Happy Sunday! We have a really special post today for you guys, and we are excited and thrilled to be part of the Blog Tour for Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Curse and the sequel The Winner’s Crime. Heather and I are BIG fans of the books, it’s a such fantastic series — and the sequel is just as amazing as the first book!
The Blog Tour is truly a special one, as Bloggers are asked:
“What’s Your Winner’s Curse?”
The ‘Winner’s Curse’ is an economics term that means you’ve gotten what you wanted – but at too high a price. What would you pay too much for?
Danny’s Winner’s Curse:
Oh my goodness – what a tricky, difficult question to answer. When is the price too high? For what would I pay too much? Well, who defines when it’s too much? I guess this really depends very much on the personal situation. What might be too high a price for one, might be just very little for another.
If we take Kestrel – she really pays a high price to keep not only the man she loves, but also a country she loves, safe. She sacrifices her own happiness and her own heart. Is her price too high? I’m not sure I have the right to answer this question as only Kestrel could answer this. What means personal happiness compared to the freedom of a whole country, from the outside it looks like it’s a sacrifice that is worth it, yet Kestrel is unhappy as she has to push away and close off her heart.
So what price would be too high for me?
Maybe I could take my job. I teach Bachelor and Master Students in Biology at the university and I absolutely LOVE what I’m doing. I love my job. I adore working with students that are eager to learn, that are excited about the topics I talk about and that are just overly curious about science and biology. But… I know if I would leave university I would have a safe job where I have a contract longer than for only 2 years at a time, and maybe even a permanent contract that would give me much more security than I have now. Also, I would definitely have a higher salary, and who doesn’t like having more money than having less?
But, would more money and more security be worth it?
Personally, I answered this question already and I’d say no! I am absolutely happy with my job and I wouldn’t trade it for more money. I keep fighting for a permanent position and … who cares about extra money when I’m doing something that I love?
Heather’s Winner’s Curse:
There are few things that I would pay any amount of money for. One thing would be for a bracelet that you can wear that lets you eat whatever you want but stay skinny forever. Totally unrealistic as far as today’s technology goes, unfortunately.
My husband and were dating for eight years before we got married, and then almost immediately the questions of “When are going to have a baby?” started. It’s always awkward to speak honestly with these well-intentioned people when your answer is that you aren’t sure that you want children, but luckily I was still in graduate school for my chemistry PhD at the time and that was a convenient enough excuse to say that it wasn’t a good time to try. After I graduated, started my career, and the years marched on, everyone eventually stopped asking, and as I approached my early thirties–I changed my mind–and my husband was elated.
No one accurately prepares you for the price that your mind and body pays for motherhood, nor can you guess just how much all of those diapers, formula, and clothes and shoes that he’ll grow out of in such a short amount of time will cost monetarily. The price of disrupted sleep for middle of the night feedings are forgotten by toothless grins and baby snuggles, hearing “Mama” for the first time. And that period goes by all too fast, let me tell you.
My son is almost six years old now. He has the same sarcastic sense of humor that both my husband and I do, but he’s also sweet, caring, and has a curiosity that is insatiable with a great love of books too. He’s quick with a hug and an “I Love You,” just because you came home from a long day at work. Are the video games, karate lessons, clothes, glasses (seriously, 4 pairs in one year!), books, and dirt bike and gear expensive? Of course, but they’re just the high price you pay for raising your offspring the best that you can. I sometimes wonder if a girl would have been cheaper, but then I think about all of those clothes I’d have to buy…
Kestrel spends a bit of time wondering where her father’s loyalties lie. If it came down to it, would he choose her or Valoria? This question is answered in The Winner’s Crime, and Kestrel should be able to trust her father with anything. I want to be the kind of mother where my son never doubts that I have his back. I’ll always be there for him no matter what, through thick and thin. That’s what I signed up for by bringing him into this world, and I’d pay any price to keep him safe and happy–except for playing Minecraft with him. I just don’t get that game.
I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Series: The Winner's Trilogy #1
on March 4, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult
Pages: 355
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Winning what you want may cost you everything you love
As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.
One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.
But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.
Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.
