Ask the Author: Heidi R. Kling (Paint My Body Red)

   Welcome to my first post of 2016!

   For this weeks edition of Ask the Author, the first one in 2016 (!), I'm bringing you the amazing Heidi R. Kling, author of Paint My Body Red, Not Okay, Cupid, and more! Ever since I read Paint My Body Red I've wanted to interview Heidi, even more after I read and loved Not Okay, Cupid, so I'm happy that it finally happened. 

   Check out her books and her A's for my Q's below!

Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling

Published: November 2nd 2015 by Entangled Publishing, LLC (Teen)

Number of Pages: 350 Pages (Kindle)

Series: No

   The world isn't just black or white. Sometimes it's red...

   They think I'm next. That I'll be the seventh kid to step in front of a train and end my life. With the rash of suicides at my school, Mom's shipped me off to my dad's Wyoming ranch for “my own safety.” They think I’m just another depressed teenager whose blood will end up on the tracks. They don't know my secrets...or what I’ve done.

   I wasn't expecting Dad to be so sick, for the ranch I loved to be falling to bits, or for Jake—the cute boy I knew years ago—to have grown into a full-fledged, hot-as-hell cowboy. Suddenly, I don't want to run anymore, but the secrets from home have found me...even here. And this time, it's up to me to face them—and myself—if I want to live... (goodreads.com)

Not Okay, Cupid by Heidi R. Kling

Expected Publication: January 11th 2016 by Entangled: Crush

Number of Pages: /

Series: Yes, #1 of 3

    Her wicked revenge, or his wicked heart...
   Hazel McCallister loves her life. Perfect grades. Perfect best friend. Perfect boyfriend. Until her perfect boyfriend cheats on her with her perfect best friend. Now Hazel’s in free fall—until her best friend’s brother, Felix, gives her the perfect idea. Reclaim her power by taking revenge on her cheating ex.
   Felix James loves his life. Casual relationships. Loads of surfing. He’s as drama-free as they come. But he can’t stand by when his sister steals her best friend’s boyfriend, and the dude insists it was Hazel’s fault. So Felix vows to help turn Hazel into a girl her ex can’t resist—so then she can break his heart.
   With an alliance in place, Hazel’s revenge is all but assured. But with each piece of payback, she feels a stronger attraction to Felix, even though revenge will turn her into a girl Felix could never be with. And soon Hazel has to make an impossible choice: revenge...or Felix, the boy who’s stolen her heart.
   WARNING! This book contains betrayal, revenge, and that most tempting vice of all, the bad boy you know you can't have. (goodreads.com)

Interview with Heidi R. Kling

   1 – Describe Paint My Body Red with a haiku (or a twitter pitch).

   A troubled girl, with help from a steadfast cowboy and a wild horse, rebuilds her life.

   2 – What sparked the idea for Paint My Body Red? Was it the simple idea of wanting to write a story that tackled the complicated topic of suicide or something completely different?

   Teen suicides happened in my town in two separate clusters, five years apart, devastating the community. Everyone has their theories as to why, and how to prevent more tragedies, which prompted the idea for PAINT. My dear uncle died from complications of ALS; and since I've wanted to write about it to pay homage to such a great man, and to educate the public a about a little known disease.

   3 – What do you like most and least about your protagonist Paige?

   I like her guts and her honestly. I like that she's not afraid to fail, and that she takes risks. I like that she is eager to grow even though growing and changing and healing is scary.

   4 – Not Okay, Cupid and Paint My Body Red are so different in every way, how did those two stories happen? What lead you to deciding that you wanted to write something much lighter after PMBR?

