The author was here on Amberkatze's Book Blog talking about her book The Wedding Gift and other spooky things.
Kathleen was also giving away THREE copies of THE WEDDING GIFT! Maybe you are one of the lucky people who won a copy? Well the contest is over and it is time to find out who won!
Congrats to :
NoraA!!!
Gail!!!
Laurasloves!!!
Find out how to claim your prize by reading the directions below.
Please contact me via email - Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot eu within the next 7 days to claim your prize. Your claim will go quicker if you send me your address. If you won a contest where you can choose your prize, then please make sure you state in your email which book you would like. This will help things go alot quicker! If you won an e-book please make sure you send me the email address you would like the book sent to!
If you email me and don't get a reply within 48 hours please post on the blog letting me know. Some email gets eaten by my spam filter. However please don't send me more than one email unless you really don't get an answer within 3 days. I am not online 24/7 ;) Sometimes it takes a little longer to reply.
If a prize isn't claimed after 7 days I will, if the author agrees, pick another winner.
Please also note that I can not be held responsible for prizes that come direct from authors. I will check with them for you if you haven't received your prize but I can not hunt down your mail! Any prizes that come from myself could come from a 3rd party eg. Amazon or Bookdepository. If I am sending a prize myself please be aware that it could take a few weeks to reach you as it is coming from Europe.
Her book, The Wedding Gift, sounds very spooky and I can't wait to read it! Until then I am enjoying reading about the places near you that are haunted! Tell us about that spooky place you live close to or would never enter and you could win a copy of Kathleen's book!
Actually there are THREE copies ready to go to good homes so make sure you enter the contest before Sunday 4pm (Central European Time). You may just be one of the lucky three entrants!
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For more chances to win -
Post about this giveaway somewhere on the internet eg. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. Make sure you post the link here so I can confirm your extra entry.
Email your friends about this giveaway. Make sure you add my email address so I also get a copy and can confirm your entry. Amberkatzes_Book_Blog@gmx.eu
I get contacted by authors all the time asking me to review their books. Most of the time I have to decline as my to be read pile looks like it is about to topple over.
However I try and give the authors a chance and at least ask them to be a guest here on Amberkatze's Book Blog. So when Kathleen McKenna contacted me I had to give her and her book, The Wedding Gift, some coverage. It looks great!
I hope you enjoy the interview and take the time to enter the contest. Kathleen is very generously giving away three copies of The Wedding Gift!
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Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is great to have you here as a guest! Could you start things off by telling us a little about your book, The Wedding Gift?
Kathleen - Hi Amber thanks for having me, well several years ago I was visiting New Orleans and there was this amazing mansion in the Garden District (not Anne Rice's old place lol) and I noticed this really pretty teenage girl standing outside the wrought iron just staring at the house and I started thinking like writers always do and putting a story to it, what if she was from the wrong side of town but hoped to live in that house anyway and then another girl walked up to her and said "cmon Leeann we have to go."
So that was it her name, her story the house :)
Amber - How did you come up with the idea for the The Wedding Gift? Was it a long process or did it just come to you?
Kathleen - Like I said that one just came to me and the book almost wrote itself, I was coming off this three year research gig into a true American Horror Story I took a road trip saw the house in New Orleans and the girl and boom I started the book and never stopped till the end.
Amber - The Wedding Gift has been described as a mystery/ghost story. Which genre would you put it in?
Kathleen - Paranormal Romance, The Wedding Gift is a love story and its a story about friendship and growing up and its also supposed to be funny, of course there's a ghost how could I not have a ghost, ghosts rock :). Oh I just read this back and realized I'm not sure what gender I'd call my book, I'll let you guys decide :)
Amber - The main character in your book is 17 year old Leeann. Is this book aimed at Young readers? It sounds quite spooky.
Kathleen -Well the old lines of YA and adult fiction have been pretty much shattered since the advent of Twilight and lets face it True Blood, but then I'm not sure they ever existed anyway except in the minds of editors.
