Meet Danielle @cozycoffeebook_!Why did you decide to start a Bookstagram? I didn’t have any friends where I live that liked to read books like I do so when I found bookstagram I just knew I had to join in. I had stopped reading for so long because I almost felt ashamed for the books that I loved. I wanted to be able to make friends and talk about books! What is your favorite genre? Fantasy! What are you currently reading? The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss! What's your favorite color, movie, song, band, TV show, food, animal, etc? Favorite Color(s): Pink and blue! Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride! Favorite Song/Band: Take me to the Bottom by Cadillac Three. Favorite TV Show: Gilmore Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, and The Originals! Favorite Food: Sushi! Favorite Animal: Dolphins and pandas! What is your biggest fear? Something happening to my kid. Or not being a good enough parent. Who are your Top 5 favorite characters in literature? Kvothe, Hermione, Lazlo, Alosa and Tella What do you love about being a bookstagrammer? I love being able to connect with people from around the world and talking about books! What are your hobbies outside of Bookstagram? Playing video games with my family and being a Mom 😂 I love being able to coach for the sports she plays. List some bookstagrammers that have inspired you on this bookish journey!
@therealnerdymom and @_bookwormed have been always been so inspirational and supportive. I also wouldn’t have found or been inspired to start a bookstagram had I not found @book_roast. But there are so many others that have kept me inspired daily! What are some important things you've learned as a bookstagrammer? Not to compare photos!!!! Do what you love and talk about what you love! And to not put so much pressure on myself to post or be the best. It’s all for fun! Follow Danielle on Instagram at @cozycoffeebook_ and check out my stories all week on IG @the_bookish_ballad for a more interactive feature to get to know Danielle more!<3 Next Monday, I'll be singing the ballad of @a.readeresque.diary! Stay tuned....
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On January 15, 2020 at 8 p.m. CST, I interviewed my sweet friend, Joanna Hathaway, YA historical fantasy author of Dark of the West and Storm from the East, books 1 and 2 in the Glass Alliance series! Thank you to all of you who tuned in to our live Instagram chat...it was the first author chat I've ever hosted and what an absolute thrill it was talking to the woman who has become one of my biggest inspirations. For those of you who could not attend...fear not! I recorded the video and uploaded it to my YouTube Channel, The Bookish Ballad, for you to watch. I also asked Joanna to send me written answers to all the questions I asked in the live chat so you can peruse it at your leisure! Author ChatQ&A with Joanna Hathaway!!Q: What are some valuable lessons you learned from publishing your first novel? A: Trust your heart always. Be willing to take direction and listen to the invaluable wisdom of those who are there to guide you (agent, editor, etc.), but always stick to your guns if there’s something that steals from the heart of your writing. I’ve learned over these past few years how to cut and revise and be occasionally merciless with my words. I’m always pushing myself to be better. But when something infringes on the reason I wrote a story to begin with… well, I sense that, deep down, and I’m not afraid to speak up. If you’re a younger writer, please treasure that heart of your work. Fight for it. Book deals are exciting and being published is incredible, but if writing is the true joy, then that joy is of even more value. It’s why we do this! Q: Did you always love history? When did you develop a passion for it and what historical places are still on your bucket list to see? A: When I was twelve, I read the memoirs of my great-grandfather who had fought in the First World War. I was stunned by the realities of combat he described, a teenage soldier confronted by the first horrific global conflict of the 20th century. Reading his memoirs sort of drove home for me the realization that these events involved real people — including my own family — and it sparked a youth spent devouring history books. Biographies, memoirs, battle accounts. I was fascinated by the stories of real people around the world who had faced extraordinary circumstances. The world was far more complex than I had first imagined it, and I began to wonder what I would do if I were forced to make the same choices. When I was 16, I went on my first trip to Europe (with my dear mum) and spent a few days shopping in Paris before venturing out across the battlefields of the First and Second World War. I had a full itinerary for our ten-day trip. Monuments, cemeteries, famous bridges. It was such a special journey, seeing where my great-grandfather once fought, seeing the scope of this tragedy firsthand, the endless crosses, but one place I didn’t make it to was Ypres in Belgium (where the famous and haunting Canadian war poem was written: ‘We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields.