Smashing Summer - Interview & giveaway with Rebecca Lim!

Hi Rebecca, thanks for stopping by Perth YA Fans Unite.

Thanks for inviting me along! So honoured and chuffed to be here.

For those who have not heard of you or your books, could you give potential readers a rundown?

The Mercy books feature an amnesiac, fallen archangel who is cast into the bodies and lives of a chain of different human protagonists for protection. As her memory begins to return, she needs to try and make sense of who she is and what she can do, as well as do the best for the person whose life she has collided with. She's at the centre of a celestial power struggle between warring factions as well as finding herself falling for a human boy called Ryan Daley, just to complicate things a little.

In my old life, I used to draft prospectuses and offer documents (enough said), so I'm really happy to be writing for an engaged, intelligent and kick ass young adult audience instead.  

There are already three books in the Mercy series, are there going to be any more?

The series was always planned as a quartet, as the first novel introduces us to Mercy and her seriously stuffed-up world, the second (Exile) brings into more focus the beings who placed her in the predicament she's in, the third novel (Muse) tells you why she fell, and the final novel Fury (due out in March/April 2012) is just completely different from the other three novels and seeks to tie all the threads of mystery together. Hopefully, you'll think it is the best of the series because I threw everything that I had at it, and it's my favourite. 

What can readers expect from the Mercy series?

Mystery, thrills, romance that isn't forced or unnatural, choir nerds, Latin, cool scenarios, fire and brimstone fight scenes.

Describe Mercy in five words.

A complete hard ass.

Has the story or a character done something that you had not planned?

A few of the secondary characters have surprised me by being a lot more vocal and lovable than I thought they would be. I could give Gia Basso her own series, for example. I love her. Some of the archangels that crop up in Muse and Fury are to die for, too.

How would you explain the Paranormal world you have created?

Hopefully it has depth, subtlety and a creepy, otherworldly elegance to it. I'm not interested in having a female protagonist that just plays along with what the guys want, that doesn't reflect real life for me. In Mercy's world, the women and the men are all strong and all fearsome in their own ways. It's not about the weak girl and the "hot" supernatural guys who are inexplicably drawn to her fragility.

What is the last great book you read?

I wasn't able to read as much as I liked while I was writing the series, so since Fury is almost at the printers now, I've been able to get stuck back into reading. I'm a genre-masher when I read and when I write, so in the last month I've read Michel Faber's "The Crimson Petal and the White" (awesome, dirty, sprawling, divinely written), Kylie Chan's "White Tiger" (like Jane Eyre crossed with a chop-socky movie, so fun), Kim Harrison's "Dead Witch Walking" (so cool and snarky) and I'm deep into Daniel Silva's latest assassin thriller and Victoria Schwab's  YA fantasy novel, "The Near Witch". There's still a massive bag of books in the corner of my room I have yet to rip into, so I'll be working my way through a few Rachel Vincents and Anna Godbersens in the near future.

If you were a Superhero, what would your name be?

Goldy Trentwood, long story.

Thanks again for letting me stop by! Have a fantastic year YA readers of Perth, there are so many awesome books out there. 


Fill out the Rafflecopter form to win one of three signed sets of the Mercy series! How awesome is that!? Tell you friends about Perth YA Fans Unite, there's a whole month of Smashing Summer goodness coming up, so keep checking back for more awesome giveaways.

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