Redemption Blog Tour

Welcome to today's stop on the Redemption Blog Tour. I'm happy to be a part of it! I was so excited when Anne contacted me, I adored both Aurelia and Exile. Of course I wanted to read the ending of the trilogy!

Aurelia and Robert learn of turmoil in their homeland. Although they've exiled themselves across the water, their hearts turn heavy at the news. Tyralt is under attack and a friend arrives on their doorstep asking for their help.

Aurelia knows she can't turn away from her homeland. She's still not convinces she the right person for the job, but as always with Robert by her side, she's willing to try.

Going back puts her life in danger, but Aurelia can't leave her homeland in the hands of her treacherous sister any longer. It's time she takes a stand. 

My Thoughts: I was so happy to read this book and I wasn't disappointed. I loved it from the first page until the end. I liked watching both Robert and Aurelia come into their own. I liked the strategies, the defiance, and the determination.  I loved meeting people from the homeland. I love how Aurelia grew and how she took control of her life.  A fantastic ending to a wonderful trilogy.

Source: ARC for review
Final Thoughts: If you're a Aurelia and Exile fan, you won't want to miss this ending!

About the Author:
Anne Osterlund grew up in the sunshine of Eastern Oregon and graduated from Whitworth College. She lives in a cute little yellow house with her best feline friend, Simba, and her own library of young adult books. She enjoys immersing her students in language, literature, and imagination. Anne has written five novels: Aurelia, Exile, Redemption, Academy 7, and Salvation. She has dreams of many more in the future. Unveil the intrigue on her website.

Chatting with Anne Osterlund

Welcome Anne! Thanks for chatting with us. I've adored all three of your novels and can't wait to devour more of your writing!


What made you choose to write YA?
I love to read YA: Tamora Pierce, S.E. Hinton, Ann Rinaldi, Louisa May Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, John Marsden, Suzanne Collins, and on and on and on.

I also love YA because the characters, like most teenagers, have minds of their own. They make their own decisions and their own mistakes. They don’t have to be happy.Or funny. They’re free to express an entire range of emotions.They get in trouble and change their minds and have the ability to grow.They don’t know everything. And they don’t know they don’t know everything. There is always hope.

I LOVE that answer!

Where do you write best?
On the back of a half-wild stallion sprinting across the Tyralian frontier. Or in an interplanetary plane flipped upside down and scaling the side of a frozen waterfall. No, honestly I write on a couch, surrounded by papers, pencils, a thesaurus, and a dictionary. It doesn’t matter where you are when you write. It’s about where your imagination is.

How do you get your ideas?
My characters introduce themselves. I first met Aurelia (the heroine in Aurelia and Exile), on a yellow notepad, when she was complaining about being stuck at a party with an itching ankle. Aerin (the main character in Academy 7) was gazing in a mirror, removing her headband, and contemplating the vast question of whether she could scrub away the person she had been in order to become someone different.

All my characters have their own voices. My job is to listen.

How do you come up with your titles?
The titles come very naturally. Generally I don’t think a lot about them when I first write them down, but somehow they come to represent the largest, most unifying concept within the book. The center of the story.

Can you tell us a little bit about Exile?
Exile is the sequel to Aurelia. It’s the second book in a series about a princess who should not be a princess.

Here’s my personal pitch: Exiled. From the weight of others’ expectations, the responsibilities of being crown princess, and the pressure to marry, AURELIA is finally free to travel the kingdom and meet the people of Tyralt. If only ROBERT, her expedition guide, would stop pestering her about her safety and just kiss her. But then their journey erupts in a fiery conflagration, and with both of their lives and the fate of the kingdom at stake, she and Robert must determine whether they have the strength, and the will, to complete their mission. And face the darker side of exile.

Robert, Aurelia, and I hope you will all join us on their expedition which begins in stores April 28

I LOVED Exile! If you missed yesterday's post, read my review here.

What was the last book you’ve read that you’ve been recommending to everyone?
The Hunger Games. I read it last summer, and I’ve literally recommended it to everyone I talk books with: family members, librarians, brand new acquaintances, my best friend, perfect strangers at the park. LOL. Really just amazing storytelling. I’m reading The Iron King now, and it will probably be my next Goodreads recommendation.

Anne also has a page of recommended reads on her website

Do you have a favorite library experience?
One of my favorite books is Witch of the Glens by Sally Watson. I found it in a local library when I was in grade school, and I have read it over a dozen times. I always wanted to buy it, but the book was out of print and cost between $400 and $800. Then just a few years ago, it came back into print, and I received one for Christmas. I was SO excited! I reviewed it online last summer, and the author e-mailed me directly. She even read and reviewed my second book, Academy 7, for me. How amazing is that!

