Blog Tour: Waiting for Romeo by Diane Mannino + GIVEAWAY

Title: Waiting For Romeo

Author: Diane Mannino

Series: Romeo #2

Release date: November 15^th, 2013

Genre: Young Adult

Tour: Irresistible Reads Book Tours

Goodreads Rating: 4.64

My Rating: 5.0

Goodreads Link

Book 1 - Running from Romeo

My Review: Running From Romeo

Book Description:

Heartbroken by the one guy she simply couldn't resist, Emilia King is determined to move on. But Logan Prescott is also determined… determined to win her back. He lost the only person who truly mattered to him and now he’ll do whatever it takes to convince Emilia to give him a second chance.

While their attraction to each other is undeniable, the obstacles they’re forced to confront may be too much. And just when it seems their love for each other is a bond that knows no bounds, Emilia faces her worst nightmare.

With her newfound inner strength, Emilia realizes fighting to be with Logan is her only hope…and waiting for him may ultimately determine not only their future together, but her own destiny.

My Review:

I was very fortunate to be introduced to this series and amazing author by Irresistible Reads Book Tour. I am sure if I never participated in the blog tour I would have still discovered this series on my own thanks tot the magic of Goodreads, but I would have missed out on the opportunity to have work with Diane so much, and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Book 1 ends on a heart wrenching cliff hanger. I don't want to go into too much detail for those of you discovering this series for the 1st time. But let's just say it broke my heart so much, that I repeatedly emailed Diane to beg her for book 2. As soon as I received my ARC for Waiting for Romeo, I dove right in to find out what happens. The first part of the book addressed the cliff hanger and we got to see the emotional roller coaster that the Emilia and Logan go on to attempt to repair the problems from book 1 that shattered their new found love. Immediately I was once again swept up by all the romantic ways Logan attempts to win Emilia. In this book, Emilia is finally able to open up to Logan regarding the horrors of her past. Reading about these stories, moved me to tears and seeing Logan's steadfast devotion to her and his attempt to right all her wrongs, gave him so much more brownie points in my book.

What made this story even more intense than the first was the action packed, suspenseful mystery that was added in. There is someone out there with a vengeance against Emilia and they won't stop for anything to get to her. I thought I had figured out who this villain was but I was completely wrong and shocked to discover who this person actually was. (I LOVE BEING SURPRISED). Emilia finds herself in real danger and Logan and her friends will try everything possible to keep her safe, but will it be enough?

There are many amazing aspects about this story: humor, friendship, literature, music, and perseverance. But my favorite component of this series is the abundance of love that is written into the pages. And I am not just speaking about the love between our heroine and hero. But love can be found from so many corners. We have love between a father and daughter who must pull together to recover from Emilia's mother's death and the horrors of Emilia's past. We find it between the store owners who have become a surrogate mother and father for Emilia. Then there is the love between Emilia and her best friend/room mate Bryn. This is the kind of friendship any girl would love to have. All in all this whole ensemble of characters is one that I have grown to cherish and will always love to read about.

I was honored to have been able to ask Diane some interview questions and absolutely loved reading her responses.

FUN FACTS

What author/story inspired you to write?

I always wanted to write a book. I was an English major (no surprise there) and I fell in love with the classics. There’s not one specific book or author that inspired me to write, but more of a collection of books over the years.

Obviously, I love Shakespeare and I took quite a few courses on Shakespeare in college. I also love Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Emily Bronte.

Besides classics, I grew-up loving Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton and V.C. Andrews. I’m sure I’m forgetting many others, but these pop into my mind.

I’m a huge fan of the “Harry Potter” and “Hunger Games” series, but I also love romances. I enjoyed E.L. James “50 Shades of Grey” and Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series as well as many “New Adult” books. Today, some of my favorite books are by Tammara Webber, Rachel Van Dyken, Jessica Sorensen and Colleen Hoover (just to name a few).

When I finally decided to write a book I knew I wanted to write a YA/NA romance and I wanted Classic Literature to play a part in the story. I have two teenage daughters and I want them to enjoy and love the classics as much as I did. I hope by putting a modern twist to Shakespeare and other classics that it’ll make them, as well as others, want to explore Classic Literature.

Favorite TV show/Movie?

“The Voice” which is probably not surprising since you know how much I love music J I love the premise of the show and the turning chairs. I also adore Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.

I’m also a big fan of “Survivor” and I love “Modern Family.”

As for movie...that’s a tough one to narrow down. My most recent favorite movies would be “Silver Linings Playbook” and “The Help.” They’re both fabulous books that they made into fabulous movies (doesn’t happen often). I loved “Argo” too.

I grew-up in the 80’s so I love “Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles,” “Ferris Bueller,” and “Mystic Pizza.”

Let’s see…I’ll narrow it down this way…Favorite Scary Movie: The Shining. Favorite Comedy: Wedding Crashers/Legally Blonde, Favorite Romance: Pretty Woman/The Notebook, and I can’t narrow down dramas…too many that I love.

