Katie McGarry Author Interview ~ JeanBookNerd

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Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan. She is the author of the Pushing the Limits and Thunder Road series.

Was there a defining moment during your youth when you realized you wanted to be a writer?
An assignment in class was to write a short scene explaining the poem THANATOPSIS by William Cullen Bryant. I wrote a scene and couldn’t stop so I wrote a whole play. One day my English teacher slid a desk over to mine with the play in her hand. She looked me straight in the eye and told me I had talent and that I should pursue writing as a career.

To be honest, I didn’t believe her and I pursued a degree in political science instead of creative writing. While I didn’t pursue writing as a career at the time, that moment always stuck with me.

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
I think storytelling connects us like separate threads in a loom to be weaved. It gives us the ability to relate to a character and therefore a way to relate to each other.

Beyond your own work (of course), what is your all-time favorite book and why? And what is your favorite book outside of your genre?
One of my favorite books is S.E. Hinton’s THE OUTSIDERS. It was the first book I read as a teenager that I related to.

I love Stephen King’s THE STAND.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received from another author?
To remember to take deep breaths and enjoy the moment.

In your new book; Dare to You, can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about it?
DARE YOU TO tells the story of seventeen-year-old Beth Risk, who finds her life turned upside down at the beginning of her senior year. Forced to leave the mother she’s always protected and the only friends she’s ever known, Beth must start over at a new school, in a new town, with an uncle she hasn’t seen in years. The last thing she wants is to catch the eye of the town’s golden boy, popular jock Ryan Stone, who seems determined to win her over for all the wrong reasons. But when she discovers that Ryan has secrets of his own, Beth is drawn to him despite herself. Soon she’ll have to make a choice—between the past that beckons her back, and the life she never dreamed possible.

What part of Beth did you enjoy writing the most?
Beth’s internal thoughts and her comebacks could make me laugh. On the flip side, her deep vulnerability broke my heart. She is a very complex character and I loved having the opportunity to write her story.

For those who are unfamiliar with Ryan, how would you introduce him?
On the outside, Ryan is perfection. All the guys want to be him and all the girls want to date him. He’s the town’s golden boy and the star pitcher for his high school baseball team, but Ryan is hiding secrets.

Ryan is also a romantic at heart and he’s the one person who can bust through Beth’s walls.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
I’m currently working on revisions for CRASH INTO YOU which follows the story of Isaiah. He’s a secondary character from PUSHING THE LIMITS and DARE YOU TO.

On April 1st, my first e-novella, CROSSING THE LINES, will be released. This story focuses on Lila, Echo’s best friend from PTL.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I would love to overhear a conversation between Noah from PUSHING THE LIMITS and Ponyboy Curtis from THE OUTSIDERS. They both lost their parents in a tragic accident and I think they could easily relate to each other.

When asked, what’s the one question you always answer with a lie?
When I’m having a bad day, if someone asks how I’m doing I’ll answer, “Fine.”

Who is the first person you call when you have a bad day?
My husband. :)

What is your favorite room in your home and outside environment?
I love my living room. It is painted a beautiful sky blue and has lots of pictures of my family. As for outside, I love to sit on my front porch swing.

Which is the hardest thing you ever had to do?
what decade during the last century would you have chosen to be a teenager?

I was a teenager during the 1990’s. Overall, I enjoyed being a teenager then so I think I’d keep that as my choice.

Tell me about your first kiss.
I was fourteen and it was the fall of the year. My boyfriend was holding my hands and we were laughing over a joke he had told. He grew suddenly solemn and he backed me up against the trunk of a nearby tree. He leaned in and gently kissed my lips. I swear, the world completely tilted.

Who was the last person you hugged?
My husband.

What would be harder for you, to tell someone you love them or that you do not love them back?
It took me several months to tell my husband I loved him, even though he had told me he loved me first.

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

You can purchase Dare You To at the following Retailers: