Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died. Her last tweet was "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."
Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would
enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she
loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens
needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of
warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the
watermarks of many bath time reads.
Thankfully before Bridget passed, she had already begun the process to publish her debut novel POISON. It is a beautiful legacy to leave behind.
Book Description:
Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is
the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means
she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to
do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to
be her former best friend.
But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses.
Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game
of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At
least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and
Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined
to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and
defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?
Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no
damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic
novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book. It was funny, it was exciting, it had a great main character, and took place in an interesting world. I'm really so sad that there will not be another book following this one. In fact, I loved the lighthearted tone of this book so much that I am giving it a GOLD STAR review and recommend that everyone pick it up!! 
Full disclosure: eARC received from Netgalley for review
YOU can get a copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Powell's Books, the iTunes bookstore, or even your local library! You can also check out Bridget's website (which is still up and running and would love some visitors) at www.bridgetzinn.com.
For the final part of this blog tour, we were all asked to write about one of our FIRSTS, since this was Bridget's first book. I decided to write about my first strong reading memory. I have been a reader for as long as I can remember. My Mom and Dad are both readers so I had great examples in my life. My Mom used to bring us to the public library every weekend and we also would make regular trips to the bookstore. Books were just a regular part of life for me growing up.
The very first really strong memory I have of reading is actually from when I was around 5 or 6, I think. I was still young enough that my Mom was supervising my nightly bubble baths. It became a ritual that my mom would read to me while I was in the bath. The very first book I can remember, and one that I still love, and occasionally reread, is Anne McCaffrey's DRAGONSONG. No wonder I have a love of dragons and all things fantasy, right?? LOL. Anyway, listening to the Harper Hall Trilogy definitely cemented my lifelong love of reading and for that I will always be grateful to my Mom and the legendary Anne McCaffrey.
Don't forget to stop by the amazing Inara Scott's blog (she organized this whole tour in honor of Bridget) to find out where the other stops are for the tour!!
Thank you for sharing your first memories of bubble bath readings. We ended up purchasing a lot of books from the library after they were dipped in Bridget's bubble baths -it was something she did all her life - such wonderful memories :)
ReplyDeleteAlso thank you so much for sharing Bridget's book POISON with new readers. It means so much to me. It is so touching how the book loving community is coming together to support her book and legacy.
Thank you.
Best wishes,
Barrett Dowell
(Bridget's husband)
Barrett,
DeleteThank you so much for stopping by. I loved being a part of Bridget's tour and I truly loved her book.
It's so funny that you mention the bubble bath book dips...I have an early memory of having to make the walk of shame to the desk in our library's children's room to go pay for a book that I dropped in the tub! LOL.
Aww, I loved reading about your first reading memory. Dragonsong was one of those many books that I don't know how I managed to skip over when I was that age. Perhaps if I had an awesome librarian when I was younger... :)
ReplyDeleteSteph,
DeleteYou're going to have to read the trilogy now!! Well, when you come back to the US, lol. They're short, but fantastic :)