Which Book Characters Have You Fallen For?

I like to break up my author guest posts and giveaways with the odd discussion post. Sometimes it's hard coming up with a topic, but today was an easy one.

Falling in love with book characters.

Have you ever done it?
Do you think it's important that you do?

Personally, I think you get so much more out of a book if you end up swooning (even just a little) over one of the characters. And what's even more important is that you go all mushy over the love story within the book.

If I go through the list of books I've read this year, the ones that jump out at me first are the ones where I fell in love with the characters and the relationships they were in.

The books that come to mind are:

The Greystone Series by Taylor Longford. The beauty of this series, for me, is that I ended up loving the entire family of gargoyles so it made it easy to devour the books. I have enjoyed each book more than the one before and I can't wait for Taylor's next release! Each love story was so easy to root for and I know the rest of the series will be the same.

The Hunting Lila Series by Sarah Alderson. I TOTALLY fell in love with Alex. It was hard not to fall for him! It was easy to imagine I was Lila and swoon :D I know Sarah has a few more stories planned with these two. It's going to be awesome!

The last book that comes to mind is Impossible by Komal Kant. I was smitten with Luca by the end of the book. He was such a great character and perfect for Ashton. I loved the scenes with the two of them together, they were hot and intense. The passion between those two was fantastic!

Have you read any books lately with great romances in them?
Who have you fallen for lately?

Friday Favourites ~ Habits/mannerisms

What do you do when you get nervous or anxious? Scratch your nose, bite your nails, jiggle your leg or fidget?

What does your brother or best friend do? I'm a bit people watcher and love to see how people work and move. Even when I'm watching reality tv, I've seen a lot of excessive blinking, knuckle cracking, eye rolling, drumming fingers, hair flicking etc...

When I create a character I love to come up with quirky habits or mannerisms that sets that character apart from others or from the norm. Half the world bites their nails so that turns into a bit of a cliche if you only use that one. But how about some of these: humming without being aware of it, eating the entire way around your sandwich first, tapping teeth with a finger nail, gesturing wildly with hands while talking, not standing on pavement cracks... I'm interested in hearing your ideas too!

Actually I also get really annoyed by a few habits too eg: chewing gum with mouth open (yuck).

As for me when I answer the phone I use a different voice, I glance at my watch ALL THE TIME and I sniff (I HATE this particular one but it's really hard to get rid of) ;-)

What are your habits/mannerisms?

Friday Favourites ~ Baddies

Imagine a story without a baddie. The girl and guy fall in love, nothing stands in their way, they live happily ever after. The end. BORING!

Books need a baddie or a bad situation to give the story tension, oomph and the plot. Tension works with conflict to raise the emotional level of the story to a boiling point. It forces the reader to become invested in the story.

Imagine a book written from the antagonist's POV, how interesting would that be? Of course the writer would have to work hard to get us invested in the story by liking the baddie to start with.

Do you prefer a bad situation or a bad person?
I've just been lucky enough to read a first draft of a friends next book and it had both a bad situation and a bad person which added to the tension triple-fold. It was awesome!!!

What books have you read recently that had awesome baddies?
Who is your favourite villain?
ZG

Love Triangles

Do you like reading a book where you have to guess which guy the heroine will end up with? AKA the love triangle?

Of course the modern love triangle is Bella and her werewolf and vampire. For me there was never any other choice for her but Edward but having Jake there, kept things interesting and kept us wondering. It adds to the tension, which is always a must for a good read.

Other stories just have the one guy and one girl with the question, will they or won't they?

Personally I think the love triangle breeds more tension and interest but at the same time I would hate that in my own life, having to choose between two guys. HARD.

What good love triangle books have you read recently? What made them a 'must read'.

By Zealous Girl

Interview with Eli from Forbidden Territory

Eli Connell is a very cool guy. He is Lexy's older brother and Mica's total heart throb. Creating him was an absolute pleasure. Everything about him seemed to appear in this neatly wrapped up package, but then as I wrote him I got to know him better.

