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Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Blog Tour- AIRWOMAN by Zara Quentin An Interview & Giveaway!


Hey everyone! I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the blog tour for AIRWOMAN by Zara Quentin! 

I have an interview with Zara to share with you today! And make sure to enter the giveaway below!


Haven't heard of AIRWOMAN? Check it out!



Title: AIRWOMAN
Author: Zara Quentin
Pub. Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Zara Quentin
Pages: 316
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
A father murdered by magic. A daughter’s cosmic quest for clues could make her the next victim…

Jade Gariq dreams of a new calling. While she wishes she could join the elite force that protects her home world from interdimensional threats, she’s stuck working for the family business. But everything changes when her father is found dead with traces of magic on him… magic that should only belong to the mythical Dragon-Gods…

To uncover the mystery behind her father’s murder, Jade must follow the clues to an uncharted world. Beyond the portal, treacherous jungles, surprising betrayals, and a killer bent on tying up loose ends stand in her way of the truth. It’ll take every ounce of Jade’s cunning to solve her father’s death, but can she avoid his fate?

Airwoman is a high-flying YA fantasy novel set in a stunning new Dragonverse. If you like fascinating worlds, memorable characters, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Zara Quentin’s action-packed adventure. 

Buy Airwoman today to let your imagination take flight!

For a free preview of Airwoman, find it at: http://www.zaraquentin.com/


Now on to the interview!


Hey Zara!! First I want to say welcome to Two Chicks on Books I’m glad you could stop by for a chat! AIRWOMAN sounds AWESOME and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about AIRWOMAN and the characters?

Airwoman is about a young womanJade Gariqwho dreams of exploring the Dragonverse. All her life, shes heard stories of far-flung worlds, that she’s never been able to visit. That’s because Jade is stuck working in the family business that she’ll one day inherita large, cross-portal trading company.  Her future is set, though its a life she doesnt want.

She dreams of joining the Traveller Forcethe elite Taraqans who traverse the Betwixt, filled with terrifying beasts, and who protect and patrol the Dragonverse. Despite having been Travellers themselves once, Jade’s parents refuse to risk their daughter’s life. When Jade’s father dies suddenly, she inherits Gariq Industries, with all its assets and social responsibilities.

It seems her fate has, once again, been decided.

Meanwhile, Axelher close friend and secret crushdisappears without a trace. Then Jade discovers the circumstances surrounding her fathers death are not what they seemthere are whispers of impossible magicand her uncle Zorman suspects foul play.

To uncover the mystery behind her father’s murder, Jade must follow the clues to an uncharted world. Beyond the portal, treacherous jungles, surprising betrayals, and a killer bent on tying up loose ends, all stand in the way of the truth. It will take every ounce of Jade’s cunning to solve her father’s death, unless his killer finds her first

How many books do you have planned for the series?

I plan for the series to be a trilogy. Originally, I had planned for about five books, but I decided to shorten itpartly because when I looked at the series arc, I thought it worked better as a trilogy, and partly because there are other writing ideas that I want to explore too! However, I really like the world of Airwoman and I think it lends itself to other stories, so I’m open to writing more from the perspective of other characters tooWatch this space!

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

None of my characters are specific people that I know, but some of their personality traits come from people I know. For example, Zorman is a very charismatic character who has the kind of charm that makes everyone in the room believe they’re his best friend. This aspect of Zorman’s character was inspired by a friend of mine who has a similar trait. However, my friend also has many other traits that make her different to Zorman. While I see aspects of people I know in some of the charactersbecause when authors invent characters they are drawing on their experience with people in real lifebut none of my characters are completely based on any one person in particular. Theyre unique that way.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

I also really enjoyed writing Namaje who is a native Premyan woman. The Premyan people use a ‘finger-language’ (like sign language), rather than verbal speech, so when they interact with Taraqans, their language is not at the same level as a native speaker. I found it challenging to convey her meaning and ideas in a way that was not verbal. I couldn’t have her explain things in the way that other characters might do, so I had to be inventive in the way that I had her express complex ideas. I enjoyed that challenge.

I’m not sure any of the characters were really my least favorite. I found some characters harder to write at times, such as Axel. I think I found him a little more difficult because, though he’s front and center in the story, as a reader, we experience him through Jade more than we experience him through his own words and actions. He’s also more of a secretive, quiet type, so it was a challenge to create depth for him.

What is your favorite passage/scene in AIRWOMAN?

I really like Magnus Gariq’s funeral scene (Jade’s father). The way people bury their dead says a lot about their culture and beliefs so I got to bring in a lot of elements of Taraqan society that wouldn’t have had any other place in the book. I really enjoy the world building process and a lot of the elements of world building that I’d done came together in this sceneelements of the Dragon-God religion, social strata, burial rites, the differences between air-based peoples and land-bound peoples. I mostly pantsed (as in, wrote it by the seat of my pants) this scene (though I knew it would be in the story from my outline) and really enjoyed letting my imagination loose. Interestingly, it was also one of the few scenes that I barely touched in revision.

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

One of the great things about writing fantasy is that I don’t have to do a lot of real world research (which I hate). However, I do have to do a lot of world-building (which I love) and that involves asking myself lots and lots of questions about how the world works, and why. I consider this to be my “research”. I like my worlds to evolve organically. In the real world, usually a species has evolved to deal with their environment in a particular way because it improves their chances of survival. So, when I was developing the world of the Dragonverse, I did a lot of work to make sure that it made sense.

