Author Interview and Giveaway: Chastity by R Rodriguez

In this post, you will find an interview with R Rodriguez and a giveaway for her second novel in the Eternal Beloved series.

Note:  You do not need to have read the first book in her series to enjoy the second; they are from different character's points of views and the stories do not build off of each other.

Interview with R Rodriguez

Q:  The story starts with Chastity's mother's funeral. If you had to pick some famous (or not famous) last words to be remembered by, what would you say?

A:  “I lived intensely and loved immensely.”
As long as I was loved in the world and I loved back, that’s all that matters to me.

Q:  As Chastity grew up, we found out that she was more of a tomboy than a girly-girl. She didn't play with dolls; instead, she climbed trees and played a lot outside. What was one of your favorite pastimes as a kid?

A:  I was just as restless. I liked to play outside a lot and do a lot of exploring. Roller skating year round, even in the freezing cold, was one of my favorite childhood activities. I did play with Barbie dolls too, though. I liked their fashion and furniture. I especially liked that they had a boyfriend. I’d spend hours setting up their home and making up stories for them. Then I’d record the dialogue between my dolls on a cassette recorder I had.

Q:  Chastity drives a cherry red Jetta which I'd think would be awesome to drive while in high school.  Do you have a dream car that you'd like to be seen driving in?

A:  If I was in high school, I would love to have a Jetta. That’s why I gave Chastity this fabulous car! Mini Coopers are also cute high school cars. As an adult, I would love to drive around in a black Mercedes Sedan. It’s such an elegant car.

Q:  If you had to pick an actor or a well-known star to represent Jared, who would you pick?

A:  Jared was actually Jared Leto circa his Jordan Catalano days in my head the whole time. Here’s the exact picture of how I saw him in my head.

Q:  Chastity takes a Spanish class in high school. Do you speak any other languages besides English?

A:  I am Puerto Rican, so I speak Spanish. I also speak some Italian. I need to practice so I can become more fluent, but I do read it well and understand it.

Q:  Chastity encounters various characters throughout the novel including Amelia, Mayor Stevenson, Gavin, Susie, Kyle, Sloan, Jared, and Christopher. If you could only use five words, how would you describe each character?

A:  Amelia - A mentally ill witch
      Mayor Stevenson - A mean politician without morals
      Gavin - A conceited jerk
      Susie - The spoiled evil half sister
      Kyle - A poor insecure outcast
      Sloan - A lost soul
      Jared - The surprise under the cover
      Christopher - Another politician without morals

Q:  What is your favorite movie and why?

A:  This is a hard one because I love many movies. My dad once owned a movie theater so I’ve been in love with movies since I was a little girl. I think my all- time favorite movie would have to be Titanic. It was such a moving and vivid take on the tragedy that it made me almost hyperventilate when I witnessed it on screen. Rose’s and Jack’s love story was also amazing. I also thought Avatar was extremely meaningful. I sense a theme here… They both had the same director. I especially enjoy movies made from books. I like to read the books first, of course, so I can compare the director’s vision with my own imagination.

Q:  Chastity obtains a degree in Music Theory. What was your degree in?

A:  I have a Master’s Degree in Education in the Teaching of English as a Second Language. I’m also a full time English teacher and tutor for the Puerto Rico Department of Education.

Q:  Jared has a pet bulldog named Tonka. I have a dog named Gizmo. Do you have any pets? What are their names?

A:  I do. I love dogs!!! I have a mixed breed named Cody.

Q:  Chastity's favorite song isThis is War by Thirty Seconds to Mars. What's your favorite song?

A:  My favorite song is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. I love Thirty Seconds to Mars’ music so I thought about it a lot during the writing of this novel. I had also just gone to their concert here in Puerto Rico when I was in the middle of writing it. I enjoy music very much. It inspires me during the writing of my novels. You can view a video playlist of the songs that inspired Chastity on you tube.

(manda-rae:  I love Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.  And the last song in the play list is one of my favorites:  Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado.)

Chastity Playlist

E-Book Giveaway

Congratulations goes to Heather at The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl!

Ms Rodriguez is giving away an e-book of Chastity to one of my lucky readers.  Click here to learn more and read my review.  Now onto the details:

• This giveaway is open internationally.
• Giveaway ends on Saturday, September 15.
• You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.  You can enter by doing one of the following:
• Free entry.  Just click enter to enter.
• Like R Rodriguez' Facebook page.  Click like and then enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chastity by R Rodriguez

Genre:  Adult Contemporary Romance with a Paranormal Spritz

Eternal Beloved Series, Book 2

R Rodriguez' website

Amazon | Smashwords | Goodreads

Description (taken from Goodreads):

Chastity Ann Chadwick is a self proclaimed teenage femme fatale who lives in the small sailing town of Seaport Harbor. She’s a boy eater who uses pleasure to numb the pain of her unfortunate circumstances. Little does she know, she’s on a certain path to self destruction when one of her romantic escapades gets out of hand. Life as she knows it will never be the same. Her only solace comes from an unanticipated liaison with the new mysterious guy in school. Her hopes are shattered when she realizes her newfound life is not what it seems. She will only find redemption by searching for her own truth.

First off, this series is a series that you can read in any order.  You do not have to read the first one before the second.  And personally, I enjoyed the second more than the first.  These books are filled with beautiful romance and bittersweet passions, and I came close to crying with this second one.

