By the summer, Tatiana “Nicky” Roman must learn to trust Xander Day if she’s ever going to discover the origin of her violent hallucinations. But centuries of being repeatedly murdered by him on July 17th are a little hard to forgive.
Over four hundred years ago, Xander thought the holy man’s prophetic words were as crazy as his eyes—that Alexander and Tatiana were destined to be together forever. But Xander misunderstood the mystic. He knows now forever meant forever taking the other’s life. If they never break the bloody curse holding them prisoners of fate, there will be only one outcome: death.
Do you read reviews of your books? What do you do when you read a not-so- nice one?
I do read the reviews – I yearn for the reviews, good or bad. So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to not have any not-so-nice. While there may be one thing the reader didn’t like to prompt them to give it 3 stars instead of 5, there’s usually something they compliment or connect with. I appreciate all the reviews, good or bad, because they help me learn and grow as a writer and know what I should focus on more in the future.
How did you come up with the idea of Always Me?
Have you ever seen the movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zisou? Random question, I know, but in that movie there’s a scene between Bill Murray and Angelic Huston (they play husband and wife) and she tells him, “We are doomed to be together.” It hit a nerve with me and one day when my husband and I were threatening bodily harm to each other (our way of expressing our love) while bringing the groceries in I said that line to him and the story for Always Me hit me.
Describe your main character in six words.
Spoiled, stubborn, austere, kind, generous, haunted
What is your favorite book of all time that you can reread a hundred times, and it still feels like the first time?
Pride & Prejudice
What scene was your favorite to write?
When Nicky is pulled into another teacher’s class to recite a poem, because that had actually happened to me. I didn’t see a boy bleeding profusely or bump my head, but I was pulled from my own class and asked to read a poem for the other teacher’s class using a thick, twangy accent. It was a memorable experience.
What scene was the hardest for you to write?
Chapter 24, when Nicky discovers who she was. While I had to take some liberties with Nicky’s age and history to fit the story into a high school setting, what happens in that chapter is a true account of what happened in reality— now history. I did a lot of research for it and had read official accounts from the Bolshevik officers and guards that were there and just the writing the scenes leading up to it was hard, knowing that was what was coming next. It’s very gruesome and disturbing and that it had really happened made it that much harder to write.
Do you find it hard to kill off your characters?
No, not at all, haha! Obviously, I do it quite often. I try to stay as true to the story as possible, wherever the story decides to take me, even if that means the loss of characters I love.
Who is your literary hero?
Lewis Carroll. There’s so much mystery around him and I would probably be super creeped out by him if I were to ever meet him in person, but he and his writing has always intrigued me.
What are you working on now?
The third and final book in my Elves of Arèthane series.
Ice cream or Sorbet? Ice cream
Heels or flats? flats
Knives or sword? Sword!
Coffee or Tea? Coffee
Iced tea or hot tea? Iced and sweet!
Snow or rain? rain
Movies at home or Movie Theater? At home
Soda or Juice? soda
Twitter or Facebook? twitter
Actual book or eReader? Both
Actual book or Audiobook? Actual book
Spring or Summer? spring
Fall or winter? fall
Long Sleeves or Short Sleeves? short
Young Adult or New Adult? young
Vampires or Werewolves? Eh, neither, but I guess werewolves
Ghost or Zombies? ghosts
Action movies or Chick flicks? action
Horror movies or Mystery movies? mystery
Mountain views or Ocean views? mountain
Author Bio:
Kelly Riad is an American writer who graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas with a degree in journalism. Because's she's always been a lucky little brat, her life has taken her all over the world from the hot, humid streets of Hong Kong and the crowded markets of Cairo, to the cobbles of Vienna and the ruins of Rome from where she has shamelessly stolen ideas and material for her stories.
She self-published her first young adult novel, Always Me, in September 2011.
Other Novels include Return to Arèthane and Prince of Arèthane.
For more information on Kelly's young adult fiction, visit http://kellyriad.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the review- I hadn't heard of this one, and the premise sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for having me on your site!
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