…’). One day, I plan to go back and finally make that visit. Q: Even though there is a greater threat from Seath of the Nahir in the South that we haven’t been introduced to yet, we get the idea that the Dakar brothers have committed some atrocious war crimes. What was it like to create a villain like General Dakar? A: Okay, this is definitely going to be the longest answer because there is a lot to unpack here! First let me say that writing characters who might have committed war crimes is not something I take lightly or wield for sheer entertainment value. For me, as a historian, these are things we cannot brush aside or minimize. There’s always been an allure to the idea of a war hero—a strange romanticism, across the world, for the person who sacrifices their life to protect or defend many. But what about when that nobility turns sours? When it turns on the un-armed, both combatant and civilian alike? When it begins to use the ends to justify the means? This is the darkest side of war and it haunts our world even today. Because of this, I work hard to make sure that the ugliness in the Glass Alliance world always feels ugly. It can’t be ignored. And while there is definitely a lot more to the story of General Dakar and Seath of the Nahir and Sinora Lehzar (and all the adults in this world) than we know through Athan and Aurelia’s eyes, I ultimately don’t ever declare any one of them the true villain of the story. War and power and greed are the villains. And everyone is culpable to a certain extent. Which is why, I think, our individual choices are so, so important. History proves it. My goal is always to keep my characters relatable to the reader, force them to ask questions we might also ask. Grappling with the monstrosities of genocide and slavery isn’t something I feel qualified to do, and too often I think we read about the extremes of evil and think, “Well, I would never do that. I’m a good person.” But where does that evil begin? How do we get to that point? The truth is it’s slow and insidious, starting as something we can rationalize away, growing into a general passivity. So, I’ve chosen to put Athan and Aurelia in that grey zone. I honestly think that’s where many of us willfully choose to stay, ignoring injustice, saying it’s “too big” for us to impact. Most of human history is not caused by a single person. It’s many people, making choices, justifying action or inaction, finding reasons to do or not do. I hope when readers dive into this series, they’ll see characters like them, and ask themselves: “Now what would I do in this situation?” It’s certainly a question I ask myself as I’m writing! Q: What is your writing style like? Are you a pantser, a plotter, or a plantser? A: I’ve never heard of a ‘plantser’! But if that’s in between the two, then that’s what I am. I daydream through my first few drafts and let the characters show me who they are and what they want. After that, I begin to get some structure and set an ending point, so I know what I’m working towards. I’ve always had the full arc of the Glass Alliance trilogy in mind. I can’t imagine working on a series and not knowing where I’m going! But with the smaller things, I totally pants away. I like to let my characters surprise me. Q: If Dark of the West got a film adaptation, which actors/actresses would you cast to play your characters? A: I wish I had a good answer to this question, but I don’t! I’m open to suggestions though… I came up with some suggestions because I love pairing actors and actresses up to the characters I red about. Here's what I came up with: Did you experience any challenges or roadblocks while writing Dark of the West or Storm from the East? How did you overcome them? One of my biggest writing challenges is that I tend to write long. My drafts are much longer than the final version which goes into print (believe it or not!). This means there are thousands upon thousands of cut words sitting in my Google Drive. At first, it was painful having to do this. I loved those chapters and scenes, and what they showed me about my characters and the world. But after a while, you really do get better, as a writer, at remixing and shaking things up. You learn how to keep the things you love and find new ways to fit them into the story. If you’re willing to think outside the box, you can usually save those absolute favourites. They say that authors put a little bit of themselves into their fictional characters. Which character from Dark of the West is a close representation of you, and why? Unfortunately, I’d have to say Athan—and mostly for his worst traits, ha! Beyond the obvious love of flying, I am naturally very passive and non-confrontational. I’ll go far out of my way to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, even if that is to my own detriment or the detriment of a relationship. Granted, I’ve become much better about this as I’ve gotten older. Hopefully Athan is learning too… Let’s play kiss, marry, kill! Cyar, Athan, Arrin. GO! Oh no, I can’t kill anyone! I’m sorry! How about kiss Athan, marry Cyar, and bring Arrin to justice? I asked some of the book community to submit questions of their own! Here are some of things they wanted to ask you:
