Hi, there! Hope you are having an amazing weekend ❤ Today it’s a big day for me, as this is the first official author interview going live on the blog!
Our start today is Anya Valentino, author of Misunderstood: Secrets of a Teen Queen!
You can check my review for Misunderstood here and, without anymore gibber jaber, let’s go to the interview!
- Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I think writing is a calling and, deep down, I’ve always known that, even if I’ve worked as a professional businesswoman for years now and only seriously acknowledged my call of writing on a vacation to LA back in 2008. There, I met an insightful, older man named Elliott. He saw right through me!
You can check out the story in short on my website: anyavalentino.com 😉
- How did the idea for the “Misunderstood-series” come to you?
I love irony of life and doing things my own way!
“Misunderstood” expresses the irony of the glamorous lifestyle of the protagonist, Enya Utzon, being “on the cover” and “in the spotlight” as her life is perceived as the allegedly and ultimate key to happiness by many. Enya’s life, however, might not be as desirable once one cracks her surface!
Also, there’re so many books out there staring the “underdog”, so I wanted to switch things around and write a book from the most popular girl’s point of view and her struggles in life being a social leader and handling that among other things – even if she at times isn’t very relatable to the reader!
- Which book genre do you prefer reading? Do you think your tastes as a reader have an influence on your own work?
Personally, I love books that put life into a larger perspective so I cannot limit my taste of reading down to one genre. Also, it really depends a lot on the writer and the writing style as well.
To name a few writers, I can mention Paulo Coelho, Jostein Gaarder, Sophie Kinsella and James Redfield.
As to my own writing, more than anything, it’s life in general: choices, experiences, and the people I meet and places I go that inspires me!
- James seems to have some kind of problem with all the other boys in Enya’s V.I.P friend group, but he never leaves them. Why is that?
High school can be an intense and scary place where girls and boys deal with finding themselves as they’re growing up and handling adulthood.
There are several reasons that James stays with the group. For one, they have been his friends throughout high school so partly because of the fact that he feels loyal to them – especially Enya, who’s a dear friend to him. Second of all, they’re all on the football team together and have to work as a team, which James takes seriously.
Being alone in high school can be scary for James even if he is a strong character that has gotten stronger throughout his last year of high school going through his parent’s divorce and realizing true life values, and he is not afraid to stand up for himself or others; Even so, it’s nice to have friends and somewhere to “belong”.
- If you could switch places with Enya for only one day, what would be the first thing that you would do?
The first thing I would do is probably to go to an upscale event and just have fun. That’s really the main part of Enya’s life that’s desirable to my mind! J
The irony is that Enya’s purposively desirably lifestyle being a Teen Queen, fashionista, jetsetter and society girl in the end, isn’t that desirable after all! 😉
- You comment on the acknowledgment section of Misunderstood that you plan a sequel for the book. What can you say about the plot for now? Do we have a release date already?
The sequel to “Misunderstood – Secrets of a Teen Queen” will reveal more about Enya Utzon, her secrets, travels to Paris among other places, insight into her privileged and luxurious life in LA as she now has moved to her own apartment, as well as her search for what true love really means.
Not to mention, Enya’s future as an A-list movie star, and how she handles the increasing pressure of other people’s expectations while maintaining the “crown”, figuring what’s really matters in her life, and hoping that the one guy – James – that has her heart stops denying their inevitable chemistry together.
The title of the sequel will be “Misunderstood – Queen of the Red Carpet” and will start off in the future at the Oscars. 😉
The sequel will be released around the end of 2016 or in 2017, all depending.
That’s it! I am so excited for this sequel ❤ Thanks for reading and thanks to Anya, for being available for the review and a sweetie all the time! You can learn more about Anya and Misunderstood at her website and follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!
The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange 