I am super excited to be part of the blog tour for Only Everything, Kieran Scott’s newest YA book.  I am a huge fan of Kieran Scott’s so hosting her on the blog is like a dream come true.  =)

Title: Only Everything (True Love #1)
Author: Kieran Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 336 Pages (May 6th, 2014)

High school romance is tough—even for a bona fide love goddess. Can Cupid succeed as a mortal matchmaker?

When Eros (aka Cupid) is expelled from Olympus for defying Zeus after falling in love with Orion, she is banished to what she believes to be hell. We call it New Jersey. If she ever wants to go back to the comforts of her old life, she will have to find love for three couples—without using her powers.

Eros, now calling herself True, immediately identifies her first project in Charlie and believes finding him love will be a piece of cake. Charlie is new at school and eager to break out of his old image of band geek, so it’s lucky for him when he falls in with the right crowd on his first day. But music is still his passion. That is, until he meets Katrina…

Katrina is floundering after the death of her father and takes refuge with a boy who, while not entirely supportive, will be there when she needs him, unlike her mother. Too bad True thinks any girl Charlie talks to is perfect for him. Can she get out of her own way and help Charlie and Katrina connect, or will she be stuck in New Jersey forever?

Describe Only Everything in 140 characters or less.

A teenage female Cupid is banished to earth & must match 3 couples w/o her powers to save the love of her life from the wrath of the Gods. (Love those abbreviations!)

You’re doing a lot of fun promotional things for Only Everything. Did you come up with the ideas for the postcards, the necklaces, etc? How do these types of promotions differ from things you’ve done with your other books?

The postcards and necklaces were my idea, yes. With the postcards, I was trying to figure out a way to make the book visible online before it came out, and I thought it would be nice to get readers involved—give them a chance to show their creativity. I think they’ve really sparked some excitement about the book. The necklaces seemed like a no-brainer, because there’s a necklace that plays a significant role in the book AND I happen to have a friend (author Katie Sise) who’s a jewelry designer. I figured, what girl doesn’t love free accessories? Katie did a lovely job with the necklaces and the people who win them will have a special connection to the book. Honestly, I’ve never done anything like this before. Aside from making author appearances and signing books, I’ve never done much promotion. I’m interested in finding new ways to reach my audience.

What is your favorite part of being a writer?

I love getting excited about a new idea. There’s always a moment when my heart catches and I realize how much I want to write this new thing I’ve come up with. After that, you can’t keep me away from my computer. The day-to-day work is a lot harder, but it helps to always remember that original spark of excitement. It’s kind of like falling in love.

Do you have any must-haves while you’re writing?

Coffee! I can’t get started without it. How sad is that? I also find that I’m a lot more productive on sunny days, and when I can have the windows open so that fresh air is moving through my office. Winter is not a good time for me. Spring and fall are the best. Especially fall. There’s something about that crisp, back-to-school scent in the air that makes me more productive. Also, if I really can’t get going, there are a few albums I listen to and, funnily enough, they’re from college and from when I first started writing. It’s almost like when I hear them my brain flips into a pure, creative mode. Two great ones for me are the original soundtrack from the TV show Felicity and Fields of Gold by Sting. Haim, The Veronicas and Sara Bareilles are the more recent stuff that gets my brain churning.

How did you come up with the idea for Only Everything?

Originally I wanted to write a straight-up contemporary romance series set in a small town in New Jersey. The idea was that in each book we’d meet a new couple, but that the couples from previous books would peripherally touch the current couple’s lives or relationships. My editor thought it needed more of a hook, so I brainstormed a bit about what kind of hook I could create without losing too much of what I wanted to do, and it just hit me. Cupid. Duh. It’s a romance, so Cupid is the perfect hook. I’ve always wanted to write a strong, female protagonist, so I decided to make Cupid a kind of teen Goddess and then I had to give her stakes, so I started reading up on Greek Mythology (in which Cupid was called Eros) to figure out a cool way to incorporate other characters. When I read about how Artemis was tricked into murdering her mortal boyfriend Orion with an arrow to the head, and then committed him to the stars as a constellation, I was hooked on that story. I thought, what if Eros were to bring him back and fall in love with him? It would be such a forbidden relationship—some Gods would resent her for stealing Artemis’s love, others would revile her for falling for a human. It made sense to me as a point of conflict, and helped me create this epic mission and love story. Once Zeus and Ares (the king and her father, respectively) find out about her and Orion, the stakes are huge for Eros. Zeus imprisons her love and sets this challenge for her—to match three couples without her powers in order to save him. In the end it was the best of both worlds, because I got to write a contemporary romance, but with one character who has this huge, mythological back-story and these incredible obstacles to overcome.

You’ve written a ton of books under different pen names. Have you ever been able to pick a favorite book? Or maybe a favorite character?

That’s always been a really hard question for me, because so many of my characters are near and dear to my heart for so many different reasons. I loved Annisa Gobrowski from I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader because she was so positive and plucky. I adored Ariana Osgood from Private and Privilege because she was so crazy and psychotic and therefore so much fun to write. Reed Brennan from Private is basically me in a really awful situation, and I was with her for so long that I still miss her. Jake Graydon from The He’s So/She’s So Trilogy was also a lot of fun because he was my polar opposite and I loved watching him mature and grow. Right now, True’s my girl because trying to get into her mind and heart was such a challenge, and she’s so fun and funny and headstrong. So no, I can’t pick a favorite, but I guess those are my top five.

Why YA?

I love this genre. I love how there’s so much drama to mine in the lives of teenagers, whether it’s in their relationships with their friends, their significant others, their parents, their siblings, their teachers, or the dozens of other people that matter in their lives. Everything is huge when you’re young and everything can seem to hinge on one moment—one decision—even if it’s something that seems small to adults. It’s an incredible time in life, and one I don’t mind losing myself in at my desk everyday. And don’t even get me started on how incredible the readers are. I can’t even express how amazing it is when someone comes up to me and tells me that reading my books made her love reading, or that they’ve read a certain book multiple times. It’s mind-blowing and humbling and life-affirming. What’s better than knowing your work changed somebody’s life? It’s incredible.

What’s next? The next book in this series?

Yes! The next book, Complete Nothing, hits stores in September and the third, Something True comes out in January. They’re all done and ready to go, so I’ve started working on ideas for my next book, but it’s all very top secret right now!

 

Kieran Scott is an author of young adult fiction including the upcoming TRUE LOVE TRILOGY (May 2014) and the HE’S SO/SHE’S SO TRILOGY, which includes SHE’S SO DEAD TO US, HE’S SO NOT WORTH IT and THIS IS SO NOT HAPPENING. Her other books include the Non-Blonde Cheelerader trilogy, Geek Magnet and Jingle Boy. She also writes Alloy Entertainment books under the pseudonym Kate Brian, including the SHADOWLANDS trilogy and the PRIVATE and PRIVILEGE series, MEGAN MEADE’S GUIDE TO THE MCGOWAN BOYS and THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER, among others. She grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey, attended Rutgers University, and now lives in River Vale, New Jersey with her husband and two sons.

Find Kieran Online:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY!!!

ONE winner will receive an signed copy of Only Everything and an Orion’s arrow necklace!

Rules and how to enter:

Fill out the Rafflecopter form.
You must be at least 13 years old to enter.
This giveaway is open to US and Canadian mailing addresses ONLY.
Giveaway ends: June 1, 2014

a Rafflecopter giveaway