Jessica Ward | Heathers Meets Girl Interrupted – A Dark Academe Suspense Story

1–What is the title of your latest release?

THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?

This is Heathers meets Girl Interrupted, a dark academe suspense story.

3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?

I didn’t- it was what Sarah M. Taylor, the main character, showed me- a prep school in New England in the early nineties.  She came to me in a dream, and I knew I had to write her story- though I had no idea where it was going to take me!

4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?

Absolutely.  In fact, after writing Sarah’s story in first person, I feel like I did!

5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?

Weak, strong, and resilient.  I know the first two are contradictory!

6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?

That if you wake up two hours earlier, every day, you can accomplish a lot even with a heavy workload already going on.

7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?

It depends on how bad the daily drafting is!  If it’s really rough, I’ll go back, but otherwise, I try to just press on.  Analysis paralysis can slow down getting the story out, and it’s not until you’ve really got the beginning, middle and end in front of you that you can make meaningful pivots in editing.  Usually, I outline extensively before drafting- because all I have are the pictures in my head.  I don’t engineer the stories I write.  They are what they are, and my job is to make sure I get the different scenes in the right order.  But with Sarah, I just wrote everything down, so I had to press on- because I needed to find out what happened!

8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?

I don’t have one.  I’m not a big food lover.

9–Describe your writing space/office!

Just a desk and computer, nothing special.  It’s the pictures in my head that are interesting!

10–Who is an author you admire?

OMG!  So many!!!  Lisa Gardener, Christine Feehan, Xio Axelrod!  It’s too many!

11–Is there a book that changed your life?

Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King.  It’s the reason I fell in love with vampires!

12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.

OMG, so I wrote the St. Ambrose School for Girls on the side, while working my J. R. Ward publishing schedule.  I called my agent when it was ready to be shown, and I was like, Um, Meg, I wrote a book.  And she was like, Ah, yeah, that’s your job???  LOL!  I’d been working on it in secret forever at that point (or at least it felt like forever) so I was so nervous to show it to anybody.  It was kind of like coming out with my first book all over again!  Fortunately, my editor loved it, too- and I can’t believe it’s coming out!

13–What’s your favorite genre to read?

I don’t read much.  Usually I’m just exhausted with words at the end of my days.  I know I need to do better on this!

14–What’s your favorite movie?

The Godfather II!  Or the Deadpool series!

15–What is your favorite season?

I like all of them for different reasons, but if pressed, I’d say fall because I love the crisp temperature, the leaves on the ground, and the coziness of winter that I know is coming.

16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

I’m not big on birthdays (jeez, I’m failing these lifestyle questions!)  I’m not really sentimental and I hate the idea of getting older because it means I have less time left to do what I need to.

17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?

Does it count that I just saw something on the internet that Deadpool III is filming in London???

18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

I don’t really care, honestly.  I just need the calories?  OMG!  This is the worst answer ever!

19–What do you do when you have free time?

I hate free time.  Just can’t stand it.  I have no patience for vacations, no interest in sitting around- I like to work, it’s my most favorite thing in the world!  Hmm.  I suck at life, don’t I!  I will say, I love to be with my dogs?  Just petting them and loving them and exercising them?  Does that count?

20–What can readers expect from you next?

Darius, is coming this September, it’s a BDB origin story!  And then there’s the finale of the Clan of the Wolven series in January, and then the big BDB book, The Beloved in April 2024!

THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS by Jessica Ward

Heathers meets The Secret History in this thrilling coming-of-age novel set in a boarding school where the secrets are devastating—and deadly.

When Sarah Taylor arrives at the exclusive St. Ambrose School, she’s carrying more baggage than just what fits in her suitcase. She knows she’s not like the other girls—if the shabby, all-black, non-designer clothes don’t give that away, the bottle of lithium hidden in her desk drawer sure does.

St. Ambrose’s queen bee, Greta Stanhope, picks Sarah as a target from day one and the most popular, powerful, horrible girl at school is relentless in making sure Sarah knows what the pecking order is. Thankfully, Sarah makes an ally out of her roommate Ellen “Strots” Strotsberry, a cigarette-huffing, devil-may-care athlete who takes no bullshit. Also down the hall is Nick Hollis, the devastatingly handsome RA, and the object of more than one St. Ambrose student’s fantasies. Between Strots and Nick, Sarah hopes she can make it through the semester, dealing with not only her schoolwork and a recent bipolar diagnosis, but Greta’s increasingly malicious pranks.

Sarah is determined not to give Greta the satisfaction of breaking her. But when scandal unfolds, and someone ends up dead, her world threatens to unravel in ways she could never have imagined. The St. Ambrose School for Girls is a dangerous, delicious, twisty coming-of-age tale that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Thriller Psychological | Coming of Age [Gallery Books, On Sale: July 11, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781982194864 / eISBN: 9781982194888]