Tag: contemporary fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Burning Bright – Michelle Kwasniewski

ramblingmads

Read my review of book one – Rising Star

Fresh off the debut of her EP, sixteen year old Dani Truehart is flying high on a string of number one hits.  After locking down her first full-length album in record time and furiously preparing for her world tour, Dani is torn between leaving her loved ones behind and embracing her burgeoning stardom.

Dani’s fame and fortune, along with her ego, explode as her tour moves across the globe.  Elated when two of Hollywood’s hottest young actors, Kayla Spencer and Trey Connors, befriend her, Dani finds herself living life in the fast lane and recording her second album as she tours. Constantly dogged by the paparazzi, Dani basks in the adoration of The TrueHart Nation, her loyal super-fans who are ready to follow her around the world and go to war with anyone who dares dis their favorite pop star whom they’ve dubbed The Queen of Harts.

But with her mother’s desperate attempts to cash in on her fame getting bolder, a public drunken scandal and her inability to connect with her boyfriend Sean and her best friend Lauren, Dani relies on her guardian Martin Fox and manager Jenner Redman to clean up her messes.  She also increasingly depends on the drinks tour dancer Beau slips her to cope with her overwhelming life.  Between juggling her drinking on the sly, the pressures of her public image and her ever-increasing fame, Dani and Beau wind up cornered in a huge lie in order to keep her secrets under wraps.  The pressure crescendos when Dani’s mother blackmails her about her drinking and best friend Lauren catches Trey kissing Dani at the launch of her third album.  Desperate to keep Lauren from telling Sean and Kayla about the kiss, Dani makes a choice that threatens not only to take her down, but everyone who has made her a star.

Add to Goodreads Available on Amazon

Excerpt
Looking like a carbon copy of last night but feeling like a shadow of myself, I sit on a huge gold and red throne backstage, waiting for the video package to roll. “Sounds like you had quite the adventure last night, rock star?” Beau elbows me playfully. I wince, grateful for the darkness that hides my burning cheeks.
“You wouldn’t have thrown up on my watch. I’d never let you get that sloppy.” He winks.
“Uh, thanks, I guess. But trust me, that whole scene won’t be happening again. Jenner and Martin have me on lockdown, and my parents are threatening to pull me off tour if it does.”
“Yeah, right. Like MEGA’s going to let your mom and dad kill the cash cow that’s raking in millions of dollars.” He gives me a wry look, his features eerily highlighted by the dim blue stage safety light. “Not likely. They might talk a big game, but trust me, you could steal a car, rob a bank or slap the president of the United States and you’d still find yourself on stage at curtain time.”

Win bookish swag! Click the link below (US ONLY)! a Rafflecopter giveaway

My thoughts: I’m not entirely sure that any 16 year old should be famous, let alone as famous as Dani Truehart, and so quickly. Her debut album is out and there’s a world tour on the go. But it isn’t a very healthy world for a somewhat naive teen, away from home, friends, family, everything normal. Thrust on to the world stage, she thinks she’s ready, but can she ever be? And once you reach the top, the only way is down. A rollercoaster ride for Dani and readers, this chronicles the rush and stardust of fame and its pitfalls. Dani stops being true to herself and starts to slide into being someone else, and at 16 develops a taste for the booze. A cautionary tale ensues and the sweet girl of the first book is growing into a bit of a monster.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Dust – Justine Hardy

ramblingmads

“He could name this brain silence, one of the basic survival reactions to threat, the one that comes after fight and flight, there to protect the prey from the hunter by freezing all movement. He could see the explanation on the page, exactly as it had been when he had first read it, an oil smudge from someone else’s food beside it in the margin.”

KATE is a woman who chooses to work in Pakistan. She creates a second family for herself, far from the cherished warmth of her parents in rural Suffolk, their surrounding soft landscape in stark contrast to the raw land and humanscape of a remote corner of the northwest Himalayas. Kate then disappears and the worlds of genteel English countryside and harsh Gilgit collide in the search for a lost aid worker.

