About the Book
As You Turn Away by Molli Moran (The Walker Boys Series #1)
NA Contemporary
Released March 1st, 2014
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Two hearts, one life-changing summer, and a long-awaited second chance…
When Quinnlan Reynolds left home at 18, she escaped her small, Georgia town and her suffocating upbringing. She started a new life as a ballerina, and tasted freedom for the first time. But four years later, her first visit home turns tragic. Reeling, Quinn tries to piece her life back together again. But doing so is easier said than done when sexy Jonah Walker saunters back into her life.
Quinn shattered Jonah’s heart once, so getting involved with her isn’t something he’s sure he’s ready to do again. He became someone he didn’t recognize when he left home. He’s spent the last years burying his pain by keeping everyone in his life at arm’s length. Now he needs to get to know his family again, and finally become who he wants to be.
But neither Quinn or Jonah can stay away from each other, especially when old feelings resurface. Something is pulling them back together, and they can’t deny their chemistry for long. One Georgia summer could change both their lives forever, if they can work through their past to have a future together.
The Interview!
Q: Please describe your latest book in any 5 words!
A: Interracial romance overcomes small-town prejudice.
Q: Where do you come up with the inspiration for your novels?
A: Honestly, from so many places. Sometimes I’ll see a type of book and love it (i.e. a premise or trope) and I’ll just try to see what I can do with it. For my Walker Boys series, I wanted to write a series focusing on family, friendship, and characters learning to go after their own happiness.
Q: Do you outline your work or figure it out as you go?
A: I’m a connect-the-dots writer. I start every book with a very broad idea of the book, including the first and second conflicts, and a rough idea of the ending. The rest is really organic, as I try to fill in the spaces between the dots.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to fellow writers?
A: “Keep going.” I’ve given this advice before, and it probably sounds deceptively simple. But it’s also true. You can’t give up after a rejection, or a road block, or after a book idea doesn’t work out. I shelved a book this year because it wasn’t time and it wasn’t working. I had to re-learn to keep going. All you can do is keep writing, keep improving, and keep going.
Q: I know you mentioned this in a blog post but, why do you write diverse books?
A: I write diverse books because I never saw characters like me in books as I was growing up. All the characters were generally white, cisgender, able-bodied, and middle to upper class. Those books may have made me want to read, but the ones that changed my life came much later. Honestly, in the last few years so many YA books (from IF YOU FIND ME, which deals with socio-economic diversity to FAR FROM YOU, which deals with a secret romance between two queer girls), have healed parts of me. I want to do my part to show that we are all living various experiences, and we all deserve to see characters like us, whether they’re saving the world or navigating high school or college.
Q: You often discuss diversity in the YA community and in general in publishing on your social media. What is one thing you’d like to see more of when it comes to diversity in publishing?
A: Ideally, I’d love to see more diverse books from authors within that or similar groups. I think it’s fabulous when authors write outside of their own lane, if it’s done respectfully, with proper time devoted to research and beta readers *from* that group who can vet the work. But I still believe YA (and even NA) would greatly benefit from writers putting experiences like their own on the page.
Q: What are you working on now?
About the Author
Molli is a Southern author who doesn’t consider her day complete if she hasn’t written. She loves coffee and talking fast, things she attributes to being raised by Gilmore Girls. She’s a romantic at heart, and brings that to her books, which are usually about characters chasing after their happily ever after. Although content when reading, she can often be found watching and flailing over Doctor Who, cuddling her various pets, or spending time with friends, family, or her girlfriend. Molli loves Oxford commas, country music, Stefan Salvatore, and scarves. Molli is the author of The Walker Boys series, about a trio of rowdy brothers, their growth and individual journeys, and the sassy girls who love them. She’s also written a New Adult standalone novel, ONE SONG AWAY, with other books constantly on her mind.
If you need to reach her for any reason – especially if you want to talk books, or theorize about Doctor Who, you can send her an email or tweet her.
The Giveaway
Molli is super kind and awesome and is offering a diverse book of your choice to one lucky winner! *US/CAN only*
Molli is such a sweetheart and a champion of diversity! Great interview ladies!
Thank you! <3
hooray! Molli is lovely, and I had the privilege of beta reading the new interracial-romance book she mentioned in the interview 🙂
*scurries off to enter giveaway*
Ohh nice! Thanks for reading! 😀
Great post! I adore Molli and her books – very excited to see her queer YA in the future. 🙂
Molli is one of my best friends and quite practically the sister of my heart, she’s completely amazing, genuinely talented, and the sweetest person you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. I cannot tell you how inspiring not only as a person, but as an author she is. I love that when she does something, doesn’t matter what it is, she absolutely puts her whole heart into it or she doesn’t do it at all. She’s not the type of person who’s going to half-ass something, she’s going to put everything that she has in it right down to the last feeling and emotion that she has bottled up. She’s not afraid to explore things on the page, that not many other author’s have tackled and she’s incredibly diverse with some wonderful opinions and ideals on the world, that I think we all can benefit from in some way or another. She’s just one of my very favorite people and I love her to death! 🙂