Blog Tour: Just Like Fate - Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Today I'm co-hosting a stop on the blog tour for 'Just Like Fate' by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young which was published by Electric Monkey on 6th March.  You can also check out this post on Book Angel Booktopia

1.) Was Electric Freakshow based on a real band?

S-Early on, Cat and I knew we wanted to make Electric Freakshow as real as possible. Some of my students even made fake album covers and band T-shirts! Even though I knew which other bands they sounded like, I never pictured them as anyone else. Totally original.

C- We did manage to talk a real, Seattle-based band called The Social Fantastic into writing the music and producing/recording a version of the song for use in our US book trailer. It’s available for purchase on iTunes, as well.

2.) Who wrote the lyrics of Magnets for Fate?

S-I'm terrible at lyrics. I wrote a quick, awful draft of the song and Cat turned it into the masterpiece you see in the book.

C- Suzanne Young is a liar. She’s great at lyrics! Yes, it was definitely a collaboration, and we’re incredibly happy with how they turned out.

3.) What’s the most memorable live music experience you’ve ever had?

C- That’s a toss-up between seeing Arcade Fire at the outdoor Greek Theater in Berkeley, California on a warm summer evening, and seeing an intimate, acoustic Band of Horses performance at one of the loveliest theaters in Seattle, Washington on a cold, rainy night.

S-Oh, hm... When I lived in Portland, Oregon I went to an amazing jazz festival by the water. Live music, street food, handmade crafts? What could be better?

4.) Do you have particular songs that you’re listening to if you’re feeling happy or sad?

S-I listen to a lot of older songs. One of my favorites to listen to if I want to feel better is Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle". It reminds me that life can get better. The rest of my playlist is a lot of really dark and depressing stuff. I find it inspiring to write with them in the background.

C- You’re inspired by dark and depressing stuff?

S- Kind-of, yeah.

C- I get it: That’s very you. There’s a song by Metric called “Sick Muse” that I like to blast in my car on a warm day. At the moment, though, I can’t stop listening to The National’s High Violet record. Those songs are like a mood ring: They reflect and amplify however you’re already feeling.

 

The lovely people at Egmont are also giving you a chance to win a copy of 'Just Like Fate' today on Twitter.  To be in with a chance, check out @EgmontUK today. 



Review: Just Like Fate - Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young

Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young, published by Electric Monkey on 6th March 2014

Goodreads synopsis:
Caroline is at a crossroads. Her whole family is on her back, and her grandmother, the only person who really understands her, is sick, maybe dying. All she wants to do is escape. So when her best friend suggests a night out to forget her troubles, Caroline must choose: stay by her grandmother's side, or go to the party and live her life . . . and maybe meet the boy of her dreams.

This decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths - and she's about to live them both. But there can only be one happy ending...

Review:
I'm a massive fan of Cat Patrick and I've loved all of her previous books, so I jumped at the chance to read 'Just Like Fate' which is co-authored with Suzanne Young.  The story adopts a really interesting sliding doors type scenario, focusing on the main character, teenager Caroline, who has to decide at the start of the book, whether or not to stay with her dying grandmother or go to a party with her best-friend.

The idea of having alternating chapters showing what happens when she goes or stays, was an interesting narrative device.  It enables Patrick and Young to present both sides of the story and to leave it up to the reader to decide what course of action they would have taken.  Both stories are cleverly depicted and flow nicely, so it never feels in any way disjointed. 

Both paths that Caroline potentially follows have their ups and downs.  She has a fractured relationship with her divorced parents and a difficult sibling bond with her older sister.  Family is a big theme in the book and I thought all the issues that Caroline has to face in terms of finding her own place in her various family units, were dealt with really well.  There's also romance in her future.  In one half of the story, she finally starts seeing the boy she's been mad about since they were children and in the other, she meets a college guy who is smart and funny and makes her feel wanted.  I know which boy I preferred but Caroline has to work through her feelings for both before she can begin to build a proper relationship with one of them.  I must admit that the romance aspect of the story was a bit of a slow burner for me and at times, I just didn't feel any real sparks between the characters.  However it did pick up a bit in the second half of the book and by the end I was really rooting for one particular couple.    