   My editor approached me while I was in revisions for PAINT asking if I'd like to try a rom-com. I love reading and watching rom-coms so I said yes. Readers are describing CUPID as "light, frothy, fun" and it was exactly what I needed at the time as well. I enjoyed writing it so much, I pitched a Holiday Trilogy to EntangledTeen which they accepted! Paige taught me a lot of things, and taking risks was one of them. I happily put myself out there now. The worse thing that can happen is rejection, and that's not that bad. So I have two more books following CUPID--MASQUERADE GIRL, which I'm working on now, about the daughter of a famous movie star couple in New York who hides her real identity from the costume shop employees she's working with, and a Christmas book (still untitled).

   5 – In retrospective, is there anything that you’d change about the story or are you happy with the way it turned out in the end?

   Which one? No, I'm pretty happy with both PAINT's ending and CUPID's.

   6 – As I mentioned to you and in my review, I think books that tackle hard topics are immensely important, and seeing as you wrote a story that does so, I believe you think the same. How important do you think is it for authors to do it in YA literature and do you think it’s a good way to make young people think about these things and discuss them?

   I do. I'm working on book club questions for PAINT MY BODY RED because that book brings up so many things parents and teens seem to suppress and/or hide from one another; from sexuality, to suicidal thoughts, to very basic things such as trust, and trying to heal familial relationships. I'd love to see PAINT be read in Mother/Daughter bookclubs.

   7 - How did you feel when you first realized that this story you had written would soon be read by thousands of people and how do you feel now, years later, before your next book will be released? Did the feeling change or is it still the same?

   It's extremely surreal. I try not to think about it too much so I don't get spooked. :)

   8 – What lead you to writing and wanting to be an author? Is it the way you imagined it would be?

   I've always wanted to be a writer. I think in TV and in movies, a writers life is much more cinematic and dreamy--lots of angst, and quiet walks on the beach where a woman brainstorms with sea wind flowing through her hair. My life is not like that. I'm very busy with my family and my business. I seem to mostly do dishes. So that part of it is not similar. The rest is though. I feel very blessed to be writing and published and that readers seem to relate to, and enjoy, my stories.

   9 – Which of your books has so far been your favorite one to write?

   CUPID was probably my favorite to write because compared to SEA and PAINT it was so easy. I wrote it in a month, whereas SEA took 3 years and PAINT took 5. But they are like kids: I can't choose a favorite.

   10 – What advice could you give aspiring authors?

   Write the book you want to read, and read the kinds of books you want to write. Learning is doing. And don't give up.

   11 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
   To fly. That would be so epic!

About the Author

   Heidi R. Kling writes about normal girls in fantastic situations. PAINT MY BODY RED, a romantic thriller about a girl fleeing secrets from home launches November 2 with EntangledTeen, followed by several more novels on various Entangled imprints. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the New School, but has been writing books, plays and screenplays since she could practically hold a pencil.

12 Days of Christmas Book Tag! (Blogmas Day #22)

   Welcome to blogmas day 22!
   Slowly we are approaching the end of blogmas, reaching christmas, but there are still a couple of days left. So, for today I'm bringing you the 12 Days of Christmas Book Tag which was originally created by LizzieLovesBooks over on YouTube. I think this looks really fun, and it's Christmas themed, so basically it first perfect. After yesterdays long discussion post a TAG seems like the way to go.

   #1 - A Partridge in a pear tree: Favorite Stand-Alone Book?
   Because I don't want to choose something uncreative like The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, because you all know I love this one lots and lots, I decided to go with Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling. I've read this book not that long ago and loved it so much! It is one of those books that tackles heavy topics and just does it so well while also having an intriguing plot and amazing characters. Love this one so you should check it out if you've not done so yet!

   #2 - Two Turtle Doves: Fictional OTP/Favorite Ship?

   Come on kids, say it with me: Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw from the Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin. I've talked about these two and those books so many times already I'm sure all of you knew I would pick them the second you saw the word OTP in the question. I love Mara and Noah because they are so broken and beautiful and just perfect for each other. I mean, I love those two enough to actually name my laptop Noah. If that's not enough of a sign for it then I don't know. I'm actually contemplating naming my phone Mara. HM.

