Author Interview: Cambria Hebert - Masquerade

Today I have something special for my fellow book sharks! Cambria Hebert, author of the Heven and Hell series, is on the blog talking lots of book stuff! She's a very fun, very cool author, so I hope you all get a chance to check out her books. I can't wait to read them myself! Be sure to visit her links at the bottom as well. Enjoy!!

Cambria Hebert - Masquerade

• Pub Date: December 16, 2011
• Publisher: Otherworld Publications
• Format: Paperback 360pp
• Age Range: Young Adult

Before. Everything was so much better Before. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares, my place at school was secure and my face was flawless. Now, I’m a freak and everything has changed. The worst part is that I can’t remember the night I was sentenced to the shadows. The memory has been stolen from me and I just can’t shake the feeling that someone, something is out there -watching.

Just when I think I have my life handled, Sam, with his intimidating golden stare and shiver inducing voice, makes me realize that I don’t know anything. He makes me see that my scars don’t matter. That they never mattered. I can’t help but fall for him, completely unknowing that he knows exactly how I got this way. Not knowing he was involved.

***

Heven has no idea how closely death stalks her. She has no idea what I have done to keep her alive. I fear the day she learns my secrets, finds out what I really am. But even then I cannot stop, I vow to make things right. Finally her hunter will be hunted, Heaven and Hell, faith and sin will battle, and we will be victorious. But first, Heven must learn to be what she never imagined. I know her strength is there – I feel it. If we are to overcome all odds, she must push past her flaws - her frailties - to become much more.

Mickey: Hi there, Cambria Hebert! Welcome to the blog! Please introduce yourself.
Cambria: Hi!! Thanks for having me here! About me… back in 1981 I was born in a small town in western Maryland… wait. What was that? Oh. You didn’t want to know all that? Okay, I admit I yawned as I was typing it. Maybe it will interest you to know that I have an irrational fear of chickens. It’s true. They scare me. I am also obsessed with latte’s (I’ll take a skinny caramel !) and I think math is human torture. I am married (my husband thinks I am high maintenance, I think he’s wrong, lol) and I have two children.

Mickey: Tell us about your Heven and Hell series. How did you come up with the idea?
Cambria: So far there are 3 published titles in the Heven and Hell Series – two are novellas and one novel. My second novel is coming out in May. The titles are: Before (prequel novella), Masquerade (H&H #1), Between (H&H #1.5) and Charade (H&H #2) comes out May 18th.
This series is a YA paranormal and is about Heven, a girl who is horribly disfigured and can’t remember the accident that left her that way. She pretty much wakes up in the hospital with the left side of her face destroyed… along with all of her confidence. She pretty much goes into hiding until a new guy in town comes along and things get interesting…
I came up with the idea for this series while I was sky diving in a bikini and goggles… okay, that’s a lie, I don’t wear bikini’s. Or skydive. Come to think of it I don’t think I ever wear goggles either. LOL. I was actually walking through Barnes and Noble drinking a Starbucks and I thought “I want to write a book about a girl who thinks she’s ugly and has a disfigurement.” Then I started wondering how she got disfigured…. And the story grew from there.

Mickey: Wow, that sounds very interesting! So, what inspires you to write? Do you have a favorite place where you create your books?
Cambria: I’m inspired by everything. People, trees, the rain, movies, coffee… the people in my head. I don’t really have a favorite place to write, I need to get one. But I usually write in about 3 places: my couch, my kitchen table and my bed. But I scrawl notes on everything when I get inspired somewhere that isn’t home.

Mickey: Any plans for an audio book? If you could pick anyone to narrate your novels, who would you choose?
Cambria: Not at this time, but that would be cool!! If I could choose someone.. I have no good answer for this! I wish I did. I am not a big audio book listener because I don’t pay attention. LOL. I will listen for like 5 minutes and the dude reading will say a word that triggers my thoughts and I think “Oh! I have to vacuum” or “mmm, I want a donut.” Then, I am a lost cause. It’s terrible, I know. I would love to hear anyone else’s ideas on this though!

Mickey: If you weren't an author, what would you be doing with your life?
Cambria: Sitting around eating bon bons. Ha ha ha ha! I actually have a degree in cosmetology (hair and nails). I don’t know if I would be doing that though or not. I sometimes think I would be a dietician or nutritionist, because I like to read about health and fitness. And, I am a mom so that keeps me busy. I think I would like anything that is creative. I also once thought about opening a little café and bakery. But then I decided that it would be too much work! LOL. (does that make me sound lazy?)

Mickey: I love being lazy, so no. ;o) Please explain why you think chickens are creepy.. hehe.
Cambria: Don’t you think they are creepy?? *Shudders*. They are like these fat things with wings that sit atop spindly legs with claw looking toes. They have beady eyes and beaks that I just know want to peck at me. It is nasty. I think birds in general are creepy and I think they are mean. I once went to the zoo and an ostrich reached over the fence and ate ALL the buttons off my sweater. And there was this Christmas tree farm I went to as a kid and they had emu’s. OMG, those things are mean. They growl at you and they spit!

