Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Blog Tour

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand
Published by: Blue Crown Press
Publication date: November 2011

Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival--an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to "see" the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

My review:
Alex doesn't have any friends, gets bullied all the time, and also believes his father doesn't care about him because of his blindness. He just wants to be a normal high school sophomore. However, he is about to get even further away from being normal than he already is. Sophomore year is full of changes, surprises and unexpected new friends. Alex begins to "see" the future in the same way that he normally interprets the world around him. He then has to decide how far beyond his comfort zone he is willing to go to save Simmi, the first real friend he has had and the one he loves.

Each chapter of this novel starts with a rune and a corresponding prophecy. This lends to the suspense and mystery surrounding the plot. Farsighted starts off with a bang and continues throwing punches throughout. There were times while reading that I literally had to cover the screen so that I could force myself to read each sentence instead of jumping ahead because I was so excited to see what was going to happen. Emlyn has an engaging writing style and an excellent balance of humor, love, normal teenage angst, and conflicts with peers and family. The only downside for me is that I was confused by the ending, which of course I can't say why because I don't want to give it away. I realize that the story is going to continue in the next book of the series, so many unanswered questions will hopefully be answered there. I am definitely waiting for the next one in the series and would highly recommend Farsighted.

A copy was provided by the author for review.

About the author:
From an early age, Emlyn Chand has counted books among her best friends. She loves to hear and tell stories and emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Her affinity for the written word extends to absolutely every area of her life:  she has written two-and-a-half novels, leads a classics book group with over three hundred members, and, of course, runs the whole shebang at Novel Publicity.

The book that changed Emlyn’s life is Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson. It opened her eyes to the world that could exist if only she was willing to create it—a lesson she has never forgotten. While she enjoys all types of novels, her greatest loves are literary fiction and YA. Farsighted is her first published novel.

You can connect with Emlyn on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

Guest Post by Terri Giuliano Long & Chance to win lots of prizes

Announcing the In Leah’s Wake Social Media Whirlwind Tour!

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the In Leah’s Wake eBook edition has dropped to just 99 cents this week.

What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes, including Amazon gift cards of up to $500 in amount and 5 autographed copies of the book. Be sure to enter before the end of the day on Friday, December 16th, so you don’t miss out.

 

To Win the Prizes

1. Purchase your copy of In Leah’s Wake for just 99 cents on Amazon or Barnes & Noble
2. Fill-out the form on Novel Publicity to enter for the prizes
3. Visit today’s featured event; you may win an autographed copy of the book or a $50 gift card!
4. BONUS: If you leave a comment on this blog post, you have another chance at $100!

 

...And I can win too!

Over 100 bloggers are participating in this gigantic event, and there are plenty of prizes for us too. The blogger who receives the most votes in the traffic-breaker poll will win a $100 gift card as well. So when you visit Novel Publicity’s site to fill-out the contest entry form, don’t forget to say that I referred you, so I can get a point in the poll.

The Featured Events include:

Monday, Radio Interview with Novel Publicity! We’re kicking-off on the Novel Publicity Free Advice blog. We interviewed Terri on our radio show Sunday night and have embedded the full podcast and blogged about its highlights. Give it a listen and then leave a comment on the blog post. This is a great chance to get to know more about this inspiring and friendly author. One commenter will win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget to enter for the other contest prizes while you’re over there!

Tuesday, Twitter sharing contest! A tweet is tiny, only 140 characters. But on Tuesday, it could win you $50. Send the following tweet across the twittersphere, and you just may win a $50 Amazon gift card. An autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake is also up for grabs. The winner will be announced Wednesday morning. Here’s the tweet: In Leah's Wake has taken the publishing world by storm. Get the book for just 99 cents http://ow.ly/7WP5H #whirlwind

Wednesday, Google+ sharing contest! Yup, there’s yet another awesome opportunity to win a $50 Amazon gift card, and this time it just takes a single click! Visit Google+ and share Emlyn Chand’s most recent post (you’ll see the In Leah’s Wake book cover included with it). On Thursday morning, one lucky sharer will be $50 richer. An autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake is also up for grabs. Three chances to win! How about that?