   #3 - Three French Hens: Favorite Trilogy?
   This is a really hard one, even though I have a feeling it shouldn't be. I want to go with The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, but that's like my default answer so to switch it up I'm going to say Legend by Marie Lu. I love that trilogy, despite the fact that I always imagine June and Day to be at least two years older then they are actually in the books since everything they do seems a little unrealistic if you remember that they are merely like 15. But, besides that tiny fact, this trilogy is perfect and the ending, the ending was pure perfection. Champion, so the final book in the trilogy, was brilliant and tied all the loose ends in an amazing way. Marie Lu is definitely one of my favorite authors out there so.

   #4 - Four Calling Birds: Favorite Fictional Beast/Creature?
   I have a feeling that answering this question would be way easier if I would actually read more/any fantasy so, as cheap copout, I'm just going to say Unicorns, because Unicorns are awesome.

   #5 - Five Golden Rings: Show 5 Golden Books.

   #6 - Six Geese a Laying: Rotten egg - What's your least favorite book?
   There are a few books I disliked but there is only one that just made me want to throw my book across the room or out of the window because I just had so many problems with it, and that book is Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire. So many people love this book yet I hated every single page of it. The relationship between the two main characters was horrifying and just so abusive I cannot understand how anyone could think it's "cute" or "goals". Just no. I didn't like this book, I disliked it even more then Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James and Allegiant by Veronica Roth put together. 

   #7 - Seven Swans a Swimming: Show a Book with Water on the Cover.
   For this one, I could have had it really easy by just taking The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, because I'm cheap like that, BUT, I decided against doing that. Instead I'm going with Thicker Than Water by Brigid Kemmerer, a book I'm actually currently reading, even though I don't get much time to read recently which is a shame, really. This book is really good so far so I hope I'll find time to continue on with it really soon!

   #8 - Eight Maids a Milking: What fictional food do you wish you could taste?
   To be honest I have no idea about foods in books. I think those are one of those details that I don't really ay much attention to while reading. But I'm sure there's something in Harry Potter, like for example Butterbeer, which would be interesting to try.

   #9 - Nine Ladies Dancing: Favorite dance between two characters?
   I have no idea. I've honestly been thinking about an answer for this question for the past twenty minutes and I could not recall a couple dancing in any book I've read. This might be because there simply were none, or my ability to remember things like that just sucks on a major scale. Sorry!

   #10 - Ten Lords a Leaping: Favorite Book-To-Movie-Adaptation?
   This one is actually a tie between three movies because I cannot choose no matter how much I try: Catching Fire, The Martian and Fight Club (even though, first rule of the fight club, we don't talk about the fight club). I love these three movies and each of them has something amazing to them so choosing just one seemed like an impossible decision. Catching Fire is part of my favorite dystopian trilogy, The Martian is just all around perfect and science-y, and Fight Club is just a complete mind*ck on every scale with an ending I definitely did not see coming when I watched it for the first time. Love!

   #11 - Eleven Pipers Piping: Favorite Book-To-Movie-Adaptation Soundtrack?
   Another question that made me think for a moment to figure out my question. I think I will go with Twilight, or actually all four Twilight movies. The movies themselves might have been less then average but the music was really good! I was actually surprised by how good of a job they did with their music selection since some of the songs from the soundtracks are actually ones I still really like to listen to until today, and I don't mean only the MUSE song.

   #12 - Twelve Drummers Drumming: It's the end of the song; what's your favorite book ending?
   There are many books that have perfect endings, surprisingly enough, but because I didn't want to repeat myself I decided to go with Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead, the sixth and final book in the Vampire Academy Series. I love this series, it's definitely one of my favorites, just like Rose and Dimitri will forever be one of my favorite OTP's, and Dimitri my fictional boyfriend, closely tied with Noah. The ending of this series that utter perfection and I could have not wished for a better one. I definitely want to re-read the series again sometime soon because I miss it.

