A Book Addict's Bookshelves (Old): Blog Tour + Interview + Giveaway

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Only With You by Cecilia Gray
(The Jane Austen Academy Series #5)

Publication date: May 2014
Genres: Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Dive into the fabulous, fun lives of six Academy girls as their friendships are tested, torn and ultimately triumph…

Emma has it all – looks, money, and luck. It’s not like she keeps it all to herself – she’s totally committed to helping those less fortunate. AKA, everyone. She invites her heartbroken friend to help with a weekend charity event with an eye to matchmake, but when that friend turns her eye toward the guy Emma wants for herself, how will she choose between friendship and her own feelings?

* * *

The last thing that the girls at the elite Jane Austen Academy need is hot guys to flirt with. But over the summer the school has been sold, and like it or not, the guys are coming. And it’s about to turn the Academy—and the lives of its students—totally upside down…
The Jane Austen Academy series are modern retellings of Jane Austen classics set at a beachside California boarding school.

Goodreads

Purchase:

--B&N

--Amazon

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AUTHOR BIO:

Cecilia Gray lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she reads, writes and breaks for food. She also pens her biographies in the third person. Like this. As if to trick you into thinking someone else wrote it because she is important. Alas, this is not the case.

She’s rather enamored of being contacted by readers and hopes you’ll oblige.

Author Links:

When did you start writing?

I don't remember not writing, so I guess I've been writing for as long as I could write. I remember in first grade I wrote a book in crayon. I stapled together the pages for a spine and even illustrated it. I have no idea what the story was about, but there was a dinosaur, so at least I was into high-concept hooks.

What makes you want to write?

Probably a misguided need to have people pay attention to me.

Do you ever get writer's block and what do you do to get over it?

I watch a lot of television and take a lot of naps. Please don't take this as advice for how to get over writer's block. Because it's terrible advice.

Do you have a special way of going about writing?

I generally have a laptop and am sitting or lying down. That's about it.

What are your hobbies?

I love to read and plow through several books a week. I also love to watch television and movies and watch two dozen or so shows or movies a week, easily. I garden and cook and run and swim and dance and do archery. I also love learning foreign languages so I'm always picking up at least one. I'm way into road trips with my friends so every couple of months we pick up and go somewhere. Between all that and my day job, I have no idea how I find the time to write.

How did you choose the character names for Only with You?

Jane Austen chose them for me. Only with You is a retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, so she got to name the heroine (Emma) and the hero (Knightley…although I call him Knight in my version.)

Who is your favorite character in Only with You?

Emma! She's also my favorite Jane Austen heroine. I love a girl with a big ego.

Where did you get the idea for Only with You?

I'll have to give that credit to Jane Austen, too, since she wrote Emma.

What was your favourite part of writing Only with You?

I've been slowly redeeming Josh Wickham, the villain of my series who starts out as selfish, rakish actor. He doesn't get 100% redeemed but I love him by end of this book.

Do you have any works in progress?

Always You, the final book in The Jane Austen Academy series which is Anne's story.

What are you currently reading?

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. I'm trying (and failing) to savor it slowly.

What is your favorite book?

I have a soft spot for The Hunger Games, but I also love What I Saw and How I Lied, How We Live Now, Just As Long As We're Together, Harry Potter, Code Name Verity, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, When You Reach Me, Daughter of Smoke and Bone…I'm really bad at playing favorites.

Who is your favorite author?

Ahhhh, it's like Sophie's Choice. I can't even answer. I do find myself falling in love with every word Laini Taylor writes, but I also obsessively read almost every book by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jodi Picoult, Neil Gaiman, and Anne Tyler.

What is your favourite film?

Die Hard. Whew, at least that's easy.

What is your favourite TV show?

My favorite show on television right now is Justified, but I have a lot of favorite shows. Friday Night Lights. Buffy/Angel. Firefly. The Wire. Battlestar Galatica. The X-Files. Lost. Torchwood. Fringe. Deadwood. Freaks and Geeks. Game of Thrones. Sherlock. American Horror Story. Veronica Mars. I donated to the Kickstarter so I could go to the premiere. Kristen Bell took a selfie of the red carpet and I'm somewhere in that picture.

Quick-fire questions:

Chocolate or ice cream? Ice Cream

Paperback or ebook? Paperback at home, eBook on the road.

Dogs or cats? I’m allergic, otherwise I'd have both!

Go out or stay in? Go out, but after enough of that I'm into staying in.

Summer or winter? Winter (is coming!!!! I'm a huge Game of Thrones freak.)