For example, if a species of people had wings, it wouldn’t make sense for them to build their houses on the ground where they could be attacked by land-based predators. They would probably build towns and cities in places where they would be easily accessible by air. So, Ingresston (the capital of Taraqa) was situated at the top of the cliffs, below the sky-based Portal that links Taraqa to the other worlds of the Dragonverse. Another reason I set the Taraqan homes in the clifftops, rather than in treehouses in a forest, for example, was because people roughly the same size as humans would need an immense wingspan to be able to fly. Therefore, a forest would likely be too dense to accommodate many winged people. That’s also why, when Jade goes to Premye (a densely forested jungle), she is forced to walk more than she’s used to, because her wingspan is too large to navigate between the trees.

Who is your ultimate book boyfriend?

Rhysand from A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J Maashes a great example of someone who is comfortable enough with themselves to value an equal partner in the relationship, who respects and values his partner’s decisions, and he’s intelligent and funny with a keen moral compass.

What inspired you to write YA?

When I first started to love readingreally fell in love with itI was reading YA books. I remember reading voraciously at that time in my life (I’d like to do that now too, but I have less time for it!). Devouring books in days or less, because I was so immersed in the experience.

Also, I think that, at about the age people start to read YA, they are in a place where they can choose to read or choose to do something else. By this I mean that they don’t have parents and teachers breathing down their neck to read a chapter of their reader every night. While I have no hard data for this assertion, from my experience and my observation of others, it seems that in this period of their lives, kids either become people who voluntarily read because they love it, and people who may only pick up a couple more books in the rest of their lives.

Whether you like to read YA fiction or adult fiction, I think the experience of reading fiction (as opposed to reading non-fiction) is important to foster empathy, understanding and imagination. I’m passionate about getting kids reading (and adults). When people tell me that they don’t read much, I feel so sorry for them because I know what they’re missing out on.

So I write because I want to recreate that experience for other readers, and especially those who might be sitting on the fence between loving books and being one of those people who will only pick up a book if they’re forced to. If I can be part of an enjoyable reading experience for someone who might not otherwise read, then that makes me happy!

Lightening Round Questions

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

I’m currently reading an anthologyMyths and Magicbecause Im keen to discover some new authors and I find anthologies a great way to do that. Ive also got Dragons of Nova (Loom Saga #2) by Elise Kova on my TBR that Im dying to read.

What Hogwarts House would the Sorting Hat place you in?

Hufflepuff.

Twitter or Facebook?

Facebook

Favorite Superhero?

Wonder Womanmainly because I really liked the Wonder Woman movie and I thought her backstory was interesting!

Favorite TV show?

At the moment, it’s got to be a tie between Game of Thrones and Outlander.

Sweet or Salty?

Sweet. Mmmm chocolate

Any Phobias?

That global warming is going to send cocoa and coffee plants extinct and I’ll have to live in a world without chocolate or coffee eek! Ok, if I’m honest, I’m more immediately frightened of spiders and heights.

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

Feels by Calvin Harris and Supercut by Lorde

2017 Movie you’re most looking forward to?

I hardly ever get to the movies so I barely even know what’s coming out this year! Probably, the next Kingsman moviethe first one was hilarious, so I have high hopes for the next one too.


Thanks so much Zara for answering my questions! I can’t wait for everyone to read AIRWOMAN!




About Zara:
Zara Quentin is the author of Airwoman, the first book in the Airwoman series. She was raised in Adelaide, Australia, with one younger sister. Zara grew up with a strong sense of adventure, which she inherited from her parents, who took her and her sister on trips to the United States, Europe, and Asia.

She also inherited a love of reading from her mother. Throughout her childhood she explored fictional places through books, and in particular, through fantasy novels. She’d turn the black and white text on the page into the colourful worlds of her imagination.

After graduating from high school, Zara studied at the University of Adelaide and has lived in France, London, and Auckland, New Zealand. She is always determined to fit in as much travel as possible, spending time in Europe, the United States, southern Africa, Morocco, Peru, the Pacific and south-east Asia. 

Zara now resides in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. She is currently working on the next instalment in the Airwoman series.
 Find Zara:


Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive a $25 Gift Card to the book retailer of their choice from Amazon, B&N, or TBD, International.
a Rafflecopter giveaway




Tour Schedule:
Week One:
10/30/2017- Mythical BooksInterview
10/30/2017- Blushing BibliophileReview

10/31/2017- Rabid Readers Book BlogExcerpt
10/31/2017- To Be ReadReview

11/1/2017- BookHounds YAGuest Post
11/1/2017- jrsbookreviews- Review

11/2/2017- Maddie.TVInterview
11/2/2017- My Creatively Random LifeReview

11/3/2017- Books,Dreams,LifeExcerpt

Week Two:
11/6/2017- The Hermit LibrarianGuest Post
11/6/2017- J Heart Loves Books- Review

11/7/2017- YA and WineInterview
11/7/2017- Lori's Little House of ReviewsReview

11/8/2017- Hooked To BooksExcerpt
11/8/2017- Two Chicks on Books- Interview

11/9/2017- Spilling WordsExcerpt

11/10/2017- Daily Waffle- Interview
11/10/2017- Perspective of a WriterReview

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