This year we have 23 authors that I'll be featuring over 7 days and each day you'll have a chance to enter to win! There's also a scavenger hunt going on, so be sure to check out The Crossroads Tour Post to see what questions will be asked, what blog you'll be able to find the answer on and enter to win!
Today I am featuring Joy Preble Amy Christine Parker and Victoria Scott. Be sure to check out the rafflecopter giveaway, too!
1. The cover of Gated is super creepy and perfect for Halloween! What did you think when you first saw the cover?
I was instantly in love with it! I think I might’ve jumped up and down a bunch of times and gotten teary-eyed. I actually have a huge framed version of it hanging up in my house now.
2. Tell us 5 things we will learn about Lyla’s personality from reading Gated.
You’ll find out that she’s: observant, much stronger than she thinks, intelligent, struggling to figure out who she is and what she believes in, and above all, hopeful.
1. Of all the characters you have written, which one has been the most challenging for you to write?
Baba Yaga the witch in my DREAMING ANASTASIA series was probably my most challenging because she exists as a character in so many other stories by so many other people. My challenge was to create a version of her that worked for the series, that melded with the Romanov story and that also connected to the sub text of everything that contemporary Anne, my MC, was going through—her
journeys, personal, romantic, heroic. I was delighted when a very different type of backstory for Baba Yaga emerged as I wrote. I wanted to know how she became Baba Yaga. And why. And so a narrative of beauty vs. power came about. Among other things. I love it when I hear from readers and they say that they actually kind of like her! That’s so cool to me.
2. The Sweet Dead Life involves Janena and her brother Casey. Can you tell us a little about each character?
Sure! Janena is fourteen when the series starts, and in 8th grade. (Although let me interject here that this is a YA novel and although she is on the young side for YA narrators, she will be aging up during the series and it is NOT a middle grade book, although it could be read by 8th graders for sure). Janena is feisty and mouthy and sassy. She is brave a loyal and manages to keep her head up through a variety of crazy shenanigans. She narrates through her diary entries, so you get to see her more or less uncensored thoughts about her life, her brother’s antics, the bad times that have befallen her family and definitely her world view on the Texas suburbs and mall culture. Janena calls it like she sees it. Careful readers will be able to pinpoint who Janena’s first love interest will be in next year’s sequel THE A WORD. I am so excited for you all to read that, too!
As for Casey, he is sixteen as the series begins. He is smart and athletic and also brave and loyal, but since their dad disappeared 5 years ago and their mom progressed into a depressed state, he’s had to be the man in the family, quitting football to work two jobs. He’s hanging out with the stoner crowd, spending his spare time on weed and other bad habits. But he’s there for his sister no matter what! Including rushing her to the hospital in their beat up Prius when it seems as though she’s dying. Of course then he’s the one who bites it… and comes back as his sister’s less than angelic guardian angel…
1. rocks! We all know this: ) But, what would we be surprised to learn about our favorite bad boy?
That he loves musicals. Not that he’d ever, ever watch them in front of anyone, but he totally does.
2. For those who haven’t read The Liberator yet, what can you tell us about the new “bad girl” we meet here?
Aspen is a tough girl that is very similar to Dante. She’s been hurt by those she should have been able to trust, and now she has a thick exterior that’s hard to get past.
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