Title: The Luckiest
Author: Mila McWarren
Genre: MM Romance / New Adult
Publisher: Interlude Press
Release: 7 July 2015
Cover Artist: CB Messer
(One of the BEST covers ever! - Foxylutely Books)
Blurb
When New York-based memoirist Aaron Wilkinson gathers with his high school friends to marry off two of their own, he is forced to spend a week with Nik, the boy who broke his heart.
As they settle into the Texas beach house where the nuptials will be performed, Nik quickly makes his intentions clear: he wants Aaron back. "He's coming hard, baby," a friend warns, setting the tone for a week of transition where Aaron and Nik must decide if they are playing for keeps.
Excerpt
Aaron finishes the song and Stephanie snatches the mic out of his hand, crooks her finger at Nik and launches them into a reprise of their performance of "Dancing on My Own" from the homecoming weekend they all spent here at the house back in senior year. Stephanie still has questionable rhythm and tragic pitch—she loves to sing, which is why they have a karaoke machine in this house, but it's one thing she will admit she doesn't have much of a gift for—but there's a reason Nik majored in music at The University of Texas, and his voice has come a long way.
Somehow, this deliberate throwback to a memory that was never anything but happy seems different than what Aaron has just done. He sits on the sofa, flanked by Alex and Jasmine, hating them both a little for participating in it even while he smiles. Nik dances—how can you not, with this song—but he still watches Aaron, gives him a little head-tilt during the chorus, and it's charming and devastating and infuriating.
Jasmine leans to murmur, "Oh, I see how it is."
"Oh, shut up."
"You might not be desperate, but I'm not sure about him. He's coming hard, baby."
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Interview with Mila McWarren
Today we are very lucky to be interviewing Mila McWarren, author of The Luckiest.
Hi, Mila, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Please could you tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Please tell us an interesting fun fact or a few about your book or series
So Texans have this native ice cream – it's called Blue Bell. When you grow up in Texas, it IS ice cream – it's what everybody eats, always. And Texans eat a lot of ice cream, because it's always hot, and Blue Bell is always available, and it's just… it's ubiquitous, and when I meet other Texpats here on the East Coast, one of the things we always talk about is how far north distribution has made it. It's a really big deal.
In April, enough cartons of ice cream tested positive for Listeria that the company had to recall all of its products, and close the factories for inspections and deep cleaning. This set off something of an ice cream crisis in Texas. Every time I talk to my mother on the phone she bitches about it, and she's legitimately worried about old people and their ice cream needs as summer approaches. (She's really fixated on the old people. When I pointed out that old people are, in fact, particularly sensitive to Listeriosis, she didn't really know what to do with herself.)
So anyway, the book was locked before the Blue Bell crisis of 2015 became a thing for Texans to have to endure. When our hero, Aaron, returns to Texas for the summer, he's ambivalent and anxious about a lot of his return, but one thing he's definitely looking forward to is a chance to eat some Blue Bell. I have spent WAY too much time worrying about whether this crisis is going to be cleared up in time for the timeline of the book, and it's not looking good. It's a totally non-critical plot point in the first part of the book, but when you read it, please take a moment to know that somewhere I am crying into a pint of Ben & Jerry's and regretting all of my creative life choices. Who could have predicted this?
How did you come up with the title of your book or series?
There's a scene where the characters sing as part of a chorus at a friend's wedding – THE wedding. The song that they're singing is Ben Folds' The Luckiest, which is a beautiful song about love. It's also a song about fucking it up and being grateful for second chances, which is thematic of this story in bigger ways.
Please can you give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special?
I'm a little bit in love with Aaron. He's so fucked up but also so strong-willed. I'm in my 40s now but I'm really obsessed with the early 20s; I think so much happens in that period of life that shapes who we understand ourselves to be, and the possibilities we have. His relative youth is part of why I wanted Aaron to be a memoirist. He has this really brutal, unshakeable confidence – he has no real choice but to believe in himself because otherwise nobody is going to, and he's decided that to get to the life he wants, he's going to make it happen, and he needs to keep telling that story, over and over again.
What do you think makes a good story?
I am easy, really; as long as I can get a few sticky images that stay with me after it's over, I'm pretty satisfied. I'm not a huge fan of things that feel too manufactured, and I want to feel like I'm there with the characters – I strongly prefer naturalistic simmer to wacky hijinks, and I do worry sometimes that my stories might be too subdued because of that. But it matters to me that my characters feel like people, like normal, weird, hilarious, boring people. I think that everybody's got a story in them, and for me my favorite stories are the ones where something so true happens that you can't believe you haven't noticed that before.
What does your family think of your writing?
The only one who really knows about the book is my partner. I am a workaholic researcher, and so my kids and my parents know I work a lot but they're not interested enough in the details of what I do to ask about the exact division of my time. Both kids know that their mom has a book coming out this summer, but they don't know that it's fiction (I think?) and they don't know what it's about. I'm fine with that – I feel vulnerable about it, about trying something so new, and so I feel very protective of it.
Meanwhile, my partner is pretty much the kindest and best person I have ever met, and he thinks it's awesome. I get a lot of capslock and exclamation point texts from him when I talk about it, and he sees my writing time a lot like the kids do, I think – indistinguishable from the time I spend on work I actually draw a salary from. I am incredibly lucky to have a partner who sees his own best future happiness as deriving from my own, and who is so supportive about pretty much EVERYTHING I do. (He hasn't read the book yet. I don't know if I want him to. Somebody please advise!)
Thanks for having me here today! This was fun!
About The Author
Mila McWarren grew up in Texas, but has happily made her home on the East Coast for the last decade. In her day job she works as a social scientist and has spent the last 10 years developing her fiction writing online. She lives with her husband and their two kids. When she isn't using working, writing, or hanging out with her family, she likes knitting and watching television, because they go together like peanut butter and chocolate, two of her other great loves.
Contact Mila
Giveaway
1 x $25 Interlude Press GC
5 x ebook copies of The Luckiest
Congratulations Mila on your new release.
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