Pink Polka Dot Books: FFBC: Welcome to the Club The Slope Rules by Melanie Hooyenga & GIVEAWAY

The Slope Rules

by Melanie Hooyenga
Publisher: Left Handed Mitten Publications
Release Date: February 24th 2017

Genre: Romance

Synopsis:

Fifteen-year old Cally accepted her fate as one of the guys, so when she meets Blake, a hot snowboarder who sees her for more than her aerials on the slopes, she falls fast and hard. But their romance can only last as long as vacation.

Or so she thinks.

A twist of fate—well, her Dad opening another brewery in a new town—lands her in Blake’s school, but the charismatic boy she fell for wants nothing to do with her, and worse, the Snow Bunnies, the popular clique, claim her as their newest recruit.

Cally must learn to be true to herself—all while landing a spot on the ski team and figuring out who she is without her old friends. And when she finds out what Blake is hiding, she learns the rules on the slopes apply to more than just skiing.

Hello Melanie! We are super excited to have you in our FFBC tours.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

1. Favorite Book?

Lately I’ve been saying ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins or THE LUNAR CHRONICLES by Marissa Meyer. ANNA is such a perfect love story and I really connected with it because I went to boarding school in high school. LUNAR is just an incredible retelling of well-known fairy tales.

2. Favorite TV show?

I’m afraid to say because every time I have a favorite show it goes off the air! I loved Castle, but my new favorite it Timeless. I’m also a huge fan of Dancing with the Stars, Amazing Race, and most of the HGTV shows.

3. Favorite movie?

Impossible to decide. Lately we’ve watched Deadpool and Divergent a lot, but Pitch Perfect and Moulin Rouge are favorites too.

4. Your Favorite Song?

We’ll go old school and say Take On Me by A-Ha. It makes me happy every time I hear it.

5. Favorite Food?

Anything my husband makes. I’m very lucky that he’s not only an amazing cook, he LIKES to cook. Zoodles with meatballs and marinara have been on the menu a lot lately, but I’ll eat anything with cheese.

6. Who is your perfect fictional boyfriend?

I recently finished MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick and am still swooning over Jase. He’s imperfectly perfect, but not so messed up that you can’t understand why the main character loves him and she doesn’t spend the entire book trying to fix him.

7. Favorite Quote?

“What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” It’s currently written at the top of my white board but I want to have it made into vinyl letters to put on the wall.

8. What do you find yourself “Fangirling” over?

Who: Four from Divergent. More specifically, Theo James. Can he just be in everything? I absolutely loved the books and devoured the short stories from his perspective, but wish they hadn’t screwed up the movies so badly.

9. If you could meet one author, dead or alive, who would it be?

I’ve already met Rainbow Rowell and Lisa McMann, two authors I admire. I’d love to sit down with Jennifer Echols and pick her brain. I love her take on the teen years.

10. Something to say to our Book Addicts?

I’m so honored to be here! I have a serious case of imposter syndrome, but after four YA novels, I guess it’s okay to call myself a YA author. So thank you for spending time with me, and I’d love to hear from you. I’m all over social media as melaniehoo.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Could you tell our Book Addicts a little bit about THE SLOPE RULES?

Sure! I describe THE SLOPE RULES as Grease meets Mean Girls in an action-packed romance. Freestyle skier Cally accepted her fate as one of the guys—until she meets snowboarder Blake, who teacher her that sometimes a crash is just what your heart needs.

How did you come up with the story? Did you find inspiration in any other story/movie/show and how has this affected your writing?

I first came up with the idea in the winter of 2014 while watching the winter Olympics. West Michigan was buried under 100 inches of snow and I’ve always loved skiing, so I thought it’d be fun to write about a trick skier. I borrowed the idea of two kids meeting on vacation and cliques with silly names from the movie Grease, then I tossed in a few Mean Girls and added a brewery because my husband and I love craft beer and brew beer at home.

I can’t say I find inspiration in other media, although sometimes a song will hit the right chord with me (ha-ha) and I’ll play that on repeat endlessly.

Tell us your favorite quote from THE SLOPE RULES.

I love this line from the end of chapter one because it perfectly sets up the rest of the book and ties in the double meaning of the slope rules:

My heartbeat accelerates before I can tell it not to. I don’t chase guys. I am one of the guys. But here, in a different state, maybe the rules can be different.

Is there a specific scene that you had the most fun to write?

All the skiing scenes! I love skiing (really, I love all sports) but I didn’t realize how much fun I’d have writing about it. I’ve skied my entire life but it wasn’t until I started writing this book that I intentionally paid attention to the little details—the sound the snow makes when you’re flying down a hill and which foot you shift your weight to when turning—and the reaction from readers is that my descriptions are very realistic, so I’m happy.

If you had to pick one song to be the Theme Song for THE SLOPE RULES – Which one would you pick?

Either EYE OF THE TIGER by Survivor or GOING THE DISTANCE by Cake.

Imagine that we get to see your book on the big screen (how awesome would that be?). Who would you pick to play your characters? (It can be anyone – famous or not)

Can we get the kids from the cover of the book? The first time I saw the picture I literally squealed because they are almost exactly how I imagined them. Whoever plays them, they’ll have to be good skiers and snowboarders because there’s no faking what they can do on the slopes!

Is there any recommendations you could give your readers to be in the “perfect mood” to read THE SLOPE RULES (specific music, snacks…)?

Hot chocolate and a roaring fire in the lodge of a ski resort would be ideal, but really, any time you want a fun read that will make you laugh and swoon and get your heart pounding. There might be a few tears, too, but my goal with this book is to leave readers smiling. And if they want to go skiing afterwards, even better!

What’s next for you?

My intention with THE SLOPE RULES was to write a standalone novel because my first three novels are part of a trilogy, but my brain isn’t having any of that. I’m currently plotting two companion novels—next up is a book about Mike (Mikalya), but I’m not ready to talk about the third, even though I’m very excited about it.

Thank you so much for everything, Melanie!

Melanie Hooyenga first started writing as a teenager and finds she still relates best to that age group. She has lived in Washington DC, Chicago, and Mexico, but has finally settled down in her home state of Michigan.

When not at her day job as the Communications Director at a nonprofit, you can find Melanie attempting to wrangle her Miniature Schnauzer Owen and playing every sport imaginable with her husband Jeremy.