Indie Author Week: Christina J. Adams & The White Lilac

Day Three of Indie Author Week brings us the lovely Christina J. Adams, author of the wonderfully imaginative book The White Lilac. Her world-building skills are on par with some of the most bestselling YA authors & her story of a girl born to die for the sake of the entire planet was one I had a hard time putting down! So please give a warm welcome to Christina J. Adams.

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Falling in Love Again

Think about your favorite book or books. If you’re like me, a whole bookshelf will appear, leaving me to slowly run my fingers over their softly worn spines and wonder how I could ever choose. Each title conjures up a new emotion, something that makes it special and different from all the other books I love. I can’t choose which one I love more because I love them all differently.

But what makes us love books?

I can’t answer why you might love books, but I’ve taken some time to analyze what it is about a book that makes me fall in love. Maybe these will resonate with you; maybe you will have your own discovery of why it is that you enjoy books. But for me the books that become lasting favorites have at least one of three things in common. These are the reasons I love books:

1. I care.
   The books I love most are the books that make me care. The characters may be different from me, they may have different dreams or goals, but I care about what happens and I want the characters to succeed. Often I care because the character has been hurt in the past, emotionally or physically, and may be hurt in the future, so I read on to discover if this will happen. I connect with them on a deep level and feel their joys and sorrows as if they were my own. I want them to succeed. I want them to be happy. And when they are it makes my day feel just a bit better.
2. I aspire.
   I love books that can make me aspire to be someone or go somewhere. They can turn me into a gladiator, a spy, a gourmet chef, a horse, an elf, a queen or a brilliant detective. These are the books filled with my most exciting adventures and my deepest longings. They go new places, transport me to different times and teach me new skills. They can be the adventure of an epic journey or the heart-warming of a satisfying romance, but they draw out these desires from inside me and let me experience them. And when I turn the last page, my life feels full, if just for a moment.
3. I remember.
   Lastly, I love the books that bring me a taste from my past. They have the salt of bitter regrets and the sweetness of innocent youth. They are echoes of the books, music and movies I loved as a child and shadows of the way life used to be when it seemed simpler. They remind me of loved ones long gone or now drifted away on life’s changing tides, or of carefree summers and adventures when all you needed was a stick and a sandbox, or of best friends and first loves. But best of all they make me feel younger and remind me of all the mountains I wanted to climb and the people I loved.

While it is important for a novel to have all the elements of great writing, it is also important for the story to connect with the reader’s heart. Because it is in the heart that the book will live on and it is when a book misses that mark that it is forgotten. This is what I look for in the books I read and this is what makes me fall in love over and over again. What about you? What makes you fall in love with books?

 

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About the Author
Christina J. Adams recently released her first novel The White Lilac as an Amazon e-book in February 2012. A sample chapter can be seen here or you can buy it here. She will be releasing this in other e-book formats starting May 21, 2012 and plans to release several short stories this month. Check out her blog for updates. She has also started The Reader’s Heartbeat, a Goodreads group by authors to poll readers on the books they love and why. You are welcome to join the group and join the different discussions.

 

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Get The White Lilac by Christina J. Adams!

The White Lilac

Fifteen year old Caryn Tobin is willing to sacrifice her life to save the world, and to atone for her part in the death of a friend. Kai Garrett will risk everything to discover his past and why he was abandon. When their paths join, they form an unlikely friendship that could change everything. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.