The Radiant Road Blog Tour {top ten list}

I'm thrilled to have The Radiant Road Blog Tour stopping by today with a Top 10 List. And don't forget to check out my review.

The Radiant Road

by Katherine Catmull

January 19, 2016

Dutton

A gorgeously written tale of magic, friendship, and self-discovery set in a dream-like landscape filled with fairies.

After years of living in America, Clare Macleod and her father are returning to Ireland, where they’ll inhabit the house Clare was born in—a house built into a green hillside with a tree for a wall. For Clare, the house is not only full of memories of her mother, but also of a mysterious boy with raven-dark hair and dreamlike nights filled with stars and magic. Clare soon discovers that the boy is as real as the fairy-making magic, and that they’re both in great danger from an ancient foe.

Fast-paced adventure and spellbinding prose combine to weave a tale of love and loyalty in this young adult fantasy.

goodreads / amazon / b&n / indiebound

Praise for The Radiant Road

Publishers Weekly (starred review): "A stunningly atmospheric, gorgeously complicated dream of a book. Genuinely frightening and eerie moments are drawn as masterfully as the joyous, glowing, peculiar images that populate Catmull's version of a world inexorably linked to, yet separate from, our own."

School Library Journal (starred review): "An unforgettable tale that begins slowly and gently, gradually and inevitably leading to athundering crescendo. A haunting novel that contains all the darkness and light of A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Booklist: "Catmull has created an eerily lovely story, writing with an old­-fashioned style that at times sings like a lullaby. An excellent addition to either teen or juvenile collections of all sizes." 

BookPeople Top Shelf Pick: "Catmull’s writing is incomparable, unique in a genre that is already full of magical tales."

Top 10 Things I Can’t Live Without

by Katherine Catmull

1. The unexpected. Nothing makes me happier than stuff that breaks my mind a little, stuff that upends my assumptions.

2. My brilliant and hilarious younger siblings. This gif precisely captures what it was like being oldest of six children. Basically this was my anxious maddening childhood, but I wouldn’t trade it (or them) for anything:

3. Singing. I am not a particularly good singer, but I sing all the time anyway. I sing in the bath, I sing in the kitchen, I scare my cats. I used to sing backup in a band, which was crazy fun. Singing harmonies with other people is a huge joy, an animal joy, like wolves howling.

4. When I’m writing and suddenly it all comes together on its own, completing a picture I didn’t know I was drawing. I wish that happened more often.

5. The kindness and sweetness and ridiculousness of our two cats.

6. SNACKS BABY. I seem unable to write without eating, huddled over my desk, protecting the food from the suddenly less kind, less sweet cats.

7. Everything that helps me be brave—maybe it’s not bravery I need so much as more trust? So that I stop reacting to the whole world like this:

8. Autumn and its colors and its blessed relief from the heat. Which where I live happens around Christmas, but better late than never.

9. Yellowstone y’all. My grandfather and father were rangers there, and my parents met there, so I spent plenty of time in the park as a kid. But recently I’ve been going there every year. I’m a little obsessed. This is one of my favorite spots:

10. My guy. Sorry, I know it’s rather obv, but I really like him! He’s an actor and director; this is him performing a line from Thom Pain, by Will Eno.

website * twitter * facebook * tumblr

Katherine Catmull is an actor, freelance writer, voice-over artist, and sometimes playwright. Her first novel, Summer and Bird, was called “a stunning debut” that “thrills with complex storytelling” by Booklist. She lives in Austin, Texas.

FOLLOW THE TOUR

www.mugglenet.com	MuggleNet	1/11 - Guest post
http://winterhavenbooks.blogspot.com/	WinterHaven Books	1/12 - Would You Rather?
http://wordspelunking.blogspot.com/	Word Spelunking	1/13 - Top 10 list
www.darkfaerietales.com	Dark Faerie Tales	1/14 - Book soundtrack
http://www.yabibliophile.com	YA Bibliophile	1/15 - Interview
http://www.alexalovesbooks.com	Alexa Loves Books	1/18 - Guest post
http://livetoread-krystal.blogspot.com/	Live To Read	1/19 - Character Playlist
http://www.thebooksbuzz.com/	The Book's Buzz	1/20 - Interview
https://gonepecanla.wordpress.com/	Gone Pecan	1/21 - 25 Random Things About Me
Http://acrossthewords.com	Across the Words	1/22- Interview

Guardian Blog Tour {Review}

The Guardian Blog Tour is stopping by once again with my Review...

