Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
"NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?"- summary from Amazon

It took me a bit of time to get into this book. I mean, it was interesting enough to keep me turning pages but it wasn't until Ana got to Heart that things really started to pick up. From there, secrets were revealed, amazing fight scenes happened, and there was a very interesting climax.

I liked Ana's journey through the book, as she leaves isolation and meets new people, and has to rewire her thinking because her Guardian Li has been filling her head with lies. Meadows did a good job slowly changing this throughout the book. Ana and Sam were really cute together and I loved their interactions, seeing them do the will-they-won't-they dance. I also really liked some of the other characters we meet in Heart, like Stef and Armande.

The world-building of Heart and the soul reincarnation was done really well, though there's still some questions left unanswered and I hope those are addressed in the next two books. The climax was big and unexpected and I simply can't wait to see where Meadows takes us next!

Don't forget to take part in the Incarnate Theatre Treasure Hunt, which is going on until February 6!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Incarnate Theatre Treasure Hunt! + Interview with Katherine Taub

Welcome to the INCARNATE Theater Treasure Hunt!

This week, 45 bloggers are celebrating the release of INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows by participating in a treasure hunt with clues, activities, and lots of prizes including signed books and handknit fingerless mitts. You've reached a CLUE blog, which means somewhere on this page is a clue to finding the hidden page and grand prize entry form on Jodi's website. Follow 26 clues to get there!

For more information on the INCARNATE Theater Treasure Hunt, check out Jodi's post.

(Pictured above: a knitted version of Councilor Sine from the book!)

I have an interview today with Katherine Taub, the voice actress for the audiobook of Incarnate by Jodi Meadows.

1) What brought you to the world of audiobooks? Is Incarnate your first one, or have you done others previously? Is it difficult to make that transition from traditional acting to only using your voice?

Incarnate is my first Audiobook. I somewhat stumbled into the world of Audiobooks by chance. As an actress, I am always open and have my ears-peeled for new and exciting opportunities. A few years back, another actor friend told me about a general audition for an audiobook producer at Deyan Audio. It was there, where I met Bob Deyan, who produced the Incarnate Audiobook. We didn’t work together immediately, but we kept in touch until the right book came my way. As for making the transition from traditional acting to voice acting, it is not so much as difficult as it is different. I love it. I find it somewhat-freeing, although you are more physically confined. At least with the audiobook. Every movement I made was picked up on the microphone. So I had to sit very still. But there is also a freedom to just play – and I found myself using my face a lot to help emphasize the various characters. But because there is no camera, you don’t have to worry about looking silly or anything else for that matter. (No “hair & make-up” is always nice!)

2) What is the recording experience like? How long did it take to record Incarnate? Any funny anecdotes?

I had a ton of fun recording Incarnate! I recorded over about 4, 6 hour days. There was also a big learning curve as this was my first book. I learned that I had more control in the recording booth than I originally thought. If I didn’t like how I read something, I had the freedom to stop and re-do it. If I made a mistake, you just go back and pick it up again. I felt very supported by the directors and producer, who were all so nice and helpful. We were a team.

There were lots of funny mis-steps. Words that would just come out wrong or I would transpose letters. Towards the beginning of the book when Ana & Sam are near the cemetery, she refers to the copse. And I was convinced it read corpse. We got a chuckle out of that one. Hey, she was at the cemetery after-all!

3) How do you prepare for the recording and get into the mindset and voice of multiple characters?

I prepared by first reading the book very carefully, in its entirety, getting lost in the story. I tend to read books & scripts as if I am the characters living in their world. I think it is my imagination that fuels me as an actor. So I jumped in that way. Then I made a list of all of the characters. I sat down with that list and just started thinking like the different characters and improvising from their point of view. Often images, or physical characteristics of who they were would come to me. Like Li, to me she was just a Witch. So that informed how I wanted her to sound. And when I began speaking as her, her sound organically came out. Then I would make notes on that sound to remind me later. I color coded the whole script – with each character being a different color. And when they spoke, and I saw their color, my mind automatically knew who was speaking, which made it easier to jump between characters. Of course, there were times where I had to stop recording and get my bearings on who was speaking and make sure they sounded like they did the day before!

4) When not acting, what do you do in your spare time?

I am very fortunate to live by the beach, and love to take walks there or just spend time outside near the water. I love spending time with my friends and family. I also like to travel, do yoga, ski, try new restaurants, read and see movies. I’m a pretty normal girl!

5) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor (or flavors, if you're so inclined) or, if you don't like jelly beans, your favorite snack?

I’m more of a chocolate, sweets person! In all forms. Especially with caramel!. Rolos, Kitkats, brownies, that type of thing.



My clue for the password is . . . Fourth word: s
Remember, there are no spaces in this password!

Check out these other clue blogs (this is not the whole list):

Fictional Distraction
Stuck In YA Books
Ramblings (of a fiber obsessed transplant Vermonter)

In My Mailbox- Week of January 23 + Retrospective

I'm back with a vlog this week since I got a lot of great books this week (and have batteries!)! Enjoy!




