Guest Post w/ Elle Casey & Giveaway

Today on the blog I have with us, Elle Casey, author of Wrecked. Not only is she here to visit and share about a member of Wrecked, she has been ever so kind enough to give away three copies of her book! Yay! Let's get started!

Hello readers!  I’m Elle Casey, a guest poster (author of WRECKED) here at Uniquely Moi Books.  Thanks so much for having me.  Today I’m going to talk about one of the characters in my book WRECKED, a Young Adult Action/Adventure novel - which I describe as a cross between The Breakfast Club and The Swiss Family Robinson.  The character’s name is Jonathan Buckley.

Jonathan is one of four teenagers who go on a cruise together and then ultimately end up stranded on a deserted island.  As an author, often I define the characters for my stories through a process of combining personality traits of several people into one ... usually people I know personally, people I’ve seen in movies or television shows, or people who somehow are invented in my subconscious and end up in my crazy dreams at night. 

Jonathan, as one of the protagonists in WRECKED, is inspired by a few people: my sixteen-year-old son, one of the characters on the television show Bones, and one of the characters in the movie Galaxy Quest (I will let you blog readers guess who those two characters are! Feel free to comment below with your guesses.)  My son cringes when I say he’s one of my inspirations because Jonathan really is a nerdy kid; but he lives up to his full potential by the end of the story - and that’s the piece of him that reminds me of my son - so it’s all good.

What I love about Jonathan is that he’s pretty much oblivious to his nerdiness.  He does his thing, he follows he passions, and he shares his enthusiasm of discovery and knowledge with anyone standing nearby.  He knows he often gives ‘too much information’ but he doesn’t care.  He’s just enthusiastic about science and the world around him and he doesn’t let petty concerns like what other kids will think about him bother him; he just follows his heart and believes the best about people, even when they clearly have different priorities and don’t act so nice towards him. 

What’s great about Jonathan in this book is that in the beginning he seems weak and not cool, but as the realities of being on a deserted island without adults and the conveniences of modern life really hit home, everyone soon realizes how awesome of a guy he is and how important his passions are to their very survival.  What used to be, “...too much information, Jonathan,” becomes, “...what else do you know about this, Jonathan?” 

There are a lot of ‘Jonathans’ out there in the world who are underappreciated and disrespected.  Unfortunately, there is so much peer pressure for teens - to conform, to act a certain way, to look a certain way - that it’s hard to be someone like him and be admired.  That’s why I loved this book for him; he was able to be himself and end up being the hero that everyone counted on for survival.  If my book causes one person, somewhere in the world, to better appreciate a Jonathan in his or her life, it will have been a worthwhile venture for me to write this novel. 

Thanks again to Uniquely Moi Books for inviting me over.  If you’d like to learn more about WRECKED, or my newest series WAR OF THE FAE, a Young Adult Fantasy series, please visit me at www.ElleCasey.com.  I’d love to have you as one of my readers!

Thanks so much Elle!

Now for the giveaway:

You must be 13+

Ends March 1st

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