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Character & Author Interview featuring debut author Megan Gaudino’s Always Kiss Me w/a rafflecopter giveaway!

Always Kiss Me Goodnight
MEGAN GAUDINO
Evernight Teen Publishing
YA Paranormal Romance, 67k words
Released: August 28

Sophia Destino is supposed to die. All seventeen-year-old Sophia wants is to coast through her junior year. But with her parents obsessed with her Olympic-swimming-hopeful brother, a psychic best friend with a penchant for reading tarot cards, and prophetic dreams that predict her death—that won’t be easy.

As her nightmares begin to come true, Sophia finds herself dodging death and longing for the time when getting over her ex-boyfriend was her biggest problem. Until she meets Leo Knight.

 The mysterious stranger seems determined to keep her alive—and steal her heart. But Leo has a secret that is about to change everything and Sophia is about to learn that sometimes…your number is up.

14+ due to adult situations
Buy Links:   Evernight
Teen
    Amazon
       
 CHARACTER INTERVIEW:
Things you don’t know about me: Answering as Sophia Destino.


1.  Cotton or Silk?

Cotton. Silk seems so fancy!

 

  1. Champagne/beer/wine?

Alcohol? Ew, no. I’m very against underage drinking and if you don’t know why just ask my ex-boyfriend, Aiden. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to tell you about the HUGE mistake he made when he was drunk off cheap vodka. He might have ruined me for drinking at all in my life!

 

  1. Sports fan or just tolerate it?

Well, it’s kind of a requirement in my family to be a fan of competitive swimming. My little brother, Graham is so close to making it to the Olympics. It is a fun sport to watch though because the races are always so close…unless Graham is swimming. Then he always wins.

 

  1. Favorite food –

My mom’s homemade mac-n-cheese. She’s out of town a lot for my brother’s swimming but when she is home she makes huge batches and freeze it for me.


  1. If money were no object, where would you like to live?

I don’t think I’ve been enough places yet to have a preference but I do love the idea of living in a house in the woods like Leo does. His place is impossible to get to so if I had all the money in the world I’d make a road lead all the way from town to my secluded little place. And of course Leo would be there with me.


  1. What’s next for you?

It’s really hard for me to say. I just started my junior year of high school so I should be thinking about college and my future but with everything going on I can’t really think beyond my day to day activities. Almost dying twice really outs thing into perspective and I want to start focusing on what makes me happy. Now that Leo’s in my life I feel like anything is possible and a whole new world is open to me.

 

 