“It’s to keep the devil away, a sort of vaccination against disaster and hell,’ she said. Every time she said something like that, he felt like the new boy all over again. It was not because of what she said, but that she had to say it at all, still explaining the way things were.”

Justine Hardy has been a journalist for twenty-seven years, many of those spent covering South Asia. She is the author of six books ranging in subject from war to Hindi film: The Ochre Border, 1995, was about the reopening of the Tibetan frontier-lands. Her second, Scoop-Wallah, 1999, was the story of her time as a journalist on an Indian newspaper in Delhi. It was short-listed for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award 2000 and serialised on BBC Radio 4. Goat: A Story of Kashmir and Notting Hill, 2000, was an inside look at life in Kashmir and Notting Hill, a war zone and a white hot corner of London drawn together by the latter’s obsession with the fine pashmina weave of the Kashmir Valley. This was also serialised on BBC Radio 4. Bollywood Boy, 2002, was an international bestseller in which the Hindi film industry was the vehicle for a closer look at the obsession with fame as it crept West to East, and the darker side of an industry pumping out high-octane escapism for an audience of over a billion. The Wonder House, 2005, is a novel set in Kashmir against the background of the conflict, and based on Justine’s experience of frontline coverage, time spent in militant training camps, and amongst the extremists. It was short-listed for the Authors’ Club best first novel in 2006. In the Valley of Mist, 2009, a return to non-fiction and the subject of Kashmir, charts the first twenty years of the conflict there through the prism of Kashmiri family life. It was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week, and it was Runner-Up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2010. Justine’s books have been translated into a wide range of languages, from Hindi and Serbian.

In 2008, Justine founded Healing Kashmir, an integrated mental health project addressing the debilitating mental health situation in the region. This project is now expanding rapidly, with a health centre, outreach programmes, a suicide helpline, and a leadership programme. In addition to running the project in Kashmir, she lectures regularly in the UK, US and India. Recent lectures have included The Oslo Freedom Forum, New York University (Gallatin School), Tufts University (Institute of Global Leadership) and The Royal Geographical Society. Justine has been studying Eastern philosophy, yoga, and conflict trauma all through her adult life. She teaches yoga and philosophy in the UK and in India.

My thoughts: this was a really interesting book about Kate, an international aid worker in Pakistan, and her parents in Suffolk, England. It moves back and forth through Kate’s life, from her birth to the present. When she’s abducted and no one knows where to find her, Tom and Molly, her parents, feel lost and afraid, unable to help or understand. Kate must survive alone, using the information from a hostage training day she went on and her own will to survive.

As readers we learn a lot about a young Kate, about her family and her best friend Farah, whose family fled Persia (now Iran) after the fall of the Shah. We meet family friends, and a new one of Molly’s. It’s clear that Kate is loved at home and indeed in Pakistan, especially by Noor, the daughter of the mission’s cook, who idolises Kate and indeed the last section of the book is hers.

I liked the doctor and police inspector, who are old friends, verbally sparring in the interview room. I felt for Molly and Tom, I can’t imagine how hard and terrifying this would be, to know your child (even if they’re an adult) is in danger and you can’t do anything. Kate keeps herself going by imagining her parents there with her, willing her on, and the moment when they’re reunited and she’s not sure for a second whether they’re real is very powerful.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Shape of Crete – Philip Nemac

ramblingmads

Set on the Greek island of Crete, The Shape of Crete is a thrilling drama and passionate love story between a Bulgarian artist, Steffi, and James, an American historian. Rekindling their romance after a separation, Crete’s history of ancient myths and Nazi occupation entwines them in surprise and danger. They meet an Englishman searching for traces of his brother missing since 1943, and a local woman whose father was a partisan war leader; and then, shards of information reveal Steffi’s grandfather fought with the Nazis. Danger lurks when a local thug decides Steffi and Jim’s relationships with the others concerns gold lost in the war. The final tension-driven scenes unfold in a labyrinth-like cave in the spirit of the mythical battle between Theseus and the Minotaur. The unexpected conclusion questions whether love’s best outcome is enlightenment or physical survival.