Guardian

(Proxy #2)

by Alex London

May 29, 2014

Philomel

YA/Dystopian/LGBT

The pulse-pounding sequel to Proxy! Inspired by The Whipping Boy and Feed, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.

In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.

People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned.

This heart-stopping thriller is packed with action, adventure, and heroics. Guardian will leave you breathless until the final page.

A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend trilogy will be swept away by this story.

Goodreads / Amazon / B&N / IndieBound

Last year, Alex London’s Proxy enthralled me with its electric premise, compelling world, and thought-provoking layers, and I was more than thrilled to return to this story and characters in its sequel, Guardian.

Picking up several months after the explosive and devastating ending of Proxy, in Guardian we find our reluctant hero, Syd, in a transformed world. With the networks disabled, the Patrons have lost all power and the Reconciliation is in control. Using the manpower of the Purifiers, the Reconciliation has either killed or imprisoned the once wealthy and powerful. But this new world is just as corrupt and dangerous as the old one, and now people are falling very ill. When the Reconciliation does nothing to stop this disease from spreading, Syd decides he must find the cure. But what he finds could change everything once again!

Guardian has a slower burn than Proxy, but is just as intensely felt and smartly written. I found Guardian to be less of a constant thrill ride and more of a palpable emotional journey for its characters. The complex and fascinating dystopian world laid out in Proxy has been completely deconstructed and turned upside down in Guardian. London does a great job of exploring this new world and giving it intriguing depth and meaning. And like Proxy, Guardian is filled to the brim with thought-provoking and poignant material. These are books that not only entertain and captivate, but really make readers think.

The world Syd and his friends fought so hard to save has drastically changed and this has had a profound effects on the characters I grew to really care about in Proxy. Syd has never been your common hero, in many ways he isn’t a hero at all. But that’s what makes him so compelling. Syd must fight with many personal demons in Guardian, deal with painful grief, self-doubt, and fear, and I felt his struggle immensely. There’s a character who didn’t survive Proxy (I won’t say who), and I was surprised by how much I, too, missed him/her and felt his/her absence throughout Guardian. Yet, London does a wonderful job of infusing so much of this character’s essence and spirit throughout Guardian.

There is a romantic plotline in Guardian between Syd and a new guy, and London explores this relationship in some absolute breathtaking and startling ways. This isn’t a swoon-a-minute, over-the-top, in-your-face romance, but it is electric and real and consuming and made my heart ache.

Proxy’s ending left me reeling, while Guardian’s ending left me hopeful!

My Final Thoughts: Guardian is an utterly compelling, intensely felt, smartly crafted sequel! Readers looking for a series that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining, should definitely give these books a read!

MY RATING

Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook / Website / Blog

Alex London writes books for adults (One Day The Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War), children (Dog Tagsseries; An Accidental Adventure series) and teens (Proxy). At one time a journalist reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, he is now a full time novelist living in Brooklyn, NY, where he can be found wandering the streets talking to his dog, who is the real brains of the operation.

Guardian Blog Tour {Excerpt, Playlist, Giveaway}

I'm thrilled to have the Guardian Blog Tour stopping by today! Below you can read an excerpt, check out a fun guest post, and enter the giveaway...

Guardian

(Proxy #2)

by Alex London

May 29, 2014

Philomel

YA/Dystopian/LGBT

The pulse-pounding sequel to Proxy! Inspired by The Whipping Boy and Feed, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.

In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.

People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned.

This heart-stopping thriller is packed with action, adventure, and heroics. Guardian will leave you breathless until the final page.

A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend trilogy will be swept away by this story.

