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Suko!  

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Book Review and Giveaway!!!! Plans by Natalie Smothers

  Plans
 

By Natalie Smothers 

I didn't want this book to end!

Sometimes unexpected love just happens if you let your heart lead the way instead of your brain. If you think about it to much, it won't happen. This is Danya's dilemma.

The story is about Danya, a young college student attending SVA .  She has her mind set on doing her thesis on the work of Dr. Patrick Dahlberg. An architect genius except there is a problem, Dahlberg is a reclusive egotistical jerk! But she has a plan and with a little perseverance it works. What she doesn't expect is to fall in love with him.  This was my favorite part of the story! They only knew each other for a couple of months and then tragedy struck. Roll forward a few years. Danya is working in the kitchen at Shimamura, a schoolfor gifted children. She meets a student name Nathan and finds out he thinks Patrick is like a god!  Well, I'm not going to say any more you'll just have to read the book!

Product Description from Amazon:

"I heard she used to be a big time photographer...then one day she just stopped taking pictures. Nobody knows why." All great things start out as something small, a connection formed between two unexpected sparks, foundations built through trial and time and trust, future plans mapped out in baby steps. But sometimes an unexpected connection borne of love and faith can bring us back to ourselves and our best laid plans.

I'm excited that Natalie agreed to do an interview with me!!

Hello Natalie! Tell us a little about yourself.

I've been writing since my grandmother gave me an old, clunky typewriter when I was a kid. I thought it was the coolest thing to be able to put my ideas down on paper and have my cousins read them, even if I did use almost all the correction tape. My head has always been full of characters and stories, which of course made me "the writer kid" by default and landed me the job of writing the 8th grade play, editing the class magazine and, currently, being the spellchecker at my day job.
I'm originally from Texas and have lived in Colorado, Wisconsin and Chicago, all of which gave me unique perspectives and ideas about how different parts of the US really are. I also travel as much as possible so I'll be able to write about different places accurately - I'm a HUGE stickler for accuracy; the notes and background I have for Plans is thicker than the book itself!

Is Plans your first book?  

Plans is my first full-length novel. I've also written two novellas/novelettes that were both mainly for fun. The first one "How to Save the World in Just Ten Days" was written as a sort of send-up of sci-fi stories - I tried to make it as ridiculous as I could while still telling an actual story, so the science is pretty out there. The second, "Minor Side Effects" is a more serious zombie story that has actually gotten some great reviews from readers and other writers. It's also pretty short so people tend to pick it up in order to get an idea of my writing style.

How did Plans come about?

I actually started writing Plans while I was on leave from work dealing with some health problems. I was arranging some of my other character sketches and came up with the idea of Patrick's character almost out of nowhere. Once I had a good idea of who he was, I thought to myself "okay, you've got this incredibly smart, incredibly talented jerk. Now you've gotta make him attractive to someone." I didn't realize at the time I'd be coming up with two different someones!

In your book Plans , Patrick was an architect genius and Nathan followed his footsep's. Why Architecture?

Architecture is an area that really fascinates me, maybe because the process of putting an idea down on paper and bringing it to life is one that is very dear to me as a writer. I was really taken with a building I saw on the drive between Manitowoc (where I was living in Wisconsin) and Milwaukee and wondered what kind of a mind would come up with such a design. That was when I was coming up with Patrick's character and it really fit with his detail-oriented, somewhat off-the-norm way of thinking. Architecture is also a field that has changed a lot in a relatively short time. In doing my research I had a lot of architects and students tell me that almost all designs are done with computer programs now and my immediate thought was "Patrick wouldn't go for that at all." 

(no Patrick would definitely not go for that!) 

Who are your inspirations?

I'm inspired a lot by writers like Christopher Moore, who is able to write books with characters and plots that are completely bizarre and yet make them seem as normal as choosing paint samples. His characters are just so wonderfully crafted. I'm also a big fan of comics and graphic novels, especially ones with characters that are larger than life who could also be the guy who lives next door to you. Templar, Arizona is one of my longtime favorites.

Are you writing another book?

Currently I'm working on another novel that was actually one I had half-written and abandoned a year or two before I ever came up with Plans. I re-read what I had, thought "this is awful" and immediately started thinking about how I could rescue it. I finished the research and background in February and have just started sketching out some of the scenes. It is very tentatively titled Brace Yourself.

(can't wait!)

One last thing , can you take a picture of your work area?

Attached is a photo of the work area I had when I was working on the book in Chicago, before I even had a desk! I'm between offices right now, so my writing area is usually the dining room table, but it's basically just a pile of papers. I can't wait to have a desk again! The corner of my apartment was MUCH more organized!

Natalies Website: Natalie's Books

 

Thank you so much Natalie for taking the time to do this interview!


And now for the best part!!! Natalie has  offered a signed copy of Plans to a lucky winner!! 


To enter you must be a follower and  comment with a valid email address.


For extra entries:
Tweet (leave a link)
Post on your blog
Become a fan on Natalies Facebook Fan Page :http://www.facebook.com/pages/Natalies-Books/280354342674

Please leave separate comments for each.

Ends May 1, 2010.  Sorry US only please.


Thanks again Natalie!




Best regards,

Head on over to Brooke Reviews ----

Brooke Reviews

From the site:

Preetham would like to give away two ARCs via Brooke Reviews, so after the interview make sure you find out how to enter!

Enter to win!

A Hook A Line and A Girls AND The Haute Stuff CONTESTS!

Head on over and enter to win!

Le Musing Stuff is having a contest also for Pop the Weight Off Giveaway!
You just got to check it out!

New Blogger and Contest

Head on over to http://fallingofftheshelf.blogspot.com/ - her first contest for the book Off Season . I entered, crossing my fingers!!

Take a look at The Novel Bookworm : Original post 5/29/2009

A giveaway for Joy Fieldings Still Life. There are many great giveaways on this blog, check it out!

Heres a link to the site: http://www.thenovelbookworm.com/

Just alerted to ..... A NEW Contest : Original post 4/28/2009

To win an autographed copy of the Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon ! Its her debut novel. How awesome is that!!
Get on over to http://elloecho.blogspot.com/2009/04/contest-to-win-autographed-copy-of.html and post your entry.

Awesome book contest at Book Room Reviews: Original post 7/31/2008

They are offering a whole set of books!

The details from the blog:

Here are the Details:

For every Fifty entries ONE name will be drawn, up to FIVE people! So if we end up with 250 entries then I will be able to pick FIVE winners, so the more people you encourage to come here to enter means more people will win! Hachette will send each of you your box of books directly. Sorry- rest of the world, this contest is only open for U.S. and Canada. All entries must be in by midnight August 9th because I really want to draw FIVE winners on my birthday which is August 10th! I love to give books and what better way then on my birthday! I wish we could give books to everyone! Oh one more thing! If we hit the 500 mark since Hachette also is the publishing company for Stephanie Meyers, I will draw one more winner to win a copy of Breaking Dawn! Yeah!!! So that’s six winners! Five will get the set of fourteen books and one will get a copy of Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. (Hint: don’t worry if we don’t hit 500, I’m sure there will be six drawings!

Sounds pretty awesome, hope i win one !