Guest Post: C.A. Williams

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

 Alli's World has the pleasure of hosting a guest post from C.A. Williams. Just take a look at the cover of this book. Isn't it beautiful?! I asked C.A. about how she got into writing and how this book came to be. I enjoyed hearing about her journey and hope you do too! 

From C.A. Williams: 

Hi, so nice to meet you!

Well, I've always been a huge reader since I was very young. I basically always had my nose buried in a book, and then when they came out with e-readers, that was like heaven! I've always had a love for writing, being on the Journalism staff all throughout high-school. So, I wanted to do something with all of the ideas I had stored in my head that were just waiting to get out. I talked to my husband about starting to write books, which I figured he would think I was crazy, but he said go for it. And it all just took off from there. My first book that I released was Chasing Leah. I did pretty much everything on my own for that book, the editing, finding a pre-made cover, and any kind of advertisement to get it out there. I was shocked at how well it did, I was expecting to maybe sell a few and it definitely surpassed that.

I feel like Chaotic is a little bit different from the other books that I've written so far. I came up with the idea when I first found out I was pregnant, and was having all sorts of crazy dreams. I'm not really into writing the paranormal genre, but that one almost ended up having a little touch of it if I had based it on my dreams. After a lot of back and forth, I decided to go the New Adult route which is really what I love writing. The main character is different from a lot of the typical characters out there, she's not a virgin that's waited to date or whatever until she's in college, and she's not naive.  Della has a bit of a chip on her shoulder, and she's not always the nicest, but eventually you get to see her grow.

The main love interest she has in the book wasn't even in the story when I originally started writing it. I was totally going to give her a happily ever after, but I didn't think she was ready for that yet. This is the first book in the Imperfect Perfection series and while I think some readers might not be happy with the ending, which I guess is a little bit of a cliffhanger, sometimes life isn't always perfect and doesn't have a pretty little bow on it.

BLURB:

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Adelaide McGregor was spinning out of control, in a world of pain that no one knew anything about. She put up a front, displaying a picture perfect girl that everyone wanted to be, but no one was truly there for her. Then she was sent away to live near her grandparents due to bad behavior when her mother decided she just didn't want to deal with her any longer. Without a penny to her name and no where else to go, her life was uprooted to North Carolina. Everything seems to be changing for the better with her fresh new start until she meets a guy who flips her world upside down all over again. Sometimes you have to make it through the struggles of imperfection in life for everything to come out as complete perfection, but Della hasn't quite learned that lesson yet.

Imperfection Book One
Released: May 10th 2013
Purchase: Amazon

About the Author

C.A. Williams lives in Michigan and is married to her high school sweetheart. While being a stay at home to her two boys she likes to read and write in between cleaning up messes and being a short order cook. Cori always had a love for books since the time she first started reading and started swapping books with her mom when she got a little older. Her love for reading turned into a love for writing and Cori has enjoyed every second of it. Thanks to all of her readers!

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6307011.C_A_Williams

https://www.facebook.com/authorcawilliams

https://twitter.com/CAWilliams00

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#PitchDarkDays Recap

On February 5, the Mr. and me took a little field trip to the big city to attend the Pitch Dark Days Tour at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia! Four FAB authors in one place was just too much, I HAD to go! 

I'm so glad we did! Not only did we see the authors we went for, but we also got to see some of the wonderful Atlanta area bloggers and book enthusiasts. We also talked to a couple of other authors who were there supporting the authors on tour. And we got to visit one of our favorite bookstores! All in all it was a good night!

I'm sharing some photos we took and some of the notes and quotes I took down during the discussion. I wasn't recording or trying to conduct an interview or anything like that, these are just tidbits from what they were saying. 

Bird's eye view of the Little Shop! This is one of my happy places!

The Panel: (left to right) in the background is moderator Ali, then Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Rossi 

Me & Brodi Ashton

Who said she writes YA because you FEEL so much {as a teen} and everything is so life or death, just ask her about the time her grandma got her clown pants!

