Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme created by Jill at Breaking the Spine. A spin-off of the meme called "Can't Wait Wednesday" is now hosted at Wishful Endings. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

The Raven's Tale

by Cat Winters

 

hitting shelves April 16th, 2019  

from Amulet Books

Seventeen-year-old Edgar Poe counts down the days until he can escape his foster family—the wealthy Allans of Richmond, Virginia. He hungers for his upcoming life as a student at the prestigious new university, almost as much as he longs to marry his beloved Elmira Royster. However, on the brink of his departure, all his plans go awry when a macabre Muse named Lenore appears to him. Muses are frightful creatures that lead Artists down a path of ruin and disgrace, and no respectable person could possibly understand or accept them. But Lenore steps out of the shadows with one request: “Let them see me!”

My thoughts:  So anyone who's been reading this blog for awhile knew I was going to pick this one this week, right? xD Cat Winters is one of my absolute favorite authors and I couldn't be more excited to have her tackling a story of young Edgar Allen Poe.  Plus, she always gets the most stunning covers and this one, which was revealed this past week, is certainly no different. ♥.♥

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

Odd & True by Cat Winters {blog tour + guest post + giveaway!}

It's an exciting day! I'm always happy to host one of my absolutely favorite authors, Cat Winters, and her newest YA supernatural novel,

ODD & TRUE

Read on below to find out more about the book, learn more about sisters Odd & True and what they have in common with Cat and her own sister, and of course, don't forget to enter the tour-wide giveaway of three copies of the book!

• ABOUT THE BOOK•

Odd & True

by Cat Winters

♦publisher: Amulet Books

♦release date: September 12, 2017

♦hardcover, 368 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.

In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.

*       *       *       *       *       *

Guest post with Cat Winters

5 Ways Odd & True are like Cat and Her Sister

ODD & TRUE was very much inspired by my relationship with my own sister, Carrie, who’s three years younger than me. It’s a work of fiction that’s not meant to be considered autobiographical, but my two protagonists, Odette and Trudchen, do, admittedly, share several things in common with Carrie and me.

Here are five examples:

1. Older sister Odette (Od) teaches younger sister Tudchen (Tru) how to read the future in tea leaves. Tea leaf readings and scenes of the sisters drinking tea appear throughout Odd & True. In real life, Carrie and I love visiting tearooms for special events, a pastime we’ve been enjoying since we found a tearoom tucked away in an antique shop in Escondido, California. In the opening chapter of ODD & TRUE, look for a nod to Escondido (which means “hidden” in Spanish) in the words of a magic spell.

2. Od has been telling Tru fairytales and legends since the week Tru was born, and she talks her sister into joining her in pretend adventures, even into their teenage years. I did the same thing with my sister when we were little, although I didn’t do so to hide the pain of our family’s secrets like Od. Thankfully, Carrie and I had a far less traumatic childhood than what my two protagonists endure, but I’ve always used stories as an escape from reality and a means of keeping us entertained.

3. For fun during their childhood, Od and Tru travel to neighboring farms and collect folktales and stories of monster sightings, which they catalog in a notebook. Od does the writing in the book, and Tru creates the illustrations. They call the book Odd & True Tales and plan to one day publish it. In real life, I wrote stories and poems all the time as a kid, and my sister would illustrate them. Our parents were often the recipients of cards that featured our joint creations (which probably weren’t as good as we thought they were). We always talked about one day publishing a book that I would write and she would illustrate.

4. Od and Tru grow up in a Southern California canyon populated by rattlesnakes and coyotes. They believe their mother is a monster slayer who protects them from diabolical creatures that prowl around after dark. My sister and I grew up in the hills of a Southern California suburb, and we heard coyotes at night and found various types of snakes in our yard, including the occasional rattlesnake. Our mom didn’t slay monsters, but when I was eight, we witnessed her climbing up to our roof with a hose to protect our house from a raging brushfire. She also fought off the black widow spiders that lived under our eaves, and she once even captured a snake that had slithered into our house.

5. Od and Tru are fiercely protective of each other and would slay monsters for each other. If I could do the same for my sister, I most definitely would.

Cat (left) and Carrie (right).