I thought it would be cool to interview him today - so you guys could get to know him a little better too.

Hey Eli, welcome to YAlicious. Thanks for joining us today.
No problem.

So - we all know you are Lexy's older brother. Are you two close?
In age, we're just over two years apart so growing up we had our moments of all out war, but on the whole, I'd say we are very close. Lexy's awesome. She's fun to hang out with, intelligent, easy to talk to. She's a great sister.

And Mica? I guess you'd think of her as a sister too.
It's kind of hard not to. Those two seem joined at the hip. I've watched Mica grow up along side Lex and it's been great. She can be a real pain in the backside sometimes, but she can always make me laugh. She's one of the most entertaining people I know. She's... he blushes... yeah... she's great.

We hear you spent four months travelling around Africa. What prompted a trip like that and how did you find the experience?
I don't really want to go into details, but my last year of high school had some major low points. When I finally finished, I just wanted to get as far away from Te Anau as I could. My Dad and I don't always see eye-to-eye and I wanted to do something completely on my own. I know it sounds selfish, but I just wanted some time to think about me and what I wanted.

Africa was totally amazing. The best experience of my life. I met up with an exchange student I'd met a few years earlier and stayed with him for a few weeks. Then I went on safari, got to see the most amazing wild life and experience the culture of the place. I started in South Africa and travelled north a little. Four months is a decent amount of time, but definitely not long enough. I really want to head back again some day.

What do you plan on doing in between?
I'm looking for a job so I can save some money and travel again. I don't just want to see Africa, there's a whole world out there that needs exploring. He smiles. But I'll earn my way. I think a building apprenticeship is a good place to start. I've been asking around. Something might be in the pipeline.

No plans to study?
He groans. My Dad wants me to, but I don't see the point on spending a truck load of money when I'm not exactly sure what I want to study yet. There's plenty of time for that later. There are too many other things I want to do first.

Like geo-caching treasure hunts?
Yeah, not sure how keen I am on any more of those to be honest. He laughs. Who knows what the future holds. We might go hunting again one day. I know, in spite of everything, that Tom's still pretty keen. I wonder how hard it will be to convince the girls.

You four seem to make a good team. Do you hang out a lot together?
Well the girls and I grew up together, so I guess we spend a bunch of time hanging out by default. Tom seems like a pretty cool guy and Lexy is ga-ga over him, so I guess I will get to know him a whole lot better this year.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. I'm sure we're all looking forward to finding out exactly what happened on that geo-caching trip.
Bring on July 1st, right?


If you'd like to read interviews with the other main characters in Forbidden Territory, you can click the links below.

Lexy
Mica
Tom

Interview with Tom from Forbidden Territory

It's less than a month until Forbidden Territory is released! Eeekk. Today we're interviewing Tom (Thomas) Williams, an exchange student from Oxford, England. 

Welcome Tom. How are you enjoying New Zealand so far?
Hullo. Thanks for having me today. I am in love with New Zealand, the nature and the scenery are completely amazing and the people aren't too bad either! Living in a small town surrounded in bush, lakes and mountains is such a contrast to my life back in Oxford.

Do you miss England?
Will my family read this?
Not likely...
Cool. Then not at all.

Heh heh. So you live with Mica Latham's family. What's that like? 
How long have you got? It's like living in a sitcom! I didn't know they made families like this. Rebecca (Mica's mum) is a cuddly, caring, annoyingly lovely person who hugs me a little too often.

Mr Latham is a typical kiwi bloke and is kind enough to teach me some farm stuff and is incredibly patient when I mess up. Very very different to my father...

And Mica... well she's a whirlwind. She talks constantly, walks into my room without knocking, is up and down like an umbrella but I completely love her like a sister. This experience wouldn't be as cool without her.

