About the author:
Carol Lynch Williams, a two-time winner of the Utah Original Writing Competition, is the author of several books for children, including two novels about the Orton family of New Smyrna, Florida: Kelly and Me and Adeline Street. A starred School Library Journal review of The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson praises Williams as she "again demonstrates her facility at mood and character development... Truer colors are hard to come by."
Carol's contact/follow information:
https://www.facebook.com/carol.l.williams.7
www.wifyr.com
www.throwingupwords.wordpress.com
QUESTIONS:
1) What made you decide to write YA books?
Great question! Actually YA books chose me. And so did middle grade. I've always written for kids. I'm a kid in my head. Topics presented themselves to me, and the voice I used to tell the story was a 12 or 13 or 14 yr old. Books for kids are some of the greatest work out there.
2) Out of all of your books which one did you enjoy writing the most?
Oh! I LOVED writing Signed, Skye Harper. It's fun and happy and has quirky characters. I've written about Florida (a place I always write about) and about a boy I would have thought was cute back in the day. There's kissing, my favorite dog, my agent's name, the Olympics, a loving grandmother, a naughty mom . . . what else should there be in a book? A one-legged rooster? Well, that's in there, too!
3) Who is your favorite character from your books?
I love strong characters--and I think most of the girls I write about are strong. Anytime I write a book, that's my favorite character. Right now it's a girl who's named Evie. She can see dead people.
4) What form do you prefer writing in?(verse, normal long chapters, short chapters.)
I like them all. I like letting the book help me decide what to do and then playing around and seeing if that works.
5) Was being an author a dream of yours?
Always. I've always wanted to be a writer. Lucky me to have my dream job, huh? I would have also liked to be a Country singer. Hahahaha!
6) Are you going to be participating in any books signings this year? If so, when and where?
I'll be at Great Carson City Lit Fest, June 6-8 in Carson City NV, ALA (in Vegas) on Sunday (2:30 at the St Martin's Press booth), at Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (www.wifyr.com)June 18, and several Barnes and Nobel signings for a chapter books series I'm working on (tbd).
Book Spotlight
I wanted to do a book spotlight on two of Carol's most recent books. Both of them are super amazing in my opinion yet they are both extremely unique.
Love is a very strong word. I feel a lot of love towards this book and a lot of love happened throughout the book as well.
Winston isn't your average teenage girl. She has a good head on her shoulders and she knows what she wants. And what she wants are pretty simple requests. She wants to swim. She wants Steve to notice her. And she wants her mother to come home with her. Sadly, only two of these things happen in the book.
The love Steve started feeling for Winston seemed a little forced at first but after getting to know Nanny and her story about Leon, Steve's father, things started to make sense. Maybe Steve was always meant to be with Winston.
I like the name Winston and I enjoyed the teasing from Steve. Whether she was Winston, named after the cigarettes or Winston Churchill, named so by Steve, she was an amazing character.
I believe going to get Winston's momma was one of the best things that could have happened to the small family. Sure there was heart break but in the end I think everyone ended up in a good place that fit them perfectly.
I swear, I had a different image of what was going to happen in the end. I thought Steve was going to go back to school and ignore Winston. That is normally how cute summer romance type books end. But I was wrong! I also really loved the entire innocence of the book. Everything was so cute and refreshing. It was intense or dirty. It was just cute.
This book is written in a way that makes it a very quick read. It is told in 183 very short chapters. I found myself putting off things I had to do and saying just a few more pages. I haven't read a book in a while that I couldn't put down so Signed, Skye Harper has broken that chain.
I would recommend Carol Lynch Williams's books to anyone, really. She has such a diverse writing ability and I think everyone would enjoy it.
Overall, I gave the book 4.5/5 Kitties.
At first I really wasn't liking this book. Just something about it wasn't connecting with me. But I started to like it as I got further in.
I haven't personally read a book like this before but I have seen people saying it's a lot like another book that has already been written. I really don't see what all the hostility is about though. A LOT of book are like other books.
Shiloh is the main character and I didn't like her at first but after she got off of the tonic I did start to warm up to her. She was still a little too standoffish for me.
The Terminals in general were very creepy and robotic at least until the cafeteria scene towards the end. That scene actually made me wonder just how many Terminals stopped drinking the tonic.
I loved how the book seemed to be a coming of age and finding your first love kind of book when that really isn't what its about.
I find it to be very immoral of Dr. King to be making replicants and then drugging them so they appear to be inhuman, soulless creatures. What Dr. King stands for is basically like saying babies that are made in petri dishes and then put into a mother makes the baby inhuman and soulless. Then the fact that the world they live in actually allows these things to happen is horrendous. But money makes the world go round.
Gideon was different from the start. He got away with more than he should have been able too and I was instantly curious as to what his story would be. Turns out the story was very interesting and informative. Definitely showed a different side to Dr. King.
Abigail was a cute little side character. She was a good best friend but she wasn't very strong willed. Same goes for Daniel. He got offered something he wanted and in return her ended up almost ruining The Plan.
The authors writing isn't really my type of writing and I think that is what put me off in the beginning. I have read another book by Carol Lynch Williams and it was written in verse. I can honestly say I like her better when she is writing in verse.
The cover is very pretty but I'm not sure that it really portrays the book very well. Also, it kind of reminds me of the cover for Haven by Kristi Cook. Both contain butterflies and strangely the same title.
I am also not even sure what category to put this book in. I know its pretty much Science Fiction but it's like a mix of Dystopia and Utopia. It's a good place for the people who have the replicants but it's a bad places for the replicants. Dr. King rules over the replicants but that's it.
Overall I gave the book 4/5 Kitties.
I am doing my own personal giveaway for a copy of Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams. The book is written in verse and it's very good!
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