Author Interview: Kelly Green

Kelly Green, the author of the Borrwing Abby Grace series, answered some questions I had for her.  There are two books is the series, The Shadow (Episode 1) and Girl Steals Guy (Episode 2).  Young Adult Book Reviews would like to thank Kelly Green for taking time to respond to my questions.

What inspires you when you write?

I am definitely inspired by coffee! I actually like writing to music I listen to Pandora. Lots of different stations. 

Do you base your characters off of real people?  Do you have a process for coming up with characters?

I think any writer incorporates parts of peple they know into their characters. I can't point to one character and say, "Yeah, that's Jim," but I know that the more influential people in my life have their personalities appear throughout this series.

Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you get over it?

All the time! More coffee helps! Sometimes I put on old episodes of The X-Files. It relaxes me and gets my brain working again.

What type/genre of books do you like to read?

Some of my all-time favorite books are: Coraline, The Hunger Games, Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, A Wrinkle in Time, The Book Thief, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events series, and anything by Roald Dahl. 

Who is your favorite character in Borrowing Abby Grace and why?

Wilhelm—he’s adorable. I have a total crush on him. And I’m in the middle of writing the next trilogy of Abby Grace books right now and learning a lot of interesting things about him! 

In Borrowing Abby Grace, I love the whole investigative approach.  This series has been described as a “teenage paranormal Nancy Drew.”  Where did you get the idea for the series?

I got approached by my publisher to do a series of Nancy Drew-esque novellas, only modernized with a sassy protagonist and a supernatural element. I’ve always loved sassy protagonists and supernatural books so I jumped at the chance. What especially excited me is reversing the traditional ghost story setup. Usually in ghost stories the protagonist is alive and solves an old unexplained mystery, some lingering hurt, and then the ghost goes away. But with Abby, she’s dealing with the very real problems of living people. They’re going on right now, these urgent and suspenseful dilemmas.

Are there any plans for future releases?  I know that there is a third book in the Borrowing Abby Grace series coming out.

My third book in the Borrowing Abby Grace series is scheduled for a December 7th release. And I’m currently working on books 4, 5 and 6. They’re a trilogy I’m tentatively entitling “Nemesis.”

Favorite color:

Purple

Favorite holiday/season:

Halloween

Word that best describes you and why:

Wry

Optimist or pessimist:

Optimist

Favorite author/book/series:

Roald Dahl  (a/n: I LOVE Roald Dahl!)

Favorite food/drink:

Spaghettios

Favorite place to read/write:

I like writing on trains, a lot. Something about the rhythm and the scenery.

Borrowing Abby Grace: Girls Steals Guy (Episode 2)

Publisher: Backlit Fiction

Publish Date: October 2011

Version: Kindle e-book

Series: Borrowing Abby Grace

Abby found out in Episode One that she is a Shade.  A Shade is someone who inhabits other people’s bodies in order to help them solve a problem.  She does this with the help of her Guardian, Will.

After Abby has successfully completed her last mission, she wonders what will happen to her.  Is she just “out there” or will she have a new mission?  This is figured out when she finds herself in a bedroom with a crying girl.  Again, she knows nothing of who she “borrowed” or who the crying girl on the bed is.  She soon finds out that she is Michelle and the girl is Heather, her best friend.  This time, Will tells her what her mission is, so she doesn’t have to figure that out for herself.  She is supposed to reunite the lovers.    That shouldn’t be so hard.  Heather was crying because she recently broke up with Sam.  Sam is now dating Cecilia.  So, Sam and Heather must be the lovers she needs to reunite.  Just because she knows her mission this time around, doesn’t make figuring it out any easier.

Smart and sassy Abby Grace is a seventeen-year-old with a talent for getting out of trouble. Sent to repair the lives and loves of teenagers on the edge of disaster, Abby is the perfect girl for the job. She has everything going for her… except one thing: a body.

This fun and exciting episode is the second installment in an ongoing mystery series with a supernatural twist.

Episode 2: Girl Steals Guy

As Abby has learned, she is now a Shadow, sent to inhabit the lives of strangers in trouble. Dropped into the life of a gorgeous senior with a heartbroken best friend, Abby is instructed to “reunite the lovers” by her cute but maddening Guardian, a 19th century ghostly teenager named Will. Now Abby must navigate high school keg parties, football games and power couples, only to discover that love and revenge are sometimes the same thing.

