Mundie Moms

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Interview with STARCROSSED author Josephine Angelini

Today we have STARCROSSED author, Josephine Angelini stopping by to answer a few of our questions about her debut book. Josephine is also part of The Dark Days of Supernatural Tour, which kicked off yesterday. Go here to see which cities she'll be visiting.

Starcrossed
Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.





I loved your mythology and setting for STARCROSSED. What inspired you to choose Nantucket as your setting?
I knew I wanted to write about Massachusetts because that’s where I grew up, and I knew that I had to put Helen, my protagonist, near the Atlantic Ocean. For plot reasons, I also needed to isolate Helen and hide her away. It was almost too perfect. Nantucket is this gorgeous, lonely little rock at the edge of the continent. It’s barren looking, with epic glimpses of a very cranky ocean. So dramatic!

We're huge fans of Greek mythology. I liked the unique spin you gave your mythology. Was it easy for you to write it?
I’m a huge fan of Greek mythology, too! I especially love the Iliad and the Odyssey, so it was easy to spin it to a certain extent. This is a topic I love to think about and I find that when you love a topic, coming up with your own take on it is easier.

You have a great cast of characters and I found it hard falling for just one of them. Which character surprised you the most in terms of how much they grew or changed from your first draft to STARCROSSED being published?
I was so surprised by the reaction I got form other people for some of the characters—Hector most of all. I can’t tell you how many girls have singled out Hector as their favorite, and I just want to tell them “no! That boy is trouble! Run away!”

Not that anyone has ever listened to advice against falling for bad boys. But I try!

STARCROSSED has a great forbidden romance. What is one of your favorite YA books that also encounters a forbidden romance?
The Summoning series by Kelly Armstrong has a great forbidden love element, and it’s done in a non-traditional way. The bad boy isn’t gorgeous, or even bad, just misunderstood, which I loved.

Wait—here I am cheering for the bad boy. See what I mean? I don’t even take my own advice about staying away from them!

If you could spend the day with one author, who would you pick and why?
Mary Shelly. We’d talk about two of my favorite subjects-- monsters and boys. Or boy monsters, which would be even better. We’d hit the town, stay out late, and cause some trouble. Girl knew how to party, I hear. ;)

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Thank you for being with us today Josephine. To keep up with her latest writings, news and more, be sure to visit her website and follow her on twitter. You can also enter to win a copy of STARCROSSED, as part of our Dark Days prize pack giveaway here.

5 comments:

  1. Any fan of Mary Shelly is someone who's work I must check out! Not to mention, this book just sounds way too good to miss. Thanks for the excellent interview ladies!

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  2. I really enjoyed Starcrossed. Thanks for the interview. I enjoy following Josephine on twitter. She's really fun. It's nice to hear more about her here.

    StuckInBooks.com

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  3. Thanks for the interview, "mom"! <3

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  4. Great interview, I loved Derek from the summoning series as well!

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  5. Heather- Thank you and yes, you definitely need to pick it up. :)

    StuckInBooks- Thank you for your comments. I agree, I enjoy following her fun tweets as well.

    Josephine- LOL You are so welcome! Thank you for being with us!!!

    Maria- Thank you! I can't wait to read about Derek. I've heard a lot of talk about him.

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