Charlotte Bennardo Interview & Giveaway

Blonde Ops

Expelled from yet another boarding school for hacking, sixteen-year-old Rebecca "Bec" Jackson is shipped off to Rome to intern for Parker Phillips, the editor-in-chief of one of the world’s top fashion magazines. But when a mysterious accident lands Parker in a coma, former supermodel and notorious drama queen Candace Worthington takes the reins of the magazine. The First Lady is in Rome for a cover shoot, and all hands are on deck to make sure her visit goes smoothly. 

Bec quickly realizes that Parker's "accident" may not have been quite so accidental, and when the First Lady's life is threatened, Bec is determined to uncover the truth. On top of that, Bec must contend with bitchy models, her new boss, Candace, who is just as difficult as the tabloids say, and two guys, a hunky Italian bike messenger with a thousand-watt smile and a fashion blogger with a razor-sharp wit, who are both vying for her heart.

Can Bec catch the person who's after the First Lady, solve the mystery of Parker's accident, and juggle two cute boys at the same time? Blonde Ops is a fun, action-packed romp through the hallways of a fashion magazine and the cobblestone streets of Rome.

Did you have to do any research whilst you were writing the Sirenz novels?

Oh, gracious, yes! The setting for Blonde OPS was Rome, Italy. I’ve been to Milan and Florence, but never Rome, and neither has Nat. How could our character describe the streets she walked and the buildings and statues she saw? Guide books don’t give you that much information. To really get the feeling of Rome, we used Google Earth and ‘virtually’ walked around. Plus, all the hacker stuff? Nat went to a hacker convention and talked to actual hackers. Secret Service and info about the First Lady? Google, the Discovery Channel and other sources. (So much so that I’ve been flagged by the FBI and my browser shut down more than 20 times…. I wonder if I’ll be allowed on a plane…) EXTENSIVE research. Real hackers have said the research was excellent. Everything in the book is possible, even if not probable.

Will there be any more Sirenz novels in the future or just the 2 that have been released?

Sadly, at this point, although we had books 3 and 4 outlined, the publisher doesn’t wish to add sequels. But maybe a short story about those characters may show up somewhere…

 If you were a character from your novels would you be Meg, Shar or Bec?

That’s hard to say… First because I’m a lot older than any of them, and because Meg & Shar both share certain aspects of me: Meg, being the recycle queen, Shar, being blonde and tall. Bec is kind of neutral but is way smarter than me. I guess I’d have to go with Shar because she’s a smart ass at times like, um, me.

Have you been to any events like BEA, etc? Which was your favourite event and why?

Oh yes! The year Sirenz came out, we did an author signing at BEA. The publicist had said he was going to take a few copies so if there was no one waiting in line for our book, he’d ‘scare some up.’ We’d gone in the previous day and handed out bookmarks, talked to bloggers and anyone else we could. When we sat to sign, there was a long line and we autographed over 300 books! It’s one of my favorite memories of being an author.

 You and Natalie Zaman have done brilliant novels together. If you could write with any other author who would you choose to work with?

Oooh, tough question! I know so many fabulous authors and would love to work with all of them! But if I could choose, I’d have to say Sherrilyn Kenyon, my absolute fave author.

Which country do you wish you could do book signings in and why?

I would say Italy; my husband has family there, and being that Blonde OPS is set in Rome, maybe it would achieve Best Seller status- and I’d have fun visiting everywhere Bec went.

Blonde Ops has a James Bond feel about the novel. What are your favourite spy films?

Of course, anything James Bond! I think my fave Bond movie is Live and Let Die because Christopher Walken is so deliciously evil and Grace Jones was a kick ass-bad ass! And it’s set in Silicon Valley…. Hmmm.

 If you could be a character from your favourite TV series who would you want to be?

I want to be Abby from Sleepy Hollow. She’s smart, tough, and gets to work with the sexy Ichabod Crane. Plus she’s got firsthand proof of ghosts, evil, and the supernatural, all mixed in with history. No dull days for her!

How do you get inspiration for your novels?

Blonde OPS was a work for hire; the editors (we have two) asked us to write the novel based on their reading of Sirenz, and Sirenz Back In Fashion so the core ideas were theirs. The Sirenz novels were originally vampire novels until we saw how many vampire novels were out there already (and we knew more were coming). So we changed it to Greek mythology because Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series were so popular, only we wanted to make it more for girls. As for my solo novels, I get them from everyday things around me: a television show on space, a sentence in a book, seeing a blacksmith at a renaissance fair. Ideas are everywhere!

Will you be writing more novels with Natalie Zaman in the future and what other future novel plans do you have?

If there is a Blonde OPS sequel, we will def write it together, but currently Nat is doing non-fiction and I’m working on several solo novels. I have a sci fi with my agent that I hope will go out on submission soon, and a middle grade novel that I just completed that needs some serious polishing. Plus, I do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) so that at the end of November, I have a year to edit a novel before I start on the next one (although I always work on several at one time). 

Leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy Blonde OPs. I will select a winner at random so check back to see if you have won. The winner will receive the novel from Amazon. So please make sure that Amazon ships to your country before you leave a comment below to enter the giveaway. The giveaway is international and will close one week from today. The closing date for the giveaway is Friday 12th September. I will be choosing a winner on Saturday 13th September.  

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED AND GOOD LUCK!