Author Spotlight with Maria Hooley (Over)

Here is my review on Maria's book Dreamwalker directly from Amazon    


Dreamwalker is a story that intrigues you from the start and holds you to it's pages from beginning to end. You are thrown immediately into the life of Misha who has dreams, or nightmares depending on how you look at it, about two brothers; one of which loves her, and one who wants her dead. She must struggle between real life and her dream world and decide weather or not to risk her life for the man she loves. 

Mrs. Hooley does a wonderful job of making this story suspenseful and telling it from a teenage girls point of view. I highly look forward to seeing if there will be a second book and will absolutely be looking forward to Mrs. Hooley's next book! I absolutely recommend this to any lovers of fantasy and romance.


Mrs. Hooley has kindly offered five ebook copies of her series Sojourner! (That's all 4 books in the series!!!) Leave a comment with your email on the page and the winners will be picked by next Wednesday!

K.T.  Hello and welcome. I am very excited to have you here today. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself. 

M.H. I’ve been writing for numerous years, and right now I’m working on my twenty-eighth novel.  I live in Oklahoma with my husband and three kids, and when I’m not writing, I’m usually teaching high school students.

K.T.  Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?

M.H. Well, my husband tells me that when I’m writing, a freight train could roll through the room and I’d never notice.

K.T.  When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?

M.H. I’ve always had a fascination with words and books so I knew pretty early on.  One of the earliest books I read and absolutely loved was No Flying in the House by Betty Brock.

K.S.  What genre do you write?

M.H. That’s a tough one because I don’t focus on genre.  It’s the concept and story of the book that I’m interested in, and even if it’s not a genre I typically write, if I feel strongly enough about the concept, I will dive in.  The genres I’ve previously written in are mainstream, science fiction, horror, supernatural thriller, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, romance, women’s fiction, young adult, poetry, and screenplays.

K.S.  What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career? Or, who is your favorite author and why?

M.H. Usually either films or books inspire me.  I’d say Nicholas Sparks is probably my favorite author because he is able to evoke strong emotional reactions in his readers, and that’s what I want.  My favorite novel, however, is by Peter S. Beagle.  It’s The Last Unicorn.  I absolutely adore that book.

K.S.  What does your family think of your writing?

M.H. My husband is my editor, and he’s also a writer so he’s very supportive.  My oldest daughter thinks I’m obsessed, and my son thinks it’s a stage I’ll eventually outgrow.  It’s pretty entertaining.

K.S.  What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?

M.H. When I wrote my first book, I didn’t know if I could sustain a story over that many pages, but I guess I learned how stubborn I can really be.  I don’t like to leave things unfinished.

K.S.  Can you tell us a little about your novel? 

M.H. I have several novels, so I’ll give you a little information about Sojourner series.  It’s four books and the first novel, Sojourner, focuses on seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon who constantly dreams of her death.  In those dreams she sees a beautiful teenage guy who watched her die every time.  She thinks it’s just a nightmare until she moves to a small town and meets that boy, Lev Walker.  At that point Elizabeth has to figure out who he is and what he wants with her.

K.S.  Where can we find your novels?

M.H. You can find them at Amazon.com or on my website, www.mariarrachelhooley.com

K.S.  Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?

M.H. I do have Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Maria-Rachel-Hooley/118197414874806.

You can find my blog at http://mhooley18.wordpress.com/.

You can also follow me, sojourner18, on Twitter.

K.S.  Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers? 

M.H. Writing is really about work and perseverance.  All the talent in the world won’t necessary get you where you want to go.  The longer you keep writing, the better you get.  Always keep an open mind about advice and keep your wits when dealing with critics.  If you really listen, you’ll find a way to use even the worst review to your advantage.