My thoughts: this was a sad but rather lovely book, the romance between Steffi and Jim was heartwarming and touching, at last they had found the person they were searching for after both being in troubled marriages. There are bumps along the road to happiness, but once settled in a cottage on Crete, where Jim is writing and Steffi paints, they are happy.

Their friendships with Harold Robinson and their landlady, Maria Phindrikalis, are warm and offer rewards of their own. Steffi’s paintings sell in a local gallery and Harold finds a historical link between Steffi’s grandfather, his brother Jim and Maria’s father – a hero of the occupation. This investigation into the past puts the couple and Harold at risk, but was it worth it to learn the truth?

The ending was very sad and it has lingered with me, I so hoped for a better one, where they got the happiness and future they deserved but history has a habit of repeating itself and perhaps Steffi and Harold’s lost relatives were waiting for them in the labyrinth.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Story of our Secrets – Shari Low

ramblingmads

Colm O’Flynn was loved by his close circle of family and friends, however his death came too soon for everyone to make peace with their past.
Shauna, his second wife, adored him. But one night she broke their marriage vows, and didn’t get time to ask Colm’s forgiveness.
Jess was the first Mrs O’Flynn. Her heart is set on someone new, but will the last one night stand she shared with Colm come back to haunt her?
Colm’s best friend, Dan, is recently divorced. Can he take a second shot at happiness if it means betraying the one person who always had his back?
What no-one knows is that somewhere out there Colm left messages that could set them free to start over again.
Can divine intervention help them find Colm’s last wishes before it’s too late to love again?
Purchase

Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 25 novels, including One Day In Summer, My One Month Marriage, and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.

Facebook Twitter Instagram
Newsletter Sign Up Link Bookbub

My thoughts: usually Shari Low books have me in stitches, but this one was a tearjerker, and you will need some tissues. Alternating between Colm recording messages to his loved ones in a hospice bed and those same people trying to heal and move on from his death, relationship breakdowns and messing things up, it’s a heartfelt book about love, friendship and healing. It’s also funny, which is surprising, until you remember the author does humour very well. And sometimes recovering from loss is funny, stupid things make you laugh, memories and stories that crack you up. This was a great read and one I really needed at the moment so grab some tissues and prepare to cry and laugh along.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Christmas Escape – Sarah Morgan

ramblingmads

It was supposed to be Christy Sullivan’s perfect Christmas getaway — a trip to Lapland with her family and best friend, Alix. But facing a make-or-break marriage crisis, Christy desperately needs time alone with her husband. Her solution? Alix can take Christy’s little daughter to Lapland, and they will reunite there for Christmas Day. It’s a big ask, but what else are friends for?

There’s nothing Alix won’t do for Christy. But Christy’s request to save Christmas is giving Alix sleepless nights. She knows something is wrong, but for the first time ever, Christy isn’t talking. And even the Arctic temperatures in Lapland aren’t enough to dampen the seriously inconvenient sizzle Alix is developing for Zac, a fellow guest and nemesis from her past.

As secrets unravel and unexpected romance shines under the northern lights, can Christy and Alix’s Christmas escape give them the courage to fight for the relationships they really want, and save the precious gift of each other’s friendship?

My thoughts: this was a lovely festive tale of love and friendship, family and speaking the truth. Christy and Alix have been friends since they were small but somewhere along the way they stopped talking properly, a trip to Lapland to meet Christy’s estranged aunt, celebrate Christmas and see Santa, means the chance to straighten a few things out and fix their friendship.

Plus love is in the air, as Christy and husband Seb reconnect and Alix and Zac finally confess their feelings. Little Holly causes chaos as only a 4 year old tornado can, there are beautiful huskys and snow too.

