Monday, August 4, 2014

Character Interview: Vada Hadley from Kim Boykin's women's fiction 'Palmetto Moon' #CharacterInterview






We’re thrilled to have here today Vada Hadley from Kim Boykin’s women’s fiction title, Palmetto Moon.  She’s coming to us all the way from the great state of South Carolina.  It is a pleasure to have her with us today at The Literary Nook!

Thank you so for this interview, Vada.  Now that the book has been written, do you feel you were fairly portrayed or would you like to set anything straight with your readers?

When Kim started writing me, she was sure I was a fluffy bubble-headed blonde. Maybe it was my penchant for clothes and shoes, although she’s one to talk. I’m proud to say I knocked said author off of her yoga ball chair when I turned out to be a feminist, in 1947 no less. I showed her who was the bubble-headed. I think I should get an extra pair of shoes for that.

What do you believe is your strongest trait?

I’m fiercely loyal. I go a little overboard and misread situations sometimes, but I mean well.

Worst trait?

Sometimes it’s impossible for me to hold my tongue when Miss Mamie, who owns the boarding house where I live, is so horrible. 

Do you have a love interest in the book?

Why, yes. Frank Darling is the dreamiest man. I adore him. My parents try to make me to marry Justin McLeod, who is a cad and never met a mirror he didn’t like. But he’s nothing like Frank, who’s beautiful and kind and would do anything for me. I feel the same way about him. It’s all new and wonderful right now, but I am SO in love.

At what point of the book did you start getting nervous about the way it was going to turn out?

Did I mention I was a runaway bride? Justin McLeod’s runaway bride? The worst moment was when my father found me in the little crossroads community where I was in hiding out. I demanded that my father respect my wishes and told him I was done with being coerced and manipulated; that was when I found out Frank had done some manipulating of his own. 

If you could trade places with one of the other characters in the book, which character would you really not want to be and why?

That’s easy, I’d trade places with my friend, Claire. She lives in Miss Mamie’s Boarding House too. I adore her three boys. I hope to be a mother one day, maybe soon.

How do you feel about the ending of the book without giving too much away?

I adore it! It’s quite progressive and romantic for 1947.

What words of wisdom would you give your author if she decided to write another book with you in it?

There’s so much food in the book, it’s a wonder I can fit in the pages. I’d say a little less of that, but with Frank Darling as a top-notch cook, there might even be more goodies. Love his peach cobbler.

Thank you for this interview.  Will we be seeing more of you in the future?

Most likely not. Kim writes standalone novels. I’m talking to Karen White though and some of her other author friends about writing my sequel. I’m sure there’ll be some takers.

About the Author:

Kim Boykin was raised in her South Carolina home with two girly sisters and great parents. She had a happy, boring childhood, which sucks if you’re a writer because you have to create your own crazy. PLUS after you’re published and you’re being interviewed, it’s very appealing when the author actually lived in Crazy Town or somewhere in the general vicinity.

Almost everything she learned about writing, she learned from her grandpa, an oral storyteller, who was a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail. He held court under an old mimosa tree on the family farm, and people used to come from all around to hear him tell stories about growing up in rural Georgia and share his unique take on the world.

As a stay-at-home mom, Kim started writing, grabbing snip-its of time in the car rider line or on the bleachers at swim practice. After her kids left the nest, she started submitting her work, sold her first novel at 53, and has been writing like crazy ever since.

Thanks to the lessons she learned under that mimosa tree, her books are well reviewed and, according to RT Book Reviews, feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair from Berkley, Steal Me, Cowboy and Sweet Home Carolina from Tule, and Palmetto Moon, also from Berkley 8/5/14. While her heart is always in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte and has a heart for hairstylist, librarians, and book junkies like herself.
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About the Book:

June, 1947. Charleston is poised to celebrate the biggest wedding in high-society history, the joining of two of the oldest families in the city. Except the bride is nowhere to be found…Unlike the rest of the debs she grew up with, Vada Hadley doesn’t see marrying Justin McLeod as a blessing—she sees it as a life sentence. So when she finds herself one day away from a wedding she doesn’t want, she’s left with no choice but to run away from the future her parents have so carefully planned for her.

In Round O, South Carolina, Vada finds independence in the unexpected friendships she forms at the boarding house where she stays, and a quiet yet fulfilling courtship with the local diner owner, Frank Darling. For the first time in her life, she finally feels like she’s where she’s meant to be. But when her dear friend Darby hunts her down, needing help, Vada will have to confront the life she gave up—and decide where her heart truly belongs.

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