Author Interview with Diane Chamberlain!

Yes, it's finally here! My author interview with Diane Chamberlain is finally mine! Well, and yours. Anyways, enjoy:


1. You are the first adult author that I have reviewed on my blog. How does that make you feel?

I’m honored that you were willing to give one of my books a try and that you enjoyed it enough that you wanted to chat with me about it.

2. Before The Storm is a novel that covers many topic that I love to read about, (crime, love, loss, ect.) what was the inspiration for this novel?
I came up with the setting before I came up with the story. I visited Topsail Island, North Carolina for an ‘authors and readers’ event and fell in love with it and knew I wanted to set a story there. Around the same time, I had an idea for a story involving an “unlikely hero,” an unpopular boy who rescues people from a fire. That’s how Andy was born. When I first “heard” Andy speak in my mind, I recognized his voice as similar to that of children I used to work with as a psychotherapist and knew he had fetal alcohol syndrome. The way he spoke reminded me of those children. But that meant I had to come up with a reason why his mother, Laurel, drank while she was pregnant with him. Plotting is like that—it’s circular. You think of one idea and then have to puzzle out how to fit that idea into the story. I love solving those problems. Another scene that was very strong in my mind even before I started writing Before the Storm was the scene with Andy’s sister, Maggie, sitting on the demolished porch of an old beach house, communing with the spirit of her father who had been killed by a whale. I loved that scene, but I didn’t know what it meant until I wrote some of the story.

3. How long have you been writing?
I wrote a few truly terrible books when I was twelve, but then I forgot about writing until I was in my early thirties and in the midst of a career as a social worker and psychotherapist working in hospitals and a private practice with teenagers. I’ve been at it more than twenty years.

4. What made you want to write adult novels? Or did it just end up like that?
I never set out to write any particular sort of novel. The story comes to me and I just write it down, but I do find that teenagers often worm their way into my stories. I enjoyed working with teens professionally very much and they make an interesting addition to most stories. Basically, though, I like to write intergenerational stories where all ages are represented, just as in real life. `

5. How old were you when you started writing novels?
See number 3.

6. What is your favourite colour?
Red!

7. How long did it take you to write Before the Storm?
About ten months.

8. In your own words, summarize Before the Storm.
I think of Before the Storm as part mystery, part suspense and one hundred percent family drama. It’s the story of how far a family will go to protect one another. It’s about the choices people make that come back to haunt them. And it’s about the gradual unfolding of truths that keep the characters on edge and those pages turning.


9. Did you have any say in your novel covers?
Authors have very little say in their covers, unfortunately. I like most of my covers, but not all of them.

10. Is there any other projects that you are working on right now that you can tell us about?
The book I just finished is called The Midwife’s Confession. It will be out in the United States in May, and yes, there are a few teenage characters in the story!

11. Thank you so much for the wonderful interview. One last question, what is your biggest advice for aspiring authors?
My advice is to learn all you can about the craft of writing. Learn the basics of grammar and punctuation and how to string words together in a way that makes sense and sounds good. You really need to know all of that to tell a great story. And then you need to figure out that great story to tell! My strongest advice is to not give up. If you love writing and have a tale to tell, just keep working at it until you get it right.

Thank you so much Diane Chamberlain for the wonderful interview! You answered so many questions that I had rolling around in my head when I finished Before the Storm. Also, I would like to add to Diane Chamberlain's comment on my review of Before the Storm, that I did know that there is a sequel and I should be reading that soon because I love her books!

Once again, I thank Diane so much for the wonderful interview and I would like to inform you guys that I will be featured on her blog sometime soon! I will let you guys know more about that at a later date and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later!

Love,
Sierra

In My Mailbox (11)

In my Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by the Story Siren. It allows bloggers to drool over new books.
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No new books for me this week, but I did re-new GONE by Michael Grant, and I also have an exciting thing coming soon, so I hope that will be here in about two weeks or so.