Do you have a specific room in your house or a coffee shop which you like to write in?

My favorite room to type in is our guest bedroom. It gets lovely light and there’s a nice window. I can look into the yard and the sky. My favorite place to write on a notebook when I’m coming up with ideas and chapter outlines would be our master bedroom. We have big comfy chair I like to sit in and I love to plug in my headphones for some musical inspiration J

If you had the choice of going back in time or going to the future, which would you choose and why?

I would definitely choose the past. Can I choose a specific time and location? If so, I’d head to London between 1589 and 1613. You can probably guess why. I’d love to meet Shakespeare and have a cup of tea with him!

What’s the last book you’ve read that made you cry?

LOL…It doesn’t take much to make me cry. I cry when I see someone crying, I cry in commercials, and even in animated movies. But probably the last book would be Rachel Van Dyken’s “Ruin.”

STORY RELATED QUESTIONS

What was your inspiration behind Emilia and Logan’s love story?

“Romeo and Juliet” is a big inspiration. I love the passion they have for each other and I love Romeo’s pursuit of Juliet. Doesn’t every girl wish a boy would say something as beautiful and romantic to her as, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”

I love romances with characters that you care about and root for. Also, I love playful banter between characters whether it’s in a book or a movie. I really like the emails and text messages in E.L. James’ “50 Shades of Grey” and Tammara Webber’s “Easy.” So I would say all of these elements are the inspirations behind Emilia and Logan’s love story.

So you already know how I feel about the cliffhanger in “Running from Romeo.” Were you intentionally trying to break hearts? Just kidding! Did you feel that such a drastic cliffhanger was necessary?

LOL! Yes, I wanted to break hearts ;) Well, isn’t that usually the case with most romances? Guy gets girl, guys loses girl, guy wins her back. I really wanted to develop their romance slowly because of Emilia’s issues. I didn’t want it to be a stand-alone book so I thought something drastic needed to happen so people would be interested in a sequel. I know most people would have preferred a happily-ever-after, but by ending it the way I did I hoped that people cared enough about the characters to want to read more. The sequel goes into more depth about Logan’s issues and I think if you didn’t sympathize with him before you will now…I hope J

One of the things I enjoyed most about both of your books was your use of lyrics and quotes, especially the Shakespeare quotes. First of all, why Shakespeare? And secondly, do you have a specific quote or song lyrics that you would say describe your personal life?

I’m so glad you enjoyed the lyrics and quotes! I love music and love the way it can set the tone in a scene. I love Shakespeare and his writing is not only beautiful, but it’s still so relatable.

Hmm. This is a tough one! We have two daughters so I say the quotes that would describe our personal life right now would be some of Shakespeare’s quotes on wisdom. My husband and I preach this Shakespeare quote the most often: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves” from “Julius Caesar.” Another one: “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none” from “All’s Well That Ends Well.” I don’t mean we’re actually saying these quotes word-for-word. We just preach the meaning of them. Does that make sense?

Many authors choose to write companion stories with some of their side characters. Do you have plans to do so? I think not Bryn and Chloe have great possibilities for stories.

I love Bryn and Chloe so I’m thrilled you’d be interested in stories about them. I would definitely enjoy exploring their characters and finding where life takes them. I haven’t really thought too much about it, but maybe J

So when I was about 100 pages in I told you I had my guesses on the villain of “Waiting for Romeo,” but I was completely wrong. Did you always know that you would bring this specific character in the storyline?

Yes. I definitely knew from the beginning. I hope you won’t be mad when I say that I can’t tell you how happy that makes me that you were completely wrong! YAY! When you’re writing, it’s in your head. You know where you’re going and so to me I was so worried about it being obvious. I want readers to suspect different people, but I also want readers to get to that point in the story and go, “Whoa! What just happened?” If you go back and reread it, knowing what you know, I bet it’ll be more obvious ;)

Is this the last we will see of Emilia and Logan? Or do you have more planned for them?

I think I’ve overused the word “love” in my answers, but I’ll use it one last time. I LOVE these characters, especially Emilia and Logan…so we’ll see. The story ends at Spring Break so they still have to graduate, right? I didn’t end with a cliffhanger, but I think I left enough things open where the story could continue. Besides, there are quite a few psychopaths still on the loose! LOL!

Would you like another book? Let me know…Anasheh, I’d love to hear what you think as well as others J

The answer is YES, I would love to have another book. There is still so much I would love

to read about. I would love to read more about Logan's family. And there is a certain

childhood friend from Emilia's past that would be interesting to find out what happened to her.

But these are just the selfish musing of a book fanatic ;)

About the Author:

DIANE MANNINO graduated from University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in English Literature. She is a former writer for Museum and Arts Washington and Star Magazine as well as several television shows, including, Inside Edition, American Journal, and E! News Daily. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two beautiful daughters. Running from Romeo is her first novel and she is currently working on the sequel.

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