The time it was about Tear You Apart

I read Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross last year and I don’t know why I waited so long because I loved it.  When I saw that Sarah was coming out with another book in the same world, I jumped all over it.  And of course, I was eager to be part of the blog tour.

But before we get to Sarah’s interview, let’s check out the book.

If you want to live happily ever after, first you have to stay alive.

Viv knows there’s no escaping her fairy-tale curse. One day her beautiful stepmother will feed her a poison apple or convince her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Henley, to hunt her down and cut out her heart before she breaks his. In the city of Beau Rivage, some princesses are destined to be prey.

But then Viv receives an invitation to the exclusive club where the Twelve Dancing Princesses twirl away their nights. There she meets Jasper, an underworld prince who seems to have everything—but what he really wants is her. He vows to save her from her dark fate if she’ll join him and be his queen.

All Viv has to do is tear herself away from the huntsman boy who still holds her heart. Then she might live to see if happily ever after is a promise the prince can keep. But is life as an underworld queen worth sacrificing the true love that might kill her?

Faced with a possible loophole to her “Snow White” curse, Viv goes underground, literally, to find the prince who’s fated to rescue her. But is life safe in the Underworld worth the price of sacrificing the love that might kill her?

Sounds good, right?

1. Where did the idea for Tear You Apart come from?

Viv was introduced in Kill Me Softly, but we only get glimpses of her screwed-up life in that book. I wanted to write her story in full. And I wanted to open up the world of Beau Rivage, take readers somewhere new, and the fairy-tale underworld seemed like the perfect place.

2. Why do you love Viv and Henley and why should we root for them?

I love them because their relationship is broken. We’re not meeting them as they’re falling in love, we’re getting them as they’re falling apart, but they have so much history that they can’t make a clean break. When you get to the end of a book where the characters have finally fallen in love, it’s easy to believe in (or hope for) happily ever after, even though the relationship is just starting. But most loves are tested. Will this love last? Should it? To me, that’s as interesting as “will they get together at all?”

3. What makes a good villain and how did you incorporate that into Tear You Apart?

My favorite villains are deliciously evil; they have no moral qualms about doing bad things. (In a fantasy, or a larger-than-life story, anyway.) There are multiple villains in Tear You Apart and I definitely enjoyed their villainy, so hopefully I met my own standard there!

4. Without spoilers, is there anything that had to be cut that you wish would have stayed?

No, even if I’m reluctant to cut something at first, once I make the decision to do it, it’s because it feels like the right choice. (My editor is very wise.)

5. Describe Tear You Apart in 5 words.

Poison apples and broken hearts.

Speed [ish] round:

1. You get the call/email/letter that says you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

I think I spent the next 5 minutes taking notes as my agent went over the terms of the deal. Not very exciting, I know! It didn’t feel real or official to me until the contract was signed, which was months later.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

A knife, a machete, and a fishing net―assuming I wanted to survive. Otherwise I’d bring a giant cake, a pizza, and a bottle of poison.

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Wuthering Heights, maybe? I don’t know. The idea of reading only one book for the rest of my life is kind of horrifying.

4. Who are your favorite swoony boys/girls?

I am blanking on this one, but I could give you a whole list of cute animals. Some faves: Lil Rufio, Lil Bub, Sarah Dessen’s dog Roxy, Darcy the flying hedgehog (R.I.P.)

5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

Unexpected bad things will happen along the way, but there will be good surprises, too.

6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me borrow this question.}

Move somewhere sunny immediately. If that wasn’t possible, I’d put bars on my windows, get a big dog, and skip biology until Edward graduated.

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Sarah Cross is the author of the fairy tale novels Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart (coming January 2015), the superhero novel Dull Boy, and the Wolverine comic “The Adamantium Diaries.” She loves fairy tales, lowbrow art, secret identities and silence.

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Huge thanks to Sarah for taking the time.  Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Now.  Can’t wait to get your hands on a copy? Egmont is so nicely offering up a signed copy of Tear You Apart! Contest US only and additional rules are here.  There will be a giveaway on every stop of the tour so, go here for the complete tour schedule and more chances to win.

**Good Luck!!**

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