Interview With K.C. Held + Giveaway!

Today in A Week of Debuts I'm happy to post an interview and giveaway with YA author K.C. Held! Ms. Held's debut book, the fun looking mystery Holding Court releases next month! (March 1st!) :)

Here's the summary for the book:
Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what's in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty--and completely unavailable--Grayson Chandler. Except that it's not quite what she imagined.

For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there's the dead body she finds that just kind of...well, disappears. Oh, and there's the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome"--spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies.

The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson's attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson's interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it's starting to look suspicious...

Here's the interview! And be sure to read all the way to the end, because Ms. Held has an awesome giveaway! :)

The bold writing is the questions I asked, the regular writing is her answers, and the bold italic writing are my responses!

1. Holding Court looks like an entertaining mystery! Would you please describe it in five words?

Wanted: job, boy, fancy gown.

2. Your website bio mentions you worked in a castle for a summer. That sounds like fun! Did that have any impact on you writing your book?

When I was an undergrad I had the great good fortune to land an internship in textile conservation at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, CA. I also wrote my senior thesis on the castle’s decorative arts collection, which meant when I wasn’t working on medieval tapestries I got to do some exploring behind the scenes. It’s a fascinating place, and while it didn’t directly inspire me to write HOLDING COURT, there are absolutely parts of Lunewood Castle/Tudor Times that were inspired by Hearst Castle.

That's really neat! :)

3. Random question time! Favorite time period based on the clothing that was worn then?

Oh, I love this question! In grad school I started out studying historic costume and collection management before switching to costume design and costume construction technology, so I love discussing period clothing. Choosing my favorite period is not so easy! I’m going to twist the question and choose the Tudor garment I would reproduce if I had an unlimited budget like the costume designer at Tudor Times, and I’d have to choose the Portrait of a Man in Red from the Haunted Gallery at Hampton Court Palace. I’ve added him to my Pinterest board for HOLDING COURT (https://www.pinterest.com/kcheld/holding-court/) so you can see how incredibly dashing he is. I’d probably also have to make a gown to match his costume. :)

I love how elaborate the costume you linked to is! :)

4. If you're able to talk about it, what are you working on now?

I’m going to be very mysterious and say it involves…a mystery.

5. What books in 2016 (debut and non-debut) are you looking forward to?

There are so many marvelous books to choose from! The books I’m particularly looking forward to are DIG TOO DEEP by Amy Allgeyer, CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber, THE CROWN’S GAME by Evelyn Skye, LOVE, LIES & SPIES by Cindy Anstey, FLIRTING WITH FAME by Samantha Joyce, REMEMBRANCE by Meg Cabot, RIDERS by Veronica Rossi, and A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS edited by Jessica Spotswood. I’ll stop there although I could go on and on and on…

All excellent picks! :)

Thank you again to Ms. Held for letting me interview her! I enjoyed it! :)

K.C. HELD was born and raised in California with stopovers in Honduras, Mexico, and France. Married to her high school sweetheart, and mom to two wee bookworms, she holds an MFA in costume design and has worked as a freelance costumer in opera, theater, film, and television. Although she once spent a summer working in a castle, there were no dead bodies involved.
K.C. is represented by Kathleen Rushall at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Here Are A Few Links:

Her Website

Her Twitter

Her Facebook

And now here's the giveaway!

 The author is giving away a signed copy of Holding Court, plus a swag pack to one lucky winner!

(Here's a picture of the swag pack!)

Here are the rules:

 One winner will get a signed copy of Holding Court + swag.

Giveaway runs from February 17th through March 2nd.

US and CA only.

After the giveaway is over, I will contact the winner and get the information for the author. The winner will have 48 hours to reply, if they do not, I will have to pick a new winner.

No cheating!

Good luck! :)

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