The time it was about the Renaissance

I've been lucky to get arcs of both Venom and Belladonna by Fiona Paul.  I'm going crazy from wanting book Starling, especially when Fiona tweets out little teasers about things...

Anyhoo. When I finished reading Belladonna, I DM'd Fiona, flailing all about the plot, swoons and ending. [Damn you, second books in a trilogy! *shakes fist*] Somehow, I got Fiona agree to take the time to do an interview. 

But, before we get to her answers, let's check out Belladonna.

In the second in the stunning Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca seems to have his own secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. She must save Luca, and that means finding the Book of the Eternal Rose—the only evidence that will prove he’s innocent.

So begins her journey to Florence, a city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose. And home to Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.

Can Cass trust her heart to lead her to the truth this time? Nothing is as it seems in this seductive thriller, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.


Sounds good, right?

1. Where did you get the idea for The Secrets of the Eternal Rose series?

 

The Eternal Rose books were developed in collaboration with Paper Lantern Lit. The development company heads, Lexa Hillyer and Lauren Oliver (yes, that Lauren Oliver), came to me with the idea for a murder mystery set in Renaissance Venice. I had recently traveled to Venice and am a major art history nerd so I was excited to work on something so glamorous and fun. Together we developed the initial concept into something more complex and sinister (with lots of kissing, of course). I know a lot of readers wanted to find out more about The Order of the Eternal Rose in Venom, and I did too, but all of my attempts to incorporate the Order (including an epilogue that was cut but might resurface as part of a blog tour someday) felt inorganic and forced. After finishing the draft, I realized that Venom is its own story and also the inciting incident for the rest of the trilogy, and I'm okay with that.

2. I love how Cass is so strong and sure of herself, until it comes to Falco. And I have some theories about Falco too.  How did they both develop as characters?

 

Sometimes I think that Falco comes from the parts of me that I like and Cass comes from the parts of me that I don't like. I definitely found Cass difficult to write at times. She can be such a follower, and I'm a big believer in strong female characters who blaze their own paths. However, Cass is a product of her environment and it's not fair to judge her based on present day. She's pretty tough for a Renaissance chick, and yet still maintains a sense of loyalty to her family that I find endearing. Cass continues to step it up in each of the books so that by the time we get to the end of book #3 she's really grown up, and I'm proud of her. Falco was pure bliss to write. I just let him say all of the cocky, sarcastic stuff that popped in my head and softened him over time as his feelings for Cass developed into something deeper than physical attraction.

3. Speaking of Falco, would you ever consider writing something from his POV? 
 

Paper Lantern Lit owns the rights to the characters so anything from Falco's POV would have to be with their blessing. I spent a lot of my formative years hanging out with guys and I definitely feel comfortable writing from a male POV. One of my contemporary novels that I'm not allowed to talk about yet is written from the POV of a slacker boy and I had a lot of fun with it. Of course I gave it to some slacker boy friends to critique and they pointed out a couple of issues, but for the most part they were impressed by my mastery of the Y-chromosome and its inner-workings ;)

4. Did you see the ending of the series right away?

 

OMG, no. I mean, obviously if you have an evil Order and a love triangle you are going to have to deal with said evil Order and resolve your triangle (at least in my world, you are. I am not a fan of the super-open 'hey reader, you fill in the blanks' ending) but I did not know who Cass would end up with or how one foofy-dress-wearing Renaissance girl and her friends could possibly face down a powerful secret society. But the beautiful thing is, now that it is all finished, I realize it could not have happened any other way. Everyone ends up exactly where they belong. Cass becomes the woman she's meant to become. All is right in the Renaissance Venice universe, for now anyway.

5. Will there be kissing in book 3?

 

I know there are all kinds of deep, insightful books out there that don't have kissing. I applaud these authors for tackling important issues, adding to the literary canon, and changing the world and whatnot. But dude, sometimes I get to change the world at my day job. At night, I write the stories I want to read and I want fun, sexy, exciting books with KISSING. If they happen to change the world too, then great. If not, I'm okay with that. Plus my Penguin editor is a total kiss-a-holic, maybe even worse than me. I sometimes joke that she has me on a makeout scene quota. So hellz yeah, there will be kissing :)

Speed [ish] round:

1. What's your go to guilty pleasure thing to eat?

 

I consume mad quantities of Fire Jolly Ranchers when I'm writing, but I wouldn't say I feel guilty about it. Maybe those Totino's party pizzas? Those pack an impressive 60% of the recommended daily allowance of both saturated fat and sodium in one pizza. As an RN, I should know better, but they're so tasty and convenient.

2. What are you reading right now?

 

I'm on a contemporary bender. I just finished The Spectactular Now by Tim Tharp and Uses For Boya by Erica Scheidt and I'm starting Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert. I also have Stay With Me by Paul Griffin queued up and I am salivating for Game by Barry Lyga.

3. Who are your favorite swoony boys?

 

Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road. Cole from the Shiver trilogy. Ash from Black City. Do these have to be book boys? There's always Iron Man or Logan from Veronica Mars or Mal from Firefly or Nathan Fillion in real life. Also, I swoon for Henry Rollins. Hopefully he won't hunt me down and kick my ass for saying that ;)

4. Are there any authors that you fangirl over?

My mom loves when I tell the story of how she invited my fave author from my high school days, Dean Koontz, to my Venom launch and he had to politely decline but he sent both of us autographed books. Then, of course, I had to write him and thank him for being totes awesome to my mom, and he wrote back again with the kindest words of writing encouragement. #1 NYT bestseller Dean Koontz had time for little old me, twice! Yeah, if I ever get rich I'm giving lots of money to golden retriever charities in honor of the Deanster. He rocks :) I have also sent embarrassing fangirl tweets to Libba Bray and Sarah Dessen and think (like most people) that JK Rowling is made of 100% awesome.

