Hi guys!
Steph here! I discovered the book State of Emergency by Summer Lane by 'accident' and I have to admit it's one of the best mistake I made, this book was fantastic. Below we will have an
interview, a giveaway and my review.... first let discover the author...
Who is Summer Lane?
Summer
Lane is the author of the YA/NA Romantic Thriller, State of Emergency.
She is a freelance writer, publicist and lover of all things feline. Summer is
also the author of Snappy Social Networking: How to Dominate the Blogosphere
& Everything in Between. In her spare time, Summer is the creator of the
online magazine/blog, Writing Belle, in addition to being a frequent
contributor at NA Alley, a website dedicated to all things New Adult.
Summer
began writing when she was 13 years old, due to the fact that the long
afternoons after school were somewhat boring, and writing stories seemed to
make the time pass a little quicker. Since then she has written many books
about jungle cats, secret agents, princesses and spaceships. She is also a
non-fiction writer, but her debut novel, State of Emergency, is her
favorite book yet. You can find Summer hopping around on the Internet by
following her on Twitter @SummerEllenLane. Want to talk to Summer? Email her
at: summerlane101@gmail.com
Links:
State of Emergency:
Summary:
Cassidy Hart is your
typical High School graduate: A little shy, a little sarcastic, and a
little naive. But when an electromagnetic pulse takes down the United
States, she's forced to kick into full survival mode when she gets
separated from her father.
Yeah. Things suck.
But with the help of a handsome soldier named Chris, she just might find her dad without getting into serious trouble.
Emphasis on might.
Oh. And there's the matter of avoiding getting killed in a world that's quickly turned into an active war zone.
It's going to change Cassidy's life.
It's going to be a major pain in the butt.
Review:
If you follow my reviews you
probably know how I enjoy Post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels. I read SO
many of them making me extremely picky and hard to impress. Well all
that to say that State of Emergency by Summer Lane managed to impress
me! It was such a great book and I was very surprised to discover this
book, it deserves much more recognition! It is one of the best I read so
far and is easily making my top 8 in the category.
First
the settings of this book reminds me a lot of the show Revolution which
I love. It was so similar I checked to see if one could have been
inspired by the other but no. I guess that both Summer and NBC got
awesome ideas at the same time.
Cassidy
is a great character and I truly enjoyed following her through this
book. She is fierce, brave and somehow a little naïve even if she
refuses to recognize it. She is learning so much thanks to Chris.
Now
Chris, man that guy make you fall in love for page 1! Seriously, that
guy is major crush alert. He is 6 foot something of hot hunky
marine….He is brave, lethal but also soft and loving when he needs to
be.
This
story is enticing and I loved to follow the evolution of Cassidy as a
person as well as her evolution of her relationship with Chris.
The
storyline was very well done, it is scarily probable and Summer wrote
perfectly how terrible events can bring both the best and the absolute
worse out of people. The story unravel on a very steady pace and you
never get bored while reading.
In
conclusion: State of Emergency is a very strong beginning of a series
and it a perfect and original post-apocalyptic story. It is full of
action, losses, betrayal with an underlying romance. I will now be
eagerly waiting for the Sequel State of Chaos.
Stars 4.5/5
Interview:
Hi Summer.
First let me thank you
for doing this interview, I loved State
of Emergency and I can’t wait for the Sequel “State of Chaos”.
1- Tell
us a bit more about you...Did you always want to become an author? When did you
start writing?
Well, I always wanted
to be a storyteller. When I was
growing up, I loved the concept of getting lost in a story world, but I never
thought about being a writer. I did a lot of oral storytelling to entertain my
baby brother over the years, and at some point I remember sitting down and
literally taking a pen to paper and writing one of those stories down. A light
bulb went off – this was fun, but
more importantly, I recognized that I had a talent for it. I came to this
realization when I was about 13.
2- What
is your favourite book?
I have so many!
Growing up, my favorite book was Robinson
Crusoe. I was fascinated with the idea of a survival story. As I got older,
one of my top reads was Jane Eyre,
and today my number one books are the ones that keep me on the edge of my seat;
books like Divergent, by Veronica
Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne
Collins or Enclave by Ann Aguirre.
3- I
found the premise of the story very interesting, what inspired you?
I’ve always wondered
what I would do if a huge emergency went down where I lived. How would I
survive? I took that same concept that was always floating around in my brain
and gave that problem to a naïve high school graduate named Cassidy Hart. Electromagnetic
Pulses were something I’d always read about, and I thought it would be good
alternative end-of-the-world story. I didn’t need zombies or aliens to pull it
off.
