A Conversation with Tiffany Truitt, Author of SEVEN WAYS TO LOSE YOUR HEART (with a release day excerpt and giveaway!)

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

Heck yeah! Thank you! I am super excited to be here today to talk about my first New Adult book.

 

What 5 things should readers know about you?

1. I think hot fries are a suitable meal for dinner.

1. I once spent ten days in China, and I didn’t end up in jail or having to visit an embassy.

1. I have taught middle school for ten years…which means, yes, I CAN do the running man.

1. I previously wrote a Young Adult dystopian series. Book 1 is called Chosen Ones.

1. I started off as a book blogger.

OMG, *I* taught middle school for ten years too! And am a book blogger. And have been known to eat french fries and ice cream (protein) for lunch. But not dinner…I don’t think. Were we perhaps seperated at birth, do you think?

 

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? 😉

Kennedy and Annabel….they are the ying to each other’s yang. I didn’t mean for that to sound as dirty as it did, but since it IS a New Adult book, I guess we can let it slide. Kennedy’s fun, loveable, a real risk taker. He’s a talented writer but doesn’t truly believe he has the skill to do anything with it. Annabel is all rules on the outside, but she has a wild side underneath. Torn apart by a tragic accident, these once best friends turned enemies need each other more than they know.

Are they stranded together? If so, Kennedy might need some sort of weapon to protect himself from Annabel. He has some MAJOR groveling to do. As for Annabel, she’d be good with a pair of running shoes. That way she can bolt when Kennedy starts to annoy her…which he often does.

LOL—I can’t wait to read their story after that!

 

Where did the inspiration for this book come from?

A good portion of the book takes place during a music festival. I was pretty much a mega nerd in high school, but something happened during my twenties, and I went a little bonkers. I attended quite a few music festivals, and had, well, let’s just say a really good time. This book is def inspired by my time there and the philosophy that you only get this one life, so live it.

“A really good time,” huh? Sounds like there might be more than one story in that inspiration!

 

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

I feel like I have been writing forever. I remember writing horror stories with my friends when I was a kid, and we would make short films. I had a 7th grade teacher who made every Friday Creative Writing Day. Like I said, writing has always been there.  My first attempt at a novel happened about seven years ago. I just thought…why not?

Why not, indeed! Creative writing day sounds fantastic 🙂

 

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

The invention of Netflix is hands down the most challenging part of being a writer. It’s like, hey, why not watch the entire Gilmore Girls series for the tenth time?! In all seriousness, sometimes writers are really human…like we feel sad or mad and just don’t feel like writing. Reminding yourself that it’s a job, and it takes effort can be harder than it sounds.

As for the best part…I still get a little bolt of joy when I see that e-mail saying the final proof is done. I made that. I put something in the world.

OMG, I know! I thought it was bad when CD box sets came out for TV shows. Netflix is much, much more dangerous. Total time suck…in a good/bad way.

 

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

Right now, I am working with a few authors on a super secret project. As it happens…it’s going to be WILD.

Oooh! Can’t wait!

 

What authors and/or books have inspired you?

I grew up reading the classics. I was the girl walking around with Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. I love the buildup between the love interests in those books. It was the slow burn.

I know exactly what you mean. Austen’s at least 50% of the reason I went for a degree in English.

 

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

This might sound like pandering, but I have been reading all things Entangled Publishing right now. Their New Adult books are SO good.

Nope—I totally agree! I just love so many of their books!

 

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

Seven days. Seven dares. Seven Ways to Lose Your Heart.

Perfect! That would do it for me 🙂

 

Author bio:

Tiffany Truitt lives with her Netflix and junk food in Virginia. She is a graduate from Longwood University with a Masters in Literature from Old Dominion University. Previously she has worked in the realm of Young Adult literature having written The Lost Souls Series, Because You Exist, and The Language of Silence. This is her first New Adult book.

Links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Seven Ways to Lose Your Heart
by Tiffany Truitt

Release Date: July 18, 2016

About the Book:

In the span of seven days, Annabel Lee will lose her heart.

Kennedy Harrison, as reckless with life as Annabel is obsessed with order, never could commit to anything—not to a person, not to a job, not to a path. But he’s got a history with Annabel, and for once Kennedy doesn’t want to run. Determined to spend time with her before she leaves for college, Kennedy dares her to join him on a road trip to a music festival.

And neither of them could ever say no to a dare.

But Annabel’s got a plan. She’ll complete seven dares in seven days—if Kennedy applies for one writing internship per dare. Because Kennedy needs to be pushed just as much as she does.

What follows is a dizzying week of music, shady hotels, comical dares, and a passion neither one knew existed. But when it ends, Annabel and Kennedy will realize the biggest dare of all might just be falling for each other.

 

Excerpt:

Maybe it’s the melodic beating of the rain against the tent, or the deceptive quiet of a music festival campsite in the early-morning hours, but I swear I’m creating a song to the inhaling and exhaling breaths of the girl lying next to me. The impossible and stubborn girl lying next to me. Interspersed between the verses of her song slithers in the harsh words from last night, words I know are entirely true.

I am a selfish ass, and lying next to me is the most selfless girl I’ve ever met. She did a heavy as fuck thing when she let me back in her life after what I did, and I couldn’t even do the one little thing she asked me to do. Why? I dig writing, and maybe I’m not entirely crappy at it. I just can’t bear to see her watch me fail.

The rain beats quietly on the tent, and it’s like a whole new song starts playing on the record player. I kiss her under her ear. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. I kiss her on the cheek. “I’m sorry,” I say again. I gently turn her, so she’s lying on her back. Her eyes look up at me, wet with unshed tears. I’m not sure what I’m sorry for. Continuously letting her down? Not being the man she deserves? “I’m sorry,” I repeat, kissing right underneath her eye.

“Me, too,” she says, her voice a bit hoarse from not being used in a while. She reaches up both of her hands and places them on my cheeks.

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” I say, looking down at her.

“Of course I do. Ninety percent of the time, I’m impossible to be with,” she says, her voice choked with emotion.

“That’s crap. One hundred percent of the time, I wouldn’t want to put up with anyone else,” I say before kissing those beautiful lips of hers.

Our kiss is slow. The kind of slow that could burn a man straight through.

 

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