Lisa & Laura Guest Post for The Blog Tour of Awesome!

It is my privilege and honor to have the authors of The Liar Society guest posting on my blog today. Not only is their debut novel amazing [my review here], but they are just as equally amazing themselves. Today, they're going to give you guys a behind-the-scenes look into Pemberly Brown. Enjoy!


PEMBERLY BROWN, BEHIND THE SCENES

When we first sat down to write The Liar Society we knew that we wanted Kate's swanky private school jump off the page. In fact, we actually treated the school like a character in the book complete with quirks, secrets and backstory. Because we went to a boring public school complete with carpeted walls and tacky orange lockers, we had to rely on research and our imagination to bring Pemberly Brown to life.

Thankfully we have lots of posh private schools in Cleveland that we used as inspiration. Laura lives very close to Western Reserve Academy and she spent a lot of time roaming the campus and observing students there. It's not nearly as creepy as it sounds. Wait, actually, it kind of is. It also helped that Lisa went to Miami of Ohio for college. Administrators and students regularly refer to the school as "the Harvard of the Midwest" and they take themselves VERY seriously. Many fraternities and sororities were founded at MU and all of them started off as secret societies. The campus is steeped with legends and random traditions. You marry the boy you kiss under Upham Arches. You rub the turtles head on your way to class if you want to ace your test. You NEVER step on the seal outside of the student union otherwise you'll flunk out of school. We were able to take many of these little traditions and weave them into Pemberly Brown.

We wanted to have two private schools merge to create PB because it created a rich backstory for the school and the secret societies that were born there. As for the Latin nothing says snooty private school like plaques written in a dead language. One thing that helped us immensely with the creation of Pemberly Brown, was drawing a map of the school complete with all the numbered Stations, the Latin associated with each station and major landmarks. We still refer to it constantly as we're writing the next book in the series.

The amazing thing about Pemberly Brown is that the possibilities are literally endless. We've already cooked up a whole new set of legends and traditions that drive the plot in Liar Society #2. Get excited.

Psst...we have a secret. Click here, hit the Pemberly Brown Plaque. The password is SETHROCKS.

And if you want to enter The Liar Society Blog Tour of Awesome contest, and really, who wouldn't want to enter!?! There's a $100 Amazon gift card up for grabs! Just click here and enter the super secret password, SETHROCKS, for an entry. Remember you can enter one time for each stop on our blog tour, so be sure to click here and see where else we're visiting this month to maximize your chances of winning.


Audi, Vide, Tace,
L&L

Review: The Liar Society, by Lisa & Laura Roecker

The Liar Society
Lisa & Laura Roecker
Paperback, 358 pages
Sourcebooks Fire (3/1/11)
Rating: (Avg 4.5)

Kate Lowry didn’t think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, who died mysteriously a year before, she’s not so sure. When the emails continue, Kate is forced to confront her school’s resident druggie, a sketchy administrator, and even her own demons.

As Kate moves closer and closer to the truth, she teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not so)shining armor–the dangerously attractive, bad boy, Liam and her love-struck neighbor, Seth. The three uncover an ancient secret lurking in the halls of their elite private school with the power to destroy them all.

But the truth doesn’t always set you free. Sometimes it’s only the beginning.

You know what I miss? I miss those fun little high school mystery books that I used to read when I was a teen. The ones where you're just as clueless as the MC, so you're having to figure out and guess right along with the main character. You know what I'm talking about, right? Well, fortunately for us, Lisa and Laura Roecker have brought that back with their debut novel, The Liar Society.

Set in a boarding school, this book has all of the potential to be a run-of-the-mill boarding school book where the main girl is popular with all the hot guys, but the mean girls don't like her and all she wants is a true friend... yadda yadda yadda. Yet again, the authors surprise us by taking the boarding school premise and making it so much more than that. We have a main character who's distraught by her best friend's death and, when receiving e-mails from said dead best friend, she does everything in her power to try and find out what the friend is trying to telling her. What ensues is a story full of adventure and mystery, with a hint of romance and wit added right along with it.

