Waterdancer by Samantha Combs Blog Tour Character Interview

BLURB:
As if high school isn’t hard enough, try being Bailey Wasserman. Try being the new girl in town, navigating a touchy relationship with your flighty mom’s rich new husband in a brand new town he’s just moved you to. Add to that finding out that your father, a semi-pro surfer who’s just mysteriously re-entered your life after nearly fifteen years of silence, is half sea-creature and you’re about to inherit that particular gene on your sixteenth birthday which is only a few days away, all after you just met the cutest surfer boy you’ve ever seen in your life.

Bailey feels she and her mom have always met life’s challenges as a team of two, more like best friends than mother and daughter. But her mom’s recent marriage has changed all that. Having her little brother Landry is all Bailey can find good about that union. The move to wealthy Del Mar from their humble beginnings has turned Bailey sour, until a chance meeting of surf hottie Jack West changes all that. Then, when her father reenters her life, with his annoying Zen-surfer lingo and a talking turtle he claims is her spirit guardian, no less, he threatens the only relationship Bailey thinks is working in her world. She soon finds out that’s not all his arrival will do. His presence and their shared family trait could ultimately force Bailey to make a decision that will alter the course of her own life and those she loves…..forever.

Interview with Bailey Wasserman, lead character in Waterdancer

• How do you feel about your family, now that you’re an adult?

Is sixteen an adult? I guess I’m trying to make sense of my relationship with my Mom. She’s so different since she remarried, I feel like we’ve lost the tight friendship we used to have before she got married, before she had my little brother (whom I love to death) and I miss her.

• If you were granted three wishes, what would you ask for?

1. To lose my damn tail

2. TO figure out why Jack likes me

3. TO surf as good as the boys

• How do you fall in love? At first sight? Over a long period?

Neither. More like falling down a well….helplessly and completely out of control.

• How do you decide if you can trust someone? Experience with others? with this person? First impressions? Intuition? Do you test the person somehow? Or are you just generally disposed to trust or not to trust?

I used to be so mistrustful. Before I met Jack, and my real father that one summer. Now I rely on my intuition. It’s been pretty right on, so far.

• When you walk into a room, what do you expect people to notice about you?

I expect them not to. I mean, I work REALLY hard not to be noticed. But that’s okay. Jack noticed me anyway.

• Did you turn out the way you expected? The way your parents predicted?

Growing a mermaid tail after my sixteenth birthday was not at ALL expected. But, I guess I turned out exactly as my parents predicted. It just would have been nice if they’d told me ahead of time.

• What really moves you, or touches you to the soul?

My little brother’s smile. That kid can get me to do anything with just that dopey grin. I love him like a crazy person.

• What do you consider are your strengths?

I think, in spite of everything, I have proven to myself I have resilience. And acceptance. Good things to have in combination when you keep turning into a sea creature.

• What is one physical attribute you are proud of?

Believe it or not, even after all the trouble it caused me, I really had a cool tail. I miss it a bit.

• What are you most afraid of?

I some respects, I don’t want to hurt my mother. I’m afraid of making her sad and disappointed.

• What's the most important thing in your life? What do you value most?

My brother, Landry.

• What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

 Learning to surf

• What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

A great day at the beach with my boyfriend, Jack

• What is your current state of mind? 

Happy. Uncertain and anxious, but happy.

• What is your favorite occupation? 

Taking the waves in

• What is your most treasured possession? 

My surfboard and my amulet

• What or who is the greatest love of your life? 

Jack

• What is your favorite journey? 

The one from the top of the cliffs by my house, down to the beach, just before dawn, when the waves are the most inviting and untouched.

• What is your most marked characteristic? 

It was my tail, of course (duh)

• When and where were you the happiest? 

When Landry was born

• What is it that you most dislike? 

Fake and plastic people

• What is your greatest fear? 

That I will never see my father again

• What is your greatest extravagance? 

My surfboard, and Kumu’s tank

• Which living person do you most despise? 

It used to be my father. Not anymore.

• What is your greatest regret? 

That I never told Warren how much I loved him. 

• Which talent would you most like to have? 

It would be neat to still be able to breathe underwater. Again.

• Where would you like to live? 

I chose exactly where I am. By the water.

• What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

 Being unloved

• What is the quality you most like in a man?

 Compassion

• What is the quality you most like in a woman?

 The ability to accept

• What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? 

My insecurity

• What is the trait you most deplore in others? 

Intentional unkindness

• What do you most value in your friends? 

Unconditional friendship

• Who is your favorite hero of fiction? 

The underdog 

• Whose are your heroes in real life? 

Selfless caregivers

• Which living person do you most admire? 

my mother

• What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 

Beauty

• On what occasions do you lie? 

To avoid hurting someone

• Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 

OMG, seriously, really

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

I’d give myself the ability to save my stepfather from cancer

• What are your favorite names? 

I love my name and my brother’s, Bailey and Landry

• How would you like to die? 

Gazing into the eyes of my loved ones

• If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? 

 Seriously? A sea creature, of course (duh)

• What is your motto?

That which doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger. It pisses you off, too. 

AUTHOR BIO:

Samantha Combs is a young adult/middle grade author living in Southern California. The author of six books, three are young adult paranormal romances, Spellbound, Everspell, and Ghostly, a middle grade horror novel, The Detention Demon, two adult horror collections, Teeth and Talons, and Way Past Midnight, and a new standalone YA paranormal, entitled Waterdancer, which you should look for in Sept. 2012. Samantha hopes to complete and release two other books currently in progress. 2012 looks amazing!

When she is not writing or reading voraciously, Samantha enjoys bloggers, the Food Network Channel, reality television and wandering around the aisles at Target. She recently conquered Facebook and is learning how to use Twitter. She is sure she can handle any situation if she has the right shoes and has a mad passion for totally inappropriate earrings. Samantha believes the movement toward technology is the most exciting thing to happen to publishing and can’t wait to see what the industry is going to do next. Anything that makes kids want to read can’t be a bad thing.

Coming in September from Musa Publishing: WATERDANCER, a new YA paranormal.

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Email: samanthacombswrites@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.samanthacombswrites.blogspot.com
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