Authors Are Rockstars: Hannah Moskowitz Interview & Giveaway

Today, we are happy to join Fiktshun, Two Chicks on Books and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads in the 2nd Annual Authors Are Rockstars Tour! You can find all of the details and blogs participating HERE.

Why is Hannah a rockstar?

Hannah is one-of-a-kind in her storytelling. She writes amazing novels that broach subjects that aren't often written into young adult fiction, and she does so with grace and originality. Her books are engaging, with characters that you can't help but love--even with how messed up they are (and if you've read her work, you know exactly what I'm talking about). She's an insta-buy author for me (Emily), and she should be for you as well! Her books are beautiful, both inside and out. Hannah is undeniably a rockstar!

When did you know that you would be a writer?

I always knew I wanted to be a writer or a singer. Then I heard some people who could actually sing and welllll there you go.

How long did it take for you to first get published?

I started writing seriously when I was 14. I sold my first novel (which was actually the seventh I ever wrote) BREAK when I was 17. It came out in 2009, when I was 18.

Are you working on any new projects?

Yes! I have a lot of great things in the works. The one I'm most excited about is a cowriting project I just finished the first draft of. My cowriter is incredibly talented and it's a story that's very personal to both of us and was very rewarding to write.

You’ve written a mix of different genres, which genre is easier for you to write and why?

I always say my spirit animal is a fifteen-year-old emo boy, so any books that have one or two of them are the easiest.

Do you relate personally to any of your stories?

To some extent to all of them, but none as much as I do GONE, GONE, GONE, which is about the D.C. metro sniper shootings in 2002., I was living in the area at the time and I've never been able to get them out of my head.

What authors inspires you?

Jaclyn Moriarty, Melina Marchetta, E. Lockhart, E. E. Cummings, J. M. Barrie, Chris Lynch, Steve Breznoff, Francesca Lia Block, a bajillion others.

If you weren’t a writer, what would be your ideal job?

I want to American's Next Top Model.

What’s your favorite food?

Yes.

Do you have a guilty pleasure?

Supernatural, obviously.

What is your ideal past time?

Eating cereal.

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

Giveaway Details:
- Two (2) winners will receive the (released) Hannah Moskowitz book of their choice 
- Open Internationally (as long as The Book Depository ships to you)
- One entrant per household
- Cheating results in immediate disqualification (We will check!)
- Winners have 48 hours to respond to notification or a new winner will be chosen (That means check your spam folder!)
- We are not responsible for lost/damaged packages
- Ends 08/20/2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to Hannah for joining us today, and to the love ladies in charge of this tour, for allowing us to partake!

Interested in Emily's thoughts on Hannah's books:

My Review of Teeth

My Review of Marco Impossible

ARC Review: Marco Impossible by Hannah Moskowitz

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
256 Pages

Thirteen-year-old best friends Stephen and Marco attempt a go-for-broke heist to break into the high school prom and get Marco onstage to confess his love for (and hopefully steal the heart of) Benji, the adorable exchange student and bass player of the prom band. Of course, things don't always go according to plan, and every heist comes with its fair share of hijinks.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:
Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:

I just adore Hannah Moskowitz. She's perfect and I love her. Of all the books that I've read by her, Marco Impossible may be my favorite. It's real and sweet and meaningful and absolutely heartbreaking in the best of ways. I cannot stress how much love I have for this book. 

Stephen and his best friend, Marco, are almost in high school. It's the end of eighth grade and many changes are hovering over them. Marco's about to get a new little sister. Stephen's older brother is going to college. And the big whammy, Marco is transferring school for high school. This not only is affecting their friendship, but also Marco's love for Benji. In order to reveal his feelings, Marco comes up with the Heist--his plan to sneak him and Stephen in to the high school prom so that he can confess to Benji, who is a member of the prom band. The road to completing the Heist is lovely, and messy and a learning experience for not only the audience, but the characters themselves.

Moskowitz easily transitions from making her readers angry at Marco, to loving him, to hating him, to crying because of him. That may be another reason I love this so much. Everything felt real. I almost felt like I could be Stephen because his thoughts, actions and emotions were palpable. There were parts where I was so captivated by the novel and so taken with the characters that I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and was covered in goosebumps. I'm a very emotional person, almost to a fault, and one thing I know this author can provide is emotion. 

What I love most about Hannah's books is how realistic she makes the characters. Their thoughts, feelings and actions are ones we often think, feel and see in real life. That makes them relatable. Our connections to them are immediate and natural because we all have had times where we have felt this way. They always make the story heartwarming, and often as well, heart-wrenching--though of all of the books I've read by Hannah, this is the most tame (at least, compared to Fishboy).

My only "complaint" is that I wish this had gone a bit into the future, because I would've liked to see how Marco got on with his baby sister, and how their friendship held up with their separation …but the world may never know and I'm oddly okay with how open-ended some things were. Maybe it's just because Hannah wrote it and Hannah is the goddess of all.

Of course, I'd recommend it. To any and everyone. It's a fantastic middle grade on the cusp of being a young adult. Marco Impossible is a book that I could read over and over again and never stop loving. It's very short, very sweet and reveals its point beautifully.

I received an e-copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review from the publisher via Netgalley.

ARC Review: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: January 1, 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
288 Pages

A gritty, romantic modern fairy tale from the author of Break and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.

VISIT THE AUTHOR:

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

FIND THE BOOK:

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

Review:
This review may have minor spoilers.

I don't really know how to review this book. It's so different from anything I've ever read. I originally gave Teeth four stars and then I just thought, "Gosh darn it. All the stars!" And bumped up my rating because this book is pretty much perfect. I lovedalmost everything about it. 

When I think "Hannah Moskowitz," I think of angst and originality. She's an author that thinks outside the box and is not afraid to take chances. Overall, it works really well for her. She became one of my favorite authors after the release of her novel, Gone, Gone, Gone. (It's a beautiful novel. If you haven't read it, I sincerely recommend it.) Teeth was only the second book I read by her and it just enforced my belief that she's utterly brilliant.

Teeth is the story of a boy named Rudy. Rudy's parents brought his family to a magic island in hope that the magic would heal his little brother. Lonely and missing the life he used to have, he turns to a young girl, hidden away by her mother and a fishboy, named Teeth. Rudy learns a lot about this island, the story of the magic fish and the background of this beautiful, creepy, heartbroken fishboy.

Moskowitz excels at writing characters with serious issues. They tug at your heartstrings and are able pull you into their stories. Something I've noticed in the two books that I've read by her is that her characters are extremely gritty. They aren't the unhappy teens we usually read about in young adult fiction, and they are no where near the level of happy teens.

The prose in this novel is beautiful and amazingly unique. I can't think of anyone with whom to compare this style. The author can captivate you in the first sentence and steal your soul by the end of the first page. Kudos, Moskowitz. Ku-dos.

Teeth's ending is really bittersweet. These characters go through so much, and you become so attached to them all that by the end everything will hurt. It broke my heart, but gave me hope, which is what all good novels should do.

Be forewarned. This is not for people who disapprove of cursing. It is also not for those who are easily "squicked" out. There is a lot of sensitive material in this novel that some may find disturbing, others may find offensive. Go into the novel with an open mind.

There isn't a whole lot more that can be said about the book. It's something you need to experience firsthand. So… go! Experience it. Love it. Embrace the weird.

I received an e-copy of this novel for my honest opinion and review from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Teaser Tuesday: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate all you have to do is:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!) 

 Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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"Our house is creaky, gray, weather stained. It's probably held a dozen desperate families who found their cure and left before we'd even heard about this island."
Chapter 1, 1% e-ARC
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

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