Blog Tour: Deirdre Sullivan Introduces Savage Her Reply + Mini Interview

Deirdre Sullivan Introduces Savage Her Reply + Mini Interview

Titles marked with a (^) are ad: affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I'll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Titles marked with an asterisk (*) were gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Savage Her Reply* by Deirdre Sullivan. It's a feminist retelling of the Irish legend The Children of Lir, from the persepctive of Aífe, the story's villain. For us bloggers, this blog tour was arranged a little differently, and we got something super special. We were invited to an exclusive private Zoom meeting with Deirdre and publicist Nina, where Deirdre told us about Savage Her Reply, and we also got to ask her a few questions each, for our own exclusive element of our posts. Unfortunately, I was on holiday when the meeting took place, but it was recorded and Nina was kind enough to ask Deirdre my questions on my behalf.

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Bloggers Get Real: Louise of Foxes Fairy Tales

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Welcome to Bloggers Get Real! Inspired by CW of The Quiet Pond's The Pond Gets Loud series, Bloggers Get Real is a YA book bloggers spotlight interview series with the aim of celebrating and supporting YA book bloggers and the work we do, while also discussing the realities of book blogging, the YA community, and the various controversies that have sprung up. I feel it's important to keep these conversations going - our voices matter, what we do matters, and we should be heard.

I'm really excited to have be spotlighting Louise of Foxes Fairy Tales today!

Can you tell us a little about you and Foxes Fairy Tales?

I’ve just had my third blogging anniversary in July. I was pretty hit-and-miss and all over the place for a good while though. The two genres I tend to reach for the most often are mysteries and all sorts of fantasies. Fantasy usually makes up way over half my reading, but within that I’ll try urban fantasy, magical realism, high fantasy, paranormal... most anything. In terms of topics and themes, I love witches, fairy tale retellings, complicated female characters and anything with feminist themes.

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Bloggers Get Real: Madi of TheBookNerdDiaries

Welcome to Bloggers Get Real! Inspired by CW of The Quiet Pond's The Pond Gets Loud series, Bloggers Get Real is a YA book bloggers spotlight interview series with the aim of celebrating and supporting YA book bloggers and the work we do, while also discussing the realities of book blogging, the YA community, and the various controversies that have sprung up. I feel it's important to keep these conversations going - our voices matter, what we do matters, and we should be heard.

I'm really excited to have be spotlighting Madi of TheBookNerdDiaries today!

Can you tell us a little about you and your blog?

I don’t remember the specific reason I started blogging, but five years ago I brought TheBookNerdDiaries to life. I mainly review YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi and YA Contemporary/Romance but I am also known to delve into some High Fantasy and New Adult.

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Bloggers Get Real: Mel of Book Reviews From Canada

This post contains affiliate links.

Welcome to Bloggers Get Real! Inspired by CW of The Quiet Pond's The Pond Gets Loud series, Bloggers Get Real is a YA book bloggers spotlight interview series with the aim of celebrating and supporting YA book bloggers and the work we do, while also discussing the realities of book blogging, the YA community, and the various controversies that have sprung up. I feel it's important to keep these conversations going - our voices matter, what we do matters, and we should be heard.

I'm really excited to have be spotlighting Mel of Book Reviews From Canada today!

Can you tell us a little about you and your blog?

I had started a few blogs previously to starting the one I’m currently running (including a Tumblr blog which is literally the worst website to run a book blog on). I always fell into the trap that is NetGalley and requested far too much, got overwhelmed and gave up. This time around, I decided pretty suddenly one day in October to sign up for a Wordpress Account and actually commit to blogging. One of the best ways I’ve found to do this is to have a continuous running list of all the books I have to read/review with the dates they need to be read and keep track of them that way. I’m fairly new at book blogging as I started my blog in October 2018.

My favourite genres are Young Adult Fantasy, contemporary and classic literature and my favourite authors are Cassandra Clare, Becky Albertalli, Jane Austen and Shakespeare. I will pick up any books with bisexual characters automatically because as I identify as bisexual myself, I like seeing my identity represented in literature.

