Veronica Wolff Author Interview

Photo Content from Veronica Wolff

Veronica Wolff is an award-winning, bestselling author with a soft spot for kilts, mountains, beaches, and vampires. Not necessarily at the same time. She lived everywhere from Texas, to Hawaii, to India, before finally settling in Northern California, where she lives with her husband, two kids, one insane rescue dog, one angelic rescue dog, the gentlest cat ever, and a snake whose days are numbered.

        

What was your first introduction to YA literature, the one that made you choose that genre to write?
There’s not one single book to point to… For years, I trawled the “youth” section of my local library for fantasy novels that could’ve just as easily been shelved with adult but for their teen protagonists. And later, of course, there was Twilight, which I confess I loved. But really, I’ve always read widely, and can’t think of one YA book in particular that was an a-ha moment for me. It’s been more of a gradual immersion.

What’s one thing that readers would be surprised to find out about you?
I can be extremely shy and introverted. If you meet me at a book event, I’ll be genuinely friendly and seem outgoing, but chances are, deep-down, there will be moments when I’m totally quailing.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I wrote a book of very dire Haiku in third grade. Lots of lonely cats, rotting fruits, and birds who can’t fly. My daughter found it recently and was appalled.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?
How little we’ve changed throughout history. I actually hated history in school…until, one semester, I got a teacher who turned me on to how history isn’t just dates, it’s intrigue, romance, art, crime, music…all the juicy stuff. I ended up getting a graduate degree in it.

How would you describe yourself in three words?
Reader, napper, belly-laugher. In fact, I think that’s how I describe myself on my Twitter bio, so you know it must be true.

Did you learn anything from writing Blood Fever and what was it?
I learned you can’t have enough action (or at least I can’t!). I discovered how fun it is to keep spinning out the plot, especially in this sort of series.

Which character have you enjoyed getting to know the most over the course of writing The Watchers Series?
Mei-Ling! She was a surprising discovery, and I’m so not done with her.

For those who are unfamiliar with Drew, how would you introduce her?
Drew’s a smart girl who should’ve known better than to get into a car with a stranger. She’s a loyal friend and a fierce competitor who’s discovering just what she’s made of. She’s grace under pressure, funny at inappropriate moments, and always resolved. She’s someone I’d want to have on my lifeboat.

What part of Carden did you enjoy writing the most?
I adore devil-may-care heroes! It’s so fun writing the kind of man who’ll make a naughty joke, wink, and then turn around and become a fearsome warrior who’d give his life for yours.

If you could introduce Drew to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I’d like her to meet Haley, my time-traveling heroine in Warrior of the Highlands. Haley was also a very bright woman who kicked ass. I think they’d get along swimmingly.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Can someone be a mentor if they don’t know you? Because I’m a huge Charlaine Harris fan, particularly her Sookie Stackhouse series and her Harper Connelly series. I’ve learned so much, studying how she develops her characters over several books, how she draws out the relationship arcs, and spins all that action and plot. Plus, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her at various book events, and she’s one of the most gracious women I’ve ever met.

How many books have you written?
I’ve been lucky in that all the books I’ve written have been published. I’m finishing my thirteenth book for Penguin now.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your readers. What would it be?
Don’t take advice from strangers. ;-)

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
Ha! What a great question. You know, there’s an answer to this: my height! I’m shrinking, and it’s freaking me out. Seriously. So I still say I’m 5’8” when lately it’s more like 5’7”. *shakes fists*

Who was your first boyfriend?
A lovely boy named Joe, with whom I’m still in touch on Facebook. I was in eleventh grade and he was in tenth, and we worked at the same restaurant where he worked in the kitchen and I bussed tables. We bonded over our mutual love of British mod bands.

What's the worst summer job you've ever had?
In grad school, I worked as a “Pizza Peddler” at a movie theater. They made me shout to the patrons stuff like “get your hot, fresh pizza here.” Those who know me will get just how much this is unlike me—it still makes me cringe. All the free movies in the world aren’t worth shouting at strangers about pizza.

Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?
My amazing, superhero-caliber husband, Adam. He always knows just what to say. He always makes me feel better. Always.

When was the last time you cried?
Just the other night, in fact. I read Assassin’s Apprentice, by Robin Hobb, aloud to my kids. It’s the first book in one of my favorite fantasy series ever, written by one of my favorite fantasy authors. The ending makes me cry every time—my daughter and I were curled up and weeping on her bed. It was fantastic.

