We have a hot new book for you, readers. It’s called Dangerous Boy and it’s being described as a mix of The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars. Intrigued? We thought so. The book is about a girl named Harper whose new boyfriend, Logan Townsend is practically the perfect guy (we’re talking tall, cute and all-around awesome). There’s only one problem with Harper’s new relationship: Logan’s dark (and dangerous) twin brother, Daemon. So when strange things start to happen in their small town, Harper must unearth the hidden secrets of the mysterious Townsend brothers if she wants thing to work out with Logan (and to, you know, survive the whole mess). Check out our EXCLUSIVE Q&A with Mandy Hubbard, the book’s author, below.
BOP&TB: Your book has been compared to Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries – do you think that’s accurate? Were you going for a similar feeling to those novels when you wrote?
Mandy Hubbard: Oh! How fun is THAT? It does have quite a bit in common with Pretty Little Liars, in that Harper is trying to unravel her boyfriend’s mysterious past. And I suppose it has a bit of the dark atmosphere and intense romance of The Vampire Diaries! I wasn’t writing specifically to capture what those books have done, however. I was just having fun with my characters.
BOP&TB: What books and authors have most inspired your writing?
Mandy Hubbard: Lauren Barnholdt – author of Two Way Street, One Night That Changes Everything, etc, is incredibly talented and nice enough to talk with me when I need advice. She’s just so amazingly talented! As a reader I devour YA books with intense romances, so anything Jennifer Echols is up my alley – her newest, SUCH A RUSH, is fantastic.
BOP&TB: What are the top five books on your to-read list at the moment?
Mandy Hubbard: Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas (August 7, 2012) is at the tip-top. It’s a debut YA novel but it’s getting a lot of buzz. If I Lie by Corrine Jackson is another I am dying to get my hands on! After that, I am excited to read some sequels – A Million Suns, the sequel to Across the Universe by Beth Revis (spaceships!) and The Lies That Bind, sequel to The Liar Society by sister-duo Laura and Lisa Roecker (lies, scandals, secret societies!), plus Desires of the Dead, sequel to Kimberly Derting’s smash debut, The Body Finder (Creeptastic!).
BOP&TB: Did you pull from any real life people or experiences in writing Dangerous Boy? Are any of the characters based on people you know? If so, have you told them they made it into the book?
Mandy Hubbard: I often use family/friend’s names – in my novel You Wish, most of the names belong to my cousins – Kayla, Janae, Nicole, etc, and in Dangerous Boy, her friend Adam is a name that belongs to another of my cousins! The actual characters, though, have little in common with their real-life counterparts. It’s also set in Enumclaw, my home town, and the first chapter takes place at my favorite pizza parlor.
BOP&TB: If Dangerous Boy were ever made into a movie or TV show, who would you envision playing the main characters?
Mandy Hubbard: I think Lucy Hale (of Pretty Little Liars!) would be adorable as Harper, and her super pretty BFF could easily be Taylor SwiftZac Efron, maybe?
BOP&TB: Are you working on any other books that fans can look out for?
Mandy Hubbard: I am halfway through writing one right now! It’ll be out in 2013, under the pen-name Amanda Grace. We haven’t finalized the title yet, but it’ll be full of secrets and romance!
BOP&TB: A lot of our readers would love to grow up to be published authors like you. What advice do you have for them?
Mandy Hubbard: I’m always so impressed by teens who want to be writers! I didn’t figure it out until I was 20. Just have fun with it and don’t let negative voices get you down. Publishing is a hard business but it’s also filled with some amazing people. Write because you can’t NOT write, and focus on publishing once the book is done. Make sure you research it or attend your local writer’s conferences so that you can learn more about it.
Do you think Dangerous Boy sounds like a cool book? Sound off in the comments and on Twitter!
