Sunday, April 17, 2011

Possession ARC giveaway #ElanasPossessionispowerful

I received my very first ARC in the mail last week and whipped through Elana Johnson's fantastic book. Help me spread "the buzz" about this great debut. I'm giving the ARC away, see below for more details.

My Round of Words in 80 days (ROW80) update is one I'm all keen to gush about. A couple weeks I posted about one of Donald Maass' great books on writing craft, the Fire in Fiction. This past week I've been busy doing all the exercises suggested in the Fire in Fiction for my WIP and I am THRILLED with the results.  I made some major breakthroughs with my characters, especially my antagonists (yes, I have two of them. One is a false cover for the real antogonist). (Love to be sneaky like that). 

Here's ROW80 updates from my partners Susan Kaye Quinn and Sheri Larsen.

Now back to Possession.  Elana Johnson's blog was one of the very first I started following, and it has been so fun hearing about her getting an agent, then a book deal, then the whole pre-pub process. She is so friendly and helpful and enthusiastic #Elanalove! I was so excited to finally read her book and I couldn't put it down.

Have you seen the movie Inception? You know, the dream within a dream within a dream mind-bender of a movie? Possession is like the YA dystopian version of Inception, with mind-control instead of dreams. It has you constantly guessing who is controlling who, and half the characters don't even know if they are the ones controlling or being controlled. It's wild and the tension is non-stop.

There's this wicked awesome thing called "techtricity" and all sorts of cool science-fiction gadgets. The walls move and talk and OMGosh the futuristic cell-phones are scary-cool.

But the heart of the story are the characters, Violet (Vi) who is all prickly attitude on the outside, and frightened heart on the inside, and she's falling for Jag though she's scared of what he represents. He's slick and smart and heroic and always keeps you guessing. 

Here's a little snippet that I loved, which gives you an idea of the tension of their relationship:
Jag caught up and fell into step beside me. He walked close enough to hold hands and far enough away that words could never repair the damage we'd done to each other.
And yet, there is some beautiful tenderness between Vi and Jag. I loved how"Vi talk" and "Jag speak" worked between the two of them. The tenderness and tension played a constant tug-of-war throughout the book.

Here's a snippet that gives a taste of the wonderful complexity that is Vi:
Gavin's face paled, her eyes hardened, and her smile vanished. "Vi?" she asked, her eyes darting between Jag and me. "The Vi?"
Having "the" put in front of your name automatically increases your status. Like The President or The Director or The End. Think about it. It wouldn't be the same if it were just End. I felt like it was The End for me because it clearly wasn't a good The.
The end packs some great twists and a great set-up for a sequel. Yeah, it satisfies you just enough while also leaving you hanging in anticipation for more.

ARCs are all about promotion and getting the word out. So please help me spread some buzz about this great book. To enter to win Possession, you must spread the word about the book (not necessarily my giveaway - I want this to be about Elana's great book, not my blog). 

If you tweet, please put #ElanasPossessionispowerful @ElanaJ somewhere in there so I can credit you and Elana can feel the love!You get an entry for leaving me a comment telling me you promoted the book someway, plus an extra entry for every tweet, facebook, or mention on your blog (if you facebook it or link it on your blog you'll have to tell me, otherwise I won't be able to find it to give you credit)

The giveaway is open until April 30th. 

Please go spread the word about this great debut! And tell me what debut novel you want me to help spread the word about, too. I'm all for supporting debuts (hope to have a debut book someday too!)

41 comments:

  1. Other bloggers I follow have been talking about this book. Everyone seems to have enjoyed reading their ARCs.

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  2. Congratulations on your first ARC. :)
    I tweeted the giveaway as instructed. :)
    So if "Fire in Fiction" is helping, then maybe, just maybe you will be done by let's say the end of May? ;)

    Happy Writing!!!

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  3. It sounds so good and I love that you called it a YA dystopian version of Inception! If I got my hands on this ARC, my fifteen-year-old would steal it and brag to all her friends that she'd read a book that hadn't come out yet (she'd get all her friends excited for it too!). Very cool post :)

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  4. Love the post, especially since I just won a copy of this ARC and am waiting for it to arrive. So glad you liked it, I could feel the energy pop off your page!!
    erica

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  5. yay! that book sounds excellent! it's great to hear how excited everyone is about it! whoo hoo for elana!

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  6. That's great that Maass' book helped you! I have a copy and plan to read it between finishing the first draft of my WIP and editing. Based on the sad state my first draft is in right now, I think I'm really going to need it! :)

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  7. Wow this sounds great!! You're so wonderful for spreading the support and love like always :)

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  8. I'm hearing so much about this great book. I love books that are hard to put down. I'm really happy for Elana.

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  9. Yay for your wip!!!!! It's so great to read just how excited you are about your current novel! Wonderful!!

    And Yay for your review of Possession!! Great stuff! Take care
    x

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  10. I can't wait to read this book! Though I'm not entering for the arc b/c I've won 2 preordered copies when it comes out in June. Can't' wait!

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  11. SQUEEE I WANT that book. Even before you said a word I wanted it. So I will go tweet that right now.

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  12. I have an ARC of Possession so don't enter me in the giveaway. The book did have me guess who was controlling and who was being controlled? And the end completely threw me.

    Good luck to those entering to win the book!

