It All Began When He Stole Her Cherries – Interview with @arawrites
Who doesn’t want to fall in love with a movie star…I mean, for real, and have them totally love you back? I love Ara James’s book Cherries because that’s exactly what happens to her heroine, Lia, during the Sundance Film Festival. Of course, romance is always a wild and harrowing ride, so there are many bumps and bruises along the way–not to mention cocktails and hangovers.
Cherries is a featured story on Wattpad and is currently ranked at #7 on the Chicklit Hot List! I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for this amazing storyteller!
Reading tip: This book totally deserves fuzzy socks, a cozy blanket, and some hot cocoa.
CHERRIES
Lia has a dream job in Park City as a ski instructor to two amazing young girls. When the girls and their family leave town on short notice, they gift Lia two free passes to the Sundance Film Festival, which makes it hard to stay upset for long. With her best friend Callie in tow, Lia vows to enjoy the festival to the fullest – which includes crashing premiere parties and rubbing elbows with one of Hollywood’s hottest bachelors, Wren Ellison.
A week of carefree partying turns complicated when Callie starts disappearing, Wren pops up around every corner, and Lia realizes that the aspects of her life that she considered most stable are starting to shift out from under her feet.
Lia knows how to handle herself when things go wrong on the mountain. But can she manage when things start to go wrong on the ground?
What sparked the idea for Cherries?
Truthfully – sitting at a bar at a ski resort, bored out of my mind. I wondered: what would it look like to be hit on in a funny way, no sleaziness or blatantly ulterior motives? I first imagined Wren (the leading man) drunkenly stealing cherries from Lia’s drink and being escorted away by a caring friend. When I started writing, Lia’s voice was so strong that I knew the story would be about a lot more than a drunken hook-up. Park City, her job, and her best friend were her world, and I wanted them to carry through the whole story.
In your book, your leading lady falls for a movie star. What movie stars have you fallen for? (I’m a big fan of Thor myself.)
One detail Lia shares with me is her first celebrity crush: John Cusack in ‘Con Air.’ See also: Grosse Point Blank. Nowadays I’m a pretty big fan of Naveen Andrews, John Cho (RIP, Selfie, you were gone too soon), and any of Jane’s romantic interests on Jane the Virgin.
As for Thor – one of my readers envisioned Wren as Chris Hemsworth. It’s hard to go wrong with any of the Marvel actors, honestly. 
