Title: ARROWHEART
Author: Rebecca Sky
Pub. Date: June 14, 2018
Publisher: Hodder
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 384
Kiss the
boys and make them cry...
The gods are gone.
The people have forgotten
them.
But sixteen-year-old Rachel
Patel can't forget - the gods control her life, or more specifically, her love
life.
Being a Hedoness, one of a strong group of women descended from Greek God Eros, makes true love impossible for Rachel. She wields the power of that magical golden arrow, and with it, the promise to take the will of any boy she kisses. But the last thing Rachel wants is to force someone to love her . . .
When seventeen-year-old Benjamin Blake's disappearance links back to the Hedonesses, Rachel's world collides with his, and her biggest fear becomes a terrifying reality. She's falling for him - a messy, magnetic, arrow-over-feet type of fall.
Rachel distances herself, struggling to resist the growing attraction, but when he gives up his dream to help her evade arrest, distance becomes an insurmountable task. With the police hot on their trail, Rachel soon realizes there are darker forces hunting them - a group of mortals recruited by the gods who will stop at nothing to preserve the power of the Hedonesses - not to mention Eros himself, who is desperate to reverse the curse . . .
Rachel must learn to do what no Hedoness has done before - to resist her gift - or she'll turn the person she's grown to love into a shadow of himself ... for ever.
Welcome Rebecca! So excited for your interview!
Hi everyone! *waves*
I’m stoked to be here and share some of my
weirdness, dreams and most importantly pet photos with you. I’m Rebecca Sky,
the author of ARROWHEART, which is about the strong female descendants of Greek
God Eros who have the power to take the will of any boy they kiss…dun dun dun…
I hope you enjoy this interview (I had a blast answering the questions) and be
sure to read through to the bottom for your chance to win an Owlcrate
subscription box and your very own blue Arrowheart lipstick.
1.
Did you always know you
wanted to be a writer or did you want to be something else?
I was always obsessed with books. When I was
little, I would collect pop cans and return them to the store for the $0.05
reward, then save up and use that at garage sales, buying every book I could
find. I didn’t even care what it was about, I had everything from the Nancy
Drew series to manuals on ancient India. My family was very poor growing up and
we couldn’t afford books, we didn’t even have a TV or computer. So, I’d read or
make up stories for my siblings to act out – it was very Little Women-esque.
One day, when we were older (and finally had a computer) my brother found a
site called Wattpad, where authors (amateur to expert) post their material for
free in hopes of receiving reader feedback. He encouraged me to start reading
on there and then eventually he pushed me to try to write one of the stories I
made up when we were kids. For some reason I did, and I was hooked. I felt like
all my strengths finally made sense, that I could use my imagination in a
productive way. From that moment on I was writing or thinking about writing. I
can’t imagine ever not writing now!
2. How long does it take
you to write a book from start to finish?
I wrote Arrowheart’s first
draft on Wattpad and I serialized it over 3 years. Then I completely dissected
the book and worked on it on and off for another year, then again with my agent
and editor. So that one I finished over the course of 6 years, though most of
that was tinkering. The sequel, which I think might just be the best thing I’ve
ever written, and I’m so darn proud of, and I can’t wait for people to read, I
wrote the first draft of that in three months!
3. How do you come up with
themes for your stories?
Themes just sort of evolve
organically as I write. I follow the character; her goals and driving
motivation, and through that themes tend to appear. In the second draft I try
to clean them up and make them more intentional.
4. Do you have a schedule
of when you write?
Ha! What is this schedule word you speak of?
Truthfully, when I’m on
deadline I write every day. I have what people call the creativity fire cycle,
(my creativity rises and sets with the sun) so I tend to work best first thing
in the morning and late at night. And that’s usually what I do; I write though
to the afternoon, take the evening off, then get back to work after dinner. I
do not have children (though my Boston Terrier would argue this point) so I
have the privilege of time. (Look how cute he is!)
5. How are you able to
balance other aspects of your life with your writing?
I also don’t know what this
balance is… And to be honest there
are times when there is no balance. My friends are so gracious with me and
typically I get messages like this, ‘Is it writing focus time? Or do you want
to come to a party tonight?’ They give me the out because they know it’s important
to me. I’m thankful for that!
6. What elements do you
think make a great story line?
A character who has goals
and agency.
Conflict: both internally
and externally.
Tension!!!
Uniqueness.
7. What was the hardest
thing about writing a book?
The writing.
8. How many books have you
written so far? Do you have a favorite?
Finished, probably about 5
in various lengths. My favorite is currently the sequel to Arrowheart, followed
closely by one I’m working on about a girl who has to travel to the place murders
go when they die to save her murdered sister.
9. Do you have a favorite
character?
Anne from Anne of Green
Gables, she’s so intense and creative and passionate and yet adorable. What an
interesting set of characteristics and yet she works!
10. Where do you
write?
I have a chronic pain
disease so depending on how my body is doing you may find me propped up on
pillows in the bed, curled into a corner of the couch, at my favorite coffee
shop (they have huge oversized executive chairs and I feel badass writing in
them), or when my pain levels are the highest, I tend to write in the tub on my
waterproof phone (thank you, Samsung) or via voice memos.
