Interview with Whitney D. Grandison: The Right Side of Reckless (Blog Tour)

He’s never met a rule he didn’t break… She’s followed the rules her whole life… When they meet, one golden rule is established: stay away. Sparks fly in this edgy own voices novel, perfect for fans of Sandhya Menon, S. K. Ali, and Kristina Forest.

They were supposed to ignore each other and respect that fine line between them…

Guillermo Lozano is getting a fresh start. New town, new school, and no more reckless behavior. He’s done his time, and now he needs to right his wrongs. But when his work at the local community center throws him into the path of the one girl who is off-limits, friendship sparks…and maybe more.

Regan London needs a fresh perspective. The pressure to stay in her “perfect” relationship and be the good girl all the time has worn her down. But when the walls start to cave in and she finds unexpected understanding from the boy her parents warned about, she can’t ignore her feelings anymore.

The disapproval is instant. Being together might just get Guillermo sent away. But when it comes to the heart, sometimes you have to break the rules and be a little bit reckless…

Q- Hi, thank you so much for letting me interview you! My first question is did you always want to be a writer?

A- Yes, ever since I was about eight years old I’ve been buying notebooks in the pursuit of becoming an official author someday. That’s been my constant.

Q- Where did you come up with the idea for The Right Side of Reckless?

A- So, the original idea hit me in about 2011/2012 ish, and back then it was just a story about a boy who had a knack for screwing things up and Regan was pretty much the same girl she is now, in a situation where she has no say or control over her life. Around 2015/2016 I wanted a stronger story and the idea of Guillermo being a boy on probation trying to right his wrongs hit me to make his arc stronger, and making Regan’s character more understanding and gentle came to mind as well. The biggest thing about Right Side for me was setting it in my hometown of Akron, Ohio. I wanted to write a story that felt like home, that featured characters that looked like people I knew and saw around my own high school, as POC representation was lacking in YA when I originally started this book. 

Q- Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people in your life? Or are they purely fictional?

A- There’s little doses of people I knew in certain characters, like Raviv, Jenaya, or Kayde. When it came to rewriting Guillermo, the idea was sold to me when one of the managers at my job talked to me about how reckless he was as a teen and how meeting his wife saved his life. He told me about three separate occasions when he was arrested and that really clicked for me for Guillermo. So Guillermo’s reckless past is loosely based on some stories a team member from my job told me. 

Q- Which part of actually writing a book is your favorite?

A- I love writing flirty steamy moments. There’s two scenes between Guillermo and Regan that are just swoonworthy and all feels. 

Q- Is writing your full-time job? Or do you have another one, with writing on the side?

A- Writing is something I do on the side. I work part-time at a supermarket mostly. 

Q- If you could be any character from either of the two books you’ve published, who would it be and why? 

A- I’d have to say Nandy from A Love Hate Thing, she’s headstrong and knows what she wants, and is in charge of herself and outgoing. I admire her for that. She can walk into a room and own it and radiate. 

That’s all for today, thank you once again for doing this Q&A with me!!

Thank you for having me!

Whitney D. Grandison is an American young adult fiction writer. Some of her works can be found on Wattpad, one of the largest online story sharing platforms, where she has acquired over 30,000 followers and an audience of over sixteen million reads. Outside of writing, she is a lover of Korean dramas, all things John Hughes, and horror films. Whitney currently lives in Akron, Ohio with her two cats Poe & Hemingway. A Love Hate Thing is her first novel.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

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What’s the most reckless thing you’ve ever done? What’s the worse thing you’ve ever gotten in trouble for doing??