Waiting on Wednesday: UNLEASHED by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

UNLEASHED (Wolf Springs Chronicles #1) by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

Pub. Date: November 2011

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Format: Hardcover , 400pp

Age Range: Young Adult

Series: Wolf Spring Chronicles Series

Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie, the New York Times bestselling authors of the Wicked series, have created an entirely new trilogy with the passion of Twilight and the grandeur of Fallen. The Wolf Springs Chronicles introduces readers to a town of secrets and the new girl who's about to start believing in werewolves.

From the Hardcover edition.

I like the way the cover model's head is tilted up to the moon...well the fact that a guy is holding her helps too. I love the authors' Crusade Series and I can't wait to see what spin they put on werewolves. So this is my pick. What are you waiting for?

Blog Tour: Damned by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

I'm today's Tour Stop for Damned, the sequel to Crusade. Please welcome Debbie Viguie & Nancy Holder!

Nancy Holder (left) has published sixty books and more than two hundred short stories. She has received four Bram Stoker awards for fiction from the Horror Writers Association, and her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. She has written or cowritten twenty Buffy and Angel projects. Her books from Simon Pulse include the New York Times bestselling series Wicked and the novel The Rose Bride. A graduate of the University of California at San Diego, Nancy is currently a writing teacher at the school. She lives in San Diego with her daughter, Belle, and their growing assortment of pets. Visit her at nancyholder.com.

Debbie ViguiÉ (right) holds a degree in creative writing from UC Davis. Her Simon Pulse books include the New York Times bestselling Wicked series and the Once upon a Time novels VIOLET EYES, SCARLET MOON and MIDNIGHT PEARLS. She lives in Florida with her husband Scott. Visit her at debbieviguie.com.

Each character in your Crusade Series is so unique with their backgrounds. Do you find it difficult writing different POVs? How do you keep your characters fresh?

Debbie: I love writing different POVs. That's what actually helps keep the story fresh and exciting for me. I have different songs I listen to that I think of as theme songs for the particular characters which helps me to write from their unique perspective.

Nancy: I also love writing different POV’s. I like to let the reader in on information and situations that a single POV character wouldn’t know. That way the reader is in the center of the entire story. They can anticipate what may happen next, in the same way that someone watching a movie whispers “Don’t go into the basement!” as a character does exactly that. I think that the epic nature of a series like Crusade demands that kind of breadth and scope.

I love the world that you have created in this series. How much research went into the setting that your characters live in? Did you find out anything interesting?

Debbie: A lot of research goes into the settings. The thing that amazed me the most was learning about the statue that depicted Lucifer in Madrid, the only such statue dedicated to the fallen angel in the world.

Nancy: I love doing research and I’m a history geek. I agree with Debbie that finding out about the fountain dedicated to Lucifer rocked my world. Today I learned a bunch of cool stuff about Leeds Castle.

For readers who are a little wary with all the vampire books in the market today, what makes this series so different? 

Debbie: First off, the vampires in the series are evil, much more old school. Second, we've worked to develop a very realistic feeling of what it would be like if the world was at war with these creatures. Many readers have told us it frightened them because they could see how easily our governments could bow or topple to such creatures. By bringing a global scale to the war and making it very reminiscent of other world wars I think we bring a sense of horrific realism to the story that people are really responding to.

Nancy: What Debbie said. Our story is about more than vampires. It’s about courage, life-and-death crises, honor, and sacrifice. And it’s as much about werewolves and witches as it is about vampires. We both love to write about witchcraft and magicks.

Who's your favorite character in this series so far and why? If you could pick an actor or actress that resembles that character who would it be?

Debbie: Holgar is my favorite character because he is so strong and so funny. I love how he uses humor to diffuse tense situations. I also love how when things spin out of control that very humor can sometimes get him into trouble. He is an alpha male who is also so tender and so compassionate. My favorite character to write, though, is Jamie. It's a lot of fun to work on his dialogue and see just how obnoxious he can be.

Nancy: I love writing Antonio. He is so kind and sincere, yet so passionate. I would cast the cover model of Damned to play the part. His first name is Sterling, and I know he was in L.A. during pilot season to audition for roles. Good luck, Sterling!

What can readers expect from you and your books next?

