♥︎ 38 Days Until THRIVE ♥︎

All this poster editing is making me super excited about Thrive!  Just flipping through the Addicted series and reliving my favorite LiLo moments are giving me a high.  A re-read of Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower is a definite must for me in order to stave off some of this anxiety! 

♥︎ 39 Days Until THRIVE ♥︎

39 more days till we get back inside Lily & Lo's head!  39 more days till we get to read all about what happened in Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower in Lil & Lo's POV!

 

I wish I had a time machine so I can fast forward to June 27th already!!!

40 Days and 40 Nights Until THRIVE

Let the countdown begin!

So, who's excited for Thrive?!?

★ First Official Thrive Teaser! ★

Goodness me! Where has the time gone?  40 more days till Thrive!!!  (I need to get rolling on the countdown posters!)  Here is the very first official Thrive teaser poster from our darling duo!!

Holy Hale & Calloway!  I can't wait to get back inside Lo's head.  He's oozing confidence and it's getting me all hot and bothered.

Thrive releases June 27th, 2014 and is a companion novel in the Addicted series. It bridges the gap between Addicted for Now (Addicted #2) and Addicted After All (Addicted #3). Calloway Sisters fans will want to read it for all the Kiss the Sky and Hothouse Flower moments told in Lil + Lo's POVs!

Next week, Krista & Becca plan to reveal the new covers for the Addicted series. More exciting news!!   Hopefully, we'll get to see the covers for the two new books, Fuel the Fire and Long Way Down, in the Calloway Sisters series the following week!

Dance party!  Woot woot!

Fangirling for Addicted Series: Q&A with K&B - PART V

In case you missed it, the ladies at the Fangirling for Addicted Series page on Goodreads hosted a Q&A session with Krista & Becca Ritchie from May 7 - 10.

Amy's fantastic organization made it easy to follow the Q&As.  She compiled all the questions and answers into 5 separate parts.  You will find compilation #5 below, as well as the links for Parts 1 - 4.  Enjoy!!

Q&A WITH K&B: PART V

Q-
Do you guys keep your deleted scenes? Would you ever release any of them like a DVD special feature?

A-
Krista - We keep very few of the scenes we delete. If we delete something, it's usually because we're taking the story in a different direction and it just doesn't fit anymore. The few that we do keep are more of "unneeded" scenes that we felt didn't have to be included in that particular book but maybe could be used in a future book of the series. If they never get used, we may release them as bonus material in the future when the series is close to an end :))

Becca - I'm replying to Krista... and to Perla... because I just wanna say that I think there will be a time where I go crazy and have to write scenes that we wanted in the "prequel" that we're no longer publishing (Side Note: this run-on sentence is fueled by Red Bull.) So bonus material is likely to happen. Especially since we've already done one in Ryke's POV... and that was 13 pages long :) We've done it once, so it's more likely we'll do it again!
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Q-
My question is for Connor-

Connor, I love you. *fangirling* I was wondering if you could teach my husband how to do that sexy lap dance you did for Rose? I'm a willing participant for you to use as a demo to show my husband how it's done. Love, ~Foxy

A-
We redirected your question to Connor :) And this was the statement he gave us:

Connor: "I can teach someone my talent, but it will never be the same. You can't replicate genius."

It should also be noted that Rose slapped his arm for the narcissistic comment.
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Q-
I've been thinking about your shortened name...KB. I'm going to guess take a wild guess why you picked that over BK. Is it because when ever we hear the word BK we think of Burger King?

A-
You're the first person to guess this right!! Yep, It's because of Burger King. Krista actually wrote a whole post about it when we first published A2Y, and it's hilarious. If you haven't read it you should check it out: Collaborative Writing. Whose Name Comes First?  Although now the punchline of the post is kinda already out of the bag, maybe it's not as funny. I still love it though ;)
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Q-
What's your daily routine? do you write in the morning? how many hours do you write?

