Guest Post: T.K. Richardson

Hello everyone. I hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday. Today I would like to share with you all a guest post that T.K. Richardson, author of the YA novel Return the Heart, was so kind enough to write for my blog.
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Generosity
By T.K. Richardson

Thank you for having me here today and for featuring my YA novel Return the Heart! I look forward to getting to know you and your readers. Today I would like to talk a little about generosity. Being an author has given me the opportunity to meet lots of great new people, and to talk about my book. But today I’d like to take a different turn and talk about something that is very important to me – helping others.

As an author most people would think my first priority is to promote my book. While this is important, it also opens the door for me to reveal a little bit more about the things I’m passionate about. One of those things is helping children.

Recently I helped co-found A Heart For Books and Kids. It’s a program encouraging writers, readers, bloggers, and people in the publishing industry, to donate their used books to children in foster care.

Giving is very important to me, and when we give to those less fortunate than us, something beautiful happens – a change begins to occur within. So whether you’re passionate about foster care, the homeless, battered women, promoting literacy, or any number of other causes, I would like to encourage you to step out and do something about it.

When you join with others who are doing the same thing, a beautiful thing occurs – your single voice joins with many, and like a choir, is beautiful and effective.

While I hope you read and enjoy my new YA novel Return the Heart, I also hope you will remember those around you, too. Giving to others is contagious – so give and pass on the joy of a good book!

Thank you for having me here today. If you would like to know more about Return the Heart you can visit my website at http://tkrichardson.com/ . If you would like to know how you can help a child in need you can visit a Heart For Books And Kids at http://aheartforbooksandkids.blogspot.com/

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I hope you all enjoyed this guest post and that it has inspired you to help make the world a better place by donating some of your unwanted or duplicate books. I don't know if any of you remember but I did a contest a few months back, during my blogoversary celebration, where I gave the entrants the option to opt out of some of the books on the prize list that they didn't want. The winner had opted out of four books; I through in three more that I had for good measure and a total of seven books were then donated to a nearby Children's Hospital. I cannot begin to describe the happiness and joy I felt knowing that a sick child would be able to find escape from whatever they were going through in one of the books I provided.

Helping others is a wonderful thing and I would like to give a huge thanks to T.K. for writing this post. Also, thanks to all of you who have taken the time to stop and read this guest post.

Noteworthy Passages: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: August 31st, 2010
Pages: 335
Age Level: 14+

Synopsis via GoodReads
Wierd as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

Noteworthy Passages

Evie; pg. 2
Tasers are a one-size-fits-all paranormal butt-kicking option. Mine's pink with rhinestones. Tasey and I have had a lot of good times together.
The vamp twitched on the ground, unconscious. He looked kind of pathetic now; I almost felt bad for him. Imagine your grandpa. Now imagine your grandpa minus fifty pounds plus two hundred years. That's who I'd just electrified.

Evie; pg. 36
Lish tried to swear--which is always funny, because the computer won't translate it. It went something like this: "Bleep stupid bleep bleep faeries and their bleep bleep bleep obsessions. He had better stop bleep bleep bleep the bleep bleep rules or I will bleep bleep bleep the little bleeeeeeeeeeep." All in a completely robotic monotone. Awesome. Lish could really get going sometimes.

Evie; pg. 115
I let her take my good hand and walk me to the infirmary. The doctor was a pleasant werewolf in her midforties. I hadn't been in here since I sprained my ankle two years ago. And, no, it wasn't in some exciting way, being chased through a graveyard by a vamp or anything. I sprained it while rocking out to my iPod alone in my room. Apparently hip-hop is not my calling.

Evie; pg. 206
Lend was waiting when I came out and I followed him down the stairs. The two bolted doors were open now. Wondering what I would find, I walked into the kitchen behind Lend and stopped dead.
Lend's dad, two werewolves, and a vampire. It was like the setup to a bad joke or something. A doctor, two werewolves, and a vampire walk into a bar. "What'll you have?" the bartender asks. "We were thinking him," the vampire answers, eyeing the doctor.
Okay, jokes weren't my strong point.

