Interview With Julep from Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer

Hello everyone! *waves* Are you excited? Cause we got a very special interview with Julep from Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer! In case you're interested, here's a picture of Julep!

Interview:

1. Are you a good guy or a bad guy?

I'm a good bad guy. Ha. See what I did there? It's true, though. I'm a bad guy, but I'm really, really good at it.

Your livelihood comes from conning the kids at your school. Do you like them at all, or are they just marks to you?

2. I like them well enough. *shrugs* You don't dislike a cow just because you plan on eating it later. Not that I look at them like food, because ew. Plus, I don't steal from them directly. The jobs I take are more of the "fixing" variety. My classmates pay me a fee for solving their problems using my somewhat unconventional methods. This set-up keeps me from poisoning the well, so to speak. Besides, I don't really believe that liking people and fleecing them are mutually exclusive. In fact, to be a truly gifted grifter, you have to love people. You can't manipulate someone if you don't know what makes them tick. And you can't know what makes them tick if you don't empathize with them on some level.

3. Tell us about one of your past cons.

I once "accidentally" set fire to a teacher's toupee to get a client out of presenting a senior thesis he hadn't finished yet. (In my defense, the toupee wasn't on the teacher's head at the time.) Of course, the arson itself wasn't the con. The con was that we chose the toupee as our target in the first place. No man vain enough to don a toupee would ever admit to wearing one, even with Dean Porter breathing down his neck for an explanation to his spontaneous class dismissal. Which means no investigation, no consequences, and an extra weekend for my client to wrap up his thesis. It's my variation of the embarrassing check scam.

4. Your dad taught you everything he knows, but he's got a bit of a gambling problem. Has he ever tried to go straight? Would you want him to?

Honestly, I don't know. I love my dad. Some of my best memories are of us working a mark together. But part of me blames him for my mom leaving. Grifting is generally a solitary occupation--rolling stone, and all that. Anyway, my dad's gone as straight as he can for me, even if he hasn't given up the game entirely. We settled in Chicago so I could go to St. Agatha's. That's not something a con man does lightly. As for what I want, well...I want to be a real girl, for whatever that's worth. And I want my dad to be happy.

5. Do you have any tips for us on how to avoid getting conned ourselves?

It's not exactly in my best interest to answer that question, but I'll say this: if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is, and nothing in this world comes without a price. If you're honest, you have nothing to worry about--you can't con an honest man. But if you're truth-challenged like me, then you're fair game.

Author Bio:

Mary Elizabeth Summer contributes to the delinquency of minors by writing books about unruly teenagers with criminal leanings. She has a BA in creative writing from Wells College, and her philosophy on life is "you can never go wrong with sriracha sauce." She lives in Portland Oregon with her partner, their daughter, and their evil overlor—er, cat. She is represented by the incomparable Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency. TRUST ME, I'M LYING is her debut novel.

You Can Find Her At:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Synopsis:

Fans of Ally Carter’s Heist Society novels will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.

But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.

You Can Find it At:

Powells Books

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday (32)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spines, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week, I am featuring Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer, and Redeemed by P.C. and Kristin Cast! I'm super excited for both titles! Trust Me, I'm Lying is the first book in a series, and it looks SO good! I can't wait to dig into it. Redeemed is the twelfth and final book in the House of Night series. The last few books have been disappointing, but I hope it will end strong!

Synopsis:

Trust Me, I'm Lying

Fans of Ally Carter, especially her Heist Society readers, will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Julep Dupree tells lies. A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.


But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.

Release: October 14, 2014

Redeemed

In the final electrifying novel in the HoN series, Neferet has finally made herself known to mortals. A Dark Goddess is loose on Tulsa and the world. No single vampyre is strong enough to vanquish her - unless that creature has the power to summon the elements as well as the ability to wield Old Magick. Only Zoey Redbird is heir to such power…but because of the consequences of using Old Magick, she is unable to help. Find out who will win and who will lose in this epic battle of Light versus Darkness.

Release: October 14, 2014

Interview: Mary Elizabeth Summer

Please give a warm welcome to Mary Elizabeth Summer! Author of the upcoming book Trust Me I'm Lying coming out this fall!