Sarah Morgan once again wraps some big issues in a soft festive blanket, time to get cosy and open a book.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Liberty Terrace – Madeleine D’Arcy

ramblingmads

Set in a fictional area of Cork City from 2016-2020, Liberty Terrace captures the highs and lows of everyday life from both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting readers to consider what it
means to be human and to live within a wider community.
A former solicitor with experience as a Census Enumerator in 2016, Cork native Madeleine D’Arcy took inspiration from the Irish Census originally scheduled in April 2021 but now postponed until 2022 for Liberty Terrace. D’Arcy has created a rich tapestry of stories all set in and around the fictional street; the residents of Liberty Terrace come and go over the years – their lives ebbing and flowing
around each other in ways that are sometimes funny, sometimes dark and often both.
The cast of characters includes retired Garda Superintendent Deckie Google, a young homeless squatter, the mother of an autistic child working part-time as a Census Enumerator, the dysfunctional Callinan family, an ageing rock star, a trio of ladies who visit a faith healer, a philandering husband, as well as a surprising number of cats and dogs.

MADELEINE D’ARCY is an Irish fiction writer. A former solicitor, she lived in the UK for 13 years before returning to live in Cork City with her husband and her son in 1999. Madeleine’s first Doire Press short story collection ‘Waiting for the Bullet’ was awarded the 2015 Edge Hill Readers’ Prize’ from Edge Hill University in Ormskirk. In 2010 she received a Hennessy X.O Literary
Award for First Fiction as well as the overall Hennessy X.O Literary Award for New Irish Writer. Her stories have been short-listed and commended in many competitions, including the William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen Short Story
Competition, Fish Short Story Prize, the Bridport Prize and the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. Madeleine has been awarded bursaries by the Arts
Council of Ireland and by Cork City Council. Madeleine was a scholarship
student on the inaugural MA in Creative Writing 2013-2014 in University College Cork. Waiting for the Bullet is Madeleine’s first collection of short stories.

My thoughts: this was a clever and moving collection of stories about moments in the lives of the residents of Liberty Terrace, a fictional street in Cork. Each story focuses on one household and their lives. From a family of immigrants still finding their feet at the beginning of lockdown, to older residents trying to help their lonely friend. Each story reminds you of the kindness and community that can be found around you.

Well written and very enjoyable, I loved seeing into these characters lives, even if only briefly, the glimpses of families, both born and built, the generosity of others, the ways in which we all live quietly alongside each other but every now and then connect.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

books, reviews

Book Review: The Trials of Adeline Turner – Angela Terry

ramblingmads

From Charming Falls Apart author Angela Terry comes a story about finding the courage to face your past, be true to your heart, and live your best life. Fans of Sophie Kinsella and Emily Giffin will enjoy cheering for Adeline Turner as she navigates the twists and turns of her newly complicated life in this fun, heartwarming novel.

Thirty-three-year-old corporate attorney Adeline Turner has built her adult life around stability. Her professional life is thriving, but her personal life . . . not so much. Deep down she wants more, but finds it’s easier to brush aside her dreams and hide behind her billable hours. That is, until a new client and a chance encounter with her high school crush have her taking leaps she never planned. Suddenly, unadventurous, nose-to-the-grindstone Adeline finds herself moving across the country from her predictable life in Chicago to San Francisco, falling into messy romantic situations, and trying to unravel an office-sabotage plot before it ruins her career.

Without the safety net of her old life in Chicago, Adeline must become her own advocate and learn that people aren’t always who they seem. Which makes her wonder if the key to having the future she desires lies in uncovering the truth of the past.

Angela Terry is an attorney who formerly practiced intellectual property law at large firms in Chicago and San Francisco. She is also a Chicago Marathon legacy runner and races to raise money for PAWS Chicago—the Midwest’s largest no-kill shelter. She resides in San Francisco with her husband and two cats and enjoys throwing novel-themed dinner parties for her women’s fiction book club. Her debut novel, Charming Falls Apart, is a 2021 Independent Press Awards Winner, 2021 IPBA Benjamin Franklin Awards Finalist, and 2020 Best Book Awards Finalist.

Connect with Terry at www.angelaterry.com, @AngelaTerryAuthor on Facebook and Instagram, and @AngelaTerryLit on Twitter.

