Book Signing Report: REACHED by Ally Condie

Ally talking to the crowd!

Last night I was super excited to attend Ally Condie's launch party and signing for the release of book 3 in the MATCHED trilogy, entitled REACHED.

I am so very excited for this book, for the addition and the conclusion of Cassia's story!  Hopefully I will find the time to read it fast and get my review to you ASAP!  But I wanted to share with you the things that went on at the party, and the Q&A session.

First Ally talked to us for a while and here are the notes I got (please remember these are not all direct quotes.  I try my best to write them down exactly as she said them, but it doesn't always happen.)

Loved the stage set up and the bubble!  See below!

• I may be really emotional because it's the last book. 
• The one was special to me because it was the end.  I knew it always would be the end.  Even as it got longer and longer I knew there would not be a split to four books. 
• Xander gets his time on the page in this one. 
• Xander is a nice guy.  And writing the nice guy is hard.  The nice guys don't get the credit they deserve.
• My editor said at one point that it was good go see xander suffer, because the good guys always suffer.
• Xander is a medical official in this and I don't know a lot about medical things
• It's that moment when you think "Why am I writing about anything other than stay at home motherhood?"

Ally signing books!

• But I had two neighbor friends one a pathologist and one an immunobiologist that really helped.  They sent me photos and notes on different diseases.  
• It got to the point that I thought "what have I gotten myself into?, Have we gone too far?"  Especially when the pathologist sent me his great idea for weaponizing fish.
• Also Greg Burton a BYU professor who does a lot of work and research with the HIV virus helped me a  lot.
• So many people help me out.  Like a father of a childhood friend sending me picture after picture of himself holding different fish so I could pick just the one I needed for a scene in the book.
• There is nothing more exciting to an author than something she's written, something she's put out there being wanted. 
• Sometimes you write all day just for yourself. 

Then we listened to an audioclip of a part of narration from Xander's point of view, that was pretty much made of awesome.  And she did Q&A.  Here were some of my favorites!

The flowers Ally's husband bought her!

Q: The covers are complex and can mean many things, but what do they mean to you?
A: They are complex and I hope you can see something in them for yourself, but for me when I look at them I mostly see the things we talked about.  That they are the colors of the tablets green, blue and red.  That they symbolize her escape from that bubble.  Oh and by the way the model is the same in all the photographs and she is also the photographer, they are self portraits.

Q: Can you tell us about the movie rights?
A: Disney bought the movie rights and there are screenwriters but no cast yet.  People ask me who I would cast and I say I'm too old to know who would be good now, but I have ideas for the dad.  Like Nathan Fillion.  Nathan Fillion needs to be involved somehow.

Q: Did you know where you were going with the entire story before you started writing?

Me and Ally!

A: Yes and no.  I had a vague outline and plan, but as I write I deviate from that plan quite a bit.  For REACHED I had 150 pages of notes of things that needed to happen, be addressed or wrapped up.  I don't think it's the best method, but it's what I did.

Q: Are you going to write more?
A: Yes I am working on another YA that is set in the future/is a dystopia. But that is all I can say.

Q: When did you know you wanted to write?
A: I was always writing and telling stories but I never could finish.  So in High School I decided to become and English Teacher so I could be surrounded by stories but not wrote my own.  After I was done with teaching for a few years I thought maybe I'll try to finish a book finally, and I haven't stopped since.

Me and my friend Sara B Larson stuck in the bubble!

Q: Do you hand write or type your novels first?
A: I definitely type.  But if I do get blocked I pull out paper and write by hand.  It like restarts my brain.  (MPB note -- I loved this answer and how it ties in with words and writing and how that affects Cassia!)

Me trying to bust out of the bubble.

Q: Are there other creative things you like to do?
A: I'm really bad at everything.  But I say I am a great appreciator.  I love art, but I'm a terrible artist.  I love food, but I hate cooking, etc. So I have a lot of interests, but little talent.

Q: What is the hardest part of the process for you?
A: The hardest part for me is always revision.  But it is also my favorite part because revision is where the story becomes a book.

Q: Other than having your books published, what's the best experience in your life?
A:  By far, having my kids.  Even beyond my books they are the most important thing.

And then as you see we had a great time with the bubble cover photo shoot booth! It was so so cool! 

