INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY! Compulsion by Martina Boone

COMPULSION

By: Martina Boone

Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Three plantations. Two wishes. One ancient curse.

All her life, Barrie Watson had been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead–a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.

ABOUT MARTINA

Martina Boone is the founder of AdventuresInYAPublishing.com a two-time Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers site. She is also a founding member of YASeriesInsiders.com and the First Five Pages Workshop When she isn’t writing, she loves to ski, ride dressage horses, travel, and read beautiful, slightly-twisted fiction. She eats Nutella on pretty much anything, adores marzipan, has guilty cravings for stale sugar-free licorice, drinks chocolate-flavored tea with milk, and watches Doctor Who, Chicago Fire, Nashville, Suits, Top Gear, So You Think You Can Dance, Hart of Dixie, Vampire Diaries, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, and Downton Abbey. She’s on the fence about The Blacklist, and she’s so, so done with Scandal. You can find her on her website or on Twitter as @MartinaABoone.

“Darkly romantic and steeped in Southern Gothic charm, you’ll be compelled to get lost in the Heirs of Watson Island series.” — #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Jennifer L. Armentrout

“A fresh twist on the Southern Gothic — haunting, atmospheric, and absorbing.” — Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author of A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU and the Evernight and Spellcaster series

“Compulsion is a stunningly magical debut with a delicious slow burn to be savored. I want to live in this story world!” — Wendy Higgins, USA Today and NYT bestselling author of the Sweet Evil Trilogy from HarperTeen

“A star-crossed romance, lush gothic plantations, and an island full of intrigue—COMPULSION was a heart-pounding race to the fishing! A thrilling debut!” — Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder series

“Beautifully written, with vivid characters, a generations-old feud, and romance that leaps off the page, this Southern ghost story left me lingering over every word, and yet wanting to race to the compelling finish. Martina Boone’s COMPULSION is not to be missed.” — Megan Shepherd, Author of THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER

Where did the idea for Compulsion come from?

I wrote a short story with some of the same characters, and they refused to stop talking to me after I turned it in. I wanted to know more about them, but it was also the plantation location and the small town that haunted me. Eventually, I had a dream about a ball of fire drifting through the woods and setting a river aflame, and thinking about the why and who and what that had caused it. That became the anchoring visual for the book. The rest all came from asking why and doing a lot of research and brainstorming, which included two separate research trips to the Charleston area and a lot of time scouring books and the internet.

What is the weirdest thing you googled while researching for this series?

Oh, that’s hard. I researched a LOT of off the wall things for this book: pirates, shipwrecks, ghosts, witches, voodoo, hoodoo, Cherokee witchcraft, slavery, drug running, lost treasures of the Civil War, Confederate privateering, the Red Sea Gold, indigo production, drag queens/drag shows, secret rooms, furniture with hidden drawers, ball lightning . . . The thing that fascinated me the most on a research level was the various forms of magic that were present in the South with the confluence of belief systems brought there by slaves from different regions and religions intersecting with Native American belief systems. I spent a lot of time Googling specific spells and curses and trying to work out how the interpretation of them might have changed over three hundred years.

What was your favorite scene to write and why?

I love any scene with Mark, and I love the scenes with the Fire Carrier—there’s a particular fountain scene that still gives me a creepy chill every time I read it. But my favorite scenes all have to do with Eight and Barrie and the tension between them. The scene on the beach where they are both fueled with adrenaline and anger and they finally, finally have an honest-to-goodness moment was so much fun to write.

Did any of your characters surprise you by doing something you didn’t expect?

Mark was meant to be an ancillary character, but he ended up sticking his size fourteen Louboutins into a lot of different scenes. I love him and the way he and Barrie are together.

Were there any scenes that had to be cut that you wish would have stayed in?

I honestly can’t think of a single scene I cut out fully. There were pieces of scenes that I took out, and the majority of those were ghost scenes. There’s a particular one that I can’t share, but I fully intend to make it the foundation of a whole book someday. : )

What are you currently reading? What books boys make you swoon?

I just got my hands on a copy of Melissa Marr’s MADE FOR YOU, which comes out in September. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to dive into it. As for swoon? Kadesh in Kimberley Griffiths Little’s upcoming FORBIDDEN, Sorin in Leah Cypess’ DEATH SWORN, Tyler in Kimberly Derting’s THE TAKING, Kaiden Rowe from Wendy Higgins’ SWEET EVIL series, any boy written by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and of course the old standbys that everyone swoons over: Akiva, Gansey, Ronan, Sturmhond, and so forth. I will also admit to a certain fondness for Jon Snow from THE GAME OF THRONES.

Do you have a dream cast for this series?

Jennifer Lawrence as Barrie. (But basically, I’d like Jennifer Lawrence to play the main character in every movie, so that may not tell you much.)

Liam Helmsworth as Eight (who is called Eight because tradition in the family says every first born male is named Charles Beaufort, so after a while they ran out of nicknames and resorted to numbers. Which is one of many reasons why Eight wants to get the hell out of Watson Island.)

Rooney Mara as Cassie.

Idris Elba as Mark.

Reese Witherspoon as Aunt Pru.

Patrick Dempsey as Seven.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Read a LOT. Write a lot. Live a lot. Rinse repeat. And most importantly, don’t play it safe. Push the boundaries and write the book that only you can write.

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?

I’m actually taking a break from making notes on revisions for PERSUASION, the sequel to COMPULSION, and I’m also plotting book three, which isn’t titled yet.

5 Favorites

Favorite Song (right now)

Sam Smith’s cover of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” — it’s perfect for PERSUASION, and I’ve been obsessed with it since I heard it: https://plus.google.com/+MartinaBoone/posts/GmzgBcoXd5v

Favorite Book (right now)

Still The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor and Maggie Stiefvater’s THE SCORPIO RACES. But there are so many amazing books coming out this fall, including Jandy Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN that may change that. Stay tuned. : )

Favorite TV Show/Movie (right now)

Suits. Such clever dialogue! But that’s because Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead are both on hiatus.

Favorite Word

Magic.

Favorite Snack

Nutella.