   And that is it, the 12 Days of Christmas Book Tag. I hope you enjoyed my answers. Leave yours in the comments below, or do the TAG on your blog/YouTube channel, but don't forget to leave a link in the comments or tweet it at me (@Alice_Reeds) so I can check it out!

My Bookish Christmas Wish List 2015 (Bookmas Day #14)

   Welcome to bookmas day 14!
   It's that time of the year again when we look at our growing list of books that we desire to own and read, and decide which ones are the chosen ones, the ones that end up on our christmas wish lists. Today I will tell you guys about the 10 books I've picked out that I would love to get for christmas this year. Last year I've actually gotten most of the books I wanted, which is always a nice thing, even though my bookshelves think otherwise because I barely have any space left.
   Without further ado, here are my chosen ones:

   #1 - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
   On my most recent 4 hours bus journey I had the incredible joy of watching the movie based upon this book starring Keira Knightley, an actress I like a lot. I loved the movie and it's melancholic atmosphere so of course, the next logical step to do here, is go and read the book. I'm incredibly curious as to how the two, the book and movie, compare and how much has been changed.

   #2 - Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
   Fair enough, I've actually already read and reviewed this book a couple of months ago, but how could I possibly not want to own one of those amazing hardcover copies of this book? I want to experience the story again, have a closer look at all the design details that went into this book that were way too small on my eARC, and just have it stand proudly on my shelf. Besides, spoiler alert, this is one of my favorite books this year so.

   #3 - Night Film by Marisha Pessl
   I've heard lots of stuff about this book, lots and lots of praise because of the story and its originality. I've wanted to get it for surely a year or so now, so I guess Christmas is a good moment to possibly finally get my hands on it and see what all the talk is about. Hopefully it'll be a good one, if I do get it.

   #4 - This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers
   This book sounds really interesting, since it combines two things I like a lot: a heavy topic and zombies. I really like zombie stories, the really good ones, so I'm curious to see if this will be a good one. A reviewer whose opinion I trust gave this one a high rating, despite not being the biggest fan of zombies, so I have truly high hopes for this one.

   #5 - The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
   This is one of the 'heavy' books that can be found on my list. As you guys know I love books dealing with hard/heavy topics so of course there would be books like this one on my list. Also, let's face it, the title of this book definitely caught my attention due to obvious reasons.

   #6 - The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson
   This book is about a boy who wants to be a girl, who feels like he actually is a girl despite being born in a boys body. I've never read a transgender book before so of course when I saw this one I could not resist and had to put it onto this list asap. To be honest, I've already ordered it.

   #7 - This Shattered World and Their Fractured Light by Meagan Spooner and Amie Kaufman
   I've already wished for This Shattered World last year, but didn't get it, obviously. Logically I am wishing for it once more this year, along with the final book of the trilogy. This books are already totally worth getting even if only for those gorgeous covers, though the story in book one, These Broken Stars, was already pretty awesome so I cannot wait how the story continues.

   #8 - You by Caroline Kepnes
   This book sounds infinitely fascinating, especially because it's written in second person, as suggested even by the title. I've never read a book in second person and I'm sure it will take a little while to get used to it, but I've heard nothing but good things about this book so I have high hopes. It's supposed to be really creepy and that already tells me that I want to read it. As with heavy topics, creepy/scary books are another type of book that I happen to love.

   #9 - Some Boys by Patty Blount
   And here we are again, another heavy topic book that deals with rape. I think these types of books are incredibly important so of course I want to read them, spread the word about them, especially if they are good ones. I've been eyeing this book for months but never got it so I hope to get it as present.

   #10 - Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling
   Again, I've already read, loved and reviewed this one in form of an eARC but, seeing as I absolutely loved it, I definitely want to get the physical copy of it so I can re-read it sometime. Seriously, if you've still not considered getting this book I strongly encourage you to do it. The story is amazing!

