Interview with Glynis Astie

Hello wonderful reader. How's it going? 

I personally have been swamped with a crazy summer semester on top of working 36 weekly (unpaid) hours at the hospital. Which is why there hasn't been a review in a hot minute. But I promise I have a few reviews in the works at the moment so stay tuned. 

One fun thing I've been up to is chatting with Glynis Astie the fabulous rom-com writer. You may have seen my Review of her novel Gamer Girl back in May. This is a fantastic 5* book and Book of the Month winner so you can imagine my excitement when she agreed to do an interview with me!

Enjoy,

Interview with Glynis Astie

Firstly I would like to congratulate you on a wonderful book. Gamer Girl blew my mind. I thought the dialogue was absolutely fantastic. From the characters voices, to their attitudes, to the thoughtfulness of their words and the immersive feel of the conversations. Can you tell me a little bit about your process of writing dialogue?

Thank you so much, O! I really enjoyed writing Gamer Girl. I remember having trouble writing dialogue for my first book, French Twist. When I saw the words on paper, I felt this bizarre need for everything to be formal, as though I were handing in a research paper to a professor. (Seriously, I didn’t use contractions or slang—not even the occasional swear word. It sounded totally off!) Thankfully, I received early feedback that my dialogue sounded stilted. From then on, I made it a regular practice to read what I wrote out loud, which made it easy to see where I needed to make corrections. It was a lot of fun to add different voices and intonations while I read (my cats were highly entertained) and I did my best to add descriptors to capture these nuances for the reader.

I suspected you might do that. It really does give it an authentic feel!



When you imagine Morgan do you have a celebrity doppelganger in mind for him? I'm sure my viewers would appreciate the visual ;)

It’s funny, but before you posed this question, I hadn’t really thought about it. All of my other books are based on my life, so I’ve never had to imagine what my characters look like. Although I was asked once who would play the major characters in movies of my French Twist series and it was fun to think about, but that’s a story for another time. After I read your question, I searched Pinterest and eventually struck gold. Sam Claflin would make a great Morgan—he’s GORGEOUS, he can play to both Morgan’s goofy and serious sides AND we already know he can rock an American accent. Thanks for prompting me to search for the visual, O!

As the title suggested, our protagonist Meri is a gamer girl. I have to say I loved the back story for that it was very well thought out and meaningful, but I digress. So, are you also a gamer?

I have something very sad to tell you, O. I have NO gaming skills. None whatsoever. I wish I did, because I love video games, but I’m missing the necessary hand-eye coordination. My youngest surpassed my skill level when he was about three. Every once in a while, he’ll ask me to play, but becomes frustrated because I can’t keep up. (And I go through lives like they’re going out of style.)

I was actually inspired to write Gamer Girl after watching a video game documentary with my husband. I really liked the idea of a character leading two lives—one inside the game and one outside—and that these two lives could converge in the most interesting ways.

Congratulations on your recent release of French Roast. I hope I get to read it very soon. What similarities are there between Gamer Girl and the French Twist series?

Thank you, O! There are certainly some similarities between the two. Meri and Sydney both lack confidence, though for different reasons and they show this in different ways. Meri is a lot better at covering up her insecurities than Sydney. Sydney (who is my alter ego) has a tendency to catastrophize and to say some seriously crazy things. My heroes are certainly swoon-worthy, although Morgan is a lot more flawed than Louis. (Knowing my husband would be reading how I portrayed him as Louis, I had to be on my best behavior.) Both books also have a bevy of side characters, including a wise cracking older character who often becomes a favorite of readers. Grams was completely fictional—just an amalgam of old Jewish lady stereotypes coupled with my imagination—while Teddy was based on my father. I’ve been told by my siblings that I captured him perfectly, and I’m extremely proud of this. If only he had lived to read my tribute to him. (It’s a given he would have given me a list of corrections, but it would have been a wonderful conversation.)

What time frame do the 4 books of the French Twist Series cover?

The first book begins just as I met my husband and the last book ends ten years later. These books were a joy to write, although the last one was bittersweet as it dealt with a very difficult time in my life. In the end, writing the last installment was very healing for me and I’m incredibly proud of the result.

Tell me about your inspiration for the French Twist series and about how much of the story would you say is based on reality?

About a year after my second son was born, I had a dream that I wrote a book about how I met and married my husband in six months. The idea was so foreign to me as I had never imagined writing a book. I had decided to stay home with my boys, so I had the time and decided to give it a whirl. I wrote the first book in about three months and was very pleased with the results. (I have learned a lot since then and just may go back to spruce it up!) I would say about seventy-five percent of the first book is based on reality, with the total dropping to about sixty percent for the next two and coming back to seventy-five percent for the last one. In most cases, the events are accurate, but the timeline has been changed. I’m not quite sure how this happened, but the change in chronology helped the story progress in a more digestible manner.