A-
It varies during different months and how close we are to a deadline, but we try to write around 6-10 hours a day. Usually at night. For some reason, neither of us can really write before 3pm lol. I think it's because we wrote a lot in college, and we'd always been in class until around 3. Now it's kind of habit.
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Q & A with K&B: Part I
Q & A with K&B: Part II
Q & A with K&B: Part III
Q & A with K&B: Part IV  

That's it!

  

Fangirling for Addicted Series: Q&A with K&B - PART IV

If you haven't heard, the fabulous ladies at the Fangirling for Addicted Series page on Goodreads has been hosting a Q&A session with Krista & Becca Ritchie!  From May 7 - 10, readers were given the opportunity to ask the twin writing duo any question to their heart's content.

Amy has been taking all the questions and compiling them so that it's easier for anyone to follow the discussion.  Her organization is just superb!  It makes this a whole lot easier for me and for anyone who's trying to keep up with all the Q&As in the midst of all the comments and fangirling :D  You will find compilation #4 below.

Q&A WITH K&B: PART IV

Q-
Have either of you done any of the daredevil type of stuff that Daisy loves? Cliff diving, high speed motorcycles, etc?

A-
The most daredevil thing, I think, either of us have done is ziplining. But I would hardly call it dardevil-ish considering every ten-year-old who goes to summer camp usually does it, lol. I'm a big scaredy cat and even going up a chairlift at a ski resort makes me pee my pants. Although, Becca has walked across a really narrow rock with a huge drop-off on either side, kind of like a rock tight-rope, when she went on her roadtrip out west. That's pretty ballsy! But I think we would both LOVE to have Daisy's ultimate fearlessness, which is one of the reasons we love writing the her character so much. Great question!
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Q-
Do you have any siblings? And are they the inspiration for any of the characters in the book?

A-
We do! We have an older brother. He's two years older than us and has that fearlessness that Daisy has. I would say he inspired a little bit of Daisy and a little bit of Ryke. He's very adventurous and loves the outdoors. He also cares very little about what people think of him, kind of like Ryke. Though he doesn't have the same affinity for curse words ;)

Here's a link to a Facebook post where we talk about him and there's a video of his fearlessness in action: FUN FACT: Our older brother largely inspired Hothouse Flower
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Q-
I know you've touched on this already, but I was wondering more about your writing process. Do you have a specific outline you both follow or do you sort of see where the story leads you? Do you each choose your own characters to create in the story and stick with them so their voice remains consistent? And, from where do you draw inspiration when facing a mental block in writing?

A-
Thanks so much! And these are great questions!! We don't necessarily outline on paper, but before we start a book we sit down and discuss character arcs and the two major plot points in our book (the twist and/or climax and the ending). After that happens, the one who is designated to write the first draft will sit down and write everything.

Both of us write all the characters. We're very good at mimicking each other's voices and melding our writing styles together. And a lot of times the second drafter will develop the characters further and actually flesh them out--all while maintaining the same voice. It's a fun process because we both end up having our own little stamp on each of the characters :)

Writing blocks are awful! And if that happens, we usually sit down and have to talk it out. We discuss plots, characters, and alternate paths for hours--or at least until we're both satisfied with the changes. Kiss the Sky was our toughest book to write, and we had a TON of these writing discussions. It sucks when you know something's wrong but you can't quite place it, and that's when we have to sit and talk and rework things.
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Q-
Ate Lanie and I got to wondering about whether or not you've ever approached any of your friends to be on any of the covers? Someone that you could possibly take with you to author signings and such?

A-
No we've never been approached by anyone to be on the Addicted covers. We used to use friends for covers when I first self-published that one series (when I was 17). But they were just "body" shots so you can't see their faces. I'm not sure if we'd do that again though, not because the pics didn't turn out that well but because there are more emotions involved when you work with friends. It gets complicated :)

Thanks, Jenn! I actually had a photographer friend who designed those covers and took the pictures :) We used my brother's friend as the model for the second book cover. Krista wasn't a photoshop wizard back then like she is now, or else she probably would have done them :)
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Q-
Okay so it's not really a question but… I think you guys need to get the series optioned by HBO… Call it the Princesses of Philly are Addicted. Give me (and everyone else of course) the opportunity to ogle real live embodiments of Lo, Connor and Ryke while laughing & crying along with all the fun and feels the gang are constantly experiencing.

