Friday, December 4, 2015

Interview with Celeste Grande, LIVE ME



Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
Live Me is a new adult contemporary romance that takes you through the life of Evangelina Ricci. Evangelina is a girl who leaves the town she grew up in with her best friend in order to escape the dark past that plagues her. Evangelina is very guarded and closed off, although she puts on a façade to the world to make them think otherwise. Once at college, she meets Blake Turner, the guy who will blow her world wide open and demolish the make-shift walls she’s kept so perfectly in place all these years. Live Me is part of the Pieces of Broken series. 

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish your book(s)?
Two things.
1- I’m a major control freak. I don’t take orders well and I’m very opinionated, especially when it comes to something I’ve created. 2- I don’t like to wait. Querying and getting accepted takes an awful lot of time and it took me three years to get Live Me to the point that I was comfortable publishing as it is. I didn’t want to wait any longer.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?
I was completely hands on in the full design of the cover, down to the models. I wanted a good representation of Eva and Blake. It was also important to me that it was eye catching and that even the back cover had pieces of the novel.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I have a general idea where the story is going, but characters are pushy f*ckers sometimes and think they should have a say. They tend to take things where THEY think it should go. And that’s okay. Because it IS of course their story to tell. I am merely a moving pen. Yes, pen. I hand write my books.

Did you hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
Yes, two of them. And a proofer. I’m paranoid. And anal. If you only knew how many times this book has been worked over…

What have you’ve learned during your self-publishing journey?
The struggle is real. You can have amazing words and amazing characters, but the market is rough to crack. However, it’s a community like no other. People genuinely care and want to help. It’s the most passionate place to be and I’m proud and humbled to be a part of it.

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale?
So far, Barnes and Noble and Kobo. iBooks is coming, but I need a hand with that one, so keep your eye out. Google + is toying with me and telling me they aren’t accepting any more. (Are they for real?)

Do you find it difficult to juggle your time between marketing your current book and writing your next book?
At the present moment, this is my greatest struggle. Live Me just released and already the second book in the series is in high demand. So, I need to find ways to split myself to make it all work.

Some fun facts about you, which do you prefer – dogs or cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk or Text? Day or Night?
Dogs, always dogs. Cats freak me out. I feel like they’re smarter than me and planning my demise. If you put an IV in me, you may find chocolate running through my veins. And coffee, preferably pumpkin flavored. I used to talk on the phone all day long, now I ignore it half the time and don’t listen to my voicemails. Text me, please. Day, although I’m a vampire as of late. (God, I wish I was for real)

What’s next for you?
I would like to tie up Eva and Blake’s story as quickly as possible. There is a possibility of a third installment if I can make it work, which will be featured in Blake’s POV. I also see a story for Eva’s sister, Abby, and I would LOVE to give Jace a book if I could figure out how to master writing m/m. There are so many things floating through my head that I have to hope to have the time to get them all out. You’ll have to just follow me and stay tuned. XO


Book & Author Details:
Live Me ~ a Pieces of Broken novel by Celeste Grande
Publication date: October 27th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult

Synopsis:
Broken…
Shattered…
How can you begin to live again when you’ve already been forced to…die?
Evangelina Ricci is trapped in a world that’s a never-ending nightmare, a constant ache in which consumes her every breath. Unable to bear the torture any longer, she does the one thing she can to take back control.
Run.
With her best friend Jace in tow, Evangelina attempts to escape her darkened past by leaving for college and diving head first into an aggressive schedule, determined with everything she is to make a name for herself. There’s only one problem—she can’t run away from the demons she struggles with. The demons that’ll forever be there, locked inside, battering her soul. Hiding behind a flawless façade, Evangelina faces her ghosts until her world is turned upside down, invaded by…him.
Blake Turner. Sweet, witty, flirtatious and drop-dead gorgeous, he finds Evangelina at every turn. Scared he’ll uncover the truth she keeps so well guarded, Evangelina tries her best to put on her act, deterring him like she has so many times before—only this guy’s different. He’s relentless. Utterly, absolutely and completely relentless. He sees her and he wants her and won’t stop until she’s his.
Will Evangelina succeed in pushing Blake away? Or will he break down her walls and be the person to make her realize life is worth living?


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AUTHOR BIO:
Celeste Grande grew up loving words. From an early age, it was easy for her to open her heart through pen and paper and come away with something poetic. She never thought anything more than releasing her emotions would come of it though. A workaholic that can’t keep still, in her ‘real’ life, she’s a Certified Public Accountant who dreams of writing sexy books all day long. When she isn’t working, she’s reading, writing, mommying and being a wifey to the love of her life.
She lives in New York, still putting pen to paper and anxiously awaiting the debut of her first novel, Live Me, a new adult romance, in October of 2015.

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