Guest post & giveaway! Get a "Twisted Lit" character named after you!

Today's guest posters are Kim Askew and Amy Helmes, authors of TEMPESTUOUS and EXPOSURE---retellings of Shakespear's famous works, The Tempest and Macbeth.  You guys know I love a good retelling, so I'm pretty excited to be sharing this with you today!

 

In honor of William Shakespeare’s birthday (celebrated on April 23), authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes, have dropped by with a guest blog post to announce a special contest!

Get A “Twisted Lit” Character Named After You!

We reimagined William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “Macbeth,” with our “compulsively readable” YA books, Tempestuous and Exposure. Ever since the novels were published a few months ago through Merit Press we’ve encountered a frequent question: Which of Shakespeare’s plays will inspire your next books in the Twisted Lit series?

While we’re currently hard at work putting our own spin on the Bard’s “Romeo and Juliet” we thought we’d look to you, the readers, to help us pick the fourth Shakespeare play that will inspire our next book in the series. Got a hankering for a new spin on “Hamlet?” Love to see “King Lear” get a YA update? Would you make much ado over our take on “Much Ado About Nothing?”

Go to our Facebook page (Facebook.com/Twistedlitnovels) and write on our wall to weigh in on which Shakespeare play you’d like us to revamp next. In doing so, you’ll be entered to have your very own name mentioned in one of our upcoming books (either as a character or some other fun reference). If you’ve always wanted to see your name in print — in a YA novel, no less — now’s your chance! The winner will also receive autographed copies of our first two novels, Tempestuous and Exposure.

We’re looking forward to hearing your suggestions! (And don’t forget to follow us on twitter at @kaskew and @amyhelmes.)

* Winner will not be compensated for use of his or her name, and publication is not guaranteed. Details of plot and character used in connection with the name as it appears in the book are up to the sole discretion of the authors. Contest ends June 1.

Review: Exposure by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

I love retellings, and to take on Shakespeare is a major undertaking.  I like trying to figure out who is who, or how the plot is going to change a little due to time or setting.  But, I'd like to cry a little when I tell you that it has been 13-14 years since I read MacBeth, so my memory of it may be a little sketch (which is why wikipedia is my best friend!)

I got the major switches:  Craig Mac= MacBeth; Duff = McDuff; Kaya and her friends = the witches.  I have a really hard time figuring out who Skye is supposed to be.  I had thought that it would be a great twist if she was MacBeth, but that didn't fit.  Then I thought, "Ok, Lady MacBeth."  But, Beth seems more like Lady MacBeth.  So who does that leave for Skye?  Ok, so I had to wiki it...is she Banquo?  

Quick Check: The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet by Erin Dionne

 

FINALLY!  I've been staring at this book on my TBR pile for over a year but have just never had a chance to read it.  There has always been something---another book for review, a book for Virginia Reader's Choice, a book that I just had to read RIGHT THEN.  

Summary and image from Amazon:

All Hamlet Kennedy wants is to be a normal eighth grader. But with parents like hers - Shakespearean scholars who actually dress in Elizabethan regalia . . . in public! - it's not that easy. As if they weren't strange enough, her genius seven-year-old sister will be attending her middle school, and is named the new math tutor. Then, when the Shakespeare Project is announced, Hamlet reveals herself to be an amazing actress. Even though she wants to be average, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she- like her family - is anything but ordinary.

This was a really quick and cute read.  It took me a solid evening and then about an hour of the next night.   

I really loved Desdemona.  I pictured her as a mini Sheldon or Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory.  Just super smart, but totally clueless in how to actually interact with people.

You could look at this and think, "Well that's just another book about a middle schooler being embarrassed by life."  And you'd be wrong.  Well, you'd be right, because she is embarrassed by her life, but its just one thing on top of another for this poor gal that makes it different and instantly likeable.  I mean, its bad enough she's in 8th grade (barf), but she has that name, her little sister is a super-genius and starting to go to school with her, her parents dress (and act) like they belong at medieval times, she's failing math, and then boys.  Poor kid just can't catch a break!  

I liked how everything came together in the end.  Yes, Desdemona might outshine Hamlet academically, but Hamlet finally learns that she has something special, and something worth standing out over.  

All in all, a good book.  If I taught middle school, I'd have no problem with this in my classroom.  Even though Hamlet is in 8th grade, the situations and feelings are universal and many kids could sympathize.