Oppression Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway

I'm very excited to have the Oppression Blog Tour stopping by today with a guest post from author Jessica Therrien. Be sure to stop by and read my Review to learn more about Oppression!

Hello! I’m Jessica Therrien, author of Oppression (Children of the Gods #1). Thanks so much Aeicha for having me on your blog!


If you’ve stopped by for the blog tour, then thank you too! 

I wanted to peel back the curtain a little for this post, let you all in on the making of my novel. I know you get to see the finished product, nicely packaged and beautiful with its alluring cover and all, but getting a book to that point isn’t all cupcakes and lollipops. It’s work people, and it’s hard. So here goes…

Writing doesn’t come easy to me. I’m not one of those writers who can sit down and pump out a book every six months. I’m a perfectionist, down to the word, the syntax, the formatting. I can’t help it. I’m a little nutzo that way. Needless to say, writing my first novel took more than one try. I gave up a few times, threw the pile of marked up sentences into a drawer, and said, “forget it,” more than once.

BUT, as it turns out, being a perfectionist can pay off, and in the end a publisher saw something in my work. Up until I actually got a publisher, I had no idea what went on after the contract was signed. I figured, you handed over your manuscript, they worked their magic, and voila! A book is made. Nope.

For every author the process is different, but my first hurdle to climb was content edits. These are changes to the plot, character development, reorganizing of chapters, rewrites, etc. Content edits came as a shock to me. I’d worked so hard to make my novel flawless, and to have someone point out its weaknesses was eye-opening, inspirational, and devastating all at once. Apparently this is the first step for most authors. Rarely does someone turn in a “perfect” manuscript, but it’s still a little hard to swallow. If you’re one of those “I write the perfect manuscript” kind of authors…I salute you.

Once all of the blubbering and tears were over, I actually ended up feeling grateful for my publisher’s honest suggestions to my novel’s content. The re-crafting of my story took several months, but it made the book a thousand times better. My publisher was right, and now those changes are my favorite parts.

After content edits comes a slew of read-throughs, one focusing on fine-tuning the writing, adding details to certain scenes, then line edits (grammar, punctuation, etc.), another to make sure the changes work, and finally one last read-through to approve the ARC. Each read-through isn’t a quick scan of the pages. Analyzing every sentence is hard on the eyes and takes quite a bit of time.

Up to this point, blood, sweat, and tears have gone into making the book the best it can be. Only, what good is that if nobody has heard of it? I struggled for months trying to figure out how to reach people through social media, and I’m still learning. Thanks to Rachael Harrie’s Writing Campaign, I was able to connect with some great bloggers and fellow authors.

Now here I am, hopping around on a blog tour. Thanks for stopping by, and now that you know a little more about how Oppression came to be, I hope you’ll give it a try.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for stopping by Jessica :)

Find the author: Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Jessica Therrien is the author of OPPRESSION, book one in her YA paranormal romance/adventure series, CHILDREN OF THE GODS. OPPRESSION was published by ZOVA Books in February of 2012. Jessica is a graduate of San Diego State University. She lived in Taiwan for a year where she learned Chinese, but she lives in Chula Vista now, where everyone speaks Spanish instead. Although she is a Strategic Planner at the Otay Water District, her alter ego is a writer, who loves the arts with a passion. Jessica is currently writing book two in her CHILDREN OF THE GODS series.

Jessica Therrien is hosting a giveaway throughout the blog tour for a signed copy of her book, specifically for those who have purchased a Kindle or Nook copy of Oppression.

You can enter this giveaway on Jessica's website or here, below...

Review: Oppression by Jessica Therrien

Be sure to stop by and read Jessica Therrien's guest post!

TITLE: Oppression                     SERIES: Children of the Gods #1 AUTHOR: Jessica Therrien      PUB DATE: 2/28/12 PUB: ZOVA                                  FORMAT: ebook SOURCE: from publisher for review

Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.

THREE-ish WORDS: Exciting Take on Mythology

MY REVIEW: Jessica Therrien’s Oppression, the first volume in the Children of the Gods series, offers readers a refreshing and exciting new take on Greek mythology.

Elyse, may look eighteen but she’s really in her eighties. Elyse ages 5 times slower than humans and her blood has the ability to heal. After her parents’ death, who also aged slow and had abilities, Elyse thinks she’s the only of her kind left…until she meets William and finds out that there are others like her and they are all descendants of what people call Greek gods. Elyse is soon immersed in the world of the Descendants and learns that she’s the subject of a prophecy. A prophecy that claims she’ll bring her people out from under the oppression The Council has put upon them. Elyse soon finds herself having to make impossible decisions and fighting to protect the ones she loves.

I’m a huge fan of Greek mythology and books that explore this topic, so I was super excited to delve into Oppression, and what I found was an exciting, original and enjoyable read. The Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan are some of my absolute favorite books that explore Greek mythology and Oppression reminds me of a more grown up version of these books. Therrien has crafted a captivating story, engaging characters and an enticing romance, but this book certainly isn’t without its faults.

While I was instantly intrigued by the story being laid out from page one, I must admit that I found the first few chapters a bit confusing and disorienting. There’s quite a bit of history and backstory introduced in the first chapter alone, as well has a handful of characters, and these things/people aren’t really explained right away. But, they are explained and developed more as the story progresses, and as I stated above, even with the confusion in the first few chapters, I was completely intrigued and had to keep reading. And by chapter three, the story really finds its flow and moves at a nice pace.

The mythological/fantasy elements are really awesome. The idea of children of Greek gods having abilities is not a new one, but the author takes this idea to new and thrilling places. Therrien has created a wonderfully imaginative and dimensional mythological world within the realm of the “real” world, and she balances the fantastical with real life situations really well. The different abilities (healing, time freezing, intuition, thought reading, light manipulation, etc) are really fun and surprisingly educational to read about. Therrien’s knowledge and understanding of Greek mythology is quite impressive.

Therrien’s characters are well developed and layered. Elyse is compelling, likable and relatable; I really liked “seeing” the story unfold from her perspective. William adds a lot of much needed humor and he’s easy to crush on. But I think I was most intrigued by Kara, who was once William’s best friend and who has been forced to work for The Council. Kara has done terrible things, but there’s such a thought-provoking depth to her character and I look forward to learning more about her.

The relationship between Elyse and William is very significant and I don’t want to give away too much about why, but I will say that I found their relationship frustratingly addictive. I’m not a fan of insta-love and I would definitely classify the Elyse/William relationship as insta-love and I would have liked to have seen a natural progression of their love. However, I really did enjoy the interaction between the two and their spark is undeniable. And I definitely could have done without all of Elyse’s swooning and all of her thoughts about how glorious/perfect/good-looking William is.

The book ends a bit abruptly, but left me eager for more.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: Jessica Therrien’s Oppression is a refreshing and exciting edition to the world of Mythological Fiction and an ejoyable first volume in what is sure to be a great series. I really enjoyed delving into the world of the Descendants and can’t wait to read more.

MY RATING

3/5 Cupcakes

Find the author: Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble