Tynga's Reviews: Mari Mancusi

Showing posts with label Mari Mancusi. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

"When I'm not writing..." with Mari Mancusi

Mari Mancusi

Our first post-Paranormal Sumer Camp guest is Mari Mancusi, author of the Blood Coven series. The eighth and final book in the series, BLOOD FOREVER, comes out today and she's graciously agreed to join us on her pub day.

Want to know what Mari does when she's not writing? Keep reading to find out!

It used to be when I wasn’t writing, I’d be working as a TV producer—interviewing stars on the red carpet, cooking with celebrity chefs, attending a fashion week show, maybe even traveling to a beachfront resort in Cabo to do a segment on destination weddings. Being a TV producer was a lot of fun and I was fortunate to experience a great many cool things and meet a lot of interesting people, too.

Since then I’ve left the bright lights and big city of New York behind and traded TV for a full time career as a writer. On the surface, it may seem a bit less glamorous. And some days, I admittedly work in my pajamas. I’m also a mom now—which means a good deal of my time is spent chasing a fourteen month old around the house. Instead of restaurant openings, these days you’re more likely to find me at the local zoo or children’s museum.

But I have to tell you—I’m actually much happier now. I can focus on my family and my books and hey—how many people can say they make stuff up for a living? I’m working and living for me now—not a nine to five job. And while sometimes it seems the work has actually doubled, it’s so much more rewarding than the shallow vapidity of morning television. I’m doing something important now—raising an actual human being. Way more meaningful than this year’s hemline.

And when the baby goes to bed? Well, that’s “me” time. Maybe I’ll get on the computer or turn on the PlayStation and play some videogames. I used to be completely addicted to World of Warcraft, but these days that’s a bit too much of a time suck. I still enjoy games like Skyrim, Fallout, Portal 2 and most recently Diablo 3. And my gaming is actually research, too! Most of the books I’ve written have at least one gamer character in them. Gamer Girl, specifically, revolved around a World of Warcraft like game.

When I do get out of the house, I love dressing up in costumes. As you’re reading this article, I will have just gotten back from Dragon*Con in Atlanta, which is a huge fantasy convention where 40,000 people descend on the city in the most amazing costumes. Here’s me two years ago, dressed as Zombie Bo Peep.

And lastly, though now I live in Texas and don’t get as much of a chance to go—I love snowboarding. There’s just something so beautiful and free about flying down a mountainside. It’s exhilarating and challenging and so much fun!

My life is busier than it’s ever been—and yet oh so rewarding! When I’m not writing I wouldn’t change a thing!

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What a great post, Mari! Thanks for visiting us and sharing your non-writing life!

For more information about Mari and her books, check out her series website or her personal page, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

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Here's the scoop on BLOOD FOREVER:

Sunny and Rayne McDonald have had their lives turned upside down thanks to the Blood Coven. But when the past itself is changed, the sisters will do anything to get back what they’ve lost…
After making a deal with the devil, Rayne and her twin sister Sunny have been given the chance to go back in time—preventing that fateful night when Sunny was bitten by Magnus from ever happening. But while Sunny has been offered a vampire-free existence, she finds she doesn’t want to live without Magnus by her side. And although Rayne puts up a stoic front, she secretly wishes that vampire Jareth was back in her arms.
To reclaim their lives, Sunny and Rayne team up to figure out a way to change history for the better. Problem is, Jareth and Magnus aren’t that eager to help two unfamiliar girls who somehow know everything about their vampiric organization. Now, if the twins can’t get the boys on their side, history may spiral out of control—destroying not only the Blood Coven, but quite possibly the entire human race…
Read an excerpt
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository

Here's the rest of the series:

Mari Mancusi Boys That Bite Mari Mancusi Stake That! Mari Mancusi Girls That Growl Mari Mancusi Bad Blood Mari Mancusi Night School Mari Mancusi Blood Ties Mari Mancusi Soul Bound

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Do you guys have suggestions for who you’d like to see featured on the blog? If so, you can make your suggestions on this page. No guarantees that your favorite authors will be able to participate but we’ll try!

Authors, would you like to visit and share with us? Please email me at jennblogs (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll set it up!

by jenn at Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Mari Mancusi, Penguin, Vampire, When I'm not writing 3 People left their mark

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi

Book stats:
Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: NLA Digital
Release date: March 8th 2012

Series: Standalone

Source: Netgalley

Reviewed by: Christine

Purchase: Amazon

Can true love survive the end of the world?
Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgrimage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

Tomorrow Land totally took me by surprise. While I didn’t have it on the radar at all before I stumbled upon it on Netgalley, I ended up really loving it.

