FOREWORD Review of INSOMNIA!

First - OMG! RELEASE DAY IS TOMORROW!! *flails* *panics* *blinks*

*Ahem*

Recently, Insomnia got a new trade review from ForeWord Reviews. They are a review journal distributed quarterly to 7500 librarians and booksellers across the US. They're also available at most Barnes & Noble newsstands and by subscription.

They're prestigious and awesome and I'm thrilled they reviewed Insomnia and even happier about what they had to say:

~~~~~

Insomnia

J. R. Johansson

Flux

978-0-7387-3593-1

(Jun 8, 2013)

Supernatural young adult thriller creates a real sense of tension, anticipation, and dread. Parker Chipp hasn’t slept in four years. Every night, he’s an involuntary witness to the dreams of the last person whose eyes he looked into before going to sleep. Sometimes this means a night full of talking ponies or whimsical adventures; other times, he’s tormented by nightmares of endless domestic brutality or the guilt-wracked memories of wrongdoers who escaped all justice except that delivered by their own conscience.

Either way, he doesn’t get to sleep properly, and the stress is taking its toll, perhaps even killing him. Beside this, the more mundane problems of a typical high school junior—trying out for athletic teams, navigating conflicted friendships and budding romantic attractions, and dealing with the absence of his father and the consequences of a stressed-out mother—seem tame and manageable.

When Parker inadvertently glances into the eyes of a new arrival in town, he’s startled to find that, for some reason, he’s able to sleep peacefully in her dreams. Why? And can he enjoy the peace of her dreams without making her think that he’s a deranged stalker?

J. R. Johansson’s debut novel has an intriguing, original premise and an engaging first-person narrator/protagonist. It’s refreshing to read a supernatural young adult thriller that, for once, does not involve zombies, werewolves, vampires, or some other familiar trope. Parker’s curse (or gift), the rules that govern it, and the effects it might have on him and the people around him are mysterious and unknown, creating a real sense of tension, anticipation, and dread as the reader, along with Parker, tentatively explores his ability’s parameters without knowing what he will find or what the consequences will be.

The plot inevitably expands outward from Parker’s own problems to those of the people around him. High school social drama gives way to more visceral dangers, both real and imagined, as Parker finds reasons to question his own motivations and even his own sanity. Mysterious links to Parker’s father suggest that there’s more to his peculiarity than he knows, and his untutored explorations suggest that it may be much darker and more powerful than he dares contemplate.

Some of the plot threads of Insomnia are tied up a bit too neatly and suddenly, but Johansson’s first book lays the groundwork for an intriguing series based on an original premise.

Bradley A. Scott

ForeWord Reviews

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Have you ever wanted to wrap yourself up in words? What am I talking about, you're all readers...of course you have. That's how I feel about this review. I want to cuddle with "intriguing, original premise and an engaging first-person narrator/protagonist." I want to get the words, "Supernatural young adult thriller creates a real sense of tension, anticipation and dread," tattooed on my forehead...that wouldn't be awkward or off-putting at mix & mingles, would it? :)

Anyway, happy day! I survived another trade review! 

Also, here are the rafflecopters for the two blog tour giveaways (signed copies of Insomnia & 10-pg critiques) I have going on right now. You can go ahead and enter here if you'd like...because I'm nice like that. What did you think about this new review?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm going to try my best to not injure or break myself before then. I've been known to do that...

Truth, Insanity of Release a.k.a. How Stephanie Perkins Saved My Mind

A couple of items of business first: 

~ The winner of the Insomnia ARC from Monday's post is: Lena! Leave your email in the comments and I'll get in touch about sending it to you! Congrats!

~ Since Insomnia started shipping out early and the official release day is on a weekend, we're going to celebrate Insomnia's release on Friday...HOLY COW THAT IS SO SOON! Stay tuned for more info and check above for links to today's blog tour stops! 

~~~~~

Dude...publishing is the most massive roller coaster I've ever been on. It's up and down, and in and out, over and over, until you feel like some bully in school is doing one of those toilet swirlies on your brain.

Releasing your debut novel is immense and terrifying and brilliant and breathtaking. It is everything you want it to be. Sometimes it is so much more, and occasionally so very much less.

There really is no explaining the gut-sucking sorrow and sadness when things go wrong with your dream. And no making sense of the elated floating and bounciness when even the smallest things go right.

It is absolute and utter madness.

Maybe that's why I write about people going crazy...

Anyway, the roller coaster is me this month...until yesterday...yesterday I went full-on freak out. 

It wasn't pretty.

I found out there were some issues with Insomnia being mis-categorized in Barnes & Noble. It was coming up in their system as a Young Reader book (grades 3-6). The stores were looking at their option to order it from the warehouse into the store and going...uh, this cover looks too scary for the kids wandering that section...and not ordering it. 

