Blog Tour: Interview With Anastasia Hopcus, Author of Shadow Hills

 As part of a blog tour to promote her release, Shadow Hills, I'm pleased to have Anastasia Hopcus over for an interview! Be sure to check out my review of Shadow Hills as well.

Where did the idea for Shadow Hills come from?

In part, it was inspired by a 60 Minutes segment on a savant named Daniel Tammet. I thought a lot about the extraordinary abilities some people have, and I wondered what it would be like if a group of people had the same sort of unusual talents and how that might have come about. I had a lot of time to think on a trip to LA not long after that, and the ideas just really started to come together and work into a story.

Did you have to do a lot of research for Shadow Hills?

I did a lot of research, mostly scientific stuff about the brain and genetics. There were also historical elements that I had to look into, particularly about epidemics, and I got a few really good books on ancient Greek religion.I also had to research the setting of my book. I was sure that Massachusetts was the perfect place for the book, but I'd never even visited the state, so I spent a couple of weeks there.


Will there be a sequel to Shadow Hills?

I certainly hope there will be. I'd love to have a chance to dig a little deeper into the secrets of Shadow Hills, and I really want to develop Phe's and Zach's love story. But that's still up in the air.

Shadow Hills is your debut novel, congrats! Was it the first book you've written?

Actually, I wrote an adult mystery before Shadow Hills. But I had trouble finding an agent for it, and I was feeling discouraged about it. Then, one day when I was watching a teen movie, I realized that young adult books were what I ought to be writing. I always like books and movies and tv shows that are written for teens. I love music. The high school years are really pivotal; it's a time of tremendous emotion and changes. Just a perfect period to write about.

Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Team Unicorn, I think.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

I think you have to be really persistent, particularly in today's market. It's important to study your craft in whatever way works best for you, whether it's taking a course or reading books on writing or joining a writing group. And then you have to write. It's so easy to give other things priority over your writing, and I had to exercise more discipline sometimes than I wanted to. But it's really necessary to keep writing and re-writing. Then selling a book requires a lot of patience and persistence.

Thanks for the cool interview Anastasia! 

Shadow Hills Review and Contest

Contest closed


Author: Anastasia Hopcus

Release Date: July 13, 2010

Pages: 400 (ARC)

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Most Appropriate For Ages: 12+
Where I Got It: For review from 1 ARC Tours

His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.

Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone “Phe” Archer has been plagued by a series of disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts—the subject of her sister’s final diary entry.
After stepping on campus, Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding what links her to this town…might cost her her life.
---------------------------------------------------
Shadow Hills didn't completely blow me away, but I did really enjoy it.

The plot is extremely original, aside from the fact that Phe's love interest, Zach, is drop dead gorgeous. But the whole supernatural element was something completely new to me, full of mythology and science. Sometimes, I felt like the scientific parts went over my head, and that maybe they could've been explained better, but I managed to still enjoy the story.

Phe was awesome! She was way too curious for her own good, which I loved. She recognized the crazy stuff going on around her and she demanded answers, which was awesome and so refreshing with so many characters just ignoring the very suspicious stuff going on. Zach was pretty dreamy, even if once or twice I did roll my eyes when he said some cliche to Phe. The side characters were all awesome, and, unlike a lot of times, they all had lives that didn't revolve around the main character.

The writing was impressive, especially when describing Phe's feelings towards Zach.

The ending wrapped things up nicely, but still left plenty of room for a sequel (which I'm assuming is coming). All in all, a very enjoyable and refreshing read. I expect it to be popular this summer, and I'm eagerly anticipating the sequel.


Contest time! I'm offering up one pre-order of Shadow Hills to one lucky winner. As long as The Book Depository ships to you for free, you can enter! (Please be sure that it does ship to you for free by going here.) Just fill out this form. Contest ends June 21. Good luck!