What if your dreams were shattered by an intense new reality and the only person you had to rely on was your worst enemy? That’s what happens to Fiona Wolf when she’s abandoned and forced to face off with the boy she hates the most– and a vicious force that’s trying to kill them both– in Alice Reeds‘ Echoes!
When kickboxer Fiona receives a mysterious but super tempting internship opportunity in Germany, she can’t turn it down. But her excitement is seriously dampened when she discovers that Miles Echo, her old high school nemesis, is traveling with her to take part in the same internship.
Alice Reeds recently asked some questions about creating Echoes, Fiona and Miles pairing up, and the best love/hate relationships! Take a look!
When did you first get the inspiration for ECHOES and how did it grow from there?
It was in a pretty random place and moment actually. I was sixteen or seventeen and sitting in a bus with my theatre group on the way to a competition when suddenly I had an idea. Two teens, one city, and an island, though in that original idea Fiona and Miles had different names and flew from Berlin to LA instead of from Miami to Berlin. Most of the details changed between drafts but the basic idea stayed the same. Along the way I shelved the story for a while and then gave it one last try…and the rest is history.
Typically, you don’t see mystery/thriller and romance genres together in books. What lead you to mashing up the two genres?
To be quite honest, the romance aspect of the story just kind of happened while drafting and writing. It wasn’t necessarily something I planned, but once I realized it could work, I gave it a try and it just felt right. I think it adds moments of quietness—breathers so to speak—amidst an otherwise quite fast and tension filled story.
What do you think Fiona and Miles’s biggest strengths and weaknesses are?
Fiona is incredibly strong, mentally as well as physically, but she’s quick to judge and has a tendency to make rash decisions, which occasionally gets her into trouble. Cursing people out usually isn’t the solution to most problems.
As for Miles, he’s very smart and loyal, but at the same time his ego and big mouth gets in his way. He has the tendency to say all the wrong things in all the wrong moments, usually not on purpose but rather because he doesn’t know any better, but it’s certainly an issue.
Fiona and Miles have an electric love/hate relationship! What do you love most about their chemistry?
Putting two such different characters together and seeing what would happen was a lot of fun to write about in general, but especially moments in which they saw parts of each other they didn’t expect or realize were there. It caught me off guard on occasion, which might sound odd but it’s true. Also writing their banter was one of my favorite parts, the way they sassed each other or managed to make the other laugh even in the least likely moments.
Who are some of your favorite couples from books or movies with love/hate relationships like Fiona and Miles?
When it comes to books the first two couples that come to my mind are June and Day from Legend by Marie Lu and Katy and Daemon from Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Both are incredibly well written and so much fun! In terms of movies, how about Anya and Dimitri in Anastasia (one of my absolute favorite movies, by the way), or Carly and Thomas from StreetDance 3D (I know, what a movie choice, but what can I say, I love dance movies as a former dancer myself).
If you were to be stranded alone on an island with anyone, who would you want it to be and why?
I could give you a silly answer like Tom Hiddleston or Keanu Reeves because like obviously, but in actuality I’d take my mom with me. Is that odd? I don’t know, but she’s someone I can trust no matter what and we get along great.
It looks like on top of writing, you also read and review books quite a bit! What have been some of your favorite recent reads?
I’ve been stuck in the worst reading slump ever recently, but before that I read Neaderthal Opens The Door To Thee Universe by Preston Norton, which was mindblowingly amazing, as well as All Of This Is True by Lygia Day Penaflore and Road To Euginica by A.M. Rose. These three are definitely among my favorites of this year so far!
Thank you so much for having me! 🙂
Echoes is out now! You can snag it via:
Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Indiebound | Kobo | Entangled Publishing
They wake on a deserted island. Fiona and Miles, high school enemies now stranded together. No memory of how they got there. No plan to follow, no hope to hold on to.
Each step forward reveals the mystery behind the forces that brought them here. And soon, the most chilling discovery: something else is on the island with them.
Something that won’t let them leave alive.
