Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
What a busy *April!* it has become for myself and my family – I haven’t been focusing on reading, I must admit, these past few weeks. There has been such a lot to get done – especially as I wanted to do whatever I could to help my Mum recover from her accident – which was three weeks ago this past Sunday.
Whilst at the same time, last week felt like a humdinger of a week simply due to have we had to stack our hours – wherein we were stuffing five hours of things to get done ahead of Mum’s double shifts! Oy. It did take its toll – this is why over the weekend, I focused more on cooking dishes in my new Instant Pot Rice & Grain cooker than I did sorting out where I left off with the books I was attempting to read! I just needed a bit of downtime – however, in regards to this blog tour directly, I had to shift a few things round how I am participating on the blog tour.
With everything going on lately, I had overlooked the fact the novel hadn’t yet arrived by Post – as I was originally meant to feature a book review on behalf of “A Whole New Me”. In lieu of having the book in hand to read – I’ve quickly taken a moment to put together a short & concise Author’s Q&A wherein I asked the author Ms Schuh a few questions I felt were pertinent to her story as well as a bit of a look behind her writerly style.
I am hoping you will enjoy getting this small preview about “A Whole New Me” whilst I await the book by post! I look forward to settling into the context of the story – as this is a New Adult novel and a Contemporary Romance all tied together! I rarely read New Adult – as the story truly has to speak to me before I’ll consider it – this one felt like a story I might find to surprise me. Let me know in the comments what your thoughts are and if you are a regular reader of New Adult Contemporary Romance!
Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful convo we shared!
A Whole New Me
by Adrianna Schuh
Source: Direct from Skye Book Tours
Tessa has something to prove and she wants to use Ricky to do it.
She's not surprised when he agrees to her friends with benefits plan, but she is surprised when it seems like Ricky wants more than she's willing to give.
Can she keep Ricky without giving him hope for something more?
Because Tessa won't let this be love.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 979-8631675926
Published by Self Published
on 28th March, 2020
Format: Trade Paperback
Available Formats:
Ebook releases 1st of May, 2020!
Trade Paperback happily already released this March!
Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #NewAdult
I love how you’ve rooted your own life’s history into the background of “A Whole New Me” – where did you see the story diverting off your personal history into its own path? What did you enjoy about the process of using a baseline of lived reality before moving into the story’s own passageway?
Schuh responds: The story definitely started to diverge from my personal story when Tessa chose to have a friends with benefits relationship with Ricky. That’s not something I’d ever do haha. But small parts of my own history are peppered in there!
I enjoyed using some of my own history, because it made starting the story easier. It was fun to remember things that happened in my past and maybe twist it into something that other people could relate to.
Which Romance authors and types of Romance (genres) did you find the most intriguing to get you jump started into the genre? What do you feel is the most enduring part of Romance and why Romance is a genre readers gravitate towards reading?
Schuh responds: I mostly read new adult contemporaries. Something about them just really gels with me. I read a lot of Tijan and Ilsa Madden-Mills while writing my book. They’ve written some of my favorite college set romance books.
I’ve always felt that romance is a genre where you really get to know and connect with characters. Since romance books are more character than plot focused (at least to me).
When it came to inserting the main themes into “A Whole New Me” (ie. self respect, true love, healthy relationships) what were you hoping to inspire the reader to notice about the transitions your characters were moving towards in the storyline?
Schuh responds: I wanted people to see that both characters grew and evolved on their own terms. They we’re making changes because they felt it was right for them, not to please each other. Tessa especially had to deal with her own demons before moving forward. She had to really love herself before letting someone else really love her. I think that’s such an important part of self discovery for everyone.
Do you consider “A Whole New Me” to be New Adult and if so what inspires you to write Romances for this audience who sometimes feels left behind as YA sort of took over their slot in literature?
Schuh responds: It’s definitely New Adult, because the characters or at least Tessa is just starting out at college. She’s a brand new adult starting out at the beginning of her life.
I like writing characters that are just finding their independence. Of course that can also be a theme in YA. But for me, I like to be able to incorporate sex into my stories because I’ve always felt that’s such an important part of writing a character.
I love YA, I still read a ton of it. But I often find the romance too tame for me. I need some heat.
When your not researching and writing stories what uplifts your spirit the most?
Schuh responds: My son and my husband for sure. There was a time when we thought we’d never get to have our baby boy. So getting to see my husband be a father just brings so much joy into my life.
Follow this Blog Tour:
This marks my first blog tour to host via Skye Book TOurs!
Stay tuned! I’ll be following this Q&A with a review!
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book cover for “A Whole New Me”, book synopsis, author photograph of Adrianna Schuh, author biography and the blog tour banners were all provided by Skye Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
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