Check out the SCARLET Blog Tour Schedule
Guest posts, reviews, and giveaways abound!
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| Welcome to A Week of Little Red in celebration of our favorite scarlet-caped heroine... not to mention the launch of Marissa Meyer's SCARLET! Check out my daily schedule of events! Grab some promotional buttons for your blog and stop back all week long for fun guest posts, exciting author visits, giveaways, reviews, and blog tour stops for SCARLET! |
Did you see Marissa Meyer's guest post about
10 Things that Changed from SCARLET’s First Draft?
It's fantastic and not to be missed!
Macmillan also shared an Audiobook excerpt of SCARLET!
Don't miss tonight's virtual launch party of SCARLET by Marissa Meyer...
And don't forget to pick up the book when it hits stores tomorrow
and bring Marissa back to the New York Times Best Sellers List!!!
10 Things that Changed from SCARLET’s First Draft?
It's fantastic and not to be missed!
Macmillan also shared an Audiobook excerpt of SCARLET!
Don't miss tonight's virtual launch party of SCARLET by Marissa Meyer...
And don't forget to pick up the book when it hits stores tomorrow
and bring Marissa back to the New York Times Best Sellers List!!!
O P E N I N G H O O K:
Heart jumping, she swerved just in time to keep the ship's starboard side from skidding against the stone wall, and threw down the brakes before reaching a complete stop. Scarlet killed the engine, already grabbing for the discarded portscreen. Its pale blue light glinted off the cockpit's controls.
They'd found something
The Toulouse police must have found something.
"Accept, she yelled, practically choking the port in her fingers.
She expected a vidlink from the detective assigned to her grandmother's case, but all she got was a stream of unembellished text.
28 AUG 126 T.E.
RE: CASE ID #AIG00155819, FILED ON 11 AUG 126126 T.E.
THIS COMMUNICATION IS TO INFORM SCARLET BENOIT OF RIEUX, FRANCE, EF, THAT AS OF 15:42 ON 28 AUG 126 THE CASE OF MISSING PERSON(S) MICHELLE BENOIT OF RIEUX, FRANCE, EF, HAS BEEN DISMISSED DUE TO LACK OF SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF VIOLENCE OR NONSPECIFIC FOUL PLAY. CONJECTURE: PERSON(S) LEFT OF OWN FREE WILL AND/OR SUICIDE.
CASE CLOSED.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE OF OUR DETECTIVE SERVICES.
The comm was followed by a video ad from the police, reminding all delivery ship pilots to be safe and wear their harnesses while engines were running.
Scarlet stared at the small screen until the words turned into a screaming blur of white and black and the ground seemed to drop out from beneath the ship. The plastic panel on the back of the screen crunched in her tightening grip.
"Idiots," she hissed to the empty ship.
The words CASE CLOSED laughed back up at her.
She released a guttural scream and slammed the port down on the ship's control panel, hoping to shatter it into pieces of plastic and metal and wire. After three solid whaps, the screen only flickered in mild irritation. "You idiots!" She threw the port at the floorboards in front of the passenger seat and slumped back, stringing her curly hair through her fingers.
Her harness cut into her chest, suddenly strangling, and she released the buckle and kicked open her door at the same time, half falling into the alley's shadows. The grease and whiskey scent from the tavern nearly choked her as she swallowed her breaths, trying to rationalize her way out of the anger.
She would go to the police station. It was too late to go now--tomorrow then. First thing in the morning. She would be calm and logical and she would explain to them why their assumptions were wrong. She would make them reopen the case.
Scarlet swiped her wrist over the scanner beside the ship's hatch and yanked it up harder than the hydraulics wanted to let it go.
She would tell the detective that he had to keep searching. She would make him listen. She would make him understand that her grandma hadn't left of her own free will, and that she most certainly had not killed herself.
(Page 1, e-book preview edition)
Spoiler-free!
The Lunar Chronicles is no longer just about fairy tales. It has transcended, become more. Hands down, this is Marissa Meyer's most complex, riveting book yet--and there are still two to come. While I enjoyed CINDER a lot last year, I'm head over heels for SCARLET. From beginning to end, readers are treated to an adrenaline-filled adventure that combines elements of Little Red Riding Hood with something completely new and unique. Meyer weaves together characters from CINDER seamlessly in a way that works, showcasing the pros of third-person writing in a YA field overrun with first person.
Scarlet Benoit is a fierce, modern take on our favorite Little Red. Rather than wear a cloak, she wears a natty, beloved red hoodie that was a gift from her grandmother, not caring about its appearance, and only the meaning of it. In that alone, we can see how much Scarlet adores her grand-mère. When Grand-mère disappears, Scarlet is convinced that something has happened to her, which is confirmed when her father returns home with whispers of kidnapping and torture. She works together with a street fighter named Wolf who knows more than he lets on, finding herself drawn to him despite his dangerous demeanor. Together, they will learn more than they bargained for and experience horrifying truths.
Even better, Cinder has returned! CINDER left off on such a cliffhanger that fans have been gnawing their teeths awaiting more. Meyer treats readers to answers in innovative ways while dumping new questions upon them. She also introduces characters who will play integral roles in future books, which she hinted at in CINDER as well, seamlessly blending elements together. So much happens in SCARLET and Cinder comes so far, only to make new startling revelations that will have fans salivating for Book 3, CRESS, due out next year. I was wondering how Cinder would return and become integrated into the series, because authors don't always pull this off well, but Meyer found a way that worked, and worked well.
