Hi guys! Please welcome debut author Chanelle Gray to YA Bound! She's giving us an inside scoop on her YA coming out next year. And I'm so excited for this book! Check it out here on Goodreads to read the summary. And make sure to check out Chanelle's links at the bottom to learn more about her and her work.
Hi Chanelle! Welcome to YA Bound. Love your name BTW. And, speaking of names, the title of your debut YA, MY HEART BE DAMNED, is fantastic. Coming up with a good title is SO hard. Can you tell us how you came up with it? And how it relates to the story?
Hi and thank you! Well, whenever I begin writing a story, I’ll save it under the first title that pops into my head and come back to it later. The original title happened to be ‘The Damned’ which is very boring but to the point. So I wanted a deviation of that. Damned are the fantasy element of the story (one of, but the main ones) and then Amerie, the main character, falls in love for the first time too and not necessarily at the best time. It seemed fitting.
Love it! And very clever ;) MHBD releases in October of 2012. Congrats! But, of course all the best books release during my Bday month ;) Please tell us a little more about the story and main character, Amerie.
Ooh I’m glad it’ll be in your birthday month! That’s so cool. The story follows 17-year-old Amerie. She was born into a family where every female becomes Hunters of Damned when they turn 16. And their mothers are their mentors. But when Amerie’s mother is killed on her 16th birthday while on a routine patrol, Amerie falls off the map and quits Hunting. The story follows her as she goes down a path of self-discovery, gets caught up in a supernatural grudge started way before her time, and bruises not only her body, but her heart too. She’s pretty kick ass, if I can say so myself!
I don’t like spoilers. At all. But, I have to know more about Marshall. I know he has a big secret, and we can’t know that, but at least give us some juicy details about this hottie.
Hmmm. What can I say about Marshall? He’s a mommies boy. Can I say that? He makes money by swindling it from others and also by joining in on fight clubs. But out of everything in his life, the one thing he can rely on, the one thing that he will always love is his mother. Marshall is big on family.
Not only are you an author, but you also run your own book blog, as well as being a member of the group blog YAtopia. Do you find group blogging with other super cool authors beneficial? Please tell.
I LOVE blogging with YAtopia. The other bloggers are so cool. We all want to be published, and I have no doubt in my mind that every single one of us will have a book out within the next five years (you know how slow the business is!). They’re all super talented, and the thing is, we get each other. We all know how it feels to be rejected or to get bad feedback. We can help each other. Having a group blog not only gets you meeting and interacting with like minded individuals, but it also puts your name out there too. Great for marketing.
Now. For something personal. When you’re not writing, editing, reading, blogging or Tweeting, what’s your favorite thing to do? Hobbies, lovers, chocolate, or something so cool we can’t fathom?
God, I love to eat. I mean, the way I eat and the way I enjoy eating, I should be the size of a house by now. I don’t know why I’m not. But my favourite things to do often include food. Like going out to a restaurant with my friends, or watching a movie with lots of butter popcorn and a hot dog. Having a girls night in with pizza and sweets. I’m totally mood dependent on food and not even ashamed to admit it! A good meal can boost my mood within minutes. I’m not particularly interesting otherwise. I watch a lot of TV and I work very hard in a day job I’d really like to be able to quit so I can write full time! And of course, I like to shop. Online, in stores, from magazines. You name it. :D
Thank you so much Chanelle for sharing! And everyone, make sure you check out her links and find out more about MY HEART BE DAMNED.
MHBD sounds AMAZING! Can't wait to read it :)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this book, I marked it on my to-read shelf on Goodreads. It sounds awesome. Great interview!
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