1–What’s the name of your latest release?
Meet Me At Midnight
2–What is it about?
They have a love-hate relationship with summer.
Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year—in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet.
But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note—Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy—the woman who kicked them out.
Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them.
3–What word best describes your heroine?
Sidney is a lot of things, but one word that encompasses a lot of who she is would be STUBBORN.
4–What makes your hero irresistible?
Asher is the perfect blend of sweetness and snark, and he’s incredibly thoughtful
5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?
Sidney turns to her friend Kara, who lives at the lake where she vacations; and Asher texts his best friend Todd (these two have an adorable bromance).
6–What do you love about the setting of your book?
Meet Me At Midnight takes place in a little Michigan tourist town called Riverton, and the town (which is also the setting of Love Songs & Other Lies and When Summer Ends, both standalones) is basically a mashup of the Southwestern Michigan lake town where I grew up, and the Northern Michigan lake town where my family vacationed growing up. Each of my books explores a different aspect of the town of Riverton, and for Meet Me At Midnight, I was really excited to explore the lake aspect, and the experience of being a tourist.
7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)?
I’m a little of both. I need at least major plot points to get me going on a draft, but a lot of the story develops as I go.
8–What is an ideal writing day for you?
My ideal writing day is drafting from about 10pm-1am, but now that I have a toddler my night owl tendencies have been forever disrupted, and (when I’m not sheltering in place with my son at home) I normally write while he’s at school.
9–Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the TV on?
I have music on all the time, including when I’m writing; music tends to influence my stories and creative process a lot.
10– How do you approach research?
Because I write contemporary romance, I don’t tend to have massive amounts of research like you might with a historical book or a thriller. In the process of writing my books I’ve researched things like PTSD—in regards to how it would affect a character’s actions—college athletic schedules, the layout of a tour bus. So it’s usually things I can research via the internet, or through people I know. MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT features two soon-to-be collegiate swimmers, so I talked with friends who were college swimmers to find out details about practice schedules, future career goals, and how different college teams functioned as far as the men’s and women’s teams, and how much interaction they have. So basically, I’m either on Google or I’m picking someone’s brain for what I need!
11–What is your publishing journey story?
My entire journey to becoming an author is basically a string of “I wonder if I could” moments. I wonder if I could have better life-work balance if I took one day to myself each week? I wonder if I’d enjoy taking a fiction writing class in Chicago? I wonder if I could write a novel in a year? Wow, I finished this, I wonder if I could get an agent? I’ve always loved to write, but I had never written fiction until 2014. That now feels both like yesterday and a lifetime ago. I wrote Love Songs & Other Lies in 2014, signed with my wonderful agent, Michelle Wolfson, in early 2015, sold LOVE SONGS & OTHER LIES in early 2016, and between spring 2017 and spring 2019, I wrote WHEN SUMMER ENDS and MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT. It’s been a wild but very awesome six years.
12–Do you have critique partners/writing groups you want to give a shout-out to?
I’m always reaching out to a million people to read things, depending on timing and deadlines, but I’ll say I’m so so thankful for the group of authors I’ve come to know over the last few years. My 2018 debut group is still a huge source of support, and I’m thankful for publishing ‘sisters’ like Amber Lynn Natusch (Dare You To Lie) and Demetra Brodsky (Dive Smack, Last Girls), who have become friends and a huge source of camaraderie through publishing’s ups and downs. I’m leaving out a lot of people, so just consider this my official apology!
13–What’re the most frustrating things about being an author?
Probably deadlines. They’re a necessary evil, but learning to write on deadline was definitely a huge adjustment when making the move from writer to author. Otherwise, it’s pretty cool!
14–What’s your favorite scent?
I love anything fruity!
15–What movie will you watch no matter what if it’s on TV?
Any late nineties or early 2000’s rom com.
16–Do you like breakfast, lunch, or dinner best?
Dinner
17–What’s one thing you wish you knew more about?
I’d love to take cooking classes at some point
18–What’s the silliest thing you’ve recently done?
I have a very imaginative four-year-old, so most of my time is spent doing something silly!
19–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on a really wide range of new concepts right now, from my usual contemporary romance to a YA fantasy. But the one thing readers can ALWAYS expect from me is romance. I don’t expect I’ll ever write anything that can’t be classified as a romance—that’s definitely where my writerly heart is!
20–How can readers reach you?
I’m on Instagram most often @Jessicapennington but you can also find me on twitter @jessnpennington, and I have a lot of fun stuff on my website at www.jesspennington.com
MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT by Jessica Pennington
They have a love-hate relationship with summer.
Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year–in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet.
But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note–Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy–the woman who kicked them out.
Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them.
Young Adult Romance [Tor Teen, On Sale: April 7, 2020, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250187666 / eISBN: 9781250187659]
Buy MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT: Amazon.com | Kindle
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