Posted on by Angie

TFC Tour Stop #2: A Tale of Two Noras (and a cellphone)

It’s bonus reward point day on the TFC tour. You’ll get two Noras for the price of one.

Today I’m hosting the fabulous Bettina Restrepo here as part of my Memento Nora launch tour—AND as part of her own launch tour for Illegal (Harper Collins- Katherine Tegen Books).  Her book comes March 11, 2011.   So this means you’ll be able to enter TWO contests by commenting below.

A little about Illegal.

Nora is on a desperate journey far from home.  When her father leaves their beloved Mexico in search of work, Nora fights to make sense of her loss while waiting for her father’s return and a better day.  When the letters and the money from her father stop coming, Nora decides she and her mother must look for him in Texas.  After a harrowing experience crossing the border, the two are all alone in a strange place called Houston.  Now, Nora figures out how to survive while still aching for small comforts: friends, a new school and a quinceaña to mark her fifteenth birthday.

As you can tell, we both have great taste in naming our characters. To learn more about her excellent Nora, check out the trailer, reviews, discussion guide, and resources on www.bettinarestrepo.com.

The Illegal contest deets:

Comment below and you’ll be entered into the drawing to win 5 autographed copies of Illegal.  Bettina will announce the winner on April 2 via her Facebook fan page.

Now on to my Nora!

In Nora James’ world, if you’re haunted by a bad memory, all you have to do is walk into a Therapeutic Forgetting Clinic (TFC),  pop a pill, and go on like nothing ever happened–sans that particular memory. And you earn frequent forgetting points for every visit.  However, Nora James spits out her pill and holds on to the memory. That’s when things get unglossy for her.  But, along the way, she does find new friends who don’t believe in forgetting either.

When I asked a few of my friends to share some spit-worthy memories, here’s what Bettina shot back.

I got my first cell phone in 1994. It was a monstrously heavy thing. I travel a lot for business, mostly by car, and I had been in a few precarious positions really desperate for a phone (like on a lonely highway have way between Laredo and San Antonio with a flat tire and no idea how to change it.)

That evening when I showed my ill-fitted boyfriend my new acquisition, he complained bitterly. “Why didn’t you get me one so we could talk to each other.”

I realized, I didn’t want to talk to him. I wanted to feel safe and secure. The phone made me feel that way – not him. Within two months, I broke up with him. I don’t remember really using that phone too often except to make funny phone calls like “Hey, I’m calling you from my car… the bathroom… the drive thru.” It didn’t have good reception and the battery always seemed dead.

But I do remember feeling like I had made a major discovery. I could go anywhere and be whoever I wanted to be because I was safe.

I will never erase that memory.

Thanks for sharing, Bett!

Memento Nora contest deets:

Simple. Leave a comment, and you’ll be entered to win a glossy prize pack that includes:

Signed copy of Memento Nora

Temporary tattoos and stickers

Bookmarks

Your very own supply of forgetting pills. (Ok, they’re really Jelly Belly’s.)

Anda glossy charm bracelet.

I’ll announce the winner on my blog April 7th.

I got my first cell phone in 1994.  It was a monstrously heavy thing.  I travel a lot for business, mostly by car, and I had been in a few precarious positions really desperate for a phone (like on a lonely highway have way between Laredo and San Antonio with a flat tire and no idea how to change it.)

That evening when I showed my ill-fitted boyfriend my new acquisition, he complained bitterly.  “Why didn’t you get me one so we could talk to each other.”

I realized, I didn’t want to talk to him.  I wanted to feel safe and secure.  The phone made me feel that way – not him.  Within two months, I broke up with him.  I don’t remember really using that phone too often except to make funny phone calls like “Hey, I’m calling you from my car… the bathroom… the drive thru.”  It didn’t have good reception and the battery always seemed dead.

But I do remember feeling like I had made a major discovery.  I could go anywhere and be whoever I wanted to be because I was safe.