Q & A with Angela Terry

Question: Who do you think is the ideal reader for The Trials of Adeline Turner?

Angela Terry: Generally, this book is for anyone who enjoys voice-driven, contemporary escapist women’s fiction. Specifically, this book is for someone who may be like Adeline, where they might have a successful career, but want more in their personal life. And, of course, this book is for anyone who still thinks about their first crush and wonders, “What if?” (although, sometimes the dream is better than the reality!). 

Question: You’re a big fan of “chick lit” what are your feelings about that name for the niche of fun and flirty women’s voices?
Angela Terry: The first “chick-lit” book I read was Bridget Jones’s Diary, and it introduced me (and a generation) to books about women who were going through similar issues as I was in my twenties and thirties. I was navigating and balancing my career, dating, family and friends, and asking the question of, “What do I want my life to look like?”. These books were usually told in a light, entertaining, first-person voice, and the characters felt real to me. So, while I know the term has fallen out of favor over the years, it still has a soft spot in my heart.

My books have been called rom-com, chick lit, and women’s fiction. I personally consider my books to be women’s fiction, since they focus more on the emotional growth of my heroine towards a more fulfilled self. But I also love a good happily-ever-after. So, if my novel is hanging out on the rom-com table, I’m happy with that because I just want readers to be able to discover my books. 

Question: What books and authors inspired you?

Angela Terry: The first chick-lit book I read was Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, and from there I was hooked on these lighter tone, voice-driven, confessional type of stories. From there, I read Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic series, and I absolutely loved, and still love, Jane Green’s novels, which have evolved from early chick lit to women’s fiction. 

Emily Giffin’s books though finally gave me that push to start writing my own books. When returning home from a vacation, I had picked up Something Blue at the airport and devoured it in one sitting. I love how honest and complicated her characters are, and how effortless her writing style seems. When I turned the book over to read her biography, which read, “After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time…”, it struck me that hers was the first “attorney bio” I read where I thought, “I want to do that!” That was the moment I decided to commit to my writing. 

Question: What is your favorite place to read? 

Angela Terry: My favorite place to read would be my sofa with my cats. But where I get the most reading done would be at airports and on airplanes. I’m terrified of flying, and so I will save up books to read for my flight to have something to look forward to. Now I can’t wait to get to the airport and will be at my gate two hours early to catch up on my reading. 

Question: How has the pandemic affected your reading (and writing) habits? 

Angela Terry: In the beginning of the pandemic, I found it hard to concentrate on reading and writing. But thanks to my book club and being introduced to the Bookstagram community, I managed to get back my reading mojo. Though I will say, I found myself reaching for lighter, uplifting reads during this time. 

The pandemic also affected my writing. Normally, whenever I get stuck on a scene, I like to go for a walk or head to a coffee shop. Seeing people on the street and eavesdropping on conversations always gives me new inspiration. With shelter-in-place, I found myself watching television a lot more to study people’s expressions, as well as voice inflections and cadence for dialogue purposes. 

My thoughts: I was sent this book by a lovely PR and I’m really glad about that because I really liked Adeline, she’s super smart and good at her job, a good friend and has a great relationship with her dad. Her other relationships are a bit messy – she’s single at 33, estranged from her mum and just ran into her teenage crush at the airport.

She’s also about to get offered a great career boosting move, but is going to have to make new friends and be much nearer to her mother than she’s comfortable with. But perhaps there’s opportunity here to improve more than her career? And that’s where the story really starts, with Adeline swapping Chicago for San Francisco, and a whole new set of adventures.

I loved her best friend Bridget, she’s hilarious and very much a take no prisoners person – totally forthright and determined that Adeline finds love and happiness. Her dad was super sweet, and his romance with the neighbour was really cute. I like that she finally decided to try to reach out to her mum, I can’t imagine not having mine around, we’re really close.

Adeline’s path to true love is messy and she makes mistakes, trusts the wrong people and, well, that’s life. It was so honest and realistic, I could easily see Adeline as one of my friends, I think we’d get on. I really rooted for her and cheered her on.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Behind Closed Doors – Catherine Alliott

ramblingmads

From the outside, anyone would think that Lucy Palmer has it all: loving children, a dashing husband and a gorgeous home.

