#kendallkulper

[abookblog]

I took this last week and for what ever reason never posted it! I love this book and can’t wait to get back to it.

[multiplebookgasms]

"Salt and Storm" by Kendall Kulper is "Wuthering Heights" meets "Practical Magic": A story of magic and doomed love that will keep you turning the pages yet dread whatever may happen next. #saltandstorm #kendallkulper #tragiclovestory

[multiplebookgasms]

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale was AMAZING! I still have the urge to linger on Offred's story, but I have a stack of #periplusindonesia purchases to go through, so I'm set to jump into The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen. After that, a dash of witchcraft with Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper. I'm on a roll! #nowreading #thequeenofthetearling #erikajohansen #saltandstorm #kendallkulper

[ilovebooks-forever]

Salt and Storm

Salt and Storm is the story of a young sea witch named Avery Roe. When she was little she lived with her grandmother the current witch of Prince Island. Nearly every woman in her family was a witch except for her mother and so Avery plans to take over her grandmother’s job instead of her mother. The young girl didn't know how to control magic or how to activate it when her mother came back for her to take her away from the magic of her ancestors. Avery is left with only her own little magic of interpreting dreams. At the age of sixteen she has one of the most horrible dreams she could imagine and tries everything to change the outcome of the dream finding love on the way. 

I wouldn’t necessarily call this book one of my favourites, but it is nice to read a story about love and it’s painful side. It also is a story where witchcraft comes with a price rather than it just being a gift, which makes it more interesting because you get to learn how Avery’s magic works with her. Another lovely thing about the novel is the amazing character development you see in Avery’s mother, but you will see for yourself if you decide to give it a shot. 

- Jana <3

[btafest]

A Q&A with Kendall Kulper!

What was your favorite book as a teenager?

For classics, certainly A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was (and continues to be) a huge influence on me. I've probably read it over twenty times, and it never fails to make me cry or to show me something beautiful about the world. I also loved a book calledCeline by an author named Brock Cole, who wrote several beautiful books for teens in the 80s and 90s. Celine is about a sixteen-year-old artist with a quirky, uniquely personal perspective on the world, and it has such a special place in my heart, both for the impact it had on my life and for reminding me how vitally important books can be to teens.

  What was your very first story about?

My very, very first story ever was one I wrote in first grade called "Cat, Mat, Sat." It goes (as far as I remember) like this:

"The fat cat sat on the flat mat. The cat is fat. The mat is fat. The cat sat." I got a check plus-plus on that story, and thus began my unhealthy need for critical validation for my writing.

  What is one question about your books/writing that you wish someone would ask but never has?

This is tough! I think something that's important to think about when it comes to writing is "What makes it boring and how do you get over that?" There are lots of wonderful things about writing and lots of really hard, depressing things about writing, but I think something people tend forget is that it's still a job and it can get boring. Every day I have to sit down at my desk and write, and even though 90% of the time it is so, so wonderful and fills me with so much joy, there are certainly days where I'm staring at the clock, wondering how long I have to put in my time before I can go do something else.

And every manuscript eventually gets to a point where you're so sick of it that you just want to throw it against a wall and never think about it again (some manuscripts reach that point multiple times). It can be such a challenge to reinvigorate yourself, and I always tell myself that if I'm not excited about what I'm writing, then something is going wrong, and it's time to stop, step away, rethink, and recharge. Learning how to slog through those days when I just don't want to write has been one of the best things I've figured out about writing. And while I wouldn't say that I love the boring moments, they usually end up teaching me something new about the manuscript, and so I at least try to appreciate them.

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Come meet Kendall Kulper at the 3rd annual Boston Teen Author Festival! Saturday, September 27th from 11am to 4:30pm at the Cambridge Public Library. For more information, check out our website at www.embraceya.weebly.com!