Author Interview: Amelia Diane Coombs on All Alone With You, Friendship, Video Games, and More!7/17/2023
Happy Monday bookworms! Today I am super excited to be sharing another author interview with you all! I had a great time chatting with Amelia Diane Coombs about her upcoming release, All Alone With You! As you guys know, I absolutely loved reading it! With an adorable romance that will give you all the butterflies and an inspiring story of self-growth and finding your confidence, All Alone With You is the perfect book to read this summer! Check out my review to hear more of my thoughts, and be sure to grab a copy when it comes out July 25th! You can pre-order it here or by checking out the links below!
Synopsis: Eloise Deane is the worst and doesn’t care who knows it. She’s grumpy, prefers to be alone, and is just slogging through senior year with one goal: get accepted to USC and move to California. So when her guidance counselor drops the bombshell that to score a scholarship she’ll desperately need, her applications require volunteer hours, Eloise is up for the challenge. Until she’s paired with LifeCare, a volunteer agency that offers social support to lonely seniors through phone calls and visits. Basically, it’s a total nightmare for Eloise’s anxiety.
Eloise realizes she’s made a huge mistake—especially when she’s paired with Austin, the fellow volunteer who’s the sunshine to her cloudy day. But as Eloise and Austin work together to keep Marianne Landis—the mysterious former frontwoman of the 1970s band the Laundromats—company, something strange happens. She actually…likes Marianne and Austin? Eloise isn’t sure what to do with that, especially when her feelings toward Austin begin to blur into more-than-friends territory. And when ex-girlfriends, long-buried wounds, and insecurities reappear, Eloise will have a choice to make: go all in with Marianne and Austin or get out before she gets hurt.
content warnings
Depression, anxiety, death of a parent (past), grief, car accident (past, mentioned)
Hello Amelia! Welcome to Page by Paige Books! I am so excited to chat with you today. To get things started I’d love to get to know you a bit more. Could you share 3 fun facts about yourself?
Hi Paige—thanks so much for having me! Alrighty, some fun facts: 1) My sisters and I all have the same middle name, and I thought this was normal for far too long, 2) I finished high school when I was sixteen by passing a state proficiency exam; I’ve never had a senior year! and 3) I first began beekeeping when I was seventeen and while I currently don’t have a hive, it’s one of my absolute favorite hobbies.
Congratulations on the upcoming publication of All Alone With You, I absolutely loved reading it! Would you say that your writing process has changed since writing your debut? If so, in what ways?
Thank you! And ooh what an interesting question. My writing process has definitely changed since my debut. I initially drafted that book in 2017 and revised it from 2018-2019, which feels like a lifetime ago. I used to be a “pantser” and was allergic to outlines… or any kind of organization when it came to drafting! It was chaos. Since then, I’ve swung the opposite direction. While I always allow myself some creative wiggle room, I never dive into a draft without at least a partial outline.
Check out the awesome pre-order goodies for All Alone With You! Submit your pre-order receipt or library request form by July 31st and you can get beautiful artwork, a mini sticker, and a signed bookplate!
Eloise and Austin are complete opposites when it comes to how they view life, especially at the beginning of the book. Do you lean more towards being an optimist like Austin or a pessimist like Eloise? Oh, I’m a pessimist like Eloise, all the way!
I was excited to discover Eloise’s playlist at the end of the book and have been listening to it nonstop since then. What artist or song has been stuck in your head recently?
So, I actually included the band I’ve been obsessed with for a while in the playlist—Graveyard Club is a band out of Minneapolis, and I discovered their music while drafting AAWY. They released a new album (Moonflower) while I was revising, and it sort of became my unofficial soundtrack as I worked on the book. Eloise’s interest in video games was something that intrigued me. Do you play any MMORPGs? If so, do you have any tips or recommendations for first-time players? I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for four years, but I’ve been a huge video game enthusiast since childhood. My spouse would play WoW (and I admit, I made fun of him for it earlier in our relationship) but he finally convinced me to try the game out when we moved to Seattle. We only had our computers while we were waiting for the rest of our furniture to be delivered at our new apartment, and he wore me down! But I’m glad he did—I really love it. Not only because it can be a ton of fun but it’s a great (and nerdy) way to spend time together as a couple. As for advice—woof, online gaming can be intimidating! Depending on the game, the player base can often skew toxic (I’ve been all caps yelled at many a times over the years!) so I think finding people—be it friends or other newer gamers—to play with is key.
Marianne was so much fun to read about. I really enjoyed learning more about her story and her relationship with Austin and Eloise was so heartwarming! What was your favourite part about creating her character?
