Today I have an author interview for you! Jessica Burkhart’s Wild Hearts came out May 5th. Here’s more about the book:
Brie Carter’s father’s land development business has taken her family all over the world,
but as soon as they arrive at their new home in Lost Spring, Wyoming, the town turns out to protest. They don’t want a new hotel if the resident mustang population will be displaced or hurt as part of the deal. Then Brie meets Logan, a gorgeous local who has a special connection to the mustangs, and she is immediately drawn to him . . . and the horses. However, with Logan’s father leading the protests and Brie’s father refusing to budge, it’s clear that their parents are heading towards an all-out war. Can Brie and Logan find a way to save the mustangs and be together? Or is their love doomed from the start?This new title in the If Only line is the perfect summer read and proves that love flourishes in the wildest places!
Enjoy Wild Hearts and the other standalone titles in Bloomsbury’s contemporary If Only romance line centered around an impossible problem: you always want what you can’t have!
Author Interview:
1. After looking at your website I learned that you’ve been writing for a long time! What’s your favorite part about being a writer?
I love that I’m my own boss, first and foremost. I was never the kinda girl who dreamed about a 9-5 job working in an office. I’m a night owl and do my best work in the afternoons and evenings. I like to stay up until 2 or 3am and then sleep in until 10 or 11am. The thought of waking up early and going to a job that I wasn’t passionate about, like writing, isn’t what I want for myself.
2. Wild Hearts is your first YA novel but you’ve written for kids and tweens. How is writing YA different/the same?
It’s kind of funny, actually, because WILD HEARTS is the second book I ever wrote! I wrote it while TAKE THE REINS was on submission to publishing houses in April 2007. It took me about 6 weeks to write the complete first draft. While writing it, TAKE THE REINS sold and as I waited for my contracts, I edited WILD HEARTS then shelved it for years while I wrote Canterwood Crest.
Writing *this* particular book wasn’t too different than writing for tweens because Bloomsbury’s IF ONLY line (which WILD HEARTS is published under) is “clean teen.” So no sex, swearing, drinking, etc. The first draft of WILD HEARTS had all of those and more. 😀 I couldn’t really pinpoint a huge difference except for length of the manuscript. It was very much like writing tween books to me.
3. It’s clear from your bibliography that you’re a horse lover! Did you grow up around horses? What makes you want to write about them?
I’ve been in love with horses since before I could walk. My family lived in Greenbrier, Tennessee for a while when I was around 8 years old and there was a boarding stable directly behind my house. There was a huge pasture at the end of my backyard and on the first day in my new home, I ran up to the fence and reached an arm over it to pet this bay horse. Just as I was stretching out my arm, I heard this woman yell, “Nooo!” and suddenly I was flat on my back in the grass. The fence was an *electric* one. Oops! Hahaha. I never made that mistake again.
I planned to be a professional equestrian and it was the only thing I saw myself doing. But in second grade, I was diagnosed with scoliosis–curvature of the spine. I started off wearing a hard plastic back brace for an hour a day. As time went by that hour turned into me only taking the brace off to shower. It made riding really difficult and painful. Finally, my spine twisted into a bad “S” shape and pressed on my heart and lungs so I had trouble breathing. I had life-saving surgery at Shriners Hospital for Children in St. Louis, MO. Doctors inserted two 12-inch rods and a handful of screws into my back.
It was 2000 and I was thirteen at the time. I was told that I could never ride again and if I did and fell off the wrong way, I could dislodge my spinal “hardware.” I was beyond devastated. I threw out all my horse books and DVDs and ignored horses for six years. I was 19 when I was finally able to write Sasha’s story and that led me to be able to “ride” vicariously through my characters. Cheesy, but true!
4. Brie’s father’s job has meant that she’s traveled all over. Where would your dream vacation take you?
Brie traveled a lot–just like I did as a kid. I moved 13 times by the time I reached college, so I could relate to Brie. If I go anywhere, it would be somewhere tropical like the Caribbean! 🙂
5. The “If Only” line has a focus on contemporary romance. What are some of your favorite YA contemporary romance stories? (Novels, movies, whatever!!)
I LOVE and will forever be obsessed with the TWILIGHT saga. I also adore Becca Fitzpatrick’s HUSH, HUSH series, and Maggie Stiefvater’s SHIVER books. Fave romantic movies would be Titanic, Safe Haven, Notting Hill, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Moulin Rouge and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Thanks so much to Jessica for stopping by! Check out her website here.
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