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Hey everyone! It’s Julie Anne back for another great interview! Do you like suspense, spies, and romance? Then Not If I Save You First is definitely the book for you! I’m here with its bestselling author, Ally Carter, whom you may know from her Gallagher Girls series. You will for sure get lost in this book. I sure did! With that, let’s get this interview going. And be sure to stick around until the end for a chance to win your own copy of Not If I Save You First!
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Not If I Save You First is an amazing book filled with secrets, spies, and suspense. Could you give the readers a little bit of what it's about?
Thanks! Not If I Save You First is about what happens when the president's son is kidnapped in the Alaskan wilderness and only a Secret Service agent's daughter can save him! I'm extremely proud of it.
After the "incident," Maddie was swept away to Alaska. What drew you to writing about Alaska?
A few years ago my family took an Alaskan cruise to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was an amazing experience. One night I was up on deck, looking out over the Tongass National Forest (a forest the size of West Virginia!) and, in the distance, I could see one light, and I had to think, "if something bad happens here, you can't call 911." From that point forward I kept thinking about Alaska and what it would be like to grow up somewhere so rural and where you are so on your own when trouble knocks at your door. It's the perfect place to set a teen thriller!
If you, like Maddie, couldn't access a phone or the internet, how would you spend your day?
If I couldn't check my phone (or Twitter, or email, or Instagram...) I would get SO MUCH WORK done! It would kind of be amazing, come to think of it.
Would you rather live in a tech-deprived wilderness like Maddie or, like Logan, have no privacy at all?
Tech-deprived wilderness! For sure. I'm pretty addicted to privacy and quiet.
I really admire Maddie. She's brave and she's the definition of a 21st century girl. Do you see any similarities between Maddie and yourself?
In a way, all of my characters are a little bit me, but Maddie is far more self-confident and capable than I would ever be. She's so freaking resilient. I love her so much.
Maddie struggles with feelings of loneliness. Do you have any advice for teens who feel alone also?
I think loneliness is universal, but it's something we never talk about, so everyone feels like they're the only one who ever feels that way. It's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy or vicious cycle if you think about it. But just know that you're not alone, and pretty much every person (especially every teenager) feels that way at some point!
I'm sure a lot of our readers will love this book just like I did! What have been some other 2018 releases that you've been enjoying?
Right now I'm so behind on work that I'm not getting to read much for pleasure! Hopefully things will calm down some this fall and I can make up for lost time.
I can't wait to see what you have coming up next! Do you have any upcoming book projects that you'd like to share with our readers?
My next release will be a little different. I've written my first non-fiction book, called DEAR ALLY, HOW DO YOU WRITE A BOOK? It's 300 pages of writing-related questions from teens with answers from me (and some of my writer friends). I'm extremely excited about it!
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That’s it for today’s interview with Ally, but don’t leave just yet. We’re teaming up with our friends at Scholastic to give away a copy of Not If I Save You First, and you definitely don’t want to miss out. Just click on the image below to enter this amazing giveaway. And be sure to come back again next week, when Lupita will be chatting with Amelinda Berube about her upcoming thriller, The Dark Beneath The Ice.