Goodreads / Amazon / B&N / IndieBound

Chapter One – GUARDIAN by Alex London

At night, they disposed of the bodies. There was no ceremony, no ritual, no remembrance.

“They’re human,” some argued.

“They were human,” said others. “Now they’re meat.”

“We have to study the infection,” said the doctor.

“We have to contain it,” said the counselor and gave her orders. “Burn the bodies.”

A work detail was tasked with the burning. One by one, in the dead of night, green uniforms with white masks hauled corpses to the pile. The corpses were webbed with black veins, their entire network of blood vessels visible through the pale skin. Dried blood obscured their faces and each had a single hole in the temple by the eyes, where the killing bolt went in. They were put down like livestock, burned like sacrifices.

As the bodies crackled, the doctor watched the flames, her face half in shadow, half dancing in firelight. “I believe there is a cure for this,” she said.

The counselor, standing beside her, nodded, but did not turn to look her way. “Your cure is worse than the disease.”

“You believe that?”

“It’s the truth. Your way is treason.”

“You’re in denial,” the doctor said. “This is going to get worse if we don’t stop it.”

“It’s a new world, Doctor,” the counselor replied. “We can’t turn back the clock.”

“Even to save people’s lives?”

“These”—the counselor gestured at the bodies—“are not people.”

“If it spreads?”

“Is it spreading?”

The doctor watched the young members of the work detail tossing the bodies on the pyre. They moved with the assurance of youth, the kind of attitude that allowed them to stare infection and death in the face and believe it would never touch them. “I don’t know.”

“It is your job to know.”

“I can hardly understand it. The blood turns against the body. Itching, burning. Then, expulsion. Half of them bleed out.”

“And the other half?”

The doctor clenched her jaw. “They haven’t bled out yet.”

“They are in pain?”

“They can’t communicate, but we have to restrain them to keep them from scratching their skin off with their fingernails.” The doctor sighed. “So, yes, they are in pain.”

“Put them out of their misery,” the counselor ordered.

“But, we can still learn—”

“Those are the orders.” The counselor walked away, two green uniforms trailing her into the jungle. The doctor took off her white smock, pulled the blue gloves from her hands with a loud synthetic snap, and stood before the flames. She watched her latest failed experiments turn to smoke and ash in the bonfire, every bit of blood boiled away, with all the information it might have contained.

She had ideas, dangerous to share; but if she didn’t find a way, she feared, this sickness would go further than any of them could imagine. She would record a message in case she failed. She hoped that someone would still be alive to receive it.

You can listen to the awesome Proxy Series Playlist by following this link:

PROXY MUSIC

Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook / Website / Blog

Alex London writes books for adults (One Day The Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War), children (Dog Tagsseries; An Accidental Adventure series) and teens (Proxy). At one time a journalist reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, he is now a full time novelist living in Brooklyn, NY, where he can be found wandering the streets talking to his dog, who is the real brains of the operation.

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FOLLOW THE TOUR

August 7^th - Book Chic Club – Review/Interview

August 8^th - Cheryl Rainfield ~ Guest Post

August 9^th - Bookish – Spotlight

August 9^th - I Read It & Wept ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)/GP

August 9^th - Like A Bump On A Blog – Spotlight

August 10^th - Book Escape – Top 10/ Spotlight

August 11^th – A Leisure Moment ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)

August 11^th – Reads All The Books – Review (Proxy/Guardian)

August 12^th – Debbie Bookish – Review (Proxy/Guardian)

August 13^th – Unconventional Librarian – Review

August 14^th – Word Spelunking ~ Review (Guardian)

August 14^th – Kate Tilton's Blog – GIF Interview

August 15^th - Fangirlish – Review (Proxy/Guardian)

August 15^th - What A Nerd Girl Says – Review (Guardian)

August 16^th - Books To Remember – Review (Guardian)

August 16^th - A Bookshelf Full of Sunshine – Review (Guardian)

August 16^th - The Reading Date ~ Review (Guardian)

August 16^th - Reading Fictional ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)

September - Bookish Tiffany – Review (Proxy/Guardian)

September - Bookish ~ Review (Proxy/Guardian)

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