Debbie: We're working on the final book in the trilogy, Vanquished. It's going to be a wild ride!! Also, Nancy and I have a new series starting up in a couple of months, Wolf Springs Chronicles. Book 1 is called Unleashed and it deals with werewolves. For myself I have a new book series starting up in October with Kiss of Night, a vampire series aimed at the adult market.

Nancy: Vanquished has completely taken over our lives. We eat, sleep and dream Vanquished! Then once we let go of it (in other words, once our editor pries it out of our hands and tells us it’s going to press) we will turn all that energy into our next Wolf Springs Chronicles book. I have a number of short stories coming out, including a shared world vampire story for IDW. I’m very proud of my contribution to Dear Bully, an anthology of seventy pieces about bullying by seventy young adult authors. Dear Bully will come out in August--the same month as Damned!

Thanks for stopping by ladies!

To check out more events on The Damned Book Tour, click here.

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More about the book!

DAMNED (Crusade #2) by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

Pub. Date: August 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Format: Hardcover , 544pp

Age Range: Young Adult

There is a fine line between love and sacrifice….

Antonio would do anything for his beloved fighting partner Jenn. He protects her, even suppresses his vampire cravings to be with her. Together, they defend humanity against the Cursed Ones. But tensions threaten to fracture their hunting team and his loyalty—his love—is called into question.

Jenn, the newly appointed Hunter, aches for revenge against the Cursed One who converted her sister. And with an even more sinister power on the rise, she must overcome her personal vendettas to lead her team into battle.

Antonio and Jenn need each other to survive, but evil lurks at every turn. With humanity’s fate hanging in the balance, they must face down the darkness…or die trying.

Review: Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

CRUSADE by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguié

Pub. Date: September 2010

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Format: Hardcover, 470pp

Age Range: Young Adult

Series: Crusade, #1

Source: Publisher

The ultimate battle. The ultimate love.

For the past two years, Jenn has lived and trained at Spain’s Sacred Heart Academy Against the Cursed Ones. She is among the few who have pledged to defend humanity or die trying. But the vampires are gaining power, and the battle has only just begun.

Forced to return home after death takes a member of her family, Jenn discovers that San Francisco is now a vampire strong-hold. As a lone hunter apart from her team, Jenn is isolated—and at risk. She craves the company of her fighting partner, Antonio: his protection, his reassurance, his touch. But a relationship with Antonio comes with its own dangers, and the more they share of themselves, the more Jenn stands to lose.

Then Jenn is betrayed by one who was once bound to protect her, causing her to doubt all she had held as true. To survive, Jenn must find the courage to trust herself—and her heart.

CRUSADE is a fast paced and action-packed read filled with deadly enemies around every turn. This book is so different from most of the vampire books I read. Most of the vampires you typically read about stay hidden from humans, but the Cursed Ones as they are called have pretty much taken over in the human world. They still have the same strengths and weaknesses that you read about. It's the fact that these vampires are scary. They're not all sparkly and animal blood drinkers - nothing to romanticize about these vamps at all.

This book wastes no time pulling readers right into the war against vampires as the Salamanca Hunters fight to the death to rid a small village of their deadly enemy. The characters in CRUSADE come from a wide range of backgrounds and powers. I was intrigued about their training and the pairing up of each hunter to keep each other safe. Each character is unique, but Jenn, the main protagonist is probably the weakest link but the more relatable for it. When the team suspects a leak in their midst, things go wiry, then Jenn finds herself trying to navigate around without the protection of her team when she has to make visit back home. Ah Antonio, the mystery he holds. I wanted to uncover all of his secrets. As with Jenn, you couldn't help falling for him. What's unique about this series is the readers get to experience the lives of all the characters. Hunters, the Resistance, and Vampires. Then all of a sudden you might find yourself enchanted with the characters lives, and you want to know more about their background history. I enjoyed each and every character in this book. After I finished this book, there was nothing I could come up with that I didn’t like about this book. NADA. Great writing and unforgettable characters makes this book pack one helluva punch. I was so engrossed with this book that I did not want to part with it.

CRUSADE is a great start to an exciting new vampire series. I don't think I could ever get tired of vampires, especially with CRUSADE since it's so different from other YA vampire books. Once you start reading this book, you don't want to put it down. It's a nonstop rollercoaster ride that you'd want to take over and over again.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars