{Interview & Giveaway} Leah Cypess, author of Mistwood & Nightspell

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I am here with Leah Cypess, author of Nightspell and Mistwood, to kick off your weekend!  :D

Let's get started shall we?? :)

The Author:

Leah Cypess was born in Brooklyn, New York, and thought about careers as a researcher (this ended during her first college lab), journalist, and lawyer. She now lives in Boston with her family and a career as a fiction writer.

Contact her at: ~Website~Twitter~Goodreads~ 

The Interview:

1. How do you deal with negative reviews? What piece of advise could you give new authors about reviews (negative and positive)?  

I deal with them much better now than I used to! One of the advantages of having two books out is that there are always going to be some people who loved one book and hated the other. It really helps bring home the point that the reviews are about my books and my characters, not about me and my writing talent. In general, I've stopped reading really negative reviews, because they are not helpful. I know my books aren't for everyone, and I don't need to read in excruciating detail about why they aren't for some people. I do still read three-star reviews, because sometimes those are helpful - if someone generally liked my book but there was something that wasn't satisfying, that's good to know about, especially if a lot of people feel the same way. I can't change the book that's already published, but I can certainly work on improving while I'm writing the next book.

2. Your two books, Mistwood and Nightspell, are part of the same series but their POVs are from two completely different characters and kingdoms. Why did you decide to do that?

When I started writing Nightspell, I hadn't sold Mistwood yet, and I didn't know if I ever would sell it, so my next project had to be an independent book that could stand on its own. I set them in the same world because I kind of like that world, but I started writing Nightspell to be completely independent from Mistwood. Once I got the offer from HarperCollins for Mistwood, I was free to write in some connections, which was fun.

3. Mistwood has the character of Isabel and Nightspell has Darri. Which character do you like more? What characteristics make them different?

I think Isabel and Darri are very different. Isabel is cold, calculating, and alone, while Darri is hot-tempered and driven largely by her family relationships, especially her love for her sister Callie and her guilt over not saving her years ago. Isabel is also highly controlled and manipulative, able to out-intrigue the best of them, while Darri is kind of like a bull in a china shop. . I can't say which one of them I like more - Isabel was my favorite while I was writing her, and Darri was my favorite while I was writing her. (I know. Lame! But true.)

4. Which prince do you like more, Prince Rokan or Prince Kestin? Why? *wiggles eyebrows*

Well, Kestin is both better-looking and less flawed than Rokan. That said... Rokan. Mostly because he was a much more major character in Mistwood than Kestin was in Nightspell, so I spent more time with him.

5. What book genre do you prefer to read? Why?

Fantasy is without question my favorite. The best fantasy books have a sense of wonder and magic about them, and those are the books I read over and over.

6. What can you tell us about your new book coming 2013, Deathsworn? (AHH!! SO looking forward to this one! Assassins? Yes please!)

Deathsworn is set in the world of Nightspell and Mistwood, but hundreds of years later. The Raellian Empire has taken over much of the known world, though there are some hold-outs -- including a group of exiled sorcerers, and a cult of assassins, who live in close proximity to each other at the edges of the empire. The assassins allow the sorcerers to live unmolested as long as they send them a tutor to live in their caves and teach them magic. My main character, Isabel, has been chosen to be that tutor. Problem is, the last two tutors died under mysterious circumstances, and Isabel herself is slowly losing her magical powers - a fact that, if discovered, would lead to her immediate execution. So she has to hide the truth about her power, try to solve the murders of her predecessors, and somehow manage to stay alive in the process. Of course, there are dark secrets about both the assassins and the sorcerers (and the empire) that she's going to uncover along the way, with the help of a deadly young assassin whom she can't manage to hate quite as much as she's supposed to.

7. How does an author keep writing? There are so many books that have similarities. How does an author make their book stand out?

For me (and, I suspect, for most authors), I can't not write! Even if I knew I would never publish another book, I would still write them. It's my hobby, my passion, and my calling. As for making a book stand out, I don't really know myself why some books stand out and some don't. I read very widely, so I'm usually not in danger (I think) of writing something too similar to another existing book. Aside from that, I just try to write books that I personally would love to read.

The Book(s):

Nightspell

Series: Mistwood #2
Buy: ~Mistwood~Nightspell~

Release Date: May 31, 2011

by, HarperCollins Publishers

Pages: 326

Here be ghosts, the maps said, and that was all.

In this haunted kingdom, ghosts linger—not just in the deepest forests or the darkest caverns, but alongside the living, as part of a twisted palace court that revels all night and sleeps through the daylight hours.

Darri’s sister was trapped in this place of fear and shadows as a child. And now Darri has a chance to save her sister... if she agrees to a betrothal with the prince of the dead. But nothing is simple in this eerie kingdom—not her sister, who has changed beyond recognition; not her plan, which will be thrown off track almost at once; and not the undead prince, who seems more alive than anyone else.

In a court seething with the desire for vengeance, Darri holds the key to the balance between life and death. Can her warrior heart withstand the most wrenching choice of all?{Goodreads}

The Rest of the Series:

(click pic for goodreads link)

The Giveaway:

The Prize:

A SIGNED (and personalized by request) hardcover copy of  Nightspell

The Rules:

You must be 13 years or older.

Please refrain from leaving any personal information in the comments section

There will be 1 winner (chosen randomly by Rafflecopter).

The winner will have 72 hours to reply to the email/tweet. If not, a new winner will be chosen

This is International!

Giveaway ends January 3, 2013

Have fun!!! <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~Jaiden