   Those are the 10 books I hope to get. I know, not the happiest list ever made but that's just me, I have a soft spot for the heavy/sad stuff. What are some of the books you hope to get for Christmas? Tell me in the comments below or on twitter, @Alice_Reeds.

Review: Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling

Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling
Published: November 2nd 2015 by Entangled: TEEN
Number of Pages: 350 Pages (Kindle)
Series: No

   The world isn't just black or white. Sometimes it's red...
   They think I'm next. That I'll be the seventh kid to step in front of a train and end my life. With the rash of suicides at my school, Mom's shipped me off to my dad's Wyoming ranch for “my own safety.” They think I’m just another depressed teenager whose blood will end up on the tracks. They don't know my secrets...or what I’ve done.
   I wasn't expecting Dad to be so sick, for the ranch I loved to be falling to bits, or for Jake—the cute boy I knew years ago—to have grown into a full-fledged, hot-as-hell cowboy. Suddenly, I don't want to run anymore, but the secrets from home have found me...even here. And this time, it's up to me to face them—and myself—if I want to live... (goodreads.com)

* Thank you to Entangled Teen for providing me with a eARC in exchange for my honest review *

The moment I received a message saying that ARCs of this book were available I knew I had to have it, even if only because of that brilliantly intriguing title. Unlike me I didn't get to actually read it until the day before yesterday, leaving me with hours before my review was supposed to be online. Curse you, reading slump. But once I started to read it I simply couldn't put it down anymore.
   Paint My Body Red is a brilliant novel with the perfect blend of flawed characters, real life problems solved in real life ways, and a beautifully crafted love story. I want to thank the author for tackling the hard truth that is how robbing a child of its childhood in order of pursuing its parents ambitions can ruin said child. I know there are many children in exactly this position and I think it is very important to talk about this issue because a child needs to have a childhood, needs to have time to play and have friends, and not spend every waking moment studying, practicing and working toward a future that might not even be the one they truly want since its what their parents decided for them.

   I loved the incredibly honest tone of this book and its protagonist, Paige. She didn't hide the fact that she was damaged, didn't hide her feelings and fears, and that was refreshing. At the same time she wasn't a damsel in distress waiting for a strong cowboy to come and save her, no, she found her own way of saving and fixing herself, the cowboy was rather a nice extra that helped.
   Speaking of which, Jake the cowboy was an amazing character. He was honest and true to himself at all times. He seemed much smarter then many 19 years olds, but the book beautifully explained how children that grow up the way he did mature sooner, quicker.
   I also really liked Paige's father and Anna. Both of them were well rounded characters that had a life even beyond the scene when they interacted with Paige, and their story was just as moving as the main one centered around Paige. I loved how important the ranch was to all of them and how far they were ready to go to save it.

   Speaking of ranch, as a kid I loved horses. I used to ride them, I was even pretty good, until I stopped due to personal reasons so reading a book that involved horses and a characters love for them was brilliant. I could really feel how much Paige cared about her horse and the ranch.
   Furthermore I really liked the author's writing style. Ms. Kling has a lot of talent and is able to paint a scene beautifully, make you feel like you are there witnessing it and not just reading about it. The fact that Paint My Body Red was written partially in the now, so the summer Paige was spending at her father's ranch, and in the past, telling the reader about what had happened, what impact the suicides had on Paige and her toxic relationship was amazing. It all unfolded piece by piece, slowly, util it formed a complete horrible picture.

   All in all I think Paint My Body Red is a valuable novel that takes very hard topics and actually talks about them. The author didn't gloss over anything but showed the hard truth of it all, which I definitely appreciated a lot. The characters were fleshed out and the story moving, intriguing, and beautiful. I recommend this book to everybody because I think it's one of those important books that show reality and don't just tell a summer fluff story.

   I give Paint My Body Red by Heidi R. Kling 5 out of 5 stars.