    *       *       *       *       *

Seriously, how super cute are they???  Thank you so, so much, Cat, for sharing these stories and this adorable photo with us!!

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

Cat Winters’s critically acclaimed debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was named a 2014 Morris Award Finalist, a 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, a 2013 Bram Stoker Award Nominee, and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013. Her upcoming novels include The Cure for Dreaming (Amulet Books/Oct. 2014) and The Uninvited (William Morrow/2015), and she’s a contributor to the 2015 YA horror anthology Slasher Girls & Monster Boys. She lives in Portland, Oregon.  

WEBSITE  •  TWITTER  •  PINTEREST  •  GOODREADS

Purchase  ODD & TRUE:

 Indiebound   •  Amazon  •  Book Depository

And now for an amazing 

*GIVEAWAY*

3 winners will receive a finished copy of ODD & TRUE, US & CAN Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Rockstar Book Tour for ODD & TRUE!

Week One:

9/4/2017- Adventures of a Book Junkie- Interview

9/5/2017- Here's to Happy Endings- Review

9/6/2017- YA and Wine- Guest Post

9/7/2017- Ex Libris- Review

9/8/2017- Novel Novice- Guest Post

Week Two:

9/11/2017- Take Me Away To A Great Read- Review

9/12/2017-Two Chicks on Books- Interview 

9/13/2017- Falling For YA- Review

9/14/2017- Stories & Sweeties- Guest Post

9/15/2017- Lisa Loves Literature- Review

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Odd & True

by Cat Winters

hitting shelves September 12th, 2017

from Amulet Books

Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio.

In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all. 

My thoughts:  So basically: A new Cat Winters historical/paranormal book + a story of sisterhood that pays tribute to her real life sisterly bond + demon-hunting Supernatural style + an incredibly kick-ass cover = BECKY HAS A NEW MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR.  Haven't checked out Cat's YA books yet?? You must. She is an absolute favorite of mine. 

What book are you eagerly anticipating this week?

Yesternight by Cat Winters {review}

Yesternight
by Cat Winters
♦publisher: William Morrow Books
♦release date: October 4th, 2016
♦paperback, 400 pages
♦intended audience: Adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

In 1925, Alice Lind steps off a train in the rain-soaked coastal hamlet of Gordon Bay, Oregon. There, she expects to do nothing more difficult than administer IQ tests to a group of rural schoolchildren. A trained psychologist, Alice believes mysteries of the mind can be unlocked scientifically, but now her views are about to be challenged by one curious child.

Seven-year-old Janie O’Daire is a mathematical genius, which is surprising. But what is disturbing are the stories she tells: that her name was once Violet, she grew up in Kansas decades earlier, and she drowned at age nineteen. Alice delves into these stories, at first believing they’re no more than the product of the girl’s vast imagination.  But, slowly, Alice comes to the realization that Janie might indeed be telling a strange truth.

Alice knows the investigation may endanger her already shaky professional reputation, and as a woman in a field dominated by men she has no room for mistakes. But she is unprepared for the ways it will illuminate terrifying mysteries within her own past, and in the process, irrevocably change her life.

 
Review: This book had three things going for it right off the bat: Cat Winters brilliant historical storytelling (I make no secret of the fact that this author is one of my absolute faves), a 1920 setting, and a subject matter that I have always, as long as I can remember, been fascinated with---past life memories in children.  And while there were one or two things that made this my least favorite of her stories so far, it definitely drew me in and enthralled me---I was not disappointed. 

Struggling psychologist, Alice Lind, is trying to prove herself in a male-dominated field. When she's brought into town to test the children of Gordon Bay, she's introduced to Janie, whose father is convinced she is having past life memories. I love that she sticks to her psychological thinking and insists on ruling out every possibility rather than just buying into it right away. I love how the evidence and arguments for all possibilities is taken into consideration as the story slowly unfolds, coming clear in shocking little spine-tingling moments, and things get harder and harder to deny. And I thought it was interesting that we get to see her internal struggle with her own strange childhood and how it might parallel what she is seeing in Janie, and also her coming to terms with how a case like this could effect her professional standing.  The whole unraveling of the mystery of Janie was fanastic and I love how it resolved---and I might have actually liked this more if it had ended with that.