And the sequel
The Winner’s Crime
- Coming March 3rd, 2015 by Farrar Straus Giroux
- Add it on Goodreads
About Marie:
Marie Rutkoski is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Winner’s Curse (March 2014). She grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois as the oldest of four children and decided early on that she was Someone Who Loved Books.
After attending the University of Iowa and living in Moscow and Prague, she studied Shakespeare at Harvard University, where she honed her skill in referring to herself in the third person.
Marie is now a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance drama, children’s literature, and fiction writing. New York City is her home, and she thinks there must be birds of prey living in Washington Square Park; she can see large, wheeling wings from the window where she sits and writes. Marie has two small sons who try very hard to make friends with the family cat, only to be snubbed for the dark quiet of a closet. Marie can tie a double figure-eight knot with her eyes closed. She’s learning how to play the violin. She’s a sucker for fancy tea, and her favorite dessert is crème brulée. Or maybe sticky toffee pudding. Tough call.
Find Marie
Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Website | Blog | Winner’s Curse Website
Giveaway
Thanks to Macmillan, we can offer one winner either a copy of The Winner’s Curse or The Winner’s Crime – just enter via the Rafflecopter below!
So now of course the question – what is your “Winner’s Curse?”
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Def would be not focused! I have ADD and sometimes it’s really hard to focus with the million thoughts in my head!
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I would definitely pay a high price for my family and friends, and for own happiness. Sure, the world is important but so is life. We only get one life (I’m not going to say YOLO) and I would pay a high price to live a happy one. My family and friends are very important to me, I would pay a high price for them as well.
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Ooooo. This IS a really difficult question… I think I would pay too much to have a career as an author and a college professor. I really want to teach English Lit to college students and I really want to write YA novels. But I feel like getting both would add a really difficult dimension to everything. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!!! I really can’t wait to read The Winner’s Crime!!!
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My winner’s curse would be health. I have a lot of genetically passed down issues that I wish didn’t exist. I drag myself through it, but I would hate to pass it down to my kids (if I decide to have any). I would pay anything to be assured that their health will never be in jeopardy because of my not so great genetics. That being said, editing DNA scares the heck out of me, so if there was a way to just get rid of them all (allergies, among other issues) or something, I’d buy that.
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I’d be willing to pay the highest price to keep my family healthy, happy, and safe. Always.
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I think I would be willing to do just about anything for the health and happiness of my friends and family.
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I pay a high price for travel and trips because of where my friends are but I do it anyway to keep close to everyone!
Lovely post – very sweet 🙂
I have a US address but rafflecopter might show my location outside US because I’m doing a semester abroad
thank you so very much 🙂
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I always read the explanation of “winner’s curse” as slightly different. Not that you paid too much for it, fullstop, but that because there’s competition for a thing and everyone is willing to pay the full value of it, in order to win the bidding, you *have* to pay *more* than the value. The curse comes from the fact that the only way to get it is to shoot yourself in the financial foot, because you have to be able to beat out the next guy. I never got the feeling of that from the book, there it was very much a standard “oops, got more than you bargained for!” scenario.
It’s immaterial, of course, because the book is flat-out awesome and I loved it and the title is just a title anyway. It’s just that that always needled me a bit when I read the author’s notes.
But since I’m pedantic I want to answer with my “winner’s curse.” I would totally bidding-war-shoot-myself for the cute little house that I’ve got my eye on. Thankfully, in this market, I don’t think anyone else is going to put in a bid, though.
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I would want a clone to do all the household stuff, shopping, etc. so I could dedicate more time to writing, reading, music. Thanks for the giveaway!
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My Winner’s Curse would probably be an amazing job that consumed all my time. What would I sacrifice for the perfect job at the perfect publishing house? What would I give to be the best editor out there?
Seriously, that is my dream job and I think that I would love to be, in a sense, consumed by my work 24/7. But then I think about all of my family and friends and how sometimes to be top dog, you have to sacrifice relationships so you can have time to work. I want that job and to be a hard working and skilled editor, but family and faithful friends are worth more than an office on the top floor of an NYC skyscraper. Family and friends are forever, so keeping them and having a slightly less awesome job would be worth it.
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I believe I pay the price for working my job that I actually have no time to hang out with my friends.