The story is largely about fate itself and philosophises about the choices that we make throughout our lives.  There isn't always a 'right' choice but the decisions we make shape and change us as people and the lessons we learn stand us in good stead for the future. 

This was a great contemporary YA read and will particularly appeal to readers who like the idea of parallel lives.  Although it didn't quite reach the heights of Cat Patrick's previous books, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and at the same time have discovered a new author in the shape of Suzanne Young. 

Review: The Originals - Cat Patrick

The Originals by Cat Patrick, published by Electric Monkey on 6th May 2013

Goodreads synopsis:
I glance at the three baby portraits in thick wooden frames.  I feel a familiar prickling on the back of my neck.  Because I know there's another picture somewhere - and the baby in that photo looks identical to the babies on the wall.  Somewhere, there's a photo of the original.

Ella, Betsy and I look like sisters: triplets, you might think.  But that's not what we are at all.
We are clones in hiding. We split our lives and exist as one person in the outside world. And we've always been happy. But now I've fallen head-over-heels in love . . . and that changes everything.
Because, to let love in, I need to be allowed to be Me.

Review:
Cat Patrick is one of my favourite authors.  I would read literally anything she writes.  This is her third book and yet again she does not disappoint with an original plot which throws up plenty of ethical questions for readers to consider.  In 'The Originals' the story centres on three girls who give the appearance of being sisters but are actually clones.  What I loved about this was that Cat never takes the story too far into the realms of science and although this is touched upon, the girls are very much just like you and me and the plot is strongly grounded in reality.

Lizzie, Ella and Betsey are the three girls who have been kept secret for their whole lives.  Only allowed to each live a third of a day, they take it in turns to be seen out in public.  Nobody knows that there are three of them until Lizzie meets Sean and everything changes.  I loved each of the girls.  They may be clones but they have very different personalities and never came across as carbon copies of each other.  They are extremely close and share an extremely unique bond, but you never forget that they are individuals too. 

Lizzie is the focal point for the majority of the book, as events unfold from her point of view.  She seemed to be the most headstrong out of the three and she is the first to really begin to question the existence that they are living.  I felt like I got to know her much better than either Ella or Betsey who don't feature quite as prominently.  The three of them have been content to follow the rules and do as they are told, until the growing relationship between Lizzie and Sean acts as the catalyst for them to seize control of their lives.

The science side of the story is explored but never in a great amount of detail.  The girls are always portrayed as much more than just a scientific experiment; they are living, breathing human beings.  Some of the ethics around the issue of human cloning are addressed and I found this an intriguing and interesting aspect of the book.  It's left very much up to the reader to decide where they stand on this controversial issue.   

The ending was brilliant and featured a quite unexpected twist which threw me for a loop.  I never saw it coming at all!  I adored 'The Originals' which was a stellar read and I'm beyond excited to see what Cat Patrick will end up writing about next. 

Blog Tour: The Originals: Weird Science as Inspiration - Cat Patrick

Today I'm hosting a stop on the blog tour for Cat Patrick's new book 'The Originals'.  I have a great guest post from Cat herself to share with you.

 

 

The top question I’ve been asked as an author is: “Where do you get your inspiration?” Unfortunately, there’s not an Inspiration Shop with a drive-up window, but the good news is that inspiration can be found everywhere. One of my favorite places to look is in weird science news. Doing that helped me with the ideas for my latest novel, The Originals—which is about the first human clones—as well as my second book, Revived, which is about a drug that brings you back from the dead. I love reading articles about scientific discoveries and pondering how they might shape themselves into stories.

So, in honor of the weird science in my novels, here are some real bits of news and corresponding fake story ideas:

Real News: Time travel is possible!

Fake Story Idea: Girl travels back in time to when her grandma was in high school in 1963 and solves a mystery as part of a familial crime fighting duo. This thought was inspired by my grandpa, who was in high school in 1946, and who was bound for dental school at the time. So, in my personal version, it’s a molar mystery!

Real News: My kiddos are obsessed with bats, and I love anything sensory related, so this research about determining whether blind people can use bat-like echolocation—tracking where objects are through echoes—appeals to me.

Fake Story Idea: I like a gal with supersonic hearing, don’t you? Full disclosure: I may have a first draft of a book about something along these lines, so it’s not truly fake.

Real News: How amazing is gene therapy, the ability to swap DNA to fix certain genetic issues when a baby is still in the womb?

Fake Story Idea: Well, there’s a lot you could do with the idea of designer babies. Or, what if the DNA gave the baby superpowers? What if the DNA was from a serial killer and made the baby bad?

And finally…

Real News: I don’t have the world’s greatest recall, so I like the idea of these brain implants that could recover lost long term memories.

Fake Story Idea: London Lane from Forgotten returns after brain surgery with some of her lost memories of the past recovered…including some she’d rather forget!

Happy reading!

My favourite reads of 2012

2012 has been a fantastic year for young-adult books with some incredible titles storming onto bookshelves around the world.  I've put together my top ten list of favourite books I've read (although not necessarily published) this year.  These are in no particular order because I loved them all equally!

1. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

 

Stephanie Perkins is one of my favourite YA writers.  Her writing style is fresh and original and I've adored both of her books so far.  I simply can't wait for 'Isla and the Happily Ever After' which will finally be published in 2013.  I loved the characters in 'Lola and the Boy Next Door' and I fell hook, line and sinker for the adorable Cricket Bell.

 

2. Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

 

This is the second book in the Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand which is a contender for one of my all-time favourite series of YA books.  The story was gripping and engrossing and I loved reading about Clara and the two boys in her life, Tucker and Christian.  I'm on tenterhooks waiting to find out which boy she'll eventually choose (I'm secretly hoping for Tucker!).  

 

 

 

3. Everneath by Brodi Ashton

 

One of the best debuts of 2012.  This was a five star read which blew me away.

 

 

 

4. Legend by Marie Lu

 

An incredible debut by Marie Lu loosely based on the plot of Les Miserables.  In my review I described it as a book which 'delivers the goods in spades'.  Dystopian fiction is one of my favourite genres and 'Legend' is one of the most thrilling stories I've ever come across.      

 

 

 

5. The Demon Trappers: Foretold by Jana Oliver

 

I had high hopes for the last book in The Demon Trappers series and Jana Oliver did not disappoint.  A truly fitting end to what has been an incredible ride. 

 

 

 

6. We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han

 

Yet another marvellous end to a series.  Readers finally got to find out if Belly would choose Conrad or Jeremiah, a question everyone has been pondering over since the series started.  I adored this book which gave me everything I wanted and more! 

 

 

 

7. Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

 

I'm a huge Robin Hood fan so I thought this retelling from the point of view of Scarlet was fantastic.  I'm looking forward immensely to more from this extremely talented author.

 

 

 

8. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

 

There have been so many incredible debut novels in 2012 and this is another of the best.  Ten years in the making, 'Throne of Glass' is an epic fantasy adventure with wonderful characters and a fast paced and innovative plot. 

 

 

 

9. A Witch in Love by Ruth Warburton

 

Second books in a series can sometimes be a let down but not 'A Witch in Love'.  I described it as 'combining excitement, sadness, sorrow and hope' and it's one which left me begging for more.  The final book entitled 'A Witch Alone' is due out in 2013.

 

 

 

10. Revived by Cat Patrick

 

I count Cat Patrick among my favourite authors and her debut novel 'Forgotten' was one of my top reads of last year.  She's done it again with 'Revived' which yet again ticks all my boxes.  Gripping, engrossing and exciting, I absolutely loved it.

