Meet The Authors February: Laurie Devroe, Author Of How To Break A Boy

Hi Guys! And welcome to day three of Meet The Authors.
I just finished up my exams today (well, the practical ones I've yet to begin) but I did finish the theory papers and that's almost all of the work!

Introducing to you, the LOVELY Laurie Devroe, author of the novel How To Break A Boy! An AMAZING YA Contemporary novel, I am SO BEYOND EXCITED for the day I get my hands on this book because it looks FABULOUS.

Laurie is here, giving up some SUPER COOL, Aesthetic Mood Boards based on her BEAUTIFUL book (as well as an amazing giveaway!)
Have fun!

Buckley
Olivia

Adrienne

Whit

Mood
Laurie DevoreLaurie Devore was born and raised in small town South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. She now lives and works in Chicago, where she misses the charms and contradictions of the south every day. In her spare time, she reluctantly runs marathons, watches too much TV, and works a “y’all” into every conversation.

Find the entire How to Break a Boy Pintrest Board and check out sources at Pinterest
Title: How To Break A Boy 
Author: Laurie Devore
Publication Date: January 31st 2017
Publisher: Imprint (Macmillan)
Part of a Series?: No, A Standalone
Buy Links: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Wordery || The Book Depository || Books-A-Million || Google Books || Kobo
Blurb Description: Keep your enemies close, but your friends closer.
Olivia Clayton has mastered the art of tearing others down to stay on top. She and her best friend, Adrienne, rule their small southern town like all good mean girls do--through intimidation and manipulation.
After Olivia suffers a family tragedy and catches Adrienne sleeping with her boyfriend, Olivia is over it. She decides to make a change--but it's impossible to resist taking Adrienne down one last time. Up to her old tricks, Olivia convinces golden boy Whit DuRant to be her SAT tutor and her fake boyfriend. But when it starts to feel real, Whit gets caught up in Olivia and Adrienne's war.
Olivia may ruin everything she touches, but this time she won't go down without a fight--not if it means losing Whit.
And definitely not if it means losing what's left of herself.

Meet The Authors February: Katharine McGee, Author of The Thousandth Floor - Guest Post + Giveaway

Hi Everyone!
I know you've been waiting for author number two, and that I've gone off schedule, and I AM SO SORRY.

I had two of my hardest mid-term papers thrown together into one day and the result was me just wanting to sleep my way through life.

Here I am, now, with author number two. I am SO SO HAPPY to welcome the AMAZING New York Times bestselling author, Katharine McGee, author of The Thousandth Floor onto the blog.

Katharine visited my country - India - a few years ago and she's talking ALL ABOUT her trip here (for your travel itineraries) and how India influenced The Thousandth Floor! Also, don't forget to enter the giveaway!
In 2014, I got the opportunity to visit India through my graduate program, with a group of twenty students and several professors. I decided to use this blog post to tell you guys about that incredible, magical, whirlwind trip: partially because it’s a fun change from writing about my novel, The Thousandth Floor (though of course I love that too!), but also because my experience in India affected how I thought about the future world of the novel.


Our group, visiting an Indian temple
Our trip began in New Delhi, India’s capital city. We took a rickshaw ride around the open-air markets that very first morning—and even for an (adopted) New Yorker, New Delhi felt overwhelming! The streets wind and twist over each other, and many of them are unmarked, especially in the market district. I would absolutely have gotten lost if we hadn’t had a guide! I loved watching the shoppers bargaining and gossiping, clustering around the colorful stalls that spilled onto the streets. It was loud and bustling and pulsed with a contagious, almost frantic energy.