The last part of this story took a strange turn and focused solely on Alice's past and her own possible past life. It started off good, with some scary discoveries coming to light. But as it went on, it sort of lost me. While I love a good creepy twist, this one, I couldn't help but feel was a little out of place and out of character for the Alice we'd gotten to know through the whole rest of the book. There was sexual content that seemed a little forced in, and yet another twist at the end, that was creepy and shocking in an entertaining way, but also in a way that was just a little too convenient.

Still incredibly gripping and entertaining, and while, like I said, it's definitely my least favorite of Cat Winters books so far,  I really enjoyed this one despite a few quirks. 

•ABOUT THE AUTHOR•

photo credit: Tara Kelly

Cat Winters is an award-winning, critically acclaimed author of YA and adult fiction that blends history with the supernatural. Her young adult works include In the Shadow of Blackbirds, The Cure for Dreaming, The Steep and Thorny Way, and the forthcoming Odd & True (Fall 2017). Her adult novels are The Uninvited and Yesternight. She has been named a Morris Award finalist, a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and an Oregon Spirit Book Award winner, and her books have appeared on numerous state and “best of” lists. 

Winters was born and raised in Southern California, near Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She received degrees in drama and English from the University of California, Irvine, and formerly worked in publishing. She now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids.

 WEBSITE   •  TWITTER  •  INSTAGRAM 

Purchase Yesternight: Indiebound  • BookDepository  •  Amazon  

A Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters {blog tour excerpt + giveaway!}

One last exciting blog tour stop for the week, and this one is with one of my very favorite authors!! So needless to say, I'm excited to be a part of it! :D Cat Winters has given us some of the most outstanding YA historical/paranormal stories and I have loved every single one: The Shadow of Blackbirds, The Cure For Dreaming, The Uninvited (actually an adult book, but equally as wonderful!), and now...

A Steep and Thorny Way

Today I have an exclusive excerpt from the book and, of course, the tour-wide giveaway of 5 gorgeous finished copies. Read on!

A Steep & Thorny Way 

by Cat Winters

♦publisher: Amulet Books

♦release date: March 8th, 2016

♦hardcover, 352 pages

♦intended audience: Young adult

♦standalone

A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten.

1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African-American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee’s oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank Denney, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now her father’s killer is out of jail and back in town, and he claims that Hanalee’s father wasn’t killed by the accident at all but, instead, was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him—who happens to be Hanalee’s new stepfather.

The only way for Hanalee to get the answers she needs is to ask Hank himself, a “haint” wandering the roads at night.

THE EXCERPT:

A scene from Chapter Three. Hanalee Denney has just learned from Joe Adder, the boy imprisoned fordriving drunk and killing her father, that her new stepfather was actually the person who murdered her dad. She discusses this troubling information with her closest friend, Fleur. 

_____________

“Joe hinted that Uncle Clyde’s involved with the Klan.”

At that, Fleur sputtered a laugh. “This isn’t the old South. Do you know what the Oregon KKK is like?”

“I know, I know—they’re pushing to fix roads and improve public education.”

“And they have ridiculous names for their ranks. ‘Imperial Wizard,’ ‘Exalted Cyclops,’ ‘Great Titan.’”

I shuddered, not liking such names at all. “How do you know that?”

“Mama once received an invitation to join the Women of the Ku Klux Klan in Bentley, and they included all sorts of pamphlets. But don’t worry”—Fleur flipped her magazine to an advertisement for Mulsified Cocoanut Oil Shampoo—“she didn’t join them. She heard that the organization’s mainly a big business venture out to collect money from people still scared of immigrants from the war years.” 

I held my forehead in my hand and sighed from deep within my lungs.

“Hanalee . . .” Fleur squeezed my right shoulder. “You’re safe here in Elston, despite a few prejudiced folks out there who might imply otherwise. And you’re safe in your house with Dr. Koning. You’ve told me yourself that he saved your mother when she was sick with grief and drugging herself with nerve pills. How could a kind man like that commit murder?”

