Ashen Winter Blog Tour

Welcome to BookLove101's stop on the Ashen Winter blog tour! I've got tons of awesome stuff for my lovely followers today!

Let's start off with a little info about THE AUTHOR!

Here's a quick interview

What inspired you to become a writer? 

Until I was eleven, I attended a brick box of a school, antiseptically clean and emotionally sterile. The children marched in files down the halls, mumbled math facts in unison, and occasionally did a craft project about a book. When I turned twelve, I escaped from that intellectual prison camp and went to a noisy, dirty, chaotic school where I was—gasp—expected to write. Every day. And—double gasp—read. I wrote my first novel in sixth grade—Captain Poopy’s Sewer Adventures. Sadly, DavPilkey beat me to publication with Captain Underpants, although I still spell better than he does. (You don’t see me typing Mik Mullin, do you?) I’ve been writing ever since.

Do you read alot of YA?

I read more young adult books than any other type. Outside of young adult I read a wide variety of genres. I put everything I read on Goodreads—if you like, you can become my friend on Goodreads here. Last year I read 171 books, and here’s how they break down by genre: Young Adult 63 37% Middle Grade 30 18% Non-fiction (mostly adult) 25 15% Picture Book 20 12% Adult Science Fiction 8 5% Adult Literary Fiction 6 4% Adult Fantasy 5 3% Graphic Novels 4 2% Other 4 2% Adult Thriller 3 2% Poetry 3 2%

What's your favorite genre?

Young adult science fiction and fantasy.

Do you have a favorite author? Who? and Why? 

Richard Peck! He started writing professionally when he was my age and he’s still going strong. A River Between Us belongs with Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird as one of the greatest works of literature ever written. I also admire him personally. He’s generous, gracious, and speaks extemporaneously in sentences better crafted than my fifth drafts. 

What is one book, you think, everyone should read?

 I’m not a particularly devout person, but I’m still going to say the Bible. It informs so much of Western culture that I think every literate person—religious or not—should read it at least once. I’m also dismayed at how often I meet self-professed Christians who have no idea what’s in that book they see in the pews on Sundays. Even worse, a lot of the churches I visit don’t even have Bibles in their pews anymore. 

Print or e-book? 

 Print. I do own an e-reader, but my wife appropriated it for her dissertation reading (she’s working on a Doctorate in Education), and I haven’t really missed it. Do you have a favorite reading spot? I like to read on the couch in my wife’s office. Sometimes, if it’s really late and I’m completely into a book, I’ll get up and pace while I read. That way I can’t fall asleep until the book is finished! 

Follow Mike via: his Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

 Now that we've learned a bit about the author Let's check out the book!

Release Date: October 16th 2012

Summary 

It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depo | IndieBound
Ashfall: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depo | IndieBound

My Review

 In my review of the first book (Ashfall by Mike Mullin) I had one question. What could possibly happen next? I'm considering this question answered, to the extreme! I wasn't even prepared for the things that happened next! This book! WOW! 

Alex has become a character favorite of mine. He's just put through so much! I literally had parts while reading this book where I thought to myself "give the guy a break already!" He's such a kind and caring character, and it's that personality that just digs right into your heart and stays there. I was routing for him, the entire time! As a reader, you just have this urge, you want him to succeed! And when he's constantly thrown into one hard situation after another, you just wanna pat him on the back and say "It'll be alright, just keep going!" That's one MAJOR reason why I need the next book! I'm hoping with all my heart, this character gets to be happy in the end.

The book itself, continues right where Ashfall left off! You find yourself thrown right back into the fight! The fight for food, the fight for shelter, the fight to SURVIVE! This is one crazy world thier living in, and these characters have one heck of an adventure to get through!!! It's just one twist after another! As a reader, I just couldn't get enough!

I've become a real fan of this series. Part one sparked my interest, and part two just sealed the deal. That cliffhanger ending! I'm definitely eager to read more! This book left me with the same lingering question.. What could possibly happen next??? I can't wait to find out!

Four stars from me for this great read!

Make sure to check out the rest of the tour here!