Mari Mancusi’s latest dystopian novel tells the story of two teenagers who survive a plague that has wiped out the majority of the population and try to make a living in a new world filled with zombies and the dangerous virus.

Tomorrow Land alternately tells the story set in the present (the post-apocalyptic world) and flashes back four year to the past, when Peyton and Chase fell in love during the beginnings of the plague. Still, the two different timelines are interwoven, as the part set before the apocalypse provides necessary explanations for what’s going on after the apocalypse.

Peyton and Chase are remarkable protagonists, great, in depth and deftly written. Both of them are flawed, Peyton physically and Chase as a character. Those flaws certainly add to their credibility as characters in my opinion.

Peyton’s father has implanted her with retractable razors in her fingers (kind of like Wolverine) and some kind of ocular lens that upgrades her vision and turns her eyes silver. Like any other teenage, she is very self-conscious because of that. She constantly questions whether Chase might still find her attractive. I like that Mari Mancuso has written a heroine with a flaw that is so common for female teenagers, even though the reason for her doubts is highly unusual. Thus, it’s even easier to identify with Peyton and easier to imagine a catastrophe like the one in Tomorrow Land might actually happen. Aside from that, Peyton is incredibly strong and determined, considering her situation. She has to be, since Chase is the one who needs more help than her.

The plague and all the deaths and tragedy have left their mark on Chase. The only way he can deal with the loss of loved ones and people close to him is by tuning it down by taking pills. He is in a kind of downward cycle: he tries to be responsible, screws up, needs more pills and screws up again. Not that I condone drug abuse in any way, but like I mentioned above, I think this flaw sets him apart from the often too perfect YA heroes. Still, the addiction stands between him and Peyton, making a relationship that is not easy to begin with even harder. They have to overcome a lot of difficulties, problems and misunderstandings, yet, the way all this is written by Mari Mancusi makes it very easy for the readers to empathize with them.

Another really remarkable character is Peyton’s father. Considered a lunatic before the plague he was one of the few people who foresaw the horrors to come and therefore, began preparing his family and especially Peyton for things to come.

Part of what made Tomorrow Land such an impressive read for me was to experience how different groups of survivors dealt with the aftermath of the plague. Mari Mancusi’s book shows in an incredibly gripping, realistic and disturbing way how humans can adapt to almost anything and will still stick to their true nature, which can be good in some cases and very bad in others. One of the elements that I found particularly disturbing and heartbreaking was that even though Chase and his brother made a huge effort to raise the kids as normally as possible, they barely reacted when someone died, which illustrates how common death is for them.

The plague itself was realistically described and felt not too far fetched, just like the 2030th society. It’s not over the top futuristic and Mari Mancusi doesn't loose herself in complicated descriptions of technology or the virus. The gadgets introduced a successful advancement from things we have now. For me, the society didn’t feel as wrong and threatening as it was in other dystopian YA books, but during the story, the true extents of its threat is revealed.

Mari Mancusi does a stellar job of keeping the readers glued to the pages. You are tossed into a post-apocalyptic world right from the beginning and that alone poses a lot of questions that are answered in the course of the book.

At the end, I was sad that Tomorrow Land was only a standalone book, I would have wished for at least one more book. If you like the dystopian YA genre and if you’re looking for you next fix, I definitely recommend Tomorrow Land as a thrilling, adventurous page turner with complex characters and sweet romance.

by Christine at Thursday, March 29, 2012

Dystopian, Mari Mancusi, Review 5 People left their mark

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Cover Love

Some great covers have been revealed lately and I thought I would share my favorites with you!

First: Divergent by Veronica Roth (May 2011)

Make sure to read the description, it sounds awesome!

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves . . . or it might be what destroys her.

Next stop: Blood Ties by Mari Mancusi (August 2011)

I haven’t read this series, but I think the cover is stunning!

The final battle is brewing between Vampires and Slayers. But for Sunny McDonald, the true war is being fought over her heart.
Though now officially back in the arms of her vampire boyfriend Magnus, Sunny finds she still can't forget the gentle mortal Jayden who once saved her life. And when the darkness threatens to steal his humanity, Sunny finds herself with a choice. Stay true to Magnus and the Blood Coven or defy them in a desperate attempt to save Jayden’s soul.
Meanwhile, the Blood Coven is gearing up for its toughest fight yet--going head to head with a splinter group of Slayer Inc who's regrouping in Tokyo, Japan, still determined to take over the world. In dark blood bars and hidden temples, it'll be Vampires vs. Slayers in a showdown that could cost Sunny not only her heart...but also her very life.