About The Book:
Title: SLEIGHT
Author: Jennifer Sommersby
Pub. Date: April 24, 2018
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 424
Find it: Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD, Goodreads
Delia smiles at the shadow only she sees—
Something slams into her. The lyra whirls like a half-dollar spinning on its edge.
My mother is thrown backward.
And she falls.
Growing up in the Cinzio Traveling Players Company, Genevieve Flannery is accustomed to a life most teenagers could never imagine: daily workouts of extravagant acrobatics; an extended family of clowns; wild animals for pets; and her mother, Delia, whose mind has always been tortured by visions—but whose love Geni never questions. In a world of performers who astonish and amaze on a daily basis, Delia’s ghostly hallucinations never seemed all that strange . . . until the evening Geni and her mother are performing an aerial routine they’ve done hundreds of times, and Delia falls to her death.
That night, a dark curtain in Geni’s life opens. Everything has changed.
Still reeling from the tragedy, the Cinzio Traveling Players are also adjusting to the circus’s new owner: a generous, mysterious man whose connection to the circus—Geni suspects—has a dark and dangerous history. And suddenly Geni is stumbling into a new reality of her own, her life interrupted daily by the terrors only Delia used to be able to see.
As the visions around her grow stronger, Geni isn’t sure who she can trust. Even worse, she’s starting to question whether she can trust her own mind.
About Jennifer:
I am a writer, copy/line editor, bibliophile, and mom of four living in the Great White North.
Represented by Victoria Doherty Munro at Writers House.
Romantic comedies under Eliza Gordon.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway Details: International
3 winners will receive a SLEIGHT Prize Pack including a finished copy of the book and swag! International.
Ends on May 4th at Midnight EST!
Rafflecopter Link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e2389ba2721/
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
4/2/2018- Novel Novice– Guest Post
4/3/2018- Adventures Thru Wonderland– Review
4/4/2018- For the Love of KidLit– Interview
4/5/2018- Two Points of Interest– Review
4/6/2018- BookHounds YA– Interview
Week Two:
4/9/2018- RhythmicBooktrovert– Review
4/10/2018- Two Chicks on Books– Guest Post
4/11/2018- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
4/12/2018- Page Turners Blog– Excerpt
4/13/2018- Eating Between The Lines– Review
Week Three:
4/16/2018- Wonder Struck– Review
4/17/2018- Jena Brown Writes– Review
4/18/2018- Blushing Bibliophile– Review
4/19/2018- Reading with Rendz– Review
4/20/2018- Daily Waffle – Interview
Week Four:
4/23/2018- The Desert Bibliophile– Review
4/24/2018- Kati’s Bookaholic Rambling Reviews- Excerpt
4/25/2018- Simply Daniel Radcliffe– Review
4/26/2018-Margies Must Reads– Excerpt
4/27/2018- The Book Nut– Review
Week Five:
4/30/2018- Book-Keeping– Review
Interview with Jennifer
When did you decide to become a writer?
I don’t think writers decide to become writers per se—I think if you’re prone to storytelling, you kind of always do it, from very early in life. Sure, there are some folks who come to the actual process of putting enough words together to form a story or even a novel later in life (like I did—I finished my first whole novel in my thirties), but writers are usually people who are bornseeing things differently. For a writer, even the most meaningless chance encounter on the street has the potential to become a great story.
I started writing when I was about six or seven, and that was a combination of two things: I had a viciously wild imagination, and my disabled older sister had a very cool, sky-blue Smith-Corona typewriter that I loved to use. My mother would only let me use it if I had something to say so as not to waste ink and paper, so I started writing stories. Though as mentioned, I didn’t finish a proper novel until I was an adult, there have been countless short stories, terrible poems, failed screenplays, and abandoned novel attempts over the years. I’ve written tons of nonfiction articles and movie reviews for magazines and websites—but that was me testing my wings. Always with the words!
The potential for a story has always been in my head—I’ve never known a life without it, though it wasn’t until I married my husband that I felt that being a writer was a noble, valid way to spend one’s life. (That old refrain, “Get a real job!”)
The reality is, if there are words in your head begging to be spilled, open the lid and free them. You’ll be saner for it.
Do you try to set a number of words per day?
You know, I wish I could. I tell myself at the start of a new project that I will do a minimum of 1000 words a day. I even devised a reward system where I get a Superman sticker on the calendar if I do 2000+ words in a day (because Superman is THE BEST SUPERHERO EVER), but I only get Batman if it’s 1000-1999 words. Anything less than 1000 is Green Lantern. It worked for a week, and then I got sidetracked with research, so I’ve had a lot of Green Lantern days lately.
What struggles have you overcome as a writer?
My biggest struggle is my ongoing death match with perfectionism, with the mean voice in my head that tells me I suck and should go back to school to retrain as a plumber. (As if I’m smart enough to be a plumber!) I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome this—it’s a daily struggle. But I’m learning how to not listen as much and to power through those really tough days when the voice is screaming too loudly.
Which famous person, living or dead, would you like to meet and why?
I would love to meet William Shakespeare. I know that sounds cliché, but I am a huge fan. Can I meet more than one? If so, please invite Jehanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc) to dinner also. Talk about fierce! I have the signatures of Shakespeare and Jehannetattooed on my forearms—Shakespeare on the right for creativity, and Jehanne on the left for courage. Oh, and we might as well invite Nikola Tesla too—can you imagine that conversation over baguette and cheese and fine French wine, our lights powered by the Tesla coil Nikola probably keeps in his suitcase?
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
PERSEVERE! You must keep going. There will be days that this occupation will peel your heart right out of your chest, dash it to the pavement, and trample it with the hooves of a hundred Clydesdales. Nevertheless, you must scrape your heart off the cobblestones, shove it back into your chest cavity, and seal the wound with superglue. You must not give up. Open your ears, listen to the editors and agents who want to HELP you, and then get back to work.
I love quoting Anne Lamott (check out her book Bird by Bird if you haven’t yet); she says the most insightful things:
“I tell my students that the odds of their getting published and of it bringing them financial security, peace of mind, and even joy are probably not that great. Ruin, hysteria, bad skin, unsightly tics, ugly financial problems, maybe; but probably not peace of mind. I tell them that I think they ought to write anyway.”
Amen to that.
Thank you for the great interview, Daily Waffle! I hope your readers enjoy Sleight—I’m hard at work on her sequel, Scheme, which comes out in 2019. Off I go to chase some Superman-sticker days!