Today we're visiting with author Jeanette Pekala on her tour with Bewitching Book Tours for the paranormal YA, "Culture Shock". There is a Tour wide give away of 10 eBook Copies Culture Shock, so make sure you enter via the Rafflectoper at the end of this post.
Jeannette answered many of my prying questions -- thanks!
Why YA? What draws you to it?
I loved being a teenager. It was quite possibly the best time of my life. Without the worry of responsibility and having enough time on your hands to get into a little trouble. Most of the scenes in Culture Shock I drew from my own teenage years. Macy, the main character, is seventeen. Many of the silly antics and circumstances she finds herself in mirror closely to my teen years.
What’s your favorite sweet treat?
Do I have to pick one? I try to maintain a healthy diet, but I do love sweets. Only a little taste is all I ever want. If I had to choose one, I would choose cheese Danish. So darn good. Cadbury fruit and Nut Chocolate bar would be a close runner up. Man…now I have a hankering for sweets.
What would you write in a letter to your teen self?
What I wouldn’t give as a teenager to be able to get a letter from a future self. Number one thing I would write is to “have confidence”. It would be followed by, “you are just as good as everyone else. You can do anything you set your mind to. Embrace your uniqueness. Others may not have big frizzy curly hair, be under five foot or have a kooky personality, but that’s what makes you…you. It’s what sets you apart from the herd. Don’t be afraid to be yourself. People love you for being you.”
What candy do you give out at Halloween?
Usually, whatever is on sale, but I have a Halloween candy story for you. Okay, this one is funny or deranged depending on your sense of humor. One year, we were passing out candy to neighborhood trick-or-treaters. Little did we know the entire city and surrounding towns would show that night. They must have had a press release in all the schools that our neighborhood was hot this year for trick-or-treating. So needless to say, we ran out of candy pretty quick. I sent a friend to the store to buy any candy to fill the bowl since we were down to 20 pieces. I didn’t want 50 kids jacked up on a sugar high taking me down, so while we waiting for the friend to return from the store, I ran in the house and tried to find things to fill the bowl. All I found were leftover condiments; ketchup, soy sauce, grape jelly, mayo, mustard in little packets. Oh, and teabags. I figured the kids wouldn’t know the difference. I’ll just scoop up a condiment or candy so fast and drop it in their bucket/bag, they wouldn’t be any the wiser. Finally the friend returned and we dumped the candy in the bowl, order was restored, until we hear a kid that was walking down the street say, “Oh man! Who gave me soy sauce?” We died of laughter.
Hunger Games or Twilight? Why?
I love them both, I don’t want to pick (read with whiny toddler voice). I have a guilty obsession with vampires, so I do love Twilight (the books), but the movies kind of killed it for me. So I’ll have to go with Hunger Games. It was so different and so extreme. I think I read all 3 books in 2 days and the movie hasn’t killed it for me.
Sum up your book for Twitter: 140 characters or less.
Culture Shock is witty a tale of romance and mystery with a large helping of southern hospitality and a dash of supernatural. It follows the personal journey to confidence for our main character, Macy Holmes. She moves from crazy Manhattan to the quaint town of Bougainvillea where she meets some interesting people (to say the least). Her dreams turn to nightmares so real she keeps waking in fear, physically shaking because she has the sneaking suspicion that these dreams are reality…
Note from Books in the Hall: That's a few more than 140, but we'll let it slide, lol...
Favorite hot beverage. Why?
Coffee. I am a coffee addict. I don’t know if they have coffee drinkers anonymous, but I heard the first step is admitting you have a problem. I don’t leave for work until I’ve had my daily fix of 4 cups. Then I usually have 1-2 cups in the afternoon and maybe a cup after my kids are in bed depending on the amount of work I have to do. I love any kind, but you may lose an arm if you try serving me decaf.
Culture Shock by Jeanette Pekala
Culture Shock Series Book One
Genre: YA Paranormal
Number of pages: 676Word Count: 135,000Amazon Kindle Amazon Paperback Paperback BN Nook
Book Description:
CULTURE SHOCK is a witty tale of mystery and romance with a large helping of southern hospitality.
Macy Holmes is a seventeen-year-old socially-isolated introvert since her best friend's death a year ago. When her family decides to move from Manhattan to the quaint country town of Bougainvillea, Florida, Macy finds she's in a completely different world. Macy is no longer the outsider hiding behind designer clothes when she is sought out by three strange students, one of whom she is particularly interested in. The more time she spends with Chad the more things don't add up. When his true identity is finally revealed, Macy is pulled into a supernatural society with its saturation of inhabitants residing in Bougainvillea.You would think she has enough on her plate, but no, then her dreams become infiltrated by an external magical force, Macy and her band of supernatural misfits must find the culprit behind the magic-induced nightmares. They must dodge zombie assassins, shifty shape-shifters and high school bullies in order to stop this perpetrator before Macy, her friends or her parents pay the ultimate price.Especially when Macy has the sneaking suspicion that these dreams are reality...
Now enjoy an excerpt:
There were two guys and one girl. The girl had severely long red wavy hair and flawless fair skin. She was supermodel skinny. Heroin-addict supermodel skinny. Her back was to me so I couldn’t get a good look at her face.
The first boy was sitting next to her. His back also to me, but when I first caught them spying, I noticed something peculiar about this boy. He was wearing a black hoodie, with the drawstrings tied so tight, the hood was covering nearly his whole face. He had dark aviator glasses on and gloves. Seriously, it’s like ninety-something degrees outside. Why on earth would you wear gloves? His skin, what was showing of it anyways, was even paler than the girl’s.
About the Author:After finishing her degree in Sociology from the University of Florida, Jeanette Pekala had no idea what she wanted to do with her life.While her husband was deployed overseas, she focused on what she loved to do, write, where she has finally found an outlet for her overactive imagination.She lives a not so normal life just a wee bit north of Bougainvillea where she resides with her husband and two children working on Shock Wave, book 2 in the Culture Shock Series.Website: http://jeanettepekala.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeanettePekala
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