Blog Tour: Death Becomes Me by Elizabeth Holloway @eholloway300

Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth Holloway for the blog tour of DEATH BECOMES ME, book two in the Call Me Grim series. I've had the honor of reading this book while in its development stage, and let me tell you, it's awesome! For the low-down on the first book, click here. Let's dive right into the interview, shall we?

Hi, Elizabeth! Congrats on your second book! Tell us what the sequel to Call Me Grim is about.

Thanks, Dorothy!

Death Becomes Me picks up where Call Me Grim ends. Libbi and Aaron have broken their vow to be Reapers of their hometown, Carroll Falls, and have escaped. Now they are on the run from Abaddon, aka Death himself, and he’s not one to let things like that go.

Without giving too much away, how have your characters changed in this book?

Libbi has grown a lot since the last book. In this book she struggles with her devotion to her family and friends and her need for survival. It’s a hard path. And when her relationship with Aaron comes into question it becomes almost impossible.

Aaron also has his struggles. But, I’m afraid if I say anything about them, I’ll give too much away, so I’ll shut up now.

What is the biggest challenge for you when writing a sequel?

For me, the biggest challenge was writer’s block. I hate it. So. Much.

I also fought with trying to condense the series into a duology, but I ultimately found that I just couldn’t fit the whole story into two books. That was the hardest thing, I think, deciding the story needed to be a trilogy. It caused a lot of trouble for me. ☺

How have you changed as a writer now that you are published?

Writing as a published author is completely different from writing as an aspiring author. First, there are those dreaded deadlines, which somehow manage to drain me of all of my creativity. Then I worry about the readers and what they’ll think of the story. Self-doubt is my biggest enemy. But I do love the editing process. I love going over the story with an editor and shining that thing up.

What are your writer aspirations for the next five years?

I’m about to start working on the third and final book in the Call Me Grim series, which is untitled at the moment. I also have a YA thriller in the works called Drive. It’s about a teen petty thief who finds a girl tied up in the back of a van and decides to follow the van. I hope to have that one finished next year. After that, I may take a break. I have to go back to school for my job, so I’ll likely have all of my spare time taken up with that for a while.

Thanks for letting us take part in your tour, Elizabeth! Good luck with Death Becomes Me!

Thanks, Dorothy! It was a pleasure being here!

Cover Reveal: Death Becomes Me by Elizabeth Holloway

You guys! I am so excited to finally be able to share the cover of Death Becomes Me with you. Death Becomes Me is the second book in my Call Me Grim series, which is set to release November 3rd. Let me just tell you, this cover is gorgeous and I LOVE it so much. But first, here's a bit about the book:

Libbi and Aaron are Grim Reapers on the run. They may have escaped their hometown of Carroll Falls unscathed, and are together and alive (well, more or less), but they’ll soon find there’s a price to pay. A deadly one.

By escaping Carroll Falls, Libbi and Aaron have broken the Reaper’s covenant with Abaddon, aka Death himself – and now they’re right at the top of Abaddon’s Most Wanted list. There’s nowhere to hide, and not a single person, alive or dead, they can turn to for help.

But just as it's looking like the end of the line, Libbi hears word of a Reaper in hiding – a Reaper who once escaped Abaddon's wrath. Finding this mysterious Reaper might be the perfect solution… if Death doesn’t find them first.

GOODREADS

And now... Without further ado... The Cover!

Isn't it pretty?

Fall 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt: TEAM PURPLE

Eep! It's that time of year again! Time for the Fall 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt! For fans of the Call Me Grim series, I'm so excited to reveal the cover for the next book in the series, Death Becomes Me, which releases in November! But you won't find it here... You'll have to HUNT for it! :-D Also, don't forget to enter the extra contest at the end of this post!

Before we jump into the fun, here's a bit about YASH. This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!


Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are EIGHT contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PURPLE TEAM--but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a green team, a blue team, a pink team, and a teal team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and to see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Somewhere below, you'll notice I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the PURPLE team, and add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by DATE, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

SCAVENGER HUNT POST

Today, I'm hosting Marci Lyn Curtis for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Her debut novel, THE ONE THING, just released last month and it sounds amazing!

Marci Lyn Curtis grew up in Northern California, where she went to college and met an amazing guy in a military uniform. Two college-aged kids and one dachshund later, she lives in Maryland, where she laughs too loudly and eats peanut butter off spoons. Her YA contemporary debut, The One Thing, released September 8th, 2015, via Disney-Hyperion.

Find out more information by checking out her website or find more about the THE ONE THING here!


EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

Maggie Sanders might be blind, but she won't invite anyone to her pity party. Ever since losing her sight six months ago, Maggie's rebellious streak has taken on a life of its own, culminating with an elaborate school prank. Maggie called it genius. The judge called it illegal.

Now Maggie has a probation officer. But she isn't interested in rehabilitation, not when she's still mourning the loss of her professional-soccer dreams, and furious at her so-called friends, who lost interest in her as soon as she could no longer lead the team to victory.

Then Maggie's whole world is turned upside down. Somehow, incredibly, she can see again. But only one person: Ben, a precocious ten-year-old unlike anyone she's ever met. Ben's life isn't easy, but he doesn't see limits, only possibilities. After awhile, Maggie starts to realize that losing her sight doesn't have to mean losing everything she dreamed of. Even if what she's currently dreaming of is Mason Milton, the infuriatingly attractive lead singer of Maggie's new favorite band, who just happens to be Ben's brother.

But when she learns the real reason she can see Ben, Maggie must find the courage to face a once-unimaginable future...before she loses everything she has grown to love.

And don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Marci Lyn Curtis, and more! To enter, you need to know that I have 12 Halloween spooks floating around my house. Add those spooks to the rest and you'll have the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

Ready to move along? Onward and upward to Ryan Graudin!

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My Writing Process Blog Tour

Good Monday Morning, folks! Today I'm participating in the My Writing Process blog tour. I was tagged by our own Dorothy Dreyer who resides here at We Do Write, and also here. Thank you, Dorothy!

For those who don't remember from Dorothy's post last week, the My Writing Process blog tour works like this: I have four questions I must answer about my writing process, then I nominate three blogger/authors to join the tour. They will answer the same four questions one to two weeks later. Sounds like fun, right?

I thought so. Anyway, here are my answers to the questions:

What am I working on?

I just finished the line edits for my first published novel, CALL ME GRIM, (a YA paranormal due to release November 2014, and whose cover will be revealed April 11th ... Eeeeek!). I am currently working my butt off to complete the sequel to that novel, titled DEATH BECOMES ME, and I'm pretty sure it wants to kill me. I also have another novel I'm writing, a YA thriller, that's waiting patiently for me to have the time to get back to it.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

Tough question. My novels are paranormal, so I guess there's nothing special there. But I like to delve pretty deep into the characters. There are lots of little, hidden places to explore inside every character and I really enjoy finding those places and shining a light on them.

Why do I write what I do?

I've always been a sucker for an exciting story with paranormal elements. Perhaps it was my early (I mean, like, ten years old early) love of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. And then I started reading YA and I was hooked. I can't imagine writing in any other genre.

How does my writing process work?

Well, it often starts with a nugget of an idea, usually something small. For CALL ME GRIM, the idea was "What if Death wanted to quit his job?". I though that was a pretty interesting question to ask, so I built on that idea. I usually get a few scenes in my head, almost always including the ending, and then I sit down and start writing. I write in chronological order and during the first stages of the process I'd definitely call myself a pantser.

After I get a few chapters done and I start to get to know my characters, then I plot. Half of the fun of writing for me is figuring out how I'm going to get from A to B and how my characters are going to handle all the crap I throw at them. Yes, I'm a bit sadistic.

Now, I get to tag three more fabulous authors to take the torch and carry on. I hereby nominate ...

Kate Brauning
www.katebrauning.com

Kate is the author of HOW WE FALL, a YA contemporary coming in November from Merit Press at F&W Books. She writes YA contemporary and speculative suspense, and she is represented by Carlie Webber at CK Webber Associates. She is an editor with Month9Books, and a compulsive traveler, cake-baker, and music lover. You can visit her online at www.katebrauning.com or on Twitter at @KateBrauning.

Jen McConnel
http://www.jenmcconnel.com
http://jennifermcconnel.wordpress.com/

Jen McConnel is the author of DAUGHTER  OF CHAOS, a YA paranormal available now! She first began writing poetry as a child. A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. A graduate of Western Michigan University, she also holds a MS in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.  When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches college writing composition and yoga. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time.

Christine Fonseca
http://christinefonseca.com
http://christinefonseca.blogspot.com

Critically acclaimed nonfiction and YA author Christine Fonseca is dedicated to helping children of all ages find their voice in the world. Drawing on her expertise as an educational psychologist, her nonfiction titles address issues of emotional intensity, resiliency and giftedness. In fiction, she explores the darker aspects of humanity and delivers gothic thrillers that take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Her YA thriller, COLLIDE, will be released April 29th.