Cool, it’s Girlfriend day! We have Caridad Ferrer joining us in the beauty shop, who’s celebrating the recent release of her young adult novel, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT, (MTV Books,) the captivating story of a young woman’s adventures in reinvention and self-discovery from the author of Adiós to My Old Life.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT traces the bold transformation of Caroline Darcy, a college-bound beige-blonde born and bred in small town Hampshire, Ohio, into “Carolina,” a half-Cuban aspiring actress, with striking Havana Brown hair, a caliente wardrobe, a taste for platanos, and a hunger for adventure. Carolina has no problem dressing, dancing, and talking the part, down to her effortlessly rolled rrrs – even though she’s only one-eighth Cuban. She owes her attraction to her exotic heritage and her yearning for something… different to Elisa Maribel Teresa de La Natividad Sevilla y Tabares – her Nana Ellie, the great-grandmother she loved, dearly and fiercely, and lost when she was thirteen. Carolina vividly remembers Nana Ellie’s romantic stories of her encounters with everything from the Eiffel Tower to Russian nobility. And she regrets missing the chance to unravel the facts from the fantastic tales – and learn more about her Nana’s mysterious, scandalous past.
So welcome, Caridad! Grab some coffee, get comfy in the beautician’s chair, and let’s get down to the gossip:
What’s the most regrettable hairstyle you’ve ever had? Any mullets? Rat tails?
I went to college in Tallahassee, Florida—so yes, I had Southern Big Hair, a feat I never would have been able to achieve with a multi-layered perm, hot rollers and lots and lots of product.
Ah yes, the big hair days. I miss them! What hair styling product can you not live without?
A decent volumizer—Southern Big Hair days aside, I have very heavy, thick, yet fine hair that without help, lies there like a beached fish. So a little volumizer goes a long way towards making my hair behave.
What beauty product can you not live without?
Sephora! Oh… wait. That’s not a real answer is it? I can’t help it, I’m an enormous makeup junkie and Sephora is my neighborhood dealer. I’m especially addicted to Chanel and Benefit products.
In my novel, the ladies have fun answering the “Hypothetical Questions of the Week” from their favorite tabloid. So here are some for you:
HQ #1: If you could hit the rewind button, which book published by another author do you wish you could have written? Which movie screenplay?
In a strictly avaricious sense, I certainly wish I’d come up with the concept for Harry Potter. I mean, seriously, who knew? Movie screenplay—no question, I would have loved to have written Love Actually (Richard Curtis). The man just GETS it, you know? He’s not afraid to touch the spectrum of human emotion and he’s always exploring the power of love—nowhere more beautifully than in LA.
HQ #2: Paparazzi are stalking you, looking for shots of odd things authors do while writing. What do they catch you doing, hmm?
Trolling iTunes for more music, Googling for pictures of hot guys for my weekly Cabana Boys blog post and eating Mega M&Ms. (The closer to deadline, the more M&Ms)
HQ #3: iTunes has invited you to submit a Celebrity Playlist of all your favorite songs. What tunes would make your top five?
Five? FIVE?? Oh boy… okay, if I have to keep it to just five. *grumbles*
In no particular order:
At Last- Raul Malo
Broken Vow- Josh Groban
Fragile- Sting
Don’t Dream It’s Over- Crowded House (or Sixpence None the Richer)
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic- The Police (Look, can I just have the entire catalog of Sting & the Police? Pretty please??)
Okay, fine. 😉 HQ #10: If you followed the career path you chose for yourself in high school, what would you be doing for a living now?
I’d be a high school band director and probably moonlighting during the summers with a drum and bugle corps as an instructor.
The Lightening Round—no more than two words per answer!
Do you . . .
Outline or wing it? Outline
Talk about works-in-progress, or keep your trap shut? *Mmmmphh*
Love to edit or cringe at the thought? Both
Prefer writing a new book or marketing the old? Writing
Write better at home or in a coffee shop? home
Read your released book or no thanks, I’ve read it enough? Once more
And finally, what’s your favorite . . .
Time to write? Anytime
Movie? Love Actually
Book? Too hard to pick
Author? Barbara Samuel
Song? Yeah, you thought picking a book was hard??
Pair of shoes? Caramel and cream Marcello Toshi pumps with four-inch heels ’cause I’m short.
Guiltiest pleasure? Sweet cream ice cream with Snickers
Line from a movie?
“You love him, Loretta?”
“Ma, I love him awful.”
“Eh, that’s too bad.” –Moonstruck
Thanks, Caridad, and best of luck with IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT!
With her debut novel, Adiós to My Old Life (MTV Books; July 2006), Caridad Ferrer proved her talent for riveting fiction with bicultural teen appeal. For her encore, she presents the story of a young woman’s quest to reclaim her Latin roots and escape her boring vanilla identity.
The story opens at the beginning of Caroline’s Latina rebirth and undergrad career at the University of Southern Ohio for the summer session. To her thrill and amazement, her Cuban act works like a charm on the opposite sex. Faster than her first beer buzz, Caroline finds herself becoming more popular and getting increasingly intimate with Erik, a smooth-talking frat guy with gorgeous baby blues. The only male on campus who doesn’t fall for Carolina’s Latina allure is Peter, the full-blooded son of Cuban immigrants, who hails from Miami. Despite the danger of being exposed as a fraud, Caroline is drawn to this quiet, serious student – on a strictly friendship basis. But when Carolina gets in over her head and on the edge of a dangerous situation, Peter is the one who comes to her rescue. What’s more, he accepts her for who she is – and leads her on a real adventure to discover the truth about Nana Ellie and the very wealthy family she left behind in Cuba. What Caroline discovers about her ancestors – including one unknown living relative – is more exciting than she ever could have imagined.
Part mystery, part romance, and all captivating, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE ACCENT affirms Caridad Ferrer as a gifted teller of stories that resonate with young women, both Latina and Anglo.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CARIDAD FERRER is a first generation, bilingual Cuban-American, born in Manhattan and raised in Miami. Her debut novel, Adiós to My Old Life (MTV Books), was named Latinidad’s Top Teen Read for 2006 as well as winning the Romance Writers of America’s 2007 RITA® for Best Contemporary Single Title Romance. Writing as Barbara Ferrer she has also contributed to the anthology, Fifteen Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles, and Other Quinceañera Stories (Harper Collins/Rayo). Find her on the web at CaridadFerrer.com and BarbaraFerrer.com.
