The Interview
In the form of a tweet, how would you describe Uninvited?
Alley and her friends will have you laughing out loud while knee deep in trouble playing detective!
What are five fun facts about Uninvited?
1. Val was based off of a real person I know, who will remain nameless, but was a jumping board for inspiration.
2. Shane’s last name, Regacki, is the last name of one of Meg’s college crushes.
3. Buddy, the laid back Boxer in the book, was based off a real dog. Buddy was in the dog classes we took to get our Yorkie, Skippy Jon Jones, trained. He made everything look so easy, it was adorable and annoying!
4. We lived near the South Hills Area (which is south of Pittsburgh, PA) growing up, so it was fun incorporating places we loved to go or places we loved to eat at. I even created a pseudo name for the school in the book, Upper East High, which is based off a certain school known in the area.
5. We’ve heard other readers say that this book was so funny that it got them through a difficult time in their lives, which is the most, heartfelt compliment we have ever received.
Uninvited features a missing girl, murder, and a boy named Shane. It sounds like the potential for a Nancy Drew-esque mystery and a sweet romance. Is that a possibility?
Yes, we write all of our books with the intention that some type of love story will develop. I’m inspired by it. Some fans wanted more romance like how there was in our other book Foolish Games but I had been looking for a scenario that would have to make the characters wait especially since it’s for a younger crowd. I wanted to feel that tension and frustration build between Alley and Shane over the course of the series but still have something taboo about it that makes them stop and think. (Shane’s too old for Alley.)
As for the mystery, it’s more hysterical than serious. These four girls: Alley, Val, Kayla, and Libby find themselves with too much time and money on their hands with the exception of Alley, the main character. Some people have compared the story to Mean Girls, which I’d never even seen before I wrote the first book, but these girls aren’t mean. They’re funny and outrageous, but not mean. I didn’t like the snobby people in my high school and surely wouldn’t want to write about them either because where is the fun in that?! But I did need them to be able to get into any party at the school since that was critical to the plotline.
What was it like collaborating on a book? Did it make it easier or harder that you two are sisters?
We’re like a well-oiled machine at this point. We come up with ideas together like the plot and scenarios we want to see develop over the course of the book. I then write some drafts and Meg reads them to see if they’re good enough. If they’re good enough she edits them, if they’re not we go back to the drawing board. We’re like two different forces coming together since everything needs to make sense and be believable for Meg and I love characterization.
We’ve always been very close as sisters so it was only natural for me to turn to her for help. She’s the reason I started writing in the first place since she encouraged me after reading a few drafts of a book I had forgotten about. She puts up with a lot of crap because I’m not as confident in my writing as she is, but in the end, she still believes this is what I was meant to do with my life.
Uninvited is the first book in the South Hills Sidekicks series. What can you tell readers about the rest of the series?
Shane and Alley’s relationship deepens over the course of the series and the girls are back to doing what they do best, meddling in affairs they ought not to meddle in creating lots of moments for some good laughs! We’re also introduced to some new characters like Junior Passerotti, the head of the Pittsburgh Mob’s son, whose main purpose is to make Shane jealous when he gets closer to Alley, and to be adored by Val. ;)
Nancy Drew or Scooby Doo?
Meg would say Nancy Drew since she read those books growing up, but I loved Scooby Doo. I must have seen every cartoon as a kid. Loved that show!
Holmes or Watson?
Holmes all the way, Robert Downey Jr. is so hot! Lol. I love how much he kicks butt in those movies. I read somewhere that Guy Ritchie had to sit Robert Downey Jr. down to convince him to punch this one guy in the face because, I don’t know if you knew this, but he does all of his stunts and he was worried about breaking the guy’s nose. OMG! I could go on forever about those movies. :) Plus Rachel McAdams is one of my favorite actresses. Though Meg wanted me to add, that I’m more like Holmes and she’s more like Watson. :)
Backstreet Boys or N'Sync?
Since we’re a little bit older, I’d say neither. We were New Kids on the Block fans but obviously couldn’t make Alley and Val fans too due to their age.
Broccoli or spinach?
We’ve been trying to eat healthier so my fridge is full of freshly cut watermelon and vegetable trays. So I’m going to have to go with Broccoli, definitely Broccoli, but Meg loves Cauliflower.
Vanilla or chocolate?
We love our plain Hershey bars whenever we want a break from the fruits and veggies. We are huge chocolate fans which, makes us have to bust our butts even more at the pool the next day.
The Book
Authors: Leah Spiegel and Meg Summers
Publisher: Leah Spiegel and Meg Summers
Publisher: Leah Spiegel and Meg Summers
Publishing Date: February 11, 2012
When Alley started her senior year at Upper East High in the South Hills area, it was supposed to be the usual drag of hanging out with people who spent more on one outfit than Alley did on her entire wardrobe. That was until Kirsten, a girl in their clique, suddenly goes missing and the only people who seem to care are her friends. All evidence leads to the new comer Shane, a cocky and self-pretentious person in Alley’s opinion, but the police seem uninterested so she and the rest of the girls start a little investigation of their own. But they are nowhere closer to finding Kirsten than when they started and now they had the police’s attention; just not in the way they expected. The girls have to start over and discover that maybe it wasn’t an outsider who took Kirsten, but someone within their own clique who has something to hide; a secret that just might have gotten Kirsten killed.
The Authors
Although we moved down to North Carolina several years ago, we’re originally from the Pittsburgh area. (That’s why a lot of our characters either live in the Burgh or reference our hometown football team, The Pittsburgh Steelers.) And yes, we even have the Southern accents to show for it now. Although Megan’s is considerably thicker, Leah still can’t understand the locals.
We are known as ‘the sisters’ among our neighborhood; when actually we’re probably really known as ‘the sisters with the Yorkies’. Our pups, Skippy Jon Jones and Captain Jack Sparrow, were given long names to compensate for their small size but not their large personalities.
If Leah’s not glued to her electronic devices, AKA her Kindle Fire and various laptops, you can find her training ‘the attack dogs’, running on the treadmill while conceiving the next great book idea with the Dave Matthews Band, Muse, Florence and the Machine, The Lumineers, and Pink (just to name a few) blaring out of her earphones.
If Megan’s not glued to her electronic devices AKA her iPad and Nook Color, you can find her teaching fourth graders, swimming marathon style at the pool, or cuddling with ‘the attack dogs’ as she watches Duck Dynasty, Gold Rush, Scandal, Person of Interest, Morning Joe, etc.
Leah graduated from Edinboro University with a BA in Art Education. Megan received her teaching degree from Edinboro University and Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Technology from Grand Canyon University.
Open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for being on the tour, Rachel! :)
ReplyDelete