Welcome to Cotton Candy Reviews, Leigh.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you.
For those who have yet to read your
book, can you tell us a little about it?
Carrier of the Mark or 'The Mark' is a paranormal
romance set in a small seaside town in the south of Ireland. Megan moves with her father from the US after
he is mysteriously offered an amazing job. Megan is an easy going girl, devoted
to her lonely father, and adaptable as she's moved around most of her life. But
this time it's different. Strange things start to happen, she meets the
DeRises, Adam, Rían & Áine, and soon discovers there's much more to them
than meets the eye. Megan’s life is
about to change forever as she discovers that she is linked to the DeRises and
destiny that is plotted out for them, a destiny full of magic, lore, and
dangers.
Describe Megan and Adam in five words.
Sweet, intense, loving, devoted, friends.
What was the inspiration for Carrier of
the Mark?
The inspiration for Carrier of the Mark came from a
few places. Firstly, I was living in
Kinsale at the time. Kinsale is such a
beautiful place, its rugged gorgeous coastline, pretty multicolored village,
and the absolutely stunning historical sites screamed to be written about.
The history and mythology that inspired me has been
with me since I was a child. I grew up
in Dublin, Ireland. I went to a convent
school, grew up in the Dublin Mountains, and went on these amazing school tours
to various historical sites around Ireland.
All this things contributed to Carrier of the Mark, and we work our way
through the trilogy, you’ll see more and more of it come out.
Who have the main influences been in
your life, writing wise?
I grew up reading Judy Blume, Virginia Andrews, Roald
Dahl, and Jilly Cooper. They’re all very
VERY different, but they are all amazing and they really called to me. I felt inspired by the contemporary humor of
Blume, by the dark thoughts and twisted stories of Andrews, the laugh out loud
humor of Dahl, and the sizzling romance and hysterical shenanigans of Cooper. All those voices swirl around in my head when
I write.
You first published you book on InkPop
and it was then picked up by Harper Collins. Can you tell us a bit about that?
I uploaded Carrier near the end of December 2009. It
quickly rose the ranks and stayed in the top five to reviewed by HarperCollins
at the end of January 2010, I received my critique at the end of February. It was very good, positive, with lots of
excellent editing advice. I thought that
was it done. I was happy to take my editing
advice from a real live editor and head upon my merry way. Then three weeks later I got an email that
would change my life. Erica Sussman, a senior editor at HarperCollins
Children’s books, sent me an email, saying that she loved Carrier and wanted to
work with me on it. Two weeks later, I was offered a publishing contract.
How
does it feel to be a debut author?
It feels amazing; I still have to pinch myself
sometimes. I’m crazy busy all the time,
there really is no downtime, but it’s worth the sleepless nights.
Can you give us a sneak peek at book 2?
Well it’s still with my editor so I can’t give too
much away, but you can expect to see a lot more of Aine. We delve further into her life, her power,
and her struggles. We also get to know
Rían better and find out what makes him tick.
Things hot up with Rían…big time (pardon the pun (you’ll have to have
read Carrier to understand the pun) LOL).
You can find out more about Leigh on her
website.