“He did marry her awfully quickly—just thirteen short months after we put my poor father in the 

ground.”

“Hanalee, don’t—”

“Uncle Clyde was always friendly with her”—I picked at one of the magazine’s curled-up corners—“even before Daddy died. They’ve known each other as long as your mama has known her, since childhood.”

“Your mother’s a likable person.”

“She is. She’d be worth killing for, wouldn’t she?”

“Stop it, Hanalee.”

“Especially if your target was a man with no rights and no respect—only a pretty white wife who wasn’t even considered his legal spouse within this state. Oh, Jesus, Fleur”—I gave a start, for the music came to an abrupt halt again—“I hate that I’m tempted to believe that jailbird. I hate that he planted these sickening seeds inside my brain.”

“Shh.” She cupped her warm fingers over my hand. “Stop thinking about Joe tonight. Stay here with me, have a calming cup of tea, and push all your worries off to another time. I’ll take care of you, Hana-Honey.” She kissed my cheek with lips butterfly soft. “Like always.”

*       *       *       *       *       *   

     ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo by Tara Kelly    

Cat Winters’s critically acclaimed debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds, was named a 2014 Morris Award Finalist, a 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, a 2013 Bram Stoker Award Nominee, and a School Library Journal Best Book of 2013. Her upcoming novels include The Cure for Dreaming (Amulet Books/Oct. 2014) and The Uninvited (William Morrow/2015), and she’s a contributor to the 2015 YA horror anthology Slasher Girls & Monster Boys. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her online at www.catwinters.com.

Find Cat Online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Pinterest

*       *       *       *       *       *   

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to hit the rest of the tour stops! 

2/29/2016- Adventures of a Book Junkie- Interview

3/1/2016- The Forest of Words and Pages- Review

3/2/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

3/3/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

3/4/2016- Stories & Sweeties- Excerpt

3/7/2016- Jessabella Reads- Review

3/8/2016- Bookish Lifestyle- Guest Post

3/9/2016- Katie's Book Blog- Review

3/10/2016- The Fox's Hideaway- Interview

3/11/2016- MEREADALOT- Review

The Uninvited by Cat Winters {review}

The Uninvited
by Cat Winters
♦publisher: William Morrow
♦release date: August 11, 2015
♦paperback, 343 pages
♦intended audience: Adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains.  For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War.

Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.

Review:  Once again, I am thrown back into the past with Cat Winters' gorgeous storytelling.  This author has such an expert touch with historical writing...you turn the pages and you literally feel like you are walking down the streets of 1918 Illinois right alongside Ivy, seeing the horrors of the rampant influenza and the suspicions, ugly prejudices, and family losses caused by The Great War.  As much as it's a world  I would never want to live in, being sucked into it's wretchedness from the comfort and safety of my couch is endlessly fascinating. 

When we meet Ivy, she is an illness-weakened homebody, but when she finds out about her father and brother's crimes, she leaves her family home behind. She strikeds out on her own,  finds a place to stay with a school friend's widow, and seeks out the brother of the man her family murdered, hoping to relieve some of her guilt by helping him. Through a few unexpected encounters, Ivy finds herself caught up in a nightly mission to save the sick, being eyed as a german conspirator, and in a love affair where she never could have expected it. I loved this characters compassion, bravery, the flaw of her irrational guilt, and her tendency to give in easily to curiosity. There are lots of interesting characters floating in and out of Ivy's life, but none as much as Daniel, with his pain and his secrets and his love and passion for jazz music. 

The story is just completely haunting, and not just because Ivy can see the dead and know that it means someone else is going do die. Each revelation was unexpected to me and spine-chilling, but in the end I just found the whole story beautiful. It's a story about finding comfort in the ugliness of the world and about love and how it can make us see things clearly (and sometimes not so clearly). The inclusion of fantastic playlist of music is one of my favorite things about this story. And as someone who has always loved the incredible jazz music of the 40s,  its the most unique and entirely wonderful depiction of heaven and the afterlife Cat Winters could have given me. I want to reread this someday with the music ready to play alongside each scene! 

Another incredible read from this author. 

Find Cat Winters online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase the book:  BookDepository  •  Indiebound  • Amazon

Also check out the playlist of music mentioned in the story:

The Univited Playlist on Spotify

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.  

The Uninvited

by Cat Winters

hitting shelves August 11, 2015

from William Morrow

Twenty-five year old Ivy Rowan rises from her bed after being struck by the flu, only to discover the world has been torn apart in just a few short days.

But Ivy’s life-long gift—or curse—remains. For she sees the uninvited ones—ghosts of loved ones who appear to her, unasked, unwelcomed, for they always herald impending death. On that October evening in 1918 she sees the spirit of her grandmother, rocking in her mother’s chair. An hour later, she learns her younger brother and father have killed a young German out of retaliation for the death of Ivy’s older brother Billy in the Great War.

Horrified, she leaves home, to discover the flu has caused utter panic and the rules governing society have broken down. Ivy is drawn into this new world of jazz, passion, and freedom, where people live for the day, because they could be stricken by nightfall. But as her ‘uninvited guests’ begin to appear to her more often, she knows her life will be torn apart once more, but Ivy has no inkling of the other-worldly revelations about to unfold.

The Uninvited is an atmospheric, haunting, and utterly compelling novel.

My thoughts: Cat Winters.  Will read anything she writes...forever. :D  This is her first adult novel but it sounds just as wonderfully amazing as the other two, and I'm sure just as incredibly researched to put the reader right into the time setting. 

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters {Review & Giveaway}

The Cure for Dreaming
by Cat Winters
♦publisher: Amulet Books
♦release date: October 14th, 2014
♦hardcover, 368 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: ALA

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl—a suffragist—in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: she’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind, and so she’s drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women. Winters breathes new life into history once again with an atmospheric, vividly real story, including archival photos and art from the period throughout.

Review: For the second time, Cat Winters has astounded me with her breathtaking, spine-chilling writing, her ability to create a cast full of engaging characters, and her absolute death grip of a grasp on how to make a reader feel like they’ve been plopped right down into important moments in history.  In The Cure for Dreaming, she completely immerses us into the chaos and frustrations of the woman’s suffrage movement through the eyes of a young woman named Olivia.  The story opens on Halloween night, Olivia’s birthday, and she and her friends are attending a show where gifted hypnotist Henrie Reverie is about to give her an amazing mystical experience and make her the talk of the town.   At home, Olivia is in constant battle with her backward-thinking father, a horrible man who thinks woman are only good for serving their husbands and takes a little too much pleasure in the pain he inflicts as a dentist. 

What most impresses me is how terrifying this story is. In an effort to get his “wild daughter” under control, Olivia’s father hires Henrie to hypnotize her into “seeing the world the way it truly is” and the shock of what that means sinks in when she first opens her eyes and sees her father as a gaunt, red-eyed, long-fanged beast.  She sees the cruelty in people as a monstrous manifestation. She envisions downtrodden women as so drained of life you can see right through them.  It gives the story an incredibly chilling paranormal feel without anything but a psychological manipulation actually happening! Brilliantly done!
While her new way of seeing things scares her beyond words, Olivia also becomes an even stronger woman because of it.  I loved the part she played in the suffrage movement, I loved the twisting and unpredictable, not-so-much love story, but attraction and fascination that Henrie and Olivia had toward each other.  And I love that at the end, she is standing strong, following no one’s influence but her own.

So much to recommend about this addictive, mesmerizing, psychological horror story. Read it. For those of you that loved In the Shadow of Blackbirds, I dare say this was even more captivating. 

Find Cat Winters online:  Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase the book: BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Halloween Giveaway!!

This book makes such a perfect Halloween read, I want to get it into the hands of one lucky reader by Halloween night!

Contest ends 10/27/14---Just a quick one! 

US addresses only please.
*OK, not sure why my rafflecopter was being nutty before, but it appears to be working now! Sorry about that!*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Cat Winters & In the Shadow of Blackbirds Giveaway!

Today I am so pleased to welcome to Stories & Sweeties, Cat Winters, author of the fantastically haunting In the Shadow of Blackbirds!  If you missed my review of this wonderful book, you can find it here.   Cat was kind enough to answer a few question about her writing and her book, and down below you can enter for a chance to win your own finished copy!

