Friday, March 8, 2013

Guest Interview: Samantha Durante + Stitch


Today I'm really excited to welcome young adult author Samantha Durante to the blog to give us a little info about her newest release Stitch in the form of an interview. Samantha has put together a series of questions for main character Alessa to help us all get to know her a bit better, so I hope you enjoy!

Thanks so much, Alessa, for stopping by Supernatural Snark for this interview!  Tell me about yourself.

Thanks a lot for having me! My name is Alessa Khole and I just started my freshman year at Eastern State University. I’m taking your usual mix of liberal arts introductory classes, and school hasn’t been too challenging so far, which is lucky since the rest of my life has been a bit of mess lately… I lost my parents in a car accident last year and I still haven’t really gotten over it, so adjusting to college life has been difficult, to say the least. And it certainly hasn’t helped that my sorority house is haunted!

HAUNTED! Oh wow, I’m sure that HAS been an adjustment! What’s the ghost like?

Well, it could be worse! He’s actually quite… attractive. Tall, soft brown hair, dreamy blue eyes, you get the picture… And it doesn’t seem like he’s out to scare me or anything – actually, most of the time he doesn’t even seem to notice I’m there. But for some reason, whenever I see him I feel this crazy surge of emotions that I can’t really explain. Surprise and fear, of course, but also this deep sorrow and longing, and something bordering on recognition… I haven’t really figured out what that’s all about yet, but I can tell you this much – it’s draining.

So besides this ghost fella, are there any other special boys in your life?

This has been a major sticking point with my best friend, Janie. She would say that I have NOT been putting enough effort into meeting guys, but I just feel like I have so much else going on lately, boys are the last thing on my mind. So not really.  :-(  But there was this one guy… Nikhil. He was SO gorgeous, and we hung out at a party one night and we really seemed to hit it off …but then I chickened out when things started getting heated and I haven’t heard from him since, sigh.

What is your favorite college class and why? Your least favorite?

Hmm, none of my courses are really super interesting this semester – I took a lot of college-level classes in high school, so we’ve been learning a lot of repeat material – but I guess if I had to pick I’d go with physics. I just like that you can take any complicated physical reaction and break it down into a mathematical formula, and it just works. It’s so neat and tidy, which is something my life has NOT been for the past year, so it’s refreshing to work on something so straightforward.

What is the best and worst thing about living in a sorority house?

Oh, wow, I’m really not the sorority “type” so this is a bit of a loaded question for me! I definitely prefer to hang out just with one or two close friends, so being constantly surrounded by girls who I don’t really know that well has been difficult for me. Janie says I need to be more friendly, and she’s probably right… But I guess that’s also the good thing about living in a sorority (and why I chose to live there even though I knew it wasn’t necessarily my ideal) – it forces me to meet people and have a life, so that’s good.

So it seems like you’re living a pretty typical college life, besides the ghost.  Anything else interesting in store for you this semester?

Funny you should ask… As it turns out, there were quite a few surprises for me my first semester at ESU. And I mean BIG surprises – as in, by the end of the semester, I didn’t even recognize the life I was living at the beginning. My school?  Not the typical college I thought it was. And that ghost?  Not actually a ghost at all… I can’t say too much without spoiling it, but let’s just say that by the time I hit finals week, I had MUCH bigger concerns than grades or guys (well, with the exception of *one* guy…), the most important of which being how to get out of ESU alive. But you’ll have to read Stitch to find out all the details!


A huge thank you to Samantha and Alessa for stopping by! More information on Samantha and her books can be found here:


STITCH

Her heart races, her muscles coil, and every impulse in Alessa’s body screams at her to run… but yet she’s powerless to move.

Still struggling to find her footing after the sudden death of her parents, the last thing college freshman Alessa has the strength to deal with is the inexplicable visceral pull drawing her to a handsome ghostly presence. In between grappling with exams and sorority soirees – and disturbing recurring dreams of being captive in a futuristic prison hell – Alessa is determined to unravel the mystery of the apparition who leaves her breathless. But the terrifying secret she uncovers will find her groping desperately through her nightmares for answers.

