Interview: Kate Karyus Quinn

It's been an amazing month and we are in the homestretch!  Today we have our last author interview before our Author Fright Fest and this author is the queen of creepy!  I have loved Kate Karyus Quinn ever since I read Another Little Piece and I am so excited to have her on the blog today!  

1. Welcome Kate! So excited to have you join us today!! I really enjoyed Another Little Piece and (Don't You) Forget About Me. They both had an amazing creepy factor that totally grabbed me. Have you always been drawn to write creepish books?
Thank you so much for having me! So here's the funny thing about me... I don't really like creepy books. Or scary books. Or scary anything really. And I never really intended to write books that were scary or creepy. It's just sorta how they came out.

2. Your newest book Down With the Shine sounds amazing. Where did you come up with this idea?
Aw, thank you! So DOWN WITH THE SHINE is about a girl whose Uncles make moonshine. She takes some to a high school party and passes it out while doing her Uncles' toast that asks drinkers to "make a wish". The next day she finds out that her uncles use the moonshine to grant real actual wishes, and she just granted a whole bunch of drunken ones. Wackiness ensues. :)

So this idea actually started out as an adult urban fantasy novel about a woman whose uncles made moonshine. Not magical moonshine, just the regular kind. That book ultimately didn't work and was retired to the book graveyard folder on my computer. But there were so many parts of that book that I loved - including the main character. So I revived her and a few more characters, recast the rest of the details, and voila! Out come DOWN WITH THE SHINE.

3. Out of all the book events you have attended which one has been your favorite and why?
Last year I attended the Las Vegas Book Festival and that was so much fun (it was also my first time in Vegas!). A few months ago I did a YA Book Fest in Pickerington, Ohio that was also really amazing and so much fun. Really any event that allows me to connect with readers - especially young adult ones - is something to get excited about.

4. Now for a few fun Halloween questions! What book would you want to keep you company during a zombie apocalypse?
Oooh. Hmm... Well I think a zombie apocalypse would be super stressful and during stressful times I also go to my comfort reads, which are romance novels. So I would definitely want a fat stack of romance to escape into while the zombies are banging on the doors.

5. Which authors would you chose to go with you to a seance and why?
Oh definitely Mindy McGinnis (author of NOT A DROP TO DRINK, IN A HANDFUL OF DUST, and A MADNESS SO DISCREET) and Demitria Lunetta (author of IN THE AFTER and IN THE END)! Mostly because we always have fun together. But also because Mindy is super tough and would make sure that no scary spirits did anything bad to me.

I second Mindy McGinnis!  I just finished her novel A Madness so Discreet and I think this would definitely know how to handle a seance!  I also find it extremely interesting that you don't like creepy, but write it so brilliantly!  Love it!

Thanks Kate so much I really appreciate you taking the time to join in our Halloween month!

Thank you and Happy Halloween!!

Find the Author

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Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: April 26th, 2016

Purchase: Amazon 

There's a reason they say "be careful what you wish for." Just ask the girl who wished to be thinner and ended up smaller than Thumbelina, or the boy who asked for "balls of steel" and got them-literally. And never wish for your party to go on forever. Not unless you want your guests to be struck down by debilitating pain if they try to leave.


These are things Lennie only learns when it's too late-after she brings some of her uncles' moonshine to a party and toasts to dozens of wishes, including a big wish of her own: to bring back her best friend, Dylan, who was abducted and murdered six months ago.

Lennie didn't mean to cause so much chaos. She always thought her uncles' moonshine toast was just a tradition. And when they talked about carrying on their "important family legacy," she thought they meant good old-fashioned bootlegging.

As it turns out, they meant granting wishes. And Lennie has just granted more in one night than her uncles would grant in a year.

Now she has to find a way to undo the damage. But once granted, a wish can't be unmade...

Review: (Don't You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn

(Don't You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: June 10, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / B&N

Welcome to Gardnerville.

A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies.

Except...
There’s a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardnerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they’d kill them.

Four years ago, Skylar’s sister, Piper, was locked away after leading sixteen of her classmates to a watery grave. Since then, Skylar has lived in a numb haze, struggling to forget her past and dull the pain of losing her sister. But the secrets and memories Piper left behind keep taunting Skylar—whispering that the only way to get her sister back is to stop Gardnerville’s murderous cycle once and for all.

