Interview with Helena Hunting
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I interviewed Helena Hunting live on Instagram to talk about her latest release, I Flipping Love You! We were having a great time wonderful interview and then I go to show her the weather and BOOM! My app CRASHES! With Instagram crashing I was unable to leave the replay up for 24 hours, which in turn left me unable to download it. It was all very tragic and disheartening. I hope you were able to catch it live, but if you weren’t able to I have the interview with Helena here on the blog for you to read.
Joy: I saw I Flipping Love You at Walmart the other day, is that just a surreal experience?
Helena: It’s so exciting to see IFLY in stores. I think I probably made my husband stop at every Walmart, Shoppers (it’s like the Canadian version of a CVS) and grocery store that might carry it so I could check and see if it was on the shelves. It’s been awesome seeing all the cool posts from readers in my group when they find it, and where they’ve found it.
Joy: How many more books are planned for the ‘Shacking Up’ world?
Helena: I have two more books planned in the series right now, and I’m in the middle of working on one of them right now. I love the characters and I’m so excited for readers to find out more about them soon!
Joy: Do you have any other releases planned outside of The Good Luck Charm and Pucked Love?
Helena: I sure do! Beyond the two books planned for the Shacking Up Series, I have another standalone I’m in edits for, and a have a few new ideas rolling around in my head, waiting for me to have the time to put them on paper. I’m excited for the next couple of years. I even have an idea of for a new adult book!
Joy: Have you ever written fanfiction?
Helena: It’s actually how I got my start writing. I wrote Clipped Wings and Inked Armor and what is now called Pucked one chapter at a time and posted them every week or two. It was such an active community of readers and it really made me fall totally in love with story telling.
Joy: What is your favorite thing to do when you aren’t wearing your author hat?
Helena: I like to fight with my office supplies and let them win, tonight I’m up against my stapler, but tomorrow it’s paperclips so that should be an easier win. Kidding, Debra Anastasia suggested I say that. I enjoy reading and spending time with my family. And I like to run. We live in an area with lots of running and biking paths, so that’s a nice way to relax.
Joy: What is the first book to make you cry?
Helena: Bridge to Terabithia made me sob. I remember getting it for my 9th birthday from my friend Brodie up at our family cottage. I reached the part where the girl dies and just started bawling. So of course I went to my parents (it was night and I should’ve been asleep) and they were concerned, clearly, because I’d come downstairs crying my eyes out and when I told them why they laughed.
Joy: What would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
Helena: Baby Alpacas. They are freaking adorable. They’re just so spunky and fuzzy and cute.
I feel like I need to write a book about an Alpaca farm, although I’m not sure there’s a real market for Alpaca farm romances.
Joy: How do you select the names of your characters?
Helena: I often troll baby name sites. For The Pucked Series it was very purposeful, all the girls are named after flowers, and I wanted Violet to be Violet Waters when she married Alex because it sounds pretty romantic. Randy Balls was just me being ridiculous. I sincerely can’t believe I got away with naming a character Randy Balls. He’s pretty fantastic though, and has a voracious sexual appetite ask his name might suggest. For The Shacking Up series it was very much about the Last Name for First Name situation. I used to work in education and once this police officer came in and introduced himself as Bancroft, which I thought was his last name, turned out it was his first name and it stuck with me, so I worked it into my series.
Joy: Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Helena: Sometimes I’ll drop in little things from other books that readers pick up on. Like in IFLY there’s a reference to Shirley Temples being unmanly, but in Pucked Off, Lance drinks Shirley Temples. I had one reader catch that and point it out, which is just so fun!
Grab your copy of I Flipping Love You from Helena Hunting almost EVERYWHERE!
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