Where can readers find you?
I love chatting with readers, so yes, please stalk me on Twitter and Facebook!
Thanks again for having me, Jean!!

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME—EVEN IF HOME IS WHERE THE DEAD LIVE...

It’s the start of the fall semester, and a new crop of Acari and Trainees have descended on the Isle of Night. Watcher training has intensified, and Drew has a new roommate named Mei-Ling. But Mei-Ling harbors a dangerous secret that drove the vampires to abduct her against her will. Drew knows she shouldn’t get involved, but she can’t seem to leave her roommate to fend for herself.

Luckily, Drew has other things on her mind—like vampire Carden. A blood bond to a brawny, eighteenth-century Scottish bad boy tends to preoccupy a girl. And though she’s still figuring out what this bond means, one thing has become clear: She craves him in a major way.

But then bodies start turning up on the island. All the evidence points to the existence of a rogue vampire, and the sinister vampire Alcántara is gunning for Carden, even though Drew has proof that Carden had nothing to do with the murders. Now she has to find the true killer—without endangering Carden, Mei-Ling, or herself…

Veronica Wolff’s The Watchers Series is not your typical vampire story and actually steers away into a different direction that will surprise readers. The series’ approach in the vampire legacy is refreshing and unique. It has its own original plot line which gives the series its edge. In the third installment, Blood Fever, the author manages to take the story to new levels. The action gets more raw and in your face and the romance is steamier. Drew and Carden’s relationship gets serious and the two heat things up. Murders are happening on the island and people are suspecting Drew and Carden are responsible. Drew takes on the mission on figuring out who is behind the murders before she gets killed or someone she cares about is hurt.

The growth of the characters in the series is believable as Drew is learning from her past to become a stronger leading character. The action is intense and downright violent at times but Drew has determination and is a natural survivor. Readers are exposed to Drew and Carden’s growing relationship even though they do not instantly fall for one another.

Veronica’s writing style is very fluid like and although chaos and pandemonium occurs in every action scene, she beautifully describes each action sequence in perfect form without confusing the reader. The plot carried enough twists and surprises to keep the intriguing factors at high levels. The third installment does not take a step back and actually improves on what the two impressive predecessors had already built. If Blood Fever made the series three times better, it is certain that the upcoming fourth installment, The Take, will make it four times better.

You can purchase Blood Fever at the following Retailers:
       

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you VERONICA WOLFF for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive a Signed Copy of  Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff.
1 Winner will receive a Signed Copy of Vampire's Kiss by Veronica Wolff.
1 Winner will receive a Signed Copy of Blood Fever  by Veronica Wolff.

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P.T. Michelle Guest Post

Book Nerd Guest Post

P.T. Michelle is the young adult pseudonym of Patrice Michelle, author of fifteen romance novels and novellas. When P.T. isn’t writing, she can usually be found reading or taking pictures of landscapes, sunsets and anything beautiful or odd in nature. 

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LUCID (Brightest Kind of Darkness, Book 2) Playlist

Unlike a lot of authors who write to music, I create my playlists after I've completed the book. I find listening to music too distracting while I write. Though, ironically, I seem to have no problem writing in a coffee shop with people talking all around me. Guess my mind thinks of all those voices as white noise. LOL!

1) Say by John Mayer - http://youtu.be/WQtGqmi2O2U
2) ‘Til I collapse by Eminem - (the music from 1:13 to 1:36) http://youtu.be/wRM0cAqAY9c
3) Let the Wind Erase Me by Assemblage 23 - http://youtu.be/ENkK1q2E-YE?t=33s
4) Wanted by Hunter Hayes - http://youtu.be/ruyaKdPfTN4
5) Death Dealer’s Descent by Renholder - http://youtu.be/PKYl0UwlDqY
6) Let Love In – Goo Goo Dolls - http://youtu.be/LVLCyKIU40Y
7) Slow Motion (Instrumental) (JUST the instrumental version by Third Eye Blind) - http://youtu.be/LXCcHPu0Vhs?t=10s
8) Your Body is a Wonderland by John Mayer - http://youtu.be/N5EnGwXV_Pg
9) Come back to Me by David Cook - http://youtu.be/XBF6IV8W-80

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Once Nara combines her prophetic ability with Ethan’s power to outsmart Fate at his own deadly cat-and-mouse game, she’s more determined than ever to help Ethan learn the meaning behind the raven sword tattoo that suddenly appeared on his back after their confrontation with Fate.

During her quest to uncover the tattoo’s secrets, Nara enlists the help of some new friends and discovers her own surprising connection to Ethan.

