Interview with Jennifer Raygoza

4:00 PM | Labels:

Interview with Jennifer Raygoza


The Guardians is a compelling tale focused on love, pain and sacrifice. The battle of good versus evil. The question is who will win.

Gianna Botticelli is the daughter to a Los Angeles Mafia boss. Although content working for her father, she mentally struggles with her mother’s death—and life choices after her passing. But everything she knows will change when she meets the sexy, mysterious Caleb.

Who is he? What is he? How does he know things? Gianna finds herself struggling with her feelings for him—and the sacrifices she will have to make as Caleb introduces her to a world unknown. Will she have to sacrifice herself to save everyone and everything?


Interview


1 - What inspired you to become a writer?

I write better then I speak. Sometimes I have the perfect response in my head and then it comes out and it sounds nothing like I imagined. When I write its like magic. It sounds better, feels better. I have always wanted to write a book but didn't know how to pull it together. Eight years ago I was diagnosed with some heart issues and it was really hard. My world felt like it had crumbled down. Three years after that I started writing a story not a book. It was just a story and it evolved into a book. haha so here we are. 


2 - What do you enjoy the most about being a writer?

Being able to create. To make situations happen that you don't see in real life. To bring fantasy to someones day.


3 - What can you tell us about your book?

My book is about a girl who is still struggling with her mothers death. She hasn't quite let go yet. She is not your average girl. She is a beautiful girl with a tough exterior who happens to work for her Mafia father doing odd jobs. She meets someone in the story and is thrown into a world unknown in which she finds out she is the missing key to stopping an upcoming war. 


4 - Who would you say is the hardest character to write about. Why?
I am not going to lie. I had a difficult time writing about Caleb. I think I wrote him too good because I even have a crush on him. I found myself blushing as I re-read the story. 


5 - Do you have a favorite book?

The last books I read were the Oh so steamy Fifty Shades series. I did enjoy the books but I don't have a favorite at this moment.


6 - Is there anything else you would like your readers to know about you or your book?

This book is for your average obsessed vampire lover. It is not just a book for the girls, guys will enjoy it too. I am working on part 2 of The Guardians but it is in early development. You can find my ebook at Amazon now.


Thank you!

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Posted by Carla
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Interview with Lucy Kelly author of Holding on and Letting Go + Giveaway

9:30 AM | Labels: ,

Interview with Lucy Kelly author of Holding on and Letting Go + Giveaway




Is there a way to describe the ties that bind us together? What happens when one of those ties is unexpectedly severed? Can everything else remain the same? Will the other ties hold strong?


Two years after her little brother's death, sixteen year old Emerson Caulfield returns to a home that she spent the last two years missing. In theory, everything should be the same. Her best friend, Matt, still lives next door. Her house is in the exact same condition as they left it. The scenery and hallways haven't changed, yet for Emerson, everything is completely different. The place may be the same, but Emerson is most certainly not. She returns home hurt, angry, and miles away from the girl she once was.


The 60,000 word novel alternates between the perspectives of Emerson, who is struggling to keep breathing on a daily basis, and Matt, who wants to have his old best friend back so badly that he is willing to overlook the fact that she has completely changed. Though their friendship and relationship is a major part of the story, it takes backseat to the unique bonds between siblings, what happens when your worst enemy is in fact yourself, and the hardships that come with growing up and changing.




 Interview

What can you tell the readers about yourself?

I guess I’ll start with the fact that my real name is not Lucy Kelly.  It’s a pen name.  When I publish the second book, both will be put under K.A. Coleman which is my real name.  I am truly awful at telling people about myself.  Every time I have to attend a conference, a class, or any kind of ordeal where I have to meet new people, I always have to do that thing where you introduce yourself and then say three interesting facts.  Normally, I stick with the same three “interesting” facts.  I can’t remember how to ride a bike.  Clearly, that expression is misleading.  A shark swam within three feet of me in the ocean three years ago, and it wasn’t one of those “sign up to swim with sharks” ordeals.  It was more of a, “we need to get out of this water right now” kind of moment.  I cry at commercials.  The grandma showing the little boy where she lives with Cheerios gets me every time.


2 - What inspired you to write Holding on and Letting Go?

When I first started teaching, I would make bets with students to get them to study.  Best idea in the world?  No, probably not.  In one of my many deals, I agreed to read a YA book they all liked if they all passed a test on the book we were reading in class.  Well, the good news is that they passed.  The bad news is I had to read the worst YA book I have ever read.  The lead female was useless.  It was poorly written.  Teenagers aren’t one dimensional, and the characters they read about shouldn’t be either.   Too often, you can only find strong female characters in fantasy literature for teenagers.  I wanted to give the YA world another option.  Before I knew it, I had basically planned out Holding On and Letting Go in my head.  Things went quickly from there.


3 - Can you describe your book in a short sentence?
The book is an emotional roller coaster for both teenagers and adults;  the book will take you to the highest peaks and lowest dips, but in the end, you will be really glad you experienced the ride.  That wasn’t really a short sentence, huh?


4 - Do you have a favorite characters from your books? If yes, who and why?
Wow, not an easy question.  Though my life is nothing like Emerson’s, my actual voice is probably the closest to hers, so as an author, her voice is the easiest for me to slip into writing wise.  I do really like that character; she has her secrets, but doesn’t everyone?  Every single person who answers this question for me picks a different character.  There are quite a few different personalities in that book.


5 - Is there something you can tell us about the second book?

Many of the same characters will be in the second book which takes place three months after the first one ends, but it won’t be narrated by the same two characters.  Switching narrators has been really fun.  The first narrator is in the first book and that character is any author’s dream voice to write.  I also really like that with the change in narrators, the reader gets a very different view of the returning characters.  Look for the second book to arrive in just a few short weeks


6 - Is there anything else you would like your readers to know?

I want my readers to know that I am eternally grateful to them for picking up my book, reading it, and then wanting to talk to me about it.  Honestly, I am truly stunned and humbled when a reader e-mails me to talk about the book.  Those e-mails are some of the greatest gifts I have ever been given.  




About the Author:

I'm not really going to write a biography. Though I am supportive of the high schools and colleges I have attended, it's probably not actually the most interesting stuff about me. I'm going to do a list of five really random things instead for now.

1) I like making lists. It's weird, and I never actually scratch things off of the list.
2) I sing and dance in the car like a maniac.

3) For the first six years of my life, I truly believed a shark lived under my bed. I watched Jaws at too young of an age.

4) Without a doubt, I am a night person. I am enormously grumpy when first woken up in the morning.

5) When I was younger, I read almost every Nancy Drew book, both new and old. I had a notebook, and I would take notes to see if I could figure out who the "bad guy" was before Nancy did. We probably tied.


Social Links:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lucy-Kelly/483595358375537
Goodreads -  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7020385.Lucy_A_Kelly
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/KA_Coleman


Giveaway:
 

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