Friday Night Alibi Author/Editor interview!

Hey folks! Today I have the privilege of not only welcoming the super talented Cassie Mae, but her editor Sue from Random House. I jumped at the opportunity to be part of this blog tour and I couldn't be more thrilled to be able to interview these ladies. Thanks for coming guys! Let's jump right into the questions -

1. Give us two truths and one lie of things that happened while writing/editing this book.

CASSIE: Inspiration for this book came from a horrifying experience of yours truly, which is the first scene I wrote.

I wrote most of this book in the bathroom, in between morning sickness attacks.

Chase was originally named Benjamin, but that was too long to type, so I changed it.

SUE: All Flirt digital books are electronically edited, so at the very end of the book I did something I never, ever do . . . I accepted track changes – egads! Fortunately you can switch those suckers back!

As I read FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI my mind kept on referring to Chase as Chaz, no idea where that came from.

After I read the pool scene I kept on wondering if people have ever really ‘blown bubbles’ in a swimming pool *wink*

2. John Green tells you he wants you to ghost write/edit his next book. What's it about?

CASSIE: First, I’d pass out or pinch myself. Then I’d make sure he had the right person. Then I’d write about Aquaman and The Little Mermaid falling in love, and call it THE FAULT IN OUR FINS.

SUE: And, I’d edit ‘said’ book changing the setting to a dystopian time-period (come on John, look at what it did for Suzanne Collins).  Our hero will need to be able to live on land but be quick on his feet, a Justin Bieber look alike (he’s a snappy dancer) and our heroine will need feet to keep up with the game!  The title now becomes, The Fault of our Foes (or Toes?  You decide).

  

3. Are there going to be orange and licorice scented scratch & sniff stickers available with the Friday Night Alibi cover printed on them? If not, why? (Admit it, it's a good idea)

CASSIE: There should be. I say we bring that up to the marketing team. I can just see a whole bunch of people scratching Chase’s bare chest and smelling it. :)

SUE: Dang – that’s a good idea!  We’ll make some virtual ones, since this is an eBook and all . . . .

4. I'll throw you guys one last and semi-serious question. What is your favorite part of the book, and can you share a quote?

CASSIE: Oh my gosh, I have no idea. My favorite part changes all the time. Hmm… let’s see.

I have a soft spot for when Kelli describes all her kisses in terms of ice cream flavors. I’ll just share one of the paragraphs.

Then there was Made with Snickers night, when we discovered where we’re both ticklish. I grabbed his knee to prop myself up, but apparently it tickled so much he moved it and I ended up face-first in his crotch. Yes, it was awkward for about three seconds, but I quickly turned it into a tickle/kissing fight. Tickle, kiss, tickle, kiss. It was the most fun make-out fest ever! But next time, I’m making sure I don’t drink a can of Coke beforehand.

SUE: Oh wow that is tough since I really love the whole thing I tell you J  Really . . .  ok, *untwist arm*, here’s my uber favorite part – Kelli was sick with a cold and Chase/Moron comes over to be with her – mind you up until this point in the story Kelli is still waffling with the idea of whether or not she wanted him as a friend:

Tap, tap, tap.

What the . . . ?

I peek over my comforter, to the source of the noise—my balcony. Moron stands there with a grocery bag crooked over each arm and a brown paper sack in his teeth. He taps the glass with his knuckle again.

Adjusting my sports bra and top, I crawl out of bed and open the balcony door, but block his way from entering.

“I come in peace,” he says through the paper sack.

“Go away now, or you’ll leave in pieces,” I choke out. I know I don’t want to be alone, but after the whole thing with Alex, Sadie, and Layla . . . not to mention my parents . . . I’m not in the mood for any more crap.

He pulls the bag from his mouth, being supercareful with it. “Ah, even sick as a dog, you still have your wit.”

“What are you doing here?” I sigh, rubbing my arms. Being out of my bed makes the temperature outside feel like below zero, even though I’m pretty sure it’s like maybe seventy. Moron isn’t even wearing his normal jacket.

