GLITTER by Aprilynne Pike Interview + ARC Giveaway!

It is with great pleasure that I present an interview of bestselling author Aprilynne Pike on her upcoming YA Nigh-Fi, GLITTER! If you've been eager to learn more about this gorgeous book, then you have come to the right place - Aprilynne has given me the scoop from how it all began to if we can expect a series, including research subjects, inspirational music, favorite characters and quotes, and her GLITTER Love List! But that's not all: Aprilynne has generously offered an early signed ARC to one lucky reader! Want to read GLITTER before its October release? Then see the giveaway at the end to enter!

THE BOOK

Title: Glitter

Author: Aprilynne Pike
Release Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: Random House BYR

Summary: 

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike comes a truly original new novel—Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette in a near-future world where the residents of Versailles live like it’s the eighteenth century and an almost-queen turns to drug dealing to save her own life. 

 
Outside the palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.

When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play . . . blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates.

Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.

But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.

ADD TO GOODREADS

PRE-ORDER LINKS:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound

THE INTERVIEW

1. GLITTER in one sentence:

Danica Grayson tries to escape a world of blackmail, court intrigue, fancy dresses, and cutting-edge technology by selling a new designer drug.

(For a more detailed explanation, see Aprilynne's "About Glitter" post here!)

2. What inspired GLITTER?

Ha! This is hilarious (to me) actually! I was a huge fan of Breaking Bad, and though the series finale was amazing, I found the first half of Season 5 to be … lackluster. And, as we egotistic writers do, I kept thinking, I could do better. Then I thought, but what I really want to do is write girls in pretty dresses. And that’s how it all started.

3. What were some of the subjects you researched for GLITTER?

I did SO much research into the time when the three King Louis lived in the Palace of Versailles. Truly it’s glittering heyday. Lots of research into Marie Antoinette, arguably France’s most famous queen ever, and watched a lot of documentaries. I also spent a lot of time on the Palace of Versailles’ website because the Palace is almost like a character itself and I wanted to feel like I’d been there. (I haven’t, actually.)

4. Was there any particular music that inspired you while writing GLITTER?

I have no idea why the song Boston by Augustana resonated so deeply while I was writing Glitter, but it did. More understandably, I discovered the song Le Tempdes Cathédrales from the musical Notre Dame de Paris while writing Glitter (though it must be sung by Bruno Pelletier, and it must be sung in French) and have listened to it over and over hundreds of times.

5. Who was your favorite character to write & why? Who was your least favorite to write & why?

Oh, the King. The King is unabashedly a ruthless, awful, selfish person and not only does he know it, it makes him a very good CEO. I enjoy seeing just how bad I can make him, while still making him the hero of his own journey. That being said, in the sequel, as I continue to take Danica down her own path, Danica is getting to be just as much fun to write as the King … though I probably shouldn’t say much about why. :)

My least favorite character to write is Danica’s mother who is an equally awful person, but making her act selfishly in a way that she is quite aware is going to make her child suffer is difficult to write as a mother. It’s a line I would never cross and writing a truly awful mother has been stretching for me as an author. But it’s not fun.

6. What’s your favorite line/passage in GLITTER?

Oh dear. It’s the last couple lines of the book. I truly can’t say anything beyond that. However, my second fave is about a character I adore, named Lord Aaron: 

“Some knights appear on white steeds; mine rides bejeweled heels with satin laces.”

7. Aprilynne Pike's GLITTER Love List

• Danica’s hair! It’s long and thick and can make a pompadour all by itself.
• Pretty. Dresses. That is all. :)
• Writing a selfish and rather reckless anti-heroine.
• Men in heels.
• Fancy food.
• A hero who is in no position to save anything, much less the day.
• My setting. Not just the Palace of Versailles, but Paris.
• Danica’s corset.
• M.A.R.I.E.’s acronym (the Mainframe for Autonomous Robotic Intelligence Enhancement).
• All of the little things that don’t seem so important in this book, that are crucial in the next one.

8. If possible, would you live in your future Palace of Versailles Pocket Kingdom? Why or why not?

Oh man, I would be sorely tempted to say yes! All the glitz and glamour of the days of the Sun King, but with all of the modern comforts they didn’t have access to four hundred years ago. If only the government weren’t so very corrupt …

9. Is GLITTER a standalone or a series? 

Glitter is going to be two books and I am editing the sequel as we speak! It’s slated to come out one year after Glitter.