 

Hotly Anticipated Reads for 2013: Egmont's Electric Monkey

Egmont is the publisher of one of my absolute favourite books, 'Forgotten' by Cat Patrick. They have some stellar titles lined up for 2013 (January-June) under their imprint Electric Monkey (although I'm still gutted that they aren't publishing the last book in Cynthia Hand's trilogy), so here's a selection of the ones which I'm most eagerly anticipating for next year.

All links go to Goodreads where you can add all of these books to your wishlist!

* Finished cover art may not be available yet for all titles

From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas, published 7th January

KYLIE: MEXICO WHAT? I should be putting the finishing touches on my valedictorian speech. Graduation is TODAY, and is this a wedding band on my finger.

MAX: It all started with Kylie's laptop and a truck full of stolen electronics. Okay, it was kind of hot, the way she broke us out like some chick in an action movie. But now we're stranded in Tijuana. With less than twenty-four hours before graduation. Awesome.

WILL: Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation. Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring their passports across the border -- but there's no reason to rush back home right away. This party is just getting started.

LILY: I just walked in on my boyfriend, Max Langston, canoodling with Kylie Flores, freak of the century. Still, I can't completely hold it against him. He NEEDS me. It's even clearer now. And I'm not giving him up without a fight.

Survive by Alex Morel, published in February

Jane is on a plane on her way home to Montclair, New Jersey, from a mental hospital. She is about to kill herself. Just before she can swallow a lethal dose of pills, the plane hits turbulence and everything goes black. Jane wakes up amidst piles of wreckage and charred bodies on a snowy mountaintop. There is only one other survivor: a boy named Paul, who inspires Jane to want to fight for her life for the first time.

Jane and Paul scale icy slopes and huddle together for warmth at night, forging an intense emotional bond. But the wilderness is a vast and lethal force, and only one of them will survive.

Skinny by Donna Cooner, published 4th February

Hopeless. Freak. Elephant. Pitiful. These are the words of Skinny, the vicious voice that lives inside fifteen-year-old Ever Davies’s head. Skinny tells Ever all the dark thoughts her classmates have about her. Ever knows she weighs over three hundred pounds, knows she’ll probably never be loved, and Skinny makes sure she never forgets it.

But there is another voice: Ever’s singing voice, which is beautiful but has been silenced by Skinny. Partly in the hopes of trying out for the school musical—and partly to try and save her own life—Ever decides to undergo a risky surgery that may help her lose weight and start over.

With the support of her best friend, Ever begins the uphill battle toward change. But demons, she finds, are not so easy to shake, not even as she sheds pounds. Because Skinny is still around. And Ever will have to confront that voice before she can truly find her own.

Finding Cherokee Brown by Siobhan Curham, published 7th March

His lips touched mine and for one split second the whole world stopped. Then every cell in my body fizzed into life...When I decided to write a book about my life I thought I'd have to make loads of stuff up. I mean, who wants to read about someone like me? But as soon as I started writing, the weirdest thing happened. I found out I wasn't who I thought I was. And I stopped being scared. Then everything went crazy! Best of all, I discovered that when you finally decide to be brave it's like waving a wand over your life - the most magical things can happen...

By Any Other Name by Laura Jarratt, published 1st April

Nobody can know the truth - her life depends on it. I picked up the book and thumbed through the pages. Names in alphabetical order, names with meanings, names I knew, names I'd never heard of. How to pick? Nothing that would stand out, nothing that would link me to the past - those were the instructions. The past. As if everything that had gone before this moment was buried already. Holly is fifteen years old, but she's only been "Holly" for a matter of months. Because of something that happened, she and her family have had to enter witness protection and have all assumed new identities. All, that is, except her sister Katie, who is autistic. Starting at a new school mid-term is hard enough at the best of times, and Holly has no clue who she is any more. Lonely and angry, she reaches out to friends - new and old. But one wrong move will put all their lives in danger...

