Liar Society Blog Tour

Please give a warm welcome to Lisa and Laura Roecker, two spectacular authors of the young adult novel, THE LIAR SOCIETY.

Check out my review of THE LIAR SOCIETY here.

Today they're here to inform all you wonderful blog readers of the grueling process they went through in order to get published, and also of a great giveaway you're definitely going to want to enter.  For all you aspiring authors out there, I hope their story inspires you to never give up on your dream :)

Connect with Lisa and Laura:
 Blog | Twitter | Goodreads

Buy THE LIAR SOCIETY:
Amazon ~ B&N ~ Borders ~ Book Depot

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LILA ON WRITING

Our writing career began one fateful night...er morning...in July of 2008. Lisa was bored at work and Laura was on maternity leave and both were exploring other options.

Lisa: Let's open up a boutique.
 
Laura: Ooh, good idea. We can set our own hours, bring the kids with us, it will be so. much. fun.

Lisa: Seriously! Oh, but what about money? Ouch. 

Laura: What about a movie theater? We could open one up and offer built-in childcare so moms can see movies during the day. It'll be a huge hit. (Laura's still ashamed of the fact that she actually did the following Google search: real estate, movie theaters, for sale, Ohio. Yep) 

Lisa: Yes! But, um, movie theaters are probably expensive to build. 

Laura: I've always wanted to write a book. Let's write a book together! I bet it's easy to get published. (Famous. Last. Words.)

Lisa: YES! I have the best idea ever. We can re-write the classics. I mean, no one's ever done that! (Famous. Last. Words.) I'll begin outlining stat.

And so it began. Our writing process then was exactly the same as our writing process now. Lisa writes the first chapter, Laura edits and writes the next chapter and sends it back to Lisa who continues until we're finished. If you own the document, you can change the document. No questions asked (although whenever we get the document back, we both scramble to past chapters and change BACK, but that's neither here nor there). 

A month later we had our first draft of The North Shore, which we sent around to some fabulous beta readers (ie friends and family) who all said they adored it (well, except for our dad who said it wasn't his cup of tea. I guess we should have known). But no, we figured we were golden! We wrote a kick-ass query for a less than kick-ass book, earned a ton of requests, but then... Re-Jec-Tion. 1,902,607,341 rejections to be exact.

Okay, fine, we're exaggerating, but apparently we were not golden. So, what did we learn? Some very kind agents who saw a glimmer of something-something in our writing, provided some super-helpful feedback and we worked very hard to apply it. Just not to that particular book. That particular book needed to die. Instead, we started fresh, with a new idea and we *gasp* found beta readers who were not our family! Best advice ever. Find beta readers who WRITE. 

When we queried with The Liar Society, then titled Finding Grace, we earned three offers of representation within a week! Many conversations later, we decided to go with Catherine Drayton, whose vision for the series most closely resembled our own.

And here we are.

Well... not exactly. Finding Grace turned into The Haunting of Pemberly Brown after editing for Catherine. And then editing some more. And more. And more and more and more. A lot of editors saw a little something-something, but only one saw the whole shebang. Dan Ehrenhaft acquired the book for Sourcebooks Fire, Sourcebooks' new YA line, and the rest is history. But let's just say there was a whole lot of editing involved in that history, including another change of title. Dan said The Haunting of Pemberly Brown sounded like a Jane Austen-style historical (not quite what we were going for) so The Liar Society was born. And then we edited for Kelly Barrales-Saylor and Leah Hultenschmidt and that's that.

So, what have we really learned?

1) Never trust friends and family as beta readers. They're just impressed you can write something longer than a term paper.

2) Connect with other writers. They need you just as much as you need them! Not only to read your crappy first drafts, but to support you along the way. Crying in your Cheerios is nothing to crying over Skype.

3) Don't be afraid to accept feedback. For better or worse, we're never completely married to our writing. It's always fluid and changing and we're not afraid to admit when something isn't working because usually, deep down, we knew it in the first place.

AND, in closing, our most important word of advice: NEVER TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY. Have fun with all of this, because it's fun, right?! If we're ever stressed or upset or overwhelmed or unhappy, we shut our computers and distance ourselves from the writing world. Sure enough, we always come back. Because now we understand what it means to actually enjoy our job. Granted, we still have a hard time calling what we do a job, but we always try to remember to appreciate every second of it. To quote Laura's wedding song and end on an EXTRA cheesy note, these are the days!

PS: We have a secret. Click here, hit the Pemberly Brown Plaque. The password is PINK.

And if you want to enter The Liar Society Blog Tour of Awesome contest, and really, who wouldn't want to enter!?! There's a $100 Amazon gift card up for grabs! Just click here and enter the super secret password, PINK, for an entry. Remember you can enter one time for each stop on our blog tour, so be sure to click here and see where else we're visiting this month to maximize your chances of winning.

Audi, Vide, Tace,

L&L

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Thanks for stopping by ladies!  I think I need to take your advice to heart.

As you can see with this vibrant banner, you can win a $100 Amazon gift card.  Just be sure to click on the image, which will direct you to Lisa and Laura's blog so you can learn more about this event.  (If the picture link is giving you hassle, here's a text link for you).