Leeann is seventeen, beautiful, wild and she goes after what she wants, maybe there are no teenage girls like her in the real world but I'm thinking there are plenty of them and while her choices are a little rough they're also easy to understand and as for her best friend Jessie how many millions of girls grow up in bad homes here alone? Jessie instead of giving in to a life of zero expectations picks early adulthood and knows she'll do better and she does, The Comeback is Jessie's story :)
Amber - How do you pick the names for your characters? Do they have any special meanings?
Kathleen - Like I said in the beginning Leeann's name is based on the girl I saw, somewhere in Louisiana is the real Leeann I hope she reads the book and this interview and goes "no way!." The other names, I swear they picked themselves all writers are at least half nuts and there is no point trying to explain us.
Amber - Did you always wanted to be an author?
Kathleen - No, I was always a reader but I just wanted to work with kids that's all, then life moves and I was given a chance by a great writer to do a story he couldn't get to. I wrote it and-this will sound weird but after that I knew I was going to do this full time and forever (see earlier comment where I admit to being nuts :)
Amber - I am sure that being an author has its ups and downs. What experiences have you had so far?
Kathleen - Its a nightmare :) Agent search, publisher search, legal issues, you need a dozen biz degrees and the patience of a saint. Having said that there is no better life and you meet the best people, kind, funny interesting. I don't know maybe if I'd known how hard it was going to be I wouldn't have started but I'm glad I did.
Amber - Are you a full time writer or do you have a day job? If yes, How do you divide your time?
Kathleen - Nope this is my day job :) When I'm writing I write five days a week, the rule is to lay down five pages a day, if they are rancid delete and start again. In between books I'm usually ideaing (made up word) the next one or I'm buried in research, research is my personal favorite, the actual writing part not so much lol
Amber - Are you working on any other projects you would like to tell us about?
Kathleen - Sure I'm working on Dream House right now, this one has been inspired by some recent wild and truly scary events at a historic American Mansion and I'm hoping it entertains people half as much as chasing down the story has entertained me.
Amber - How do you relax? Do you have any hobbies?
Kathleen -Million mile walks lol that's what I call them, me and my ipod and a whole weekend to go as far as my legs will take me, oh and reading I don't know though if I'd call reading a hobby or an addiction.
Amber - Alot of authors have 'soundtracks' for their books. Is there any music influenced your books?
Kathleen - Great question and yes this old song by Alabama I'd make my life with you. Its the soundtrack of Donny and Leeann's love story, oh and one Britney Spears song lol
Amber - What books do you enjoy reading? Do you have any favourite authors/series?
Kathleen - Eeek I have about twenty but right now I am OBSESSED by everything a woman named Jennifer McMahon writes she combines ghosts and at risk kids and is rocking my world :)
Amber - If you could be any paranormal creature, what would you be and why?
Kathleen - Oh a ghost of course, that's my go to Para critter. I'm a vegetarian so the whole Vamp, Werewolf thing wouldn't work out to well and besides ghosts can pretty much go anywhere and do anything so if you think of paranormal super powers well ya gotta love the ghost!
Amber - Thank you for visiting Amberkatze's Book Blog!
Kathleen - Thank YOU Amber for having me, this has been great!
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Contest Time
Kathleen is giving away THREE copies of THE WEDDING GIFT! Maybe you will be one of the lucky three winners? (US only please!)
How To Enter
Tell us about your local haunted house or that place where you never go because it is just too spooky!
No Comment = No Entry
'Please enter me' posts will not be counted as an entry!
Earn more entries for each link you place about this contest on the net. You can post on Facebook, Twitter & MySpace but make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries! However please do not make individual postings for each entry. Please post all your entries in one post.
Advertise Amberkatze's Book Blog on your site and get an extra entry for this and every other contest!
You can also earn extra entries by emailing your friends about the contest. Just make sure you send a copy of your email or receipt to me at Amberkatzes_book_blog at gmx dot net.
Make sure you post your links here so I can confirm your entries.
Keep the contests going by using the Bookdepository.com and Amazon.com links/Banners below and around the site!
The contest will stay open until Sunday 13th of November 2011 4pm CET and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.
