Before & After: Bettina Restrepo

I'm super excited about this week's Before & After because it's a first ... both author responses are in Vlogs! Hope you guys enjoy as much as I did!

Bettina Restrepo is a writer. This means she basically sits around in pajamas making up lies. As glamorous as this may seem, she spends a lot of time researching, thinking, and talking to the dog about her characters, plots, and story lines.

She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Speech Communication. She married an Aggie. Together they have a son, Allen, (who will be an Aggie) and an English springer spaniel, Winston (who will not be an Aggie). When Bettina is not writing, or thinking about writing, she likes to exercise, go on walks, and read, read, read. She lives in Frisco, Texas…. which is basically Dallas.

Read more at bettinarestrepo.com.

Reviews of Illegal
The Book Scout
Bookworming in the 21st Century
One Book At A Time

Read an excerpt of Illegal here.

Website | Bio | Blog | Twitter

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Author Interview: Beth Revis

Beth Revis
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Across The Universe [Buy]



Let's start with the person behind the book. Can you introduce yourself to everyone?

*waves hello!* Hi! I'm Beth! I blog often and tweet too much and Facebook too little. I write books about stars and evil leaders and murderers and I often blow up and/or kill characters.


How did your interest in writing begin?

I've always enjoyed writing, but never believed I could make a living off of it. I would write stories for fun as a kid--the girl I sat with on the bus and I would come up with adventures involving unicorns and brave heroines and Robin Hood and such, and eventually I started writing longer works. I've never been good at short stories--they always end up as novels.


Do you find anything particularly challenging when writing a book?

The muddy middle. I usually know how a book ends and have a solid beginning, but the middle is often excruciating.


Do you have a favorite author? If so, do you think they influenced your writing in any way?

CS Lewis is my favorite author of all time. I remember reading Chronicles of Narnia sitting under the stairs at my local library and realizing that there was more to the story that just a lion and a witch--that sparked a love of literature that I never lost.


Your debut novel is Across The Universe. Can you tell us a little about it?

Short version: It's a murder mystery in space!


Longer version: When Amy wakes up early from cryogenic freezing, she must figure out who of the living crew is unplugging the other frozens before he kills her parents. She has no one to turn to, except maybe the young, mysterious future leader of the ship....


It's coming out today! How do you feel now that the release date is upon you?

I fluctuate with euphoric giddiness and stomach-dropping panic.


On my blog, I did a poll of the most highly anticipated YA books of 2011 and, out of over 50 books nominated, you're in the top 3. How does that make you feel?

AWESOME!!! I *ADORE* my readers and am thrilled that so many people are eager for the book!


Are any of your characters based on people that you know?

One--the side character, Harley. He's a painter, and based on a student of mine, a girl named Charly who painted my podium while I was her teacher.


Is there a message in your novel that you'd like the reader to grasp?

There are several, but I think overall I want people to seek the truth of the world and not settle for lies, and remember the value of hope.


What is your life like outside of writing?

Since I recently quit my job as a teacher, I have no life outside of writing!


I read somewhere you're a big fan of Dr. Who. How did you feel when David Tennant announced he was leaving? Do you think Matt Smith is living up to the legacy left by David?

Oh, I could write PAGES on this. My favorite Doctor BY FAR is David Tennant--he was brilliant and perfect for the role, and he will always be my favorite Doctor. That said, I think Matt Smith is doing a good job--his Christmas special, in particular, was well done (I love when he comes out of the chimney, and how he noticed the man didn't hit the boy). But really, it's Amy who's carrying the show right now, not the Doctor. She's a great companion. I sort of wish David Tennant's doctor had met and fallen in love with Amy instead of Rose--Rose was never good enough for the Doctor, in my opinion.


(Also: I *love* that Amy in DOCTOR WHO is a spunky red-head. I wrote ACROSS THE UNIVERSE before that Amy started, although, of course, it won't come out until after--but I do adore the connection.)


Lastly, is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?

I just want to say thank you! The online community has been great, and I adore you all!!!

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Waiting on Wednesday

Slice of Cherry
by Dia Reeves

Waiting Until ...
January 4, 2011

Happiness is a bloody knife.

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.

It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities....