This cover and then synopsis got me when I saw the opportunity to sign up for this blog tour. There are so many interesting concepts stated in this YA Contemporary’s synopsis that you can’t help but want to read it. It’s definitely on my TBR List.
A big Thank You to Fantastic Flying Book Club for picking me to participate in the The Chaos of Standing Still Blog Tour! I’ve really enjoyed working with them and can’t wait to see what other tours they’ll be hosting in the coming months! If you haven’t checked out their blog yet, you are missing out!
About The Chaos of Standing Still
Title: The Chaos of Standing Still
Author: Jessica Brody
Pub. Date: November 28, 2017
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 320
Find it: IBooks Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads
Over the course of one chaotic night stranded at the Denver airport, Ryn confronts her shattered past thanks to the charm of romance, the uniqueness of strangers, and the magic of ordinary places in this stunning novel from the author of Boys of Summer.
Ryn has one unread text message on her phone. And it’s been there for almost a year.
She hasn’t tried to read it. She can’t. She won’t. Because that one message is the last thing her best friend ever said to her before she died.
But as Ryn finds herself trapped in the Denver International Airport on New Year’s Eve thanks to a never-ending blizzard on the one-year anniversary of her best friend’s death, fate literally runs into her.
And his name is Xander.
When the two accidentally swap phones, Ryn and Xander are thrust into the chaos of an unforgettable all-night adventure, filled with charming and mysterious strangers, a secret New Year’s Eve bash, and a possible Illuminati conspiracy hidden within the Denver airport. But as the bizarre night continues, all Ryn can think about is that one unread text message. It follows her wherever she goes, because Ryn can’t get her brialliantly wild and free-spirited best friend out of her head.
Ryn can’t move on.
But tonight, for the first time ever, she’s trying. And maybe that’s a start.
As moving as it is funny, The Chaos of Standing Still is a heartwarming story about the earth-shattering challenges life throws at us—and the unexpected strangers who help us along the way.
Guest Post
Uncovering a Conspiracy
Five years after I moved to Colorado, when I was sixteen years old, a brand new airport opened in Denver. Denver International Airport (or DIA to the locals) was built in the middle of the nowhere. Literally. Miles and miles away from downtown, surrounded by…well, nothing.
I remember asking my dad, “Why do we need a new airport? The old one seems fine to me.” He simply shrugged and said he didn’t know. “And why is it so far away?” I asked. He didn’t know the answer to that either.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one asking these kinds of questions.
Conspiracy theorists were asking them too.
Why did Denver need a new airport?
Some people claim it didn’t.
Why is it in the middle of nowhere?
Some people claim it’s because the airport is actually a secret headquarters for the New World Order.
Or a post-apocalyptic fall-out shelter for the global elite.
Or a future location for a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Concentration Camp.
Or an underground bunker from which the Illuminati will bring about the end of the world.
These are only some of the speculations surrounding our beautiful remote airport.
But I didn’t really discover any of these conspiracy theories until a few years ago when my husband and I found a documentary about the airport on the Travel Channel.
I’m not normally one to believe in conspiracy theories—as an author I’m fascinated by them—but I’m not necessarily a “believer.” But some of these were just too weird to pass up.
So I decided to explore on my next trip through the airport.
Sure enough, there they all were. In plain sight:
A mural depicting the end of the world, starring a gas-masked Nazis stabbing a dove of peace.
A time capsule attributed to a strange organization called the “New World Airport Comission”.
Mysterious engravings in the tile floor that may or may not reference a biological weapon called Australia Antigen.
A giant red-eyed demon horse standing guarding just outside the airport entrance.
Seriously?
That was my reaction. SERIOUSLY?!!!
But after that, I sort of just chalked it up to a quirky attraction of our city and forgot about it.
Until 2015. When I got the idea to write a novel set entirely inside the Denver Airport. I wanted to challenge myself to write a book that not only took place in a single, enclosed location, but also a book that took place in a single day.
The Chaos of Standing Still was the result of that challenge.
It’s about a teen girl, Ryn Gilbert, who gets trapped inside the Denver Airport for twenty four hours due to a massive blizzard, during which she meets an eccelectic cast of character—including a cute boy in a Muppet shirt named Xander—who unwittingly help her deal with her unresolved grief over the death of her best friend who died in a car crash one year ago.
And I knew, right away, that no book set in the Denver Airport would be complete without the conspiracies. So back to the airport I went, this time with my camera. And I set out to document all of the weird conspiracy stuff for myself. I also read every blog post I could find on the subject. I rewatched the documentary. I even ventured into a few conspiracy websites. Then I tried to cram everything I found into this book.
Essentially, during her all-night adventure in the Denver Airport, I sent the main character, Ryn, on a scavenger hunt to try to find all of these clues. And I had a blast writing it.
But implementing these conspiracies into my work of fiction, definitely didn’t help me clarify whether or not they were true.
To this day, I’m not sure what to believe. I still have questions.
Like why are the runways shaped eerily like a swastika?
Why are there gargoyles coming out of suitcases stationed around the baggage
claim?
And speaking of baggage, why did the airport invest millions of dollars in a complex automated underground baggage system that never ended up working?
Was it because they were really building those tunnels for another pruprose? Or was this just an innocent example of a good idea that failed in its execution? And if that’s the case, then what are they using those underground tunnels for now?
Hmmm.
I’ll let you read the book and come to your own conclusions.
About the Author
Jessica Brody knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples, and electrical tape.
After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions and Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author.
Since then, Jessica has sold over fifteen novels for teens, tweens, and adults including 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, The Karma Club, My Life Undecided, and the three books in the Unremembered trilogy, the first of which is currently in development as a major motion picture by the producers of The Vampire Academy, Zero Dark Thirty, Life of Pi, and Slumdog Millionaire. In 2016, she released two new contemporary novels, A Week of Mondays (which is an official selection of the 2017 Texas Lone Star reading list) and Boys of Summer. In February 2017, her debut middle grade novel entitled, Addie Bell’s Shortcut to Growing Up, hit bookstore shelves, and later this year, two more contemporary YA novels will release: In Some Other Life (August) and The Chaos of Standing Still (November).
Jessica also writes books for the Descendants: “School of Secrets“ series, based on the hit Disney Channel Original movie, Descendants!
Jessica’s books are published and translated in over twenty foreign countries. (Click here for a full list of foreign sales and publishers.) She currently splits her time between California and Colorado.
Find Jessica Online:
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Giveaway
1 Copy of The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody
Starts: November 27th
Ends: December 7th
Rafflecopter: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d9681b86272/
The Clever Reader 
This was a fun tie to what I read in the book. It’s cool to understand some of what was incorporated there.
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Ya! When I was given the opportunity to do a guest post I read through the synopsis and saw the stuff about the Illuminate, I knew I wanted to know more. So fascinating! I want to read the book even more now!
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