The Cure for Dreaming Blog Tour {Interview and Giveaway}

I'm so thrilled to have The Cure for Dreaming Blog Tour stopping by today! Check out my fun interview with Cat Winters and the tour wide giveaway below...

The Cure for Dreaming

by Cat Winters

10/14/14

Amulet Books

464 pages

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.

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What three words best describe The Cure for Dreaming?

Dreamlike, haunting, empowering

Grab a copy of The Cure for Dreaming and answer the following:

favorite chapter? Chapter Eighteen

favorite page? p. 342

favorite place/setting? The nighttime streets of Portland, Oregon

flip to a random page and give us 1-2 sentences teaser:

Something on the far corner of the bed caught my attention: a short blink of candlelight that faded the second after I spotted it, as if someone had snuffed out a flame. I tensed, for I saw a pair of eyes watching from the darkness.

Can you tell us a bit about your character Olivia? What makes her special and unique among other YA heroines?

Olivia is a shy and bookish girl who is itching to escape the limitations of life as a young woman in 1900 America.  Over the course of the novel, she learns how to break out of her shell and find her voice in a world that’s attempting to keep her quiet. Plenty of YA novels feature female protagonists who are outwardly rebellious, including the strong-willed girls frequently found in historical fiction. However, I wanted to begin my story with a girl who isn’t looking to make a scene. She desires independence. She wants to vote, obtain a college education, and eventually have a career, but she’s initially hoping to do so without causing much of a fuss. I thought it would be interesting to portray the ways a quiet girl could spark a revolution.

Olivia is a suffragist in 1900 and fights for women’s’ rights. Did you do a lot of research on suffragists and the fight for women’s rights, for this book? What’s the most fascinating or important thing you’ve learned about suffragists of this time?

I did conduct quite a bit of research—everything from poring over nineteenth-century suffragist newspapers to listening to suffragist anthems. The most fascinating bit of info I found was the tendency of wealthy women, not men, to be the strongest anti-suffrage voices. I incorporated that finding into the plot of The Cure for Dreaming as soon as I stumbled upon that detail.  

Since one of your characters is a hypnotist, I have to ask, do you believe in the power of hypnotism? If you had the ability to hypnotize, what would you make people do?

I was actually hypnotized once, in college, so I do believe in the power of hypnotism. I know hypnotherapy has done wonders for some people. Even in Victorian times many physicians and dentists were already exploring the therapeutic role of hypnotism. I suppose if I had more knowledge about hypnotizing people, and if I were feeling in a controlling mood, I would hypnotize people into bringing me chocolate cake. Nothing too devilish.

What is the last book or movie or tv show that:

made you belly laugh?

My daughter watched all six seasons of Parks &  Recreation over the summer, and I sat down and saw several episodes with her, quite a few of which made me belly laugh, even though I’d seen them all before. There was a scene involving an out-of-control sneeze that had us both in stitches.

made you cry?

I recently saw The Princess and the Frog for the first time since I saw it in the theater when it first debuted, and I’d forgotten all about the death of the firefly Ray. I got choked up when he becomes a second star in the sky, next to his beloved “Evangeline.” *sniff*

scared you?

Boardwalk Empire, a series I absolutely love. Fear brews in my stomach whenever a brutal killing is about to occur.

inspired you?

Jandy Nelson’s Noah chapters in I’ll Give You the Sun.

made you want to “borrow” its characters?

One of my favorite books of all time is Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. His use of Death as the narrator—and the clever, beautiful ways he personifies death—always makes me think, “Dang, I wish I’d thought of that!” It’s brilliant.

Fill in the blanks:

I’m really awesome at playing checkers.

I’m really embarrassed to admit I recently walked down the aisle of an airplane with toilet paper stuck to my shoe.

The last great book I read was Sex and Violence by Carrie Mesrobian.

If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by The Cure for Dreaming, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?

Ooh, I love this question! I would call it the “Sweet Dreams” cupcake, and both the cake and the frosting would be a chocolate and vanilla swirl for a hypnotizing effect. A little banner saying “Sweet Dreams” would appear on top. The chocolate would taste incredibly rich, to portray Victorian decadence, and when you bite into the middle, you’d find a surprising burst of lemon, to show the zest inside my main character. I’m bringing a non-swirly, non-lemon version of this very cupcake to my October 25 launch party at Powell’s Books in Beaverton, Oregon.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Cat!

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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.

Photo by Tara Kelly

1 winner will receive a brand-new paperback edition of IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, a signed THE CURE FOR DREAMING poster, a copy of the CD containing the music that inspired THE CURE FOR DREAMING (Kristen Lawrence's ARACHNITECT), and swag.

(this is a tour wide giveaway)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CHECK OUT ALL THE STOPS

week one

10/7/2014- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

10/8/2014- Me, My Shelf and I- Review

10/9/2014- Falling For YA- Interview

10/10/2014- Crossroad Reviews- Review

week two

10/13/2014- Xpresso Reads- Interview

10/14/2014- Candace's Book Blog- Review

10/15/2014- I Heart YA Fiction- Review

10/16/2014- Rainy Day Ramblings- Review and Guest Post

10/17/2014- Bad Bird Reads- Guest Post