A-
I'D DIE IF THIS HAPPENED. SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO PICK ME UP OFF THE FLOOR!!

...I don't think it's a big secret that I'm obsessed with television lol(I went to college to study TV production) I think that would be a super mega dream, my two loves -- books and television -- uniting!

I'm with Jenn though. I'd lean more towards CW than HBO (even though you have to sacrifice cursing and more graphic scenes), CW has a way of making series last FOREVER! Like 10 years :) *sigh* that would be heaven. And then Ryke, Lo,and Connor would be actual tangible people :D
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Q-
What's your favourite moment for each couple? And the second: who are you more similar to? Are you like Rose,Poppy,Lily and Daisy? Or maybe like Lo,Connor or Ryke?

A-
Favorite moment...

For Lily and Lo: I'd say the moment in Addicted for Now where she calls him her Scott Summers. But I also love the scene in Addicted to You where Lo tells Lily to ask him why he drinks. He has his "because" speech... which is what Krista and I call it.

"A tear escapes and he says, 'Because I can. Because when I was eleven-years-old and tasted my first drop of whiskey, I thought it'd bring me closer to my father. Because I felt empowered.' He touches his chest. 'Because I never hit anyone. I never drove. I never lost a fucking job or lost any friends that mattered. Because whenever I drank, I didn't think I was hurting anyone but me.'"

For Rose & Connor, it's another tossup between two scenes in Kiss the Sky, one where Connor has her on the bed and he reveals how many children he wants to have. It's such a Rose & Connor moment, that between any other couple, I don't think it'd work. And then when

Connor tells Rose that he loves her. It's such a breakthrough for him as a character. My heart swells just thinking about it!

For Ryke & Daisy, I'm also tied between two... see I suck at this. I can never pick just one! I think the cliff diving scene in Mexico is just so monumental to the rest of their relationship. It really establishes that Ryke is the only one who can keep up with Daisy, and so it has to be one of my favorites. And then the scene where

they're in the cornfield. I love everything about it. From start to the finish where they're talking about kids, and Ryke has to ask her pointblank what she thinks. I feel like that moment is so real.

Oh and the second part to your question, I remembered that we answered this in an interview awhile back. I just found it, so I'm gonna paste it here ;D Thanks for asking so more ppl can see the answer in case they haven't yet! (I'm putting it in a spoiler tag bc it's super long.)

"Becca: I think it would be fun to answer this for each other. So for Krista, I’d say she’s most like Rose. Krista is wildly ambitious and driven like Rose, extremely, extremely intelligent (she was accepted to med school!), and she only dates smart guys. But she’s not argumentative like Rose at all. She never sweats the small stuff, and she doesn’t take negative things to heart. She’s definitely a peacemaker like Daisy. Growing up, she was the one who stopped me and our older brother from fighting.

Krista: Oooh! Fun question! Becca is definitely a combination of all three. She’s a huge advocate of feminist rights (she can talk your head off about female agency) and so in that sense she’s like Rose. But she’s a comic book lover and often goofy like Lily. And she’s also impulsive and a little bit of a free spirit like Daisy. And maybe a minor daredevil. I don’t think she’d jump off a cliff, but she’s not afraid to take some risks. I refused to try snowboarding and Becca dove headfirst into it. She ended up breaking the ski lift (her more embarrassing tale) but she tried it anyway :)"

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Q-
I feel silly saying this, but during one if the recent cast interviews Ryke referred to being annoyed by Lily's whining (and I can't think of many instances that she has). It hurt my feelings as if they were directed at me (she's my girl after all) and it didn't seem to bother Lily at all BTW. While I know Ryke has Lily's back 100%, and the group has a lot of live/hate relationships- is it crazy that it bothers me that he doesn't seem to like her very much? I'm sure he does....