*cue visions of small children running for B&N door and crying over my scary book cover*

(Don't worry, it's being fixed and should be *crosses fingers* going out into stores asap.) So yeah...it was one of those last straw kind of freak outs and I did what I always do when I'm upset (after I break out the ice cream, duh...). I grabbed a book and started reading.

I've known Stephanie Perkins for a while online, and I actually met her in person a few weeks ago. *waves at Steph* She's a sweetheart and we share a love for things dark. Anyway, I'd started her book, Anna and the French Kiss about a year and a half ago, read the first chapter and loved it...then got a call from my agent and we got my book deal. It was dropped in the flailing/panicking that ensued and  I haven't picked it back up. 

So it was the first book I grabbed yesterday, and I didn't put it down until today when I finished. I carried it from room to room. I propped it open and kept reading while I did laundry. I stayed up until 3am reading and then started reading again as soon as I woke up this morning. 

I adored this book. This book made me happy. This book reminded me why I love books.

All of that to say this isn't really about Anna or Stephanie's genius (as much as that's all I want to talk about right now). It's about books. We are authors, editors, readers, bloggers, publicists...we're all in the business of books, but sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the roller coaster and the cogs and machinery of it that we forget what it's all about -- the books. Books allow us to explore, to escape, to revel, to live lives we aren't capable of, to become our heroes and even sometimes the villains.

So all of this to say, 

Books are so freaking cool!!!

And none of us should forget that fact no matter what else we have going on. 

What have you been reading lately?

This Is Me This Week

Yep, that's what I look like every time someone posts nice things, leaves nice comments, writes good reviews/blog post stops, tells me they're excited about my book.

So pretty often right now. (people are nice on release week--mostly)

Yay for release and giveaways! These are my stops for today:

On the Starbucks & Books blog, Chelsea does a character profile of Parker from Insomnia, and wow is she good! All that plus an awesome new review & signed books! 


On the Read Rinse Repeat blog, we chat about the fine line between letting your main character do bad things and yet somehow still making them likable + giveaways!



I SAT (Successful Author Talk interview) over on Mindy McGinnis's blog where we chat about my road to publication, how I got my agent, and other such tidbits.



Plus, an INCREDIBLE new review on the Such A Novel Idea blog!


Wow...just posting that was exhausting. How about we all go take a nap after we're done? ;-

Nook HD Winner! AMAZING NEWS & Insomnia Release Blog Tour Day 1

I know you guys want to know about winners...but I'm saving that for last. I'm cruel like that. ;)

Some of you may think that a week before my official release that I'm sitting around like this:

NOT TRUE...

In reality, it's a lot more like this:

But I got some news in the last couple of weeks that made me go like this:

I found out that

Insomnia is going to be published in 

Hungary AND Taiwan!

SQUEE!!! I am SO thrilled you guys! Fonix in Hungary and Sharp Point in Taiwan have bought rights to publish in their respective territories!

This brings the total number of languages to FIVE (English, German, Hungarian, Italian AND Chinese)! My book, something I created in my dark and twisty brain, is going to be printed out and available in FIVE different languages! I can't even...I'm just...

WOW!

I'm just so grateful and thrilled and a little bit FREAKING OUT! :)

So now, I am going to be riding high on that news as well as all the fun release stuff going on. I may never come back down.

Oh! And about fun release stuff...

Today is the first day of the Insomnia Release Blog Tour!

Every weekday for the next two weeks there will be fun guest posts and giveaways all over the place. 

The two main giveaways will be TEN signed copies of Insomnia and TEN 10-pg critiques! 

On top of this, I'll be doing giveaways sporadically on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook!! (Giveaways will be various things I find: bubble gum, signed books, swag items, perhaps Finnish candies...you'll have to pay attention to see what I come up with)

Here is my blog stop for today:

Ilima Todd
Lisbeth Avery

And the fun, guys...it will be immense. So stay tuned!

AND last but certainly not least...

the winner of the NookHD from the Insomnia Preorder Giveaway!

Cindy Irvine!

Huge congrats, Cindy! I'll be in touch to talk about how to get your prize to you! :)


Let's get this Week O' Giveaways going!!

Celebrate with me by leaving a comment below and you'll be entered to win one of my last Insomnia ARCs + a swag pack with bookmarks and surprises to go with it! :)

Forging Fridays - Knowing Your Audience

*****First - some cool things!*****

~ On Monday, I'll announce the winner of the NookHD! I'll also be able to share some epically exciting news I've been sitting on for a bit. AND I'll be starting the Insomnia Release Blog Tour in which we'll be giving away 10 Signed Copies of Insomnia and 10 10-pg Critiques! :) Make sure you stop by! ~

*****Back to your regularly scheduled post*****

Today is our nineteenth (and final...for now at least) Forging Fridays query! Wow...that's just awesomely crazy. Can't believe how fast this year has flown by. Thank you so much to all the volunteers! You guys are amazing and I've gotten emails/tweets/comments every week saying how much this series is helping people.

