's identity, sixteen year old Anya Piddling vows to save Scott's, whatever the cost.
When four books of magic and myth take the world by storm, Anya begins a journey to discover the truth about the author, known only as the Weaver. Followed closely by her friends, and one surly, bitter ex-boyfriend, Anya soon realises a whole new world awaits: a world gone very wrong, with maddening whispers in the forest, magical winged Kings and a dragon-boy that understands her, inside and out. But this world needs a saviour... and everyone is looking at her.

This is a whimsical tale following a girl named Anya who works in a Library that is about to be closed. She is convinced that this particular book shop holds the secret of who her mother is. Four magical books seem to appear out of no where and Anya and her friends go on an adventure to find the written of these books named the Weaver.

I want to start off by saying that this book is completely different from what I have been reading the past few months. Anya is trying to fight for her favorite bookshop and for who she is. I really love that the main character loves books and loves working at a bookshop. I really love how spunky Anya is and how totally badass she is. She doesn't ever care who's talking down at her, she stands up for her own fights. 

The other characters in the books are really good too but we don't get much of them or really get to know them much. For that I took a star. I wish to know a lot of more and hear a lot more from the King, the Prince also from Steph. It went really slow, everything adding up to the big event, but I'm guessing it's because this is just hyping up the sequel and everything is going to go down in the sequel. On the other hand this book is pretty amazing and I really do recommend. It also has such amazing artwork. 

*Thank you @Tomespublishing and @happylittlebooktours for proving a e-copy of this book for an honest review.*

About the Author
Claire Marie Lucas lives in South-East England with her husband and three children. She began writing stories from inside her wardrobe at the tender age of six and hasn't stopped writing in obscure places since; her current favourite being the cupboard beneath her stairs.

Mist & Whispers is her debut novel.
twitter website 

the unbecoming of mara dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Amazon|Kindle|Book Depository

"Mara Dyer believes life can't 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 strangely unharmed. 

There is.

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

She's wrong." 

(Goodreads description because I loved how this was put together)

I went into this book just knowing that it was going to be a creepy paranormal read and that I would probably fall in love with Noah Shaw. Which I did, with every little part of him. I seriously love just how his and Mara's name sound. They are really lovely picks for these characters.

First off, I want to start of with the writing in this book. It was super lovely, and I found myself pages in without noticing how far I was into this book. It was easy to follow along and easy to fall right into every word. I loved Michelle's writing and I'm so eager to keep on her reading her work. 

I really enjoyed reading in the perspective of Mara Dyer. I thought she was an amazing character who wasn't keeping it all together, but it made me want to help pick her up. I loved her witty come backs and the fact that she loved Death Cab for cutie made me love her even more. They were once my favorite band and now I want to get back into them since reading this book. Whislt reading this book I kept catching myself laughing giddily at her comments and interactions with Noah. Talking about Noah, ugh how can a character just be so amazing. I loved his character from the moment he was introduced into the book. I loved how he was always there for Mara no matter what. The fact that he got hell from everyone and still maintained a whole to who he was made me just love him even more. 

Overall, I thought this book was amazing and I really enjoyed the creepy aspect of this book. The plot twist in the end really caught me by surprise and I really can't wait to read the next book!