Photo by Josh Wasserman

1. Before the release of Throne of Glass, you released 4 novella-length prequels. How did that idea come about and do you prefer writing novellas or novels?

We actually got the idea for doing the four novellas because we learned that THRONE OF GLASS would be a Fall 2012 book (we’d originally thought it’d be out in Winter/Spring 2012), and that meant making my long-time fans wait an extra six months or so to read it. Because my fans had been so, so patient and awesome all these years, I was super sad to make them wait even longer–so my agent and I thought a great way to tide them over (introduce new readers, too) would be to write a few novellas set before the events of the novel.

I’d never written a novella until I drafted THE ASSASSIN AND THE PIRATE LORD, but I had such a great time writing it (and the other three novellas) that I’d do it again in a heart beat. As for what medium I prefer more (novellas or novels)… I think my default setting is to always love novels, but I absolutely adore how novellas allow you to add more depth to your world/characters/plot.

2   The central character of Throne of Glass, Celaena Sardothien, is a young warrior who must face fearsome opponents in order to win her freedom. How important was it to you to present your female readership with a strong role model, and who are some of your own favourite fictional heroines?

Honestly, when I sat down to write THRONE OF GLASS, I never thought to myself “I want to make a strong role model for young women.” I just wanted to write about a heroine who was more than capable of saving herself (and who got to do the FUN stuff that boys usually get to do in books/movies), and whose moral compass was a little skewed (which makes her really fun to write).

As a reader, I was always drawn to strong female characters, so writing about them was a natural progression. I grew up reading books like THE HERO AND THE CROWN (Robin McKinley), GONE WITH THE WIND (Margaret Mitchell), SABRIEL (Garth Nix), THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Philip Pullman), and THE MISTS OF AVALON (Marion Zimmer Bradley)–and the strong heroines I found in those novels had a huge impact on me…Not just as a writer, but also as a person. To this day, the heroines of those books are still some of my favorite.

3. Sarah, you did a degree in Creative Writing. Can you tell us a bit about that and what impact it’s had on your writing career? Would you recommend formal writing training to aspiring writers?

Actually… I’m probably not the best person to ask about that. I enjoyed my Creative Writing classes, but they didn’t particularly help me in any way, either in terms of writing or getting published. For me, it was just FUN to get to write for homework/in class… But I was also writing high fantasy novels in classes where the focus was usually on contemporary short stories. So winning over my classmates/professors was always something I had to contend with, and got a little tedious after a while.

I had some very nice professors, but…my problem was that I was already a disciplined writer, KNEW what I wanted to write, and KNEW that I wanted to be published. Most of my classmates were just trying out writing for the first time, and didn’t even know what a query letter was. So, it was a mostly positive experience, but not necessarily an educational one. I’ve learned more from my critique partners about writing than I ever did in a creative writing class.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

Celaena. Always Celaena. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been working on the THRONE OF GLASS series for over ten years, but… She’s always felt the most alive to me, and is the character closest to my heart. <3

Sarah J Maas website

When Ania moves from London to Swansea city in Wales she is hoping that her life will get a bit more exciting, after all she is running away from her controlling mother to taste more freedom and feel more independent. Everything seems to be going the way she wanted until she almost dies while taking a quiet walk around the beach in the late evening.

When she opens her eyes, nothing seems the same…

She starts seeing people that no one else is able to notice. An enchanting looking man keeps following her and Ania’s life seems to getting more exciting than she ever wished for.

Our main character Ania is determined to have some freedom away from her overbearing mother. They just recently moved from Russia to London, and now after graduation she is ready to go to college. If possible, far away from her mother. She chooses a school relatively close within driving distance, but far enough to feel like she’s got some freedom.  Ania’s character is very stubborn, her relationship with her mother is very tender and it seems to affect all of the decisions that she makes in her own life. But the reader is kept in the dark until the very end.

Upon arrival to her new home to attend college, Ania has a near death experience when she is stabbed by a stranger on the beach. After this event she begins to notice people she couldn’t see before, but soon realized they cannot be seen by others. Just her. This starts her life on a very fast track of trying to figure out who they are. When she falls for the one who seems to always be around her, she’s asking for trouble. But when Gabriel begins to fall for her as well, there are too many rules being broken, and eventually somebody has got to pay.

This story was a pretty fast-paced one, but comes with a very emotional and indecisive main character who although she caused me some frustration, I rooted for in the end. Ania has to overcome several different things emotionally, and as this is just the first book in the series, there is a lot of room for her growth. I was proud of her when she finally made that decision to put all of her thoughts into moving forward in one direction.

We just barely get a glimpse into the other world that is introduced in this first book, but it has a lot of fun and imaginative potential with a mixture of paranormal worlds blending.

Welcome to Life with Lisa!