Are you currently writing anything?

I’m a creature of habit, O. I write in the fall, edit in the winter, release in the spring, and take the summer off. I will be thrilled to spend the summer with my boys, and when the fall rolls around, I will be starting my next book, which is going to be a bit of a departure for me. I plan to tell the story from three different points of view and in a rather unique manner. That’s all I can tell you for now, but keep your eyes peeled over the summer for more details!

Oh, I love that routine! I hope you guys have a fantastic summer and I will keep my eyes peeled! 

Thank you so much for chatting with me. It was truly a pleasure and I look forward to reading more of your books. 

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Guest Post by Glynis Astie

Review of Gamer Girl

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Spotlight and Excerpt of YA Adventure Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold

Book Spotlight + Excerpt!

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold

by Iain Reading

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is the thrilling first installment in a new young adult series of adventure mystery stories by Iain Reading. This first book of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series introduces Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot with her own De Havilland Beaver seaplane and a nose for mystery and intrigue. A cross between Amelia Earhart, Nancy Drew and Pippi Longstocking, Kitty is a quirky young heroine with boundless curiosity and a knack for getting herself into all kinds of precarious situations. 

After leaving her home in the western Canadian fishing village of Tofino to spend the summer in Alaska studying humpback whales, Kitty finds herself caught up in an unforgettable adventure involving stolen gold, devious criminals, ghostly shipwrecks, and bone-chilling curses. Kitty's adventure begins with the lingering mystery of a sunken ship called the Clara Nevada. As the plot continues to unfold, this spirited story will have readers anxiously following every twist and turn as they are swept along through the history of the Klondike Gold Rush to a suspenseful final climatic chase across the rugged terrain of Canada's Yukon.

Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold is a perfect book to fire the imagination of readers of all ages. Filled with fascinating and highly Google-able locations and history this book will inspire anyone to learn and experience more for themselves. 

There are currently five books in the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series: Kitty Hawk and the Curse of the Yukon Gold (book 1), Kitty Hawk and the Hunt for Hemingway's Ghost (book 2), Kitty Hawk and the Icelandic Intrigue (book 3), and Kitty Hawk and the Tragedy of the RMS Titanic (book 4), and Kitty Hawk and the Mystery of the Masterpieces (book 5). Each book can be read as a standalone.

“In the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series the heroine finds herself in a new geographic location in each book. The series will eventually have a total of 13 books in it (maybe more) and her flight around the world will be completed in the end,” says Iain. “The books are sequential but one could definitely read any of the later ones before reading the earlier ones.”

For more information, go to http://www.kittyhawkworld.com/

Check out the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxboPL0ge3Q

About the Author:

Iain Reading is passionate about Root Beer, music, and writing. He is Canadian, but currently resides in the Netherlands working for the United Nations.

Iain is the author of the Kitty Hawk Flying Detective Agency Series, The Wizards of Waterfire Series, and the dragon of the month club. To learn more, go to http://www.amazon.com/Iain-Reading/e/B00B0NGI6Q/

Readers can connect with Iain on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

---

Now for your reading pleasure enjoy the following

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE - PART TWO

The Arctic Trails Have Their Secret Tales

By the dancing dim light of the campfire, the group of men surrounding me looked demonic—light and shadow played off their features and made their faces seem lopsided and horrifically deformed. In such light every scene appears monochromatic, with every detail rendered in shades of only black and orange. True colors are sucked away, and objects are repainted in a hellish tint that makes every face look like a jack-o-lantern and the world look like something out of Dante's Inferno.

"There you go again," the little voice inside my head nagged. "Always making comparisons to books that you've never read."

"Shut up," I told myself. "This is hardly the time to be criticizing my choice of literary references."

Besides, Dante was writing about hell, wasn't he? And the situation that I found myself in was surely the closest thing to hell that I could possibly imagine.

The tallest one of the group walked over to get a better look at me. As he leaned in close, some dark shadows flickered hideously across his face and eyes and caused me to pull away in terror. I tried to push myself backward away from him, but it was difficult, considering that I was sitting on the ground and my hands were bound tightly behind my back. Every move that I made only pulled the binding tighter and made my wrists scream in agony as the wire cut painfully into the skin.

"I never should have come out here," I told myself as the tall one stood up again and continued pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what to do with me. How could I have been so stupid? What had I been thinking, hiking around a deserted ghost town from the Yukon Gold Rush in the middle of the night?

