The time it was about Circle of Jinn

Once upon a time, I got an email from Lori Goldstein asking if I would be interested in featuring her upcoming book, Circle of Jinn.  I read the synopsis and was interested, but hadn’t read either book in the series.  After explaining that I try not to feature anything I haven’t read and loved {to make the fangirling authentic}, I asked her to give me a couple of days to get my greedy hands on them and read them.

Fast forward about a week and a long chain of emails and here we are on the official blog tour!

Before we get to Lori’s interview, let’s check out the book!

Being Jinn is Azra’s new reality. As she grants wishes under the watchful eye of the Afrit council, she remains torn between her two worlds—human and Jinn. Soon, secrets spill. Zars are broken. Humans become pawns. And rumors of an uprising become real as the Afrit’s reach extends beyond the underground world of Janna.

Straddling the line becomes impossible. Aware of her unique abilities, Azra must not just face but embrace her destiny. But when the role she must play and those she must protect expand to include a circle of Jinn greater than her own, Azra will be forced to risk everything. A risk that means there’s everything to lose, and at the same time, everything to gain—for herself and her entire Jinn race.

In this dramatic sequel to Becoming Jinn, Azra’s story comes to a heartfelt and thrilling conclusion.

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for the Becoming Jinn series.

Becoming Jinn asks the question: What if there was a girl with the power to grant wishes? But what if that girl isn’t the genie you probably think she is and is instead a Jinn, descended from a long line of Jinn, which are a spirit creature in the cultures of North Africa and the Middle East. And what if this girl, this Jinn, gets this incredible magic, but there’s a catch. She has to hide who she is from everyone around her, has to now answer to someone else. And what if . . . she hates that? So what if, she rebels? And what if, when she rebels . . . and I can’t tell you that because that’s pretty spoilery. But let’s just say if Becoming Jinn is about Azra getting her powers and learning how to use them, Circle of Jinn is about what she does with those powers to get her life back.

2. Where did the idea come from?

Becoming Jinn started with a character. I knew her before I knew the story I’d put her in. A few years ago, there was a devastating earthquake in Turkey. A mother and her infant daughter were pulled from the rubble and both miraculously survived. That baby’s name was Azra, which is my protagonist in Becoming Jinn. When I heard this beautiful name, I began to picture the world this girl would live in. YA paranormal and supernatural has always been a genre I loved, and in hearing this name and thinking of what would be a cool story for this girl, somehow it all sparked the idea of writing a book featuring Jinn, which for some reason I knew was the term for spirits derived from North African and Middle Eastern lore. A fan of contemporary, I decided to merge the fantasy elements with our modern world and drop Azra and her Jinn (genie) family into the world in which I live—quite literally into my home state of Massachusetts.

3. Why do you love Azra and why should we root for her?

I love Azra’s voice. She’s sarcastic and uses humor as defense mechanism to hide the pain she carries around inside her. Like many teens—like me as a teen—she feels like she doesn’t fit into either of the two worlds she’s straddling: human or Jinn. Her growth as a character builds over the two books to her understanding that letting those around her in, rather than pushing them away, is the key to helping to ease that pain inside. On the way, she makes mistakes, she hurts others, she is hurt herself, and yet she keeps going for those she comes to care about. In some ways, magically she is far from the underdog, but emotionally, she’s the opposite. Rooting for someone to find that inner peace and happiness is even more of a draw for me that physical strength or power.

4. In your opinion, what makes a good villain and how did you incorporate that into the story?

A good villain has to have his or her own motivations for the reader to understand why they are doing the bad things they are doing. We don’t have to agree with their motivations, we don’t have to like the villain, but we do have to understand why they believe they are right. I make sure with every “villain” in the story, be it Chelsea or Yasmin or eventually the Afrit, you get a glimpse into their interior and why they behave the way they do.

5. What was the weirdest thing you googled while researching?

I’m awful with distances. In Circle of Jinn, Azra becomes restricted to remain within 150 feet of something (or someone…) and I had to google how long that is. How does it compare to things I could sort of imagine like cars lined up end to end or a football field. Then, how far apart are houses? How far can you see out a window? It was not exactly weird, but frustrating to actually find these answers!

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.

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

• The entire Harry Potter series (counts as one, right?)
• A fishing rod
• My husband (aw…)

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

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So much has built to this moment when Harry begins to understand his enemy, Voldemort, and we begin to understand Voldemort more. The parallels between these two enemies was masterfully drawn by J.K. Rowling and this book is the one I’d read and enjoy and study on a craft level.

4. Who is your favorite book boyfriend and book BFF?

Damon Salvatore and Luna Lovegood (and if that doesn’t show the two sides of my personality, I don’t know what does…)

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

Write more BEFORE your book comes out. Because after . . . time disappears faster than a Jinn can teleport.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lori Goldstein was born into an Italian-Irish family and raised in a small town on the New Jersey shore. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Lehigh University and worked as a writer, editor, and graphic designer before becoming a full-time author.

She currently lives and writes outside of Boston.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge thanks to Lori for the invite and to Macmillan for adding me onto the official tour.  Make sure you’re checking out Lori’s website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Circle of Jinn releases 5/17, but Macmillan is so nicely offering one up now.  Giveaway is US only and additional rules are here.

**Good Luck!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway