Once Upon a Twilight!: BIR2010: Kimberly Derting Interview/Giveaway

BIR2010

Welcome to back to the BEST I'VE READ 2010! BIR2010 will run from December 6th through December 14th. This will be a annual event and this year its compromised of 9 blogs. Each day each blog will have multiple post and giveaways happening each day until its over. Then on the last day there will also be a Grand Prize Giveaway on the BIR2010 Blog.

Today we start you off with a Interview with Author of The Body Finder, Kimberly Derting. Kimberly took time out of her schedule to answer a few questions for us here today. So we hope you enjoy them. Once you finish reading scroll down to the bottom, where you will see we are also giving away a copy of The body Finder and swag.

Once Upon: How did you come up with the idea to write The Body Finder?

Kimberly: My husband and I we were driving one day, bouncing ideas off each other, when he said: “What if there was this kid who could find dead bodies?” Of course, in his head it was a middle-grade boy adventure (because all of his ideas are “boy books”). So after changing his MC to a teenage girl, and coming up with the “echoes” that would lead her to the dead bodies, I decided she also needed a love interest. Even with all my changes, and the fact that I wrote the book, he still likes to call himself my “co-author”!

Once Upon: What was the most challenging thing about writing The Body Finder?

Kimberly: Honestly, it was probably the easiest book I've written. The most challenging part was the fact that I have three kids and was working two jobs at the time, so finding the time to write was a little tricky. Thankfully, I have a supportive husband who would do the dinner dishes and put the kids to bed so I could sneak away to write!

Once Upon: How long do you feel the series will be?

Kimberly: Hmm…*taps chin innocently*. For now, there are two books under contract. Could there be more? Possibly… ;)

Once Upon: Can you give us Books that you consider Best of 2010?

Kimberly: That’s tough, the list would be HUGE if I did that! How about if I just tell you some of my most recent faves?

I just finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (I know, what took me so long?), and WOW, I just loved it! Also Beautiful Darkness by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, and The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsen.

Once Upon: After a reader read your books what do you think they will walk away with?

Kimberly: Like any author, I really just hope the reader felt it was worth their time. And of course, if they read The Body Finder, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if they walked away a little more aware of their surroundings.

The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: March 16th 2010
Kimberly Derting Website
Kimberly Derting Blog

Summary: Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

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