millencake

About The Great Call of China

Chinese-born Cece was adopted when she was two years old by her American parents. Living in Texas, she's bored of her ho-hum high school and dull job. So when she learns about the S.A.S.S. program to Xi'an, China, she jumps at the chance. She'll be able to learn about her passion—anthropology—and it will give her the opportunity to explore her roots. But when she arrives, she receives quite a culture shock. And the closer she comes to finding out about her birth parents, the more apprehensive she gets. Enter Will, the cute guy she first meets on the plane. He and Cece really connect during the program. But can he help her get accustomed to a culture she should already know about, or will she leave China without the answers she's been looking for?

 


Okay, now for the questions:

1) Which of your MC's characteristics or traits are most like yourself?

Cece can feel really awkward about her ethnic identity. Having been raised by Caucasian parents in a largely white neighborhood, she can convince herself she doesn't measure up to peers who have had more exposure to Chinese culture. I can identify in many ways. I'm a first generation ABC (American-Born-Chinese). Even though my parents taught me all they could about my heritage, that still doesn't take away the feeling that I should know more than I do. Going back to China can be intimidating (though exciting at the same time). Sometimes, I just feel like I'm an idiot when I'm there. Especially when six-year-olds are trying to talk to me and I can't understand it al. My vocabulary is pretty weak. As evidence, I just learned how to say "penguin" and "snow boots" a couple of months ago. Sad.

Also, like Cece, I can be really self-conscious around insanely cute guys. It took me forever to get over my husband. (That was for you, babe!)


2) What inspired you to want to write this particular story?

The S.A.S.S. books are a well-established series, so to some extent the major plot elements are determined for you. Most readers of S.A.S.S. know there’s usually a hot boy involved, a study abroad program, and some personal dilemma to battle. In the series concept letter I received, I found this line: “[A character] might travel to China with the hope of tracing her birth parents’ ancestral roots.” That’s all I needed to know what concept I should pitch.

3) In the event of a zombie war, what's the best single piece of advice you can give?

Make sure you have a bad-bun like Snoop with you.

Thanks so much Cynthea! 


If you'd like more information on the author or her book, you can go here:

About Winnie’s War

A debut novel set against the backdrop of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

Life in Winnie's sleepy town of Coward Creek, Texas, is just fine for her. Although her troubled mother's distant behavior has always worried Winnie, she's plenty busy caring for her younger sisters, going to school, playing chess with Mr. Levy, and avoiding her testy grandmother. Plus, her sweetheart Nolan is always there to make her smile when she's feeling low. But when the Spanish Influenza claims its first victim, lives are suddenly at stake, and Winnie has never felt so helpless. She must find a way to save the people she loves most, even if doing so means putting her own life at risk.

 


Okay, now for the questions:

Q: Which of your MC's characteristics or traits are most like yourself?

The fretting.

Q: What inspired you to want to write this particular story?

Winnie wouldn't stop talking so I had to listen.

Q: In the event of a zombie war, what's the best single piece of advice you can give?

About Waiting to Score

Zack Chase, new in town, gets a crash course in the dangerous, fast-paced lives of local teen athletes. A good-looking, book-loving hockey star, Zack’s also expected to be a womanizing, alcohol-abusing party animal, but it’s not who he is. As jealous, obnoxious team captain Mac hounds him, Zack falls for Goth-girl Jane and befriends her teammate brother, both with their own secrets. Tragedy strikes and affects them all in this true-to-life debut novel, giving readers an insight into the lives of high school students and athletes.


Okay, now for the questions:

Q: Which of your MC's characteristics or traits are most like yourself?

It's his mad hockey skills. Not. Actually my MC is very unlike me. Now the secondary characters, they have many similarites, I just can't say which ones or which similarities. People already think I'm weird, okay?

Q: What inspired you to want to write this particular story?

Oh. Hard questions make my brain hurt. I first got the character of Zack in my head, someone who wasn't what other people expected him to be. And then I put him in situations that forced him to figure out what he wanted. Ultimately it was inspired by the desire to show that not everyone is what or who they appear to be.

Q: In the event of a zombie war, what's the best single piece of advice you can give?

About The Season

Seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra Stafford doesn't fit into the world of Regency London — she's strong-willed, sharp-tongued, and she absolutely loathes dress fittings. Unfortunately, her mother has been waiting for years for Alex to be old enough to take part in the social whirlwind of a London Season so she can be married off to someone safe, respectable, wealthy, and almost certainly boring. But Alex is much more interested in adventure than romance.

Between sumptuous balls, lavish dinner parties and country weekends, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get entangled in her biggest scrape yet. When the Earl of Blackmoor is killed in a puzzling accident, Alex decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. It's a mystery brimming with espionage, murder, and suspicion. As she and Gavin grow closer, will Alex's heart be stolen in the process?

Q: Which of your MC's characteristics or traits are most like yourself?
Like Alex, I'd rather be doing ANYTHING than be at a dress fitting. And I'd rather hang with my BFFs than with anyone else.

Q: What inspired you to want to write this particular story?

A love of the romance genre, a connection with YA as a concept and an obsession with Regency England. When you have those three things in you, it’s hard to imagine writing any other book than THE SEASON.

Q: In the event of a zombie war, what's the best single piece of advice you can give?

About You Are So Undead to Me

Megan Berry's social life is so dead. Literally. Fifteen-year-old Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people. All Megan wants is to be normal--and go to homecoming. But someone in school is using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into flesh-eating Zombies, and it's looking like homecoming will turn out to be a very different kind of party--the bloody kind.


That sounds hilarious!  Okay, the questions:

Q: Which of your MC's characteristics or traits are most like yourself?

Her self-deprecating sense of humor and her over-thinking of EVERYTHING. I'm bad about thinking too much now, but I was even worse as a teenager. It was a wonder I ever took any kind of action, I was always so busy weighing the long term consequences, lol. 



Q: What inspired you to want to write this particular story?

I wanted to write something fun with a kick-ass heroine. Not much more complicated than that, lol.

Q: In the event of a zombie war, which will arrive in due time, what's the best single piece of advice you can give?

Run, and keep running! The shuffling zombies can't get you if you're hauling tail.



Thanks so much Stacey! 

If you'd like more information on Stacey or her book, you can go here:
http://staceyjay.com

And if you're already sure you want to buy and read it just based on the fact that it has zombies! then simply click here.