Ally as ever was WONDERFUL!

And now!  As reward for reading through all of that a surprise giveaway!  Ally also had buttons of the bubble photos on the cover, and I have a set of all three buttons to give away!

Review: CROSSED by Ally Condie

CROSSED
by Ally Condie

Hardcover, 367 pages

Published November 1st 2011 by Dutton Juvenile

Placement in the Pile: Middle of the Stack

Summary:
In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake.

Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever.

Review:
I really wanted to love this one, because as you all know by now I loved MATCHED and I love Ally to death. I felt that there were some gems of greatness in this book, moments and information that I found fascinating and exciting, but it was surrounded by everything else that I unfortunately did not love.

One of my biggest issue was for a book that is supposed to be a journey of literally crossing over from one life to another there was a lot of lingering, leaving one location, and coming back. Leaving it again, and coming back. It felt more stagnant than it should have.

One of the more widespread criticisms I've read was one that was bugging me as well while I was reading. Ky is a narrator as well as Cassia, and their voices were too similar. They were beautifully written, well thought out etc. But when I had to flip back to the chapter heading to remember who was speaking, that was a problem.

All in all I think this book just suffered from middle book syndrome. Instead of being a journey in and of itself, it was a spacer to get the characters from point A to point B so that they can move on to the climax, but in and of itself, it didn't have much climax or story.

What I loved? Indie -- She's a great character and truly kept me guessing. Xander -- he isn't in the book much, but there is some big stuff revealed about him. I am liking where his story is going.

In the end. I am very much looking forward to the third book still. The way it left off I think that book is going to have a ton going on and be super interesting! I just wished this one had had more. It's worth reading to get you up to date for the next one.

Book Signing Report: Ally Condie!

Recognize these books? That's right! I was super lucky enough to go to the book launch on Tuesday night for the fabulous Ally Condie's CROSSED second book in the MATCHED trilogy!!! I have been waiting for this one literally for years. Ever since I met Ally before MATCHED was even sold to the publishers back in gosh was that 2009?

Like most of the events I attend at this FABULOUS indie bookstore The King's English in Sugarhouse (a super cute neighborhood in Salt Lake City), Ally spoke for a little bit about her book and how she got there. Here's what she said! (as close as quotes can get from taking furious notes.

• MATCHED was the fastest book I've written, CROSSED was perhaps the slowest and hardest.
• The setting is very important to me in this book because it is someplace I have been and loved, the wilderness of Southern Utah
  

• From the beginning I knew this would be Ky's book, but that was hard because he keeps things close to himself. He doesn't open up, sometimes he doesn't even admit things to himself.
• There are some new characters in this book that you will meet early on. Vick was easy to write because I knew who he was, part my brother-in-law and part my brother
• My BIL is one of those guys that if you're out in the wilderness and you need food, he'll say okay, grab a big gun and say "let's go"
• my little brother knows a lot about wilderness survival and fishing. I do not. So I made a lot of phone calls.
• At some points with all the survival stuff I thought to myself "How did I end up writing HATCHET?"

• The there's Indie. Cassia needed someone to go on her journey with.
• Indie is a loose cannon. She's like a tiger that people keep in their backyard in a cage and everything is okay...until it's not. She's like that Tiger. She's very unpredictable.
• There is a painting in MATCHED that's important to Cassia, a landscape by Thomas Moran. Xander gave it to her at the end of the book as a "I know you" good bye present. There's a moment in CROSSED where Cassia experiences a landscape very similar to that painting (and Ally read that excerpt to us)
• My mother was a painter and so was Ky's. I took a lot of her character from my mom. My mom used pastels. And I remember asking her once why she didn't use a medium like oils or something else that lasted longer. Her response was something I never forgot "I don't care how long they last, I just want them to be beautiful while they're there."

Then Ally took a few Q&As

Q: Can you talk about the inspiration for the covers?
A: They're awesome, and I can say that because I had nothing to do with it. (She went more into depth about the process of getting the cover)

Q: Why is the "R" backwards?
A: They wanted something to be off about the font of each cover. So the "A" in Matched is missing the line across it, and the R in Crossed is backwards.

Q: Is the third book finished? If so, which is your favorite?
A: That's like asking me to pick a favorite child, but the third book is newest and has had less time to misbehave, so right now it's my favorite. The draft is done, and needs editing and it doesn't have a title as of yet.


