Sara in Bookland: Blogoversary Day 5! Jessica Brook, author of Pity Isn't An Option + Give@way!

Hey Peeps! Today's host is the amazing author Jessica Brooks, author of a dystopian novel, Pity Isn't An Option (creepy title, isn't it?). If you want to know more about the protagonists of the book and have a chance to win an eCopy of the book + signed bookmark, just scroll down!

Interview with Jonas and Hattie

From Jessica Brooks' Pity Isn't An Option

Hattie: This came in the mail. (hands it to Jonas) I think we’re supposed to answer it.

Jonas: (looks it over) Name? Surname? Age? It looks like some sort of survey.

Hattie: Yes. About us.

Jonas: Us?

Hattie: Yes. You and me.

Jonas: But why anyone would want to know these things?

Hattie: (shrugs) I don’t know. Sometimes Kendrick sends stuff out to check on the economy of things... maybe it’s something like that? But more like a... a... what’s the word?

Jonas: A census?

Hattie: Yes. Maybe that’s what it is.

Jonas: (skims the paper) Half of these inquisitions are not census-like.

Hattie: Well, humor me and answer them anyway.

Jonas: So then, how do you want to do it? You answer, then I do, or at the same time?

Hattie: Both. No, individually. No wait. It’ll probably go faster if we do it at the same time.

Jonas (pushes hair out of his eyes): Okay. So, what’s your name?

Hattie: Hattie. And yours is Jonas.

Jonas: (grins) Most days, yes. Except when I’m around you guys.And your surname, Hattie?

Hattie: My surname is Akerman--I’m Hattie Akerman. Some people say it means “man of oak” but really it came from generations ago when my family did more farming. Like acre. I don’t know when they dropped the c from it, though.

Jonas: I didn’t know that.

Hattie: Yeah. Which is funny, isn’t it, seeing as Dad doesn’t do anything close to farming any more and we’re stuck trying to farm but can’t at all, considering, and yet here we mean farming.

Jonas: (clears throat) Well, my surname is Norton. And it means... I have no idea.

Hattie: You, the wordsmith, don’t know what your own name means?

Jonas: No. So now I’m the wordsmith?

Hattie: Would you rather I stick with Beanie?

Jonas: (turns a sickly sheen) Blech. No. Well actually, yes. Wordsmith sounds a bit brainy.

Hattie: But you are more brainy now.

Jonas: A little.

Hattie: What’s the next question?

Jonas: Age. I’m seventeen. And you’re sixteen.

Hattie: Right. (sighs again) Old enough to drive, not that that’ll ever happen.

Jonas: You never know. Maybe Heath’ll make some deal with someone and actually win this time. And win a... bicycle.

Hattie: (rolls her eyes) Right. Suddenly Dad will win for the first time? And you know I didn’t mean a bicycle.

Jonas: What do you always say? “Think more about the good things you want to happen, and not the bad?”

Hattie: Yes. Yes, you’re right. I do say that.

Jonas: See?

Hattie: Okay. Moving on. I think we’re making this go on too long.

Jonas: Physical description. I am... a guy. Somewhat tall. Skinnier than I used to be. With hair. And eyes.

Hattie: (laughs) Okay, no. First, you’re a twin, and there are only a couple things that differentiate you from your brother.

Jonas: Wow. Differentiate. I’m impressed.

Hattie: (beams) Thanks. So your hair is dark, kinda long--it hangs over your forehead at times--and your eyes are this brown color but yours are different in the fact that you have these small flakes of hazel at the tops of your irises, floating above the pupils almost.

Jonas: Quite observant.

Hattie: Well, when you got sick, they faded a lot and when they brightened up again they really stood out.

Jonas: Your eyes are like ash. When the flame’s disappeared and let out its last breath and the charcoal is light as a feather.

Hattie: And my hair is long. And blonde. But not as blonde as Lucy’s.

Jonas: Hers is more like your mom’s. Yours like your dad’s. Closer to a dirty blonde. And you can’t stand it in your face, so you always have it up.

