Gwen Hayes is the author of the brand new novel, Falling Under.  We were lucky enough to chat to Gwen for a quick Q&A.

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How did the story in Falling Under all come about?

As most good stories, it wouldn’t leave me alone when I was trying to write something else. First, came the first line. It was playing over and over in my head like one of those songs that get stuck. I finally had to give in and write the first scene.

Who came first when you originally started thinking about the story – Theia or Haden?

Theia did, but Haden is much easier to write. He’s transparent. Theia is a difficult personality.

Amelia is very into tarot cards, crystals visiting psychics etc, but Donny is definitely not – which character do you agree with?

I tend to think we make our own destiny, but that some tools help us reach our own intuition. So, I’m like a Donny/Amelia hybrid.

Is there a secret about one of your characters that you can share with us?

Mike is deeper than you think. More about that in the sequel. And Haden hasn’t told Theia something really important about their relationship yet.

The cover of Falling Under is amazing (and was even featured as our Cover of the Week back in January) what do you think of it and did you get much input in the design?

I LOVE my cover. My input isn’t huge—my editor and I discuss ideas a little, but it’s more about my editor and the art department. They know their stuff, though. I’m in good hands.

Can you tell us anything about the sequel?
I can tell you that I turned it in. I don’t want to talk too much about it in case it changes a lot during revisions. Let’s just say that Under isn’t through with Theia.

We’ll end on a fun one, crunch or smooth peanut butter?

~Smooth~

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Thank you Gwen! Be on the lookout for our review coming very soon.

M.C. Foley is the author of The Ice Hotel, which tells the story of the McGarity family’s grief over losing their eldest son and brother, Rossa. Upon invitation from long lost friends they soon find themselves in  Sweden heading to the  fascinating and mysterious Ice Hotel. We managed to steal a bit of M.C.’s time for an interview…

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Where did the idea for the Ice Hotel come from?
The idea for THE ICE HOTEL came on swiftly.  Like a flood.  Basically, a friend of mine passed away.  I’d seen him on a Friday and the very next day, I – like so many people I knew – got the call that he was gone.  It was a shock to the system.  He was young, in the prime of his life, and loved by so many.  Over the next several days/weeks/months, I was surrounded by grief.  It seemed like everyone around me knew him, and everyone was stunned.  I think it was this mix of my own grief, and being surrounded by so many people who were haunted by his loss, that pushed the story out.  Within a week or so of his death, I was overtaken by an idea and I just started slamming it out.  It was the idea that I could somehow do in a book what I could not do in real life… bring him back.

I was drawn to base most of the story at the ICEHOTEL in Sweden for a few reasons.  This hotel, which is the first of its kind, is built every winter from the frozen water of a nearby river.  And every spring, the hotel melts back into the river from where it came.  So, the hotel goes through the cycle of life – birth, existence, death – every year.  Also, this ICEHOTEL is based in the Arctic circle, which is filled with a kind of magical energy that is also real.  Everything from the huskies, dog sleds, ice hotel and ice church, the snow-covered pine forests and especially the aurora borealis – which are the northern lights that create undulating ribbons of color stretching clear across the dark sky – all those things make the environment around the ICEHOTEL a magical place.  And it still blows my mind that this place and those things actually exist on earth.

Have you been to the real Ice Hotel?
Not yet.  I intend to go in the near future.

The way the story is structured is very unique, like poetry, why did you decide to set it out/write it that way?

It’s odd, the only thing I decided before sitting down and actually writing the book itself – was the spine of the story – but the poetry, it just came out on its own.  It’s kind of how my brain works.  You see, for so many years, everything I’ve written has verse in it.  This includes the poetry I performed on tours, the plays I mentioned earlier, a screenplay I wrote in LA that was optioned, a web series project I’m working on right now, and even some of the weekly articles I write for an online industry newsletter.  Verse is ingrained in my writing muscles and brain because I love it.  I love how it captures the essence of thought.  Or rather, the distance between what we say – and what we actually think or believe.

What was your favorite moment to write?
Favorite moment in the book?  That’s a hard question!  Let’s see… if it has to be just one moment… and I don’t want to give any spoilers… it would be between three sections:  1) the prologue to the prologue;  2) the epilogue;  and 3) a moment deep into the story when Poe blows his whistle, and then something supernatural happens that both he and Izzie can’t believe is real, and that makes one of their wildest dreams come true.

The Ice Hotel is being adapted for screen which is very exciting! What’s the process been like? Have you had much involvement in the project?

