Chocolates, First Loves, Book Crushes: Laura Tims (Interview + Giveaway)

Chocolates, First Loves and Book Crushes is a blog event featuring debut authors answering questions that I have sent them as they talk  about their Valentine's day routines, love, book crushes and more. For a list of all the participating authors, check it out here.

Laura Tims is the author of PLEASE DON'T TELL, coming Fall 2015 from HarperCollins.

She's a mental health advocate, a cancer, and a reasonably cute organism. She likes Tumblr, anime, Neko Atsume, Homestuck, Steven Universe, and Undertale. She likes you even more.

She writes books about strange relationships, pain, and people who are scared but good.

FIND LAURA: Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads

1.    Have you always seen Valentine’s as an important event? What do you usually do on Valentine’s Day?

• Valentines Day weirdly stresses me out. I feel like I SHOULD be doing something romantic, so if that doesn’t pan out, it’s like I’m doing something wrong. This past Valentines day was pretty nice, though! I went out for sushi with the boyfriend, and later we made more food and watched the sunset. (It’s all about food, really.)

2. What is your fondest memory about Valentine’s Day? Can you go into details about it?

• I spent a pretty awesome Valentines Day in Paris once. The tradition there is for guys to give girls a rose, so there’s all these girls walking around with roses all day. At first I was like “pfft, I don’t need a rose” and then by the end of the day it was more “…yeah no I need a rose” but by then they were hard to find. Finally got one in the end, though! My boyfriend-at-the-time ROSE to the occasion.

3. What has always been your idea of the perfect date?

• Anything that involves good food.

4. Has it always been a walk in the park or had there been any Valentine’s Day disasters you’ve encountered? (Maybe about your own or someone you know who you would like to share)

• Honestly, the best Valentines Days were in elementary school when everybody had to bring in those little cards with candy attached. One year I think my parents bought cards without candy attached, which was basically sacrilege.

5. Can you tell us about your first love? What was he/she like? 

• I think the first actual crush I ever had was on Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. He hasn’t aged, so that’s pretty awkward now.

6. Any book crushes/boyfriends?

• I kind of have a huge crush on Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings. 

7. Are the characters in your upcoming novel big romantics or total party poopers?

• Levi would definitely like to be a romantic, but he’s a bit too awkward/anxious to pull it off the way he wants to. And he’s got a lot of other stuff going on.

8. If you can go out on a date with a character in your book, who would it be and why?

• Not a romantic date, but I would definitely love to go on a platonic date with (almost) all my characters, just to tell them nice things and buy them ice cream and give them a break for five seconds.

9. What would you like to say to any reader out there this Valentine’s season?

• It’s okay if you’re not into Valentines Day. It’s also okay if you’re super into it! It’s just a day, and if you don’t have a partner/aren’t interested in romance, it’s perfectly fine to show love by doing something special for a friend or family member. Even yourself!

RT + Follow me and @lauratims for a signed ARC of Please Don't Tell.-Ends 03/18 (US ONLY)https://t.co/0PJ2qDhg4Y pic.twitter.com/PeWQqzdvGh

— LaVeeyette (@jayvwrites27) February 28, 2016

Title: Please Don't Tell                              

Author: Laura Tims

Publication: May 24th 2016, HarperTeen

Pre-order it on: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | The Book Depository | Kobo | National Book Store / Fully Booked (PH)

SYNOPSIS:

Joy has done everything to protect her twin sister...including murder.

Joy killed Adam Gordon for what he did to her sister, Grace. At least, that’s what she thinks happened. Now Adam can’t hurt anyone ever again, and her sister can be free from the boy who harmed her.

But someone else knows what Joy did, and they’re going to out her as a cold-blooded killer if she doesn’t expose the scandalous secrets bubbling just below the surface of her mundane town. As the demands escalate, and she finds herself falling for Adam’s half brother, Joy must figure out the blackmailer’s identity before everything spirals out of control.

Special thank you to the lovely Laura Tims especially making it to this interview! I love you! And thank you for hosting the giveaway! US friends, do join <3 Tomorrow, I will be posting my closing statements and everything else I'd like to say so please stay tuned! :)