Excerpt:
What a waste last night was. I would’ve laughed out loud about how tragically ironic it all was if I could have. My lungs started to twinge at the thought of laughing. They wanted to be filled with fresh air.
The finale of my life was playing out before me. I recalled the peaceful feeling from my dream. I was just waiting for it to happen. My
lungs were screaming at me to breathe. This was it. Time was almost up and I was waiting for my life to flash before my eyes when movement out of the water caught my attention. Leo was standing on the edge of the pool. He was shirtless and surrounded by the light, making me question if I’d died and gone to heaven.
He dove into the pool an instant later and scooped me up in his arms, obelisk and all, just as he had the night before, then pushed up to
the surface of the water in no time flat.
The extra couple hundred pounds of weight I and the obelisk—mostly the obelisk…I think—added did nothing to slow him down. We shot
out of the water as if we had the help of a cannon, not just Leo’s legs.
I gasped for air as soon as my face was free of the water. The breath felt so good my lungs craved more and more. I kept inhaling the air
as if it were being funneled down my throat.
Leo swam to the side of the pool, using only his legs to keep us afloat. With one hand, he threw the obelisk all the way in the bed of wildflowers and pulled us up out of the water.
We sat on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water and me on his lap, vowing to never again take air for granted and wondering
what happened that made my dreams start coming true.
Using his thumbs to push the water out of my eyes, he laced his hands through my soaking wet hair and rested his palms on my cheeks.
“Sophia?” I coughed up some water and he turned my head to the side. “Sophia, are you okay?”
The air was flowing easily in and out of my lungs. They felt calmed; they knew they would be getting air on a regular basis.
“I’m okay.” I coughed one more time, then took another deep breath to clear my reeling mind and tried to speak again. “I’m fine.”
Physically I was fine but mentally I wasn’t. The world I lived in up until this point didn’t consist of anything supernatural or
unexplainable happening except the occasional perfect hair day and the beauty of an aquamarine crystal.
Leo stood easily from his seated position with me still in his arms and crushed my chest to his. Of course I couldn’t help but wrap my
arms around his bare torso but his skin felt so hot to the touch. Between the freezing cold of my body and the warm temperature of his I felt overwhelmed.  Everywhere our bodies came in contact with each other little puffs of visible steam arose.
When we made it to the living room Hercules began lapping up the puddles of water we left behind us. Leo yanked the gray blanket off of the
armchair and wrapped it around me because I was suddenly shaking.
He moved a salt stone lamp out of his way and sat on top of the coffee table, motionlessly taking in my expression. Before he even spoke I
just knew he was reading me all wrong. I felt like I could read him already too.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sophia,” he groaned.
“For what? My idiotic carelessness or that you saved my life once again? You shouldn’t be sorry about either of those things.”
“I shouldn’t have let that happen. I shouldn’t have been sleeping still. I promised you I’d protect you and look what happened. Do you
have any idea how close you were to dying? Even closer than you were last night. If I was just one second later I would’ve been too late.”
“I know. I was there. But you weren’t too late. It’s all over now—I’m fine.” He put his head in his hands and scrunched his hair in his
palms. “Leo.” I reached forward and placed my hand on his arm. He was still so hot to the touch. “Why’s your skin so hot again?”
He flinched away from my hand, stood up, folded his arms across his chest and turned his back to me. His reaction made me question my
gesture.
“It’ll go away.”
“Yeah but why does it happen at all?”
He hesitated for just a moment before he answered. “Because I keep saving your life.”
“I thought angels are supposed to save lives.”
“I already told you. I’m not an angel. I’m not supposed to save lives.”
authorinterview

Top ten things you don’t know about me:

1.  Cotton or Silk?

Both. Cotton in the hotter months but silk in the cold ones.

 

  1. Champagne/beer/wine?

Yes. Just kidding. If I had to pick one it would be champagne.

 

  1. Plotter/pantser

I am 100% a pantser and I can’t imagine writing any other way. Though I completely admire plotters and maybe one day I will be organized enough to be one.

 

  1. Describe your workspace

It varies. I write all over the place, usually with my laptop but I’ve been known to use my phone in a pinch. I probably enjoy writing in my bed though. I have massive amounts of throw pillows on my bed so I prop them all up and even use one as a makeshift desk on my lap. I think I write best when I’m all cozy.

 

  1. Sports fan or just tolerate it?

Sports fan. I love going to hockey, baseball, and football games. I might not know all the rules or understand completely what’s going on but I think sports are fun.

 

  1. Who is your biggest influence on writing?

I’m always influenced just by my daily life. I like to incorporate every day experiences into every scene I write. Even though Always Kiss Me Goodnight is a paranormal story I think using little quirks and details I’ve taken from my friends and family help make it seem more real.

 

  1. Favorite food –

Enchiladas. All kinds. Really any Mexican food.


  1. When did you start writing?

When I was younger I liked to tell stories. I loved making things up to entertain my family. It took me much longer to start writing those stories down. I didn’t seriously start putting words onto paper until I was an older teen.

 

  1. If money were no object, where would you like to live?

Well, I’ve never been there, but I would love to travel to Norway. I can’t say for sure I’d like to live there but have you seen pictures of that place? It looks amazing and I think I could be very happy there.


  1. What’s next for you?

There are two more books that follow Leo and Sophia so I’m working on editing them and hopefully getting them published. I’m also working on a new adult manuscript that I’m loving and I hope to be able to publish that one as well.

 

 

 

 

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About the Author:
Megan Gaudino works in a high school library by day and on her own books by night. Always Kiss Me Goodnight his her debut novel and was first posted on Wattpad where it gained over two million reads. Megan lives in Pittsburgh where you can find her reading, writing, and Instagramming.

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