What did you get in your mailbox?

Love,

Sierra

Review: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Three teens who have attempted suicide meet in a psychiatric hospital, battle their demons, and begin to heal.

The handsome son of wealthy parents, Connor has everything anyone could want-except his family's love and affection. Jailed for years after killing his mother's child-molesting boyfriend, Tony is confused about his sexuality. Manic-depressive Vanessa cuts herself. All three stories intertwine in a brutally honest story about pain and resilience.

Released: January 23rd, 2007
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry
Series: Impulse, 1
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Page Amount: 666

Plot 8/10
Likable Characters 8/10
Problem Development 9/10
Solution Effectiveness 9/10
Writing Style 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Cover 10/10
Setting 9/10
Ending 10/10
Beginning 7/10
=
90%

I am going to try something a little different in this review. I will try a different format than any other review I have done. Just read and see.

IMPULSE by Ellen Hopkins was one of those books that you truly really didn’t expect to pick up at that certain moment. I picked it up when my local Wal-Mart was having their anniversary sale going on. We had just happened to go in there because my sister was looking for a new keyboard for her laptop. I had to look at the book section, to see if there was any books that just happened to be there that I really wanted to get (this has happened before) and I saw that most of the books had a red sticker on them. Some of them said 2 for 15, some said 2 for 20, and some said 2 for 30. I was stoked. I saw Impulse on the shelf, and that was the first one I picked up.

I have read CRANK and GLASS by Ellen Hopkins, and I knew that I wanted to read more of her work. So when I saw IMPULSE on the shelf, I knew that I needed to get it.

IMPULSE was a wonderful novel. I will say, though, that it is not a favourite of mine, but I still really liked it.

The whole suicidal teens thing has been done before, but Ellen Hopkins has done it in a different way than any other suicide novel that I have ever read before. With her writing in verse, it just pulled it another level that I never thought any author could pull it before, until I read IMPULSE.

I do believe that there is another book in the series, but at the moment I can’t think of the name, but the way Ellen finished off this novel, it was the perfect way to end a novel that has another/a series book after it. It’s not a total cliff hanger, but it leaves you wondering what is going to happen next.

I loved this novel, and I hope you guys enjoy it just as much as I did.

Love,
Sierra

Something New and Exciting!

Hey guys.

It has been awhile since I have posted just a post about some updates. Well, to be honest, I haven't really had any. Until now.

I was just thinking about how I could make the blog better and with more content and jazz like that. Well, I think I just came up with an idea.

After every book I read, I will try to score and interview with the author. I know I may not get a interview from every single author, but it is worth a shot.

What do you guys think?

Love,
Sierra

Review: Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain

(Notes before a review or in a post are offically coloured in light blue.) *This will be my last review using this format!*

Fifteen-year-old Andy Lockwood is special.

Others notice the way he blurts out anything that comes into his mind, how he cannot foresee consequences, that he's more child than teenager. But his mother sees a boy with a heart as open and wide as the ocean.

Laurel Lockwood lost her son once through neglect. She's spent the rest of her life determined to make up for her mistakes, and she's succeeded in becoming a committed, protective parent—maybe even overprotective. Still, she loosens her grip just enough to let Andy attend a local church social—a decision that terrifies her when the church is consumed by fire. But Andy survives…and remarkably, saves other children from the flames. Laurel watches as Andy basks in the role of unlikely hero and the world finally sees her Andy, the sweet boy she knows as well as her own heart.

But when the suspicion of arson is cast upon Andy, Laurel must ask herself how well she really knows her son…and how far she'll go to keep her promise to protect him forever.

Released: June 1st 2007
Published by: Mira Publishings
Series: Before the Storm, 1
Overall Rating: 5 out of 5
Page Amount: 471

Plot 10/10
Likable Characters 10/10
Problem Development 10/10
Solution Effectiveness 9/10
Writing Style 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Cover 9/10
Setting 10/10
Ending 10/10
Beginning 10/10
=
98%


This is the first adult fiction novel that I am reviewing on this blog. I thought that it would be worth it to post it on here, even though this blog consists more of YA fiction and middle grade fiction.