Great story - I love it!

Are there any authors you’d love to meet?
I met my favorite author, Tamora Pierce, at the Sirens: Women in Fantasy Literature conference in Vail, CO two years ago. She has cats!

Of course, I’d love to meet other authors: Ann Rinaldi, S.E. Hinton, and Sally Watson, to name a few. Which is not to say that I would be brave enough to talk to any of them if we did meet.

Do you have a favorite literary quote?
“Second to the right. And straight on till morning.” That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to Neverland;but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head.

Listing of Favorites:
Candy: Butterfinger, Junior Mints, and Baby Ruth
Pizza topping: Pepperoni, sausage & olives
Genre of books: Fantasy
Singer: Sugarland
Restaurant: Italian and Mexican
TV show: All time favorite: Little House on the Prairie.
More recent favorites: Jericho, Smallville, Prison Break, The Mentalist
Movie: All time favorites: Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music
More recent favorites: Penelope, Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly
Color: Red & blue
Shoe: comfortable
Video Game: Nope. Don’t have one. They make my brain spin the way your mind does after spending all day in the waves of the ocean

Review: Exile

***Spoilers exist from the previous novel***

With her new-found freedom after being removed from her role of Princess, Aurelia has decided to tour her country. She longs to see her people in their every day roles.

Robert and guards accompany her on her journey. At first, Aurelia travels as a Princess. However, she doesn't want to the people to see her as above their station. She wants to become one of them. She gets her wish when an unexpected attempt on her life causes her to flee with Robert. Soon Robert becomes the only person she trusts. He's not crazy about the way she puts herself in danger.

The two of them travel in disguise and off the main roads. While traveling, they run into a group of bandits. The leader, with his own army, protects Aurelia's mother.

As Aurelia spends time with her mother, she unravels the truth from her past. She sees herself split between two futures. She could remain her and forget about the outside world, or she can continue her journey.

Her life's filled with difficult choices and emotional turmoil. The knowledge that her step-sister wants to take the crown motivates her. The horrors she sees on her journey motivate her. The danger of someone following her footsteps lurking in the shadows waiting to kill her motivates her. How far will she go to protect herself, Robert, and her people?

My Thoughts: A great continuation of Aurelia's story. It's full of tension - danger lurking everywhere with double-crossings, and betrayals. Romantic tension fills the book. It's both frustrating (in a good way) and adorable. I love the bittersweet moments between Aurelia and her mother. I like how Aurelia's mind works through all that she sees. I love her sense of right and wrong colors her world. I love her determination. She's a character one can't help but root for her success. I simply can't wait until the final installment comes out!

Cover Thoughts: LOVE the cover

Source: from the author

GoodReads

Publication Date: April 28th

Stayed tuned tomorrow for an interview with the author: Anne Osterlund!!!!

spotted: Exile cover

Isn't it beautiful?
It's the companion novel to AURELIA and Anne Osterlund has a brand new blog
It comes out April of next year - which is SUCH a long time to wait...

Academy 7

Aerin's father just died, leaving her alone in the world. She tries to steer his airship to his final destination, but the ship is hurting. It might not survive. When she's rescued and brought into the republic, she's given a test to take. This test will place her into the school system. With her brains, she's been placed in the very best school. She feels out of place and desperate to hide her true self for fear of being expelled. On the first day, she figures out how to bypass the security codes and lets a boy in on the process. Dane's used that knowledge in a secret attempt to get himself expelled so his father can't force him to leave unjustly. Instead, his plan backfires and both of them get hauled in for questioning. Their punishment: manual labor. At first, Aerin's so angry at Dane, she doesn't talk to him. Each day they debate each other in class and for the best class rank. Finally, after weeks of working together in silence, she begins to crack. Soon, they've become friends, studying together and sharing bits and pieces of their life stories. But neither is willing to let the other in on the secrets from their past. Could their secrets tear them apart or bring them closer together?

Osterlund strikes again with a highly entertaining and heavy sci-fi book. The uncovering of both secrets engages the reader as does the blossoming friendship and romance between the two characters. I also liked how both Aerin's and Dane's perspectives. While I love the cover, in no way does it have a connection to the book - mainly because there's nothing to suggest the science fiction aspect of the story. Anne Osterlund captures me with her writing. I simply adore her books.