20 QUESTIONS WITH: Abby McDonald, author of The Liberation of Alice Love

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I would like to thank Abby for stopping by BookHounds today!

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20 Questions with Abby McDonald,

author of The Liberation of Alice Love

About the Author

Twenty-five-year-old Abby McDonald grew up in Sussex, England, and studied politics and philosophy at Oxford University. She began writing in college, completing her first novel before graduating to work as a music journalist. Her novel The Popularity Rules comes out in Fall 2011, and she has also written the young adult books Sophomore Swap and Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. Visit www.abbymcdonald.com

1. Bookmarks or dog ears?

Neither, I’m afraid I always bend the books face-down.

2. Dust jacket on or off when reading a hard back?

On.

3. Favorite author?
A tie between Marisa de los Santos and Jenny Crusie

4. Favorite genre’?
Commercial fiction & YA

5. What is the best book you have read in the last year?
I really enjoyed The Three Weissman’s of Westport by Cathleen Schine

6. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
The one I really want, I’m adapting into a script myself, but 2^nd runner up would be Love Walked In by Marissa de los Santos, with dream casting of Winona Ryder and Elle Fanning

7. E books: Friend or foe?
Undecided. I personally can’t quit page-and-type books.

8. Was there a book that inspired you to write?
No one in particular, just a childhood spent buried in books!

9. What are you reading right now?
Disaster Preparedness, a collection of essays by Heather Havrilesky

10. What is the last book you bought just for the cover?
Vixen by Anna Godbersen

11. What is the last book you received in the mail?
Emma Forrest’s ‘Your Voice in My Head’ in a care package for my birthday.

12. What is the number of books you own?

Countless. I can’t bear to part with them, so my parents’ attic back in England is groaning under the weight!

13. What is the first book you remember reading by yourself as a child?
There’s a wonderful series of ballet stories by Lorna Hill that I loved as a child; the line between my mother reading them to me and me reading for myself is so blurred.

14. Do you have a favorite place to read?
Curled up in an armchair; at a sunny street café table; in bed; at the beach. Anywhere!

15. What is next for you, publishing-wise?
I have a YA called The Anti-Prom coming out April 12^th, and then my next adult novel with Sourcebooks, The Popularity Rules, will be published in the fall.

16. Do you have a favorite place to write?
A little café in Larchmont, LA, with excellent scones and comfy couches.

17. Do you have any pets ?
No. I only just moved to the States, but would love a kitten one day.

18. How does your garden grow?

Barely! I’ve never been able to keep much alive, but I just planted a herb garden, and hopefully will have better luck this time.

19. The last thing you Googled?
Deana Carter’s video for ‘Did I Shave My Legs for This?’

20. What makes you cringe?
Memories of my own social faux-pas.