In regards to her switching formats from book one to book two, Brodi said that was the way it came to her and she was excited to go on a quest in the second book!

Me & Cynthia Hand

Who fell in love with YA because the pacing and stories. And she is jealous of today's teens who have this genre. She described reading YA like "coming home." Some of her favorite YA novels include Wicked Lovely, Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth and  Richelle Mead's works.

Cynthia also said in her own writing she is more a "panster" than a plotter. She has a vague idea of the ending but the visions change as she goes.

Signing away (left to right):

Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi 

& Veronica Rossi

Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, Me & Mr

Veronica says YA because that's where she's at mentally and that it's so rich for writers with lots of first and carving of identities.

She also spoke about how she writes male characters, citing the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, having two brothers and now raising two sons. She's says she has always been a running with the boys type. Her writing helps her get out all the testosterone (so she doesn't grow facial hair!) 

She's got a sense of humor too boot!   

Tahereh said that she had always been a reader but wasn't a writer until after college! (Editorial note: Does that mean there is still hope for me!?! Maybe! :) She said she wrote five crappy manuscripts before she wrote Shatter Me (encouragement!) Tahereh allowed the character to dictate where she went and the first few pages of Shatter Me are the same as her first draft! 

As far as a "love triangle" in her books, she doesn't see it but then again she knows what's going to happen. And for a spoiler, if you haven't seen her videos, Tahereh says, "Chapter 62, Stuff Happens!"

Me with our BOOK HAUL!!

I can tell you all the authors were very kind and generous and if you ever get a chance to meet them... you totally should!

What a marvelously bookish good time!

Jack Templar Tour with Guest Character Post

Image from Goodreads

Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendant of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him.

As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

You can pick up a copy at any of these place:

Amazon

IndieBound

Barnes&Noble

Now for a super special treat...
a character guest post from 
Jack Templar's Best Friend...
Will Akers!

Hi everyone. This is Will Akers, Jack Templar’s right hand man. You probably heard about me in our book Jack Templar Monster Hunter. I say “our” book since it really could have been called Jack And Will: Monster Hunters. But I guess since Jack wrote the entire thing, he felt like going with the title he had.

I know Jack and Eva were pretty mad when the book got out to regular people. You know…non-hunters. Or, as some people at the Academy call them, Creach-bait.

But I was happy the book got out. I know, I know, everyone’s worried about how reading the book attracts monsters to the reader and inevitably drags the reader into our world of man versus monsters. You know what I say? About time.

I mean, come on. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to become a monster
hunter? It’s by far the coolest thing that’s happened to me, I’ll tell you that much.

Even when we’re being chased by a flock of mad harpies, or facing down an entire field of zombies, or being pursued by Ren Lucre, the Dark Lord of the Creach himself, I was still having the time of my life.

The way I look at it, what’s not to love? You’re doing something really important, you’re helping others, you get to use cool weapons and fight against heinous monsters. Oh, and you don’t have to go to school. As far as I’m concerned, that’s like
winning the lottery.

I guess there’s the fact that there aren’t many hunters who live past thirty. The luck runs out for even the best hunters eventually. Turns out no matter how good you are, if you try to face down a pack of werewolves or a coven of vampires on your own, it’s not going to turn out well. But I’m only fourteen. Thirty is forever away so I’m not too worried about it.

One thing I do worry about is all this talk of Jack being “the One.” Other hunters who meet him always have a weird reaction when they find out who he is. They either keep their distance like they are scared of him or they act like he’s some kind of celebrity. I mean, he’s super cool and all, but he’s just Jack. I just hope that he doesn’t start taking too many chances trying to live up to his own hype. Either way, I’ll be right next to him. As we say, Do your duty, come what may. I look at keeping Jack alive as my duty and I intend to see it through, no matter what happens.

I hope you join the fight. It’s quite a ride.
Will Akers.