A-
He definitely does like Lily, but she gets on his nerves the most. In Ricochet, Ryke talks about her whining. And I think he mentions it in Addicted to You. In fact, I'm pretty sure in A2Y Lily says that her voice turns high-pitched and scratchy around him for some reason lol. He irritates her as much as she irritates him. I think before they knew each other, their joking was sort of mean jabs, and now it comes from a better place and it's not really said out of spite or hate. It's just like, "you're bothering me, stop talking" sort of thing that siblings and really good friends can say to each other without letting it get under their skin. I think Lily and Ryke have finally come to that place with each other.

That being said, Ryke DID NOT like Lily when he first met her because he was overly protective of his brother, and he thought she was hurting him. It was an outsiders perspective, but in Ricochet he really got to know Lily and saw how much Lo needed her and how much she needed him. And he accepted her as a friend and as a strong, positive force in Lo's life :) ******************************************
Q-
My question is about Lily, she's changed the most over the coarse of 5 books. She seemed a lot more serious (while still kinda spastic and sweetly goofy) in Addicted to You, Richocet, and Addicted for Now. And now it seems that she's evolved into a sillier and goofier person once we've gotten to see her through the eyes of Rose, Connor, Daisy, and Ryke- as well as in the character interviews. Is it that she's much more comfortable in her own skin and around her tight knit group of family and friends? Or was it a way to make her feel softer and more relateable?

A-
I love this question so much! Krista and I talk about Lily's development over the 5 books all the time, and how she's more goofy in the spin-off books but yet way less confident in a way. For instance, in Addicted to You, she slapped a beer out of a frat guy's hand for insulting her. Sure, she felt like a wilted flower afterwards, but she did it. I'm not so sure she would even have the courage to do that after her addiction became publicized, that really changed her and her confidence plummets throughout the series.

But she's also found out who she is through these three years. Outside of sex, she's really come into her own identity and realized it's okay to be the goofy Lily who wears a Wampa cap (as seen at the end of Ricochet when she has Lily Vow Day). And it's okay to be awkward and have embarrassing moments and laugh about it with her friends, especially now that she has friends outside of Lo and is close to her sisters.

At the start of Addicted to You, she was so consumed by sex that she was pretty serious and morose. Krista and I often talk about how unhappy she was, how miserable she seemed, and through three years, she's really allowed herself to become this ball of light and discover who she is. We love her transformation, but she still has a lot of room to grow too, like I mentioned with her confidence and also her paranoia with the media. The media has really affected her for the worse, but her friends and family have really built her up and let her express herself when they're around.

Also, in the spin-off books, we're in different characters' POVs, and they see Lily a little differently too. So that weighs in. She knows they see her as the "quiet one" (as she's mentioned in A2Y) and they also see her as not the smartest tool in the shed, probably because of her grades and because she is so introverted. But when we're in Lily's head, she's not dumb at all. She's pretty normal on the smart scale :)
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Q-
Will we see Lily find something she's good at- other than sex, loving Lo, being a good sister, being an awesome bestfriend- will we see Lily find what she wants to do as a profession (even if it's working at the Comic store forever!)?

A-
Yes. Definitely. This is a part of the final Lily & Lo book: Addicted After All :)
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Fangirling for Addicted Series: Q&A with K&B - PART III

Here is more of the Q&A Session with Krista & Becca Ritchie from the Fangirling for Addicted Series page on Goodreads.

I've taken Amy's compilation of the Q&As (Part III) and posted them below for you!

Q&A WITH K&B: PART III

Q-
Who is your all time favorite book boyfriend?

A-
All time fav is so hard... we change all the time. We also read a ton of Young Adult books, and I think my fav would have to be from a YA book: Noah Shaw (Mara Dyer trilogy)... this guy is all kinds of sexy, and he has a very unsteady relationship with his parents.

