Welcome to my stop on the Our Song Virtual Book Tour hosted by IFB!
Author: Jordana Fraiberg
Publication Date: May 2, 2013
Olive Bell has spent her entire life in the beautiful suburb of Vista Valley, with a picture-perfect home, a loving family, and a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a near-fatal car accident, she s haunted by a broken heart and a melody that she cannot place.
Then Olive meets Nick. He s dark, handsome, mysterious … and Olive feels connected to him in a way she can t explain. Is there such a thing as fate? The two embark on a whirlwind romance until Nick makes a troubling confession.
Heartbroken, Olive pieces together what really happened the night of her accident and arrives at a startling revelation. Only by facing the truth can she uncover the mystery behind the song and the power of what it means to love someone.
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About the Author
"Realize how good you really are." I think it's advice that everyone should internalize because too often we are thwarted by our own self doubt...or at least I am! I actually have it on display in my office just like the image in the pic below:
That's a great quote to keep in mind daily!
When you were little, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?
I was a competitive squash player when I was growing up, and I played in my first tournament at the age of 10. I used to love watching the pros play, and dreamt that one day I would be as good as them and play on the pro tour as well.
My dream did come true! I played on the pro tour after I graduated from college, but it wasn't for the reasons I had initially imagined. I didn't know what else to do with my life at that point, so I decided to keep competing. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to travel and to take my game to the next level, but after just a few months I realized squash alone wasn't enough for me. I needed to explore the other parts of my personality -- not just the athletic side -- and that's when I turned to journalism, and ultimately, to writing.
That sounds like lots of fun! It's always good to try out all your options till you find something that truly satisfies you.
What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you? Have you followed it since then?
To be kind -- to others, but also to yourself.
As for following it, I think I'm doing well on the kindness to others front (at least I hope so). I'm still working on it for myself. Becoming a mom recently has been one of the biggest motivations to internalize the lesson of taking care of myself and treating myself the way I treat others because I keep thinking of the example I want to set for my daughter.
I think being kind on yourself is sometimes much harder than being kind to others. You are always your worst judge.
Have any Pet Peeves?
All my pet peeves seem to be driving related (maybe because I live in LA!)
so, here they are:
I hate it when drivers don't use their turn signal, or worse, turn it on at the very last second to make a left on a busy street and you get stuck behind them. Grrr!
On a related note, I really can't stand it when one car takes up two perfectly good parking spots and you are then forced to circle the block until you find a spot!!
KNOW WHAT I MEAN?!
Yes I do! Even though I don't drive haha.
What inspired you to write Our Song?
I wanted to explore the idea of an identity in flux. When I was a teenager, I used to wonder who I really was because I felt I acted slightly differently with different people. As I got older I realized that we are all multi-faceted, and that different contexts and people elicit different parts of our personalities. Even as adults our identities are often in flux. As we grow and evolve, our interests change and broaden, and experience has a large part in shaping who we are. Having Olive literally die provided a more urgent and immediate context for her transformation. It's also a metaphor for the death of her old identity.
Do you have any other books in the works? Can you tell us about them?
I do! I'm writing another contemporary romance that deals with questions of destiny and faith, but that's all I'll say about it right now!
Ooo! Sounds very exciting! Thank you for answering all my questions :)
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Nice interview. Thanks for participating.
ReplyDeleteThank you and no problem :)
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