Read This!: ASSASSIN’S HEART by Sarah Ahiers

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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.

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

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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.

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An Epic Event for an Epic Book

American Sign Language, Sword and Verse, , ,
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

American Sign Language, Interviews, On Writing, Sword and Verse, Young Adult Fantasy

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.

Read This!: THE YEAR WE FELL APART by Emily Martin

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The Year We Fell ApartThe Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Summary: Few things come as naturally to Harper as epic mistakes. In the past year she was kicked off the swim team, earned a reputation as Carson High’s easiest hook-up, and officially became the black sheep of her family. But her worst mistake was destroying her relationship with her best friend, Declan. Now, after two semesters of silence, Declan is home from boarding school for the summer. Everything about him is different—he’s taller, stronger…more handsome. Harper has changed, too, especially in the wake of her mom’s cancer diagnosis. While Declan wants nothing to do with Harper, he’s still Declan, her Declan, and the only person she wants to talk to about what’s really going on. But he’s also the one person she’s lost the right to seek comfort from. As their mutual friends and shared histories draw them together again, Harper and Declan must decide which parts of their past are still salvageable, and which parts they’ll have to let go of once and for all.

Holy wow, did I love this book. It sucked me in and didn’t let go. I finished it two days ago and I am still thinking about it. And I will never ever be able to listen to “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift again without thinking about Harper and Declan. (Not because the song is referenced in any way – it’s just perfect for them!)

Harper is such a realistically drawn character – a girl who is lovable and sometimes hate-able, conflicted and yearning for connection, and sometimes selfish and self-destructive. The what-was and what-could-have-been and what-could-be between her and Declan is palpable, and I couldn’t stop reading. As powerful as the romance is, though, this book succeeds because it is about more than just a girl trying to get her ex-boyfriend back. Harper has to navigate so many pitfalls of growing up in a society that does little service to strong girls, and in Martin’s capable hands, the story wraps itself around the reader’s mind and heart.

I’d love to see Emily Martin on a panel someday beside Laurie Elizabeth Flynn (author of FIRSTS) and Shannon M. Parker (author of THE GIRL WHO FELL) for a frank discussion of writing about young women finding their way through the minefield of modern girlhood.

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