Is there anything else you would like to add to our Q&A Author Chat? I’m so very honoured to have been interviewed here! Thank you for having me and sharing this series with your followers. Not to brag, but I truly believe Glass Alliance readers are the absolute best and I’m excited for more to join us on this journey! BOOK LOVES!! Storm from the East flew to bookshelves on spitfire aeroplanes all over the country on February 11, 2020 and I'm so happy it's finally out in the world. GRAB A COPY TODAY! About the AuthorJOANNA HATHAWAY was born in Montréal and is an avid storyteller who was inspired to write after reading her great-grandfather’s memoirs of the First World War. A lifelong history buff, she now has shelves filled with biographies and historical accounts, and perhaps one too many books about pilots. She can often be found reading, traveling, or riding horses. Her debut novel DARK OF THE WEST is the first in a World Wars-infused fantasy series of forbidden love and deadly revenge. STORM FROM THE EAST will hit shelves on February 11, 2020 from Tor Teen. Once upon a time there was an author named T. Rae Mitchell who possessed the ability to captivate her readers with her novel Fate's Fables. The book is about a young writer named Fate and a handsome Scottish druid named Finn McKeen who get pulled inside the magical Book of Fables and must rewrite eight grim fables and give them happy endings in order to get home to their own dimension. Upon stumbling across Fate's Fables, an avid reader named Taylor gives five magical golden stars that sing and dance around T. Rae Mitchell, making them whisper (others shout) praises in her ear over how amazing her YA fantasy book is written! THE...END...!<3 Book loves....I adored Fate's Fables. There wasn't even a second within the 500+ page book where I didn't love everything that happened on the page. Do you ever have the feeling that you have missed out on something glorious your entire life and then when you happen across said thing you question how you've lived all these years without it?! Well, that is how I feel with this book. I'm so incredibly happy I discovered the Her Dark Destiny series on Instagram last year when Terry started following me one day and I clicked on her feed and discovered fan art of her characters, giveaways galore, and AWESOME promotional offers of book swag. I was in heaven and asked for all three books for Christmas because I had this telepathic realization that I would be head over heels in love with Fate's Fables. If you didn't already know this...the books got a face lift!! T. Rae Mitchell has done a phenomenal job promoting the GORGEOUS new covers of her books and I'm not sure how someone could look at the brand new covers and not instantly buy a copy...or five. It makes me so happy that T. Rae gave her books beautiful covers to match the beautiful story inside. Where should I even begin? Fate is a famous seventeen-year-old debut fantasy author of a book called "Magic Brew" and the story begins with her autographing her book at a book signing. At this point I'm automatically invested being an aspiring author myself. In Chapter 2, we meet Finn McKeen (one of the swooniest male characters I've read about since Rhysand from the ACOTAR series) who suddenly appears out of thin air at Fate's grandmother's book shop where they get sucked into the magical Book of Fables after finding a key that opens it. Fate is given a small notebook of blank pages and a pen from a decrepit, smelly old woman named Brune as her weapon upon entering the Book of Fables instead of a sword and that is probably the most unique thing I've ever read so far! The fables are hauntingly beautiful when Fate reads them aloud and when she's finished reading the words fall around her like magic fell around Cinderella as she turned into a beautiful princess and then they dissipate in front of their eyes as they're teleported into the next realm the fable takes place! It is whimsical and lovely. This is why T. Rae Mitchell is such an incredibly imaginative storyteller and I just adore her. Along their journey through the fables, Fate and Finn befriend a flying snake named Sithias who is attached to his hat and is an amazing actor and playwright. They also discover really cool magical artifacts but I'll let you discover them for yourself so as not to take the magic out of this book and spoil it for you! For the romance lovers, especially those who love the deep slow-burn romance kind, it's a heart wrenching love story tenderly written! I am so incredibly thrilled I have a new One True Pairing to gush over and I promise you it does not disappoint!! Alright, I know I'm totally fangirling and T. Rae Mitchell has already heard all of my feelings about her book so I'm hoping you all immerse yourselves in the adventure, friendship, romance that is Fate's Fables and then come tell me all your feelings about it! I will keep this story in my heart forever and I have four more books in the series to look forward to...<3 About the AuthorT. RAE MITCHELL is an incurable fantasy junkie who spent much of her youth dreaming up worlds and bringing characters to life. While most kids grow out of such things, T. Rae didn’t and she sometimes took playing make-believe a bit far. Like the time a wizard hid a bottle of dragon beans in the back yard and left her son convinced he could grow his own dragons. Needless to say, the beans failed to produce and disappointments were had. That’s when T. Rae decided to funnel her crazy imagination into writing. She has since begun her young adult Her Dark Destiny series, which can be found on numerous Amazon Top 100 Best Seller lists, such as Coming of Age Fantasy and Fairy Tales & Folklore. Follow T. Rae Mitchell on Instagram at @t.raemitchell! I'm extremely excited to partner with The Fantastic Flying Book Club and TorTeen as a stop on the Storm from the East blog tour! I'm happy I get to support my friend, Joanna Hathaway, author of Dark of the West and Storm from the East in such a fun way! Check out the FFBC's blog to see all of the blogs on the tour and their posts HERE! There is also an IG Giveaway so make sure you go enter on all the tour host's pictures for a chance