“I hop a fence, scale a tree, and climb over that railing, all with my hands full of stuff for you. And you won’t let me in.”

“For me?” My eyes flick to all the bags.

He laughs. “Yeah. My Friday Night Girl is sick, and her parents are out of town. I’ve brought you things to cure it.”

See ??? – romantic, *sigh*

Love it! You ladies are are awesome :)

More about Friday Night Alibi:

In the wealthy town of Sundale, Kelli Pinkins has hatched the perfect plan to capitalize on her sweet reputation. For a generous fee, she will be every trust-fund baby’s dream: a Friday-night alibi, the “girlfriend” or “BFF” that parents dream about. With college approaching in the fall, Kelli’s services are in demand more than ever, which means that her social life is nonexistent. But Kelli is A-okay with that. She’s raking in cash for school. Besides, relationships are tricky, and sometimes very messy. She’d rather be at home on Xbox LIVE, anyway. Then the unexpected happens: She meets college stud Chase Maroney.

Chase isn’t like the preppy, privileged guys Kelli usually meets in Sundale. For starters, he’s twentysomething, always wears black, and he shoots back one-liners as fast as she can dish them out. But Kelli’s attempts to drive Chase away falter when she realizes that he treats her like he really knows her, like he cares about knowing her. When Kelli finally gives in to the delicious kiss she’s been fighting for so long, she faces a tough decision: make Chase a real-life boyfriend and risk her heart . . . or keep her clients and lose her first true love.



My review:

Cassie Mae has a fun fresh voice that's flirty, romantic, and awkward in the most adorable way. The characters are so real to life I wanted to hang out with them for a lot longer. The plot had me alternating between laughing, crying, and cringing just enough to make me turn the page. If you're fan of romance, this is one book you won't want to put down.

Order it today!

Cassie Mae is a nerd to the core from Utah, who likes to write about other nerds who find love. She’s the author of the Amazon Bestseller REASONS I FELL FOR THE FUNNY FAT FRIEND, and is the debut author for the Random House FLIRT line with her New Adult novels FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI and SWITCHED. She also has a three book deal with Swoon Romance Publishing, including her book HOW TO DATE A NERD. She spends time with her angel children and perfect husband who fan her and feed her grapes while she clacks away on the keyboard. Then she wakes up from that dream world and manages to get a few words on the computer while the house explodes around her. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with the youth in her community as a volleyball and basketball coach, or searching the house desperately for chocolate.

Oh look, a giveaway! (shh, don't tell Cassie I almost forgot.) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Like a Virgin, Getting to Know You Bloghop!

First off, a huge thanks goes to Kristina Perez and Rhiann Wynn-Nolet for putting this together. You guys rock!! 

1. How do you remember your first kiss?

This is super embarrassing, but aren't all first kisses like really awkward and you hate the opposite party forever after? No. Okay, it's just me then.

There was this kid in my neighborhood who was a major player. Even though he had a girlfriend he totally kept making moves on me. We would hang out everyday, and since he was popular and I was not (I think I was 13 or 14 can't remember which) I thought if I kissed him he would dump his girlfriend and I would somehow become head of the cheerleading team.

Not the case.

Anyway. We were sitting on my washer and dryer in the dark when he asked to kiss me. It was this very quick peck on the lips which I told the whole school about. Afterwards I was ostracized further into my nerd hole. I got some new friends and realized being popular didn't matter after that. I don't think I've told anyone this story, so you guys should feel privileged.

2.What was your first favorite love song?

Haha, I can't really think of my first favorite love song, but the first song I really loved was Alanis Morset's 'Ironic'. I was an angsty teen :) 

3. What’s the first thing you do when you begin writing for the day?

Log on to iWrite. Love my peeps there. They keep me motivated :)

4.Who’s the first writer who truly inspired you to become a writer?

Stephanie Meyer. I loved Twilight when I first read it and was astounded that she was a stay-at-home mom like me. I thought if she could do it, I could do it.

