Please welcome Meradeth Houston, author of The Chemistry of Fate. For her blog tour she has written a great guest post about novel settings for all of us to enjoy. There is also a giveaway below for the ebook of The Chemistry of Fate and there is also a tour wide giveaway you can check out.
by Meradeth Houston
Publisher: MustItUp Publishing
Find it at: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Summary
“They are everywhere, can be anyone, and are always the last
person you’d expect.” When Tom stumbles across his grandfather’s journal, he’s
convinced the old man was crazier than he thought. The book contains references
to beings called the Sary, immortals who are assigned to save humans on the
verge of suicide. They certainly aren’t allowed to fall in love with mortals.
Which the journal claims Tom’s grandfather did, resulting in his expulsion from
the Sary. As strange as the journal seems, Tom can’t get the stories out of his
head; especially when he finds the photo of his grandfather’s wings.
Tom’s only distraction is Ari, the girl he studies with for their chemistry class.
Ari has one goal when she arrives in town: see how much Tom knows about the Sary and neutralize the situation. This isn’t a normal job, but protecting the secrecy of the Sary is vital. If Tom is a threat to exposing the Sary to the public, fate has a way of taking care of the situation, usually ending with the mortal’s death. While Ari spends time with Tom, he becomes more than just an assignment, but how far can a relationship go when she can’t tell him who she really is? When she finds out just how much Tom actually knows about the Sary, Ari is forced to choose between her wings, and her heart.
THE CHEMISTRY OF FATE is a companion to COLORS LIKE MEMORIES and is set before the latter takes place. It is geared toward an upper YA, or New Adult audience.
Tom’s only distraction is Ari, the girl he studies with for their chemistry class.
Ari has one goal when she arrives in town: see how much Tom knows about the Sary and neutralize the situation. This isn’t a normal job, but protecting the secrecy of the Sary is vital. If Tom is a threat to exposing the Sary to the public, fate has a way of taking care of the situation, usually ending with the mortal’s death. While Ari spends time with Tom, he becomes more than just an assignment, but how far can a relationship go when she can’t tell him who she really is? When she finds out just how much Tom actually knows about the Sary, Ari is forced to choose between her wings, and her heart.
THE CHEMISTRY OF FATE is a companion to COLORS LIKE MEMORIES and is set before the latter takes place. It is geared toward an upper YA, or New Adult audience.
A Novel Setting
by Meradeth Houston
One of the things I love about some books is when they’re set in a place I know well and love, and the details are just right. Or, when I visit someplace I’ve only read about and I think about all the things that happened in the fictional world there. I’ve yet to spend any time in New York City (someday!) but I know that when I make it there I’m going to have all kinds of fun imagining all the books set in different parts of the city.
I will share one of my favorite examples: The Shadow of the
Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron is one of my favorite books, and his depiction of
Barcelona is just perfect and it made me love the book and city even more J.
When I started writing The Chemistry of Fate, I had it set
on the campus where I lived at the time, back in California. But when I moved
to Montana, I realized it worked so much better to be set in the city here.
It’s smaller, with more outdoors activities, and the campus is so much more
inviting and comfortable. Of course, that meant totally changing a few things
to make the setting work, but I had to do it. (Now, I just hope I managed to
get the details right enough that people don’t wonder why some crazy
Californian was trying to write like they know anything about Montana J)
There was one scene at the end of the book that was really the crux of why I wanted to change the setting to here. Tom, the main character, is out for a walk to clear his head one evening and ends up in a kind of isolate area. I’m not going to say more, but this was perfect for Missoula, Montana. There’s a river that runs right through the middle of town, which is incredibly beautiful, and there are some great paths next to the river that fit precisely with the scene. This totally warmed my little author heart!
Of course, I AM a Californian trying to write about a state I haven’t lived in very long, so I definitely worry I didn’t get it “right” and I’ll hear about it J. Still, it was fun exploring my new city with an eye to what might work in my stories!
There was one scene at the end of the book that was really the crux of why I wanted to change the setting to here. Tom, the main character, is out for a walk to clear his head one evening and ends up in a kind of isolate area. I’m not going to say more, but this was perfect for Missoula, Montana. There’s a river that runs right through the middle of town, which is incredibly beautiful, and there are some great paths next to the river that fit precisely with the scene. This totally warmed my little author heart!
Of course, I AM a Californian trying to write about a state I haven’t lived in very long, so I definitely worry I didn’t get it “right” and I’ll hear about it J. Still, it was fun exploring my new city with an eye to what might work in my stories!
Have you ever read a book where the setting was a great
example of a place you know well, or made you want to visit there?
Author BioMeradeth’s never been a big fan of talking about herself, but if you really want to know, here are some random tidbits about her:
>She’s a Northern California girl, but now lives and
teaches anthropology in Montana.
>When she’s not writing, she’s sequencing dead people’s
DNA. For fun!
>She’s been writing since she was 11 years old. It's her
hobby, her passion, and she’s so happy to get to share her work!
>If she could have a super-power, it would totally be
flying. Which is a little strange, because she’s terrified of heights.
Enter the below giveaway for a chance win the ebook of The Chemistry of Fate. Open Internationally. Details on the rafflecopter.
This is a Tour Wide Giveaway