But when her marriage to Michael comes to an abrupt and unexpected end, her life is turned upside down in a flash.

As the truth of her marriage threatens to surface, Lucy seizes the opportunity to swap her house in London – and the stories it hides – for a rural escape to her parents’ farmhouse in the Chilterns.

But Lucy gets more than she bargained for when she moves back to her childhood home, especially when it throws her into the path of an old flame.

Coming face-to-face with her mistakes, Lucy is forced to confront the secrets she’s been keeping from herself and those she loves.

Is she ready to let someone in? Or will she leave the door to her past firmly closed . . .

Available on Amazon

Catherine has sold over 3 million bestselling novels worldwide and is translated into eighteen languages.

The first of these novels Catherine started under the desk when she worked as an advertising copywriter. She was duly fired. With time on her hands, she persevered with the novels, which happily flourished.

In the early days she produced a baby with each book – but after three – stuck to the writing as it was less painful.

She writes with her favorite pen in notebooks, either in the garden or on a sofa.

Home is a rural spot on the Hertfordshire border, which she shares with her family and a menagerie of horses, cows, chickens, and dogs, which at the last count totaled eighty-seven beating hearts, including her husband. Some of her household have walk-on parts in her novels, but only the chickens would probably recognize themselves.

All her novels are published by Penguin Random House internationally, and by No Shooz Publishing in America. Catherine Alliot | Instagram | Facebook

My thoughts: this is quite a dark and sad book, Lucy’s husband gaslit her and bullied her for years and she finally has the chance to be free and happy. But she’s gnawed on by guilt and plagued with worry. She’s also trying to organise and care for her parents, who drink too much and forget to go to the doctors. But her sister, friends and children want her to start finding happiness and living for herself, not someone else.

As Lucy begins to dig her way out, and I was rooting for her all the way, chinks of light start to appear in the darkness of her sad life, and she begins to really live again, putting the guilt and pain behind her. She also finds she has allies she didn’t know about, and that she doesn’t have to support people who don’t support her.

In the end, there is hope and light and happiness for Lucy, the book is ultimate redemptive and I cheered for her. Her parents got a bit more sorted, her children and extended family were always there for her and she finally found proper love.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, instagram, reviews

Blog Tour: Love and Other Sins – Emilia Ares

ramblingmads

Over on Instagram today I’m reviewing Love and Other Sins by Emilia Ares, but as getting lots of info onto a tiny square is tricky, I’m posting more about the book here. Read on for a Q&A with the author and check out the link above for my thoughts.

Oliver and Mina develop a strong bond as the threads of their old lives begin to unravel and they are forced to reckon with family history that violently refuses to remain in the past. Love and Other Sins is a moving story about what it means to be young and vulnerable in today’s society.

“I wanted to tell the story of a first-generation Russian immigrant girl and a street-wise foster care system boy who find love,” Ares, known as an actress for roles in American Horror Story and Bosch. “Love and Other Sins discusses the nuanced experience of growing up in America with immigrant parents as well as the critical flaws of the foster care system.”Readers who fell for Looking for Alaska and Thirteen Reasons Why will devour Love and Other Sins.

Emilia Ares is an American film and television actress. Love and Other Sins is her debut novel. She graduated UCLA with a BA in Economics, and a minor in Russian. Literature and storytelling have always been her true passion.

Connect with Ares at EmiliaAres.com, and on Instagram and TikTok @EmiliaAres.

Q&A with Love and Other Sin author Emilia Ares

1) You’ve been a working actress for many years, how has writing fit into your life or how did you transition to writing?