Kate is a wonderfully written MC and I love that they make her such a powerful female in this book - she's got the looks, the attitude and the wit. Plus, there's this sense of undying loyalty for her best friend in the book that just makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I think Kate and her two sidekicks, Liam and Seth, are an amazing trio that work well together. Seth is that guy next door that you can always depend on and Liam is that bad boy that makes your little heart go pitter-patter. Their dynamic together is nothing short of amazingly perfect. I also liked that some of the characters weren't as shallow as they seemed as first and were developed extremely well through the story where it wasn't necessarily told that they weren't as horrible as you thought, you actually saw through their actions how they truly were. Of course, there were some jerks.. but it might surprise you who those jerks really are. Or not.

This is definitely more of a character-driven book, but the plot was not lacking in any way. I loved the use of the flashbacks to show Kate's relationship with her best friend Grace before she died. I also loved the boarding school with all of its rich history and detail. Kate's quest to find out about her friend is endearing and the ending is unexpectedly bittersweet. However, there is closure and a definite hint at another book to follow - one that I will definitely be picking up as soon as it becomes available.


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{Happy Release Day!!}

Review: Right Side Talking, by Bonnie Rozanski

Right Side Talking
Bonnie Rozanski
Kindle Edition
Amazon.com
September 27, 2010
Rating: (Avg 3.5)

Imagine that you are a young girl with intractable epilepsy. As a last resort you submit to an operation to sever the connection between the two sides of your brain. Though the operation successfully reduces your seizures, you are left forever with two separate minds: left and right, each unaware of the other.

Imagine further that while recovering in the hospital, you witness a murder. Your dominant left brain cannot recognize unfamiliar faces, and is, therefore, unable to identify the killer. Your right brain can, but is unable to speak. Gradually, painstakingly, the right learns to spell out its thoughts in scrabble letters. At long last, on a table in a hospital lab, you describe the person who committed the crime. Too bad the killer is reading that very same message.….

Right Side Talking is a thriller that will grip the reader from its opening surgery scene to its dramatic courtroom climax. Its cast of characters: a 15-year-old epileptic; a brilliant surgeon; an unlicensed, resentful doctor from abroad who must work as an orderly; a grumpy, relentless detective, and a feisty psychologist Finally, most fascinating of all, there is the human mind itself.

The first thing that hooked me to this story was the premise. It's not something that you come across a lot of these days. Being a psychology nut in high school, it intrigued me to no end - to the point where I had to squeeze this review in earlier than scheduled because it wouldn't leave me alone. I was not disappointed.

Told in third person narrative, you follow the main character Anna mostly through the story - though there is a slew of secondary characters attached as well. Anna's journey through the story is the part that help my interest the most, with the murder a close second. Anna was a very believable character that seemed immature at times - however, given her circumstances, I think it's completely justified and didn't take away from the story at all... nor did it deter my opinion of her. Overall, she was a strong and courageous character. I seriously couldn't imagine going through what she did. The secondary characters were developed well enough, though a little more depth would have been nice. I also found her parents a little hard to swallow at times.

The surgery itself made me wish that I was there to see it, or at least experience it via a documentary or episode of House. It wasn't all too graphic, but the procedure and process that the author described was well-researched - or made up well. I can't go into the validity of all of the medical aspects, but it was all descriptive enough to be real if it wasn't. From the surgery to the therapy, to the murder and climatic ending... this book had me up at night, reading until the end.

Although the protagonist is a teen, this book has a more adult feel to it than Young Adult. I'd recommend for a more mature YA audience. If you like medical dramas, mysteries, and psychology reads should definitely give this book a try. It's a shorter read, but makes up for length with dimension.

Before & After: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

Before & After is a new feature on Missy's Reads & Reviews that gets a look inside how a debut author feels before and after their first release. Each post will feature one new 2011 debut author.

Lorraine Zago Rosenthal was born and raised in New York City. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in education from the University of South Florida. She also earned a master's degree in English, with a concentration in American and British literature, from Northern Kentucky University. In addition to writing fiction, Lorraine enjoys reading, exercising, watching movies, and spending time with her husband. Other Words for Love is her first novel.