Tori's Review: The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

Paperback - 368 pages
Price: $9.99
ISBN 13: 978-1402256332 
Released: March 1, 2011

Lisa and Laura's Website 
Buy it via Amazon

Obtained: Authors 
Genre: YA 
Series: The Liar Society 
1. The Liar Society

Kate Lowry didn't think dead best friends could send e-mails. But when she gets an e-mail from Grace, she’s not so sure.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
Sent: Sun 9/14 11:59 PM
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)

Kate,
I'm here…
sort of.
Find Cameron.
He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell.
They'll hurt you.
 

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace’s death was more than just a tragic accident. But secrets haunt the halls of her elite private school. Secrets people will do anything to protect. Even if it means getting rid of the girl trying to solve a murder...

My Rating:

My Opinion:
THE LIAR SOCIETY is what I wish paranormal YA books would be like. While there were no paranormal elements in this story, I think a lot of YA authors could learn a thing or two by reading this.

First off, the heroine does not need to fall madly in love with some lame guy and drop everything for him, and I think Kate is a perfect example of how kick ass a heroine could be when she's not obsessing 24/7 over a guy. Loyalty is also an important factor to include in a book, which, surprisingly, just happens to be missing in a lot of YAs. Thankfully, there's plenty in TLS to compensate. Also, there was enough action and suspense in the story to make me forget that I wasn't reading a paranormal book. Who knew?

The writing is amazing, and for the most part, I forgot this was a debut while reading. The plot was excellent, and kept me glued to the pages (read it in one afternoon!). The characters were interesting, and it was easy to relate with Kate. I wanted to scream for her at one point while she was stuck interacting with her parents. I'm thankful mine never behaved like that, but I knew plenty of friends who had nightmarish parents like Kate's.

I only have one (minor) complaint about the use of Latin within the novel. At first, I thought it was both interesting and unique to include, but then there were so many instances of it being used, that it kind of made me lose interest (in the plaques). Extremely minor, and I believe that many will be able to overlook this. For some reason, I couldn't after a while.

I was not expecting the twist at the end of the book, which is what I think made the story that much better! Definitely looking forward to future books by the Roecker ladies, and I hope that everyone else will give this debut a shot too! You won't be disappointed.

Tori's Review: The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

Hardcover - 304 pages
Price: $16.99
ISBN 10: 0547482477
ISBN 13: 978-0547482477
Released: March 7, 2011

Saundra's Website
Buy it via Amazon

Obtained: ARC Tour 
Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal/Historical)
Series: 
1. The Vespertine

It’s the summer of 1889, and Amelia van den Broek is new to Baltimore and eager to take in all the pleasures the city has to offer. But her gaiety is interrupted by disturbing, dreamlike visions she has only at sunset—visions that offer glimpses of the future. Soon, friends and strangers alike call on Amelia to hear her prophecies. However, a forbidden romance with Nathaniel, an artist, threatens the new life Amelia is building in Baltimore. This enigmatic young man is keeping secrets of his own—still, Amelia finds herself irrepressibly drawn to him. 

When one of her darkest visions comes to pass, Amelia’s world is thrown into chaos. And those around her begin to wonder if she’s not the seer of dark portents, but the cause.

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I wouldn't say that this book blew my mind, but it was interesting enough (once we got past the somewhat boring start) to keep me glued to the pages and finish this in one evening. Now, reading a book in one day does not seem like such a big deal, and normally, it wouldn't be for me (a few hours would be, though!). However, as of late, I have been having THE WORST difficulties when reading books. I'm not entirely sure why my burnout is still harassing me, but alas, it is. In that regard, this book was a godsend since I was actually able to keep going.

Amelia and Nathaniel's relationship is what ultimately kept me so involved with this story and is the first thing that I remember after a few weeks since snapping the book shut. While the secondary characters and world were interesting, I do not recall any names aside from the hero and heroine's. Most of this story's world has faded away, only to slowly resurface after I reread the back cover summary about four times just now. That in itself would have earned the book a 3 star rating, except that the relationship redeemed this story in my eyes. 

What makes THE VESPERTINE unique is the fact that Saundra writes the story at two different times in Amelia's life and alternates between them both. At first, this was somewhat confusing, and it definitely took some time to adjust to, but once I did, I looked forward to it. Our tale primarily occurs when Amelia is living with her cousin (I'm pretty sure Zora is her cousin), and then we fast forward a few months to where Amelia is currently. The contrast between the past and present Amelia are shocking. I initially thought she was a brat, only to pity her as the novel progressed.

I suppose some may find the hero to be somewhat stalker-ish; looking back, his behavior was borderline creepy, however, at the time, I enjoyed Nathaniel's black sheep persona. And when the two are discussing love... well, I sighed out loud. I'm such a sap.

Since time has passed since reading and writing this review, I don't have much to gush about. I would suggest this novel to others if one is searching for a story that will keep them entertained for a few hours. THE VESPERTINE is not the sort of YA that will make you want to throw your book against the wall, and this story is blessedly devoid of love triangles. I personally will not be buying a copy for myself after reading an ARC, but that's just because I'm broke and all the books I do currently own are trying to kick me out of my bedroom. For those of you who are intrigued by THE VESPERTINE, yet are somewhat reluctant due to it being a historical, I would suggest borrowing it from a friend or the library first to see if this sort of story is for you. For the rest of you, this is a solid paranormal YA that most will enjoy... with an awesome ending to boot!