Mickey: Besides chickens, you say you're an animal lover. Do you own any? What one animal would you pick to have as a pet?
Cambria: Oh yes, I am a bleeding heart for animals. That commercial with that Sarah lady – I totally cannot watch it. I cry like a baby. When it comes on even my kids flip the channel bc they know I can’t watch. I have two dogs (a retriever/chow mix and a Chorkie) and two cats (really fat cats, one is like 20 pounds!) and a nemo and a starfish (it looks like a hairy spider).
The chorkie, Cocoa, is like my baby. Love her to pieces. (I do like the rest of my pets I just like Cocoa more… just keepin it real) If I could pick one animal as a pet… I really don’t know… does a werewolf count?

Mickey: Sure! Besides Damon from TVD, who would be another fictional boyfriend?
Cambria: Oh my, how did you know that I love Damon?? That’s supposed to be a secret! (Not really). Other fictional boyfriends for me would be: Nick from the Need series, Riley from the Intertwined series, Tucker from Unearthly, Christian from Hallowed, Asher from A Beautiful Dark, Jacob from Twilight and can I say Sam from my series?

Mickey: Of course you can!! Thanks so much for being on the blog today, Cambria! It was a pleasure!
Cambria: Thank you for having me here!!! I had so much fun!

Author. Blogger. Latte Sipper.

Cambria Hebert is an author who wrote her first book at the age of fifteen. It was terrible. But the passion for writing never went away so years later when she opened her laptop and started typing she worked until she wrote a book that she hopes everyone will be as excited about as she is.


Cambria is obsessed with werewolves and is terrified of chickens (they are creepy!)She is an animal lover that would choose coffee over food and her favorite TV show is the Vampire Diaries (Hell-O Damon!).

Find Cambria Hebert:

facebook | twitter | website | pre-order | goodreads | youtube

Review: Jess Rothenberg - The Catastrophic History of You and Me

Jess Rothenberg - The Catastrophic History of You and Me

• Pub Date: February 21, 2012
• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Format: Hardcover 400pp
• Age Range: Young Adult

Dying of a broken heart is just the beginning.... Welcome to forever.

BRIE'S LIFE ENDS AT SIXTEEN: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally.

But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after.

With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

I checked this out from my local library. Here is my honest review:

Even though I have plenty of other books I actually NEED to read, the reviews of this one made me pick it up as soon as it came in at the library. And boy, were they spot on! This book is totally adorable, hilariously funny, and very heartwarming. It's awesome from page one until the very end.

Aubrie literally dies of a broken heart when her high school boyfriend of one year tells her that he doesn't love her. In the afterlife, she has a chance to make a change in the life that's going on without her, thanks to her new dead buddy, Patrick. But Brie doesn't know the whole story, and she's stubborn, not always willing to listen.

This book is about Aubrie's journey in the afterlife. She has a lot to learn about being dead, and Patrick has some surprises up his sleeves. There were a couple of things that I didn't really understand, and some stuff just felt a little too convenient, but I really shouldn't think that hard about this book. It's a light, quick, very enjoyable read.

What I liked:

• Patrick. He's always sarcastic with her but constantly trying to help. His story is pretty moving.
• The funny. This book has such a sense of humor! I really like Rothenberg's writing. I look forward to more books of hers with this kind of sass.
• The idea. It's always comforting to hope that something along these lines will happen when we die.
  

What I didn't like:

• Capital letters. They were all over the place! I get it, but no. It really bothered me since I'm such a stickler. Plus there was some yuck editing on one page. Bah.
  
• Larkin. Well yeah.. it was her fault but not really. A girl's gotta try, right?
• The misunderstanding. Of course, most books have something like this. People overhear just the right snippet, see just a little thing, and turn it into something it's totally not. It causes a lot of drama in this book, but it's for the best I guess.
  

Bottom Line: Definitely check out this cute, funny, lovely book!

Rating:


4/5 book sharks!

Review: Veronica Rossi - Under the Never Sky

Veronica Rossi - Under the Never Sky

• Pub Date: January 3, 2012
• Publisher: Harper Audio
• Format: CD 9hr 39min
• Age Range: Young Adult

Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland - known as The Death Shop - are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild - a savage - and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile - everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

I received an ARC from Net Galley. Here's my honest review:

I tried this one a couple different ways. Reading the eARC just wasn't doing it for me. I met the author at a Dark Days event and still couldn't get into it. I finally gave it some time and got the audio book. MUCH better. Not sure why I was having such a tough time at the beginning, but this seemed to be a common complaint. After a while, though, the book gets much more interesting and easier to get lost in. Told in alternating points of view, Under the Never Sky will suck you into its world. You'll be asking for more, but not always in the good way.

The sudden love story doesn't always mesh with me, and in this one, it didn't feel forced but it did feel a bit off. While I grew to like them as a couple, the story obviously doesn't bode well for them. I guess we'll just have to wait for the next one to see how it all unfolds. But Aria is a brave yet naive girl. She has a lot to learn, as does Perry. Honestly, I liked his POV better.

This book has a bunch of twists and turns, and you never really know who's telling the truth. It contains a story about a dystopic society with two different classes of people, and when the worlds collide you never know what can happen. It's definitely entertaining once you get through a few chapters. I'm just glad I finally finished it!! But be prepared to not have all of your questions answered. It's a series, but it ends with everything up in the air!

Bottom Line: Check this out if you want a totally different dystopian read.

Rating:

3.5 / 5 book sharks