Two Chicks On Books: Blog Tour- GLITTER by Aprilynne Pike An Interview & Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the blog tour for GLITTER by Aprilynne Pike! I freaking adore Aprilynne and her books!! I have an interview Aprilynne to share with you today! And make sure to enter the awesome giveaway for a finished copy of the book!!

Haven't heard of GLITTER? Check it out!

Title: GLITTER

Author: Aprilynne Pike

Pub. Date: October 25, 2016

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Pages: 384

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike comes a truly original new novel—Breaking Bad meets Marie Antoinette in a near-future world where the residents of Versailles live like it’s the eighteenth century and an almost-queen turns to drug dealing to save her own life.

Outside the palace of Versailles, it’s modern day. Inside, the people dress, eat, and act like it’s the eighteenth century—with the added bonus of technology to make court life lavish, privileged, and frivolous. The palace has every indulgence, but for one pretty young thing, it’s about to become a very beautiful prison.

When Danica witnesses an act of murder by the young king, her mother makes a cruel power play . . . blackmailing the king into making Dani his queen. When she turns eighteen, Dani will marry the most ruthless and dangerous man of the court. She has six months to escape her terrifying destiny. Six months to raise enough money to disappear into the real world beyond the palace gates.

Her ticket out? Glitter. A drug so powerful that a tiny pinch mixed into a pot of rouge or lip gloss can make the wearer hopelessly addicted. Addicted to a drug Dani can sell for more money than she ever dreamed.

But in Versailles, secrets are impossible to keep. And the most dangerous secret—falling for a drug dealer outside the palace walls—is one risk she has to take.

Now on to the interview!

Hi Aprilynne! First I want to say welcome back to Two Chicks on Books it’s been a while since you’ve been here! GLITTER was absolutely fantastic and I can’t wait for everyone to read it! And am so happy that you could stop by for a visit!

Thank you! I haven’t had a big book release in two years and it really does feel like visiting friends after a long time.

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about GLITTER and the characters?

Glitter is about a 17yo courtier named Danica who lives in a futuristic, corporate owned kingdom that mimics the French Baroque. She finds herself blackmailed to a dangerous man and decides the best way out is to start selling a designer drug.

Is this a standalone or a series? And if it’s a series do you have a title for book 2 yet? And if it’s a standalone what are you working on next?

It is a duology and I just turned in the first round of edits on the sequel. It doesn’t have an official title yet … Although, there’s one I’ve been using. *shifty eyes*

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

I’m actually really careful not to base characters on real life because I start calling people by the wrong names. No really. At one point my brother in law would answer to both Ryan and Jared because I said the wrong name so often. But on top of that, as most of the people in Glitter are quite morally questionable, I’ve really avoided it in this book.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

I have so much fun writing my male MC, the King. Justin Wyndham is unabashedly, unapologetically bad. He is selfish and ruthless and gets a kick out of offending people because they can’t do a darn thing about it. Because … he’s the King. And the CEO. He is large and in charge.

Least favorite? I had to really think about this one because unless it’s a person with, like, one line and no name, I don’t write characters that aren’t fun to write. But then I realized that I very much dislike writing Danica’s mother, Angela, because she’s so unfeeling toward her daughter. There are many ways to be a good mother … Angela doesn’t do any of them. As a mother of four little rugrats who I love to pieces, it’s hard to write a mother who sees her offspring as thing.

What is your favorite passage/scene in GLITTER?

Oh gosh, I have to pick a non-spoilery one. For AFTER you’ve read the book, I love the last scene, the beginning of Chapter 11, and this one:

“And this,” he says, handing me two tubes of plain lip balm. “Reg says you’re making some colorless?”

“For the men,” I confirm. “Though some will probably also use the rouge.”

He scoffs openly at that. “The men? I thought you were just going to pass it around to the executives’ wives while you all sit around and drink tea.”

“Oh, gentlemen will be in attendance too. The Palace has more than its fair share of kept men.” I lean forward, allowing my pushed up cleavage to show a little, just to throw off his tightly held composure. “You don’t think our company has run so smoothly for nearly a hundred years because men were in charge, do you?”

His eyes jump up from my breasts to my face and it’s clear he assumed exactly that.

I straighten, removing my enchantments from his view again with a jolt of satisfaction. “We may emulate the court of the Sun King, but make no mistake, Sonoma is a modern corporation and its court isn’t so backward-thinking as you clearly believe. Many of our men routinely use cosmetics, and even those who don’t certainly aren’t intimidated by a little sparkle now and then. Are you?”

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

*laugh* Oh, I did some very interesting research. A ton of research into French history and fashion and the Palace of Versailles, as one would expect, but I also had to do a ton of research into drugs and how corporations run. There were a lot of technical details I had to familiarize myself with as well, but I confess, I leaned on my techie husband to do a lot of Explain Like I’m Five.:)

Who is your ultimate book boyfriend?

Oh, this is such a hard choice! I think my ultimate book boyfriend is the hero from a regency romance by Elizabeth Hoyt called Lord of Darkness and his name is Godric St. John. He’s a really calm, smart hero who is a daring vigilante by night, but is totally not Alpha-Male-ish when he’s being himself. I kinda love that.:) It’s also possible that this is the audio book I turn on at night to help me go to sleep.

What inspired you to write YA?

I’ve found that a lot of authors accidentally find themselves in YA and I’m the same. I started out writing adult epic fantasy and even got my first agent with it! But when she sent my stuff out, I got several rejections that said, “This is a great story … but it really feels YA to us.” So the next book I wrote I purposely wrote featuring teens and I loved it so much that’s all I’ve written since.

Lightning Round Questions

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

I just finished YOU by Caroline Kepnes, where the main character is a stalker who gets obsessed with a girl and kills people who get in his way and … um, it’s very dark. 0_0

What Hogwarts House would the Sorting Hat place you in?

Hufflepuff!!!!

Twitter or Facebook?

Twitter.

Favorite Superhero?

Cap. :D

Favorite TV show?

I am loving the crap out of BBC’s Poldark right now.

Sweet or Salty?

Sweet!

Any Phobias?

I really don’t. I’m claustrophobic about having my arms unable to move, but I’m luckily rarely in that situation. (Though getting my first wrap at a spa about a year ago required so deep breathing and wriggling to convince myself that I could get out if I really wanted to.)

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

Le Temps des Cathédrales from the musical Notre Dame de Paris. But it HAS to be in French, and it HAS to be sung by Bruno Pelletier.

Winter Movie you’re most looking forward to?

Oh gosh. I almost never watch movies. I’ve literally been to the movie theatre twice in the last five+ years. (Maze Runner and Zootopia.) I really do need to see Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Thanks so much Aprilynne for answering my questions! I can’t wait for everyone to read GLITTER!

About Aprilynne:

Aprilynne Pike is a critically acclaimed, #1 New York Times best-selling author of young adult fiction. At the age of twenty she received her BA in Creative Writing from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho. When not writing, Aprilynne can usually be found running; she also enjoys singing, acting, reading, and working with pregnant moms as a childbirth educator and doula. Aprilynne lives in Arizona with her husband and their four children.