Christmassy Fun Quiz with...Joss Stirling

It's my great honour to introduce...2010 debut author Joss Stirling.

Joss Stirling is the author of Finding Sky - a tale of two soulmates that meet across the pond and face many dangers just to be together. This is a great story and a must read to all yound adult readers out there. To all of those that have read Finding Sky, you will be happy to hear that there will be a sequel in the series called Stealing Phoenix.

Follow Joss via the following:

Blog: Joss Stirling

Twitter: @jossstirling

Here's Joss' answers to my crazy Christmas quiz:

1.    What was your favourite Christmas present as a child?

A big Paddington bear with real yellow wellington boots and a label saying ‘Please look after this bear’ – which I did, of course.

2.    Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Is this a euphemism for ‘got rid of’?  I must have done as I do try and keep a lid on the number of books that stay on my shelf and some Christmas ‘misses’ must now be at Oxfam.

3.    If you could take one moment from a past Christmas and put it in a snow globe, what moment would it be and why?

Nice question.  I’m going to go for Midnight Mass when I was a teenager.  I came out of church with my mum and it started to snow – just like in those Hollywood films.

4.    What is the worst present you received and how did you react when you opened it?

One year I asked my husband for the X-Men films.  He went and bought the X Files boxed set.  Gee thanks, honey.  This was ‘recycled’ to my brother-in-law who was a fan.

5.    Are you a ‘spread-out-present-buying-throughout-the-year’ kind of person or are you a ‘last-minute-present-buying’ kind of person?

I’m a last two months kind of person – I start looking in November.  My husband and I always book in a weekday shopping trip to break the back of the task in late November and to have a relaxed day together without having to do the divert-the-children’s-attention thing when we buy a family present.

6.    What do you want from Santa this year?

Tickets to see a West End musical – Billy Eliot or Wicked.

7.    Real tree or artificial tree? Both – one upstairs and one down in the kitchen.  More the merrier.

8.    Milk or Brandy? Brandy – in the cake.

9.    Favourite Christmas Film? A Christmas Carol

10. Red or Green? Green

11. Mistletoe: Yes or No? Why not?  Come on, what’s Christmas without kisses?

12. Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas morning – all the best moments: present opening, going to our church for a fun service with hyper kids, cooking smells, still feeling hungry and not overfed...

Thanks again Joss for taking part in this quiz - Merry Christmas!!!

Review: Finding Sky by Joss Stirling

My Rating: VG, P, B

Due for Release: October 2010
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author's Website: jossstirling.com

Purchase @ Oxford University Press Amazon.co.uk

“You have half our gifts, I have the others...”

When English girl, Sky, catches a glimpse of bad boy Zed in her new American high school, she can’t get him out of her head. He talks to her with his thoughts. He reads her mind. He is the boy she will love for ever. Shadows stalk her past but a new evil threatens her future. Sky must face the dark even if it means losing her heart.

Finding Sky is the debut novel from Joss Stirling. This book has love, bad guys and a sexy hot guy with a motorbike. What more can a girl want?

Sky Bright is a teenage British girl with a troubled past. She has been uprooted by her adoptive parents and moved from Richmond-on-Thames, England to Wrickenridge, Colorado. Soon Sky meets Zed and there is an intense feeling of disliking between the two and they can’t stand to be around one another but no matter how hard Sky tries to hate Zed, she ends up falling in love with him.

Zed is a savant and he discovers his Souldfinder in Sky. Sky doesn’t take this too lightly and just carries on with life but tries to ignore all the supernatural stuff and her dark past. But in the end she can’t keep running and she has to face up to her unknown past and confront it head on if she is to get her life back on track and save the ones that she loves.

I loved the whole supernatural aspect of this book, it’s very relatable in the sense that it’s not that too far out of the norm to be deemed crazy. I must admit I had a bit of a hard time getting my head around the savant bit but it was all explained at the right time. The story was well established and the character development was slowly built up and then it all burst open at the arc of the storyline but all the new information wasn’t rushed. It was explained as and when it was required and when Sky was ready to hear it.

I can’t possible choose a favourite character or scene from this book and it was all great. I would highly recommend any young adult or adult that likes the genre to read this book. I must also note that I absolutely love the leaf design around each chapter heading and on the cover art.

Disclaimer: I was sent this book for review. I have not been paid to review this book. Everything I have said is of my own honest opinion.