Ten Tantalizing Questions for Mandy Hubbard, Author of You Wish!

Want to learn more about your favorite authors? Well, you've come to the right place! Ten Tantalizing Questions is designed not only to showcase exciting books on the horizon, but to also provide a closer look into the personalities of the authors behind them.

"There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~William Makepeace Thackeray


Up this week-
You Wish by Mandy Hubbard

You Wish is a story about what happens when birthday wishes really do come true. Can you tell us a little more about the book, and perhaps share with us a favorite line, scene or passage?

I think its a fun, goofy, but hopefully heartfelt story.

One of my favorite passages comes early in the first chapter-- when Kayla, the main character, encounters the queen bee at her school. Kayla's one of those rebel-without-a-cause kind of girls, and she's wearing an ugly Old Navy sundress that looks like it was inspired by the Navy or the Coast guard or something.

Here's that page:

“I groan inwardly, though I totally don’t let her know I’m worried about what she’s going to say next. The key to being a black sheep is acting as if you love every minute of it, even when the whitest of the white sheep is about to rip you to shreds.

“I’m sorry, is it Halloween already?” She waggles her head in this totally annoying way as she speaks. Like she’s on a daytime talk show saying, “Oh no, you didn’t.”

“Ahoy, vapid wannabe.” I do a mock salute and walk right past her toward the sink.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re so weird.”

I slap my hand over my heart, trying to look as theatrical as possible. “Ay, it be the scurvy,” I say, screwing my mouth up to the side and crinkling one brow so low my left eye is almost closed.

That sentence probably doesn’t even make sense, and Janae makes a noise that sounds like a combination of a snort and a gurgle and then pushes past me, ramming into my shoulder and making me bounce off the cinder block wall.

I holler after her, “Does this mean tonight’s pillow fight is canceled?”

What three words do you think best describe your novel?

Ha, I guess I did that above: Fun, Goofy, Heartfelt

Do you have anything in common with Kayla’s character in your novel? Do you ever base your characters on people you know?

I have some things in common-- its pretty impossible to make *EVERY* part of a character different. I'm kind of sarcastic, like she is. And a sucker for a cute boy. :-)

I don't base my characters off of anyone I know. In this book, however, I did steal their names-- Kayla, Nicole, and Janae are all names belonging to my cousins. Nothing else about the characters, however, are them.

In You Wish, Kayla McHenry blows out her birthday candles and thinks
how great it would be if all wishes came true. If you were Kayla's age, can you tell us what sort of wishes would've been coming true for yourself?

Hmm... at 16? I was crushing hard for a guy who didn't know who I was. So maybe him. Or maybe a car with a sunroof that didn't drip on my passenger every time I rounded a corner. ;-)

If You Wish was to be made into a movie, do you have certain actors
you envision in the lead roles or do you think unknowns would be best
suited to play them?

I would love to have a little star-power to propel the box office. ;-) Emma Roberts would make a *PERFECT* Kayla. And I think Zac Efron would be hilarious as Ken. Maybe Dakota Fanning as Nicole, Kayla's blonde and gorgeous BFF.

If you had to attach a musical score to your novel, what songs do you imagine playing during prominent scenes?

Taylor Swift's YOU BELONG WITH ME, oddly enough, is the song that would play for the trailer-- it captures the heart of the romantic entanglement.

Other than that, I think the bulk of it would be breezy, fun pop music.

What were you like as a teen? Were there any books in particular that were your favorite?

Oddly enough, I was really into Mary Higgins Clark suspense novels. YA then wasn't what it is today. I did devour R. L. Stine's FEAR STREET books and the occasional Sweet Valley High, though.

If you could inhabit the life of one literary character (your books included) and dive into their world for just one day, who would you choose and why?

Oh sheesh, how hard! I love books with really, really dark undertones and I don't think I'd want to actually LIVE as them-- that's why I read them. I suppose living at Cammie from I'D TELL YOU LOVE YOU BUT THEN I'D HAVE TO KILL YOU would be fun.

What types of feedback do you receive from readers? Is there one comment in particular that has really affected you?

I had this truly, truly adorable/touching letter from a reader once, saying that because she read PRADA & PREJUDICE, she was going to be more outgoing and step outside her bubble more. That we all "had a little bit of Callie in us." It was so cute! I wanted to hug her.

What can we look forward to from you next? Any new projects or upcoming series in the works?

2011 brings a dark YA called BUT I LOVE HIM, about a girl in an abusive relationship, as well as RIPPLE, about a girl who is normal-by-day and a siren at night, and she accidentally kills the only boy she's ever loved.

I guess I went darker in 2011. ;-)

YA Books


Novella

Mandy Hubbard is the author of Prada & Prejudice, You Wish, and five other to-be-published novels for teens. She is also a literary agent for D4EO Literary, where she represents authors of middle grade and teen fiction. She is currently living happily ever after with her husband and young daughter in Enumclaw, Washington.

You Wish Available: Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble| Indiebound

Mandy Hubbard Blog & Official Website