Yesterday I introduced some of you to the wonderful and talented Josephine Angelini, author of your next favorite YA book, "Starcrossed." Please take a moment to visit part one of this excellent interview, if you haven't already.
Today I am pleased to present part two of our dishy chat, where we delve into Josephine's plans for her next two installments of Helen Hamilton's saga. This is your SPOILER ALERT! If you have not yet finished "Starcrossed," don't read any further.
So, for those of us who got to the end of Josephine's wonderfully entertaining debut novel and thought: "Noooooooooooo! What happens next?!?! That was such a tease! Nooooooooo!" I am pleased to inform you that I managed to get a few details about the next book from Josephine. I am not pleased to inform you, however, that we have to wait until NEXT MAY to read it! Sigh. Anyway, moving on to what we can expect in "Dreamless."
"The next book is much darker," Josephine said. "It’s dark and very dangerous, there’s a ton of action. Of course it’s amped up a little bit," she explained. "The second book has a darker sexiness. Instead of it being the poignant, 'We can’t be together,' it’s sort of like, 'This is bad,' type of sexiness."
Reading between her expertly veiled subtext here, I will assume that Helen and Lucas will allow themselves to give in to a bit of temptation. Next, being the Greek mythology nerd that I am, I asked Josephine if Helen is venturing into the Underworld (which she is), might she be encountering my favorites, Persephone and Hades?
"I loooove that character! Yes, you will see Persephone in the next book," she revealed. "She’s a very enigmatic character though, and so is Hades. I’m so excited for people to read it!"
What about this mysterious Daedalus guy, who is only briefly mentioned toward the end of "Starcrossed?"
"Daedelus is a character that we hear about again in the second book, but we don’t meet until the third," she explained. "He’s the father of a very important character in the second book, Orion. I do sort of have an Icarus and Daedalus relationship going on. He’s a combination of a couple of different character, Orion, just because of the role he plays…you’ll see."
Consider me intrigued! Finally, I had to inquire about the future of one of my favorite men in "Starcrossed": Hector Delos.
"Here’s the thing, I feel so bad for young women who fall in love with Hector because he is such a player!" Josephine said of her tall, blond, cocky creation. "I can tell you that he is a player, he is a player all through the second book, and he is going to break a lot of hearts."
How's that for excellent sequel teases? I'm going to have to go re-read "Starcrossed" again. For the fourth time now. Dear editors at HarperCollins, please consider moving that May 2012 release up a bit. Please? Love, your impatient fan Kara.
What do you think about Helen venturing into the Underworld? What are you most looking forward to finding out? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!
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