So you volunteers rock. We love you. :)

As stated before, I will not be revealing any names of the Forging Fridays volunteers unless otherwise requested. If you feel like unmasking yourselves in the comments, be my guest, but I won't mention anyone by name. Without further ado:

Here is our last volunteer! *applause* *cheers* *confetti*

~~~~~

Dear [awesome agent]

Milo is a weapon.

His brain is crammed with blood-smeared visions of Jxxx, a jungle world where nightmares are reality and survival is a game of chance How so? This is pretty vague. We want specifics about the world at this point. On top of his visions of the past and future The past and future of our world? of Jxxx? Is this a new ability or clarification of the same one? Make sure the info you give us is clear., Milo has the sole ability to read the coded Jxxx book, filled with answers to world domination Our world or Jxxx?, why the mud has a heartbeat, and how to murder the invincible natives.

And the kid is only eight years old. No pressure. Interesting...this seems dark for middle grade...or at 8 it would be...a chapter book? 

Forced to translate the code, Milo figures out he’s one of the natives and he’s set their execution date. If he set it, why does he not know this already? Any hints as to why he has been selected for all these special powers? A collision with native teen assassin, Mikael, ends in a shaky alliance and an agreement to guide Milo to the elusive natives to warn them of the oncoming massacre. But the visions turn up a notch as Milo realizes a violent power plays with his mind. Forget being a weapon, he’s a puppet. Okay, now these twists are becoming overwhelming. I'd focus on the main bad guy, if it's the puppeteer then I'd streamline the rest of it into something that flows to the main point better. Maybe like, "After discovering in the code that the natives are scheduled for execution, Milo strikes a shaky alliance with one of their own, Mikael, to warn them. Harder than it seems when the natives want to kill him and Mikael is a trained assassin. On the way, the visions turn up a notch...etc. Obviously, add voice and make it your own, but just try to streamline to get to the point a bit smoother.

As their journey turns into a bloodbath, Milo sees there’s no “good side” in this racial war – and the monster inside him is about to explode. What kind of monster? What races? Did you mention races before? This tidbit should probably be left out. You need to tell us more details about this monster if you want him to be the big threat at the end? We need to understand a bit more what he's up against.

BLOOD is an 85,000 word high fantasy novel for young adults, with potential for a series. I believe it will appeal to readers who enjoy dark fantasy adventure like FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK in the style of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. 

Thank you for your time and consideration!

Okay...I'm very concerned about your genre choice and the age of your protagonist here. People especially older teens and adults, are very sensitive to children in violent and horrific circumstances. Also, in a YA, your protagonist is "usually" a teen. I know it's not always true, but it usually is. Could you make Milo older? If you want him to be the same age, you may have to play down the violence and darker issues in this book a bit. Another way to go is: Is Mikael a teen? Should he be the protagonist as protector of Milo? This sounds like a cool idea, and I'm all about the dark and creepy, but you have to make sure your target audience will be able to relate to the book and that the book has a place it will fit in the market. :)

Good luck!

~~~~~

Okay, that's it for today and this query. Thank you so much for volunteering, oh mystery writer! :) I really hope this helped you. It takes guts to send in a query, to me or an agent. Go you! You have awesome guts! :)

So, what do you guys think? Agree or disagree with my assessments? Discuss! May we all be tougher and stronger thanks to our days in the fire.

Kidlit Authors for Oklahoma Disaster Relief

We over at The Lucky 13's blog wanted to do something to help with the relief efforts for those who are suffering after the Oklahoma tornado. Everyone chipped in and we have six massive prize bundles we've put together to help out.

You get one entry for each $10 donation to the Red Cross.

Here is a picture of the prize pack featuring a signed copy of Insomnia. And there are SO many more prizes available (50+ signed books & critiques from some of our fantastic authors!).

You can find more information and enter to win over on The Lucky 13's blog.

Because helping out...it's so very awesome.

Less Than Two Weeks To Release and Giveaways

Guys...it is less than two weeks until my official release...

LESS THAN TWO FREAKING WEEKS!!

Yep...that's how I feel, too.

My hair actually looks a lot like that these days, too...

As I'm also currently drafting like the wind...or at the very least like a soft breeze...I also often look like this:

So yeah...madness and writing and excitement and more of all of the above.

What about you? What have you been up to? :)

Don't forget! 

This is the last week to enter the Goodreads Giveaway of 10 signed copies of Insomnia!

AND the last week to enter to win a NookHD!