In Forbidden Territory you run into some trouble in the bush. What was that like?
Trouble, that's one word for it. I admit it was like a horror movie at times, I was pretty terrified but lucky I was with Lexy. She is amazing when under pressure and in fact saves my life more than once. I owe her a lot. There were some pretty amazing times too, but I'll let you read the book to find out more about that.

Would that involve you and Lexy? 
Mmmmmmmm

... so are you in love with Lexy?
(long silence)... completely!

Awwww. 
Well thank's for your time, Tom. Leave a comment if you have more questions for Tom. We'll chat to him again soon. 

If you want to find out a little more about Mica and Lexy, you can check out Forbidden Territory on Goodreads, LIKE the Mica & Lexy Facebook Page and there is also a FREE SAMPLER available with the first few chapters of Forbidden Territory.

To read past interviews click on the following links:
Mica
Lexy

Thanks for stopping by!

The Quiet Hero

I was lucky enough to have a weekend away working on my next solo project - Betwixt. It was very cool to bury myself away with this story. I really like the characters I'm working with. Dale, in particular, is my favourite.

He's the hero of this story, but he doesn't meet that typical hero persona. He's not the tall, gorgeous guy that all girls fall for. If anything, most girls don't like him. I can't picture him running into battle with a sword and shield. He's definitely not the sporty type.

Don't get me wrong, he's capable, but other than long distance running, he really doesn't like doing PE. He'd rather bury himself in the basement of his house playing drums until his mother can't hack it anymore. Or he'd rather spend hours at his computer losing himself in a game or novel.

Dale's the kind of guy who isn't afraid to speak his mind, has no time for high school dramas and to most, he probably comes across as either shy or grumpy.

But to me, he is a true hero.

You see throughout this story, he puts the one girl that drives him insane, before himself. In my opinion that is the ultimate quality of a hero. Someone who puts other people's welfare above their own. They think of others first and they make sacrifices to help them, not caring what it costs.

Those are the heroes I fall in love with.

People in my story will probably never see Dale as a hero, but that's what he is. He just doesn't make a big song and dance about it :)

What do you think about the quiet heroes?
Have you read a book recently where you encountered one?

Image source: http://www.mbrsociety.org/2011/06/01/real-heroes

Interview with Mica from Forbidden Territory

Forbidden Territory is due out July 1st this year, so Brenda and I thought it would be fun to do some character interviews and share little tid-bits about their world before the book is launched. Don't worry - this will be spoiler free :)

Brenda interviewed Lexy a little while ago - here is the link: Lexy Interview.
And now it's my turn to interview Mica Latham. Now I thought I'd include a little model pic, so you can get an idea of what she looks like in my head. I couldn't find the perfect photo, but this was pretty close... this is how I imagine her hair anyway :)

Thanks for joining us, Mica.
No worries :)

So - let's start with some basics. 
How old are you and how long have you been living in Te Anau?
I'm 16. I'll be 17 soon though.
I've lived here since I was 3, so you know, forever.

Do you like it?
Yeah, it's okay. I mean it's pretty and everything. It can get a little boring and majorly claustrophobic. I guess it's lucky I like Lexy so much, huh. She grins. We hang out a lot. She keeps me sane.

What's she like?
Lex is great. She totally cracks me up, because she's my opposite. I mean her room is like, pristine - everything has a home and makes it there at the end of everyday. You can see the carpet and everything. She works really hard and is smart and good at school. She seems to like it, unlike moi. She totally knows what she wants out of life and isn't afraid to go for it.  Um - what else? Oh yeah - she's gorgeous and I'm only a little bit jealous of that. If she wasn't so sweet and unassuming about it, I'd probably hate her. She laughs. She's also really responsible and keeps me out of trouble unless my persuasive skills are on overdrive... then we get up to mischief.

Is there...?

Oh yeah - one other thing. She has the world's hottest brother, who also happens to be sweet and generous and strong and wonderful and everything I could ever possibly want in a guy.

