Out of Control Blog Tour: Characters (Guest Post)

I am really please to be part of the blog tour for Sarah Alderson's new book, Out of Control.  I love Sarah's stories and Out of Control is no exception!  I loved it!!

Sarah has stopped by to talk about the main characters in the story...
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CHARACTERS

Out of Control is set over 36 hours in New York. Think 24 crossed with Taken. The main characters are 17 year old Liva and 19 year old Jay, who are complete opposites but who are thrown together and forced on the run when the police station they are in comes under attack by two men who are hunting Liva. The story is told through Liva’s point of view and while there are other characters it’s really about Jay and Liva and how over the course of 36 hours their lives are turned upside down and they are both forced to confront who they are.

JAY (Jaime)
19 years old, half Cuban and half American, Jay has grown up in Queens, New York. He’s street smart but also smart. The youngest of three brothers he’s the only one who has a chance of making it. His oldest brother is in jail and his middle brother is in a gang. But Jay’s dream of going to college is turned on its head the night he does his brother a favour and ends up getting arrested. Jay’s quick witted, charming and committed to his single mum and to trying to make things right.

Nathan Owens :
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/818/l1180338.jpg (there are some rather lush shots of him sans clothing if you google!)

LIVA
Liva by contrast has grown up overseas, surrounded by the trappings of wealth. The daughter of a man who owns a global security company, Liva has lived her life behind high walls, protected by bodyguards. She’s tough, uncompromising, and committed to living by the rules (whereas Jay thinks rules are made to be broken). After being expelled from school Liva moves to New York to live with her father and to study dance. She’s guarded, untrusting and filled with secret guilt about a tragedy that happened years before.

Bella Thorne :
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsPwy0gDulsPAeOfb1tjTxDpbVYioIvjJ6gxxojJVb9ikVEmp13umezZcnzawY4wTtjH1hiNThj5WVujeN1vJSqOo7EnkQNheaiVN1Ic824FseACA7FvADsh1_hlxVQ-8AamHHDa7wPva/s1600/bella%20thorne%20brasil%207.jpeg 

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Thanks Sarah!  I love Nathan and Bella as Jay and Liva - they are just how I pictured them!

Out of Control is availiable to buy now. And make sure you check out the rest of the tour - details are below:

The Sound by Sarah Alderson

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781471115738
Release Date: 1 August 2013
Source: Provided by the publisher for review.

From Goodreads: When aspiring music journalist Ren Kingston takes a job nannying for a wealthy family on the exclusive island of Nantucket, playground for Boston's elite, she's hoping for a low-key summer reading books and blogging about bands. Boys are firmly off the agenda.

What she doesn't count on is falling in with a bunch of party-loving private school kids who are hiding some dark secrets, falling (possibly) in love with the local bad boy, and falling out with a dangerous serial killer...

The gripping new stand-alone novel from the author of Hunting Lila.

Sarah Alderson officially rocks! I loved her previous books and can now add The Sound to that list. Does it have anything to do with her ability to create hot, swoon-worthy guys. Well yes! But she also has the most addictive style of writing – I always find myself completely engrossed in her stories.

I loved Ren from the moment the story began. She has that sass - managing to hold her own but also being really likeable. I must admit I wasn’t very taken with her friends - I found myself wincing every time she interacted with them. Of course, as soon as Jesse was introduced I was practically shouting at her to ditch the others and hang out with him instead. Although a couple of them did turn out okay in the end...

And I have to mention Braiden and Brodie! How much did I love Brodie?

I also really loved the mystery element – both in the murders and what had happened between Jesse and Tyler the previous year. I must admit I kind of guess what had happened between them and why – but I enjoyed watching Ren work it out as well. I didn’t however solve the murder part of the story!

So yes, I really enjoyed this. I think it’s a standalone story – but I have to say I would love, love, love to catch up with these characters again so if she decided to write another I would be first in line to read it.

In the meantime, I shall wait impatiently for Control to be published! Roll on next year!
 

Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson

For Review: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2 August 2012

From Goodreads: Alex and Lila are on the run, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the Unit, which is somehow tracking their every move. While Alex is determined to keep Lila safe and her ability secret at any cost, Lila's only thought is of finding a way back to California so she can rescue her brother and mother from the military base where they're being held. Struggling to control both her growing power and her deepening feelings for Alex, Lila decides the time has finally come to stop running and start fighting. Together with Alex, Demos, and the others she's come to think of as family, Lila plans not only to save her brother and mum, but also to completely destroy the Unit and everything it stands for. But the plan requires Lila to return to California alone, and to make friends with the enemy - and in doing so, she risks losing everything: Alex, her family… even her life.

