Interview: Jennifer Armentrout

I'm thrilled today to have author Jennifer Armentrout joining me on the blog to talk a little bit about her upcoming paranormal young adult release Half-Blood. I had the privilege of reading this one already and I cannot recommend it highly enough, it's a fantastic blend of mythology, mystery, and romance and is sure to appeal a wide variety of readers. Be sure and check back on Thursday for my full review!

What was the most fun part of creating the mythology for Half-Blood? The most difficult part?

The funniest part was the cast of characters and the world. I liked taking something that most people are familiar with (the demigod) and twisting it into hopefully something that is new. The hardest part was creating a scary enough bad guy/villain, which… isn’t who you or what you think by the time you finish reading Half-Blood. I like the ‘big bad’ to have clear motives, to have a reason to do bad things… and for the bad guys not to always be so clear cut. Yeah, I’m a tease.

If Alex had to tell us the one thing she misses most about living in the human world, what would it be?

T.V. and movies. They are hard to come by on Deity Island. Movie night at Zarak’s!

You’re face to face with a daimon and the only thing you have on you is your purse. What’s in it and how would you wield those items to defeat the daimon?

Um, if the only thing I had was a purse, I’m pretty much screwed. Mortals can’t even see through the glamour that daimons’ use to hide their true (and horrific) appearances. But if I realized that the otherworldly beautiful dude in front of me was about to rip me from limb to limb, I’d throw my purse at him and run as fast as humanly possible… even as pointless as that would be.

How much of a character’s backstory do you have planned out before writing? More specifically, we get little snippets of Aiden’s life in Half-Blood, is his history already figured out in its entirety or do you change certain things as you write?

His history came to me while writing Half-Blood, and it’s not exactly pretty. I do change certain things as I write because I’m a fly by the seat of my pants type of girl, but the main theme always remain. You will get to learn more about Aiden’s parents and why he chose to become a Sentinel when most pure-bloods look down on that.

What’s the last book you devoured in one sitting?

It’s hard for me to read any book nowadays in one sitting, but I can give you a couple that came pretty darn close to that: Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Carrier of the Mark, all of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamer series, and on the adult side, Larissa Ione’s novels.

Stories that deal with the idea of forbidden love are always favorites of mine. Which literary or mythological star-crossed couple would you say most appeals to you?

I’ve always been a fan of forbidden love myself or the kind of love where all the odds are stacked against them. I’m so not a fan of Romeo and Juliet or Heathcliff and Catherine. Probably some of my favorites are Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde, and Hero and Leander, which is a Greek Myth. I also have a soft spot for Bonnie and Clyde—not sure what that says about me. I know that’s more of a ‘doomed love’.

Aiden tells Alex at one point that he remembers her from when she was in school prior to her mom taking her away, is there anything you can tell us about the moment/scene that might have flashed in his mind when said those words to her?

Everyone will learn exactly what that scene is by the end of book four, so I don’t want to give anything away. But I’m sure it involved Alex laying the smackdown on someone in training and/or getting herself in trouble in the process.

You know what’s going to happen with Alex in the next several books. If you could tell the Alex at the end of Half-Blood anything to prepare her for what’s to come, what would you say?

I’d tell her to cherish those moments when things seem beyond perfect, because although it seems like one can never truly outsmart or outrun the Fates or what is fated to happen, there is always hope. Like Aiden would say, only she has control over her destiny.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions Jennifer! For those of you who haven't marked your calendars, Half-Blood releases on October 18th. Be sure an make a note because you don't want to miss this one! For more information on Jennifer and her books, you can find her here:

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Covenant novels official website

HALF-BLOOD (from Goodreads):

The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures.

Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:

Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden.

Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.