Happy Release Day for Sea!

Khy, Erica, Zoe, Vaina, Sarah Ockler, and I made this awesome colab video about SEA LOVE! I hope you enjoy it. Sea is such a great book and I adore it.

Sea by Heidi R. Kling

Rating:
Characters: 18/20
Plot: 19/20
Originality: 18/20
Writing: 20/20
Recommendation: 19/20
Overall: 94/100 or A
Source: Publisher
Sienna Jones has been haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother's disappearance over the Indian Ocean three years before. She reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father's volunteer team. They are traveling to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphan Deni. He is more like Sea then anyone that she has ever met, but she knows that they can't be together. Yet she can't stay away from him. Also her old best friend Spider may or may not be waiting for her back home. Her dad still hasn't told the truth about her mother's plane. It seems the further away from home, the closer she gets to the truth.
Sienna is a strong character. She has to find closure in her mother's death and also if she has true feelings with Spider. I like how caring and driven she was. She also travels to Indonesia to help people and I really like all of the courage that she had. I really liked Spider and Deni. They were great characters and I found Deni's past to be interesting and amazing. Elli was a cute character that made my day and I really loved how sweet she was. The plot of Sea was a quick read. It was addictive and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I loved how the culture and setting were pulled into the book. The originality of Sea was amazing. It had a lot of great characters and plot. Kling created a grand book. Her writing is magical and graceful. I felt that I knew who Sienna was by the end of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone. Sea is the journey of Sienna to find out who she is and what her place in the world was. I can't wait to read more from Kling.

Trailer Tuesday (11)

Here is the trailer of Sea made by Vania. I think it shows the book pretty well

Interview with Heidi R. Kling

I was lucky enough to get an interview with Heidi R. Kling. Her book Sea, comes out on June 10th. I have read Sea and it is a stunning book that is one of a kind. Here is a summary of Sea:

Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother’s disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen-year old California girl Sienna Jones reluctantly travels with her psychiatrist father’s volunteer team to six-months post-tsunami Indonesia where she meets the scarred and soulful orphaned boy, Deni, who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.
She knows they can’t be together, so why can’t she stay away from him? And what about her old best friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why won’t her dad tell her the truth about her mother’s plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to finding answers. And Sea’s real adventure begins.

Also here is a bit about Heidi:

Heidi R. Kling earned her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School and her BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. In addition to authoring novels, she writes and directs theatre for kids and teens and spends way too much time online as creator/co-moderator for the 2010 YA debut group: “The 10′ers.” She runs on coconut cupcakes, half-caf. coffee drinks, and aha! moments. A native California girl, Heidi lives with her husband and two children in Palo Alto, California just over the coastal mountains from the sea.

Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the rest of the interview and pick up Sea in June.

1. Where did you get the idea for Sea?

SEA was inspired by my husband's volunteer efforts at an Indonesian orphanage after the tsunami. The detailed story of his amazing trip and the journey toward what is now the novel SEA is on my website here:http://heidirkling.com/books/

2. Sienna is haunted by what happen to her mother. Did anything in your life inspire you to write about that?

Fortunately, no. But I have had tragedy in my life that I've had to work through--just nothing like Sienna's.

3. Other then writing and reading, what do you like to do?

Spending time with my family--especially my kids. We love going to the beach and telling stories and playing and laughing. We have a lot of fun. I like Twitter and traveling and watching my favorite shows on TV. Writing retreats, movies, yoga, hanging out with friends, going out to dinner with my husband on that rare opportunity. Just enjoying life, really.

4. What are your five favorite things about being a part of The Tenners?
Debut groups are important because you are going through an experience that not many people can relate too. Publishing a novel is for one, this huge dream come true for most people and it's also a ton-of-lot of work.And it moves at a snail's pace. So to have a community that understands that is truly important. I love cheering my friend's on. Promoting their books. Right now my Mystery Book Contest highlights a bunch of The Tenners and other 2010 debut novels and people on Twitter are changing their avatar to their favorite one. So far I've seen Dead-Tossed Waves, Hex Hall, and several more. It's a neat opportunity to spread the word. YA is a tight knit, very cool and kind community and I love to give back whenever I can.

5. What are some of your favorite young adult books?

Contemporary faves are FLASH BURNOUT by L.K. Madigan, 20 BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler, THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer Hubbard, Laurie Halse Anderson's SPEAK, John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA, Recently I read and loved Jandy Nelson's THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE. Generally,I like thoughtful, well-written books with a hopeful message. As far as fantasy goes, I just read HEX HALL (which was so fun!), and SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater is a fave.

6. Is there anything that you would like to add?

For more info check out my website at: http://heidirkling.com and look for my Mystery Book Contest on my blog SEA HEIDI WRITE, where I'm giving away a book a week (some signed!) until my June 10 release of SEA:http://seaheidi.livejournal.com/175715.html

Author Appreciation Week

There are many authors that I have a love for and appreciate all of the amazing things that they do and there are so many authors to thank.
I want to thank Heidi for making such a wonderful week possible. I also want to thank her for being my TV and twitter buddy. She is such an amazing author, whose book Sea, I finished less then a day ago and I am still thinking about it. Heidi is a fantastic author that has reached out into the community and made it better.
I also want to thank Daisy Whitney, who I think as someone that is uber famous. I love One Media Minute and I kind of go fangirly every time that I get a twitter response or a comment from her. Her book, The Mockingbird looks amazing and I kind of need it now...
Also all to the YA Rebels that haven't been in other post: Courtney Allison Moulton, Jen Hayley, Gretchen McNeil, Leah Clifford, and Scott Tracey. Their vlogs are so inspiring, because these are people that are doing what I want to do post high school and beyond. They are also really funny. So thank you for what you do and taking time to do that.
Lastly to the authors of the books that I grew up on and fell in love with their writing. Thanks to Judy Blume, JK Rowling, and Lemony Snicket for your books.
Also to any author that has taken time to send me a book, answer an interview, talked to me on twitter, encouraged me to write, taken time from their normal life to go on tour, or anything else. Writers are amazing people and I appreciate them with each turn of a page.