Sam's Support

Hello everyone! Today Change of Heart week continues with an interview with Sam. Sam is an important character to the story as he is Emmi's boyfriend. Sam and Emmi start going out right before she gets sick and so their relationship is really new and they both go through a lot during the course of the book. Please welcome Sam to the blog and I hope you enjoy learning more about him.

Full Name: Samuel Paul Hunter

Nickname: Sam

Age: 16

Favorite food: Hamburgers, except when I’m training, then it’s steamed fish (only kidding—I hate steamed fish).

Favorite color: Navy Blue

Favorite number: 12-my baseball number

Favorite kind of music: Rap

Please tell us a little about you. 

I play baseball for North Village High. Unlike a lot of my buddies, I’m pretty good at school and that’s important to me. I mean, I love sports and hanging out and talking about hot girls, but I also want to do other things, too.

What do you like to do in your free time? 

Emmi's Change of Heart

Hello everyone! Today I am pleased to continue Change of Heart week with an interview with Emmi. Emmi is the main character ofChange of Heart. She's 16 up until she got sick she was an active soccer player and just your typical teen. Please welcome Emmi to the blog and I hope you enjoy learning more about her.

Full Name: Emmi Miller

Nickname: none

Age: 16

Favorite food: sushi

Favorite color: purple

Favorite number: 12-Sam’s baseball number

Favorite kind of music: Popular music. But I’m starting to get into old rock bands with my friend Abe

Please tell us a little about you.

For most of my life, it’s been all about the soccer. I play on an elite travel team, my school team and I even got to play in Europe last summer. I’m working my butt off to try to get a college scholarship. But now I got sick and without a heart transplant I might die. So in order for me to live, some other person must die. How do you wish for that? How do you not? It’s a horrible thing to think about.

Tell me about your parents. How well do/did you get along with them?

My dad’s the best. He totally got me into soccer and he even plays on an over 40 team. My mother is another story. She can be the biggest buzz kill ever—constantly on my case. She just doesn’t get me. She’s gotten a little better since I’ve been sick, but I’m wary.

What do you like to do in your free time?

Now—not much. I sit around my house, make photo collages and wait for someone to text me or IM me. Life is going on all around me and I’m stuck waiting.

Could you share with us a little about your life before you got sick?

It was mostly soccer, soccer and a little more soccer. I have a bunch of close friends: Becca, Lauren and Noelle. They’re all my soccer buds, but we hang out a lot off the field, too. I’ve always been healthy, and I guess I just took that for granted.

How has the need for a heart transplant changed your life?

Author Interview: Shari Maurer

Hello internet! Today I am pleased to welcome Shari Maurer to the blog. Shari is the author of Change of Heart which was released by Westside Books on 23 April 2010. Change of Heart is an endearing story about a teen girl whose life is turned upside down when she learns that she needs a heart transplant. Its a book that will touch your heart and make you think about what is important. I hope that you enjoy learning a little bit more about Shari and her book, Change of Heart, as I had a lot of fun interviewing her.

First off…tell us a little about you?

I live in New City, NY—an NYC suburb where I also grew up. I’ve got 2 ½ teenagers in my house (my daughter is 15, my son is 13 and my other son thinks he’s 13, but he’s only 10). Life is filled with sports, dance, homework, etc. and my house is often overrun with kids. Somewhere in between it all, I try to find time to write.

What is your writing process like?

My best writing happens with a big cup of coffee next to me and my iTunes playing softly in the background. I was finding the internet was easily distracting me, so I bought a netbook, with the firm rule that I can’t do any internet stuff (well, okay, I do allow myself to check e-mail occasionally, but that’s all).

Which line do you find more difficult to write? The first or the last?

Fun Friday...and winners!

I hope you enjoyed your week of Claire de Lune! A big thank you to Christine for making this possible. For the Friday's posts, we discussed making a playlist as I always like to do something fun...

So after much agonizing, I finally did a playlist just of the arc
of Claire's story - a Claire playlist, rather than a CLAIRE DE LUNE
playlist, if that makes sense. Originally, I tried to pick one song for
each character, but I was getting into WAY too many spoilers and getting
all twisted up with it. Instead, I tried to find really great songs that
matched Claire at each point in her journey, both with their lyrics and
also the general feel of the music. This is what I ended up with!

Thanks to everyone who played along.

And the winners are.....

Signed copy of Claire de Lune: Jessica

Bookplates: Katelyn, Jenny N, Grace Gorski, Natasha, Elie N and Okapi

Please check you emails, you have until Sunday to claim your prize :)

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home....Can I Keep Him? on 18 June 2010.

Learning More About Matthew

It wasn't a surprise that when I went to interview Claire, Matthew was close by. Being the main character and all, we know a lot more about Claire so my questions for Matthew (who by the way is a total sweetheart!)were a little more deep. Again, not to worry these are spoiler-free!


What was it about Claire that made you fall head over heels for her?

She’s so *herself.* I was so tired of dating girls that spend all their time playing games, trying to be whatever they thought I wanted them to be. And Claire was so smart and funny and quiet without being shy. I just never thought she’d be interested in dating someone like me - that she’d think I was just another jock. She’s so strong and amazing, and not just because she’s a werewolf. It’s just *her.*

Will your scientist Dad would ever understand if you told him about you and Claire?

My dad is really...focused. He’s spent practically his whole life trying to perfect his cure for lycanthropy. I don’t think he would be able to get over that - to see Claire for the amazing person that she is. I wish he could see past her werewolf side. That he could think of her as something other than a dangerous test subject. But I just don’t think he’d be able to do that. And I’d never, ever want to risk Claire’s life by trying to find out for sure!

Do you think more people could be like you and accept werewolves for who they are as humans and not just see them as animals?

I wouldn’t be surprised - I think if people knew that these nice, normal women that they see everyday are werewolves, maybe they could get past all the stereotypes. I know that everyone’s scared of attacks, but humans kill each other, too, and we’re not terrified of every person we pass on the street. It’s not fair that people like Claire and Marie and Beatrice have to spend their whole lives hiding. Maybe someday, they’ll be able to live in the open. I hope so.

Doesn't the thought of your girlfriend turning into a wolf kinda freak you out?

Yes and no. I mean, the wolf world is really intense and there’s not a lot of room for humans - especially human guys - there. So that’s a little hard sometimes. But Claire’s wolf side is half of who she is - with out that, she wouldn’t be *her.* And I love the person that she is - strong, smart, wild and contained at the same time. So, no, the thought of her transforming doesn’t make me want to run away and hide or anything, but figuring out the wolf part of her world has been kind of hard at times. Worth it though. Hard, but totally worth it.


This week you have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Claire de Lune (CAN/US only), OR one of six signed bookplates (open internationally!) by filling out the form here. Don't forget you get an extra entry for each thoughtful comment :)

Cross-posted at: He Followed Me Home...Can I Keep Him? on 17 June 2010.