While Nara digs deeper into the mystery, her desire for answers leads her down a dangerous path full of powerful and ruthless enemies. Swept into an age-old battle, Nara quickly learns that keeping one’s enemies close can be a necessary evil, making an intangible enemy she can control far more preferable to the human enemies she can’t.

You can purchase Lucid at the following Retailers:

         

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And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you P.T. for making this giveaway possible.

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Alma Alexander Author Interview

Photo Content from Alma Alexander

Alma A. Hromic (who now writes as ALMA ALEXANDER) was born in 1963 in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, on the shores of the river Danube. Her father's employment with international aid agencies meant that the family spent twenty years living in various countries in Africa, including Zambia, Swaziland, and South Africa.

Educated in the United Kingdom and South Africa, Alma graduated from the University of Cape Town with an MSc in Microbiology in 1987. She quickly left the lab in order to write about it instead, and spent several years running a scientific journal for the Allergy Society of South Africa before she moved to New Zealand in 1994. She also worked as a literary critic for several publications in South Africa and England.

In New Zealand, she obtained an editorial position with an international educational publisher, where she worked for several years. In 1995 she wrote Houses in Africa (David Ling Publishing Limited, New Zealand; ISBN 0-908990-30-8), a revealing and often-amusing memoir of her two decades in Africa. The same year, she published The Dolphin's Daughter and Other Stories(Longman UK; ISBN 0582122104), a bestselling book of three fables. She has had numerous pieces of short fiction and nonfiction published internationally in South Africa, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

In 1999, when NATO launched a war against her native country, Alma started an often-tumultious e-mail correspondence with R. A. "Deck" Deckert, a freelance writer and former copy editor, wire editor and news editor for metropolitan newspapers including theMiami Herald and the Miami News. Their correspondence became the basis of an epistolary novel about these dramatic events,Letters from the Fire (HarperCollins New Zealand; ISBN 1-86950-336-8). This book went from concept to publication in fewer than five months. Alma and Deck were married in June, 2000, and she now lives in the northwestern United States.

Her fantasy duology The Hidden Queen and Changer of Days (originally published as Changer of Days vol. 1 and 2 in New Zealand in 2001 and 2002), was released in the United States in 2005. The Secrets of Jin-shei was published in the U.S. in 2004 in hardcover and 2005 in paperback and is currently available in twelve languages worldwide (including Turkish, Lituanian, and Hebrew) and is a bestseller in Spain. The follow-up, Embers of Heaven, published in the UK in September 2006, is available in five languages. Alma's latest project is the Worldweavers young adult trilogy, which debuted with Gift of the Unmage in 2007 and was followed bySpellspam in 2008 and Cybermage in 2009. A Polish edition of the first book has already been published.

      

Was there a defining moment during your youth when you realized you wanted to be a writer?
No. I never “decided” to become a writer. I just… always wrote. It was not something that I consciously chose to do, it feels more like it chose me. Back when we were very young, my favorite cousin and I used to have these elaborate role-playing wish-fulfillment fantasy games. She was always a vet (she loved animals with a fierce and incandescent passion) and she became one. I was… the writer. Always. I wrote my first poem aged 5. My first full-length novel aged 11. My first GOOD full length novel aged 14. I never looked back.

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
In a way stories are like a faith – you need to believe in something, and stories give you a place to stand. It’s been said that life doesn’t always have to make sense but fiction DOES, and in an arcane manner that sense of order is what draws us in.

There are truths that need to be spoken and internalized and understood which would be hurtful, even agonizing, if administered unadulterated. Wrap them in a layer of story, though, and they will slide down easier – and the truths they contain will be no less important for all that. Stories awe us, entertain us, teach us, make us laugh, make us cry, make us believe in six impossible things before breakfast. Stories take us to Narnia, and to Panem, and to worlds that might look a lot like the one we glimpse when we look out of the window but is somehow… somehow… different. Stories free the imagination and the mind. They make us stay up all night to finish a good book; they make our toddlers go to sleep.

Stories are quite simply the closest thing that the human race has ever come to something resembling real magic.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received from another author?
“Never give up,” from several published writers in their turn.

There are times in every writer’s life where we find ourselves trudging through some dark deep and despondent valley, a trough of endless waiting, a cycle of rejection, a spate of bad reviews. The easy thing to do is to lie down and die. But since that isn’t a reasonable or desirable option, hearing that “never give up” from someone who has dragged themselves through those sloughs of despond and survived is that little light in the darkness.