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  13. Hi, Margo!

    I'm dying to read this book! Off to tweet it up right now! :)

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  14. Hey Margo,

    What an excellent review! I am so glad I came across your blog due to the promotion for this giveaway. Congrats on the WIP! I have been REALLY looking forward to reading this book, since it seems to be such a riveting read. It would definitely be amazing to win & be able to read this ARC copy of Possession. THANK YOU for hosting this amazing giveaway.

    I tweeted about the giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/inluvwithbookz/status/60030573586030592

    I am going to be mentioning Possession and Elana Johnson on my ~Sunday Stew~ post next Sunday (a weekly meme) - but I'll come back and post links for that, then! :) Thank you, again, for this opportunity! :D

    ~Hira~
    GFC Follower: Enamored Soul
    Email: Enamoredsoul(at)gmail(dot)com
    Twitter: @inluvwithbookz
    Website: http://ibetuthinkthisblogisaboutyou.blogspot.com/

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  15. I've been hearing lots of great things about Possession but the Inception analogy was new to me. Yes, please! And isn't it awesome when a craft book kicks your WIP up a notch? Glad ROW80 is going well.
    - Sophia.

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  16. Hi there! Elana is a good person and writer friend and I can't WAIT to read this book. I was lucky enough to create some special JAG jewelry for her (based on a certain passage she sent me)--so I need me some Jag NOW ;-)

    Off to tweet!

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  17. Thanks for the giveaway! I really want to read Possession, I've heard such great things about it!

    Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/#!/SusieBookworm/status/60086744929943552

    susanna dot pyatt at student dot rcsnc dot org

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  18. Hi Margo! Yes! I've seen Inception and loved the movie. If you say Possession is like YA dystopian version of it then I'm sure I'm gonna love this book! Plus, I'm seeing a lot of positive reviews toward Possession. So yeah. Thanks for giving away a copy of it and for doing a review as well. :)

    Tweeted:
    http://twitter.com/Peppermint1013/status/60150617653514240

    -Danah
    icrave13@hotmail.com

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  19. I heard a lot about this book! :) if it's anything like Inception, tehn it must be awesome! LOL

    I twitted: http://twitter.com/#!/vollkopf/status/60157923640356864

    oh, if it's international, please count me in. :)

    kah_cherub at hotmail dot com

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  20. I went ga ga for Inception. POSSESSION sounds even more delicious. Loved Elana's blog as well. Thanks for the connection. I tweeted #ElanasPossessionispowerful @ElanaJ and mentioned the book.

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  21. Ooh! You did an amazing job spreading excitement for this book. If ever I sell a book, I want you to market it! My blog partner just won an ARC of posession and now I WANT IT. !!!!!! :0) christy

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  22. I'm dying to read POSSESSION. Both Elana and another debut author friend of mine (Janet Gurtler, I'M NOT HER) will be doing guest posts on my blog in the next two months. ;)

    LOL You and I were on the same Donald Maass wave length today. :D

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  23. Yay for progress on your ROW80! I'll have to check back for Elana's awesome giveaway...off to do my check-in! :)

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  24. I am dying to read this book. I met Elaina about a year and a half ago at a writer's conference. She is a genuinely nice person and I wish her all the success in the world. I will tweet about this contest.

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  25. I loved your review. SO well done, makes me want to have that book immediately. THe descriptions you showed, the relationships between characters, ah, it looks great. How exciting. I am on the A-Z and came by your blog to check you out.

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  26. Great review! I loved the book too, especially Vi and all her snarkiness.

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  27. Congrats on the ARC, an awesome one at that(or so i've heard ;)

    I'd love to see DIE FOR ME by Amy Plum get even more attention. I read it on Netgalley A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!

    tweeted:http://twitter.com/RTeenBookworm/status/60423306003750912

    post in blog sidebar(under "other cool contests"): http://fayeflamereviews.blogspot.com/

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=210112429008066&id=100001429178835

    Thanks!

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  28. I'm reading it now--super cool book!!!

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  29. Congrats on your gush-worthy update! It's so fun to use great advice and actually make progress in your work. Keep at it!

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  30. Margo, I've heard good about this book so far. Happy to help spread the word. Tweeted here http://twitter.com/#!/JL_Campbell/status/60517703621947392
    Hope the book does well!

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  31. Possession is on my TBR list - I can't wait to read it!

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  32. Elana gives so much that it's lovely to see everyone reaching out to help her back! Great review!

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  33. Hurray for Elana and POSSESSION!!

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  34. http://twitter.com/#!/Onuoha96
    I tweeted.
    Thanks for the giveaway.
    Pokadots1121@yahoo.com

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  35. Her book sounds amazing! I tweeted.

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. The book sounds interesting! Been going around with a dozen other dystopian-fiction. Dystopian craze!

    Tweeted! :

    https://twitter.com/#!/BookyAnki

    coolccs.anki@gmail.com

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  38. I can't wait to read Elana's book! So happy for her... and you for getting an ARC. WOW, Lucky!!!

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  39. I have heard amazing things about Elana's book, as well. So I tweeted it @narrawriter (as per instructions).
    hatfield98us(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  40. I'm extremely excited for this release!! It really sounds fantastic :)

    spread here
    http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/117467-possession-arc-giveaway

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

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