Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label genetics. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Unfurl Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway With Cidney Swanson!!!

Please enjoy the following guest interview of Samantha Ruiz, the main character from Cidney Swanson's RIPPLE TRILOGY. Plus, there's a great giveaway at the bottom!






1.  If you could choose to change whether or not you could ripple, would you get rid of the ability?
Honestly, no, I wouldn’t. I know that might sound crazy considering that my life could be all safe and normal if I didn’t have Rippler’s Syndrome. But think of it this way: how cool is it to be able to be invisible? And here’s the thing. It’s even more cool than it sounds. Um, that came out weird. I guess what I mean is that the being-invisible isn’t necessarily even the coolest part. Walking through a plate glass window? Hello! Now that is some crazy kind of wonderful.

2.  Sir Walter is a very interesting person to be around.  What era would you want him to give you a history lesson on?
 I don’t know anything about the era he was born into. Like, at all. Our French teacher says she’s going to tell us all about Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Provençal minstrels and how French cooking really came from Italy in the 14th century, but she hasn’t done it yet. The 14th century just sounds like it was a pretty cool time to be born. Well, except for the Black Plague. And all the wars. And no indoor plumbing. Okay, okay, maybe it wasn’t all that great to live in it, but I’d like to hear about it.

3.  If you and Will were a famous couple from literature, who would you be?
In my English class, we just read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which totally rocked, BTW. Even better than the movie although Matthew McFadyen looked good. For an old dude. Will would be Darcy and I would be Elizabeth. Except, really, I’d probably have to be Darcy (a girl version) because he was lots friendlier than me at the beginning. But Will and I have the whole “miscommunication” thing going on like they did.

4.  What would you do if you could spend one more day with your Mother?
Oh. Wow. I’d spend it in Yosemite, on a sunny day, watching her paint the Merced River or Half Dome or anything, really. I loved to watch her paint. There was just something so peaceful about seeing her face change expression from frustrated to satisfied and back again. And of course seeing the canvas come alive with color. We would eat dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room. We would drive home and get Foster’s Freeze soft serve in a regular cone. Then she would read to me from Little Women until I fell asleep.

5.   How old would you choose to be for the longest if you decided to let rippling slow down your aging process?
This is really, really hard to answer. I mean, it would be a lot simpler if I could take all my family members along with me. But life isn’t like that, is it? Will and I have talked about this a little bit. It seems like Sir Walter has really enjoyed living his six hundred-ish years, so maybe about that long? If I remember right from Harry Potter, I think Nicholas Flamel and his wife lived around that long and then they were good with just finishing out an ordinary lifespan. So, yeah, maybe six hundred-ish.



Thursday, December 22, 2011

Chameleon...You Come and Go

Published: September 1st, 2011
Chameleon
By: Cidney Swanson
Williams Press
ISBN-13: 9780983562184


Sixteen-year-old Samantha Ruiz has a lot on her mind. The crush who kissed her but changed his mind. The BFF who thinks Sam is in an abusive relationship. The geneticist who wanted Sam dead but now wants her ALIVE. And of course, Sam’s still dealing with a tendency to disappear into thin air.
When Sam learns of her nemesis Helmann’s Nazi-like plan to establish a Thousand-Year Reign, she’s determined to fight him. Along with Will and Mickie, Sam flees to France to meet Sir Walter—their best hope for stopping Helmann’s brave new world.
But Sam isn’t any safer in France. Someone is following her. Someone invisible. Sam will have to figure out how to hide from an enemy she can’t even see.


Review

   When we left off last in Rippler, Samantha's life had been turned upside down.  She had discovered that her genetic material was something others were being killed for, that her Mother's death was no accident and the beginnings of insight into Helmann's truly twisted mind/experiments.  Her best friend Gwyn is ignoring her because of a wrongful notion that Will is an abusive boyfriend and Sam's just allowing it to happen.  Plus, Will had kissed her finally.  Now, Sam is dealing with the fact that Helmann's daughter Helga is trying to find her for nerfarious purposed and Will is acting like the kiss never happened.  Micke, Will and Sam go on a class trip to France and use it as an opportunity to meet with Waldhart de Rochefort, their ally (also known as Sir Walter).  There are some startling revelations, including the fact that Sam's hunch was right - when rippling they exist outside of time.  Sir Walter is over six-hundred years old and so is Helmann - they are cousins!  Things only get more interesting from there.  Throw in some journal entries from Helga AND Helmann, a multiple personality-disordered henchman and a perilous battle for their lives and you have some heart-stopping adventure.  I truly fell even more deeply in love with these characters than I thought possible.  I had a deep affection at the end of the first book, but by the time this one was over I was close to being moved to tears.  Cidney Swanson has a powerful way with words.  There were some truly gorgeous passages in this novel.  Chameleon is the perfect example of exactly what a good young adult book should be.  She is going places and I am truly honored that I was given the chance to read her works.  I am desperate for the third book now!  I have to know what happens!   I recommend this book and the one before it so highly I barely have the words.  Check it out or you'll regret missing the boat. 

Check out my review for the first book in the series: Rippler

VERDICT: 5/5  Stars and a PERMANENT place in my heart

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the author herself, via LibraryThing. No money was exchanged for this review. The publication date of this book was September 1st, 2011.*