Funny enough, I began writing while on one of my sets. I was doing a film and sometimes we have to wait for hours in between takes. In those situations, it’s best to do something to take your mind off the scene in order to keep the acting fresh and the reactions surprising. Reading is a great go-to but there had been this story and these characters–Oliver and Mina, who were living in my head and nagging at my brain. I just had to get them on paper, so-to-speak. I wrote a chapter of their story into my notes on my iPhone and I also jotted down what else would probably happen later on in the story. When I got back to town, I wanted to show it to my younger sister, Sofia, who was reading a lot of YA at the time–she ended up becoming an English major. She’s the one who encouraged me to keep writing and turn it into a book. She said she loved it and couldn’t wait for more. I don’t think Love and Other Sins would have existed without her encouragement.

2) What have you learned about storytelling from TV projects you’ve acted in like American Horror Story and Bosch?

I’ve learned a ton about storytelling from the TV and film projects I’ve acted in, especially the importance of a strong emotional connection with my characters. Creating a backstory for my characters on and off the screen was vital. More times than not, my character’s backstory was not provided to me either because the project was high profile and the full script was kept under-wraps or because I was playing a guest-star whose history was not explicitly discussed or mentioned in the script itself. So, I’d have to invent the backstory.

That process is very similar to writing characters in a book. I used my knowledge of how the character was described in the breakdown that was provided during the casting process including any traits, qualities, strengths, weaknesses, quirks. I would then make an educated guess about what this person ultimately wants/needs from life, taking into consideration the character arc in the scene/overall story to create a reasonable history for them. In the case of American Horror Story, I would ask myself where does Princess Anastasia Romanova come from? What makes her tick? What life events shaped her? Empowered her? Scarred her? What are her secrets? And how do those things effect how she walks, talks, speaks, ect. The backstory is usually never discussed but always exists in the thoughts of these characters which ultimately informs their actions. The more specific the backstory, the richer–what actor’s call–“the life” of the character is.

This was great practice for when it came time to create Oliver and Mina’s backstories. I would just pretend they were characters I was going to play. I entered their minds the way I would when I played my characters on set. This might be a different approach than most traditional writers and it’s most likely why I wrote in first person. I was documenting the moments as if they were happening to me in real time. Later, I rewrote the novel into past tense to give the story­telling and pacing more flexability.

3) Why was it important for you to write young people who are independent and self-reliant on parental support to go after their goals?

I honestly didn’t set out with the goal to write independent and self-reliant characters. I just wanted them to be interesting and as it turns out, self-reliant people must interest me. But I’m glad Oliver

and Mina developed into the people they became because there are plenty of teenagers out there who are on their own and could use someone like Oliver to identify with.

Mina is actually very reliant on her mother for moral support when we first meet her. However, this novel begins during the part of her life when she starts to break free from that support and she ventures off to discover who she is and what she wants. She will have many hardships ahead. We get to follow her down that tumultuous road and witness her slay the dragons or succumb. Oliver, on the other hand, built himself up from the most terrible circumstances and found his own silver-lining. He doesn’t have any family. He’s alone, therefore he’s independent out of necessity, not choice. I hope his story is inspirational to the youth that feel hopeless.

4) How did your own young adulthood prepare you to write this book?

My time as a teenager was as dramatic and angsty as anyone else’s. Everyday there was drama, rumors, gossip, bullying. No matter how hard I tried to keep my head down it felt as though it was inescapable. When I talk to my adult friends about their high-school experiences, I come to understand that we all felt that way. You know, it’s funny…as trivial as everything seems now, in the grand scheme of things, some of those moments really did matter and did shape me into who I am today. The most painful moments became the biggest life lessons. I knew what I had to do to never feel that way again. I learned who I had to stay away from and who I had to gravitate toward. It wasn’t all bad though, I had some great friends to get me through the tough parts. Those were the parts that were most similar to my life. Nyah was written based on a combination of a few of my friends and my sister. Lily was inspired by my mom.

5) What books and authors inspired you along the way?

