Sarina Bowen took some time out of her busy schedule to talk about her upcoming novels Pipe Dreams and Stay while also giving us the details on some of her other characters!
If you haven’t checked out Sarina Bowen’s novels yet, you need to get on that right away. If you have, you’ll know that she has the ability to craft unforgettable characters, all while tackling subjects some might shy away from. It’s not very common in the romance genre to come across characters with disabilities or those in the LGBT community. That is, unless you’re reading one of Sarina’s books.
Did we mention, she also writes about hot hockey players, snowboarders, and farmers? Not only do readers fall in love with her characters, but they also enjoy every page of her novels. It’s no wonder her fans are always left wanting more!
To get more information on Sarina’s books, visit her website, Twitter, and Facebook.
Check out our chat with Sarina below:
What is your favorite part of co-writing with Elle Kennedy?
Usually authorship is a lonely business. Bouncing ideas off someone who’s equally invested really makes for a great story. Also? Elle is just a whole lot of fun, and a great friend.
In ‘Us’ there was a bit of foreshadowing when Blake tells Jamie he likes blondes, so their hookup might not have been so random. Were you already planning on giving them their own novel while you were working on ‘Us’?
Blake took us both by surprise when he decided to leap off the page and become our favorite secondary character ever! By the time we wrote “The End” on US we knew they needed a book. But it isn’t something we planned.
Do you and Elle have plans to revisit Jamie and Wes in either a novella or novel?
Never say never! But at the moment our dance card is full with other projects, and we have no immediate plans to write another story for Wesmie.
You’ve been amazing with diversity in your novels, including a character with a disability and several M/M novels. What drives you to include characters that others might shy away from writing?
The goal is to write characters the reader hasn’t met before. When I started writing New Adult in 2014, I felt as though the market was crowded. (As if, right? I had no idea what would follow.) So I was on the hunt for unique voices.
As soon as I started writing Corey’s perspective in The Year We Fell Down, I realized that she literally had a different view of the world. And then I felt like I’d walked through a secret door that no other author had found, because every sentence that came out of her mouth felt fresh on the page. Diversity isn’t a political act for me (although that’s nice) but rather an artistic necessity. If I wrote the same characters all the time I’d bore myself silly.
It’s hard to imagine Lauren softening for anyone, but will we see a change in her in ‘Pipe Dreams’?
Lauren has her reasons! She was a fabulous character to write, and I promise you’ll be pulling for her by the end of chapter one. I also enjoyed writing another goalie in Mike Beacon. The goalie personality is a little wacky, and lots of fun to explore.
There are so many characters left in the True North series that we would love to see find happiness. Do you have plans for more books?
I do! I’m working on Zara’s book right now. She’s another fierce heroine, but some of her need for independence is misplaced. She’ll have to learn to let others shoulder part of her burden in order to find true happiness.
Did you know from the beginning that May was bisexual, or did it just come organically as the True North series progressed and her role in the stories became more prominent?
Can we just pretend that I’m intelligent enough to plot my series in advance like that? I’m not terrific at it, though I’m getting better.
Are there any romance sub-genres that you haven’t written in yet that you’d like to try someday (i.e. paranormal, historical)?
I’m not a huge fan of paranormal, which means I have to try one eventually, right? That’s on my “to do someday” list. I’m afraid to write a historical novel, though, because I’m too much of a nerd to get the research wrong. It would take me eight years to finish the book because I’d have to look up every tiny detail.
Have you read any books lately that have just stuck with you?
I just finished The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty and loved it! Also, Suzanne Brockmann’s upcoming novel Some Kind of Hero is fabulous, and I hope everyone reads it.
Were there any authors that inspired you to become one yourself?
Hmm. I’ve wanted to write novels since third grade. So I suppose we have to blame Beverly Cleary.
What movie are you most excited to see in 2017?
The answer to that question was Hidden Figures, and I just saw it a week ago. It was just as fabulous as I expected it to be!
And since you included a little HP in ‘Keepsake’: If you could choose one spell from Harry Potter that you can use forever, but only that one spell, which would you choose?
Apparition, baby. That would be super useful. :)