Shout Out for Indies - Gifted by J A George

We here at The Paperback Princesses often receive emails from Indie authors requesting reviews and are blessed with free book copies. Often we are unable to get to so many titles before our mass market published books take over our TBR shelves. That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of great reads though! We want to give back to those Indie authors and are declaring EVERY SECOND SUNDAY our SHOUT OUT TO INDIES MEME. For those of fellow bloggers, please feel free to add our meme to your regular schedule. We only ask that you quote and link back to us as a courtesy. For all of you Indie authors, we invite you to contact us at the contact link to your top left. We will select 1 - 3 titles (each time we post) that sound interesting.

This week's selection is:

“Why do birds fly? Why do lions hunt deer? Why does the sun shine and the moon glow? Because it must. I wish I could tell you why, I truly do. It mustn’t be easy, such pressure weighted on such young shoulders, but we do not always choose the lives we must lead.” 
Avery Gray had no choice but to be different. She was not born that way; she was chosen. 
After having met a special, silver-haired woman, and the handsome and enigmatic Theodore-James Connors, Ava finds herself in Hayven, a city separated from the rest of the world, where only gifters – ordinary people with extra-ordinary gifts – can go. With Theo, his friends, Hayven, her gift, and the ability to ‘travel’ in different colours, Ava must now accept that she can no longer classify herself as normal. As friendships develop, and Theo and Ava become closer than she anticipated, it turns out her new gifted life comes with a catch. With no choice or say on the matter, Ava must save a city she is starting to fall in love with; a city that has almost begun to feel like home. 

We asked Ms George why she chose to write for a YA audience: 

I think one of the five most common questions authors get asked is, Why did you write this specific genre/book category? And my answer to that question is always the same: because I wanted to write a book that I would enjoy reading. I chose to write for a YA audience because my favourite genre to date is Young Adult. I am a fan of Young Adult authors such as J.K Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth and Malorie Blackman, to name a few, and I find the world of YA easy to immerse myself into. Also, one piece of writing advice I've received and always stuck with is, write about what you know. And so being a young adult myself, I find this genre easier to write about.

My novel Gifted – The Hayven Series revolves around a group of young adults and I found these characters easier to create and describe because I’m closer to that age group. I feel I can understand, relate to and sympathise more with young adults more than I can with those much younger or older.

YA books are simply a passion of mine and I think it is truly wonderful that I am able to add my novel to this genre/category.

J.A. George is the author of the four-part series, GIFTED: THE HAYVEN SERIES. Jessica spent years of her life reading book after book before sitting on her bed one morning, opening her laptop and typing Chapter One into her word document. Now, not only does she read book after book, she now writes book after book too. When she's not writing, she's trying to break her record of finishing a tub of Oreo ice cream in less than forty-five minutes.
You can contact her at Jess.george@hotmail.co.uk