Welcome, Cat! 

Give us 5 words that describe In the Shadow of Blackbirds:
Haunting, intense, heartbreaking, hopeful, romantic
 
Tell us a little bit about the photos that were included in the book:
Throughout the novel I’ve included images from WWI, the Spanish influenza, and early- twentieth-century spirit  photography. During the book’s time period, spirit photographers
were people who invited customers into their studios, had them sit for a portrait, and in the developed photograph, customers would find the spirits of their departed loved ones standing behind them.

I wanted to include historical photos throughout the novel  because (A) photography plays an integral role in the plot, (B) I felt compelled to prove that the strange, sad, and surreal events of 1918 actually occurred, and (C) the images from the time period  are so chilling, they seemed the perfect way to bring the troubling era further to life.

Can you tell a little about how you got interested in writing?
I became interested in writing pretty much as soon as I learned how to read. My parents filled our house with children’s books, and I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in love with storytelling. I began writing down poems in a little spiral notebook when I was seven or eight, and by the time I was nine I was attempting to write novels. Writing has always been a part of who I am.

Where do you escape to write your stories? Tell us about your ideal writing space: When my kids are in school and my husband is at work, I typically write at home. When everyone’s around or I need a change of scenery, I head to my local indie coffeehouse or the library. I consider the coffeehouse one of my ideal writing spaces because I somehow find the white noises of people chattering around me and eclectic background music less distracting than the stark silence of home.

Who are your favorite authors? What are you reading right now?
Some of my all-time favorite authors are Margaret Atwood, Harper Lee, T.C. Boyle, Daphne du Maurier, Sarah Waters, and Ruta Sepetys. I’m in between books right now, but the novels sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me to read them, include GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn, POISON by Bridget Zinn, OUT OF THE EASY by Ruta Sepetys, and THE FLAME IN THE MIST by Kit Grindtsaff. 

What kind of books did you love to read as a teenager?
I adored classic Gothic literature, such as WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Brontë, JANE EYRE by Charlotte Brontë, REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

What are your favorite things about your main character, Mary Shelley Black?
I’ve always loved her curiosity. When she first came to me as a character, she was already brimming with interest in science and technology, and she seemed the perfect narrator for a novel about a highly illogical time period. If you’re experiencing your darkest moment in life, she’s the type of person you’d want to have by your side.

A few fun questions now! :)

Favorite snack while writing?
Quaker Chewy Dipps granola bars (chocolate chip)

Favorite movie?
I’ve been a huge movie buff all my life, so it’s really hard for me to pick just one. Some of my favorites include the original WILLY WONKA, A ROOM WITH A VIEW (starring a young Helena Bonham Carter), ED WOOD, and ELF. I love everything from fantastical childhood movies to subtitled foreign films.

Favorite color?
I used to always say pink, but these days I’m drawn more to burgundy.

Favorite band and song right now?
I never get tired of listening to “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men when it comes on my car radio. The lyrics remind me of Mary Shelley Black and her ghost, Stephen.

Favorite teacher from your school years?
Mrs. Martin, my teacher for both second and third grade.

And everyone who visits Stories & Sweeties answers this one: Do you like cupcakes? J
Frosting or cake better?
Yes, I LOVE cupcakes! The frosting is my favorite part.

Check out these GORGEOUS yummy looking cupcakes that Cat brought to her launch party in Oregon!!  Love the gears and blackbirds!

About the author:
Cat Winters was born and raised in Southern California, near Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She received degrees in drama and English from the University of California, Irvine, and formerly worked in publishing.

Her critically acclaimed debut novel, In the Shadow of Blackbirds—a YA ghost tale set during the World War I era—is now available from Amulet Books/ABRAMS. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids.

Cat’s online haunts:

 http://www.catwinters.com  •  http://www.blackbirdsnovel.com 

  Twitter  •  Facebook  •  Goodreads

GIVEAWAY TIME!

I've decided to give away one finished copy of In The Shadow of Blackbirds!

Open Internationally! Just enter below!

(must be 13 or older • contest ends May 9th, 2013)

a Rafflecopter giveaway