Showing newest posts with label Lesley Livingston. Show older posts

Darklight by Lesley Livingston

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 12:00 AM

Darklight by Lesley Livingston

Release Date: December 22, 2009
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Overall:

Source: Publisher/Author
Interest: Series
Other Titles in the Series: Wondrous Strange
Buy the Book/Associate Links: Amazon/Indiebound

Much has changed since autumn, when Kelley Winslow learned she was Faerie royalty, fell in love with changeling guard Sonny Flannery, and saved New York City from a rampaging Faerie war band. When a terrifying encounter in Central Park sends Kelley tumbling into the Otherworld, her reunion with Sonny is joyful—but cut short. For they’ve been plunged into a game of Faerie deception and wavering allegiances in which the next move could topple a kingdom...or part them forever.

Three words; Sonny is MINE! or impressive, exciting &captivating

I was even more impressed with Darklight than it's predecessor Wondrous Strange. Livingston was able to weave an unpredictable and entertaining plot, with all the characters that I had grown to love in Wondrous Strange. Not to mention characters that were re-introduced like... Fennrys. Where did this delicious dish come from! I'll have seconds please!

I loved the elements of the Otherworld, Livingston has a beautiful writing style that makes you feel like you are there with the character, just awesomely captivating descriptions without being overly detailed.

This is definitely a series that you will want to read in order. There are a lot of references to the previous novel and there are some character histories that wouldn't be clear had you not read the first novel. As with most novels in the middle of a series there are some questions left unanswered but there are some huge revelations as well.

I love Livingston's story telling ability. There is something in the way that she tells a story that is addicting. Awesome fae series. I can't wait to read the next novel!

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View an in depth look into my Star Rating.

Author Tales: Lesley Livingston

Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 12:00 AM

Lesley Livingston is the author for this Thursdays Author Tales. Lesley is the author of Wondrous Strange, which is like one of my most favorite faerie novels of all time! Loved it! I'm thrilled that there is going to be another book! If you would like more information on Lesley and her novels, you can check out her website: http://www.lesleylivingston.com
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Where did you come up for the idea for Wondrous Strange?

When I signed with my literary agent (for another project entirely), I went to New York to meet her face to face. I went with another YA author friend of mine, Adrienne Kress, who was meeting her publisher for the first time. Both of us were wowed by the city as a whole, but I was absolutely captivated by Central Park. Even in February. We did the touristy stuff on that trip – carriage ride, Tavern on the Green (both of which are now plot points in my book!) – but it was on my next trip that I really got to wander around the Park with some New Yorker friends. We spent hours there, night and day, and I started to get ideas. Ideas about things in Central Park that the average park-goer doesn't get to experience. Magical things.

At the time, I was also rehearsing and performing Shakespeare on the stage – I'm a founding member and principle performer with a theatre company called TEMPEST THEATRE GROUP – and I had already written a short story about an actress in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Those two disparate elements sort of crashed together and began fermenting in my brain and it all came together in a flash of inspiration prompted by an off-hand comment from my boyfriend (bless him!). And then, lo, Sonny and Kelley and Co. presented themselves to me, en masse and emphatically.

I know Wondrous Strange is fictional, but what kind of research if any, did you do for this novel?

Well, I already had a good grasp of Shakespeare and the theatre and the business of acting. My knowledge of Faerie lore has always been reasonably extensive – I've always read a lot of mythology and folklore and history. But – once I decided to write this story, I needed to do a fair bit of research on my setting – Central Park. Setting has always been vitally important to the stories I write and I discovered some immensely cool factoids about the Park, about one of its founders, and the Carousel and some of the landmarks – stuff that became intrinsic to the story, itself. I have been back to the New York on several occasions since I began writing Kelley and Sonny's story, and I always make sure to spend time in the Park (busily populating it with beings from the Otherworld – do be careful where you walk, not all of them are friendly...)

What was the most difficult part of WS to write?

