Busy Moms Book Reviews: Amity Hope

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Amity Hope

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Amity Hope Bio:

Amity lives in beautiful northern Minnesota with her two sons and two adopted cats.
She's currently working on her next young adult romance.
If she's not writing, or spending time with her kids, she's most likely reading.

Interview with Amity:
1. The Tainted Legacy books have a lot of religious undertones in them, did you struggle with finding a balance between having the characters express their morals & beliefs and preaching to the reader?
This is a really good question. No one has asked me this before but yes, I definitely did. I knew I wanted the book to be about angels and demons and specifically nephilim because I’ve always found them fascinating. I didn’t want to make it about religion itself. However, obviously due to the topic it couldn’t be avoided completely. I tried to keep it as basic as possible because the last thing I wanted to do was become “preachy”. Yet I wanted to have a somewhat authentic basis for it. Hopefully I accomplished that.

2. Twisted is a dark gritty book, that deals with grief a lot and what can happen when people continually stick their nose in your business, do you believe that people are naturally that cruel or do you think that situations and the influence of others dictate peoples actions?
I think grief is a powerful emotion that can change a person. I also think we see time and again how situations can get out of control when people feed into rumors and gossip. At the same time, I think people ultimately need to be held responsible for the choices they make.

3. Your next book Ditched comes out this spring/ summer is there any little hint or teaser you can give us about it?
To be honest, I got a little sidetracked. I’m working on Tempted. It’s a companion novel to Twisted. It will be from Phoebe’s point of view. It will have a different tone to it than Twisted (not as dark and gritty). So I hope people aren’t disappointed. I am hoping for a late April release.
But, back to Ditched, it’s about half done. I really—REALLY!—wish I could give you a full-blown synopsis. But for some reason, that little blurb comes harder to me than writing a book. So I leave it for last. For now I can tell you it is the story of Holly and her best friend Max. It will involve leaving her fiancé at the altar, tagging along with Max on a road trip, and a summer in Northern California. Ultimately, she’ll find out that the happy ending that we get in life is sometimes the one we least expect.

4. I have two little girls myself and can barely find time to think, is it hard for you to find time to write with your boys around? Do you live in the perpetual state of exhaustion like I do?
Yes. I do write full time during the day but recently I was working on so many projects that I was all tied up evening and weekends, too. I finally just gave myself a time limit. So now I’m done by 4:00. No matter what. And I only work on the weekends if my boys aren’t home. Otherwise, I was putting in maybe 60 hours a week.

5. Who is your favorite new up and coming author?
I really love Lila Felix’s Love and Skate series.

6. What are you comfort foods?
Coffee. I could not write without caramel flavored coffee. But I suppose that is not really food so Triscuits, preferably with Diet Coke. Although I do have a minor blueberry addiction.

7. Silliest thing you have done just to make your kids laugh?
Does tripping down the steps and throwing an entire bowl of popcorn at them count?

Books:

Ava St. Clair simply wants to finish up the last few months of her senior year while having some fun with her friends. That is, until she finds Gabe Castille battered and bloody on her doorstep. She has no idea just how much her world is about to change because while she has always believed in Heaven and angels, she’s never given explicit thought to their counterparts. Gabe’s entire life has consisted of lies, misery and a family he loathes but is unable to escape. When he is ordered to integrate himself into Ava’s life, he doesn’t dare question the reason. He doesn’t expect to find Ava tolerable, let alone likeable. The last thing he expects is to fall in love with her. When he realizes he is in control of Ava's fate, he needs to make a choice. Will she find safety with him or will he be the one to deliver her into the hands of pure evil?

It has been nearly a month since that horrific night. The night Gabe and Ava stood up to his father and Gabe disappeared from her life. Now her head is telling her that she needs to move on and let him go. Her heart is being a little more stubborn, impatiently waiting for a miracle. When her friends spot a stranger in town, someone who appears to be Gabe but is undeniably different, Ava is determined to find him so they can start putting the pieces of their love back together again. Unfortunately, a malevolent force from their past has other plans. Will they be able to overcome unspeakable evil for a second time? Or will death tear them apart forever?

Maya Anderson has faced more than her share of tragedy and heartbreak. For the past six years she’s constantly been on the move with her mom. When another disaster strikes, she finds herself back in her childhood hometown of Beaumont, living with her older sister for her senior year. A chance meeting reacquaints her with Ben McCaffey, a long-forgotten classmate from her past. After the death of his girlfriend, Ben has become a social outcast. He’s despised by some and feared by most. Determined to become Ben’s friend, Maya begins to break through his layers of emotional protection. It isn’t long before they realize that they both have secrets in their pasts. As the line between dealing with grief and struggling with a desire for revenge begins to fade, the secrets that draw them together may be what will ultimately tear them apart. Because the closer Maya gets to Ben, the more dangerous her situation becomes

Cleo’s life had always been far from perfect. She’d considered herself lucky because she had a little sister she adored and close friends she could always count on. But after the unexpected death of her mom, life became a whole lot more complicated. Until the day she tumbled into Reece’s arms. He was the one who led her through the darkest days of her life. Reece knew how ridiculous it was to think that he was going to end up with the girl he dated in high school. But he had foolishly thought that he and Cleo had a chance. They’d clicked in a way that went far deeper than he ever thought possible. So, ridiculous or not, he had thought he and Cleo would be forever. But then without warning, she’d ripped his heart out and tossed it back to him. So obviously, he had been wrong. Now he’s not sure how he’s going to be able to deal with seeing her every day. Now that she’s so over him. Or…maybe she’s not? Because what Reece doesn’t know is that Cleo has a secret. If it had been up to her? She would never have let him go.

TEMPTED is a companion novel to TWISTED, told from Phoebe's point of view. It will pick up shortly after Twisted left off... Full synopsis coming soon TENTATIVE RELEASE DATE: March 2013