I asked Krista and she said Kaidan Rowe from the Sweet Evil trilogy. He is just swoony. Seriously, his scenes in that book push the boundaries of YA! And he's British :)
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Q-
Ps thank you both so much for the q&a!!! I LOVE your series!! It's my all time favorite. Ryke is forever my #1 book bf <3

A-
Team Ryke! Even though it's hard to pick a favorite guy out of our characters, I'm so partial to him! I try to sneak in extra scenes with him here and there :) Krista does that with Connor too :D
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Q-
Do you girls have a boyfriend?

What are your top five favorite reads (romance genre)?

Lastly (no promises), do you have any future plans to visit Australia?

A-
There's no limit on questions, is there? Ask away! ;)

We currently are both single :) No boyfriends right now.

Top 5 favorite reads for romance...some of these are going to be Romance YA, since we're so partial to young adult, even though we do read a variety of things.

Krista: The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, Anna & the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Easy by Tammara Webber, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins --> (Krista said to me, "PNR, does this count as romance?")

My answers are kinda going to mirror Krista's... somewhat. We just love some of the same books :) Me: Easy by Tammara Webber, Anna and the French Kiss, The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller, The Sign of Love series by Mia Sheridan, and I'm cheating like Krista and picking Dark Star by Bethany Frenette <---- PNR alert!

We talk about "what if we get invited to an Australian signing event?" all the time :) We'd love to one day go and meet you! We've never been to Australia so it'd be double the fun :D
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Q-
I felt a connection and deep understanding of how Lily and Lo felt as addicts. I know it's fiction but it felt real, did you do research on these addictions beforehand, especially Lilys which is brought up less in everyday addictions?

A-
We did an immense amount of research before we even started writing the book -- and especially for female sex addiction. Becca and I always said that if we could do right by the addictions and not romanticize them in any way, then we'd be completely satisfied with Addicted to You. So we're always so happy when readers tell us that it felt real to them. So THANK YOU!! *hugs*
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Q-
Since it is almost Mother's Day...let's address the mom theme runs through this series-

Observing:
• The sisters have issue with a controlling mom.
• Ryke deals with a mom who thinks she is doing best her son but in reality is cruel.
• Loren has a mom who has written off his existence.
• Connor’s mom is a real piece of work.

I’m wondering if any of the mom’s in the series are “normal”? Perhaps, Poppy?

All these mom's seem evil/cruel/overbearing

A-
Krista and I talk about the parents all the time, and I think you can make a case that the dads have their own flaws too, just as the moms do. I'm gonna put the rest in the spoiler tag bc my response turned out to be lonngggg :D

The reason why it seems really amplified that the parents are such horrible people is because a lot of times -- in our experience -- when teenagers go off to college, it's the first time your away from home and you can see parents from a different light. Like how they have flaws and how those flaws have affected you, and I think a bit of animosity grows from that.

But the main characters have just as many bad qualities as the parents, but your in their heads, so you're going to sympathize with them over the parents.

Samantha Calloway is probably the biggest villain. We modeled her after a woman who wants to protect the reputation of her family, at all costs. But she's also very, very stubborn and strong-headed and yes, controlling. In our extended family, we've been around very stubborn people. To the point where they believe they're right, no matter what. And I think she really plays on that persona. It's so hard to change someone who's set in their ways and to get them to look at any other viewpoint besides their own.

With this respect, we have to give Connor's mom a lot of credit for being able to look at herself, see what she's done wrong, and take ownership for it.

We really love writing different layers to characters, and a lot of the moms remind us of some people in our lives. Not our own mom, just to be clear. Our own mom is like our best friend. We're very close to her, and she reminds us a lot of Rose Calloway. In fact, she's probably the most Rose-Calloway-like woman we've ever met. Always wears heels. Confident woman. Can do anything on her own. And is a little OCD. But we love her for it :)

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