An interview with Nicolette from How to Disappear by Ann Redisch Stampler (Blog Tour Character Interview & Giveaway)


Nicolette Holland is stopping by today to talk about her life before and after
what happened. Check that and the book out, and enter the giveaway below...

How to DisappearHow to Disappear
by Ann Redisch Stampler
YA Thriller
Hardcover & ebook, 416 Pages
June 14th 2016 by Simon Pulse

Summary

This electric cross-country thriller follows the game of cat and mouse between a girl on the run from a murder she witnessed—or committed?—and the boy who’s sent to kill her.

Nicolette Holland is the girl everyone likes. Up for adventure. Loyal to a fault. And she’s pretty sure she can get away with anything…until a young woman is brutally murdered in the woods near Nicolette’s house. Which is why she has to disappear.

Jack Manx has always been the stand-up guy with the killer last name. But straight A’s and athletic trophies can’t make people forget that his father was a hit man and his brother is doing time for armed assault. Just when Jack is about to graduate from his Las Vegas high school and head east for college, his brother pulls him into the family business with inescapable instructions: find this ruthless Nicolette Holland and get rid of her. Or else Jack and everyone he loves will pay the price.

As Nicolette and Jack race to outsmart each other, tensions—and attractions—run high. Told in alternating voices, this tightly plotted mystery and tense love story challenges our assumptions about right and wrong, guilt and innocence, truth and lies.

  
  
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Character Interview with Nicolette

1. What was life like for you before you ran?

It wasn’t the kind of life you run away from for fun. It was pretty great.

I mean, no mom. That bites. That will always bite. But whatever anyone says about Steve and who his “business associates” were, he was a really good stepfather. Really kind. Insanely overprotective. And it turned out that all the hunting and fishing stuff that I wasn’t that enthused about came in handier than expected.

Also my friends. I had friends for life type friends. Fine, Connor was a dog (not an actual dog; I love my actual dog). He was a 17 year old running back with a zipper problem. As in, keep it in your pants, -------. But who expects to marry their first high school boyfriend? I did, sort of, but that wasn’t an example of my best judgment.

The kind of life I had – nice stepfather, nice friends, nice school, nice town, plus I was a really good athlete – I didn’t need that great judgment.

And then I did. This was a problem.

2. What was your favorite thing to do?

Track and the acrobatics part of cheer. Hanging with Olivia, the friend for life best friend. Plus, I was the nice-girl version of a hard-partier. Which is to say, I partied and I liked it. Especially on the lake, in summer.

I’m not apologizing for any of this. I appreciated all of it. I could tell that some people weren’t exactly having the time of their lives at Cotter’s Mill Unified High School, and I was nice to them. Always. I swear. I was the opposite of a mean girl.

Maybe my favorite thing was that I kind of did whatever I felt like doing. Like a policy.

Unfortunately, me doing everything I felt like doing might have had something to do with what happened next. I mean, it did. But I still didn’t deserve what happened next.

3. Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently before the murder?

Okay, by murder, I assume you’re not talking about that thing that happened that wasn’t a murder.

But if you’re talking about the other thing that was a murder, okay, maybe I could have done a bunch of stuff differently. Like maybe get a judgment transplant or swear off guys or enter a convent. Which is somewhat unrealistic, I get that, but it would have avoided a whole lot of grief and blood.

4. What was your relationship with Jack Manx before the murder and what do you think of him now?

What murder? That thing Jack did wasn’t a murder! Everyone agreed that it wasn’t and no one can trick me into saying that it was. Don’t even try.

I mean, what happened before I even met Jack, in the woods, that time: use any word you want for it. Call it homicide. I don’t even care.

But what happened after I knew Jack Manx – whole other story. Not murder. Jack is the most stand up guy I ever met, and no one and nothing will get me to rat him out.

Not that he ever did anything he could be ratted out for. Because he didn’t.

Torture me.

I’ll say the same thing.

5. What is one skill/talent that came in handy as you tried to disappear?

In equal measure, hunting and being really good with make-up.

6. What was it like being out on your own and did you learn anything surprising about yourself?

I thought I could take care of myself. I thought that no matter what, I wouldn’t fold. I thought all the track and field and tumbling and the hunting skills Steve was so proud of me for were no doubt useful for things other than extracurricular activities. But I didn’t actually know any of that. Not really. Not until I had to test it.

The surprise was how scary the test was. And how much I hate being alone. And how I could cope anyway. Cope and kick a-- and prevail.

Don’t underestimate how far I’ll go. Pretty far. As far as necessary.

7. What are your hopes for the future?

I want everything to go back to being exactly the way it was before, except without the danger, and with my step-father forgetting all the stuff I wish he didn’t know about me.

Plus, of course, I want my future with Jack in it.

I mean, shocker, I might not be an AP English kind of girl, but my PSAT math was pretty much perfect. Sophomore year. So there’s no reason at all I can’t get into Mercer College (probably) and hang out with Jack’s college friends and keep impressing the (excuse me) s!@# out of him despite my aversion to transcendentalist poets. So kill me. I like a guy who’s into transcendentalist poets. I mean, I love him. Plus, he would kill for me. Which, after what I’ve been through, isn’t trivia dare.

Not even close.

This doesn’t make me a bad person, right?

About the Author


Ann Redisch Stampler is the author of the young adult novels Afterparty and Where It Began as well as half a dozen picture books. Her work has garnered an Aesop accolade, the National Jewish Book Award, Sydney Taylor honors, the Middle East Book Award, and Bank Street Best Books of the Year mentions. How to Disappear (Simon Pulse, 2016), her first young adult thriller, will be released in June. Ann lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Rick.


Tour Schedule

Tuesday, June 14th:
·        Book Briefs – Review
·        BookHounds YA – Author Interview
Wednesday, June 15th:
·         Ryley Reads – Review
·         Fiktshun - Review
·         Becky on Books – Excerpt
Thursday, June 16th:
·         Just Commonly – Review
·         Emily Reads Everything - Review
Friday, June 17th:
·         Such a Novel Idea – Review
·         Curling Up With A Good Book – Author Interview
Saturday, June 18th:
·         Here’s to Happy Endings – Review
·         My So-Called Book Reviews – Author Interview
Sunday, June 19th:
·         A Gingerly Review – Spotlight
·         Book Whales – Excerpt
Monday, June 20th:
·         A Dream Within A Dream – Review
·         Jessabella Reads – Character Interview
Tuesday, June 21st:
·         Owl Always Be Reading – Review
·         The Cover Contessa – Character Interview
Wednesday, June 22nd:
·         Dani Reviews Things – Author Interview
·         Fishing for Books – Review
Thursday, June 23rd:
·         Once Upon a Twilight – Author Interview
·         Classy Cat Books – Review
Friday, June 24th:
·         Star-Crossed Book Blog – Review
·         Lilians Book Stuff – Author Interview
Saturday, June 25th:
·         Pandora’s Books – Excerpt
·         Reese’s Reviews – Review
Sunday, June 26th:
·         The Phantom Paragrapher – Review
·         In a Bookish World – Excerpt
Monday, June 27th:
·         Movies, Shows & Books – Review
·         Wishful Endings – Character Interview
·         A Bookish Escape – Review

Tour-Wide Giveaway


ONE (1) winner will receive a $50.00 gift certificate for The Book Depository, Signed HOW TO DISAPPEAR bookmarks + a Nicolette’s disguise inspired Smashbox makeup kit.
***Giveaway is INTERNATIONAL***

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