Title: Trust Me I'm Lying

Author: Mary Elizabeth Summer

Release: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 320

Interview:

Thanks so much for having me! I love talking books and writing. :-)

1. What got you into writing or have you always been a writer?

I've been a writer since fifth grade. I read books about writing, I took notes and highlighted them, I was a total nerd about writing. Then in high school, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. (Kind of backward, I know.) I went to Space Camp and everything. But then in college, I realized that science equals math, and neither being my strong suit, I turned back to my original love of writing and haven't looked back since. (Well, maybe once or twice.)

2. What books, movies, things, etc inspire you the most?

I like sharp and snappy dialogue, high stakes, and character. Genre doesn't matter as much as storytelling. Some of my favorite shows are Scandal, Firefly, Leverage, Battlestar Galactica, Vampire Diaries, West Wing, White Collar, and Revenge. I'm listing shows instead of books, because my greatest writing strength is voice. I hear a voice in my ear, and the dialogue just pours out on the page. I know I got that skill from watching so much TV. So, people, don't let your parents tell you TV rots your brain. TV taught me how to tell a story.

I love Firefly!

3. What are your favorite things to do when not writing?

Wellll, TV. :-) And wine tasting, long walks, cat gifs (if I'm being honest), reading (okay, that one's obvious), OMG I sound boring. Let's try this again: food fights, stretching, coffeeing (yes, coffee is a verb), organizing my closets, skating, building massive tent cities in my living room, torturing my cat with belly kisses, and creating new, innovative recipes using sriracha (see author bio).

4. Trust Me I'm Lying is your debut novel, how does it feel to journey into the land of published author?

It feels like someone's taken a giant, glittery rainbow full of awesome and bludgeoned me over the head with it a few thousand times. In other words, awesome, though also a little confusing and painful at times.

That's an awesome description!

5. What was the first novel you ever wrote?

The first full, finished novel I ever wrote was a new-adult contemporary (though it was way before new-adult was a thing), about a young professional in her early twenties trying to navigate through a series of embarrassing encounters with her already-taken crush. Meanwhile, her best friend is hiding a devastating secret that our intrepid heroine must learn how to cope with. It was totally cheesy, and I loved it. I wept while writing it. Wept.

6. Let's play a game, Two Truths and a Lie. You give me two truths about yourself, as well as one lie, and we'll have the readers answer which they think is the lie in the comments!

I got my passport stolen when I spent the night on a beach in Caesarea, Israel, and then when I went to the consulate to get a new passport, one of the guys who worked there offered to give me a camel if I'd marry him.

I currently have a cat on my lap.

My dad used to be a psychic spy for the U.S. Army, and my cinematographer brother is currently making a documentary about my dad's thirty-year career as a remote viewer.

7. When is your favorite time to write and where do you write?

I write when/wherever I can manage--even on my phone while riding the bus into work. Having a full-time job and a three-year-old as well as a writing career will do that to you. But my favorite time is when I get up on Saturday at 5 in the morning and go to write at my neighborhood coffee shop. I'm usually the only one there, and I can really sink into the world I'm writing. It's bliss.

8. What can readers expect from Trust Me I'm Lying, in five words.

Cons, disguises, banter, law-breaking, sacrifice

9. What is your favorite part of the writing process?

I love editing. I do love the initial drafting, too, because it can be such euphoria when a plot finally comes together. But editing is where the true magic happens. It can be tedious and take forever, but it's almost always my second, third, or fourth pass that makes a scene come truly alive.

10. Last, but not least, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Getting a book published is like Sisyphus pushing Mt. Everest up the Grand Canyon over and over. From writing to editing to querying to submission to editing again. It's grueling. But it's worth it. And here's the best part: you are guaranteed to be successful if you follow one simple rule. Never, ever, ever give up. Rejection and waiting and more rejection is not just a part of the process, it's a necessary and healthy part of the process. Honor that, go easy on yourself, and just keep writing.

Thanks again so much for hosting me! I really enjoyed the questions and am looking forward to sharing my book with you all in October! :-D