It’s just in the beginning stages right now – but yes, it’s so exciting!  Basically, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, co-writers of the 2011 Oscar-BAFTA-WGA-nominated film, THE FIGHTER, are adapting the book to screen.  Since we’re in the beginning all I can say is that yes, I’m involved – particularly because Paul and Eric, who are both phenomenally talented and incredibly driven, respect other writers.  When they do adaptations, they like to work in close contact with the creator of the original source material.  This is so important when it comes to book-to-film adaptation, as the original story can get lost in translation if care is not taken to protect that story from the very start.  To be honest, it’s all been beyond surreal.  In fact, from the very first call my manager, Marvin V Acuna made to me, telling me Paul & Eric were on board – (Marvin produced The Great Buck Howard and is also a producer on the film along with Peter Riche and Alan Riche, who produced films like The Mod Squad, The Family Man, Starsky & Hutch and have a number of upcoming films including Southpaw with Eminem and scripted by Kurt Sutter) – after that call, and for a month or so after, I almost couldn’t believe it was happening.  I had to hear everyone say it over and over until I could finally accept that yes!  this is happening.  And it’s happening with people you not only like and look up to – but who you are extremely lucky and honored to work with.

What can you tell us about the next book in the series?

Let’s see… another hard one.  Hard because I’m superstitious and I don’t like to talk about stories that aren’t finished yet.

I guess I’ll just say this – I love the McGarity family.  I especially love Izzie and Poe.  They are the heart of the story.  And they are going to face even more dangers – challenges that all of us will face in some form during our lives – those things that give us nightmares and riddle our minds with fear.  Or maybe, because I’m the writer, more specifically riddle my mind with fear.  But just as all of us must do, they will be forced to stand in the face of that fear and go on another adventure.

Wow… I hate to sound so general… but like I said… I have to sound that way, for now.  J

What’s currently in your to-be-read pile?
A few things:  the scripts to a few of the 2011 Oscar nominated films, the second book in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games Trilogy – Catching Fire (I stopped after book one because I had to finish Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret); Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief; and I’m re-reading the script to Up… one of my favorite movies.

And lastly, crunchy or smooth peanut butter?

Crunchy!  (I’ve abused hot coffee over the last several years – burned off all my taste buds.  So *crunch* is very important…)

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The Ice Hotel is available now via Amazon

Check out our review here

It’s no secret how much j’adore Stephanie Perkins’ debut novel, Anna & the French Kiss, so it was an easy decision to make it our February Book of the Month. We got to chat with the fabulosity that is Stephanie Perkins for a quick Q&A…

Anna and the French Kiss (as its name suggests) is set in France – what made you opt to set it there? Would you consider setting a book in another city like London, Rome or *cough* Sydney?

It’s set in France, because I had a dream in which I saw a beautiful boy sitting on the steps of the Panthéon in Paris, and I couldn’t resist finding out more about him! I’m very open to writing more novels set in foreign locales, but . . . I wouldn’t write one just to write one. I’d have to have a great idea or a great character first. There always has to be a reason.

What are your favorite and least favorite moments in AATFK?

I don’t have a least favorite moment, though it was difficult to write the scene that takes place in the patisserie (not because of the desserts, but because of the content of the conversation). My favorite moment is easy — their first kiss! Swoon!

Is there a secret about one of your characters you can share with us?

Rashmi was originally two characters: Rashmi and a girl named Jennifer, who was dating Josh. Both characters were reading flat, so I combined them into one, and BOOM. An interesting character. Combining characters is one of my favorite writing tricks, something I use in almost every story I write or every critique I give. It adds instant depth.

You’ve said on your blog you think books should have more kissing in them (I couldn’t agree more), what’s the best kiss you’ve ever seen, read or had?

Oh, heavens. What a great question! The best kiss is the first one I shared with the man who became my husband. We met online, and we lived across the country from each other, and we didn’t get to meet in-person for nearly five months. When he stepped off the airplane, we didn’t even speak — we moved straight into a kiss! We even had an audience, because he’d been telling our story on the airplane, and I’d been telling the people waiting beside me at the terminal. It was very, very romantic.
I know it’s still super secret but what can you share about your upcoming projects?

I wish I could tell you! Soon, soon. All I can say now is that LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR (September 2011) takes place in America, and ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER (Fall 2012) wraps things back up in France. ANNA, LOLA, and ISLA are companion novels, which means that each story was written to stand alone. But they do have character overlap, so it’ll be more fun to read them all!

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Told you she was fabulous! Thank you Stephanie! Be sure to follow her on twitter @naturallysteph or visit her official site here.

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You can see our review of Anna & the French Kiss here.