Holly Black & Cassandra Clare Q&A

We got a chance to ask bestselling authors Holly Black & Cassandra Clare our little questionnaire. We would give them each a post, but some of their answers play off each other. Enjoy!


1. What's the most random question you can think of? Answer it.

Cassandra: If you could marry a vegetable, which would it be?
Holly: Well if rhubarb is vegetable...
C: Carrot.

2. If 'they' decided to make a movie of your life, which actor would you want to play you?

C: Johnny Depp
H: Robert Downing Jr.

3. If someone suddenly threw a wad of twenty thousand dollars at you, how would you respond?

C: I'd be pleased, but then I'd assume it was a test of moral character. Give 1/2 to charity and get a plane ticket to Australia
H: I'd buy 20 hairless cats and art.

4. When writing some authors plan every detail and others just dive into the book, so are you an outliner or a diver (or a mix)?
C: Outliner, very detailed.
H: Outliner, but seldom do I stick to it.

5. Who pwns everything?

C: Robert Downing Jr.
H: Neil Patrick Harris

6. Can you do the Time Warp?

C: We can.
H: We can.

Coffeehouse Angel Re-Create A Cover Contest

There is another on of these oh-so-lovely recreate a cover contests over on Trisha's Book Blog. You still have a few days to enter, get to it!

This is the original cover:


When Katrina spots a homeless guy sleeping in the alley behind her grandmother’s coffee shop, she decides to leave him a cup of coffee, a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans, and some pastries to tide him over. Little does she know that this random act of kindness is about to turn her life upside down. Because this adorable vagrant, Malcolm, is really a guardian angel on a break between missions. And he won’t leave until he can reward Katrina’s selflessness by fulfilling her deepest desire. Now if only she could decide what that might be .

Here is the cover Lorena designed:

This was just a quickie before I left for - yeah freaking right, this took so damn long to make, I'm wont be doing another one of these in a long time. Despite the ridiculous amount of work I put into this, I had fun making it. Everything but the spoon, coffee, and table is my own work. That sugar wing was such a pain in the butt to make, but I love how it came out. I hope you guys do too! Oh yeah, also I'm leaving for my first year in college tomorrow :D so, peace!

Losing Faith Re-Create a Cover Contest

Princess Bookie is hosting a Losing Faith Re-Create a Cover Contest! Lorena decided to enter it, but we're encouraging others to go ahead and enter HERE you can win a lot of goodies!

This is the original cover

When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don't know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith's final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

This is the cover I designed for the contest:

I had originally designed it as a full book jacket, but then I realized it was being published as trade paperback so I cut it down. Hope you like it!

Heather Brewer Q&A

We got the chance to meet up with bestselling author of The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd, Heather Brewer, and ask her our questionnaire.

1. What's the most random question you can think of? Answer it.

What is my favorite color?
Three

2. If 'they' decided to make a movie of your life, which actor would you want to play you?

That's a hard one... aw man... I don't know, Winona Ryder?

3. If someone suddenly threw a wad of twenty thousand dollars at you, how would you respond?

Well first I'd duck, and second I'd donate it to an anti-bullying program.

4. When writing some authors plan every detail and others just dive into the book, so are you an outliner or a diver (or a mix)?

Well that's complicated. Thing is, I used to be a diver, but now I'm an outliner since I learned it's easier.

5. Who pwns everything?

Chuck Norris

6. Can you do the Time Warp?

I can totally do the Time Warp!

New Site!

Only not really...

We've been itching to change up the blog for some time now, so here you go! Love it? Hate it? Wish Lorena had chosen different books for the background? Tell us what you think, and then we'll do something with the information. What that is, we do not know.


-The YAthenaeum Team

Halo - REVIEW

Lorena's Review of Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Synopsis

"Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?"

Review

This has to be one of the lightest novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Really. I'm serious, go look at what I've reviewed, it's all drama, blood, and sex... just not in that order. Halo was a little hard for me to grasp at first, but once I got over my belief that "everyone is going to screw you over" it was an easy and even enjoyable read. I'm sure not many will have this problem.

One of, if not, my favorite part of this novel is Bethany. When she is sent to Earth with Gabriel and Ivy, it is the first time she experiences having a physical form and human emotions. Things that come naturally to us are new and strange to her. While I may not be able to describe them first hand, the way Adornetto was able to convey these "newborn" thoughts and feelings was truly amazing, and believable. Such everyday things that we take for granted such as eating, sleeping, or even going to the bathroom. To see them expressed through inexperienced eyes so accurately is something to be commended.

If there's anything I have to say against Halo, it's that I felt it was poorly paced. On more than once occasion did I find myself wanting the story, well to put it bluntly, to just get on with it. Many scenes I felt were unneeded or unnecessarily long. But that's all I really have to complain about.

Halo, other than making me undeniably happy, is just an uplifting read. It makes one think about the little things that can be done to help others. About the radiance that is found outside the shadows. It's a sweet story, a beautiful story. A story about love, and the many obstacles that it can overcome. Who doesn't want to be reminded of the goodness in the world once in a while?

Halo will be available in bookstores August 31, 2010. There are two more books scheduled in the series Hades in Fall 2011, and Heaven in Fall 2012.