Light by Michael Grant, published in April

It’s been more than a year since every person over the age of fourteen disappeared from the town of Perdido Beach, California. In that time, countless battles have been fought: Battles against hunger and lies and plagues and worse, battles of good against evil, and kid against kid. Allegiances have been won, lost, betrayed, and won again; ideologies have been shattered and created anew, and the kids of the FAYZ have begun to believe that their new society is the only life they’ll ever know. But now that the Darkness has found a way to be reborn, the tenuous existence they‘ve established is likely to be shattered for good. Will the kids of Perdido Beach even survive?

The Originals by Cat Patrick, published 6th May

I glance at the three baby portraits. I feel a familiar prickling on the back of my neck. Because I know there's another picture somewhere - and the baby in that photo looks identical to the babies on the wall. Somewhere, there's a photo of the Original. Ella and I look like sisters: triplets, you might think. But that's not what we are at all. We are clones in hiding. We split our lives and exist as one person in the outside world. And we've always been happy. But now I've fallen head-over-heels in love...and that changes everything. Because, to let love in, I need to be allowed to be Me.

Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn, published 3rd June

 'Don't. Please don't say my name. You have no idea who I really am.' No one really knows who Andrew Winston Winters is. Least of all himself. He is part Win, a lonely teenager exiled to a remote boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy. The guy who shuts the whole world out, no matter the cost, because his darkest fear is of himself...of the wolfish predator within. But he's also part Drew, the angry boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who, one fateful summer, was part of something so terrible it came close to destroying him.

Scissors, Sisters and Manic Panics by Ellie Phillips, published 3rd June

Sadie Nathanson's back - with more style and tangles than ever before. "Mrs Nellist came in for her cut and colour while Auntie and Tiffany were out the back having a coffee, leaving me to sweep up, and that's kind of where everything got really ugly. It was the hairstyle that Mrs Nellist never knew she wanted. That's all it was about. I don't know why everyone had to go so completely hysterical about it, but that's my family for you." Sadie Nathanson is back! After sorting out exactly who she is, she now feels ready to tackle who she is going to be! With hair as her focus, Sadie decides to enter a major hairdressing competition - though she has her work cut out for her when she gets fired from her Saturday job in Auntie Lilah's salon. And if that's not bad enough, it turns out there are yet still more surprises in store Dadwise...

 

Comment and let me know which titles you're most looking forward to in 2013!

Review: Revived - Cat Patrick

Revived by Cat Patrick, published by Electric Monkey on 2nd July 2012

Goodreads synopsis:
My name is Daisy West and my whole life is a lie. I'm part of a programme to test a drug called Revive - a drug that brings people back from the dead. I have died five times. I've been Revived five times. With each revival comes a new name, a new town...a new life. But this time, I won't let myself die. This time, I've found a love that I can't let go of. This time, I'm going to make my life my own.

Review:
'Revived' is everything you could want in a book and more.  I adored this fantastic story which shows that Cat Patrick's writing just keeps getting better and better.  It's hard to describe what it is about her writing that I love so much but there's something so real about it.  I feel like I can completely step inside the story and live it along with the characters.  Her ideas are original, her dialogue is fresh and realistic and she portrays real life issues with sensitivity and a deft touch.

I've been waiting for this book to be published for months so I started it with high expectations which were met in every single way.  It focuses on teenager Daisy who has already died five times but each time has been saved by an experimental drug called Revive.  She's packed up and moved town on countless occasions but when she arrives in Omaha and meets Audrey and her brother Matt, she finds herself putting down roots for the very first time.

I enjoyed all three strands of the story: Daisy's friendship with Audrey who seems to be hiding a secret of her own, her romance with Matt and her involvement with the Revive programme.  Everything about it was interesting and intriguing and I was glued to the page from start to finish. 

Cat Patrick deals with deeper philosophical issues about life and death, as well as bereavement and the process of grieving.  She shows how death can affect people in different ways and how you can learn to go on after the passing of a loved one.  Some of the scenes in the book were really sad but also full of hope for the future and that next big step.

