Hi Amy! First I want to say welcome back to Two Chicks on
Books! I loved THE JEWEL and THE WHITE ROSE and am so happy that you could stop
by for a visit! BTW I can’t wait for book 3!
For the readers: can you give us a recap of THE
JEWEL and the characters?
Thank you so much for having me again! The Jewel is about a city where young girls are auctioned off as surrogates to royal women who can’t have children naturally on their own—the surrogates possess a sort of magic, known as the Auguries, which allows them to create healthy children out of royal embryos. Violet, our main character, is sold to the Duchess of the Lake, and moves to the center of the city, called the Jewel, which is where the royalty live. But she quickly discovers that life as a surrogate is filled with danger, abuse, humiliation, and even death. When she is offered a chance at escape by a lady-in-waiting named Lucien, she is eager for it—until she meets a young man named Ash who turns her world upside down and puts her in a very different sort of danger.
What can we expect in THE WHITE ROSE?
You can expect to see the other circles of the city that we
haven’t seen yet—the Bank, the Smoke, and the Farm. And there are some fun new
characters! One in particular plays a very important role in the latter half of
the book and she is just my favorite. I can’t wait for everyone else to meet
her. You’ll also get to learn more about the Auguries, and what their true
purpose is…
What about book 3? Do we have a title yet?
We do! I even saw a cover mock-up and I am just blown away by this
design team at HarperTeen. I have been instructed to keep my lips zipped for
now, but I’ll be releasing the title in the next few weeks!
I know I asked this last time but who was your favorite character to write?
What about your least favorite? Has that changed between the two books?
My favorite character to write in this book was Sil, the woman I alluded to
earlier. She is so crotchety and doesn’t give a crap about offending anyone, so
it was really fun to make her and Violet interact. As for my least favorite
character…hm. I love everyone! There is a character who comes in late, and
she’s sort of annoying. I disagreed with her stance on things. So that was
challenging. It’s definitely changed since the last book, since we move to a
different area with different people! Though Garnet is still fun to write.
Garnet will always and forever be fun to write J
What is your favorite passage/scene in THE WHITE ROSE?
There is this one scene between Violet and her best friend Raven, the
one who is being tortured and impregnated by the evil Countess of the Stone in
The Jewel. I can’t say too much about it without giving stuff away, but it’s
intensely emotional and really brings out the depth of their friendship. Female
friendships are so important to me in books and I wanted to make sure Violet’s
and Raven’s was really special. I cried when I wrote that scene and I cry
almost every time I read it.
What kind of research did you have to do for the story? There’s more magic
in this one so did you create your magic or did you research different kinds of
magic?
I did a lot of research on the four elements, what they are related to and what
they represent, though I’m not sure how much of that made it into the actual
book! The magic was really the most difficult part about writing this book
because it took several drafts of trying different things before I discovered
exactly what it was and how it worked. Making up a magic system is HARD!
What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re
dying to read?
Right now I’m reading BONE GAP by Laura Ruby and I’m loving it so far! On my
TBR is THE INVENTOR’S SECRET by Andrea Cremer and WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND by Jessica
Verdi.
Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend? Is it still Peeta? (We never did have
that chat lol)
HA! I read the first question and was like, PEETA and then saw your follow up!
Yes, Peeta still reigns supreme in my heart, although Jon Snow is giving him a
run for his money…
What inspires you to keep writing YA?
I think it’s just that that period of life is so fraught. You’re trying to
figure out your place in the world, straddling the line between child and
adult. Everything is a first. Falling in and out of love, building and losing
friendships, preparing to leave the safety of your home and head out into the
world. There’s so much there to write about! And I love adding magic on top of
all that J
Last time we did Lightening Round Questions. This time we’re going to do a few
Would You Rather’s (Answer as many as you’d like)
Would you rather never be able to speak again or always have to say
everything that is on your mind? OMG too hard, impossible choice!
Would you rather be able to read or be able to read
minds (but be illiterate)? Read! I have zero
interest in reading minds. That seems like a great way to feel awful about
yourself and the world.
Would you rather be able to speak fluently every
language in the world or be the best in the world at something of your
choosing? Speak every language fluently. This
would be a dream come true.
Would you rather read only one book over and over
for the rest of your life or read as many as you want but never remember what
they’re about? Oof. Tough. Let’s say
read as many as I want but never remember, because then I could just read Harry
Potter over and over and over…
Would you rather only read the first page of a book
or the last page? First page.
Would you rather read 5 pages per day or 5 books
per week? Five books per week! I would feel
like a rockstar if I could do that.
Would you rather read only one genre forever or
never read the same genre more than once?
Never read the same genre more than once.
Would you rather be invisible or be able to read
minds? Invisible, since I’ve made my view
on mind reading clear ;)
Would you rather never use the internet again or
never watch TV again? Never watch TV. I need
the internet too much.
Would you rather have one wish granted today or
three granted in 10 years? Three in ten years.
I can be patient.
Thanks so much Amy for answering my questions! I can’t wait to read
THE JEWEL 3!