What made me even stupider was the fact that ever since I had first set off on my foolish quest, I'd felt a heavy, dark blackness filling every pore of the landscape. But instead of turning back and going home, I had stubbornly dismissed it as merely the dark shadow of the suffering and death that had occurred here so long ago, when thousands of souls had passed through on their way to the empty dreams of the Klondike gold fields. How many of those greedy fools had died chasing after those empty dreams?

"I am no better than them," I thought. I was just as stubborn and foolish as they had been, and now I was paying the price for it.

"I hate to say that I told you so," the little voice in my head said.

"Yes, you did," I agreed. "But right now, that isn't helping. Right now we have to figure out how to get out of here, because these guys are a bunch of greedy fools just like the rest of them, and who knows how far they'll go to protect the secret of their gold."

"What are we going to do with her?" the man with dark blonde hair asked the tall one, who was apparently their leader.

The tall one thought about this for a moment, and there was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the nearby campfire. My fear of his answer made my heart pound faster and faster.

"There's only one thing we can do with her," he said slowly and deliberately, his voice ice cold and emotionless.

I was terrified of what that meant, and as they continued to discuss my fate among themselves, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and my breathing becoming shallower and faster with every passing second.

"I promise not to tell anyone," I thought, feeling completely helpless and considering the option of begging them to let me go. "I will promise not to go to the police if you just let me go free."

"Don't be crazy," the little voice in my head scolded. "They aren't stupid. You discovered their secret! You know about their stolen gold!"

I remembered a line from a poem that I'd learned back in high school—a poem about the Klondike Gold Rush and the lengths that men were driven to by their greed and lust for gold.

"The Arctic trails have their secret tales," the poem had said. "That would make your blood run cold."

That was exactly how I felt at that moment—as though my blood was running cold. I had discovered the secret tale that these men had tried to keep hidden, and now they had no other choice. They couldn't just let me go. They couldn't trust me to keep their secret. And now they had to deal with it. And that was the part that terrified me.

The men continued their discussion, and a sudden outburst from the tall one broke my train of thought. The discussion had grown quite heated, and he'd finally put an end to it by holding up his palm and cutting off the blonde one in mid-sentence.

"There's no other way," the tall one said simply.

Release Announcement - Configured (YA Dystopian)

New release today, Oct. 20, 2016

 Configured

by Jenetta Penner

Description off Amazon:

In the future, love will make you a traitor.

120 years after a virus decimated earth’s population the survivors thrive in safety, away from the death and destruction of the Outerbounds. But there is a price. Divided into three levels of intellect, Citizens focus solely on duty. Emotions are pointless, even dangerous.

Due to her advanced intelligence, seventeen-year-old computer genius, Avlyn Lark was separated from her twin brother at birth and raised by adoptive parents. She gained privilege, the ideal future. He dies. Avlyn barely knew him yet remains bound to his memory.

But following a string of rebel intrusions on the city, Avlyn receives a cryptic message. After which, she begins seeing visions of her dead twin, not to mention a strange power she doesn't understand starts to emerge. The mysterious radical who urges Avlyn to join their fight becomes her link to answers. Freedom. Love.

Opportunity calls, but if she says yes will she lose it all?

Configured is the first novel in a Configured trilogy that poses the question: does humanity need love for survival? Fans of Divergent, Matched, and the Maze Runner will love this world of dark secrets, intrigue and thirst for a better tomorrow.

Buy Configured today to read a YA Dystopian/Light Romance that will leave you wanting more!

Click here to find buying options on Amazon.

Author Spotlight - Michelle Areaux

Hello Everyone. Today, I am spotlighting author Michelle Areaux. 

If you are a fan of YA novels and love ghost stories you are in luck!

Michelle Areaux has written a series (currently 3 books) about a teen girl named Sadie who can see ghosts! Driven by a strong sense of justice she makes it her mission to solve their murders and reveal the truth of past events. 

Book 1: 

Wicked Cries

For 16-year-old Sadie Sanders dealing with the dead is growing tiresome, especially when they expect her to play messenger to the afterlife.

Up until recently, Sadie had been able to juggle her double life without anyone detecting she was not only an average high school student, but a messenger to the dead as well. When Sadie's dad decides to move the family to Salem, Massachusetts, Sadie wondered if the move would be the fresh start she needed to leave her old, wicked life behind and become a normal high school girl.