I will never erase that memory. I got my first cell phone in 1994. It was a monstrously heavy thing. I travel a lot for business, mostly by car, and I had been in a few precarious positions really desperate for a phone (like on a lonely highway have way between Laredo and San Antonio with a flat tire and no idea how to change it.)

That evening when I showed my ill-fitted boyfriend my new acquisition, he complained bitterly. “Why didn’t you get me one so we could talk to each other.”

I realized, I didn’t want to talk to him. I wanted to feel safe and secure. The phone made me feel that way – not him. Within two months, I broke up with him. I don’t remember really using that phone too often except to make funny phone calls like “Hey, I’m calling you from my car… the bathroom… the drive thru.” It didn’t have good reception and the battery always seemed dead.

But I do remember feeling like I had made a major discovery. I could go anywhere and be whoever I wanted to be because I was safe.

I will never erase that memory.

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24 Replies to “TFC Tour Stop #2: A Tale of Two Noras (and a cellphone)”

  2. Not an entry – but I had to stop by and say that both of these books are over-the-moon awesome!!!!!!!

    Here’s to two Nora’s (and their uber-cool authors!)

  3. Thank you Angie for doing such a great job.

    I think my Nora would have happily swallowed a forgetting pill to forget the night she and her mother were smuggled into the United States.

    And, good luck to all of the commenters!

  4. not any entry either, just a cheer for the Nora’s (I also have a protagonist named Norah with an h in one of my women’s fiction ms’s). These both look like beautiful books! Can’t wait to get my hands on both of them.

  5. I love MEMENTO NORA and can’t wait to read ILLEGAL!! It’s in the stack! I laugh at those cell phone pictures. My first cell phone was one of those HUGE one-piece jobs that were about a foot long – kind of like Maxwell Smart’s shoe. Nothing like dating myself a bit, right? 😉 Good luck with your tours!!

  8. WOW!!!!–I keep going back and forth–both books look AMAZING!!!!—I’d especially LOVE to get a closer look at that prize pack!!! 😉

  10. Beautiful covers and both sounding just as amazing as the other. I can’t wait to read them both.

  11. Logan, just the way the misspellings came out made me crack up!

    Courtney and Nymfaux (which I totally just understood when I said it outloud) – only 16 more days until Illegal realease. Then, the other Nora comes out on 4-4 (my birthday!)

  12. Lol what a cool phone! I’d pretend to use it when I’m out just to see people’s reactions 😛
    I can’t wait to read these books!! xD
    Thanks for the memory and the giveaway!

  13. Sharli,
    I wish I could say I still have the phone. This is a non-copyrighted picture I found via Google.

    Do those phone even work anymore? They might as well have a circular rotary thing !

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  17. I remember being little and begging my daddy to let me use the “bag phone.” Yes, my dad had the phone that sat in a bag a plugged into the car and was called a “car phone.” Haha. It was the size of an actual telephone only in a leather satchel with a strap so you could carry it around. I can’t believe I remember that. (and if anyone looks up the date those were out I will hunt you down b/c I do not want to know!)
    Anyway, both books sound amazing and I can’t wait to read either one!

  20. I wants me a shiny ARC of Memento Nora!

    Thanks for stopping by and sharing your memory, Bettina. It’s amazing how a cell phone helped you realize your bf wasn’t really right for you.

  21. wow! both giveaways sound amazing! just to let you know, I am going to comment on everything I have to comment on to win! I must win Momento Nora! I can’t wait! 🙂
    -Noelle

  22. memento nora is a great read and my students are starting to buzz about their chance to make memories…even the boys have gotten over the cover (although i hear the hc version might be pink).

    illegal sounds way cool.

    i remember seeing portable phones showing up in the classroom around the mid 90’s…i have so far resisted the ‘need’ despite everybody telling me they couldn’t live without theirs.

  24. I’ve heard so much about this book, and it sounds awesome. What an intriguing idea 🙂

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