Welcome to my stop on the My Ex From Hell blog tour! Today I have a guest post from the author to share with you and don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to enter the giveaway!
My Ex From Hell (The Blooming Goddess Trilogy #1)
Author: Tellulah Darling
Genre: YA
Release Date: April 1, 2013
Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Description:
Sixteen-year-old Sophie Bloom wishes she’d been taught the following:a) Bad boy’s presence (TrOuBlE) + teen girl’s brain (DraMa) = TrAuMa (Highly unstable and very volatile.)
b) The Genus Greekulum Godissimus is notable for three traits: 1) awesome abilities, 2) grudges, and 3) hook-ups, break-ups, and in-fighting that puts cable to shame.
Prior to the Halloween dance, Sophie figures her worst problems involve adolescent theatrics, bitchy yoga girls, and being on probation at her boarding school for mouthy behaviour. Then she meets bad boy Kai and gets the kiss that rocks her world.
Literally.
This breath stealing lip lock reawakens Sophie’s true identity: Persephone, Goddess of Spring. She’s key to saving humanity in the war between the Underworld and Olympus, target numero uno of Hades and Zeus, and totally screwed.
Plus there’s also the little issue that Sophie’s last memory as Persephone was just before someone tried to murder her.
Big picture: master her powers, get her memories back, defeat Persephone’s would be assassin, and save the world. Also, sneak into the Underworld to retrieve stolen property, battle the minions of Hades and Zeus, outwit psycho nymphs, slay a dragon, rescue a classmate, keep from getting her butt expelled from the one place designed to keep her safe …
… and stop kissing Kai, Prince of the Underworld.
My Ex From Hell is a romantic comedy/Greek mythology smackdown. Romeo and Juliet had it easy.
Tellulah
Darling's Inspiration for Writing My Ex From Hell
Like many readers out there, I grew up
loving fairy tales and mythologies. And I was always interested in ways that
these classic stories could be reshaped and retold.
I knew that whatever I re-imagined had to
fit into a romantic comedy context, since that's my passion. The first story I
was drawn to was Psyche's. While I was still a professional screenwriter, I
actually wrote a romantic comedy based on a modern day version of that story.
But it never really gelled and ultimately didn't go anywhere. Then, on one of
the last series I worked on, the showrunner and I started talking about
mythologies we'd love to explore and for some reason, Persephone came to mind
and just kind of stuck there.
Persephone had always been intriguing to
me, but only because of her abduction by Hades. I'd never had any kind of sense
of her own personality, versus many of the other "larger than life"
figures in the Greek pantheon. In my readings, she always seemed to be defined
more by how others saw her or reacted to her absence or presence. And I think
it was precisely her blank slate that made her attractive to me.
The more I thought about it, the more I
knew I didn't want to just retell her story or move it to modern day. I wanted
her to have the canonical past that she did (more or less - I took great
liberties inventing Kai) but then pick up her story all these years later and
put her goddess self into a human teen. It's such a struggle for so many of us
to figure out who we are as teens, that also giving her this goddess awakening
as Humanity's Saviour, amped up the pressure cooker of her life. On the flip
side, I find gods and teens are both so passionate about everything, so how fun
to combine those two sides of in Sophie.
But in terms of passion, I also wanted to
avoid the cliché that drives me nuts – not just in
mythological retellings, but because those stories deal with grand passions,
maybe it's more evident – which is the insta-love factor that tends to pop up.
I realize that gods in original myths did get instantly obsessed with humans,
but I like love stories in which the lovers really have to earn their happy
ending. Not just because of external conflict but because they have to figure
out that they are right for each other. So years of cultivating specific likes
and dislikes in romance stories also went into the writing of this trilogy.
Ultimately, the danger with
stories that are classics is that there are reasons they have survived to this
point. So if we are going to tackle them, it better be with a lot of humility
and definite personal vision for them. Maybe that’s why I like playing with
myths rather than doing more direct retellings of them. I’m not going to make
the original better. But hopefully, I can allow readers to have some fun with a
version of it.
Thanks so much for having
me and happy reading!
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your inspiration for the series with us Tellulah!
Tellulah Darling
noun
1. YA Novelist
2. Alter ego of former screenwriter and instructor
3. Sassy minx
Geeks out over: cool tech.
Squees for: great storytelling.
Delights in: fabulous conversation.
Writes about: where love meets comedy. Awkwardness ensues.
noun
1. YA Novelist
2. Alter ego of former screenwriter and instructor
3. Sassy minx
Geeks out over: cool tech.
Squees for: great storytelling.
Delights in: fabulous conversation.
Writes about: where love meets comedy. Awkwardness ensues.
Author Links:
Website: http://welcome.tellulahdarling.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tellulahdarling
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TellulahDarling
Giveaway: (1) ebook copy of My Ex From Hell (mobi or epub) - Open Internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I really appreciated the chance to share a bit about my inspiration and writing of My Ex From Hell. Thank so much for hosting me and the book today, Steph! It was lovely to be here.
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