Thursday, Facebook sharing contest! Stop by Novel Publicity’s Facebook page and share their latest post (you’ll see the In Leah’s Wake book cover included with it). It’s ridiculously easy to win! On Friday morning, one lucky sharer will be $50 richer. An autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake is also up for grabs.

Friday, special contest on the author’s site! Win a $500 Amazon gift card, simply by leaving a comment on Terri’s most recent blog post. Yup, you read that correctly—$500! How easy is that? An autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake is also up for grabs.

Remember, it’s all about the books!

About In Leah’ Wake: The Tyler family had the perfect life – until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn’t want to be perfect anymore. While her parents fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah’s younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake. What happens when love just isn’t enough? Get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About the Author: Terri Giuliano Long grew up in the company of stories both of her own making and as written by others. Books offer her a zest for life’s
highs and comfort in its lows. She’s all-too-happy to share this love with others as a novelist and a writing teacher at Boston College. She was grateful and thrilled beyond words when her award-winning debut literary novel, In Leah’s Wake, hit the Barnes and Noble and Amazon bestseller lists in August. She owes a lot of wonderful people – big time! – for any success she’s enjoyed! Visit her on her website, Twitter, Facebook, or GoodReads.

What’s the Story, Morning Glory?

The Importance of Music and how it Inspired In Leah's Wake

Although I find it too distracting to listen to music while I write, inspiration for my stories often arises from music. While I was writing In Leah’s Wake, songs brought me into the emotional state necessary to write difficult scenes. Songs set a mood, which helped me envision places, and songs helped me to identify and shape the book’s themes.

The novel opens with Zoe and Will listening to the Van Morrison song “Tupelo Honey,” a sweet love song that gives their relationship context by suggesting happier, better days. “Showdown at Big Sky,” which Will puts on the stereo next, foreshadows the problems on the horizon, and “Face in the Crowd” speaks to the profound loneliness Will feels as he waits up for Leah that night, imaging all the unthinkable horrors that might have befallen his daughter.

Later in the book, the song “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina,” from Evita, gave me a glimpse into Zoe’s fractured emotional state—remorse compelled by abiding love—as she drives home, wondering what to expect next from her rebellious teenage daughter: “I still need your love after all that I've done . . . I love you and I hope you love me . . .” “Stardog Champion” from Stardog Champion by Mother Love Bone, suggests power, so appropriate to the post-fight euphoria felt by Todd and Lupo after a showdown with Will.

Often, songs transport me to a place. Listening to Miles Davis one evening brought me, in my mind, to the coffeehouse Zoe visits with the policeman, Jerry Johnson. Music also helps me to clarify themes. One night, on our way home from dinner, my husband, Dave, played the Bruce Springsteen album Greetings From Asbury Park. The song “Growin’ Up” struck a nerve and I insisted on listening to it over and over. I saw Leah, a good kid, just trying to grow up and make her way in the world.

I heard “Champagne Super Nova,” from the Oasis CD What’s the Story? Morning Glory, when I stepped out of the shower one morning. Our house was wired for sound and Dave was playing the new CD he’d just bought. As with “Growin’ Up,” I insisted that he replay the song, and then replay it again. The pivotal scene, where Justine asks Leah for a cigarette and Leah allows her little sister to smoke, blossomed as I listened to the music.

As I wrote, music came to play a defining role in the book, and I would often search for the right music after writing a scene. The Liszt piano solo “Hungarian Rhapsodies” mirrors Zoe’s frenzied mind as she drives home from her motivational workshop, the day after Leah shows up drunk at 3:00 a.m., after a wild party. The same happened with “Paranoid Android,” from Okay Computer by Radiohead, “I’m On Fire,” from the Bruce Springsteen album Born in the USA, “Stardog Champion,” from Stardog Champion by Mother Love Bone, “I Loves You Porgy” from Porgy and Bess, and “Misguided Angel,” from The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies.

Without music, In Leah’s Wake would be a very different – and for me, the writer, much less compelling book.

For those of you who, like me, find inspiration in music, here’s the soundtrack. Enjoy!