▪ Again, I like the cover.  It reminds us that even though Abby is taking over someone, she is still herself with her own personality.

▪ Will.  I say it again.  I like his character.  You see a little more development in this episode than the last.  But, he has yet to shine.

▪ The whole idea of Abby being a Shade and what they represent.  I like the mystery of the series.

▪ Again, Abby is not always right.  

▪ PDA.  I just don’t like it and I think it is unnecessary.

▪ There was one point in this story that I wasn’t too keen on.  I cannot share this with you without spoiling the book. I will say that it, in no way, hindered or affected the outcome.  It was just a side note and a pet peeve of mine.

Borrowing Abby Grace: The Shadow (Episode 1)

Kelly Green

Publisher: Backlit Fiction

Publish Date: 17 October 2011

Version: Kindle e-book

Series: Borrowing Abby Grace

Episode one is where you are first introduced to Abby Grace and where she learns that she is a Shadow.  This is where she “borrows” people’s bodies in order to help them solve their problems.  The story begins with Abby waking up in the back of a van.  She is confused as to where she is and who she is.  She doesn’t even remember her own name.  She is living the life of Brooke, the girl whose body she has taken over, but when she looks into the mirror, she sees Abby.   After surviving the daring escape, she learns from Wilhelm aka Will, who is her Guardian, about Shadows and that she is supposed to solve a problem.  He doesn’t know much about what her current mission is, but is there to guide her along the way.

Brooke has a brother Paul, who is also missing.  She learns about this when she is brought home by the police.  To Abby, her mission is clear – to find Paul and reunite him with the family.  Since Abby is new at being a Shadow, she doesn’t always know what she is supposed to do and soon learns that there is a time limit to her missions.  If she doesn’t complete them, she will be trapped in Brooke’s life forever.

I really liked this story.  It was a short one and I read it very quickly.  I found myself being mesmerized by this book.  I couldn’t put it down until I was finished with it.  When it was done, I quickly downloaded Episode 2 because I just had to find out what would happen with Abby next.

Smart and sassy Abby Grace is a seventeen-year-old with a talent for getting out of trouble. Sent to repair the lives and loves of teenagers on the edge of disaster, Abby is the perfect girl for the job. She has everything going for her… except one thing: a body.

This fast-paced and exciting episode is the first installment in an ongoing mystery series with a supernatural twist.


Episode 1: The Shadow

When Abby Grace wakes up in the back of a van, she has no idea who she is, how she got there, or why anyone would want to kidnap her. After escaping her masked captors, she hurries home, only to discover that she unknowingly left her younger brother behind in the van. Unable to answer the police’s questions with her memories gone, she retreats to the safety of her bedroom where she tries to reconstruct her life. Just as she is settling into the belief that things will one day return to normal, she looks in the mirror—and sees a stranger’s face.

As Abby learns next, she has become a Shadow, sent to inhabit the lives of strangers in trouble. With nothing to go on except the vague hints of her cute but maddening Guardian, a 19th century ghostly teenager named Will, Abby sets out to rescue the missing brother. But she will need all of her intelligence, fearlessness, and wit, because if she fails to find him in time, she will remain trapped in this unfamiliar body forever.

▪ How this story is different than books I normally read.  Don’t get me wrong, I like books about paranormal beings as much as the next person, but I love it when a books challenges my imagination further than what the mainstream ideas do.

▪ The aspect of figuring out what the real problems are and how Abby is going to fix them in the allotted time.  I’ve always liked crime shows like Law and Order, CSI and NCIS.  This series brings out the investigator in me.

▪ Will.  Even though in the first Episode, Abby seems to be annoyed by him, he still seems like an asset to the books and her operation of being a Shadow.  I imagine we will see more of how he is helping Abby in future episodes of this series.

▪ The cover of the book.  I must credit Backlit Fiction when they came up with the cover.  I love how you see both Abby and Brooke in the cover and it reminds you that even though she inhabits Brooke’s body, she is still Abby.  She has all the traits that come with her.

▪ Abby is not always right.  This makes this more realistic.  (As realistic as being a Shadow can be.)  

▪ Waiting for more episodes of this series.  Other than that, I couldn’t find anything I didn’t like.  As rare as that is, it’s true.  There really isn’t a “bad guy” or love triangle in this book, so there isn’t many characters that you don’t like.