A Passion for Romance: It's All About the Book with Megan Gaudino

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

It's All About the Book with Megan Gaudino

Today we're hosting Megan Gaudino and she's answering a slew of questions ...

It's All About the Book !

- Please tell us about your current or upcoming release.

Always Kiss Me Goodnight

Sophia Destino is supposed to die.

All seventeen-year-old Sophia wants is to coast through her junior year. But with her parents obsessed with her Olympic-swimming-hopeful brother, a psychic best friend with a penchant for reading tarot cards, and prophetic dreams that predict her death—that won’t be easy. As her nightmares begin to come true, Sophia finds herself dodging death and longing for the time when getting over her ex-boyfriend was her biggest problem. Until she meets Leo Knight. The mysterious stranger seems determined to keep her alive—and steal her heart. But Leo has a secret that is about to change everything and Sophia is about to learn that sometimes…your number is up

- What is this book’s genre? Is this the genre you usually write in? Are there any genre’s you haven’t written that you’d like to try?

Always Kiss Me Goodnight is paranormal. It was my first attempt at paranormal and before Always Kiss Me Goodnight I only wrote contemporary so it was a change for me. However, I’ve always loved reading paranormal. So while it was an adventure in writing it was also kind of natural because I’m such a lover of the genre. I’ve never written anything sci-fi and it would be so fun to give it a try but I do think it’d be very difficult too.

-What inspired you to write this book?

I wrote this book during a time in my life that was full of changes. Because of that I was very much inspired by the idea of fate. Is fate predetermined or is it something that is changed with every single choice we make? This was a question I had running through my mind while I was writing my story and that idea gets explored.

- How did you pick its title? Did it come first or did you have to write the story first?

The title came after I had written a few chapters. At first thinking of a title seemed impossible and was usually something I did after the story was finished but I had a sign hanging above my desk that said Always Kiss Me Goodnight and one day it just hit me that that should be the title of my book. I used it for a few days, loved how it sounded, and kept it!

- How did you create your characters? Did you use any real life people in their making?

After I get the idea for the plot of my story I like to make character lists. They are usually just quick bullet points of things like physical features, astrological sign, or any quirks they might have, then while I’m writing they just seem to come alive and how they speak and act is clearer. Not one character in the book is entirely based on one real life person I know but every single character does or says something because I was influenced by my family and friends. That’s what makes writing so great, you can take the great things about the people in your life and put them on the page for others to read.

- Who is your favorite character of this book and why?

This is a tough one! But, I’m going to say Amelia, our MC Sophia’s best friend. Amelia is quirky, she’s always checking all the auras in the room and cleanses them if necessary and she’s also psychic. If you want your tarot cards read, Amelia is your girl. She can be over protective and even a little pushy but it’s only because she knows what’s best for her friends because of all her abilities. Amelia is definitely someone to have on your good side.

- What is your favorite part of this book? Can you share an excerpt from that part?

I like the scene that happens right after the second attempt is made on Sophia’s life. She almost drowns in her swimming pool but at the last second Leo saves her and then after they share a great moment together where Sophia starts to finally admit something out of this world is going on.

When we made it to the living room Hercules began lapping up the puddles of water we left behind us. Leo yanked the gray blanket off of the armchair and wrapped it around me because I was suddenly shaking.

He moved a salt stone lamp out of his way and sat on top of the coffee table, motionlessly taking in my expression. Before he even spoke I just knew he was reading me all wrong. I felt like I could read him already too.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sophia,” he groaned.

“For what? My idiotic carelessness or that you saved my life once again? You shouldn’t be sorry about either of those things.”

“I shouldn’t have let that happen. I shouldn’t have been sleeping still. I promised you I’d protect you and look what happened. Do you have any idea how close you were to dying? Even closer than you were last night. If I was just one second later I would’ve been too late.”

“I know. I was there. But you weren’t too late. It’s all over now—I’m fine.” He put his head in his hands and scrunched his hair in his palms. “Leo.” I reached forward and placed my hand on his arm. He was still so hot to the touch. “Why’s your skin so hot again?”

He flinched away from my hand, stood up, folded his arms across his chest and turned his back to me. His reaction made me question my gesture.

“It’ll go away.”

“Yeah but why does it happen at all?”

He hesitated for just a moment before he answered. “Because I keep saving your life.”

“I thought angels are supposed to save lives.”

“I already told you. I’m not an angel. I’m not supposed to save lives.”

- What was the hardest part of this book to write? Can you share an excerpt from that part?

Because this book involves Guardians of Fate, which is something no one has known about before this story, I feel like I had a lot of explaining to do. So for me, any scene involving breaking down who the guardians are and what they do, was difficult for me.

I was starting to understand why Mya appeared to be the head of this household. I might not understand everything about talents, but the ability to create weather seemed pretty damn impressive to me.

“What about you?” I nudged Leo’s elbow with mine.

“I don’t have one, either.” He kept his eyes down.

“That’s not true,” Tera said.

There was a thud under the table and Tera protested with an “ouch.” I thought maybe Leo kicked her under the table, but Tera turned her glowering stare toward Mya. I decided I would wait to talk to Leo about his talent again when we were in private.

“Does your talent have anything to do with where you are on the hierarchy?” I asked.

Tera dropped her fork and it made a loud clatter when it hit the stone tabletop. Everyone turned to look at her but she was sneering at me and Leo back and forth like she was watching a tennis match.

“You told her about the order?” She pointed at me, letting me know just how she felt about that. Even the word her was filled with disgust because it was referring to me.

“I did,” Leo shook his head and remained calm, “a little. Like I said, there were more important things to do than talk about me.”

Tera picked up her plate and walked back into the kitchen very purposefully. Hex was still eating. She didn’t seem bothered by the exchange like it was a common occurrence and Mya seemed to be searching for the right thing to say. Leo took another piece of ham off the platter and began eating it.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t know it was a sensitive topic.”

“Of course you didn’t and it isn’t that sensitive of a topic. It’s just—”

“Everything is sensitive to Tera. Don’t let her bother you.” Leo used his thumb to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes.

“Our orders do mean a lot to us, though,” Mya went on, “in this house we’re all in the second hierarchy. Hex and Tera are in the first order, Leo is in the second, and I’m a part of the third, the last before I move up to the first hierarchy.”

- Did you have any special rhythm or quirks while writing this?

I was completely obsessed! If I would’ve had a rhythm it would’ve been a much better way to write but instead I’d either write for hours on end or take week long breaks. Writing Always Kiss Me Goodnight took me several years but a lot of that time was spent on breaks because I’d burned myself out during my obsession periods. Finding a solid rhythm is something I’m still working toward as I gear up for the sequel in the series.

- Is this a stand-alone book or is it part of a series? If so, we want to hear about it and what’s next in the series. If not a series, what comes next to be released?

It is a trilogy so there are two more books after Always Kiss Me Goodnight. When we leave Sophia at the end of the story she’s in a pretty tough situation and the next book will pick up right where we left off. The readers will get to explore what it means to be a guardian more deeply and some of the more minor characters will become very important in the next installments. You can definitely expect a ton more mystery and secrets as well as the romance between Sophia and Leo heating up!

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About the Author:

Megan Gaudino works in a high school library by day and on her own books by night. Always Kiss Me Goodnight his her debut novel and was first posted on Wattpad where it gained over two million reads. Megan lives in Pittsburgh where you can find her reading, writing, and Instagramming.