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Huge thanks to Fiona for taking the time to answer my questions and always answering my emails, regardless of what they're about.

Go find her on her website, Facebook page or Twitter! And definitely add all of her books on GoodReads!

Now.  In honor of Belladonna's book birthday, I've got one up for grabs.  Plus, some signed bookmarks!

Rules for the giveaway are listed under the "terms and conditions" on the Rafflecopter widget.

**Good Luck!!**

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time I was a host

So, I feel like we all know by now how I love Fiona Paul, yes? Well, did you know Fiona's name isn't really Fiona, but it's Paula? Once upon a time, the lovely and talented Paula asked to borrow my blog for a blog hop she had been tagged in.  And of course I said yes....

Check out the interview questions below and all of the information about Paula's awesome contemporary YA books that are coming out!!

Without further ado, heeeeeeeeere's Paula!!

 

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

 

The Next Big Thing blog hop is a chance for authors around the world to tell you what they’re working on. The author answers ten questions about their next book, and tags the person who first tagged them, plus two other authors.

I was tagged by the lovely Kristi Helvig. Read about her Next BigThing here.

Some of you guys know me as my historical YA pen name, but I’m working on getting the word out about my contemporary YA books written under my real name—Paula Stokes. So far, the lovely people at HarperTeen have bought a contemporary romance and a dark and twisty psychological thriller. Since my new blog is still under construction, I asked my awesome twitter-friend Stacee-e-e-e if I could take over her blog for just one day.

Here’s me wrestling a fake crocodile:

 

 Here’s me petting a real tiger:

 

As you can see, my life has been pretty fun so far.  And the fact that I'm here telling you about my 4th novel? Yeah, that's the stuff dreams are made of.

1. What is the title of your work in progress?

The Art of Lainey. Check it out on Goodreads.

2.Where did the idea come from for the book?

Heh. This is super-lame, but I’m going to tell you the truth. A couple years ago, while I was seeing this awesome guy, I had to have bilateral foot surgery. I didn’t expect him to come over and help me do laundry or anything, but I was kind of hoping he might at least want to watch a movie or two while I was trapped alone in my apartment for five weeks. Mysteriously, he vanished and wouldn’t even return my texts. Depressed from being stuck inside and feeling like complete crap, I, of course, decided I must have done something wrong. Cue a mad google search about how to win back the affection of that guy who left. I didn’t find any answers, but I did find about a million other people who were just as hurt and confused as I was. Add in a copy of The Art of War and the ambience of my favorite coffee shop and you’ve got the setting, characters, and conflict.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Young adult romantic comedy

4.Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Dude. Don’t laugh at me. Here’s what I recently realized—all of my male love interests turn into Taylor Lautner. Taylor with a mohawk.Taylor with a surfboard. Taylor with a glass eye and a couple of guns strapped to his body. I never even knew I liked him, but I guess I do. Saoirse Ronan would be great choice to play Lainey.

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of the book?

A popular girl gets strategic to win back her boyfriend, but ends up winning a whole lot more.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

My book is represented by my fabulous agent Jennifer Laughran, from the fabulous Andrea Brown Literary Agency. It will be published by HarperTeen in 2014.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About 3 months, and then another 3 months to revise.

8. What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?

I know it’s probably dangerous to compare my book to something as successful as Lola and the Boy Next Door, but I’m going to do it anyway, and here’s why: My agent read my MS and immediately compared it to Anna and the French Kiss. I hadn’t read any Steph Perkins and avoided doing so until after I turned in revisions and we went out on submission. Then I read Anna and Lola back-to-back and had a panic attack because there were so many similarities in voice, tone, and character. There was no way I was going to alter my voice, because, dude, I wrote 3 historicals in a ‘foreign’ voice and now I just gotta be me. But I did make revisions to plot and character elements because I didn’t want to feel like I had psychically plagiarized Steph Perkins.The collective unconscious…it’s a real thing.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

This question is best answered by the book’s dedication: To the city that raised me, the music that saved me, and the ones who got away.

10.What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book is set in a fictional suburb of St. Louis, yet multiple people have described the various settings as jaw-dropping. Yeah, we got game here, but a lot of people don’t realize it. Also, unlike the standard YA novel, Lainey has 2 parents who are married and both actually doing parent-type things. They were inspired by the parents from the movie Easy A and I really think they add to the story. I dunno guys, I just love this book. It doesn’t have five shocking twists and a bunch of death-defying action scenes, but it’s fun and has heart.It also has a guy that manages to be cool and desirable without acting like a douchebag.# Win. All my crit partners fell in love with him. If only he were real.

Speaking of crit partners, I’m tagging my beta friend Elizabeth Richards  and my new twitter friend Christianna Marks so look for their Next Big Thing post in the next week.

In the meantime, follow me on twitter @pstokesbooks and check me out as part of the YA Valentines.

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Now you see how awesome she is regardless if she's Fiona or Paula, right?  Make sure to pick up Venom if you haven't already... Oh, and FYI: Belladonna is just as fantastic.