In your new book; 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens, can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about it and why they should read your novel?
How about a blurb squib to start with?

“On the eve of the end of the world, 20 December 2012, five friends meet in Spanish Gardens, the cafe where they had celebrated their college graduation 20 years before. Over Irish coffees, they reminisce - and reveal long-held and disturbing secrets.

Each friend in turn is given a curious set of instructions by an enigmatic bartender named Ariel:
‘Your life is filled with crossroads and you are free to choose one road or another at any time. Stepping through this door takes away all choices except two -- the choice to live a different life, or return to this one....’

Each in turn passes through the portal and are faced with new lives and challenges. Their decisions show a new life -- or something far worse. At the end of the world, it's a chance for redemption, or a chance to learn something about themselves.

Four of them choose to return.

One doesn’t.”

There is a fairly universal human reaction and it’s one that has surfaced in almost every review of this novel – “what would *I* have done if faced with a similar choice?” This is a novel about those choices. It may not, for some, be an easy read. But it’s an exploration, a journey of discovery, and while following my characters on theirs every reader is almost inevitably taken on one of their own – and driven to count their blessings, or begin to take a closer look into the shadows where their own choices lie coiled and waiting.

Whether it confirms you in your convictions or alters them, it will change the way you see your world. That’s worth a few hours of your reading time.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
You know, I honestly don’t think I’ve EVER been asked this one before. And it’s hard – because in this new novel there are five distinct characters each of whom might benefit from meeting an entirely different “friend” from the world of literature. But if I could invite a single character from otherwhere into this intimate little gathering of mine in “Midnight at Spanish Gardens”, it might be Dianora from Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Tigana” – she is from a much more fantastical setting, to be sure, but she would be an amazing person to talk to about the power of choice for any one of my five friends in that café at midnight at the end of the world. And I would sure love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. 

Why do you feel you had to tell this story?
I don’t pick my stories, they come out of aid and darkness and they choose me. I am guessing it was just time for this particular story to emerge. But the background of it is, Spanish Gardens is – or at least WAS – a real place, and it is exactly as I described it. It is a place out of time, a place where generations learned to live and love and mourn and celebrate and grow up… a place where only truth can be spoken.

It lives in the memory of all those who have ever set foot in it like it was preserved in amber, and thirty years down the line if you asked half a dozen disparate people who haven’t set eyes on Spanish Gardens or one another in three decades they will describe it to you in uncannily identical terms. There was a magic there. It was just a matter of time before my imagination spun a story around that centerpiece. And when I factored in the “end of the world” scenario here, “Midnight at Spanish Gardens” became something very special. It became something with life-changing potential because every human being, at some point in their lives, trips over this decision-making moment, pausing at a crossroads, looking right and left at two roads, and then CHOOSING. It is a visceral thing, for all of us. Something we understand in an instinctive way, and can identify with.

This sense of recognition has been borne out by many of the reviewers of the book because at some point the vast majority of the reviews end up with the reviewer examining their own lives, their own choices, their own crossroads. And this has been true of the readers, too. It’s one of those stories that kind of sinks through the skin and finds its place deep inside – and then works on one’s senses and instincts and sensibilities from within.

And no, I did not set out to do this – books written with a “message” or an “agenda” have always bored me and I try not to inflict them on others. This is that other animal, a story which just… turned out to be important. I am kind of proud of that.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
I am currently, working on the final edits for a re-launch of my YA Worldweavers series, culminating with two brand new books in that universe to be released after the first three books of the initial trilogy – a last hurrah which will mark my final farewell to Thea Wintrhrop and her world.

After that… I have a brand new YA series I am working on, I have a big new historical fantasy I want to start on, and I’m doing a purely fun thing right now which is a bit of a busman’s holiday because it’s the first thing in a very long time that I’ve basically embarked on simply and solely because I felt like it and with no real commercial ties at all. Sometimes it’s just necessary to go back to the joy of writing in order to rediscover all that it has the potential of being.

But new books are in the works, lots of them – and this also includes my sort story collections, the Alexander Triads, which are being published as ebooks on Amazon and on Smashwords, and a release, as an ebook, of ‘Letters from the Fire’, the contemporary-epistolary (told in emails!) novel I wrote with the man I eventually married, Deck Deckert. Plenty there to keep me busy for a little while.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
I suppose many women of a certain vintage would answer that with saying that they fudged their age and they were forever celebrating an “anniversary” of some significant birthday – but I don’t really care if anyone knows how old I am. That sort of thing – age, weight, whatever people think they need to lie about – is trivial, and it’s pretty pointless to lie about trivial things.