Only Sadie was wrong, dead wrong. Once in Salem, Sadie finds a hidden journal from Elizabeth, a once persecuted witch who documented the last few days of her terrifying life. Desperately wanting to push the journal aside and begin her new life, Sadie finds herself haunted by Elizabeth, but this time is different.

Book 2: 

Wicked Lies

Sadie Sanders believed her life couldn’t get any worse when her parents moved her from sunny California, to gloomy Salem, Massachusetts. Of course Sadie was wrong, dead wrong.

After a dangerous and almost deadly first year in Salem, Sadie’s parents decided to send her away for the summer to visit her Aunt Morgan in the small town of Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Seeking normalcy from her twisted life, Sadie hoped her stay in the small Kentucky town would be the break she needed from her paranormal obligations and a way for her to escape the demons that haunted her. Of course, Sadie was wrong.

Unfortunately for Sadie, her job as messenger to the dead never stops, not even for summer vacation. Soon after arriving in Nicholasville, Sadie discovers a murder that has been haunting the town for centuries. Refusing to ignore the injustice of what she uncovers, Sadie sets off on another wild adventure.

In Wicked Lies, Book Two of the Wicked Cries Series, Sadie's quest for justice just may be the one thing that finally ends her career as a messenger to the dead; and her life.

Book 3:

Wicked Truths

Death seems to follow seventeen year old Sadie Sanders everywhere she goes–literally. As a mediator to the dead, she must constantly face fighting demons and the occasional angry dead girl.

After a dangerous and almost deadly first year in Salem, Sadie’s parents decided to send her away for the summer to visit her Aunt Morgan in the small town of Nicholasville, Kentucky. After uncovering a murder hidden for centuries, she embarked on a deadly mission to solve the crime while trying to enjoy her summer vacation.

Now back in Salem, Sadie has found another hidden secret in the wicked town. Secret underground tunnels are hidden under the streets of Salem, beckoning to those with wicked souls. When Sadie encounters a ghost named Laura roaming the streets of Salem, she and her friends Noah and Lucy must uncover the clues leading to Laura’s death, which is made even more complicated by the fact that Laura has no memory about her life or death. To make matters worse, Sadie must also track down the person who has been sending her threatening messages in an effort to stop her mission for justice.

In Wicked Truths, the third instalment of the Wicked Cries series, Sadie learns that some secrets are meant to stay dead, for the truth, once it has been uncovered, may be wickeder than she could have ever imagined.

You can win a copy of the first two books, Wicked Cries and Wicked lies from a contest spanning Oct. 1 - Oct. 31, 2016 here at: A Bookish Halloween Giveaway Contest

Also by Michelle Areaux, and Free for Kindle Unlimited:

Runaway

For 17-year-old Hallie Romano, living the life of a princess was great, until her entire world was transformed by four simple words; do you trust me? Now, after witnessing a brutal murder carried out by a prominent mob boss, Hallie has to make a decision. Should she trust Jackson, her gorgeous lifelong friend or stay behind and deal with the implications of what she witnessed? Hallie finds herself haunted by the crimes she witnessed as she flees in search of safety and freedom. Hallie seeks normalcy in a twisted game of chase as she and Jackson uncover they are being hunted. Traveling around the world to exotic locations, Hallie and Jackson encounter numerous obstacles and dangerous situations. But for Hallie, the most difficult obstacle to overcome is her growing attraction to Jackson. Can Hallie push aside her feelings for Jackson? Can Jackson continue pretending he isn’t in love with Hallie? Can they make a new life for themselves? Or worse, can they can protect themselves?

About the Author:

Michelle Areaux was born and raised in Nicholasville, Kentucky where she currently resides with her husband Anthony and two sons, Connor and Cooper.

Michelle attended the University of Kentucky where she earned her Bachelors in English Education and Asbury University where she earned a Masters in Secondary English Literacy. Currently, she works as a middle school language arts teacher in Lexington, Kentucky.

Michelle Areaux on Twitter

Book Spotlight - The Ugly Teapot by Fred Holmes

The Ugly Teapot

by Fred Holmes

Description off Amazon:

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Bradbury loved her father so much that she worried about him constantly. After all, he was a photographer who traveled to the most dangerous places in the world.

To allay her fears, each time he came home he brought her silly gifts, each one with supposed magical powers: the Seal of Solomon, the Ring of Gyges, even Aladdin’s Lamp. It was that lamp Hannah found the most unbelievable, for it looked like an ugly teapot. Nevertheless, her father assured her it was real, and made her promise to save her three wishes for something very special.

Then . . . six months later . . . the unthinkable happened. Her father was killed while on assignment to Baghdad. And so on the day of his funeral Hannah did something she never thought she would ever do.

