**Blog Tour & Giveaway ~ Ignite ~ Erica Crouch**

Hi y'all and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Erica Crouch's Ignite. My post includes an interview with Erica, my review and a giveaway!

This tour is presented by Patchwork Press.

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Ignite by Erica Crouch

Release Date: June 13, 2013

Published by Patchwork Press

Penemuel (Pen) fell from grace over a millennium ago, yet there are still times she questions her decision to follow her twin brother, Azael, to Hell. Now that the archangel Michael has returned, threatening Lucifer’s vie for the throne, she begins questioning everything she has always believed.

As Hell prepares for war - spreading a demonic virus and pilfering innocent souls to build an army - the lines separating the worlds blur. Fates erase and the future is left unwritten. Azael is determined that he and his sister will continue to serve as demons together, but for the first time in her life, Pen is not ruled by destiny. She has the freedom of choice.

With choice comes sacrifice, and Pen must decide which side she’s willing to risk everything fighting for: the light, or the dark.

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Interview with Erica

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

HELLO my name is Erica! I am 20, soon to be 21 in late August, though I’ve been mistaken (multiple times) for a 14-year-old or my 18-year-old sister’s twin. I live just outside of Baltimore, Maryland and am currently in college studying English & Creative Writing. My concentration is fiction but I’ve also dabbled in writing for screen and stage. Ignite is my first book to be published instead of trunked and I am insanely excited/terrified about that. I love reading, writing, and -- above almost all else -- procrastinating.

What do you do when you're not writing?

Reading! That’s cheating, probably, but it’s true. I’m always trying to find a balance between reading and writing and “other” non-book related stuff, but the scales always tip to the literary side of my life. It seems that my to-be-read book list is never ending and perpetually growing, so I’m always checking books out of my library or downloading them on Kindle or Nook and buying paperbacks. If I don’t have a book to read, I would go mad! 

But I also love theatre. A lot of my friends are actors or work somewhere in the context of a theater. I used to act (dance and kind of sing), so I still love getting involved in theatre. When I was in high school, I went to see Rent when it was in Baltimore at the Hippodrome and I have never loved anything more!

Why are readers going to love Ignite?

Hopefully, readers will love the characters and their bonds and the story that unfolds around them. There’s a lot of poetry in the book and a lot of literary references -- generally just a reverence for words in general. There’s action, romance, gore, mythology, astronomy... A bit of everything really. I hope that people can connect with one of these aspects or maybe find something in the story that they relate to or have felt themselves.

Is there a scene in Ignite that was particularly fun or challenging to write? Why?

There’s this one scene, pretty late in the book, that I had envisioned the moment I started writing Ignite. It’s the Star Scene and I think one of my favorite scenes to write. I kept motivating myself to keep writing by saying “just X more chapters!” It’s kind of a culmination of my favorite aspects of the books -- poetry, mythology, and a beautiful moment under a breathtakingly stunning sky drowning in stars. I kept going out every night before writing this scene to lay down and watch the stars, to try to capture the same feeling you get when space just opens up in front of you. Stargazing is one of my favorite things, and I was so excited to be able to try to write a scene that would do it justice.

That is a powerful scene!

What are you working on now?

A lot of stuff! I have a few new projects coming up in the next year, if everything goes according to plan. I’m really excited about Entice, an e-novella prequel to Ignite that will go back to the final battle in the war, where Michael was slain, follows Pen and Az after they first fall from grace and as they venture into Eden. The final book in the Ignite series should be out next spring. I’m also in the middle of writing a New Adult science fiction series that I am very excited for, a 1930s YA romance, and a ghost/horror story. Obviously, I hate having any free time! :)

Thanks so much, Erica!

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My Review

I don't know if y'all have figured this out or not, but I'm a bit of a bibliomaniac and a philologist. (that means I love words! ;) So y'all are going to have to forgive me for geeking out on you on bit in this review...please.

Ignite had me at quoting William Butler Yeats on page 2! And then it goes on to quote Shakespeare, Robert Frost and John Milton!! *squee* Add in the fact that Ignite is a story revolving around the war between Heaven and Hell and has archangels, angels, fallen angels, demons...well, it's exactly my kind of heaven! ;) So if you didn't know I was a geek before, you certainly do now, right?!?

"Words have a power of their own. They build worlds, create lives, shape futures. You can delve into these foreign worlds just by opening the cover of a book and escape from it as quickly as you could shut it again."  --Pen

Penemuel, Pen, is a fallen angel. She loves words. She fell from Heaven for introducing the written word to man. She fell because things in Heaven were becoming unbearable causing angels to question the why's behind their actions. Her brother, Azael, decided he'd rather serve Hell and so Pen, not wanting to be alone, fell with him. They've been serving Lucifer for centuries in various capacities. When Pen is given the assignment to protect the newly reincarnated Archangel Michael, she experiences a metamorphosis of sorts. She begins to question her choices, realizes serving Hell was not her decision as she followed Azael. And she begins to hope that maybe there is a second chance for her. Pen is fragile yet amazingly strong.

Azael relishes being a demon. He never second guesses his decision to fall. He felt it was unjust that angels had no freewill unlike humans. He fell in order to feel as though he had some choice over his life. He's always been iwth Pen since the fall. But Azael is very egocentric and Pen isn't as important to him as impressing Lucifer and rising to a powerful position in Hell.

Michael is not the Archangel he once was. His soul has been imprisoned in Hell for centuries. Now that Heaven released him, they're keeping him in the dark about their plans and how he died. Michael's questioning Heaven and they don't like those questions. Michael believes things aren't all black and white...there's grey areas...he believes there's good in everything. When he meets Pen, he sees that she's different -- that she's good. 

Pen and Michael end up on the run as the apocalypse begins...

Ignite is fascinating in its story and exquisite in its rendering. I loved every moment! There are many details in this story and many, many lovely words. This may not be for everyone but it's certainly for me! I anxiously await the upcoming novella, about Pen and Azael's time after the fall, as well as the conclusion to Pen and Michael's story.

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Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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About Erica

Erica Crouch is a twenty-year-old living on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently working towards a degree in English and Creative Writing with a specialization in Fiction at Southern New Hampshire University. She spends all of her time writing and reading an overwhelming stack of books. Ignite is her debut novel and she is currently writing its sequel - in addition to two other series!

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