Blog Tour- Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris Meet Taylor Barclay and a Giveaway!

Today I have an awesome blog tour post! I love Liz Norris and her books! Unbreakable was an amazing follow up to Unraveling and I am truly sad to see the series end! 

So today I get to introduce you all to Taylor Barclay! Yes he was in book 1 and no I didn’t like him very much but, that was because I didn’t truly know him and everything that makes him tick until Unbreakable. Now that I know Barclay I can honestly say Ben Michaels who? I fell hard for Barclay in Unbreakable and in this post you will see why. Oh and make sure to enter the giveaway there’s lots of books up for grabs!

Unbreakable

Elizabeth Norris

Hardcover: 496 pages

Release Date: April 23, 2013

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

ISBN-10: 0062103768

Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

Four months after Ben disappeared through the portal to his home universe, Janelle believes she’ll never see him again. Her world is still devastated, but life is finally starting to resume some kind of normalcy. Until Interverse Agent Taylor Barclay shows up. Somebody from an alternate universe is running a human trafficking ring, kidnapping people and selling them on different Earths—and Ben is the prime suspect. Now his family has been imprisoned and will be executed if Ben doesn’t turn himself over within five days.

And when Janelle learns that someone she cares about—someone from her own world—has become one of the missing, she knows that she has to help Barclay, regardless of the danger. Now Janelle has five days to track down the real culprit. Five days to locate the missing people before they’re lost forever. Five days to reunite with the boy who stole her heart. But as the clues begin to add up, Janelle realizes that she’s in way over her head—and that she may not have known Ben as well as she thought. Can she uncover the truth before everyone she cares about is killed?

On Taylor Barclay

I do a lot of brainstorming and outlining before I start drafting. I even write up character notes.

That doesn't mean the story never surprises me, though. I often have breakthroughs as I'm drafting—a moment where I realize there's something else. A new twist, a different plot direction, another character: it's like I missed a big piece of the story in my planning and I just didn't know it until that moment.

Taylor Barclay was one of those.

He didn't exist in my original notes. And then as I wrote the scene in Unraveling where Janelle hacks her dad's laptop (Chapter 16:23:33:54), Barclay inserted himself into the manuscript (in a form of a conflicting evaluation) and I knew exactly who he was.

He's this guy:

(Side note: I'm a Tim Riggins fan. Aren't we all?)

Anyway, I knew his backstory right away. In fact, even though he was a minor character in most of Unraveling, I thought of him like a main player, because I knew what he was doing behind the scenes. He was important even though he wasn’t on the page.

So naturally when it came time to write Unbreakable, I knew Barclay needed a bigger on-page role in the story. I wanted people to know him like I did.

He appears for the first time on page 46 of in Unbreakable, but it’s not really until chapter 04:11:47:08 that Janelle, and thus everyone else, learns more about him.

Here are Eight Things About Barclay that were in the first draft of Unbreakable but were edited out for space. (It’s a long book)

1.    He’s only a jerk because he’s confident. And he’s confident because he’s usually right. On his North Point entrance exam (a six hour test required in order to get into IA training), he had a perfect score, achieved by leaving one question blank and getting the rest of them right.

2.   He grew up poor with a single mother and an older brother, Tomas. They were always clipping coupons and hoping there was enough money at the end of the month for food.

3.   Tomas was always considered the smart brother, the one who would go on to do great things, which pushed Barclay to work even harder.

4.   He drinks hot cinnamon tea every night before going to bed. And he wakes up early to go for a run and then hit the gym before heading into work.

5.   His idol is Clyde Tolson, the guy who founded IA. He also came from a similar background as Barclay and achieved great things for Prima.

6.   He was picked on in elementary school, until he got bigger and fought back.

7.   He doesn’t ever want a desk job—even if it’s the head of the IA or something prestigious. Paperwork bores him. He always wants to be in the field.