When it comes to the IMPORTANT things… well… I don’t lie. I just don’t. If you ask me anything you’ll get the truth. If someone wants to know if she “looks fat in that”, I’ll probably tell her. If I give someone a compliment and they scuff their shoes and blush and murmur, “Aw, you don’t mean that” – well, I do. Ditto if I am blunt about less complimentary things. I generally say what I mean, and mean what I say. If you ask me a question you’ll get an honest answer (which includes values of “I don’t know” or even “I don’t care”)

Despite the fact that I lie for a living – all fiction writers do, after all – or maybe even BECAUSE of that, I’ve come to think that in real life things generally work better if fewer people lie about as little as possible.

What’s the best advice you can give writers to help them develop their own unique voice and style?
There really is only one way to do it. Write. Write. Write. It comes with practice. If you write enough you can’t help but start to do so in your own peculiar way – and it is perfectly okay, while practicing, to emulate the people you admire. Their influence will shape your own voice, eventually, in some way, once you stop trying to be EXACTLY like them. But there really is no substitute for experience, and you have to write your Million Words of Bad before you can start on the good stuff. You’ll know when you get there.

Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?
Well, my husband is in the same house with me and thus he doesn’t need to be called as such – he knows already. Also, I tend to burrow into my cats and hug them often when I’m having a bad day. If I have to call anyone, I’ll call my parents. But one sad side effect of the manner in which I have spent my life – moving around far too often and far too widely – does mean that I don’t really have a bosom buddy on call for “bad days”; although I have a number of cyber-friends with whom I’m in constant touch in one way or another (blogs, emails, social media) and I usually get support from that quarter if I air my “bad day” in those arenas, I don’t suppose that really counts as the same thing. I’m something of a lone wolf when it comes to this.

When was the last time you cried?
I lost my grandmother twenty three years ago this year,. She was 73 years old, no age, really, but she just… wore out. She and I shared a very special bond, and her passing left me devastated. It took me a long time to get past it, and I have never really got ‘over’ it, her absence has always a part of me since she left me.

On every anniversary of her death on June 24, 1989, I’ve worn something black in memory of her. On June 25 of this year, I realized that for the first time since her death I had not done so; I remembered the day of her passing… one day afterwards. In a strange way this felt almost like losing her all over again. Perhaps it is not entirely unexpected that more than two decades after she died my memory should hiccup and skip over the date – she has been gone for nearly half my lifetime – but it still hurt, that I did this, that I could do this. And I cried.

What are you most passionate about today?
As always, living.

What is the one, single food that you would never give up?
A three-way tie between coffee, cherries and chocolate.

Modern fantasy novel about the near future. the book came out in e-book form in 2011; this is a trade paperback edition.

The story opens on the eve of the end of the world, Dec. 20, 2012, when five friends meet in Spanish Gardens, the restaurant where they had celebrated their college graduation 20 years before. Over Irish coffees, they reminisce – and reveal long-held and disturbing secrets about their dysfunctional lives.

Each friend in turn is given a curious set of instructions by an enigmatic bartender named Ariel: "Your life is filled with crossroads and you are free to choose one road or another at any time. Stepping through this door takes away all choices except two -- the choice to live a different life, or return to this one.”

All of them pass through the portal and into drastically changed lives. They change occupations and families; one changes gender; a woman falls in love -- with another woman. In the end, four choose to return to their original lives. One doesn’t.

Alma Alexander’s 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens tells the intriguing story of five friends. During a meeting at a restaurant, they talk about the end of the world as the Mayan’s calendar abruptly ends in the year 2012. While each friend has a reason for not being content with how their life is so far, are given a chance to live a new life but at the end, must face the difficult task of deciding which life they would continue to live.

Alma has created a wonderful “what if” book. Even as the readers learn about the choices and consequences these friends make, it will make them think about their own lives. We all know that there is a point in our lives that we would like to change, but is it worth it? It is worth changing that critical moment which can entirely shift your life’s direction and end up somewhere that is totally different from what it is now? As you can see, it poses quite a dilemma and we can see through Alma’s writing that her characters are facing the same problem.

Tackling a story with multiple time periods can be different. However, Alma manages to skillfully handle it without making numerous time periods difficult to understand or follow. 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens is a fabulous fantasy and time-altering story. Equipped with beautiful writing and compelling characters, it will certainly hook readers from the very first page.