With the holiday’s coming up, I love spending time online looking for new and interesting recipes, I could create and share with my friends and family! I love heading to the grocery store, picking up ingredients I’ve never even heard of, and going home to mix them all up and make something absolutely delicious out of them! But with the holidays nearing so soon, things can get a bit busy around here, so I usually plan out what I want to make around the beginning of November (for Thanksgiving) and December (for Christmas and New Years!)

My favourite thing to make this time of year would be cookies! There are so many out there it can be hard and stressful to pick the perfect type, but don’t worry! I have you covered with one of my favourite German recipes, Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars!).

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

4 1/2 cups sliced almonds

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Here’s what you need to do: (this recipe makes about 24 cookies)

(Don’t preheat the oven yet, it will take a while to get the dough made, and all the cookies cut out!)

1. Make sure the powdered sugar is sifted.

2. In a food processor put 3 cups of almonds and 1/2 cup of sifted powdered sugar and process until the nuts are finely ground.

3. In a large electric mixing bowl whip the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While whipping the egg whites, slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, until the mixture is creamy and thick. If you want to decorate you’re cookies then make sure to set a little more than 1/2 of this mixture to the side.

4. Now fold the almond and powdered sugar mixture and the lemon zest into the electric mixing bowl to create a stiff dough.

5. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees.

6. Dust the counter you plan on using to roll the dough out lightly with some powdered sugar, so the cookies won’t stick, and will be easily removable after they’re cut out. Roll the dough out so it’s about 1/4 inch, you don’t have to be super accurate, but you don’t want your cookies too thick.

7. Cut the cookies and lay them about an inch apart from each other on the cooking sheet. Roll out the remaining dough again and continue you cutting out stars until there’s no more dough left.

8. Use a brush to spread the egg white and powdered sugar mixture on each cookie and then decorate as you wish with the remaining almonds!

9. Bake them until they’re light brown; which usually takes about thirty minutes or so.

(This recipe is a mixture between my mom’s recipe and a few I’ve found online! Since It’s just the beginning of December, I haven’t had the chance to make Cinnamon Stars this year yet. So I took a picture from online, so you guys know what the finished product looks like!)

Thank you so much for stopping by and I really hope you give this recipe a shot!

The Skeleton Key is Tara Moss’s ninth novel and the third instalment in her Pandora English series. This is the first time I’ve read Tara Moss, and the reason for her widespread appeal was apparent to me from the opening scene. The Skeleton Key is an easy read: the sort of book you can fall through in a couple of sittings.

One of Moss’s greatest strengths is her ability to bring you up close to her distinctive, original characters. Funny, sassy, and yet also vulnerable, 19-year-old Pandora is a sharply drawn, believable character – one with whom you’ll feel an immediate connection.

All kinds of funky stuff are going down in her Great-Aunt Celia’s haunted digs in spooky Spektor, but Pandora makes the most of her otherwise very comfortable accommodation. The fact that she is staying rent-free and has access to Vlad, the silent but reliable undead chauffeur, also offsets the things that frequently go bump in the night at Number One Addams Avenue.

By day, Pandora works at Pandora mag in SoHo, alongside her goth pal, Morticia (yep – Vlad, Addams, Morticia – Moss has a lot of fun with monikers in this book and so will you.) Their boss, the mysterious Skye DeVille, keeps odd hours and refers managerial duties to her cool and officious deputy editor, Pepper.

As a foreboding Crow Moon looms over Manhattan, Pandora heads out for a night on the town with Lieutenant Luke, her dapper, otherworldly beau. When Luke smoke bombs in the middle of their enchanting evening, Pandora suspects foul play and returns to Spektor in search of clues.

Pandora is surrounded by an array of creepy and often deadly types (you’ll love the bitchy, savage supermodels, Blonde and Redhead, and the bleak widow Barrett, who endlessly roams the halls in her mourning dress when she’s not – um – hanging around).

Celia’s haunted mansion is a character in itself, with its trap doors, spectral inhabitants, and dark secrets. Fabulously fiendish Deus inhabits a casket in one of the mansion’s antechambers and speaks in strange riddles. One of the Sanguine (please don’t use the ‘V’ word), Deus is an unlikely ally upon whom Pandora is forced to depend.

Seventh in the Lucasta matrilineal line, Pandora in fact possesses arcane powers of her own. Handy, really, and she’s going to need all the help she can get when things turn super freaky. Throughout The Skeleton Key, Moss incorporates Gothic archetypes, myth, legend, and history, in an enormously enjoyable, escapist tale. It really is a lot of fun and I suspect that Moss had a great time weaving the various supernatural elements together.

At no point does the plot sag in this page-turning mystery. You don’t need to read the other Pandora English novels to enjoy The Skeleton Key, though it will whet readers’ appetites and you’ll likely want to track down the first two. Its December release date sees the latest Pandora English tale hitting shelves just as we’re looking for stocking fillers and it’s a great gift choice for fans of paranormal mysteries and fast, entertaining reads. With its vibrant characters, intriguing plot line, and healthy dose of wry humour, The Skeleton Key showcases Tara Moss’s command of her genre and apparently effortless ability to keep her readers on the hook until the very last word. Recommended.

