My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century Blog Tour!!

Hi everyone! Today kicks off the first day of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century blog tour! I am lucky to have Rachel Harris, the author of this AWESOME novel, here on the blog today for an interview! Before we get to the interview here's a quick blurb about the book and Rachel!

Blurb

On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze. 

Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. 

Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?

Release: Sept. 11, 2012 | Publisher: Entangled Publishing | Purchase: Amazon | BookDepository

Author Bio (Spotlight)

As a teen, Rachel Harris threw raging parties that shook her parents’ walls and created embarrassing fodder for future YA novels.

As an adult, she reads and writes obsessively, rehashes said embarrassing fodder, and dreams up characters who become her own grown up version of imaginary friends.

When she's not typing furiously or flipping pages in an enthralling romance, you can find her homeschooling her two beautiful princesses, hanging out with her amazing husband, or taking a hot bubble bath…next to a pile of chocolate.

MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY is her debut novel.  She did have her own fantabulous Sweet Sixteen in high school. Sadly, it wasn't televised.

http://www.rachelharriswrites.com | @RachelHarrisYA | facebook.com/RachelHarrisYA

Can you tell us a little about your novel, My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century?

I’d love to! My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century is about a modern-day girl who grew up with famous parents, finds herself constantly thrust in the spotlight, and absolutely hates attention. Her dad and stepmother-to-be want to throw her an extravagant, televised Sweet 16 party, which is so not Cat’s thing, like at all, but her smart dad bribes her with a trip to Florence, a place she’s always been fascinated with. When she’s there, she does something very un-Cat-like and steps into a mysterious gypsy tent…and ends up in Renaissance Italy, carting her main accessory, her backpack, stuffed with future items. It’s fun seeing this girl who strives to always be perfect and exude a certain level of confidence in public because of her upbringing be thrust into a situation where she can’t be perfect, she doesn’t know the rules, and makes mistakes left and right. And just when she thinks she’s getting the hang of things….well, let’s just say things gets interesting.


Where did you get the idea for this novel?

I’ve always imagined myself going to the past (I’m kind of a history buff), but whenever I do, I always picture myself as I am now, knowing what I know, going there. So I had just finished my first ever book (which is in submission now, fingers crossed), and was ready to start another novel, and had just finished reading The Season by Sarah MacLean. I absolutely loved it. Then I read an adult historical book by Vicky Dreiling (a local Houston RWA member who is my girl!) and totally fell in love with the idea of writing some kind of a historical…..but I wanted it to be how I always pictured it, seeing it through the eyes of a modern-day girl. Both those books that I loved were set in the Regency period, which I adore as well, but I wanted to be different so I started thinking about my favorite times in history, and I went to my long standing love affair with the Renaissance. Once I got the time, and I got the title kinda quickly after that, the rest just came together and the idea was born.


If you could be any character in My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century, who would you be and why?

Well, I just finished the sequel, A TALE OF TWO CENTURIES, told via Cat’s cousin Alessandra (this time a sixteenth-century girl comes to modern-day America), so I’ve gotten to live in both of their heads and had a blast. But to be honest, my favorite character in the series is Reyna, the gypsy. She is strong and smart and funny in her own way. And you never know where she’s coming from totally. I have a story for her brewing in the back of my mind, so I’m hopeful to one day get to explore her world, but yeah if I could actually BE any of them, I’d have to go with her. I mean, she’s magic. How cool is that?


What is your favorite part of the writing process?

I love love love love love love plotting. I interview my characters, I research settings and history, I choose my story soundtrack, I make my story collages with pictures to inspire me, I argue with myself. I love just creating this world and making sure all the little pieces are there and that I know it and the characters inside and out so when I sit down to write, I know where I’m going and who they are.


Do you plan on writing any other books in different genres?

My first book out on submission is a YA Contemporary Romance told via dual character POV, and my current work in progress is REARVIEW MIRROR, a YA Thriller coming out December 2013. That is definitely a challenge going from a more humorous series like Super Sweet (though both books are filed with emotion and character growth, too), to a more dark, angsty book. And next year, along with the three other YA titles I have brewing, I plan to write an adult contemporary romance, too.


What was your favorite book growing up and why?

Oh I loved series like Babysitters Club, Freshman Dorm, and Sweet Valley High, but as a kid my favorite was Little Women and I loved watching all the movie versions of it. Christian Bale being in the most recent obviously made it my favorite. But I loved all the different girls and I found myself identifying with all of them in different ways. That book makes me laugh, makes me cry, and makes me happy, filled with warm fuzzies. Any book that can do all those things instantly propels it to my all-time favorites list.


Are there any books you would recommend to fellow bloggers and readers out there?

WOW. I am a book lover. I read several books a week while I’m drafting, and when I have down time (not often), I read even more. I read YA and adult, and across the genres. And choosing a book or even a few to mention is like trying to pick a favorite child. Well, there are three books coming out soon that are must reads. My girl Tara Fuller’s book INBETWEEN is coming out in August and is beyond amazing, and there is Melissa West’s GRAVITY, which is not only awesome but just straight out cool, and Chloe Jacobs’s GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING, which is dark and beautiful and just delicious.


Last question..if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

In this time period? I love Italy and Greece and London, so I’ll go there any chance I get. But one place I haven’t been yet and really want to go is Romania. Oh, and Ireland. Both are settings for future books I have planned, and half the point in setting them there is so I can try and convince my husband we need a research trip LOL!
 

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