I got the invite to feature Martina Boone on the blog and I jumped at the chance. I really liked Compulsion and even though I haven’t read Persuasion yet, it’s sitting in my TBR stack and my greedy hands are itching to pick it up. Martina was willing to do an interview, but before we get to her answers, let’s check out the book.
Grieving the death of her godfather and haunted by her cousin Cassie’s betrayal, Barrie returns from a trip to San Francisco to find the Watson plantation under siege. Ghost-hunters hope to glimpse the ancient spirit who sets the river on fire each night, and reporters chase rumors of a stolen shipment of Civil War gold that may be hidden at Colesworth Place. The chaos turns dangerous as Cassie hires a team of archeologists to excavate beneath the mansion ruins. Because more is buried there than treasure.
A stranger filled with magic arrives at Watson’s Landing claiming that the key to the Watson and Beaufort gifts—and the Colesworth curse—also lies beneath the mansion. With a mix of threats and promises, the man convinces Barrie and Cassie to cast a spell there at midnight. But what he conjures may have deadly consequences.
While Barrie struggles to make sense of the escalating peril and her growing and forbidden feelings for Eight Beaufort, it’s impossible to know whom to trust and what to fight for—Eight or herself. Millions of dollars and the fate of the founding families is at stake. Now Barrie must choose between what she feels deep in her heart and what will keep Watson’s Landing safe in this stunning addition to a series filled with “decadent settings, mysterious magic, and family histories rife with debauchery” (Kirkus Reviews, on Compulsion).
Sounds good, right?
1. Where did the idea for The Heirs of Watson Island series come from?
I had done a short story for an adult anthology set in a location similar to Watson Island with a couple of characters who were similar. The characters and setting stayed with me, and then I had a dream about a ball of fire floating through the woods and setting a river on fire. I couldn’t stop thinking about that image of fire—what it meant, where it came from, why it was there. I researched a lot of natural phenomena and mythology, and by the time I was done, I had the core mystery behind the three books in the trilogy. I’d originally planned to do the series as three companion books, one from the perspective of the three founding families, but my publisher and I ultimately decided to stay with the romance between Barrie and Eight while telling the story of the Fire Carrier, the Watson and Beaufort gifts, and the Colesworth curse.
2. Why do you love Barrie and Eight and why should we root for them?
I love Barrie because she’s an ordinary girl with a tiny little bit of magic when she comes into the story, and she faces a lot of difficulties that real girls face. Having lost her family and her home, she’s determined to do things differently, to be more independent, to live life more outloud. But when she arrives at Watson’s Landing, she finds that the plantation, town, and island are even more confining than the life she’s led up to that point. She has to learn to balance her own desire to be loved and liked against her desire to stand up for herself and to find out the answers to the secrets everyone is trying to keep from her.
I love Eight because from the outside, he seems to have the perfect life. He’s beautiful, popular, and rich. He drives a great car and has a sailboat. He’s got a baseball scholarship to go pitch for one of the best schools in the country, and he’s filled with that wonderful Southern charm. But beneath all of that, he has to deal with the Beaufort gift and the weight of family tradition that makes him feel like he’s just a number instead of a real person. His father’s expectations weigh on him and make him feel like he can never measure up. All his life, he’s wanted nothing more than to get away from Watson Island, but then Barrie shows up, and she’s so vulnerable and so unheeding of her own safety that his protective instincts kick in. They spend all their time together when Barrie is determined to investigate what’s going on around the island, and seeing things through her eyes makes him see the town and the place from her perspective. He sees the good things as well as the things that need to be changed. At the same time, he sees her desire to fit in and how much that wars with her need to do what she feels is right.
Ultimately, what Barrie and Eight want conflicts. Eight wants to leave, and Barrie is magically bound to stay. They can give up on each other from the beginning, choose to protect themselves by not risking their hearts. Or they can trust that what they feel for each other is something special and give it a chance to grow. That’s complicated by the fact that they can’t be sure how much of what they feel is real, and how much is due to the family gifts pushing them toward each other.
I hope that people will root for them because they’re good for each other—they fight themselves and each other, they struggle against the things that they don’t trust in the relationship, but ultimately, they see the truth of each other before they see the their own value. They push each other to be better, and that’s the best kind of a relationship.
3. What was the weirdest thing you googled while researching?
Hmmh. The research got weirder and weirder as the books progressed, but I now know more than I ever thought I would about different types of blood magic, nkisi, Bakongo cosmograms, hoodoo, voodoo, obeah, boo hags, Raven Mockers, Cherokee magical recipes and healing magic, and making water burn. Probably the strangest and coolest thing I researched is the connection between magnetism, energy, magic, and the various ancient monuments like Stonehenge. There’s a very cool magical twist in Illusion, book three of the series, that is very much based on real science, and the research for that literally gave me shivers.
4. What makes a good villain and how did you incorporate that into this series?
I think that a great villain is one that doesn’t realize he’s a villain. I have a LOT of villains in the series, and really none of them think they’re bad. They’re all just doing what they think is best and necessary for their own survival and comfort. My favorite antagonist is Obadiah from book two and book three, because even I never knew whether he was good or bad until the very end. And the villain I hated the most was Emmett. He’s a character in the past, but his deeds cast a shadow over the entire trilogy.
5. Describe Persuasion in five words.
Barrie’s gift versus Eight’s love.
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.
Shocked deep breathing and tears.
2. What three things would you take to a desert island?
Satellite smart phone with an eReader. Solar paneled battery charger. Machete.
3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?
Pride and Prejudice.
4. Who are your favorite swoony boys/girls?
Four from Divergent, Gansey from The Raven Boys, and Sean Kendrick from The Scorpio Races.
5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?
It’s even harder after you’re published than it is to get published in the first place. On the bright side, fans are absolutely lovely.
6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question}
Everything.
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Martina Boone is the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com, a Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers site, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a Tumblr site devoted to news, giveaways, and insider secrets of much-loved and up-and-coming YA series.
From her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and children, she enjoys writing books that are a mixture of romance, mystery, history, and contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she’d love to visit. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.
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Huge thanks to Stacey for the invite and to Martina 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.
Definitely check out Bookish Lifestyle and The Young Folks for more goodies. And Adventures in YA Publishing will be having a feature on the 4th for the paperback release of Compulsion.
Now. Martina has offered up two different international giveaways! You can enter the first one by using the Rafflecopter below. And for this month, anyone who enters the individual giveaway gets an automatic entry for the grand prize!
**Good Luck!!**
Please, could you delete my very first entry (address entry) I pressed enter by mistake. I need to re-fill my address
Here’s the correct link to Compulsion on my Goodreads Shelf, https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6092274-written-melodies?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search%5Bquery%5D=compulsion.