Blog Tour Interview & Giveaway: THUNDERSTONE by Barbara Pietron!

Thunderstone by Barbara Pietron
Genre: YA paranormal romance
Published: November 12, 2013

Sneaking out at night, driving without a license, and falling for a guy weren’t things fifteen-year-old Jeni expected to do while visiting Lake Itasca, Minnesota.  Then she meets Ice, the local medicine man's apprentice.  Suddenly, her simple family gathering becomes an exciting – and terrifying – week of self-discovery.  At first Jeni doesn't believe Ice's claim that she can touch the spirit world and has somehow released a mythical underwater monster. However, she's forced to reconsider when a teen swears a monster killed his father while fishing on the lake. Just as she comes to accept truth, Jeni finds she is the only one who can imprison the monster, making her the creature's next target.  She'll need immense faith in her newfound ability to put herself in harm's way and face down the monster.  And even if she succeeds in delivering the local population – and Ice – from the creature's wrath, there is no guarantee Jeni will escape with her own life.

Purchase:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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The Prequel:

Heart of Ice by Barbara Pietron

Currently FREE! Visit Heart of Ice on Scribe-Publishing.com to download!

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About the Author

After years in the corporate world, Barbara found herself with a second chance to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up.  Her lifetime love of books and the written word returned one answer: writer.  Drawing from her experience with technical writing, she began by writing non-fiction magazine pieces and achieved both regional and national publication.  Her success encouraged her to complete a novel.  She learned much from her first manuscript, critiques, books, contests, and blogs.  In 2012, her novel Thunderstone, was a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and won a critique by Publisher's Weekly.  A few months later, she was offered publication by Scribe Publishing Company.

 Barbara has a few other novels in the works, including a Thunderstone sequel. If she's not reading or writing, Barbara likes to walk, garden, and sew.  She works in a library and lives in Royal Oak, Michigan with her husband, daughter, and their cat – who often acts like a dog.

Find Barbara online:

Website | Facebook 

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INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA

1.       What was your inspiration for the book?

Like many novels, Thunderstone was inspired by a few things—a trip to the Mississippi Headwaters in northern Minnesota, a love of Native American mythology, and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Yep, I've taken Jeni's trip to the Mississippi Headwaters with thirteen of my family members. It was an experience I will never forget. The area's centuries-old untouched forest and nearby Leech Lake Indian Reservation made Native American mythology—a subject which has always fascinated me—a natural choice for the story. When I read the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan's integration of Greek mythology into modern life convinced me I had a good idea.

2.       What do you normally like to read when not writing?

I've been into vampires since back in the Anne Rice, Vampire Lestat days, and I still love them. But I've branched out into Urban Fantasy in a big way; witches, werewolves, fae…anything supernatural, adult and young adult, such as:  Cassandra Clare, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Cornelia Funke, and Rachel Caine. I also enjoy series like Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Everlost by Neal Shusterman, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Divergent by Veronica Roth. To mix it up, I throw in a thriller by James Rollins or Michael Crichton, and I read and own everything by Stephen King as he is, in my opinion, the Master.

3.      How much of the characters are based on your traits or someone you know personally?

Since Thunderstone is inspired by my own trip to Minnesota, most of the characters are loosely based on my family members. Jeni, in particular, has many traits of my daughter at age fifteen. The majority of Jeni's physical gestures, expressions like 'fabulous', and her reactions or responses to situations were observations I made of either my daughter or her friends—a bonus of writing young adult when you're exposed to their world on a daily basis! Ice and Nik, of course, are completely made up. It was much more challenging for me to write a teenage boy, yet Ice is a very popular character.

4.      Who would you cast for a movie/TV series as your main characters if given the chance?

I've had Ice cast for a long time—Tyler Blackburn, who plays Caleb in Pretty Little Liars. Seriously, just put some blue contacts on him and he's Ice. I've had a much harder time with Jeni. I think Molly C. Quinn would be great. She plays Rick Castle's daughter, Alexis, on Castle. Of course she'd have to be willing to go blonde. Emma Roberts is also a possibility.

 5.      What are you working on now?

The Thunderstone sequel (book two in the Legacy in Legend series) is top priority for me right now. I know there are Thunderstone fans out there waiting for it! I've got a few final edits to make on my YA novel coming out this fall and I've been thinking about cover art, but it will soon be out of my hands. The Thunderstone sequel is already underway, and I have a ton of ideas and information, so I can't wait to see what Jeni and Ice get themselves into next!

Cat or Dog?

Cat

Ice cream or Sorbet?

Ice Cream

Spring or Summer?

Summer!

Ghost or Zombies?

Ghosts

Mountain views or Ocean views?

Ocean views

  

Thanks Amanda and the Good Choice Reading crew for hosting my blog tour!

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Win a new young adult novel!

(Before it's in stores!)

Barbara Pietron, author of Thunderstone, is running a contest to title her next novel.

If your title idea is chosen as one of the top four suggestions, you will win the book!

Here's how it works:

Based on the cover summary below, you think of an amazing title. You know, the kind of title that compels a potential reader to take the book off the shelf.

Then go to www.barbarapietron.com and click on the News/Events page. You can make your suggestion in the comment section of the post about the contest, or click on the link which will take you to the Scribe Publishing website suggestion form. Your email will be added to Barbara's list so she can keep you in the loop about the contest and the book.

If your suggestion is chosen as a top four, you will win the new novel! Those top four entries will be posted for readers to vote on their favorite. If your suggestion becomes the book title, you'll be mentioned in the book!

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Jack Ironwood knew exactly what he wanted. Until he got it.

Jack was content to stay unnoticed by pretty and popular track-star, Natalie Segetich, until her best friend Emma disappears. Natalie swears something took Emma, and though most people write Natalie off as traumatized and confused, Jack is a soulshifter and he knows the human-stealing Enuuki—hell's messengers—are real.

As a soulshifter, Jack can cross into the underworld so he sees Emma's rescue as an opportunity to prove himself a valuable member of his transcendental sect—and a way to secure a future otherwise out of his reach. Although he needs Natalie's help to prepare for the mission, Jack intends to go to the underworld alone. But as a viable plan takes shape, it's clear the best chance of success means Natalie must accompany him.

On the eve of the quest, when Jack is promised the hand of a respected elder's daughter—a dream come true—he realizes he's no longer sure what he wants. But it's too late to back out, not with the sect and Natalie counting on him. Pursued by the dark lord's henchmen and ghastly mutant creatures, Jack and Natalie struggle to come out ahead in a battle and barter for souls. In the end, Jack will have to decide his own fate, because nothing short of a deal with the devil will get all three of them out of hell alive.

Part one of the contest will run through January 31^st, 2015 and the voting will take place in February.