4-
Cassidy is a very complex character, she is
strong, trained and yet she still has this naivety coming with youth....Did you
get inspired from someone you know?
Cassidy is
complex! She has all the skills and information needed to keep herself alive,
but because she’s never had any real world experience, she doesn’t know how to apply those skills. Cassidy is based on
your average teenager. “A little shy, a little sarcastic, and a little naïve,”
like the book says. I created her to be the friend that I’d want to have:
loyal, honest, but somewhat innocent, which makes her refreshing. I got really
tired of reading about heroines who swear, drink, have sex and try so hard to
fit in with the tough guys. I just wanted a girl who was normal, you know?
5-
Your story is very dark, showing how an
astronomical disaster can bring both the best and the worst in people in a
short amount of time. This is something that Cassidy has a lot of problem
accepting. Is it your case?
Because Cassidy is
somewhat innocent in the beginning of State
of Emergency, she doesn’t really anticipate the amount of violence coming
her way. She expects people to be decent, but life or death situations make the
population really desperate, really
fast. I wrote the book with this in mind. It’s hard to accept the fact that
sometimes, things get ugly, and the only thing you can do is dig in and try to
survive.
6-
Chris is the perfect book crush, a lethal marine
with a big heart....Tell us something about him that we don’t know.
Chris is based on two things: the Navy SEALs that
train on Coronado Island at the Naval Station where my grandfather was once
stationed, and my admiration for military men and law enforcement officers. I
wanted a main character who was a man,
and who wasn’t afraid to protect the person he loved. He needed to be capable
to do that, so I have him the skillset he needed to take care of Cassidy and
keep both of them alive in a post-apocalyptic environment.
7-
If you had only one word to describe Cassidy
and Chris? What will these
words be?
Cassidy: Sassy.
Chris: Logical.
8-
Did you picture an actual cast for the
characters of State of Emergency?
I didn’t write the book with an actual acting cast in
mind, except for one of the characters. Now I can look at my characters and be
able to tell you who could play Chris and Cassidy. I’d like to see Chris
Hemsworth or Chris Evans for him, and Jennifer Lawrence for Cassidy. I also
think Frank Hart could be played by Bruce Willis, just because he always does
such a good job portraying police officers in movies.
9-
Cassidy and Chris’s relationship starts rocky
and evolves slowly. I really enjoyed the fact that it was not instant love. Is
there any song that inspired you their relationship? If yes which one? For me I
have to admit that ‘After the Storm’
by Mumford & Sons or ‘I’d Come For
You’ by Nickelback.
I wanted their
romance to be real. So a love-at-first-sight thing wasn’t what I was going for.
I wanted them to learn to trust each other, then respect each other, and then
fall in love. I wanted to base it in real feelings, not just instant
attraction. I love listening to music, and I have to admit that Ed Sheeran’s Kiss Me is one of my favorites when I
think of Chris and Cassidy.
10-
You went deep into the history behind the
‘blackout’, our own government turning against us; this is a scary
perspective... Where did this idea come from?
Conspiracy theories are a novelist’s treasure trove! I
like reading about what ifs, but I
always wanted them to be based in reality. I wanted people to stop and think, Oh, my gosh. That could actually happen!
So I combined those popular theories with solid facts and came up with
something in between. I also looked back at major wars like World War II to see
how national emergencies have been handled in the past. I wanted realism. So I
did my research to get everything right.
11-
State of Chaos will be released soon, how many
books are you planning for the series?
There will definitely be three books. That’s
absolutely for certain. Beyond that, it’s possible that there could be four or
five books. It depends on the longevity of the story and the characters. If
there’s a story that needs to be told, I won’t hesitate in telling it!
12-
Is there any question you always wished to get
ask but never was? What is it?
Indeed there is. I always ask writers what
their favorite writing snack is, and what their advice is to aspiring authors.
So I’ll answer both of them myself today. My snack: iced tea and chocolate chip
cookies. No lie. I’m a real health maniac.
My advice: Never stop writing. Never stop
working. You will want to quit at times, but trust me, once you give up it’s
almost impossible to start again. Never, ever stop writing. Get
self-disciplined and set your goals firmly in your mind. Tape them up on the
wall. Repeat them out loud. Work towards them every day. Eventually, you’ll get
to the place you want to be.
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