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Bloggers Get Real: Beth of BooksNest

Welcome to Bloggers Get Real! Inspired by CW of The Quiet Pond's The Pond Gets Loud series, Bloggers Get Real is a YA book bloggers spotlight interview series with the aim of celebrating and supporting YA book bloggers and the work we do, while also discussing the realities of book blogging, the YA community, and the various controversies that have sprung up. I feel it's important to keep these conversations going - our voices matter, what we do matters, and we should be heard.

I'm really excited to have be spotlighting Beth of BooksNest today!

Can you tell us a little about you and your blog?

I started blogging back in 2016, reflectively it was probably a way of dealing with leaving university and needing to fill a hole in my life. I also loved reading other people’s blogs and after starting my Bookstagram account earlier that year, it felt like the right path to take. I was always interested in writing my own blog, but I would never settle on the topic, books seemed a perfect fit once I found the confidence to go for it!

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Bloggers Get Real: Aly of Of Wonderland

Welcome to Bloggers Get Real! Inspired by CW of The Quiet Pond's The Pond Gets Loud series, Bloggers Get Real is a YA book bloggers spotlight interview series with the aim of celebrating and supporting YA book bloggers and the work we do, while also discussing the realities of book blogging, the YA community, and the various controversies that have sprung up. I feel it's important to keep these conversations going - our voices matter, what we do matters, and we should be heard.

I'm so excited to be kicking off Bloggers Get Real with the very first interview, with Aly of Of Wonderland!

Can you tell us a little about you and your blog?

Hi! I’m Aly, I blog at Of Wonderland and I’ve been in the blogging "business" for five years. I prefer fantasy and sci-fi, but I have a huge soft spot for thrillers and mysteries. Some of my favourite authors range from Tana French and Gillian Flynn to Sarah J Maas, Meagan Spooner and Jay Kristoff. I always grab for high fantasy and fairytale retellings without question -- my favourite kind of bookish delights.

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Interview with Tasha Suri, Debut Author of Empire of Sand

Today, I am so very excited to have Tasha Suri, the incredible of debut author of Empire of Sand, the first book in the Books of Ambha series, stopping by the blog. Read on for her interview where we discuss her #OwnVoices high fantasy, her inspiration in Indian history and Hindu beliefs, and fellow British authors of colour.

For those who don’t know, can you tell us a little about your debut novel, Empire of Sand, the first in the Books of Ambha series?

Empire of Sand is the story of Mehr, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman of the Ambhan Empire and an exiled mother from an oppressed, magical people called the Amrithi. When Mehr reveals she’s inherited her mother’s ability to manipulate the dreams of sleeping Gods, she is tricked into the service of the Empire’s mystics. Trapped by magical vows, Mehr must use all her cunning and bravery to save herself from the mystics, and the world from awakening nightmares.

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Once Upon a Retelling: Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm delighted to have Nadine Brandes stopping by the blog to talk to us about her fantasy retelling of the Gunpowder Plot, Fawkes.

Can you tell us a little about Fawkes? What kind of a retelling of the Gunpowder Plot is it?

Fawkes is a retelling of the Gunpowder Plot—a true event where a group of men decided to smuggle barrels of gunpowder to blow up the king of England. Throw in some fantasy magic, duels, and a main character torn between loyalty and love, and that’s Fawkes. (Mwahaha!) The retelling takes place in the original time period—17th century London—but is told from the POV of Guy Fawkes’s son, Thomas. In real life there are only rumours that Guy had a son so I reimagined the plot to see what it might have been like had his son been involved. (Enter family drama!!)

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Mental Illness in YA Month: Interview with Eric Smith

Today for Mental Illness in YA Month, I have YA author of The Girl and the Grove, Eric Smith, stopping by to talk about his latest novel, and how his protagonist, Leila, has seasonal affective disorder.

Can you tell us a little about The Girl and the Grove?

Sure! It’s a novel about a recently-adopted teen who discovers that the voices she’s heard her whole life might be connected to who she really is, and follows them into a city park in the heart of Philadelphia. It could be that her biological origins hold some kind of magical secret, and that the answers lie in the natural world.

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Once Upon a Retelling: Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Pérez

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

Today, I'm really excited to have Kristina Pérez stopping by the blog today to talk to us about her debut YA novel, Sweet Black Waves, a high fantasy retelling of the legend of Tristan and Eseult.

