Guest Post by Saundra Mitchell, Author of Springsweet

Today I have the very great pleasure of introducing you to Saundra Mitchell, author of the historical magical novel THE SPRINGSWEET. She's such a sweet author and a whizz at marketing--if you're not already following her blog and reading her books, get on that! Check out her post below for a chance to win both of her historical novels and a copy of A MILLION SUNS!

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"Do you know what I've missed since coming here? Books. I do miss reading novels, don't you?"

-Zora, The Springsweet

Pretty much every writer started out as a reader; now that we're writers, we can't help but write about people who love books. Sometimes IN the books. It's meta upon meta, but it makes perfect sense to us.

To celebrate books, Saundra Mitchell's blog tour is all about sharing two great things that go great together: books + free.  And in this case, whiplash- one minute, you're enjoying a strange, dark future in A MILLION SUNS, the next, you're whipped back to magic on the prairie in 1891.

Get your whiplash for free. Enter to win a copy of  A MILLION SUNS, and a signed set of Saundra's THE VESPERTINE and THE SPRINGSWEET. All you have to do is comment in this entry, and leave an e-mail address where we can contact you. (US & Canadian residents only, please.)

And tell us about your favorite book, too. Growing a TBR pile is the best gardening there is!

THE SPRINGSWEET
A Companion to The Vespertine
by Saundra Mitchell
Hardcover & E-book

From Harcourt

“A lovely historical romance takes readers back to the 1890 Oklahoma territory. (T)he author conjures a convincing picture of life on the Oklahoma prairie, painting an absorbing portrait of the landscape and of the people there. A high-quality, absorbing drama.”

– Kirkus Reviews, 02/01/12

It’s a long way from Baltimore to Oklahoma Territory. But Zora Stewart will go any distance to put the tragic events of her sixteenth summer behind her. So this city girl heads to the tiny frontier town of West Glory to help her young widowed aunt keep her homestead going.

When another Baltimorean shows up in West Glory, Zora couldn’t be more surprised. Theo de la Croix made the long trip out west hoping to court Zora, whom he has long admired from afar.

But Zora has developed an attraction to a rather less respectable fellow: Emerson Birch, a rough-mannered young “sooner” whose fertile land is coveted.

As Zora begins to suspect that there may be more than luck behind Emerson’s good land, she discovers an extraordinary, astonishing power of her own: the ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land.

Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water. Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start living.

THE SPRINGSWEET

is available at Indiebound |Amazon| Barnes & Noble

Saundra Mitchell has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She's dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She teaches herself languages, raises children, and makes paper for fun. She's the author of Shadowed Summer, The Vespertine, The Springsweet, and the forthcoming The Elementals and Mistwalker. She's also the editor of the forthcoming YA anthology Defy the Dark. She always picks truth; dares are too easy.