8.   When his mother died, Barclay let his ex-girlfriend Hayley move into his mother’s house. He and Tomas both had city apartments of their own, and he didn’t want to move back into the house he grew up in. He felt like it was a step backwards. He also felt guilty that he broke up with Hayley. He loved her and cared for her, but he knew he couldn’t give her the attention or life she deserved. Too much for his attention was devoted to IA.

***Excerpt***

And here's an excerpt of "Operation Monument," Barclay's short story which will be part of the Unbreakable Extra Content. This excerpt is taken from near the beginning of his short story. Barclay has just found out that his partner and mentor, Eric Brandt is dead. He’s been told to take a few days off so he’s gone to Eric’s house to examine the scene.

I head to the kitchen and grab the scotch from the cabinet above the fridge. Not the every day stuff or even the good stuff that we used to toast every-time we completed another mission. I go for the unopened bottle that he got from the Governor six years ago for exposing a terrorist threat within New Prima. A bunch of environmentalists planned to bomb headquarters and try to shut down interverse travel. Eric stopped them, almost single-handedly.

    

He was saving the scotch for something big, something worth celebrating. I’d asked him one time about it, and he told me it was for when he did something worthy of a monument. Those are my words. He was more eloquent about it, talking about how he wanted to be heroic, but the words don’t matter when they mean the same thing.

    

They certainly don’t matter now.

    

There won’t be any monuments erected in Eric’s honor. Not now that he’s dead.

    

I fill a glass too full, sit on his couch like I have so many times before, and then I drink it straight from the bottle.

    

It’s good. Doesn’t even burn on the way down, but it still makes my eyes water and my body heavy.

    

The last time I cried, I was five and my brother accidentally broke my nose. He teased me about crying until I punched him and made his nose bleed, too.

    

This time, I’m alone, and there isn’t anyone I can punch in the face in order to feel better.

About Elizabeth:

Elizabeth Norris briefly taught high school English and history before trading the southern California beaches and sunshine for Manhattan's recent snowpocalyptic winter. She harbors dangerous addictions to guacamole, red velvet cupcakes, sushi, and Argo Tea, fortunately not all together. Her first novel, UNRAVELING (Balzer+Bray, April 2012), is the story of one girl's fight to save her family, her world, and the one boy she never saw coming. Also the film rights to Unraveling have been optioned by MTV! Article to link to is here http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mtv-elizabeth-norris-unraveling-381733

Where you can find her:

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/Pinterest/Goodreads

Giveaway:

There will be 5 awesome prizes!!!!!

Grand prize: A signed copy of Unbreakable, the Unraveling paperback and some 

swag.

Winners 1-4: A copy of either Unraveling or Unbreakable their choice.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

There will be a mix of reviews, guest posts, and interviews! So make sure to check out all of the stops!

4/15/2013   All Things Urban Fantasy     

4/16/2013   Two Chicks on Books  

4/17/2013   A Book and a Latte      

4/18/2013   Magical Urban Fantasy Reads

4/19/2013   Shortie Says      

4/22/2013  Katie's Book Blog

4/23/2013  Supernatural Snark             

4/24/2013  Justin's Book Blog              

4/25/2013  Tales of a Ravenous Reader          

4/26/2013  Fiktshun

Twitter Events!!

 Liz Norris will be doing an Unbreakable Twitter Teaser with PageTurners (April 21^st, 8pm ET) and BookHounds (April 22^nd, 8pm ET) hosting. Followers can send @pageturnersblog and @maryinhb page numbers from Unbreakable and Liz will respond with a line from the book and bit of back story or insight about it. There will also be a giveaway both nights. On April 24^th, at 8pm ET, Liz will be participating in a Live Chat with @mundiemoms hosting. Hashtag for all three Twitter events: #BeUnbreakable

Unbreakable Presale Information!

You can purchase Unbreakable through Books of Wonder until the release date and you'll not only get a signed copy, but it will include an exclusive extra content booklet that includes:

An Alternate Beginning

A Pivotal Scene from Ben's POV

A Pivotal Scene from Barclay's POV

An Alternate Ending