You can purchase 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens at the following Retailers:
          

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you ALMA ALEXANDER for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive a copy of 2012: Midnight at Spanish Gardens by Alma Alexander.

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Crank by Ellen Hopkins

BookNerd 

2nd Annual Banned Books Week Giveaway Hop
Hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer

Co-Hosted by I Read Banned Books

Click the links below to find more information about banned books.
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/
ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
ALA Banned Book Week Site
Frequently Challenged Books

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In Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank.
Soon, her grades plummet, her relationships with family and friends deteriorate, and she needs more and more of the monster just to get through the day. Kristina hits her lowest point when she is raped by one of her drug dealers and becomes pregnant as a result. Her decision to keep the baby slows her drug use, but doesn't stop it, and the author leaves the reader with the distinct impression that Kristina/Bree may never be free from her addiction.

You can purchase Crank at the following Retailers:

    

And now, The Giveaways.

1 Winner will receive a copy of Nevermore by James Patterson.

Crank will be purchased through Book Depository.

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Emily Hainsworth Author Interview

Book Nerd Interview

Emily Hainsworth was raised in upstate New York, but quickly fled its gray skies for the sunny Rocky Mountains. She currently resides in Denver with her husband and daughter. Through to You is her first novel.

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What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

Academically, I learned to appreciate classic literature. Personally, I learned how to get by with as little effort as possible.

Is there such a thing as a formula for storytelling?

Every story requires a beginning, middle, and end. I’m not sure what other formula you need besides that.

What are “Character Rules” and give us some examples.

I have never heard of Character Rules before, but it’s important to try to make your characters as realistic and believable as possible, which means giving them desires, regrets, and flaws.

What are some of the common challenges that new and experienced authors face and what advice do you have for over-coming them?

Just sitting down every day and writing words is a challenge for new and experienced writers. There are so many distractions, especially on the internet. It helps to have a goal each day, like a certain number of words to write, and it doesn’t hurt to make a few writer friends to cheer you on and provide some accountability.

In your newest book, Through to You; can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about the novel?

Through To You is about a heartbroken guy named Cam who finds a door to a parallel world where his dead girlfriend, Viv, is still alive. Only she’s not quite the same girl he remembers…

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating Camden?

I was surprised how much I enjoyed writing from a guy’s point of view and how natural it became. I felt so unprepared at first, but now I kind of miss being inside Cam’s head.

Do you have a favorite quote that you keep visible in your work environment to help inspire you?

Nope, just a bunch of random post-it notes with ideas or notes scribbled on them.

If you could introduce Viv & Nina to any character from another book, who would it be and why?

I’m not sure I’m ready for inter-dimensional-inter-book travel, to be honest.

What question are you never asked in interviews but wish you were?

I have actually never been asked this question before. So thank you!

Most horrifying dream you have ever had?

I used to have this recurring dream when I was little that I was crossing a ravine on a small plank that would break and cause me to fall every time I reached the middle.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?

I think it’s the one about what happened to me on Mount Olympics that one time. Or it might be this one…

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

That I actually don’t have a basement or attic and very little closet space!

When was the last time you cried?

A week ago. I cry so easily…

Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?

My husband. Poor guy. There’s nowhere he can run.

Where can readers stalk you?

They can go to my website: http://emilyhainsworth.com
Follow me on Twitter: @Emily_YA
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ehainsworthbooks

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Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. Viv was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after a career-ending football injury, picking up the pieces when his home life shattered, and healing his pain long after the meds wore off. And now, he’d give anything for one more glimpse of her. But when Cam makes a visit to the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees some kind of apparition. And it isn’t Viv.

The apparition’s name is Nina, and she’s not a ghost. She’s a girl from a parallel world, and in this world, Viv is still alive. Cam can’t believe his wildest dreams have come true. All he can focus on is getting his girlfriend back, no matter the cost. But things are different in this other world: Viv and Cam have both made very different choices, things between them have changed in unexpected ways, and Viv isn’t the same girl he remembers. Nina is keeping some dangerous secrets, too, and the window between the worlds is shrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with who this Viv has become and the part Nina played in his parallel story, he’s forced to choose—stay with Viv or let her go—before the window closes between them once and for all. 

You can purchase Through to You at the following Retailers:
          

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And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you Emily for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive an ARC copy of Through to You & Signed Bookmark by Emily Hainsworth.

2 Winners will receive one Signed Through to You Bookmark by Emily Hainsworth.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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