11. When deciding on how to
publish, what directed you to the route you took?
As mentioned above, I serialized
a very early version of Arrowheart on Wattpad.com. There it got over 12 million
reads, was voted top 3 romance stories out of millions by RT magazine – my
rough draft! It was humbling to have that kind of community support, it really
helped me grow in confidence. And because of the analytics of the story, I
started to have companies approach me to work with me, so I cleaned it up and submitted
to literary agents, scored my awesome agent and the rest is history.
12. Have you gotten
feedback from family about your book(s)? What do they think?
My family is freakishly
supportive. Like, probably more than I deserve. My mom and nana made matching
Arrowheart shirts and my nana dyed her hair to match my book cover. (She was
literally in the hospital with blue hair).
So yeah, even if my booked sucked they’d still think it was the
best thing they ever read. My friend though, told me that if I wasn’t the
author she’d recommend the book to me, and that was pretty much the nicest
thing anyone’s said.
13. What kinds of things do
you like to do outside of writing?
Ha! You say this as though
I have a life outside writing. But seriously, it’s mostly writing, or hanging
out with other writers. But when I do do something outside of writing it’s
usually going to one of my person’s shows. He’s in a well-known Canadian band and it is super fun to dance side stage while he does his thing.
14. What kinds of advice
would you give to someone who wants to start writing?
Read. Then read some
more, in your genre and in others. And write, for fun, to learn and grow, and
with whatever ambitions fuel you. It’s easy to get trapped in the need for
perfection, especially if you want to publish your book. But the need for
perfection stifles creativity and growth. Allow yourself the grace to make
mistakes and the grace to take the time needed to get to the place where your
work is publishable. Some of us take longer than others and that’s okay!
15. What is your favorite
book? favorite author? Do you have an author that inspired/inspires you to
write?
Oh man, I hate this
question because I have soooo many. But if I had to pick just one it would be
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables – I just have yet to find another
character that’s tugged on my heart like Anne did.
16. Do you have any go to
people when writing a book that help you with your story lines as well as
editing, beta reading and such?
I have one friend who I
share my work with before sending it to my agent or editor. I trust her taste
and eye to catch all the embarrassing things I don’t want to let slip, like I
always write breathe when I mean breath. *hides in shame*
17. Are you working on
anything now?
I just wrapped the edits on
book two of The Love Curse series and now I’m tinkering with a couple projects
– the land of murderers one and one I can’t talk about yet!
18. Tell us 5 things that
make you smile
Dogs
Books
When good things happen to
good people
The moon
A shoe sale
19. Tell us 5 things that
make you sad
Injustice, greed, when good
things happen to horrible people, places you can’t bring dogs, having a free
hour and no book handy.
20. If you could travel
anywhere in the world to visit a place so you could use it as a background for
a book, where would it be?
For a book, I’d want to go to Petra, Jordan.
There’s something so magical about those temples carved into the cliff. Every
time I look at pictures I get inspired to write an epic fantasy story based
inside it!
Thanks so much for hanging with me today! I’d love to connect and
chat about drafting/revising more. You can always find me on Twitter or Instagram. And as an added thank
you, I’ll be giving away an Owlcrate subscription box.
xo
Rebecca Sky
P.S. Here’s a picture of me and Winston. We basically supermodels.
…
Here’s
an excerpt of Arrowheart for you to check out:
Be
sure to grab your copy of Arrowheart to read more! And for a limited time
receive an exclusive Blue Arrowheart Lipstick
as a thank you gift here. #KissTheBoysAndMakeThemCry
About
Rebecca:
After graduating high-school, Rebecca Sky set out on
a five-year, 24 Country exploration to find herself. She slept in a hammock in
the Amazon Jungle, skinny-dipped off the West African Coast, ate balut and
climbed the chocolate hills in the Philippines, and fell in love in Cuba (then
again in Brazil, and a final time to a Rocker from Canada). Rebecca returned
home to the West Coast captivated by the world and ready for another adventure.
So she did what every wanderer does when standing
still—began writing. Her work has since garnered over 20 million reads on
Wattpad, and she’s had the opportunity to partner with some really great
brands. She was featured in The New York Times and The Boston Globe, (check out
those articles here). Her debut Arrowheart, book one in THE LOVE CURSE series
is published by Hodder Children's Books a division of Hachette Book Group.
Giveaway
Details:
1 winner will win an Owlcrate Book Subscription Box.
Rafflecopter
link:
Tour
Schedule:
Week One:
7/16/2018- BookHounds YA- Interview
7/16/2018- Writer of Wrongs- Excerpt
7/17/2018- CoffeeCocktailsandBooks Blog- Review
7/17/2018- For the Love of KidLit- Guest
Post
7/18/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review
7/18/2018- Fall Into Books- Excerpt
7/19/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review
7/19/2018- The Cover Contessa- Interview
7/20/2018- Wonder Struck- Review
7/20/2018- The Cozy Reading Corner- Guest
Post
Week Two:
7/23/2018- Lauren is Reading- Review
7/23/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert- Review
7/24/2018- Nerdophiles- Review
7/24/2018- Christen Krumm- Interview
