Blog Tour: Insomnia by J.R. Johansson

Hello, bookish lovelies and insomniacs! I am very excited to have J.R. Johansson on the blog today, author of the newly released Insomnia. I've got all sorts of goodies to share, from all the info on J.R. and her book to a super fun guest post and an awesome giveaway, so stick around!

The Book

Title: Insomnia

Author: J.R. Johansson

Publisher: Flux

Publishing Date: June 8, 2013

Pages: 360
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It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

The Author

J.R. Johansson is a young adult thriller author published with Flux & FSG/Macmillan. Her debut, Insomnia is coming June 2013. She has a B.S. degree in public relations and a background in marketing. She credits her abnormal psychology minor with inspiring many of her characters. When she's not writing, she loves reading, playing board games, and sitting in her hot tub. Her dream is that someday she can do all three at the same time. She has two young sons and a wonderful husband. In fact, other than her cat, Cleo, she's nearly drowning in testosterone.

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The Interview

Beauty and the Bookshelf: I did something a little different for this interview/guest post. Instead of just sending J.R. a set of questions or a random topic, we did a little dream sequence. I sent her something, she'd respond, then I'd say something back, and eventually we created one weird, totally random, nonsensical dream. It was really fun to do, and I hope you enjoy it!

You find yourself in the middle of a forest, at the fork of a path. Do you go left, to the dark path, or right, to the sunny path?

I go left, to the dark path. I'm more suspicious of paths that hide their perils. 

As you walk down the dark path, you discover flowers. (But of course they're not normal flowers.) What do they do?

The flowers are gorgeous, striped in orange, pink and purple hues. The put off a glowing green haze into the air around them so I stay back and admire from the other side of the path. A moth flutters too close and when it enters the haze it drops to the ground and morphs in place into another of the deadly but beautiful flowers. 

You walk past the flowers, but one leans forward and touches your shoe, turning it into a flower that grows out of your foot. You continue down the path and find yourself surrounded by faceless figures. What happens next?

I wave hello to judge how friendly they are. When they try to grab me, I swing my foot around the circle and turn them all into flowers with my newly grown flower toe. 

The flowers explode and you are magically transported into a classroom, where all the people you've never liked in life, plus your family members, occupy the desks. What do you do?

...I look down to see if I still have my flower toe. ;-)

It's gone and has been replaced by a snake--and it's trying to eat you! Do you a) let the snake eat you and see what happens next; b) produce weapons out of nowhere and fight the snake; or c) play music and tell the snake to eat the other people in the room?

Wow! That's not good. I would sing to the snake and try to charm it into attacking my enemies!

The snake swallows all your enemies (it's a really big snake), and then you're at your house. But something's wrong. What is it?

Every window has been shattered and the doors are missing. The entire house is open to the outside, exposed to the elements, and the air is heavy with the smell of rain and the burnt metallic tang of lightning. 

You go to enter the house, but then you hear moaning behind you. Turning, you see zombies slowly lumbering toward you. Running into the house, you find there are zombies inside, too. What do you do?

I make a run for it, diving through one of the shattered windows out into a bush and escaping through a loose board in the backyard fence.

The space behind the loose board takes you to a room full of mirrors. It's like a fun house, but not fun--especially when your distorted image turns into a clown, one coming out of each mirror. How do you feel?

I feel super creeped out! I hate clowns! I punch one in their big red nose and then duck behind them. Then I run my hands along the mirrors trying to see if I can escape back into wherever the clowns came from. 

You can't escape! Instead, the mirrors twirl into a spinning room that's also filled with giant spiders spinning webs, trying to catch you. Decide your fate!

I grab the spiders, throw them at the clowns and cross my fingers that if one bites me it will give me super powers.

One spider crawls up your arm and onto your neck and bites you. You see a bunch of totally tubular colors then wake up. (Or do you...?)

The Giveaway

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