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Friday, June 20, 2014

Interview and Giveaway: Shay West, author of Dangerous Reflections


I'm thrilled to have Shay West stopping by today for an interview and giveaway! Shay is the author of the YA book, Dangerous Reflections...

Dangerous Reflections
by Shay West

Alexis Davenport wants to go home. She hates her new school, her mother for moving her away from her friends, and her father for walking out.
To make matters worse, Alex is haunted by images of strange girls reflected in her mirror. It’s bad enough juggling homework, a relentless bully, boys, and a deadbeat dad; now, she must save the world from an evil presence hell-bent on changing the past – and our futures. Who knew her A+ in history was going to be this important?



What three words best describe Dangerous Reflections?
Time Travel Enigma

Can you give us your best one sentence pitch to convince readers, especially reluctant readers, to give Dangerous Reflections a try?
You’ll  never look in the mirror the same way again!

Grab a copy of Dangerous Reflections and answer the following:
favorite chapter? Chapter 13 where Alex travels back to 16th century Venice

favorite page? Page 54; Alex has a terrifying realization that the same man is going back in time

most fun chapter or page to write? Chapter 5, where Alex first travels in time

flip to a random page and give us a 1-2 sentence teaser:

The people she recognized were famous people in history: Genghis Kahn, Queen Victoria, King Tut, George Washington, Adolf Hitler, Gandhi, Elvis, Walt Disney, Stalin. The numbers and faces began to flash by faster until she felt like she was running at the speed of light.
And still the presence followed her.

What inspired Dangerous Reflections? How did the story come to be?
I was putting on make-up before work one morning and thought about how cool it would be for the reflection to change to be someone else.

Did you have an absolute favorite character to write or explore in Dangerous Reflections? What do you love about him or her? Did any of your characters end up surprising you with how they turned out?
The main character, Alex, was a lot of fun to write. It was my first real foray into the mind of a teenager and it was fun, although painful too at times, to revisit my teen years and pull from that to bring Alex to life. Catelyn hadn’t meant to turn out nearly as nasty when I first started plotting the book. But she sort of did a Mean Girls/Regina George turn and it turned out to work for the best.

Your character Alexis must travel through time, visiting various time periods and places...did you have to do a great deal of historical research to explore these various settings? What’s your favorite time or place that Alexis visits?
I think I actually spent more time researching than I did actually writing the book! I admit I did take some artistic liberties with some of the time periods (Hernan Cortez didn’t have a sister to my knowledge) but I stuck to the basic time line we already know. If I had to choose a favorite it would be 16th century Venice where she gets to meet the infamous courtesan, Veronica Franco.

If YOU could travel to any place/time, where would you go? What would you do there?

I would have to go back to Biblical times and meet Jesus. I want to hear his teachings for myself and sit and witness his miracles first-hand.

What’s next for Alexis? Can you share any tidbits from the sequel to Dangerous Reflections?
There are two more books to the series, Twisted Reflections and Desperate Reflections. In Twisted Reflections, Alex still finds herself at the mercy of Drifter but she meets a fellow Traveler who may have the answers she needs to survive. In Desperate Reflections, she will find an unexpected ally and finally face Drifter in the flesh.

Fill in the blanks::
I’m really awesome at teaching and quoting old 80’s movies.

I’m really embarrassed to admit that I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life and never been skiing.

The last great book I read was Iscariot by Tosca Lee.

If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by Dangerous Reflections, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?
It would be decorated with tiny plastic mirrors on the top, with blue frosting (in honor of the TARDIS) and would be chocolate on the inside. The frosting would have to be cream cheese based as Alex doesn’t have a super sweet tooth.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Shay!


Shay West was born in Longmont, CO and earned a doctorate degree in Human Medical Genetics from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical. Dr. West currently lives in Grand Junction, CO with her two cats. When not writing novels, she plays with plushie microbes and teaches biology classes at Colorado Mesa University. She is the author of the Portals of Destiny series and the Adventures of Alexis Davenport series. She has also been published in several anthologies: Battlespace (military scifi), Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior (fundraiser), and Ancient New (steampunk/fantasy).
You can find Dr. West and more of her work at Shay-West.com.

Win an ebook copy of 
Dangerous Reflections!
Shay West has generously offered 1 ecopy of her book for 1 winner.
DETAILS
-open to anyone who can read ebooks
-ends 6/27
-must be 13+
-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours
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2 comments:

Kat said...

I loved reading "The Mad Lord Lucian" Can't wait to read Dangerous Reflections! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

Unknown said...

Aiecha, thanks for having me on your blog!!! *HUGS*

And Kat...you just made my day! So glad you liked MLL :D