Tonight The Streets Are Ours: Interviews + Giveaway

I'm super excited today to be a part of the promotional tour for Tonight the Streets Are Ours, the latest release from Leila Sales. This blog tour (as is the case with all of Macmillan's fantastic tours!) is fun and different, and instead of the participating bloggers simply interviewing Leila, she's interviewing all of us as well. Woo hoo! You'll find my interview below Leila's, and be sure and check the bottom of the post for all the details on a giveaway as well as the full list of participating blogs. Welcome Leila!

LEILA'S INTERVIEW

If you were to create a personal blog that included thoughts, musings and a few small details about your life as Peter’s does, what would the name of that blog be?

I might call it “Tonight the Streets Are Ours”—obviously I like that name, or I wouldn’t have chosen it for Peter’s blog! Or I’d call mine “Pretty to Think,” which is from the last line of The Sun Also Rises.

If you only had a single night to spend in NYC, what’s the one thing you’d make sure you to visit/experience?

That is a hard question! There are so many things in NYC that I love to do. Let’s see… I would definitely want to get ice cream at Ample Hills. If there were an outdoor concert for a band I even remotely liked, I’d go to that. I’d go out dancing somewhere. And if there were a good warehouse party going on, like the Jigsaw Manor party that Arden goes to in the book, I’d want to hit up that. And then I would sleep the entire next day.

What one word would Arden use to describe Peter before she met him? After?

Beforehand, something like “charming” or “wounded.” After? Still charming and woinded, but maybe “lonely.”

If tomorrow you woke up and decided to take a road trip, what are the top three cities you’d make a point to swing through? Why?

L.A. and San Francisco, because I have a lot of friends in both cities whom I’d love to visit, and you get to drive along the Pacific Coast to get from one to the other, which is beautiful. And then maybe Seattle, because I’ve never been there and I think a truly great trip should always involve something new.

Road trips aren’t road trips without an epic playlist to accompany them. What’s the first song on Arden’s Find Peter In NYC Road Trip Playlist?

“Let’s Get Out of This Country,” by Camera Obscura. It’s a lovely song about just leaving behind whatever you came from and heading out into the world unknown.

MY INTERVIEW

TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS is not only the title of my novel; it's also the name of Peter's blog in the book. He got it from a Richard Hawley song. How did you choose the name for your blog?

I’ve always gravitated toward paranormal books over any other genre, so the "supernatural" part of my blog title was a pretty easy pick. I also really like alliteration (nerd, party of one!) so I knew I wanted another “s” word to accompany “supernatural”, and since my sense of humor veers into sarcastic territory, I went with “snark”.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone thinking of starting their own blog?

Get a Post-It note, write the words HAVE FUN on it in all caps and stick it to your computer screen so every time you go to blog you see it. It seems like an obvious piece of advice, but I see bloggers time and again get overwhelmed by review schedules and statistics, and eventually the entire reason we all started blogging gets buried underneath the pressure of consistency. Having that visual reminder helps me refocus when I start to get lost in the day-to-day minutiae of running a blog.

What's one thing you wish all your readers knew?

About me? Yikes. I don’t have a good answer for this! I love chocolate. And fictional men. And reading about fictional men whilst eating chocolate. I feel like if you know that, you know me in a nutshell ;-)

What's the hardest part about being a blogger?

Keeping up with everything! Like I said above, trying to post 5-6 times a week, even if those posts aren’t all reviews, is a lot for me. I have it easier than most since I work from home and have some flexibility during the work day, but I still spend hours commenting and promoting the posts each day, in addition to actually reading and reviewing the books ;-) It’s more than worth it though, I’ve met such extraordinary people because of this blog!

In TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS Peter purposefully keeps his blog a secret from his friends and family so he can write whatever he wants about them. What do your friends and family think about your blog? Do they read it and comment on it?

This blog has turned into a family hobby over the years, with my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law all contributing reviews on occasion. The three of them have also accompanied me to numerous bookish events, including BEA for the past 5 years. Their involvement has been amazing, and it makes me absurdly happy that we've all been able to share in this sometimes-overwhelming-but-always-awesome adventure together :-)

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions Leila, and for giving me the chance to answer some in return!

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TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS

Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom.

Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.

During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N 

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LEILA SALES

Leila Sales was born in 1984 and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in psychology in 2006. Now she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works in the mostly glamorous world of children's book publishing. Leila spends most of her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write.

Website • Facebook • Twitter 

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SEPTEMBER 19th CHALLENGE

On Saturday, September 19, starting at sundown and going as late as you want, do something fun, make a record of it, and share it with the world. Using the hashtag #TonightTheStreetsAreOurs, instagram or tweet whatever happens in your night. If you're going to a party, aimlessly driving around with friends, or watching a movie alone in your PJs, we want to hear about it.
 

Here's why: We're celebrating the launch of Leila Sales's novel TONIGHT THE STREETS ARE OURS, the story of a 17-year-old girl who goes on an epic all-night road trip to NYC with her best friend in pursuit of her favorite blogger. It's the sort of night where anything can happen, and almost everything does.

Now it's your turn. Whatever you're doing with your night, wherever you live, however old you are: you're invited. Leila will be livestreaming her own nighttime adventures so you can join her remotely HERE. Or just do your own thing and post it online. We are all in this together. #TonightTheStreetsAreOurs. 

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GIVEAWAY

Thanks to the generosity of the Fierce Reads team, I have one copy of Tonight the Streets Are Ours to give away on the blog today! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

September 1- Reader of Fictions

September 2- Forever Young Adult

September 3- Ticket to Anywhere

September 4- Alexa Loves Books

September 5- The Book Cellar

September 6- The Irish Banana

September 7- Adventures of a Book Junkie

September 8-Supernatural Snark

September 9- The Compulsive Reader

September 10- Miss Print

September 11- Book Rock Betty

September 12-Reading Teen

September 13- Ageless Pages Reviews

September 14-Perpetual Page Turner

September 15- Books and Whimsy

September 16- Fierce Reads (formerly known as Mac Teen Books!)