The ending was utterly out of this world.  I loved it!  It was so unexpected and terrifying but also soooo good! It's also refreshing to read a stand-alone novel for once, rather than having to wait for the next few books in the series to be published.

'Forgotten' was one of the best books of 2011 and one of the best debut novels I've ever read.  With 'Revived', Cat Patrick has taken another step towards cementing her place among the greatest YA authors out there at the moment.  She's certainly already a huge favourite of mine.

Review: Forgotten - Cat Patrick

Forgotten by Cat Patrick, published by Egmont on 6th June 2011

Goodreads synopsis:
With the intrigue of "Memento" and the romance of "The Time-Traveller's Wife", "Forgotten" is the perfect YA novel.

Each night when 16 year-old London Lane goes to sleep, her whole world disappears. In the morning, all that's left is a note telling her about a day she can't remember. The whole scenario doesn't exactly make high school or dating that hot guy whose name she can't seem to recall any easier. But when London starts experiencing disturbing visions she can't make sense of, she realizes it's time to learn a little more about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Part psychological drama, part romance, and part mystery, this thought-provoking novel will inspire readers to consider the what-if's in their own lives and recognize the power they have to control their destinies.

Review:
I'm in love.  With a book.  And it's name is Forgotten.  This is such a stunning debut novel that I was compltely blown away by it.  I don't think my review will be able to do justice to just how amazing this book is and how much I loved it but I'll try and put into words how incredible I found it and what a phenomenally talented writer Cat Patrick is.

From the first to the last page this was a stellar read.  I rushed home from work to finish reading it immediately, after daydreaming over the book all day.  Even now, after a couple of days have gone by, I'm still thinking about the story and the characters.  I'm jealous of people who will get to read this for the very first time and discover just how fantastic the experience of losing themselves in it is. 

The concept is brilliant and really piqued my interest when I first heard about the book.  London Lane is an average teenage girl in every way but one.  Every day at 4.33am her memory resets and she's able to see events that will take place in her future but cannot remember anything about the day before.  She has to write herself long detailed notes of everything important that she needs to know so that she'll be able to live as normal a life as possible.  The idea of this actually happening to someone is incredible.  Obviously London gets to choose what she does and doesn't want to be reminded of the next day, which certainly solves the problem of embarrassing incidents - they can just be wiped from memory.  The insights that London gets into her future lead to her questioning the people around her as she tries to work out the meaning of her visions. 

I loved the character of London.  She's the kind of person that you'd love to have for a best friend.  She's true to herself and follows her own path but she's also incredibly loyal and will stand by your side no matter what.  She's extremely likeable and I really identified with aspects of her personality. 

Although the hook for this novel is the idea of a girl who has no backwards memory, what made the book for me is the central relationship between London and her incredibly hot boyfriend Luke Henry!  I was absolutely sucked into the romance between them as they go on their first date and share their first kiss.  Their relationship is very mature for a couple that are still at school and I like the fact that it's simple and easy between them without too many big dramas. 

I have to say that as London fell for Luke, I did too!  He's at the top of my literary boy crush list!  He's gorgeous but also caring and kind, sensitive and romantic.  He's the sort of boy who'll be polite to your parents, remember your favourite movie and always be in exactly the right place at the right time.  I loved the way in which their romance was written and there are some seriously heart fluttering moments between the two of them.

Simply put, this book had it all.  It manages to combine an intriguing mystery with a strong romantic undercurrent, a fresh and appealing female protagonist and a sucker-punch ending.  I was blown away by Cat Patrick's debut and I shall be recommending this to everyone I know.  We may only be a few months into the new year but I think I may have found my book of the year already!  If love was a book then it would most definitely be 'Forgotten'. 

I received a proof copy of the book which has a plain red cover but I definitely need to get my hands on a finished copy because the UK and US cover art is gorgeous. 

The film rights for 'Forgotten' have been sold already and Hailee Steinfeld is attached to play London.  I can't wait to see who they have lined up for Luke. It's so exciting that it's going to be on the big screen :) 

Thanks to the publisher for sending this book for review