Review & interview: Made for You by Melissa Marr

We are excited to welcome Melissa Marr today.  She joins us for an interview as she promotes her latest book, Made for You.  Enjoy it after my thoughts on the book.

Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date of publication: September 2014

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused – who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? Before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her.

As she recovers from the attempt on her life, an old flame, Nate, turns up. Eva must traverse their rocky past and figure out how to use her new power – while the killer grows increasingly frantic. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?

My thoughts:

I enjoyed Made for You. The premise was different from some of the more recent YAs that I have read recently.  After being hit by a car, Eva can now see the deaths of people who touch her.  The weird thing is that she can only see it sometimes and if the person touches her first.  Eva can also change or prevent their death by asking them not to do certain things that she sees in the vision. I thought that was an interesting twist.  

The story is told in 3 different POVs. Eva, her best friend Grace, and the killer keep the story progressing smoothly.  I liked that format as it made sense for the story.  I also thought that there were just enough suspects to keep me guessing until the reveal.  There is a little bit of a romance, but nothing too overly done as in most YAs.  I liked Eva and Grace.  They both are fairly free thinking and don't follow the crowd, even though they run with the "beautiful" people in school.  

This is a well written story for the older YA crowd. While there isn't any explicit sexual content, there is a lot of suggestion and more adult situations then the younger YAs should be exposed to.  I definitely recommend this one and look forward to reading more from Ms. Marr.

Kari& Autumn: What inspired you to become a writer?

Melissa: I grew up in a family of storytellers, living in a rural area where we didn't have cable television (and in a time pre-VCRs).   Everything’s-a-story, folklore-as-true, and library-visits-not-TV combined to make my love of story inevitable.

Kari& Autumn: Where do you come up with the ideas for your books?

Melissa: Ideas are everywhere. Sometimes I get sparks when I read theory, and sometimes it’s experience or dreams or even a phrase from a song.   Made For You is, in part, inspired by my real-life experience with a stalker when I lived in Durham, NC. 

Kari& Autumn: What exciting projects are waiting in the wings?

Melissa:   After Made for You, I have my 3^rd co-authored book (with Kelley Armstrong) out in May 2015 (Thor’s Serpents). It’s a Norse adventure trilogy for the Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl reader.  I wrote the series for my now-fifteen year old son who was lamenting the lack of books on the myths of his heritage.

I also have my first picture book out in the first half of 2015.  Right now, I think the title is Bunny Roo, I Love You. I wrote it for my son while we were in the hospital for 7 weeks as he went through the worst of the withdrawal from the drugs his birth-mother took during pregnancy.  It’s able to be read as a story about babies and animals, but it can also be read as a book about adoption.

Kari& Autumn: Who is your favorite literary character and why?

Melissa: I’m not sure I could ever answer this.  I taught university lit for twelve years before writing, so I have a lot of beloveds. Tess (in Tess of the D’Urbervilles), Dracula, Calixta (in Chopin’s “The Storm”), both Scout and Atticus (To Kill a Mockingbird), the Wife of Bath . . . I’m fairly basic in that I like characters who take risks and act with passion and conviction.

Kari& Autumn: Just for fun, if you could be any animal, what would it be and why?

Melissa: Dolphin or blue whale.   I like the social aspect of the dolphin, but the blue whale is capable of diving to extreme depths. Either way, I’d love to be a mammal in the sea.

About the author:

Melissa Marr is the author of the internationally bestselling Wicked Lovely series (currently available in 26 languages). In adult fiction, she is the author of the award-winning novel, Graveminder, and the newly released, The Arrivals. With Kelley Armstrong, Melissa is the co-editor of two anthologies and co-author of the Blackwell Pages trilogy (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), a children’s series about the Norse myth of Ragnarök. Her upcoming HarperCollins 2014 release, Made For You, utilizes both her graduate degree in Southern Literature and her personal experience with stalkers in a story about a killer who terrorizes a small North Carolina town.

Melissa lives in Virginia with her family. You can visit her online atwww.melissamarrbooks.com or on Twitter (@melissa_marr), Tumblr, or Facebook.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

Melissa’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, September 16th: The Best Books Ever

Wednesday, September 17th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, September 18th: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Friday, September 19th: Bewitched Bookworms

Monday, September 22nd: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Tuesday, September 23rd: About to Read

Wednesday, September 24th: Lost in a Great Book

Thursday, September 25th: Supernatural Snark

Monday, September 29th: Paperback Princess

Tuesday, September 30th: Bibliophilia, Please

Wednesday, October 1st: Reader Girls Blog

Thursday, October 2nd: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, October 6th: Writing Whimsy

Tuesday, October 7th: Books à la Mode

Wednesday, October 8th: Sweet Southern Home

Thursday, October 9th: booknerd

Friday, October 10th: Book Marks the Spot

Autumn's Most Anticipated for 2012

Graveminder

Author: Melissa Marr
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (May 2011)

Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn’t a funeral that Maylene didn’t attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words “Sleep well, and stay where I put you.”

Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place—and the man—she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D—a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.

Kari's thoughts:

I had no idea what to expect going into this book. I was pleasantly surprised. Graveminder is a well written and unique story. Rebekkah and Byron have both left home, but wrestle with a constant feeling that they should return to their home town. Byron returns on his own to help with the family business. When Rebekkah's grandmother, Maylene, is murdered, she is forced to return as well. Maylene's death sets off a series of events that changes their lives forever.

This book has a little bit of everything in it. Romance, creepy scenes, mystery, murder and the walking dead who eat people (they aren't zombie, though). I liked both Rebekkah and Byron's characters and their relationship with each other. The bargain that the town made with Charles (Mr. D) is interesting and I almost wish there was more back story to it. I loved the scenes that take place in the land of the dead.

I definitely recommend this one. I really enjoyed it. I will warn that there are a few gruesome scenes in the book but they are written very well. Since it is labeled as an adult read, I probably wouldn't recommend it for YA's. I listened to the audiobook and Emma Gavin, the narrator, did a great job.

Autumn's thoughts:
I also listened to the audiobook.  I agree that Emma Gavin was perfect for the job.  I recognized her as the reader for Veronica Roth's Divergent.  She did an excellent job there as well.

The original bargain that the townspeople made with the Charles was interesting.   I don't recall any information given as to where Claysville was located.  However, it had to be in existence in the 1700s and it wasn't in California.  The first Graveminder was named Abigail and one of the other ones was Drusilla.  I found that intriguing.  I wondered if maybe there was a Salem Witch tie in there.

I enjoyed this one quite a lot as well, a lot more than I was expecting to I think.  I really liked the idea of a Graveminder.  Not for the reason they had to have one, but the idea of a town having a designated Graveminder.  I, too, would recommend this one!