Interview: Layla Bradford

Welcome to the first "character interview" of my "Books & Coffee Giveaway" week!  
Today, we're meeting Layla Bradford, the heroine and narrator of my YA paranormal romance, which is currently available as an eBook from Amazon, B&N, iBooks, and Smashwords, as well as in paperback format from Amazon and Createspace!  Links to each site are on the right.
For information on how to enter the drawing for the pound of locally roasted coffee and a signed copy of the book, go here.

To start off, give us some basic information aboutyourself… full name, hair color, that sort of thing.  Layla Faith Bradford. 16 years old. Brown hair. Green eyes.Average, everyday, girl-next-door type.
Tell me about your parents. How do you get along withthem?  My parents are awesome, really. A lot of kids hate ontheir parents, but I've never felt that way.  My mom is funny and a great cook, and my dad's an amazingguitar player.  Since I'm a prettycalm kid, they've never had to go all crazy with rules. They just expect thebest from me, and as long as I give them that, they trust me. And yeah… I lovethem a lot.
Mom's are great about cooking, aren't they? Favorite thingyour mom cooks? Fettuccini Alfredo, hands down.
Moving from Tennessee to Maine must've been a big change.Can you talk about that transition a little?  Wow. Yeah, big change is an understatement. Not only waschanging schools the hardest thing ever, but I was scared to death of theweather. I figured I'd see about a month of warm weather and then just bebombarded with frigid winter and gray, gloomy skies the rest of the year. And sure,winter's pretty harsh, but it doesn't last forever.  Lucas made the transition easier, of course. He gave me aplace to belong, someone to be connected to. I guess I'd live in Antarctica ifhe was there.
What's your favorite pastime?  Reading. Yeah, I'm a book nerd.
Ah, reading. That's an activity a lot of my blog-followerscan relate to!  What's yourfavorite book?  I've read a lot of books, but right now my favorite would be "The Believers" byJanice Holt Giles. It's a book I read my sophomore year about the Shakermovement in Kentucky. Fascinating.
What plans do you have post-high school?  College, of course. I'll probably major in English orliterature or something like that. Maybe I'll be a teacher, or maybe some kind of technical writer. Ofcourse, I want my relationship with Lucas to continue. I like to think we'll gothrough this next phase of our lives together, then "join forces" at somepoint!







** This is actress









What makes you happiest at this point in your life?  Well, Lucas, of course, but not just the fact that he's myboyfriend. It's the way I've come out of my shell and sort of "become my ownperson" because of what we've been through together. Now I really am "okay"with who I am, and I'm not bothered by other people's opinions. It's reallyquite freeing, and I'm the happiest I've ever been because of that.
Let's be whimsical for your final question! If you couldhave one wish granted, what would it be?  I see myself in several years, sitting on the front porchof a little house very much like the yellow cottage Luke and his mom live in.I'd wish for that… for a home and a family and a happy life for Luke and me.
And now for the author's perspective on Layla Bradford.There's a lot of "me" in Layla. That's not the case withevery heroine I write, but it's definitely the case with Layla.  In high school, I considered myself atypical, middle-of-the-roader… not necessarily popular, not actually disliked.Where Layla is a book-nerd, I was a music-geek, so in that respect we're alike…we both found our "niche" in something other than the most popular things. Andlike Layla, I was a hopeless romantic. In my senior scrapbook, under the "wheredo you see yourself in 5 years?" section, I wrote… "finished with college andmarried."  And under "where do yousee yourself in 10 years?" I wrote… "married, with at least one child." So,even in high school my big dreams centered on family and finding love. I thinkI imparted some of that into Layla's character.
Layla was so much fun to write. I love her for all she wasat the start of the story and all she became by the end. Hopefully one day I'llwrite another heroine that I love as much as her, but for now… she's myfavorite!
Thanks for stopping by today! Don't forget, every comment, tweet, or email that helps spread the word about this giveaway gets your name entered into the drawing!  More details here.
Happy reading and writing!