Hey there! I have a fantastic interview to share with you all today! It's with Brina Courtney, author of the new YA paranormal novel Reveal! She and her novel are on a blog tour and today it's stopping here on I'm A Book Shark. Please check out her novel as well as the interview and leave her some love, folks!
Brina Courtney - Reveal
Mickey: Welcome to the blog, Brina! So glad to have you. Please introduce yourself.
Brina: Hi Mickey! Thanks so much for having me! I'm Brina Courtney, a YA author. I'm also a teacher and a former beauty queen.
Mickey: You're currently on a blog tour for your novel, Reveal. Tell us about the novel and the tour so far!
Brina: Reveal is all about a high school senior named Shay who is looking for information about her missing father. She just also happens to have the gift to talk to ghosts.
Mickey: I'm not going to lie, I had to Google "cryptid." Haha! How exactly does play out in your novel?
Brina: Haha! Doesn't surprise me at all actually. Can't tell you how many friends of mine have been like, "What is it that you're writing about again?" And then the response, "Oh, that's kinda weird." And to be honest, it's really weird, cryptids can be any animal or parahuman that modern science has failed to accept. For example, the okapi was a cryptid before British scientists declared it an actual animal in 1901.
Mickey: Where did the idea for this YA novel? Have you always wanted to write?
Brina: I've been writing since I won a young writer's award in the fifth grade. One of my original characters, Mrs. Snickle, appears in this novel. I didn't ever think I would write a novel honestly, but once I started I couldn't stop. I already have two other WIPs, the third in the Cryptid Tales series and a cult novel. The idea for this book came to me through reading so many other books. I was looking for something else, I don't know, something different. And by writing this book I provided myself with just that.
Mickey: You also have Ignite, a Cryptid short story. Where does this fit in the series? How many books do you plan on making in this series?
Brina: Ignite features Jeremy, the child ghost who befriends Shay. It introduces us to their relationship. I know there will be at least five. Three shorts and two novels.
Mickey: I'm a huge fan of audio books. Do you have any plans to turn your book into an audio book? If you could pick the narrator, who would it be?
Brina: I haven't even thought about it. I don't have a great voice so definitely not me. Maybe Emma Watson, minus the British accent, since the book is set in Virgina.
Mickey: Do you have a favorite place to write? And how do you find time to do your writing? A job, a new husband and dogs are a lot to handle!
Brina: My yellow chair in my living room, or my couch in my den. I write a lot at night, my husband loves it. He can watch a lot of sports without me bothering him. LOL And my dogs, well, they require a bit more attention. I make sure to spend a little time with them every day, and then they go to sleep when it's dark. So let's put it this way, the sun goes down, I'm at the laptop.
Mickey: You say you're a chocoholic. Which is your favorite variety of chocolate?
Brina: Hershey's. I'm a minimalist.
Mickey: Which crime series is your top choice? Recommend one to me since I don't watch many but definitely would if I found the right one!
Brina: I adore Criminal Minds. It's totally sick and twisted, with a look into my favorite type of killers. Serial.
Mickey: Do your characters come from real experience in any way?
Brina: I would like to think of Shay as the kick ass version of myself. I would like to think that, doesn't mean it's totally true. Everyone else is entirely made up in my head. It's a crazy mixed up world in there.
Mickey: Which book do you wish you'd written or come up with first?
Brina: Twilight, so I could friends with Robert Pattinson, he seems like a dream.
Mickey: Thanks so much for being here today! Good luck with your blog tour! Any parting words?
Brina: Thank you so much for having me! I'll leave you with my favorite writing quote by Benjamin Franklin. "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
Pub Date: December 2011
Publisher: Brina Courtney
Format: ebook
Age Range: Young Adult
Shay Tafford is not normal. Being a cryptid is not normal. Seeing ghosts is not normal. Her father’s disappearance is not normal. Lucky for Shay, Hugh isn't normal either.
So when he enters her life through her dead best friend Shay knows he may be her only chance at a normal life. A life she is desperately searching for.
Mickey: Welcome to the blog, Brina! So glad to have you. Please introduce yourself.
Brina: Hi Mickey! Thanks so much for having me! I'm Brina Courtney, a YA author. I'm also a teacher and a former beauty queen.
Mickey: You're currently on a blog tour for your novel, Reveal. Tell us about the novel and the tour so far!
Brina: Reveal is all about a high school senior named Shay who is looking for information about her missing father. She just also happens to have the gift to talk to ghosts.
Mickey: I'm not going to lie, I had to Google "cryptid." Haha! How exactly does play out in your novel?
Brina: Haha! Doesn't surprise me at all actually. Can't tell you how many friends of mine have been like, "What is it that you're writing about again?" And then the response, "Oh, that's kinda weird." And to be honest, it's really weird, cryptids can be any animal or parahuman that modern science has failed to accept. For example, the okapi was a cryptid before British scientists declared it an actual animal in 1901.
Mickey: Where did the idea for this YA novel? Have you always wanted to write?
Brina: I've been writing since I won a young writer's award in the fifth grade. One of my original characters, Mrs. Snickle, appears in this novel. I didn't ever think I would write a novel honestly, but once I started I couldn't stop. I already have two other WIPs, the third in the Cryptid Tales series and a cult novel. The idea for this book came to me through reading so many other books. I was looking for something else, I don't know, something different. And by writing this book I provided myself with just that.
Mickey: You also have Ignite, a Cryptid short story. Where does this fit in the series? How many books do you plan on making in this series?
Brina: Ignite features Jeremy, the child ghost who befriends Shay. It introduces us to their relationship. I know there will be at least five. Three shorts and two novels.
Mickey: I'm a huge fan of audio books. Do you have any plans to turn your book into an audio book? If you could pick the narrator, who would it be?
Brina: I haven't even thought about it. I don't have a great voice so definitely not me. Maybe Emma Watson, minus the British accent, since the book is set in Virgina.
Mickey: Do you have a favorite place to write? And how do you find time to do your writing? A job, a new husband and dogs are a lot to handle!
Brina: My yellow chair in my living room, or my couch in my den. I write a lot at night, my husband loves it. He can watch a lot of sports without me bothering him. LOL And my dogs, well, they require a bit more attention. I make sure to spend a little time with them every day, and then they go to sleep when it's dark. So let's put it this way, the sun goes down, I'm at the laptop.
Mickey: You say you're a chocoholic. Which is your favorite variety of chocolate?
Brina: Hershey's. I'm a minimalist.
Mickey: Which crime series is your top choice? Recommend one to me since I don't watch many but definitely would if I found the right one!
Brina: I adore Criminal Minds. It's totally sick and twisted, with a look into my favorite type of killers. Serial.
Mickey: Do your characters come from real experience in any way?
Brina: I would like to think of Shay as the kick ass version of myself. I would like to think that, doesn't mean it's totally true. Everyone else is entirely made up in my head. It's a crazy mixed up world in there.
Mickey: Which book do you wish you'd written or come up with first?
Brina: Twilight, so I could friends with Robert Pattinson, he seems like a dream.
Mickey: Thanks so much for being here today! Good luck with your blog tour! Any parting words?
Brina: Thank you so much for having me! I'll leave you with my favorite writing quote by Benjamin Franklin. "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
Brina Courtney is a young adult author obsessed with chocolate, crime shows, and fantasy movies. She's spent the last few years as a beauty queen and elementary teacher. She lives in a small town in Pennsylvania with her husband and two very loud, small dogs.
Find Brina:
twitter | goodreads | blog | facebook
Check out The Kindle Book Review tomorrow for the next tour stop!
twitter | goodreads | blog | facebook
Check out The Kindle Book Review tomorrow for the next tour stop!
Great interview. I have added this book to my TRB list.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely leaves you hanging enough to think about investing money for the rest of the story. I think I know what's on my Christmas list... lol.
ReplyDeleteHyacinth
Have you seen your breakthrough