Interview with YA author Michelle Flick

Please welcome the kind Michelle Flick to the blog today. I’m thrilled to do this interview with Michelle after reading her recent release, Walker. Hi Michelle! Thank you for stopping by for the interview.

Do take a moment when you are done to check out my Review of Walker. There is a great giveaway there as well!

M:  Would you tell us briefly about your recent release, Walker, we are celebrating here today?

MF:  Walker is a paranormal read about a girl named Kate, who discovers she can walk through people’s dreams. It’s a bit scary for her at first but she meets the boy of her dreams (literally), oh and a serial killer.

M:  Is there going to be more books with Kate, Elisa, Colton, and Nick? I really enjoyed reading them and would like to see more.

MF:  Maybe? Elise was a big hit with people. I was thinking of doing something with her. She was a lot of fun to write.

M:  Oh, Elise was a hoot to read.

M:  What new troubles or adventures could we expect from our friends next?

MF:  I think it would focus on Elise or maybe Colton. I would bring up Nick and Kate, but I feel the other two have a story to tell.

M:  Kate visits the dreams of others. Did you research dream meanings or use a dream book to help create these dreams Kate visits?

MF:  Nope – I just thought of freaky things or wacky things. It was fun because there were no restraints and things didn’t always have to make sense – kind of an Alice in Wonderland thing.

M:  Did it feel strange setting part of the book in a dream world while writing?

MF:  Freeing! Like I said – no restraints! I just had to make sure I kept the two worlds separate.

M:  I’m curious, was there a piece of the story came to you first? A scene, a character, a dream in the story, anything that you built on to create this lovely book.

MF:  It was actually the story about the sisters and the dog. The collie in the story actually exists. And the dialogue about Jesse and her secret came to me. Dream walking came next when someone referenced Freddy Krueger to me (scariest villain ever!)

M:  Do you have a character you enjoyed writing the most? Or did they all balance out for you, as I find it hard to say who is my favorite character.

MF:  I love Jesse and Elise. I could say whatever I wanted with them and it fit their characters. They are bold and outgoing, and unafraid.

M:  You are a teacher. Does teaching help with writing Young Adult books? Seeing the teens interact and react with each other seems as it could have a big impact.

MF:  My students appear in my books all the time, sometimes distorted, but sometimes word for word. They give me a lot of inspiration. Teens are hilarious.

I also think it helps me stay relevant to what is actually going on in the YA world, trends, language, things like that.

M:  Now time for fun questions… I ask these of all my first time visitors. (so, next time you stop by, more tough questions! LOL)

M:  If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 

MF:  Greece

M:  Tea or Coffee? 

MF:  COFFEE

M:  Favorite Color? 

MF:  Red

M:  Favorite Childhood Fictional Creature? 

MF:  Vampire

M:  Now, as an adult, what’s your Favorite Fictional Creature? (can be the same as when a child) 

MF:  VAMPIRE

M:  Favorite Word? (any word at all) 

MF:  Rutabaga

M:  Thank you kindly, Michelle, for stopping by for the interview. I wish you all the best with Walker and all your books.

Here’s wishing you all the best in words and pages!


Find Michelle Flick:
Blog: Michelle Flick
Facebook: Michelle Flick - Author
Twitter:  @MFlick729


Walker
Description:
Kate isn’t thrilled to be moving to the middle of nowhere. She's already lost her parents, now she's leaving the only place she's ever known as home. She’s not there long when she realizes her dreams aren’t her own and that she has the ability to walk through other people's dreams. Not only that, but she might have found her dream guy--literally. He's in her dreams.

Just when she starts to get the hang of dream walking, strange murders in her new town start to occur. Girls are being killed as they sleep with no evidence, no suspects and no clear motive behind the deaths. It doesn’t take Kate very long to realize that the girls aren’t just being killed as they sleep—they’re being killed in their sleep.

Kate must figure out how to find the killer in the real world and keep the ones she loves safe while they sleep.

Book Review & Giveaway: Walker

Walker

By:  Michelle Flick

Publish Date:  December 11, 2013

Format:  eARC

Genre:  Young Adult Paranormal

Series:  Stand-alone

Recommendation:  Oh yes. I would highly recommend to young girls, and adults who enjoy dream walkers.

Synopsis:
Kate isn’t thrilled to be moving to the middle of nowhere. She's already lost her parents, now she's leaving the only place she's ever known as home. She’s not there long when she realizes her dreams aren’t her own and that she has the ability to walk through other people's dreams. Not only that, but she might have found her dream guy--literally. He's in her dreams.

Just when she starts to get the hang of dream walking, strange murders in her new town start to occur. Girls are being killed as they sleep with no evidence, no suspects and no clear motive behind the deaths. It doesn’t take Kate very long to realize that the girls aren’t just being killed as they sleep—they’re being killed in their sleep.

Kate must figure out how to find the killer in the real world and keep the ones she loves safe while they sleep.

First Sentence:
I stared out into the great, big backyard my sister now owned.