Jumping for joy at the Taj Mahal!
Our group had some incredible meetings in Delhi. We heard from the Director of India’s National Bank; we visited Ratan Tata of the Tata Group, India’s largest conglomerate; and we spoke with several nonprofits that work with India’s youth. We also took a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, which is just as breathtaking as I’d always imagined. The entire building is intricate, covered with beautiful carving and lush romantic detail. I was fascinated by the story, too: originally there was supposed to be another building facing the Taj Mahal, made entirely of black stone, but it was never constructed. Of course the Taj Mahal is a wonder all its own, but I couldn’t stop imagining how it would have looked with a darker mirror directly opposite. (That image, of two buildings facing each other—one made of white stone and one made of black—stayed with me. You’ll see more when you read The Dazzling Heights, the sequel to The Thousandth Floor :)

Meeting Bollywood celebrity Shahrukh Khan
We then headed south to Mumbai. If Delhi is India’s Washington D.C., since it houses the national government, then Mumbai is New York and Los Angeles rolled into one. Most of India’s banks and major companies are located there, as well as all of Bollywood! I absolutely loved Mumbai, with its palm trees and warm weather and open-air restaurants on rooftops. Of all my characters, I have to say Mumbai reminded me the most of Eris. It’s just the right combination of glamorous and hectic for her!

Without a doubt, the coolest thing we did in Mumbai was meet the Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan. I’ve been obsessed with his movies ever since that day! (My favorite is Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which loosely translates to “The Brave-hearted Will Win True Love.” It’s a fantastic romantic comedy about two people who fight to be together despite the odds… not unlike some characters in The Thousandth Floor! If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it!)
Getting cozy on the overnight train!

Finally, we finished our trip by taking the overnight train to the beach town of Goa. I had never taken an overnight train before, and I was surprised by how easy it was. Of course, in the future world of The Thousandth Floor, thirteen-hour trains are a thing of the past—you can get everywhere on the Hyperloop, which uses frictionless magnetic propulsion to reach superspeeds! After the train, we spent a day at the beach, and then we capped it off with the very best part the trip: a wedding! Our friend Guarav got married in Goa, and we were all invited to the sangeet.

I learned that night that traditional Indian saris are nearly impossible to tie. My roommate Kate and I watched at least a dozen YouTube instructional videos, but our saris still looked funny. On our way downstairs, an older Indian woman caught sight of us, and smiled. She didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Hindi, but we understood enough to realize that she was gesturing us over, shaking her head in amusement at how awful our saris looked! She reached for my shoulder and started to undo my sari—and we both ended up standing there while she very generously, and patiently, retied our saris for about ten minutes. I hope she understood what I was saying when I thanked her. (That’s another thing I added to The Thousandth Floor—instant language translation through computerized contacts!)
beachside paradise in Goa

As I stood there that night, watching Guarav celebrate his marriage surrounded by family and friends, I couldn’t stop thinking about the woman who’d tied my sari. It was such a lovely, thoughtful gesture—which encapsulates the way I felt about India overall. Everyone there had been so warm and friendly and engaging. Even in the massive population of 1.3 billion (!!), the country still felt approachable; because people took the time to slow down, and smile, and engage.

Wearing our saris (this time, properly tied!) I love that bright tangerine sari—I bought it in Mumbai and I still have it hanging in my closet, just in case! J

Ultimately, that was the approach I took to the world of The Thousandth Floor. In the novel, I imagine a futuristic thousand-story skyscraper that houses tens of millions of people. A setting like that feel overwhelming, until you distill it down to a subset of characters, a series of interactions. In The Thousandth Floor, the story is as much about the moments—Avery looking up to see that Atlas is home; Cord tossing Rylin the bag of gummy candy; Eris sauntering down a hallway—as it is about the big, sprawling setting. Similarly, when I look back on India, of course I think about how expansive and busy and crazy it was. But more than that, I remember laughing on the train with my friends, and sitting quietly inside the Taj Mahal, and standing there while that wonderful Indian lady tied my sari for me.

Katharine McGeeKatharine McGee is originally from Houston, Texas. She studied English and French literature at Princeton University and has an MBA from Stanford. It was during her years in New York, working as an editor by day and writing by night, that she began a manuscript about life in a futuristic skyscraper. The Thousandth Floor is her first novel.
The Thousandth Floor (The Thousandth Floor, #1)Title: The Thousandth Floor (The Thousandth Floor #1) 
Author: Katharine McGee
Publication Date: August 30th 2016
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/2 of the Thousandth Floor Duology
Buy Links: Amazon || Barnes and Noble || Indebound || iBooks || Google Play Books || BooksAMillion || Books Of Wonder
Blurb Description: NEW YORK CITY AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.
WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.
LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.
ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.
RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?
WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.
And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.
Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you're this high up, there's nowhere to go but down....
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Meet The Authors February: Elly Blake, author of Frostblood - Interview + Giveaway

WELCOME TO MEET THE AUTHORS FEBRUARY!