The release date for Other Words for Love is quickly approaching! My publication journey started at the beginning of 2008, when I began writing this novel. More than a year later—in April 2009—I was thrilled to be offered a deal by my fabulous publisher, Random House/Delacorte Press. At that time, I was told that Other Words for Love would be published in Spring 2011, and that seemed so far away! Of course, it was far away—and in some ways it felt like an endless wait, but in other ways the time seemed to pass quickly. Now that my January 11, 2011 publication date is right around the corner, I’m very happy and excited to have reached this point! I’m also feeling very grateful and fortunate to have an opportunity to share my novel with readers. This experience is sort of like sending your child out into the world and hoping that everyone will love him/her as much as you do.

On Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - Other Words for Love was published and released to the public from Delacorte Books.

My release day could not have been more amazing. It was just like Christmas morning! I am so overwhelmed by the phenomenal response I have received from readers and book bloggers who have contacted me about Other Words for Love. It’s really fulfilling to hear that people are connecting with my main character—Ari—and her story. It was also very exciting to walk into Barnes & Noble and see my book on a shelf! As a writer, I spend a lot of time alone with my work. When I was writing this novel, it was just the story and its characters and me. Now it’s out in the world, and it’s incredible to see it there!

A huge thanks to Lorraine for taking time out of her busy schedule to help participate in this new feature!

If you would like to know more about Lorraine, please make sure to check out the links below. Also, don't forget to pick up a copy of her debut novel, Other Words for Love.

Reviews for Other Words for Love
The Story Siren
La Femme Readers
Jess Hearts Books



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Review: The Cries of Vampira, by Sean H. Robertson

The Cries of Vampira: The Horror of Gaad Grey, The Evil Alpha Werewolf - Volume 1
Sean H. Robertson
Paperback, 82 pages
CreateSpace
November 2, 2010
isbn: 1453808418
isbn13: 9781453808412

Princess Kristin, Princess Kylie and Prince Kolbe Robertson are Triplet Teen Assassin Vampires. Their royal family, the Robertson Clan, occupied the throne of Scotland during the 11th and 12th centuries. Their peaceful homeland of Vampira is under daily attack from the evil Alpha Werewolf Gaad Grey and his horde of Grey Wolves, who seek to decimate the Vampire species and enslave humanity as well.

The story starts out with the Vampirians and Grey Wolves battling one another. There are many casualties, including the Vampirian King as well as Gaal and Gomer Grey of the Grey Wolves - which their son, Gaad, is there to witness firsthand. As the wolves retreat, a lone wolf named Loki comes into the picture and takes Gaad under his wing. Now, seventeen years later, Gaad is set on revenge against the Vampirians, while the King's triplets - now seventeen - are seeking peace between Vampira and the Grey Wolves. But it seems like the only way they can do that is to destroy Gaad, who's hellbent to destroy Vampira and all that it stands for.

Those that are weak at heart when it comes to gore and violence may need to take warning that you will see a lot of that in this novella. This story is surprisingly dark and menacing in ways that I did not think was possible for such a short story, but Sean somehow managed it. For a novella, there was a ton of story and lots of action crammed into the story. Like most novellas that I enjoy, I have to say that this story is too short! I'd love to read a lot more, though I'm sure I'll get my wish with upcoming volumes - I'm just impatient and want to read it now! ;)

For a short story, you get a pretty good sense of what each of the characters are about. Like most vampire/werewolf stories, the two supernatural beings are arch enemies. However, that's where the similarities stop. Unlike most cute and cuddly stories these days, this story takes us back to the unforgivingly violent look at these species. The werewolves in the story definitely take the driver's seat in the violence, as the Vampirians seek peace between their kinds. I have to say that the vampires did disappoint me because I thought they were a little too nice, but maybe they will be redeemed in upcoming volumes. I sure hope so!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story and ran through it very quickly. I can't wait for the next in the saga!

Source: Author

Avg. Rating: 3.5

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A special note from the author, Sean H. Robertson:

When YOU add this book to your To-Read shelf today, YOU'LL be helping to SAVE THOUSANDS OF LIVES in 2011 through my donations to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, part of my global suicide prevention movement. You'll enjoy the NEW & MOST ORIGINAL Vampire series at the same time, which is now on 224 To-Read shelves worldwide since 11-8-10!

The author, Sean H. Robertson, is now donating TEN PERCENT of his royalties for the entire "Cries of Vampira" book saga to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, because as their slogan says, "With Help Comes Hope." Sean is an overcomer of depression as a former victim of child molestation & wants to help EVERYONE who is battling hopelessness & despair worldwide.