Saturday, October 17, 2015

Blog Tour: Thizz, A Love Story By Nicole Loufas @NicoleLoufas @GHBTours #Giveaway







Thizz, A Love Story
Genre- Contemporary YA with mature content
By- Nicole Loufas
Expected Publication Date- November 1st

In 2006, while the San Francisco Bay Area was immersed in the Hyphy Movement - Dani was fleeing the city for the small coastal town of Eureka. With a past she wants to forget and a future that may be out of reach - Dani finds Thizz and her world turns inside out.
Dani has a plan.  Get into CAL Berkeley.  All she has to do is survive six months in Eureka, California.  Her plan seems to be working until Matt, the boy she's secretly crushing on, sets her up with his best friend.
Nick Marino is the star of the basketball team, grandson to the wealthiest woman in the county, and the town drug dealer. Nick introduces Dani to Thizz on their first date and suddenly smiling becomes easy, conversations are comfortable. Now if she can just figure out if the tingles she's feeling are caused by Nick or Thizz. After a few weeks of both - she doesn't care.
With Nick by her side, thizz flowing through her veins, and Matt keeping all her secrets - Dani settles into her new life; forgetting about the tragedy that drove her there, and the plan she had to escape.
Matt fell in love with Dani the first time he saw her.   He also knew whatever drove her from San Francisco to Eureka in her last semester of high school wasn't something she wanted to share.  When she finally started to open up, Matt hesitated just long enough for his best friend Nick to swoop in. Forced to sit and watch their relationship grow, Matt also learns of Dani's obsession with Thizz.  He secretly feeds her addiction in a desperate attempt to win her heart.
Pressured into joining Nick's crew, Matt finds himself in the middle of Eureka's own hyphy movement and the hit list of a local biker gang. When a school project uncovers a disturbing link between Dani's parents and Nick's uncle, Matt is torn between his loyalty to Nick and his feelings for Dani as he tries to convince Dani that her life is in real danger; while persuading Nick to turn on his uncle to save the girl they love.



  


Author Interview-

What inspired you to write Thizz, A Love Story ?

I’ve always loved to write.  I saw a topic that interested me and decided to write about it. In the mid-2000’s there was a movement going on in Northern California. Hyphy Movement. Rappers were talking about Thizz, which is slang for ecstasy. Kids were eating it up.  I was really surprised that so many people were using this drug, yet there was no awareness for it among the community. I started researching and found no sites touting its dangers, only where to go to find out if your pills were pure.  It was shocking. To have this level of use happening across the state and nobody knowing it existed unless you listened to rap music.  So, I set out to write a story about just that. I set the story in Eureka, California to show that something like this can move from the city into a small town without anyone even knowing.


When or at what age did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote a screenplay when I was eleven with my then best friend. It was a female version of The Outsiders. We were so obsessed with that book and the movie. After that I just always wrote. My mom bought me a typewriter when I was 13 and I would spend hours writing.  None of it made any sense, but it made me feel good. At that age, I think it was a really good outlet for me.


What is the earliest age you remember reading your first book?

The first book I remember reading was Chicken Little when I was four years old.  An older cousin taught me to read it. I had it memorized by the time I started school.  My kindergarten teacher flipped out when she saw me reading it and told the principal. They called my mom and had me tested for genius. It turned out I was totally not a prodigy.


What genre of books do you enjoy reading?

I go through phases. Right now I’m on new adult/romance. But I’ve read all of John Grisham, I love the I Am Four Series. I just really like a good story.


What is your favorite book?

You know this is like an impossible question. But I’m going to go with my first favorite, that is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.  It started my love of reading.


You know I think we all have a favorite author. Who is your favorite author and why?

This has changed over the years, but I don’t think any of my former favorites can match my current. Colleen Hoover.  She is a genius.  I love her style, but it isn’t how well she writes, it's the format of her books.  She weaves in art, and music, and poetry so perfectly to the story line.  I love how she involves her readers in her process.  Her book Confess uses actuals confessions sent to her by her readers.  She’s the queen.

If you could travel back in time here on earth to any place or time. Where would you go
and why?

I would go back to the first day of my freshman year in high school. I would do everything right. I’d participate in P.E., I’d join the school newspaper.  I’d pay attention in science class and run for student council.  I would go to dances, hell I’d decorate the gym for the dances.  I’d go to prom and football games.  I would do high school.  I didn’t do high school the first time.  I got pregnant my junior year, even before that I was a horrible student. My teachers were like who are you when I showed up for class.  It was bad. I was bad.


When writing a book do you find that writing comes easy for you or is it a difficult task?

Easy. If it were something I had to struggle with I don’t think I would do it.  Writing has to come naturally, or else it’s just words.  Writer’s block or getting in the mood...that’s different.  Even when I don't feel like writing. I can write 6,000 words about why I don’t want to write.


Do you have any little fuzzy friends? Like a dog or a cat? Or any pets?

Yes!  Achilles, my dog.  He’s a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and he’s my BFF.  He’ll be 10 years old on Oct. 11th.  He has the same birthday as my mom, which is good. So now I never forget her birthday. :)


What is your "to die for", favorite food/foods to eat?

My to die for is something I’ll eat even when I’m full. These can’t be in my house, I must consume it all before I sleep.  That is chocolate eclairs. I have anxiety about my husband or kids eating my eclairs. If they do, someone is dying.


Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?

Don’t give up.  Don’t rush the process.  Even if you think your book is better than the three you just read - it isn’t.  Put out your best work.  The only difference between you and a published author is that they finished their work in progress. 


About the Author-
Nicole Loufas is a San Francisco native. She loves books, music, and bloody mary's. She started writing her first screenplay in the sixth grade; the project was shelved due to creative differences with her EX-best friend. Nicole lives in Northern California with her family and her dog, Achilles. Thizz, A Love Story is her first novel.

Links-





http://www.girlsheartbookstours.com

2 comments:

Audrey Stewart said...

Nicole, Best of luck on your first novel, and I hope many more novels to come.

HaveBook WillSurvive said...

Congrats! thizz sounds like an emotional roller coaster sure to keep the reader glued to the page.