In The Do-Over, a teenage girl gets the
chance to redo her past in this smart and charming YA novel by the author
of When Life Gives You Demons, Jennifer Honeybourn.
Title: The Do-Over
Author: Jennifer Honeybourn
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Release Date: 14th July 2020
BLURB supplied by Xpresso Book Tours
Emelia has always wanted to fit in with the A
crowd. So, when Ben, the hottest guy in school, asks her out, she chooses him
over Alistair, her best friend—even after he confesses his feelings to her.
Six months later, Emilia wonders how her life would
have been different if she’d chosen Alistair instead. Haunted by her mistake,
she finds a magical solution that promises to rectify the past. As a result,
everything in her life is different.
Different, but not better.
What happens if her second chance is her only chance
to make things right?
PURCHASE LINKS
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Jennifer
Honeybourn works in corporate communications in Vancouver, British Columbia.
She’s a fan of British accents, Broadway musicals, and epic, happily-ever-after
love stories. If she could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, she’d
have high tea with Walt Disney, JK Rowling, and her nana. She lives with her
husband, daughter and cat in a house filled with books. Wesley James Ruined My
Life is her first novel.
Where did you get your inspiration for
The Do Over?
I’ve always been interested in the choices a person makes in life
and how those choices can ultimately impact the direction their life goes in. I
wanted to write something fun, about a girl who chooses the popular boy (and
popularity) over her best friend and how that decision changed her life. She
soon regrets her choice but it’s too late to go back and fix things with the
other boy, so when she comes across a magical solution that will change her
past and give her the opportunity to pick him instead, she jumps on it. Of
course, it wouldn’t be any fun if things went exactly as she expected them to…
Who designed the Cover of The Do Over?
Did you have a lot of input into the process?
The talented Trisha Previte
designed the cover for The Do-Over. I don’t have a lot of input into the
process (although my publisher always asks me for my thoughts). I feel really
lucky because I’ve loved all of my covers.
Do you do a basic plot/plan for each
individual book you write, before you actually begin writing it all out? Or do
you let the writing flow and see where it takes the story?
I am definitely more
of a plotter than a pantser — I need a road map to take me through the story. Usually,
an idea will spark and then I will write a short pitch, kind of like the backcover
copy on a book. From there, I flesh out the characters and the plot, sometimes
breaking it down chapter by chapter before I even start writing the first
draft. Now, this doesn’t always mean that the story ends up exactly as I’ve
planned it, but it gives me the motivation to start writing as well as to keep
going.
Do you ever base book characters on
people you know, or personal experiences?
I have not based any of my book
characters on people I know (aside from a very brief cameo by my husband in one
of my books), although I would say that there’s an element of my own
personality in each of my main characters. As for personal experiences, I haven’t
really called on my life experiences directly, but I do spend a lot of time
imagining what it would feel like to be in my main character’s shoes.
Would you like the opportunity that
Emelia has in the book, to go back and change the past?
I’ve thought a lot
about this, which I guess isn’t surprising, considering I wrote a book about
the topic. I find it really interesting that there are a million different
directions a life can go in, based on the choices a person makes or even the
things that happen to them— like you get a certain job or you don’t get that
job but another one — and how that can effect everything, even the circle of
people you’re surrounded with. Lucky for me, I am more than happy with how
everything in my life has turned out (so far!), so I definitely would not go
back and change a single thing about the past because it led me to the place
I’m in now.
If you could invite three people (dead
or alive) to dinner to talk about books etc who would they be and why?
Great
question. So hard to narrow it down to just three because there are so many
amazing authors that I’d love to talk books with. I think I will go with Emma
Mills (This Adventure Ends, Foolish Hearts and Lucky Caller are some of my all-time
favorite books and I’d love to hear about her process), Becky Albertalli (same
reason, love her books), and I’d probably resurrect Jane Austin (I love Emma
and it would be interesting to hear about what it was like for her back in her
day).
What can we expect from you next and in
the future?
For the past year I’ve been focusing on writing middle grade books —
my debut, ESCAPE ROOM: THORN HOUSE was released in October under my pseudonym,
J.E. Hailstone. I’ve written a few more middle grade and I’m also working on
another young adult book now, so hopefully those will eventually land on
bookshelves one day.
AUTHOR LINKS
GIVEAWAY!
Thanks for being on the tour! :)
ReplyDelete