Can you tell us a little about Sweet Black Waves? What kind of a retelling of Tristan and Eseult is it?

Sweet Black Waves is a retelling from the point of view of Branwen, who is traditionally Princess Eseult’s lady’s maid. In my version, Branwen is also the cousin and best friend of the princess as well as a healer who is developing magic of her own. My retelling is also a second world fantasy in which Ireland has become Iveriu and Cornwall has become Kernyv. I made this decision in order to give myself more flexibility with the source material and to make it fully Branwen’s story.

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Once Upon a Retelling: The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

I'm really excited to have Miriam McNamara stopping by the blog today to talk to us about her retelling of the life of historical female pirate, Mary Read, The Unbinding of Mary Reade.

Can you tell us a little about The Unbinding of Mary Reade? What kind of a retelling of Mary Reade’s life is it?

The Unbinding of Mary Reade is based on the life of Mary Read, a pirate who was part of Jack Rackham’s crew near the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. When I originally set out to write her story and began researching, I discovered that what many people take as fact about Mary’s life comes from a book called A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, which was published under the pseudonym Captain Charles Johnson in 1724. But this book is full of information that conflicts with confirmed historical record, and there is still no consensus on who actually wrote the book (Daniel Defoe is often listed as the author, but many experts believe that it was almost certainly not him). Most of what we know about Mary’s life is little more than a story, so I decided to retell that story by putting what drew me to Mary’s character front and center.

Continue reading Once Upon a Retelling: The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

Once Upon a Retelling: The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

I'm super excited to have Tessa Gratton stopping by the blog today to talk to us about her King Lear retelling, The Queens of Innis Lear.

Can you tell us a little about The Queens of Innis Lear? What kind of a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear is it?

QUEENS is a feminist fantasy retelling—the plot generally follows that of the play, but I’ve imagined deeper characterizations and motivations for all the characters Shakespeare left flat, especially the women.

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Once Upon a Retelling: All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller

Welcome to my Once Upon a Retelling interview series! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

I'm really excited to have Danielle Teller stopping by the blog today to discuss her inspiration behind her debut novel, All the Ever Afters, her retelling of Cinderella.

© Simon Topher

Can you tell us a little about All the Ever Afters? What kind of a retelling of Cinderella is it?

All the Ever Afters is the life story of Cinderella's stepmother beginning from when she is ten years old; it takes place in a medieval setting. The characters are realistically complex, and the events in the fairy tale have real-world explanations.

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Once Upon a Retelling: Storm-Wake by Lucy Christopher

Welcome to Once Upon a Retelling! I'm a huge fan of retellings, and I'm really interested in hearing about authors' own love of the original stories, and what inspired them to retell those stories. And so Once Upon a Retelling was born, a feature in which I interview authors about their versions of well-loved tales.

I'm really excited to have Lucy Christopher stopping by the blog for the first Once Upon a Telling, to talk about her latest novel, Storm-Wake, a retelling of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Can you tell us a little about Storm-Wake? What kind of a retelling of The Tempest is it?

Storm-Wake is a novel inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It is a sort of reimagining I suppose. I imagined the kind of situation where a modern-day Miranda might be marooned on an island with only her father for company – it would have to be a pretty strange island; it would have to be a pretty strange father to keep them there for an entire decade.

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Under Rose Tainted Skies Blog Tour: Louise Gornall on Mental Illness in YA

Louise Gornall is stopping by the blog today with a mini-interview as part of the blog tour for her incredible #OwnVoices debut novel Under Rose Tainted Skies. She's here to talk about mental illness in YA and #OwnVoices. On to the interview!

At the heart Under Rose Tainted Skies is Norah, a character who has has agoraphobia and OCD. With an increase in children and teenagers suffering from mental illness, how important is it to have mental illness represented in YA?

It’s vital. Mental illness can be so cruel and isolating. Every teen needs to see themselves represented. They need to know they’re not alone, that they’re not some strange anomaly. And fiction is such a great way to reach those who haven't figured out how to talk about it yet, or haven't quite figured out what’s going on inside their head. For those that don't suffer with their mental health, books like Am I Normal Yet? [by Holly Bourne] or It’s Kind of a Funny Story [by Ned Vizzini], provide great insight into how a mental health mind works.

