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Book Details:
DEAR HERO by Alyssa Roat & Hope Bolinger
Category: YA Fiction (Ages 13-17), 394 pages
Genre: YA Romance, Superheroes, Chat Fiction, Humor
Publisher: Torchflame Books
Release date: October, 2024
Content Rating: PG-13 for MCU-level superhero violence; PG when it comes to language and sexual content (kissing).
Book Description:
There’s an app for everything–even meeting a new nemesis.
Up-and-coming teen superhero Cortex is on top of the world—at least, until his villain dumps him. If he’s going to save his reputation, he needs a new villain to fight, and fast. Meanwhile, the villainous Vortex has once again gotten a little overeager and taken out a hero prematurely. Will any young hero be able to keep up with her? Maybe she should work on finding a steady relationship with an enemy she won’t kill in the first round.
Enter Meta-Match, a nemesis pairing site for heroes and villains. The two match right away, and after throwing punches at each other behind coffee shops, practicing their fight choreography, and hiring henchmen to do their bidding (mostly just getting them coffee), they realize they have a lot more in common than names that annoyingly rhyme. After all, they’re still rising through the ranks in their respective circles, and their reputations need good press.
But not everything in the superhero world is as it seems. Can a hero really trust a villain to do the right thing? And can a villain trust a hero not to screw them over? As darkness from the past threatens them both, they may need each other for the fight to come—one with much higher stakes than their choreographed meet-ups on weekends.
Told entirely through texts, transcriptions, and direct messages, this darkly humorous chat fiction rom-com goes behind the scenes of the superworld.
Can you walk me through the process of the two of you writing this book?
Absolutely! Alyssa and I (Hope) have always enjoyed collaborating on pieces together. So with the height of the superhero movie Golden Age in 2018, we wanted to try our hand at a chat fiction book about a hero and a villain matching, on something similar to a dating app, but for nemeses. We had a lot of fun, assigning characters and letting the plot whisk us away. You never knew what your coauthor was going to write next, so it was an excellent exercise in improvisation and collaboration.
What advice would you give to budding authors?
I think we can both agree that the industry is unexpected in a lot of ways. Whether you choose to go traditional or if you go indie, there’s quite a steep learning curve, and the industry tends to be sluggish. Be prepared for the unexpected, and don’t give up. Write for fun and write what you love. Don’t allow anyone to pigeonhole you.
Are you plotters or pantsers?
We are actually complete opposites. Alyssa tends to fly by the seat of her pants. I (Hope) am a lot more comfortable with an outline. But when we write together, we tend to stretch each other in the areas in which we feel weakest. It’s a good kind of scary.
Do you write every day?
Not really. There was a period of time where Alyssa and I had quite a few deadlines, and we honestly burned ourselves out with how quickly we had to write books (I believe I had to write 7 books in one year, all under deadline). So I think we’ve both taken a step back to enjoy the process a little more, and write for the fun of it. We’ve enjoyed the challenges of deadlines, but definitely are trying to take a break from hustle culture.
What Is Your Next Project?
Alyssa and I both have underworld/mythology books releasing next year. Hers is a YA romance, and mine is a middle grade. At the moment, I (Hope) am in recovery from a number of health things, so I may be slowing down some of my publication schedule. I’m learning to put myself first and care for myself—something I’m not always the best at doing.
Alyssa Roat lives in the cornfields of Indiana, but she hopes to soon discover a portal to a fantasy world where she will run a bookshop for magical creatures. For now, she is an award-winning multi-published author and has worked in a wide variety of roles within the publishing industry as an editor, agent, writer, and publicist. She and her partner have four black cats who allegedly have never been fed in their lives and occasionally help her write by walking across the keyboard. Her name is a pun, which means you can learn more about her at www.alyssawrote.com or on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as @alyssawrote.
connect with the author: website ~ X/Twitter ~ instagram ~ facebook ~ goodreads
Hope Bolinger is the author of more than 25 books, including the award-winning Blaze trilogy, and has contributed to many more. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of 300+ authors. She has won awards for her essays, poetry, children’s books, novels, and plays. She’s a theater nerd and spends too much time hiking and petting her fat cats, Freya and Odin. She can be found online @hopebolinger and @hopekbolinger.
connect with the author: website ~ X/Twitter ~ instagram ~ facebook ~ goodreads
DEAR HERO by Alyssa Roat and Hope Bolinger Spotlight Book Tour Giveaway
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