Celebrate Poison by Bridget Zinn

I'm extremely honored to be a part of the blog tour for Bridget Zinn's Poison. Not only will I share everything about the book with you, but I'll talk about one of my firsts in life, as well as tell you about the wonderful, gone-too-soon Bridget Zinn. Without further adieu, I present to you: Poison.

The Book

 

Poison is available now from Disney Hyperion! 

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend.

But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart . . . misses.

Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she’s the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

My First
It took me a while to figure out what first I could talk about. Then I thought of the perfect thing--Poison features "a too-cute pig," and I've had pigs! I would talk about my first pig--Doodles--but I can't find any pictures. Since Poison is Zinn's first novel--the birth of a writer, perhaps?--I decided to talk about my first experience helping birth piglets!

First, meet Sheniqua, the mother of my piglets. (Gosh, that sounds wrong and awkward.)

Long story short, Sheniqua got pregnant. Then nine of these happened.

Which is why I looked like this, since I was in a barn, it was freezing, and I'd been at the barn since midnight--and they didn't come until three in the morning!

But look at how cute and tiny they were!

(This also happened, but that's a different and another, not-so-happy story.)

And then they started to grow up! (And they grew teeth, which meant no more nibbling on my fingers.)

I also bought a bunch of costumes and did this.

So there you have it--my first experience with the birth of new piggys! However, as I was adding these pictures and descriptions, I realized something: this could all mean so much more, and it's kind of like the making of a book. First, you get the idea--pregnant pig. Then the idea is fully born and has all these bits and pieces--different piglets. Those ideas grow and grow until eventually you have a book--full grown pigs! It may take blood and sweat and tears, but it also has some sugar, cuteness, and tons of GOOD. This may just be a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but I thought I'd make this more meaningful than just some pictures of pigs!

The Author

Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died. Her last tweet was "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."

Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads.

Links
To learn more about Bridget Zinn and what you can do to spread the word and help remember her, please visit her website.

Does Poison sound like your kind of poison? Add it on Goodreads!

Would you like to purchase Poison? Check it out on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, iTunes Bookstore, and Powell's Books!


Whether you buy the book, visit Bridget's website, or simply read this post, THANK YOU. Because of you, one more person knows about Poison, and one more person will remember Bridget. Thank you.