SCARLET is darker, grittier, rawer, and just altogether more. There's more hurt, more violence, more desperation for the truth. There are both answers and questions. The world-building has evolved even further and become elaborate and gorgeous, a true treat to read. I was enamored in ways I hadn't been with CINDER, perhaps because Little Red's story is less re-told and more dangerous. I adore the way Meyer's girls can kick butt all by themselves, and don't need to rely on a guy to save them like fairy tales of the past. The guys have stories of their own, too, and aren't simply "Prince Charming" with no history between the characters before being instantly blinded by true love. There's real depth, and it will be so interesting to see how CRESS and WINTER bring this intergalactic series to a close.
What a beautiful shade of red on that cloak! Don't you just love it? It's incredibly striking, and the fabric billows just right and is made of something fabulously shiny.
I also like the way we can see Scarlet's hair, but only a sliver of her torso, leaving her appearance up to the reader's imagination. It doesn't feel cut off like some covers do, but tantalizing.
I'm also a fan of the way all of the typeset is the same for both SCARLET and CINDER because the Aeronaut font is well-suited for this series, both scripty like a fairy tale, and bold like something futuristic.
The Lunar Chronicles is no longer just about fairy tales. It has transcended, become more. Hands down, this is Marissa Meyer's most complex, riveting book yet--and there are still two to come. While I enjoyed CINDER a lot last year, I'm head over heels for SCARLET. From beginning to end, readers are treated to an adrenaline-filled adventure that combines elements of Little Red Riding Hood with something completely new and unique. Meyer weaves together characters from CINDER seamlessly in a way that works, showcasing the pros of third-person writing in a YA field overrun with first person.
Scarlet Benoit is a fierce, modern take on our favorite Little Red. Rather than wear a cloak, she wears a natty, beloved red hoodie that was a gift from her grandmother, not caring about its appearance, and only the meaning of it. In that alone, we can see how much Scarlet adores her grand-mère. When Grand-mère disappears, Scarlet is convinced that something has happened to her, which is confirmed when her father returns home with whispers of kidnapping and torture. She works together with a street fighter named Wolf who knows more than he lets on, finding herself drawn to him despite his dangerous demeanor. Together, they will learn more than they bargained for and experience horrifying truths.
Even better, Cinder has returned! CINDER left off on such a cliffhanger that fans have been gnawing their teeths awaiting more. Meyer treats readers to answers in innovative ways while dumping new questions upon them. She also introduces characters who will play integral roles in future books, which she hinted at in CINDER as well, seamlessly blending elements together. So much happens in SCARLET and Cinder comes so far, only to make new startling revelations that will have fans salivating for Book 3, CRESS, due out next year. I was wondering how Cinder would return and become integrated into the series, because authors don't always pull this off well, but Meyer found a way that worked, and worked well.
SCARLET is darker, grittier, rawer, and just altogether more. There's more hurt, more violence, more desperation for the truth. There are both answers and questions. The world-building has evolved even further and become elaborate and gorgeous, a true treat to read. I was enamored in ways I hadn't been with CINDER, perhaps because Little Red's story is less re-told and more dangerous. I adore the way Meyer's girls can kick butt all by themselves, and don't need to rely on a guy to save them like fairy tales of the past. The guys have stories of their own, too, and aren't simply "Prince Charming" with no history between the characters before being instantly blinded by true love. There's real depth, and it will be so interesting to see how CRESS and WINTER bring this intergalactic series to a close.
~*~
C O V E R D E S I G N:
There's even concept art for before CINDER's final look was conceived!
What a beautiful shade of red on that cloak! Don't you just love it? It's incredibly striking, and the fabric billows just right and is made of something fabulously shiny.
I also like the way we can see Scarlet's hair, but only a sliver of her torso, leaving her appearance up to the reader's imagination. It doesn't feel cut off like some covers do, but tantalizing.
I'm also a fan of the way all of the typeset is the same for both SCARLET and CINDER because the Aeronaut font is well-suited for this series, both scripty like a fairy tale, and bold like something futuristic.
~*~
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Title: SCARLET
Author: Marissa Meyer
Author: Marissa Meyer
Release Date: Feb. 5, 2013
Publisher: Macmillan / Feiwel and Friends
Publisher: Macmillan / Feiwel and Friends
Received: For Review
SUMMARY:
Cinder returns in the second thrilling installment of the New York Times-bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.
As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.
If you haven't done so yet, there's still time!
Enter to win
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a paperback of CINDER and a hardcover of SCARLET!
One lucky winner in the US/CA will win both books!
(And I THINK you can Tweet once a day, but Rafflecopter baffles me a little, so...)
(And I THINK you can Tweet once a day, but Rafflecopter baffles me a little, so...)
I usually use forms, but for A Week of Little Red, I'm going to try out Rafflecopter...
Let me know what you think of moving in this direction, and let me know if you have any issues!
Again, I still don't fully understand Rafflecopter, lol!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Great review! The Lunar Chronicles is quickly becoming one of my new favorite series and for good reason.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how much info about the books you gave us.
ReplyDeleteEveryone really seems to love this series! I love that they are re-imaginings of fairy tales. I love the story of little red riding hood so this should be a good one for me!
ReplyDeleteI loved Scarlet! She is so determined and fierce. She is a wonderful character! The Lunar Chronicles is one of my favorite series!
ReplyDelete