Ontario Teen Book Fest Blog Tour – Interview with Jessica Love
It’s that time of year again! Yes, the annual Ontario Teen Book Fest is right around that corner. I am part of the blog tour and will be featuring an interview with author Jessica Love. If you live in the SoCal area, this is a super fun event that’s totally worth getting out to. Check out all of the details below as well as the interview with Jessica. Hope to see you there
What: The Ontario Teen Book Fest
When: Saturday March 25th , 9 am to 5 pm
Where: Colony High School 3850 E. Riverside Drive, Ontario, CA 91761
Notes:
This event is FREE and UNTICKETED
Please use hashtag #ontariotbf on social media
The event is sponsored by Once Upon A Time. They will have books available for purchase at the event. There will also be t-shirts and posters available for purchase as well. Their website: http://www.shoponceuponatime.com/
Interview with Jessica Love
I’m sure excited to be featuring Jessica Love on the blog today. Jessica is the author of the contemporary YA novel In Real Life and is also the co-author of Push Girl with Chelsie Hill. I hope you enjoy the interview and don’t forget to check out the other stops on the tour, which I’l list at the end of the post.
Hannah Cho and Nick Cooper have been best friends since 8th grade. They talk for hours on the phone, regularly shower each other with presents, and know everything there is to know about one another.
There’s just one problem: Hannah and Nick have never actually met.
Hannah has spent her entire life doing what she’s supposed to, but when her senior year spring break plans get ruined by a rule-breaker, she decides to break a rule or two herself. She impulsively decides to road trip to Las Vegas, her older sister and BFF in tow, to surprise Nick and finally declare her more-than-friend feelings for him.
Hannah’s surprise romantic gesture backfires when she gets to Vegas and finds out that Nick has been keeping some major secrets. Hannah knows the real Nick can’t be that different from the online Nick she knows and loves, but now she only has night in Sin City to figure out what her feelings for Nick really are, all while discovering how life can change when you break the rules every now and then.
What books were you favorite books as a kid (can be specific series/author or more general genre) and why?
I was obsessed with The Baby-Sitters Club, the Pen Pals series, Sweet Valley High, and the Taffy Sinclair/Fab Five books. Basically any series that featured a group of young girls doing fun and exciting things. I DEVOURED all of them.
Did you ever dream that one day you’d be an author yourself?
No! Never! I have always loved to write, but I didn’t really write fiction, and it never really occurred to me that it was a thing I could do. I ended up putting “write a novel” on a bucket list of sorts with other things like “run a marathon” and “go to Italy” (all of which I did), so…here I am.
What is your writing process like? Do you outline and plot or do you have another method to your madness?
Did something specific inspire the story behind “In Real Life?”
I was watching a bad reality show and it featured these two people who had a great friendship and possibly wanted more but had never met in person (which, of course, the reality show made happen). The show was ridiculous and the whole thing was clearly set up, but it sparked the idea in me for the book. I have a lot of important internet friendships, so I thought it would be fun to write a book about that. And I set it in Las Vegas because I love Vegas!
“In Real Life” is about two people who only know each other virtually meeting for the first time. I also read that you met your husband online. Was your first meeting anything at all like Hannah and Nick’s first meeting?
What is your favorite social media platform and why?
I love Instagram…mainly because I follow a ton of dogs and seeing pictures of them every day makes me very happy.
Finally, can you tell us a little bit about what you’re currently working on?
I’m working on a book set at a weekend music festival that has music (obviously), YouTube, and kissing.
Quick fire questions:
Nickname(s): Jess
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
Favorite snack food: Anything chocolate
Favorite karaoke song: “Since U Been Gone”
Star Trek or Star Wars: Star Trek
Cake or pie: Cake
Thanks, Jessica! Be sure to say hi to Jessica at the OTBF next month!
Find Jessica at http://www.jessicalove.net.
Jessica is a high school English teacher who lives in Southern California with her husband, her son, and their two tiny dogs. She’s working on her Master’s Degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Spalding University, and her big love is contemporary YA romance. Jessica spends all of her free money on concerts, constantly tries to prove that blondes have more fun, and is pretty much always on the internet.
Follow the Tour
March 15th:
Spotlight on Romina Russell – The Consummate Reader
Spotlight on E. Katherine Kottaras – Book You Very Much
March 16th:
Spotlight on Catherine Linka – What A Nerd Girl Says
Spotlight on BT Gottfred – My Fangirl Chronicles
March 17th:
Spotlight on Elana K Arnold – Read Now Sleep Later
Spotlight on Sara Elizabeth Santana – Starkiller Readers
March 18th:
Spotlight on Gretchen McNeil – Adventures of a Book Junkie
Spotlight on Charlotte Huang – A Traveling Book
March 19th:
Spotlight on KM Walton – Recently Acquired Obsessions
Spotlight on Jeff Garvin – Reading Over Sleeping
March 20th:
Spotlight on Jessica Brody – A Reader’s Antidote
Spotlight on Aditi Khorana – Read Now Sleep Later
March 21st:
Spotlight on Ann Stampler – Movies, Shows and Books
Spotlight on Nicole Maggi – My Fangirl Chronicles
March 22nd:
Spotlight on Julie Buxbaum – A Traveling Book
Spotlight on Cindy Pon – Book You Very Much
March 23rd:
Spotlight on Martina Boone – Movies, Shows and Books
Spotlight on Mary Weber – What A Nerd Girl Says
March 24th:
Spotlight on Jessica Love – Nite Lite Books
Spotlight on Lilliam Rivera – Starkiller Reads
Spotlight on Robin Reul – I Read What I Want