Q: If the first book was more Cassia's story, and this is more Ky's then is the third book more another character's story?
A: One might assume...I'm nodding significantly, but I can't say more.

Q: Which national park is your favorite?
A: Zion because that is where we went growing up.

Q: There's an event mentioned in this book that happened in Matched that everyone forgot. Do we find out what it is?
A: Without giving anything away all I can say is at some point you will find out.

It was SUCH a pleasure to see Ally again and support her! Her books truly are amazing, and I am not just saying that cause I know her and love her smiling face! Please check these books out! As soon as I finish reading CROSSED I will give you my review. I am trying to do NaNo and read at the same time (and take care of my 1 month old and 3 year old!) So I will try to hurry!

200 Followers Giveaway!!!!!!!!

WOOT! How cool is that? I reached 200 followers! I just want to say how incredibly grateful I am for all of those who read and support our blog! I wish I had a big stack of books to giveaway for this really cool event! But I kinda cleaned house last month and gave away most of my extras.

BUT I think this giveaway is pretty darn awesome!

Just fill out the form below to win a SIGNED hardcover copy of MATCHED by Ally Condie!



The contest is open only until this Friday December 10th 11:59 pm EST so I can get it out in the mail in time for you to receive it for Christmas (if you celebrate it). Open to USA and Canada mailing addresses only.

Book Signing Report: Ally Condie!

On Saturday I was incredibly lucky enough to go to the launch party/book signing at a local indie bookstore, The King's English for Ally Condie author of the amazing MATCHED! If you haven't read my review yet you can see it HERE.

Ally spoke to us for a while about her journey and her books. Here are the best little tid-bits! I write down quotes as close as possible, but please know these are paraphrased and not direct quotes.

"I've had signings before that no one came to. So my family came up so I wouldn't be the only one, so I'm thrilled there are people here!"

Ally has had several books published with a small local publisher, but this is her first big national market book.

People often ask Ally how she came up with the idea of MATCHED. She said mainly it came from her husband Scott and the experiences they have had together. They used to chaperon High School dances. She said "It was always a good time to turn away the drunk kids, and be asked to danced." But she said that at a High School she worked at, a few weeks before the prom the Senior boys would make a list of the Junior girls who didn't have dates to the dance. This list would be passed around until all of those girls had a date for their Junior Prom so that they didn't have to miss that big night! How sweet is that? She said the dance was always a big event, and that always stuck in her head.

Also, with Scott, they were the house parents at a Sorority in Ithaca, NY and were always surrounded by "boys, girls, dating and kissing". That got her thinking about all of those things. And then she and her husband talked about marriage and who gets to define what it is and who can get married to whom (a very timely, political topic right now), but the idea came up what if the government controlled it all. Who you married, how many kids you have, everything. And MATCHED started to form.

She said on the release day (Nov. 30th) they were out at a store and saw the book on the shelf and said "Oh look, there it is. It's out. Who knew?" I imagine that was a very surreal moment.

In fact she wrote an AMAZING blog post about the experience and her feelings on the release day that you should all go read HERE, cause she read it to us, and I read it when she posted it, and I think it is amazing.

And a last bit from Ally, "It now belongs to you, and I hope you like it!"

Then we had a Q&A! Here are my faves.

Q: How do you pronounce your protagonists name?
A: Cash-a (spelled Cassia). I got it from the Greek name Cassius.

Q: Can you tell us more about the trilogy?
A: Well originally, it wasn't a trilogy. The first book ended as it does now, but in my head it was stand alone. Of course it was open to some more ideas, so when we sold the book we sold it with a sequel and a third book optioned but not necisarily a book in the MATCHED world. After I finished book two I knew there needed to be more. Book two's title is CROSSED and there is no title for book three. But I am 1/3 of the way through writing the third.

Q: I love the Grandfather. Where did his character come from?
A: I had a great relationship with all of my grandparents. Something that I think is rare today. So the relationship and closeness comes from a mix of all of my grandparents. But I think he looks most like my paternal grandfather.

Q: How do you get into the writing process?
A: I can't draft with music playing, but I listen to music before I write to get into the mood. Well, mostly to drown out the sound of Scott wrestling with the kids and getting them into bed. The rest is just me in a chair in a semi-cold basement and getting it done.


