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A Conversation with Suze Winegardner, Author of ANYA AND THE SHY GUY (Backstage Pass #4)

Don’t forget to check out my review of ANYA AND THE SHY GUY here!

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Thanks so much for agreeing to be with us today, Suze!

It’s absolutely a pleasure! I’m excited to be here!

 

What 5 things should readers know about you?

  • I’m British, and usually homesick!
  • I still haven’t entirely got the hang of American spelling, punctuation and figuring out if an idiom is American or English.
  • I am an absolute coffeeholic—seriously, any coffee… I don’t care if it’s instant, French Pressed, iced, hot, drip, anything. Sometimes I go to bed and I’m anxious to go to sleep so that I can get to my coffee in the morning. It’s really pretty sad! My current addiction is Coolbrew! coolbrew2
  • I write racy romance as well as YA novels—but I try to keep those two pen names apart for obvious reasons!
  • I love traveling—I’m stationed overseas right now and I have real ants in my pants to get out and see everything. (See? Is ants in your pants an American expression, or have I just confounded you with an English one?)

LOL—it’s American (or at least we know it too)—so no worries! 🙂

 

Tell us all about your main characters—who are they? What makes them tick? Most importantly, what one thing would they need to have with them if stranded on a desert isle? 😉

Matt loves his family and would do absolutely anything to keep them safe. All he’s been concentrating on is getting the lyrics and the steps right so he can take the place of his brother on the Seconds to Juliet world tour. That is, until Anya turned up on his doorstep with a notebook and an attitude.

Cam

Anya is a homeless teenager, whose only interest is finding some huge scoop on the band that she can sell to her editor for enough money to get off the streets. She’s a bit scared, a little bit fearless, and is falling on love with the one guy she shouldn’t be.

"FELICITY" Pictured: Amanda Foreman as Meghan Rotundi  Credit: The WB/Jeffrey Thurnher

I think all Matt would need on a desert island would be Anya, because she’s so resourceful and has been self-sufficient for a few years already. All Anya would need is her backpack, which basically holds her whole life. Of course, they would both see the benefits of being stranded on a desert isle together. In fact, that’s pretty much all they’d want! 😉

And that’s exactly how it should be!

 

Where did the inspiration for this book come from?

Twitter! A group of authors were fangirling over a boyband video and feeling a little embarrassed about it. After much discussion, they decided not only that they weren’t going to be ashamed of being boyband fans, but that they would write a series about one! They asked me to join them and in I jumped! That’s how the Backstage Pass series came to be. The authors each took one of the boyband members and wrote their love story! Mine is called ANYA AND THE SHY GUY. It was a labor of love because all of us were SO in love with our characters…it’s been slightly sad to let them go… (link to the series on Goodreads)

That’s a fantastic “how we got our idea” story! I love it!

 

How long have you been writing, and what (or who) inspired you to start?

I’ve been writing for close to 10 years. I wrote two YA novels—the first one was called Finding Antigone, and it was firmly set in the pre-Percy Jackson Greek mythology world. The second book was about an American girl stuck in the UK with all kinds of magical, inexplicable things going on! They are both what we authors affectionately refer to as sock-drawer books! Then I started writing romance, and ANYA AND THE SHY GUY is my first true YA romance novel. But who knows, those two sock-drawer books may make a heavily revised reappearance at some stage!

Mini-Moe #2 would definitely be interested in FINDING ANTIGONE, if you ever decide to dig it out from under those socks…

 

What do you like best about being a writer? What is the most challenging part?

My husband is active duty military, so the very best part is being able to work at home, which is currently overseas! The worst part is staring at the page wondering what you can write that isn’t total crap, all the way hearing the whistling of your deadline whooshing by. That’s the stressful part!

OMG, I am totally with you on that “most stressful” part. Definitely!

 

What are you working on right now? What can readers look for from you in the next year?

I’m finishing up a racy romance series (written under a pen name), after which I’ll only be a slave to the plot bunnies! I can’t wait to have a couple of months of deadline-freedom so I can decide what to write next!

Sounds great!

 

What are you currently reading? What are your thoughts about it so far?

I’m actually reading a series of books by J.R.Rain. He writes about paranormal in a very normal and relatable way. It’s funny too! I’m loving the Samantha Moon series and I’ve just started his Witches series. So strange, because I’ve not been into paranormal for a long time!

Hmmm…a new to me author—I’ll have to check him out!

 

If you had to “sell” this book in a single Tweet, what would you say?

“A boyband world tour and a nosy reporter. Business as usual unless you’re falling for the girl who can ruin your life…and wreck the band!”

Perfect!

Keep reading to find out more about Suze and her new book, the latest in the Backstage Pass series!

 

 

About Suze:

Suze Winegardner is an ex-pat Brit who quells her homesickness with Cadbury Flakes and Fray Bentos pies. She thinks her life is chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny. And if you get that reference, well, she already considers you kin.

 

Author Website: suzewinegardner.com

Author Blog:suzewinegardner.co/blog/

Author Twitter: @scwine

Author Facebook: posts on https://www.facebook.com/Backstagepassbooks

 

Anya and the Shy Guy
by Suze Winegardner
Release date: 7/14/15

 

About the book:

It’s always the quiet ones…

Anya Anderson doesn’t just need a big break, she needsany break. Living on the streets doesn’t leave a girl many options, so when she scores a gig reporting on the Seconds to Juliet tour, she jumps at the chance to earn enough money to sleep somewhere safe. And the paycheck will get bigger—and keep her off the streets for good—if she can dig up dirt on Will Fray, the irritatingly hot “shy guy” of the band.

Problem is, Will Fray isn’t who everyone thinks he is. In fact, he’s not Will at all. Matt, Will’s identical twin, is actually the guy onstage, reluctantly covering for his brother while he’s in rehab. To make matters worse, Matt’s being shadowed by a cute reporter with troubled eyes determined to get the scoop. On him. And he’s having trouble finding the willpower to keep his distance…

But if the secret gets out, it won’t just be his head on a platter—it’ll be the whole band’s.

This Entangled Teen Crush book contains steamy make out scenes, graphic language, and a love story so hot your copy may spontaneously burst into flames. You’ve been warned.

 
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