{Blog Tour+ Interview} Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

I'm so excited to be taking part of this blog tour. Check out my interview with Natalie D. Richards and an excerpt from chapter one. Scroll down for the giveaway for a chance to win Gone Too Far! And make sure to check out the rest of the tour for more fun stuff!!

Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

Release Date: January 6, 2015

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Buy Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | iTunes | Kobo

Synopsis:

Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her.

Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...

The Interview 

Thank you so much for having me here today for my Gone Too Far blog tour.  I loved your questions – super fun and challenging!  YAY!

What was the most challenging and the most enjoyable aspect of writing Gone Too Far and why?

Great question!  The first incredibly difficult part was letting Piper make bad choices.  It was important to me that Piper would mean well and do it all wrong.  That’s hard—it’s tempting to let your characters make all the right choices all the time, but we don’t do that in real life, do we?  We screw up royally and we learn from it.  So does Piper.

It was also incredibly hard to deal with how intricately tangled these plotlines were.  Pulling any single plot thread resulted in a tangled mess so editing was rough!

What is something you and Piper Woods have in common? Or are you very distinct? 

In all truth, Piper and I both shared a high school loathing of athletes and cheerleaders—we made sweeping generalizations about that entire social scene.  And we both learn how incredibly judgey and narrow-minded that attitude is.

Describe Gone Too Far in less than 140 characters.

Oooh…just squeaked it in!  139!  J

A photographer who sees too much.

An invitation for home-spun justice.

A dangerous game where winning is a crime and losing could be lethal. 

Do you have any must-haves while you're writing?

Coffee.  Lots and lots of it.  I’m fairly sure my blood is 60% Starbucks peppermint mocha when I’m on deadline.

I also need music, and (this one’s weird) I have a hard time writing without propping my feet up. 

As a YA author, do you read a lot of YA? If so, what are a few YA books you would recommend?

I read a lot of YA, but I do take breaks to read other genres too because I think it’s important to stretch your tastes.  As for YA recommendations, I have loads.

I’d recommend anything by Rainbow Rowell, Lucy Christopher, Ruta Sepetys, Erin McCahan, Libba Bray.  This list could go on for days.  When you read as much good YA as I do, it’s tough to start picking favorites. 

Do you have any other books you're working on after the release date of Gone Too Far?

Yes!  I have a third book coming out late 2015 with Sourcebooks – My Secret to Tell deals with an assault, an accusation and a a years-long crush who looks guilty as sin.  But looks can be deceiving, right?  Well, maybe.  ;-)

Chapter One Excerpt

Late. So late. I slam the car door behind me and race across the parking lot. My hair is tangled in the strap of my messenger bag, my shoes are untied, and I have no idea how I’m going to get to my locker without getting caught. I have to try because I need those chemistry notes.

Technically I needed them last night when I’d actually had the time to study for my midterm, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. I know the materials and I figured I could do a little last-minute cramming during first period homeroom. It was a decent plan until my phone battery died, taking my morning alarm down with it. Now I’ll be lucky to catch the last ten minutes of first period.

I hop the curb and slow as I slide into the shadow of the ancient brick school. It’s probably not classy to barrel through the door like an escaped convict. Of course, it probably wasn’t classy flying into the parking lot doing Mach 2 either.

I check my barely charged phone for the time as I climb the first step. My foot slips on something halfway up the stairs. It’s like hitting a patch of ice. I lunge gor the handrail and jerk myself upright, glaring down at the thing that tripped me –a dropped notebook.

Nothing special. It’s a plain, spiral-bound pad, the kind you can get at the drugstore for less than a buck. Pretty much worthless, excerpt I know it’s probably chock-full of notes. Notes seomone will need during midterm week.

Oh, fine.

I snatch the notebook off the steps and shove it into my bag. Lost and Found is going to have to wait though. It’s in the student store, which is on the opposite side of the school. 

About Natalie D. Richards

At seven, Natalie D. Richards wrote about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) Now she writes about awesome girls, broody boys, and all things dark and creepy. Natalie lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her techno-wiz husband, three amazing kids, and a seventy pound dust-mop who swears he's the family dog. Her psychological thriller, Six Months Later, will be released in October 1, 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire. Until then, you'll probably find her writing her next book or trying to wade through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom.

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