I assume you're talking about Eli?
Grabbing her necklace, she fidgets with the carving and gives a blushing nod.

By the sounds of things you three had quite the adventure hiking over Easter.
Yeah, with Tom as well. Lexy's like totally in love with him, I'm sure she's told you. He's pretty cool actually - the closest thing I've ever had to a brother. I really love him. He's a sweetheart.

But yeah, hiking was... very adventurous. I mean, hell scary and not something I'm overly keen on repeating in a hurry, but in spite of all the crappy stuff that happened, some cool stuff happened too. So I'm still glad we went. I wouldn't change it.

I think we'll stop there for today, but I might ask you and Lexy back in a week or two for some quick fire questions.
Sounds like fun. I'll be there.

Thanks, Mica


If you want to find out a little more about Mica and Lexy, you can check out Forbidden Territory on Goodreads, LIKE the Mica & Lexy Facebook Page and there is also a FREE SAMPLER available with the first few chapters of Forbidden Territory.

Thanks so much for stopping by everyone :)

Forbidden Territory - first interview!

With the pending release of Forbidden Territory, we thought we'd bring in one of the main characters so you can get to know her a little bit. Meet Lexy Connell!

Hey Lexy, thanks for coming in today. Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself.
Hi. Well I'm from New Zealand, a little tiny town called Te Anau. I'm super excited as this is my first interview, although you don't know me yet, you soon will once you read about my and Mica's adventures later this year.

Melissa and Brenda have written our story in a book called 'Forbidden Territory'. And they have written EVERYTHING... Mica and I fighting like cats and dogs, about both of us falling in love and racing through the bush for our lives. I can't wait for you to read it.

So how old are you and tell us more about the 'love' bit of the book:
I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen, and I've met the most amazing guy in the world (you'll read all about him too). His name is Tom and he's an exchange student from England. He's not just gorgeous but he has the most awesomely cool accent. Don't you just love different accents?

Totally. So the book is about you and your best friend Mica. What's she like?
Mica is the most awesome chick in the world. She basically is my sister but my exact opposite, we are two halves of a whole but occasionally we start World War 3. She's a band geek, but in a totally cool way and is feisty and fiery just like her burnt orange curls. We've known each other since we were eight when my family moved in next door to hers. Mica doesn't have any brothers or sisters so her parents take on exchange students every year... enter Tom!

Do you have siblings?
Eli is my older brother. He just got home from Africa a few months ago, thank goodness as I was going mad being the only kid in the house. Mum and Dad can be a tad annoying.

What can you tell us about Forbidden Territory?
Heh heh, it's an epic adventure of the weekend we decided to geo-cache in Fiordland National Park. By we I mean, Mica, me, Tom and Eli. I get my first kiss (eeeeekk) and Mica gets more than she bargained for. We also stumble across trouble in a major way, we get separated and the action doesn't stop until we end up locked up. That's all I can say without giving away the story too much. I know you'll love it.

Sounds amazing. Okay one more question. What do you want to do when you leave school?
Easy. Train to be an architect.

Thanks for your time, Lexy. If anyone has any more questions for Lexy, leave a comment and we'll chat to her again soon.

Fancy A Cat Fight?

I'm reading a fantastic book at the moment - Dead Radiance by T. G. Ayer. The book is filled with so many great characters. I've fallen in love with some of them and I'm growing to dislike a couple... one in particular is Astrid. Man - she is one mean cow. I love it!

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'll never have to meet her in real life, but as I was reading last night, I thought about how much fun Ayer must have had creating this character. There is something so deliciously vicious about a mean female. I don't know what it is, but girls have a special talent for nastiness.

I really want to see Bryn (the heroine of Dead Radiance) put Astrid in her place. I want to relish that triumphant moment when good wins over evil. I think that's why writing a spiteful villain can be so satisfying, because you know, eventually they are going to "get there's"... and it is going to be sweet!