Because what Alessa hasn’t figured out yet is that she’s not really a student, the object of her obsession is no ghost, and her sneaking suspicions that something sinister is lurking behind the walls of her university’s idyllic campus are only just scratching the surface…

The opening installment in a twist-laden trilogy, Stitch spans the genres of paranormal romance and dystopian sci-fi to explore the challenges of a society in transition, where morality, vision, and pragmatism collide leaving the average citizen to suffer the results.

29 comments:

  1. Ah that sounds great! New Adult paranormal? Mixed with Dystopia and Scifi? Ah I always love a good mix of genres :)

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  2. New Adult + Ghosts? Finally! I'm really looking forward to this now, even though I hadn't heard of it before. Thanks for sharing, Jenny! :)

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    1. Yay! Glad I could help put it on your radar:)

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  3. A physics gal and writer -- you're definitely a split-brain (both analytical and creative)! I adore college stories and it helps that you've living the life and know what you're talking about! Be careful in that haunted sorority house!

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    1. I fail at physics. FAIL MARY! I'm definitely creative only, math and science are completely wasted on me:)

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  4. I think this sounds exactly like my cup of tea. I'm a huge fan of ghosts and a handsome one IN a sorority house sounds better than ice cream and blueberry muffins combined. (Hint: blueberry muffins are my favorite thing in the world.) I'll definitely be reading this.

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    1. Yay! Hope you give it a try Maja! And now I really want a blueberry muffin:)

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  5. Thanks so much everyone for stopping by Alessa's interview and for your interest in Stitch!

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    1. Thanks for letting Alessa pop in Samantha!

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  6. The last question left us with a nice teaser!!!
    Should be a fun read.

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    1. Didn't it?:) Now we all just have to read it don't we:)

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  7. A handsome ghostly presence in her sorority house? Lucky girl! But now the school and the ghost aren't what she thought it was? I'm so curious to see what is going to happen here. Very interesting interview, I definitely want to check this one out!

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    1. I definitely want to know what he is if he isn't a ghost!

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  8. Great interview. I really enjoyed this book.

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  9. I am always a sucker for ghost stories, as long as there isn't a romance between the main character and the ghost as those never turn out well. This sounds interesting and I like the cover. I need to read more NA anyway and this fits the bill!

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    1. Heidi - that thought is actually EXACTLY what inspired the big twist in the story. How can a romance between a ghost and a living person ever work, right? Stitch is basically a VERY out of the box way of answering that question... :-)

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  10. Oh this sounds like something I'd enjoy. Btw, why can't I be haunted by a handsome ghost???? Hello! Handsome Ghosties! *AHEM!* :D

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  11. Read this book and really enjoyed it! Nice interview Jenny :)

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  12. Very fun interview! I have heard some good things about this book and I'm very curious about it!

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  13. Such a cute interview. Good luck with the handsome ghost!

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  14. That ghost, not a ghost at all, hm, what does that mean, intersting

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  16. A haunted sorority house? That sounds pretty cool actually, especially if the ghost is as Alessa described. ;) Thanks for sharing the interview! I've come across this book a couple of times before, but I didn't really know what it was about until now. It sounds good! :)

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  17. I've got all the question marks in my head as Sam! Really a haunted sorority house? Now that's something I'd like to read. I like the interview. Haven't seen the book before :) Thanks for sharing Jenny :)

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  18. I totally love the cover of this one! And the book description sounds like such a mish mash I may just have to find out what this world is all about. I love it when the characters don't know what's going on!

    Heather

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  19. Lovely interview, I recently reviewed Stitch and really enjoyed it, cannot wait for the next book!

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  21. This one sounds interesting. I think the author did a great job giving us a bit more information about her book and enticing us to read it.

    And physics, blech! ;) I dropped that course in uni; I just didn't understand any of the concepts.

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