Evie, John, & Lend; pg. 271-272
We sat down and Lend put his arm around me. Every single jaw at the table dropped.
"Man," John said, shaking his head. "All this time I was pretty sure you were gay."
I batted my eyes innocently. "I'm sorry, John. Are you disappointed?" Everyone laughed, and John grinned.
"Maybe a little," he answered, scooting into Lend's free side to cuddle up.
"Oh, get off me." Lend shoved him off the bench.

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Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed my passage picks for Paranormalcy. There were even more Noteworthy Passages but I didn't want to give too much away, allowing you to discover them on your own. This was an awesome book and I really hope this post along with my Review are enough to make you want to snatch it up.

I'd love to hear your thoughts so feel free to leave them in the comments and thanks for stopping by. :D









PLEASE NOTE: This is a feature hosted here at my blog in which I present you with selected passages or quotes that I deem Noteworthy from a book I've just reviewed. My hopes are of course, that these passages will make you want to pick the book up and read it. This feature was started and created by me in January in hopes of making my blog more unique. That being said, I would like to kindly request that you do not use this feature as it was intended to be for my blog only and is not a meme. If you see some one else using it, please know it is without my permission. Thank you.

Happy Release Day & Review: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: August 31st, 2010
Pages: 335
Age Level: 14+

Synopsis via GoodReads
Wierd as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

Review
Paranormalcy is an invigorating breath of fresh air amongst the done-to-death stories in the paranormal genre. I soaked up and loved every single moment of this amazingly original story.

In Evie, White created a smart, sassy, lovable, and beautifully developed heroine. She had such a distinguishable voice and I really enjoyed watching her grow as a character throughout the book. I also loved Evie's friendship with Lish, the mermaid. Lish herself was such a unique character; despite being a paranormal, she mostly enjoyed working for IPCA and she was so sweet and funny, a perfect best friend for Evie. Raquel is the one mostly in control at IPCA and sort of acts as a mom for Evie. She could be very strict and occasionally unreasonable but you could tell that she really did care about Evie and see her as a daughter in her own way. Now what you've all been waiting for; I'm going to talk about the two guys fighting over Evie. *swoon* First there is Reth, the faerie; he was unbelieveably dark and dangerously enticing. Part of me wanted him but knew I shouldn't. Then we have the lovely Lend who comes along, forcing Evie to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her position with IPCA. He opens up her mind to the things around her that she has been oblivious too. Plus he's a rock awesome paranormal, cute, sweet, attentive, and has a great sense of humor. So while Reth may have borrowed my heart a couple of times, Lend was who ended up walking away with it for keeps.

Paranormalcy is one of those books that grabs you and snatches you into the story from the very first page. It doesn't hesitate when it comes to jumping into the action and getting things rolling. It was so fast-paced, witty, and full of action and suspense; I never wanted it to end. I loved the incorporation of all the various paranormals throughout the story; it really spiced things up. Also, Paranormalcy seemed to have an almost dystopian-like quality, only set in modern time, that I really liked. Not the whole book but everything dealing with IPCA. Maybe it's just me but I got that kind of vibe throughout the story with the way things were playing out and the realizations Evie came to. Not to mention some of the slightly moral questions it made both Evie and I ponder. Anywho. The story overall was just brilliantly plotted!

White's writing was very keenly crafted and you can definitely tell she has a writing style all her own, a writing style that I very much enjoyed and relished every moment of.

The ending didn't have some huge cliffhanger which I'm actually somewhat grateful for; honestly I don't think I could bear all the extra suspense without going whack-o waiting for the next book. *eye twitches* I did love the ending though and it was plenty enough to leave me excited for what's to come.

In the end, Paranormalcy was a continuously engaging work of genius unlike any other book I've ever read; and that is saying a LOT these days. I give two thumbs way, way up to Kiersten White. I recommend this book to everyone and if you ignore my recommendation and don't read Paranormalcy, I'll send IPCA to bag-and-tag your bleep, only releasing you once you've read the book. So as you can see, I'm not exactly giving you a choice. ;P Personally, I already feel like reading this book again and I can't wait for more.