Marianne as a character was really tricky for me. I hadn’t written an older character before—at least, not one that was featured so heavily throughout the book—and her relationship with Eloise was so integral to the plot that I knew I had to get her right! But my favorite part would probably be making her a musician. She wasn’t, in my first drafts! I don’t think she was even famous. That larger-than-life backstory—as well as shrouding her in a little mystery—was not only fun, but really helped me dig into her as a character.
Another aspect that I loved about this book was the lyrics from The Laundromats at the start of each chapter. It was a fun way to give the reader a glimpse into what the chapter would be about, plus it gave the book a nostalgic vibe. What inspired you to include this unique element?
The credit goes to my editor! She suggested either adding real song lyrics from older bands to the chapter headers or writing my own. I was immediately intimidated by writing my own lyrics (I think my response was “Haha no thank you”), so I spent about a week combing through so many band lyrics from the 70s and 80s, trying to find ones that “fit” the book before giving up and writing my own. It wasn’t an easy task (and one I’m happy to never repeat) because before this, the closest thing to song lyrics I’ve written was some very bad poetry in high school!
I couldn’t get enough of Eloise’s humour and her banter with Austin, it was so addictive! What advice would you give to writers working on their dialogue skills?
I loved writing their banter, so I’m happy to hear that! When I was in grad school, I actually really struggled with dialogue, and one of my teachers suggested studying dialogue in TV shows, so that—along with just reading super, super widely over the years—really helped me hone my dialogue skills.
Across all the books you’ve written so far, which character do you relate to the most?
Eloise, 100%! Like I said above, I’m a bit of a pessimist, like Eloise, and very sarcastic. She was the easiest character for me to write because we’re very similar. Between working in some of my own insecurities as a teenager, along with my current day interests and hobbies, she’s definitely the character I relate to the most.
I loved following Eloise’s mental health journey throughout this book and found it to be very relatable and inspiring. What is the main message that you want readers to take away from All Alone With You?
There’s such a huge emphasis on friendship and social development in high school, and (like Eloise) I really had trouble making friends. A lot of this was due to social anxiety, among other mental health struggles, and I felt like a complete freak because I didn’t have the kinds of friendships I read about in books or saw on TV. I struggled with fitting in, and it didn’t occur to me for many, many years that maybe I didn’t need to fit in—I just needed to find the people I already fit in with! I’d love it if readers walk away from this book with the understanding that they’re worth knowing (and loving) exactly as they are, and that their people are out there.
Thank you so much for chatting with me today about All Alone With You! After loving this book, I am so excited to read more of your work. Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re currently working on?
Thanks so much! And sadly, All Alone With You is my last YA novel for now, but I’m working on some new projects that I’m extremely excited about. Hopefully I’ll have more to share soon!
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I had so much fun chatting with Amelia about All Alone With You! Don't forget to preorder your copy, and submit your screenshots to get some awesome goodies! Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist? Let me know in the comments below!
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Happy Sunday bookworms! Today I'm sharing 8 of my most anticipated releases of July! There are so many exciting books coming out this summer in a variety of genres including contemporary, romance, and fantasy! I can't wait to read them! Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino July 11th Give Me a Sign follows Lilah who doesn’t feel “deaf enough” to identify as Deaf, or hearing enough to meet the world’s expectations. When she decides to become a counsellor at a summer camp for the deaf and blind, she hopes to brush up on her ASL, but she also finds a community. Plus there’s Isaac, the dreamy Deaf counsellor who volunteers to help her with her signing. One thing’s for sure, Lilah wanted change, and things here are certainly different than what she’s used to. This is one of my most anticipated releases of the year! I’m so excited to read it, and it sounds like the perfect summer book! The Prince & the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell July 11th Next up is a dystopian book! The Prince and the Apocalypse is a story about a girl named Wren who, on a senior-year trip to London, bumps into an on the run Prince Theo and helps him escape some tourists. In return, he gives her his number and offers her a favour. Except it looks like she’ll be cashing it in a lot faster than either of them thought when they learn that a comet is quickly approaching Earth and life as they know it will end in 8 days. Desperate to get home in time to say goodbye to her family, Wren strikes up a deal with the prince. She’ll be his bodyguard as they travel to his family’s compound in Santorini, and he’ll charter her a private jet home to her family. As the two go on a trip of a lifetime, they grow closer, but will Theo’s own agenda and the end of the world get in their way? I haven’t read anything like this before! I love a good travel book and I’m interested in seeing how the end of the world aspect of the plot will affect the characters and their journey. Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best July 11th As you guys know I really enjoyed the movie Knives Out and I will most definitely add any book to my tbr if it’s compared to it 😂. I’ve been in the mood for sci-fi books lately so when I heard this was also for fans of The Darkness Outside Us (one of my all-time favourite sci-fi books) I knew it was going on this list. Stars, Hide Your Fires features a rag tag group of thieves and their leader, Cass. She’s an expert thief and she’s planning a big score that will not only help her crew, but her sick father. All she has to do is travel to the planet Ouris, infiltrate the imperial palace station to get into the emperor’s ball, and steal everything she can. Simple right? Except when the emperor is found dead, Cass discovers that someone is setting her up to take the fall. In order to clear her name she teams up with a mysterious (and gorgeous) rebel that has her own motives, and together they uncover a secret that could change the empire forever. Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne July 18th Now onto a contemporary romance that sounds perfect for summer! Clementine is an anonymous blogger called Hibiscus that reviews tea shops and discusses larger issues within her Chinatown community. And many people love it, except for an anonymous user named BobaBoy888. Meanwhile, Danny’s heart is breaking because of the gentrification of Chinatown, and the only thing that helps his frustration is bickering with Hibiscus, on his BobaBoy888 account. But when he learns a major corporation is threatening to shut down his favourite tea shop, he teams up with Clementine in real life to save their community. The thing is, they don’t know that they’ve been anonymously fighting with each other online for years. Will their relationship be able to survive when the truth comes to light? I am so ready for all the drama that is going to take place! Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald July 20th I recently heard about this book on Instagram and it really intrigued me, you guys know how much I love Greek mythology 😂. This YA fantasy is a retelling of the classic Hades and Persephone story. We’ve all heard how it goes, Hades kidnaps Persephone in a political move and traps her as his wife in the Underworld. But the gods lied. Persephone wasn’t taken, she jumped into hell herself, and she’s determined to convince arrogant Hades to go along with her plan. One that will shake Mount Olympus itself. Now if that doesn’t sound intriguing I don’t know what does! I’m excited to see what this book has in store! All Alone With You by Amelia Diane Coombs July 25th All Alone With You follows Eloise who prefers to be alone. She just wants to get through senior year and move to California for school, but she still needs volunteer hours to graduate. Now she’s stuck volunteering for LifeCare, an agency that helps lonely seniors and gives them social support. To make matters worse, she’s paired with Austin (the sunshine to her rainy day). The two of them work together to keep Marianne company (a former front woman from a 1970s band called the Laundromats). As the three grow closer, and feelings between Eloise and Austin grow, Eloise will have to decide if she’s willing to let people into her life or leave them behind before she gets hurt. This book features one of my favourite tropes (sunshine x grumpy) and it also talks about social anxiety. I am so excited to start this book! Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto July 25th I read the first two books in Nicki Pau Preto’s debut series, Crown of Feathers, and I enjoyed them! So that's why I'm excited that Nicki is back with an all-new series called House of the Dead and I’ve been hearing great things! Our main character Wren, is on her way to becoming a walker, a ghost-fighting warrior, (I know, sounds so cool already), and it’s her chance to be a part of the noble House of Bone and impress her absent father. Except when she’s sabotaged and fails her qualifying trial, she’s banished to the Border wall, the only thing protecting them from the wasteland where the dead roam. In an attempt to regain her family’s respect, Wren vows to rescue a prince that has been taken across the wall. In order to do so she has to make an uneasy alliance with an ironsmith named Julian whose family caused the Breach in the first place. As they travel and fight together, the pair realize that there might be something more behind the kidnapping than either of them knew, and it might mean an alliance between the living and the undead. Their Vicious Games by Nicki Pau Preto July 25th This YA mystery thriller is about Adina, who is desperate after losing her Ivy League acceptance so she enters into an elite competition where the prize is being supported by a wealthy and powerful family. But it turns out the stakes are a lot deadlier than she was expecting. A twisty thriller sounds perfect right about now, plus I've heard great reviews about this so I can't wait to read it!
Those are my anticipated releases for July 2023 bookworms! I can't wait to dive into them! What June releases are on your radar? Are any of these books on your tbr? Let me know in the comments below! |
AuthorPaige is a bookstagrammer and blogger who loves all things bookish. From fantasy to mystery she can’t get enough! She’s always ready to recommend you a book and she can talk about her favourites all day. When she’s not reading, you can find her watching Marvel movies, playing video games, and taking bookstagram photos. Visit her on Instagram and Twitter for more updates. Categories
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