Tales Q&A with Eve Ainsworth

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Following being lucky enough to have received a copy of Eve’s debut novel 7 Days published by Scholastic I have been honoured to have been asked to be part of the blog tour in the 7 days leading up to its release date of the 5^th February (although I do believe some copies are now out in the wild!!!).

 Scholastic and Eve gave me free reign on what post I would like to feature for the blog tour (evil laugh) to which I suggested this – a Q&A with a character from the book.  I like to do things a little different so rather than a main character I picked another character I loved from the book who I felt played a pivotal role in so many ways.

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School should be a safe place for Jess, but at the moment it’s everything she dreads. Jess’s life is difficult enough without Kez picking on her. Kez’s life isn’t any sweeter. She has plenty of problems too but she finds comfort in knowing she is better off than Jess – or so she thinks…

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About the Author

A writer, a mother and a lover of books.

Eve is represented by Stephanie Thwaites at Curtis Brown.

Eve is a YA Author with my Debut YA novel – Seven Days due for publication with Scholastic in Feb 2015. One bully. One Target. Two Victims.

Eve’s Adult comedy novel – The Blog of Maisy Malone – is available on Amazon in Kindle format for instant download, and also in paperback

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7 Days is the story of one bully, one target, two victims.  It tells the story of beautiful and popular, Kez who excels in art at school and really does not care who she hurts and finds an easy target to bully in overweight and awkward 14 year old Jess. Told from the alternate perspectives of Jess and Kez over the course of a week, 7 days, and with a Facebook conversation with Kez and her friends before each day I really got a sense of feelings from both sides and of what was to come each day often with heartbreaking outcomes.  Find my full review here.

 One of the characters I loved the most in 7 Days was the love interest of Kez and childhood friend of Jess who I thought would be the perfect character to interview due to his connections to both characters in the book.  So here goes…..

Day – Wednesday Time 11am

 Hi Lyn.  Thanks for being here today and agreeing to this Q&A.  You have a very unusual name?  Is this short for something? 

 Yeah – it’s short for Lyndon. I hate it. I was named after some dead American President. Everyone calls me Lyn unless they want a slap…

 You live with your Dad on the local estate?  What is it like?

 What, the Mac? It’s cool. It suits me.

 Tell me a little about yourself.

 Jeez – I hate stuff like this, there’s not much to know. I’m just me. I hang about on the estate. I try not to get too involved with anything too heavy. I’m really not that interesting.

My mates mean everything to me. I like loyalty, I respect that.

 You go to the same school as Jess and Kez.  Are you in any of their classes?

 Nah – I’m in Year 11, they’re younger than me.

 What’s your favourite class at school?

Erm. I’m not so good in school to be honest. I like P.E and Music is ok…

 I understand you have known Jess since you were 4!  How did you get to know each other?

 Yeah we go way back. Our Dads are old mates and I used to go to hers to play. My dad used to joke that we’d end up married. She had a much bigger place then. It was cool, we had fun.

 Are you still friends?

 Well, not so much. We move in different crowds now. But she’s a cool girl

 For those who haven’t met Jess could you describe her?

 Jess? Ok….well she’s dead pretty. She has dark hair, very long and nice eyes and she smiles a lot, which is amazing really…

 Who would you say are her friends?

 I’m not sure to be honest, she hangs out with Year 9 kids. She used to be mates with Hannah I think. I see her a lot with that geeky kid. Will I think he’s called.

 Does Jess live on the estate?  Who does she live with?

Yeah she lives in Bevan Court now, round the back, with her Mum and sister. My Dad told me her Dad had done a runner. That’s a shame coz Jess really loved him, you know…

I don’t see her as much as I used to now. Not round the Estate anyway. I don’t know why…

 How do you know Kez?

 Kez was hanging around the Estate. She’s mates with Marnie and I’ve known her for years.

 Describe Kez for those of us who have not met her.

 I hate this!. Err – Kez is cute. I think she looks prettier without all the make-up though, she doesn’t need as much (she’ll kill me for this!)

 Do you get along with Kez’s friends or hang around together?

 Marnie’s alright, but I wouldn’t want to spend all day with her. She’s not my type, put it that way. The girl’s kind of hang around with us, I guess we’re irresistible.

 Does Kez live on the estate too?  Who does she live with?

 No-way, Kez is posh! She has a big house on the other side of town. She won’t let me see it, she’s probably ashamed of me or something. I think it’s just her and her parents.

 I’ve heard rumours of Kez bullying Jess and have seen things on facebook!  Have you ever witnessed Kez bullying Jess?

 I’ve seen the stuff on Facebook. It does my head in, I don’t know why she has to do stuff like that. I’ve heard that she’s giving Jess some hassle and I don’t like it. Jess doesn’t deserve that. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on. I need to talk to Kez really.

 What type of things have you witnessed?

 Look I just said I haven’t and if I did – I would say something. It’s bang out of order. I did hear Kez was calling Jess fat. What’s all that about? She looks fine to me. I just assumed Kez was jealous or something.

 How does this make you feel?

 How do you think it makes me feel? Angry! Frustrated. I don’t understand why she has to be nasty like that.

 Do you know how Jess feels?

 Not a clue but I don’t imagine she’s feeling great.

Look – why all the questions? It’s not me doing this is it?

 Do you try and help in anyway?

 Not yet, I’ve not had reason to. But I will if I have to

 How does Kez react when you tackle her over bullying Jess?

 I’ve not said much I’ve just told her it’s out of order, saying that sort of stuff and I don’t understand why she does it. Kez is alright really, I think she’s better than that.

What is your opinion on bullying?

 I’ve got no time for it. If I‘ve got a problem with someone, I sort it out my way – but I don’t terrorise them.

Bullying is just the cowards way isn’t it?

Jeez – do you really think Kez is a bully then?

 I heard a rumour there’s going to be a party at your flat on Saturday!  Firstly can I come?  And secondly are you looking forward to it?

 Err, I’m not sure it’ll be your sort of party! Should be a laugh though. Yeah, I think it’ll be good.

 Who’s invited?

Most of my year. Lads from the Mac. A few girls in Kez’s year. I’ll probably invite Jess too.

 What does the future hold for you and Kez?

 Who knows, it’s still early days. I do like her but….well, let’s just see.

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 Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these and feature on Tales Of Yesterday.  It really is an honour and I adored 7 Days…such and important powerful book and Eve should be very proud.

 You can buy the brilliant 7 Days Here

Or why not visit Eve’s website or follow her on twitter using @eveainsworth

You can find my full review of 7 Days here

Eve has also written some brilliant posts Why I Wrote Seven Days, Bloggers Book Feast and fab guest post yesterday over on YaYeahYeah here.

Eve also featured 7 Days on my post titled Does music influence UKYA – to read this click here

I also wrote quite a personal post for last years Anti Bullying Week which features 7 Days and some other books that helped my son deal with bullying.  You can find it here.

You can check out a review of Eve’s second book, Crush, which features Lyn from 7 Days here

Happy Reading!