Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer ~ Tour Stop & GIveaway






Book Description:

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…






Author Interview:

Hey Brigid.  Thanks for hanging out with me today.

Thank you for having me!

Totally love the Elemental series.  I may be obsessed.  Just got Breathless today and I’m super excited to dive in.

Yay! That means a lot.

Tell me how you came up with the idea for this series.

When I was in high school, I wrote a story about four vampire brothers living in the suburbs. I actually landed an agent for that story, but it never went anywhere. I grew up a little, but couldn’t forget those four boys. So when I was in my mid-twenties, I rewrote the vampire story. New plot, same brothers. This time, I couldn’t land an agent with it. I went back to the drawing board and wrote something completely new (an adult para-rom about the son of Apollo running a music store in downtown Baltimore). That book landed me an agent – but then it never sold. I went back to the drawing board again, and those four boys just wouldn’t leave me alone. I knew vampires were dead (haha), so I tried to think of anything that would work well with the number four. Four horsemen, four leaf clovers, anything. The four classical elements seemed fun, and it wasn’t overdone. I put Chris and Becca on the page to see what would happen…and a whole novel came out.

I love all the brothers.  It’s cool how they have different elements and are all in the same family.  Did you plan for each brother to have their own book?

Actually, no. When I first started writing the series, it was going to be your traditional love triangle trilogy, written entirely from the point of view of the girl. Actually, when I first started writing Storm, my agent specifically said, “Make sure you have a love triangle.” But when I had about half of Storm on paper, I realized that I had this great family of boys who weren’t getting much screen time. When I finished Chris and Becca’s book, I knew I wanted to write from another brother’s point of view, and luckily my editor completely agreed.

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

“Keep your eyes on your own paper.” (Meaning, don’t compare yourself to other writers. It’s so easy to get caught up in the competition, and really, that’s meaningless. What matters is how well I can write my story. I can’t control anything else.)
 

What’s the strangest place you have ever written?

My youngest son had terrible colic for his first three months of life. I was also under deadline. Sometimes the only way I could get him to sleep would be to take him for a drive. One night I got him to sleep, only to have him wake up when I brought the baby carrier into the house. I took him for another drive, and this time when he fell asleep, I parked in front of the house and asked my husband to bring the laptop out to me. I wrote in the car until he woke up.

If you could have one of your characters leave the pages and join you in your life, who would it be and why?

Michael, hands down. I think we’d be good friends. I understand him best, I think.

Tell us something about one of your characters that we don’t learn in the books.

Oh wow, this is a good question! I think Gabriel really regrets the things he said to Quinn in Spark. I wish I’d written a scene where he apologizes to her. I might have to do that in Nick’s book. *scribbles notes*

If you could make one of your books into a children’s picture book, what would you want the lesson to be?

Everyone faces challenges in life. We should celebrate each other’s strengths instead of criticizing our weaknesses.
 

Complete for me:

When I’m writing, I need COFFEE. And headphones.

When my newest book comes out I start the next one. I’m a workaholic. It makes my husband NUTS that I don’t celebrate.

My guilty pleasure is eating overly buttered popcorn at the movies. Sometimes I’ll go see a movie JUST to eat the popcorn.

To escape I head to Starbucks, but just to write.

Thanks for hanging out with me today.  I can’t wait to read more this series.

Thank you so much for having me!


About the author:

Brigid Kemmerer started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years!

Spirit, the latest book in the series, will be released in stores and online on May 28, 2013.

Connect with Brigid on her website, Twitter, Facebook, andGoodReads.



Poll



****GIVEAWAY****


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Download Elemental (Elemental, #0.5) for FREE until May 31st

Earth, Fire, Air, Water – they are more than you dream.
As an air Elemental, 17-year-old Emily Morgan doesn’t have much power. That’s okay—she knows what happens to kids who do.
Like Michael Merrick. He’s an earth Elemental, one with enough power to level cities. Which makes him sexy, dangerous, and completely off limits. At least according to Emily’s family.
But her summer job puts her in close contact with Michael, and neither of them can help the attraction they feel. When forces of nature like theirs collide, one misstep could get someone killed. Because Emily’s family doesn’t just want her to stay away from him.
They want him dead.
Praise for Brigid Kemmerer and The Elemental Series
“Magic, suspense, and enough twists to keep you reading until sunrise. An incredible start to the series!” —Award winning author Erica O’Rourke
“Overflowing with action, snappy dialog, and hot guys—The Elemental Series will take your breath away.” —Kim Harrington, author of Clarity
“Plenty of romance and non-stop action….Elemental is the new series to watch.” —Inara Scott, author ofThe Marked.


5/23  Hobbitsies
5/27  Saz101
5/29  Stuck in Books 
5/31  Cuddlebuggery


18 comments:

  1. I have the first book and I believe the prequel novella and the one that comes after book 1. I really need to get around to reading these!!

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  2. This is a great series! So looking forward to reading Spirit. It should be showing up in my mailbox today! I had the pleasure of meeting Brigid in person at the RWA signing event last year and she was so nice! That was definitely one of my favorite moments at the signing. :-)

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  3. I have the first two books & novellas, and this is just one of my favorite series!! I just want to know more about Hunter & after seeing him in Spark I just... It is a love/hate/awww/grrr relationship! I want to love him!

    Thank you for the giveaway!!

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  4. Such a unique series - brings something so fresh to YA, not to mention hot boys are always welcome. :-)

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  5. I got the first book and I am going to start it soon! Hear such great things!! Awesome giveaway!

    Magen Corrie
    Corrie the Book Crazed Girl

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  6. I like the different forces of nature at work.
    MCantu1019 at aol dot com

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  7. I haven't read any book in this series yet, but I definitely want to. Like the covers! (:

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  8. This is a great series. I have both the first two books in this series.

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  9. I've never read any of the books in this series, but after reading the author's interviews the books sound interesting. Thanks for having the giveaway.

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  10. I read Storm and Elemental and I enjoyed them....but then I never continued the series...I guess I just forgot about it..I really want to continue the series! I think it's interesting that the Merrick Brothers were first imagined as vampires.....Thanks for the interview!

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  11. Great interview, Pal. I can't wait to read this series.

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  12. Great interview!! I love this series and i can't wait to read Hunter's story!
    -Cali W.

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  13. I just read Spark not too long ago and really fell for this series. Now I can't wait to read Spirit :D

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  14. I love the lesson included and I hope their is a Gabriel apologizing to Quinn scene!

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  15. What I enjoy the most is the relationship amongst the brothers and also how they manipulate nature's elements.

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  16. Thanks for participating in the tour!

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  17. Awesome interview! Loved reading about how the series developed!

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