Author Bio:

Jeff Gunhus grew up in Cyprus, Greece, and Saudi Arabia where there was a distinct lack of television. He quickly found books were the gateway to incredible adventures, fascinating characters and unbelievable discoveries. Now, with five children of his own (all who watch too much television, in his opinion), he has enjoyed revisiting his old books and reliving those adventures all over again.

You can find Jeff Gunhus online:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Tour hashtag: #jacktemplar

Twitter Party: Friday, Dec. 21 6 pm - 8 pm EST

Big Prize Pack can be found on Girl Who Reads.

Special Swag Prize Pack for Alli's World readers:
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A Foray into Forks

In honor of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 movie coming out TODAY (10 pm in theaters!) I'm going to post a few of our pics from our trip to Forks, Washington from back in August. I have to tell you, being able to go to Forks, see were Bella, Edward, and Jacob could have lived was sooooo awesome! Forks is a small, sleepy little town but I loved being able to feel like was living in the Twilight world! The sites in Forks are more similar to the descriptions in the book than what you see in the movies but still AMAZING! We did a tour of the town with Team Forks. They were knowledgeable, showed us all around and provided plenty of cheesy photo ops! This is just a few of our photos but hopefully it'll help us all get in the Twilight spirit! 

Edward, Bella, Clayton, Allison, Jacob and Mama at 

the iconic City of Forks Welcome sign!

Me and Edward in front of the 

Cullen House.

Jacob, Me, Hubs, Bella

hanging out in the back of Bella's Truck.

The Forks High sign as seen in the movie!

At the Treaty Line. No vamps past this point!

Me & Hubs sitting on a drift wood tree at

First Beach, La Push, Washington on the Quileute Indian Reservation much like Bella and Jacob might have done!

Well hubs and I are off to enjoy the 

Twilight Marathon!!!

Are you going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 too? 

Any Twi-hard fans out there besides me?

Happy Hunger Games!

And may the odds ever be in your favor!

So, The Hunger Games movie is finally out on DVD today! We only went to see it twice at the theater. I can't flipping wait to get my own copy of the movie! I loved the books and I thought the movie was very good, one of (my) best of 2012. It kept all of the important elements of the book. Granted there were a few things that were different. (I'm thinking the bread scene. Anybody agree?) I think that is just going to happen when going from pages to screen. Just because the author can imagine it, doesn't mean the movie people can make it happen on film. Anyhoo, I think that the film adaptation of the book was wonderful in The Hunger Games. 

One thing I will say though, is that it really bothers me when people are like, "Oh, I saw the movie, so I don't have to read the book." I know people do this, heck I've done it but don't disregard the book just because you saw the movie. Books give you the chance to exercise your own imagination. You don't have to let Hollywood do that for you! (Sorry about that soap box, I just overheard a little girl say that while leaving the movie the last time and it just broke my heart a little!)

Back to the topic at hand...In celebration, I'm sharing some photos from The Hunger Games Mall Tour I attended at Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta. Some of the movie cast members went on tour before the movie came out back in March. These pics maybe kind of grainy, they were taken on my cell. (True to our nature, when we went to this event, both hubs and I failed to put the memory card back in the real camera. And neither of noticed until the actors were taking the stage.) Nonetheless, we had a great time and it was good times getting to see the actors before the movie was even out! And I sure have enjoyed looking back at these pics! Hope you guys like!

Hubs and Me. Waiting.

(We waited from like 5 am til like 2 pm

to meet the actors.)

Me. :)

After meeting the stars.

See that poster? It is signed

by all the stars in attendance.

Unfortunately, no photos were allowed

during the signing.

That's Gale,

in real life:

Liam Hemsworth.

And here we have tributes:

District 1's Marvel-Jack Quaid

District 1's Glimmer-Leven Rambin

District 11's Thresh-Dayo Okeniyi

District 11's Rue-Amandla Stenberg

The whole crew:

(left to right)

In purple is the MC Jenn Hobby from The Bert Show on Q100,

Jack, Leven, Dayo, Amandla, and Liam.