Grade
Characters: A+
Writing: A
Plot: A+
Ending: A-
#1 in Series: A
Enjoyment/Likability: A+
Recommendable: A+

Overall: A+ (Up until now, only ONE book has held this title. Paranormalcy is now the second to receive an A+)

Cover: A-

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO PARANORMALCY BY KIERSTEN WHITE!!!

Author Interview: T.K. Richardson

Hello everyone and welcome. Today I would like to introduce you all to the sweet and lovely T.K. Richardson, author of the YA novel Return the Heart.

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TBP: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

TKR: I’m a mom and I love to travel and cook - although I’m not really good at cooking. And I wrote Return the Heart, a young adult novel.

TBP: Give us a brief description of your book.

TKR: Return the Heart was inspired by my children, my love for Russian history and literature, and a desire to create a captivating story that would delight teens. What followed is a story filled with action, secret gifts, a seedy underworld, and more twists and revelations than the reader expects. Toss in a Russian element and Return the Heart is like an action movie about teens and for teens.

TBP: Do you have any other books currently in the works?

TKR: I do have more books in the works. The sequel to Return the Heart is entering the final stages. The title is Shield the Heart. Also, I have a non-fiction book I’m working on, and a few others that are on the back burner.

TBP: What do your initials T.K. stand for?

TKR: You’re the first one to ask me that, and I’m going to have to stay silent on that one! :)

TBP: What inspired you to not only sponsor a Christian based orphanage in India, but to advocate for abused and neglected children in your own area as well?

TKR: For several years my hubby and I were foster parents. Over a five year span we fostered and care for over 100 children who were abused and neglected. It was a privilege and an honor to care for these children, and it opened my eyes to the needs of this silent minority.

The orphanage in India was a special invitation from the people who opened the facility several years ago. They care for, clothe, house, educate, and love the orphans of India and to me caring for children is one of the most important things anyone can do.

TBP: You are a member of a group called 'A Heart for Books and Kids'. Could you tell us a little more about that and your part in it?

TKR: I’d love to tell you about this. This was actually started back in March of 2010 on my blog. I wanted to raise awareness for the plight of children in the foster care system. So the first fundraiser was started. I announced on my blog that I was trying to get book donations for these kids and I asked people to join me and to donate books in their cities. In my own city we collected 422 books! That meant 422 kids would have a book to call their own. It was a huge success. A Heart for Books and Kids was born from this effort. Two writer friends joined with me, and although we’re spread across the country, we have the same drive and heart for kids. We work as a team to collect books and to encourage others to do the same in their communities.

TBP: If you could co-write a book with any other YA author, who would it be and why?

TKR: I really enjoy Melissa Marr’s books and to co-write a book with her would be a dream come true. What I really like about her is the way she interacts with her readers. She comes across as being so down to earth and friendly. And of course, her stories are excellent!

TBP: Who is an author who's book(s) you really enjoy and feel is underrated, deserving of more attention from us readers?

TKR: I really enjoy much of Juliet Marillier’s writing. The first book I read of hers was wonderful. It was titled Wildwood Dancing. She’s a seasoned author and her books are fantastic. I don’t know that she’s underrated at all, but I do feel she’s deserving of everyone’s attention. I think many of you would like her books.

TBP: If you were to create your own 'Bucket List', what would be the first three things on it?

TKR: Ooh, I’ve had a bucket list for awhile now and I’m so glad you asked the question! I’d love to travel all over the world. Also I’d love to ride on the Orient Express (pictures of old black and white movies are what I think of). And the third thing, which is really the most prized thing on my list, would be to travel to Tolstoy’s family estate in Russia. That would be the pinnacle of my bucket list.

TBP: Anything else you'd like to add?

TKR: I would just like to thank you for having me here today and for featuring my YA novel RETURN THE HEART. I know I talked a lot about other topics, but I do hope that you and your readers enjoy reading my book. It’s getting great reviews from people of all ages.

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Well I hope all of you enjoyed the interview and will decide to pick up Richardson's YA book, Return the Heart. Maybe this is the first some of you are hearing about it in which case I'm glad to have helped spread the word.

Thank you, T.K. for letting me interview you and thanks to everyone else for stopping by. Remember, your comments mean a lot to me. :D