Have you come across any fantastic female characters lately? You know the ones you'd like to put into a room together and see what explosions issue forth?

Personally I'd love to see a face off between the likes of Astrid and... I don't know, the White Witch from Narnia. That'd be fun :)

Character Description

Do you like a character to be described in full details: ie: hair colour, eyes, height etc... or do you like it to be left to your imagination?

I've read books that have both extremes.
1. Pages are spent describing every detail, from the way the blonde hair curls, right down to the tiny gold flecks in her eyes or
2. Nothing is mentioned apart from a fleeting comment about perhaps long or short hair

I prefer something in between these extremes. Hair colour and style, perhaps an eye colour, but gradually as the story builds, not all in one paragraph like the author is making a list of the character's attributes. Without even being aware of it, my mind will make up a picture of this person and sometimes when I watch the movie of a favourite book I'll be trying to marry my mind's picture with the actor and it doesn't always work.

In Twilight, I had pictured Bella's father sooooo differently to 'Charlie' in the movie, that it took me a long time to see Billy Burke as Bella's dad.

What about you? Do you like lots of description? and are there any movies that a character looked completely different to what your imagination had conjured up?

Gemma's Teen Time Travel Guide

My name is Gemma Louise Hart and yes, I can travel through time. Freaky, I know.

Man, I can't believe I just told you that! My parents would kill me. I'm not supposed to tell anybody what I can do. It all goes back this ancient oath.

You see the first of my kind, the chosen seven... the electus. They appeared on the earth in like 100BC and were adopted by Quintus and Lucia. When the kids hit puberty, that's the first time it happened. It's like the body suddenly clicks into traveling mode or something. According to legend, Lucia died and when the kids found her they disintegrated to gold dust.

That's how it happens... we disintegrate. I know, gold dust sounds pretty cool and everything, but it's no picnic. It really hurts. You feel like your body is being torn apart and then stitched back together one particle at a time. We always recover quickly, but I can't help resenting the pain just a little.

So back to my story... the electus disappeared then reappeared moments later. Quintus went rushing into the woods where Lucia had been hurt and there she was, sitting like a stunned mullet, having just witnessed her seven children appear naked out of nowhere, fight off the wolf pack that was about to attack her and then evaporate into gold dust again.

Everything changed after that. The whole village was sworn to secrecy... and the electus finally understood what they were put on this earth to do. You see, we... time spirits, travel to save others. We rewrite history for them. I don't really have a say in the matter, my father decides, but I guess it's kinda cool. I like that we can help people. I just... I mean I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, my gifts are pretty amazing - I just never asked for them.

Dad makes us train everyday. We have to run fast, fight hard and never quit unless he says so. I guess that makes me pretty healthy, not to mention the fact my mother won't let me eat anything but fruit, meat and vegetables. I've only tasted chocolate once. It was so divine, but majorly outweighed by the guilt trip that followed.

And don't even get me started on the whole naked thing. I'd love to ask whoever designed us, "Would it have really been that hard to include clothing in the travel gig?" It's SO embarrassing! I always run to the bathroom when I feel the travel coming on, that way I can't get caught. I do always worry that I'm not going to make it one of these days and someone will see me. I often wonder what would happen if someone ever did. Would they freak out? They'd see me naked. That would freak ME out.

So, what else do you need to know? Oh yeah, when we're "across the line" time is different. One hour over there is only a minute in the real world. I don't know why it's set up that way, probably so normal humans don't wonder where we've gone to. A five-hour trip is just like a toilet stop in the real world, nothing suspicious about that.

So that's a brief guide to my life. I stick to myself mostly, because I never know when I'm going to be ripped from this time and space. It gets lonely sometimes, but I'd rather deal with that than risk telling people the truth. At least this loneliness is self-imposed.

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I have a guest post on Laura's Magic Day blog today. To see the rest of this article - go check it out :)