Canada Day Blog Hop Giveaway: Ashes, Ashes

To celebrate Canada Day Aislynn from Knit, Purl, Stitch...Read and Cook, and Chrystal from Snowdrop Dreams of Books have organized a Canada Day Blog Hop. There are so many amazing Canadian authors that I knew I had to giveaway a copy of one of their books. Here you have the chance to win Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari, a young adult post-apocalyptic fiction novel with a tough as nails heroine and a thrilling plot that will keep you turning the pages. To read my review of the novel, click here.

There is one copy of Ashes, Ashes available and in order to win you must have a Canadian address. Simply leave a comment letting me know what one thing you'd save in the event of an apocalypse. If you're a follower, you gain a second entry but you have to leave a second comment letting me know for it to count. This giveaway will end when the blog hop is over, at 11:59 PM on July 2nd 2011.

Click here to visit the rest of the blog spots, and Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Guest Post With Author Jo Treggiari

What are some things that scare you about the future? What are some things that excite you about the future? And most importantly… do you plan on teaching your kids how to skin a rabbit?

The thing that scares me about the future is the human race.

The thing that excites me about the future is the human race.

I think that it is in our nature to balance between total self-annihilation and pursuits of incredible beauty, selflessness, and genius, and the desire to treat each other well.

I thought a lot about the human race, not only while I was writing this book but also ever since I’ve had children. I know how lucky I am that my children were born in the Western hemisphere. There are so many things we take for granted. Safety, shelter, food. I wondered what it would be like if all that was stripped away. Along with all the accoutrements of relative wealth – the technology, the electronic devices – all those things which are really a luxury but are so commonplace that they have almost become a right, and a necessity.

But of course, they aren’t really. Our basic needs for survival are the same as every other human on the planet. In my book, I took everything away from my characters and then I figured out how they would live. Survivors are always interesting because they have lived through something unimaginable; the ultimate in worst case scenarios. And in a way, an apocalypse brings out the best and the worst in people, which is what I kept in the back of my mind while I was writing the book.

Skinning a rabbit is remarkably similar to skinning a turtle, only without the pesky shell, so when they are a bit older my kids can read my book and find out how to do it.

I think I’ll teach my kids whatever I can to help them survive, whether that’s looking for cars when they cross the street, or outrunning a tsunami. Isn’t that what parents do?

Jo Treggiari's first book, a middle-grade fantasy THE CURIOUS MISADVENTURES OF FELTUS OVALTON, came out in 2006. Her post-apocalyptic adventure ASHES, ASHES was published June 1, 2011 by Scholastic Press. She's just finished a punk rock YA- FIERCE and is working on an urban fantasy, BRINY DEEP.

Thanks so much to Jo for taking the time to stop by In The Next Room. Ashes, Ashes is an intense novel,  you can find my review here, that I highly suggest everyone pick up. To learn more about Jo's book visit her website http://jotreggiari.com/

Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari

Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari takes place in the near future when mother nature has gotten her revenge on the planet. Everything from tsunamis to drought to earthquakes to plague destroys the majority of the population. Left behind are the survivors, mostly kept safe from recent vaccinations either in childhood or old age, the mutated smallpox plague has wiped out most of the adults leaving behind the children and elderly. Sixteen-year-old Lucy is one of the lucky one percent left behind, and for the past year she has survived alone in the wilds of Central Park in the wreckage of New York City. However, a chance encounter with another teenager, Aidan, who saves her from a pack of hunting dogs, makes Lucy realize she can't always do everything on her own. Lucy joins Aidan and a band of other survivors, but the dangers, including Sweepers who rid the streets of plague victims and the ever present threat of mutation leading to another plague wave, are only beginning.

After reading so many dystopia novels in the last year, I really thought Ashes, Ashes would be quite similar. However, Treggiari has definitely delved into a different and unique niche with her post-apocalyptic fiction- in this book it is not the government that people have to worry about, but the world itself. The novel is jam-packed full of disasters of every kind imaginable, which makes for an intense and thrilling page-turner. Lucy makes a good main character and heroine because she is brave but not flawless, she has beaten incredible odds but she still sometimes trips or cuts herself by accident. In many ways, Lucy reminded me of Katniss from The Hunger Games for her strength and perseverance, refusing to give up even in tough situations. Treggiari also manages to include lots of little bits of interesting survival information that adds colour to the novel, everything from how to kill a turtle to using a hammer as a weapon.

I really enjoyed the pacing of Ashes, Ashes and I think it is definitely one of those good books for reluctant readers because of the amount of action and excitement in the book. However, because there is so much going on there were a few times when I wished for a little more description. I was also a bit let down by the resolution of the book, there were was just so much foreshadowing that even if it wasn't the sort of "twist" that I had guessed from almost the first chapter, I think it would have been hard not to get way before you reached the ending of the book. That said, the intended audience is definitely a little younger than me, and they have probably also seen a few less post-apocalyptic movies, so maybe it will satisfy them better. What I did find refreshing about how Ashes, Ashes ended was that it worked perfectly as a stand-alone novel, at a time when every book I pick up seems to be a part of a series, it was nice to get a complete story from Treggiari. There is potential for a sequel to follow Ashes, Ashes, and while I'd certainly enjoy another exciting novel with the stubborn but courageous Lucy, Treggiari has me hooked on her intense storytelling and I will definitely pick up whatever she publishes next.

Release Date: June 1st, 2011
Pages: 343
Source: Publisher 
Buy the Book