Purchase At:
Amazon

My Thoughts and Summary:
Kate doesn't learn until after she and her sister move to the new town how different they are. They are Dream Walkers. New school, new home, and parents gone. Kate is miserable. Trying to adjust to the loss of her parents and being in a new place in the middle of nowhere is hard. She finds she enjoys sleep as she's blank and doesn't remember her pain for her lost parents. Learning her sisters circumstances, she offers to try this place and finds a few great friends. Along with making enemies. Colton has taken a liking to Kate but his girlfriend is the mean girl at high school. She's known for ruining lives. But Kate finds solstice in her dreams. What scared her at first becomes her escape each day - other peoples dreams. Then the murders start. Girls are dying while they sleep. Kate can't interact with people in their dreams, but she comes across two guys and one isn't the dream man the other is, and yet the dream guy is in a coma...

I enjoyed the fun friendship with Kate's new friends. Elisa is her closest friend, and a hoot. Elisa pops off the page at us. And Nick and Colton are adorable catches!

Kate's strongeness, in the beginning, with the not-nice girl and her boyfriend that seems to like Kate was great. Mature yet still a kid in high school. She's learning to deal with a lot and makes mistakes too. But, she admits her mistakes, this is good. Kids need to learn they are going to make mistakes and try better the next time around. Kate is a rule model for this. She learns when it comes to relationships.

Kate does visit other peoples dreams. Some are rather strange, but hey, we all have those out there dreams. I like that there was a blend of dreams, as people have. There were strange dreams, happy dreams, and even scary struggling dreams.

I really enjoyed the growth of the story as the book went on. The pacing worked nicely to introduce us to the characters at the right moments. And to add in the murder mystery with us getting more and more involved.

This was a quick read for me. I kept going, flipping pages for several reasons. I wanted to learn more of the dreams that Kate visited. The secrets and mysteries of everyone's that was shown through the dreams. Then what was going on with the deaths, they seemed to be related to sleeping. Then there were the boys in Kate's life. lol. Oh, the choices of a teen.

There is a murder mystery here. People dying in what looks like their sleep, but maybe not. And there are mysteriously two others that seem to see her in the dream world where the dreamers can not see her.

Nice combination in a clean book for the YA crowd. I enjoyed the freshness of the story.



About The Author:
Michelle Flick lives in Western New York with her family. She teaches 8th grade ELA and is a lover of coffee, dogs, and music. You can find Michelle on Facebook, twitter and on her blog: www.flickspicks1.blogspot.com

About the dog:
Fergie is real! She is a 5-year-old collie. She hates tiled floors, loves the outside, and is never far from her family members. She is as loving and loyal as the Fergie in the novel!


GIVEAWAY TIME!!
Michelle is graciously offering a giveaway!

Rafflecopter a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: Walker

I have a new cover reveal for you all. :) I know. I said I wouldn't be posting, but when I hear this author had a reveal, I had to do it.

It's Paranormal for Young Adult and sounds so good. So, here's the new cover...

Walker

By:  Michelle Flick

Due Out:  December 11, 2013

Book Description:
Kate isn’t thrilled to be moving to the middle of nowhere. She's already lost her parents, now she's leaving the only place she's ever known as home. She’s not there long when she realizes her dreams aren’t her own and that she has the ability to walk through other people's dreams. Not only that, but she might have found her dream guy--literally. He's in her dreams.

Just when she starts to get the hang of dream walking, strange murders in her new town start to occur. Girls are being killed as they sleep with no evidence, no suspects and no clear motive behind the deaths. It doesn’t take Kate very long to realize that the girls aren’t just being killed as they sleep—they’re being killed in their sleep.

Kate must figure out how to find the killer in the real world and keep the ones she loves safe while they sleep.



Sounds neat. Want to see the full cover wrap? Okay, I'll share it...

I think it looks neat. She's upside down. Cool. :D

If you are curious Michelle has shared a few teasers on her blog this week. The latest teaser made me curious about this girl and the story.

You can find these at Michelle's Blog:
   Teaser #1
   Teaser #2
   Teaser #3

Book Release: The Owens Legacy: Revelations

I want to introduce a new book just released by a fellow blogger has self-published her YA Paranormal book.  Congrats Michelle! (blog: Oh! For the LOVE of Books!)  The book is now up at Barnes & Nobles for a small amount of $1.99.  Best of luck with the book!

Book Synopsis:
When telepathic twins, Piper and Ryder Owens are dumped at Evermore Academy, they thought that the only thing they'd have to worry about is Piper staying out of trouble long enough for them to graduate.  They will not, for any reason, be separated.  But someone at Evermore knows about their secret and wants to separate them permanently.


But then Piper's Achilles Heel shows up: a good looking guy.  Victor Mira is everything Piper is supposed to avoid, yet she feels drawn to him in a way she never imagined.  But Victor is hiding a dangerous secret too, and what he knows could be the one thing that could divide the sisters.  Forever.