Interview With Caroline Leech!

Today I'm happy to present an interview with Caroline Leech! Ms. Leech is the author of the YA book, Wait For Me, which releases January 31st! :)

Here's the interview!

The bold font are the questions I asked, the regular font are her answers, and the bold italic font are my comments about her answers.

Would you please describe your book, Wait for Me, in seven words?

WW2 Scotland, farmgirl, German prisoner, forbidden romance.

Your bio mentions that you're Scottish, did that have an impact on your book taking place in Scotland?

Totally! I’ve been in Texas for ten years, and before that, I lived in Wales for five years and London for twelve, yet my story-telling heart can’t seem to leave Scotland. Originally, I set this book in Wales, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I had to take it home. Perhaps at some point I will feel like I know Texas well enough to set a book here, but I’ve got a few more Scottish stories to tell first. After all, Scotland, and the other British countries, have such an ancient history and a great tradition of storytelling that historical fiction writers like me should never be lost for inspiration.

I love to read stories set in Scotland!

Random question! If you could travel to any time-period in history, where/when would you go?

I suppose the obvious answer would be to go back to Britain during World War Two, since that is the period of history I know best. There is undoubted romance to be found there, but then again, life was a constant struggle. People in Britain lived for six years under the fear of bombing or invasion, food and other supplies were severely rationed, and almost all the men and boys between 18 and 40 were sent to war. My own grandmother watched all five of her sons join the Army one by one, and go off serve in war zones across the world – France, Italy, North Africa, India, Indonesia, Palestine – and only four of her sons came home again. So, for all the problems we might face in our current place in history, I think that I’d be happy to stay right here.

What's one piece of advice you would give to aspiring authors?

Write. Write. Write. It’s very easy to plan to write, or to talk/think/dream about writing, or to tell everyone else how much you wish you had time to write. But whether you want to write for pleasure or you want to become a published author, you must get words down on paper before you do anything else. They don’t have to be the best words at first, because no first draft should ever be left unrevised, but once you have written a paragraph or a page or a whole manuscript of words, you can start to play with them, shape them, develop them, or even swap them all completely for other better words. However you do it, in the end, you will not just have words, you will have a story, and hopefully it’ll a story that people will yearn to read.

Very good advice!

What are some MG and YA books you're looking forward to in 2017? And if you've already read some '17 books, which books have you loved?

Oh, where do I even start? I mostly read YA, and have been lucky to have already read advance copies of 2017 books in almost every genre. Elly Blake’s FROSTBLOOD is pure and wonderful fantasy, whereas Emily Bain Murphy’s THE DISAPPEARANCES and Rosalyn Eve’s BLOOD ROSE REBELLION both mix thrilling magic with historical fiction. THIS BEATS PERFECT by Rebecca Denton is contemporary musical romance (is there such a genre? There is now!) while YOU DON’ T KNOW MY NAME by Kirsten Orlando is a contemporary teen spy thriller. And of course, #FAMOUS by Jilly Gagnon is both funny and heart-warming, and makes you think twice before you post that photo on Snapchat or Twitter!

And so many more are still to come, I just haven’t got my hands on them yet… CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber, ALLEGEDLY from Tiffany Jackson, SANDCASTLE EMPIRE by Kayla Olson and THE SHADOWS WE KNOW BY HEART from Jennifer Park. And then there’s SAD PERFECT, and COLD SUMMER, and MAYBE IN PARIS…

… have I said enough to convince you that 2017 is going to be a huge year for young adult readers, and you’d better stop me now before I get started on the Middle Grade treasure trove that’s on its way too!

I'm looking forward to so many of these books! I agree, 2017 is going to be an awesome year YA and MG readers!

Thank you so much to Ms. Leech for participating in this event! :)

Author bio: Caroline Leech is a Scottish writer who moved to Texas for an adventure ten years ago. Her debut novel for young adults, WAIT FOR ME, will be published in the USA by Harper Teen on January 31st. Set in Scotland towards the end of World War Two, the book tells the story of a girl’s friendship with a German prisoner of war who is sent to work on her father’s farm. Harper Teen will also publish Caroline's second YA novel in early 2018. Caroline lives in Houston TX with her husband and three teenage children, and she can be found online at www.carolineleech.com, or on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

Headshot photo credit: Priscilla Dickson Photography

Here's a few links:

Her Website

Her Twitter

Her Facebook

Her Instagram

Her Goodreads