Blog Tour: The Madman’s Daughter + Giveaway

I cannot tell you guys how excited I am to have Megan Shepherd on my blog today. Megan Shepherd’s debut, The Madman’s Daughter, hits shelves January 29th. And seriously, you guys want it. I’ve only just started it, but it is totally living up to the hype for me. Check back for my review in the next week!

So definitely check out this awesome interview with Megan Shepherd and enter to win some awesome The Madman’s Daughter tea. YES, tea! Megan Shepherd made TEA for her book. And I’ve tasted it – and it rocks. I don’t even like tea, but it’s quite tasty. You also have a chance to win a copy if you’ve entered the Debut Author Challenge and have posted your reviews in the January round up!

Anyway, here’s the interview and the giveaway and the other participants on the tour!

1/21  A Dream Within A Dream
1/23 Birth of a New Witch
1/24 365 Days of Reading
1/25 Sci Fi Chick
1/28 Word Spelunking       
1/29 Books with Bite
1/30 The Mod Podge Bookshelf
1/31 Once Upon a Prologue 
2/01 Book Twirps  

Amazon | Goodreads
Author Website | Author Twitter

In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.

Megan Shepherd, author of The Madman’s Daughter

I love The Madman’s Daughter tea bags! So creative. And in light of that, what kind of tea would you create for your main characters?

First of all, I want to rave about the company that made my specialty tea swag, Design-a-Tea. They let you taste-test a bunch of different blends and it is so much fun. As far as what tea each character would drink, they each have a very distinct personality, and they’re British so they’d be particular:
 
Juliet Moreau: Cardamom-mint, because it’s a little spicy, sweet, and strong
 
Montgomery James: Citrus spice black tea, because of his bittersweet love for his tropical island home
 
Doctor Henri Moreau: Earl gray (with a healthy dollop of brandy), because even though he lives on a tropical island where citrusy oriced would make sense, he’s British through-and-through

Is there a certain part of The Madman’s Daughter that gave you the most trouble?

Initially, I struggled a lot with getting the voice right. It’s a historical novel, based on a classic published in 1896, so at first I studied Victorian-era classics and tried to mimic their writing style. It came across as forced and unnatural, and wouldn’t appeal to modern readers. Then I tried a much more modern, straight-forward style, but it didn’t capture the formal feel of the time period. I played around with the voice and eventually settled into a happy medium that I think feels historic while still be highly readable.

How much did the first line of The Madman’s Daughter change from the first draft to the final?

Originally the book had a prologue in the form of a letter written by Juliet, and it began:
 

Dear Reader, it is at grave danger that I write this confession—danger to my self and danger to any who read this, though I assure you by the end of this story you will understand my reasons.

 
And then we cut the prologue for a number of reasons, and the new opening line began:
 

London society is not kind to the daughter of a madman.

 
I kept that line but moved it to a later chapter, and since then, the first line has been more or less the same as it is now:
 

The basement hallways in King’s College of Medical Research were dark, even in the daytime.

If you could be the author of any already published book, which would it be and why?

Wow, there are those special books I read and then put down and think, “I’ll never write that well.” I think the most recent books I’ve felt that way about were Maggie Stiefvater’s THE SCORPIO RACES and Erin Morgenstern’s THE NIGHT CIRCUS. Both authors created such a fabulously atmospheric world that I could practically feel the salty sea breeze, and smell circus popcorn.

Are there any details about your next project that you can share?

I’ve been busy! I’m doing the final revision of THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER sequel, which continues the story in a harsh London winter setting. I’m also working on a YA sci-fi series called THE CAGE, about six teenagers trapped in a “human zoo” by a super intelligent alien race. Writing two series simultaneously, the only way I stay sane is because they’re so different: one historical and one futuristic!

Giveaway of The Madman’s Daughter tea

Trust me, you want to win this tea.

Rules
Must be 13 years or older
US only
Winner has 48 hours to respond to my e-mail

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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