I'm not sure I could honestly call any of it 'difficult'. Hard work, yes. But I really had so much fun writing WONDROUS STRANGE. Sure there were times when my eyeballs would dry out as I sat there staring at a blank screen, but those instances were vastly outweighed in this case by the ones where I could barely type fast enough to keep up with what my characters were doing! (Not always the case with some projects!)

Who is your favorite character, and which one do you relate to the most.

I relate to different aspects of different characters, I think. There are bits of me in both Kelley and Sonny, but also Tyff and Bob… even Mabh and probably even Lucky!

And, while I can't in good conscience play favorites, I'm really awfully fond of Bob! His lines are usually the ones that appear on the page needing the least editing – his voice is very clear in my mind's ear, so I guess that says something! So is Gentleman Jack's.

Did you include in personal aspects on your days of theater into the novel?

Sadly, er... yes. Kelley's disastrous rehearsal is, in fact, a scenario lifted pretty much intact from my theatre-school days *shudders at the memory*. Fortunately, Kelley also gets to experience some of the real highs of life on the stage, too, and those moments were also mine.

Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

I've always loved the act of storytelling. I guess that's why I became an actor. But I probably made the decision to become a writer (years before I was even aware of it!) when I stumbled across an author named Parke Godwin. He wrote a book about King Arthur called FIRELORD which I devoured in the backseat of the car on a vacation trip to Montana when I was a teen. I read that book over and over and over again, reveled in the language (man, Godwin can write!), and fell in love with the idea that stories and characters like that – so vivid and real and exciting to me – could exist in-between pages. Then I found other stories and other authors that struck me in the same way – and in different ways (for example, I adore Tom Robbins for the sheer exuberance with which he plays with language for the sake of it!) – and at some point down the road, I guess I decided to try my hand at creating stories of my own.

Why did you decide to write for young adults?

I don't know if I decided to write for young adults or if I just decided to write stories that happened to have young adults in them. I tend not to consciously differentiate between 'writing for young adults' and just 'writing'. I don't approach my stories any differently – meaning I don't alter my word usage or plot progression in any kind of significant way – but it's really all about perspective. For teens, a lot of what they experience, they do so with fresh eyes and remarkable passion. In that sense, YA is enormously freeing and so much fun to write, because I get to throw myself into those never-before-worn shoes and experience that same rush of emotion as my characters and, hopefully, my readers do. It's also slightly terrifying because – I can tell you from performing for teens – they are both the scariest and the best audiences possible. Because they are never neutral. They love something or they hate it and they are, in my experience, not shy about letting you know which it is. So if you can get them – truly get them – it is the best. thing. ever.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? What's the best writing advice you've ever received?

You guys have all heard this one before. READ. Read everything. Through sheer osmosis you will pick up on cadence and structure and pacing and all that good stuff. Read.

Aside from that? The best writing advice I ever received was – WRITE. I'm not being facetious. And I know you guys have all heard that one before, too, and it's true. You can't edit a page full of nothing. And you can't call yourself a writer unless you write. Write. Keep writing.

Who are some of your favorite YA authors?

Back when I was a young adult, one of my favorite authors was Guy Gavriel Kay. His Fionavar Tapestry series was about a group of university-age students so I guess it's technically YA, although classifications weren't as defined back then. Now, there is so much great stuff out there (most of my YA recommendations I get from blogs like yours!) it's hard to choose faves! But I will tell you one to keep on the lookout for – I'm reading an ARC right now of EYES LIKE STARS by Lisa Mantchev and I'm having a great time with it – she'll be on the shelves in a few months and she's terrific.

Are you working on any other novels? And can you tell us a little bit about it?

I'm actually just finishing up manuscript revisions on Book Two in the WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy! After that, it'll be on to Book Three! The next two books are a direct continuation of the story, so you will definitely being seeing more of Sonny and Kelley. And company. (And maybe a new face or two!)

Thank you so much for hosting me, Story Siren! This was a blast!!