Published by Pan Macmillan Australia, 1 Dec, 2012.

ISBN: 9781742611631

Paperback, 290 pages.

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

First things first: I was a bit reticent with this book. Cancer-kid stories are often depressing with no uplifting moments. Then my dear big sister from College (it’s a hazing thing—she’s the person I chose during hazing week to be my mentor/friend throughout the course and she has not disappointed) told me it was amazing and that I should read it. So, I did. I got the book, started reading it after dinner and couldn’t bear to go to bed without finishing it. It’s that good.

The Fault In Our Stars is the recipe of a tear-jerker. The main character, Hazel, is terminally ill, her love interest is a cancer survivor, his best friend loses both eyes to cancer… You know it’s going to end badly, and it does—but not in the way you’d expect.

The book is in first-person, narrated by Hazel Grace. Hazel almost died some time prior to the book, but some trial drug kept her tumors from growing and now, she’s sort of stable and walks around with an oxygen tank at all times because, as she puts it, her lungs suck at being lungs. Her parents make her go to a Cancer Kid Support Group and there she meets one-legged Augustus Waters, who is going to flip her world upside down.

Hazel and Augustus practically fall in love right off the bat. Normally, I’d complain about insta-love, but let’s be fair, at times, insta-love is a valid writing resource, especially in a stand-alone novel. And in this case, it’s so cleverly done you really don’t mind that the main protagonists are basically head over heels with each other within the first third of the book.

There is drama surrounding Hazel and Augustus’s relationship. At first, she doesn’t want him to kiss her because she doesn’t want him to grieve for her when she dies.

Now that we’ve got the main story down, I’m going to talk about Hazel and Augustus. I said earlier that cancer-kid books are often depressing and have no light moments. Well, The Fault In Our Stars is not like that. Hazel has cancer and yeah, it’s pretty awful, but she’s been living with it for so long that she accepts it as a part of her. She doesn’t mope around a lot and say how much her world sucks. Instead, she’s a deliciously sarcastic person who makes the whole cancer deal seem a secondary aspect of her life she has been saddled with. Sure, she has to sleep attached to a machine and has to bring her oxygen tank everywhere—but she makes those complications seem minor in comparison to everything that’s going on in her life. She’s smart, well-read and very compassionate and the perfect narrator to this great novel. And most of all: she isn’t a teenager pretending to be an adult. She’s a teenager being a teenager, tantrums and all, and the fact I don’t hate her as I do most characters who behave that way, is something to behold.

As for Augustus… his character is amazing. You see that he truly likes Hazel and he does show it. He does everything he can to make her wish come true, and it’s the sweetest thing. He does not do it so that he can have some measure of power over her, he does everything he does because he loves her. The secondary cast of characters: the fictional author Peter van Houten is a full-fledged jerk, Hazel’s parents are a mix between overly-concerned and wonderful. Isaac, albeit a somewhat background character, has a great story… They’re all wonderful and you grow to care about them all when everything unfolds.

And then you have the writing. Oh, the writing. It’s a bit pretentious, all right, but when you have quotes like:

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”

and

“Without pain, how could we know joy?’ This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.”

and

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world…but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”

It’s beautiful. I haven’t read a book that is so short and so filled with memorable writing. It’s also John Green’s flawless prose that brings all these characters to life and it’s a wonder to read.

Finally, you have the end. There’s a point in the book where you know for sure (because until then you will be hoping otherwise) there’s not going to be a happy ending. It’s a tragedy, true and raw, and you feel so helpless you want to stop reading but at the same time you can’t because everything is so carefully worded, so wondrously put together you want to see how the author is going to make the inevitable happen. And when it does, it’s the most beautiful, heartbreaking thing I’ve read in a while.

I’m not kidding when I say this. When I had about forty pages left in the book, I was crying every five minutes. I had to stop reading so I could cry. My boyfriend, who was Skype-ing with his colleagues for a college project had to turn off the microphone so no one would hear my constant sobbing. And when I read that final sentence, I cried some more, re-read the last chapter, cried again, re-read it… It was a funny thing, how I didn’t want the book to end like that and, at the same time, how I felt the ending was perfect.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book. It’s one of those books that’s so wonderful you feel it’s your personal quest to tell everyone to read it. I’ve heard complaints on the Internet about how every John Green book is the same, how he is the Nicholas Sparks of Young Adult—and I don’t care. Nothing is ever going to diminish my opinion of this novel – that it’s a beautifully told, beautifully written story I want to read over and over again.

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Penguin (3 May 2012)

ISBN-10: 0141345632

ISBN-13: 978-0141345635