I adored Hunting Lila when I read it last year – so I was seriously excited to get my hands on its sequel.  Was I nervous it wouldn't live up to my expectations for it? Yes, but I shouldn't have been! I really enjoyed it!

The story picks up from where we left Lila and Alex – on the run. The opening sequence is like a scene out of an action movie! Seriously good and very exciting. It’s one of the things I love about Sarah Alderson as an author – she’s equally talented at writing the romantic, quieter scenes as she is the WOAH! OMG! ones.

The story really progresses in this one – and I have to say it comes to a satisfying conclusion. There are some awesome revelations (which I wasn’t expecting) and the ending concludes the series, but leaves it open enough that there could be more if the author wished to return to it. (I would certainly love to read more of Alex!!!)

So yes, I can’t finish this review without mentioning Alex. Is it possible that he is even hotter than I remembered?  Because… well... damn he's hot!! Although I think if I were Lila I may have spontaneously combusted at the strength of his resolve…

A great series and highly recommended. I can’t wait to read Sarah Alderson's next book!

 

Fated by Sarah Alderson

For Review: Simon & Schuster
Published: 5 January 2012

From Goodreads: What happens when you discover you aren't who you thought you were? And that the person you love is the person who will betray you? If your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

When Evie Tremain discovers that she’s the last in a long line of Demon slayers and that she’s being hunted by an elite band of assassins –Shapeshifters, Vampires and Mixen demons amongst them – she knows she can’t run. They’ll find her wherever she goes. Instead she must learn to stand and fight.

But when the half-human, half-Shadow Warrior Lucas Gray - is sent to spy on Evie and then ordered to kill her before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy, their fates become inextricably linked. The war that has raged for one thousand years between humans and demons is about to reach a devastating and inevitable conclusion. Either one or both of them will die before this war ends.

If your life becomes bound to another’s, what will it take to sever it?

I picked this one up with very high expectations - I absolutely loved Alderson's previous novel Hunting Lila - and I am very please to say it lived up to them all.  The story has a very different feel to Hunting Lila but I think if you enjoyed Hunting Lila you will love this too.

The story follows Evie Tremain as she discovers she is actually the last in a family tree of Demon Hunters.  Of course, she only learns the truth because a band of assassins  - consisting of every monster you could (but may not) wish to think of - comes to kill her.  One of them being Lucas Gray - a half human, half-Shadow Warrior.  But when he is sent to spy on her and kill her before she can fulfil her destiny he starts to question everything he has ever known...

I officially love Sarah Alderson.  I don't know how she does it but she manages to create a world and characters I find myself completely invested in.  I loved Evie - she strong and likeable and is just someone who is very easy to relate to.  Lucas - who we could have really disliked - actually became someone I was really rooting for.  And I loved the two of them together - great chemistry!  Really great chemistry!

The story is full of action and is obviously very well thought out - I loved all the different demons and their histories - and both back stories for Lucas and Evie -  I'm really hoping this is going to be a series!  But having said that if that doesn't turn out to be the case there is enough of a finish to this one.  I just want more Evie and Lucas!

Fast paced and totally addictive - I can't wait for more by this author.

Hunting Lila Blog Tour: Review & Guest Post

For Review: Simon & Schuster
Published: 4 August 2011

From Amazon: 17-year-old Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever. After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust - her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they've found them. In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone - there are others out there just like her - people with special powers -and her mother's killer is one of them...

I loved this!  I enjoyed every minute - it just ticked all the right boxes for me and I can't wait for more!

When Lila uses her ability to prevent being mugged, it scares her and she decides she need to get away.  She's desperate to see her brother Jack and his best friend Alex so she jumps on a plane to go see them in California   Lila has been secretly in love with Alex for as long as she can remember and she can't wait to see him.  But things are not what she expects when she gets there.  Who do Jack and Alex work for? And why are they both so determined to protect her? 

This is such a great balance of action, romance and the paranormal.  I love all things psychic so I was like a kid in a sweet shop reading this.  And I loved the romance element of the story.  Lila and Alex have some major chemistry!

Lila is perfect as the narrator as the story - I really liked her even if I did want to throttle her every time she ran away from Alex or Jack!  And Alex is all kinds of awesome.  He's just soooo hot!  And I loved Jack too.  The three were really great!  I also loved the characters that come into the story later on - I won't mention names as I don't want to spoil anything - but they are equally fab.