Hattie: What’s the next question? Friends? Ah. Well, that’s easy. Jonas.

Jonas: Hattie. For as long as I can remember. (Hattie nods.) Moving on.

Hattie: (scans the questions) It asks about personality traits, positive and negative.

Jonas: Oh geez.

Hattie: I’d say you’re one of those guys who, when he cares about you, it’s obvious in his daily actions. He doesn’t have to say anything; you know he cares because you just know. Because it’s there, in your eyes. So positive trait would be considerate of others’ feelings. Always.

Jonas: Scrupulous.

Hattie: Ah...

Jonas: For you. Persevering, you know? Assiduous. You don’t stop. You keep going. For Lucy and your mom, Lanelle.

Hattie: Okay.

Jonas: Considering the strenuousness of how it is here and all.

Hattie: Negative personality trait. I’d probably say my most negative is that I can’t do enough.

Jonas: That’s not a personality trait. And you do plenty.

Hattie: But we’re never caught up.

Jonas: Not for lack of trying. Again, back to the whole assiduous thing. Your most negative quality is that you don’t see the positives in yourself. Or, that you act like my mother. That gets a bit annoying after a while.

Hattie: I don’t mean to.

Jonas: I know.

Hattie: Yours is... I think I’d have to say it’s not releasing what used to be you. I mean, things are different now and you still want to be the one playing basketball.

Jonas: It was my life, Hats. It encompassed all I knew.

Hattie: I know. And that’s okay, it’s not exactly what I meant. I mean, it sucks you can’t play any more, it’s not fair, but sometimes I feel you’d be happier if you’d look in front of you instead of behind all the time.

Jonas: Okay we’ve definitely gone way too long on this. Summing it up...

Hattie: We’re sixteen and seventeen, we live in Wanless, California, US of A though it doesn’t feel like we’re united at all any more because creepy Kendrick runs it all; times suck but we stick together and that helps somewhat; and regarding the whole Akerman thing, we just recently planted an entire field of cotton, so maybe that’ll help.

Jonas: And I’m tall and you’re not and you live down the hill from me and--oh crap there’s the announcement on Kendrick Radio. We’d better go.

Pity Isn't An Option

Amazon

Seventeen year-old Jonas Norton is trying to come to terms with what his blood disorder has robbed from him, including his two most favorite things: basketball, and competing in Hatchet Racket, Wanless’ annual hatchet-throwing contest. The facts that his father works constantly to pay for his blood tests and Jonas can actually see the disappointment in his eyes for being such a failure only make matters worse. And even worse than all of that? Jonas' own twin brother, Micah, is perfectly healthy and becoming quite the basketball player. Also, Hattie, the girl Jonas has loved for forever? She has no idea how he feels.

Sixteen year-old Hattie Akerman lives down the hill from Jonas. Though her father, Heath, tries to hide his lack of mental clarity behind the bottle and she's pretty much given up on having any kind of relationship with him, she would still rather her younger sister, Lucy, not have to deal with the consequences of his behavior. Hattie helps her mother by baking food to sell at Market and looking out for Lucy. No matter what the rest of the town says about her crazy father, Jonas sticks up for them. He is, by far, her very best friend.

As if things aren’t complicated enough already, Heath and Micah are unexpectedly drafted into President Kendrick's army (an army from which no one ever returns) just days before Thanksgiving. When Heath disappears instead of arriving at the Meeting Place to check in, Hattie and Jonas decide they’ve had enough, and take matters into their own hands. And though nothing could have prepared them for what happens next, Hattie and Jonas learn that hope can be seen in every situation. You just have to know where to look.

Jessica Brooks resides with her husband of over fifteen years, three awesome daughters, and a plethora of pets in Central California, where fog, frost, triple-digit heat and various items of produce arrive bountifully, depending on the season. She has an affinity for both coffee and owls, and loves to connect with fellow readers and writers on most social networks like Goodreads, Twitter and Pinterest. You can also connect with her on her blog, My Thoughts Exactly.

Jessica writes both young adult and adult fiction. PITY ISN’T AN OPTION is her debut novel.

The Give@way!