Hey everyone! I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the blog tour for JULIA DEFIANT by Catherine Egan!
I have an interview to share with you today! And make sure to enter the giveaway below!
I have an interview to share with you today! And make sure to enter the giveaway below!
Haven't heard of JULIA DEFIANT? Check it out!
Fans of The Rose Society, Graceling, and Six of Crows will thrill to the masterful world-building and fiercely flawed heroine in this heart-pounding follow-up to Julia Vanishes, book two in the Witch's Child trilogy.
Adventure, murder, romance, intrigue, and betrayal with a 16-year-old heroine that is both fierce and flawed at the same time. Hypable.com
Julia and a mismatched band of revolutionaries, scholars, and thieves have crossed the world searching for a witch. But for all the miles traveled, they are no closer to finding Ko Dan. No closer to undoing the terrible spell he cast that bound an ancient magic to the life of a small child. Casimir wants that magic will happily kill Theo to extract it and every moment they hunt for Ko Dan, Casimir's assassins are hunting them.
Julia can deal with danger. The thing that truly scares her lies within. Her strange ability to vanish to a place just out of sight has grown: she can now disappear so completely that it's like stepping into another world. It’s a fiery, hellish world, filled with creatures who seem to recognize her and count her as one of their own.
So . . . is Julia a girl with a monster lurking inside her? Or a monster wearing the disguise of a girl?
If she can use her monstrous power to save Theo, does it matter?
In this riveting second book in the Witch s Child trilogy, Catherine Egan goes deep within the heart of a fierce, defiant girl trying to discover not just who but what she truly is.
Praise for Julia Vanishes:
Egan’s debut novel sparkles. A beautifully rendered world and exquisite sense of timing ensure a page-turning experience. Publishers Weekly, starred review
Readers will find themselves immediately immersed in the narrative and invested in the fate of Julia, who is both feisty and flawed. Booklist, starred review
Julia’s a wonderful, fully realized heroine. . . . For those readers waiting for the sequel to Marie Lu’s The Rose Society, a well-realized page-turner in the same vein. Kirkus
Now on to the interview!
Hey Catherine!! First I want to say welcome to Two Chicks on Books I’m
glad you could stop by for a chat! JULIA DEFIANT was freaking AWESOME and I
can’t wait for everyone to read it!
Thank you so much! I’m thrilled that you liked it – and I can’t wait
for people to read it either J.
For the readers:
can you tell us a little bit about the events leading up to JULIA DEFIANT and
the characters?
Julia is a 16-year-old thief and spy with the ability to step out of
sight while in plain view, in a city where all forms of magic are illegal. When
the series opens, Julia is posing as a maid in the household of the wealthy and
eccentric Mrs. Och and reporting to a mysterious client. The more Julia finds
out about both the client and the people she’s spying on, the more she suspects
she’s on the wrong side, and that she is getting tangled up in a conflict far
bigger and more dangerous than she’d imagined. Backed into a corner, she does
something terrible to save her own skin – and discovers
that her ability to vanish goes much deeper than she’d realized.
Book 2 is about trust and atonement (and monsters, magic, and
revolution!) and brings the question of why
(and how far) Julia can vanish to
the forefront. She’s sworn to protect the little boy she almost got killed in
the first book, and to do so she has to work with the people she betrayed, as
well as her ex-lover, who betrayed her.
All the relationships from the first book get pushed a little farther
here – Julia’s brother Dek finds real happiness in another country, while she only
longs to go home; her ex, Wyn, wants her back; she doesn’t like or trust her boss, Mrs. Och, who demands obedience; she’s
struggling with her guilt while forging authentic bonds with Bianka and
Frederick, the people most betrayed by her actions in JULIA VANISHES.
So do we have a
title for book 3 yet?
Not official yet! So I’ll keep the current title sekrit ;).
Were any of the
characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?
Hah! No. (But would it be safe to admit it if the answer was yes?)
Who was your
favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?
Pia, the creepy super-powered woman contracted to Casimir, who is
hunting Julia & co. across the world. The Pia-Julia bond took over a little
more with each book. I just couldn’t get enough of her. I also loved writing
the stumbling friendship between Bianka and Julia – it’s a situation where a friendship should
be impossible, and yet both of their instincts push them to trust one
another.
I don’t think I can point to a least favorite character. If I don’t
care about a character, they don’t end up in the book.
What is your
favorite passage/scene in JULIA DEFIANT?
Tough choice between two scenes. I loved writing the closing scene in
the book and I’m still very happy with it. A close second would be Julia &
co. visiting the Imperial Library, which is carved into a mountainside, and her
encounter with a super creepy witch I just adore.
What kind of research
did you have to do for the story?
Yongguo (where JULIA DEFIANT is set) takes a lot of elements from Qing
dynasty
China. This isn’t a historical fantasy, it is straight-up fantasy, but
even so I did a lot more reading about furniture and the layout of traditional
courtyard houses than I’d expected.
Who is your
ultimate book boyfriend?
Jonathan Strange.
What inspired you
to write YA?
I think it was something that was trying to push its way into my
writing for a long time before I became aware of it. I spent my twenties
writing short fiction and one terrible novel, ostensibly for adults, but the
experiences and perspectives of teenaged girls were always in some way central
to whatever story I was working on.
I don’t know – I think about this a lot, because lately
I’ve been having all these ideas for books that would center on adults or
younger kids, and so maybe I’ll find I’m branching out. I don’t think I’ll ever
be done with YA though. My own
teenage years were very intense and fraught and I think there’s just something
there – the desperation and
terror and joy of it, the
emerging-from-childhood-and-perching-on-the-edge-of-the-rest-of-your-life thing
– that I’ll never get tired of writing about.
Lightening Round
Questions
What are you
reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?
China Mieville’s THREE MOMENTS OF AN EXPLOSION. I am dying to read
everything in my TBR pile, but Kiersten White’s AND I RISE and Cindy Pon’s WANT
will jump the line the instant they’re released.
What Hogwarts
House would the Sorting Hat place you in?
Slayer ;)
Twitter or
Facebook?
Both, in small doses.
Favorite
Superhero?
Buffy.
Favorite TV show?
Right now – totally hooked on The Americans.
Sweet or Salty?
Salty.
Any Phobias?
Flying.
Song you can’t get
enough of right now?
My kids and I have been singing the Hamilton soundtrack for a year
straight, basically. Also rediscovering Veda Hille (Vancouver-based singer
songwriter) - listening to her album Spine
and old fave One Hot Summer while
I clean.
2017 Movie you’re
most looking forward to?
The Last Jedi! And I hope Blade Runner 2049 is good.
Thanks so much Catherine for answering my questions! I can’t wait for
everyone to read JULIA DEFIANT!
THANK YOU!!!
About Catherine:
My superpowers: high-kicking,
list-making, simultaneously holding two opposing opinions
My weaknesses: fear of flying,
over-thinking and then making bad decisions, excessive list-making
My allies: my
made-for-walking-in black boots, Mick, the English Language
My enemies: decaf, low blood
sugar, the passage of time
My mission: the coexistence of
ambivalence and joy.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
6/5/2017- Booklove- Review
Week Two:
6/13/2017- Smada's Book
Smack- Review
6/15/2017- Bibliobibuli YA- Review
6/16/2017- BookHounds ya- Review
Haven’t started the series? Make sure to
grab the Paperback of JULIA VANISHES!
