Today the Geek Girls have Tricia Mills on the blog, talking about her debut young adult novel Heartbreak River.

We also have a signed copy of the the novel for one lucky winner. Leave a comment on this entry for your chance to win. We’ll announce the winner on Monday, April 20th.

Heartbreak River:

Alexandra Landon once loved running the Grayton River through the Colorado canyons near her home and couldn’t imagine doing anything else with her life but continuing the family’s river rafting business.

But that was before her father died in a rafting accident and she developed a full-fledged fear of drowning.

It’s been nearly a year since her father’s death, and the arrival of another summer means Alex has to face the river, the question of whether she can ever recapture her love of rafting, and the return of co-worker and former boyfriend Sean Kenley.

One way or the other, this summer is going to change Alex’s life forever.

The Definitive Geek Girl Interview:

1. The Geek Girls hate stereotypes but, at the same time, we have a morbid fascination with them (go figure). If you were forced to put a label on yourself in high school - what would it have been?

Nerd.

2. One piece of writing advice we’ve heard a lot is: Write what you know. In your novel, Heartbreak River, the main character’s family owns a river rafting business. Did you know very much about rafting before you wrote the book?

No, I really didn’t. But there are the wonders of online research. I’ve never been rafting, can’t even swim, so the whole fear of the water thing that the heroine is experiencing — that was easy to write for me.

3. Speaking of rivers … the Geek Girls like to dabble in dream interpretation from time to time. According to our favorite dream dictionary, a river with rapids can be a symbol of feeling out of control or overwhelmed by emotion. Is the river in your book a symbol too?

Actually, yes. Alex, my heroine, has always had a close relationship with the river, until it claims her father’s life. Now that relationship has changed to one of fear. Throughout the book, that relationship gradually changes and so does how she views it.

4. And speaking of dreams … have you always dreamed of being an author?

For a long time. I can’t remember when the idea of being a novelist first occurred to me, but it’s been around since I was at least a teenager.

5. Finally, what is the one interview question you wish someone would ask you?

Would you like a role in the big-budget movie we’re going to make of your novel?

Thank you, Tricia!

To learn more about Tricia and her writing, stop by her website. Remember, leave a comment here to enter the drawing for Heartbreak River.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 4:55 am and is filed under Books, Interview, book giveaway, contest.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.