Author Interview: Amy Reed

Here today is one of my favorite authors, Amy Reed, for an interview in celebration of tomorrow's release of her third novel, Crazy! I am a total fangirl of Amy's books, of the rawness in them and the power behind them, and this is totally an autobuy author for me, so you can imagine my excitement at the chance to interview her... so really, let's just get to it.


Crazy is your third novel, all of which deal with rough content. What’s the hardest part about writing in this thread for you? The best?

I guess the hardest part is putting my characters through such painful experiences. Sometimes I really torture them. But it’s always for a reason—there’s a lesson to be learned, there’s something they need to discover about themselves in order to make better, more empowered decisions in the future. The best part is knowing that some reader out there will relate, that maybe reading my characters going through certain things will show them that they don’t have to.

Of all your characters, which was the most fascinating for you to write, that’s stuck with the most?

The boys are always the most fascinating to write because it takes a lot more searching to get them right. Jason from CLEAN especially. It would have been so easy to make him a stereotype. It would have been so much easier to make him a two-dimensional villain to hate. But I really challenged myself to love him, to discover the source of his cruelties. I think he sticks with me because he was my biggest surprise as a writer.

Who do you think needed the other the most, Izzy or Connor?

What a great question. It’s hard to say; they both needed each other so much. Izzy, in the end, may have needed Connor to literally save her. But she also just needed him to see her, and to care enough to do the hard thing and confront her. But Connor needed Izzy to push his buttons the way she did. Ultimately, he learned how to be brave, how to do the difficult thing instead of being passive. He risked losing everything in order to do the right thing. There’s nothing braver than that.

Describe Izzy and Connor in three words each.

Izzy: intense, brilliant, fragile

Connor: gentle, loyal, genuine

What god/goddess would be your nemesis?

Aphrodite. She’s like the mean girl at school. Everyone’s under her spell and thinks she’s all about love and romance, but really she’s manipulative and jealous and emotionally unstable.

What kind of shoe would you describe yourself as?

A clog


Thank you, Amy, for stopping in and congrats on the release!

Crazy hits shelves tomorrow, so make sure you pick it up, and if you haven't already, do yourself a favor and go ahead and pick up Beautiful and Clean as well. You'll want everything Amy writes.