She took out that teapot and gave it a rub . . .

The Ugly Teapot by Fred Holmes is a timeless tale, filled with magic and adventure. More importantly, it will make you believe in the overwhelming power of love.

Links:

Fred Holmes Official Site

Fred Holmes on Facebook

Fred Holmes on Goodreads

Buying options on Amazon

Video promo on youtube:

Q&A with Valerie Ryan

Today I am thrilled to welcome author Valerie Ryan to the blog for an interview!

Tell me a little about your book, Seven of I: The Keeper of the Words?

The story takes place in the future many centuries after what is called “The Wrath of God”. The main character, Syntyche, tells the story the best way she knows how and uses information she has gathered from her friends. She is not only a reluctant hero, but a reluctant story teller as well. The only reason she is writing the story is because she was told she has to. You see, she is only 15 years old and trying to live a normal life. Well, as normal as you can when you can see guardian angels walking around and live in a mansion with a very wealthy father with a diverse staff always around. Syntyche learns about a prophecy, one that she is supposed to be a part of, and begins to unravel the secrets behind it. She is to help assist in closing the seven gates of Hell. The tricky part will be to defeat the seven demons who guard those gates. In order to do this, the seven Archangels must be witness, while humans who are either blessed or cursed with a virtue and sin must help. The prophecy is very specific, but the people involved don’t really like specifics. Add into the mix a Griffin, phoenix, dragon and a demonic soul watcher to help, and you have a story with endless possibilities.

I’ve spent many years researching the book and the stories about the hierarchy of the angels, deadly sins and virtues come from the Book of Enoch and the teachings of Pope Gregory I. With inspiration from the Divine Comedy by Dante.

Will there be a sequel to Seven of I: The Keeper of the Words, if so what will that be like?

There will be seven books total in the story. One book for every sin, virtue and gate of Hell. The first book deals with the sin of lust and the virtue of chastity. The second book will deal with Sloth and Diligence and each new book will continue on with the sins and corresponding virtue. I want the books to be young adult friendly, so I’m not going into great details about the sins or lecturing about the greatness of the virtues. There are hints and actions that can be inferred as what is going on based on the knowledge of the reader. I am also trying to make each book friendly to anyone of any religion which is my greatest challenge. After saying all this, the books are more about the characters and their interactions with the prophecy, and also about growing up.

What do you think makes your novel unique, or what is a special feature of it? 

I think that my stories are unique because it is about working together and how you cannot defeat evil without it being a group effort. They go back to the tradition of good versus evil where the evil is identified with familiar names that we’ve all heard. The twist is the angels. Many people forget that demons are fallen angels which does complicate things. My stories will never forget that characteristic about them.

Do you have any other projects planned, what are you currently working on?

Writing the Seven of I books are taking up a good portion of my time. That said, I’ve been thinking of writing a non-fiction book for parents raising children who are ADHD. I am ADHD and am currently raising two children with it. I’ve found myself talking to many parents explaining the children’s behavior and have been told I should write out it.

What is the biggest thing you have learned in the journey of having your book published?

Having my book published by a publishing company did not mean much. No marketing is done for authors and very little editing. I learned that I have to be self-sufficient and I’ll have to try to find the money to have my next book edited by a professional. I’m looking into different avenues of self-publishing for my next book or hoping to find a literary agent.

What advice could you give to aspiring authors?

Remember being an author will not give you tons of money or lots of recognition. Just write because it is in your heart to write. Tell stories and read many books. Talk to people and watch everyone you meet for idea’s.

The cover of your novel is gorgeous! What advice could you give to other writers to get great book covers? 

Let me tell you something about my book cover. This is one of the few reasons why getting a publisher is better than doing it yourself. The book cover designer at the publishing company asked me what I would like for my cover. I gave him detailed descriptions of what I thought would be good. I was a bit wordy and tried to be descriptive. What he sent back was nothing what I expected. He took just a few words and one description and came up with one of the best book covers I have ever seen! I’m so glad he didn’t listen to a word I said. I am so happy with it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I love the idea of 7 books using the 7 sins and their corresponding virtues. I can't wait to read your novel! I also think a book on ADHD would be very helpful to many people. Thank you for also sharing helpful information for other writers. Being self-sufficient is key, becoming a published writer is quite the learning process. Thanks again for joining us. I hope you all enjoyed this and will check out Seven of I: The Keeper of the Words!

- O

Win this book in this giveaway contest! (ends May 31st, 2016)

Find more information on Seven of I: The Keeper of the Words

and the author, Valerie Ryan at these links:

Amazon

Website  

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

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