Freebie Friday - CARRIE JONES

Before I begin this post, let me just say that I love the cover of Carrie Jones' new book, NEED. I think I almost love it as much as she does, which you can read about in her cover story on Melissa Walker's Blog.

Carrie cracks me up.

Now, about NEED:

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal. Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

Oooh. *Shivers* I have to get this book. It's gotten great reviews, including the one in the School Library Journal where the writer says "I can't wait for more of Carrie Jones!" Lucky for her (and for us), Carrie was just asked to write the sequel to NEED.

Now, on to the interview, then check out the freebie at the bottom of this post!

What inspired you to write NEED?

I saw a really strange man with a tail at the Common Ground Fair in Maine.

Are any of your characters based on real people that you know?
Yep. Lots of my characters are pieces of real people twisted around and changed.

What excites you?
Men in uniform! I know! Isn’t that awful and a cliché?

Men who make me laugh. Also a cliché.

Tall men. Also a cliché.

(Hey. clichés became clichés for a reason.)

Oh, and when people call me ‘baby,’ which is also terrible because I am such a girl-power-type woman, but a guy says ‘baby’ and I am just gone.
I am so ashamed.

Oh, wait, how about a nice normal answer like: Spending quality time with the people I love and a good book.

That’s so boring though.

What turns you off?
Boogers. I have a real problem with boogers.

Ew! Me, too.

In DEATH BY LATTE, my character Aphra starts her adventure with a lie. What's the biggest lie you ever told, and what happened as a result of the telling?
Once a guy I was friends with was really mopey and staring out his dorm room window and I said, “Guy, what is wrong?”

And he said, “I am just really sad.”

And I said, “Well, what would make you happy?”

And he said turning in a really melodramatic way, “You.”

And I laughed! I did. And I felt soooooooo bad that I laughed and then I lied and said that I wasn’t laughing because it was goofy. Instead, I said I laughed because I was nervous and it was so sweet.

And then he asked me out and I said ‘yes’ because I felt so badly. That ‘yes’ was a lie. Those two lies ended up being eight years in a really bad relationship.

Oy! All Aphra's lie did was just about get her killed... And she didn't have to deal with that for eight years!

So, besides that relationship, what's the most suspenseful thing that's happened to you in real life?
There’s been a lot:

1. I ran for office. Election night is suspenseful.
2. I’ve found dead bodies.
3. I’ve performed CPR and it worked and then the person died again.
4. Waiting to hear about books (if they’ll get published) is pretty suspenseful
5. Riding around in a police car
6. Pretending to be a prostitute.

We so have to hang out sometime. I'd love to hear the stories around these things!

And on that note, if you could invite anyone you wanted - living or dead - to hang out with you at a weekend retreat, who would you invite and why?

Right now I’d invite Steven Wedel and Brian Kell and Tiffany Trent and Jackie Gangley and Tom Nadeau and Devyn and Jo Knowles and Ed Briant and Andrew Karre… Wait. I’d invite pretty much everyone I know and have a HUGE bash and just watch them all get together and have fun then I’d sneak off outside and be happy that they’re all happy. I’d invite John Wayne and Sherman Alexie just to see what happened. I’d invite Ben Franklin and see if he was as big a flirt as everyone said.

What's one thing most people don't know about you?
I’m very attracted to smells.

I'm not even going to touch that...

What's your favorite quote?
“The dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more.” –Sherman Alexie

Milk Chocolate or Dark?
Milk.

Now for the freebie: To celebrate NEED, and because I LOVE the look of that gold lipstick on the cover, up for grabs this week is a $10 eGift certificate to Sephora. They have gold lipstick - I checked! To be entered to win, leave a comment below telling how you would handle one of the six suspenseful moments Carrie describes above. Or the sad boyfriend. This contest will remain open until Tuesday, January 6th.

Meanwhile, if you want to find out more about Carrie and her books, check out her website, friend her on facebook, or head on over to her livejournal.