Great action, an engaging - and unpredictable - mystery, an intense and totally awesome romance, and some great humour.  Honestly, what are you waiting for?  Read this book!

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As part of the Blog Tour for Hunting Lila, Sarah has stopped by to give us a day in her life...

Day in the Life

Let’s get one thing out the way first. I live in Bali. It’s basically paradise, with a few more coconuts thrown in for good measure. I live in a house overlooking the rice paddies, cloud-ringed volcanoes silhouetted in the distance, palm trees swaying in the breeze, the taco casa on speed dial – it’s pretty much heaven.

Once upon a time I lived in a row of terrace houses in South East London. I had to commute into work every day. I would write in the snatched hours after my daughter was in bed and edit on the train on the way into work the next morning. There were no coconuts.

Now my days are a bit different. I just scribbled down on a piece of paper everything I did today to try and figure out where the time goes. It went something like this:

• Woke up
• Checked email / Facebook etc,
• Made Alula (my daughter) breakfast (eggy bread),
• Got her ready for school, argued with her about wearing underwear
• Edited three chapters
• Had a pilates lesson (when will I get a body like my teacher’s?)
• Wrote a blog post
• Watched an episode of Game of Thrones
• Went out for lunch with a friend (lunch = two chocolate milkshakes).
• Picked up daughter from school and dropped her for a play date
• Went for a massage
• Ordered sushi and frozen margaritas
• Put daughter to bed
• Had a girlie movie night with four friends

Life’s a whole lot easier when you a) don’t have to commute, b) get coconuts and frozen margaritas delivered to the door c) don’t have to do your own laundry.

I admit there’s a lot of massage involved in my daily life these days. And a lot of sushi too. This was actually a pretty sociable day, but that’s because I’m not writing a book, I’m editing one. And that isn’t quite as absorbing. When I’m in the midst of writing a book (I’ve just finished my fifth) I’m a total recluse and pretty much hermit myself away, talking only to the taco delivery boy and occasionally my family.

I wake up at six every morning whatever I’m doing. The first thing I do is turn on my computer to check Twitter, email, Facebook, my blog and Goodreads. Social media addicts could learn something from me. I’m so addicted if you took away my computer I’d probably need to be hooked up to a drip of Valium until you gave it back.

If I’m in the middle of writing a book I might sneak out onto the balcony for sunrise and to use the precious minutes before my daughter wakes to pound out another chapter or two. I write very fast – up to 4000 words a day. My last book took just 30 days to complete. Generally I take six weeks between each book to get some headrest because after I finish a book it feels like someone pressed delete on my inner dictionary and I’m pretty much brain dead. I spend the time in between books tinkering with manuscripts, working on edits with my publisher and trying to think up new ideas.

Once my daughter’s at school I’m back at my desk, headphones on, listening to music and writing. If I’m not writing a book I’ll be writing something else – a blog post, an email, a Facebook status update, anything. I need to write. It’s an addiction.

The times I get stuck on plot or am feeling blocked I’ll go for a swim. It’s the most therapeutic thing I know, swimming under a wide blue sky, watching the butterflies dance. The pool is the place where all my plotting happens. I keep a notebook right by the edge of the pool and will stop and write down whatever comes to me.

I do Pilates twice a week too – not because I’m an exercise freak because um, if you saw me you’d know that I’m not, but because I have a really bad back and sitting for hours at a desk really doesn’t help much. Pilates is my only concession to exercise. The swimming doesn’t count as I go so slowly it’s more like floating.

I don’t cook. I gave up cooking after my husband decided he didn’t want to buy any more saucepans. I think I’d managed to destroy about six by that point. That frees up time for writing. Most days I either order food in (Sushi or Tacos) or my husband makes something (how lucky am I?).

Afternoons are generally spent having to manage a house-load of under fives without resorting to the drinks cabinet.

When my daughter’s bedtime rolls around at seven I’m back at my desk, writing some more until I can’t mentally produce another word. And then I’ll generally fall onto the sofa with the husband and watch a movie. But only if he makes his honey sugar popcorn. Though on a Friday I dance ecstatically (ie. Like a lunatic) in a big barn under the stars.

Life’s crazy good.
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Thanks Sarah!  How jealous am I  - Bali sounds AMAZING!!!!

You can find Sarah on her Website and Twitter.  She also has the blog Can We Live Here - where she talks about her move to Bali.