The Stranger by Albert Camus because it challenged everything I ever knew or thought I knew about the hero of a story and made me feel so uncomfortable reading it.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky not only for the revelation this novel brought to literature but also for the story behind writing it. Dostoevsky didn’t write it because he wanted to, he wrote it out of necessity. He wrote what he knew, the conditions and ramifications of a sick, drunk, impoverished Russia.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because by the time 2008 rolled around, so much had already been written and said about a potential post-apocalyptic nation but somehow, Collins was able to put forth a fresh take on dystopia. I admire that very much. There is always more room for your voice, your perspective, your story.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe because, again, it was very critically controversial. People didn’t know how to feel about it. On the one hand, Achebe ended up writing it in English, the language of colonialism which caused disagreement amongst many African critics in regards to the ultimate message of the novel. On the other hand, this was a novel that went against most of what was written about African culture at the time. It showed European colonialism from a different perspective portraying Igbo life from the point of view of an African man, a rich and sophisticated culture with a deep history, language, and beliefs.

But some of the first books and authors who inspired my love for storytelling were, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Rising Star – Michele Kwasniewski

ramblingmads

In the first book in THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series, RISING STAR, fifteen-year-old Dani Truehart is living a life that is not quite her own. Driven by her mother’s desire for fame and fortune, she has spent her childhood dutifully training for a career as a pop star. On the brink of discovery, doubts begin to creep into Dani’s mind as she questions her own desire for fame, and she wonders whether she can trust the motivations of the adults who are driving her forward.

Following a brilliant audition arranged by her vocal/dance coach and former ’80s pop icon Martin Fox, Dani is thrown full-force into the music industry. She leaves her friends, family and scheming mother behind to move with Martin, who has become her legal guardian, into the Malibu compound of her new manager, Jenner Redman. Jenner, the former swindling manager of Martin’s boy band, leverages what’s left of his depleted fortune to launch Dani’s career.

Isolated from her life at home and trying to stay apace with her demanding schedule, Dani struggles to keep in touch with those she loves, connect to her withholding mother and find her voice as an artist. With Martin and Jenner at odds over their rocky past and finding herself unprepared to handle the pressures of her future singing career, Dani’s debut album and future stardom are at risk of falling apart.

Add to Goodreads Available on Amazon

Excerpt
I walk back to the couch, sit down and stare at my parents.  I feel like I’ve aged a lifetime in the past few hours I’ve listening to my mom haggle over every detail of my contract like I’m a piece of meat at the butcher. “Mom, I’ve been working for this my whole life. Stop causing problems and let Martin do his job. You can’t threaten to stop me now after you’ve already given guardianship to Martin. Acting like a concerned parent this late in the game isn’t going to work. If you really wanted to protect me, you would have never handed me over to Martin.”
I shake my head and narrow my eyes at my mom, so furious I can barely speak. “I’m sorry that the money I make isn’t going directly into your pockets like you’d hoped. I promise the first thing I’ll do is to pay you and Dad back for all the lessons you’ve given me. You deserve some return on your investment. But if the past few hours have shown me anything, it’s why you really pushed me to do this all these years. I’m sorry that you won’t be getting the big payday you’d hoped for.”
My parents just sit there, stunned.
Tears stream down my face as I get up to leave. I’m a mess of anger and sadness, and I just want to be alone.

After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Technical Theater, Michele Kwasniewski spent over fifteen years in film and television production. Starting out as a film set assistant on movies such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, FACE/OFF, PRIMAL FEAR, and EVITA, she worked her way up to production manager on TV shows including BIG BROTHER, ADOPTION STORIES, EXTRA YARDAGE and MEET THE PANDAS. She is also a proud member of the Producers Guild of America. Michele’s colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and their disobedient dachshund. RISING STAR is her first novel. Michele Kwasniewski | Twitter | Facebook

Giveaway: Signed Copy of Rising Star (US only) a Rafflecopter giveaway

My thoughts: this was a fun YA read, with Dani getting to live the dream of becoming a pop star. She’s also juggling her education and relationships – the hardest being with her mum, who’s a bit of a nightmare.

She worries about her boyfriend leaving her for the high school bitch, even though he insists he would never. Being holed up in a fancy mansion recording her first EP is all well and good, but she’s missing out on a lot of normal teenage life. Can she make it as a star and will it all be worth it?

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.