My Thoughts:
What a mind*@*!!  After reading two books from Ms.Quinn I can say that she is at the top of my must read list!  Her stories are just totally bizarre, but they are unforgettable...no I did not mean to make that connection ha!

Okay so this story where to begin...I guess I will start with Sky.  She is our main character and well her life isn't the norm.  She lives in a town called Gardensville, this town is where people go who have terminal diseases go to be cured.  There is something about this town that cures people, but with that cure comes the fourth year curse.  Every fourth year a young person will suddenly go crazy and end up killing people.  Messed up right?!  Well this curse is just accepted and is part of everyday life in Gardensville.  Sky's story isn't really about the fourth years though its about her sister Piper.  Piper succumbed to the curse and now Sky has to find a way to get her back from the reformatory (the place where all the fourth years go to be rehabilitated).  The story takes off in its own direction and man is it crazy!  I learned from reading Another Little Piece that you can't even begin to puzzle everything together because the author has several tricks up her sleeve.  So if you think you know what happens in Gardensville think again my friend, think again.

I really liked Sky.  Yes she was a little wishy washy and I screamed at her to stop taking the forget me nots, but overall I really liked her character.  She didn't really come alive to me until the end, but that didn't bother me.  I was totally engrossed in her story and I wanted to know more about her and her unique ability.

The thing I loved the most about this book was the writing.  The author has an amazing way with words that just captivates me.  I literally hang on every word that I read.  I don't normally do this, but there is just something about Ms.Quinns writing.  It's not beautiful, but I guess the word I am looking for is haunting.  Every sentence left me wanting more and I just couldn't wait to find out how she wrapped up the story. 

This book felt like a lighter version of something Stephen King would write.  It is dark, twisty, and just bizarre.  I personally love these stories and this is another one that I would love to see on TV.  I think it would make a fantastic series!

On a side note I did also love the song titles that were chosen!  Every time a new one would pop up I would have to give myself a minute to sing the song.  Fun!

4 snowflakes

Review: Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: June 11, 2013
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

The spine-tingling horror of Stephen King meets an eerie mystery worthy of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series in Kate Karyus Quinn's haunting debut.

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past

My Thoughts:
This was soooo good and all kinds of creepy!  I had an idea when I went into this but I was so wrong and what ended up playing out has to be one of the coolest ideas ever!

Annalise wakes up by herself with no idea who she is.  She has no recollection of anything before waking up and so she starts walking, but she isn't walking to find help she is walking with a purpose. Something is telling her which direction to go and she doesn't understand it, she just knows she has to go wherever that invisible string is puling her.  When she eventually comes upon people everything kind of comes together and her family is found and she gets to go home.  Her story doesn't end there though, nobody knows what happened to her and Annalise isn't the daughter her parents lost a year ago.  Things are different, Annalise knows something is going on but she can't figure it out.  When the pieces slowly start coming together and we start seeing flashbacks all kinds of craziness comes out and holy moly is it insane!

I love creepy stories and I think this one tops my list!  I have never read something like this before and I am still blown away.  The way the story unfolds is brilliant!  We get to see little bits and pieces throughout which for me was like putting a really confusing puzzle together and just when I thought I had the puzzle figured out I realized I put about a million pieces in the wrong place.

I really enjoyed the writing.  The author had a wonderful way of bringing everything to life and I felt like I was right there in the story.  I so didn't want to be there but I was and I was completely lost in the story.  I wanted to know what was going on and I know I made that "OMG" face about 100 times because the imagery is just so gross and icky but again I loved every single page!

The only thing that bothered me was Logan.  I really felt like he got a horrible deal in this story and I really wish that he had a better ending.  Yes he did a jerky thing, but he was influenced and I am not sure if he would have done certain things of his own free will.  In the end I really hoped things would have turned out differently for him and I felt like his story didn't add anything at the end except for shock value.  I was completely shocked and so sad by what happened.

Other Logan's part of the story I loved this!  It was creepy and insane and just what I was looking for!

5 snowflakes