“Adios to All The Drama” Contest, Plus A GCC Interview with Jennifer Echols

Just as the buds are hitting the trees and the pollen is stuffing up our noses, I’m springing forward (okay, bad pun) with a new Adios to All The Drama contest! Right now, I’m giving away one free copy of Adios as part of my Ten Days with Diana Rodriguez Wallach Tour on Bronze World’s blog. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on one of my Bronze World interviews. A winner will be selected, via random drawing, next Friday. Good luck and happy reading!

And now, please welcome fellow GCC author Jennifer Echols to the blog! Jennifer is the author of the Simon Pulse comedies The Boys Next Door, Major Crush, and The Ex Games and is celebrating the recent release of her new book, GOING TOO FAR through MTV Books.

As always, here’s a little bit about her book to get you hooked:

How far would you go? All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far…and almost doesn’t make it back.

John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won’t soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won’t be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge—and over…

Here’s what Jennifer had to say:

Q: In AMOR AND SUMMER SECRETS, Mariana discovers a hidden family secret. Are you a good secret keeper?

Jennifer: I am an excellent secret keeper, but it doesn’t do me any good, because I’m always the last to know.

Q: What is the favorite place you ever traveled to, and what was the coolest thing you saw/did there?

Jennifer: My favorite place in the world is Key West—no wonder my heroine Meg is dying to go there! While there I have seen something amazing: a perfectly calm ocean. You can hardly tell where the blue sky ends and the blue-green sea begins.

I absolutely love Key West. It’s one of my most favorite vacations ever. Sloppy Joe’s and Hemingway’s house, what more do you need?
Q: I often tell the story of how a psychic once predicted that I would go on to write children’s books. Have you ever visited a psychic?

Jennifer: I have never visited a psychic, but I would love to. Whether it was good or bad, that experience would HAVE to come out in a novel sooner or later!

Q: My character Mariana spends her summer in Puerto Rico connecting with her father’s heritage. Have you ever researched your family tree?

I am descended from the Howard family in England, who owned Howard Castle, where Brideshead Revisited was filmed http://www.miramax.com/brideshead-revisited.html). Katherine Howard was the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Clearly I am not directly descended from her, since she bore him no children and he had her beheaded. :(

Wow, your ancestor got the guillotine! That’s pretty cool (not for her, obviously).

Q: Where were you when you found out that your book was going to be published?

Jennifer: In July 2007, I attended a writers’ conference in Dallas. Here’s me at the ceremony where my first novel, MAJOR CRUSH, was awarded the National Readers Choice Award. Around the same time, the sale of GOING TOO FAR was announced! It was a very good day.
Check out the photo of the exact moment:



Thank you, Amanda! Now, everyone go out and buy books, lots and lots of books!