Body Parts by Jessica Kapp (Interview & #Giveaway) @chapterxchapter @JessKapp


Author Jessica Kapp is stopping by today to answer some
questions about her book. Check that and the giveaway out below...


Body Parts
by Jessica Kapp
YA SciFi, Dystopian
Paperback & ebook, 294 Pages
August 15th 2017 by Diversion Publishing

Summary

People would kill for her body.

Raised in an elite foster center off the California coast, sixteen-year-old Tabitha’s been sculpted into a world-class athlete. Her trainers have told her she’ll need to be in top physical condition to be matched with a loving family, even though personal health has taken a backseat outside the training facility. While Tabitha swims laps and shaves seconds off her mile time, hoping to find a permanent home, the rest of the community takes pills produced by pharmaceutical giant PharmPerfect to erase their wrinkles, grow hair, and develop superhuman strength.

When Tabitha’s finally paired, instead of being taken to meet her new parents, she wakes up immobile on a hospital bed. Moments before she’s sliced open, a group of renegade teenagers rescues her, and she learns the real reason for her perfect health: PharmPerfect is using her foster program as a replacement factory for their pill-addicted clients’ failing organs. And her friends from the center, the only family she’s ever known, are next in line to be harvested.

Determined to save them, Tabitha joins forces with her rescuers, led by moody and mysterious Gavin Stiles. As they race to infiltrate the hospital and uncover the rest of PharmPerfect’s secrets, though, Tabitha finds herself with more questions than answers. Will trusting the enigmatic group of rebels lead her back to the slaughterhouse?

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Author Interview

Welcome, Jessica, to my blog today!

What inspired you to write BODY PARTS?

My husband. But not in a good way.

He was rushed to the hospital several years ago with sudden liver failure. A vein had burst in his stomach, and two more veins—one in his esophagus and another in his liver—were on the verge of erupting.

We were told he might not live, and at one point the doctors talked about putting him on an organ transplant list. Although his health stabilized, the fear stuck with me. What if he needed a new liver? How long would he have to wait on the organ transplant list? Would he survive the surgery? Worst of all, someone would have to die in order for him to live.

A few weeks after we returned home from the hospital, I used that fear as motivation and started writing BODY PARTS, a YA novel about a pharmaceutical company that uses a foster center as a front to harvest organs from unsuspecting kids.

That would be a scary situation, especially when it's so sudden like that!

Would you tell us a little about the characters?

Of course! Here are a few of the characters you’ll see a lot of in the story:

Sixteen-year-old Tabitha is the spunky, strong, and smart protagonist. She lives at the foster home the pharmaceutical uses as a replacement factory for clients’ failing organs. She has red hair—which is important to the story. She’s wary to trust people other than her friends at the foster home.

Gavin is the leader of group of teenage renegades who are trying to rescue foster kids sent to the surgical center to have their parts harvested. He’s a little obsessive compulsive, and he fights his feelings for Tabitha because he doesn’t want his emotions to conflict with their mission to rescue others.

Ry is Gavin’s best friend and unfortunately, he’s addicted to pills. Ry’s family shoved him aside, and Ry deals with it by popping pills. Despite his vice, he’s a genuine friend and has the biggest heart. Truth be told, he’s one of my favorite characters.

Paige & Meghan are identical twins and live at the foster home with Tabitha. They’re super competitive and more trusting than Tabitha. Paige is feisty and strong. She’s a little more willing to take a chance on life and love than Tabitha.

Parker is also in the foster home with Tabitha and has developed strong feelings for her that are not reciprocated. Parker has a temper and is quick to judge people. He’s a bit too protective and likes to push other people’s buttons.

Thanks for familiarizing us with the characters!

What surprised you the most about this story when you were writing it?

How easy it was to imagine this sick and twisted world. Organ-harvesting is nothing new, but the concept of a company using unsuspecting kids certainly is. We live in a society obsessed with perfection, and creating a fictitious world came surprisingly easy. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.

It is a little scary how I could see someone actually trying something like that illegally.

Did you find anything interesting when researching the book?

One of my closest friends is a redhead, and during my research, I learned that redheads can metabolize drugs differently. I also talked to a geneticist extensively on the subject of the liver and how drugs work differently in people with a predisposition or specific component in their system. The geneticist and I were even emailing each other on Christmas Eve while I was revising the story. She was so incredibly helpful and able to break down the science and help me fix issues I had with the plot.

I didn't know that about redheads. I bet you had some pretty interesting conversations.

What is the world like? Is it futuristic?

BODY PARTS takes place in a near-futuristic world not too different from our own. The people on the island where the pharmaceutical company is headquartered are a little like the folks you’d see in Stepford. Their skin is flawless; their bodies are perfect. This is a result of the drugs to which they’re addicted.

There are technological advances, and certainly medical advances, but the story is grounded in the real world. Those are the kind of worlds I like the best—ones I can relate to but have a hint of the what if

Sounds really interesting and definitely believable.

What genre/author do you turn to when you need to escape into a book?

I love speculative fiction. Stories that make me question the world around me. Stories that are so believable they blur the lines between reality and fiction.

I love those types of stories too! :)

What are you working on next?

I have another project, a Contemporary, in the hands of my agent right now. She’s compiling notes for my second round of revisions. It’s my first story told in dual perspective, as well as third person. It was a challenge for me but I really enjoyed it! And right after that project gets the green light, I’ll go back to the project I finished at my writer’s retreat and start revising. It’s also a Contemporary but told in first person present and based on an experience I went through as a teenager. Then, probably several months from when you post this, I’ll get to work on the story that’s been nagging at my brain—another speculative fiction concept I’m anxious to dive into!

Sounds like you have a lot going on! I'm curious about all of those, so hopefully we'll see them in the future. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, Jessica!


About the Author


Jessica Kapp enjoys writing Young Adult Contemporary and Speculative Fiction. Story ideas often strike at inopportune times, and she’s been known to text herself reminders from under the covers.

She lives on a small farm in Washington with far too many goats and an occasional cow.


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