As I said last month during my Meet The Authors January Wrap-Up, Meet The Authors is going to be a monthly feature on A Thousand Words A Million Books, featuring 5-7 authors  during the last week of each month!

For the first February author, I have with me the AMAZING Elly Blake, whose debut novel, Frostblood, MADE THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST. I am SO BEYOND excited for Elly!

Frostblood is a Young Adult fantasy that I JUST started reading and it is ALREADY awesome! Say hi to Elly and enter her amazing giveaway below!
 We'd Love To Get To Know More About You:

If you could bring one fictional character to life, who would it be?

Many would thank me if I magically conjured Mr. Thornton into existence (from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.)
Image result for frostblood quotes 
If you were going to plan a heist, choose five young adult characters you'd want on your crew:

Kat from the Heist Society series, Kaz from Six of Crows, Kestrel from the Winner’s trilogy, Eugenides from The Thief, and Julep from Trust Me, I’m Lying.

And Now, Moving Onto Your Masterpiece:

Where did you get the inspiration for Frostblood?

The idea for the story came from a dream of a girl with power over fire and a king with an icy heart. I woke up and knew the girl’s name was Ruby, and that I wanted to focus on fire and frost. I spun story ideas from there. I’d seen Avatar: the Last Airbender a few months before, which inspired the way elemental magic is used in Frostblood.

If Frostblood got turned into a movie, who would your choice for cast be?

Image result for frostblood quotesThis is really hard because I’m so behind on movies! For Brother Thistle, Avery Brooks comes to mind. He played the commander on DS9. (Did I mention I love Star Trek?) He has that amazing voice and he’s a phenomenal actor.

I was watching Marco Polo on Netflix, and the character Khutulun, played by Claudia Kim, had a Ruby-ish quality to me. I asked some writer friends for more possibilities (my friends who know Ruby well!) and they suggested Auli'i Cravalho, Phillipa Soo, Camila Mendes, Nina Dobrev, or Frieda Pinto. And I’m told Dane Dehaan would be a perfect Rasmus. I have so much to watch and catch up on!

As for Arcus, I have no idea! It would have to be someone pretty special. J

If you could give one piece of advice to your main characters, what would it be?

I’d tell them they’re stronger than they realize. And to trust each other and themselves. Or I’d just tell Ruby to be more like Arcus, and Arcus to be more like Ruby.
Elly Blake loves fairy tales, old houses, and owls. After earning a BA in English literature, she held a series of random occupations before landing her current dream jobs as library assistant and writer. The Frostblood Saga is her YA fantasy debut. (FROSTBLOOD, Jan, 2017. FIREBLOOD, Sept, 2017. DARKBLOOD, 2018)

Elly Blake loves fairy tales, old houses, and owls. After earning a BA in English literature, she held a series of random occupations before landing her dream jobs as library assistant and writer. Frostblood is her YA fantasy debut.

You can find Elly on: Website || Twitter || Facebook || Tumblr || Pinterest || Instagram
Title: Frostblood (Frostblood Saga#1)
Author: Elly Blake
Publication Date: January 10th 2017
Publisher: Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
Part of a Series?: Yes, Book 1/3 of the Frostblood Saga
Frostblood (Frostblood Saga, #1)Blurb Description: Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a fireblood who must hide her powers of heat and flame from the cruel frostblood ruling class that wants to destroy all that are left of her kind. So when her mother is killed for protecting her and rebel frostbloods demand her help to kill their rampaging king, she agrees. But Ruby's powers are unpredictable, and she's not sure she's willing to let the rebels and an infuriating (yet irresistible) young man called Arcus use her as their weapon.
All she wants is revenge, but before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to take part in the king's tournaments that pit fireblood prisoners against frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her and from the icy young man she has come to love.
Fast-paced and compelling, Frostblood is the first in a page-turning new young adult three-book series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies—but together create a power that could change everything.


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