Soundtrack from In Leah’s Wake

“Growin’ Up,” Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ, Bruce Springsteen, Sony Records, 1972

“Tupelo Honey,” Tupelo Honey, Van Morrison, Polydor/Pgd, 1971

“Showdown At Big Sky,” Robbie Robertson, Robbie Robertson, Universal Int’l, 1987

“A Face In The Crowd,” Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty , MCA, 1989

“John Barleycorn,” John Barleycorn Must Die, Traffic, Island Records, 1970

“Not A Pretty Girl,” Not a Pretty Girl, Ani DiFranco, Righteous Babe, 1995

Hungarian Rhapsodies, Franz Liszt, Leslie Howard solo piano, Hyperion, 1999

“Testify,” The Battle of Los Angeles, Rage Against The Machine, Sony Records, 1999

“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” Evita (Music From The Motion Picture), Madonna, Warner Bros./WEA, 1996

“The Ride of the Valkyries,” Wagner Without Words, Conducted by George Szell, Performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, Sony Records, 1991

“Chase The Blues Away,” Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology, Tim Buckley, Elektra/ WEZ, 1966

“Champagne Supernova,” (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis, Sony, 1995

“The Candy Shop,” The Massacre, Fifty Cent, Aftermath, 2005

“Vital Transformation,” Inner Mounting Flame, The Mahavishnu Orchestra Jazz, Sony 1971

“Strawberry Fields Forever,” Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles, Capitol Records, 1967

“Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5,” Mozart: The Five Violin Concertos by Itzhak Perlman violin,
Weiner Philharmoniker and James Levine, Deutsche Grammophon, 1995

“Surrey With The Fringe on Top,” Steamin, Mile Davis, Prestige, 1956

“Come As You Are,” Nevermind, Nirvana, Geffen Records, 1991

“Paranoid Android,” Okay Computer, Radiohead, Capitol Records, 1997

“I’m On Fire,” Born in The USA, Bruce Springsteen, Sony, 1984

“Stardog Champion,” Stardog Champion, Mother Love Bone, Mercury/Universal, 1992

“I Loves You, Porgy,” The Melody At Night With You, Keith Jarrett, EMC Records, 1900

“Hasta Siempre, Witchi-Tai-To, Jan Garbarek and Bobo Stenson Quartet, EMC, 1973 Records

“As The Years Go Passing By,” Born Under a Bad Sign, Albert King, Stax, 1967

“Misguided Angel,” The Trinity Session, Cowboy Junkies, RCA Records, 1988

“Davidian,” Burn My Eyes, Machine Head, Roadrunner Records, 1994

“Here I Am, Lord,” Wonder, Love, and Praise, Daniel Schutte, New Dawn Music, 1981

Guest Post: Debra Burroughs, author of She Had No Choice

Debra Burroughs is the author of She Had No Choice, a women's fiction novel inspired by a true story. 

Guest post by Debra Burroughs:
How to write by the seat of your pants: outline or no

When I first began to seriously write my first book, a writer friend asked me if I was an Outliner or a Pantser. I asked, “What’s a Pantser?” The answer came back, “A Pantser is someone who writes by the seat of her pants.”

So, I asked my friend, who is a cozy mystery writer, which one was she. “A Pantser,” she replied proudly. “When I sit down to write, I have no idea where the story is going, and I just let the story take me wherever it wants to go.”

I said my friend is a cozy mystery writer, but I didn’t say she was a successful one. Experience has taught me that to be a successful “Pantser”, you need to at least have a good idea where your story should go. Otherwise, you can go off on rabbit trails and end up with considerably more editing and re-editing, ripping out scenes here, re-writing scenes there, than if you had given it sufficient thought and planning up front.

Stephen King claims to be a Pantser. But I dare say he has had enough decades of experience to know where his story should go as he writes it. Plotting a story as he goes is a muscle he has well developed and a skill he has well honed. It comes to him as second nature at this point in his career. I’m not convinced he was a Pantser early on.

Another successful author who doesn’t feel the need for an outline is John Locke. He is a bit of a “Pantser”, too, but he says he thinks the whole story through in his head before he ever sits down to write one word. When I last checked, he had done 12 books, all on the Amazon Bestseller Lists, in the last 3 years.