10. Anything else you’d like to say about GLITTER?

As fun as it’s been to write an anti-heroine, it’s nerve-wracking too. Male characters get away with so much more than female characters without losing the sympathy of the reader. So I am hoping that readers will enjoy reading about a girl who does some really bad things as much as I enjoyed writing her doing them! Main character she is … Good girl she is not.


And that's it! Thank you so much to Aprilynne for the interview. ❤❤ If you want even more info on this amazing book, check out the Happy Ever After interview Aprilynne did back in March for the cover reveal here, and be on the lookout for the GLITTER Blog Tour this October from Rockstar Book Tours!

THE AUTHOR

Aprilynne Pike is a critically acclaimed, #1 New York Times best-selling author of young adult fiction including the Wings series, Earthbound series, Charlotte Westing Chronicles, and Life After Theft.  At the age of twenty she received her BA in Creative Writing from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. When not writing, Aprilynne can usually be found running; she also enjoys singing, acting, reading, and working with pregnant moms as a childbirth educator and doula. Aprilynne lives in Arizona with her husband and their four children. 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Wattpad

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THE GIVEAWAY

So what do you think, want to get your hands on this beauty as soon as possible? Then enter below for the chance to win a signed ARC of GLITTER - good luck!!

US/CAN only | Must be 13+ years to enter
(Cheaters do not prosper here - be warned I check every entry!)

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Waiting on Wednesday: Aprilynne Pike

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly blogging event hosted by Breaking the Spine, in which one spotlights an upcoming release they are eagerly anticipating.

This week I spotlight TWO books coming out this year by the same author, Aprilynne Pike! She's a local gal, and I've had the pleasure of speaking with her on several occasions. I heard about both of these books long before they were announced, so needless to say I've been looking forward to them with great anticipation for a very long time! Check them out:

Title: Life After Theft

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: April 30, 2013

Summary (from Goodreads):

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto. 

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

Clash meets sass in this uproarious modern-day retelling of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Why I'm Looking Forward to It: She had me at "klepto ghost." :}

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Title: Earthbound

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: July 30, 2013

Summary (from Goodreads):

Tavia Michaels is the sole survivor of the plane crash that killed her parents. When she starts to see strange visions of a boy she’s never spoken with in real life, she begins to suspect that there’s much about her past that she isn’t being told. Tavia will soon to discover that she’s an Earthbound—someone with the ability to create matter out of nothing—and that she alone holds the key to stopping the Reduciata, an evil society that manipulates global events for its own shadowy purposes. Tavia will ultimately have to make a choice: to come into her powers and save the world from the evil Reduciata or to choose free will and a love of her own.

A heart-stopping romance built on a love triangle like you’ve never seen before and filled with epic stakes and a centuries-long conspiracy.

Why I'm Looking Forward to It: Girl who can create something out of nothing fights against an evil society to save the world all while trying to decide between two hot guys? Yes, please!

Don't both these books sounds awesome?! And right now you can enter to win them and her anthology, Defy the Dark, along with a boatload of candy on her website! You can find the contest here - good luck! :)

So what book are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Thank Goodness for Friends

I adore my friends, both those I've had for ages and all the new ones I've recently made (especially those now following my blog - thank you! =). But the friends my title refers to are not mine, but those of my MC. And thank goodness for them.

For the past few weeks I have been despairing over my Middle Blues, but I am here to tell you I have [hopefully] come up with a solution! Or two, actually.

First, after attending an amazing author talk by Aprilynne Pike at my writing group, I have decided to lower my word count bar from 100K to 80K (she said 70K was about the norm for YA). Immediately upon deciding this, sitting there in the front row listening to her outpouring of wisdom, I felt a bit of the weight lift from my shoulders. For days now I have been feeling that there is no way my story can stretch for 100K. When I originally set the count I thought it could (maybe even go over), but what with my current plot problems, definitely not. So now, although it means updating my progress bar will be a pain since it's in percentages and I'm horrible at math, I am halfway done with my story! Hallelujah! \(ToT)/

Second, since my MC has no interest in attending to the plot, I have decided that one of his friends will step up and get involved instead - and drag his lazy butt along to help. This way the MC stays true to character (because I couldn't change that part of him without throwing off his entire personality), but still has to deal with the plot. Brilliance! This is a true testament of why you create secondary characters for your MC to regularly interact with. You never know when you'll need someone to manipulate the MC to do what you need.

So now I'm halfway finished and the story is flowing again. For once, the Middle isn't looking so blue.