to win one of three copies of Storm from the East! ReviewIn my review of Dark of the West, I had mentioned a little comment about painting five glorious stars on a spitfire aeroplane and making Athan Dakar do loop-di-loops around Joanna Hathaway for such a beautiful debut. I'm going to go ahead and paint an extra five stars to the other side of the spitfire for her spectacular sequel in the Glass Alliance series, Storm from the East! Battles, revolution, and romance collide in Joanna Hathaway's stunning, World Wars-inspired sequel to Dark of the West! Part war drama, part steamy romance, Storm from the East is an immersive, upmarket YA fantasy series that will appeal to readers of Sabaa Tahir, Marie Rutkoski, and Evelyn Skye. About 75% of Storm from the East is filled with war and the long days of Athan’s and Aurelia’s secret, summer romance in Dark of the West feel a world away. Led by Athan’s father, General Dakar, the revolutionary Safire have launched a secret assault upon the last royal kingdom in the South, hoping to depose the king and seize a powerful foothold on the continent. Athan proves a star pilot among their ranks, struggling to justify the violence his family has unleashed as he fights his way to the capital—where, unbeknownst to him, Aurelia has lived since the war’s onset. Determined to save the kingdom Athan has been ordered to destroy, Aurelia partners with a local journalist to inflame anti-Safire sentiment, all while learning this conflict might be far darker and more complex than she ever imagined. Along the way, Aurelia spends her time discovering truth after horrible truth about unimaginable war crimes committed by Arran Dakar's soldiers, revelations about her mother's family and ultimately herself, that she has to come to terms with and it is an emotional experience and comes as a total shock to readers. Especially readers like me that have no chill and will bombard the author at 2:30 in the morning with messages screaming at her about what is currently happening in the novel (I love you, Jo!! Thanks for putting up with my crazy.) When the two reunite at last, Athan longing to shake the nightmare of combat and Aurelia reeling from the discovery of a long-buried family truth come to light, they’ll find the shadow of war stretches well beyond the battlefield. Each of them longs to rekindle the love they once shared . . . but each has a secret they’re desperate to hide.... After getting to know Joanna closely and reading her novels like I'm holding onto dear life, I've come to love the way she words everything with emotion and also with the beauty of a great poet. For example, Aurelia gets caught in the middle of a war zone in Resya and describes it as "Death from high above my head, an unseen creature that doesn't know my name doesn't even have me on its list yet it falls whistling prepared to consume my flesh in a furnace of flame (272)." HOW. BEAUTIFUL. AND. HAUNTING. IS. THAT. DESCRIPTION? And there is A LOT of that in Joanna's novels. Readers will treasure her lyrical sentences. I love the way Joanna plays with the tone through her prose and writing style. In the beginning, it's a steady pace of tension as Athan gets spun up into a war his father starts without permission or probable cause other than his agenda for power and she shows this through short urgent sentences. Then there is this moment when you're about 75% done with the book that it gets calm, almost like the eye of a hurricane before all hell breaks loose. It felt like time stopped and Athan and Aurelia's observations are described gently and serenely--lovingly. I love that I can hear my darling friend's voice through these characters I've come to love with my whole heart. It's safe to conclude that I was on an emotional roller coaster while reading Storm from the East. The best way to describe that emotion is to compare it to the emotions you have when you read or watch the movie Atonement and then getting surprised by a huge bucket of ice water being dumped on you all at once. The last 150 pages of Storm from the East is where everything is complete madness and I will tell you the cliffhanger is treacherous so guard your heart. I promise you it will be okay and we will get through this together. *Rocks back and forth.* Storm from the East is a marvelous adventure written by one of the greatest storytellers I've met so far and I have the distinct honor of calling her my friend! Many thanks to The Fantastic Flying Book Club for letting me be a part of this blog tour and letting me shout about how much I adore Joanna Hathaway and her Glass Alliance series! Read an ExcerptLinks to PurchaseAbout the AuthorJOANNA HATHAWAY was born in Montréal and is an avid storyteller who was inspired to write after reading her great-grandfather’s memoirs of the First World War. A lifelong history buff, she now has shelves filled with biographies and historical accounts, and perhaps one too many books about pilots. She can often be found reading, traveling, or riding horses. Her debut novel DARK OF THE WEST is the first in a World Wars-infused fantasy series of forbidden love and deadly revenge. STORM FROM THE EAST will hit shelves on February 11, 2020. Follow Joanna on Social Media Visit her website: http://www.joannachathaway.com/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16071792.Joanna_Hathaway Twitter: @hathawayjojo Instagram: @spitfirewriter Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.es/pequenotigre/dark-of-the-west/ |
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