Cindy M. Hogan Author Interview ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Cindy M. Hogan

Cindy Hogan graduated in secondary education and enjoys spending time with unpredictable teenagers. More than anything, she loves the time she has with her own teenage daughters and wishes she could freeze them at this fun age. If she's not reading or writing, you'll find her snuggled up with the love of her life watching a fun movie or planning their next party.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
I always thought it would be cool to be an archeologist. Yep! I know! I thought the suspense of unearthing old cities would create the best suspense ever. Then I took a couple of classes in archeology and it was anything but suspenseful. No Indiana Jones there.

How would you describe yourself in three words?
Three words? That’s tough, but I’ll go with-optimistic, sassy, fun

You read a lot of YA fiction. Please name a few of your favorite books and tell us why they inspire you?
I love Veronica Roth, Divergent and Insurgent and Cynthia Hand, Unearthly and Hallowed

I think they both have a handle on creating amazing suspense while keeping it clean. It’s getting harder and harder to find YA books that kick butt and are still completely appropriate for my daughters to read.

For those who are unfamiliar with your novel; Watched, how would you introduce it?
Watched is a suspense lover’s dream, and if romance is on your list of musts it will rock your world.

What’s one thing that readers would be surprised to find out about Christy?
That she has a reoccurring dream about singing karaoke on while standing on a tabletop.

Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
The second book in the series just came out last month. Protected is the second book of the Watched series, and I think it’s even better than Watched. In fact, most of the reviews agree with me. I hoped it would be. So many second books in a trilogy end up being flat. I didn’t want that. The final book in the trilogy, Created, comes out in November of this year.

What was your inspiration Watched?
I had this awesome dream. It was crystal clear and so amazing. I thought it would make a rocking movie. I wanted to give the idea to someone, but knew no one in the movie business, so I started to write the idea down and just couldn’t stop.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I would introduce Marybeth to Four in Divergent. I think they’d make a great couple.

What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 30 or less words, what would you say?
My most recent book is Protected: They found her. Now she must run and leave behind everything she knows, including herself.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
Hmm. I try never to lie, but maybe when I need my day to be awesome and it’s not, I still say it’s awesome. Faking it until I make it, I guess. It works, too.

What was a time in your life when you were really scared?
When I was fifteen, I moved to Tennessee in the winter. I was in a motor home and my dad, mom and sister were in a van, following us. My brother was driving the motor home, and he hit a patch of ice on a bridge, we slid, causing my parents to slide when they tried to avoid us. Between the motor home and the van, we completely blocked the freeway. A semi came and couldn’t stop because of the ice, either. He hit into the van. I remember seeing my dad scrunched up in the driver’s seat, all bloody and stuck, and he asked where my mom was. She had been in the passenger seat. Looking for her in the huge pile-up of cars was so scary. She had been thrown about fifty feet out the front window and was in terrible shape. I feel so lucky that both of them are still alive today.

What are 4 things you never leave home without?
I never leave home without my big writing bag (that my husband wishes would disappear), lotion, Chapstick and my waterbottle.

If you could be any mythology creature, what would you be?
I would be a Pegasus, because I’ve always wanted to fly, and I think horses are so majestic. I even dream about flying. Maybe I’m superwoman in embryo.

It takes more than a school trip to Washington, DC to change Christy’s life. It takes murder.

A witness to the brutal slaying of a senator’s aide, Christy finds herself watched not only by the killers and the FBI, but also by two hot guys.

She discovers that if she can’t help the FBI, who want to protect her, it will cost her and her new friends their lives.

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