Who is Samantha Young? Give us the low down.
A dreamer. A realist. A book geek. An ex-film geek. A plotter not a pantser. A one-tattoo-ed pretzel-munching- warrior-wannabee. An action movie junkie. A sucker for a happy ending or an ending with no answer. A Fighting Vipers Master. A light-bulb-changer-extraordinaire. A music lover and Biffy Clyro worshiper. A sister. A daughter. A friend. A best friend. Oooh and now a proud homeowner for the first time.
Down London Road is set in your On Dublin Street world, but features a new hero and heroine. I didn’t think I could like anyone better than Braden and Joss but Cam and Jo greatly intrigued me. Tell us how you developed their characters, especially Jo who has such a dramatic relationship with her mother and a wonderful relationship with her brother.
I have to admit that Jo surprised even me. Before I start writing I create character profiles and histories. I knew I had a lot to do to make someone as complicated as Jo be relatable and easy to understand, and I knew the most natural way to do that was to build an incredibly close relationship with her brother. That relationship IS Jo to begin with. That meant it was brilliant fun to throw Cam into the works and use his very strong opinions and outlooks to shape Jo from a girl with little self-esteem but amazing loyalty into a confident woman. The characters themselves were the driving force for one another’s development, and by the end of the book Cam had helped open Jo’s eyes so much that consequently she has become a favorite heroine of mine. I absolutely adore Jo.
I have to keep talking about Jo because she intrigues me so much. She is desperate to financially secure her family, trying to be the perfect girlfriend to various wealthy men in hopes they will eventually marry her. She also mentions at one point how she felt intimidated speaking to Joss and Braden together because she wasn’t as intelligent as them. All of this put together makes her such an insecure person. And then along comes Cam, who plays right into her fake persona and he hurts her deeply. Did anything surprise you about these two on their road to romance? Was it hard to have these two start a relationship with such hurt feelings?
Jo does a really good job at hiding who she is because she hasn’t recognized her own good qualities, so it made sense at the outset for Cam to see Jo as this kind of gold-digger character. Starting their relationship off on such shaky ground was difficult because I had to make sure the reader could see beyond what Cam and Jo were presenting to each other so that they’d still like them in spite of it their attitude toward one another. A big part of it was fun to have them at crosshairs because underneath the animosity is this explosive sexual chemistry which actually plays a part in making the animosity worse because they don’t WANT to feel that way about each other. I think the most surprising thing about them both is that when they see past the misconceptions, Jo and Cam are actually very similar. They have a similar nature and deep down believe the same things are important —family, loyalty, and trust.
At times I found Joss’s behavior towards Jo to be a bit blunt. She is not your normal, feel good girlfriend. Do you think Joss is just the type of friend Jo needs? Will Cam and Braden become BFFs in the future? *wink*
Readers learned from On Dublin Street that Joss can be blunt and a little spiky. Although her relationship with Braden may have smoothed some of those rough edges, she’s still blunt. Worse, now she lets herself care, so when she cares… yeah, she doesn’t mince her words when she’s desperately trying to get her point across, ha! In the end, however, I think she’s exactly what Jo needs in a friend because Jo knows Joss doesn’t lie and all Joss is trying to do is get Jo to believe in herself more and see all the good qualities Joss sees in her.
You have a novella coming out this June, Until Fountain Bridge, which is a novella about Ellie (Braden’s sister) and Adam. And you just announced a third book in this world to come out next year. Any hints? Any other future projects that we can expect from you?
I’m very excited about Until Fountain Bridge and book three. I’m working on book three at the moment and Down London Road readers will hopefully be happy to discover in the near future who the characters are. As for future projects… I may have something new up my sleeve for readers… coming soon…
Thanks Samantha!
New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young is a 27 year old book addict who graduated from the University of Edinburgh. She lives in Scotland. Visit her online at:
www.Facebook.com/OnDublinStreet
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4167378.Samantha_Young
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