Armchair BEA 2015: Giveaway

It is the fourth and final day of Armchair BEA.  The themes are Giveaways and Book-to-Movie Adaptations.  I am choosing to host a giveaway.

One of the major themes of Armchair BEA is experiencing an event and a community online, since we aren't able to do it in person.  That inspired my giveaway.

A few weeks ago, I went to a Fierce Reads Spring Fling tour event at Blue Willow Bookshop.  (You'll note that the second leg of the tour starts tomorrow, at BookCon.)

It was a great event - they had a photo area with a backdrop and lots of props, bingo with custom cards, and the store provided a raffle.  Katie Finn, Lynne Matson, Marie Rutkoski, and Lindsay Smith were all promoting the second books in their series, so they were all a bit handicapped about what they could talk about.  I was familiar with most of their books, but understood that it was likely not everyone in the audience had read them.

My reviews of:
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn
Sekret by Lindsay Smith

They could talk odd coincidences, like how Finn and Matson's books both start in a Target.  (Finn did that because she strangely seems to always wear her one red shirt to Target.)  The authors also talked about worldbuilding and how it can drive plot.  Rutkoski first decided that her more martial culture would carry knives and then that they would allow duels.  At that point, she knew that there had to be a duel in THE WINNER'S CURSE.  It seems like most of them were pantsers, which is a big problem when you're writing the second book in a trilogy!

Anyway, part of the fun of an event like this is all the swag.  So I'm giving away a swag pack!  There is a Fierce Reads tour poster signed by Finn, Matson, Rutkoski, and Smith, plus a Fierce Reads pen.  There are two bookmarks and a pin for Nil and Nil Unlocked by Matson.  There is a watermelon soy chapstick for Finn's series.  There are two bookmarks for Rutkoski, plus two bookmarks from Smith - one for her upcoming novel Dreamstrider.

BONUS ROUND!  For every ten entries, I'll add more swag to the swag pack.  And believe me, I have all sorts of cool stuff - including more posters.

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Review: Sekret

By Lindsay Smith
Available now from Roaring Brook Press
Review copy

SEKRET is set in the Cold War-era USSR, when Nikita Krushchev was in power.  Heroine Yulia is in hiding with her mother and brother.  They used to be part of the Party, but then their father turned traitor and fled.  Now they survive based on her mother's medical skills and Yulia's talent for fencing medicine.  But things are about to change.

Because in SEKRET's Soviet Union, there are psychics.  Yulia just happens to be one of them, and her government wants her.  Working for the government means better food, better clothes, care for her brother, training in her powers.  It also means working for the government.  Getting people killed. Other bad things.  Yulia knows she has to escape, but doesn't know how to escape from people who can read her mind or predict her every move.  Escaping might not mean freedom, either.  It might mean working for another country's government instead.  It might also mean the execution of her brother and mother.  Yulia's stuck, unless she's very, very clever.

Not one of SEKRET's twists surprised me.   That didn't matter much, because I still enjoyed reading it.  I liked most of the other psychics, and felt for Yulia and them both when their motives conflicted.  SEKRET doesn't shy away from how hard it can be to live with people whose goals only partially align with yours and who have the ability to discern just where you diverge.

The relationships between the kids aren't restricted to friendship and suspicion.  There is romance.  It is not a love triangle of the type where the heroine can't decide between two guys, although two boys are involved.  Yulia is only interested in one of guys, which causes a great deal of friction.  (And, well, there aren't an equal number of girl and guy psychics, so pickings are slim.)  I liked Yulia and Valentin's relationship, which develops as they begin to trust each other, and is both sweet and sexy.

I think SEKRET will appeal to fans of spy thrillers who don't mind a bit of genetic mutation in their plot.  Smith mixes the science fiction and history well so that both are integral to the story.  Best of all, the Soviet Union-United States space race is involved.  Smith's debut novel is quite the thriller, intriguing characters and concepts more than making up for a predictable plot.