#LoveInBooks: 7 YA Authors Sending Love

LoveInBooks

Hello, lovely reader!

Today is the first day of a multi-author Valentine’s Day special: #LoveInBooks.

Seven of us have teamed up to share quotes from our books containing the word “love” from now through Valentine’s Day.

Here’s the first quote for Sword and Verse:

gods read out

Grand Prize Giveaway

To spread even more love, each of us is giving away a finished copy of our books and swag. You can enter the giveaway below. Entries are accepted daily through Feb. 12th. The winner will be announced on Monday, Feb. 15. USA only.

Participating books and authors (alphabetically, by book):

  1. ARROWS by Melissa Gorzelanczyk / Follow Melissa on Twitter
  2. ASSASSIN’S HEART by Sarah Ahiers / Follow Sarah on Twitter
  3. BOOKISHLY EVER AFTER by ISABEL BANDEIRA / Follow Isabel on Twitter
  4. CURIO by Evangeline Denmark / Follow Evangeline on Twitter
  5. THE MYSTERY OF HOLLOW PLACES by Rebecca Podos / Follow Rebecca on Twitter
  6. SWORD AND VERSE by Kathy MacMillan / Follow Kathy on Twitter
  7. THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS by Marieke Nijkamp / Follow Marieke on Twitter

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Read This!: ASSASSIN’S HEART by Sarah Ahiers

Assassin's Heart (Assassin's Heart, #1)Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers

Summary: In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.  Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

The worldbuilding in this story was wonderful. Ahiers creates an expansive world of holy assassins and complicated family – and Family – politics, and a heroine at the heart of the story who must fight her way through betrayal and revenge and find something more. Lea and Les are a wonderful pair, point and counterpoint – it says a lot that I was rooting for them both, when both were unapologetic murderers. I found the way that Ahiers entwined murder-as-worship into every part of this story to be completely fascinating and utterly plausible.

Assassin’s Heart is out now.

View all my reviews

Read This!: THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD by Emily Henry

The Love That Split the WorldThe Love That Split the World by Emily Henry

Summary: Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start… until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right. That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Natalie Cleary is a normal high school girl – except for the fact that she can see ghosts, or possibly people from other dimensions. When Grandmother – the name she gives to the cryptic old woman who has been visiting her in the night since childhood – issues a warning that Natalie only has three months to save someone close to her, she knows she has to figure out what her connection is to that other world. Then one of the beings who flickers at the edge of her consciousness reveals himself to be all too real – a handsome, brooding boy named Beau – and burgeoning romance complicates her quest. Henry’s writing is lucid and lyrical, exploring Natalie’s fractured sense of self, both as a child of Native American descent adopted by white parents, and as a traveler between worlds. The story’s twisty plotline remains firmly grounded in Natalie’s emotions, in her quest to find the place where and when she belongs, and in her determination to save the people she loves.

THE LOVE THAT SPLIT THE WORLD is out now.

View all my reviews

An Epic Event for an Epic Book

Kathy MacMillan perches on a ledge looking over the dining room where gala guests sit.
The celebration gets underway!

There is not a word in the language of the gods to describe how grateful I am to everyone who came to last night’s Sword and Verse Gala to benefit Deaf Camps, Inc.  I got to celebrate the launch of my debut novel with my favorite people from all the different spheres of my life, and I got to highlight an organization that is dear to my heart and make a contribution to the Deaf Camps, Inc. scholarship fund.

Welcome to the Library of the Gods!
Welcome to the Library of the Gods!

 

Learn more about Deaf Camps, Inc. at www.deafcampsinc.org.
Learn more about Deaf Camps, Inc. at http://www.deafcampsinc.org.

Sword and Verse is all about language and communication, and how detrimental limiting access to language is.  That’s why I am especially pleased that my launch event was able to highlight and support Deaf Camps, Inc.,  a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to providing fun, safe, communication-rich camps that promote the physical, spiritual, and social development of Deaf/hard of hearing children and children learning American Sign Language.  I have been involved with Deaf Camps, Inc. for fifteen years, and never have I met a more dedicated and passionate group of people.

 

Kathy MacMillan stands in front of a mantelpiece speaking into a microphone while a woman beside her interprets in American Sign Language.
Sharing the inspirations behind SWORD AND VERSE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inkpot and quill centerpieces featuring lines from Raisa's heart-verse.
Inkpot and quill centerpieces featuring lines from Raisa’s heart-verse.
The author hard at work signing guests' copies of SWORD AND VERSE.
The author hard at work signing guests’ copies of SWORD AND VERSE.
I was so excited to share this evening with members of my critique group, authors Kate Bradley-Ferrall and L.V. Pires.
I was so excited to share this evening with members of my critique group, authors Kate Bradley-Ferrall and L.V. Pires.

Thank you to the board and volunteers of Deaf Camps, Inc, who worked hard to pull this event off; to Elaine Benson and Joanne Westerman, who provided interpreting services for the evening; to the staff of Grey Rock Mansion and Simply Elegant Catering, who hosted us in style, and to the many donors who made this event possible:

ASL Interview

I’ve been fortunate to participate in lots of great interviews about Sword and Verse in the pas few weeks, but this is my favorite!  That’s because it was conducted by Ruth Lehrer, a fellow American Sign Language interpreter and the author of the forthcoming middle grade novel Being Fishkill (Candlewick, 2017).  We decided to do the interview in American Sign Language to make it completely accessible to our friends in the Deaf community.  (Don’t worry, nonsigners – we also provided an English transcript – mostly.  There’s a bonus, untranslated question for signers only!)

I loved the thoughtful questions Ruth asked about the role of language in the book, and I loved the opportunity to share how my experiences in the Deaf community impacted the story.  I hope you will enjoy this interview as much as I did!  Watch the interview in ASL or read it in English at the Swanky Seventeens Blog.