Spreading the Awesome - Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves

*Update: the book giveaway is officially closed. Thank you to all who entered and commented.

When I found out what the fabulous Elana Johnson had planned for the "Spreading the Awesome" blog day today I knew I had to jump in. Hello, a day of love for the books we want to share with the world? I'm all about it. There are dozens of titles I could suggest but I knew right away that I wanted to talk about, BLEEDING VIOLET, a YA Paranormal by Dia Reeves. It's deliciously dark and crazy and one of the most original stories I've read in years. I wanted to slap the main character, Hanna, more than once but you can't help but love her. She's a force to be reckoned with. And Wyatt...just wait until you meet Wyatt. (and how gorgeous is this cover?)


Love can be a dangerous thing....

Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

When I contacted Dia about featuring BV here she was awesome enough to not only answer a few questions but to offer a copy of BLEEDING VIOLET for one lucky person who makes a comment on this post today. Thank you so much, Dia!

How did you come up with the freaky unique creatures in BV? They’re fantastic! Thanks! I get my creature ideas from Discovery Channel. Animals in the real world are so freaky, I just build the pretend animals around them. The hardhead creatures are kind of like scorpions, the lures are like amoebae—it’s all based in reality.

The setting for BV, Portero, TX, is one crazy place. If you found yourself there would you stick around and check things out or run for your life?
I’m the kind of girl who screams if a grasshopper gets into the house, so I don’t see myself handling monsters very well. My characters tend to be a lot braver than I am. One thing I do like about Portero, though, is how close the community is and how they look out for one another.

You have a new book called, A SLICE OF CHERRY coming out by S&S in January of 2011. Can you tell us more about this story?
It’s about two outcast sisters–daughters of a notorious serial killer–who decide to put their murderous genes, and latent powers, to good use by only killing people who deserve it. So a lot of people get killed in really weird ways, but it’s not really about the killing. It just tickles me to use violence as a way to highlight more mundane issues like coming of age and the importance of family and first love and all that stuff. Yes, I’m weird, I know. ;p

I saw in your bio that you’re a librarian. (Awesome career by the way!) Does your job influence your writing? It must have been a blast to see people checking your book out.
I’ve never seen anybody checking my book out. If I did, I wouldn’t say anything. I’m still really shy about being a writer. My librarian job and my writing job are very separate. I never mix the different parts of my life.

As a fellow YA writer I confess to struggling when writing some of the controversial stuff (language, sex, drugs/alcohol) when it comes to how far I can take it so I really admire the way you handled the strong themes in BV. Did struggle or face any criticism on this at any point?
While I was writing it, no. Now that it’s out in the world, yup. A lot of people don’t think it’s appropriate for teens and yadda yadda yadda, but even if BV had been squeaky clean, people would have just found something else to criticize. No one escapes criticism, but I don’t mind being criticized for having written something I’m proud of.

For more fun information on Dia and BLEEDING VIOLET stop by and check out Simon & Schuster's page as well as her personal website.

Don't forget to leave a comment with your email address for your chance to win your very own copy of BLEEDING VIOLET courtesy of the author herself. This is one book you don't want to miss! For another great book recommendation on the Spreading the Awesome tour visit Yamile Mendez's blog to read about SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Zafon. For the complete list of participating blogs (interviews, giveaways and more) click here. A big thank you to Elana and Dia for allowing me to share this incredible book and author!

*Sorry, this giveaway is open only to those with a U.S. mailing address.