Interview with Tiffany Dominguez + Giveaway

Today I'm pleased to be hosting author Tiffany Dominguez on Book Labyrinth. You may remember that I reviewed Tiffany's novel 'Elemental' a few weeks back. Tiffany agreed to answer a few of my questions, and she also generously offered to give away 2 eBooks of Elemental as well! So check out her great answers, and then be sure and fill out the form below for your chance to win.


If you had to describe Elemental’s premise in a tweet (140 characters or less), what would you say?
Shy Eva, air Elem, is the only one who can stop the uncontrollable Luke. But will she get too distracted by her attraction to him?

Who was your favorite character to create in Elemental?
I think it’s very hard for an author not to write a main character without putting a lot of themselves (or at least how they picture themselves, or how they’d like to picture themselves) in a character. Eva, like me, was socially awkward most of high school because of her brainy personality. She finds it hard to make friends she can relate to. I guess I wanted to see what would have happened if someone would have ever taken notice of me in a positive way, like Eva’s advisor, Hannah. Eva reacts in the way I hope I would have reacted--brave, resourceful, funny, and intelligent.

How important is the setting of Italy to this story?
I love Italy. I traveled there and stayed in a castle in Rome while I attended a study abroad program during college. St. Peter’s Basilica is my favorite sight to see there (no picture could do it justice, only the naked eye), so I set one of the important scenes in the Basilica and St. Peter’s Square.

As far as how important it is to the story, the rise of the Elementals is related to Greek mythology, so some of the key personalities of the book live there. There is also a rich Elemental history which Eva and Luke discover as they travel through Tivoli. I didn’t initially plan on Italy being quite so essential to the story but the geography and history of the area fit the plot perfectly.

I definitely really enjoyed the setting!

What are 3 random facts about you that you’d like to share?
ONE: Cooking and eating gourmet food is a transcendent experience for me (if you’ve ever eaten something like gelato from Italy or Grandma Dominguez’s homemade tortillas, you know what I’m talking about). I have my own gourmet cooking blog at http://cookgourmet.blogspot.com.
TWO: I have such low pressure that doctors marvel I’m still breathing. I attribute it to all the reading I do.
THREE: When I was younger, I used to walk my red wagon down to the library to check out books. I’d fill it up, take it home, read them all, and go back the next day. Not much has changed.

Aww, a red wagon full of books. Love it!!

What are some of your favorite recent YA novels?
Divergent by Veronica Roth, Wither by Lauren DeStefano, The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Divergent and Wither are some of my faves from this year as well!

What can readers expect from you next?
My second novel, LOST DYNASTY, is under consideration by a major publisher. It’s a speculative fiction novel about an 18-year old girl trained to be one of the world’s best assassins in order to protect her family from the man who has systematically destroyed them all.

My third novel, a Steampunk adventure set in Victorian England, is about half finished. It’s Elizabeth Bennett in leather carrying a ray gun (not her specifically but you get the idea). You can read the first chapters of all of my books on my website www.tiffanydominguez.com.


Those other books sound amazing, Tiffany! Thanks so much for answering my questions.

You can visit Tiffany at her website. She also runs a YA book review blog called Scribble by Moonlight.


Now for the GIVEAWAY!

The Prize:
- 2 winners will each receive an eBook of 'Elemental' from Smashwords

The Rules:
- Open internationally
- Entries will be accepted up until midnight EST on July 24

How to enter:
- Fill out THIS FORM.