Today, the great Christie (aka C.C. Hunter) made us the honor to stop by the blog, and chat about her newest release (It’s releasing today actually *Squee*), Born at Midnight! Read along to discover more about this new series, some fun tidbits about Christie’s life and a giveaway!
Born at Midnight, really sounds like an awesome book, can you tell us a bit more about what to expect?
Thank you, Cindy. It’s such a pleasure to be here and discuss my book. I have to be honest – I loved writing Born at Midnight! As for what it’s about, well, it’s about a lot of things, really. First, it’s about a teen camp for supernaturals. It’s also about a young girl’s identity crisis. Of accepting that everything she didn’t think is real is real and a lot of the things she thought were true turn out to be lies. It’s about growing up, discovering who you are, what’s important to you and learning to deal with the mistakes you make, as well as the mistakes of our parents.
From what I gathered, we won't know what Kylie is in the first book, but how does she discover that's she's not really normal?
Good question! The biggest clue that Kylie’s troubles don’t fit into the ordinary no-big-deal trouble variety is that she’s acquired a very strange stalker--a scary-looking dude wearing army duds. But when no one but her can see him, she starts to get worried. Kylie’s eyes are really opened about the supernatural world when she arrives at Shadow Falls Camp. Vampires. Werewolves. Shapeshifters. Even witches and fairies. But the oddest thing is that all of them think she’s one of them, though they’re not exactly sure what she is.
Your story is set in a school for paranormal kids and I find myself wondering what do regular teen conflicts are like when shifters, vampires and faeries are involved?
The thing I worked really hard to do was to humanize all my characters. I wanted the problems they faced, to be some of the same problems real life teens face. From parental issues, fitting in, and accepting others to insecurities about how we look, and making choices about sex and who we should or shouldn’t allow into our lives. Now, some of those problems get an extra layer when you’re dealing with supernaturals but the basics are still the same.
I've seen a lovely post on your blog on how you chose the title of your book, and I'm curious about how you chose your characters name?
Okay, I’ll confess, I’m terrible with coming up with the names for my characters. You want to know where most of the names come from? From author names that just happen to be on the books lining my bookshelves beside my desk. I’m writing and realize I need a name and I’ll glance over to my bookshelf and choose the first one that catches my eye. One of my critique partners is always telling me that I need to branch out and come up with names that didn’t sound as if they were all from the same family. LOL. So with this series, I tried to come up with some names that were at least different.
I can only guess how hard it is to write a book, what's your favorite part of the whole process?
Starting a book. I love when I first get going and the characters start coming to life right on the page. I love it when they suddenly won’t do what I tell them to do, because they’ve sort of gotten a life of their own. Kylie did that when I wrote Born At Midnight, and Alone At Dawn, book 2 of the Shadow Falls series. I’m working on the third book in the series and, yep, you guessed it. Kylie is running the show. Sometimes I just can’t type the words fast enough . . . and I couldn’t be happier!
Can you tell us 3 surprising facts about yourself?
Hmm. Okay, I’ll give it a try:
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I was put in handcuffs once for throwing a bottle at a cop car’s windshield and calling him a pig. Thankfully, I was getting paid to do it. I was working as an extra on a movie. I’m really not that crazy. LOL.
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I speak fluent Spanish, so fluent that and I was once accused of dyeing my hair blond, and faking being an American when I lived in South America. I swear I’m a natural blond! (Although my hair stylist does have to give me a little extra help every now and then. LOL.)
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In my past, before I wrote novels full-time, I worked as a photojournalist. I’ve traveled to places like China, and France to do photos and write travel articles.
Last, would you please share with us your best Spring Break memory?
Okay, that one’s easy! I had a crazy cousin who lived about fifty miles away from me and we only got to see each other during spring break and summers. We were both good kids, but there was something about each of us that brought out the crazy in each other. Every time we got together, we’d get in so much trouble, not like really bad stuff, but like the time we were twelve and she decided we were going to ride this horse that was in a pasture near my house.
So, did we go ask the neighbors if we could do this? Oh, no, we took it upon ourselves and climbed the fence and just went for it. I think she’d seen a western movie about breaking horses and she was certain all we had to do was climb on its back and hang on to its mane. I wasn’t as certain, but I wasn’t about to let Jenny get all the credit for breaking that horse, so I went along with her plan.
Well, let’s just say we didn’t hang on tight enough. Not the first time or the fifth time that old horse tossed us off his back. Finally, he just got tired of our game and we got chased out of the pasture by a very ticked off horse baring his teeth, and we were forced to climb a barbed-wired fence in record time. I still have scars from that day. But I think those scars are prettier than those I would have gotten from that dang horse and his yellowed teeth. Ahh, but the memories of those weeks spent with Jenny still make me smile.
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Thank you so much Christie for taking the time to chat with us! It’s greatly appreciated <3
Now here’s a bit more about her books!
Don’t miss this spectacular new series that will steal your heart and haunt your dreams, Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…
One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…
Amazon // Book Depository
Please take not that even though this blurb was written by C.C. Hunter, it is not the final/official version.
Kylie Galen thought her life was a mess before she went to Shadow Falls Camp. However, now that she’s discovered she’s not human, the problems presenting themselves are anything but normal.
She’s is determined to uncover the answer to her supernatural heritage, but with a ghost insisting someone Kylie loves is about to die, her newly developed sixth sense telling her someone is watching her and a rogue vampire on a murdering rampage, Kylie’s quest for answers is on hold. As if her life isn’t difficult enough, just when she’s about to give her heart to Derek, he starts pulling away. When Lucas comes back, Kylie’s feels more conflicted than ever. Kylie’s weekend with her mom should have been just the break Kylie needs, but it turns out to be her breaking point. Finding out her heritage may not ever matter if she doesn’t survive.
Also, you can now get a shot story introducing the Shadow Falls world for FREE:
If like me you are Canadian (or INT), you can read Turned at Dark online HERE
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Christie would like to offer a copy of Born at Midnight & this awesome swag pack to one of you guys!
it includes:
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mirror/brush compacts
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notecards
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pens
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bookmarks
Giveaway is opened Internationally
All you have to do is Leave a comment letting us know how do you think you’d react if you learned you’re not really human?
You can earn one extra entry for spreading the word. Please provide link in a second comment.
Tweet: WIN! Born at Midnight + Swag by C.C. Hunter http://bit.ly/h0MJwx hosted by @Tynga & @parajunkee #giveaway #paranormalspringbreak PLZ RT
Ends April 6th, 2011.
Christie also has a kindle giveaway going on, which ends today. So hurry up if you wanna enter!
You could be a click away from winning your own Kindle. From March 22th- March 29th, I'll be hosting a contest and giving away a Kindle to one lucky winner. Three more lucky winners will receive an ARC of Awake At Dawn as soon as the ARC is available, which will probably be in June. But that's not all! Three more winners will receive a copy of Born At Midnight. So that's seven winners total! All you have to do to enter is Tweet my post about the release of Turned at Dark and Born At Midnight when it appears on March 22nd here at my blog. Bloggers and Reviewers are welcome to participate.
-C.C Hunter