Today I’m pleased to introduce Cecilia Gray, author of The Jane Austen Academy, a series of delightful YA novellas, and also a series of Regency novellas, The Gentlemen Next Door.Welcome, Cecilia!
Thank you so much for having me!
What is your favorite food? Least favorite? Why?
I love love love love love food. I don’t think I wrote love enough times for you to understand how much I love food. I know everyone thinks they love food, but trust me, everyone else is half-assing it. I genuinely adore to eat.
That’s a long-winded way for me to say I don’t have a favorite food, the same way moms don’t have favorite children. You just can’t choose one. As to my least favorite food: I’m not a fan of the deconstructionist meals that were popular a few years ago. For readers who were spared this trend: deconstructionist meals would “deconstruct” something into its base components and serve them separately. For example, a “descontructed hamburger” would consist of a meatball, a little brioche bun, and a spoonful of pickles which would be served separately on a platter for you to nibble on. Not that there’s anything wrong with meatballs, brioche or pickles, but don’t tell me I’m getting a burger. Cuz I’m not.
What would we find under your bed?
A flashlight. I’ve woken up too many times to blackouts and have taken out a knee while feeling my way around.
Say you could fly you anywhere in the world. Where would you most likely want to go?
I’ve been reading Laini Taylor’s fantasy series set in Prague and am obsessed with going—although preferably not getting mixed up in an eras-old war between angels and demons. I’d just want to drink strong coffee and eat bramborove, utopenci and palacinky.
Do you have a favorite quote or saying?
Bertoldt Brecht—Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.
The Jane Austen Academy series are modern retellings of Jane Austen classics set at a beachside California boarding school.
The last thing that the girls at the elite Jane Austen Academy need is hot guys to flirt with. But over the summer the school has been sold, and like it or not, the guys are coming. And it’s about to turn the Academy—and the lives of its students—totally upside down…
Try the first book in the series now!
Named to RT Books Reviews “What’s Hot!” List for 2012
Named to Kirkus Reviews Best of 2012 (starred review)
FALL FOR YOU
To say Lizzie and Dante are polar opposites is the understatement of the century. He’s a snooty Exeter transfer with more money than Google. She’s a driven study-a-holic just barely keeping up with tuition. It’s obvious that Dante thinks he’s way too good for Lizzie. And Lizzie knows Dante is a snob with a gift for pressing her buttons.
But things are changing fast this year at the Academy. And when Lizzie’s quest to stop those changes blows up in her face, taking her oldest friendship with it, she has nowhere else to turn but to Dante, with his killer blue eyes, his crazy-sexy smile, and his secrets… Secrets Lizzie can’t seem to leave alone, no matter how hard she tries…
Susana's Morning Room 