I believe being a successful Pantser takes becoming an expert at the fundamentals first. It’s like Picasso who learned and mastered the fundamentals of art first, then he could take his painting in unique and different directions. If you master the fundamentals of good writing, then you are free to create and experiment, confident you have a solid foundation guiding your work.

Writing by the seat of your pants can seem freeing and creative, like going on a road trip with no plan, no reservations, and no idea where you’re going to end up. But, I find that having at least some kind of outline helps me to write faster and saves me from having to do quite so much editing. Professional editing can be expensive in both time and money, and it can keep you from moving quickly on to that next great book you want to write.

      My suggestion, whether it’s just in your head, in your computer, or on paper, have some idea where you want to go and where you want to end up. It makes for a better all-around writing trip.


About She Had No Choice:
Follow Sofía’s journey from a perilous midnight crossing into the U.S. as a child to a life of hard labor and bad relationships with the wrong men. Hungry for love, her first lover leads to a daughter, Eva, born out of wedlock. When he abandons her and their baby, another unsavory man is quick to come to her rescue.

Sofía’s difficult, yet inspiring life unfolds over the next twenty-five years, through a series of highs and lows, with her devoted, headstrong daughter by her side. As a young woman, Eva hopes to avoid the mistakes her mother made with men, but she is not always able to steer clear of them. When life becomes dangerous and unbearable for Sofía, will Eva and her beau be able to save her, or will Sofía have to save them?


About the author:
Debra Burroughs grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during a tumultuous time when the Civil Rights Movement was gearing up and racial tensions were mounting. Her parents moved the family to a more peaceful small town in the Central Valley of California.

Over the years, with a large Mexican family, she heard many stories about their history, particularly from her mother and grandmother. As she would relay these colorful and heart-wrenching family stories to her friends, many times she would hear them say, “You should really write a book about that.”

After continual encouragement and gentle prodding from her husband, she finally decided to do it. Now that their children are grown and gone, Debra has found a quiet place to write in their home in Boise, Idaho.

She Had No Choice is her second novel.

You can connect with Debra on her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

In My Mailbox, vol. 7

In My Mailbox was created by The Story Siren.

WON!

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
ARC from BookHounds YA!

In My Mailbox for review:

Sanctuary Cove by Rochelle Alers
Expected publication: January 2012
(Goodreads / Pre-order at Barnes&Noble)




 


All I Want Is You by Sherrill Bodine
Expected publication: January 2012
(Goodreads / Pre-order at Barnes&Noble)







Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry
Expected publication: January 2012
(Goodreads)






Persuasion: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca Jamison
Expected publication: March 2012
(Goodreads / Pre-order at Barnes&Noble)






Shadow Cay by Leona Bodie
(Goodreads / Barnes&Noble)







Drowned in the Grenadine by Dan Gilvezan
(Goodreads / Barnes&Noble)







Noah Zarc by D. Robert Pease
(Goodreads / Barnes&Noble)







The Many Adventures of Mortimer Crump 
by Mandi Tillotson Williams
(Goodreads / Barnes&Noble)








Mortimer's Book of What-Ifs 
by Mandi Tillotson Williams
(Goodreads)




What do you think about these books? What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review Request: Love Unfinished by Darian Wilk

Love Unfinished is a paranormal romance by Darian Wilk.

Please read the blurb of the book and leave a comment below or contact Darian through her website if you would like to review it. Review copies will be available as eBooks only.

Soul mates from the past leave their love unfinished when a tragic accident ends their lives on their wedding day. Yet they are destined to meet again to fulfill that love in new incarnations, leading vastly different lives.

Emma thought she had chosen the right path, but too late does she realize her mistake as her husband reveals the monster behind his smile; morphing their fairytale image with loveless obligation. Trapped in a broken marriage to a powerful, abusive husband, she knows this is not the life she was destined to live. As her hope for love withers, she meets James, her love from a lifetime ago.

Emma cannot deny the love pulling her toward James, but courage to abandon her marriage wavers and unknowingly puts her love on the line. If Emma has any hope of life and love, she must trust the bond with James and be with the man destiny has spent two lifetimes guiding her toward. Are they fated to fulfill their love, or will they once again, leave love unfinished?