What I Like About You Blog Tour: Author Q&A

Q&A

Emma: Your main character, Halle, is a book blogger. Is there a particular kind of blog or vlog you like to follow?

Marisa: Halle being a book blogger was inspired by my own experience as a teen book blogger. As a teen, I was immersed in the blogging community and formed very real friendships through it. Book blogging was also totally different when I was active in the early ‘10s—Twitter was just becoming a thing and most of the blogs I followed were through blogspot. Today, I love bookstagram and engaging with book bloggers on Twitter. There isn’t a particular kind of blog I’m drawn to so much as I’m drawn to the voice of the blogger, those whose passion for books is so unapologetically on display.

Emma: What were your first favorite YA books? 

Marisa: I’m going to try to keep this answer a reasonable length because much like Halle, one of my favorite things to do is gush about books. I could go on forever about the books that made me fall in love with YA. The authors whose books got me hooked were Meg Cabot, Sarah Dessen, Morgan Matson, and Emery Lord. Reading their books, I felt both understood and respected as a teenager. Also, the swoony love interests didn’t hurt. Looking back, my early manuscripts that will never see the light of day were inspired and drawn from these authors’ books. My sophomore year of high school, I wrote a road trip book because I loved Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour so much!

Emma: What's your writing routine like? (Do you write every day, for a certain length of time, only with a very specific song playing, etc.?)

Marisa: My writing routine is very much the “write whenever there is time!” sort and depends on what I’m working on and whether or not I’m on deadline. I work full-time, so writing happens at night and on the weekends for me. If I’m on deadline and have to be writing every day in order to meet it, I try to either workout or watch an episode of television between my day job and writing, as a way to decompress and reset my brain for the evening of revisions ahead. I do listen to music while I’m writing and it’s usually a rotating list of albums I love so much and know so well that they are easy to tune out and act as background noise. For me, that tends to be anything of the folk-rock variety—Fleetwood Mac, Mumford and Sons, and The Lumineers are examples of some artists who have gotten me through revisions. 

Emma: If Halle were to create some custom cupcakes for WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU, what would they be like?

Marisa: I love this question! I love even more that I am prepared with an answer. If Halle created a custom cupcake for What I Like About You, it would be a lemon cupcake with raspberry cream cheese frosting. A little sweet, a little sour, but the perfect combination.

Emma: What are your favorite romance tropes?

Marisa: Ooh! I love tropes and I had so much fun incorporating mistaken/hidden identity, friends-to-lovers, and a sort-of love triangle into What I Like About You. I’m also such a sucker for fake dating, enemies-to-lovers, and second chance romance stories. 

Emma: Cake or pie, and what kind?

Marisa: I love a good pie, but my heart says cake. Red velvet, specifically. Because cream cheese frosting. 

The Book

Goodreads  Indiebound  Barnes & Noble  The Book Depository

There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.

He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…

Except who she really is.

Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.

That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.

Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.

If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.

The Author

website  Twitter

Marisa Kanter has worked in publicity for major publishers and covered YA books for MTV. Currently, she works in sales, on the distribution side of the publishing industry. She can often be found searching for the best iced chai in NYC, or reading on the 3 train. What I Like About You is her first novel. Follow her at marisakanter.com

The Blog Tour

Week 1
3/30/2020	Novel Novice	BookHighlight W/ Giveaway
3/31/2020	Book Bratz	Review
4/1/2020	The Novel Knight	Author Guest Post
4/2/2020	Book Princess Reviews	Review
4/3/2020	eleven thirteen pm	Author Q&A
Week 2
4/6/2020	Vicky Who Reads	Creative Post
4/7/2020	Pub Day (Marisa)	Creative Post
4/8/2020	Kayla Reads and Reviews	Author Q&A
4/9/2020	The Heart of a Book Blogger	Author Q&A
4/10/2020	Mary Had a Little Book Blog	Review
Week 3
4/13/2020	Jen Ryland Reviews	Review
4/14/2020	Love in Panels	BookHighlight W/ Giveaway
4/15/2020	Forever and Everly	Review
4/16/2020	I'm All Booked Up	Review
4/17/2020	Awkwordly Emma	Author Q&A
Week 4
4/20/2020	Rants & Raves of a Bibliophile	BookHighlight W/ Giveaway
4/21/2020	Read By Tiffany	Author Q&A
4/22/2020	A Court of Coffee and Books	Review
4/23/2020	From the Library of Alexis	Review
4/24/2020	Bookishly Jules	BookHighlight W/ Giveaway
Week 5
4/27/2020	Lost in a Book	Review
4/28/2020	Pages and Pugs	Review
4/29/2020	Skye's Scribblings	Review
4/30/2020	Kait Plus Books	BookHighlight W/ Giveaway
5/1/2020	We Live and Breathe Books	Review