This is also my first Diane Chamberlain novel. My mother and my grandmother (yeah… I know) read it before we, and told me that I would really enjoy it. I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. This novel is a fast read with love, lust, forgiveness, and it shows just how far a loving mother would go for her son with a disability.
I loved the plot for this novel. Although it reminded me a lot of Jodi Picoult’s novels, that is not a bad thing, since I love Jodi’s novels. If you are a fan of Jodi’s, than you will love this novel of Diane Chamberlain’s.

This novel was FULL of likeable characters. I fell in love with Andy, the fifteen-year-old with a disorder from his mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. He was just so cute, but sometimes I forgot that he was fifteen. Although she wasn’t so likeable in the beginning, Laurel is the type of mother that I want to be. Minus the drinking and neglect.

Apart from the overall problem being genius, I loved how Diane wrote her problem development. I loved how it was almost the end when ------ confessed that s/he did the crime. For most novels, I don’t like that, but the way that Diane did it made me actually pull me right into the story to find out what happens. I loved it.

I loved the ending of this novel, but I hated the fact that ------ did it! I love him/her though the novel, but I hated the solution!

Chamberlain’s writing style is unlike any other adult author’s than I have ever read before. Her writing style is so easy to read, it just was easy on the eyes.

I think that Andy’s character development was amazing through this novel. It wasn’t only him, but all of the characters. Diane has a huge talent in here, and that is why she struck high.

Although this cover in not my favourite of all time, don’t get me wrong, it is still beautiful.

I loved that this novel was set in a beach town. I find that beach towns are an amazing setting to set a book, but not a lot of novels are set there. So when I find a good beach town story, I don’t give it a second thought.

Although the ending was totally unexpected, I loved it. Even if it meant that one of the character’s end of the story wasn’t the greatest. I found it very realistic and not candy coated at all.

I loved the beginning of this novel. It sucked me right into the story, and I didn’t want to stop reading from the moment I turned that first page.

This novel was amazing, and I am sure that this is my longest review yet, if that shows how amazing this novel is. Even if you read only mostly YA books like me, you will really enjoy BEFORE THE STORM by Diane Chamberlain just as much as I did. I suggest you all go to your local book store and go to the adult section and check out Diane’s books, because even though I have only read this one novel of hers, I have a gut feeling that all of them are just as good… if not better.

I loved this book!

Love,
Sierra

Tia's Voice- Tattoos

Hello guys! I have made the decision that Tia’s Voice will actually be held on TUESDAY, rather than Monday, because it seems as if I can never find time on Mondays to do this. Anyways, here we go.

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What I am going to talk about today everybody has a different view of. Drawing on your body… that stays forever. Other wise known as tattoos.

I know people who hate tattoos, and would rip my head off if they ever found me with one. And then I know people with several tattoos. It all depends on the person and how they were brought up.
I personally don’t mind tattoos, I mean, it is the person’s decision that if they want to be inked and have that on their body for the rest of their lives.

What do you think of tattoos? Do you have any? If you do… what of? I would love to see pictures! Please share!

Love,
Sierra

In My Mailbox (10)

In my mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. It gives readers a chance to drool over new books.





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This week was better than most weeks, but it is not what I would like to see. I borrowed one book from my school library, and that is it. Sad, I know. But I guess I can take what I can get. I guess that is all you can do.

I freaked out when I found this in my school's library. Usually my school only has the really immature middle grade books (not the ones that us bloggers would like) so I can say that I was really surprised when I found this one. Of course I freaked out and started doing the happy dance in the middle of the library. I was so happy. I really wanted to read this one for a long time now.

That is all for in my mailbox this week... what did you get in yours?