Q: Do you keep a notebook of ideas?
A: I keep notebooks on every level of the house, because to be honest I am too lazy to go find a notebook when an idea comes to me. I also keep one in my purse. I often get ideas when I am out running too. Something about being out in the fresh air and getting exercise brings on ideas. But I lose my ideas fast if I don't write them down. So I will have to run the idea in my head over and over and over again. I probably look strange concentrating until I can get home and write it down.

Q: How did you choose the Tennyson Poem?
A: It has been one of my favorites since I read it in Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables series) in fourth grade. Plus I loved that this poem bookended my other favorite poem used in the book as well.

Q: For book 2, you mentioned on your blog that you were trying to write poems of your own, and having a hard time of it. How did that go?
A: It was SO hard. Most of them we ended up deleting. I am not a poet but I have a character that is. I often thought "Can't you just write your own poems?"


And lastly, possibly my favorite question was:
Q: Who is hotter? Xander or Ky?
A: (After much laughing) Well I can't really say with Scott here...but, I did split up Scott's attributes among them both. So I can't really pick. If I had to choose one solely on looks I would probably pick Xander because he got my husband's blond hair and coloring.

I could not be more excited for Ally! MATCHED is a wonderful, timely book and I highly, highly suggest you all go buy it for yourself and someone else for Christmas! Congrats Ally! I can't wait to see more from you in the future!

Review: MATCHED by Ally Condie

MATCHED
by Ally Condie

Hardcover, 366 pages

To Be Published November 30th 2010 by Dutton Juvenile
*Yes that is just ONE WEEK from today!!!!
Source: Received ARC from publisher

Placement in the Pile: TOP PICKS!

Summary:
Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

Review:
I was lucky enough to meet Ally at a writer's conference two years ago. A conference where she was work shopping MATCHED. In the class we were only given the first chapters, but I knew. I just KNEW when I read it that this book would be published. And I am so beyond excited that it is not only being published but that it is getting so much buzz.

From that first glance, MATCHED stole my attention and didn't let go. And the ARC is even more amazing than that first copy I read! Ally's dystopic world seems so idealistic. The perfect utopia. Everything is calculated, everything is regulated -- even death. Life is even, and equal for all. This world will enchant you. It might even make you hope that you didn't have to worry about dating and finding someone to love you, about having food on your table, about having a job that you are good at and enjoy.

But soon Cassia realizes that not everything in this structured world is all it's cracked up to be. Something is not right, and sometimes it isn't fair to everyone as the Society would have you believe. What have they given up in the name of happiness? And of course there is the biggest question of all for her, who is her true match? Who is Cassia going to choose?

MATCHED is lyrical, poignant and my favorite read of the year. Fans of dystopia, romance, and mystery will certainly love MATCHED as much as I do.

So go pick up a copy of MATCHED next Tuesday and experience the world of the Society for yourself. Who would YOU choose?

Incredible Cover!

As mentioned before my good friend Ally Condie's first nationally published book, MATCHED will be out in November! WOOT! Today on her website she posted the cover for her MATCHED.



I LOVE it. ADORE it. CRAVE it!

I can't say enough about how excited I am to get my hands on this book! You should all follow Ally on her site because she is just plain awesomeness!

The Biggest Announcement EVER!

Okay, so I am extremely melodramatic, BUT...since my dear friend Allyson Condie got the go ahead to blog about this I HAD to finally post about it!

One of the fantabulous ladies in my writer's group sold her book this winter and it is now a-okay for me to tell you about it!

Her name is Allyson Condie, the book is MATCHED.

It is amazing...at least the version I had the privilege to read before she got her AMAZING agent Jodi Reamer (as in Stephenie Meyer's agent). When I read her first chapter for a writer's conference critique that I attended last summer I KNEW with every fiber of my being that this book would be published. If you are a fan of THE HUNGER GAMES, you will love MATCHED. I am sure it is just better since the last time I saw it!

Here is the LINK to Ally's blog and official announcement from yesterday.

It could not have happened to a better person. I ADORE this girl and her book!

Until I get the okay, I am not posting any pictures or other reviews. Obviously I read a manuscript and I am sure the novel will be changed, so for now know that this is the NUMBER ONE book of 2010 that I am looking forward to!