Books Shown:

Perception by Kim Harrington (ARC, March 2012)
Spin by Catherine McKenzie (paperback, Feb 2012)
What Happened to Hannah by Mary Kay McComas (paperback, Jan 2012)
Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown (ARC, July 2012)
The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (ARC, June 2012)
A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (ARC, June 2012)
Revived by Cat Patrick (ARC, May 2012)
Belles by Jen Calonita (ARC, April 2012)
The White Glove War by Katie Crouch and Grady Hendrix (ARC, July 2012)
The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze (ARC, May 2012)
The Boy Recession by Flynn Meaney (ARC, August 2012)
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (ARC, April 2012)
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi (ARC, May 2012)
Purity by Jackson Pearce (ARC, April 2012)
172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad (ARC, April 2012)

and here's this past week's retrospective:

Monday- I posted my thoughts on negative reviews, Goodreads, and author behavior. Please take part in the discussion!

Tuesday- I reviewed Cinder by Marissa Meyer, which is in stores now! The post now contains a snippet from the audio book.

Wednesday- I posted a long-awaited Ask Book Chic and need more questions! Feel free to leave your questions in the comments or send me an email.

Thursday- I reviewed Truth by Julia Karr, which is out in stores now!

Friday- I posted my review policy, which I'm very excited about!

Saturday- I reviewed Ditched by Robin Mellom, which is out in stores now!

Ditched by Robin Mellom

Ditched by Robin Mellom
"High school senior Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat, handle first.

Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.

Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

And then ditched her.

Now, as the sun rises over her small town, and with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven, Justina must piece together -- stain by stain on her thrift-store dress -- exactly how she ended up dateless. A three-legged Chihuahua was involved. Along with a demolition derby-ready Cadillac. And there was that incident at the tattoo parlor. Plus the flying leap from Brian Sontag's moving car...

But to get the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. And discover if losing out at prom can ultimately lead to true love."- summary from Amazon

Oh my goodness, this is a funny book! It was a great break from a lot of books I've been reading lately. I loved the back-and-forth of the novel, reading Gilda and Donna's reactions as Justina recalls her prom night. There's also a really cute thing in the book where there's a picture of the dress and an arrow pointing to a particular stain or bruise right before the chapter that brings about the next part of the story (I hope that made sense).

The summary should already clue you in, but this is a crazy adventure that propels the reader through the story. Justina's voice is perfect and she is a flawed character but as she retells the story to other people, she grows and reconsiders how she went about handling everything. There isn't just the present day and the day before though; Justina recounts a lot of memories that help flesh out all the characters we meet.

Ian and Justina make such great friends and it was so cute to see them together. I also particularly enjoyed the Mikes and their dates- they were very funny but also very helpful and sincere when Justina needed help.

Overall, a hilarious, fabulous debut and I'm really eager to read more from Mellom!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Review Policy

Yes, I'm finally doing one, after over 4.5 years of blogging. I never really needed one until recently because I didn't get many requests that needed to be denied. But the requests have gotten quadrupled in the past two months for some reason; I feel like I've had sort of a low-key blog for a long time (people may disagree, but that's how I see it). Anyway, let's get this show on the road:

What I Review: This is mainly a book blog for Young Adult titles, but I do occasionally review middle-grade and adult titles. I am open to pretty much any genre within the YA world. However, in the case of non-YA books, I will actively seek them out if I'm interested. I am only open to books being published by major publishers with smaller publishers being considered on a book-by-book basis. I do not accept any self-published work. Here's a list of other places that do accept small press and self-published books.

Who I Accept Requests From: I am open to receiving requests from publicists (either in-house or third party) and authors, preferably through my email (bookchicclub-at-gmail-dot-com) though I am fine with requests coming into my Facebook or Goodreads accounts. Please do not send a request to me through Twitter; I will ignore it.

Book Formats: I vastly prefer a physical copy of either an ARC or finished copy, but do read e-galleys that I've gotten through Netgalley or Simon and Schuster Galley Grab from time to time. PDFs/Word docs are fine as well.

How/When I Review: I generally review books in the month they are released, or anytime after. It is rare that I review a book way ahead of its release date. I also cannot read and review every book I receive, but precedence is given to books I personally request as well as any book I agreed to after reading a pitch. I try to make my reviews as professional as possible while still keeping my voice (which includes the occasional LOL and exclamation point). I do not do lengthy literary critiques. While my reviews are mainly on the positive side, that will not always be the case but I will be respectful in any negative review I post (or when dealing with aspects of the novel that I did not like). You can also check these posts (How I Write Reviews and Negative Reviews) if you want to read more about my review process.

Guest Blogs/Interviews: I am open to guest blogs if I have the space for it in my schedule; email me if you have a topic you'd like to write about. As for interviews, if I want to interview you, I will send you an email asking about it.

Disclosure: The vast majority of the books I read and review are provided by the publisher or, in rare instances, the author. I am an Amazon Associate, and include that in the link to buy the book. I do not accept/receive monetary compensation in exchange for my reviews.


You can read me more about me personally here, and also see a (somewhat) complete list of reviews here. If you don't want to go through my whole bio, here are two very important things you should know before sending a request my way: 1) My name is James (or Book Chic, but I am not Maggie- yes, this happened) and 2) I am a male blogger.

I will update this as needed so always be sure to check here before sending a request in case anything has changed. If there are any questions or clarification is needed, please leave a comment or email me.