Word Spelunking: One Song Away Blog Tour {Interview and Giveaway}

I'm so excited to have the One Song Away Blog Tour stopping by today with my interview with author Molli Moran and a giveaway...

One Song Away

by Molli Moran

12/1/14

New Adult

She needs a fill-in boyfriend. He needs a favor. It’s the perfect, no-strings arrangement until they both realize it’s too real…

Sophie-Claire Wright’s life is like a bad country song on repeat. She keeps running into her cheating ex, her songwriting career isn’t taking off, and her roommate just kicked her out of their apartment. With nothing to lose, she decides to do the one thing she said she’d never do: she moves back home. She left her small Southern town with big dreams, but now she’s going home with empty pockets.

Life moves at a slower pace in Sophie’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hometown, but her well-meaning, matchmaking mama doesn’t have a slow gear. Sophie invents a boyfriend to hold off her mother’s efforts, but she’s out of luck when her mom wants to meet him. Sophie panics until she runs into Jake Cooper. Her high school crush is back in town, too, and when he asks her for a favor, she agrees—on one condition. He says he’ll be her fill-in boyfriend, so it should be simple: introduce him to her family and then “break up” with him after a few weeks.

Sophie is sure she’ll be able to resist Jake this time and that their fake relationship will keep them both away from wagging tongues. Sure, she was in love with him years ago, but that was then. This is now, no matter how great he looks, or how she feels around him. But she didn’t bargain for moments that feel all too genuine. Dates that don’t seem fake. Kisses that leave her shaken and wanting more. And she didn’t count on old feelings resurfacing and complicating their arrangement—which is starting to feel less like acting and more like the real deal.

Soon, Sophie can’t tell which kisses are real or fake, but she knows she’s in deep…and she thinks Jake is, too. When she gets a chance to go back to Nashville and chase her dreams again, she has a choice to make: stay or go? Continue hoping that the life she wants is one song away, or write her own?

Goodreads / Amazon

What three words best describe One Song Away?

Someone asked me this recently and this is SUCH a hard question. Haha. Okay, three words to describe One Song Away: heartwarming, swoon-worthy, brave.

Grab a copy of One Song Away and answer the following:

favorite chapter? Another hard question! Probably Chapter 17, for spoiler-ish reasons.

favorite page? Page 118/119 (on my e-reader) because reasons.

favorite setting? Hmm, probably Freshly Ground, the coffeehouse Sophie Claire spends a lot of time in, because a lot of fun things happen there.

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

“Maybe I was thinking about work.”

She chokes on her sip of water and a hacking sound is all that emerges. “Right,” she says finally. “Cappucino makes you so happy that you get a silly grin on your face.” She reaches for my notebook on the coffee table. “If I open this, am I going to find pages with Sophie + Coop scribbled on them?”

Can you tell us a bit about your character Sophie-Claire? What makes her special and what do you love about her?

Sophie is an aspiring singer/songwriter who finds her life changing in a lot of ways when she moves back home. She’s got a dramatic side, and she loves her friends and life. She’s special to me because she’s learned who she is and is becoming proud of who she is. We don’t see a lot of heroines with confidence in YA or NA, so when Sophie HAD self-confidence to begin with, and learned more, I was so happy.

Since your character Sophie-Claire is an aspiring songwriter, how big of a role does music play in One Song Away? Is there a specific song that you associate with Sophie-Claire, Jake, or the book as a whole?

Music played a *huge* role in my writing process with One Song Away; I have a whole playlist, which I’ll be sharing part of during this blog tour. Country music especially makes up most of the playlist, since Sophie is a Tennessee girl. I would say the one song I associate most with Sophie-Claire is Cassadee Pope’s “You Hear a Song.”

If you could “borrow” ANY character from ANY medium (books, tv, comics, movies, etc) to write about, who would you choose and why?

Hmm, to write about…probably Gale Hawthorne from the Hunger Games series, because he’s one of my all time favorite characters. I’ve even written some fan fic starring him. ☺

As a New Adult author, why do think NA is so popular and important? What are some of your go-to New Adult recommendations?

I think New Adult is so vital because we can’t overlook these readers who ARE new adults, and who are looking for books that will speak to them about their stage in life. Plus you have people who, like me, are just a few years beyond that age range, but can still identify with New Adult books. NA books are about people whose lives are just wide open with possibility: for a job, for a friendship, for romance, and I love reading about that.

A few favorites: Megan Erickson’s BOWLER UNIVERSITY series, anything Cora Carmack writes, Lia Riley’s OFF THE MAP series.

What is the best thing about being an author? The hardest? Most surprising?

The best thing is…getting to write. It’s my therapy, it’s a way of expressing myself, a way of reaching out to others and telling stories to make them smile or heal or feel better. The hardest is the occasional moment of self-doubt that comes along. And I’d say the most surprising is hearing how deeply my stories have touched a few people.

What was the last book or tv show or movie that:

made you laugh out loud? (TV show) Supernatural’s 200th episode!

made you cry? (Book) EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU by Nina LaCour

scared you? (TV show) An episode of Sleepy Hollow

made you swoon? (Book) LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT by Dahlia Adler

inspired you? (TV show) Doctor Who, because it has such wonderful messages about love, bravery, friendship.

Fill in the blanks:

I’m really awesome at Cooking!

I’m really embarrassed to admit That I’m scared of the dark.

The last great book I read was RUIN AND RISING by Leigh Bardugo.

If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by One Song Away, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?

I think it would be a mocha inspired cupcake with vanilla sprinkles, and I’d call it the Rebel Cupcake…for reasons.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Molli!

website * goodreads * twitter * facebook

Molli is a Southern writer who doesn’t consider her day complete if she hasn’t written. She loves coffee and talking fast, things she attributes to being raised by Gilmore Girls. She’s a romantic at heart, and brings that to her books. When not reading or blogging, she can be found obsessing over Doctor Who, cuddling her various pets, or spending time with friends, family, or her girlfriend.