5. Did the final revision of your first book have the same first chapter it started with?

Yes, but that chapter has drastically changed!

6. For your first book, which came first: major characters, plot or setting?

My first book that I attempted (never finished) I just had this dream of a guy crashing into a hidden house in the woods and I don't why that struck me so much, but I felt like writing a book about it. It was really bad.

7. What’s the first word you want to roll off the tip of someone’s tongue when they think of your writing?

Funny. Hopefully that's the case!

I want to hear about everyone else's firsts! Join the bloghop below!

*Update - the linky list isn't working right now, but I'm on it. Go here if you want to join.

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The Thing About Following Your Dreams

Monday was low day for me. I'm not going to go into the details of everything that happened, but I basically spent the day telling myself that I would never be good enough to go anywhere in this business and that I shouldn't even pursue publishing because, what's the point?

My husband called me toward the end of the day, and even though I didn't say anything, he knew something was wrong. I broke down crying.

I had a reason for the cry, it was a stupid reason (no, it wasn't a rejection) and I knew it was stupid. Still, I felt compelled to fade out of the writing community and forget about publishing.

I mean, I like to write, so I should just do it for myself and not worry about putting my work out there. Putting work out there isn't the reason I write, so why do it?

When my husband came home, he told me to read this book called QUITTER. I didn't want to. I've been putting the book off because my husband read excerpts to me and I felt like I was already doing everything John Acuff mentions about following dreams.

A few hours later, after I had a good mope (which I'm excellent at), I picked up the book. Then I read this:

"The soundtrack we play in our minds is that our gift is nothing. Our dream really isn't that meaningful. It's just a bit of gossamer we play with sometimes. Don't think twice about it... if you admit that there is a chance that you are good, perhaps even great at something, you should feel a little uncomfortable. Because if your gift is nothing, that means it is something. And a gift that is something is always a little terrifying..."

That hit me in the gut. I'm terrified of putting my stuff out there. Not because I think people will hate it--hate is a given. I'm terrified because I'm afraid people won't like it enough.

The most terrifying thing about chasing a dream is that I want it. I want to be Stephanie Perkins, and Veronica Roth and Suzanne Collins, but I'm not there yet. I'm not even close, and that holds me back.

But something snapped in me Monday night. Reading QUITTER brought something to my attention. Dreams are going to be that way. So I'm not there yet. It doesn't mean I won't ever get there, it just means it'll take more time and more work

I'm going to admit the scariest thing in the world--I might be good at writing. If that's a truth (albeit an extremely hard one to say). Then that means I have to do something about it. If I hide, then that's the equivalent of me saying "I have this piece of gold in my hand, so I'm just going to  make sure no one ever sees it."

No. I need to take that gold and make it into something. As freaky as that might be, it's the reason I'm here.

That's the thing about dreams, if you don't use them, then you're ruining your opportunity to become something above average. And that is a life wasted.

IWSG: Distractions

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers support group, hosted by the amazing Alex J. Cavanaugh!

Happy Independence Day tomorrow for those of you who celebrate :)

Onto the post!

Today is not so much about being insecure as it is about being distracted. Here's a prime example: Just now, when I wrote the first sentence in this paragraph I decided it was urgent to eat a graham cracker. So I got up from my chair, opened a new package of crackers, noticed the top one was broken had to open the package more so that I could get out all the pieces. Then I realized the irony of what I was doing and sat back down to write this post.

Yeah, I think I would be a little more productive if I just kept my hands on the keyboard and stopped worrying about graham crackers that will still be there in ten minutes when I finish writing.

If only graham crackers were the worst of my problems though. Oh no, Facebook and YouTube are HUGE distractions in my life. Some days I go to YouTube with the intent to look up a song or something and end up spending a whole heck of a lot of time watching the videos that YouTube says I might like. And you know what? I do like them, that's why I didn't leave. That's also why I forgot I went there.

Basically, what it boils down to is, I would've written like 5 books already this year if I wasn't so.... Oh man, does that say Disney and Boy Band? I must watch.


What distracts you?