Paranormal YA Giveaway Hop, Featuring Kat Zhang, author of What's Left of Me and International Giveaway

Young Adult Paranormal Giveaway Hop

February 21st - 27th

Co - hosted by YA Between the Lines

Featuring Young Adult Books with Paranormal elements.

Goodreads Book Description: Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .

For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Author Blurb: Kat Zhang is an avid traveler, and after a childhood spent living in one book after another, she now builds stories for other people to visit. An English major at Vanderbilt University, she spends her free time performing Spoken Word poetry, raiding local bookstores, and plotting where to travel next. What’s Left of Me–about a girl with two souls–is her first novel and was released by HarperCollins on 9/18/2012. She is represented by Emmanuelle Morgen of Stonesong. You can read about her travels, literary and otherwise, on her website or check her out on Twitter. 

Author Interview

1. It's so unusual to see someone so young to be such a successful author already! Please tell us a little about your journey and what it's like to still be in college and have to deal with the fallout of your success.

Sure thing :) I started writing when I was really young--mostly poetry at first, then quickly segueing into short stories. I began my first novel when I was twelve, and I  started writing WHAT'S LEFT OF ME the winter of my senior year of high school. The first draft took me a little more than a year. Then I revised for a few months and, after querying about 2 months, signed with my agent, Emmanuelle Morgen. I revised with her for a few more months, and then we went on submission to publishers and announced the deal with HarperCollins about a month after that.

I'm currently a senior at university, and writing the trilogy definitely takes up a significant chunk of my time, but I love it so much, and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to share my stories with readers :) 

2. I absolutely loved your characters. You had the added difficulty of having multiple people in one body. What was the experience like having to be in two minds at one time? What were the easy parts and the hard parts?

Thanks! To be honest, for the most part, it wasn't actually that hard to write Eva and Addie in the same body. Dunno what that says about me ;) Characters are almost always my favorite part of a story, and often what makes or breaks a book/movie/television show for me. I love getting to know them, exploring their thoughts, memories, tics, etc. The hardest part, I'd say, was mostly the little details like figuring out pronoun use. For example, "John, Dave, and I ran home." sounds good. So does "We ran home." But if the "I" is really a hybrid--really two people in one body--and I still want to note that John and Dave were also running, then "John, Dave, and we ran home" sounds rather terrible. There was a lot of rephrasing/shuffling done on a case-by-case basis. 

Also, I had to pay attention to some of my metaphor use. Usually, saying something like "I felt so nervous I was sick to my stomach" is perfectly fine. But if it's the "recessive" soul of a hybrid pair who is feeling nervous, her body won't actually react at all, and she would not use this sort of phrasing.

3. Tell us a little about your setting and how you came up with this world. Are we going to learn more about how this dystopian setting came to be like it is?

WHAT'S LEFT OF ME is set in an alternative version of the 21st century--basically our own world with a few important changes. The most important, of course, is the fact that people in this world are born with two souls in one body, with one soul generally disappearing at around age 4 or 5. The other differences are hinted at in the first book, but explored more deeply in books 2 and 3. I can't really say much more without spoiling the series ;)

4. If you could meet any author, who would you meet and why?

Hmmm... I think I'd like to meet Philip Pullman. When I was little, THE GOLDEN COMPASS was my very favorite book, and in fact one of the books that really started me writing novels. He seems like an interesting guy--and I want to ask him when THE BOOK OF DUST is going to be released, and whether I could bribe a sneak peek, haha!

5. What is your favorite YA book of all time, and what was your favorite read in the past year?

Oh, man, I can't pick a favorite book! I'm terrible at these sort of questions. I'm horribly indecisive. Well, I already said that TGC was my favorite when I was a kid. I also love ENDER'S GAME and SABRIEL. Don't make me pick ;)

My favorite read in the last year? SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo. I read the ARC and it gave me so many feelings!! Can't wait for book 2.

6. Who is your YA boyfriend?

Hahaha! Hmm, I dunno... I can come to really like and care about characters in a book, but I don't tend to crush on them, haha :P I know, I know. I'm lame.

TV characters are a different story. Does that make me shallow?? ;)

7. Tell us about what you have in store for your characters in the sequel of What's Left of Me and whatever else you have on the horizon.

I can't really talk too much about ONCE WE WERE (the sequel to WHAT'S LEFT OF ME) yet other than to say that things happen on a bigger scale. As for other writing projects, I'm tinkering away on a YA contemporary, high fantasy, and fantasy-of-some-other-sort/weird-ungenre-able-thing. Not necessarily in that order :)

Thanks for having me! 

Thanks to Kat for giving this terrific interview! Now sign up to win her book!

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