Author Interview - Rachel Vincent

Rachel Vincent is the author of the Shifters series, about a werecat named Faythe Sanders, who is learning to define her own role in her family and fighting to claim a place in her Pride.
Rachel’s young adult urban fantasy series, Soul Screamers, is about a teenage bean sidhe (banshee) trying to balance a normal school experience with the terrifying, hidden world she’s just discovered. My Soul To Take is published in the UK January 2011.

Rachel was kind enough to answer a few questions for me...

1. Are you sad that the Shifters series is at an end?
Yes, and no. I chose to end the series because I wanted it to go out on a high note, at a natural conclusion, rather than to extend indefinitely and suffer series burnout. And I’m happy with that decision, and with how the series ended. But it is a bittersweet moment for me, because I already miss writing Faythe and her dangerous world.

2. What do you enjoy most about writing?
Arguments. Fights. Any intense emotion, like loss or fury.

3. You have pet cats, did their personalities inspire any of your book's characters?
Actually, it was kind of the opposite. My cat Kaci is named after a character from the Shifters series.

4. What would you dress up as for Halloween? A writer on deadline. PJs, slippers, no makeup, dark circles under her eyes, coffee mug in hand. ;)

5. Trick or treat?
Treat, of course!

Check out Rachel Vincent's website at http://rachelvincent.com/

In My Mailbox 21

I only got one book this week, which I got from bookmooch.com. I haven't read any graphic novels before so I thought I'd start with one that I'm fairly sure I'll like.

  From the back cover: In this gripping graphic novel, Las Vegas is terrorised  by a copycat killer who believes he is the legendary Jack the Ripper. His victims are ritualistically murdered then butchered and, like the Victorian archetype, he evades the best efforts of the police to catch him. It's left to Gil Grissom and his CSI team to stop the killer and bring this savage history lesson to an end!

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

A Catch of Consequence by Diana Norman

Makepeace Burke serves Patriots at her late father's tavern on the Boston waterfront in 1765 and hates the redcoats with a vengeance. But even she can't watch an angry mob drown an Englishman. She rescues him and nurses him back to health-and falls in love.

In Patriot Boston, hers is an unforgivable sin-made worse by the fact that her Englishman turns out be the aristocratic Sir Philip Dapifer. Philip must smuggle Makepeace aboard a ship bound for London and save her life at the expense of the world she knows.

Rich in period detail, bringing the years of colonial rebellion to vivid life, A Catch of Consequence is a stylish novel of Boston and England, and of a woman who defies convention in both worlds.

My thoughts: The story starts off in 1700's Boston, USA but soon moves to England. I thought the main character, Makepeace was excellent. She came across as a strong and independent woman. When she first arrives in England she has to try and fit into the upper class society of London and also has to deal with Sir Philip's ex-wife. But then tragedy strikes and she must move to Northumberland to start another new life. For me this was the most enjoyable part of the story, with a little bit of drama and some romance thrown in too.

This was a fantastic historical fiction that really made me feel like I was right there. I loved this book and will be looking out for more books from this author.

Monthly Round-Up - October 2010

I can't believe it's November already! It seems like only yesterday it was Christmas last year when I had a broken arm.
I didn't get a lot of reading done in October, I seem to have got sucked into a routine of getting up, going to work, coming home, eating my dinner then going to bed. I think the fact that it's always dark and gloomy outside doesn't help much.

October news
I launched the Greetings Card Exchange, other than that not much has happened around here.

Books finished in October: None! But I did start reading Alpha by Rachel Vincent.

Books reviewed in October:
Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder
Entangled by Cat Clarke

Books received in October: 10
Added to wishlist:  0

What's coming up in November?
I'll be taking part in NaNoWriMo, but hope to still be blogging throughout the month. Sign ups for the Greetings Card Exchange will continue. Hopefully I might get some reading done in between everything else!