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I think my Winner’s Curse will be how much I pay for college because I’m not sure I’m going to be earning alot of money after I have my degree
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My Winner’s Curse is how much I must pay for my family’s health and to try and keep them healthy.
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Thanks for the giveaway. My Winner’s Curse is caring to much about other people or things that are not that important.
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I would do anything to keep my family safe and healthy! Thanks so much for the awesome giveaway!!!
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Mine would probably be getting my dream job! 🙂
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I think mine would be to be a college professor in both subjects I love (they’re unrelated, so it’d be rather difficult). It’d also give me very little say over where I settle down, which is tough.
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I would pay a high price for my health most of all since I am not in the best of health as it is. Also I price a lot to take care of my dog, Nikki. Only the best for her. 😉
– Beckie
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I think definitely that I would pay too much to go back to school, like, specifically to my alma mater. It is sort of my real home to me and it just means the world to me because it’s what connects me to certain parts of my family. What a challenging question! Thanks for the giveaway. 🙂
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not sure
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I don’t know. I’m really cautious with my spending.. Sometimes I do spend a bit much on books I really want though. So I guess that’s my winner’s curse!
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MMM I think my winner curse would be having piles of unread books, I buy too many and not enough space to place them in. And I like Heather’s winner curse I wish there was something like that for real
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Lately, my winner’s curse is my job. My responsibility is handling three desks, get the work down within the same time frame without over time. I’m quite burnt out.
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It’s a funny question, because I’ve been trying to get into a medical residency program lately. It is something I really want and it makes me extremely unhappy and frustrated to not be working on what I love until I get in. However, I know that once it starts, I will have to dedicate a lot of my time and energy towards it. But I think it will be worth it. In the end, the hard period is just for a couple of years, and the reward is a (hopefully) fulfilling career for the rest of my life.
Great post and giveaway! I’m hoping to read these books very soon!
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My winner’s curse would be trying to please everyone!
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A job in my field, ugh! Too much to ask?
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I adore European musicals. I love the DVDs and CDs of these show. Because of selling regulations the MP3 versions of these aren’t for sale in the U.S. (I’m American), at least not right away. It usually takes a year and a half or so. It varies case to case. Some things are never available in the U.S. and many of the older albums can be very difficult to track down. So if I want it timely — or, in some cases, if I want it at all — I have to pay double what a CD or DVD would cost in the U.S.
But I love them so much that if money wasn’t an issue I would have way too many of these!
Examples:
— Le Roi Soleil — 2005 French Musical — the DVD is pure eye candy!
— Kristina från Duvemåla — The men of ABBA’s 1996 musical in Swedish
— Elisabeth — 1992 Viennese musical — very gothic! A feminist musical written by men
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My winner’s curse is not having the time to read all the books I buy/borrow from the library. Its an endless pile to to be read books 😀
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This is a toughie. I think I would say letting myself be talked out of college. I don’t think I’d do it though. I am almost positive I wouldn’t have met my husband if I did. I still regret not going BUT my husband is pretty fantastic. 😉
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My winner’s curse would probably be a soulmate. I realise you’re not supposed to pay for love, but I’m absolutely terrified of ending up alone!
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Earlier this week my husband found out he’s allergic to pretty much every common food from corn and wheat to tomatoes and garlic to potatoes and rice. So I’ve decided mine is probably trading the foods I love and my sanity (as I’m the one who does all of the cooking and grocery shopping) for my continued love of my sweetie. Giving up pizza and french fries with ketchup is going to be hard but I love my man enough to stress out finding foods he can eat and no longer eating all that stuff myself. lol
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Mine would be my family. I would pay the highest price for them and wouldn’t trade them for the world!
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My winner’s curse would be the health of my family. With the possibility of cancer currently making a second appearance in my mom and Grandpa there isn’t a price high enough that I could and would pay for them to be healthy again.
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I would pay anything for the health and well-being of our family. At the end of the day, they’re the ones that count.
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My winner’s curse is books! I spend majority on my money on books whether it’s books that I love to read or textbooks for my courses. It’s a money-eater but a necessity, especially for enjoyment and education. Thank you for this amazing giveaway! 🙂
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Thousands of amazing books>Not enough time to read them
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