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Would you like to win a signed copy of Wondrous Strange! Leave a comment on this post by February 5, 2009 to be entered! This contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Wondrous Strange

Friday, December 12, 2008 at 6:00 AM

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Release Date: December 23, 2008
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult, ages 12 and up
Pages: 336

Kelley Winslow is living her dream. Seventeen years old, she has moved to New York City and started work with a theatre company. Sure, she's an understudy for the Avalon Players, a third-tier repertory company so far off-Broadway it might as well be in Hoboken, but things are looking up—the lead has broken her ankle and Kelley's about to step into the role of Titania the Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Faeries are far more real than Kelley thinks, though, and a chance encounter in Central Park with a handsome young man will plunge her into an adventure she could never have imagined.

For Sonny Flannery, one of the Janus Guards charged by Auberon, the King of Winter, with watching over the gate into the lands of Faerie that lies within Central Park, the pretty young actress presents an enigma. Strong and willful, she sparks against his senses like a firecracker and he can't get her out of his mind. As Hallowe'en approaches and the Samhain Gate opens, Sonny and Kelley find themselves drawn to each other—and into a terrible plot that could spell disaster for both New York and Faerie alike.

I think I’ve wrote and then rewrote this review about a hundred times now! And I know it’s going to come across one way, and that’s just how it’s going to have to be, because I simply cannot write it any other way. So here is goes... fangirly-ness and all. I hope you last through it.

I loved it, I LOVED it. I love it so much I want to marry it. If you are a fan of faerie books, you’ll want to read this one. If you’ve tried faerie books before, but didn’t like them, you’ll want to read this. If you aren’t a fan of faerie books, you’ll still want to read it. It’s that good.

Incredible characters, incredible writing, incredible plot. It was really just so fricking fantastic, it’s hard to find the words to describe it. I never in a million years would have guessed this was a debut novel. The key to my heart is great characters and story line, and this book had it all and then some. Even the minor characters stood out to me, and they were fascinating. Like Chloe, she is a siren, a very minor role and yet she is very memorable. (And no, it's not just because I have an affinity to sirens.) As well as a few other characters..... but I don’t want to give all the goods away.

Completely original/new/fun plot! I figured a few things out, but other things I was oblivious to, until they were revealed. I’ve read other faerie books about the faerie “royalty” if you’ve read Melissa Marr you know what I’m talking about here. Not that I’d even compare this book to Marr’s because they are at totally two different ends of the spectrum. And I don’t mean that in the quality of writing, because they are both fabulous writers. Did I just write fabulous... don’t you just love the plethora of “f” adj.!? Do you think I’m subconsciously doing it because of the whole faerie thing... freaking fantastic fascinating fabulous faeries! I promise I did NOT do that on purpose!

Great writers write what they know.... what movie is that from? (.....Never Been Kissed!) I think that statement definitely has some truth to it. Kelley is an actress. (a struggling actress to be more specific) The theater scenes within the novel were marvelous (notice no ‘f’ here!) so I wasn’t surprised to learn that the lovely Lesley Livingston herself is at home on the stage. I wonder if she knows any faeries personally?

I think the thing I loved most about this novel was Kelley. She is an exceptional female protagonist. I was instantly drawn to her character. She’s honest, she imperfect, and she doesn’t pull the Bella card. (You know Bella, right? Oh what was that Edward, you're a vampire and want to suck the life out of me. Of course I'm not afraid!) When a cute guy tells her that faeries are real. She reacts like a normal person and laughs in his face. LOVED IT.

And I must mention Sonny. Ah... Sonny.. Mom can I have one? Yeah that’s really all I’m going to say about him, because if I tell you, they you’re going to want him too, and you can’t have him because he’s mine. No really, I’m not going to tell you how incredibly cute he is, and how he kicks major faerie ass, because he’s all protecting the mortal world from the awful faeries.. And yet, he can still rescue the damsel in distress even if she is mean to him and laughs in his face. Nope, not going there.

I simply cannot say enough good things about this novel. I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book. It would make an awesome Christmas present! And I’m even more thrilled to mention that this novel is the beginning of a trilogy!