We’d like to welcome author JoAnna Wiebe to Bewitched Bookworms today, and she’s giving us a little guide to getting along as new students at Cania Christy Preparatory Academy.
The Cania Christy Preparatory Academyās
Survival Guide for New StudentsĀ
My eldest sister used to say that the way to survive at a new school is to act like you own the place from the moment you first hit campus.
I was never very good at that.
But she was. And it seemed to work for her.
I, on the other hand, spent my first lunch at a new school as a clichƩ: I cried in a bathroom stall and fantasized, while holding a sniffle as girls came and went beyond the door, of life after graduation.
Like most writers, I canāt help but let my personal life and the feelings that have been sitting with me for years weasel their way into my stories. So itās little wonder that, in my book The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant (Jan 14), the hero Anne Merchant has a less than stellar time dealing with life as the new girl at Cania Christy. Hereās the Survival Guide that she wishes she hadā¦
Survival Tip A: Be prepared to be at least as sharp-tongued as the mean girls
Anne has always been a loner, so sheās totally surprised when, on her very first day ā just moments after she steps foot on campus ā a pack of pretty girls verbally attacks her. Little does she know that theyāre legitimately jealous of her ā not because of her looks but because, unbeknownst to Anne, she has something they donāt, something they desperately want. As jealous as they are, theyāre also sizing her up to see how far they can push her.
Anne survives that attack only thanks to her quick wit. Is she proud of it? No, it makes her sick to think, later, of making enemies of those girls. What she doesnāt know is that all the students are enemies ā even the mean girls arenāt truly friends ā at Cania Christy.
Survival Tip B: Donāt argue with the secretaries.
No sooner has Anne left the mean girls behind than she finds herself dealing with a strange school secretary who, for reasons Anne will discover in the second book, calls Anne anagrams of her name. Even though Anneās irritated by the secretary, she takes the interaction in stride ā which sheāll later find out is for the best. Because the creepy old secretaries are anything but benevolent typists.
Survival Tip C: Exercise.
Although thereās no running club at Cania and the closest thing to a yoga club is the Pill-At-Ease club, staying fit and agile is a great survival strategy for Anne. She has to clamber up crates, wriggle through narrow air ducts, climb through windows, slide down roofs, and run through an ice storm.
The only activity she doesnāt need to do well to survive is swimming: Cania kids who try to swim in the ocean quickly find they canāt go far.
Survival Tip D: Read the books the hot guy recommends.
If Ben were not quite so attractive, Anne might pay better attention to the hints and suggestions he makes in every interaction they have.
Unfortunately, she is so distracted by him that she misinterprets his book title guessing game as a bit of flirting and meditates more on the fact that he breaks into her room to give her a book than she does on the truths within the book.
Survival Tip E: The devilās in the details ā so pay attention to āem.
For an artist, Anne doesnāt pay nearly as much attention to the details as she ought to ā a fact that sheāll become aware of just as this book comes to a close. Among the details she overlooks ā details you, dear reader, may want to look closely at ā are:
- Fainting spells when sheās never been very light-headed
- Her physical flaws in a school filled with physically perfect students
- The name of the administration building
- The question Ben asks her when they first meet outside Villicusās office
Anne may not have been armed with this survival guide, but you are! So do use it when reading The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant, available in bookstores and online TODAY. Amy Plum called the novel ādeliciously darkā, and VOYA said itās great for fans of Anna Dressed in Blood.
About The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant
Publication date:Ā January 14th 2014 by BenBella Books
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Get a Copy:Ā AmazonĀ |Ā Barnes & NobleĀ |Ā BenBellaĀ |Ā BooksAMillionĀ |Ā Chapters/IndigoĀ |Ā IndieBound
After her motherās death, 16-year-old art prodigy Anne Merchant moves from sunny California to the cold woodlands of Wormwood Island, Maine for what is supposed to be a fresh start. She is the newest student of Cania Christy, an elite boarding school that is as filled with secrets as it is with the worldās most privilegedāand competitiveāteens.
From the first day of school, Anne finds herself thrust into the Big V competition, an intense race to the top of the class. With enviable talents, she quickly becomes the enemy of every junior seeking the Big Vāespecially Harper, the presumed frontrunner.
Like every student, she is assigned a guardian, and a unique mission. Anneās assignment is to ālook deeper.ā Anne is determined to succeed, and wonāt let anything ānot even her distractingly beautiful neighbor Benāget in the way. But the deeper she looks the more questions arise, and the more she is forced to reexamine all of her assumptionsāabout the school, her classmates and even herself.
As layers of secrecy deepen, Anne leans on the friendship of Molly, a lifelong islander, and Pilot, the only junior not competing for the Big V, to make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world. But when people start disappearing, Anne uncovers a stunning truth that she must face head onābefore she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.
AboutĀ Joanna Wiebe
By day, Joanna is a copywriter and the co-founder ofĀ CopyHackers.comĀ andĀ Page99Test.com, a critique site for published and unpublished writers. As an undergraduate student, Joanna won several academic awards for excellence in creative writing: Canada’s James Patrick Folinsbee Prize, which she won twice, as well as the Godfrey Prize.
After graduating, she lived for a year on the remote northern island of Hokkaido, Japan, which is the inspiration for the verdant Wormwood Island of the V Trilogy. She holds a BA in Honors English and an MA in Communications from the University of Alberta and lives with her partner Lance in Victoria, British Columbia.
The Unseemly Education of Anne MerchantĀ is her first novel and the first installment in the V Trilogy.
FindĀ Joanna Wiebe
Ā WebsiteĀ |Ā TwitterĀ |Ā Facebook
Enter the Rafflecopter widget for your chance to win one of 15 finished copies of The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant.
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I LOVE boarding school books, and I want to know more about book boy:))
LOVE the idea of the race š
This was a cute survival post:)
Thank you:)
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this sounds awesome!!! Thanks so much for sharing š
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Sounds slightly spooky and good. I look forward to the read. Thanks for the tour post and giveaway!
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The book sounds intriguing. In some ways, it sounds a bit like a paranormal story but nothing indicates the genre yet. Sounds good to read. Thanks.
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I like how on the cover Amy Plum says, “A deliciously dark tale.” It makes me want to read The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant. And I like how the cover does look dark and mysterious. Two components I’m definitely looking for in something new to read. Thank you for hosting this book! š
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I somehow ended up at this post from Twitter. I love the title of this book and it made me want to enter. A new author is always exciting to find; crossing my fingers!!
Dede recently posted..TGFI ā Thank God For iPads
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