I can't really describe my favorite parts of this book without ruining it for you.  So let me start off with the setting and the people.  Chastity is in Seaport Harbor (a touristy town) with influential neighbors and a broken family.  While in high school, she's captain of the cheerleading squad and the queen bee, but she hasn't quite learned how to put an effort into making lasting friendships.  She's dating Gavin, the football quarterback while secretly longing for Sloan, Susie's boyfriend.  Did I mention that Susie is her worst enemy?  And then the mysterious new guy, Jared, shows up one day.  And we all want to know more about him, like how he fits into all of this.  Add a few dark family secrets, hurt, betrayal, and other angry emotions, and we got an interesting ride ahead of us.

In the beginning, this book is full of feeling like a contemporary romance.  We're going to live through Chastity's life.  Her mistakes are going to come out, and we're going to feel for her.  I didn't like Chastity initially because she was everything I wasn't in high school.  But boy did she grow on me!  And you really get to feel her human emotions throughout the book.  And there is a blossoming romance that is super beautiful.  But circumstances keep preventing this romance.

And then there's a moment in the book where everything you knew just burned up in flames.  We get a new twist, a new truth.  And it made me like the book even more.

I believe fans of contemporary reads would most likely enjoy this one.  If you like reading about drama, I definitely recommend this.  And I'd say pick this one up before the first in the series (because I liked this one more).

Thanks goes to R Rodriguez for providing me with a review copy.

Until I Die by Amy Plum

Genre:  YA Paranormal Romance

Revenant Trilogy, Book 2

Amy Plum's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Amy Plum's website):

Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

Hmm,  I'm mixed with this book.  I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to romance, I much more enjoy the pursuit instead of what happens once the couple's together.  Because once they're together, things can become slightly boring.  And while I would day the beginning of this book was slightly boring, the ending was a spectacularly event-filled ending that wowed me.

This is a second book in a series.  Kate and Vincent are together; so there's no romantic chase there.  If anything, we see their struggles as any paranormal/human romance would face.  And we delve deeper into Revenant lore, which is just so cool to learn about.  And then towards the ending, everything picked up immediately.  And then the ending claimed.  And I felt like I was at the edge of the cliff with someone ripping my heart out and tossing it over.

Even though I found this book predictable, I still have to say the ending made it for me.  And I have a prediction for the next book which is based on a technicality in this book (you'll have to message me if you want to hear it).  As far as recommendations go, I'd recommend this series.  Wait for the third and final book to come out, and read them back to back.  I'll be eagerly waiting to pick up the trilogy once the third and final one is out.

Challenges:  Sensational Seconds, YA Mythology, and Young Adult Reading Challenges

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly post hosted by Breaking the Spine, and it spotlights upcoming books that we as readers are anxiously awaiting...

Black City by Elizabeth Richards
Genre:  YA Paranormal Romance
Elizabeth Richards' website
Expected publication date:  November 13, 2012
Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Elizabeth Richards' website):

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable — they fall in love.

Bonded by a mysterious connection, that causes Ash's long dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught they'll be executed —but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

One word: vampires!  And that cover?  Holy crap!  It's gorgeous...

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

Genre:  YA Science Fiction

Glitch Series, Book 1

Heather Anastasiu's website

Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Description (taken from Heather Anastasiu's website):

Zoe lives in a world free of pain and war. Like all members of the Community, a small implanted chip protects her from the destructive emotions that destroyed the Old World. Until her hardware starts to glitch.

Zoe begins to develop her own thoughts and feelings, but nothing could be more dangerous in a place where malfunctions can get you killed. And she has another secret she must conceal at all costs: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.

As she struggles to keep her burgeoning powers hidden, she finds other glitchers with abilities like hers, and together they plot to escape. But the more she learns about beauty, joy, and love, the more Zoe has to lose if they fail. With danger lurking around every corner, she’ll have to decide just how much she’s willing to risk to be free.

Zoel's world is definitely different and weird.  I can't imagine being controlled by a computer chip.  Some sort of human-machine hybrid although you're not much of a machine, just controlled by one.  Kind of reminds me of Star Trek's Borg beings.  And then of course, there's a bit of paranormal in here.

Did this book work for me?  I'm not sure.  There were a couple of things that bothered me.  One, I wasn't too convinced of the romance in this book.  There's two lines that bothered the crap out of me initially.  In the beginning, Zoe says she'll never trust boy-interest who shall remain nameless.  And then later on when she confesses her love for him (after knowing him for about a day), she says she's always trusted him.  I guess it took a while for this romance to grow on me.  I did like it in the end.

Another thing that bothered me, the characters seem like little kids in grown bodies.  Granted, they've never felt emotion before, so what did I expect?  I don't know.  Acting like kids kind of bugged me.  But it means there's definite room for character development and growth in the book.  And Heather excelled with this.

Definitely a weird book for me.  But it does have great potential.  And it is a really good ending.  Sets it up nicely for the second book.

Quote I loved:

     "Fell in love?" I frowned.  "Love makes you fall?"
     ...
     "Love is like gravity?" I was still puzzling out the concept.  "It sounds violent."
          ~p 112

Thanks goes to St Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for my review copy.

Challenges:  Debut Author Challenge and Young Adult Reading Challenge