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The Importance Of #OwnVoices: An Interview With Corinne Duyvis

This was originally posted on The Olive Fox before the online magazine closed.

The Young Adult book community has been calling out for more diverse representation for years and, slowly but surely with sites like Diveristy in YA, Disability in Kidlit, Gay YA (now called YA Pride), and LGBTQ Reads, we have seen an increase in the number of marginalised groups with starring roles in the pages of YA. There’s still a long way to go, but progress is definitely being made.

It’s not just representation we’re after, but accurate representation meaning that authors writing about circumstances outside of their own experiences have to do their homework to make sure there are no glaring stereotypes or complete misconceptions. Some of my favourite diverse YA novels have been by authors who have done a ton of research to make sure they have written the people their characters are representing as accurate as they’re able. Unfortunately, though, authors can sometimes miss the mark a little. However, there is a sure-fire way to guarantee that the book you’re reading has the most accurate representation possible; read an #OwnVoices novel.

Continue reading The Importance Of #OwnVoices: An Interview With Corinne Duyvis

Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Robin York

Today, I am so excited to have author Robin York dropping by the blog to talk about her debut NA novel Deeper and revenge porn.

What inspired you to write Deeper?

The idea actually came from my publisher, Random House, who asked me to consider writing a New Adult romance (a romance whose protagonists are in the 18-25 age range) for the Bantam imprint. I’d been following the rise of New Adult and was interested in trying my hand in it, but I didn't have a story in mind immediately. I did know that I wanted to write a New Adult romance set at a small liberal arts college. It wasn't until I read an article online about revenge porn — and then stumbled into reading the comments, which were appalling — that I found the story I wanted to tell.

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Sex in Teen Lit Month II: Interview with Louise O'Neill

Today, we are extremely lucky to have the completely brilliant Louise O'Neill stopping by, who has been incredibly busy lately (she's been at events in Ireland, the UK, the US, and Canada, all in a matter of months!) due to the success of her two novels. She's here to discuss her latest novel Asking For It and to talk about rape culture.

Asking For It is such a deeply affecting and eye-opening novel. What prompted you to write it?

There were a few different reasons. I was finishing Only Ever Yours in 2012 when Todd Aiken, a politician who was running for senate in the US, made a comment about how the female body had ways of ‘shutting down’ a pregnancy if it was a ‘legitimate rape.’ I wanted to include that idea of ‘legitimate rape’ or ‘rape rape’ in Only Ever Yours but it seemed too important an issue to shoe-horn in to the narrative.

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Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Courtney Summers

I am absolutely thrilled to have the wonderful Courtney Summers stop by the blog for Sex in Teen Lit Month II today! Courtney has been super busy lately, so we're really lucky she agreed to a short interview to discuss rape culture and All the Rage.

All the Rage is such a hard-hitting and emotional. What prompted you to write it?

Sometimes I write about things that make me angry as a way of processing them and rape culture makes me furious. I wanted to explore how dangerous it is and how devastating the consequences of it are.

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Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Tammara Webber & Giveaway

Today, I am super excited to have the wonderful NA Bestselling author of Easy, Breakable and the Between the Lines Series, Tammara Webber on the blog to discuss Easy and sex crimes for Sex in Teen Lit Month II.

Easy is such a powerful and important book. What prompted you to write it?

I began hearing Jacqueline’s story, as if she was telling it to me. I resisted, because I saw myself – see myself – as a romance writer. I didn’t want to write an “issues” book – certainly not about the topic of sexual assault. As a rape survivor, I’d spent years dodging anything concerning the topic in books or film – let alone my own writing. I credit this story to my fictional character, because she would not let up. I finally felt I had to write the story for readers like myself who were never going to willingly pick up an issues book about sexual assault, even if we needed to – and I wrote what I knew how to write:a romance novel. My only “message” was for survivors: It wasn’t your fault. I received and continue to receive emails, notes and messages from readers, thanking me for helping them see that one truth. I know I did the right thing in writing it.

Continue reading Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Tammara Webber & Giveaway